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Wednesday, August 31, 2016

August

28 August 2016

Bench press 320 lbs. x 3, x 4, 300 lbs. x 4, x 2

Failed the first set with 320, then tried again and got it, but it was way harder than it had any right to be. My bench press has been stalling lately while my deadlift is going well. In my experience, this is pretty normal: if I can keep two lifts moving while one is stalling, great. Even progressing one lift would be OK right now.

Speaking of stalling, I'll be on the road for two weeks out of every month until the end of this year. So I'm not expecting to progress my lifts significantly (or at all). When I'm able to train, I'll switch to something fun and unstructured, like the old-school 5-4-3-2-1 program, just so I don't backslide completely.

Pulldowns 4s x 8

Close-grip bench press 2s x 6-8

EZ bar curl 4s x 8

Incline bench DB curl 4s x AMAP

DB tricep extension 2s x 10-15


29 August 2016


Pull 445 lbs. x 4, 415 lbs. 2s x 4

Stiff-legged pull 305 lbs. 2s x 5

Bent-over row 3s x 5

Seated leg curl 2s x 10


31 August 2016

SlingShot bench press 340 lbs. x 8, 315 lbs. x 8, x 5

Seated cable rows 4s x 8

Close-grip bench press 2s x 6-8

EZ bar curl 3s x 8

Friday, August 26, 2016

Paused Presses

21 August 2016


Bench press 310 lbs. x 6, 315 lbs. x 5, 295 lbs. x 5

Went a bit overboard with bench presses and did not have any energy left for paused presses. I'll tack those on to the SlingShot bench press day later this week.

Pulldowns 4s x 8

Close-grip bench press 2s x 5

Standing BTN press 125x5, 145 x 3s x 5

EZ bar curl 5s x 6-7

Overhead rope extensions 4s x AMAP


22 August 2016

Pull 430 lbs. x 5, 405 lbs. 2s x 5

Good, strong pull day. Deadlifting has been going well lately.

Stiff-legged pull 315 lbs. 2s x 5

Bent-over row 3s x 5

Pullups 3s x 8, 1s x 6

Seated leg curl 4s x 8


24 August 2016

Paused bench press 285 lbs. x 5, 265 lbs. x 5

SlingShot (Reactive) bench press 345 lbs. x 4, 315 lbs. x 5, 325 lbs. x 5

Was supposed to do 345x5, but I didn't have a spotter and I decided to cut the set short because the weight felt very heavy.

Close-grip bench press 2s x 6-8

Seated cable row 4s x 8

Incline bench press 4s x 8

EZ bar curl 4s x 8-10

Incline bench DB curl 4s x AMAP


26 August 2016

Squat 415 lbs. x 5, 395 lbs. 2s x 5

High-bar close stance squat 295 lbs. 2s x 5

Leg extensions 2s x 15-20

Saturday, August 20, 2016

Minimum

15 August 2016

Bench press 305 lbs. x 5, 275 lbs. 2s x 5

Paused bench press 285 lbs. x 5, 265 lbs. x 5

Pulldowns 4s x 8

Standing BTN press 3s x 8

EZ bar curls 3s x 5


16 August 2016

Pull 415 lbs. x 5, 405 lbs. x 5, 375 lbs. x 5

Bent-over row 4s x 5

Seated leg curl 3s x 8-10


18 August 2016

SlingShot bench press 340 lbs. x 6, 315 lbs. x 6, 315 lbs. x 4

Close-grip bench press 2s x 6

Seated cable rows 4s x 8

Incline bench DB flyes 3s x 8-10

EZ bar curl 4s x 8

Concentration curl 2s x AMAP


19 August 2016

Squat 400 lbs. x 5, 365 lbs. 2s x 5

Felt lousy today, so I just did the minimum and left.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Brave New World

This week I re-read Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World". I still don't get why it's classified as a dystopian novel. The setting seems pretty damn utopian to me.


7 August 2016


Bench press 330 lbs. x 2, 315 lbs. 2s x 3

Should have done 330x3, but I was very tired and sore from the last press workout. Which doesn't make sense, I've had plenty of time to recover. I think I've been overtraining my upper back - right now I'm hitting it directly three times a week, plus I've been on a cable pulling kick lately and am doing hundreds of reps on my off days: pulldowns, chest pulls, up-right rows, even the odd triceps exercise. Not a good idea during the intensity phase of the program.

Paused bench press 305 lbs. x 2, 290 lbs. 2x2

Close-grip bench press 2s x 5

Pulldowns 5x5

Seated DB shoulder press 5x5

EZ bar curl 5x5


8 August 2016

Pull 445 lbs. x 2, 470 lbs. x 2, 490 lbs. x 1, 455 lbs. x 2

Pulls were on fire today, I hit the target of 470x2 like it was nothing. So of course I got greedy and went for a bonus double at 490 and failed. But the single was super easy.

Stiff-legged pull 315 lbs. 2s x 5

Bent-over row 3s x 5

Seated leg curl 3s x 8

Pullups 2s x 8, 1s x 4


10 August 2016

SlingShot bench press 390 lbs. x 2, 365 lbs. x 2s x 2, 335 lbs. x 2

390x2 was rough, but doable.

Seated cable rows 5x5

Incline bench press 5x5

EZ bar curl 4s x 8

Concentration curl 3s x 8-10


12 August 2016

Squat 450 lbs. x 3, 425 lbs. 2s x 3, 405 lbs. x 3 - all with belt and wraps.

Next week - back to beltless and wrapless mode.

Close-stance squat 315 lbs. x 5, x 3

Hack squat 2s x 20

Leg extensions 1s x 20, 1s x 15

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Wobbly

31 July 2016


Didn't get much sleep this weekend, so everything felt off. Also I kept flaring my elbows too much on the bench press, not sure why as I usually have the tendency to over-tuck.

Bench press 340 lbs. x 2, 320 lbs. x 2, 315 lbs. x 2

Paused bench press 300 lbs. x 2, 285 lbs. x 3, 285 lbs. x 2

Close-grip bench press 3s x 5

Pulldowns 5x5

Standing BTN press 135 lbs. x 5, 155 lbs. 2s x 5

EZ bar curls 5x5


2 August 2016

Pull 455 lbs. x 3, 435 lbs. x 3, 430 lbs. x 2

Stiff-legged pull 315 lbs. 2s x 5

Bent-over row 3s x 5

Pullups/chinups 4s x 8

Seated leg curl 4s x 8-10

Haven't done pullups in forever. They felt very easy, but my bad elbow hurt a bit afterwards. The smart thing to do would be to keep avoiding pullups, especially since I have now proven that I can maintain my pullup numbers (whatever those are good for) without actually doing the exercise. What will actually probably happen is I'll start doing pullups every workout and totally screw up my elbow recovery.


3 August 2016

SlingShot bench press 380 lbs. x 2, 355 lbs. 2s x 3

Goal was 380x3. This is my current raw 1RM, and should be very doable for a SlingShot triple. I felt a bit sore and tired today, so two reps is not bad. Let's see how the heavy double goes next week.

Close-grip bench press 2s x 5

Seated cable rows 5x5

Incline bench press 5x5

EZ bar curls 4s x 8

Tricep cable extensions 12-10-8-8

Bodyweight today was just over 210 lbs.


5 August 2016

Squat 425 lbs. x 2, 445 lbs x 2, 465 lbs. x 2

Close-stance squat 315 lbs. x 5, x 3

Belt and knee wraps were used. I walked 465 out of the rack once, felt wobbly and close to passing out, racked it back. Waited a few minutes, then went under the bar again and squatted it no problem. Not sure what happened there, but I had been feeling pretty tired all day.

Leg extensions 3s x 8