Minor refinement.

Based upon last week, the first round of the new program, this week sees some changes to each session. Today’s changes weren’t much, but still there.

Squats. Using Paul Carter’s general “mass template work up” approach (5/4/3/2/1/AMRAP/50% reps; 40/50/60/75/85/73/73 percentages), things seemed good on the whole. Over the weekend I watched a video with Chris Duffin and the guys at Supertraining.tv (Mark Bell) on squatting. It’s similar cues and work to what I’ve seen before from Chris, but like many things in life if you see the same thing but presented in a different manner you can often pick up something. Plus it’s evident from the video that Chris strives to be a teacher/coach — compared to other videos I’ve seen of him teaching the same material, it was evident he’s found better ways to explain some things. That’s really a good sign of a good teacher, striving to improve in how he teaches. Point is, his cues were in my mind as I squatted.

The AMRAP set bugs me tho. Paul’s approach is you pick a weight that gets you about 8 reps, then over the coming weeks you work to build up to like 15 reps, going for rep PR’s. So I seem to be starting out fine, but I gotta wonder about the ability to hit rep PR’s on this cut diet. We’ll see. Funny thing is, on the 50% set I felt like I could do MORE work — Duffin’s cues really settled in on that set and I felt like there were probably 2-3 more reps in me. But, that’s time to just rack it. So, we’ll just see what next week brings. Going to strive for the rep PR’s, and let the diet take its course.

Front Squats. Doing some reading on them over the weekend, it seems about 8 reps is the max to do. Reason is, in order to use a weight heavy enough to work the legs, by the time 8 or so reps comes around all the smaller stabilizers in the back/torso are going to be giving out and things will fall apart. Often tho I saw 5-8 being the recommended range. So…. going to strive for that and see what it does for me. For sure I’m still getting used to the movement, but today felt better than before. I will increase 10 lb. for next week and just slowly work my way up, focusing more on getting the movement down before I really worry about weight.

Leg Press. Yeah… changing up the leg/foot positioning is killing my quads. That’s good. 🙂 I don’t like it totally because I’m still trying to find a good “bottom point” so that I’m consistent between reps… sometimes I think I have it, but then I notice my butt curled off the seat, or some arbitrary factor. It’s not a huge deal, but I just want to ensure I’m getting consistent measureable progress. But this is good and I’m liking this… I feel like I may finally get something out of leg pressing.

Lunges. I realize that I don’t hate lunges, I hate so many reps. I mean, since it’s a unilateral exercise it takes twice as long. Sure it’s 15 reps, but really it’s 30… and I hate that shit. 🙂 I get so damn bored. So I think 15 reps is good enough. My legs, especially my knees, are feeling fine. So I’m going to slowly introduce weight now, probably putting one of the 20 lb. bars over my shoulders and work from there. I use lunges as an excuse to work on posture, pinching my shoulder blades, opening my chest, keeping upright. Not only is that good for balance, but posture and so many things for me. I usually added weight to lunges with dumbbells, but I want to try a bar to see how that affects me — too easy to “collapse” my chest with the dumbells. I still will keep them to higher reps, 8-15 range per leg, but I figure a little weight is good now because else it’s just more reps. 😉

Inspired by Paul Carter’s methodologies

• Squats
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 115 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 175 x 3
  • 225 x 2
  • 250 x 1
  • 215 x 8
  • 215 x 5
• Front Squat
  • 95 x 8
  • 95 x 8
  • 95 x 8
• Leg Press (350-Method)
  • 135 x 26
  • 135 x 21
  • 135 x 20
• Lunge
  • BW x 15e
  • BW x 15e
  • BW x 15e

Close, but not quite.

Today was the first day for “shoulders/triceps” on the new plan. Overall, it was good, but it’s not quite what I want.

It’s the same issue as with yesterday’s deadlift/back/biceps: is it enough? Not that I want to do more stuff, as part of the point here is trying to do more with less. But that’s just it: training economy. Now with yesterday’s deadlift/back/biceps, it MAY be enough, don’t know yet. I woke up this morning feeling sore in all the right places, which tells me I did work the desired muscles. So for that day, I am going to give it at least another week before I adjust anythng because yesterday was mostly about revisiting the deadlift and so next week will be actually doing things… so we’ll see how that goes before making adjustments.

But today, I am not sure I got enough shoulder work. I think I was so focused on “keep it to 4 exercises, keep things short and sweet, oh and don’t forget to get at least 1 triceps-dedicated exercise in” that I may have missed the mark. As well, since the pressing was certainly less volume than bench/squat/deadlift… maybe that’s it. Remedy? Not sure yet. Maybe I do more pressing, which could be more BNP sets, or could be something like adding in 3-4 sets of DB presses. I did think that I might want to add a 5th AMRAP set to the BNP. But maybe I’ll do something like 3 sets of lateral raises. Just not sure yet, but I want a little more shoulder work.

I might even drop the pressdowns entirely and allow the bench dips to be an AMRAP thing and see if that’s sufficient for me. It might. I just don’t know yet… need to think about what will achieve what I’m after, best economy, etc..

That said, overall things were fine. I actually think the bench dips were the best part.

I’ve got some issues with my right shoulder, which seem to ultimately come down to tightness. It’s hard to get just the right stretch, but I keep trying. It dawned on me some months ago that the bottom position of dips would help, and so part of my daily warm-up is going to the dip station, standing on the floor (this isn’t about putting weight on it), but getting into the bottom position of the dip so I can stretch out that pec/anterior-delt area. It’s helped for sure, but it hasn’t been enough. Last week as I was restructuring my program, bench dips dawned on me as an even better position to help here. Sure enough, once I started doing it, oh… it hurt… in a bad way, but towards a good way. 🙂 I didn’t want to rep out here… the 4×10 wasn’t all that hard from an exercise perspective, but it did “hurt so good” in terms of the position it put my shoulder into. The stretch was really good for me. The crazy thing? When I got home and was making my breakfast, I had to reach for something off a top shelf. Usually doing that causes me some discomfort as I raise my arm up — but I had no such discomfort. That was striking and novel; nothing I expected, but I always expect the pain and when it didn’t come I was pleasantly surprised! So, hopefully this means my plan is coming together! 🙂 I intend to keep with the bench dips, not because I expect to get swole, but to help rehab and improve my shoulder issues. Today was promising!

So however I adjust today’s program, bench dips are staying. 🙂

Inspired by Paul Carter’s methodologies

Behind-the-Neck Press

• bar x 12
• 65 x 8
• 95 x 12
• 95 x 10
• 95 x 8
• 95 x 6

Upright Rows

• 90 x 12
• 90 x 12
• 90 x 10
• 90 x 8

Bench Dips

• BW x 10
• BW x 10
• BW x 10
• BW x 10

Rope-Handle Pressdowns (350-Method)

• 40 x 23
• 40 x 18
• 40 x 15

Deadlifting once more!

It’s been a long time since I deadlifted. Yeah I did some other styles of deadlifting, like stiff-legs, sumo, deficit. But straight-up from the floor conventionals? Not since August. In part, The Defattening Project, in part Paul’s methodologies didn’t promote straight-up deadlifting (e.g. stiff-legs instead), in part my left knee wasn’t happy about it. But the knee’s feeling better (tho it’s obviously not 100%), and since I’m on the final leg of things well… I figured let’s try things again and see.

Given it has been so long, I have no idea where things lie. Today’s goal was to just see if I could (conventional) deadlift without pain or trouble, then try to work up and see where things were to figure out a working weight. I did the workup in the 5,4,3,2,1 approach, making 25/45 plate jumps, then singles until it didn’t happen.

365 went up really well. Paul’s term “crisp” came to mind for sure. I figured to go for 405 just to see. It broke the floor but didn’t go anywhere. A little depressing to see I can’t break 405 any more… I probably could have made if I really put myself into it and worked it up, but no question it would be a true max and NOT what I’m going for. Ah well. I backed off to 385 to split the difference and that went up ok; a little breakdown in form, but still acceptable. So given all factors, I think using 365 as the “every day max” “working weight” will be Good Enough™ for now. I mean, today was a simple leisurely thing. I’ll use 365, calculate out from percentages, then hit it properly (e.g. 60-90 seconds inter-set rest), and see how it all goes next week.

Chins of course dropped in reps, but that’s expected given I wasn’t fresh. But still felt good with them. Cable rows were chosen to have some sort of row, but one that may not hit my lower back as much as traditional BB rows would. Then into the curls, which was a lighter weight than I should have used, but again today was feeling things out.

I feel like I didn’t get enough back work, but again it’s premature to tell and change anything. I mean, other days are the main movement and 3 assistance. Here it’s really main and 2, because then I work in a little arm work. What may happen is I throw in something like shrugs where I’ve seen Paul program something like just 2 sets: 1 5-8 reps, then 1 20+ reps. Or as I wrote all of this, maybe I’ll try DB rows… never thought they did much for me, but things are different now so who knows.

Anyways, all in all today was as I expected it to go. Next week should be more telling since it should be a “more proper” day.

Inspired by Paul Carter’s methodologies

Press

• 135 x 5
• 185 x 4
• 225 x 3
• 275 x 2
• 315 x 1
• 365 x 1
• 405 x 0 (boo!)
• 385 x 1
• 275 x 3
• 275 x 3
• 275 x 3

Chins

• BW x 5
• BW x 5
• BW x 4
• BW x 3
• BW x 2

Cable Rows

• 120 x 15
• 130 x 10
• 130 x 8
• 120 x 8

Hammer Curls (350-Method)

• 20e x 30
• 20e x 20
• 20e x 15

So far, so good.

My bench press day didn’t change a whole lot from before.

Still starting out with bench press. I am still working with a wider grip (index fingers on the rings), and all of the work-up sets are with a pause (about a second). After that tho, the “work” just uses Paul Carter’s general AMRAP/50% approach.

Then dips, because I am liking doing them. Again, the goal here is 5×10 across, and while it may take me a while to get there (can’t expect to really increase while I’m losing weight — or if I do, it’s because I’m getting lighter, not necessarily stronger), it’s still the goal for things.

DB inclines to give some variety, some reps, and the DB’s work the range of motion better.

And finally push-ups. Yes… I hate push-ups and always have. So why do them? I’m looking to see if they might provide a reasonable finisher for a little more work and a little bit of pump or something. I don’t care how I do them: wide, narrow, elbows in or out, knees up or down, feet on the floor or elevated, whatever — it’s not so much about that as it is just getting in some extra sets/reps, with minimal rest, and a little more work.

So how did it go?

Overall well, and so far it’s in line with the thinking of how I’m planning this cycle. Which is something I forgot to mention yesterday. One thing I’ve done for the past few years is find someone’s established template and follow it, regardless if I was doing Starting Strength, 5/3/1, or any of the LRB-realm of programs. On the one hand it’s easy to just follow someone’s proven success (we’re not THAT special a snowflake), but on the other it’s about learning what works and how some particular approach may or may not work for me. I might make small changes to the template as I go along and learn things, but on the whole the program stays founded in the original template. I want to stick with Paul’s general approaches to things, but as I went through all his eBooks I found no cookie cutter template that actually served my purpose. Some would have aspects and elements but no particular one gave me what I wanted. So the whole of this cycle’s program is inspired and based upon Paul’s philosophies (and I hope I’m doing them justice), but it is pretty much assembled by me, which is a new thing and probably where I need to start going. It’s a road worth starting down.

So… benching was fine. I do like the pause work, because let’s be honest — if I’m going to do competition, I gotta pause. The AMRAP/50% work is just touch-and-go, but that’s fine for that. I want to get used to a more competition-style bench because yes, I do want to try competing. Still working C.A.T. as well. On the AMRAP/50%, I find that I’m changing my definition of “failure”. To me, it feels like there’s still 1-2 reps in the tank, which to some isn’t failure. But I also want to find that point where sure I could get 1-2 reps, but what’s going to break down… is my butt going to come off the bench? I’d rather leave the rep in the tank.

The inclines were weird. I found that I was peeding out not so much from muscular exhaustion but because well… ever held your arms up in the air and it feels like all the blood is rushing out? It felt that way. Very strange.

And the push-ups… I hate ’em, but will keep trying it out and seeing how it goes. For now, not sweating any particulars of form other than “on my feet” and “keep straight”. 🙂

Anyways, so far, so good.

Inspired by Paul Carter’s methodologies

• Bench Press
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 120 x 4
  • 145 x 3
  • 180 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 185 x 12 (AMRAP)
  • 185 x 6 (50%)
• Dips
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 8
  • BW x 6
  • BW x 6
  • BW x 5
• DB Incline Press (350-Method)
  • 40e x 18
  • 40e x 12
  • 40e x 11
• Push-ups
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 8

So much change.

First, the “mid” is over and I’m back on the “cut”. I started the mid at 219 lb. and yesterday I was 219 lb.. I’m pretty happy that I maintained a steady weight during the month-long mid, even tho I was a bit indulgent at times (I needed the break). But now it’s another 3 months ahead, new diet plan, and strict adherence to the plan. Doing some simple math, assuming 12 weeks, if I lose 1-2 lb. a week that’s 12-24 lbs. for the cycle — which SHOULD get me where I want to be. I can’t say for sure because again it’s not about the scale weight as much as it is the mirror, but geez I’m going to do my best to make this my last run! If it’s not my last run, it’s only because truly there’s more to lose. We shall see.

That said then, after much debate all weekend long I opted to change my approach in the gym.

I’ve been so strength-focused — that’s a primary goal. I knew I wouldn’t get bigger nor stronger while cutting, so it’s one reason I explored Paul Carter’s Base Building approach, as an effort to at least maintain strength and strive to build some muscle; not that I’d likely build any, but at least keep from losing much. But the past couple weeks made it abundantly clear I’ve lost some strength, and if I look back over my logs the reality is that I’ve been stagnant since early January. All of this stands to reason when I look at everything in total. But it still is depressing to see. 🙂

So I have opted to change up my gym work along a few lines:

The main thing is abandoning working for strength. At best I was hoping to maintain or minimize loss. But I think being focused this way isn’t contributing 100%. Oh sure, at least I’m not doing things like triples and singles, pure strength peaking work, it’s more about 5’s and 8’s and that sort of strength work (reps), but still it’s a mindset and approach. Instead, I’m going to continue my drift towards mass-building, bodybuilding approaches. I want to ensure I fully support the fat-loss efforts, and I think such things will do a better job of it.

I will be striving for more reps, still heavy (for me), still hurtin’, but more reps and more schemes towards “mass building”. For example, I’ll still work with Paul’s general approach for mass building, which is using a main, compound movement for a 5,4,3,2,1 over-warmup, then doing an AMRAP set followed by a 50% set. After that, using approaches to boost perceived intensity like 350-method, reducing inter-set rest times (keeping it around 60 seconds for more complex work, and maybe down to 30-45 for other accessory work), and from time to time I might throw in other things like drop sets, rest-pause, and the like.

I want the sessions to really work. Get my heart pumping, get my work rate up. Yes, burn calories, boost my metabolism as I can.

I also dropped the total workload down. Less exercises, less sets. I only boosted it in the past because I wanted “more work” to try to “burn more”, but I think it’s just wearing me out in a bad way and given the deficit I’m in, not recovering and it’s taking a toll on me in general. I have a habit of seeing the work ahead of me and pacing myself through it, but I’d rather try to get 20 sets of balls-to-the-wall than 30 sets of moderate pacing, y’know? Every exercise was picked aiming to get the most bang for my buck, with some picked for specific reasons (e.g. bench dips for my shoulder, more about that on Friday)..

I don’t want to totally skip out on things. The main movement work will still strive for C.A.T.. I’ll still work to have the “bodybuilding” work be focused on the muscle, but not worrying too much about textbook strict form… a little cheating, if it does truly keep things working right, truly gets me work (not an excuse to get sloppy), that’s fine. I want to work myself here.

And frankly… I’m bored. After 3 months of basically treading water, I want a change. Plus as I think towards my post-Defattening approach well… I want to see how my deadlift is, even if I don’t lift heavy, at least getting back into that groove and working my way back. This is the home stretch and I’m getting ready for what’s ahead and beyond.

So with that…. today!

Squats remain the staple, of course. I gotta say that it hurt today. 😉 More than 5 reps? What is this madness! I peeded out at 13 reps not so much because it was time, but because I couldn’t! I could feel my torso starting to give, in part from being tired but also just the amount of breathing you need to do! Then the 50% set stopped at 7 again because of “other things” peeding out well before my legs. But that’s all good. Oh I should say, while the intent of the AMRAP-50% is to set rep PR’s, I do fully expect that may not happen on this cycle. I’ll try for it as best I can, but it’ll be what the diet will let me have.

Front squats were chosen because I want to work on that which will bring up my quads. Oh sure, I don’t know how much I’ll actually improve, but at least I can work on the motor skills. I did feel rather wussy today, and it was a peed out from the same things — my torso and wind. I’ll stick with the lighter weight tho and just keep pushing for more reps.

Leg press, again something heavier, something more quad-focused. I actually change how I do leg presses. My normal approach has been to try to support my squat, with my feet lower on the plate, a slightly wider stance, my legs coming out to my side, etc.. Not this time around. Now my feet are about shoulder-width, higher on the plate, and when the sled comes down the tops of my thighs touch my chest — still trying to minimize my lower back rounding and coming off the seat-back tho. Just quad it. I have to say, this burned like hell. It was great.

End with lunges. I hate lunges, but they should be good for me, not just for my quads, but as a nice finsher to again work my wind and my pump. Plus, I’ve had a long nagging left-knee issue, which SEEMS to have gotten a little better since I did things like laying off deadlifting and other things that could cause it annoyance, and today it actually felt alright — still not 100% (doubt it, since I’m sure there is a problem). But I want lunges to help me out here. I kept rest to about 30 seconds and will slowly work my way up… more reps, more sets, extremely good posture the whole time. I’ll add weight eventually, but I’d rather add more reps first.

In the end, I felt really worked… and had a quad pump from hell. It was awesome. 🙂

So far, this seems to have accomplished what I was wanting. We’ll see how the rest of the week goes. I expect I may do some adjusting and tweaking as I go along, but hopefully not much other than deadlifting since I have to figure out where I am with that.

Inspired by Paul Carter’s methodologies

• Squats
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 115 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 175 x 3
  • 225 x 2
  • 250 x 1
  • 215 x 13
  • 215 x 7
• Front Squat
  • 95 x 8
  • 95 x 8
  • 95 x 6
• Leg Press (350-Method)
  • 135 x 23
  • 135 x 18
  • 135 x 15
• Lunge
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10

Enough.

The day started off wrong. Woke up out of an excellent dream. Got ready to go to the gym, thought about my knee sleeves and decided to not wear them to see how things felt. Got to the gym and it wasn’t until the 225 set that I realized I forgot my belt — how could I have totally forgotten? never did the thought of belt cross my mind.

I wasn’t into anything. Just had no desire. I even dropped down to triples because my brain was so checked out. I figured some work better than none. Then took one out of the Wendler book and “jack shitted” the day and went home.

I’m burned. Work has me very burned, haven’t been able to take any R&R… try to, but I’m still behind.

I have decided to take the rest of the week off. I haven’t been able to take a week off since I started on the RP diet; I understand why, but I also know that for me, sometimes I need a flat out week off. It’s time. Not that I want to take off from the gym, but I need to recoup and lifting just adds to the breakdown. This is the last week of the mid… I start back cutting on Sunday. I’ll adjust my intake a bit the rest of this week, but otherwise it’s just sleeping and resting. Probably take Friday off from work entirely too.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Squats (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 160 x 4
  • 195 x 3
  • 225 x 2
  • 245 x 1
  • 195 x 5
  • 195 x 3
  • 195 x 3
  • 195 x 3
  • 195 x 3

That was alright.

Today felt good. Changed up a couple minor things.

First, my grip width. Normally I bench with my ring finger on the bar rings. For whatever reason today I opted to put my index finger on the rings. That felt mighty different. Good in general, and I kinda liked it. But it was different enough that the bar felt all over the place… it just felt strange.

I did wonder tho, exactly how far apart are these rings on these bars. I need to remember to bring a tape measure in to see about the 81 cm distance. I mean, if I do play to compete eventually, probably should ensure I’m training for it correctly. But of course, there’s something to be said for “illegally wide grip” when training. For sure, it did hit my chest a lot harder.

I also tried something I haven’t done since I was a teenager: db pullovers. I remember now why I haven’t done them since then… oh my. 🙂 I opted to do them because I remember how good they felt in terms of my chest, the rib cage really. I spend all day hunched in front of a computer, and often during my breaks just reach up to the sky, pull my arms back, and other things to try to open and stretch myself out. I am wondering if these may be alright for my shoulders, helping actually in that area, and also just kinda stretch and open me up. It actually was a bit uncomfortable today, and I actually felt it far more in my lats than anywhere else. Will I keep this up? Will I keep it up as a chest-day exercise? I don’t know. I think I want to, because I think such a movement would be good for my body/health in general… but I will continue to keep it light and such until my body feels happier about doing it.

One week left on the mid. I actually am excited to get back on the loser train. Hopefully this’ll be the final run towards my goal weight!

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Bench Press (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 160 x 3
  • 180 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 225 x 1
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 6
  • 180 x 6
• Dips
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 7
  • BW x 6
  • BW x 6
  • BW x 5
• DB Incline Press
  • 50e x 10
  • 50e x 10
  • 50e x 8
• DB Pullovers
  • 35 x 10
  • 35 x 10
  • 35 x 10

Today felt solid.

Nothing major to report, really.

Weight holding at 219, which is good.

Session today felt fine. Maybe a little more energized, but not really counting that up to much just yet.

One thing I can say is that I may switch to something like JM Press instead of close-grips. My shoulder felt strange today while doing close-grips, like maybe I shouldn’t have been pressing. Not sure, but we’ll see how it goes.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

Press

• bar x 5
• bar x 5
• 60 x 5
• 75 x 4
• 90 x 3
• 110 x 2
• 125 x 1
• 110 x 12 (AMRAP)
• 110 x 6 (50%)

Upright Rows

• 90 x 10
• 90 x 10
• 90 x 10
• 90 x 10
• 90 x 9

Side Laterals

• 20e x 12
• 20e x 12
• 20e x 8

Face Pulls

• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12

Close-Grip Bench Press

• 145 x 10
• 145 x 10
• 145 x 8
• 145 x 5

Triceps Pressdowns (350-Method)

• 50 x 25
• 50 x 18
• 50 x 14

It’s official: I’ve lost strength.

I knew this was coming. Each week the 285 got heavier, slower, more of a struggle. And today? I got down to almost parallel — you know the point I’m talking about — and just came up because I knew if I hit depth I’d get stapled. It’s been gradual, and it’s possible it was in my head. But let’s step back and be realistic here.

You are supposed to program with your every day max. And then this top work-up weight on “model 1” is supposed to be 75% of that EDM. So put it this way… I’m supposed to be working up to 75% of 90% of my 1RM. Dude, there’s no WAY this should be tough or any sort of a grinder. But yet it is. And it’s been that way for some time. Today was the breaking point.

What really sucks is dropping below 300. I worked so hard to get above that threshold, and now I’m so far below it. I’m just feeling down about it all. I know why it’s there… and it’s not just because of the defattening diet. I went back and looked at my logs and saw when this particular progression started to get tough for me. Given the events then, I probably lost enough straight-up muscle at that point and then couple that with the diet I’ve just never recovered.

I’m still pretty happy that I hung on as long as I did. But it just feels like a bigger set-back. That’s all.

So I took the 285 as a max and recalced the numbers for the 5×5 work sets. They actually felt good. Powerful, fast (C.A.T.). I’m just going to recalc and live with it. Tho I did think I might try making it 5×8 instead of 5×5, because man, the 155 seemed way light.

To that end on the high-bars I lowered the weight. I really want to ensure I’m making it a muscle, not a movement. That I really work to involve the quads in this. I’m thinking about it not just as a squat, but more like I want to “unhinge” myself, “unfold” myself. I remember as a kid trying to learn how to do a “backwards” dive into the swimming pool. I never succeeded (it was always flinging myself backwards and “back-flopping” on the water), but that came to mind as the cue… where I’m trying to extend the leg at the knee, trying to push myself, unfold myself “backwards” like that. Felt like a good cue to not just involve the quads more (I really felt them nicely today), but also to ensure I keep my back upright, don’t fall forward, and turn it into a squat where my posterior chain is what is bringing everything back up — that’s not the point.

Well… today was a bit of a downer, but well… just going to recalculate the numbers and keep plugging away. BUT get this… I just went back and looked at some things. I’ve been doing it all wrong all this time!. Base Building Squat Model 1 is supposed to work up to 75%, not 85%. Hrm….. Well, it doesn’t matter. It just means I need to use different percentages to figure my work-up. The simple fact I couldn’t hit fucking 285 tells me all I need to know.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Squats (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 165 x 5
  • 190 x 4
  • 225 x 3
  • 250 x 2
  • 285 x 0
  • 155 x 5
  • 155 x 5
  • 155 x 5
  • 155 x 5
  • 155 x 5
• High-Bar, Narrow-Stance Squats
  • 95 x 8
  • 95 x 8
  • 95 x 8
  • 95 x 8
• Leg Extensions
  • 40 x 15
  • 50 x 13
  • 60 x 12
  • 70 x 10
  • 50 x 15
• Leg Curls
  • 40 x 15
  • 50 x 13
  • 60 x 10
  • 60 x 10
  • 50 x 12
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 10