The most significant thing isn’t the workout itself — it’s grip issues.

So my arm pain is pretty much gone, but something else is going on. Either it’s the same root issue, or it is something entirely different. I do believe it’s related tho, or at least a good coincidental overlap.

Basically, I’m having trouble with my grip. I have pretty good grip strength, but I can’t always activate it. It’s hard to describe. For example, yesterday I was shooting pistols and one thing I do is crush-grip the gun really hard — if I don’t, trigger slapping is more evident. I wind up pressing the trigger hard because I do, but I just wasn’t able to activate a stronger grip to counter it. And I experience similar when I lift. A lot of things should have a crushing grip, like when bench pressing. Alas, it doesn’t happen. I try, but things then feel weak. Again, it’s really hard to describe. But it’s starting to bug me. And just now as I’m typing, I had this sensation in my left arm and for a moment my arm felt really weak.

Interesting thing? If I work to really activate it, things feel better. Like if I focus just on a crush grip, or take a COC gripper, crush it all the way and hold for as long as I can. Or even just sit here and clench my fist as much as possible. Things feel and get better.

I’m not sure what to make of it yet, but I’m thinking about doing some explicit forearm/grip work to see what comes of it. It may not even be during gym time, maybe just sitting at my desk and during meetings crush-hold a COC.

• Face Pulls
  • 65 x 25
  • 65 x 25
• Barbell Rows
  • 135 x 8
  • 155 x 7
  • 175 x 6
  • 195 x 5
  • 205 x 4
  • 215 x 3
  • 185 x 12 (AMRAP)
  • 185 x 6 (50%)
• BB Shrugs
  • 315 x 8
  • 315 x 8
  • 235 x 20
  • 235 x 22
• Cable Row (low, wide neutral grip)
  • 140 x 12
  • 140 x 12
  • 140 x 14
• Curl-Grip Pulldowns
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 105 x 4 (drop)
  • 90 x 4 (drop)

Today had to be a jack-shit day. I’ve got a big, long day at work. Need to get on with it.

This session saw an increase in weights. The initial work-up weights changed to be simple plate math: 45’s and 25’s. Then a new top weight of 335#.

I admit a bit of trepidation, because my best ever is 345# and here I am 10# away. But I know things have been going well, my depth and overall form has greatly improved, so really the uncertainty was misplaced. The weight went up like butter. Oh sure, it was a bit of work, but it was FAR easier than anticipated. I’m happy about that. I’ll stay at this work-up until the AMRAP hits 15 reps, then continue to up the weights.

One big thing I also did was avoid the mirror. From the moment my hands touched the bar, I wanted to work by feel and not by visual feedback, which has been hurting me as of late. That helped a good deal today. That said tho, one other thing I want to work on is increasing my bar speed during the descent. Not that I want to dive-bomb it, I still want it controlled. But a little more speed would help the stretch reflex. More to work on.

• Squat
  • bar x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 185 x 4
  • 225 x 3
  • 255 x 2
  • 285 x 1
  • 315 x 1
  • 335 x 1
  • 305 x 3
  • 265 x 9 (AMRAP)

This past Saturday was the 3-class day at KR Training, so I was up at 4 AM, in bed by midnight, and was on my feet all day (my iPhone tracked me at 15,000+ steps). Very long, physical, tiring day. I slept most of Sunday. Even this morning, I woke up feeling like I couldn’t sleep any longer but I’m still pooped. Still, to the gym I went. Oh, and my calves are wicked sore, and that soreness is radiating up into my right hamstring — even still this morning.

I felt better as the session wore on, but it was a bit slow. Inclines went OK. DB bench was strong. But after that I felt that since I’m still in a recovery hole from Saturday’s classes, I cut things down. No flies, only lat raises. For sure I’m dragging this cycle out longer than I should without a break, but I’m fine with the auto-regulation right now due to how things will be for me over the rest of this month — it will work out, and I’ll allow myself to regulate like this so I can keep pressing through.

That said, I am going to change programming a bit. I think the biggest thing I’m curious about is getting back to flat benching. But I admit I’m not sure what I want to do. Part of me wants to keep this same basic structure, just change some things up, like going to flat bench and then DB inclines. But part of me wants to do a bigger switch, like 4-6 weeks of Basebuilding then running a Strong-15 Short Cycle. Or yes, even going back to 5/3/1 but keeping it stupid simple, like Boring But Big or Triumverate. I’m not sure yet, but I need to make up my mind soon.

• Incline Press
  • bar x 10
  • 125 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 165 x 3
  • 185 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 225 x 1
  • 235 x 1
  • 195 x 10 (AMRAP)
  • 195 x 5 (50%)
• DB Bench Press (pause at bottom, get the stretch)
  • 40e x 10 (warm)
  • 60e x 8 (warm)
  • 100e x 7
  • 75e x 12
  • 45e x 19
• Press
  • 125 x 10
  • 125 x 7
  • 125 x 8
• DB Lateral Raise (tri set)
  • 20e x 12
  • 20e x 12
  • 20e x 12 (plus some burns)

Arm day is always just fun.

But that said, I felt a little flat today. Not bad, just not as much go in my tank. On paper there’s progress, but it actually feels a bit more static compared to last week. Ah well, minor progress is still progress.

And I will keep on with this a bit longer. That thing will be happening that will allow me to just take a full week off completely, so I’m going to do that and will slog along another couple weeks in the meantime. If I do have to auto-regulate a bit to get there, I will.

• BB Curls (elbows in, wider grip)
  • 55 x 8
  • 65 x 7
  • 75 x 6
  • 85 x 5
  • 95 x 4
  • 105 x 3
  • 90 x 10 (AMRAP)
  • 90 x 5 (50%)
• Close-Grip Bench
  • bar x 10
  • 115 x 8
  • 135 x 7
  • 155 x 6
  • 195 x 5
  • 215 x 4
  • 235 x 3
  • 205 x 12 (AMRAP)
  • 205 x 6 (50%)
• Incline Hammer Curls (3 second eccentric, go to failure, then stand and do AMRAP alternating supinated curls)
  • 30e x 12
  • 30e x 9
  • 30e x 7
• Standing French Press
  • 85 x 15
  • 85 x 15
  • 85 x 15
• Cable Curl (hold/sqeeze at top)
  • 50 x 40
  • 50 x 26
  • 50 x 18
  • 40 x 5 (drop)
  • 30 x 7 (drop)
• Rope Pressdowns (First 20, twist out hands at bottom; remainder straight hands pushed to failure)
  • 65 x 40
  • 65 x 30
  • 65 x 24
  • 55 x 6 (drop)
  • 45 x 6 (drop)

I still feel like there’s more I could do. Question is: should I do that added work?

It’s not much. I mean, the rows are good and I think right, both the barbell and cable — especially pushing AMRAP on the last cable set. Then the pulldowns are fine too, including the drop set at the end. But look: it’s a LOT of lat work. Granted, rowing helps overall, but I guess I’m feeling a bit more on shrugs, a little more trap work. What I MIGHT do is after the last set, strip down and then do something like a set of Meadows Shrugs — just something to get a little more pump.

Anyways, all in all, it’s good. Just a proper day.

• Face Pulls
  • 65 x 25
  • 65 x 25
• Barbell Rows
  • 135 x 8
  • 155 x 7
  • 175 x 6
  • 195 x 5
  • 205 x 4
  • 215 x 3
  • 185 x 10 (AMRAP)
  • 185 x 5 (50%)
• BB Shrugs
  • 315 x 8
  • 315 x 8
  • 235 x 20
  • 235 x 16
• Cable Row (low, wide neutral grip)
  • 140 x 12
  • 140 x 12
  • 140 x 11
• Curl-Grip Pulldowns
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 11
  • 120 x 9
  • 105 x 4 (drop)
  • 90 x 4 (drop)

I hope I didn’t strain or pull my hamstring.

Today felt pretty awesome. Squats felt strong. I actually felt like working up to a higher set (e.g. 335) but told myself no, stick with the plan — if anything, put that juice into the AMRAP set.

And sure enough I did. Last week went to 11, but today? 15 pretty easily. Yes, the last few reps took a couple breaths between reps, but 15 was quite do-able. I felt like I could have cranked out a couple more, but I won’t take squats to failure. 15 is the ceiling, and I hit it.

But boy, that was taxing.

So as I go into the stiff-legs, they were flying up, which was quite cool. But as they went along, I started feeling something bad in my left hamstring. On the third set I stopped it short because this was not a good pain. It’s not a horrible pain… maybe 1-2 on the scale, but it’s certainly not “good hurt” type of pain. It’s still a little achy even now, so I’m just going to keep stretching and rolling it to see how things go.

And bodyweight squats. I’m digging doing these instead of split squats or lunges. Main reason is I am using them as an opportunity to work form, and I think that’s helping me a bunch.

So, pretty good day. We’ll see how the hams go.

Odd thing tho? I debate what to do next week. I’d normally up the weights 10# across the work-up, but was today just exceptional, or was today a solid day? I’m not truly sure, compared to how crappy I felt yesterday — today’s so much better. So… I think I’m going to plan on increasing, but I’ll play it by ear.

• Squat
  • bar x 10
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 4
  • 195 x 3
  • 245 x 2
  • 275 x 1
  • 305 x 1
  • 325 x 1
  • 300 x 3
  • 255 x 15 (AMRAP)
• 1″ Deficit Stiff-Leg Deadlift
  • 275 x 8
  • 275 x 8
  • 275 x 6
• Bodyweight Squats
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 10

Feeling… tired?

I cut today a little short, think deload. As I worked up on inclines things weren’t feeling hot — and my AMRAP/50% sets were static vs. last week. But then DB benching was flat out forward progress (fist time taking 100’s for a ride, which was cool!). But as I wasn’t feeling it, I cut things short. So the flies didn’t go to failure and I dropped the drop sets. I pressed as normal, but then the triset just became some light lateral raises.

This starts my 8th week, so it’s not surprising to feel some wear. Thing is that there’s potentially something later this month that logistics make sense to just take the week off — so I’ve been proceeding with the intent of working up until then then taking that week off. But that event may not happen now (still waiting to hear). If it’s going to happen, I’m going to push through and if I have to vary my session loads until then then so be it. But if it’s not going to happen, I may do a proper deload here, maybe reset some weights, or even change the program slightly. We’ll see.

• Incline Press
  • bar x 10
  • 125 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 165 x 3
  • 185 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 225 x 1
  • 235 x 1
  • 195 x 9 (AMRAP)
  • 195 x 5 (50%)
• DB Bench Press (pause at bottom, get the stretch)
  • 40e x 10
  • 60e x 8
  • 100e x 6
  • 70e x 16
  • 45e x 18
• DB Flat Flies
  • 30e x 8
  • 30e x 8
  • 30e x 8
• Press
  • 125 x 10
  • 125 x 9
  • 125 x 7
• DB Lateral Raise
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 12

Nothing much to say. Solid day. Steady progress.

• BB Curls (elbows in, wider grip)
  • 55 x 8
  • 65 x 7
  • 75 x 6
  • 85 x 5
  • 95 x 4
  • 105 x 3
  • 90 x 9 (AMRAP)
  • 90 x 5 (50%)
• Close-Grip Bench
  • bar x 10
  • 115 x 8
  • 135 x 7
  • 155 x 6
  • 195 x 5
  • 215 x 4
  • 235 x 3
  • 205 x 11 (AMRAP)
  • 205 x 6 (50%)
• Incline Hammer Curls (3 second eccentric, go to failure, then stand and do AMRAP alternating supinated curls)
  • 30e x 12
  • 30e x 9
  • 30e x 7
• Standing French Press
  • 85 x 15
  • 85 x 15
  • 85 x 11
• Cable Curl (hold/sqeeze at top)
  • 50 x 40
  • 50 x 23
  • 50 x 17
  • 40 x 4 (drop)
  • 30 x 5 (drop)
• Rope Pressdowns (First 20, twist out hands at bottom; remainder straight hands pushed to failure)
  • 65 x 40
  • 65 x 33
  • 65 x 27
  • 55 x 6 (drop)
  • 45 x 7 (drop)

The adjustments to the back workout are good.

Interesting thing is I didn’t realize, until I logged this in my spreadsheet, is that I really upped the weights this session over last. And I still cranked it. Hey, progress is good.

Fewer face pulls, gets the shoulders nice and warmed up.

The rows work well. I am happy to be doing BB rows again.

Shrugs. Hrm. I’ve never been good at evaluating if the really heavy stuff works well, or the lighter/higher stuff works better. I’ll stick with this for a bit, but I am thinking about other approaches. Either way, the one change NOW I’ve made is to take the first light set to 20, then the second an AMRAP (which just happened to hit 20 today).

The cable rows were… not sure. I am starting to use a bar with a neutral grip and about shoulder-width spacing. I’m not sure I’m sold on it (vs. a v-bar with a neutral, narrow grip). Not sure it works things as much as I would like, but I’ll stick with it for now.

And curl grips. Man, they remain a bit hard on the shoulders and wrists, but if I really focus well on moving just the upper arm with the lats (vs. trying to use “all the body and muscles” to just move weight through space), yeah… these kill me. That’s been one of the things in training over the past couple years I’ve been so happy about: improving the quality of my back work. Ignoring the hands — they’re just what attaches you to the bar. Moving from the elbow, or at least thinking about it that way. Less weight, better contractions, ensuring scapular movement. Good stuff.

• Face Pulls
  • 65 x 25
  • 65 x 25
• Barbell Rows
  • 135 x 8
  • 155 x 7
  • 175 x 6
  • 195 x 5
  • 205 x 4
  • 215 x 3
  • 175 x 12 (AMRAP)
  • 175 x 6 (50%)
• BB Shrugs
  • 305 x 8
  • 305 x 8
  • 225 x 20
  • 225 x 20 (AMRAP)
• Cable Row (low, wide neutral grip)
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 14 (AMRAP)
• Curl-Grip Pulldowns
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 11
  • 120 x 6
  • 105 x 4 (drop)
  • 90 x 4 (drop)

It’s so interesting to manipulate carbs and how they affect performance.

I’ve been trying to keep my caloric balance in check, and of the three macros that ultimately comes down to carb manipulation. Ideally, given I work out in the early morning, I’d have lots of carbs around the session then taper off throughout the day, maybe even having no carbs by evening. For numerous reasons that’s not working well for me, so what I’m trying is having carbs around the workout session, avoiding carbs during the day, then allowing myself carbs in the evening. So far it’s been working well. I can feel when I do skip the mid-day carbs I end up feeling less bloated, etc.; when I do have them, I feel more bloated, I can see it in the mirror and on the scale. So it’s interesting.

And so since I didn’t have much for carbs yesterday, I felt it today. It wasn’t bad, but for sure I wasn’t gassed up. That top set went up slow, not horribly slow, but slower than last week – when I wanted this week to be faster. So I may do a little more carb-up on Monday, then allow the rest of the week to taper off.

But still, progress is being made, so I cannot complain.

And dude — proper stiff-legs like that just kick you hard.

I opted to close out with bodyweight squats over split squats or lunges. I wanted to spend some time reinforcing the movement groove: spreading knees, pushing hips back, driving out with hips, chest up/out, and depth by feel not by looking in the mirror. I may stick with this for a while to continue breaking the novelty of visual cues and get back to kinesthetics.

• Squat
  • bar x 10
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 4
  • 195 x 3
  • 245 x 2
  • 275 x 1
  • 305 x 1
  • 325 x 1
  • 300 x 3
  • 255 x 11 (AMRAP)
• 1″ Deficit Stiff-Leg Deadlift
  • 265 x 8
  • 265 x 8
  • 265 x 8
• Bodyweight Squats
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 10