In retrospect, I made that point very clumsily, taking two posts.
TL;DR my experience has been that squats benefit from pushing rep PRs as far as you physically can, which for me was the 10-15 range. Sets of 20 are cool, and feel awesome and help size but seem too light to drive strength as well as a near-death 10-15.
Wendler Week 3 Day 4
Squat
5X95
5X110
5X130
5X165
5X185
AMRAP at 205
14 reps
Log said 14 was a PR so I shut it off there. Really enjoying the required push reps over 10 require of me mentally.
Joker Sets
1X225 RPE 5
1X245 RPE 6-7
1X265 RPE 8
1X265 RPE 7 retook this one bc I didn’t think I hit depth. Video of second attempt depth was fine
1X285 RPE 7
Honestly think I could have pushed this to 3 plates plus, but not enough bumpers at my house, and always good to leave 1 or 2 in the tank.
BBB Squat
5X10 at 110
Good Mornings
4X15 at 70
Lilly Shrugs
4X15 35# plates
Crunches
4X25 with 25# plate
Was running out of time so I superset all of the last 3 exercises together in 12 minutes. Garage was 90 plus degrees and humid as hell so I just needed to be done, lol. All in all everything felt good. Just accomplishing full days on time does a lot for me. Press on the morning so we can get ready for a full weekend of baseball with my boy.
I think you should have shot higher on your log, looking at the numbers you could probably come very close to 1000 now if you peaked over a few weeks.
Thank you, I think I’m close, but I’ve been here before…close. My meet is mid August, and I thought 1200# was a bit ambitious, though that is the goal I set out with for reaching in 2017. Being my first meet and having no recorded total, I wanted to temper my own expectations to some extent. To get to 1200# I have to pass 1000# so that was the thought. Start light, progress slowly, trust the process.
Wendler Week 4 Day 1
Press
5X45
5X55
5X65
5X80
3X90
AMRAP at 100
8 reps
Wasn’t paying attention close enough when I put my percentages in my app, all work sets were 10# over prescribed.
No Joker Sets
BBB Press
5X10 at 55#
DB Military Press
3X10 20# DBS
Upright BB Rows
3X10 at 55#
Snatch Grip Upright Rows
3X10 at 55#
Dips
21 reps in as few sets as possible
12.6.3
Hanging Leg Raises
5X10
Other than the main lift and BBB everything else was random as hell. Lack of energy, focus, whatever. Just wandered around and made sure to hit my shoulders good, do something for abs, and call it a day. Tried pull-ups, but my upper back is pretty sore so not gonna push it today. Resume pull/chins on Saturday with bench increasing reps to 6 between sets.
So, I can’t pose or really take pictures very good, but since I can laugh at myself, here’s me “posing” for progress photos.
Wendler Week 4 Day 2
Deadlift
5X100
5X125
5X150
5X165
5X190
AMRAP at 215#
10 reps
Joker Sets
5X225
5X245
5X265
4X280
BBB Squat
5X10 at 135#
RDL
3X15 at 150#
Lilly Shrugs
3X10 45# plates
Standing Cable Crunches
4X25 at 25#
Wendler Week 4 Day 3
Bench
5X65
5X75
5X90
5X100
5X115
AMRAP at 130#
18 reps
Joker Sets
3X140
3X150
3X160
3X170
3X180 (VERY HEAVY)
Superset chin/pull-ups
10 sets of 6
Was 4 sets of pulls/6 sets of chins. Weak on the pull-ups but better than where I started. Going to leave them at 6 for a couple weeks and then continue progression.
BBB Bench
5X10 at 85#
BB Row
5X10 at 70#
Military Press
5X10 at 70#
Hanging Leg Raises
4X20.16.12.8.4
Got pressed for time and forgot tricep extensions. Superset BB Rows/Military Press and Hanging Leg Raises. Upper back is smoked but other than that I don’t feel much from bench day. I’m going to change the assistance work after this cycle and try and target chest/tris harder. DB flys, skull crushers, DB bench, tate presses, etc. but I’m sticking to the script through week 7 and may reevaluate weaknesses and lagging muscle groups at that point.
Wendler Week 4 Day 4
Squat
95X5
120X5
140X5
150X5
175X5
AMRAP at 200#
10 rep cutoff
Joker Sets
1X225
1X275
1X315
1X0 at 335
Went in with 315 on my mind, got it relatively easy. Then I felt so good I pushed it and missed at 335. I think I mentally checked out after 315. The good thing about missing, if anything, is it accelerated the rest of my workout because I was pissed for not leaving well enough alone.
BBB Squat
5X10 at 135#
Pause Squats
4X8.6.4.2 at 165#
I don’t like these, but they do wonders for me. I really feel the need to stay tight in the hole to avoid tilting forward and turning my squat into a good morning leg press
GHR
3X10 at 50#
Stupid…that’s it.
Flat Bench Leg Raises
4X15
Absolutely my best feeling squat session in a long time. I think my squat does not lend itself to just going in and doing the workout by feel. Today I planned 315# going in and nothing was going to derail it. Also Joker sets are to small of jumps from my last work set.
Here’s 315
I don’t think you checked out. I think you put everything into 315 lbs so it flew up. Then you didn’t have much gas left for 335 lbs. It’s happened to me before.
Didnt this log used to be called My Journey to 1000#???
That is what I am super curious about but since I am here…
Fk that, I am glad you got pissed and used it in your work out. If any of us left well enough alone nobody would set a PR. Don’t go missing lifts every work out but some of my best learning moments came from misses especially with squats.
Yes it was, but someone mentioned I was aiming too low, and in all honesty, I was. My meet is still 12 weeks away and I’m at or damn close to 1000# total now. I just had no idea how my body would respond to pushing for a total. So 1100# keeps that “there’s work to be done” mentality that drives me.
Yeah, I don’t miss many lifts, but every time it pushes me to train harder or smarter depending on the situation.
That’d be me, but keep in mind you don’t have to hit it at your next Comp. Just working towards it. Unless things go perfect I may miss by a hair this time around to hit my goal.
Absolutely agree, I may miss 1100# at my next meet, but pushing for more from myself is never bad.
Wendler Week 5 Day 1
Press
5X45
5X60
5X70
5X80
5X90
AMRAP at 105#
10 reps
Decided to take 1 single at 125# because I wasn’t feeling like my press was moving. No problems, good speed, I needed that to make sure all the work was working.
BBB Press
5X10 at 75#
Did 3 sets military 2 sets BTN
For all press sets I did 5 front squats with whatever weight I pressed. Just needed to keep the legs moving, seems to help with DOMS.
Also 5 pull/chin ups for every set.
12X5 60 total reps
DB Military Press superset with Hanging Leg Raises
3X10 20# DB
3X20.15.15 BW
Shoulders were pretty pumped at this point and the gym was packed. So I scrapped dips and called it a day. Been an S day so a positive workout was much needed.
Wendler Week 5 Day 2
Deadlift
5X95
5X135
5X165
3X195
3X225
AMRAP at 255#
8 reps, no desire to push these past good form.
Joker Sets
1X315
Belt on
1X365
1X405
BBB Squat
5X10 at 125#
Legs aren’t too sure about squatting 3 days in a row, but my nutrition is good, plenty of rest, and plenty of hydration so I’m going to push a little bit on my squat.
Log Cleans
3X8 at 105#
First time playing with any of the strongman stuff at my gym. Just did these because I didn’t want to do Lilly shrugs. All in all, fun but a lot of work as my conditioning sucks.
Farmers Carries
3X40 yards with 115# in each hand
Damn these taxed my grip! They’re here to stay. The cardio aspect, plus the grip work alone is worth it.
Stair machine
5 minutes level 7-10
I hate treadmills and elliptical, didn’t feel like pushing the prowler, so why not. Gym doesn’t have AC so I was actually dripping sweat all over the ground 2 minutes in. Good burn in my quads and calves. I think I’ll keep these 3 days per week through the end of this cycle, and I will try to progress them by adding time.
That’s some darn good relative carry strength right der
So woke up this morning with what appears to be infra patellar bursitis. Fluid below the knee. It doesn’t really hurt, but this is the second time in the last couple months I’ve had it. It’s really strange as I have zero knee pain when squatting or deadlifting. A little concerned but I’ll take today off bench tomorrow then see where it’s at. Not too sure how to proceed so anyone have advice or experience with it, I’d greatly appreciate any insight.
I Wendler Week 5 Day 3
Bench
5X65
5X85
5X105
3X120
3X135
AMRAP at 155
8 reps
Took a rest day, then missed two days because of baseball so this workout felt like crap. Not sure my bench is progressing like my other lifts, but that’s typical. Going to adjust frequency and assistance next cycle so I’m experimenting these last 3 weeks.
FSL
3X8 at 120#
BBB Bench
5X10 at 95#
BB Row
5X8 at 95#
Tricep Extensions/Face Pulls
5X20 at 20#
5X10 at 20#
Dips
10.8.6.4.2
Roman Chair Crunches
5X12
Pull-up bar tore out of the ceiling after 2 sets so… these are on hold.
This workout lacked any motivation or fluidity. Just one of those days you put in the work and call it a day. Back at Metroflex Gym in the morning for squats. That motivates me to get in bed and get up and smash it.
Wendler Week 5 Day 4
Squat
5X45
5X105
5X135
5X155
3X185
3X210
AMRAP at 235
5 reps
Wasn’t feeling real secure in the hole, low back and hips felt unusually tight. Knew I wasn’t up for Joker sets so tried to just do a single at my TM.
Joker Single
3X275
Lol, felt so good I did 3, pretty sure this is a PR, but I can’t find my old logs so not sure.
Pause Squats
165X8.6.4.2
GHR
3X20 at 45# (SO painful)
Stair Machine
6 minutes level 7-11 ascending
Again this was a sweat dripping leg burner, added 1 minute today, plan is to work up to 10 minutes. May think about adding 2-5 minutes low level prior to next squat session to warm up.
Legs felt pretty good, even if the weights all felt heavy. Probably should have done more, but time was getting short so I called it there. May do some loaded carries and some abs this evening after baseball practice.
May have to scratch morning squat sessions. Seems like right after waking, lower body takes 30-45 minutes to warm up. Time is not a luxury in the mornings.
