We'll see how long this lasts...

[Michael Tiemeyer]

Went out of town, had a sick kid, was under the weather myself, had a houseguest, but I was able to train several times in the past month.

1-18-18
Squat - 295x5x3
Press - 120x5x3
DL - 305x5

1-21-18
Squat - 305x5x3
Bench - 175x5x3
Clean - 125x3x5

1-23-18
Squat - 315x5x3
Press - 125x5x3
DL - 315x5

1-25-18
Squat - 325x5x3
Bench - 180x5,5,4
Clean - 135x3x5

2-5-18
Squat - 295x5x3
Press - 115x5x3
DL - 315x5

2-7-18
Squat - 305x5x3
Press - 120x5x3
Clean - 135x3x5

2-9-18
Squat - 315x5x3
Press - 125x5x3
DL - 325x5

2-13-18
Squat - 320x5x3
Press - 127.5x5x3
Clean - 140x3x5
Chins - BWx4,3,3

You'll notice I quit benching there for a while. On the first missed bench workout, the gym was using the benches for a competition, so I pressed again instead. Today, I didn't bench again; I'm not a big fan of benching--I'd much rather press. So I'm just pressing for a few workouts until I get up to 135x5x3 again.

You'll also notice I'm still doing an LP right now. Probably getting close to intermediate territory on the Squat, but everything else is moving along well. I'm also thinking about switching from 3 sets of 5 reps to 5 sets of 3 reps on the Squat because I'm having a hard time breathing on reps 4 and 5.

[Michael Tiemeyer]

Squat - 325x5x3
Press - 130x5x3
DL - 335x5

I'm still using the hook grip on deadlift and cleans, and my thumbs hurt like hell with this top-set of deadlifts. I'll add only 5 pounds next time and see how it goes.

[Michael Tiemeyer]

Squat - 330x5x3
Press - 132.5x5x3
Clean - 145x3x5
Chins - BWx3,3,1

[Michael Tiemeyer]

Squat - 335x5x3
Press - 135x5x3
DL - 340x5

Squats felt good, but the last set was a little tough.



Deadlifts felt fine today with respect to my thumbs--I must've been holding the hook grip incorrectly. From the video, I can see that I'm not getting my back into extension enough prior to each pull.

[Michael Tiemeyer]

Squat - 340x5x3
Bench - 160x5x3
Clean - 150x3x5

Brought bench press back into the workouts. These weren't too bad.

My cleans are awful; my form/technique is atrocious. I can get the bar up to my shoulders from the floor, but it certainly doesn't look anything like what a power clean is "supposed to look like". I'm going to drop some weight and really work on my form going forward. I really want it to work out--I dropped them before because of pain issues in my arms and wrists, and I don't want to have to do that again.

[Michael Tiemeyer]

Squat - 345x5x3
Press - 137.5x5x2 <-- Time for intermediate programming on the press.
Deadlift - 345x5

I think there's more extension of my lower back in this set. I can definitely see the crinkle in my shirt before I pull.

[Michael Tiemeyer]

Squat - 350x5, 315x5x2
Bench - 165x5x3
Clean - 95x3, 95x3, 115x3, 135x3, 155x3, 175x2 <--- The 175's were ugly.

It's probably time for intermediate programming on the squat as well. The first 3 reps at 350 were okay, but 4 and 5 were pretty grindy. I also probably could have done a few more reps on set 2, but I'm already 45 pounds over and above what I could 3x5 on my NLP.

If you're in to e1rm's, and if I couldn't do any more reps at 350 in that first set, then according to RTS, 350 pounds is about 81% of my e1rm. So 350/.81 = 432 pounds. That seems a bit too high to me. Hell, 350/.9 = 389 is something I couldn't squat just before Thanksgiving. Anyway, with all the "discussion" over intermediate programming, I'm going to give it some more thought before I decide on what I'm going to do. I had good progress and satisfaction with HLM the first time around.

I took a wider grip on the bench press, which is probably what I should have been doing all along. My normal bench grip is probably closer to a CGBP.

I was also able to clean up my form on the power clean quite a bit by working up to a top set of 3. All reps from 95# to 155# were decent, and I should have stopped there. But Mr. Ego said to try 175 since the 10's were already laying there on the platform. I got it up to my shoulders, but it was more of a "football clean" than anything else. I'm happy with this clean workout.

[Michael Tiemeyer]

Back to intermediate programming!

I've started DUP on a Hypertrophy, Power, Strength weekly cycle (Thanks to Hanley.). Today I did a Strength Workout. Again, after all the "discussion" going on, I decided that I didn't want to move on to a TM program, Old Man or otherwise. I really liked HLM the first time I ran it, and I'm sure I'll do it again in the future. Right now, my general goals are to get stronger, get hyooge (or as much as I can, which probably isn't much), and lose some of this accumulated belly fat. So, no, I'm not really interested in eating through the sticking points of TM. My latest umbilicus measurement is 39.5", and I've got 2.5" inches to go before I've met that goal for the year. The weighing 225# goal won't happen soon.

I found a different RPE table, and 350# @ RPE 10 translates into a e1rm of 350/.86 = 407, which is kinda of in the middle of 389 and 432, and I'll use it to begin. For bench press, I used my last LP worksets of 165 to get an e1rm of 165/.86 = 192. I'm still progressing linearly on the deadlift, but I'll lift heavy only on Fridays; when I stall there, I'll switch to the prescribed programming. For the submaximal work, I'll use what e1rm I get from Friday's pulls, which would be 407 right now. For the press, my e1rm is 137.5/.86 = 160. Still going linearly in cleans.

In general, the program looks like this (all %'s are of e1rm):

Hypertrophy Workout
Squat: 3x5 @ 70%, 6x4 @ 70%
Bench: 3x5 @ 70%, 6x4 @ 70%
SGDL: 4x3 @ 72-75%

Power Workout
Squat: 2 @ 70%, 2 @ 75%, 2 @ 80%, 2x1 @ 85% (1 @ 90% every couple weeks or so)
Bench: 2 @ 70%, 2 @ 75%, 2 @ 80%, 2x1 @ 85% (1 @ 90% every couple weeks or so)
Clean: Work up to a triple top set. Switch to essentially same scheme as squat and bench.

Strength Workout
Squat: 4x3 @ 80%
Bench: 4x3 @ 80%
Deadlift: Linear progress for now. Switch to 2 @ 70%, 2 @ 75%, 2 @ 80%, 2x1 @ 85% (1 @ 90% every couple weeks or so)

Density Blocks
Press, Rows, Curls: ??# for reps under 10 minutes. I did this near the end of HLM, and I liked it. I'll put them in where I can.

So here's the first workout.

Strength
Squat: 325x3x4
Bench: 172.5x3x4
DL: 350x5