Experimenting with programming

[CommanderFun]

7/20/2023

Weigh-In: 278.8

Strict Press 140x5x5 @9
Bench 185x5x3 @6
Barbell Curl 95x5x3 @8

Exertion crept up fast on the press. The first set felt like it had 3 in the tank. The last set felt like it maybe had 1. Also, I was getting nothing out of my shoulders on it today. Usually they can get pretty damn sore doing these, to the point I feel it before the workout is even done.

[CommanderFun]

7/21/2023

Weigh-In: 279.4

Deadlift 405x5 @8.5?
Squat 205x5x3 @6

Hard to rate the deadlifts accurately. I should have chalked up again before doing the work set, and realized it midway through when I felt some slippage in the hook. Gonna try again with 415 in two weeks.

[CommanderFun]

7/24/2023

Weigh-In: 280.4

Bench 232.5x5,5,4 (fail)
Strict Press 116x5x3 @6
Pulldown (Supine) 240x5x3 @8

So, I tried taking a small dose of my old zoloft over the weekend, and have been doing it daily since. I've been incredibly stressed out lately, and it seems to just get worse and worse with no end in sight. It alleviated the mood issues, but the real experiment was to see what it did to my lifting. It clearly had a negative impact. I shouldn't have been so much weaker on the bench from one week to another with that small of a weight jump. I also felt really tired throughout the whole workout, and was getting a small pain in my chest that was disturbing. Going to have to discontinue and try to find some other way to deal with all this.

[CommanderFun]

7/25/2023

Weigh-In: 279.4

Barbell Row 220x5x3 @8
Leg Press 445x5x3
Calf Press 395x18,11,8 (37 total)

This one went okay. Hopefully the rest of the week goes okay too.

[CommanderFun]

7/27/2023

Weigh-in: 278.6

Strict Press 141x5x5 @9
Bench 187.5x5x3 @6
Barbell Curl 96x5x3 @8

Last press set was dicey. I think next week I'll move to triples for the heavy workout. I think 141 is a 5x5 PR for me on the strict press anyway.

[CommanderFun]

7/28/2023

Weigh-In: 280.2

Squat 265x5x2 @9
Deadlift 325x5 @6

The squat sets were a lot harder than before and ramped up in difficulty very fast. I am not playing around with squats ever again, I've tweaked my back twice trying to just grind past failure on them as they turn into squatmornings before. Having really bad anxiety today, I don't know what the hell to do. Performance on the lower body lifts has become difficult to predict from session to session. Also feels like my strength just gets hung up in the same place constantly.

[CommanderFun]

7/31/2023

Bench 235x3x5 @8.5
Strict Press 117x5x3 @6
Pulldown (Supine) 242.5x5x3 @8

Wow, couldn't even manage 235 for an easy weight for triples. First set felt like it had 2 reps left, which is an improvement of approximately one rep from...fucking April. And back then I was 10 pounds lighter. It's really calling into question for me whether or not this program is working at all. Part of me wants to run it out to testing a 1RM for real, but honestly I think it's just no good for me. I've been wanting to pull the trigger on something lower volume for a while now, especially after how well I did on the lower volume hypertrophy programming (while cutting, no less) I did earlier this year. I think I'm gonna go ahead and jump on it. I'll probably try Andy Baker's rotating linear progression approach to the main lifts, followed by a hard back-off set for higher reps and some assistance work.

[CommanderFun]

8/1/2023

Weigh-In: 277.8

Squat 225x8, 205x12
Goodmorning 155x5, 125x9
Decline Situp (setting 2) x20,15,5 (40 total)
Seated Calf Raise 70x15,12,10 (37 total)

This marks a big change, obviously. I'll be centering my work on a rotating linear progression on a main lift each of the four days, followed by some assistance work of choice. I'm hoping this approach will yield more results and less stress and bad feelings. I started the squat off conservatively, not really knowing if I could match my last set of 8. Thankfully I was pretty strong on this, so I'll probably up the weight by 10 for next time. The back-off set was a 10% offset and just done for a sort of AMRAP until shit got real slow. I did the situps and calf raises as rest-pause sets. I like those.

[CommanderFun]

8/3/2023

Weigh-In: 280

Strict Press 130x8, 115x12
Pulldown (Supine) 240x8, 210x12
Hammer Incline Press 140x14,4,3 (21 total)
Reverse Pec Deck 120x20,7,5 (32 total)

Trying to keep exercise count small for now. I'm not sure if I wanna go after the front deltoids with one more exercise on this day. I know the hammer machine was working them. I'm going to be using them for some off-day work as a rest-pause set, mostly as a point of curiosity.

[CommanderFun]

8/4/2023

Weigh-In: 278.6

Deadlift 365x8, 325x12
Leg Press 365x15
Calf Press 405x17,11,8 (36 total)

All good. That leg press was pretty easy. So far I feel a lot better this week after switching the training up this way. I haven't been depressed or anxious once. Appetite is still an issue on some days though. Dinner was hard to eat after today's workout.