Euby's Log - Take me to the Bridge

[Euby]

9/18/17

Bridge Week 5 - Workout 3
Tonnage: 18,860 pounds
Time: 2:01 to complete

Long story short...work has been hellacious lately. Lots of 2-day overnight trips during the week. Then this past weekend both my boys were in a 2-day soccer tournament on different teams. 7 games total and we spent 19 hours at the soccer fields b/t Saturday and Sunday. Younger son's team won the tournament cup so it was great, but it was exhausting to say the least. Super hot and humid outside and we literally drank two cases of water bottles but still finished the weekend dehydrated and malnourished. So....

Have been taking 2-days between lifting sessions almost regularly lately, just because I'm not at home to lift. Having a home gym is great, unless you aren't there to use it. Still, workouts are not bad. 2 days is most I've ever missed, until yesterday's workout which was 3 days rest (GPP day included in that).

Deadlift w/belt
295x4@6
315x4@7
335x4@8 PR?
Okay, so deadlifts felt really strong! Pretty sure this is the most I've every deadlifted for sets across, and it was easily @8 as listed. I felt good about it, then I plugged it into the e1RM calculator, and it was actually a slightly easier load than the week before which was 325x5@8. I ASSuMEd that going up 10 pounds would offset the drop from 5 reps to 4 reps, but that's what I get for not checking. It was still a good workout, but I should have done 340x4x3, which I think would have still been @8 and negligible. I have to start planning my workouts better, calculating the e1RM on the lifts at the given RPE/volume, and then making sure I'm progressing each week. Lesson learned yesterday.

Bench (1-count pause)
205x4@6
220x4@7.5
230x4@8.5
225x4@8.5
220x4@8.5
215x4@8
210x4@8
Not sure if these @8.5's are bad or not. I was almost wondering if I should just count them as an @8, but in my head I just couldn't get past them feeling like 8.5 as I just wasn't SURE I could have done 2 more. So I dropped the weight each set. I think if I'm supposed to do sets across @8, then I should probably drop a little weight here and get these dialed in. What I don't get is that CGB is this heavy and it's easier for me.

Squat w/o Belt
225x6@7
255x6X8
275x6@8.5
285x6@8.5
First time doing these, so took a bit more effort to find a loadable weight. I was supposed to hit @9 twice at the end. I usually workout from 10:30-12:30 in the morning. It was almost 9pm when I was doing this workout, and I was wiped from a long day at work. Lower back was killing me. Also, it was my anniversary, so my wife was expecting some attention later, which I was happy to give, so I cut this short without finding my @9 on a beltless squat.

Still, legs and low back were fairly wiped for the day. Combination of two much time off, too much extra activity, and everything else made the workout feel harder than it should have, with less progress. But I learned a TON from all this, and RPE really helped me gauge all of that, so I am grateful for trying to work with it.

I feel like I'm becoming a better lifter through all this, and will be able to make better decisions going forward, rather than just showing up and robotically doing the same routine with a little more weight. Still digging this way of lifting. I bought Jordan's 2017 templates and am really looking forward to working the 12-week Strength template after I'm done with the Bridge. That'll finish me up for 2017, and then I plan to explore some coaching in 2018.

[Euby]

9/21/17

Bridge Week 6 - Workout 1
BW: 203.8
Tonnage 10,875 lbs
Time: 1:25

Squat
335x1@8
305x4@8
305x4@8
305X4@8
Pretty sure 335 is my strongest single ever, simply because it was @8 and I feel I definitely had 2 more in the tank.
That puts e1RM at 363 lbs! Awesome!

Bench w/ 3-count pause
185x3@7
205x3@8
225x3@9
225x3@9
These jumps are too big really. I think the 225x3@9 is accurate, but the @7 and @8 weight should be higher, maybe 205 and 215 respectively. Will adjust next go around.

Deadlift w/ 2-count pause at 1"
260x4@7
270x4@8
280x4@9
280x4@9

Smooth workout overall. Not terribly fatigued but my hip flexor is strained a bit from 2 days ago. Thought it was better but I could feel it again today just a touch.

These paused reps are hard to judge still, but I just keeping adding weight every week anyway and things feel about the same. @8 can be difficult to judge but I feel like@9 is much easier, so as long as I'm not going over @9 too soon I'm going to keep adding weight each week.

I really like doing 1@8 to start the work sets. I can see this being a good metric to determine overall progress and/or cumulative fatigue.

[Euby]

9/23/17

Bridge W6D2
BW: 203
Tonnage: 11,905 lbs
Time : 1hr 34min

Pin Squat
245x3@7
260x3@8
275x3@9
275x3@9
275x3@9
First time doing these. Hard to judge RPE but these felt very heavy, and the bar movement off the pins was slow so. Just need to add weight here and see what happens.

Press
155x1@8Heaviest single in a while, and it was very smooth for sure, so considering this a PR since it was definitely @8. Awesome!
140x4@8
140x4@8
140x4@8
140x4@8

Pendlay Rows
175x6@6
180x6@7
185x6@8
185x6@8
185x6@8
185x6@8
Very smooth this time! Room to add weight here.

Today felt great.

[Euby]

9/24/17

GPP
BW: 204

30 minute fast walk
7 Min Chins (43 reps)
7 Min Iso Ab work

[Euby]

9/25/17

Bridge W6D3
BW: 204.2 PR!!!
Tonnage: 12,435 lbs

Felt a bit bleh this morning. Ate a huge mexican dinner last night...lots of corn chips. Felt like I had a brick in my belly when I woke up, so I only made half of my normal blender bomb. Then I worked out an hour earlier too. All adds up for things not going so good right? Not so fast...

Deadlift w/belt
370x1@8 PR!!!
340x4@8.5 PR!!!
This is both awesome and not so awesome as I didn't finish my last 2 sets @8. I attempted the 2nd 340x4 and it paused 2 inches off the ground. I think I fought it for maybe half a second and then put it down. As soon as I did I was kicking myself, but my low back was screaming and I felt completely wiped. I have to help my brother and law move some furniture into a moving POD tonight, so I decided to cut this one short today and just be happy with the two PR's.

Bench Press
255x1@8
232.5x4@8
232.5x4@8
232.5x4@8.5
225x4@8.5
solid sets

Squat w/o belt
225x5@6 (hmmm, felt very heavy so cut it one rep short to stay at 6, back screaming again)
245x5@7 (hmmm, again and one rep short)
245x6@8 (lighter than what I did last week @8 but oh well. Wanted to quit at this point but pushed through)
245x6@8
244x6@8
245x6@8
The fatigue from the dealifts really showed back up here. Low back was wiped and I was concentrating really hard to keep it from rounding too much. Leg's felt okay except for a slight tweak in the groin.

Side note, I think without RPE knowledge today I would have quit and got little work in. It dawned on me on my first @8 squat set that I had read several times in Austin/Jordan's logs where they had bad days and dropped weights to keep RPE on point. Also remembered Mike T talking about this same thing, so I just went with a weight that was a full 30lbs lighter than last weeks @8. So I got my volume in for the day. Maybe I could have done this on deadlifts if I had thought of it earlier, but oh well. The lesson is now burned in my head at least. I've been adding weight every week and it's been working. Today that didn't workout for one supplemental lift so I had to drop it a bit. No big deal.

Today sucked a bit toward the end, but it feels great all the same time. That's cool.

[VikingCellist]

Congrats on the PR! Even more congrats for being smart and not overshooting. I hope the moving went okay.

[Euby]

Thanks, viking! It went well, but moving sucks! I always seem to tweak my back moving furniture, but didn't this time so that's another PR!

[Euby]

Bridge W7D1

BW: 202.4 (down a few lbs b/c my stomach was a bit upset all day yesterday for some reason. Lost a lot of water as a result but felt okay otherwise. Feel good today also. Odd.)
Tonnage: 11,298 lbs

Squat
330x1@7
340x1@8 PR e1RM is at 369lbs!!!!!!!
320x3@8
320x3@8
320x3@8
320x3@8
I'm super stoked about my squat progress the last 7 weeks!

Pin bench
205x3@6.5
215x3@7.5
232.5x3@9
230x3@8.5 (oops)
230x3@9 (there we go)

Deadlift w/ 2ct pause
275x3@7
285x3@8
295x3@0
295x3@9
These sucked, just because of the intensity. Low back didn't like them, but 15 minutes later I feel fine. Learning I can't really trust my low back screaming at me through heavy deadlifts. That's just part of the game. Instead I have to focus on form at the given intensity. Am I able to maintain a relatively flat back at this level of fatigue? If so, then no worries. Just need to get stronger.

[Euby]

Bridge W7D2

9/30/17
Tonnage: 11,505

Pin Squat
250x3@7
265x3@8
280x3@9
275x3@9
270x3@9

Press
157.5x1@8
152.5x3@9
150x3@8.5 (oops!)
150x3@9
150x3@9

Pendlay Rows
160x6@6
skipped @7 somehow???
190x6@8
190x6@8
190x6@8
190x6@8
These are finally getting smooth and coming along nicely.

This was a Saturday workout, which I hate but mid-week lifting has been tough lately due to work obligations. My lifting schedule has been shifting by about 1 day per week for a while now. I worked hard around the house today, pulling up old planks on my back deck in preparation for repainting. Also dug up a rotten 4x4 fence post. Whoever set it used WAAAAY to much concrete, so I had to bust it up with a sledge hammer to get it out of the ground. Was wiped by that alone. Then set a new post in concrete, and toted a bunch of new treated lumber around the house for all this work. Was wiped after 9+ hours of working in the yard, but forced myself to lift afterward anyway. Slightly dehydrated from sweating all day (even though I consumed massive amounts of water/gatorade with added salt), and I still added weight on my lifts. So all in all, today's lifting was great and it feels even better to have defeated the urge to skip and just sit in the easy chair.

[Bergstedt]

Well done on pushing through for the last workout, despite being tired from working around the house all day!

You also seem to be making really nice progress. I am doing week 4 day 1 later tonight and it is lots of fun following your log to see your progress and your thoughts on the programming a couple of weeks ahead of where I always am in the schedule. Keep up the good work!