Wednesday 10 Feb
Base Phase W6D3

Deadlift: up to 275x1, 315x0, 245x8

Press: 65x10, 75x10, 80x10 @9, 70x10 x2 sets

Overhead Tri Ext: x15 x4 sets
Facepulls: x20 x4 sets

T = 1:00ish, RPE 6

***

Weird. DL training max was 345 going in so I kind of lazily ramped up to 315 and couldn't even break it off the floor. I think it was 50% mental and 50% grip. My lower back felt fine.

I'm stacking up more reasons to leave this gym. I can't bench heavy or with as wide a grip as I want. The crossfit room where they only allow deadlifts looks like a tornado hit it at all times. The bars suck, the plates suck, the platforms are all rotted and out of level. There's no hvac in the xfit room so the bars are freezing which I'm sure makes them harder to grip. It just makes it hard to get max performance. My contract ends in July but I might just punt the 150 bucks and move on.

Thursday Feb 11
Base Phase W6D4

Pullup Progression: Pulldowns 85x8, 100(+)x8, Pullups 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, Pulldowns 100+x8

Front Squat: 135x10, 145x10, 155x10 @7.5, 135x10

Since I was wearing sweatpants, I didn't bother with knee sleeves. Knees felt awesome. Depth great. Paused last rep of each set so there's still loads of room to add weight.

Leg Curl: 65x12 x4 sets
Straight-arm Lat Pulldown: 40+x15 x4 sets

Breathing Pause Front Squat: 45x45 sec x2 sets
Dips: x8 x1 sets, some bro got on the dip station so I just peaced out.

T=?:??, RPE 7

***

Slept "in" this morning so this was a PM session. Gym was a zoo. The 135 set made my lower back a little sore but that's prob to be expected on cold muscles and after 9 hours of sitting at a desk. Top set felt great.

Saturday 13 Feb
Base Phase W7D1

Press: 70x6, 80x6, 85x6, 90x6 x3 sets, LS @10

Front Squat: 135x6, 165x6, 185x6 x2 sets, LS @7.5

Pec Fly: x15 x4 sets

T = 1:00, RPE 7

***

Kind of had a full scale dietary blowup the last 48 hours. Today I decided to look for a better gym and after driving all over town, really didn't find anywhere that was categorically better than my current gym. Kind of disheartening and then because of all the driving around I got to the gym too late to do a complete session. This was a race against closing time. Had an average press day and a below average squat day.

Also I'm getting tired of this program. Luckily it ends next week so I might as well play it out.

Hang in there. I've been pretty good with my diet for the last 6 weeks and just had a spectacular blowup today. It was worth it though and I enjoyed every second of it. It's helped me get my motivation back as it was fading away.

Thanks. I didn't get the same level of enjoyment out of my blowup.

Monday 15 Feb
Base Phase W7D2

Bench Press: 135x6, 145x6 x4 sets, LS@7.5

HBBS: 135x8, 185x8, 205x8 x3 sets, @hard

BTN Press: 45x12, 55x10 x3 sets
Hammer Strength Low Row: 55x12 x4 sets

T = 1:05, RPE 7

***

Actually undershot bench for the first time in a while. High bar squats still feel like hard mode, but at least I didn't have any triceps pain like last time.

Getting up for this one was really tough. That's happening to me a lot these days.

Winter sucks.

Just hold on until the living/gym situation improves; waking up at 4 am to lift isn't a long term solution for most even without including your overall commute, and it's impressive you've been as consistent as you have been. Spring will be soon enough (this message is also for myself).

Yeah, peaks and valleys. I'm trying to push through. Thanks for the encouragement.

Wednesday 17 Feb
Base Phase W7D3

Deadlift: 225x3, 255, 275, 295, 315 @8.5, 265x6 x2 sets @7

Press: 65x10, 75x10, 80x10 @8.5, 85x8 x2 sets @8.5, 9.5

Tri Ext: 50x15 x3 sets, drop sets 40x10 30x20, 20x20
Facepulls: x20 x3 sets

T = 1:00, RPE 7

***

PM. Tried deadlifting in the rack in the HVAC section and got **** from one of the staff after the 225 warmup. They give an infinitesimal amount of ****s about everything else but when it comes to my **** we got rules yanoe. So I moved to the crossfit disaster room and still managed to have a decent DL day. 315 not only went up but moved decently well. 265 messed up my hands but was pretty easy for sets of 6.

Press I goofed and did 10s instead of 8s. I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing for 8 anymore but I'd guess it was an average day. Gym was ass to ankles at 6pm on a wednesday.

Thursday Feb 18
Base Phase W7D4

Pullup Progression: Pulldowns 85x6, 120x6, Pullups 3, 4, 4, 4, 3

Front Squat: 135x8, 155x8, 165x8, noped rest of session

T=0:35, RPE 6

***

Couldn't sleep last night. This was all I felt like doing on a day 4 in the second to last week of a cycle that I'm bored with at this point. I weighed in at 155.0 this morning which I think is a post-USA PR. Pullups non-coincidentally are rapidly improving.

Saturday 20 Feb
Base Phase W8D1

Press: 100, 110 @8.5, 110@8, 120x0, 95x6 @9.5, 85x6 x2 sets

Front Squat: 185x2, 215 @7, 235 @9 [PR+10], 195x6 @8 [PR+10] (paused last rep), 175x6 x2 sets

T = 1:05, RPE 7

***

Press PR might have been there but I just couldn't get into a decent position off the shoulders. Def gonna have go to different programming if I want to make any progress on that lift. Probably something with a lot of sets of 1-3 to get more practice with moderately heavy weights, like something Sheikoesque.

Squat progress is still practically linear. The 235 is a 1.5x bodyweight rep which I think is pretty nifty. That said, I didn't pause and it's not the most aesthetic rep (though it is to depth), so I still think the pause 225 from two weeks ago is my best front squat to date.

After squats I went to the crossfit room and just kind of was sapped of all motivation to continue the session. Def not gonna program squat and dl in the same day anymore going forward. It's just not realistic for me.

Nice FS PR!

To my eye, that didn't seem like RPE 9. I routinely do 5 rep sets where all five reps look more grindy than that. Admittedly, that's probably not a great idea on my part.

It's a technique 9. I think to cave worse than this kind of defeats the purpose of front squatting.

Thanks for the props though

edit: it might be a true 9 or 10 thinking about it more. I'm still at the point where I would dump the bar way before I'd truly grind with my legs on a FS.

Nice squat PR! For the press, maybe pause all reps at the bottom instead of using the stretch reflex.

It moved well once he got it going, but it pulls him forward significantly at the bottom and he prob would have had to dump it if he had much more on there

I probably should have figured that out. That makes more sense.

When I log my own lifts, I put RPE in that spot, so my brain just goes there automatically.

that should count as a PR for sure. It's definitely a legal lift and as Melkerson said...I've got waaaay slower, gnarlier looking reps like that below my PR.

good job - 1.5 BW FS is vvg

Not bad for a flyweight in the ultra tinybro weight division.
Defintely gets a green light from me.

But yeah that deteriorated. I wouldn't ever train that hard on that particular lift. EVgonnaEV type core right there AKA schoolgirl core. And that means RPE8 only on front squat.

Great PRs! I do agree with loco, though, in that for front squat specifically it probably makes sense to keep it to RPE 8 in most instances.

Lost a significant amount of weight and attains strength pr. Very nice

I have been. I probably fell off the wagon slightly on that being as it's been high rep sets and it's hard not to use any bounce once you're getting tired. I definitely will going forward with the lower rep sets.

Yeah my RPEs have been pretty loose during this block being as these are relatively new movements to me. Trying to keep the reps pretty clean for the most part.

Thanks man, definitely counting it. I just don't think it demonstrated an increase in performance over two weeks ago.

I paused 225 with a perfectly flat back two weeks previous. It's more a technical issue than a lack of core strength, I think.


Thanks guys.

***

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDq...wkV5-ZBIJJFbzQ This guy has the best food youtube channel, I think. I made about 7 pounds of carnitas using his recipe and it was a big hit with the fam. It's not the most dietey of diet food but I can eat tacos for sub 500 calories and it's a nice contrast to the just chicken breast and vegetables that I have for my other prepped meal this week.

I'm starting a new program this week. 5-day split going for max strength. I'm bringing back the low bar squat, and going back to once a week deadlifting because I've never responded well to 2x. Will be benching a bit more but still an overhead press focus. I'm not giving up on that lift yet. Oh and I'm just gonna put it right here so somebody can bring it up when I fail later. We're doing cardio on Tuesday and Saturday. Also gonna learn to clean. Yeah. Both of those things.

Congrats on the front squat PR, loads more to come!

Love it.

I think you're going to love it somewhat less once you see the videos of the first Saturday wl workshop.

Monday 22 Feb
Peak Phase W1D1

Press: 45x5, 65x5, 80x5, 85x5, 85x3 x3 sets (short rest)

Beltless Squat: 135x5, 185x5, 225x5, 245x5, 245x3 x2 sets (short rest)

Hammer Strength Incline Press: 45s x8, 50s x8, 55s x8 x2 sets

Pullups: x3 x6 sets (clean af)

T = 1:00, RPE 6

***

Forgot to bring my belt. Had a tiny bit of knee pain warming my knees up before I got under the bar. That probably caused depth to be questionable.

I'm gonna experiment with sub max backoffs with short rests for the main lifts this cycle. I like the time economy aspect of it.

That is a plenty big front squat, congrats!

Good job on that front squat

Congrats on the PR.

Thanks bros. Now time to see if all the front squat progress translates to any back squat gainz.

Tuesday 23 Feb
Peak Phase W1D2

TNG Bench Press: 125x5, 135x5, 145x5, 155x5 @7.5, 155x3 x3 sets (1 min rest)

DB Row: 40s x8, 50s x8, 55s x8 x2 sets

DB Lateral: 15s x10 x4

Elliptical: 20 min

T = 1:00, RPE 6

***

Thursday 25 Feb
Peak Phase W1D3

Deadlift: 225x3, 245, 265x5 @7, 265x3 x2 sets (short rest)

Pin Press (eye level): 75x4, 85x4, 95x4, 105x4 x2 sets @8, 8.5

Facepulls: 35x15 x4 sets

CG Bench Press: 125x6, 135x6, 145x6 x2 sets @7.5

T = 1:10, RPE 7

***

Very solid day. I felt like numbers were about right for a week 1: challenging but I felt energized afterward instead of gassed. Pin press level is mainly a limitation of the hammer strength racks 4+ inch spacing. I could see going a peg lower and doing basically a dead press from shoulder level. I made sure to control the eccentric on those and try to get used to leaning slightly back at the bottom.