Need to catch up posting after a busy last few days.
Saturday
Squats
1 set of 8 at 150
1 set of 6 at 180
3 sets of 5 at 210
1 AMRAP set at 200
10 reps
Pause Squats
3 sets of 6 at 165
RDL
4 sets of 10 at 185
Lunges
4 sets of 16 with empty BB
Crunches
4 sets of 25
Planks
3-1 minute holds
No belt squats. Also decided to wear knee sleeves felt pretty good in and out of the hole.
Monday
Comp Grip Bench
1 set of 8 at 105
1 set of 6 at 125
1 set of 5 at 150
5 sets of 3 at 170
2 AMRAP sets at 145
14 reps 10 reps
Palms Facing DB Bench
4 sets of 10 at 40
Incline Bench
3 sets of 5 at 125
French Press
4 sets of 10 at 20
BB Rows
4 sets of 12 at 75
Military Press
4 sets of 12 at 75
Hanging Leg Raises
4 maximum effort sets
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Vacation plus a new job meant only 4 workouts in two weeks, so I restarted this wave. This is similar to restarting a cycle on 5/3/1. Now i am on week 5 instead of week 8. I read 2 Wendler books this weekend and based on what I read this will help me continue to progress instead of stalling this week or next bc I wasn’t ready for the jump in weight.
Deadlift Day
Conventional DL
1 set of 10 at 135
1 set of 10 at 155
1 set of 6 at 175
1 set of 5 at 215
1 set of 4 at 245
3 sets of 6,4,6 at 265
Tried the second work set sumo, and didn’t much care for it.
Deficit DL
4 sets of 2 at 225
3 sets of 2 at 245
Snatch Grip Block Pulls
3 sets of 8 at 205
Not a lot of speed today on the lifts, everything felt nailed to the floor, lol.
BB Rows superset with Good Mornings
4 sets of 12/10 at 75
Abs and conditioning tonight while my son trains.
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Light Bench Day
Comp Grip Bench
1 set of 8 at 105
1 set of 6 at 125
1 set of 5 at 150
5 sets of 3 at 160
1 AMRAP set at 135
Got 12 reps
Close Grip Bench
2 sets of 6 at 120
3 sets of 6 at 135
Seated Hammer Curls
4 sets of 12 at 20
Incline Bench
4 sets of 8 at 100
Had a couple of other assistance exercises planned, but too damn tired. Went in just trying to get the main lift and secondary, so did a bit better than that. Upper back is still sore from deadlifts and rows yesterday.
What are your percentages that you’re using for the bench days? Seems a little light on the heavy days even if you are using 200 as the max.
I just looked at the programming from a wider angle. It looks like most of the time is between 70 and 85 percent. Looking at the 8 weeks I’ve been sent, I will only lift 90% twice. I didn’t write this program, Brandon Lilly did. I will say that I have progressed on my pathetic bench, but overall I don’t like the program. I just don’t want to be program jumping around. The cycle has three 4 week waves left, then I will reassess. I will probably do Wendler 5/3/1 BBB with Joker sets or another from Forever.
Thanks for pointing this out, I’ve just been focused on making it to the gym, I hadn’t sat back and looked at how many of the lifts were sub-maximal.
Squat Day
1 set of 8 at 150
1 set of 6 at 180
3 sets of 5 at 210
2 sets of 3 at 225
Pause Squats
3 sets of 6 at 165
RDL
4 sets of 10 at 185
Lunges
4 sets of 12 with empty bar
Crunches
4 sets of 25 with 25# plate
Last couple of squat sessions have been a complete grind. Today’s session took nearly 2 hours. Have to do these in the morning going forward. I’m always more motivated to crush lower body when I hit it early in the day.
Took a new job 3 weeks ago and I just don’t have enough recovery time for benching heavy (for me) twice a week. Also, as there is no book/feedback from the program writer, I always feel like I have to do every set of every exercise on the program. With that being said, I am going back to 5/3/1. I ran it 3 years ago, and I loved the ability to auto regulate for good/bad days. Still trying to dial in nutrition as I tend to use fatigue as an excuse to eat like crap. Below are my new training maxes, too light, so I can progress longer.
Press - 90
Deadlift - 260
Bench - 150
Squat - 230
Been super frustrated lifting the last few weeks with ZERO motivation to go to the gym. Hopefully a change up/deload, from heavy assistance work will get me back on track.
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C’mon, brother, you can do this! Keep at it. This ain’t the time to get burnt out.
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Thanks brother, just got out of the gym, actually went ahead and hit it pretty hard. I’m going to keep pushing as much as my diet and recovery can handle. I appreciate the motivation. I keep an eye on your log, good things going on over there.
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Wendler Week 1 Day 1
PRESS
65
75
85 AMRAP 12 Reps
Joker sets
5 at 90
5 at 95
5 at 100
4 at 105
BBB PRESS
5 sets of 10 55#
SEATED DB PRESS
3 sets of 10 20#
LILLY SHRUGS
3 sets of 12 35# plates
DIPS/ROMAN CHAIR CRUNCHES
6.5.4.3.2.1
6 sets of 10
CRUNCHES
4 sets of 25 with 20# slamball
Wendler Week 1 Day 2
Deadlift
5X95
5X120
5X140
5X155
5X175
AMRAPX200
12 reps
Could have done more, but I don’t care for high rep deads at all.
Joker sets
5X210
5X220
5X230
BBB Deadlift
5X10 at 115
RDL
3X14 at 140
Lilly Shrugs
3X15 with 35# plates
Hanging Leg Raises
3X15 BW
DB Side Bends
3X15 per side 40# DB
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Keep it up! Solid work. My lower back would be smoked after that much pulling.
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With a new Wendler training max, I can handle the volume for 2-3 cycles. After that, this much pulling would leave me crippled until the next DL day, lol.
Edit: Went back and counted the reps, 144 deadlifts including the RDL
That may be excessive lol
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No workout yesterday, coached baseball for 2 hours last night, so plenty of throwing and a few cuts in the cage with the kids to keep moving. Bench this PM so plenty of food today, plus maybe a nap, lol.
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Wendler Week 1 Day 3
Bench
5X60
5X70
5X85
5X95
5X110
AMRAP X 125
23 reps
Joker Sets
5X130
5X135
5X140
5X145
5X155
Did 3 Pull/Chin ups between every set
Total 15 Pull/15 Chin ups
Try to increase this by 1 per week to 10 then back to 3 with weight.
BBB Bench
5X10 at 75
Barbell Row
5X10 at 60
Tricep Pushdowns
5X20 20#
Military Press
4X10 at 60
Hanging Leg Raises
4X20.16.12.8
Superset these last 2 for time sake. Great pump from the beginning with the pull-ups. This workout left me feeling super fatigued but pumped as hell, if that makes sense. Felt bulletproof but not sure I could have thrown a punch in self defense, lol.
Tomorrow starts no nicotine. I let my son trash my last can of snuff and gave my vape pen to my wife. She says she’s leaving for 2 weeks 
. I’ll probably try to workout in some form everyday for the next couple weeks just to mitigate the nervous anxiety I get when quitting, so here we go, off and running.
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That’s awesome man re: quitting. Most of my best friends have struggled with kicking the habit. Hitting the weights and staying motivated in the gym definitely helps.
I still can’t get over the bench percentages haha. 23 AMRAP is massive, but that’s great to hit it at all ranges. I like your plan for accumulating some pull-up volume. I’d say you could even start adding weight once you’re able to do 8 reps between sets (your rep max would probably be 12-15 by then, which is more than sufficient as a foundation to start adding weight).
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Wendler Week 1 Day 4
Squats
5X85
5X110
5X130
5X140
5X165
AMRAP X185
18 reps
Joker sets
5X195
Wasn’t feeling it, 18 reps is more than I ever want to do again.
BBB Squat
5X10 at 110
Good Mornings
3X20 at 65
Lilly Shrugs
4X12 35# plates
Crunches
4X25 with 20# slamball
Pushed this workout into 45 minutes=cardio session. High rep squats hate me, lol. So I’m going to keep them in my workouts until I kick their ass.
Woke at 184 this morning. Highest waking weight in 2 years. Been about 8 pounds in 8 weeks, so it’s going on the way I want it. Still increasing food as my cardio is starting to increase and the new job has moved my maintenance.
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Wendler Week 2 Day 1
Press
5X45
5X55
5X60
3X70
3X80
AMRAP X90
14 reps
Goal going in was 12 reps
Joker Sets
3X95
3X100
3X105
3X110
BBB Press
5X10 at 50#
Superset joker sets and BBB with pull/chin ups.
9 sets of 4 - 36 total
Will probably stick to 4 on bench day, then move to 5 next press day.
Seated DB Press
3 sets of 10 with 20#
Dips superset with Hanging Leg Raises
6.5.4.3.2.1
6 sets of 8
Coworker showed up this morning so I got him started on a 2 week assessment based on establishing rep maxes and some circuit style training to help him ramp up to 5/3/1. Always thought I wanted a workout partner, but after only an hour, I’m not so sure. Never been real social in the gym. More of a show up, fuck shit up, leave spent. I don’t give a shit what you did this weekend. Lift the fucking bar and get out of my way. Rant over. We’ll see how long he keeps showing up.
An hour and 10 minutes then took the kids to school. Conditioning of some sort this evening the deadlifts tomorrow.
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ÇWendler Week 2 Day 2
Deadlift
5X95
5X120
5X140
3X165
3X190
AMRAP at 210
Capped this at 10 reps
Joker Sets
3X225
3X235
3X245
3X255
3X265
3X275
BBB DL
5X10 at 140
Good Mornings
3X12 at 95
Lilly Shrugs
3X12 with 35# plates
25# Plate Crunches
4 sets of 30
Nothing special, just a satisfying day of pulling.
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