Deadlifts 475x4x2 RPE 7-8
Spoto presses 225x3x3 RPE 6; 235x2x3 RPE 6.5
SSB squats 285x4x3 RPE 7
Band good mornings Super duper band x3x12 4 RIR
No problems at all pulling 475 for 4 straight sets of 2. Probably could have mustered a few more sets if I had wanted before seeing the RPE go above 8, and even the last set that I called an ‘8’ was a conservative assessment. Next week is an RPE 10 double, so that should be fun. Used the super strong band I bought a couple of weeks ago for good mornings. Holy shit that thing could send a small child into orbit if you used it as a slingshot.
Not too bad with squats today. I’m breaking in a new belt so it’s taking some getting used to and this affected me on a couple of reps during the back-off sets. Still, I like it better since it has more holes on it to tweak the tightness level and my old belt was from when I weighed about 20-25 pounds more than I do now.
Bench press 255x6x3 RPE 7-8
Belt squat 160,180,190 RPE 6-7.5
Deadlift (power bar) 375x3x3 RPE 6
DB rows 95,100,105x10 3 RIR
Face pulls 85x3x12 3 RIR
CG pushups 35x3x12 3 RIR
DB hammer curls 40x3x12 3 RIR
App laid it on thick with the bench work today, but got through it with no glitches to speak of. Good, long pauses on each first rep and shorter ones on other two for each set. I need to get some more 25s because my belt squat loading pin can’t hold anymore with the combo of 5s, 10s and 25s. And 45s are too big in diameter to be feasible for me. Prices for weight plates are still out of whack from the pandemic, but I have seen some cheaper options crop up in recent weeks so maybe things are settling at least a bit.
Deadlift w/u to 525x2 RPE 10(rep PR); 445x3x2 RPE 7-8
Spoto press 235x2x3 RPE 6-ish; 240x3 RPE 7;245x2x3 RPE 7.5
SSB squats 285,295,305,310 RPE 7-8
Band good mornings big monster band x3x12 3 RIR
Hit my goal weight for a double today and what makes this cool is it’s an all-time rep PR, even when I was lifting in the 100kg class in my younger years. Back-off weights were very tolerable, but by the time SSB squats came around I was starting to feel zapped. Good day for sure, though. Next week is max effort time for squat and bench, then it’s on to the deload.
Bit of a bummer on squats today, cause I was hoping 4 bills would be in the cards. Unfortunately, lower back was still sporting some fatigue from Friday’s DLs. First two reps were nice and smooth w/ 390, but lost tightness on the 3rd and had to fight it big time. The paused DLs really sucked today, especially since I do them sans belt. Will probably work in the lower end of the range on Friday’s DL’s as make-up.
Bench press 280x3 RPE 9/9.5; 250x5x3 RPE 8-8.5
Belt squats 200,210,220x10 RPE 8-9
Deadlifts (power bar) 375x3x3 RPE 6
DB rows 105,115,120x10 2-3 RIR
Face pulls light bands x3x12 2-3 RIR
CG pushups light band x3x12 2-3 RIR
DB hammer curls 45,50x2x12 2-3 RIR
Bench was not bad today. I’m thinking my opener will be in this neighborhood. I really need to get a different setup for belt squats because how I’m doing it now is not ideal. This was a surprisingly tough session overall and was sweating pretty good by the end of it.
Deadlift 465x4x2 RPE 7-8
Spoto presses 250x5x3 RPE 7-8
SSB squats 305x2x3 RPE 7; 315x2x3 RPE 7.5,8
Band good mornings Super Duper band x3x12 2-3 RIR
Lower back fatigue abated but still think I’m a tad fried from last Friday’s DLs and Monday’s squat session. Weight wasn’t hard or anything, but sometimes you just have that feeling in your hands of where your body says “oof, this kind of sucks.” Good bar speed and pop with the Spoto presses and even held the pause for a good second or so on all the reps. Deload is next week and very much needed heading into the peaking phase.
Deadlifts 335x3x2
Spoto press 205x3x3
SSB squats 255x2x3
Band good mornings Big orange band x3x12
Deload is officially over and the peaking phase kicks off on Monday. And lol, the app basically told me “these next couple of weeks are going to suck.”
Nice start to the peaking phase. The single with 405 was probably the easiest 405 has felt in over a decade, hell dare I say it felt easier than when I hit 390 for a triple a couple of weeks ago. Didn’t even have to get amped up or anything. I did end up mucking up the third set with 350 as I forgot to maintain full foot pressure, though it wasn’t to the point that I would miss it or anything close. Just got sloppy I guess. Rest of the session was uneventful, though the RDLs did throw a bit of a curveball with 10-rep sets.
Bench press w/u to 295x1 RPE 8; 255x2 RPE 7;260x2x2 RPE 7.5
Yates rows 165x3x10 4 RIR
DB Incline bench 75x3x10 3-4 RIR
DB kickbacks 25x3x10 4 RIR
DB concentration curls 25x3x10 4 RIR
I was supposed to use 290 for my top set, but for some reason I couldn’t find one of my 2.5s so I just bumped it up to 295. Held it for a long pause in order to leave no doubt for meet and pressed it up nice and smooth. Same for back-off sets. Rest of the session was all assistance work, which is unusual; however, I peeked ahead to Friday and it looks…challenging - all 3 big lifts at pretty high intensity.
Doesn’t look like much, but I was quickly reminded why I always see people using this program always talk about how rough the third day is (or 4th if they lift that frequently). Didn’t help that I had to hustle through this to do some family stuff. None of the sets were really difficult on their own per se, but the accumulation of fatigue by the end of the session and some sloppy setup hurt my last set of squats a fair amount. Still, not being wiped out this morning is reassuring.
Squats moved pretty well, save for the 4th set where I just kind of rushed things and ended up too far forward. The app let me choose between 2 or 3 reps and I just stuck with 2 because I wanted to focus on quality of reps rather than quantity. Plus, doing 5 extra reps would have added some fatigue that might have sapped a little from this Friday’s heavy deadlift day - and the last heavy one before the meet.
Logging things tonight because tomorrow is going to be action packed. Have to go pick out interior stuff for house we’re having built, so should be fun for me to shake my head in agreement for several hours. Bench felt as good today as it has in a long time, just hope I don’t jinx it going forward. Not sure what this means in terms of meet performance, but has to be a good thing. Only thing that sucked about today is the fact that I hate using my plate-loaded dumbbells for bench work. Wish I had the coin for a set of dumbbells, but then I’d need the room for them and I definitely don’t have that right now.
I’m pretty sure this marks the most reps pulling at or above 500 from the floor (regular weight) in a training cycle ever. Even with a rushed setup on the single with 515, I was able to get it pretty smoothly with some extra left in the tank. I don’t put as much stock in estimated max calculations for the deadlift, just because it’s a different lift than the other big 2, but the app has pegged an estimated max for me around 540-550 for several weeks now. Rest of the session lived up to the typical brutality of day 3 of the peaking cycle. First two sets of both bench were challenging but doable, while the 3rd’s were flat out tough. Final stretch run starts Monday.