1 August 2018 - Squats Bodyweight: 216lbs
Back Squat 265x5, 290x5, 315x11 (5+), 335x5, 355x3
Good Mornings 195x10, 215x10, 235x5 (ouch)
Side Planks and bird-dogs to feel the burn, several rounds
Not exactly the squat day I was looking for but I’m done making excuses. I need to be better.
4 August 2018 - Bench Bodyweight: 213lbs
Felt great, so I decided to do an impromptu max. Turned out about how the pessimist in me expected it to.
Bench 45x10, 135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 245x2, 265x1, 285x1, 295x1, 305x1, 315x0
OHP 3x6 140lbs
supersetted with
DB Floor Press 80x10, 80x10, 85x8, 85x5
DB Bicep Curls 3x20 30lbs
supersetted with
Cable Tricep Extensions 1x30 42.5lbs, 1x25 50lbs, 1x20 50lbs
Notes
Both those sessions were the opposite of what I hoped for. 315x15 squats did not happen and neither did 315x1-2 for bench.
This summer has grinded me down, I can’t seem to do anything right anymore. I benched 315 in March and haven’t been able to get back there since. Working more than one job fucking sucks. I’m way too much into my own head with so many things going on in my life right now, and I’m spread so thin that I’m not able to put enough effort into things that matter the most to me anymore, like family and the gym, mainly. Being with the boys is always refreshing, but that’s rare since we all work 40+ hours a week. I feel like I’m stuck on a fucking hamster wheel right now. Just doing the same shit all day every day. The monotony is slowly killing me. I’m having a quarter-life crisis right now. My whole life is more dynamic and stressful than it’s ever been, and I’m forced to adapt to everything that’s going on whether I want to or not (I don’t).
Training has always been something I’ve loved and enjoyed and taken immense pride in. It’s time to get that back.
Now that the bitching is over, here’s the plan of action. I feel like I’m backed into a corner in most aspects of my life, but there are people who are doing better than me who have to thrive in tougher circumstances, so it’s time to nut up. I’m tired of having a little belly, but I also want to get stronger. I’ve been on a mini-cut for about 5 days now and so far it’s going fine and I plan to continue it until school starts. I’m cutting carbs big time, which works for me pretty well. It’s a mix of IMF and low carb, not because I believe either of those strategies have magical effects, but because they’re easy for me personally to incorporate into my life. I’m still getting about 200g of protein every day and training 4x/week with carbs mainly just before my workout. Seems to be working just fine.
I will be starting to deadlift after my squats and vice-versa. The plan is to continue my 4 day split, 2 upper 2 lower. I need to find my squat and OHP maxes still, because this is the new plan since I think I’ve outgrown 5/3/1 (sadly… I’ll try it again at some point, but for whatever reason it doesn’t feel the way it used to at this point in time):
RUSSIAN CYCLES!!
Yeah, we’re back to that. It did some good things for my bench until I got too aggressive with increasing the percentages, same with my front squats and deadlifts. So far, I’ve got a 475lb deadlift and 305lb bench under my belt. I expect my squat to top out anywhere from 395lbs to 425lbs, and my OHP should be 175lbs to 195lbs (it really just depends on whether or not I harvested any newbie gains from finally OHPing consistently).
So a normal week would look like this:
Sunday: Squat (315lbs to 335lbs) 6x3,4,5,6 + Deadlift (380lbs) 6x2
Monday: Active Rest (walking/core/stretching)
Tuesday: Bench (245lbs) 6x3,4,5,6 + OHP (~160lbs) 6x2
Wednesday: Active Rest (walking/core/stretching)
Thursday: Deadlift (380lbs) 6x3,4,5,6 + Squat (315lbs to 335lbs) 6x2
*Friday: OHP (~160lbs) 6x3,4,5,6 + Bench (245lbs) 6x2
*Saturday: Rest/Work
*Interchangeable days. I’ll be working one of these days anywhere from 7 to 11 hours, so no lift unless it’s the only way to get a 4th session in.
5x5: 83.5% instead of 85%
4x4: 87% 90%
3x3: 91% 95%
2x2: 94% 100%
1x1: 100%+
I’ve typed way too much and I doubt anyone is reading this, but I love to plan these things out. I’d like to have some reps in reserve after working up in intensity which is why I’m cutting it a good amount lower than last time/the prescribed reps. I don’t want to go through another SI joint injury-type fiasco, OR run myself into the ground in the weeks leading up to a new max.
Deadlift: 6x6 380lbs, 5x5 395lbs, 4x4 415lbs, 3x3 430lbs, 2x2 445lbs
Bench: 6x6 245lbs, 5x5 255lbs, 4x4 265lbs, 3x3 275-280lbs, 2x2 285-290lbs
OHP: 6x6 155lbs, 5x5 165lbs, 4x4 170lbs, 3x3 175-180lbs, 2x2 185lbs
Squat 6x6 ~325lbs, 5x5 340lbs, 4x4 350-355lbs, 3x3 370lbs, 2x2 380lbs
In total, this whole cycle should take me through a good amount of first semester.
Week 1: 6x2 (80%) + 6x3
Week 2: 6x2 + 6x4
Week 3: 6x2 + 6x5
Week 4: 6x2 + 6x6
Week 5: 5x2 + 5x5 (83.5%)
Week 6: 4x2 + 4x4 (87%)
Week 7: 3x2 + 3x3 (91%)
Week 8: 2x2 + 2x2 (94%)
Week 9: 2x2 + New Max (Sometime in the first half of October)
Looks like I might be able to fit in 2 cycles of this before 2019 if I start later this week. I might not max out after this cycle and just end it after Week 8, then start the next cycle after a week off with 10-15lbs more on upper body lifts and 20-30lbs more on lower body lifts. We’ll see. This is literally the simplest program ever, and you can design it however you want. I’m making tweaks that I think will help me.
Sorry again for the insanely long post. It’s been a frustrating week and summer in general so far and I’ve always got a lot to say about it. Keep grinding boys