-Woof, not a great day. I’ve been pushing the load too aggressively and my form has been suffering, and today was just a pay-back for being a dumbass. My right knee has been achy and it seemed to be going fine on the warm-up sets, but on the targeted 5RM set my hips shifted way too much forward and I ended up tweaking my friggin’ knee. I had to say to hell with the back-off sets as well.
Ended up backing down the rest of the session and will do the snatch-grip DLs on Friday instead of low bar skwaats. Next week is a deload and the following week I will go with the lower end of the range of suggested weights going forward (target quality reps). Gotta put this one in the rearview mirror.
Spoto presses 265x4x5 RPE 8 (vid of maybe 2nd set)
Deadlift 435x5 RPE 9; 395x6x4 (last set shown)
RDLs 345x2x8 RPE 8
Band leg curls lightx3x10 RPE 8
-I think I made up for Monday’s shitshow with a solid day. Spotos feel like they’re getting better carryover the last few weeks. Deadlifts felt on point and outside of a little bit of bar helicopter-ing, even the top set of 435 came out to an RPE of 9-ish instead of an all-out 10. I contemplated adding a little more to the bar, but decided to adjust the fatigue level down to a 1, which bumped up the weight a little on the back-off work and added another set. RDLs had the back half of my body screaming and dear lord the leg curls with the light band lit my hamstrings on fire.
Competition Bench w/u to 265x5 RPE 10; 235x4x5
Low Bar Squat B 225x2x5
Military Press 135x2x5 RPE 8
Belt squats 50x2x15 RPE 6
Snatch-grip DLs 335x3x9 RPE 8
Face pulls lightx3x15 RPE 8
Band pushdowns lightx3x10 RPE 8
-That top set of bench, holeeeee crap. Fifth rep was a long grinder and if it were possible I’d rate it 11 on the RPE scale. My mid-range is really kind of terrible right now. Back-off sets weren’t too much of a challenge, but I was still a little sore from doing the Spoto presses on Wednesday. Since I tweaked my knee on Monday I just backed the prescribed weight all the way down to 225 and everything felt OK, though a little tender during warm ups. Belt squats didn’t do any harm either and got a little blood flow going into the quads. Kind of pathetic lol but I was happy I could get 135 for 2 sets of 5 with the military press. I’ve never been very good with the lift so I’ll take whatever kind of improvement I can.
Low Bar Squat A 245x2x5
Incline Bench 195x2x5
Curls 25x3x10
Skullcrushers 75x3x10
Pull-ups BWx3x10
Snatch-grip DLs 275x3x8
-Good time to back down the weights, especially on the squat. I’m going to stay conservative for the next couple of weeks and assess things from there. My meet is September 28th, but I arguably have a more important one in December since it is a drug-tested meet and I can use it to qualify for USPA Drug-Tested Nationals. As a Master I (40-44) in the 198 pound class, I shouldn’t have a problem achieving a qualifying total, but I’d like to set myself for consistent progress over the longer term.
Thanks. If my knee is still bugging me in a few weeks I’m going to do a test day in late September instead of the USPA meet. Transferring the registration hopefully won’t be a pain if I choose to go that route.
Competition Bench 205x3x5
Low Bar Squat B 225x3x5
Military press 120x5
Belt squats 70x2x10
Face pulls light band x3x15
Band pushdowns light band x3x10
Not much to say here. Bench was light and fast, same for squats as I continue to be all genteel with the knee. I really could use a legit belt squat belt because the one I’m using now doesn’t quite sit on the hips the right way and can cause ‘issues’ if it’s not set properly lol.
Backed down from the recommended weight by 40 pounds for today. Reps were all easy and form felt on point and more importantly the knee didn’t give me any grief. I’m going to keep on with the dialed down intensity on squat and see where that leaves me in the next 4 weeks. Chances are I’m going to opt for a test day over the meet, but I’m not 100% on that decision yet.
That’s certainly the way I’m leaning, and I think all of this sub-max work will do me some good anyway. Leading up to the day I tweaked the knee my form felt like it was getting sloppy and my stance, positioning, etc all seemed off to some degree. Dialing it back and getting quality reps, even if it’s this light, should be a benefit.
Felt pretty good in the gym despite the fact that things are getting hectic in the office. Spoto presses all went up with relative ease. Pop off the floor was good on the DLs and I noticed a couple of my lockouts were kinda ehhhh; just need to be more cognizant of that and make every rep good from start to finish. Still, back off sets felt like speed work all the way through the 6th and final set. RDLs wiped me out and since it was getting a little late I’ll do the leg curls tomorrow or just slot them in on Friday’s session.
Competition Bench 255x3; 240x5x3
Low Bar Squat B 265x4x3
Military press 130x4x3 RPE 7
Belt squat 90x3x12 RPE 7
Face pulls light band x3x15 RPE 8
Pushdowns light band x3x10 RPE 8
Bench reps were crisp and bar speed was good; put in a low fatigue level and worksheet had me do a fairly small drop plus add an extra set, but they all moved at about the same pace across the board. Seeing the recommended weight for the squat made me laugh because it ended up being so close to the bench press - I’ve turned into all those bros at the commercial gym who can bench their squat max, lol. Hopefully my knee continues to get better over the next several weeks or I’ll have to start wearing tank tops 24/7 and frost the tips of my hair.
-Today was one of those days. Unlike most college profs, summer is the peak of my work load and I am getting crushed under a mountain of stuff right now. Training makes for a nice outlet but even though the knee feels better and the weight moves easy, my form still just feels inconsistent and it’s beginning to bother me - not like a baseball pitcher with the yips, but still very annoying.
Spoto presses 260x5x3 RPE 7
Conventional DL 445x3; 405x5x2
RDLs 340x3x8 RPE 8
Band leg curls light band x3x8
Pretty solid effort today. I’ve been recovering from my pressing work a lot better right now, so I put a 1 in for the fatigue rating (chadbot added a 5th set). In terms of the DLs, I would have to check on the last time I’ve pulled this much for a triple, but it has been years. My third attempt at the meet was 462, so this is improvement in my book. RDLs roasted my lower back and I’m sure I’ll be doing the hunch walk a bit tomorrow.
Competition bench press 265x3; 245x5x3
Box squat (3" above parallel) 235x4x4
Military press 135x4x3
Reverse band squat (monster mini) 275x3x4
Face pulls light band x3x15
Band pushdowns lightx3x10
Bench continues to feel on point. Next week is supposed to be a RPE 10 triple and so I’m thinking I can get 275 or so. I’m going to officially do the rehab protocol for my knee/squat and I did the Day 1 stuff today but proceed as planned for Monday. I did get to try out my new Reebok Legacy Lifter squat shoes today and they are pretty damn good - feet felt like they were cemented to the floor.
So I’m officially bowing out of the meet next month, which will give me a chance to focus on getting the knee back to 100% and a longer prep time for the meet in December. I got through this session fairly quickly, but wooooh boy the snatch-grip pulls were brutal since the garage was hot. I usually don’t sweat much and nearly had to have my shirt peeled off of me I was so drenched.
Spoto press 265x5x3 RPE 8
Deadlift 460x3 RPE 10; 410x5x2
RDLs 345x2x8 RPE 8
Band leg curls light band x3x10 RPE 8
Work has been hectic so I had to put off Wednesday’s session to today. Probably could have gone up in weight for the spotos, but figured eh stay on track and save the real work for Friday when I shoot for an RPE triple on the actual bench press. Really felt good with the pulls during warm-up and thought about bumping the weight to 465 since that would have surpassed my 3rd attempt from the meet (462), but 460 is close enough and I think the video indicates I had a little bit left in the tank. Regardless, it has been a long time since I’ve pulled this much for a triple - maybe as far back as 2011 or 2012 and I weighed about 15 pounds more back then. Even earned a two thumbs up from me. Good day all around.
Competition bench press 280x3 RPE 10; 250x4x3
Low bar squat B 245x3x3
Military press 145x2x3 RPE 8.5
Belt squat 115x2x15 RPE 8
Band face pulls average x3x15 RPE 8
Band pushdowns average x3x10 RPE 8
Maybe with some better planning on the warm-ups I would have tried 285, but still this ends up giving me some improvement since the meet. Still rehabbing the knee following the protocol and these were easy and I didn’t notice anything out of sorts at the bottom of each rep. Next week starts a deload and then a transition week (maybe two) as I start to build up to the meet in December. I wouldn’t be surprised if Garrett starts off the next 4-wks with hypertrophy work. That’ll be brutal since I’ve been on the lower end of the rep range for a couple of months.
