Experimenting with programming

[CommanderFun]

8/7/2023

Weigh-In: 278.8

Bench 215x8, 195x12
NG Cable Row 100x20,15,10 (45 total)
Hammer Shoulder Press 50x20,16,9 (45 total)
Incline Curl 30x16,3,2 (21 total)

Bench was pretty hard, dunno if I could've done more than one rep on that set of 8. The shoulder press machine definitely got the front deltoid, so I won't be needing to throw in another exercise for them on thursday. I was going to do some dedicated triceps work, but the shoulder press actually got those pretty good. Probably need to drop weight on the incline curls. I think I was using a bit of a steeper incline than before, it was about 45 degrees. Still dealing with symptoms of hormonal issues. Going to attack this from the angle of maybe I need more fat and less carbs.

[CommanderFun]

8/8/2023

Weigh-In: 280.8

Squat 235x8, 210x12
Goodmorning 155x7, 125x11
Decline situp (setting 2) x20,16,5 (41 total)
Seated Calf Raise 75x12,10,8 (30 total)

That set of 12 squats was a killer. So fucking exhausting. I think the first set of 8 has a few more weeks left but I may end up coming in with some 11s or 10s on this backoff set before the 8s run their course.

[CommanderFun]

8/10/2023

Strict Press 135x7, 120x10
Pulldown (Supine) 245x5, 215x9
Hammer Incline Press 110x17,6,4 (27 total)
Reverse Pec Deck 125x20,7,5 (32 total)

No weigh-in today, forgot before I started breakfast. The press and pulldowns were a lot weaker than expected. I was able to do better than this at almost 15 pounds lighter while I was cutting months ago. Something is wrong here. I'm gonna try dropping these hammer machines. Don't know what could've fucked with the pulldowns. Maybe it was the slide-down partial plates on the machine. They tend to be sticky. I'll try maybe using a regular 10 plate next week on the pin.

[CommanderFun]

8/11/2023

Weigh-In: 279.8

Deadlift 375x4 (failed)
Leg Press 365x20
Calf Press 415x17,10,8 (35 total)

Wow, that deadlift failed pretty hard. I couldn't even get rep 5 off the floor. I took zoloft again today, I'm going to give it a longer chance. I still don't know if I am feeling depression and anxiety symptoms from a legitimate disorder or some kind of overtraining. I'll keep on the meds for a full week this time, see what happens. I had a look over my logs, and the other prior drops in performance on lifts seem to have come right after a harder deadlift workout. So I'm going to try subbing the deadlift with other things for a while. I've never actually done rack pulls before, and they are supposed to be good for erectors and the upper back stuff, which I want to get some work on, so I'll try those next week.

[Bill Anders]

I'm a fan of making that switch. A three week wave seems to work best—rack pull, halting deadlift, deadlift—still pulling heavy every seven days.

Or keep it simple and go 10 days between your deadlift sessions, instead of every seven. That's the easiest modification that doesn't require figuring out what the right weight is for a rack pull (heavier than you think) and halting deadlift (lighter than you think).

Keep at it!

[CommanderFun]

I'm a fan of making that switch. A three week wave seems to work best—rack pull, halting deadlift, deadlift—still pulling heavy every seven days.

Or keep it simple and go 10 days between your deadlift sessions, instead of every seven. That's the easiest modification that doesn't require figuring out what the right weight is for a rack pull (heavier than you think) and halting deadlift (lighter than you think).

Keep at it!

Big reluctance I've had to using rack pulls is the fact that I lift at a commercial gym. I have a pretty strong motto of "Never Be That Guy", and I don't wanna be that guy who breaks other people's stuff when I play with it. I've been trying to find any good "hacks" for keeping it from wrecking bars, but I haven't found any real good ones I can use. I could slow the eccentric a lot, but that will place quite a limit on the weight I can use for the lift. I might end up just using SLDLs in place of deadlifts for a little bit. I tried a lower deadlift frequency before, but it seems like even if I went as far as only doing them every other week, the week right after I did a heavy deadlift workout on the prior friday I ran into issues on trying to do my heavy squats that next week.

[Bill Anders]

I hear ya. Being "that guy" at the gym is not a good look.

Can you set up for block pulls at the gym? If they don't have blocks, you can make them fairly quickly out of a 4x4", some plywood, and stall mat. They'd be portable enough to carry in with you.

[CommanderFun]

I hear ya. Being "that guy" at the gym is not a good look.

Can you set up for block pulls at the gym? If they don't have blocks, you can make them fairly quickly out of a 4x4", some plywood, and stall mat. They'd be portable enough to carry in with you.

Best bet would probably be pulling off of bumper plates. No blocks, and I'm not the best at wood shop projects. I also carry a bunch of things with me as is when I visit the gym. At this rate I'm considering a deload week, maybe even a two week extended version. I've been running into a lot of symptoms of fatigue accumulation that I've read in other places. I probably need to start running my workouts where I take deloads every few weeks or something.

[CommanderFun]

8/14/2023

Squat 205x3, 155x8
Bench 185x3, 135x8
Pulldown (Supine) 205x5, 175x9

No weigh-in today, forgot again. Decided to do a deload this week, see if the hormonal shit straightens out. My knees have been hurting the past two days and that actually seems to have let up a lot after this workout. I'm hoping I can feel better after one week like this, but I will try for 2 if I have to to make it all go away.

[CommanderFun]

8/18/2023

Weigh-In: 281.4

Squat 225x3x3
Strict Press 115x3x3
Pulldown (Supine) 220x5x3

Another yawner deload workout. Haven't decided where I'm gonna take things next week. I think I need to try something more advanced to keep my strength going, but the coming move is going to potentially cause issues, especially starting up in another gym with different equipment.