Leg day
Squat
45x8
160x4
160x4
160x4
Front Squat (clean grip)
120x7
120x7
120x7
Power Clean
45x5
65x5
75x5
75x5
75x4
Leg Curl
175x6, 3 sets
Hypers (full ROM)
BWx8
25x9, 2 sets
Weighed Planks
BWx40 sec
10x30 sec, 2 sets
Foodlog
Brunch: 1/4 chicken (breast), cucumber, banana, morning supplements
Snack: 4 wings, handful of almonds, bowl of lettuce, bowl of watermelon
Dinner: 1/2 a pie of extra large steak+chicken+Italian sausage pizza, apple, kiwi, pear, cup of yogurt, bowl of vegetables, night supplements
Conditioning
Interval squats, done like before. Managed to get 5 sets with 10 seconds of rest instead of 4 like last time. Hope I’ll be able to do all 8 sets properly before fall semester comes!
Foodlog (Jury duty this week, preparing for some unintentional carb binges…)
Breakfast: 2 leftover slices of pizza from previous day, bowl of lettuce, morning supplements
Snack: Bagel with 3 slices of cheese (was on the verge of fainting and lunch wasn’t ready yet…)
Lunch: ~6 oz Roast beef with peas, carrot, and two scoops of mashed potatoes
Dinner: 3 eggs+100g shrimp omelette, papaya, apple, pear, 100g yogurt, night supplements
Sorry about the absence, jury duty took a while and so I had to prioritize things more than usual (training>reporting training). I’ve got some progress done on 1RMs though!
New 1RMs
Bench Press: 155lb
Squat: 215lb
Deadlift: 235lb
OHP: 80lb
And also, I can finally do real tabatas now! Amazing stuff, left me puffing for half an hour after it was all over.
Deadlift and OHP are going up at a disappointing rate, I hope adding in deficit deads and push presses will help in the long run…
For squat, nothing new was added in except low-rep heavy lunges in place of leg curls and for bench press, close-grip as assistance to replace french press/skullcrushers, which was bothering my elbows a little.
Rather busy still, with an upcoming exam to prepare for, story writing, and other stuff, so I think I’ll switch to a more economic form of logging from now on, just documenting the big and/or explosive lifts. Food,arms and abs are a snooze to report, although of course I’ll continue to track them in my paper log.
Back+“fun” muscles day
Pendlay Rows (loving these a lot more than cable rows woohoo!)
75x1
100x5
100x5
100x5
Lat Pulldown
130x6
130x6
130x6
Rear Delt (reverse pec-deck)
75x7
75x7
75x7
Alternating Curls: 22.5x6, 3 sets
Reverse EZ-bar curls: 45x4, 2 sets
Weighed Planks
35lb x 40 seconds, 2 sets
Neck Crunches: 25x15, 2 sets (reverse variation gave me nothing but a headache and bad sleep so I don’t think those are worth it)
Comments: I think I’ll make sure to do explosive stuff before my heavy stuff from now on. After doing pendlays, lat pulldown and reverse pec-deck felt strangely fluid. Maybe it’s increased neural activation or something, but I like it. This happened on my most recent push day too, with push press being put in the beginning bbefore CGBP and DBOHP, so it’s probably not a fluke.
See you guys tomorrow for power cleans and squats!
Hey Liszt that is very interesting about the explosive Pendlay rows making the lat pulldowns easier. I am obsessed with lat pulldowns lately. I am going to try this. Can I ask you though, what kind of warmup if anything are you doing for your back prior to the Pendlay’s? Previously you were doing the Kayak rows prior to the lat pulldowns- are you still doing those or you are replacing them with the Pendlays-
thanx
[quote]Reconstruction wrote:
Hey Liszt that is very interesting about the explosive Pendlay rows making the lat pulldowns easier. I am obsessed with lat pulldowns lately. I am going to try this. Can I ask you though, what kind of warmup if anything are you doing for your back prior to the Pendlay’s? Previously you were doing the Kayak rows prior to the lat pulldowns- are you still doing those or you are replacing them with the Pendlays-
thanx[/quote]
Hm, I use Pendlays for hitting that angle of my back that lat pulldowns seem to miss rather than as a warmup, but it helps with getting my back muscles “awake” for other exercises too, which is something of a happy accident. Before Pendlays, I’ve tried chest supported row machine/cable row as well as 45 degree barbell row but I found that I barely feel them in my middle back unlike Pendlays.
However, gotta note that Pendlays are easier than any other row for me, for some reason, as my thighs are just long enough that it works as a “chest-supported row” without compressing my actual chest and restricting my breathing, so I don’t do so much stabilization with it as I would do with cable row or 45 degree barbell.
I still do one or two set of Kayak rows because they activate and pump my lower lats like nothing else, but I admit that out of mainly laziness and some forgetfulness, I tend to leave out warmup sets.
Hope at least some of this helps!
hmm ok thank you very much for your quick response. I am going to try this next back day to hopefully get the same ‘happy accident’ 
[quote]Reconstruction wrote:
hmm ok thank you very much for your quick response. I am going to try this next back day to hopefully get the same ‘happy accident’ :)[/quote]
No problem, hope things work out well for you too!
Leg day
Power Clean:
65x3
95x3
95x3
95x3
95x3
95x3
Squat:
205x3
205x3
205x3
Front Squat:
140x5
140x5
140x5
Barbell Lunges (alternating)
65x5
75x5
75x5
75x5
Standing Calf Raise
315x6, 4 sets
Comments: Seems like this order of explosive->maximal strength->accessory is working, will test 1RM for squat when I can do current 1RM for 5 reps.
Also, measured my wingspan and I finally realize why my deadlift is weirdly low compared to my squat: apparently my wingspan is 8 inches less than my height, aww. Oh well, at least my t-rex arms will help with bench press. Looking at squat and DL totals (USAPL) though, it seemed like a lot of ladies at the top of my possible weight classes may have this “problem” so I’m not gonna treat it like a powerlifting death sentence or something.
Push (kinda) day
Bench Press
115x3 (warmup)
135x3, 5 sets grinding
115x3, 3 sets speed concentric+pause on chest (swapped this in for dips as accessory)
Incline DB Bench Press
50x5, 3 sets
Overhead Press
75x5, 3 sets
Upright Row (gentler on elbows than DB lateral raise)
70x6, 3 sets
Barbell Shrugs
205x7, 3 sets
Comments: Apparently my new bra changed up my bench ROM, which threw me off a little, but I’ll get used to them. May have to change to a full on close grip form for bench from now on. Also, upright row is weird on a push day I know, but they put bigger loads on my delts than lateral raise, which I’m sick of spinning my wheel over now. Thankfully, my OHP improved by one rep at least.
Pull day
DB Row
40x3
70x4, 3 sets
Lat Pulldown
135x4, 3 sets
Face Pull
60x9, 3 sets
EZ-bar Curls
45x5, 3 sets
Pinwheel Curls
22.5x6, 3 sets
Cable Rope Crunches
80x9, 2 sets
Weighed Lying Leg Raise
15x7, 2 sets
Comments: Abs on pull day feels more appropriate so far than on leg day. Gonna see how this feels long term.
I have noticed that doing power cleans on squat/dead days gives me a little more pop in those movements. Didn’t CT talk about the value of doing explosive work before maximal work not long ago too?
Looks like some good work going on in here, by the way. I have to ask though, are the sets of 7 by design? My brain is like “Wait, what?” when it sees a set that goes over 6 but doesn’t go to 8.
Belated congratulations on new PRs, and don’t sweat that OHP being slow; it’s a cantankerous beast. nod
Kristoph: I believe so, although I don’t track training lab that often anymore, after most of it became Indigo related info.
As for the sets, some reps are pretty odd looking on paper, but now I work within rep ranges because it’s pretty hard to jump weights sadly. Also, with a wide rep range, I can periodize without having to calculate things, so it’s pretty convenient this way. Usually my rep ranges are like 1-6, 4-8, or 6-12 depending on the type of exercise I’m doing, although there are exceptions. Percentage based periodization gives me headaches to be honest. Math had never been my strong suit lol.
Thanks. I’ll keep grinding away on OHP, I like working on hard but rewarding things.
Now, Leg Day groan
Squat
205x4
205x3
195x4
195x4
Deadlift (straps)
205x5, 3 sets
Deficit Deadlift (standing on a 45 plate, no straps, pronated grip until grip failure, then mixed)
135x7, 3 sets
Standing Calf Raise
335x4, 4 sets
Farmer Walk (weight=DB in each hand)
60x1 walk along gym (weight room is rectangular, looks like around 16-20m ish long)
60x 1/2 walk along gym, done two times (grip fail)
Comments: Squat was going well until I feel like I was gonna puke up my drink and I had to drop the weights a little. Drank too much water on the way to the gym ugh. Got in one more rep on deadlift (both types) on all sets so at least it wasn’t a totally fruitless leg day. Farmer walks are fun but my grip is getting on my nerves and we can’t have chalk in the gym either. 
Push Day
Close-Grip Bench
95x7, 3 sets
Push Press
95x5, 3 sets
Military Press
75x6, 3 sets
Incline Bench
105x3 (failure)
95x7, 3 sets
Upright Row (hold on top)
45x10, 3 sets
Machine Lateral Raise
50x10, 3 sets
Comments: Next time I’ll probably do incline bench before close grip, right after overhead press variations when possible. Also found two large lumps under my right armpit that kinda hurts when pressed. Hope it’s just a clogged sweat gland deal and not a swollen lymph node or worse…Gonna check the doctor ASAP in any case. :\
Pull Day
Pendlay Rows
95x1
105x2
105x5, 3 sets
Lat Pulldown
70x3
135x1
135x5, 3 sets
Reverse Pec Deck
75x8, 3 sets
Alternating Curls (rep=each arm per set)
25x4, 3 sets
Reverse Curls
45x8, 2 sets
Neck Crunches
35x9, 2 sets
Weighed Planks (rep=seconds/“Mississippis”)
35x48, 2 sets
Comments: Went to the doctor today and thankfully it’s just an inflammation. On antibiotics for a while but no biggie. Actual training was pretty good as usual.
Leg Day
Power Clean
95x4, 5 sets
Squat
45x10
135x3
205x4
205x3
205x3
Front Squat
145x4, 3 sets
Lunges
75x6, 2 sets
80x3
SCR
335x5, 4 sets
Comments: Came out feeling completely spent, but I’m happy that power cleans seem to be progressing alright. Apparently I was jumping back instead of down for it, as a gym employee saw. Tried to correct that and now I feel so much better doing my cleans. If you happen to be on TN, thanks!
Push Day
Bench Press
135x3
125x4, 5 sets
Paused Bench Press
115x4, 2 sets
DB Incline Bench (pause at bottom)
45x8, 2 sets
OHP
80x3, 3 sets
Shrugs
205x9, 3 sets
Upright Row
60x10, 3 sets
Comments: No matter what, my bottom bench keeps on giving me problems and I still can’t find my right position for bench press. May have to replace touch and go bench with paused bench completely for some time. On the bright side, I like what’s happening to my OHP right now. I think putting in push press and going with military press in place of DBOHP on my other push day was the right decision for me.
I’m happy to hear it was just an inflammation. nod
On your lat pulldowns was the set of 135x1 just a feeler set, or did that one just feel funky then you conquered it, or what?
A friend of mine does a little backwards hop on her power cleans, we’re slowly turning that into vertical rather than horizontal motion. It’s fun to see how fast and fluid the bar movement is when she gets it just right. (point being hooray fixing that yourself!)
Benching looks alright, I expect then when you finally settle on your perfect setup it’ll look pretty darn good. Glad the OHP is coming along.
[quote]Kristoph wrote:
I’m happy to hear it was just an inflammation. nod
On your lat pulldowns was the set of 135x1 just a feeler set, or did that one just feel funky then you conquered it, or what?
A friend of mine does a little backwards hop on her power cleans, we’re slowly turning that into vertical rather than horizontal motion. It’s fun to see how fast and fluid the bar movement is when she gets it just right. (point being hooray fixing that yourself!)
Benching looks alright, I expect then when you finally settle on your perfect setup it’ll look pretty darn good. Glad the OHP is coming along.
[/quote]
Thanks. I was really relieved too, since I tend to think of the worst possibilities most vividly and that kind of messed up my sleep a little.
I do those one rep sets sometimes as warmup, yep. For that particular exercise, I try to pause at the bottom for two or three seconds so I get confident about holding the weight down for the working sets, as back work seem to especially benefit from squeezing.
Indeed, polishing up technique seems to do amazing things for o-lift variations.
My current 1RM in my first post for bench press was with an older and lower sitting/less supportive bra while my current problems with bench came after I started to use my new push-up bra that gave me a relatively minuscule lift of less than an inch or something. That little bit of a shift managed to add a whole lot to my ROM though, so my bench number took a dip when I used my old bench form. XD
Hurt ego aside, this may actually benefit me in the long run. If my higher ROM lifts go up, lower ROM should naturally get better too. I’ll just make sure to use my old bra for better leverage at meets if I compete, ehehe.
Pull Day
DB Row
50x3
65x9, 3 sets
Wide Grip Lat Pulldown
85x6, 3 sets
Face Pull
50x12, 3 sets
Hammer Curl
22.5x6, 3 sets
Barbell Curl
45x6, 3 sets
Cable Crunch
80x11, 2 sets
Lying Leg Lift
15x8, 2 sets
Comments: Decided to drop the weights a little on face pull to help me feel my traps better and made this day wide grip pulldown day after I realized I’m short on inner back work. Gonna see how this affects my big threes after a month or so.