I seen you at the bar on Friday night - Ouroboro_s

Happy to hear you are feeling better!

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Cycle 2 Week 4 Day 2

Bird Dogs
3x10/side

Squat
45-10
138-8
165-3x3

Tempo Squat
145-5
165-2x3

Paused bench
55-10
70-8
85-6
97.5-3
110-2
112.5-2x1 These were supposed to be doubles but this is getting close to my opener and I was gassed
105-4

TB Rows - Tempo
Bar +20- 3x10

Last week of the cycle and I’m starting to miss reps. I’m not concerned. The numbers are a bit of a reach. Not totally out there but easy to miss if I’m tired. For me, it’s hitting the top end of what I can do prefaced by what is, for me, a lot of volume.

On a side note, I had a bit of trough at the front of my house pull away. One of the techs at work came to reattach it only to discover that the fascia board is rotted away. Who knows how extensive it is. I have a guy coming to take a look at it but it will likely run a few thousand. Fortunately I work in construction or it could be worse.

My sweet tax return that was going towards new living room furniture is now paying for porch repairs.

Cycle 2 Week 4 Day 3

Warm up with side planks
3x10/side

Paused sumo deadlift
135-5
170-4
205-4
225-3
230-3
235-3

Rack pulls
225-6
275-4
305-4
340-4
370-4

MP tempo
55-6
57.5-6
60-6
These still feel awesome in that they don’t hurt.

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Peak cycle week 1 day 1

Bird dogs
3x10/side

Squat
45-10
135-3
167.5-2
195-1
200-3 add belt
207.5-3
192.5-6
Set at 207.5

Set at 192.5

Pause squats
145-5
182.5-2x3

Pause bench
55-8
70-6
86-4
100-3
105-3
107.5-2
95-5

Pull ups
3x6 plus 4 band assisted after each set of six

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Peak cycle week 1 day 2

Sumo deadlift
135-5
185-3
230-2
255-1 add belt
272.5-1
282.5-2x2
262.5-4
These all felt pretty good. The drop set was still hard but wasn’t touch and go like the past couple of weeks.

RDL - Tempo
155-5
175-4
185-4

Bench - CG pause
75-5
95-2x3

Bench - two board
80-6
102.5-4
115-3
125-3

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Peak cycle week 1 day 3

Bird dogs
3x10/side

Squat
45-10
135-3
167.5-2
195-1
212.5-1
215-2x2
207.5-4
I didn’t miss any reps this week. The last three sets were hard but my back was also still lit up from heavy deadlifts on Wednesday so I’m happy enough with how things went.

Pause bench
45-10
95-3
105-1
107.5-2
112.5-2x2
102.5-4

Meadows rows
45-3x10/side

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Peak cycle week 2 day 1

Hanging leg raises
3x10

Paused deadlift
135-5
170-4
205-4
240-4 add belt
260-4
This is the top set

Rack pulls (sumo - first time in a long time and they feel much better than conventional)
225-6
275-4
305-4 add belt
345-4
375-4
Top set

MP - tempo
55-5
60-5
65-5

BW has been decent lately too so I don’t think I’ll need to worry about much of a cut. I was 124.5 on Saturday. 128 today after all the weekend shit but that’s pretty normal. I typically blow off 3-4lbs over the course of the week and the previous weekend gets out of my system.

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Peak cycle week 2 day 2

Bird dogs
3x10/side

Squat
45-10
135-3
172.5-2
200-3
207.5-3
212.5-3
215-3
Top set of 215

Pause squat
145-5
185-2x2
Last set of paused squats

Paused bench
45-10
95-3
105-3
107.5-3x3

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Looking strong! When is your meet?
Like your new do! It looks cute!

The meet is April 27. It’s the same location as the last one where I shit the bed. I have a much better meet planned :smile: Mostly I picked it for proximity. It’s in Toronto so only 45 minutes away.

Thanks for the hair compliment. I’m very glad I stopped colouring it.

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Peak cycle week 2 day 3

Hanging leg raises
3x10

Sumo deadlift
135-5
185-3
235-2
272.5-1 add belt
277.5-2
287.5-2
295-1
260-3

Set at 287.5. I was surprised with how fast the first rep came up

Single at 295. This is close to my typical first attempt. (135kg/298lbs). This felt solid particularly after all the heavy sets before. Normally if it looks like this at home, it flies at a meet due to adrenaline and a more flexible bar. We use a texas pl bar which is pretty stiff.

CG bench
45-10
75-5
97.5-2x3

2 board bench
97.5-3
107.5-3
120-3
127.5-3

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Peak cycle week 3 day 1

Things are dialing way back now…

Bird dogs
3x10/side

Squat
45-10
135-3
172.5-2
200-3 add belt
205-3

Paused bench
55-5
70-4
87.5-3
102.5-3
110-1
115-1
112.5-3

That’s it.

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Peak cycle Week 3 day 2 (Wednesday)

Hanging leg raise
3x10

Deadlift
135-5
185-3
235-2
275-1 add belt

pull ups - unassisted-2x6,
assisted enough to top each set to 8 total reps

CG Bench
75-6
95-2x3

Week 3 Day 3

Bird dogs
3x10/side

Squat
45-10
135-3
172.5-2
200-3
210-2x2
My left knee was feeling a bit tweaky and an lateral movement irritated it. This made me a bit unfocused and squats felt harder than they should have. I really couldn’t get tight enough

Paused Bench
55-6
70-5
87.5-4
102.5-3
110-1

3 board press
127.5-1

Paused bench
117.5-1

Peak cycle Week 4 Day 1

Bird dogs
3x10/side

Squat
45-10
135-5
165-2
187.5-3x3

Pause squat
145-3
187.5-3x1

Pause bench
45-10
95-3
107.5-5x4
The fourth rep of each of these sets was grindy as crap. However, it’s close to 90% of my max.

Saturday morning I met with my trainer and went to my opener on bench. One of my friends is head ref for the meet so I had her do commands and make sure everything looked good.

I went to around my last warm up on deadlift 117.5kg around 260lbs. I didn’t bring a belt and borrowed one but everyone there is thicker than I am. I felt like one of those irritating people “oh dear I’m so little that nothing is small enough for me…”

I was also a bit hung over.

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Peak cycle week 4 day 2

Short and sweet

DB side bends
50lbs-3x10/side

Sumo deadlift
135-5
185-3
225-3
240-4x3

That’s all.

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Peak cycle week 4 day 3

Bird dogs
3x10/side

Squat
45-10
135-3
165-2
195-1 add belt
215-1
225-1
165-2x3

Pause Bench
45-10
95-3
107.5-1
118-1
90-2x3 2 second pause

This afternoon I spent several hours stripping paint from my bedroom window frame. The chemical stripper isn’t very effective any more as it’s now environmentally friendly. I purchased a porter cable heat gun. I thought I’d be smart and work higher so I didn’t kill my lower back before squatting. Instead I lit up my upper back. I don’t think I’ll finish the bedroom this winter as the changed stripper has slowed things right down. The heat gun works well on the paint but the paint was put over varnish. The gun doesn’t work on that. It just turns it gluey. I think I’ll have to persevere with the stripper on the varnish but that shouldn’t be too bad. It didn’t do much with the paint but emulsifies the varnish.

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Those pulls - that near max set looked good
All your training is near max -good work.
I have hallucinated and passed out using a heat gun on molding.
there are some gel based thinner solvents that are mega toxic and super efficient.

Can you get me a name for the solvents? I was using heritage max but can longer get it.

citrus strip is one brand
there are some other ‘orange’ gel products who are mostly defunct.

Ive had luck with ‘formbys’

https://www.amazon.com/Formbys-30013-Furniture-Refinisher-32-Ounce/dp/B0014JGFYG

usually have to use two kinds one you brush and scrape
the formbys or straight turpentine
you use with like a 000 steel wool

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Post meet recovery

First a quick update on the meet. It was a disappointment. I’m still struggling with squat.

I put my opening squat deliberately low and am glad I did or my meet would have been like the last.
Squat
97.5-good
105-no good. Wouldn’t come up
105- no good. Same as my second.

Bench
I lowered my planned opener to 50kg
50kg-good
52.5- good
55-no good

Deadlift
135-good
140-good
I passed on my third because I ripped a callus on my left hand and don’t think I could have gotten more.

Grinding on the squats smoke the crap out of my back. I ended up with one of my lowest totals.

The really fun part was when Frank asked for the car keys because he wanted to grab another bottle of water. I emptied out all my bags and couldn’t find them. I ran around between my bench attempts and finally located them in the weigh in room. It would have been mighty hard to get home without a car key.

On the bright side, I got a typical response from another woman at the meet. At almost every meet I’ve competed at, I’ve had women I don’t know come up to me and tell me I’m an inspiration. One woman told me I look like a dancer. That always lifts my mood because it sure as shit isn’t lifting the bar :smile:

I skipped Monday night and trained last night:

SSB
50-10
120-10
140-5x5

db bench
25-4x15

super set with

Tempo reverse hyper
4x6

Viking press
bar+25-10
+35-10
+45-10

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