Saturday 24 Oct
W6D2

Bench Press: up to 165, 185 @8.5, 205f not even close

Pause Deadlift: 135x5, 145x5 x5 sets

Bench Press: up to 180 @9.5

Pause Squat w/sleeves: 135x5, 185x5 x5 sets

T = ?:??, RPE 6

***

Sad times. Weighed in at 160 for this one, which is a whoosh that has been a long time coming. Ramping up I felt reasonably pumped, and 205 even felt fairly light in my hands, but it just buried me at the bottom.

I moved on with deadlifts, which felt decent. I felt the tiniest of tweaks during the second set but moved on without issue.

I set up the bench in the rack for the second go round, hoping for a small PR at 200, but 180 moved poorly so I didn't even bother after that.


So that concludes Candito 6 week bench. I was able to set some rep PRs while losing 12lb so not the worst result. It seemed like I peaked around the third or fourth week which makes me think the program wasn't a great fit for me. I think moving forward I'd like to go back to doing a short pause and developing the mobility to use a wider grip, while programming to focus a little more on squat and DL.

Ummmm. That counts as a pretty excellent result

TY


Week 11 Diet:



Pretty happy with this week. Saturday was a cheat day, full stop. Not a big deal or anything but it did skew my average fats which is something I'm trying to address. Unfortunately, this week's meal prep isn't great for achieving that:



Easy Pressure Cooker Chicken and Chickpea Masala Recipe, portion - 364 calories, 20 carbs, 12 fats, 38 protein

Great. I used breast instead of thigh for better macros.

Pressure Cooker Ground Beef and Bean Chili, portion - 374 calories, 24 carbs, 16 fats, 30 protein

This one was a hit with the fam, and was extremely easy to make. I used leaner beef than it called for but I think I should just brown the meat separately and drain it totally. Would taste a lot less good tho.

Will pair both with around 100 cals of rice.

Monday 26 Oct
A2S W1D1

Squat w/belt: 135x5, 185x5, 215x5 x5 sets LS@6

Incline Bench: 45x7, 95x7 x5 sets LS@7
Curls: x8 x4 sets

SLDL: 95x7, 145x7, 165x7 x5 sets LS@5

1-Arm Cable Row: x20 x3 sets

T = 1:22, RPE 7

***

Guess I'm gonna go with what the cool kids are running. It appealed to me because I'm looking for something 1) lowish RPE, 2) high volume, 3) 4 days a week, 4) full body, and 5) more overhead focused. I'm doing the RIR version because doing rep out squat and DL sets probably isn't smart for me at this point in my life and I don't have time in the morning to do 6-8 sets of stuff for the main Nuckols-preferred version. I may rep out the occasional bench or press set if I'm having a good day and want to go for a rep PR.

I'm gonna start off with squat w/belt, pause bench, deadlift, and press as main movements with pause squat, leg press, incline bench, wide grip pause bench, sldl, and push press as secondary movements. I don't imagine I'll be doing all of these for 21 weeks, I'll probably rotate different stuff in every 7 weeks.

Today was pretty good. I rested about 2 minutes between sq/dl sets and 1.5 between bench sets. Back felt really great.

Monday 27 Oct
A2S W1D2

Comp. Bench: up to 145x5 x5 sets LS@7 (90s rest)

Pause Squat w/sleeves: up to 165x7 x5 sets LS@6 (120s rest)

Push Press: dicked around with 85 for 10-15 minutes

Chin-ups: 5, 5, 4, 4
Pec Flys: x10 x4 sets

T = 1:06, RPE 7

***

Not too bad. Got some work to do on push press. I'll practice more of them on saturday and hopefully they will be less awkward AF.

Shorter dip than you would intuitively think, use your legs, head through with push press.

What are your starting training maxes for all lifts? Our working sets seem pretty similar.

Thanks for PP advice. I think I'm having a little trouble getting any drive, also awkward transitioning from front rack.




305 is my squat pr from ages ago but I used that number because it seems to work with the RIRs it expects for the first week. Deadlift might be too high but it wants 205 for 5s this week which I'm pretty sure will be easy.

Bench is 10 more than I've ever benched tng, and its with a short pause but, again, the working weights worked out today so I guess it's good. Other numbers are just shots in the dark cause I've never maxed any of those lifts.

Brian Alsruhe has some good tutorials around push press too, and otherwise generally good content.

The RPE based adjustments should take care of things if you're slightly too high/low to start with. Just.be honest about the RPE.

Yeah lots of material to pore over. I'd really like to get reasonable at push press, because it's another step to being able to dick around with oly stuff, which is a long term goal of mine.

Thursday 29 Oct
A2S W1D3

Deadlift: 135x5, 185x5, 205x5 x5 sets, LS@5

WG Pause Bench*: 45x7, 95x7, 115x7 x4 sets, 115x17 @8

Low Row: 115x10 x5 sets

T = sub 1H, RPE 5

* Short pause same as comp bench, middle finger on the rings, each hand about 1.5 inches from my standard grip.

***

Inclement weather. Woke up to no power. Got to the gym and it appeared to be closed, but then I saw the faint glimmer of bros milling about so I went in to check it out. They had some kind of fuse blow that caused most of the gym to be dark but the crossfit room was lit at least.

DLs were really good, and I think that's a post snap tonnage PR. Bench felt great, and the think it might be possible that this grip is stronger for me once my wrists and elbows get used to it. Didn't feel like doing any extra accessories in the dark.

Exciting!!! But...

... this is going to f* you up. You probably won't consider benching less in the near future, so I would advice on already incorporating overhead mobility exercises long, long before expecting to do any weightlifting training.

Noted. I think my hip and ankle mobility has a lot farther to go than my thoracic does, though.


Saturday 31 Oct
A2S W2D1

Squat w/belt: up to 265, 285 @7.5, 305 @8.5, 315 [PR+10] @9.5, 235x4 x5 sets, LS@6

Push Press: 65x6, 75x6 x5 sets, LS@6

SLDL: 135x6, 185x6 x5 sets, LS@5

T = ?:??, RPE 7

***

I skipped W1D4 in order to reorient the week so D1 is on Saturday and the other days fall on Mon, Wed, Thu. I think this works better because this is the longest and most important session. I also switched the slots for push press with incline so that lifts done in the rack are paired together.

I brought the wl shoes back for no particular reason, and squats felt better than average so I decided to see where my singles are. That turned out well. Typical squat PR caveats are present; it was a little high and form wasn't pristine. The 305 was cleaner. I'm walking around 160 so still not quite back in the 2x bodyweight club.

I doubt it. If you can do a back squat near parallel, that's perfectly fine for a long time as a wl novice.

What does your overhead squat look like?

Congrats on hitting 3 plates. I think you were good for a little more

Yes, congrats on adding the third plate. Nice.

Thanks bros. I'm most pleased that it was a very low hype single that wasn't a total grind. When I hit the 305 last year the whole training cycle was leading to that plus I was listening to the last bars of a Tool song plus it was a grinder. This time, Journey.


Week 12 Diet:



Macros are still slipping, but overall a passable week. Weight dropped again, this morning was 158.6. Still fat as ****. This week's prep:

Pressure Cooker American Beef Stew Recipe, portion - 468 calories, 21 carbs, 16 fats, 46 protein

This came out incredible.

Chicken Vindaloo Burritos Recipe, portion - 411 calories, 30 carbs, 12 fats, 40 protein

This came out slightly disappointing. I used these wraps that have 80 cals and 8 grams of protein. There just wasn't enough heat. If I make them again I'm going to double the dried chili. I also couldn't find paneer and had to use ricotta instead.

Nice squat; I'm assuming the N1 douche beanie was what put you over the top.

Re: meals, that stew is indeed awesome; I'm currently reducing these red beans. It's the first time making this particular red beans recipe, but it's similar to another SE recipe so I'm hopeful.

No doubt.

Those red beans look great. Sadly I'm trying to abstain from sausage for the foreseeable.



Monday 2 Nov
A2S W2D2

Comp Bench: 95x4, 135x4, 155x4 x5 sets, LS @7

Pause Squat w/sleeves: 135x6, 185x6 x5 sets, LS @6

Neutral Lat Pulldown: 70x20 x3 sets
Pec Fly: 55x20 x3 sets

T = 1:05, RPE 8

***

My elbow tendons were bothering me a lot today. Probably from doing push press poorly. Bench was fairly tough until I got to the 3rd or 4th working set, and then squats were awkward because I had to take a much wider grip in order to take the stress off my elbows.

I skipped incline and did some light accessories instead and now I feel much better.




Pretty awkward but I think if I practiced it for a few weeks I wouldn't be too bad.

Congrats on 3 plates! Your OHS grip is way too narrow.

Yes, like arjun already said, widen your ohs grip (fwiw should be snatch grip, if you know that already for you)

Try to externally rotate elbows/shoulders / squeeze should blades during the entire movement. Then we can start evaluating overhead mobility (the bar shouldn't be moving forward, over/in front of your head/shoulders as it is now, but narrow grip is probably making worse)

Take a broom stick or pvc pipe in one hand and with one arm stick it straight up vertically. Stick your other arm straight out to your side horizontally so your arms are making an L.

Angle the broom stick or pipe so that your arms stay in an L but both of your hands are holding the stick.

This should pretty much be your grip width.

Thanks, guys. Will film some snatch grip on Saturday.


Wednesday 4 Nov
A2S W2D3

Deadlift: 135x4, 185x4, 225x4 x5 sets, LS@6

WG Pause Bench: 45x6, 95x6, 130x6 x4 sets, 130x12 @7

Low Row: 120x12 x5 sets
Leg Curl: 40x12, 55x12 x4 sets

T = 1:05, RPE 6

***

The tincture I concocted from leftist tears was an apt replacement for my usual preworkout supplement.

Everything went really well. Deadlifts felt kind of weak but are still super easy (target RPE was 8, so a way undershoot). Wide grip bench training max should now be higher than comp.

Thursday 5 Nov
A2S W2D4

Strict Press: 45x4, 65x4, 80x4 x4 sets, 80x8 @8.5

Leg Press: 225x6, 315x6 x5 sets, LS@<5
Tri Ext: x12 x6 sets

One Arm Cable Row: x20 x3 sets

T = under an hour, RPE 5

***

I like that this is by far the easiest day cause I have a feeling I won't be able to muster up much motivation to train on this day of the week.

Any veterans of my threads on H&F will remember that I have a legendary press. I'd like to apply some amount of focus to improving it after having neglected it in favor of bench for so long. I still think that I will deadlift 405 before I press 135.

Sick squat, well done!

Thanks, bro. We should race to 315 DL now that my back is good.


Saturday 7 Nov
A2S W3D1

Squat w/belt: 135x3, 225x3, 255x3 x5 sets, LS@6

Push Press: 65x5, 80x5 x5 sets, LS@6

SLDL: 135x5, 205x5 x5 sets, LS@<5

OHS: training bar x10 x3 sets

T = 1:20, RPE 6

***

Real good stuff. Squats were easyish, push press form is coming along, and DLs felt great. It wouldn't surprise me if I could have pulled the last set for 15-20 reps. Just gonna keep increasing the TM by 10lb a week, they will get hard soon enough.

Overhead squats felt decent. Bar feels like it's over mid foot but it does take a lot of effort and my elbows want to unlock.

Week 13 Diet:



This week turned into an unscheduled diet break. Wednesday was a birthday party and I consumed cake so as not to be impolite . I also ate some junk food on Saturday. I'm not that alarmed by this but it is noteworthy that I decided to act out the week after a surprise PR.

This week I made the beef stew from last week again, along with

Easy Pressure Cooker Pork Chile Verde, portion - 415 calories, 5 carbs, 18 fats, 53 protons. I used loin instead of shoulder to improve the macros and it was still pretty high in fat. I also chose not to puree like 1/3 of the vegetables so that it would be slightly more filling. Big fan of how easy this was, it's literally just throw 5 ingredients in the instant pot (unlike the beef stew which is more of a pain in the ass).