Stop making me blush!

I live in the capital city so there are some proper gyms in town. This one is middle of the road. They have a power rack, olympic bars, and bench press, but no air conditioning and not nearly enough fans. I am drenched within 30 minutes of any workout.


Monday, May 16, 2017

Chin-ups / Push-ups / 90s rest:

5, 14
6, 16
7, 18
8, 20
7, 18
6, 16
5, 14

This one almost didn't get done. I got home late, was feeling sore from the 5x5 deadlifts, was anticipating Puke Week, telling myself **** like "you should rest today, recover for all that volume you're about to have to do this week." Anyway, WIM prevailed and I traded two 4,12 rungs for an 8,20 rung.

Good job on the WIM and just getting it done. That pesky voice is really tough to override at times and then it feels great when done. Win.

Wednesday, May 17, 2017 Training
Bench Variant, C3W4 TM76 6x6 @75%

1. Close-Grip Bench (kg):

20x10
35x5
50x2x2
57.5x6
57.5x6
57.5x6
57.5x6
57.5x6
57.5x7 @10 (failed 8th)

2. T-Bar Row (kg):

57.5x7
57.5x7
57.5x7
57.5x7
57.5x7

2. Arnold Press (#):

30x10
30x11
30x11
30x11
30x12*

3. Push-ups:

20
20
20
20

3. Chin-ups (@57kg):

8
7
7
8

3. Cable Laterals (#):

15x10
15x10
15x10
15x12

*Asperger's Set

***

I woke up this morning feeling pretty crappy and dehydrated. I loaded up on granola bars, 1.5L water, a heaping spoon of salt, and a potassium chloride pill and felt about 100% better within an hour. I think I need to be consuming more water pre-workout, because while I'm at the gym I sweat buckets faster than I can sip a water bottle.

Benching went fairly poorly, with me unduly fatiguing myself on sub-par sets with bad leg drive. The top set was actually the best one, with me getting decent leg drive on the first 6 reps.

Not the worst session though. Benching bodyweight for 6x6 with a non-optimal grip is a decent milestone. Kind of makes me curious where my normal grip bench could go with a couple of GSLP cycles.

Thursday, May 18, 2017 Training
Squat Variant, C3W4 TM117 6x6 @75%

1. HBBS (kg):

20x10
40x5
65x3
77.5x2
87.5x6
87.5x6
87.5x6
87.5x6
87.5x6
87.5x10 [PR]

2. Romanian Deadlift (kg):

75x10
75x11
75x10
75x10

2. Cable Straight-Back Crunch (#, leverage):

115x14
115x14
115x14
115x14

3. Leg Press (kg):

160x8
160x8
160x8
160x8

3. DB Hammer Curl (#):

20x15
20x15
20x15
20x15

***

My objective today was to hit depth. It's become kind of standard that I squat high on Thursdays and deep on Sundays and I'd like to break the pattern. The depth in the first 5 sets was really good. The amrap wasn't perfect, but I'm still very happy with that set.

I still think they're high... solid guts going for the last rep on the CGBP though!

You think the linked sets of 6 are high? I know the amrap is high.

I agree with Aidan about those sets of six being high, for whatever that's worth.

Shrug, if that's the case then I got a bigger problem because it means my paused squats are high. In other words, the bottom that I feel strong and stable in enough to pause for a couple of seconds is still too high. I've tried doing paused squats deeper than this and I find it far less stable and usually painful to my left knee. It's simply a lack of knee flexion ROM. I haven't had pain in a few weeks, though, so maybe I should revisit that.

Who ****ing cares really just keep the volume/intensity up man you're progressing nicely.

I guess the only minor issue would be quad/pc imbalances. It still looks tidy.

I'll still make a reasonably aggressive increase to the training max and just keep trying to get deeper. Thanks for the input, guys.


Saturday, May 20, 2017 Training
Overhead Variant, C3W4 TM45 6x6 @75%

1. Press (kg):

10x10x2
20x5
27.5x2
30x1x2
34x6
34x6
34x6
34x6
34x6
34x7

2. Chin-ups (@58kg)

+20lb x5
+20lb x4
+20lb x5
+20lb x4
+20lb x4

2. Paused CGBP (kg):

20x8
35x4
47.5x2
55x5
55x5
55x5
55x5
55x6

3. DB Incline Press (#):

35x11
35x11
35x11
35x13

3. Cable Face-pull (#, leverage):

65x18
65x18
65x18
65x18

3. DB External Rotations (#):

10x8
10x8
10x8
10x8

***

I was pretty excited to hit a big press PR when the 6's were all pretty easy. Then the amrap was going great until it wasn't. The 7th rep went up really fast but my left shoulder buckled as I was locking it out. It was such a bummer that I almost reset my timer to try a do-over set, but I decided not to push my luck.

Bench sets went really well. Almost all reps with actual pauses and decent leg drive.

Sunday, May 21, 2017 Training
Deadlift Variant, C3W4 TM136 7x4 @75%

1. 6cm Block Pulls (kg):

20x10 good morning
20x10 rdl
45x8 rdl
60x4
80x2
92.5x2
102.5x4
102.5x4 side
102.5x4
102.5x4 rear
102.5x4
102.5x4
102.5x5 front

2. Paused HBBS (kg):

20x6
40x5
60x3
70x5
75x5
80x5 front
80x4 side

2. Hanging Leg Raise:

18
18
18
18

3. Machine Seated Row (#):

130x9
130x9
130x10
130x10

3. Good Morning (kg):

60x7
60x7
60x7
60x7

***

The pulls felt pretty good today. I kind of pussed out on the amrap because it was already in my head that my form had been breaking down a little in the previous two sets. Even though I got just 5, I think I could stand a healthy training max jump for next cycle.

Apropos of the depth nittery ITT, I "buried" the squat reps today beginning with warmups. I'd originally planned to do 80x5x4, but since I was meeting a new depth standard, I went with ramping sets instead. I definitely had a 5th rep in the 80x4 set judging from bar speed, but it felt like a mega grind at the time.

I had a thought today while doing good mornings. I think if I'm going to include them, I should do them with less knee bend so that it's more hamstring-centric than glute-centric. I already pound my glutes beforehand with a ton of sets of pulls and squats, so it seems like overkill to me.

It's now time for...


Training max adjustments and program tweaks:

Bench Press - 76 to 79, 60kg for 6x6 in Week 4.
Press - 45 to 47*, 35kg for 6x6 in Week 4.
Squat - 117 to 124, 92.5kg for 6x6 in Week 4.
Deadlift - 136 to 143, 107.5kg for 7x4 in Week 4.

* This is a very conservative increase considering I really felt like the 6's @34kg were easy. I'll play it by ear during the cycle and if it feels appropriate, I'll bump this one up another kilo and attempt 36x6x6 on week 4 instead of 35.

For that matter, all the increases are probably a bit conservative when considering I'll be beginning a calorie surplus (~2100 kcal) with this cycle. Again, I will play it by ear.

This was a very productive cycle overall and there's little I feel the need to tweak about the program. The only thing is I think I could handle a bit more volume on the upper days. I was previously doing 3/4/4/5 sets of secondary work and 3/3/4/4 sets of tertiary work during each week of the meso. I'll bump that up to 4/4/5/5 and 3/4/4/5 respectively. It essentially amounts to doing an additional one set on each upper day. The lower days are taxing as **** as is and I'm making good progress so I don't see the need to increase those volumes at present.

Depth looking better

Thanks. If anything, today proved that I have the mobility to do it.

+1

Fwiw, I've always found I could handle much more upper volume than lower. And that I needed more volume for optimal results.

Week 58 Diet
Maintenance Phase Week 4



Gonna drop the calories a bit for this week since it's deload. Then gonna go for 2100 / 150 protein for a few training cycles.

Why did you stop doing low bar? Those looked pretty good IIRC.

Initially, the change was purely for variation. Now having trained it for a few months, to the point where my high-bar is definitely stronger than my low-bar ever was, there are a lot of things I prefer about it.

As far as depth/form goes, I struggled even harder with low-bar though. Worse depth and I would lose the bar forward on difficult reps. With high-bar, I have a vertical bar path even on a max effort rep.

IIRC losing it forward with too much lean is a sign of weak abs relative to the weight being moved otherwise.

Or abs that fatigue too soon I suppose

My (fairly extensive) reading on the subject has about 20% of smart people saying weak abs/core, maybe another 20% saying weak technique, and the rest saying weak quads relative to hips. Basically, your quads shift the weight onto your stronger glutes and hams, causing the hips to shoot up and good morning out of the hole.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017 Training
Bench Variant, C3 Deload

1. Close-Grip Bench (kg):

20x10
35x5
45x2
52.5x5
52.5x5
52.5x5

2. T-Bar Row (kg):

50x6
50x6
50x6

2. Arnold Press (#):

30x6
30x6
30x6

***

Bench press felt a bit heavier than it should have. There might be something going on with my left shoulder. Maybe from when it buckled during that OHP rep last week. Also on DB incline I had some weird popping in that joint during the eccentrics. That's probably not good. Interestingly, the arnold presses today felt absolutely fine.

Thursday, May 25, 2017 Training
Squat Variant, C3 Deload

1. HBBS (kg):

20x10
50x5x2
60x3
70x3
70x3
75x3
80x3
80x3

***

It was kind of a sobering day for my squat. Hitting depth was a pretty big challenge at these relatively light weights. I think the depth in the linked sets is borderline but acceptable. In the last rep of the last 80x3, I lost the bar forward a lot.

Judging from today's performance and the fact that I barely could do 80x5 paused last week, I'm guessing it will be very tough to squat 80 to depth for 3 sets of 10 next week. I'll go with a 4kg increase to the training max (down from 7kg), which results in the 10's week at 77.5kg and 6's week at 90kg. It's not a rate of progress that I'm thrilled with, but I'd rather not risk the blow to morale that would result from missing reps in week 1, and I can always tweak the TM upward mid-cycle if I want.

Interesting observation:

This morning I weighed in at 123.0, which ties my lowest weigh-in ever. Then I measured my waist at 2cm less than it was previously at 123 at the end of my cut last month. So, considering the gains I made during this cycle, does that mean I lost fat and gained muscle?

Second question. Given that I had the above results at ~1900 cal, what should my massing calories be going forward? At first I was going to go with 2100, but now I'm thinking 2300 or so might be a better idea. Thoughts on this are welcome.

Saturday, May 27, 2017 Training
Overhead Variant, C3 Deload

1. Press (kg):

10x10
20x5
29x5
29x5
29x5

2. Chin-ups (@56kg)

5
5
5

2. Paused CGBP (kg):

20x8
35x4
50x5
50x5
50x5

***

I wrapped my wrists for press and cgbp. Felt okay. I'll probably do this for the foreseeable, at least until my forearm pain completely goes away. At that point, I may entertain the thought of adding some dedicated assistance work to strengthening those muscles. Doing some wrist curls would certainly make me blend in more easily with the bros at my gym!

Probably a great idea for forearm pain. When I lost a ligament in my right arm, wrist curl variations were the primary thing the PT prescribed. Having some pain myself after a few weeks of DB Benching and I'm revisiting them