Like A Bridge Over Troubled Programming

[George Christiansen]

I really has the dumbz.



First off, I think I hurted my shoulder a bit with the ab rolling. Nothing crazy, but it is definitely a tad inflamed.

Second I fell victim to one of the classic blunders. No. I haven't attacked Asia. Nor have I gone in against a Sicilian. But I realize I did let myself get excited about shiny new things and instead of going through my previous programming, that was suboptimal, but was still working and tweaking it with some ideas form the Bridge, I just got a bit stupid, which is......stupid.



So here is my pros and cons of the previous program I was using:

Pros-
Only one really hard/higher intensity & volume lift per session.
More volume overall, but done in waves.
A split so as to be less systemically taxing.
Doing a little browork each session.
Fairly short sessions.
Three sessions per week.

Cons-
Not enough frequency: It rotated one pressing session and two squatting sessions with two pressing sessions and one squatting sessions. I feel like I lost a bit of the groove of one or the other each week.
Too frequent intensity: Thes beat me up a bit and I didn't feel like I could display the strength on the weeks where I did both a volume session and then had to do an intensity session that same week.
Not enough deadlifting: I think the lighter pulls work for me when I am deadlifting weekly, but I totally lost my groove with them during this program.
Strict 5's: I think the % for squats on VD were a little too high and I should have had a system to adjust on the fly.

These are all critiques of how I did the program, not Andy or they program per se. A smarter person could have done what I now intend to do.

-4 day split to make sure I get 2 slots each of Press, Bench, Squat, and Pull each week. This will keep sessions relatively short.
-Use periodization: A low stress week, six weeks of volume waves in the 65-80% range, another low stress week, and then a short intensity block (not sure of the details here yet). Then repeat.
-Use lower % on squats and deadlifts.
-Use % to pick the first sets of the day, but use RPE to adjust work sets as needed, so as not to be constantly grinding, but also have less screwing around and "junk reps" finding each day's work weight. I was never really off of an 8RPE on volume days by more than 1RPE either way. I don't think that one set at a 9RPE or 7RPE out of 3-5 sets is really going to matter in the grand scheme of things, but I do think that extra sets hunting and pecking will have a negative impact, especially in how much time I have to spend because of more rest times between sets.
-Use beltless lifts to keep effort high, but weights low on lighter days.

So this week will be a lower stress week to readjust to a 4 day split:

Monday
Press 3x5@70%
DB Bench 2x6-8
SBLTE 2x10-12

Tuesday
Squat 3x5@65%
RDL 2x6-8
Chin 2xAMRAP

Thursday
SB Bench 3x5@70%
Press 2x6-8
Kickbacks 2x10-12

Friday
Deadlift 1x5@65%
2ct. P.Squat 2x6-8
TRX Row 2xAMRAP

And the next six weeks will basically be this:

Monday
Press 5x5@75%/4@80%/3@85%/6@75%/5@80%/4@85%
DB Bench 3x6-8
SBLTE 3x10-12

Tuesday
Squat 5x5@70%/4@75%/3@80%/6@70%/5@75%/4@80%
RDL 3x6-8
Chin 5xAMRAP

Thursday
SB Bench 5x5@75%/4@80%/3@85%/6@75%/5@80%/4@85%
Press 3x6-8
Kickbacks 3x10-12

Friday
Deadlift 3x5@70%/4@75%/3@80%/6@70%/5@75%/4@80%
2ct. P.Squat 3x6-8
TRX Row 5xAMRAP

[Euby]

I have a hard time with finding @anything with deadlifts unless it's a 9. And honestly I'm surprised so many people around here suggest the ab wheel. It's a horrible piece of kit IMHO as it always feels like my shoulders are about to go when I try one even for one second or two, and my shoulders feel great doing all these presses and I'm plenty strong enough for my bodyweight compared to many. I'd avoid it personally.

[George Christiansen]

I used to use an ab wheel when I was just exercising, but I have shoulder issues anyway, so it'll be a no go for a while. Especially being 50lbs heavier.

Yeah, deadlift seem like something than you can easily use up a lot of energy trying to hit an 8RPE or else go way too light. That is why I like the idea of having a goal weight based on a common sense combo of % and recent rate of progression and then just warm up to about 5% lower than that. I'll make a 5-10% jump based on how it moved, rest a bit, and do the next set as the first work set. If it is too light I'll just add weight, but I am going to count it as a work set regardless. It'll just mean I did ramping sets instead of sets across that day.....or backoffs if I aimed too high.

Another way to to go is just do heavy singles and work backwards off of a single at 8RPE. This would cost less energy, but I honestly don't know how to do it yet. Maybe I'll figure it out and go that route after a while, but the above should be fine for now.

[George Christiansen]

Monday 45 minutes

Press 125x5, 130x5, 135x5
DB Bench 50'sx8, 52.5'sx8
SBLTE 42x12, 52x12

Easy peasy.

[George Christiansen]

Tuesday 50 Minutes

Squat 250x5, 275x5, 285x5
RDL (Beltless) 185x6x2
Chin BWx5/4/3/2/1

I have decided to autoregulate the volume instead of fixed sets. First lift will be 3-5, second lift will be 2-3, and the third will be 2-3 or a 5 rung ladder.

[George Christiansen]

Thursday 45 minutes

SB Bench w/wraps 14"OC 147x5, 157x5, 167x5
Press 120x8, 125x8
Kickbacks 12.5x12, 15x12 (Going to lube up ye olde pushdown setup to replace these)

I am pretty happy how fast these sessions are going. I should be able to keep them really close to an hour with the couple of added sets.

All the tops sets are 8RPE-ish.

[George Christiansen]

Friday 45 minutes

Deadlift 275x5, 315x5
2ct Pause Squat 185x8
TRX Row BWx10/8/6/4/2

My left trap and neck were bothering me a bit today before training. I don't think it was anything training related, but who knows.

I realize again today how shitty my deadlift form was during the previous program. My feet were too wide and I wasn't setting my low back very well. I think I could have got another 15lbs+ on my 1RM if I cleaned up the form.

So this was the low stress week for me. Next week the volume increases a bit and the starting work sets are heavier.

[George Christiansen]

Monday 65 Minutes Aiming for 8RPE's

Press 165x1, 145x5x3
SB Bench 152x8x3
Chin BW x/5/4/3/3/3 (Switched the chins and TRX ros to M & Th because my grip is sometimes shot after deadlifts and RDL's)
Curl 45x20 (Elbow was a bit naggy today.)

[George Christiansen]

Tuesday 55 Minutes 8's are great!

Squat 340x1, 300x5x3
RDL 185x8x2, 175x5
Curl 45x15

[George Christiansen]

SB Bench 187x1, 162x5, 172x5x2
Press 125x8, 120x8, 115x8
TRX Row 10,8,6,6,6

Did the benching from the safety pins. I think I finally learned how to bench properly a few weeks ago, but I still find un racking the weight a bit iffy. The pins wind up being where I can slide under, but where my ribs touch the bar when I arch. I loose the stretch on the way down, which makes them a bit easier than the dead stop, but this is probably best for me as long as I am sans spotter.

I've also reworked my press style a bit. I was doing Press 1.0 with a little bounce out of the bottom, but have decided to still breathe at the top, but come to a full stop at the bottom before pressing. Very little, if any hip thrust from the bottom. These feel good and are probably better for my long term shoulder health.

My shoulder is still bothering me a bit since doing the ab roller last week. Took some NSAIDS last night and today. Will just keep it up through at least Saturday. Not sure what made me think that it would clear itself up when it never has before really.