Han Shot First

[Aaron Montgomery]

7/4/17

HLM Week 11 Bench (H) TnG + accessories

Bench (H) TnG (3-4m rest):
- 165x4 RPE ~7
- 175x4 RPE 8
- 182.5x4 RPE 9 (Bingo!)
- 182.5x4 RPE 9
- 182.5x4 RPE 9.5
- 180x4 RPE 9
db laterals - 15x15/15/15
BB Curls w/Fat Gripz - 55x12/10/8/8 (60s rest)
EZ seated tri-ext - 50x8/8/8 (90s rest)

Bench TnG (H) - Form on TnG is already much better. Butt is staying on the bench on all reps, really utilizing leg drive, back is staying tight.
Accy. - Added 5lb to tri-ext, which required a drastic decrease in reps. BB curls with fat gripz are interesting. Need to get my forearms to start growing, because they've only grown 1/4" with the last 25lb of weight gain.

[Aaron Montgomery]

7/05/17

HLM Week 11 SQ (H) + DL (M) Baker 3-week squat rotation (Week 3)

Squat (Week 3. H):
- 317.5 x3 (3 rep PR!)(95% of 335)
- 285 3x3 (85% of 335). 5-6 min rest
- tonnage 3,517lb/12 reps
DL - 275 3x5 (~80% of 340). 3 min rest
Pendlay Rows 140 3x8 (90s rest)

Squat (H) - Squat warmups felt good. I don't have a lot of practice hitting near max weights on the squat, so my technique wasn't perfect, but at least I hit proper depth. Felt dead after the second back-off set. No energy.
Deadlift (M) - Had to take 10 minutes off after squats. Would've been easy if I wasn't so tired and sweaty. Probably low 90's in my garage this morning.
P. Rows - Easy.

[Aaron Montgomery]

7/06/17

HLM Week 11 OHP + 2ct. Paused Bench

OHP - 115 3x3 (3 min rest)
2ct. Paused Bench:
- 130x4@RPE ~7
- 140x4@RPE ~8
- 150x4@RPE 8.5
- 150x4@RPE 8.5
- 150x4@RPE 8.5
- 150x4@RPE 8.0

db laterals 20x12/15/15
EZ rev curls w/fgz

OHP - meh
2ct. Paused Bench - Still trying to figure out how to properly setup on the bench, generate leg drive, and bar path on the way down and up. Slight changes in any of these things really change how easy/hard the lift is. Last set was easier than the rest because I setup a bit differently, and had some really good leg drive.
Accy - EZ rev curls are also agitating my right forearm. I took a break from hammer curls because of this sometime ago, and even with really light weights something is still wrong. I got a painful 'pop' from my inside elbow area to the area between my thumb and index finger about half-way up when hammer or reverse curling. Regular curls are fine.

[Aaron Montgomery]

7/8/17

HLM Week 11 Bench (M)

Comp. Bench (M) (3min rest):
187.5x1@RPE 8
165x5@RPE 8
165x5@RPE 8.5
160x5@RPE 8
160x5@RPE 8
160x5@RPE 8
160x5@RPE 8.5

LTE's - 60 3x8 (90s rest)
inc db curls w/fgz - 15x10/10/8/8/7 (60s rest)

Bench - Felt tired after 3 working sets. I may move OHP to heavy day, after benching, and just do 2 count pause bench on light day.
LTE's - Last set was difficult to finish.

[Aaron Montgomery]

7/9/17

HLM Week 11 DL (H) + SQ (M)

DL - 340x5@RPE 9 (x5 PR!)
SQ - 270 3x3
Pendlay Rows - 140 3x8
Wrist Roller

Lifted at 3:30pm, with a garage temperature of 96 degrees. Didn't sleep too good last night, I think allergies are causing bad post-nasal drip.

DL - Questionable technique on the last rep, but got it done. May need to switch to a 5/3/1 three week rep rotation scheme soon.
SQ - Bleh
P. Rows - Meh

[Aaron Montgomery]

HLM Week 11 Report

Tonnage: ~40,400lb total
- Main lifts: ~24,400lb
- Accy lifts: ~16,000lb

Calculating OHP and P. Rows as accy. lifts, and paused bench as a main lift, since it's heavier than the press.

My wife is wanting me to consider holding my current body weight, since I've started snoring at night which wakes her up, and I'm getting a bit of a gut, which I've never had before. Trying to sleep on my side which fixes the snoring, but it can make my neck hurt when I wake up. Not sure what to do about the gut right now. I have the conflicting goals of wanting to get bigger and stronger, but not wanting to have a fat belly which can be seen if I don't suck it in.

[Aaron Montgomery]

7/11

HLM Week 11 Bench (H) TnG + accessories

203.8lb
4600 cals/day

Bench (H) TnG (3m rest):
- 165x4 RPE ~7
- 175x4 RPE 8
- 185x4 RPE 9
- 182.5x4 RPE 9
- 180x4 RPE 9
- 180x4 RPE 9.5
db laterals - 20x15/12/12
BB Curls w/Fat Gripz - 55x8/8/8; 45x8/8 (60s rest)
BB inc CGBP (90s rest):
- 95x8@RPE 7?
- 105x8@RPE 8
- 95x8@RPE 8
- 95x8@RPE 8
- 95x7@RPE 9
EZ seated tri-ext - 50x12

[Aaron Montgomery]

7/12/17

HLM Week 12 SQ (H) + DL (M) Baker 3-week squat rotation (Cycle 2, Week 1)

Squat (2.1 H):
- 292.5x5 (85% of 345)
- 257.5 3x6 (75% of 345). 6 min rest
DL - 275 3x5 (80% of 345). 3 min rest
Pendlay Rows 150 3x8 (90s rest)
wrist roller

Just realized today that I've probably had a cold over the last week. I though it was unusually bad allergies, but it lasted 6 days. That would probably explain the bad sleep and fatigue. Man-colds used to knock me out, but since putting on a bunch of weight I don't catch them as often and they don't seem to affect me as bad.

Squat - Form was ok. Should probably see Austin Baraki again sometime. I somehow manage to push the bar up my back when I'm at the bottom of the squat. Had no energy after squatting, and almost called it a day.
Deadlift - Nothing to report

[Aaron Montgomery]

7/13/17

HLM Week 12 - 2ct. Paused Bench

2ct. Paused Bench (90s rest):
- 135x4@RPE ~7
- 145x4@RPE ~8
- 155x4@RPE 8.5
- 157.5x4@RPE 9
- 157.5x4@RPE 9
- 157.5x4@RPE 9.5

db laterals 20x12/12/12
EZ rev curls w/fgz 30x12/12/12

P. Bench - Keeps getting stronger since a new lift to me. Last set I felt pretty tired.
OHP - Decided to move OHP to Medium Day, after Benching. Slowly morphing my HLM template into Jordan's int. program.

[Aaron Montgomery]

Got my blood work results back, somehow my testosterone count has gone down, even though my dosage has gone up. I was wondering if something was going on, because my energy levels have been horrible the last couple months.

09-2016 239 ng/dl on 40 mg/week
12-2016 642 ng/dl on 60 mg/week
06-2017 340 ng/dl on 80 mg/week

I wasn't lifting heavy in December of last year, and I've been pushing my limits regularly the last couple months. So I'm guessing the hard training has something to do with the decrease in test. levels. Doctor approved me to 100 mg/week, but said he won't go higher than that in the future.

Cholesterol results were interesting.

06-2016
- 185lb
- Cholesterol 189
- Triglycerides 80
- HDL 44
- LDL 129

06-2017
- 203lb
- 4600 cals/day (including candy, ice cream, brownies, etc)
- Cholesterol 159
- Triglycerides 131
- HDL 36 (I stopped taking fish oil/omega 3 supplements)
- LDL 97

My bad cholesterol and total cholesterol somehow went down, despite all the extra food and less than "healthy" eating. Need to start taking omega 3 supplements again though.