Randy's Quest for 5/4/3/2

[Randy Scheingold]

4/7 Week 95 Day 3 (Week 30 with Karl)

Press 165x5 (5 Rep PR!)
Bench 200x5x3
Chins 17.5x5 good, 5 not good, 10x1...stopped

Press
- Not much to say here. PR Baby!
- Previous best was near the Fall Classic and was 163x3,2...,.at the same time I think my 5 Rep Max was 157.5...so we are making some consistent progress here.
- Looking forward to getting this up even further...and we haven't even tapered to triples yet...awesome!

Bench
- No lift/no spot/no belt
- Felt VERY hard
- Supersetted Chins, which got my elbow all angry...so maybe that impacted Bench...felt weak as well here

Chins
- Wicked left elbow pain after 2nd and 3rd sets....hurt for about 2 hours after

Questions
- I think we need to take a chin break, I think the elbows are getting worse and are impacting bench now. Next week is a Bench 5 Rep PR tie...I don't want to blow that! Thoughts?
- What specifically are we trying to train with Chins?
- Can we replace with curls and rows? Or drop altogether?

Only press videos tonight...not much to see with the other stuff




Note: Not too worried about the Chins, they are accessory only. I am getting consistent Rep PRs on Press, DL, and about to tie a Bench rep PR. And I am doing my heaviest singles on Squat ID....outside of my 2nd & 3rd attempts at this past Fall Classic. And, although 2 reps were high (I thought more), Karl said my last ID singles weren't as much of a total shitshow as I thought. They weren't pretty, but for heavy singles, they didn't strike him as awful either.

[Randy Scheingold]

4/9 Week 96 Day 1 (Week 31 with Karl)

Squat 300x5x4, got: 300x5,5,4,4,2 (5 Rep PR Tie!)
Press 145x5x3
Rack Pulls 365x5 (PR!)

Squat
- 350x3s walk out
- Didn't feel really heavy, no fear and very good head position!
- A number of parallel reps, last rep of every set high
- Definitely a few legit reps in there though, and I didn't quit. Honestly no worse than my 290x5x4 and 295x5x4 sets...
- Was in a globo gym (wife wanted me to go with her, so went as a guest)...got nervous on those last reps making a fool of myself dumping on the pins if I had to....no worries in B&W...a right of passage their to be honest....hence the last 2 sets of 4 and the final double to make up for it

Press
- You picked the right weight here
- With only 48 hours from a 5 Rep Press PR and following heavy squats, I was pooped.
- But got these with no real problem, more layback then I'd like...but also only 3 or so min rest...wife was waiting

Rack pulls
- Felt great, on video I could have held the last 2 reps a second longer, but no problems at all here.
- These feel MUCH lighter than my first set at 350x5 3 months ago

Questions
- Do we repeat VD squats or keep pushing up?
- Also this was technically workout #1 of next week. You added 3 more workouts in, should I go for them? Or only do the first 2?...or let me schedule decide?

Set 1 - in Slow Motion...I do think I hit depth on most reps


Set 2

[Randy Scheingold]

4/11 Week 96 Day 2 (Week 31 with Karl)

Bench 225x5x5 (this is probably a 5x5 PR, need to check though)
CGBP 215x6,4,4

Bench
- No lift/no spot (got the bench with the safeties though)
- First 3 sets were great
- Last 2 sets went...but got pretty hard, probably some compromised form on a few reps
- 5 to 6 min rest

CGBP
- had lift & spot
- First set good, 2nd & 3rd set...grinded on rep #5 both times but couldn't get...very close to lock out on set 2, rep 5...but spotter jumped in. I could barely assist set 3 rep 5 though....
- Form felt very off on these...no video though
- 6 min rest

We are definitely going for 245x5 next Bench ID. I'm on the fence with microloading Bench VD now or trying for 1 more 5lb jump....seeing how I got these all with no lift off either.

Questions\Other info
- Do we need to reset CGBP to get a little more offset...at least on Bench VD? I regressed here a little bit compared to this weight last time, but that was after Press 5x5 so likely not as fatiguing. And that press was lighter too... 151x5x5. I think we also made a 5lb jump, so maybe we go back to 210x6x3 and work up at 2.5lb increments?
- Left inner elbow started to hurt during bench....some pain as when I did chins last. And forearms/wrists a little sore now. Not sure we need to change anything, but I'm going to focus on recovery before Bench ID (either Sunday or Monday)
- Next workout will probably be Squat ID \ DL ID on Thursday afternoon...if I don't feel 100%, i'll push that to the weekend. I am starting to feel a little beat up again.






Also update for my fan club...haha just kidding there.... but we are repeating 300x5x4 Squats next VD. Due to the missed reps and the high reps. Karl thinks I also went into this with too wide a stance, which I believe I sometimes due on heavy sets...not sure why, but I'll focus on this for my 330x1x5 singles next Squat ID....in a few days.

[Fino]

thanks for the update Randy!

[Randy Scheingold]

No problem David! Hey, I saw on instagram a video that looked like Conviction. Was that an old one or did you guys join the new gym (and are they using the old equipment)?

[Randy Scheingold]

4/14 Week 96 Day 3 (Week 31 with Karl)

Squat 330x1x5
DL 370x3 attempted, 370x2 achieved (2 Rep PR....2nd time every DLing over 365...only other time was my 385x1 at Fall Classic)

Squat
- 365x3sec walkout (easier to do 365 vs the 350 prescribed given the plates)
- First 3 reps high...got pissed off and started to unrack the bar and quit
- Said, "fuck it...I'm going to try one more and just keep going down and if I don't get up...i don't get up"
- This mindset helped, last 2 reps had much better depth...maybe parallel, but nothing like the first 3
- Very disappointing at first, but in the end good for my confidence to force myself to go lower and deal with heavy weights at depth


DL
- My 295x2 warm up was off....did DOH and started to lose the bar a bit...which lead to some arm/back strain.
- 335x1 felt off...didn't help that I was really rushing as I had a conference call starting in 15 minutes
- got hit with a different work issue right before my workset (was working out over lunch)...which screwed my mojo (#dontcheckemailbeforePRattempts)
- Waited 2 min and tried another single, but no go at that point

Questions\Other info
- How bad is my depth on first 3...seems awful to me
- Do we repeat 300x5x4 and 330x1x5 next week? or do we reset? I say repeat and let's see if I can pull this shit together and just fucking stay deep
- Do we repeat 370x3 or move up with double or reset back to 355x5 and go for the 5 reps (this is when we tapered to triples)

Videos
Squat - Shows all 5 singles strung together in 1 video

[Randy Scheingold]

4/16 Week 97 Day 1 (Week 32 with Karl)

Bench 245x5 5 Rep PR Tie
Press 155x5x3
Chins - Experiments...

Bench
- had lift off, got a little tough on the last rep, but I wasn't going to fail it

Press
- Got progressively harder each set. But again, I wasn't going to fail it

Chins
- 1st set right after Bench ID, regular chin grip - 5 reps
- 2nd set after 2 worksets of Press, pull ups - 3 reps
- 3rd set after last press workset, neutral grip - 3 reps (first time doing these)
- elbow pretty much the same after each set. A little sore, but not awful. I also kept volume pretty low.
- really felt my lats on pull ups, but didn't get as many reps

Questions\Other info
- Chins\Pull Ups - Your call what we do here. I think we just have to be careful on volume. and...possibly jumping right into 17.5lb with no chin warm ups caused some of the problems?
- in 5 days from now, I'll be fine to chin\pull up again. I think I just need to leave 1 or 2 in the tank and not grind these out
- Check barspeed on Bench....It may be time to start microloading or we could go for 1 more time 5lb jump...your call. next time will be a 5 Rep PR no matter whether it is 247.5x5 or 250x5 and it will be a 5x5 PR either way as well
- Today's workout was technically part of next week. I did 4 workouts in the past 8 days. But, I feel decent...so let's just plan for Tue/Thur/Sat again

Videos





chin ups

[Fino]

No problem David! Hey, I saw on instagram a video that looked like Conviction. Was that an old one or did you guys join the new gym (and are they using the old equipment)?

We joined the new gym, called Hybrid Strength Athletics. They have the old racks there, got rid of most of the machines, put in a Rogue Rig (so more room for squatting and benching, adding three oly platforms, added two rogue deadlift platforms.

[Randy Scheingold]

Fino - That's awesome. I may check on day rates. I live in lakeview but work in Schaumburg. So for early AM workouts, B&W is not convenient (great for nights & weekends though). Hybrid on a day rate may be a good option when I need to fit it in before work.

[Randy Scheingold]

4/18 Week 97 Day 2 (Week 32 with Karl)

Squat 300x5x4 (Volume PR!) 5 Rep PR Tie
Press 147.5x5x3
Halting DL 300x8 (PR!)

Squat
- 350x3 second walkout
- Sets 1 & 2 good, a few parallel reps a few good reps
- Set 3 best head position yet....put a colored KG plate in front of me as focus point. Only thought about 3 things (knees out, look here...at plate, hips). Mostly good depth
- Set 4 good depth on 4 out of the 5 reps, last rep parallel or very slightly high
- First rep surprisingly easy on each set, reps 4 & 5 had to be earned on each set
- TOTALLY WINDED after each set...but that's fine
- If tonight doesn't force an adaptation...we've got bigger issues

Press
- Tried your tip of layback on the way down...it did help
- These were harder than they should have been, but i was totally spent after squats. and I just did a 3x5 PR Press (155lb) on Sunday AM

Halting DL
- Used straps
- By this point in time I was totally winded
- And I started to feel very nauseous (I ate dinner right before the gym...and I accidentally over did the caffeine)
- These looked & felt very ugly...but my main 2 goals were to finish them and not puke (which i was seriously concerned about)

Overall VERY TIRING work out. But I am happy as hell that I am learning how to grind my squats and learning how to hit depth at heavier weights. I can't wait for a 3 plate volume day!

Set 3


Set 4