Decline bench is almost always>flat bench. But it's a pretty pointless lift.

Week 6, Day 5, Legs
Did warmups for squats and sldl
Squats: 6x195, 6x200, 4x205, 5x200
Stiff Legged Deadlifts: 6x190 5x195
Leg Press: 5x435, 5x440

I had to do leg press before squats today which sucked. The racks were being used for things other than squats, obviously. Oh well, I'm not going to throw a bitch fit over it. SLDL was pretty good today and went up quite a bit. I took my 2 rest days earlier in the week so I guess it's right back to the gym tomorrow for chest+tris, though my front delts are still just a tiny bit sore. Hopefully it doesn't bring me down at all though.

Week 7, day 1, chest+tris

Warmups for just flat press, 12xbar, 7x95, 4x125, 2x145, 1x155

Flat barbell bench press: 6x170, 4x170
Incline Dumbbell press: 6x60s, 6x60s, 6x60s
Close grip incline bench press: 5x135, 4x135
Weighted Dips: 5xbw+50, 5xbw+50

I'm not really sure if I need to worry about decline press. I don't think it's a pointless lift entirely, but my shoulders have always been behind in strength by quite a bit so I'm going to do more incline sets. From what I've read, dips are simply better than decline press and work the same part of the chest as decline.

Week 7, Day 2, Back

Warmups for deadlifts, 8x135, 5x185, 3x205, 1x225

Deadlifts: 4x255, 5x250, 4x250
Bent over barbell rows: 5x135, 5x135
Low Cable Rows: 6x155, 5x160
Pullups: 16xbw, 11xbw

Today was a bit of a struggle. It was very hot and crowded and I hadn't eaten much all day. I also played soccer the night before and was running around alot so I was a little sore the next morning. I didn't get light headed during deadlifts, surprisingly. All I had was a whole wheat bagle and 3 eggs like 5 hours before I went the gym.

When are you going to end this cycle?

Since I had the involuntary week off lacking gym access when I moved, probably not until 13 or 14. After that, another week off and I'll change around some things with the routine. I want to add in front squats especially.

Week 7, Day 3, Traps+Shoulders
Warmups for power cleans, shrugs, and standing press.

Power Cleans: 3x135, 3x130, 3x130,3x130,3x130
Standing Overhead press: 4x110, 4x110
Barbell Shrugs: 6x230, 5x235

I added in more powercleans and took out some other junk. 135 was a bit too heavy for me and I was really tired after all of the power cleans, so I didn't do great on the rest of the scheduled exercises.

Week 7, Day 4, Legs
Warmups for all 3 lifts

Squats: 6x200, 6x205, 5x205, 4x210
SLDL: 6x190, 6x195
Leg Press: 6x425, 5x425

I got in squats before leg press this week since there were like 20 people tops in the gym, squat racks were empty. I definitely gave it my all for squats, I was ****ing wiped for SLDLS and leg press.

Tomorrow I get back to school. I go to a regular university fulltime during the year, and community college during the summer cause I want to graduate faster. I'll be working out at the facility at the community college after class, which is actually sort of exciting since I've been there before and it was so much better than the LA fitness I've been going to lately. And I'll likely never have to worry about crowding since it's usually full of old people on treadmills with not a college student in sight.

Week 7, Day 5, Chest+tris

Warmups for flat barbell bench press, 12xbar, 6x115, 4x135, 2x155

Flat Barbell Bench Press: 6x170, 5x170
Close Grip Incline press: 5x135, 5x135
Incline Dumbbell bench press: 6x60, 5x65, 4x65
Weighted dips: 55x4, 50x6

Mondays sure do suck. I ended up still working out at LA fitness because I was a little too tired after class to just workout at the community college. I regret this, because I had to wait around for an olympic bar forever, people doing curls with them obviously. It wasn't too hot out today though which made the crowding slightly more tolerable.

Week 8, Day 1, Back

Warmups for deadlifts, 10x135, 6x165, 3x185, 2x205, 1x225

Deadlifts: 6x250, 5x255, 5x240
Low Cable Row, v then straight: 5x155, 4x155
Bent over Barbell Rows: 6x135, 4x140
Pullups: 17xbw, 11xbw

The second set of deadlifts really kicked the **** out of me and I felt ready to die after it, so I dropped the weight quite a bit for set 3. I've been taking it easy on milk lately, but I weighed in at 158.8 and I'm going to resume drinking a gallon of milk a day tomorrow. I'm quite sure I won't be able to add on any weight for next deadlifts on day 5 this week.

A gallon of milk a day? JE-SUS. I can only imagine the explosive diarrhea i would have if I tried that.

haha, I don't want to get into it, but it's the opposite problem. That's why I backed off for a while. My diet has been close to perfect so it hasn't been that severe of a problem. Some people have done 2x gallon of milk a day on a long term basis, that I find terrifying.

i do a little over a half gallon of milk a day and some days I find it hard to drink another glass.

I usually don't do too much milk throughout the day prior to the workout. At night a few hours before bed but after my 3rd meal, I tend to gorge on milk and typically drink 1/2 to 3/4ths of my daily gallon along with some almonds and fruit in a 1 or 2 hour span. I don't really feel like keeping track of my diet for every day, but it usually goes 3 eggs+some sort of bread item or cereal in the morning, also a glass of milk. Lunch is a cold meat sandwich, sometimes with leftovers from the previous days dinner, another glass of milk here. Dinner is chicken, steak, or salmon and brown rice or a potato, sometimes with vegetables. Snacks are scattered through the day and are pretty much just nuts and fruit of various types, usually almonds and berries. I've had a grand total of 5 cheat meals since may 9th when I moved back to my mom's house. I won't be able to keep up such a strict diet once I get back to college, I'm sure. It's kinda nice living at home sometimes, it's close to an unlimited grocery budget and I have all the time in the world to cook my meals.

I do moderate cardio in the morning before breakfast 2-3 times a week as well. I find it increases my appetite substantially and it's good just for general cardiovascular health, which is especially important since I have asthma. Usually this just means 6-8 minutes of light jogging, nothing that could really interfere with barbell training.

Week 8, Day 2
Warmups for everything but seated db press

Power Cleans: 3x130, 3x130, 3x130
Standing Military Press: 6x95, 6x95
Barbell Shrugs: 6x235, 6x235
Seated DB press: 6x50, 6x50

I dropped the weight on standing press because I wasn't quite satisfied with my form and I wanted to keep it super clean. I feel like I'm close to mastering powerclean form finally and the motion is just feeling super natural. Before, it just felt really clumsy and awkward, especially from catching the bar then going to the front squat. Still perfecting it though.

Week 8, Day 3, Legs
Warmups for all 3 lifts

Squats: 6x200, 6x205, 5x210
SLDL: 6x190, 6x195
Leg Press: 6x455, 5x455

Week 8, Day 4, Chest+Tris

Warmups incline barbell press: 12xbar, 6x95, 3x115, 1x135

Incline Barbell Bench Press: 6x155, 5x155, 4x150
Weighted Dips: 5xbw+55, 4xbw+55
Flat Dumbbell bench press: 6x70, 5x70
Skull Crusher: 5x70
Close Grip incline press: 5x125, 4x125

I know I keep changing chest+tris day up a lot, but I think I've finally settled on a good routine. I just don't feel the same strain on my delts using dumbbells, yet db flat press seems harder than barbell press. My overhead press is a lot weaker than my other lifts and I figure doing more incline press and incline press variants should help me gain some strength in that area. No room for decline press unfortunately, dips seem to be a better version and work the same muscles though.

Week 8, Day 5, Back

Warmups deadlifts: 9x135, 6x185, 3x205, 1x225

Deadlifts: 5x255, 4x250, 2x235
Barbell Rows: 6x135, 6x135
Low Cable Row: 6x155, 5x165
Pullups: 19xbw, 11xbw

Deadlifting twice a week is just a bad idea. I'll sub in lat pulldowns or something next time it's 2x back workout week or just do 1 or 2 sets of deadlifts instead of 3. I felt very morose and tired after this workout, normally I feel great afterward. The workout itself was fine except the last set of bad deadlifts. I ate and slept particularly well today so I'm a little puzzled, I suspect it was overdoing it on deadlifts but maybe I'm overtraining. My sleep schedule isn't quite as flexible as before since I'm taking a few classes for the summer and I have to get up early, so I'm getting 6-8hrs per night 4 days a week and 10-13 the other 3. I'll see how next workout goes, but if I experience any out of the ordinary lethargy I'll either have to take it easy or be a little stricter with the sleep schedule. I think somewhere between week 12-14 I'll end this cycle and take my scheduled week off, depending on how well training goes. Normally I can tell when my body needs some downtime. Obviously I would be ending this cycle around week 8-10 but there were like 4 or 5 days I had off when I first moved back and didn't have a gym.

Doesn't Max-OT say to take a week off EIGHT weeks into the program? There's no way you can go another 6 weeks if you are so fatigued right now. FWIW, I don't think missing four days really warrants adding an extra 4-6 weeks to the program.

yeah if I can remember and by looking at the log, it was a full 6 days off. But it wasn't like a scheduled week of training where I'm monitoring my diet and sleep extremely closely. Max-OT says 8-10 weeks, but I'm also doing a routine which just has a lot more compound lifting than most max-ot routines and I have no easy forearms/abs/calves type day. This week or next week will for sure be my last week of training and then I'll take the week off and eat and sleep like a grizzly bear. So yeah, week 9 or 10 will for sure be the last before the scheduled week off.

After the week off I'm changing it up to a 4 day/week split with more squatting. Right now I'm thinking I'll do something like days 1 2 3 consecutively, day off, day 4, then two days off. I'm certain the recovery time will be short enough for me to squat twice a week, as my squats are still behind my other lifts, but I may take out some sets and formulate a routine that allows me to squat three times a week. Obviously I won't be squatting to failure under this type of routine. Hell, even squatting once a week like now I don't make it to failure every set. It's just too hard to keep my form perfect and make it to failure without a spotter, and I can't get one every time. I'll also look into the 4 day ss split and maybe just do that.

Week 9, Day 1, Shoulders+traps

Power Cleans: 3x130, 3x135, 2x135 with a not great 3rd rep.
Standing overhead press: 6x100, 6x100
Barbell Shrugs: 5x240, 5x240
Seated DB press: 6x55, 5x50

Definitely was going strong until about db press, was feeling rather tired when I got through with the first one. This will be my last week of training.

Week 9, Day 2, Legs

Squats: 6x190, 5x195, 4x195
SLDL: 5x185, 5x185
Leg Press: 6x440, 5x440

Ok, this is exactly what happened last time toward the end of the cycle. I was very sluggish and really struggling today. Either I need a week off training or I'm getting sick AND I still need to take my week off. I'm not sure if I'll bother finishing out the rest of the week or just start the week off asap, I'll see how I feel tomorrow. Even if I do feel up to it tomorrow, it may still be wise to start the scheduled week off. I don't know how I'll make it through this weeks deadlifts if today's energy levels persist for the rest of the week.

I've also had a pretty dramatic drop in apetite the past 3 or 4 days, I was pretty much forcing food and milk down just to get to around 3k calories when I normally am getting over 4k without any discomfort.

Sounds to me like your program is not appropriate for you at this point. I'll bet you you'll make more progress on SS in a month than you would on this program in 2.

I'm ditching this program. I'm still taking my week off because my knees still feel very weak, but I'll be back in the gym doing starting strength in a few more days. I haven't done all my research on ss yet, I've read through most the wiki. I plan on doing the variant with powercleans and not the row one. ABA 3 non consecutive days a week.

A
Squat 3x5
bench press 3x5
Deadlift 1x5

B
Squat 3x5
Overhead Press 3x5
Powerclean 5x3

That is the one true program. Add in accessory work later on. Less = moar

There's nothing wrong with Max-OT. If you were on SS instead, you'd still be fatigued after ten weeks of workouts.