ExRx.net

Saturday, 1 September

c28w1d3 squat, PC, core

Squat
10x45
6x95
4x135
2x185
1x205

1x225
1x235
1x240
1x245
1x235
1x225
3x215

Swings
10x40
12x50
10x60
10x60

Front Planks
60 sec
+25x2x30 sec

Squats—That seems like a lot, but it felt good, form stayed tight until the 245 "GMed" a little.

I took an extra day off this week as I was ill. The sequence will work out anyway, since I'm on call Sunday, and wouldn't have been able to lift then anyway.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Monday, 3 September

c28w1d4 bench, chins, press

Bench
8x45
5x95
3x115
2x135
1x175
1x175
1x185
1x190
0x195
1x190
1x185
1x175
0x175

Late afternoon after a long day. Big lift and home.

Bench—This actually should have been my volume bench day, but I wasn't thinking, so I got in a pretty good day of singles. On the last lift I was concentrating so hard on lifting "explosively" that I pulled the bar down hard, ready to "explode" back up, bounced harder on my chest than I'd anticipated, my spotter and I started laughing, and I lost whatever tightness I still had. He helped me rack the bar, and I was done for the day.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Saturday, 8 September

c28w2d1 deadlift, squat accessory, grip

Deadlift
8x45
5x95
3x135
2x185
2x225
1x275
1x295
3x315
3x315

Bulgarian Split Squats
10xBW
10xBW+21.5
10xBW+21.5
6R,8LxBW+21.5
10R,12LxBW

Static Hold
325x9sec DO grip
325x8sec DO
325x7sec DO
325x20sec Alt Grip

Dead—probably last time to jump the weight on all 6 reps.

Bulgarians—tougher for the left than for the right, so I'm trying to give the left a little extra work.

Grip—times are my count, and I have a reputation for counting fast at certain times!

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Monday, 10 September

c28w2d2 Bench, Chins, Row

Bench
8x45
5x95
3x115
2x135
1x155
2x175
2x175
2x175
2x175
2x175

Chins
experimenting with ways to train for single-handed chinups
BWx2
2-hand concentric, 1-hand eccentric, plummet to the floor, both hands! 1 try each
same idea, but using band-assisted
red band 1 try each hand, still too fast down
black band 1 try each hand, still too fast
purple band 3 reps each hand, better, but still not great
one hand on the bar, one hand on the…
purple band, one each
towel, one each
rope 2 each
finally, just body-weight chinups,
5/4/4/5

Row, dumbbell
5x45
3x65
3x75
2x75

Bench—went OK, not to failure

Chins—interesting. I'm thinking that I'm not really ready to start working on single-hand chinups yet!

Rows—nothing special

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Wednesday, 12 September

c28s2c3 squat, pc, core

Squat
8x45
5x95
3x135
2x185
1x205
1x225
1+x235*
2x225
1+x225*
*"1+" is a good rep and a shallow rep

Swings
10x35
10x50
10x60
10x60

Pallof Press
20x4x10sec
25x4x10
20x4x10

Squat—had my young friend "Q" in the gym, and I asked him to watch my squats. The little twerp claims that the second rep on each of these two sets was shallow. Ugh. I wonder how much I've been doing that. I GMed only a little this time. I'm working on all of this.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Friday, 14 September

c28w2d4 bench, chins, press

Bench
8x45
5x95
3x115
2x135
7x150
7x150
7x150

Chins, weighted
BWx1/2
2xBW+10
2xBW+20
2xBW+30
2xBW+40
2xBW+50
1xBW+50
1xBW+50

Press
5x45
3x65
3x85
3x85
4x85

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Monday, 17 September

c28w3d1 deadlift, squat accessory, grip

Deadlift
8x45
5x95
3x135
2x185
1x225
1x275
1x295
4x315
4x315

Bulgarian Split Squats
10xBW
10xBW+25
10xBW+25
8xBW+25 left only
10xBW

Static Hold
135x60sec
185x45sec
225x30sec
275x15/12/8/6
225x18/13/8
175x15
135x25/7

Dead—I feel like I'm pushing the limits a bit here. I'll be using primarily single progression from now on.

Bulgarians—giving the left side a little extra work, since it always wants to give out first

Grip—Grip Fest. I got inspired to do a lot with this, not sure why. A bit more endurance-focused than usual. Now (the next day) I actually have a little bit of DOMS in my hands .

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Wednesday, 19 September

c28w3d2 bench, chins, row

Bench
8x45
5x95
2x135
1x155
3x175
3x175
3x175
3x175

Chins
1/2/7/8/6/7/6

DB Row
5x25
5x45
2x65
1x75
1x87
1x87
1x87
6x65

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Friday, 21 September

c28w3d3 squat, PC, core

Squat
8x52
5x102
3x122
2x172
2x192
3x212
3x212
3x212

DB Swings
10x30
10x40
10x50
8x50
8x50
10x50

Pallof
3 sets of 4 reps with 20 pounds for 10-second lock-out

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Monday, 24 September

c28w3d4 bench, chins, press

Bench
8x45
3x95
1x115
1x135
1x145
7x155
7x155
5x155

Chins weighted
BWx1/2
1xBW+10
1xBW+20
1xBW+30
1xBW+40
1xBW+50
1xBW+50

Press omitted

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Saturday, 29 September

cycle 29

Deadlift
8x45
5x95
3x135
2x185
1x225
1x275
1x315
1x335
1x345
1x315

For my records, I'm ending cycle 28. Cycle 29 will be evaluation, testing, rehab, general mucking around of the routine.

After my bench and chin session 5 days ago, I was more sore than I have been in years. I have some chronic low back soreness, which I blame on posture, habits, sitting in my recliner, my bed, and maybe some contribution from my lifting. This usually is worst when I get up in the morning, and resolves by mid-morning, only occasionally lasting into the afternoon. It has never lasted through to a lifting session. I'd even had an extra day off before Monday (because of on-call responsibilities). Ordinarily, I would have started a new cycle with 2 days rest, but on Thursday I still didn't feel right. Friday I was on call, so I couldn't lift, and still had my doubts about Saturday. But I woke up this morning with minimal soreness, and within a couple of hours was feeling really good.

Thing is, I'm not always sure what lifts really affect my back. It seems odd to me, but my day#4 (bench weighted chins and press) is often worse than either DL or squat day.

So here's the plan. I'm going to do only one lift a day, alternating upper and lower lifts for a few days, with some days off on a sort of ad lib basis, trying to assess which lifts bother me the most. It may well be a cumulative thing, so this may not tell me everything, but it should leave me better able to plan a new routine.

Today I deadlifted. I decided to go up to a few heavy singles, no big volume. So I worked up to 335, and got to wondering what was that new PR I set a few months ago. I thumbed back through my notes, and found that 335 was my PR. So I threw 10 more on the bar and pulled it again! Then I backed off to about 905 of that, pulled one more and went home. Right now I feel great. We'll see how it is in the morning after a night on the bed from the nether regions.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Monday, 1 October

cycle 29

Bench
8x45
4x95
2x115
1x135
1x155
1x165
2x180
2x180
2x180
3x180
1x180

Today should have been 5x2x180, but I got confused on the 4th set. Then I only had 1 left for the last set.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Wednesday, 3 October

cycle 29

Squat

8x32
5x82
3x122
2x172
1x192
1x212
1x222
1x232*
3x212*
*small form breaks

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Thursday, 4 October

Cycle 29, Bench

Bench
8x45
5x95
3x115
2x135
1x147.5
6x160
6x160
4x160

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Saturday, 6 October

cycle 29

Deadlift
8x45
5x95
3x135
2x185
1c225
1x275
1x305
3x320
3x320
4x295

Bulgarian Split Squat
4x10xBW

DL—Rats! I thought my shins were invulnerable. I no longer drag the bar hard up my shins, just lightly glide along, or so I thought. I didn't even notice scraping them, but after the first set at 320, there was a bleeding tear on my right leg. So I'll try to remember to use the DL socks for the heavy sets.

_________________
Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan