Upper Body DE - 2014-12-06
Spoto Press - 12x3x145
Incline DB, Curls, Tate Press


Gym was closing so I had to squeeze all of this within 30 minutes.

Lower Body ME - 2014-12-08
Pause Squat (5 seconds) - 1x308, 1x330, 1x352 (PR)
Snatch Grip DL - 12x1x264
Lunges, Pullups (neutral and fat gripz), Adductor machine, Abs

Went beltless for all my squats so this was a nice little PR over the last time I did pause squats (1x340, belted).

Upper Body ME - 2014-12-11
Close Grip Floor Press - 1x225, 1x235, 0x245, 0x240
DB Seated Military - 12x45s, 12x50s, 12x55s
Curls, Skullcrushers, Front Raises, Lat Raises

No new PR today, pretty disappointing. The 235 was speedier than the last time I hit it, but I failed to go heavier.

I'm a little concerned that while my competition lifts have seen good progress, my variation lifts (front squat, incline bench, floor press, in particular) aren't progressing as nicely. I'm not sure what this means but we'll see what happens.

Dealing with some pain on the top of my left shoulder.

Lower Body DE - 2014-12-11
Speed Squat - 12x2x225
Speed DL - 12x1x264
Good Mornings - 5x5x176
Box Jumps - 3x10 (+70lbs)
Cable Pull Throughs, Abs

I've been experimenting with a wider squat stance, I like it alot. With my normal stance, I was easily going a few inches below parallel. With the wider stance, I feel much stronger when I hit parallel, and it's difficult to sink too low.

Upper Body DE - 2014-12-12
Spoto Press - 12x3x160
Standing DB Press - 12x40s, 12x45s, 12x50s
Curls, Tate Press, Fat Gripz Pullups


Left shoulder is starting to become pretty troublesome. The pain is in my deltoid and hurts most during pulling movements.

Lower Body ME - 2014-12-15
Good Mornings - 3x220, 3x242 (PR), 3x264 (PR), 3x274 (PR)
Squat Walkouts - Worked up to 230kg, held for 5 deep breathes
Pullups (neutral and fat gripz), Leg Press, Hamstring Curls


I was feeling real run down and tired today (had a somewhat bender of a weekend), so I went with a pretty toned down workout.

The good mornings felt really good and I'll definitely continue to include them on max effort day going forward. I narrowed up my stance considerably and they felt way better.

The walkouts were fun, but I'm not sure if there will be much carryover to my squat.

Upper Body ME - 2014-12-17
Close Grip Bench - 1x215, 1x230, 1x240 (PR)
CGBP (/w slingshot) - 1x245, 1x275, 1x285
OHP - 6x132, 4x132, 10x88, 9x88
Curls, Tricep Extensions, DB Flys, Abs


It was nice to see some progress here (10lb PR) since some of my other bench variations have not progressed as nicely. Using the slingshot was fun and a pretty good overload for my triceps, but it took a ton out of me.

OHP was a disaster - I got 132x5,5,7 last time I tried them for volume. I think I was just too drained from the CGBP volume and overload.


My left shoulder is still pretty sore, and hurts if I pull my shoulder blades back with wide a wide grip or flared elbows. My recovery in general has been a little worse than I'd like so I'm going to try to start eating more carbs. I ate 2 boxes of rice with dinner after this workout (264g carbs), so that's a good start.

Lower Body DE - 2014-12-19
Speed Squat - 12x2x242
Speed DL - 12x1x286
Pendlay Rows, SLDL, Box Jumps

Squats were a little sloppy today, had some trouble finding the groove. My quads were burning up during them too - I think I'm still recovering from leg presses.

SLDL was interesting. I have been dealing with tight hammies lately so for the past month I've been stretching the **** out of them. This was the first time I've done SLDL in a few weeks, and I was able to bring the bar all the way to the floor without bending my knees or rounding my back. Previously, I could get it as low as maybe 6 inches off the floor. It's nice proof that my mobility training is actually working.

Upper Body DE - 2014-12-20
Spoto Press - 12x3x175
Pin Bench Press - 3x220, 3x220, 4x220
Curls, Tate Press, Single Arm Pulldowns


Pin bench was disappointing. My goal was 3x5x220, but I ended up basically matching my results from the last time I did them (3x3x220). This is further proof that my bench variations are not progressing like they were before. One exercise I was doing before but have replaced is incline bench for volume. I think I'm going to start adding that back in as a main assistance movement.

Lower Body ME - 2014-12-22
Snatch Grip DL - 1x330, 1x352, 1x374 (PR)
Dead Squats - 10x1x286 (70%, 30s rest in between)
Lunges, Pullups, Suitcase Deads


Nice little 10kg PR here. Dead squats felt great. This is like my 3rd time doing them but probably the first time doing them properly. I'll probably keep them in the rotation for the next 2 weeks as well.

Upper Body ME - 2014-12-24
Fat Gripz Bench - 1x198, 1x220, 1x230
Incline DB - 12x50s, 12x55s, 12x60s
JM Press - 12x95, 12x100, 12x105
Close Grip Chins, Lat Raises


Damn, my triceps are smoked right now. Benching with a fat bar definitely activates my lats and triceps more. I decided to go with less weight and more volume than I normally do on JM Press. This was partly because I was tired from the previous two exercises, but it turns out I really liked doing them for volume.

Srs work ITT.

Lower Body DE - 2014-12-26
Pause Squat - 9x2x203 (3,5,7,7,5,3,3,5,7s pauses)
Pause DL - 12x1x220


I felt like **** during this workout so I skipped assistance. The holidays have given me some trouble (poor diet, sleeping on a couch, too much booze). It's no good that I skipped assistance, but shouldn't be a big deal as long as it doesn't become a habit.

First time doing paused DL and I'm a pretty big fan.

Upper Body DE - 2014-12-20
Speed Bench - 15x3x145
Incline Bench - 12x140, 9x140 (wanted 2x12)
Hammer Curls, Dips, Pendlay Rows (3x5x176), Abs

I think I did too much volume on bench today. My last 3 reps were pretty damn slow, and I did terrible on incline (last time I did incline for volume, I hit 2x12x135 for three sessions in a row).

I might drop back down to 12 reps next week, not sure yet.

Lower Body ME - 2014-12-29
Paused Front Squat (5s pause) - 1x242, 1x264, 1x274 (PR), 0x279
Deficit DL - 3x5x308 (70%)
Lat Pulldowns, Box Jumps


First time attempting a 1RM on front squat, also first time doing them with a pause. 279 was doable but my technique was not very good. I wasn't feeling strong enough for a second attempt.

Weird, I don't see in his book that you are supposed to skip the AMRAP while doing the BBB program?

I was following the BBB challenge, from an article Wendler wrote for TNation.

It's a 3 month program, where you do 5 sets of 10 at 50% the first month, 60% the second month, and 70% the third month.

I'd probably never do it again. the 50-60% range is ideal imo.

Upper Body ME - 2014-12-31
Spoto Press - 1x225, 1x235, 1x245
Incline DB - 12x55s, 12x60s, 10x65s
Curls, Tricep Extensions, DB Flyes, Pullups, Abs

Pretty solid. I maxed out at 245 for comp bench last time I tested it, so I'm hopeful to set some new PRs when I test again in 2 weeks.

Lower Body DE - 2015-01-02
Pause Squat - 9x2x225 (7,7,7,5,5,5,3,3,3s pauses)
Pause DL - 12x1x242
Jump Squats - 5x3x132
Hamstring curls, Abs

Still figuring out jump squats. Not sure if I should be doing them high bar and jumping off the balls of my feet, or low bar and jumping through my heels. I went with the former, but I think the latter might produce better carryover to my PL lifts.

Upper Body DE - 2015-01-03
Speed Bench - 15x3x160
Incline Bench - 2x12x140
Hammer Curls, Weighted Dips (3x5 + 20kg), DB Flyes

Much better than last week. My bench was alot faster, and I was able to hit the 2x12 on incline. Probably just had a bad week last time.

DELOAD - 2015-01-05
Squat - 5x176, 5x220, 5x257


I'm feeling pretty sick lately. Definitely have some type of cold and chest congestion. Since I will be testing my maxes next week I decided it would be a good time for a deload. I'm just going to copy the typical 5/3/1 deload week presented in Wendler's book.

2015-01-07
Bench - 5x100, 5x125, 5x150

2015-01-10
Pause DL - 15x1x264
Curls

Pretty lame week. The good news is I'm feeling a lot healthier. Hopefully my lack of work won't affect my progress too much. Next week is big! I'm testing my squat and bench maxes.

2015-01-07
Bench - 5x100, 5x125, 5x150

2015-01-10
Pause DL - 15x1x264
Curls

Pretty lame week. The good news is I'm feeling a lot healthier. Hopefully my lack of work won't affect my progress too much. Next week is big! I'm testing my squat and bench maxes.

Lower Body ME - 2015-01-12
Squat - 1x384, 1x412 (PR), 1x420 (PR)
Deadlift - 3x5x308 (70%)


Sweet! I came into the gym planning to hit 430, but it wasn't gonna happen. Still, this is a 12-pound PR for me over a 9 week span. I'll gladly take that. I've been eating at/slightly below maintenance for the past month, so any strength gain is something to be proud of.

I skipped out on light assistance today. My body was fried.



Two things:
1. My walkout sucked, I dinged the bar on the way out and got twisted. I almost just reracked it.
2. My weakness is clearly coming out of the hole. Once I get to the glute-centric portion of the lift (about halfway up), I can lock that **** out with ease. I'm going to continue trying to improve my power out of the hole through pause work and other means - need to do some research.

Upper Body ME - 2015-01-14
Bench Press - 1x235, 3x0x250
Standing DB Press - 12x45, 12x50, 12x55
Curls, Triceps, Cable Rows



This was so, so, so disappointing. Last time I tested my bench max (9 weeks ago) I hit 245. I also hit 245 on Spoto press 2 weeks ago. 250 was a real challenge and to be honest, I don't know if I even could have got 245.

Why did I not make progress?

My training partner and I had a discussion afterwards about our programming. He also did not make very good progress, but he was also very sick recently which probably hurt him.

I came away with 2 big conclusions:
1) We are probably doing too much variation, and not enough volume. I think we might switch back to a 6-week cycle instead of a 9-week. We won't vary the exercises as much, but instead we'll focus on doing the competition lifts more frequently just for more volume. We've basically been hitting 1RMs 2 days a week for 4 months straight.
2) I'm simply not eating enough. In the first 6 weeks on this program, I made tremendous gains, but I also was gaining weight. I gained a little over 10 pounds in the first 6 weeks (granted, much of this was water weight since I was just coming off a cut). Over the past 2 months, I have maintained my weight, actually dropping 1-2 pounds.


As pissed off as I was yesterday, this is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Hopefully I can get back on track over the next 1-2 months.