Squats did look better. One comment I'd make is that I'd try to maintain tightness on the last third of your ROM going into the hole; it looked like you just kind of dropped into the hole there on a few reps (not sure if that's an artifact of the knee stuff).

I'm no coach at all, so these are just observation. Your right foot shifts a little on the first rep, and a tiny bit on the last one.

Getting some acceleration into the hole is intentional. My squats are way stronger when I take advantage of that. That said I could be overdoing it and it might not be optimal for knee health. I do tempo squats on another day.

Wednesday 10 April 2018 Training
New Thing W4D2

Deadlift (4"): 100x4, 115x4, 122.5x4, 130x4, straps 120x4

Military Press (3"): 32.5x6, 35x6, 37.5x6 x3 sets, LS @8.5
Seated Calf Raise: 25x15 x5 sets

TNG Bench (2"): 50x6, 55x6, 60x6, 62.5x6 x2 sets
Straight Bar Curl: 16x12 x4 sets

T=83m @8
Knee @1

***

Deadlifts went okay. Top set was @10 due to grip, probably 8ish otherwise. Pressing was above average. I think I'm still pretty far from pressing 40 for 6s across but maybe if I run another 8 weeks of this it will be there for that cycle. I'm kind of aiming for strength maintenance on ohp, glacial gains if I'm really fortunate.

Friday 12 April 2019 Training
New Thing W4D3

Tempo Squat (4'): 60x6, 80x6, 85x4, 80x6 x2 sets

Comp. Bench (3'): 50x5, 57.5x5, 62.5x5 x5 sets @ 6-7
Chin-up: 0x3 x3 sets, 6.5x3, 11.5x3 x5 sets

Single Leg Press (2'): 85lb x10, 100lb x10 x5 sets
DB Hammer Curl: 25lb x9 x5 sets

T=90m @7
Knee @3

***

Stronglifts 5x5 = GOAT intermediate bench program. Unfortunately I'm doing the WOAT nutrition protocol. Probably got less than 50g protein yesterday. Also the scale said 66kg today. Things are falling apart but I make it to the gym somehow.

For squats I probably took a too big jump from 60 to 80, but the plan was 80/85/90/repeat. Knee was a weird case today. I went to western union prior to gym and it was packed with nowhere to sit. I had to stand waiting for over 20 minutes and my leg symptoms were surprisingly mild. Then after the first 80 set I noticed worse than normal knee pain while sitting between sets. On the 85 set I felt something in my knee and just kind of bitched out after the 4th rep, which was @7 at most.

In general my knee has been doing much better, and I was stronger on leg press today. Knee ROM was really good warming up and if I don't get that weird pain check between sets, knee would have been @1 today.

Bench was appropriately thick/tight/solid with lunchbox weights. Coulda done 65x5x5 no problem.

Saturday 13 April 2018 Training
New Thing W4D4

Romanian Deadlift (4'): 65x6, 85x6, 100x6, 105x6, 110x6 x3 sets @ kinda hard

Incline Bench (3'): 40x5, 47.5x5, 52.5x5, 55x5 @8.5, 52.5x5 x2 sets
Pendlay Row: 57.5x7 x5 sets

Dip (2'): x7 x5 sets
DB Incline Curl: 20lb x8 x5 sets

T=85m @7
Knee @2

***

It was miserably hot in the gym today. I was able to muster a decent effort for RDLs but after that I kinda phoned this one in. Left shoulder/arm felt a bit tweaked on the incline bench so I did less weight and volume than I'd planned. Dips felt fine, probably should have added weight. Knee felt absolutely fine until I was standing talking to a guy for a while and my calf/foot thing happened.

Next 3 days are Khmer New Year so the gym will be closed. I'd normally have 2 days off anyway and honestly I welcome the third day. The first half of my 8 week block has concluded and I could use the recovery. Next week will be some exercise changes and somewhat lower reps for all lifts.

Wednesday 17 April 2019 Training
W5D1

Comp. Bench (3'): 60x3, 65x3, 67.5x3, 70x3 @8.5, 70x2 @9 bleh

Squat w/belt (4'): 80x3, 95x3, 105x3, 110x3, 115x2 @9 bleh again, 105x3

3 Second Pause Bench (2'): 50x4, 55x4, 57.5x4 x2 sets
NG Chin-up (FULLROM i.e. scaps totally protracted): x5 x2 sets, x4 x2 sets

T=90m @8
Knee @3

***

Really ****ty day. Three days off seems to be enough to de-train me. It's the first week of a new block so the plan was to not exceed @8 on any set. I've been having some pain in my left shoulder which came up when I was warming up but didn't happen on any of the sets. Knee was a bit stiff and painful, but again, didn't hurt after warming up. I think there was some weird knee tracking on the 115 set and the last 105, though.

Will play tomorrow by ear, but the hope is to deadlift 132.5x3 @8. Session today went long because I dragged ass. I should be able to do this volume in under 70 minutes.

Thursday 18 April 2018 Training
W5D2

Deadlift (4"): 105x3, 120x3, 127.5x3

Military Press (3"): 30x5, 35x5, 37.5x5, 40x5 @8.5
Seated Calf Raise: 25x15 x4 sets

T=50m @7
Knee @1

***

I fell ill with something last night. After a long night of delirious sleep, I woke up thinking I'd probably skip today's session. Once I woke up I felt a bit better and changed my mind, thinking that showing up and phoning it in would be better than skipping altogether. So I got my serum caffeine and serum donut glaze up to satisfactory levels and headed in.

Before I got sick, the plan would have been to work up to 132.5x3 and either do one repeat or take a little weight off for a back down set. As things were I knocked 5kg off and skipped the repeat. 127.5x3 wasn't too bad but it opened up my hand. I may need to strap all DL sets for a while just to really see how much my grip has been a limiting factor. The problem with using mixed and straps is that it's always a jarring transition. I half-heartedly tried to repeat the 127.5 set with straps and couldn't get in a good starting position and noped it pretty much right away.

The rest of the work was unremarkable. I started feeling really bad again after the presses so I ditched the planned third movement.

Tuesday 23 April 2019 Training
W5D1

Comp. Bench (3'): 60x3, 65x3, 67.5x3 x2 sets @8

Squat w/belt (4'): 80x3, 95x3, 105x3 x2 sets @~7

3 Second Pause Bench (2'): 50x4, 55x4 x3 sets
Chin-up: x7 x3 sets

T=? @6
Knee @2

***

A low for the log probably but after several days of missing training due to illness, it was hard to expect much from this day. I could have pushed squats harder but I almost sharted on the last set. Not due to effort but due to still being sick.

I'm a bit torn over whether to continue into the more specializationey block of programming I wrote for the next four weeks, considering whatever modicum of momentum I had was killed when I got sick and missed half a week of workouts. Might as well do starting strength at this point.

Wednesday 24 April 2018 Training
W5D2

Deadlift (4'): 105x3, 120x3, 125x2

Military Press (3'): 30x5, 35x5, 37.5x5 x3 sets, LS @8
Seated Calf Raise: 27.5x15 x4 sets

Dicking Around (too many ') : Floor Press 40x3, 50x3, 60x3, changed to comp grip 60x3, changed to TNG bench 60x3, 65x3
EZ Bar Curl: 18x10 x4 sets

T=80m @6
Knee @3

***

Pretty dumb session. I had a really hard time getting my back position right for deadlifts. Maybe it's being unaccustomed to DOH grip. I know it isn't flexibility because I can sldl with a flat back which should be more challenging than a normal DL.

Not finishing the 125 set was just bitching out. It just seems like given the stress I'm under that I can't give max effort to lifts at this point.

Other stuff went marginally better. I kept press weights manageable and just did an extra set than I'd planned. I'm not sure how ppl are loading 4 plates on the seated Calf raise when my **** is on fire with 27.5 kg, but part of it might be that I do them in the most brutal way possible: 3+ second eccentric into a deep stretch, then fast concentric. Set probably takes over a minute.

I guess I'll just do TNG Bench on this day. Floor Press tweaks my shoulder.

Friday 26 April 2019 Training
New Thing W5D3

2ct Pause Squat (4'): 60x4, 80x4, 85x4, 90x4 x2 sets @8.5, 8.5

Comp. Bench (3'): 60x4, 62.5x4 x3 sets @~7.5
NG Chin-up: x6 x4 sets

Single Leg Press (2'): 85lb x8, 100lb x8 x4 sets
DB Hammer Curl: 20lb x15 x4 sets

T=70m @6
Knee @2

***

I'm hemorrhaging strength and WIM. My life seems to be a series of nested negative feedback loops right now so that's probably not too conducive to productive training. I'm probably one of the only people in human history to have a stomach virus for a week and gain weight. I've gained about 1kg since my "cut" ended but the mirror looks like I've gained 3kg fat.

I had to squat using unusual equipment because my normal stuff was being used. This is my first time doing pause squats beltless so probably not proper to compare them to what I was pausing with during the "making PRs on the regular" era of this log. 90 was pretty hard but I had an above average day for knee pain and ROM.

I'm quoting and editing the 12 April session to log this one and it really shows how much strength I'm losing on bench. Same weight, lower reps, fewer sets, same RPE. Barf.

Wednesday 1 May 2019 Training
Sheiko #29 W1D1

Comp. Bench (2'): 40x5, 50x4, 55x3 x2 sets, 60x3 x5 sets
NG Chin-up: x4 x10 sets

Squat w/belt (2.5'): 60x5, 75x5, 85x5 x5 sets

Comp. Bench (2'): 50x5, 55x4 x4 sets
BB Curl: 16x12 x2 sets, 16x10 x3 sets

Goodmorning (2'): 60x5, 70x5, 80x5
DB Fly: 20lb x10 x3 sets

T=80m @6
Knee @2

***

I only actually missed one intended workout. The other days were days off transitioning to a new program. I planned to switch to a 3-day routine just to make compliance a bit easier. At the last minute I decided to just run some Sheiko 3-day templates. I'll probably run #29-#32 which will cover the next 16 weeks of programming. At a point in my life when I'm particularly unenthusiastic about training, I felt it best to take the sperging out of it and just run someone's program instead of continuing to do my own thing.

Everything was fine. RPEs laughable. Should have done another 75x5 on squat and 2 more sets of GM/fly but the gym was closing.

Friday 3 May 2019 Training
Sheiko #29 W1D2

Deadlift to Knees (2'): 65x3, 80x3 x2 sets, 95x3 x2 sets, 100x3 x4 sets

Incline Bench (2'): 37.5x6, 45x6, 47.5x6 x3 sets
Incline DB Curl: 20lb x8 x4 sets

Dip (1.5'): x7 x5 sets

Deadlift from Blocks (3'): 75x4, 90x4, 100x4 x2 sets, 115x3 x4 sets

Single Leg Press: 85lb x8, 100lb x8, 115lb x8 x3 sets
Prone Plank: 5 sec x10 x3 sets

T=95m @7
Knee @0

***

I was pretty on it with rest intervals and doing ramping sets of block pulls between sets of dips and still clocked over 90 minutes. Nothing was super hard but this was just a lot of work. It felt pretty good though.

The knee felt better than I can remember. There was little if any disparity between leg strength doing single LP. Cool.

Glad to hear it's feeling better!

Thanks but it looks like it was just a lucky day. Today felt kind of bad.

Sunday 5 May 2019 Training
Sheiko #29 W1D3

Comp. Bench (2'): 40x5, 50x5, 55x4, 60x3 x2 sets, 65x2 x2 sets, 60x3 x2 sets, 55x4, 50x6, 40x8
NG Chin-up: x4 x9 sets

Squat w/belt (3'): 60x5, 75x4 x2 sets, 85x3 x2 sets, 90x3 x5 sets

DB Fly: 20lb x10 x5 sets

T=85m @6
Knee @4

***

Really weak. Really fat. It's astonishing how much my body naturally wants to be that way. Knee/leg felt really bad when I woke up, which is a common time for it to act up. Squatting went okay but there was a little weakness on that side. No pain during workout but the day on the whole is one of the worst I've had in the last few weeks.

Wednesday 8 May 2019 Training
Sheiko #29 W2D1

Squat w/belt (2.5'): 60x5, 75x4, 85x3 x2 sets, 100x2 x5 sets

Comp. Bench (2'): 40x5, 50x4, 55x3, 60x3, 65x3 x5 sets, LS @9
NG Chin-up x4 x9 sets

DB Fly (1.5'): 20lb x10 x5 sets
Push-up: x10 x5 sets


Front Squat (2.5'): 55x3 x2 sets, 65x3, 70x2 x5 sets

T=108m @7
Knee @3

***

Decent day, just long. The knee felt pretty good going into squats. ROM was decent, pain minimal. Squats went really well, bench not so well, and front squats aggravated my knee. Still have some lingering pain now, hours later. I noped the 5x5 goodmornings as I was pretty drained by that point and the session was pushing two hours.

Friday 10 May 2019 Training
Sheiko #29 W2D2

Deadlift to Knees (2'): 65x3, 80x3, 95x3 x2 sets, 100x2 x4 sets

Comp. Bench (2'): 40x6, 47.5x6, 52.5x6 x4 sets
DB Hammer Curl: 20lb x11 x5 sets

Deadlift from Blocks (3'): 75x4, 90x4, 100x4 x2 sets, 110x4 x4 sets

Single Leg Press (1.5"): 100lb x10, 115lb x10 x4 sets
DB Fly: 20lb x10 x5 sets

T=98m @6
Knee @2

***

Thankfully, today was a light day in general because I was more sore than anyone had a right to be. Seems like these Sheiko templates do a pretty good job of mixing in sessions like this when fatigue is expected to be relatively high. Everything still felt pretty heavy.

Knee was decent. I definitely noticed some pain but the leg press went fine and 4x10 with this weight is probably some kind of volume PR on that machine. It's a cable leg press so the prescribed resistance is 1:1 with no leverage it seems. It's useless for two-leg press unless you're a 48kg female but for rehabbing my knee it is quite convenient.

Speaking of rehab, my left shoulder has been acting up a bit lately. I like the DB flys for loosening that area up. The first set is always uncomfortable as hell and then by halfway through the second set I find my shoulder mobility is much better and the exercise in general feels a lot better.

Sunday 12 May 2019 Training
Sheiko #29 W2D3

Squat w/belt (2'): 60x5, 75x4, 90x3 x2 sets, 100x2 x5 sets

Comp. Bench (2'): 40x5, 50x5, 55x3, 60x3, 65x2 x2 sets, 60x3, 52.5x5, 45x7
NG Chin-up: x4 x9 sets

Squat w/belt (2'): 60x5, 75x5 x2 sets, 85x4 x4 sets

Goodmorning (1.5'): 75x5, 80x5, 85x5 x3 sets
DB Fly: 20lb x10 x5 sets

T=92m @5
Knee @2

***

Another pretty easy day. Looks like I'm finally coming out ahead of the soreness and fatigue. Joke RPEs across the board but I'm not going to increase the training maxes quite yet. Knee was fine but there was minor pain. My shoulder is feeling a bit better.

Wednesday 15 May 2019 Training
Sheiko #29 W3D1

Squat w/belt (2.5'): 70x5, 85x4, 95x3 x2 sets, 105x2 x4 sets

Comp. Bench (2'): 40x5, 50x4, 55x3, 60x3, 65x3 x6 sets, LS @9
BB Curl: 18.5x9 x6 sets

Squat w/belt (2.5'): 65x3, 80x3, 90x3, 100x3 x4 sets

Goodmorning (1.5'): 75x5, 80x5, 85x5 x3 sets
DB Fly: 20lb x10 x5 sets

T=110m @5
Knee @1

***

Friday 17 May 2019 Training
Sheiko #29 W3D2

Deadlift (1.5'): 65x3, 80x3 x3 sets, 90x3 x4 sets

Comp. Bench (2'): 40x5, 50x4, 55x3, 60x3, 65x2 x3 sets, 67.5x2 @9, 70x2 @10, 65x3 @9
NG Chin-up: x4 x8 sets

Deadlift from Blocks (3'): 80x4, 95x4 x2 sets, 105x3, 110x3, 120x2 x3 sets

Single Leg Press (1.5"): 85lb x10, 100lb x10 x4 sets
DB Fly: 20lb x10 x5 sets

T=93m @7
Knee @2

***

Low motivation today. Bench and block pulls moved slow. Dicked around a lot or this workout could have been 75 minutes. Shoulder is still bothering me some.

Sunday 12 May 2019 Training
Sheiko #29 W3D3

Squat w/belt (3'): 65x5, 80x4, 90x3 x2 sets, 100x3, 105x3 x5 sets

Comp. Bench (2'): 40x5, 50x4, 60x3 x2 sets, 65x3 x7 sets, LS @8.5
Chin-up: x5 x9 sets

Incline Bench (90'): 50x1 (pain), 17.5x10, 32.5x4, 37.5x4, 42.5x4, 47.5x4 x2 sets
Seated Calf Raise: 30x12, 35x12 x2 sets, 35x10

T=92m @6
Knee @2

***

Not that bad. I felt pretty good about squats so I bumped the training max up 5 kilos. Knee was a bit tender but everything felt strong overall. Bench was probably an above average day given the shoulder pain I've been having. I tried doing straight into work sets with incline to save time but 50 was a bit too heavy and I felt a lot of pain on the first rep. Once I found a groove that was a lot less painful (primarily via a wider grip), I managed to get some work done there. Couldn't be bothered with goodmornings as I was running late to meet someone for dinner.



Neat, a 5x3 squat that is 7.5kg less than I did on my novice LP in September :/ (albeit way lower RPE)

Onward and upward.

Wednesday 22 May 2019 Training
Sheiko #29 W4D1

Squat (belt, sleeves, 3'): 65x5, 80x4, 90x3 x2 sets, 100x3, 105x3 x4 sets

Comp. Bench (2'): 45x5, 52.5x5, 60x4 x5 sets
NG Chin-up: x4 x7 sets (FULLROM)

Dip (2'): x8 x5 sets
BB Curl: 16x10 x5 sets

Front Squat (sleeves, 3'): 50x5 x2 sets, 60x4, 65x4, 70x3, 75x3 x2 sets

T=109m @7 (only bc front squats, otherwise 5)
Knee @1

***

Solid day. I don't want to jump the gun but it looks like I might be making actual progress on squat. Knee felt great.

Usually I'm pretty trashed going into these bench deload days but today I felt pretty spry so that might be a sign that I'm adapting well to the volume. Dips are probably some kind of volume PR, such as it is.

Front squats were way better than last time, but still annoying. I can't seem to do a set of RPE >4 without vocalizing to get the weight up. Skipped 5x5 goodmornings again because pushing two hours.

Friday 24 May 2019 Training
Sheiko #29 W4D2

Deadlift (3'): 65x3, 80x3, 95x3 x2 sets, 105x3, 110x3, 115x2, 120x2 x2 sets @7, 110x2 x3 sets

Comp. Bench (2'): 40x5, 50x4, 55x3, 60x3, 65x3 x2 sets, 67.5x2, 70x2 @9, 55x5 x4 sets

T=70m @6
Knee @0

***

The program called for benching twice with deadlifting in between, but a bro was on the bench that I like so I just deadlifted first and did all the benching consecutively after. I also noped the superset GPP work today because my upper back, traps, and shoulders were super sore from front squats and dips on Wednesday.

We're about to wrap up the first 4-week block. My training maxes are 128/80/138. That had me today doing 68 bench for 85% doubles and 117 deadlift for 85% doubles. As 120 deadlift felt like @7 (likely less since I criminally underrate RPE for that lift), I think a 5-6kg increase to the TM is in order. I don't know that I could have benched 67.5 for 5 today so probably should just keep that training max at 80. As for squat, the program hasn't really pushed me that hard on it yet but with my knee recovery being a factor, I think it prudent to increase that TM just a bit to 130. We'll see how Sunday's session goes.

Sunday 26 May 2019 Training
Sheiko #29 W4D3

Squat w/belt (3'): 65x5, 80x4, 90x3 x2 sets, 100x3, 105x3 x5 sets

Comp. Bench (2'): 40x5, 50x4, 55x3, 60x3, 65x3 x2 sets, 67.5x2 x2 sets, 65x3 x2 sets, 55x4, 50x6, 45x8
NG Chin-up: x4 x9 sets

DB Fly (90'): 20lb x10 x5 sets
Seated Calf Raise: 27.5x12 x5 sets

Dip (90'): x8 x3 sets
Hanging Leg Raise: x10 x3 sets

T=115m @6
Knee @1

***

Pretty decent. The template called for 6x3 @102kg for squat with a training max of 128. I think 107.5 would have been more than doable so I'm going to adjust the max so that 80% in the future will be 107.5. That is a 6kg increase to the TM and it now exceeds my actual max so that's pretty cool.

Bench, on the other hand, probably needs to hold at this max. RPEs are a tad high for my liking. 67.5 is 85% and I doubt I'm hitting that for 5. On the bright side, today was the first day in weeks that I completed my first bench warmup rep without any shoulder pain at all. Maybe there is some progress on the horizon.

Wednesday 29 May 2019 Training
Sheiko #30 W1D1

Comp. Bench (2'): 40x5, 50x4, 55x3, 60x3, 65x3 x5 sets, LS @8.5
NG Chin-up: x4 x5 sets

Squat w/belt (2.5'): 60x5, 80x4, 95x3 x2 sets, 102.5x3, 107.5x3 x4 sets, LS @7.5

Comp. Bench (1.5'): 55x5 x5 sets
NG Chin-up: x4 x5 sets

Squat w/belt (2'): 100x3 x5 sets

T=~100' @5
Knee @1

***

Quite a good day. I trained with friends which is unusual and probably led to a performance boost. I still maintain that my squat TM is fairly conservative and bench is about dead-on. Template #30 is a quite large increase in volume with average set RPE nearly maintained.