5/28 - Recovery Day

Squat: 2x5x185
Bench: 2x5x135; 10x135 (suck it, recovery day)

Assistance:
5x5 chins
4x30sec plank

5/31 - Light heavy day

Squat: 2x3x210
OHP: 6x95
PC: 4x3x155 + 1x4x155

So a week or so back I did something that tweaked my back a tiny bit (I suspect experimenting with bench arches tbh) and I definitely aggravated it hard after my 3rd rep of squat. Proper course of action is probably to stop squatting for the day, so obviously I just reset and worked up heavy doubles because I'm dumb. Turned out fine. Extra rep on OHP because why not. PC was pretty lol for a PR, didn't have to do anything fancy to get under the bar... got a good feeling about 160.

Dude next to me squatting 455 for reps... ~3" rom though obv (standard)

6/2 - Swole Day

Squat: 5x5x190
Bench: 5x5x140
DL: 5x315 (there we go)

three plates for reps, sweet!

Thanks man, still about 20lb below PR though haha. We'll see how things settle on volume day...

6/4 - Bis and Abs (and I guess legs and shoulders and probably some other stuff too)

Squat: 2x5 @ 190
OHP: 3x5 @ 85

Assistance:
5x5 chins
4x30sec +10lb plank
Last round bonus: 0 chins, 15 plank secs

A Wild DL Monkey Has Appeared! It Is Very Rare!

Haha yea, never figured out what that's about. My arms aren't even long. I'd brag about having a relatively good DL but I'm not strong, so...

6/6 - PR Day #1

Squat: 5x215 (not a PR)
Bench: 6x155 (PR!)
PC: 5x3x160 (PR!)

NICE!

gimme more next week

Ship PRs broham!

sweet cleans!!

Thanks thanks thanks. Want that type of progress for a few more months in a row before I start patting myself on the back though.

Two things I realized: 1) my volume day squats are less than 90% (though they will normalize at a rate of .5lb per week if I can keep adding 5lb to vol and intensity, or if I can catch it up if I fail intensity--- note to self, don't fail volume); and 2) I should probably be microloading PCs since they're loaded about the same as bench, so 5lb in 2 weeks is probably more appropriate (got away with one yesterday I suppose).

6/9 - "11 hours of non-hammered sleep + a few hours of waking up before the gym = ez game" day

Squat: 5x5x195
OHP: 5x5x90
DL: 7x320

I figure bonus reps on intensity sets are legit until I get into PR territory.

Miserable energy levels, haven't been getting good sleep lately (dunno why, but at least partially due to some #@^!&@# birds that wake me up at 5am every day).

6/11 - Shorts day

Front squat: 4x3x155
Pause bench: 1x5x135
Bench: 1x5x135; 1x6x135

Assistance:
5x5 Chins
4x30sec +25lb planks
Last round bonus: 0 chins, 10 plank secs

Threw in front squats because I want to slow my recovery day squats down to 80%ish (where they should be) and didn't feel like repeating. Front squats are fun anyway, just picked something pretty light and went for it. Same for bench, threw in the pause set because I shouldn't be recovery-benching 140 yet. Assistance was fine, planks are getting toughish. Gotta video those to make sure I'm doing them acceptably, but felt like I wanted to puke afterwards so that's probably good. Chins kinda disappointing but haven't been gtging and probably put on like 8lb bw so it's all good.

Compliance win? Left mandatory post-work drinking after only 5 beers so I could get in a late workout.

6/13 - "**** just got real" day

Squat: 6x220 (Still not a PR)
OHP: 5x100 (Tie - PR)
PC: 4x3x162.5; 2[F][F]1? @ 162.5 (PR, I suppose)

Can't necessarily count that last PC, was pretty damn close to a full squat clean, but the rest were legit. Gonna move up anyway because the whole workout was rushed and not under ideal circumstances.

just glad you're here to log the workout!!

6/16 - Volume (easy)

Squat: 5x5x200
Bench: 5x5x145
DL: 1x5x325

So I guess that means I can bench 160? Hm.

6/18 - Recovery

Squat: 2x5x180 (supah deep)
OHP: 3x5x85

Assistance:
5x5 Chins
4x30sec +23lb planks
(Note: +2 last set chins, +9 last set plank secs)

Probable factors for why things are going fairly well:

• stuffing my face
• generally getting more sleep
• not going full ****** with booze
• improving form

Factors I'm going to give credit to instead that probably make no difference:

• BCAAs
• psychological effects of not caring about weight/diet
• CMZ
• weekly progression

First category is important, except I'd argue on #3. As you said, second category probably makes no difference except maybe the last one.

Was sick all day (called out of work), but felt pretty much better by 330ish... figured I might as well do intensity day.

6/20 - Sicktensity day

Squat: 5x225 (approaching PR)
Bench: 4+1x160 (PR?)
PC: 2+F, 3, F+F+1, 3, 3, 3

Took a lousy setup on bench and really lost tightness, may have attempted 5 straight up with a spotter but reracked it and just immediately finished off. Not 1x5 there but enough that I'm not gonna repeat 160.

PC was a mess, but obviously due to wimmy/formy issues based on the failure pattern there... for the first 4 sets, the misses weren't close to making and the making weren't close to missing. So I wen't for a 6th set to finish off 15 reps, again, not 5x3 there but enough that I'm not gonna repeat 165.

Wanted to take a minute to lay out some goals. I figure to run TM for a while and then do one more really big cut, which will hopefully be the last BIG cut I have to deal with. On the way, I hope to get in 6 successful intensity days which would put me at:

Squat: 255
Bench: 175
OHP: 115
PC/DL: don't care

Nice round #s, yeah? Given that I'm crossing into PR territory on all my lifts that's probably easier said than done, but that's really where I'd like to be. When I hit those #s or when I get too fat for my clothes (whichever comes first), I'll probably try to cut under 165 or maybe 160 BW. Probably gonna be a 20-30lb endeavor depending. But that'd put me at better than 1xBW bench, 1.5xBW squat, and 2xBW dl which I would consider a major win.

for setting concrete goals.

What's your current weight and estimated BF%?

Not weighing myself because if I do I'll freak out and stop eating and not get stronger (/psycho), but I'm gonna throw out there 180 and 25%. Never been able to get a good BF estimate tbh because I don't have any LBM.

Cool, i can understand that!

You should look into IF. Im not all up on Martin's nuts, but i have found it reasonable as far as dropping a bit of BF whilst still gaining on most of the big lifts. Its relatively easy to comply with, and even if you don't do the fasting aspect Im sure the calorie/macro cycling attributes will help a little. Maybe some food for thought when it comes time to get dimichelle ripped