Deadlift
Bar x 10
65 x 5
105 x 3
125 x 3
137.5 x 6 x 3 sets (303 lbs) RPE - 3, 3, 4
Fast.
Squat 310
Bar x 10
65 x 5
85 x 5
105 x 6 x 3 sets (231 lbs) RPE 8, 8, 8
Nice reps but lungs pumping after !!
Bench
Bar x 10
65 x 5
87.5 x 6 x 3 sets (193 lbs) RPE 7, 7, 7
First felt slow, the other two were ok.
Db row
32.5 x 8 x 5 sets - short rests good pump
Pull ups
6 x 3 sets
Good session tonight deadlifts felt really good. Squats were solid and bench moved ok.
Starting to get a little group of people who train in a similar fashion to me at the gym now. By that I mean strength training with either powerlifting or Strongman bias. There are two pretty strong guys and a girl who train together (guys are stronger than me). They were there tonight and after my second set of deadlifts they all looked up and said ‘very nice’. Made me feel pretty good.
After my second set of tempo paused squats the girl looks at me and says ‘you coach hates you’. This made me laugh. My response was ‘I think you are right !!’
I am training 3 days a week, with squat and bench in every session and deadlifts once a week. The squat and bench cycles from heavy to light. The training block is 3 weeks then a deload. Weight progresses over the block and then resets.
Day 1 - Heavy squat, light bench, then accessories - Bulgarian split squat and dumbell bench
Day 2 - Heavy bench, Light squat, accessories - bent over row, pull ups, abs
Day 3 - Deadlift, Medium squat which at the moment is a tempo paused squat, medium bench, accessories- dumbell Row.
It’s a total guess. For me a 3 says I felt like I could do 7 more reps. But in truth I could probably have done more. For the coach it just tells him I found it easy so no need to change anything. RPE is more useful if I keep saying 10, this tells us we may need to adjust something to manage fatigue or recover.
Ahh, yes. Part two of the community. I “know” a pretty good amount of people at the gym but I don’t even know their names. We exchange head nods or “How’s it going?” out of mutual respect.
RPE is Rate if Perceived exertion or relative perceived effort.
Basically the way I work it a 10 means you can’t do any more reps, 9 means 1 in the tank, 8 means 2 in the tank. You get the idea. Anything under a 7 or 8 is pretty meaningless really it just says I found it relatively easy or perceived it to be easy.
If the RPE continues to be 9 or 10 or a fail reps then the coach uses this as well as talking to me to make minor tweaks to the program.
No idea why the post deleted? I actually know a few names now and we talk about training or programming or what’s on for the weekend. We are post the nod stage.
Didn’t have a great weekend as far as food and sleep. Poor food choices and slight lack of motivation to eat properly, meant that protein was a little low on both days and carbs were high. Also bad sleep for a few days at the end of last week and Saturday night left me feeling wrecked on Sunday. Felt genuinely tired and stiff, particularly in my knees. I haven’t felt like that for a while now and haven’t felt creaky in the knees since I have up the running. Went to bed on time last night and slept really well last night. Still feel a little tired but heaps better today. Heavy squats tonight so glad my knees are feeling less achy.
Mainly unrelated to your current knee situation but I have never seen you lift in knee sleeves. Any particular reason? Those could potentially be a worthwhile (although not decisively important) investment. Especially on days were your knees are a bit cranky.
When I have a streak of eating/sleeping well everything goes right in subtle ways but soon as some shitty days come in I feel it impacting training significantly
Funnily enough I have just purchased my first pair of knee sleeves. I have never used them before but will start soon. Why not already you may ask? I have no idea other than I was going to finish this block and then start. I have no idea why I chose to do that, it just seemed a logical time to start using them!!
Squat
Bar x 10
65 x 5
85 x 3
105 x 3
115 x 3
125 x 4 x 5 sets (275 lbs) RPE 8, 7, 8, 8, 8
Quads sore but moved ok. Feeling good for next week.
Bench
Bar x 10
65 x 5
87.5 x 8 x 5 sets(193 lbs) RPE- 8, 8, 9, 9, 9
Puuuuump city
Bulgarians
27.5 x 8 x 4 sets
Rests short, these hurt !!
Db bench
35 x 9 x 4 sets
Moved fine, last rep of last set I had to push hard, good pump.
Great session especially given the fatigue I felt yesterday. Took some advice from @MarkKO and moved a bit quicker tonight. All done 1hr 20 mins felt good.
