you are getting so close to 2x bodyweight deads and squats. amazingly impressive and fun to see
You're totally right, Bill. You have a very nice pace going on there. I tried to do this today, but 4s are much easier than 6s and 8s.
Squat day
Squat
215 X 4
195 X 4, 4
I had a few "shallow" reps during the back-off sets due to an odd distraction... *TMI ALERT* I've been eating a new brand of breakfast cereal in the morning, and they're making me gassy... At the bottom of the squat, the belt was pushing the soon-to-be farts around; it was very bubbly in there! Anyhow, not eating that on squat day ever again. My husband is in for a treat tonight!
Front squat
120 X 5, 5, 5
I didn't set up my front rack properly during set 2, but there's still a noticeable improvement, at least in my perception of how the lift "feelz". My front squat face is not quite as funny as it's been so far.
DE deadlift
187.5 X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
I recently noticed that my left arm looks way better than my right arm. Enjoy!
you are getting so close to 2x bodyweight deads and squats. amazingly impressive and fun to see
Thanks, Mr. Bingley! I've gained another 2 lbs lately, probably due to the "novelty" effect of this program. So I guess I have to shoot for a 250 deadlift now. Unless I "go on a cut" to lose 5-10 lbs... Just kidding!
I'm sure it's 2lbs of pure "muskel" as Popeye would say
Bench day (April 28)
Bench
142 X 1, 1
138 X 1
135 X 3
130 X 4, 4
Obviously this wasn't the plan. I was supposed to do 142 X 4 and 128 X 4 X 2. Being quite nervous about the unracking part, I asked my husband to stick be around for that moment. Yet this turned out to be the easy part. I did the first rep and it was hard, but not that hard. Then I lowered the bar again and... nothing.
I decided to reattempt after a 5 minute rest period to rule out the odd set, as is so common with both pressing movements. Unrack was easy, first rep was harder, and there was no second rep.
So I'm like "Well, looks like 142 was a bit optimistic". Let's try 138.
But as much as the first two reps didn't feel that hard, I became obvious that they had started to beat the crap out of me. Again, I was only able to get one rep.
At that point, I was pretty pissed off with the whole thing, so I reattempted at 135, and still, I was only able to do a triple.
So then came the back-off sets. I raised the weight a little, just to feel like I had accomplished something, and getting those 4 reps was a close call, especially on that last set.
DE press
75 X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
Thankfully, coach had lowered the weight of my DE press. Good fucking timing. 75 lbs should have felt super light and moved quickly, yet it was a complete drag... Last week, I did the DE press at 85, and those sets were probably twice as fast as those I just did on Thursday.
And the aftermath of that workout... I was very sore for two full days. Me! I occasionally get a tiny bit of soreness from the bench, but two days of it is an absolute first. So I don't know how close this was to my actual 1RM, but my guess is that it was not that far off.
Obviously this triggered a bit of back and forth with the coach, who was not expecting this outcome. Neither was I. Look, I was not confident I could get 4 reps, but I was looking forward to being wrong, and getting as little as 2 reps would have been pretty neat.
There are a lot of factors at play here. I think a big one is the female factor. I've read that article and others, and watched every podcast on the topic, and I don't even understand what this means in practice. Now, my guess is that it looks like Thursday.
My coach has trained female lifters before, but at two ends of the spectrum: rank novices and advanced strongman athletes. I'm like halfway in between. So there's a learning curve for both of us. That's how Rip learned what he now knows about us special snowflakes. Maybe my coach and I will get to write a case study article about this in a few months.
Anyhow, this was not my most pleasant training session, but I think it was very productive in other ways. For one, I will be less scared to unrack a new weight during the bench press.
Deadlift day
DE squat
180 X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
Deadlift
230 X 4
210 X 4, 4
Snatch-grip deadlift
155 X 5, 5, 5
I gave myself an extra day off given the tiredness and soreness I was still experiencing from Thursday. I didn't want to blow another training session, especially not the deadlift.
I got all my target numbers today, though I was sluggish and unfocused, for no particular reason. Squats felt heavy, deadlift were okay but not epic by any measure, and the snatch-grip deadlift was awkward. This was just a standard "bad day", but with no consequences.
That aftermath of that deadlift workout was quite brutal. By the time press day came around, I was still sluggish and contending with lower-back fatigue.
Press day (26 April)
Press
90 X 4
81 X 4, 4
DE bench
121 X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
Rows
Not my most satisfying workout. I attempted a 5th rep on the first press set, but the bar drifted way forward and that was the end of it. Getting only one top set with such an unpredictable lift can be quite frustrating. It's a hit or miss and not getting another chance on the next set or on the next week kinda sucks when you're used to 3-5 sets across, and to load being the only variable you manipulate. Hopefully I'd have a better pressing day next time. At least I got all my target numbers for this particular workout.
Squat day (28 April)
Squat
197.5 X 7
182.5 X 5, 5, 5
Front squat
122.5 X 5, 5, 5
DE deadlift
157.5 X 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
Low-back was pretty much recovered from deadlift day, but I had all kinds of other tweaks going on yesterday. I had a final exam for school yesterday morning, and then spent the afternoon translating a document for work. That was way too much time staring intensely at my screen before my training session. I then had to contend with a left abductor tweak on the low-bar squat, a right hip flexor tweak on the front squat, and a right knee tweak on both squats. I got my toes in a little to work around that and managed to get it done with manageable discomfort.
That 197.5 set was brutal, but I was better at managing my tempo. Then I did the back-off sets. And as I thought I was finally done, I remembered that the coach added a third back-off set to this month's program. FML.
Then came the front squats. The good news is that my front rack appears to be slowly improving. On the other hand, those were a bitch to complete with the hip and knee tweaking in the background. I was expecting those sets to feel much lighter.
Then came the speed work. Coach has lowered the load to see if I can actually lift something fast. Over the last cycle there was not much difference between my speed work and my normal lifts. For the deadlift, the drop in weight definitely increased the speed this time around. Another bonus is that I didn't have to wear straps. My grips was getting tired towards the end (I only took about 1 minute of rest between sets), but I could use the Bella bar to work around this issue next time.
Today I am sore, but normally so, and it's mostly in my glutes and adductors, which is uncommon but less unpleasant than lower-back fatigue. I don't feel as annihilated as I have lately after squat day, so I guess I am slowly adapting to this program.
my goodness, sounds like you have definitely earned that bottle of wine tonight!
My Bride is in the midst of proctoring and grading hers...she needs the wine!