TCam's Log - The Road to Elite

Training Training Logs
261

Auto-Regulation - Accumulation Phase
Week 1 - Day 4 - Bench/Squat

Floor Press w/ Chains(+40)(Wraps):
6 @ 275+40 (8)
6 @ 295+40 (8)
6 @ 275+40 (8)
No Fatigue Drop
e1RM: 375+40

Front Squat (Spud Belt):
6 @ 275 (8)
6 @ 275 (8)
6 @ 275 (8)
No Fatigue Drop
e1RM: 344

Paused JM Press (Elbow Cuffs):
3x8 @ 185

Cable Curls from Above (Lat Pulldown Station):
3x15 @ “75”

Chain Flies:
3x20 @ 20s (Incline, Flat, Decline)

Paused Cable Seated Shrugs w/ Spud Strap (See Below):
15 @ “75”
15 @ “90”
15 @ “105”

Seated shrugs: I’m not sure how to describe these, as I just made it up. On a cable low row station, you take a Spud Y-Strap, which has loops as the arms of the Y shape that you put your arms through up to right above the elbows. Bend elbows and shrug/row it by allowing your upper back to round on the eccentric and shrugging back into and upright position on the concentric. You don’t use your hands as the point of connection, just the elbows, so it’s not a long range of motion, but it hits your traps and lats hard as they should be used in both front squatting and benching. Really difficult actually.

Anyway, apparently I killed it on the floor press today. My PR for a single is 385, and the e1RM for today is 415 at the top. Like I said, I’m not sure how accurate that is with the supplemental lifts, but I’m still happy.

Front squats were a different story. They were very hard and I had to concentrate a lot to stay upright. The speed was okay, but it just felt like shit.

Well, I’ve decided to start my next week tomorrow instead of Saturday in order to relax completely at the beach. It’ll be my fourth day in a row and it marks the beginning of my use of fatigue drops (i.e. adding a lot more volume) and it’s deadlift and bench. We’ll see what happens.

262

Auto-Regulation - Accumulation Phase
Yesterday - Week 2 - Day 1 - Deadlift/Bench

Conventional Deadlift (Spud Belt):
4 @ 365 (7)
4 @ 405 (8)
4 @ 455 (9)
Fatigue Drop 4-6%
4 @ 435 (9)
e1RM: 531

Paused Close Grip Bench (Wraps):
5 @ 255 (7)
5 @ 275 (7)
5 @ 295 (8)
5 @ 315 (8)
Fatigue Drop 4-6%
5 @ 295 (7.5) (Easy enough to go for another set, but cut it here to avoid injury considering I’ve lifted the past 4 days)
e1RM: 388

Superset:
A1 | Straight-Leg Sit-Ups w/ Med Ball:
3x15 @ BW+75

A2 | Hypers on GHR:
3x15 @ BW

Basically deadlift felt like shit and bench felt awesome and I am in no way surprised. I’m happy with matching Saturday’s deadlift (albeit that was without a belt) since I think my back is significantly fatigued from the past 4 days of lifting. Remember, I hadn’t pulled anything over 225 since my meet on March 1st, so jumping back into it like this was rough. My hands took a beating as well as a result. I’m sure they’ll catch up quickly though. Fatigue drop on this went as expected. 435 felt like the 455 set right before it.

Bench was explosive and easy. My top set at 315 was a little slower near the end but I’m pretty sure it was an RPE 8 still. I think this was a paused bench PR as well, since I rarely do sets above 3 paused. Fatigue drop on this was easy, as I mentioned I just cut it at 1 set to avoid injury. I’m sure I wasn’t fully recovered from my previous bench days, so I played it smart I think.

Hopefully I’ll be back in the gym Monday, but it depends on if it’s open.

263

Auto-Regulation - Accumulation Phase
Week 2 - Day 2 - Bench/Squat - Gold’s Gym

Paused Bench (Wraps):
4 @ 275 (7)
4 @ 315 (8.5)
4 @ 335 (9)
Fatigue Drop 4-6%
4 @ 315 (8.5)
4 @ 315 (8.5)
4 @ 315 (9)
e1RM: 388

Squats (Oly Shoes)(Spud Belt):
5 @ 315 (7)
5 @ 365 (7.5)
5 @ 385 (8)
Fatigue Drop 4-6%
5 @ 365 (8)
e1RM: 466

HS Iso-Row:
8 @ 1, 2, 2.5, and 3pps
3x8 @ 3.5pps

HS Shoulder Press:
15 @ 1pps
2x15 @ 1.5pps

Superset:
A1 | Machine Pec Fly:
2x12 @ “120”

A2 | Machine Reverse Fly:
2x12 @ “120”

Had a nice relaxing few days at the beach and all that. Didn’t do much moving and mobility work like I wanted to do, but that’s not a surprise. The usual gym was closed, so we had to go to Gold’s instead.

This was a great bench workout. Hit the same thing as I did last week except with a pause this time. I was expecting just one drop set, but the reps didn’t slow down for another three sets. Lots of control with those.

Squats on the other hand felt like shit. My knees have been hurting for the past 2 weeks, so that’s holding me way back. I think I’m stronger than my e1RM, I just need to get the knees feeling better so that I can push it harder.

Made sure to take advantage of the equipment I don’t have at the regular gym for the accessories. I miss the iso-row from my old gym.

264

Off Day

Went to the gym to get some light movement in. Here’s what I did:

Sled drag - 4x50 yards @ 4 plates, 2 forward/2 backward.
KB swing - 5x10 @ 24 kg
Bird dog holds - 2x3/3 for 10 seconds
KB bottoms up hold - 4x1 for 20 seconds @ 12 kg per hand
Spider-Man crawl - 2x25 yards
Mini band triceps pushdown - 40

Tried some box jumps near the beginning but didn’t want to push it since I’m squatting tomorrow. Hopefully my back and knees feel up for it.

265

Auto-Regulation - Accumulation Phase
Week 2 - Day 3 - Squat/Deadlift

Squat w/ Chains(+90)(Single Prong Belt):
4 @ 335+90 (8)
4 @ 385+90 (8.5)
4 @ 405+90 (9)
Fatigue Drop 4-6%
4 @ 385+90 (9)
e1RM: 463+90

Sumo Deadlift (Beltless):
5 @ 315 (7)
5 @ 365 (7)
5 @ 405 (7)
5 @ 405 (8)
No Fatigue Drop

These squats absolutely killed me. My knees were still hurting, so I decided to use chains instead of straight weight only in order to deload the bottom. This e1RM is by far the highest I’ve done at 553 at the top. I’m not surprised at only having one fatigue set. I had to dig deep to keep my form tight and stay in my groove. It was definitely still an RPE 9, but just very difficult.

I haven’t pulled over 225 sumo in a very long time, so I decided to take it somewhat easy. It felt alright, just a little weird on the hips. I did sumo because my back has been feeling weird for a few days and didn’t want to injure it with deficit pulls. I gotta get my lower back to hold more steady if I want to keep progressing on deadlift though. I think it’s the main thing holding back both deadlift and squat actually.

266

Auto-Regulation - Accumulation Phase Ending
Week 2 - Day 4 - Bench/Squat

SlingShot Floor Press (Wraps):
6 @ 275 (6)
6 @ 295 (6.5)
6 @ 315 (7)
6 @ 335 (8)
No Fatigue Drop
e1RM: 425

Beltless Pause Squat:
5 @ 275 (7)
5 @ 295 (7)
5 @ 315 (8)
No Fatigue Drop
e1RM: 382

DB Hammer Curls:
4x10/10 @ 55s

Cable Pushdowns (Rope):
4x15 @ “110”

Cable Facepull:
3x15 @ “110”

Floor press felt really good. The top set was pretty easy, but it wouldn’t have been an RPE 8 any higher than 335. Very happy with the e1RM on that one.

I took squats really easy because my back was hurting a lot all day yesterday. I did a bunch of mobility work last night and felt fine today, but didn’t want to risk injury. Plus, my first day of the transmutation phase is tomorrow, so I’ll be deadlifting, squatting, and deadlifting. It’s about to get interesting.

267

Auto-Regulation - Trasmutation Phase
Week 1 - Day 1 - Deadlift/Squat

Deadlift (Spud Belt):
3 @ 405 (7)
3 @ 435 (8)
3 @ 465 (8)
3 @ 495 (9)(Video)
Fatigue Drop 4-6%
3 @ 465 (9)
e1RM: 566

Cambered Bar Squat (Spud Belt):
5 @ 315 (7)
5 @ 335 (7)
5 @ 355 (7)
5 @ 385 (8)
Fatigue Drop 4-6%
5 @ 365 (7.5)
5 @ 365 (7.5)
5 @ 365 (8)
e1RM: 467

Paused Deadlift (Beltless):
4 @ 275 (7)
4 @ 315 (7)
4 @ 335 (7)
4 @ 365 (8)
No Fatigue Drop
e1RM: 435

Couple sets of BW hypers.

First day of the real program was brutal. Saturdays are definitely going to be the toughest days. I went with 3’s instead of continuing with the 4’s on deadlift to try and keep my back healthy. I decided to reset on each rep and change my setup for the same reason, as you’ll see in the video below. My back still rounds, but overall I’m a lot tighter and safer I think. Very happy with the 3x495, since my PR is 4x495 and that is the same thing considering the RPE.

Grip was my limiting factor on the top set of deadlift. My callouses all but disappeared after not doing deadlift for so long, so I’m having to recondition them.

Cambered bar squatting feels a whole lot better on my knees for some reason, so that felt great today. I didn’t think I’d have so many fatigue sets in me, and it was really hard, but they kept moving well.

Due to how long it was taking me, I had to basically meld in the paused deadlifts with the squats. They weren’t supersets, but I would do a set of squats, rest a minute or two and then do a set of paused deadlift. They felt really good for the most part though, so I’m happy about that.

268

Auto-Regulation - Transmutation
Week 1 - Day 2 - Bench/Deadlift

Paused Bench (Wraps):
3 @ 275 (7)
3 @ 315 (8)
3 @ 335 (8.5)
3 @ 345 (9)
Fatigue Drop 4-6%
3 @ 325 (8)
3 @ 325 (9)
e1RM: 389

2" Deficit Deadlift (Belt):
4 @ 365 (7)
4 @ 405 (7.5)
4 @ 425 (8)
4 @ 445 (8)
Fatigue Drop 4-6%
4 @ 425 (8)
e1RM: 530

JM Press (Wraps):
8 @ 155 (7)
8 @ 175 (7)
8 @ 195 (7.5)

DB Lateral Raise:
3x12 @ 35s

Cable Curls from Above (Lat Pulldown Station):
2x15 @ “75”

Another long and difficult workout in the books. I’m happy with how everything went though. Bench was fast for the most part and I’m getting better and better at pausing and exploding off the chest. Also I’m controlling the bar really well.

Deficit pulls were hard, but it was a mental game of forcing myself into putting the effort in and it paid off pretty well. The e1RM is basically the same as my regular deadlift from last week, so I’m glad to be back into pulling and getting better. I had been planning to do beltless on this, but my lower back on the left side had cramped during bench and I didn’t want to injure myself.

JM press acted as my “developmental exercise” for the week. I was going to do DB press, but I didn’t feel like it. I’m not sure how to address the dev. exercise for bench other than those two, honestly. I may keep doing it this way or I may change it up.

269

Auto-Regulation - Transmutation
Week 1 - Day 3 - Squat/Bench

Squat (Spud Belt):
3 @ 365 (8)
3 @ 405 (8.5)
3 @ 425 (9)
Fatigue Drop 4-6%
3 @ 405 (8.5)
3 @ 405 (9)
e1RM: 472

Floor Press (Wraps)(Paused first and last reps):
5 @ 275 (7)
5 @ 295 (7)
5 @ 315 (8)
Fatigue Drop 4-6%
5 @ 300 (7)
5 @ 300 (7.5)
5 @ 300 (8)
e1RM: 388

Paused Squat (Beltless)(Superset with floor press):
5 @ 225 (6)
5 @ 275 (7)
5 @ 295 (7)
5 @ 315 (7.5)
No Fatigue Drop

Hyperextension:
3x12 @ BW+75

Bird-dogs:
3x15/15

McGill Curl-Up (1 second hold):
3x15

Supinated Band Triceps Kickback:
3x12/12 @ Mini

Squatting felt abysmal today. Basically my knees aching and my hips being way too loose made me lose my ability to control the weight down and not bottom out each rep. So instead of stopping somewhat near parallel, I had to go ATG. That plus feeling just plain weak did not add up to a strong squat session. Paused squats did feel better though, I just didn’t get a lot of volume in on those. I think I may do something like 3 sets at 7.5 RPE on my development exercise, since the weight is going to be light.

Floor press felt great, I’m really happy with all my bench exercises recently. My PR at 315 is 6, so my top set was basically rated at a theoretical PR, if I had kept going to failure.

Bird-dogs and McGill curl-ups felt good. I need to add them as a warm up for my core too, maybe it would help my squatting and pulling.

270

Auto-Regulation - Transmutation
Week 1 - Day 4 - Mostly just bench

Close Grip Bench (Wraps):
5 @ 275 (7)
5 @ 295 (7.5)
5 @ 315 (8) (Paused)
Add SlingShot
12 @ 315 (4 reps over non-assisted PR)
e1RM: 388

SSB Squat (Didn’t follow my program on these because of how it felt):
Bar
2x5 @ 145
5 @ 235
3x5 @ 235 (High box)

RDL (Same as above):
3x10 @ 135

Band Dimel Deadlift:
2x20 @ Bar+Short Black Bands

Cable Triceps Pushdown:
2x15 @ “120”
15 @ “110”

KB Hammer Curl:
3x12/12 @ 16 kg

McGill Curl-Ups (1 Second Hold):
3x15

I may need to shift my days so that I’m not doing this workout 16 hours before my main deadlift day. If I feel like shit on my lower exercises like I did today, I basically can’t do it because I don’t want to hurt my more important workout on the next day (tomorrow).

Bench felt great though. Some shoulder tightness, but I’m not surprised since I haven’t done close grip that much recently. It seems like every bench exercise I’ve done recently has a 388 e1RM. Wonder how accurate it is.

271

Auto-Regulation - Transmutation
Week 2 - Day 1 - Deadlift/Squat

Deadlift w/ Chains(+80) (Spud Belt):
4 @ 365+80 (8)
4 @ 405+80 (8)
4 @ 425+80 (8.5)
4 @ 445+80 (9)(Video)
Fatigue Drop 7%
4 @ 415+80 (9)
e1RM: 509+80

2 Second Pause Squat (Beltless)
5 @ 275 (7)
5 @ 315 (7.5)
5 @ 335 (8)(Video)
Fatigue Drop 4-6%
5 @ 315 (7)
5 @ 315 (8)
e1RM: 406

Pause Deadlift (Beltless):
4 @ 315 (6)
4 @ 365 (7.5)
4 @ 385 (8) (20 lb. PR!)
No Fatigue Drop
e1RM: 458

McGill Curl-Ups (1 Second Hold):
3x15

Damn this was rough. The deadlifts didn’t come to me as easy as last week, but I dealt with it and pushed through. I’m pretty happy with the top set on those. I felt like I was moving really slowly because I was trying to control everything, but the video shows that I moved the reps pretty quickly.

My knees felt alright on the pause squats finally. I wasn’t super strong on them, but I had enough control to stop before bottoming out on most of the reps.

Paused deadlift was hard as hell. My hands were killing me by the end of the workout, I guess they’re still not accustomed to deadlifting again. I didn’t realize that I PR’d on the top set until I checked my log just now. That’s always fun.

272

Auto-Regulation - Transmutation
Yesterday - Week 2 - Day 2 - Bench/Deadlift

Paused Bench w/ Chains(+90)(Wraps):
3 @ 255+90 (8)
3 @ 275+90 (9)
3 @ 285+90 (9.5)(PR)
Fatigue Drop 4-6%
3 @ 270+90 (9.5)
e1RM: 317+90

2" Deficit Deadlift (Beltless):
4 @ 365 (7)
4 @ 405 (7)
4 @ 425 (8)
Fatigue Drop 4-6%
4x4 @ 405 (All 7.5’s)
4 @ 405 (8)
e1RM: 506

Bench (TnG, Completely raw):
5 @ 255 (6)
5 @ 275 (7)
5 @ 295 (7)
5 @ 315 (7.5)
No Fatigue Sets
e1RM: 394

This was one of my best performances of this program so far. My right pec has been feeling tight for a couple of days, so I decided to use chains on my main lift. Turned out pretty well I’d say, with the PR at 285+90 and the e1RM at 2 lbs. over my 1RM PR (315+90).

The way I’m doing 9.5 RPE isn’t the same as Mike Tuchscherer. I think he considers that “maybe one left in the tank”, I’m considering it something more like “I could do another triple above this weight”, because I definitely could NOT have gotten another rep at 285+90, but I could have done another triple at 295+90, it just would have been max effort (RPE 10).

Deficit deadlifts were a surprise to me. The top set was decent, at 425, although it’s 20 lbs. less than last week (but beltless this time). The fatigue sets were the real surprise though, as it took me 5 extra sets to get back to an RPE 8. I’m learning how to use my lats and coil up like a spring at the bottom, so hopefully these translate to a bigger 1RM, otherwise I basically did a 7x4 for nothing. lol

Touch-and-go benching was super easy as well. Probably has to do with PAP from the chains, still very happy with it.

273

Auto-Regulation - Transmutation
Week 2 - Day 3 - Squat/Bench

Reverse Band Squat (Light Bands)(Spud Belt/Wrist Wraps):
3 @ 415 (8.5) (55 lb. bar)
3 @ 435 (8.5)
3 @ 465 (9)
3 @ 475 (9)
3 @ 485 (9.5)
Fatigue Drop 4-6%
3 @ 455 (9.5)
e1RM: 529

SlingShot Bench (Wraps):
4 @ 315 (6)
4 @ 345 (7.5)
4 @ 365 (7.5)
4 @ 375 (8)
Fatigue Drop 4-6%
4 @ 355 (7.5)
4 @ 355 (8)
e1RM: 448

Pause Squat (Beltless)(Superset with bench):
5 @ 235 (6)
5 @ 285 (7)
5 @ 315 (7.5)
No Fatigue Drop

I was fairly certain this workout was going to kill me by the end of it. I thought I was done for on the 415 set of squats because it felt pretty bad, but once I hit 465, the weights felt better or more natural or something. Either way, I got warmed up and my knees weren’t as achey as they have been, although still some pain. I didn’t mean to take as many sets as I did to get to my top set, I just underestimated how I was feeling I guess. I’m not sure how much the bands took off, but as you can see from the video, it wasn’t much.

SlingShot bench felt good, I’m glad I’ve figured out how to use it on full ROM bench. By this point I had already been in the gym a long time and I was exhausted, but the weights kept moving well. I finished my paused squats before this actually and had to force extra difficulty on my last fatigue set at 355 by slowing the eccentric and pausing the last rep, otherwise I would have gone for another two sets and this already took over 2 hours. Either way, super happy about how bench has been going. Hopefully I can keep riding that momentum. This was a huge e1RM performance.

274

Auto-Regulation - Transmutation
Week 2 - Day 4 - Squat/Bench Secondaries

Pin Squats:
5 @ 275 (7)
5x5 @ 315 (All 8’s)

Paused Floor Press w/ Chains(+80)(Wraps):
5 @ 225+40 (7)
3x5 @ 225+80 (8)
5 @ 225+80 (8.5)

Accessories (Light):
Cable Pull-Throughs
Leg Curls
Barbell Curls

I was incredibly sore from my squats the other day, so this was pretty miserable. I decided to do repeats at 315 instead of going heavier. I was planning on reaching RPE 8 and then repeat until I hit an 8.5, but after 5 sets without getting there I figured I would do more harm than good since my main deadlift day is tomorrow morning. We’ll see how that goes, because my back isn’t remotely recovered.

I’m going to switch my days starting on Monday. I’ll be doing SQ/BE/SQ on Mondays, SQ/BE/DL secondaries on Wednesdays, DL/SQ/DL on Fridays, and BE/DL/BE on Saturdays. That way the only way my Saturdays will be affected is if my back is too sore to get into an arch for bench and my DL supplemental may not be the best.

275

Auto-Regulation - Transmutation
Week 3 - Day 0 - Deadlift/Squat

Deadlift (Spud Belt):
3 @ 445 (8)
3 @ 465 (9)
3 @ 495 (9.5)
3 @ 515 (10)(PR)
Fatigue Drop 7-10%
3 @ 465 (10)
e1RM: 562

Cambered Bar Squat (Beltless):
3x5 @ 335 (All 8’s)

Pause Deadlift (Beltless)(Straps):
4 @ 315 (7)
4 @ 365 (7)
4 @ 385 (8)

Accessories:
Ab Wheel Roll-Out: 4x10
Lat Pulldown: 3x10 @ “120”

Called this Day 0 because of the transition to the new weekly setup starting on Monday. Deadlift felt really good up until I finished my PR set at 515. I guess it took a lot out of me, because I wasn’t very strong on the next two exercises. Just did repeats on the squats and I felt very weak on those. Pause deadlift was okay. I had my girlfriend call out when to pause so it was random. Very difficult, not sure it’s the safest thing to do though.

My back has been hurting all day after this workout, so hopefully sleeping and some rolling around on the floor will help it. Monday will be main squats, but I’ll probably have to take it somewhat easy. If I followed through exactly as planned I would have to make myself squat 6 workout in a row (including the past 3 workouts). May have to skip it on Wednesday and just bench and deadlift. We’ll see how I feel though.

276

Auto-Regulation - Transmutation
Yesterday - Week 3 - Day 1 - Squat/Bench

Squat w/ Chains(+130) (Spud Belt):
3 @ 315+130 (8)
3 @ 335+130 (8)
3 @ 355+130 (9)
3 @ 375+130 (9.5)
3 @ 395+130 (10) (Benchmark PR. Never squatted with this much chain)
No Fatigue Drop
e1RM: 423+130

Floor Press (Wraps):
4 @ 275 (7)
4 @ 295 (7)
4 @ 315 (8)
No Fatigue Drop
e1RM: 376

Breathing Paused Squat (1 Exhale, 1 Inhale)(Beltless):
7x5 @ 225 (Speed)

Accessories:
Band Triceps Pushdown: 3x15 @ Light
Lying Hamstring Curl: 4x15 @ “100”
Barbell Curl 21’s: 3x21 @ Bar

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I came into the gym. My knees have been feeling like shit, so I decided to use a ton of chain to deload the bottom. My top set was my all time PR of 525 at the top, so that was nice to walk that out and hold it for a few reps. No fatigue sets on this or floor press, treated today as a small deload from volume.

Breathing paused squats are interesting. I kept them at speed squat weight in order to feel them out. I think I’ll move up in weight on them and see if they keep feeling safe. It seems like they could be useful for a more thorough understanding how to press out with my breath.

If you’ve followed, you’ve seen me say I’m changing this or that about the program. It’s going to keep changing as I figure out what is too much frequency-wise and if I need to replace one day with an accessory only day. I’m still working on everything basically.

277

Okay, I think I have a general plan that I can work with. 3 week volume phase started on this previous Monday (not really considering the workout, but whatever) and then a 3 week intensity phase immediately after. That’s a general guideline Mike T seems to mention a lot. Today’s workout was my SQ/BE/DL/MP day. My goal here on this day is to do the first 3 exercises for 20 minutes (and 15 for MP) getting as much volume in as I can at a certain RPE. The times include warming up with the bar up to the last set.

RTS - Volume Phase - Week 1 - Day 2

Cambered Bar Squat (Beltless)(Finished in 21 min):
5x6 @ 335 (8)

Touch-and-Go Bench (Wraps)(Finished in 21 min):
5 @ 275 (7)
3x5 @ 295 (8)

Snatch Grip Deadlift (Beltless)(Straps)(Finished in 20 min):
6x4 @ 365 (8)

Military Press (Wraps)(Finished in 15 min):
6x6 @ 135 (8)

This was tough conditioning-wise. I think it’s going to be a good day to include though, because my other 3 days will be higher intensity and this allows me to get a lot of volume in on a few special exercises at once.

Speaking of exercise selection, I’m working off of priority ideas from Mike T. The categories are these:
Primary main: Competition lifts
Primary assistance: Bottom of movement exercises like paused SQ/BE and deficit DL
Primary supplement: Specialty movements and loading like TnG BE, Cambered SQ, and snatch grip DL
Secondary main: This is reserved for bench lockout only, SlingShot, chains, and bands.
Secondary assistance: Movements pretty far from comp lifts at this point like front and Oly squat, military and DB press for bench, and good mornings and rows for DL.

Other than secondary main, I’ll be doing each one of those categories once per week per lift. 4 slots for squat, 4 slots for deadlift, and 5 slots for bench. The secondary assistance should help keep my deadlift volume in check since I could be doing rows on one of those slots instead of an actual deadlift.

The exercises in each category can change as I see fit for my own weaknesses and carryovers. Basically as you move down the list, they will have less carryover. But I see primary assistance and secondary main as almost equals for bench.

Anyway, sorry for the wall of text if you’re reading, hopefully this helps some of you understand exercise selection and how to keep things fresh!

278

RTS - Volume Phase
Week 1 - Day 3 (Yesterday) - Deadlift/Squat

Deadlift (Spud Belt):
4x405 @ 8
4x435 @ 8
4x455 @ 8.5
4x475 @ 9
No Fatigue Drop
e1RM: 554

Paused Squat (Beltless):
5x275 @ 8
5x315 @ 8
5x335 @ 8
5x355 @ 9
No Fatigue Drop
e1RM: 430

Pendlay Rows (Straps)(Spud Belt):
4x6x315 @ 9

Based on the speed you can see in the video below, I probably could have done more than I did. But these all really felt like 9’s. I just don’t lift slowly or I’ll fail the lift.

Deadlift felt pretty good I’d say. I beat the 455x4@9 that I did a couple weeks ago, so that’s good. I think I could get 495x4 @ 9 next week which would be a PR, since my PR at 495 is 4, which was an RPE 10 at the time.

Squatting continues to hurt my knees, but it got better as I got warmed up and the weight got heavier. Again, speed looks really good in the video.

Pendlay rows were my deadlift “Secondary Assistance” exercise. They weren’t strict, but I don’t think they need to be in order to increase my deadlift. It just needs to be heavy enough to compare to my other deadlift exercises.

279

RTS - Volume Phase
Week 1 - Day 4 - Bench/Deadlift

Comp. Bench (Short Pause)(Wraps):
4x275 @ 7
4x295 @ 8 (Pec pain)
4x315 @ 8 (More pain, gotta cut it here)
e1RM: 376 - Pretty much invalid though

SlingShot Bench (Wraps):
4x315 @ <6 (Still causing pain. Can’t bench today apparently. Choose your battles)

2" Deficit Deadlift (Spud Belt)(Straps):
4x365 @ 8
4x405 @ 8
4x425 @ 8.5
4x445 @ 9
No Fatigue Sets
e1RM: 519

Accessories:
Barbell Overhead Carry: 3x50 yards @ 135
Cable Low Row (Neutral): 3x12 @ “205”

I can’t say I’m not horribly pissed off about the pec hurting, but I didn’t let it ruin my workout or day. I didn’t mention it on Wednesday, but it was aching during bench then, so I wasn’t surprised about today. I didn’t strain it like I’ve done so many times before, but it was close. The weight all felt easy. Just gotta recover for the next 55 hours or so until the next bench workout and hope for the best.

Deadlift felt pretty awful at first. I had just pulled heavy about 16 hours before, so I’m actually really happy with what I ended up with here. The top set was tough, but strong.

Barbell overhead carry was a first for me. I like it a lot for shoulder, upper back, and core work. Quick way to get that work in, so I may use it a couple times per week.

280

Volume Phase - Week 2 - Day 1
Squat/“Bench”

Squat (Oly Shoes)(Single Prong):
4x385 @ 8
4x405 @ 8
4x425 @ 9 (Video. Fucked up 3rd rep)
5% Fatigue Drop
4x405 @ 8.5
4x405 @ 8
4x405 @ 8.5
4x405 @ 9
e1RM: 486

Military Press (Wraps)(Replacing bench because of pec):
5x135 @ 7
5x155 @ 8
5x175 @ 9
5% Fatigue Drop
5x165 @ 8
5x165 @ 8
5x165 @ 9

Pause Squat (Chucks)(Beltless):
6x275 @ 8
6x275 @ 8
6x275 @ 9

So I’ve decided to give the Oly shoes another chance for back squats and see where it leads me. I’m doing it because of my knee pain and today it seemed to take it away. They also helped me stop before going too deep in the hole and kept me more upright. It felt okay up until 425 and the first 2 reps were fine, then the 3rd I lost my position. I knew it was just a form thing, so I got the 4th somewhat easy. The fatigue sets were a whole lot better after that and I ended up getting another 4 sets at 405. Felt like I was doing Smolov today.

Obviously MP took the place of bench because of the pec pain. Maybe on Wednesday I’ll be good to go on that. MP felt good and I’m happy to get the volume in since the weight is so pathetic.

Paused squat in chucks felt okay at first but I was ruined for squatting by that point, so I decided to cap it at 275.