Han Shot First

[Aaron Montgomery]

Week 14 Report

Tonnage: ~38,500lb
- Main lifts: ~25,500lb
- Accy lifts: ~ 13,000lb (no Pendlay Rows all week)

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8/1/17

HLM Week 15 Bench (H) TnG + accessories

208.2lb (PR!)
4700 cals/day

Bench (H) TnG (3-4m rest):
- 175x4 RPE 7?
- 185x4 RPE 8
- 195x4 RPE 9.5
- 190x4 RPE 9
- 185x4 RPE 9
BB Curls w/Fat Gripz - 55x11/11/8/7 (60s rest)
Inc CGBP (120s rest):
- 105x8@RPE 6?
- 110x8@RPE 7?
- 115x8@RPE 8
- 110x8@RPE 8
- 105x8@RPE 8
- 105x8@RPE 8
EZ seated tri-ext - 60x8 (triceps felt fried)
Grip work (plate holds, finger curls, wrist curls, rev. wrist curls)

Bench (H) TnG - Touched sternum too low on 4th rep, so it was a struggle to get back up. Feeling a bit beat up today, no doubt because of Sunday's 2 sessions.
Inc CGBP - meh
Accy. stuff - meh. Biceps felt sore/fatigued today. Working in the 15-20 rep range with light weights and full ROM with grip work. Forearms feel a bit sore already, which is making it hard to type. Hopefully sore forearms = growth.

[Aaron Montgomery]

8/2/17

HLM Week 15 SQ (H) Baker 3-week squat rotation (Cycle 3, Week 1)

Squat (3.1 H):
- 302.5 x5 (x5 PR. 85% of 355)
- 265 3x6 (75% of 355). 7-8 min rest

SQ (H) - Lower back was very fatigued, probably from Sunday's double sessions. The top set of 5 was decent, though the 1st rep was above parallel, but that seems to happen to me no matter what the weight is. Last backoff set of 265x6 absolutely fried my lower back. Lower back was so sore that I struggled to bend over to load the barbell to 135 for deadlift warmups.
DL (M) - Didn't happen. Only got 135 up 3 times and my lower back was screaming at me. Just bending over to load the barbell with 45's made my lower back hurt like crazy. Picking up the 45's to put them away made my back hurt too. Hope I didn't mess something up. We'll see how next Sunday's session feels.

[Aaron Montgomery]

8/3/17

HLM Week 15 - 2ct. Paused Bench

2ct. Paused Bench (2m rest):
- 157.5x4@RPE 7?
- 165x4@RPE 8?
- 172.5x4@RPE 9
- 167.5x4@RPE 9
- 165x4@RPE 9

EZ rev curls w/fgz 35 4x10 (no forearm pain today)
grip work

P. Bench - Decided to use a metronome app after reading through Chebass's log. I was probably pausing for 1.5 seconds before, not a full 2. Also, using a metronome is mentally distracting. Gonna take time to get used to it.
Accy stuff - meh

Feeling kind of beat up today. I may make this Sunday's deadlift session a 1RM testing day to keep volume down. Kind of feeling like a deload week may be in order on all lifts, but I don't have any clue how to intelligently do a deload week. But I'm sure Andy and Jordan have some free info out there.

[Aaron Montgomery]

Weighed in at 210lb this morning. PR! I've been keeping a written log of all weights and measurements for a while, so here's how things have changed since weighing 200lb. Changes from when I weighed 200lb are in (parenthesis). All measurements taken cold.

Caloric intake: 4700 cals/day (+200)
Neck: 16" (same)
Chest: 43.25/44.75" (flexed/unflexed; +0.75")
Bicep: 14/15.25 (+0.25/0.5)
Forearms: 12/12.5 (+0.25)
Waist: 39.5/35.5 (relaxed/sucked in; +1.25...)
Hips: 43 (+1.5)
Thigh: 26.5 (+1.25)
Calf: 15.75/16.25 (+0.75)

Looks like I'm putting some serious growth on my gut, hips, and thighs. Before I started lifting my waist was only 28-29" wide, so my thighs will eventually be as big as my waist was. Not liking the gut growth, but it's par for the course. I tend to average about 1" of gut growth for every 10lb of weight gain.

Maybe I'll hit 230lb before the year is out, and then I'll have earned my "I gained 100lb, ask me how" t-shirt.

[Aaron Montgomery]

8/05/17

HLM Week 15 Bench (M) + OHP

210lb (PR!)
4700 cals/day

Comp. Bench (M) (4min rest):
- 192.5x1@RPE 7?
- 202.5x1@RPE 8.5?
- 177.5x5@RPE 8
- 177.5x5@RPE 8.5
- 172.5x5@RPE 8
- 172.5x5@RPE 8
Inc db curls w/FGZ
OHP TnG (2min rest):
- 87.5x7
- 92.5x7@RPE 7?
- 100x7@RPE 7.5
- 102.5x7@RPE 8
- 100x7@RPE 8.5
- 97.5x7@RPE 8.5
grip work

Comp. Bench - Decent session, but wasn't feeling too energized or aggressive. Adding 2.5lb/week to my top sets is starting to push the range beyond RPE 8, but that's ok. I'm mainly concerned about keeping all the back off work at the proper range.
OHP TnG - Felt really good today, but got fatigued fast with only taking 2 minutes off between sets. Guessing stuff beyond fahves requires a bit of muscular endurance, which I haven't really trained for.
Bro stuff - I'll give the grip work a solid month or two to see what difference it makes for forearm hypertrophy, but gonna quit doing plate pinches, b/c it's really bugging the skin between my thumb and index finger. Biceps have been consistently sore lately while doing curls, so gonna take next week easy.

[Aaron Montgomery]

8/06/17

HLM Week 15 DL (H) + SQ (M)

4pm
DL (H):
- 325x1 @RPE moderately easy
- 365x1 @RPE 8 (ties prior x1 pr)
- 405xF/F
SQ (M) - 252.5 3x6

DL (H) - Looks like I wasted the last 10 weeks of deadlift training. I hit 365x1 10 weeks ago, and couldn't hit 405x1 today. I got the weight up to just below my knees, and then failed. Second attempt I couldn't get it to budge off the ground. I'm sure 385lb would've gone up, but even then, that's only a 20lb increase after 10 weeks of training, which is still a waste given the small amount of time I've been training. The only improvement I've had is going from 325x5 to 355x5 over the course of 7 weeks. You'd think 405x1 would be feasible after hitting 355x5 7 days ago...
SQ (M) - Didn't get below parallel till my last set. My gut is getting in the way of proper depth now.

Feeling fat, weak, and fatigued. We'll see how the next two sessions go before I decide to take a deload week or not.

[Aaron Montgomery]

Week 15 Report

Tonnage: ~36,700lb
- Main lifts: ~22,400lb
- Accy lifts: ~14,300lb

Need to figure out how to merge my 5x/week program back to something that's 3x/week. I think I'll keep doing the 5x/week for 2 more weeks, so that I don't interrupt the 3 week Baker squat cycle that I'm on. After that, all lifts will be on Jordan's general intermediate program, or the 8 week Bridge. The Bridge could be a nice change of pace, and the first week of that program would give my body a chance to deload. Been feeling a lot more fatigued and sore than usual the last week, and given the amount of calories that I'm eating, low stress, and adequate sleep, it's a sure sign that I've been pushing myself hard the last few weeks. I'm really upset about not hitting a deadlift PR last week, and may try again just one more time this week.

[Aaron Montgomery]

8/8/17

Not sure what template I'm using anymore Week 16 2 ct. Paused Bench

2ct. Paused Bench (2m rest):
- 160x4@RPE 7?
- 167.5x4@RPE 8
- 175x4@RPE 9
EZ rev curls w/fgz 35x15
grip work
ab stuff

P. Bench - Moving on to Jordan's 5 week general strength progression for upper lifts. Guessing week 1 is a volume deload, because it didn't feel right stopping after just a couple working sets. Easy noob gains on paused bench are over, can't add more than 2.5lb without RPE getting too high.
Other stuff - Taking a volume deload on curls. Grip work is going ok, wrists feel fine now. Going to use an ab roller and do lying leg raises once or twice a week for 7 minutes total. Jordan calls for doing pull ups 2x/week, but I might just do some high-rep lightweight rows instead. We'll see.

[Aaron Montgomery]

8/9/17

Week 16 SQ (H) Baker 3 week squat cycle (Cycle 3, Week 2)

Squat (3.2 H):
- 320x4@RPE 9 (x4 PR!. 90% of 355)
- 285 x4/4/4 (skipped 4th set, no energy)

[Aaron Montgomery]

8/10/17

Week 16 Comp. Bench

Comp. Bench:
- 185x1
- 195x1
- 205x1@RPE 9-9.5 (supposed to be RPE 8, oops)
- 180x4@RPE 7.5 (supposed to be RPE 8, oh well)
P. Rows:
- 135x6
- 165x6@RPE 6?
- 175x6@RPE 7?
- 185x6@RPE 8? (PR at any rep range)
BB curls w/FgZ 55x12
grip work
ab stuff for 7 minutes

Comp. Bench - Need to get more experience pushing heavy singles, pretty sure I misgrooved the 205x1, and had a more difficult time getting it up than I should have.
P. Rows - meh. Not sure what to think about these anymore. Beats trying to do pullups.
Other stuff - Volume deload on curls, grip work is moving along at the pace of a slug, and ab stuff sucks. Can't decide if I hate pullups or my ab roller more right now. Lying leg raises aren't too bad though.