Please keep that email chain going on as long as you can.

I sent a snarky reply and didn't hear back. I guess gyms that charge 500-1k/month don't need to worry about customer service

Jan 23

Solid day, nice to finally be seeing OHP progress even though my other days haven't been great

Pin squat
3x200 (7.5)
3x205 (8)
3x3x210 (8.5-9)
+5

knee check, looks good I think. Solid squat day



OHP
1x120 (8)
4x3x112.5 (8.5-10)

Frows
6x145 (6)
6x155 (6.5)
4x6x160 (7-7.5)

95 minutes

Jan 24
GPP day, didn't count reps and focused on tension. no cardio

Jan 25

Really tired, normally would take a rest day but I'm off next 4 days so had to make it happen, meh

DL
1x380 (9.5)
0x355 (F)
4x3x265 1 minute rests

Just wouldn't move



BP 1ct
1x165 (8)
2x3x155 (8-8.5)
2x3x145 (7.5)

Ran out of time so no squats today. First time not squatting in months.

80 minutes

Re: squat -- just focus on the master cue. Focus only on keeping the bar over your mid foot the entire time. Ignore everything else.
We can talk more about this privately. Are you free this Thursday at 3:30?

Nice DL single, crazy that 355 didn't go up. What happened?

Honestly not sure what happened there with the DL. I never really feel fatigued doing heavy low rep work, I guess it hits harder than you might think.

I'm afraid Thursday won't work for me

Back after a 5 day break, last week of the program

Jan 31

SQ
1x265 (8.5)
2x3x245 (8.5)
+6

Solid Squats. The slow grinder reps were never really in doubt, I could have always 'good morning'd them but really tried to focus on keeping chest up and driving upwards.

I've had some elbow pain lately from squatting. I'm trying to keep my hands closer (pinky just inside the ring) and to push my elbows forward. Problem is just due to the length of my forearm my hands are forced to be either just my lower palm on the bar, or if I want to wrap my finger around the bar my wrist ***** back and my hand gets under the bar. In that second case some of the weight of the bar ends up on my arm/elbow which is obviously bad. I might just have to widen out my grip.

Ignore the cleavage in the video



3ct P BP
3x140 (7.5)
3x145 (8)
3x147.5 (9)
+3



DL 2ct P - no belt, full pause
3x265 (6)
3x285 (6.5)
2x3x305 (7.5)

Tough to judge RPE on this one, I guess it gets close to RPE 9 if talking about *perfect* form, but its also difficult in the DL to discern between the back working hard and the back losing a tiny bit of tightness.

90 minutes

Feb 2

Pin squat
4x195 (7)
4x205 (8.5)
4x210 (9)
+4



OHP
1x122.5 (10)
3x115 (8.5)



Frows
6x145 (5.5)
3x6x165 (8)

8 weeks of rows, feels like the least useful part of this whole program. Don't think I'll be doing barbell rows again for a long time.

70 minutes

Nice grind on that press!

thanks, I think the face muscles gave the last bit of power!

Feb 3
chins 30xBW
7 minutes abs
Double handed DB curls 67x20

Feb 4

Last lifting day of the program, way to end on a whimper

DL
0x385 (F)
0x385 (F)
0x315 (F)
3x315 (7)

Warm up felt great, 315 was a featherweight, 355 moved well. Really thought I should have had it. ~10 minutes rest before the second try. I guess its hard to claim my 1RM is ~410 when I can't get 1 385 rep. Might be a long time before I try heavy singles again.



BP 1ct
1x170 (8.5)
2x162.5 (F)

Roll of shame

SQ - no belt
2x6x185 (7)
2x6x195 (8)

Didn't have the heart to go heavy here after the way the rest of the workout went

100 minutes

Feb 5
chins 35xBW
7 minutes abs
Double handed DB curls 70x20

And thats a wrap for The Bridge. At the end of this I am more certain than before that stopping the LP was the right move, in fact I carried it on for far too long. Even though I was technically setting PRs, doing low volume low frequency work at a consistent ~RPE10 wasn't nearly enough to make gains. The improvements that I was seeing were mostly in technique and in WIM. Useful for sure but my working theory now is that LP work should be done with no (or 1) deloads and as fast of a progression as possible. The goal should be to gain experience and calibrate the working sets. 3 months would have been plenty but I did >7.

Pros:
Major improvement in squat form from the frequency and accessories.
High frequency pressing is so much better, barely had any upper body gains on LP
Best accessories: Pin Squat, Paused squat, paused bench

Cons:
Pulls improved slightly, but much less than the other lifts
All the single and triple volume was probably unnecessary for my goals. It was very high stress and would be good for 1-2 weeks of the program (for me), but clearly it is intended to filter people into competition PLing
Worst accessories: Rack pulls, Rows (basically all the pulling sucked)

Now I need to figure out my next program

For the next 6 weeks I'll be running DC training 4 day split, minus the extreme stretching and nutrition suggestions. I'll increase protein and total calories a bit (although after the 6 weeks will probably start the mega-cut)

A1

Body Part	Exercise	Sets	Reps
Chest	Bench Press	1	11-15
Shoulders	OHP	1	11-15
Triceps	DB Skull Crusher	1	21-25
Back Width	Lat Pulldown	1	16-20
Back Thickness	Hammer Strength Row	1	11-15 SS

B1

Body Part	Exercise	Sets	Reps
Biceps	EZ bar curl	1	16-20
Forearms	EZ bar reverse curl	1	16-20 SS
Calves	Calves machine	1	11-15 SS
Hams	45 Degree Back Raise	1	16-20
Quads	LBBS	2	4-8 SS + WM

A2

Body Part	Exercise	Sets	Reps
Chest	Incline DB Press	1	11-15
Shoulders	DB Upright Row	1	16-20
Triceps	Cable Rope Pushdown	1	16-20
Back Width	Chins	1	16-20
Back Thickness	2-Arm Dumbbell Row	1	16-20 SS

B2

Body Part	Exercise	Sets	Reps
Biceps	Cable Curl	1	21-25
Forearms	Hammer Curls	1	16-20 SS
Calves	Smith machine	1	11-15 SS
Hams	Leg Curl	1	11-15
Quads	Leg Press	2	4-8 SS + WM

A3

Body Part	Exercise	Sets	Reps
Chest	Machine Flye	1	11-15
Shoulders	DB Lateral Raise	1	21-25
Triceps	CG Bench	1	11-15
Back Width	Underhand Pulldown	1	16-20
Back Thickness	DL	2	9-12 SS

B3

Body Part	Exercise	Sets	Reps
Biceps	2 hand DB Curl	1	16-20
Forearms	Pinwheel Curl	1	16-20 SS
Calves	DB on stairs	1	11-15 SS
Quads	DB Lunges	2	4-8 SS + WM
Hams	RDL	1	11-15 SS

Feb 7 - week 1 A1

Bench Press 12x135 9x135
Did this in straight sets at ~RPE 8.5 because bench to failure sounds like death. I guess when I hit 15 reps on set 1 I will up the weight

OHP 13x95 (8-3-2)

Lat Pulldown 21x120 (12-5-4)
+weight next time, slight elbow pain


DB Skull Crusher
Did about 10 reps with 10 lb, didn't really feel the muscles working but was hurting my elbows a lot, so stopped. Most likely I don't know how to do them properly, so I either need to figure it out or replace the exercise. I was trying to follow this video, although I cannot seem to keep my elbows in without my wrists rolling in.



Chest supporting horizontal row 12x245

Training time - 45 minutes (I could get used to this)

Didn't really feel that difficult, but I guess as the weight goes up the frequency will probably start catching up to me

Feb 8 - week 1 B1

EZ bar curl - 20x70 (13-4-3) +weight

reverse curl - 30x47 (23-12-12) +weight

Calf machine - 13x150

Back Extensions bwx21 (I think I'll switch this to GHR)

SQ

8x225
That was not fun +weight

22x135
Some of these sets were pretty bad on depth. Felt the lower back form starting to break down first which is why I stopped. Tough to go to 'failure' on a full body exercise like this. Right leg feels a lot more sore than left as well right now.

Feb 10

DB incline press 17x80 (10-3-4) +weight

Upright Row 28x30 (15-7-6) ++weight

Triceps rope pulldown 23x32.5 (12-6-5) +weight

Chins 13xBW (9-3-1)
Below my PR from a month or two ago, but focusing on contraction and obviously somewhat fatigued from the previous 3 sets.

2 arm DB row 2x40x13
So the common critique of DC training is very valid here. Every single one of these movements hits my triceps, so having the back workouts at the end makes it just another triceps exercise, didn't feel any fatigue in the back. I'm still ok with the structure for the next 6 weeks, my back and legs are much stronger relative to my chest/arms.

Feb 11

Cable curl 23x42.5 (15-4-4) +

Hammer curl 13x50

Smith Machine Calves 35x110 ++
Didn't realize this would be that easy

Sitting leg curl 15x80 (10-3-2) +
Crazy how much harder the last 5% of ROM is here

Leg press
10x480 +
20x430 +

Feb 13

Machine Flye 19x105 (9-5-5) +
I like this exercise, but the later reps were too much stress on my shoulder rather than getting to muscular fatigue. That seems like a common issue with these isolation exercises

Lateral DB raise 25x25 (15-5-5) +

CG Bench 10x135, 9x135

Underhand lat pulldown 29x105 (17-6-6) +

DL 12x265, 11x265
Not exactly to failure, but would have needed ~5 seconds rest on that last rep which seemed like a good time to stop. More cardio than anything


Really hope this isn't a crap routine, I've definitely put on a couple pounds over the past few weeks, would suck to just get fat.

Feb 14

2 hand DB curl 16x60 (10-4-2)

Pinwheel curl 17x40
Wow right arm was struggling but np for the left

DB Calves 12x40 (same both sides)

DB Lunges
6x100 - grip strength was the limiting factor here
20x60 + - With a 5 second break to regain grip strength

RDL
15x150 - break for grip as well


After completely neglecting grip strength for the past 6 months it comes back to bite me here. As good of a time as any to have grip catch up to my other muscles I suppose. Get a great pump too, feels like I just went bouldering.

Feb 17 - week 2 A1

Bench Press 14x135 10x135

OHP 12x95 (10-1-1)
I guess that's how you know it was to failure

Db pullover 19x45 (11-4-4)
Some reps in the tank. Great stretch, no pain. A bit of an awkward movement though.

Lat Pulldown 15x130 (10-3-2)

Chest supporting horizontal row 11x245 7x245

Total reps going up overall even though I brought more intensity this time around

Feb 18 - week 2 B1

EZ bar curl - 6x80 (6-0) -
11x70 (8-2-1)

That weight jump was wayyy harder than I expected

reverse curl - 14x40

Calf machine - 15x150

Ghr - will post a video later still trying to figure out form. 4 holes in the back is optimal position (because my memory sucks)

SQ

6x230
Moved the weight kind of slow but really trying to get that straight bar path. Will post videos later. Was seeing butterflies, maybe 5% fainting odds. I need to squat more!

20x140 +
Some of best deep squats here. Lower back is still the limiting factor not 100% sure if it's form or just physics. Pelvic tilt looks minor if any to me

Have some chest doms today. Don't think my chest has ever been really sorry before

The more I do this routine the more I am convinced it is crap programming for so many reasons. For example my legs were already shaking as I laced up my squat shoes. Nonetheless I already feel the hypertrophy gains way outpacing whatever little I got from gslp and the bridge, so pretty happy with the switch. Part of me wants to just stick it out but I'm going to try to come up with a non crappy hypertrophy program.

Feb 19

DB incline press 12x90 (9-3-0)

Upright Row 15x50 (9-4-2)

Triceps rope pulldown 23x35.5 (14-5-4) +weight

Chins 13xBW (8-3-2)

2 arm DB row 2x40x15 +weight

Feb 21

Cable curl 23x47.5 (16-5-3) +

Hammer curl 15x50

Smith Machine Calves 25x180 +

Sitting leg curl 18x65 (11-4-3) +
FULL ROM

Leg press was taken and I didn't have the wim for a surprise squat day

Going to switch to a new program with a lot more compound lifting, a lot more volume, and a lot less failure. Pretty much stolen from RP. 8 day PPL. I'll need a lot less rest time and to focus on the RPE 7/8 range to make this work.

push 1
BP 5s8
ohp 2x6
machine flye 3x12
ez bar curl 3x12-15



pull 1
deadlift 3x6
rope pulldown 6x8
pullup 2x6
cable facepull 3x20
cable bar curl 3x12-15



leg 1
LBBS 3x12
RDL 2x6
seated calves 7x8
cable row 3x12
db rear lat raise 5x20
2h db curl 3x12-15



push 2
cgb 5s10
incline db press 3s12
db shoulder press 2x8
db pullover 6x15
ez bar curl 3x12-15



pull 2
deadlift 3x6
lat pulldowm 3x8
cable row 3x12
cable upright row 5x20
cable rope twist curl 3x12-15


leg 2
LBBS 3x6
ham curl 2x12
seated calves 7x8
db lat raise 3x12
hammer curl 3x12-15

Bp 3x8x135 2x5x135
90s rest between sets, last set @8.5


Ohp 1x6x100 1x2x100
90s @9 drop to 95 next time

Fly 1x12x55 1x8x55 1x7x55
45s @7 drop to 45
Really trying to underestimate the accessories and focus on TuT and contraction

Ez curl 1x12x50 1x9x50 1x12x40
30s @7.5 drop to 40

40 minutes

pull 1
deadlift 3x6
rope pulldown 6x8
pullup 2x6
cable facepull 3x20
cable bar curl 3x12-15

Dl 3x6x295
120s @6.5 up to 300
For some reason I only break a sweat when I dl

Triceps Pull down 3x8x42.5 2x8x35 1x8x30
30s @7.5
That rpe is for zero cheating of course

Pull-up 2x6
60s @10
Back to wide grip. So much worse at this version and I have plenty of arm work in this program

Facepull 2x20 1x11 resistance 9 whatever that means
30s @7
Seems stupid easy but with full rom and holding peak contraction wow that gets hard

Cable bar curl 2x12x35 1x10x35
30s @8.5

60 minutes