Experimenting with programming

[CommanderFun]

My Log History (good, bad, and ugly)

LP Reboot (8/17/2020-10/31/2020)
Late 2020 Texas Method Run (11/05/2020-12/12/2020)
Cutting log (1/4/2021-3/26/2021)
NLP 3: The Search for Spock(3/29/2021-5/21/2021)
My First Intermediate Log(5/24/2021-9/24/2021)
Cutting Log (9/27/2021-11/14/2021)
End of 2021 log(11/15/2021-3/04/2022)
4 day TM Split 2022(3/7/2022-10/28/2022)

Here I'll be playing around with programming variables and seeing what I get out of them. I'm still recovering from fucking myself up a bit playing with additional lower body stuff. Squats and deadlifts will be starting light and frequent. Once I start getting heavier, things will be different. Upper body stuff though, I'm playing with higher training volumes, seeing how it works for me. I'm going to be doing things on a heavy/light 4 day scheme. Both heavy and light workouts will be 5x5s. I'm also using assistance work, in the form of rest-pause type schemes, though the first of the three subsets generally isn't to failure. I have a system where I try to get all three subsets to 10 reps, and then move the weight up. So far it seems to work, albeit slowly.

[CommanderFun]

10/31/2022

Weigh-in: 296

Press 130x5x5 @7
Bench 185x5x5 @6
Arnold Press 37.5x10,10,8
Barbell Curl 70x10,10,8
DB Side Raise 15x10,9,6

Light start. I had previously been doing volume strict pressing at this weight, but I decided for the heavier pressing day to keep the hip movement in. I find it helps keep my body practiced doing that movement to do a bunch of them. I might drop the side raises at some point, they feel like they might be a bit excessive on the shoulders. I just find my deltoids are a bit of a weak point overall. It seems like a lot of my pressing strength comes from the trapezius and the triceps.

[CommanderFun]

11/1/2022

Squat 135x5x3
Deadlift 225x5x3
Pulldown (prone grip) 160x10x3

Light start coming back from injury. Didn't feel the hip flexor cramping issue at all working out today, which is great. No real injury type issues at all. These numbers will be going up fairly fast for the next week or two. Deadlift programming is probably gonna change away from sets across eventually. I'll see what I'm gonna do about that when I come to it. Got the full 3 sets of 10 on my pulldowns, so next week it's time to bring them up.

[CommanderFun]

11/3/2022

Bench 210x5x5 @7
Strict Press 115x5x5 @6
DB Incline 52.5x10,10,9
LTE 80x10,10,6

All peachy today. Had to fight real hard for that last triceps extension rep though.

[CommanderFun]

11/4/2022

Squat 185x5x3
Deadlift 275x5x3
Pulldown (supine) 200x10,7,3

Felt a little nag in the region of the inflammation I had the past few weeks during this workout, but the pain wasn't really significant. Not sure what the hell happened with the pulldowns. My guess is the deadlifts made them perform so much lower than they did last week. Low back is feeling pretty worn out, programming might shift away from deadlifting for sets across if this keeps up.

[CommanderFun]

11/7/2022

Weigh-In: 297.4

Press 135x5x5@8
Bench 190x5x5@7
Arnold Press 37.5x10,10,9
Barbell Curl 70x10,10,8

Not a great workout today. Stuff felt harder than it should have. Failed to add a rep on the barbell curls. I think I'll transition to dumbbell curls for a while. It's faster and easier to find dumbbells than it is to find the loadable curling bar and load it up.

[CommanderFun]

11/8/2022

Squat 205x5x3
Deadlift 315x5x3
Pulldown (prone grip) 165x10,10,7

Nothing to really report here, did a lot better than expected on the new pulldown weight.

[CommanderFun]

11/10/2022

Bench 215x5x5 @8
Press 117.5x5x5 @7
DB Incline 62.5x10,10,9
LTE 80x10,7,6

That's another clear regression on one of these assistance lifts, and another one that's gotten stuck. I'm thinking maybe volume is too high here. I'm gonna go ahead and cut down on this upper body assistance next week, see if there's a benefit.

[CommanderFun]

11/11/2022

Squat 225x5x3
Deadlift 335x5
Pulldown (prone grip) 200x10,10,4

This was a bad workout. I was able to perform the squats but they felt terrible, not strong. Tendons starting to hurt again, bad hormonal shit manifesting in the form of acute depression/irritability and loss of libido. Felt lightheaded and sick to my stomach, too. I decided to cut off the deadlifts at one set. I am HOPING that keeping them to one set will be a cure for whatever the hell is going on here. 335 felt like 405 used to.

[CommanderFun]

11/14/2022

Weigh-in: 298

Press 137.5x5x5 @8
Bench 192.5x5x5 @7
Barbell Curl 70x10x3

Hit the carbs hard over the weekend. Won't know for sure how well it worked out until I get to tomorrow's workout. This one went pretty well though. I decided to axe the assistance pressing, see how that pans out too. Changed up the curls a bit, decided to get a little more shoulder flexion involved and curl the bar up to my face. I think it gave me better bicep activation but it also made the lift stronger, so the weight I'd been doing I managed to jump ahead and do for a full 3 sets.