Herbison's Training Log

[Sean Herbison]

Monday, 8 May

Squat: 363x8x4
Comp Bench: 253x8x2, 242x8x2
Clean and Jerk: 242x2x3.5
Chinup: BWx3x10

I was trying to focus on getting under the bar on the jerk, and ended up just missing the jerk entirely. Well, that worked out.

Eights suck.

Tuesday, 9 May

Cable Curl: 120x12, 12, 10
Triceps Pressdown: 140x12, 12, 10
EZ Curl: 42x12x3
Triceps Extension: 140x12, 12, 10

Wednesday, 10 May

(Power Snatch+) Overhead Squat: 209x3x3
Press: 154x8x3
Deadlift: 440x1, 352x5x4
Chinup: 10, 9, 7

I don't know what happened on deadlift. I was struglling to even hit my warmups for a single rep. That's new.

Thursday, 11 May

Squat: 418x5x4
Comp Bench: 292x5x1, 281x5x3
Snatch: 154x2x3
Pushup: 12x5

Saturday, 13 May

Front Squat: 308x3x3
Slingshot Bench: 352x3x3
Paused Deadlift: 374x3x3

[Sean Herbison]

Monday, 15 May

Squat: 391x6x4@7.5
Comp Bench: 264x6x4@8
Clean and Jerk: 253x2x1
Power Clean and Jerk 253x2x2
Chinup: BWx4x4, BWx3x6

Squats are going surprisingly well, and my form is holding together as well or better than it ever has. But boy is my work capacity shot. I don't want to do anything after squats, and I didn't have the mental concentration to catch a full clean. Gave up after failing to catch the first rep of set two, and just muscled up the rest into sloppy power cleans.

I'm going to be logging RPEs again, and most of the work will be in the 7-8 range. No idea how to apply this to the Olympic lifts though, as I just fail due to bad technique, so I'm not going to bother with them there.

[VikingCellist]

Coach, I don't get you're RPEs. If I understand correctly you do four sets of squats and bench and the fourth set had the same RPE as the first. Don't you tire?

[Sean Herbison]

Coach, I don't get you're RPEs. If I understand correctly you do four sets of squats and bench and the fourth set had the same RPE as the first. Don't you tire?

I'm just using average RPE across the sets. The actual RPEs were:

Squat: 391x6x4@7, 7.5, 7.5, 8
Comp Bench: 264x6x4@7.5, 7.5, 7.5, 8

So long as the average stays where I'm aiming, I'll leave it as is. If it's a bit high or low I'll adjust the weight to fit. This is a bit of a different approach than my usual programming for myself of "every single thing @9-10." I'd never program like that for anyone else, so I have no idea why I kept trying it for myself.

[Sean Herbison]

Possibly the only good training decision I've ever made was to squat last* any given session, so I am free to die as necessary afterwards.

I've been considering it, and may do so on my next training cycle.

Wednesday, 17 May

(Power Snatch+) Overhead Squat: 220x3x3@6?
Press: 160x8x3@8
Deadlift: 451x6x2@forgot to log
Chinup: 8, 6, 5

Rating overhead squats is difficult, since it's more an issue of balance than effort. Deadlifts went much better this week than last, though to be fair, it would have been hard for them to be worse.

Thursday, 18 May

Squat: 440x3x4@8
Comp Bench: 303x3x4@8
Snatch: 176x2x3
Pushup: 13x5

I always want to rate squats higher than bench, but I have to keep in mind RPE is about how much is left in the tank. If I rate on overall effort, I overrate squats and underrate bench.

Saturday, 20 May

Front Squat: 319x3x3@7.5
Slingshot Bench: 363x2x2@8.5, 9, 264x7@6
Paused Deadlift: 385x3x3@7.5

So, just like with deadlifts last Wednesday, I'm not sure what went on with bench today. On both days, it's just the one lift that suddenly went down in flames, while the other lifts were unaffected. I'm not sure how that's happening.

[Kregna]

You power snatch 220?

[Sean Herbison]

You power snatch 220?

Yep.

Sunday, 21 May

Cable Curl: 120x12x3
Triceps Pressdown: 140x12x3
EZ Bar Curl: 64x10x3
Triceps Extension: 140x12, 10, 8
Bike: 30 min, 6.9 mi

[Chris McCarthy]

Maybe it's worked well in the past but it doesn't surprise me your bench might suffer after fronts...did you notice any difficulties with your rack* that day?

* (As the Bishop said to the Actress).

[Sean Herbison]

Maybe it's worked well in the past but it doesn't surprise me your bench might suffer after fronts...did you notice any difficulties with your rack* that day?

Felt about the same as normal. Which is to say not great, but not terrible. I think it's improving with time.

Monday, 22 May

Squat: 418x4x4@8
Comp Bench: 281x4x4@7
Power Clean and Jerk 264x2x2ish
Chinup: BWx4x7, BWx3x3

Squats weren't physically that hard, but they were a struggle anyway. I wasn't even hitting depth on my first set, which isn't something I usually need to pay any attention to. And then my bench sets, opposite of Saturday, were a breeze. I don't get it at all.

Gave up on full cleans for now. After squats, I just can't get myself to move fast enough to get under the bar, so I switched to power cleans. They were all ugly except the first one of my third set, but I must have been holding that one against my neck without realizing it, because when I dipped down to start the jerk, I almost passed out. I stopped there.

Overall, I feel like the mental toll this training cycle is taking is disproportionate to the amount of physical work I'm doing. I always seem to be tired recently, even after lots of sleep. I really shouldn't need a deload after 3 weeks of not very high volume work, but I'm considering it. It might be counterproductive though, and not give recovery a chance to adapt. I'll decide as the week goes on.

[Sean Herbison]

Tuesday, 23 May

Cable Curl: 130x8x3
Triceps Pressdown: 155x8x3
EZ Bar Curl: 64x12x3
Triceps Extension: 140x12, 10, 8
Bike: 30 min, 7.25 mi

Did anyone else know we have Groups on this site? I just found out yesterday. Jsutt's the only name i recognize from any of them, though.