Rob's Brooklyn Block (periodization) Party

[Rob Israel]

Alright! New program, new thread.

Monday I start a block of training that Jordan has created for me. He helped me taper/peak (and make weight) for my meet August 10th and I asked him to program an 8-week cycle for me so I could learn more about block periodization.

Normally I program for myself and have been using the Texas Method. I've dabbled in some other stuff (Paul Carter's LRB, Jim Steel's Bench programs and some Wender) but I've mainly done Texas for the last 20 months so I'm excited to start something completely new.

I started lifting almost exactly 3 years ago and was fortunate enough to go directly into Starting Strength and a linear progression. I also began by with one-on-one coaching on the lifts from Starting Strength Coach Jeremy Fisher over at CFSBK. I feel very lucky to have found Rip's book and Jeremy's eye and coaching from the start.

I've competed in two meets, the most recent being 8/10/13. Here are my results:

Squat: 402 (missed 3rd attempt of 407.5)
Bench: 225 (missed 3rd attempt of 231)-- paused obviously
Dead: 435

Age: 46
Weight: 183
Press: 180

I'm planning to compete in November in the RPS fed with a bunch of other people from the forum. A team has formed out in Long Island and I'm taking my party there.

Thanks for reading and following my log.

[Rob Israel]

Accumulation

Block 1 an accumulation phase of 4 weeks culminating with everyone's favorite, the deload.
The template is a 4-day split: Bench-Squat-Press-DL
Each day there is also an accessory lift: CG bench-SLDL-Bench-Paused Squat.
Also there is a circuit each workout and each week there is 1-2 HIIT sessions. It's a lot of work.

At the globe...
Bench: 165x5x5 and 195x1
All first reps paused. I thought 165 was way too light but Jordan says I'm going to be doing so much more volume it is appropriate.

CG Bench: 155x6x4
All first reps paused. It started to get a little bit hard. Maybe it was RPE 8, but not sure. (First time really gauging)

Circuit 4 rounds of:
50x8 DB press
50x10 DB row
25x12 DB triceps rollbacks
25x10 DB curls

The circuit kind of sucked. I pretty much hate anything with more than 6 reps so this is going to be challenging. I may have gone too heavy because I had to take more and more rest or I wouldn't get all the reps. The last round was sort of mess. I hope this gets more fun. I will say that it's a lot of work and I got a pump so maybe it will make get me bigger and if that's the case, I'll take it. Maybe I'll hate doing the lower body less. I doubt it.

Good workout, all-in-all. I really tried to keep the benching moving along so it didn't take forever. Certainly haven't done 9 sets of benching before. Felt fine.

[Rori Alter]

Gonna make great gainzzzz

[John Petrizzo]

Hey Rob, looking forward to following your progress with the new program. Jordan knows his stuff, I am sure you are going to do really well.

[konkoba98]

Interesting program. So, how did you go about deciding to start at 165? Was the 195x1 like a top set and you came down a certain amount off of that? How do you determine what load is appropriate for the 5x5 and 6x4 next week, assuming that is what the program calls for? Any 'auto-regulation' going on here?

Thanks in advance and good luck!

[Rob Israel]

Interesting program. So, how did you go about deciding to start at 165? Was the 195x1 like a top set and you came down a certain amount off of that? How do you determine what load is appropriate for the 5x5 and 6x4 next week, assuming that is what the program calls for? Any 'auto-regulation' going on here?

Thanks in advance and good luck!

Hey there, thanks for checking out my log. 165 is based on my competition 1RM (225). 195 was also based off of that. Each week both increase about 3%. The 4x6 (sxr) load is more by feel: I'm suppose to do a set where I still have "2-3" left in the tank. (RPE: Rate of Perceived Exertion). I would say the auto-regulation is automated: deload on every 4th week. I don't know much about AR, but I'm guessing scheduled deloads aren't really AR.

Gonna make great gainzzzz

Gaaaaiiiinnnnnzzzzzz! We're like zombies looking for braaaaiiiinnnzzzz.

[Rob Israel]

First volume squat day and I have to say they felt great. The first set was kind of hard, but each set literally got easier and easier and tighter and tighter. This is the best, first volume squat of a cycle best=heaviest and best feeling) I've had since I moved to 5x5's. I'll credit Jordan's post-meet heavy-ish low volume protocol here...

Squat: 295x5x5
Solid and snappy. My knee, which really has been bothering me a lot was a little miffed in the beginning, but it loosened up. I wore knee sleeves for the first time in a long time and Jordan's suggestion of banded Terminal Knee Extensions beforehand (I really should do more right now) were a big difference maker.

SLDL off 1.5" blocks. 245x6x4
Pretty light but this is my first time doing these. I've done RDL's but this is kind of different. Didn't get all the way to the ground until the last set. Also, after seeing the film, I concentrated on opening my hips all the way. I seem to be cutting the top short a bit:



GPP Circuit:
12 banded Good mornings
8 Air squats
10 KB swings (20KG)
:45 planks

I made this as easy as possible because the above took 2 hours including the mobility warm-up. I wanted to do lunges not air squats but my knee was tired and it didn't seem like it wanted that kind of loading. The KB swings were ridiculously light but still made me out of breath. Totally whimp-job here, but better than skipping it.

SWEATING LIKE A MO-FO AGAIN IN NYC.

[Rori Alter]

Welcome to the longest workouts of your life. But you will make great gainzzzz. Jordan knows his shit.

[Rob Israel]

Welcome to the longest workouts of your life. But you will make great gainzzzz. Jordan knows his shit.

He said it's suppose to be short "for compliance reasons." Fucking liar. Actually, he just doesn't know what it means to be old and squatting volume. It takes me 25 minutes just to mobilize and then I warm up. Then there's the work sets. I tried to be quick about it, but I can't expect much less than 4-5 minutes rest at this weight. Granted I took too long to transition from squatting to the SLDL's, but it was hot as shit and i need to refill the water, put my head under the sink and take a short break. Still, all this in under an hour? Ha!

[Rob Israel]

Press: 130x5x5 and 145x1
First time ever doing 5x5 on the press. Pretty solid and light which is cool since I haven't pressed in at least a month. Tried to keep things moving w/ less rest.

Bench: 155x6x4
This was too easy so I timed rest to 2 minutes.

GPP circuit 4 rounds of:
6 chins
8 DB Lateral Raises
10 Lat pull downs
12 push-ups
Still getting the feel for this stuff and it was a mess again. Dropped chins entirely on the 3rd round and then skipped at the beginning of the 4th round and rested 3-4 minutes before finally doing 6 more (so I did 3 rounds of 6 chins, not 4 rounds). BW chins with so little rest are obviously beyond my capacity still. Shoulda done curlz.

My legs are still toast from Tuesday's squats and Stiff legged DL's. Sooooooo sore.