My first intermediate log (May 24, 2021-?)

[CommanderFun]

Friday 8/13/2021

Deadlift 400x3
Squat 250x5x3

Early session today, girlfriend was off from work and she's off to do her sister's bachelorette party. Workout went great for me. I usually only take one caffeine pill when I get up, but today I took a second one before I left for the gym since I slept kinda light last night. Man did that create an improvement! I felt like I was speeidng through the workout, that 400 triple went up pretty damn fast, only the third rep was a little grindy. Squats were good, got a little hard at the very end but we were in a bit of a hurry. I probably could've used a little more of a breather between sets. Also my stomach was bothering me. Anyway, definitely gonna do a caffeine pill right before I leave for the gym from now on. I'm gonna have to order more. I think I might throw in a light day for squats on sunday, to properly have a novice squatting schedule. The two days a week might cause some recovery issues.

[CommanderFun]

Monday 8/16/2021

Weigh-In: 288.8 pounds

Bench 245x3x2
Press 137.5x5x5
Pulldowns 195x8x4

Bench got a bit hung up on the last rep, but I did it. My guess is I'm about 2 more jumps away from having to move this to doubles. Decided not to reset my press volume, I wanna try and work it up instead of backtracking again. Pulldowns got hard toward the end, but I'm gonna continue to 197.5 on thursday without alterations.

[CommanderFun]

Tuesday 8/17/2021

Squat 255x5x3
Deadlift 320x5x3

Got a little bit of knee hurting in the squat. Nothing that stopped me in my tracks, but something to keep an eye on in future workouts.

[CommanderFun]

Thursday 8/19/2021

Press 165x1x5
Bench 212.5x5x5
Pulldowns 197.5x8x4

That last single on the press was tricky, but I think that was just because I only took a short rest before it. Bench was also hard toward the end. Moving pulldowns to 5x5 next week.

[CommanderFun]

Friday 8/21/2021

Squat 260x5x3
Deadlift 405x3

Workout structured a little different today, did squats first. Was lifting with both my girlfriend and my friend who I started off lifting wednesday. So we all did squats, he did his first bench workout, and then we all did our deadlift workout. Everything went great. The big 4 plate milestone even went up pretty well.

[CommanderFun]

Monday 8/23/2021

Weigh-In: 291 pounds

Bench 247.5x3x2
Press 140x5x5
Pulldowns 200x5x5

Last rep of bench got briefly hung up. I feel like going for 250 for triples next week anyway. That will probably be the end of that, though. Press was tough, very final rep went up slooooow. Pulldowns were fine after another cycle-down, of course.

[CommanderFun]

Tuesday 8/24/2021

Squat 265x5x3
Deadlift 325x5x3

Squats got rough on the second set, so I upped the rest time to 7 minutes before the last set. That did the trick. I'll go up to 8 for friday, see what happens then. It's nice doing squats on a novice schedule while on this four day split, it lets me devote the time I need to them to keep the weight moving up. Keeping it to 5 minutes was gonna see me stalling.

[CommanderFun]

Thursday 8/26/2021

Press 167.5x0 (failed single), 165x0 (failed single), 125x5x2
Bench 215x5x3
Pulldowns 202.5x5x5

Definite decrease in performance today, I couldn't even reproduce last week's weight with the press. Bench was very hard, 215 was going up VERY hard on a third set of 5. Hit my pulldowns okay though. I'm probably going to have to adjust things to deal with the demands of my new job.

[CommanderFun]

Friday 8/27/2021

Squat 270x5x3
Deadlift 410x3

8 minute rest definitely made this squat workout possible. I wasn't sure my deadlift would go okay, but I barely managed it. I was feeling a lot of pressure and was starting to see spots on that last rep. I think it was kept from failing because I only recently moved to triples. The 405 last week felt like there was more in the tank.

[CommanderFun]

Monday 8/30/2021

Weigh-In: 291.2 pounds

Bench 235x5, 205x5x4
Press 120x5x3
Pulldowns 205x5x5

Today marks a programming shift. I am definitely regressing in strength a bit, so I am trying to drop down and catch myself before it gets to be worse. I'm transitioning to heavy/light programming looking to back the weight off a bit before progressing. I think I should have backed off the bench top set a little more, probably 230. The back-off sets worked out okay though. The light press was 90% of what my planned press backoffs will be on Thursday. Didn't feel easy, but I We'll see if a smaller portion for the light workout will be necessary in weeks to come. Pulldowns are continuing as normal, not stressful enough to be running into the issues I'm getting with the big 4.