Hope it works out, even reading it makes me feel discouraged.
Beginning with a glimmer of hope, this upper body day quickly turned into a nope!
Bench Press
325x3 @6.5...OK
345x3 @8...am finally I turning the corner?
355x3 @10...nope.
315x3 (first rep paused) @8
Notes: At least I got one good set in there. Which is more than I can say for anything heavy since I began benching again.
Press
185x5 @7, 195x5@8, 202.5x5 @9, 210x3 @9, 185x5 @8
Notes: Shoulders and arms still feel quite fatigued. Other than that, this felt OK, but that feeling of fatigue hasn't really completely gone away in a long time. Which doesn't make much sense considering the volume of pressing I'm doing and that my bench volume and intensity are still both significantly lower than they have been before when I've been progressing just fine, and that my assistance work load has been down as well. It's like I have the symptoms of under recovering from too much work, but the training load of being under stimulated. It's just weird.
I adjusted today's Vol2 Press workload to a bit more overall volume than the last round's, but at significantly lower average intensity (i.e. 23 work reps with 4,468 total pounds of work set volume/tonnage; vs 18 work reps with 3,870 lbs of work set volume). Will see if that has a positive impact on recovery for Int1.
Weighted Chins
+12kg x5x5
Notes: Still not as easy as I'd have liked, but at least I could do all five sets here today. Will add weight in smaller increments now.
HSPU
1 lone rep.
KB Press
24kgx5, 28kgx5x2
Notes: Fine, pretty easy. Lowered assistance work quite a bit, hoping that it'll help, along with the change in pressing volume strategy, recovery for intensity day on Thursday.
Last edited by Michael Wolf; 05-11-2015 at 09:00 PM.
Hope it works out, even reading it makes me feel discouraged.
Squats were tough again today. Like pressing yesterday, did more volume on this Vol2 day, but at an overall much lower avg intensity. I'm playing with these numbers to see how they affect my recovery, it could be that I've been pushing intensity too hard and need to collect more volume at lower intensities to stay fresh enough while still making progress.
Squat
365x5 (no belt) @7
385x5 @7
405x5 @7.5
425x3 @7.5
445x3 @8
365x5 @7.5
Notes: These felt, again, A LOT harder than they look and than bar speed indicates. I'm mostly going with bar speed for RPE, but taking into account how they felt just a smidgen. If I were to go based on feel alone, they'd all be 1-1.5 points higher.
Here's a long, boring squat video:
Power Clean (Hang from below knee)
45x6, 135x2, 165x2, 185x2
SGDL
275x3, 325x3, 375x3 (hook), 405x3 (belt+straps) @7.5, 425x3 @8
Notes: SGDLs were solid today. I was tired from all the squatting but positioning and squeezing were good, much better than the last couple weeks. Did the power cleans from the hang so I would avoid tearing up and re-bloodying my shins before they heal. I also double taped them under my socks, which seems good enough to prevent any issues from DLing. But pulling the bar quickly during a clean tears right through everything, I'll avoid that till it heals.
C2 Erg - 20/90 x 8
Paces: 1:54.9, 1:38.0, 1:29.2, 1:30.0. 1:29.2, 1:28.4, 1:32.5, 1:24.4
Notes: Under 1:30 avg, if you exclude the first one which is a warm-up. So getting back there. Still hard to believe I was doing some of these at a 1:18-1:20 clip a year ago.
Wolf, is someone doing your programming? If so, what is the plan? Just a quick look back at the past couple of pages suggests a lot of volume. Most recently, you did 5 days out of six with pretty significant volume and intensity, it seems on first glance. Possibly need to spread out the work a bit more? Overreaching now that you are back at PR and close to PR weights? Just trying to figure out why you keep hitting these walls. Mabye overtrained? I say this as someone who has done this too many times to count over the years..
Actually, six out of seven?
Squat volume is the only thing near all time highs. And that's the only lift that's doing ok. Combined bench and press volume + upper body assistance work is actually below what it was when I was making great progress on both through the mid and late winter.
That's why I wrote that it's odd that I seem to have symptoms of being under recovered/overtrained, while my actual volume seems to suggest under stimulated.
I'll add that I have considered spreading the work out over more weekly sessions, but I'm worried about the effect of increasing squatting frequency on my knees. Benching I have added back the paused close grip work on Saturdays, along with the third day of Chins, both which I think helped a lot in the winter. With the squats, I could keep twice a week and just accumulate volume over more weeks, and that's something I have considered as well. It's all swirling around up there, but as far as upper body stuff goes, why I feel so fatigued there is inconsistent as a response to the training volume, compared to how I've responded in the recent past.
Last edited by Michael Wolf; 05-13-2015 at 11:05 PM.
I usually type these up on my laptop, but the wifi at my hotel isn't working so using my phone. Thus, none of the usual bells and whistles.
At SSPT today in Rockville, Matt Gary and Sioux-z's place. Quite small, but has what you need to get the job done. Unfortunately neither of them were there today.
Press
225x3 @9
235x2 @9.5
245x1 @10
Notes: 245 was a super easy opener when I did my total about 6-7 weeks ago. Probably could have tripled it that day. Now it is a 1RM. So that's awesome.
Bench Press
287x5 @7.5
309x5 @ 8.5
331x4 @9.5
331x4 @10
287x7 @8
Notes: Even though it's just bench press, it was fun using the Eleiko discs for these. They're so thin! I miscalculated my kilos to lbs conversion for the top sets; I intended 321 and loaded 331, which made me a lot less upset about only doing four reps on those sets, once I realized afterwards. Not really happy, because 331x5 should be happening no problem, but a little less annoyed.
Neutral Grip Pull-ups
BWx8,8
Kneeling Dual Cable Lat Pulldowns
75/side (entire stack) x 12 x 3
Notes: No real straight bar to do chins, I found the pull-up stations on the racks to be awkward, just a personal preference thing, so I did Pulldowns to make up some volume. I was running late so didn't do any assistance work.
Then I showered, went to the city, and walked approx fourteen billion miles all over and around DC. Tomorrows squats and pulls might have to be a bit scaled back. And I hope I didn't get sunburned. I was surprised at how much of the touristy mall / monument area was completely treeless.
Trained for the first time at Beau's gym in Westminster, MD. So many racks and bars and platforms, a thing of beauty to be sure. Plus training with Karl & Dr. Gainz.
Squat
485x3 @8.5
510x3 - PR @9.5
455x3 @8
Notes: Warm-ups weren't great, was having some knee slide. The 485 was OK but not great, but I just really wanted the 510x3 for some reason so went for it. I don't really know why it mattered to me to do 510 instead of 500 or 505, it was going to be my first triple with 500+ and 510 isn't a landmark number of any sort, but just wanted it. Got it.
Deadlift
455x5 @7
495x5 @8
525x5 @9.5
Notes: Plan was 455x5 and then 475x5x2. But Jordan and I were sharing a platform, so it was a matter of not taking off the 5th plate again so I went to 495. It moved OK, and I still didn't want to take off the 5th plate, so instead of going down and doing a back-off set, I figured I'd do 525x3. Which then became five, because reasons. Didn't have time to do power clean warm-up. Nor conditioning.