4 Days to Stronger

[MWY]

Starting my intermediate log since I started my intermediate programming today. I'm starting with a 4-day Upper/Lower split as follows:

M: Heavy Bench, Light Press
T: Heavy DL, Light Squat, Inverted rows (working toward chins/pull-ups)
W: Rest
T: Heavy Press, Light Bench
F: Heavy Squat, Power Clean, Inverted Rows

For the "Heavy" days I'll be doing one top set of 5 with 3 back-off sets of 5 at 90% of the top set. For the "Light" days I'll be doing 3 sets of 5 at 80% of the previously completed top set of 5. If this ends up being too light on the volume/intensity I'll adjust up.

Stats:
M, 31, 6'0", 285 lbs.

Current Lifts:
Squat: 305 x 5
Bench: 220 x 5
Deadlift: 345 x 5
Press: 137.5 x 5

[MWY]

First Intermediate workout:

Bench: 225 x 4, 205 x 5 x 3. So this didn't go as well as planned. The 4th rep on my top set was an ugly, imbalanced grind, and the 5th rep only made it about an inch off my chest. Spotter arms save the day. I'm chalking this up to being sick over the weekend with a pretty high fever all day on Saturday and will hit this weight again next Monday, hopefully with better results. The back-off sets went very well though, made all of the reps smoothly on about 4 minutes of rest between sets.
Press: 115 x 5 x 3. This was smooth as well.

[MWY]

This ended up being a pretty bad week. I've been sick since Saturday and didn't make it to the gym on Tuesday or Thursday (and missed several days of work as well), but I managed to get some squats and deadlifts in today. This kinda worked out as a deload week, so I'll hit it harder next week:

Squat: 310 x 1 x 2. Managed two singles at the weight I was planning on going for a set of 5 at. My last warmup at 275 felt reeeeaaaally heavy so I decided to hit the intensity I wanted to, but keep the volume low.
Deadlift: 350 x 3. I might have had two more reps in me but decided to leave something in the tank since I'll be hitting these again on Tuesday.

[MWY]

Over the weekend I talked with the family about registering for the Fall Classic in Phoenix and my wife was very agreeable. So, I'll be competing on October 29th and we've decided to make a family mini-vacation out of the trip! I'm excited and am setting some ambitious (maybe too, we'll see) training goals for the meet.

My meet-day goal will just be to go 9/9. My training goals will be to push my Squat, Press, and Deadlift up to 200 kg, 85 kg, and 215 kg respectively for my openers. My plan to do this is to start with two top-set triples for the next 10 weeks with 3 back-off sets at 90% to reinforce the volume. I'll be doing this twice/week for the Press, adding 1 kg each workout (using bench press as an assistance lift), twice a week for the Squat, adding 2.5 kg each workout, and split the volume for the Deadlift into two days (looking at top triples on Tuesday, 90% for 2x5 on Friday).

Today's workout:
Press: 65 kg x 3 x 2, 60 kg x 5 x 3. This went decently well, but I had some balance issues on a couple of reps over the first few sets. I widened my stance very slightly (from hip-ish to shoulder-ish width) for the last two sets and that seemed to resolve that issue.
Bench: 100 kg x 3 x 2, 90 kg x 5 x 3. Bench felt solid today despite doing Press first. 100 kg was a very slight deload for the top sets compared to 225 lbs. last week, but this was intentional because I was doing it after Press.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this training block goes!

[Agilic]

Good stuff man, best of luck. At your age, size, and strength levels, I wouldn't be surprised if you find that your bench and press do better on a vol/Int split rather than heavy/light. You could start with 5x1 bench for example, then 5x5 press, and vice verse for the other day, and cycle the rep ranges as you move along. Keep in mind volume will drive the intensity.

[MWY]

Thanks for the thoughts Agilic! I'm upping my press volume a bit as noted in my last post in preparation for the Fall Classic, we'll see how that goes

Today:
Squat: 145 kg x 3 x 2, 130 kg x 5 x 2. Squats felt very heavy today, especially the last rep of my second triple and second set of 5, but I got all of my reps. Definitely feeling the lack of squat volume from last week but I'm confident I'll be able to keep going after today.
Deadlift: 165 kg x 3, 150 kg x 5. All of these felt heavy but I had no issues breaking off the floor or locking out any of these reps.

Very happy with my first two workouts this week after last week's illness. Tomorrow is a rest day and then I'm back at it on Thursday for more pressing!

[MWY]

Decided to scale back the volume a little today because my elbows were sore all day Tuesday and Wednesday from my pressing on Monday.

Press: 66kg x 3 x 2, 60kg x 5 x 2. The last rep on my second triple at 66kg was a grind that stopped moving for almost 3 seconds, but I completed it! The back-off sets felt easy and uneventful.
Bench: 90kg x 5 x 3. Just for more pressing volume today. Felt good overall, third set felt great and was the best timing/breathing I think I've ever had on a 5 for bench.

[MWY]

Officially registered for the SS Fall Classic in Phoenix! Very excited about this

Today:
Paused Squats: 120kg x 5 x 2. First set was all paused, second set the first rep was paused. Wanted to mix it up slightly on my "light" squat day.
Deadlift: 170kg x 3 x 1, 153kg x 5 x 1. DLs felt great today. The top set was smoother than Tuesday's top set and 5kgs heavier. Very happy with how my DL is progressing currently!

[MWY]

Press: 67kg x 3 x 2, 61kg x 5 x 2. The last rep of my second back-off set was brutal. The bar stalled at two different points for 2+ seconds, but I kept pushing and finished it.
Bench: 102kg x 3 x 2, 90kg x 5 x 2. Bench was solid today.

[MWY]

This morning's workout:
Squat: 148kg x 3 x 2, 133kg x 5 x 2.
Deadlift: 140kg x 5 x 2.

Happy with how the workout went. None of the reps felt like a grind at all today.