The final stretch of advanced novice

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MON 22.1
Squat: 125kg 5/5/5
Dips: 84kg bodyweight + 20kg 8/7/7
Pull ups: 84kg bodyweight 8/8/7
EZ bar curl: 32.5kg 10/10, 30kg 10

-18°C outside, doesn't matter, I'll bicycle a couple miles to the gym anyway. Good workout overall.

Squat felt heavier than I would have liked it to, but not heavier than it did when I was previously climbing up and hit this weight. Will see where my progress stops - they say pretty much everyone should hit low 300s in pounds for 3 sets of 5, and my best before this previous and final deload was 291.5 pounds. Still it was 1.6 times bodyweight, and while that's easier at 185 pounds than 220, I've noticed that the 1.4-1.6 ratio is where the majority ends up on NLP. I'd be glad to eat 4500 calories a day instead of 4000 and gain more weight, but my waist to weight gain ratio isn't very good at this point and I don't want fat mass to be what's pushing the iron. Would be amazing to hit 140kg / 3 plates though and I'll do all I can to make that happen.

Dips are going strong and I left just a bit in the tank to try to hit 8/8/8 with the same weight next time and then move on to keep that my rep scheme. True 5s on dips are too tough on the shoulders on the eccentric portion, especially on the first rep as I've mentioned before, but 8s and upwards don't feel bad at all. This is actually an all time PR on weighted dips despite me being around 10 kilos heavier.

One more pull up than last time. Bodyweight pulls don't seem to like bodyweight gains as much as bodyweight pressing/pushing. I'm really just glad these are going up at all.

Did 3x10 curls rather than 2x12 like last time when I implemented them. Had to take weight off before the last set to avoid cheating. Chin ups and pull ups have definitely improved these without doing them at all, but not as much as one might expect.

My maintenance calories have gone way up based on my meticulously measured and calculated calorie intake and weekly average of morning bodyweights. If my estimation of how much calories SS workouts, walking and cycling roughly burn on average (300 per workout, 50 per kilometer and 25 per kilometer respectively), then my daily maintenance without any activity was around 2500 five months ago at 74kg bodyweight, and now it's around 3000 at 84kg, though in reality the workouts burn slightly more these days due to heavier weights and cycling burns slightly more due to more bodyweight and snow. Still, it can't be that much off, so a boost of 400-500 to sedentary TDEE is pretty cool.

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WED 24.1
Squat (light): 100kg 5/5
Overhead press: 61kg 5/5/5
Deadlift: 135kg 5 (video)
Chin ups: 84.5kg bodyweight 11/10/10
Lying triceps extension: 32.5kg 10/10/10

Overhead press is getting to the point I have to fire everything correctly every time to make all the reps happen, but I'll probably be able to increase it a bit further.

Switched deadlifts back to narrow sumo and it felt good. Conventionals seem to give me hip impengement at the front, especially on the right side. No resting between reps like I did last time when I was at 135 kilos mid December before the reset. I have both times on video, and the last time the set took 38 seconds to complete with the 5th rep being a massive grinder, whereas now it took 23 with the fifth rep being slower than the others but not bad.

Chins were good, went to almost failure this time. Two more than last time at the same bodyweight.

Threw in LTEs for B workout to balance out the curls I'm performing in A, and doing high reps for both. Really feel both of these.

EDIT: Triceps doms the day after. First time feeling doms in months.

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FRI 26.1
Squat: 127.5kg 5/5/5
Dips: 84.5kg bodyweight + 20kg 8/8/8
Pull ups: 84.5kg bodyweight + 5kg 6/6/7
EZ bar curl: 32.5kg 10/10/10

Squats felt easier than 125 and 122.5 kilos. Video'd every set from the side to work on depth since I'm still going a couple inches too deep on most reps. The ones where I hit depth perfectly and maintained full tightness felt downright easy, so need to keep achieving that.

Last set of dips was RPE 10 with a very grindy final rep but at least I made it. Seems like the easy neural gains from going back to weighted dips are now over, but I'll move the weight up next time and listen a bit more to my body again with regards to how many reps I do.

Trying to focus on lat and lower trap use on pull ups. My left shoulder is rolled more forward than my right one and it causes problems and pains in some situations in everyday life so I need to fix that. Still got an additional rep compared to last time.

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MON 29.1
Squat: 130kg 5/5/5 (video of the second set)
Overhead press: 62.5kg 3/3/3/3/3
Chin ups: 85.5kg bodyweight + 10kg 6/6/7
Lying triceps extension: 35kg 10/10/10

I think I was now finally spot on with squat depth and tightness on the vast majority of my reps, and as a result this was easier than my sessions with 122.5, 125 and 127.5 kilos as well as most of my PR sessions since around 105 kilos. It's pretty ridiculous how much just a couple inches can do. I have no doubt that I can get to at least 140kg this way while still on advanced novice if I apply the same grind to this improved technique as I did when my squats had too much depth and forward knee travel.

I hit myself in the chin pretty hard on the second rep of the first set on overhead press which made it slow down quite a bit, and this is when I decided to go for 5 sets of 3. I had so much total body tightness that it didn't hurt at all. The third rep of every set was so tough that this probably would've been the right choice regardless. No more traditional deloads on this since I've already done three.

Got two reps more on chins than previously with a higher bodyweight, though without the weight of weightlifting shoes in my feet this time. From now on I'll just switch to my beloved flip flops after I've done squatting because they're easy to take off for stuff like deadlifts, presses and bodyweight stuff.

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WED 31.1
Squat (light): 105kg 5/5
Dips: 85.5kg bodyweight + 25kg 5/5/5
Deadlift: 140kg 5
Pull ups: 85.5kg bodyweight 8/8/8
EZ bar curl: 32.5kg 10/10/10

Learning some important things about my body as time goes on. Squats and presses I can do pretty much as many times per week as I want and I don't get any nagging pains or problems, and deadlifts seem to be fine at once a week. Chin ups or pull ups in some form every workout are also fine. Heavy dips, however, are not fine even 1½ times per week, as witnessed by me today after having done them every other workout for a while now. The bodyweight warmups already felt a bit wonky, and the weighted working sets felt awkward and slightly painful in my left shoulder, elbow and scapula. 25kg of extra weight for 5/5/5 was as much of a struggle as 20kg for 8/8/8 last week, except with discomfort everywhere on my left side. These were fine when I only did them with bodyweight for higher reps, but too much weighted ones at 8 reps or below just doesn't seem to work.

This makes me wonder if I could actually get away with benching if I dropped dips completely, as I haven't actually tried benching in the absence of dips ever since I began doing a 3x5 template in August. Chances are it will behave the same way as weighted dips when the weights get challenging, but then I can try benching once a week with 2 days of overhead pressing, or once every 4 workouts and alternate it with something that's easier on the shoulder. Will see what happens starting next week.

Deadlifts were much harder than a week ago and I had to take two or three breaths before the last rep to ensure I could make it. Might only go up by 2.5kg next week, otherwise a stall may happen again.

Pull ups went well. Didn't pay much attention to lat recruitment / externally rotating the shoulders this time. I just did them.

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FRI 2.2
Squat: 132.5kg 5/5/5
Overhead press: 55kg 5/5/5
Chin ups: 85.5kg bodyweight 11/11/10
DB curl: 12.5+12.5kg 12/10/10

Most of my squats ended up being right at parallel today, and my tightness wasn't optimal due to going down slightly too fast. Still a decent session, but next time I will really focus on trying to recreate the depth and tightness that I had last Monday at 130kg.

I ended up just deloading the overhead press. I had to basically eliminate the eccentric portion and drop the bar to my shoulders to make all the reps at 60+ kilos, hence this decision. Another rationale is that now that I'm trying to bring back bench press starting next week, it'll hopefully eventually help drive up the press for as long as I continue on this program, which will most likely be less than a month at this point. The bench press used to be my strongest lift, getting 3 sets of 5 with 98.5kg roughly 4 months ago at a bodyweight of 77.5kg. I will bring it back conservatively though, with the plan being starting out at 85kg and moving up by 2.5kg increments until it starts becoming considerably challenging. If it causes pain, I will alternate it with something lighter so that I'll bench once every 4 workouts. Hopefully this will work out now that dips are gone.

I wanted a PR on chin ups so I went pretty hard, though could've cranked out at least one more on the last set. Last time I got 32 total reps in 3 sets was at a 2 kilos lighter bodyweight roughly 5 weeks ago.

This will be my program for the remainder of my advanced novice run starting next week:

Monday
Squat: 3x5
Bench press: 3x5 / Overhead press: 3x5
Chin ups: 3x5-8 weighted
Lying triceps extension: 3x10

Wednesday
Squat: 2x5 @ 80%
Overhead press: 3x5 / Bench press: 3x5
Deadlift: 1x5
Pull ups: 3 sets with bodyweight
DB curl: 3x10-12

Friday
Squat: 3x5
Bench press: 3x5 / Overhead press: 3x5
Chin ups: 3 sets with bodyweight
Pushdown: 3x10-15

Saturday
Seated DB press: 3x8
Chest supported machine row: 3x8
DB bench press: 3x8
Barbell curl: 3x10

Since my press has now stalled 3 times at roughly the same weights and benching won't initially add any more volume than dips did, I'm trying something new and adding some extra upper body work into a light Saturday workout to see if it helps at all. This is also to get me used to working out 4 times a week which is what I'll be doing when I switch to intermediate programming. All the Saturday 3x8s will be done leaving 2-3 reps in the tank with 2-3min rest periods. I will likely also do a few high rep sets of both DB lateral raises and rear delt raises somewhere during the week just to see if they do anything (good or bad). If any of this (mainly the Saturday) somehow interferes with my squat progress, then so be it, and I'll switch to intermediate programming.

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SUN 4.2
Squat: 135kg 5/5/5 (video of every set)
Bench press: 85kg 5/5/5 (video of every set)
Chin ups: 86kg bodyweight + 10kg 6/6/7
Lying triceps extension: 37.5kg 10/10/10

Had to choose between working out one day early on Sunday or one day late on Tuesday, the latter of which would've ruined my schedule for the week after, so I chose to do this today on Sunday.

Squats were grinders, but I definitely hit proper depth and often some extra this time. Tightness wasn't there as much as I would've liked it to be due to going down slightly too fast. Will work on it again on Friday. I'll get a bit more rest before Wednesday than normally due to having skipped one of the two weekend rest days and doing the first workout of the week a day early, so I should be well recovered by the next deadlift session as well as the next heavy squat session.

In terms of exertion, bench press sets all felt like a typical last warm up, but I definitely experienced pain at the side of my left shoulder and slightly on my left elbow, but neither of the pains lasted past my workout. I'm hoping that with dips being gone, the overall stress on those particular areas will be low enough that things will either get better over time or at least not worse. If things do get worse, like I've repeated a couple times now, I'll do something lighter every other bench workout. If the pains still persist, I'll do something lighter every bench workout, likely 5 sets of 10 with 65-70% 1RM or something.

Chin ups were heavy, but I did them. Technically a PR due to a slightly higher bodyweight.

Lying triceps extensions last rep of the final set almost stalled before lockout and I had to rest pause the last 4 reps, but the technique remained good. I want to keep focusing on relatively slow and controlled eccentrics, so I'll start microloading it from now on.

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WED 7.2
Squat (light): 107.5kg 5/5
Overhead press: 56kg 5/5/5
Deadlift: 145kg 5 (video)
Pull ups: 85.5kg bodyweight 8/9/10 (video of the last set)
DB curl: 12.5+12.5kg 12/12/12

Early morning workout. Light squats always feel awkward, somehow pushing against less resistance makes the muscles fire up less efficiently and it feels relatively heavy despite being 20% lighter than the surrounding two workouts.

The final deadlift rep was a long grind, but my whole back remained tight so it's pretty cool to know that's not a limiting factor. A month ago before the deload, I did 145kg with several seconds of rest between reps, but this time I barely rested at all except before the last rep (knew I had to do that to finish the set). Compared the two vids - a month ago this set took 50 seconds to complete from the start of the first pull until the lockout of the last rep. Now the same weight took 35 seconds, so I've definitely gotten stronger on this despite the final rep being similarly grindy both times. Judging by these last two sessions though, it seems smartest to increase my deadlift by only 2.5 kilos weekly from now on. I'm certainly not one of those lifters that are talented on deads, though the narrow sumo technique that I have to use might hold me back by 5-10 kilos.

Pull ups suddenly just blew up and took off. 3 more reps than a week ago, and I focused on internal rotation of elbows / external rotation of shoulders on every rep. The curls have probably helped, already gained half an inch on upper arms as well. Video'd the last set because I've never recorded (and hence seen) myself doing pull ups.

Completed 3x12 curls with 12.5kg dumbbells. Going to try at least 3x10 with 15kg ones next week.

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FRI 9.2
Squat: 137.5kg 3, 120kg 5/5
Overhead press: 57.5kg 5/5/5
Chin ups: 85.5kg bodyweight 11/11/11
Pushdown: 44kg 12/15/18

Apparently I'm not recovering anymore despite how solid 130kg felt a while ago, so this is where my NLP ends. I ate well over 4000 calories and 200+ grams of protein and slept 9+ hours daily, consistently worked on improving my technique and ground my reps until the weight would crush me back down, so I certainly did everything I could bar eating 6000 calories a day and getting to 25%+ bodyfat. I'm sure I would've lifted more by doing so, but it's not a step I want to take. Everything else went fairly well, with an all time PR on chin ups. I did the press instead of bench, because I decided to only bench once a week due to the pains associated with it. I'll be switching to intermediate programming now.

Ending stats / best lifts (February 9th)

Bodyweight: 85.5kg (188lb)
Waist: 87cm (34.5")
Chest: 103cm (40.5")
Thigh (thickest): 67cm (26.5")
Upper arm (flexed): 38cm (15")

Squat: 3x5 135kg (297lb)
Deadlift: 1x5 145kg (319lb)
Overhead press: 5/5/4 62.5kg (137.5lb)
Dips: 3x8 84.5kg (186lb) bodyweight + 20kg (44lb)
Chin ups: 3x11 85.5kg (188lb) bodyweight
Pull ups: 8/9/10 85.5kg (188lb) bodyweight

I didn't end up making a lot of progress during this log because of how my deloads ended up happening, but I'm quite happy with the progress overall. Wanted to play this game a little longer, but this is my limit and there's no point in taking this any further just so I can say I got higher numbers on SS. Will probably make an intermediate log here starting next week.

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Alright, here's a link to the intermediate log.