2018-03-08
High Bar Squat
3x308 @6
3x330 @7
3x353 @8
3x375 @9
3x353 @9

OHP
4x132 @7
4x142 @8
4x154 @9
3x4x137 @(8,8,9)

Pin Press
4x225 @7
4x235 @9
4x215 @(7.5,9)


Solid day. OHP was really strong and I've quietly made some serious improvements on OHP over the last couple of months.

Bench was weird. I was very focused on leg drive, and I did a good job there, but my bar path kinda sucked and made some reps harder than they should have been.

2018-03-09
Snatch Grip DL
5x264 @6
5x286 @6
5x308 @7
5x330 @8
5x308 @8

Comp Bench
8x185 @6
8x195 @7.5
8x200 @7
8x205 @8

Pendlay Rows (not strict)
8x176 @6
8x198 @6.5
8x220 @7
8x242 @7.5
7x264 @10

Things felt great today. I set my grip wider than normal on sgdl and it hammered my legs HARD.

Bench really clicked today and I like the idea of doing some high-volume work up to @8 once a week. I'm starting to feel all my different cues working together in unison (drive floor away, keep chest up, drive shoulders into bench), and my leg drive was extremely good today.

I'm testing my maxes next week. Hoping for something like 520/285/513

Gogogogogo

2018-03-12
Squat Testing
0x508
0x503


Today was truly a disaster. I'm not sure what was going on, but I just didn't have it in me. I hit 501 last time I tested my maxes and it was pretty quick, so to not even be able to hit 503 today is a huge disappointment.

However, my estimated 1RM has improved every single week since I last tested my squat max, and I've been setting rep PR's left and right, so I still think I'm getting stronger. I'm willing to write this off as a bad day.

Maybe I should add the pause squats back in. They're great for dealing with the struggles that come with the heavy weights.

Here are the sets, maybe someone will notice something bad I'm doing:

2018-03-14
Bench Testing
1x265 @9.5
1x255 @7.5
1x265 @8.5
1x275 @9.5
4x225 @9

No new PRs today. To be honest, bombing out on squats sapped some motivation from me.

My first set at 265 was terrible, so I decided to drop down and work my way up. Each set got better and my leg drive improved each time. By the end of the workout things were feeling real good, so I'm happy. I definitely bench better when I start with my feet wide and in a comfortable spot, and then slowly cork them in.

I'm going to be changing my programming up a bit, and I'm pretty excited. I'm going to follow the Project Momentum program from 2017 (thanks Aidain). I'm still undecided if I'll follow it to a T or just use it for inspiration. Probably the latter. (link https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...KfvBK0ak/edit#)

The two big changes I want to make to my programming which the above template takes care of are doing more high volume sets (8+), and doing singles far more frequently (usually @8).

I'm still planning to hit a max single on DL tomorrow.

I decided to forgo testing my deadlift 1RM. I just don't feel like frying myself for no real reason, especially since my squat and bench testing was sub-par. My old 1RM is 508, and I'm probably still there given my recent deadlift struggles.

I decided to start 2017 Project Momentum today. The first week has you testing your maxes on Monday, and then doing AMRAP sets with 80% of your max on Thursday and Friday. I'm starting from Thursday.


2018-03-15
Squat /w Belt (AMRAP)
9x400

Comp Bench (AMRAP)
8x220


Bench was a little weak but I just tested my max there yesterday. Other than that these numbers are around what I'd expect.

2018-03-16
Deadlift /w Belt (AMRAP)
10x400

Feet Up Bench
10x170 @6
10x180 @7.5
7x185 @8 (this is where things go downhill)
8x170 @8.5
7x160 @8
10x150 @8


The deadlifts felt fantastic. I remember the first time I ever pulled 400, just about 4 years ago, and how accomplished I felt. Now I'm repping 400 for 10. Just really awesome progress there when I reflect on it.

As far as bench goes, this was my first time doing the RTS style of high volume, and I completely bombed out. I was supposed to do x10@6, x10@7, x10@8, and 3 repeat drop sets @8. Things felt good until I went for 185, which I expected to be @8, but ended up being way harder. I couldn't even get the 10 reps. From then on, my drop sets were even more of a disaster. I wasn't able to get 10 reps again until I dropped the weight by about 15%.

I tend to fatigue incredibly quickly on my pressing movements and today was no different. Hopefully I just get better with practice. I should also look into resting more between sets, and tracking my rest times. I bet I just didn't rest long enough today.


Deadlifts video below. I noticed that towards the end I start with my hips higher and may not be getting as good leg drive.


Next week starts the real work. I'm not sure what I got myself into...

Today was the first day running the program from Project Momentum 2017.

2018-03-19
Squat /w Belt
10x309 @6
10x331 @7.5
10x341 @8.5
3x10x331 @(8, 8, 8.5)

Comp Bench
10x165 @5.5
10x180 @7
10x190 @8
10x190 @9.5
10x185 @10
10x175 @10

OHP
11x65 @6
11x75 @6.5
11x95 @10 (this was supposed to be 11x85 but I miscalculated the poundage on the bar)
2x11x80 @(8, 9)



I think this was the hardest workout of my life. It certainly didn't help that my diet this weekend sucked, and yesterday I drank an excessive amount of ****ty light beer.


Squats - I've never wanted to quit a workout so badly before in my life. From my 3rd set on, these were so ****ing brutal. They took me quite a long time to finish because after every set I pretty much had to lie on the ground to prevent myself from collapsing and puking everywhere. I overshot my RPE on 10x341, so dropped the weight a bit for my down sets even though I was supposed to repeat the weight. I'm honestly not sure how I could have not overshot my RPE though, given my performance from the first 2 sets.

Bench - Technique and everything felt great today. I was supposed to repeat 10x190 for 3 drop sets, but it wasn't happening. I'm not sure what it is, but I fatigue really heavily on bench. I was waiting 5 minutes between each set too, so I'm not sure it's a lack-of-rest issue. I'm honestly not sure if I'll be able to complete repeat drop sets on bench going forward, but hopefully I get better. In the grand scheme of things I doubt it matters too much - I got in some good volume today.

OHP - At this point in the workout I could no longer feel my arms and was getting delirious. My numbers here sucked but whatever. That's what RPE is for after all. Unfortunately I ****ed up and couldn't even properly calculate how to put 85 pounds on the bar. Oops!

My pair of Chucks is very worn out and probably detrimental to my lifting. Instead of re-upping on Chucks I decided to try the Sabo Goodlifts (https://www.maxbarbell.com/products/...rlifting-shoes). They just arrived today, seem solid, and look pretty cool. I'm really excited to try them out tomorrow. Other than a brief stint with oly shoes, I've only ever lifted in Chucks, and I think better footwear might help my lifts.

Looks like hard work, good stuff

Thanks man!

2018-03-20
Deadlift /w Belt
10x309 @6.5
10x325 @7
10x351 @8
3x10x351 @(8.5, 9, 10)

Pin Press (mid range)
5x205 @6
5x215 @6
5x225 @7
5x235 @8
5x245 @9

Barbell Ab Wheel Rollouts
10x30kg
10x40kg
10x60kg
10x50kg



The deadlifts were very hard, but not as soul-crushing as the squats. Towards the end it was a real struggle, but the struggle was almost euphoric. I also got to be the crazy person at the gym yelling at myself right before my last rep.

Mike T programmed the ab rollouts as Ab Wheel x10 @7, x10 @8, x10 @9 plus 1 down set (load drop), but I'm not really sure what that means. I increased the weight on the bar but the difficulty remained the same. Maybe he just wants me to pause longer to make it more difficult or something? In any event, they hit my abs hard. I haven't done rollouts in at least 2 years, and I'm far better at them now than I used to be.

The new Sabo shoes felt pretty good, but I don't think they're a game changer or anything. We'll see how they feel on squats. I think I like them better than Chucks though.

2018-03-22
Front Squat
11x154 @5.5
11x176 @7
11x191 @8
2x11x191 @(8, 8.5)

TNG Bench
1x255 @8
8x2x240 @(8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8)

Split Squat
10x66 @6
10x88 @6
10x110 @7
10x132 @9
2x10x120 @(8, 8)


Pretty solid day and it wasn't too strenuous. My front squat form is pretty bad so it limited how much weight I could do. I have to try really hard to not squat it with the same motion as if I was doing a low-bar back squat. When that happens, I tend to tip forward and lose control of the bar.

My split squat form was pretty terrible as well which wasn't surprising. I had a tough time staying balanced. This caused my RPEs to be pretty unpredictable. I did an extra set than prescribed to make up for it.

2018-03-23
Pendlay Rows
10x221 @7
10x243 @8.5
10x250 @9
10x236 @9

Lat Pulldowns
10x160 @6.5
10x180 @8
10x190 @9
10x180 @9

Bus Drivers
10x10kg @7
10x15kg @8
10x15kg @8.5
10x10kg @8.5


Good day. I was really focused today and things felt smooth. I did both rows with a cheating style.

2018-03-26
Squat /w Belt
1x464 @8
8x381 @9
2x8x362 @(8.5, 8.5)

Comp Bench
1x265 @8
7x225 @9
2x7x215 @(9, 9.5)

Push Press
9x110 @6
9x120 @7
9x132 @8
3x9x132 @(8, 8.5, 8)


Squats felt a bit weak today. I had trouble grooving my form and definitely went too deep on my single. I also noticed that on squat I have a clear tendency to roll my ankles over the insides of my feet. So I need to fix that.

Bench was nice. I implemented the "bulldog" grip a few months back, but just realized over the weekend that I've been doing it incorrectly the whole time. I did it correctly today, and it feels good, but caused some bar path issues on my sets of 7.

I've been reading a lot about rooting my feet and stacking over the ankles. Chris Duffin has a lot of material on this. I think it will help the pronation in my feet that I mentioned in the post above.

2018-03-27
Deadlift /w Belt
1x464 @7.5
1x480 @8
8x391 @9
2x8x365 @(8, 8.5)

2ct Pause Bench
1x245 @7.5
1x250 @8
6x220 @9
2x6x205 @(8, 85.)

Lunges
9x66 @6
9x88 @7
9x110 @8
3x9x110 @(8, 8, 8)


Good day. Deads and bench felt super solid and locked in. I'm pretty bad at lunges right now. The unilateral work really challenges my balance, even though the weight isn't too heavy.

2018-03-29
2ct Pause Squat
1x400 @8
6x355 @9
2x6x336 @(8.5, 9)

TNG Bench
1x260 @7
1x270 @9 (overshot)
7x4x205 @(6, 6.5, 7, 6, 7, 7, 7)

WG Bench
9x155 @69x165 @7
9x175 @8
9x175 @8.5
8x175 @9.5
9x165 @9


Feeling very strong and I'm in a great place mentally as well. My 260 rep on bench was probably my best rep ever, but I couldn't repeat the technique on my next rep and overshot things a bit. The down sets were pretty easy so I think 2x270 @8 is very doable but I just had a bad rep. I couldn't quite get the precribed 3 repeat sets on wg bench. Like I said last week, doing repeat sets on bench is extremely hard for me - but I did get closer to finishing them this week than last.

I put great focus into rooting my feet today. This basically means I am making sure to grip the floor hard with 3 points of contact on my feet - the big toe, little toe, and heel. It makes a big difference and I'm realizing that I've had a problem with pronation/supination in all my lifts for awhile. The pause squats were a great lift to help practice this on.

2018-03-30
2ct Pause Deadlift
1x440 @8
6x390 @9.5
2x6x355 @(8.5, 9.5)

Pin Press (chest level)
1x245 @8
6x215 @8
6x225 @9
2x6x210 @(9, 9)

Lever Rows
9x65 @6
9x75 @7
9x85 @8
3x9x85 @(8, 8, 8)


****ing brutal. I was definitely feeling the fatigue and my quads were screaming at me during the deadlifts. It feels nice to do some pause deadlifts again, but my form was pretty shaky on the sets of 6 as I let my back round on some reps. The intensity and volume were both higher than what I'm normally used to doing for pause deadlifts.

I'm looking forward to this 2 day rest period. Next week is gonna be tough too.

2018-04-02
Squat /w Belt
1x470 @8
7x403 @9
3x7x381 @(8.5, 8.5, 9.5)

Comp Bench
0x265 (yikes...)
1x250 @7
1x255 @7.5
1x260 @8
6x225 @8.5
3x6x215 @(8.5, 9.5, 9.5)

Push Press
8x115 @6
8x125 @6.5
8x140 @8
4x8x140 @(8, 8.5, 8.5, 9)


Today's workout was extremely demanding and took me about 2.5 hours to complete. My sleep/diet over the weekend was very poor as well.

Squats were real solid. I'm continuing to work on rooting my feet.

Bench was quite bad. Last week I hit 1x265 @8 so to miss it today was very shocking. I actually failed at lockout, for the first time in my life. Instead of giving up, I dropped the weight down and worked my way back up to 260 and things felt much better. I'm 99% sure that on my 265 attempt I simply didn't set up tight enough and did not produce enough leg drive. I was able to salvage things and put in a pretty good bench workout, but I still put up weaker numbers than last week. I'm not concerned until it becomes a trend.

My left lat started flaring up a bit on push press but I pushed through. This is a common problem area for me so hopefully I feel fine tomorrow.

2018-04-03
Deadlift /w Belt
1x475 @8
7x408 @9
3x7x386 @(8.5, 9, 9.5)

2ct Pause Bench
1x245 @8
5x225 @9.5
3x5x210 @(8, 9, 9.5)

Lunges
8x76 @6
8x100 @7
8x120 @8
4x8x120 @(8, 8, 8, 8)


This was a relatively weak day. Both my deadlift and bench were 5 pounds lighter than last week at the same RPE. Everything felt good though. Maybe I'm still recovering from a ****ty diet from fri-sun.

2018-04-05
2ct Pause Squat
1x405 @8
5x370 @9
3x5x346 @(8.5, 8.5, 9)

TNG Bench
1x260 @8
9x210 @10
9x215 @10
9x195 @10
7x185 @9.5
9x155 @8.5

WG Bench
8x135 @6
8x145 @7
8x155 @8
4x8x155 @(7, 7.5, 9, 9.5)


I felt like **** today and don't feel recovered from the prior workouts. If I was running my own custom programming, I might deload next week, but I'm going to stick with this program until I finish it or completely burn out and fail.

My elbows were really hurting today and it made my grip weak and my arms sore. I've been completely neglecting my prehab elbow work (curls), so I'm not totally surprised that this volume is wrecking my elbows. Hopefully the curls will fix things.

+5 lbs on pause squat over last week.

Bench was a bit weak again. TNG bench was supposed to be x9 @10 followed by 3 drop sets, but I had trouble estimating my RPEs so did a bit more volume. I also started fatiguing VERY QUICKLY after those sets of 9.

WG felt good. My setup was starting to get really locked in towards the end there.

2018-04-05
2ct Pause Deadlift
1x442 @8
5x403 @9.5
3x5x360 @(8.5, 8.5, 9.5)

Pin Press (chest level)
1x245 @8
5x225 @9
3x5x210 @(8, 9, 8.5)

Pendlay Rows
8x221 @6
8x243 @7.5
8x255 @8
4x8x255 @(8.5, 8.5, 8.5, 8.5)


My elbow was barking at me but other than that today went pretty well. Pin Presses do a good job of exposing a weakness of mine which is that I struggle to touch the same spot on the chest every rep.

Another week in the books. This program is demanding as hell but I'm enjoying it.

Squat /w Belt
1x474 @8
8x390 @9
2x8x365 @(8.5, 8.5)

Comp Bench
1x265 @8.5
7x225 @9
2x7x215 @(9, 9.5)

Push Press
9x110 @6
9x125 @7
9x140 @8
3x9x140 @(8, 8, 8.5)


Another tough, long day.

Squats continue to feel and look great. +4 lbs over last week.

Bench was stronger than last week, but my rep at 265 was still poor. I didn't drive the bar back well enough and hit a nasty sticking point. Other than that sticking point, the bar flew up. 7x225 felt great.

2018-04-10
Deadlift /w Belt
1x486 @8
8x403 @9
2x8x375 @(8.5, 9)

2ct Pause Bench
1x255 @8
6x220 @10
2x6x200 @(8.5, 9)

Lunges
9x76 @6
9x100 @7
9x120 @8
3x9x120 @(8, 8, 8)

Today was a nice bounce-back from last week and I was able to make progress past what I did 2 weeks ago.

A new flaw on bench which I've been trying to fix is that I have an incredibly difficult time at placing my feet an equal distance from the bench. My left foot is always slightly more tucked back and out than my right foot. I think it's mostly a mobility thing. The result is that my leg drive is coming from a position that's slightly off to the left of the bench instead of right down the middle. I don't think this is a huge deal but I'm finding it near impossible to fix. I just don't have the right perception of where my feet are when I'm setting up. Other than that, I've been doing a good job of setting up nice and tight and things are feeling good.

Lunges suck. I cannot wait until the week where they are replaced in this program.

2018-04-12
2ct Pause Squat
1x408 @8
6x360 @9
2x6x341 @(8.5, 9)

TNG Bench
1x260 @8
8x3x230

WG Bench
9x135 @5
9x155 @6.5
9x170 @7.5
3x9x170 @(8, 9, 9)


Solid day. +3lbs on squat over last week and +0lbs on bench. I had some knee cave on my squats so I need to continue to focus on rooting my feet and stacking the weight over my ankles.