TCam's Log - The Road to Elite

Training Training Logs
441

The Volume Grind - Week 2 - Day 4

Bench w/ Chains:
4x225+40
4x275+40
3x4x315+40
5x315+40 / 4x275+40 / 5x225+40 - Drop Set

Dumbbell Bench:
3x15x100s

Sumo Deadlift - Okie Bar - Straps:
3x10x405

Band Triceps Pushdown:
3x20 @ Light Band

Chest-Support T-Bar Row - Feet on Ground:
8x90 (2 plates)
8x135 (3p)
3x8x160 (3.5p)
8x135 (3p)

I’m still very happy with how bench is going for me. I decided to do the chain work for the main sets today rather than doing straight weight and then adding chains for lockout specific work. Got a lot of lockout volume in that way. I think all of that was a volume PR for chain bench. The drop set was pretty brutal. I think next time I’d probably go with 315-225-135 to keep it a little lighter. 275+40 was a bit much right after a really heavy 5.

I wanted to try the Okie bar on sumo because I thought it would seem more like a block pull than I could do with conventional, since I can actually take the slack out of a sumo pull. I definitely will keep doing these with this bar. This made 62 reps at 405 over the past 16 hours, so I’m sure I’ll have more in me moderately fresh.

I liked the chest-supported T-Bar rows with the feet on the ground as opposed to on the foot pads. Standing on the ground allowed me to both use more weight and contract more of my back muscles fully. It seems like a good deadlift accessory and should help the other two lifts obviously too. This was my heavy horizontal row that I needed to catch up on. Light vertical row and shrugs will be tomorrow.

442

Sunday - The Volume Grind - Week 2 - Day 5

Incline Bench - Moderate Grip - Touch and Go:
3x8x225
12x225 @ 9 - Calling this my PR for record keeping

Unilateral Lat Pulldown:
4x12x160

HS Machine Shrugs - Straps:
15x180
3x12x270
15x180

Standing EZ Bar Curl:
3x10x100

Cable Cross-Over Biceps Curl:
3x20x40 (20 per hand)

Farmer’s Walk:
4 x 50 ft. x 105 lbs per hand - Basically 2 trips of 100 feet in 50 ft. segments (2 x 50 ft., drop, rest 15 seconds, go back 50 ft., rest fully)
My left hand grip failed pretty miserably on the last 50 ft. So I did these holds instead of continuing:
3 holds for time w/ 105s - Left hand held for 20-25 seconds each / Right hand held 30-40 seconds each. Crazy difference.

Other than my grip being a bitch, I’m pretty satisfied with this workout. The incline felt much smoother than it did a couple weeks ago, my groove is a lot better with a closer grip because it allows me to better push back over my face. I’d really like to get my strength up on incline because I’ve neglected it for so long, I think it could help my flat bench.

I got a killah pahmp after incline in my back, biceps, and forearms.

443

Tuesday - The Volume Grind - Week 3 - Day 1

Banded Squats - Beltless - 1 Avg. per side:
4x275+130
4x315+130
6x4x365+130

High Bar Paused Squat - Beltless:
4x8x315 - PR for high bar. This was very rough.

Snatch Grip Deadlift - Beltless - Straps:
8x315
4x5x405 - PR. 4x425 is the heaviest I’ve done, but that was with a belt.

A1 | Leg Extension:
20x80
2x20x90

A2 | Seated Band Leg Curl:
3x20 w/ Avg.

It seems like the workouts that don’t look like much on paper are the hardest. This doesn’t look like I did all that much, but I was absolutely beat after it. I had done banded squats once in the past couple years and that last one was in June '14, so I was thoroughly not ready for them, especially in Oly shoes. They didn’t move very fast, they weren’t supposed to be speed squats, but they didn’t look horrible from what I could tell.

I’m getting a little better at my high bar squats, I think. I figured out tonight that if I actually expand my chest out and arch my thoracic extensors, I am better off. I’m not used to that for my low bar, otherwise I would have tried it sooner. Regardless, the volume was ridiculous on those today and my calves almost cramped on the last set, something that never happens during squats for me.

Snatch grip deadlift is something I definitely want to be more regular in my rotation. They are incredibly tough on the whole back, especially the upper back. I feel like if I can pull over 500 this way, it’ll help my competition pull a lot.

444

The Volume Grind - Week 3 - Day 2

Bench - Touch and Go:
7x275
9x315 @ 9.5 - 1 rep PR! e1RM: 420
3x7x315 @ 9 - All of this was a big PR with 315

Spoto Press:
3x12x225 - Still keeping it light for the pecs

Lat Pulldown - Neutral Grip:
8x180
8x200
8x220
8x200
8x180

HS Iso-Row:
3x15x230
32x230 - Mechanical drop set: 8/8/8/8 reps on low pronated / wide neutral / narrow neutral / high pronated

Cable Facepull:
3x15x70

DB Fly:
2x20x25s

Nothing like adding another rep to a whole plate count bench. I’ll be hitting that 10th rep soon if I work with 315 again. I called it a 9.5 because I wasn’t 100% sure if I could get another, but I think I actually could have gotten it. It’s training economy though, if I had gone for the 10th it would have depleted me for the remaining sets. Being able to hit a 3x7 right afterwards is more impressive and important than the single set rep max.

I am surprised I was able to move the weight as well as I did, because my elbows and shoulders were pretty achy. I was kind of all over the place on a couple of my reps. But I can’t complain too much.

This was a pretty rough back attack for me. I got over 25,000 lbs of volume in there. I doubt the 32 rep set was necessary, but it just felt right at the time. Hopefully it’s all worth it.

445

Friday - The Volume Grind - Week 3 - Day 3

Deadlift w/ Chain (+75) - Beltless:
4x365+75
4x405+75
4x435+75
4x455+75 @ 8.5 - Maybe a PR, not sure.
4x4x405+75 - All around RPE 7-8. Straps.

Front Squat - Beltless:
4x8x225 - Piston style for the most part. No lockout, just keep moving up and down.

Cable Low Row:
8x220
8x240
2x8x220

Unilateral Machine Wide Lat Pulldown:
15x120
15x140
15x120

The first two exercises took way too long due to socializing, so I had to rush through the back work. I’ll have to catch up on some hamstring and ab work.

Deadlift felt pretty good. I’m surprised my bar weight is so low for these. It seems like I should be able to hit like 500 for 4 since my 4RM is something like 535. It’s lighter off the floor, so I’d think it would be easier, but it just doesn’t work that way for me. Still, I’m happy with the moderately easy top set.

Front squats suck. Just trying to chip away at them though.

446

Saturday - The Volume Grind - Week 3 - Day 4

Bench - Paused:
4x275
4x315
5x4x335
5x335

SlingShot Bench - TnG - 3 AMRAPs:
7x365 - Match PR
2x6x365

2" Sumo Block Pull - Beltless - Straps - 3 AMRAPs:
5x405
12x455 - +2 or 3 reps PR
10x455
10x455

Dips:
3x20xBW - Maybe a PR. This was very easy for some reason.

Lying Leg Curl:
3x15x90

I went down to Tuscaloosa to lift with friends, so this took almost 3 hours. It also meant I got hand-offs that I’m not used to, so that kind of threw me off my game. But I still got a good amount of work in. My pecs were getting tight near the end, so I need to make sure I’m recovering them well enough.

I alternated sets of SS bench and deadlift, so that was pretty tough. But I rested entirely between each thing, so I basically got twice the normal rest (bench, rest fully to the point where I could bench again, but instead do a deadlift set, repeat)

One more workout and then I’ll deload the volume a bit for a week.

447

The Volume Grind - Week 3 - Day 5

A1 | Military Press:
8x135
8x155
3x8x165
10x165 - Calling this a baseline PR to beat

A2 | Pull-Ups - Straps:
4x10xBW

Barbell Holds - Grip Work:
4x10-12 seconds @ 315 - Pathetic

Barbell Shrugs - Straps:
3x12x315

DB Hammer Curls - FatGripz:
4x10/10x45s

Machine Curls:
3x15x110

Planks on Swiss Ball:
3x0:45

Cardio - Recumbent Bike:
3 minutes warm-up @ 12 (half resistance)
5 rounds of: Sprint 0:10 @ 12 → 0:20 @ 25 (full resistance) → Slow 1:30 @ 12
3 minutes cool-down @ 12

Let’s talk about that cardio first: Sweet fuck, fuck that. If it’s hard to tell what it is, it was 3 minutes of warm up at half resistance which was immediately followed by an all out sprint for 10 seconds at the same resistance, at which point you crank the resistance all the way up while still sprinting all out for another 20 seconds. Then you go back to a normal pace of like 70 rpm at half resistance for a minute and a half. Repeat another 4 times and want to die. It took like 14:30 to do and I went over 3.5 miles I think. Pretty sure that’s the most cardio I’ve done in years. Apparently this is something similar to what Layne Norton does. I didn’t really hate it that much, the recumbent bike made it tolerable, as opposed to sitting on a tiny-ass Airdyne seat. I’ll see if I can get better at this circuit.

The rest of the workout was alright, I was just very tight around my pecs and back. I’ll be stretching out and foam rolling a good bit tomorrow. I’m deloading by either going up in weight and down in total volume or just dropping a few exercises for the week. I’m not sure how I want to handle it yet.

448

The Volume Grind - Deload - Week 4 - Day 1

Squat w/ Belt:
3x365
3x405
3x435
3x3x455 @ RPE 7/8/7.5 - Stayed very calm for these.

Beltless High Bar Squat:
4x315
4x365
4x405 - PR, I guess. Never used 405 for high bar. A little heavy for a deload though.
2x4x365 - Note to self: Keep using the chest up cue for high bar.

Stiff-Leg Deadlift - Beltless - Double Overhand:
4x8x275

Hyperextension:
3x15 @ BW+45

Weighted Planks:
1:00 @ BW+45
2x0:45 @ BW+45

I decided to go with the heavy version of a deload to decrease volume instead of dropping an exercise. 425 was the most I had on my back since the meet until today. I’m happy to report that 455 didn’t feel heavy at all, even with having to use a staggered stance to take the weight out due to the problems I talked about recently with the pegs/J-hooks. I wasn’t particularly explosive, but I did have a good amount of control and endurance. The first set felt like I had 3 more in me despite being somewhat slow.

High bar felt great tonight. I figured taking the belt off would make it a lot more difficult relative to the belted low bar squats, but I maintained a lot of control.

Need to do more double overhand SLDL for grip work.

449

The Volume Grind - Deload - Week 4 - Day 2

3 Ct. Paused Bench:
4x275
3x4x315 @ RPE 8/7/7 - Elbow cuffs necessary for elbow pain. Otherwise very easy.

DB Floor Press - Paused:
3x12x100s

Lat Pulldown:
8x180
8x200
8x180
8x180 + 8x140 - Drop set

Chest-Supported T-Bar Row - Feet on Ground:
4x12x90 (2p)

A1 | Cable Facepull:
3x15x65

A2 | Band Pull-Apart:
3x20 @ Mini

Band Triceps Pushdown:
2x20/20 @ Mini

Barbell Curl:
2x20+10 - Regular+Reverse

This was a decent workout for all the pain I was experiencing during it. It was my left shoulder and elbow in the biceps area, and my right elbow at the triceps attachment. Pretty annoying for that to pop up, but that’s why I knocked out the facepulls+pull-aparts and it seemed to help a good bit.

As noted, the bench sets were really easy. Not much to note on them.

450

Friday - The Volume Grind - Week 4 - Day 3 - Deload

Deadlift w/ Belt - Okie Bar:
3x365
3x405
3x455
3x495
3x3x515 @ 8.5/9/9 - Biggest issue was the cheese grater knurling

Beltless High Bar Paused Squat:
4x4x315

Cable Low Row - Medium Neutral - Straps:
8x220
3x8x260 (Stack) - PR at this gym
+8x220 - Drop set

Lat Pulldown - Wide Grip:
3x12x160

McGill Curl Up - 3 Second Hold:
2x10 - Abs started cramping at this point

Pretty simple workout here honestly. This was the first time I’ve used my belt for deadlifting since the meet and it felt okay. 515 is not a lot of weight, so I’m not thrilled about that, but it’s coming back around soon.

Low row was done with a lean forward to really stretch the lats and then I leaned back to pull through hard. Definitely a good way to actually target the lats instead of just moving weight.

The Volume Grind - Week 4 - Day 4 - Deload

SlingShot Bench:
3x315
2x365
1x405 - Awful rep. Leaned way to the left for some reason.
1x405 - Much better, but not going up in weight due to the first being terrible.
8x365 - +1 rep PR!

Pin Press / Floor Press (Explained below):
3x8x275

4" Rack Pull - Beltless - Straps:
5x3x405 - Need to work in this ROM, very bad at it.

Pec Deck:
2x20x115

DB Rear Delt Fly:
3x15x50s

Triceps Pushdown - Straight Bar:
2x15+15x50 - Reverse+Regular Grips

I’m feeling pretty beat up at the moment, so I didn’t really want to do unsupported full ROM benching. I didn’t get a lot of volume in with the SlingShot, but I don’t really care either. Just wanted to get some weight in my hands and I also hit a PR anyway.

Pin press / floor press: The racks at Golds don’t allow for full ROM floor press, because I run into the pins right before my elbows touch and there’s no way to have it in the J-hooks to unrack. So the movement starts at the bottom basically right at floor press height, but from pins. The first rep is significantly harder than the rest due to finding the right position to press from. I’ll probably give this a good run every couple weeks to see how I like it.

451

Sunday - The Volume Grind - Week 4 - Day 5 - Deload

Seated Military Press:
5x165
5x185
3x3x225 - Pretty big PR in weight and volume!
10x185 @ 9 - 2 rep PR!

T-Bar Row - Neutral Grip:
10x135 - 3 plates
10x160 - 3.5p
10x180 - 4p - PR
10x160 - 3.5p
10x135 - 3p

DB Shrugs:
3x15x110s - No straps for grip work

Barbell FatGripz Hold:
0:25, 0:25, 0:35 @ 135

Cable Curl:
3x15x50

I always seem to hit PRs when I’m sick, which unfortunately I am. I came down with a sore throat on Friday and it got a lot worse from sleeping horribly on Saturday night (note: won’t be taking Nyquil type stuff anymore). Regardless, I took some ephedrine, for the first time in about 3.5 years, and some caffeine and I made it through the workout because of that. I was burning up. lol

I’m really happy with the seated military press PRs. I’m not sure I’ve ever done 225 on that, so getting some triples is great. They were all RPE 10, so I’m also happy that I was able to grind through them. It helps a lot to push my head through like on standing MP.

I went back in my log to see if I had done 4 plates on T-Bar rows before. Looks like I did it for like 5 reps once and then 5 plates for 3 reps. Jesus, what the fuck was I doing that for? Anyway, these felt strong today.

452

The Volume Grind to a Halt - Week 5 - Day 1 - Sick

Belted High Bar Squat:
3x315
5x3x365

Beltess Paused Low Bar Squat:
2x5x315
10x315

A1 | Leg Extension:
3x15x140

A2 | Lying Leg Curl:
3x15x95

Well my cold, which apparently is a sinus infection, just got worse over the past couple days. I haven’t slept well for 3 days straight at this point, so I’m hoping tonight will be different. I’ve also been sweating all night each night too, so the cramping in the abs and ribs started today. I went to get a steroid shot at American Family Care and it hasn’t really done anything so far. Anyway, I’m basically just continuing my deload because of this shit, but it’s the off season and I can afford it.

High bar didn’t feel great form-wise, but it wasn’t necessarily difficult. I just stuck with 365 to be safe. The low bar paused squats felt a lot more natural and I wish I had started with low bar. No big deal though.

Decided not to deadlift at all after eeing myself in the mirror, soaked in sweat, and clearly missing a ton of sleep. Fuck it, fight another day.

453

The Last 3 Days - Week 5 - Days 2-4

I’m still getting over my sickness, but I’m doing much better. I didn’t lift on Wednesday, so my whole week has been thrown off. No big deal, I still got some work in.

Friday

DB Bent Over Row - Straps:
4x10x125s

Pull-Ups - Pronated:
3x8 @ BW

DB Lunges:
2x10/10x50s

Not really anything else after that. Just getting back into it a bit.

Saturday

Bench - Paused:
5x4x315
8x315 - PR for paused. Recently hit 9 touch and go for a 1 rep PR.

DB Incline Bench:
10x100s
3x12x100s - Or 2 sets, I don’t remember honestly.

Pull-Ups - Semi-Pronated:
4x8 @ BW

Triceps Dip Machine:
15x150
15x210
12x210 + 15x150 - Drop Set

Barbell Front Raise - Bent Over (hits traps/scapular stabilizers):
3x15x45

This went pretty well. Bench was explosive, but my right pec was getting tight and it’s somewhat sore now. Need to step up the recovery efforts there.

Sunday

A1 | Military Press:
8x135
8x155
5x175
6x185 - Match PR from like 3 years ago when I did 5/3/1. RPE much lower than before though. Almost got a 7th rep, I just wasn’t ready for it at the end due to belabored breathing (still congested). Also, got a crick in my neck/trap on the last rep, which is the 2nd time this week.
12x135

A2 | Band Low Row:
10, 15, 15, 15 @ 2 Avg Bands

Cable Shrugs w/ Pause - Trying to fix crick:
3x20x95

EZ Bar Curl:
3x15x90

Triceps Pushdown - Reverse/Regular:
15/15 @ 50
12/12 @ 65
10/10 @ 80

DB Hammer Curl w/ FatGripz:
3x8/8x50s

I’m very happy with the top set of military press since it’s been such a long time since I was around those reps/weight. It’s obviously not a main focus, but it’s cool that it’s feeling easy again. During 5/3/1 my AMRAP sets would look like garbage. I struggled hard through the 6x185 when I did it back then, today’s was practically easy for the first 4 reps, breathing was the only issue.

Hopefully I’ll be ready to go hard again this week coming up. I’m ready to get back into heavier lifting, especially after barely squatting and not deadlifting at all this week.

454

Back at the Grind - Week 6 - Day 1

Squat w/ Belt:
3x365
3x405
3x4x455 @ 8, 8, 9
8x405 @ 7.5

Beltless Paused Squat for Speed:
4x3x315 - 45-60 second rest. Was planning on 6x3 but my left quads got really tight like I’ve never felt, so I cut it there. More below.

Beltless Paused Deadlift:
4x4x405

Leg Extension:
2x30x50 - For blood flow to hurting quads

Band Leg Curl:
2x20 @ Avg

Well I’m back to lifting some weights now. The sickness is pretty much gone other than some leftover congestion. I decided to do some heavier squats today, because the gym was hot as all fuck and I still can’t breath quite well enough for higher reps. The 8 rep set at 405 was an AMRAP, but the breathing was the limiting factor. The 455 sets were alright, I don’t really have to be aroused to get that weight easily anymore, which is great. A big issue today was my hips not allowing my knees to track properly, so my depth/torso angle was a little weird. Not surprised because of laying around a lot last week.

I was gaining steam on the speed paused squats when all of the sudden the middle of my left thigh started tightening up a lot. I wasn’t during a set though. I did a set after I felt it at first and I was fine, but it kept getting worse after that. It almost feels like either DOMs already or someone hit me with a baseball bat. I wrapped it for compression, hit a contrast shower, and I’m rolling it out with the Stick. Hopefully it doesn’t affect my squats later in the week.

455

Wednesday - Coasting - Week 6 - Day 2

Paused Close Grip Bench:
3x275
2x315
1x345
1x365
1x385 @ 9.5 - 10 lbs off my PR. Not too difficult, probably could have hit 395-405 for a grinder.
3x6x315 @ 8/8.5/9

JM Press:
10x185
15x185 - Need AMRAPs on these to actually fatigue my triceps.
12x185

Lat Pulldown - Wide Pronated:
8x180
3x8x200
8x200 + 8x160 - Drop Set

Chest-Supported T-Bar Row - Feet on Ground:
3x15x90 (2p)

Band Facepull:
3x20 @ Light

Incline DB Fly:
3x15x30s

I’m basically coasting at the moment while I write my next 12 weeks of programming. I’m still trying to push some volume, but I wasn’t really able to do it today because my pecs were getting tight. I’m happy with what I was able to get though. 385 was done pretty casually and there wasn’t really much of a sticking point.

Also, I’m in the process of moving to a new apartment this week[end]. Thankfully I’m not in meet prep, because the past few weeks have put a strain on training.

456

Friday - Week 6 - Day 3

Beltless Deadlift:
5x365
5x405
5x455 @ 8
5x475 @ 9
3x5x425

Beltless Paused High Bar Squat:
5x5x315

Not much to this session. I really wanted to save myself for the moving apartments on Saturday and it turns out I’m glad I did. I didn’t make it into the gym on Saturday because I was busy moving and cleaning from like 9 am to 6 pm and then went to dinner and grocery shopped. That all put me back at my new apt at 9pm or so and my girlfriend and I promptly plopped down on the couch for some Daredevil before passing out. Moving is really exhausting.

Anyway, the fives on deadlift really hit my lower back hard for some reason. It was pumped by the time I got to 405. I’m surprised I hit what I did, honestly.

Sunday - Week 6 - Day 4

Paused Bench w/ Chain (+75):
3x225+75
4x3x275+75
6x275+75 - AMRAP set. Very much an RPE 10. Benchmark PR.
12x275 - No chains, TnG, AMRAP @ 9.5. Match PR

One Arm DB Row - Straps:
3x12/12x150

Cable Triceps Pushdown - Rope:
2x20x50

Cable Curl on Lat Pulldown:
2x20x70

Band Pull-Apart:
3x20 @ Mini

Very simple progression for this workout: Bench > Row > Arms > Rear Delts. Bench with chains felt really good today. The triples were all around an RPE 7.5 and then the AMRAP proved it. I didn’t want to go any heavier on the bar weight because my pecs have been kind of tight recently.

No supplemental lifts for bench mostly due to time constraints. One reason is I had to get out to clean my old apartment and it took a couple of hours, but I’m out of there for good so I shouldn’t be affected by this in the gym from now on.

457

Picking Up Some Momentum - Week 7 - Day 1

Squat w/ Belt (Plan = 435 (80%) for 4 sets @ RPE 9):
3x315
3x365
3x405
7x435 @ 9 - Benchmark PR. Closest other PRs are 455x6 and 425x10 @ RPE 10s.
6x435 @ 9
5x435 @ 9
5x435 @ 8.5 - If I hit another rep it would have been a 9.5.

Tried front squats, but the bar I was using was really slick on the smooth, plus I was sweaty as hell. Wasn’t going to happen. Didn’t want to put my elbows back into any back squat variation so I moved on.

Beltless Sumo Deadlift - For Speed:
6x3x405

Weighted Plank:
0:45 @ BW+45
1:00 @ BW+45
3x0:10 @ BW+45 - RKC style w/ 3 seconds rest

Lying Hamstring Curl:
2x20x80

I’m pretty happy with my squat performance today. Much better than the sets with 455 last week in terms of form and mobility. The 7x435 put my e1RM right at 540, just like I hit at the meet, which is great. I really like using RPEs this way. I’ve only used it regularly for sumo block pulls, but I think it could have a place in my next program for squats at least. It helps me not limit myself by saying I want to hit 6s or something. I bet if I thought that way, I would have considered the first set of 6 an RPE 9, but instead I hit 7 @ 9 because I wasn’t limiting myself mentally. It’s basically an auto-regulated fatigue drop at the same intensity, rather than a drop in intensity.

Sumo pulls felt alright, mostly explosive. I’m really not great from the floor on sumo, my back likes to round. 2" blocks and I’m golden, but those 2" down to the floor kill my posture.

458

Careful Benching - Week 7 - Day 2

Paused Bench:
2x4x315 @ 7.5 - I was having some shoulder and pec tightness on the right side, so I kept this on the safe side.
2x5x315 @ 8
6x315 @ 9

DB Bench:
2x20x75s - Neutral
19x75s - Pronated - Barely full reps at the end.

Chest-Supported T-Bar Row - Feet on Ground:
8x135 (3p)
3x8x160 (3.5p)
8x180, 8x135, 8x90, 8x45 - Drop set - 4 plates was a PR by itself as far as I know.

Machine Lat High Row:
3x15x130

Decline Push-Ups:
30 @ BW
20 @ BW+Mini band

Band Pull-Apart:
3x30 @ Mini

I obviously had to take this a little easy today, due to pec and shoulder soreness/tightness. I was a little hesitant to be explosive, so I just made sure to control the reps as well as possible. I still ended up firmly in Prilepin’s Table by doing 24 reps at about 75%, so it’s not like this was a waste at all. Very simple workout without much stress other than wanting to avoid any strains, which I did avoid.

Everything else went well, not much to note other than the T-Bar row PR. I should probably do feet up for bench accessory and feet down for deadlift accessory, because with my feet down it’s putting a lot of tension all throughout my posterior chain. Good stuff.

459

The Last 3 Days - Week 7

I keep putting off writing the log until Sunday night and then I’m too tired to go to sleep, so Monday is when they happen and I’ve forgotten a lot of it. I’m going to make more of an effort to get these written the day of the workout.

Friday

Beltless Deadlift - Okie Bar - Straps:
4x3x495 - This looked and felt awful, this bar seriously fucks up my groove and explosiveness.

RDL - Beltless - Straps:
3x8x315

Some other accessories I don’t remember. No squats today, my motivation was near zero. I can’t wait to hop on a written program.

Saturday

Bench w/ Chains (+75):
3x225+75 - Regular grip - Pec pain, not a strain though
2x225+75 - Close grip - More pec pain, moving on

Incline Bench:
5x5x225 @ RPE 6 - Pec felt mostly okay on these, so I’ll likely do them plus overhead work for my bench work for a week to let my pec recover.

Pendlay Row - Straps:
6x6x275

Plus some other stuff. Pec thing shouldn’t be a huge deal, but I’m thinking about going to get a massage this week to work it out. Need something to actually fix the issue.

Sunday

Military Press:
3x165
3x185
3x205 - 5 lb. PR! Most of my MP PRs are from when I did 5/3/1 in 2012. When I hit this lift, I thought it was a match PR from then. So cool little surprise PR. The PR is from 6/7/2012. lol
3x185
3x185
8x185 - +2 rep PR! Beat a PR from 6/21/2012. I matched the 6 rep PR 2 weeks ago and failed the 7th rep, so it’s awesome to come back and crush that.

Pull-Ups - Straps:
4x8xBW

FatGripz Barbell Hold:
3xALAPx135 - Got something like 30-40 seconds each time

A1 | FatGripz DB Hammer Curls:
3x10x50s

A2 | JM Press:
3x15x135

TRX Jack Knives (Abs):
4x12xBW

Cardio - Recumbant Bike (Full Resistance = 20):
1:30 warm up @ 10
6 Rounds: Sprint 0:20 @ 12 → 0:10 @ 15 → 0:30 @ 12
2:00 cool down @ 10

This was the only other good workout of the week other than squats on Tuesday. It was pretty frustrating throughout the week, but I’m very happy to have finished strong with some long awaited military press PRs. Hopefully I see some bench gains out of all this overhead pressing.

The cardio was really rough for me. My VMO were super pumped and I had to take a few minutes to stretch and squat down so I wouldn’t be in a debilitating cramping situation. I hadn’t done cardio since March 29, so that’s kind of pathetic since it was part of my goal. I’ll be more on top of it in my written programming. The last time I did this:

Cardio - Recumbent Bike:
3 minutes warm-up @ 12 (half resistance)
5 rounds of: Sprint 0:10 @ 12 → 0:20 @ 25 (full resistance) → Slow 1:30 @ 12
3 minutes cool-down @ 12

So I made this tougher by doing 1/3 of the rest time, but easier by doing 20 seconds of lighter resistance and 10 seconds of heavier. This bike was different on the resistance levels, maxed out it was super heavy, or maybe I was just weak today. But that’s why I did 12 and 15, rather than 10 and 20.

Probably going one more week before starting my programming.

460

Finishing Up Fuckarounditis - Week 8 - Day 1

Beltless High Bar Squat:
3x315
3x365
3x405
3x425 @ 8.5 - Only got a video of this one below.
3x435 @ 9.5 - Benchmark PR - Similar PRs are 405x4 same lift and 465x2 @ 9 beltless low bar. Really happy with this.
4x3x405 @ 8 - Even paused the very last rep. This was almost too easy. Ending up with a 7x3 > 405 is a benchmark volume PR.

Deficit SLDL - Straps:
4x8x275 - These didn’t touch the ground

Hanging Leg Raise:
4x10xBW

Lying Leg Curl:
2x20x80

Leg Extension:
2x20x100

I’m not sure where my sudden proficiency with high bar came from, but I’ll take it. I was really surprised, because my VMO on my right side was actually feeling kind of strained all day from the cardio from the last workout, but it wasn’t an issue at all during squats. I was also able to stay very upright the whole time, which just makes everything super easy. My girlfriend (a.k.a. spotter) had to leave the gym early due to some bad news about her pup. Obviously that’s way more important than lifting, but it happened to be right before my 435 set. I only mention this because the new did affect me as well, so I think I could have actually gotten to a higher weight in the right mindset and with my spotter.

The rest of the workout wasn’t special, I just wanted to stretch out my hamstrings and get some blood flow going. My fuckarounditis will be over starting next week. I’m going back to my previous programming style with a few slight changes.