The 105 set looks good to me and looks like you had at least a few more reps.

Yea probably but I cut the set off at the moment I felt like I couldn't control knee cave anymore.

5/3/1 Bench C7 week 1 TM105
Thursday, 27 April 2017 at 15:49

Bench Press 5/3/1
Set 1: 67,5 kg × 5
Set 2: 77,5 kg × 5
Set 3: 90 kg × 3
Set 4: 67,5 kg × 5
Set 5: 67,5 kg × 5
Set 6: 67,5 kg × 5

Chin Up
Set 1: 10 reps
Set 2: 10 reps
Set 3: 9 reps
Set 4: 8 reps
Set 5: 9 reps

Dumbbell Row
Set 1: 90 kg × 12
Set 2: 90 kg × 12
Set 3: 90 kg × 15

Notes: Lbs

Incline Dumbbell Press
Set 1: 22,5 kg × 10
Set 2: 22,5 kg × 10
Set 3: 22,5 kg × 13

Rear Delt (Machine)
Set 1: 34 kg × 12
Set 2: 34 kg × 12
Set 3: 34 kg × 12

Bicep Curl (Dumbbell)
Set 1: 20 kg × 15
Set 2: 20 kg × 15
Set 3: 20 kg × 15

https://strong.app.link/lWISRlLsGC

Significant DOMS in my glutes from squatting yesterday. I can't remember I ever that from squatting before so that may be a good sign.

Bench continues to be a struggle. I can't rep 5xBW anymore which is awful. Really looking forward to getting my programming sorted, finishing this minicut and getting back to making gains. I do think form looks to be improving slightly. Will be resetting.





I also look forward to start benching more often, I think from practice alone I could make a lot of gains. Looking at the 90kg vid the second rep is very fast, so if I didn't press straight up on the third I should have gotten 4 minimum for sure.

5/3/1 Deadlift C7 week 1 TM145 reset
Saturday, 29 April 2017 at 20:44

Deadlift 5/3/1
Set 1: 95 kg × 5
Set 2: 110 kg × 5
Set 3: 125 kg × 9
Set 4: 110 kg × 8
Set 5: 110 kg × 8
Set 6: 110 kg × 8

Squat
Set 1: 80 kg × 8
Set 2: 80 kg × 8
Set 3: 80 kg × 8
Set 4: 80 kg × 8
Set 5: 80 kg × 8

Romanian Deadlift
Set 1: 100 kg × 12
Set 2: 100 kg × 12
Set 3: 100 kg × 12

https://strong.app.link/WEqRXza7JC

Good workout, deadlifts feel a lot better if I didn't train upper body the day before. Now that may seem obvious but it's trial and error I guess. Form looks decent to me.
Did a reset because barely got all reps last cycle and form began to look borderline.

Ditched hack squats in favor of squat technique work with band. Also RDL's and no leg curls. All felt good.
Couldn't be bothered doing calfs or abs, I was spent.

Minicut update week 2

My diet hasn't been this on point in a long time. 100% adherence so far, no alcohol, lots of veggies. Sadly and surprisingly this hasn't resulted in the weight loss I was expecting. Still lost about 1 lbs tho so not all bad. I'm surprised because I was barely gaining weight at 3500-3700kcal, so would've expected more loss at <2200.
Time to buckle down these last 2 weeks and also add in some of the dreaded "C"word into the mix.

5/3/1 OHP C7 week 2 TM67,5
Monday, 1 May 2017 at 20:29

Overhead Press 5/3/1
Set 1: 47,5 kg × 3
Set 2: 55 kg × 3
Set 3: 61 kg × 2 [Failure]
Set 4: 47,5 kg × 5
Set 5: 47,5 kg × 5
Set 6: 47,5 kg × 5

Pendlay Row
Set 1: 62,5 kg × 10
Set 2: 62,5 kg × 10
Set 3: 62,5 kg × 10
Set 4: 62,5 kg × 10
Set 5: 62,5 kg × 12

Close grip Bench Press
Set 1: 67,5 kg × 8
Set 2: 67,5 kg × 8
Set 3: 67,5 kg × 13

Pulldown (Neutral Grip)
Set 1: 59 kg × 10
Set 2: 59 kg × 10
Set 3: 59 kg × 12

Face Pull
Set 1: 22,5 kg × 13
Set 2: 22,5 kg × 13
Set 3: 22,5 kg × 14

Barbell Curl
Set 1: 20 kg × 15
Set 2: 20 kg × 13
Set 3: 20 kg × 12

Tricep overhead extension
Set 1: 20 kg × 15
Set 2: 20 kg × 15
Set 3: 20 kg × 15

30 minutes incline walking.

https://strong.app.link/6cxgNkcrNC

Failed third rep on OHP, it was not very close. Resetting this as well. More insane gains on gcbp. Probably all of it due to it being a new movement. Fine with me tho.

Added some incline walking after lifting. Actually felt pretty good. Going to do so more often.

5/3/1 Squat C7 week 2 TM125
Tuesday, 2 May 2017 at 16:00

Squat 5/3/1
Set 1: 87,5 kg × 3
Set 2: 100 kg × 3
Set 3: 112,5 kg × 5
Set 4: 87,5 kg × 5 long pause
Set 5: 87,5 kg × 5
Set 6: 87,5 kg × 5

Stiff Legged Deadlift
Set 1: 65 kg × 10
Set 2: 65 kg × 10
Set 3: 65 kg × 10
Set 4: 65 kg × 10
Set 5: 65 kg × 10

Leg Extension
Set 1: 64 kg × 12
Set 2: 64 kg × 12
Set 3: 64 kg × 16

Some ab stuff I forgot to log
30 minutes incline walking

https://strong.app.link/ILS3zmKOOC



Everything but top set done with band. Knee cave seems to be looking a bit better but still feeling heavy.

Finished "Scientific Principle of Strength Training". Excellent book imo. I'm going to try to make a periodized program based on those principles together with the Youtube stuff Renton pointed me to. Feeling really motivated to start something new/better.

In relation to that, I've been thinking about getting some online coaching from someone who can help me understand all this stuff better. Anyone think it would be worth it to get a couple of months of coaching so that I can better program for myself going forward?

Coaching on lifting form or coaching on programming? Or both?

Squats looked pretty good to me, btw.

Well mainly for programming so I can keep programming for myself as I progress through intermediate into advanced (hopefully lol) However form coaching would be included I guess so that's definitely an added benefit and something I think I could use for sure.

I don't know what you'd get out of paying someone to program for you in terms of learning about programming, unless you were paying Mike T for 1-1 coaching. There are lots of e-coaches who just repackage his stuff anyway... is there a local powerlifting community even if you have to travel for a weekend train?

But I think you're overthinking it. You're an intermediate at best with form leaks. Programming for yourself from scratch isn't going to get the best returns. Modifying existing things with data is a start.

Learning to use RPE and fatigue management would be very worthwhile imo.

tl;dr look for proven programs, accumulate time under bar

just do heavy triples on short rest lmao.

no but seriously candito's 6 week strength program is pretty good for an intermediate lifter. and then maybe Mike T's RPE program soon after

I agree with Aidan, unless you got the money to spare for a top coach.

This whole year I've been doing GZCL stuff, which really works well with personalization. It's been so much more fun than the old cookie-cutter program, and a lot of that is fun has been from learning about what does and doesn't work for me.

EDIT: Hey Aidan do you think RPE is good to start tracking for even a beginner-intermediate like me? I have been feeling like it was too "technical" for me to bother with, even though I already am gauging most sets by how many reps I leave in the tank.

Well the main goal of the coaching for me would be to learn about programming, not just have him program for me, although that would be part of it initially I guess. So I would be looking for someone who would be actively teaching me. I've actually inquired with Brendan Tietz, I came across him through some vid's linked by Renton. Its $460 for 3 months with weekly skype sessions to discuss form and programming. He seems to know his stuff. Afaik he worked with Mike T as well.

You're probably right about overthinking it, that's sort of how my brain works once I get interested in something, lol.

Do you have any recommendations, proven program wise?

About powerlifting community, I know of one gym who does occasional meets and stuff, but I'm not actually sure how much of a community it is and about their coaching. Powerlifting is not really a thing here unfortunately.


It looks fun, but from what I've just learned ready Scientific Principles the respecitive hypertrophy and strength/peaking phases are too short to achieve optimal hypertrophy or strength adaptations.
See... more overthinking

Going a bit against the grain of the advice given here, I've very happy with the results I've had with my own programming with the help of that book and some posters here. I'm on an unbroken streak of many weeks of workouts where I made gains on something, while cutting.

I might also add that you could meet in the middle and choose a template that someone else wrote and make some changes to it based on your individual needs or based on principles from the book. For example, I have a friend here who's running the Candito linear program, which looks IMO pretty good except I'd make one big change to it. Instead of squatting and deadlifting heavy on a single "strength" day and doing paused squats and paused deadlifts on a single "control" day, I would change it to just having one of the days be heavy squat day and the other heavy deadlift day, with the "control" workout for the opposite lift on each of those days.

Anyway, with a couple of years under the bar by now, you should have an idea of what worked for you and what didn't, and no canned intermediate program is going to account for that.

Problem is I screwed around for a good part of those years, so still learning about what works and what doesn't.

Modifying something else is also an option.
Maybe I'll just play around with some ideas/setups in excel and ask some feedback from experienced posters here. Even if I don't end up using it, I'll have some fun and probably learn something.

GZCL stuff all seems pretty legit, lots of our guys run jacked and tan as their off season. Though i thought it incorporated RPE already - maybe its optional. But sounds like you're already using it, now keep track of it!

Yes, I think all lifters should be tracking RPE. At least initially it will not be particularly useful because it takes a while to get it accurate, but tracking it will help you dial in your days working weight. Even just recognizing that "Im feeling **** today" semi-objectively by how the bar is moving and dropping down in weight, or the "I'm feeling great today" and going up without overreaching is going to be useful in the long run on a percentage based training. Its also great for helping you update your training maxes as you make progress within a training cycle to esnure you get the most out of a percentage based plan's final weeks.

The power I think comes when you are tracking it, along with daily fatigue measures and total volume, as well as movement volume (push, pull, hip, quad) and intensity. I'm not there yet, but one of the great takeaways from Project Momentum is the utility of tracking all that stuff (and anyone can do it for free at RTS which I highly recommend) and I've started to build up some data. So once this comp block is all done I can figure out what worked well objectively - in theory at least

I don't really have concrete program suggestions for you because I don't think you have the same goals I do/did. Powerliftingtowin has a program review series that is quite informative, but it is obviously through a PL lens. GZCL has been pretty popular for mixed aesthetic approach I think, but not really my area.

Yea I get that, thanks for advice tho

Thanks Aidan that's some good information, and it makes a lot of sense. I'm going to try to start tracking it, especially on my initial sets (right now all my AMRAP sets pretty much go to @9-9.5, it's not like I ever have a massive weight to recover from).

Sorry for the derail, rAv.

I base RPE on how hard it feels but also what I see when reviewing video after each set. Sometimes there is a disparity. So I would add C) I feel like **** but the bar is moving sickeningly fast. Oh, look at that, I hit a PR...

Isn't RPE based more on reps you think you had left?

Or are there multiple schools of thought on that?

Yes.

@8 RPE, you have two or three left in the tank

Gauging RPE is something I think you should always be mindful of and improving. Something that feels like an 8 might actually be a 6. Something that felt like a 10 might be an 8. Video tends to show this.

Good point. You're terrible about judging your own 'grindiness' I suppose

I find its sometimes useful to take it to ten+ or actual failure. Just to give you an idea of your accuracy. Sometimes I've ground out 3-4 more reps when I was ready to too @9. Video helps too, as fakeb describes.

FakeB, curious about @8 being 2-3 reps left. I thought that was a "definitely two reps left" rating, with @7.5 being 2 maybe three reps left?

I'd say that's a meaningful distinction if you're counting RPE ratings in partial increments, but I was taught whole increments, so an RPE 8 is definitely two but maybe three reps left.