Today went pretty well, all things considered. Not a +10% day, but a solid 80% day.

Pressing is progressing well. I was hoping for 6, but I knew that’d be a stretch — like it’d have to be a +10% day and everything dialed in just right. Still 5 is quite acceptable for my progression.

Everything else is just what it is.

One thing I got to thinking about during the session was my bench pressing and my arm pain. I am thinking that maybe… maybe next cycle, starting to use flat bench (again) as an assistance exercise. So incline press with the 5/3/1 progression, but then do 3-5 sets of 5-10 reps (25-30 reps total) of flat bench (instead of flies). It doesn’t even have to be all that heavy, just something to poke at it to see where my arm pain is in regards to bench pressing. If it goes well, I may keep at it as lighter, supplemental work for a while, then eventually back to making it a main movement. Just all depends how much pain there is.

• Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 80 x 5
  • 100 x 5
  • 115 x 3
  • 135 x 3
  • 155 x 3
  • 175 x 5 (5 rep PR)
  • 155 x 7
  • 135 x 10
• Lat Pulldowns (pronated grip, to chest)
  • 110 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 130 x 12
  • 130 x 12
  • 130 x 8
• Front Plate Raises (all the way above head)
  • 25 x 31
  • 25 x 19
  • 25 x 12
• Skullcrushers
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
• Hammer Curl
  • 45e x 10
  • 45e x 10
  • 45e x 8
  • 45e x 7

Good day. Good rep PR.

I continue to enjoy the refined deadlift technique. Still feels weird to me, still working on really dialing it in, but so far so good. Going in to today, 3 reps are prescribed, but from my records I knew I needed at least 5 to stay on track; 6 or more would be awesome.

The work-up felt a little heavy, but the first rep @ 405 felt light and went up well, so that set a good stage. Rep 5 was fine, starting to fatigue, but I knew 6 would go. I did 6, which was a little work but not a grinder. Held it at the top for a bit, then down. Happy with that.

Everything else is, whatever.

• Deadlift
  • 185 x 5
  • 225 x 5
  • 270 x 3
  • 315 x 3
  • 360 x 3
  • 405 x 6 (6 rep PR)
  • 360 x 5
  • 315 x 6
• Hyperextensions
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
• Leg Curls
  • 55 x 12
  • 55 x 12
  • 55 x 9
• Crunches
  • 25 x 15
  • 25 x 15
  • 25 x 10

Good day, but ran out of gas.

Really that’s all there is to say. The day went generally well, but I was just out of gas. Hooray carbs. 😉

One bit of note is the arm pain. While it’s nowhere near as bad as it was with flat bench pressing, there is still some irritation while pressing. Today I noticed it after the high-rep sets, and often that’s when it flares up the worst. It makes me wonder about exploring something like a 10×3 (10 sets, 3 reps each) approach. Just whatever’s needed so I can keep making progress and work through the issues.

Flies. It’s not about the weight, but about getting as far and deep a stretch as possible, then starting out of the hole purely by pec contraction — no momentum, no bounce, no bending the elbows, nothing to gain mechanical advantage. The stretch is important for me, because I need that stretch, I need that work to improve my range of motion and shoulder health.

Decided to do 100 rep curls again, because last week was so much fun. 🙂 Hopefully I don’t get the wicked soreness this time around.

• Incline Bench Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 80 x 5
  • 105 x 5
  • 125 x 3
  • 145 x 3
  • 165 x 3
  • 185 x 12 (12 rep PR)
  • 165 x 10
  • 145 x 10
• Flies
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
• Cable Rows
  • 115 x 12
  • 125 x 12
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 12
• DB Upright Row
  • 45e x 12
  • 45e x 11
  • 45e x 7
• Seated French Press
  • 60 x 15
  • 60 x 15
  • 60 x 15
  • 60 x 12
• Reverse EZ Bar Curl
  • 35 x 100

Mixed feelings about today.

I’m repeating this cycle to work on depth. But I’m failing at the mental game. I need to remind myself of the worst: that I have to dump the bar. Big deal. Yet, it still messes with my head. Sigh.

What’s interesting tho is I’m improving my hip flexibility, so the feeling of “in the hole” and “have hit depth” is changing. So what feels like I’ve just hit depth now is much deeper in the hole. So having to deal with my issue plus a new sensation of where depth is is just messing with me. Ugh.

I felt like I hit depth, but also didn’t. I need to bring a second iDevice with me so I can record every set.

Anyways.

Tried out the new STrong knee sleeves. The Slingshot sleeves are a “squishy” neoprene, but these are a denser material, same as the elbow sleeves. Could you get some pounds out of these? I guess so, if you got tight-enough ones. I just got the “comfort fit” and I doubt I got anything. 🙂 But they are a little denser, a little stiffer, a little more prone to want to be straight than bent. I also found the fabric is a bit more abrasive against the skin, so whereas the other sleeves I’d be happy to wear throughout the session, I don’t really want to wear these longer than I have to. It’s not horrible, but against my skin it’s certainly not as comfortable. I did like how they were longer and had more coverage.

Oh, and on the squats, funny thing. I’m so used to pyriamiding down that that’s what I did. I hit the top set then set up weights for the prior set instead of first-set for pauses. I said screw it and given my performance on the top set opted to pyramid down for AMRAP, then 1 set of pauses. I dug that. Who knows, maybe I’ll do that next cycle.

Anyways, today was what it was.

• Squats
  • bar x whatever
  • 145 x 5
  • 180 x 5
  • 215 x 3
  • 250 x 3
  • 290 x 3
  • 325 x 4
  • 290 x 5
  • 250 x 8
• Pause Squat
  • 250 x 4
• Bodyweight squat (superset with crunches)
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
• Crunches
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 17
  • BW x 14

Today was fun.

First, my biceps/brachialis/brachioradialis are still quite sore from the 100-rep curls on Tuesday. Ha ha ha. It didn’t stop things today, but gah… it hurts. 🙂

Second, to that one thing I have wondered is if my elbow sleeves are causing me some problems. The other day I was ordering a new set of knee sleeves, and while passing over the sizing charts I saw that my current elbow sleeves are actually a little small for my arm size now (whoo hoo! everyone loves bigger arms). So I opted to buy a new set of sleeves, the next size up. The sleeves are Slingshot STrong Elbow Sleeves. I had XL, I bought 2XL. First thing I noticed? They’re actually longer, maybe 1″-1.5″, so there’s more coverage. They still feel snug, but just a hair less constricting. I wore them today and things felt alright. Again, it’s still hard for me to say if the sleeves are helping or hurting, but I’ll give the new ones a ride for a bit and see.

Then there’s the Pressing itself.

I was so focused on just moving along? I skipped over things. I was supposed to go 80/100/115 for 5/5/3 warmup, then 125/145/165 for 5/5/5+. I flat out skipped over the 115 and did the 125 for 3, then 145 for 5, then realized I screwed up. Ha ha. I just kept going, and hit good PR with 165 for 7.

But after that, I was starting to feel out of gas, but I’m not sure. I’m being a little restrictive on my carb intake to keep my weight in check. As well, I’m adding about 20-ish minutes of easy cardio after my workouts. Sometimes I felt just out of gas. But then, some stuff I just kept plowing through and increased reps from last time. I don’t know. I’m chalking it up to being a little depleted. But then, since most the reductions came on pulling motions, it may simply be because my biceps are still so damn sore and worked from Tuesday, they’re not fully recovered, so I lost a bit of ground there. No biggie.

All in all a reasonable day.

• Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 80 x 5
  • 100 x 5
  • 115 x 0 (brain fart and skipped this weight)
  • 125 x 3
  • 145 x 5
  • 165 x 7 (7 rep PR)
  • 145 x 8
  • 125 x 10
• Lat Pulldowns (pronated grip, to chest)
  • 110 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 130 x 12
  • 130 x 10
  • 130 x 8
• Front Plate Raises (all the way above head)
  • 25 x 30
  • 25 x 18
  • 25 x 14
• Skullcrushers
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 8
• Hammer Curl
  • 45e x 10
  • 45e x 10
  • 45e x 8
  • 45e x 6

It may be slow progress, but it’s progress.

I use an app called RepCount to help me track my workouts (mostly gym stuff, as I keep a more detailed spreadsheet at home). I paid for the upgrade and get all the stats and graphs, and that’s been really helpful towards tracking progress. Yes there’s waver, yes things come and go on a daily basis, but looking over time it’s really great to see the trend line going upwards. It may not be the steepest slope, but it’s still an upwards trend. If I can keep myself relatively healthy, I expect if I don’t hit my goals by the end of 2017 that I should be close to it.

That is really helpful in terms of picking workout goals. For example, looking at the stats I knew if I made at least 7 reps today on the top set, that would be a good rep PR. So there’s my goal.

I did achieve that goal. What I liked about it was when I compared it to prior (recent) sets/sessions that I had to pass to make the PR, they were done with less volume. That’s something that you can’t see in just a simple set-rep-weight number: the context (another useful thing in using RepCount, even moreso than my spreadsheet). Much more volume and work done prior to the PR, so it makes the PR even better because I did better than before in a few measureable ways.

On top of that, I continue to use the new (improved) setup and technique. It is making a BIG difference. The cue where you expand the chest, not only does that get the whole torso in position, but I’m finding how much it loads the posterior chain and really gets me tight and set to pull. As well, today a refinement happened regarding my breathing, and the pulls were even stronger because everything was so tight. I am considering this a really good change in technique because I did it at this point in my greater cycle and it didn’t set me back; I’m still progressing quite well, and arguably better than if I had stayed at prior technique. Huzzah!

So, a good day.

BTW, one thing I’ll probably start next cycle is adding in one more warm-up set. Since my warm-up now starts at 185, I think I’ll add one in at 135, then next set will be the calculated starting value (40%). I may also switch to Wendler’s other suggested warm-up technique that he speaks about in “Beyond 5/3/1”. We’ll see.

• Deadlift
  • 185 x 5
  • 225 x 5
  • 270 x 3
  • 295 x 5
  • 340 x 5
  • 385 x 7 (7 rep PR)
  • 340 x 6
  • 295 x 8
• Hyperextensions
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
• Leg Curls
  • 55 x 12
  • 55 x 12
  • 55 x 9
• Crunches
  • 25 x 15
  • 25 x 15
  • 25 x 9

This was good. Nice rep PRs. Arm pain is minimal. Slight adjustment to continue to see what I can do towards my arms.

So inclines I think continue to be a fair substitute while I deal with the arm pain. Yes intensities are still quite light, given the rep PRs I’m setting, but start light is the way to go. I am switching back to proper 5/3/1 rep schemes now (from the prior Paul Carter-esque 5/4/3/2/1 scheme), all to see how small changes affect things. I didn’t wear elbow sleeves today, but still had a bit of arm irritation. So it’s really tough to call if the sleeves are in fact a help or a hindrance. Will just have to keep experimenting. That said, it’s not like knee sleeves. That is, when I don’t wear knee sleeves I do feel a difference — my knees are much happier with the sleeves on. But without the elbow sleeves? I’m not noticing much of a difference either way, but then, the ache issue gets involved so it’s hard to tell.

I continue to enjoy flies, not so much for the fly itself but the stretch it gives. That’s what I’m trying to really emphasize here more than anything.

To that, I’m also trying to really emphasize the stretch and as full a range of motion as possible on the French Press. Quite enjoying it.

And I called an audible today. Instead of doing 4×15 reverse curls, I opted to just do 100’s of wide-grip EZ bar curls. Doing 100’s right really puts a lot of blood in the area, and if that might help with making things feel better in that area well, I’ll give 100’s a shot for a little while.

Decent day. Happy with it.

• Incline Bench Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 80 x 5
  • 105 x 5
  • 125 x 3
  • 135 x 5
  • 155 x 5
  • 175 x 11 (11 rep PR)
  • 155 x 11
  • 135 x 11
• Flies
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
• Cable Rows
  • 115 x 12
  • 125 x 12
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 9
• DB Upright Row
  • 45e x 12
  • 45e x 12
  • 45e x 10
• Seated French Press
  • 60 x 15
  • 60 x 15
  • 60 x 15
  • 60 x 10
• Wide-grip EZ-bar curl
  • 35 x 100

So I’m repeating my squat cycle, because I want to work on depth. I noticed I might cut a rep a bit high here and there, and of course that’s not desirable. Thus, I’d prefer to repeat the cycle, hit good depth, build better confidence, and that’s still progress.

Another factor is my descent. I’ve noticed as things get heavier than my descent isn’t solid. I change how I descend depending on what I’m doing: light or heavy. It shouldn’t be that way, but I can see a bit of what it is. With a lighter weight I’m a little more upright, and as I descend the bar path changes because gravity — or it doesn’t, because it’s light enough and I can resist it. But with a heavier weight then, resistance is futile and the weight WILL change to assume its rightful path. That’s not ideal. Ideally the bar should be over the mid-foot to start and go straight up and down, not deviating. So I need to start a little more forward, a little more “bent over” so the bar starts in the right place. Then as I go down everything is tight, rebound out of the hole, etc.. Speed of descent is in play as well, because I don’t want to go super-slow, but too fast doesn’t work either — it’s that proper pace, and I don’t always have it.

So I worked to focus on that today. Descend well, hit depth, come up and out. It was harder, but mostly because it just felt different. That said, I got 6 reps on the top set, which is better than the same time 3 weeks ago. And I know I was down in a hole. I’m weak, but I’m working on it.

• Squats
  • bar x whatever
  • 145 x 5
  • 180 x 5
  • 215 x 3
  • 235 x 5
  • 270 x 5
  • 305 x 6
• Pause Squat
  • 235 x 5
  • 235 x 5
  • 235 x 5
• Bodyweight Squats
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
• Crunches
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 17
  • BW x 13

Always nice to end the week with a great PR!

Today’s PR was cool on many fronts. Press has always been my toughest lift to progress. Back at the end of 2016 I worked up to 185 for 1, which was an all-time best. Today? 180 for 3. A nice PR in and of itself, but obviously I’m a good bit stronger than before.

What’s also cool is that the PR was solid all around. Technique rolled well. It’s good for reps and weight. I’m certainly stronger than before. The work-up for the 185 was trying to set a 1RM so volume was quite low, with just a warm-up then singles to the new max. Whereas today was normal workload, almost double the volume on the work-up, and still repping things.

So again, given it’s been my toughest lift to progress, seeing this sort of progress makes me quite happy.

Even the down-sets went well.

As one note, I continue to have weirdness about my breathing. I WANT to hold breath at the bottom, a slight exhale as I lock out, breathe at the top. But that’s actually been bad because at the top I need to be really tight, so breathing doesn’t work well there and has been cause for some problems lately. So I’m working to breathe at the bottom, but that’s really awkward. What I found was working alright for me today was allowing myself a slight exhale at lock-out but no inhale –– basically I’d get 2-3 reps “holding my breath”, but then in the bottom position I could get a slight inhale. That seemed to actually work quite well, tho the rhythm felt quite odd. I’ll work on it.

Pulldowns were pulldowns. While I’m still not supersetting because arm issues, the 1-minute rest and quickly moving through it has been quite a welcome change. But get this. I had my elbow sleeves on and while there was no issue while pressing, I had issue after pulldowns. I am starting to think that the added thickness, the added “bulk” then in my elbow crease as the elbow angle becomes more acute, that is attributing to things. I’m still not 100% sure, but data is leaning that direction. A few more tests…

Plate raises are actually more interesting now. To lean the torso slightly forward makes all the difference. These are just ass-kickers.

Skullcrushers are what they are. And curls are what they are.

All in all, a good day.

No deload next week. Starting next cycle.

• Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 75 x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 115 x 3
  • 140 x 5
  • 160 x 3
  • 180 x 3 (3 rep PR)
  • 160 x 6
  • 140 x 9
• Lat Pulldowns (pronated grip, to chest)
  • 110 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 130 x 12
  • 130 x 12
  • 130 x 9
• Front Plate Raises (all the way above head)
  • 25 x 27
  • 25 x 16
  • 25 x 16
• Skullcrushers
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 7
• Hammer Curl
  • 45e x 10
  • 45e x 10
  • 45e x 10
  • 45e x 7

Today was short and sweet – a “jack shit” day because I got started late and had to be somewhere early.

That said, the work up went well. The new setup (over the 5th eyelet of my shoe; following a more Starting Strength-like setup a la Alan Thrall) is actually working quite well.

First, I am feeling a LOT of loading of the glutes and hams, more than ever. It still feels very strange to me because it feels like I have zero bend in my legs and that my legs (well, quads) aren’t doing much at all — there’s not as much “push with the legs” going on. But that’s just my body, the length of my parts (lower leg, femur, torso, arms, etc.), and how it all comes in.

But it does feel a LOT better. The pull feels better, stronger. Just still unfamiliar since it’s a new approach. But I am truly digging it.

I worked up to 4 reps and that was good. It’s a rep PR. I started on 5 but opted to shut it down and leave it in the tank.

Wished I could have dne the down sets, but I had to get going. I am looking forward to continuing working with this new setup.

• Deadlift
  • 175 x 5
  • 220 x 5
  • 265 x 3
  • 330 x 5
  • 375 x 3
  • 420 x 4 (4 rep PR)