Bench

November 29, 2016
Afternoon

Another crack at the 280 and it went good. Groove felt nice and smooth today on every rep. Leaving out the Sunday benching and truncating the last two bench sessions has helped me to recover.

I also warmed up with my old grip (ring finger on the rings) and man did it feel wide now. As soon as I crested 225 it was beginning to make my shoulder niggly in the same spot as earlier this year so I returned to my narrower grip. Much better.

Bench
WU to 280 x 3 x 1/2/3r ladders

Unilateral Dozer Side Raises - Paused top and bottom
45e x 2 x 10r

Rear Raises
45e x 2 x 12r

EZ FG Curls
85 x 4 x 6r

Squat and Deads

November 26, 2016
Before Supper

Really dozy today. Probably the lack of calories in the home stretch. Tweaking the programming a tad as well. I'm going to do my squat and deads on the same day to give my low back more time to recover. My second "lower" day will be more assistance stuff; hip belt squats, swings, rows, etc.

Squat
WU to 415 x 3 x 3r

Deadlift
WU to 455 x 3 x 3r

SS
45' Bench DB Row 55e x 3 x 12r
Standing Band Crunch x 3 x 12r

Bench

November 25, 2016
Afternoon

Feeling beat up from yesterday and my triceps still a bit DOMSy. I think I'll cut back the benching to 2 days a week now.

Bench Press
WU to 280 x 2 x 1/2/3, 1/2/2

Good enough. Down 2# this week too which can't help my recovery.

Deads

November 24, 2016
Before Supper

Deadlift
WU to 445 x 3 x 3r

Muscle Clean - with the power bar
135 x 2 x 5r
165 x 3 x 3r

PB Swing 165 x 3 x 8r

Chins BW x 3 x 1/2/3r - I'll start ratcheting next week

Bench and Gold Bar

November 22, 2016
Afternoon

Wasn't sure how benching was going to go. Triceps have major DOMS today from Sunday's workout. Too cooked. Just did a minimal amount of benching.

I also brought out the gold bar grip top for the second time. Worked up to find my max for training. Right I got up to a 2-3" hop with 65.9# and the last completed lift with the left was at 55.9# but I didn't pursue it up to a true max.

Bench Press
WU to 280 x 1, 5 x 2r

GT Gold Bar
30.8 x 2 x 5r
40.9 x 3
50.8/55.9 x 1
60.8 x 1/0
R 65.9 x 2-3" hop
R 63.3 x 1
R/L 45.8 x 3 x 4r, 14/10

Squat and Back Gripping

November 21, 2016
Before Supper

Feeling better today so I decided to throw in some light gripping again. Back's feeling better but I'm not going to push it. Seems it's usually volume that gets the hate on and I know I can progress without a ton of reps.

Squat
WU to 405 x 3 x 3r

Pause Squat 3ct
335 x 3 x 3r

SS
GHR BW x 3 x 10r
45' Bench DB Row 55e x 3 x 10r

SS
Standing Band Crunch EX x 4 x 10r
Seated Conc Curl 40e x 4 x 6r

Grip Stuff
V1 Parallel Set
WU to L10 x 3 x 3r

2.5" Crusher
100 x 3 x 10r

Bench

November 20, 2016
Before Supper

More benching. Took an antihistamine earlier. Little sleepy.

Bench Press
WU to 280 x 1/2/3/1/2/2/1/2/2

Rolling DB Skullcrushers 45e x 5 x 15r

Cable Ext (UH/UH/OH/OH) 65 x 4 x 20r

Bench

November 18, 2016
Afternoon

8 bench sessions in 17 days and feeling good. Confidence is coming back as well as my ability to stay tight.

Brach is feeling better with the break from direct grip training and leaving the hammer curls and upright rows alone.

Bench Press WU to 275 x 3 x 1/2/3r

Unilateral Side Raise 45e x 2 x 10r

Rear Raise 45e x 2 x 10r

Face Pulls 100r

Pulls

November 17, 2016
Afternoon

Week 1 of ramping up with some Sullivan progression. Back is niggly until I get pulling yet. Didn't do any "rep work" volume. Still really focusing on form.

Deadlift
WU to 435 x 3 x 3r

PB Swings 165 x 3 x 5r

Chins
BW x 5
+18 x 2, 1, 2, 1

Seated Concentration Curls - braic still killing me but these felt good
30/35 x 6r
40e x 6/5, 6/5, 6/5

Bench

November 15, 2016
Before Supper

Just did my primary exercise to give myself a bit more "overall" recovery. I also auto-racked after my second rep in the last set. I'm not sure why but I didn't even notice until after I'd already done it. Oh well, good place to stop. Reps were still nice and crisp but it might not hurt to slow down my progression a bit to keep the future peak higher. These ladders are working well if even just to get me to repeat the set-up, first rep, etc. since not really benching for 6 months or so.

Bench Press
WU to 275 x 2 x 1/2/3r, 1/2/2r

Squat

November 14, 2016
Noonish

Feeling beat up for some reason.

Squat
WU to 395 x 3 x 3r

Pause Squat - 3s - low back not feeling great so I'm doing these instead of rep work
325 x 3 x 3r

SS
45' Incline Bench Row 50e x 15, 15, 12
Standing Band Crunch XS x 3 x 15r

Cable Curl 60 x 2 x 10r

Bench

November 13, 2016
Noonish

Anniversary so getting my lifting out of the way to go get some Chinese food :D I also tried super-setting barbell rows with the bench (same weight and reps) and didn't care for it. Only did a couple of sets at the working weight.

Bench Press
WU to 270 x 3 x 1/2/3r ladder

Rolling DB Tricep Ext 45e x 4 x 12r, 10

Cable Extensions (UH,UH,OH,OH) 60 x 4 x 25r

Bench

November 11, 2016
Afternoon


Elliptical

Bench Press
WU to 265 x 3 x 1/2/3r

Upright Row 95 x 3 x 8r

Unilateral Side Raise 40e x 2 x 10r

Rear Raise 40e x 2 x 12r

Deads Technique

November 10, 2016
Before Supper

Deads technique day. Low back is still a little off so I cut the accessories and I think I've still got some mild flu symptoms from the shot the other day.

Elliptical for 30 minutes. HR 105-110. First time using it in years.

Deadlift
WU to 405 x 5 x 3r

Block Pulls 405 x 3 - called the low back stuff here

Chins BW x 5 x 6r

Seated Hammer Curl 45e x 3, 6, 10, 10 - bit to warm up my right braich

Bench & Pinch

November 8, 2016
Afternoon

4th bench day in a week. Looking forward to a couple days of relax. Feeling beat up in my back and ribs. I was wondering why training wise then I remembered I got my flu shot yesterday so I'll point my finger there.

Bench Press Ladder
WU to 260 x 3 x 1/2/3r

DB Flies 55e x 3 x 8r

Euro Picks - feeling beat up so I kept it reasonable
108 x 3 x 3r
138 x 3
158 x 8 x 3r

DH Shallow Hub - should've clipped my nails
29.7 x 3 x 5r

D1 Sully Squats

November 7, 2016
Before Supper

Day 1 of going back to the Sullivan programming. Bodyweight has also stalled for a couple of weeks and I noticed I needed to reset my BMR caloric needs. Should start dropping weight good again.

Squat
WU to 385 x 3 x 3r
315 x 10

45' Bench DB Rows 45e x 3 x 12r

45' Back Ext BW x 3 x 10r

Grippers to 5 x 1r

Bench Ladders

November 6, 2016
Evening

Day 2 of the ladders. Felt nice and crisp. Picked up the gap in my dumbbell collection today as well. Wait and the right prices come along. Also had some tasty Chinese food from my old favourite place. 1st time in at least 6 years and it didn't disappoint.

Bench Press
WU to 255 x 3 x 1/2/3r - 1s pauses

DB Skullcrushers 45e x 10, 10, 10, 10, 8

Cable Extensions
Underhand 60 x 25, 20
Overhand 60 x 20, 20

Bench - Ladder Start

November 4, 2016
Afternoon

Start of the Shaf ladders for benching. Right now I'm planning on running it on Tuesdays and Fridays alternating shoulders and tricep accessory work. If I goes well I may throw in work on Sundays too.

Bench Press
WU to 250 x 3 x 1/2/3r

Unilateral Side Raise 40e x 2 x 8r

Rear Raise 40e x 2 x 8r

Decided to start working with David Horne's Gold Bar Grip Topz attachment. Feels like a good palm pinch. I think I'll be able to put up some decent numbers in the 105's with some more training.

GT Gold Bar
31 x 3 x 5r
41 x 3
46 x 3 x 2/3/4r

Front Squats

November 3, 2016
Afternoon

Going to start throwing in some ladders starting today. I'm thinking of 2x per week benching working up to 4 ladders a session after a few weeks, squat 1x per week either with ladders or Sullivan's stuff, and alternate deadlifting and front squatting every week using ladders.

Starting low on weight and assistance stuff. Low back is bugging me and my guts are terrible today. Hoping that this'll make me feel fresher all in all.

Front Squat
WU to 225 x 3 x 1/2/3r

GHR 2 x 8r

Ring Row 2 x 15r

Ab Wheel 2 x 10r

Thumbs and forearms still cooked from yesterday.

Bench Derp and Pinch

November 2, 2016
Afternoon

Bench derp. Come to the conclusion through getting significantly weaker and weaker on bench as the weeks go by that I need to go back to greater frequency and some heavier workloads. This last stint has freaking sucked balls. Weight loss hasn't been that severe in the past month but I've already gone from a weak 265 x 4 x 4 to 260 x 3 max today. Crap numbers to start with and this programming isn't helping (started after Sep 27).

Back to some of my old stuff.

Bench Press
WU to 260 x 4 x 2r, 3
275 x 1
295 x f - see! Freaking sucking!

Called it there. Frustrated.

Euro Wrist Curls 58 x 3 x 8r

Euro Picks
108/138/158 x 3
168/178 x 1
188 x 5 x 2r - 158 x 6