Nate's Log

[Nate B]

Tuesday, 11/24:

Comp DL:
510x1 @ 7.5
525x1 @ 8.5
480x3 @ 8
445x4x3 @ 6.5, 7, 7

Felt like I wasn't hinging very well on some of these sets, but overall pretty good. Deadlift hasn't really progressed much since this summer (the back tweak obviously derailed things for a while). Just gonna keep putting in the work and hopefully a little breakthrough will come eventually. I'll definitely be analyzing my training data after this mock meet to see where I might need to adjust things as well.

3ct Pause Bench:
275x1 @ 7.5
265x3 @ 8.5
245x3x3 @ 6.5, 6.5, 7

Pauses were accurate, so I'm pretty happy with these. Bench is in a pretty good spot right now.

500 Tempo HBBS:
265x6 @ 6
275x6 @ 7
280x6x2 @ 7.5, 8

Felt comfortable getting back into three barbell squat variations since my knee's been feeling better. Undershot a little to account for the repeat.

[Nate B]

Thursday, 11/26:

300 Tempo Pin Squat:
365x1 @ 7.5
345x3 @ 8
325x3x2 @ 6.5, 7

Minor undershoot on the top single.

TnG Bench:
300x1 @ 8
280x3 @ 8
265x3x2 @ 6.5, 7

Larsen Press:
215x6 @ 6
225x6 @ 7
235x6x2 @ 8, 8.5

[Nate B]

Friday, 11/27:

Must've forgot to post my day 4 from last week.

2" Deficit Sumo DL:
455x1 @ 8
425x3 @ 8
405x3x2 @ 6.5, 7

I've always felt deficit deads have a really nice carryover to my comp deadlift because they really target my weakness off the floor. Hopefully they'll result in a fat PR here in three weeks.

Ram Bench:
330x1 @ 8
310x3 @ 8
295x3x2 @ 6.5, 7

Always love throwing on the Ram. While fun, I found it especially helpful in the final weeks leading up to my last meet because it exposes you to loads - through a full ROM - that are far heavier than your 1RM, so unracking and benching a heavy third attempt doesn't seem quite as intimidating on meet day. The full ROM is key IMO.

RDL:
345x6 @ 6
355x6 @ 7
365x6x2 @ 8, 8

Saturday, 11/28:

Pendlay Rows:
195x13x4

Arms & Shoulders:
4 sets of 12-18 reps each

[Nate B]

Monday, 11/30:

Comp Squat:
420x1 @ 7.5
435x1 @ 8.5
410x3 @ 9
370x4x2 @ 6.5-7

Still rated 435x1 @ 8.5, but it definitely moved better than last week. If quarter RPEs were a thing, it would've been an 8.25, but instead I'll just call it an "easy 8.5." The triple @ 9 was the first time I've repped 4+ plates, so that was cool. The backoff sets weren't quite as snappy as they were last week. Excited to see how my squat looks as I shake off all this built up fatigue.

Comp Bench:
290x1 @ 7.5
300x1 @ 8.5
240x3x2
260x3x2 @ 6.5-7

Like squats, my backoffs weren't quite as quick. Everything else was good, though.

CGBP:
225x4 @ 6.5
235x4 @ 7.5
245x4 @ 9
225x4x2 @ 7, 7

[Nate B]

Tuesday, 12/1:

We've had a couple days of snowfall and sub 30F temperatures, so it's really starting to get cold out in the shed. It's bearable with some warm clothes and my little 1300 watt space heater. Keeping my feet and the barbell warm is next to impossible, though. Unless that vaccine gets rolled out really fast, it looks like I'm gonna have to get used to it!

Comp DL:
510x1 @ 7.5
530x1 @ 8.5
500x2 @ 8
450x4x3 @ 6.5, 7

510 felt like an easy 7.5, but not quite easy enough for a true 7, so I knew I had a bit more in me than last week. Happily took the 5 lbs increase to my [email protected] I have a suspicion that I might not benefit much from many exposures to >RPE 8s on deadlift, so I programmed a double @ 8 instead of [email protected] and got the same absolute intensity.

3ct Pause Bench:
275x1 @ 7.5
265x3 @ 9
245x3x3 @ 6.5, 6.5, 7

Wednesday, 12/2:

500 Tempo HBBS:
265x6 @ 6
275x6 @ 7
285x6 @ 8

Didn't get started until close to 7pm yesterday, so I finished these up in the morning before work. Took some mental toughness to get out of my warm bed and into the cold shed lol.

[Nate B]

Thursday, 12/3:

300 Tempo Pin Squat:
375x1 @ 7.5
365x3 @ 9
345x3x2 @ 7.5, 8

These felt a lot stronger than last week. Jumped 10 lbs on the [email protected] and still undershot a bit.

TnG Bench:
300x1 @ 8.5
285x3 @ 8.5
270x3x2 @ 7.5, 8

I brought the bar to my chest a little too fast/uncontrolled on the top single and it kinda messed me up. Executed 285x3 a lot better (target was RPE 9).

Larsen Press:
215x6 @ 6
225x6 @ 7
235x6 @ 8

[Nate B]

Friday, 12/4:

2" Deficit Sumo DL:
465x1 @ 8
450x3 @ 9
425x3x2 @ 7.5, 8

Ram Bench:
335x1 @ 8.5
320x3 @ 9
305x3x2 @ 8, 8

The Ram kinda slid up my chest on the top single, so I didn't get as much pop out of it as I was expecting. It was cold, but I sucked it up and did the rest of the sets shirtless, since the Ram seems to grip on bare skin a lot better.

RDL:
345x6 @ 6
355x6 @ 7
365x6 @ 8

Saturday, 12/5:

Pendlay Rows:
195x13x3

Arms & Shoulders:
3 sets of 12-18 reps each

Dropped a set for my accessory/GPP stuff, too, just to not rack up any unnecessary fatigue for next week.

[Nate B]

Monday, 12/7:

Comp Squat:
405x1 @ 7
390x2 @ 6

Planned opener and a dub @ 6. Descended a little too far in my heels on the opener and shifted forward out of the hole, which messed up the bar path and made the rep slower than I would've liked. Strength should be there on mock meet day, just need to execute.

Comp Bench:
295x1 @ 8
275x1x2 @ <6, 6

Just a single @ 8 and a couple backoff singles @ 86%. I'll hit my opener on Wednesday.

Comp DL:
135x5
275x3
405x1
455x1

Just worked through warmups.

[Nate B]

Wednesday, 12/9:

Comp Squat:
370x1

Worked up to last warmup.

Comp Bench:
285x1 @ 7
275x2 @ 6

Opener and dub @ 6. Feeling good.

[Nate B]

Saturday, 12/12:

Mock meet day. Weighed in at 219.2 lbs.

Squat:
405 / 435 / 450

435 was around an RPE 8.5, so I knew I realistically had 455, maybe 460, in me. I ended up taking my planned third of 450 at about an RPE 9-9.5. I wanted to intentionally leave a little in the tank to 1. save a some energy for deadlifts, and 2. save my 125 lb wife from having to potentially bail me out of a failed lift. I sank my first and second attempt, so I tried to cut a little depth on the third. Looked pretty close on video, but I feel like judges in a real meet would've given it to me, especially after displaying good depth on the first two. Plus, it's a gym lift, I'm not gonna not count it unless it's egregious.

Bench:
285 / 300 / 315

Benching 3 plates has been probably my #1 long term goal for years. I'm inherently not a very good bencher (long arms), so it naturally was the last of the 3/4/5 plate milestones I needed to complete my gym bro infinity gauntlet. 285 felt like a warmup and 300 felt like a legit RPE 8, so I was almost certain that 315 was going to happen even if I didn't execute a perfect rep. That ended up being the case - I misgrooved the bar a little too straight up vs. back off my chest and hit a sticking point about 4" up, but managed to push through it and lock it out. My voice cracked pretty bad while celebrating the lift, which was unfortunate, but otherwise I'm super happy with this lift.

Deadlift:
495 / 535 / -555

495 was easy, like RPE 6.5 ish. Ideally, I wouldn't have taken a 40 lbs jump between my first and second attempts, but I had two goals for this mock meet: 1. bench 315, and 2. total 1,300 lbs. 535 gave me 1,300 exactly, so I opted to try to wrap that up on my second attempt and still have my third attempt in the chamber to use as needed, as opposed to taking 525 or 530 on my second and putting the pressure on myself to execute that third attempt. 535 felt about like RPE 9, so really anything between 545 and 555 was a reasonable third. I decided to be aggressive since it's just a mock meet and I wasn't competing for a podium spot or anything. Missed it just off the floor - the bar started to drift away from me on my right/supinated hand side and I was too out of position to keep pulling. In hindsight, I probably could've grinded a little bit longer, but oh well. I think this third attempt exposed my need to work on my patience off the floor. I think the bar path started to drift forward because I got impatient and let my hips rise early and my back take over, putting me in a bad position. Looks like pause deadlifts 1" off the floor need to be in heavy rotation going forward.

Total:
1,300 lbs.

Happy to check 1,300 off the list. I'm hoping to hit 1,300+ (ideally break 600 kg/1,320 lbs) in an actual meet once Covid calms down, which, should be pretty easy given I've likely got another 4 months at least until I can expect to get vaccinated to keep building and getting stronger. Then, it's on to bigger goals. I've got a few in mind, but for now I'm just happy to take some time off from the competition lifts and have some fun with a GPP/Hypertrophy block. I wish I had access to some more equipment and machines, but unless Covid magically stops fucking up the Midwest in the next 6-8 weeks, I'll just have to get creative with what I've got.

[Nate B]

Tuesday, 12/15:

Back to it. My main focus for the next 6 weeks or so is going to be increasing work capacity/GPP, which means higher rep ranges and more cardio, upper back, and arm/shoulder work. I'll also be taking some time off from the comp lifts and doing some variations I don't usually do. Finally, I'm going to try to find my minimum threshold of volume to at least maintain my progress (I believe Mike Israetel refers to this as Minimum Effective Volume, or MEV) and train closer to that baseline for a bit. This decision is influenced by a few different factors, but I mainly just got sick of doing four 2+ hour long sessions a week during my meet prep macrocycle and wanted to spend a little less time training for a while. Spending more time with my wife and dogs and less time in the freezing cold shed sounds nice.

HBBS w/ belt:
295x6 @ 6
305x6 @ 7
315x6 @ 8
300x6 @ 7

I can already tell I'm going to have some DOMS, even after just 4 sets of 6. The first week back after a meet is usually rough.

TnG Bench:
225x13 @ 9.5
255x5 @ 7.5
245x5x2 @ 6.5, 6.5

I just wanted to do a NFL combine style AMRAP with 225 while I'm still somewhat peaked. I probably had a 14th rep in the tank, but didn't want to fail and have to dump the bar on the safeties if I didn't have to. Tried to hit backoffs of [email protected] just to get a little more volume, but overshot the first and undershot the next two. Oh well.

DB Rows (Myo Reps):
110x12 @ 8
110x5, 5, 4

Saw that Titan Fitness had 25# plates in stock about a week ago, so I pulled the trigger and got 6 of them. Crazy how new plates are still significantly cheaper than used ones on Craigslist or FB Marketplace. I got them mainly because they allow me to load up my loadable DB handles reasonably heavy for stuff like rows, bench, OHP, etc. without sacrificing ROM like you would using 45# plates. Also, having more plates around always helps with supersetting exercises.

[Nate B]

Wednesday, 12/16:

Conventional DL w/ belt:
365x6 @ ~5
390x6 @ 7
405x6 @ 8
385x6 @ 6.5

These actually felt relatively smooth, considering I haven't really pulled conventional from the floor in a while.

Kneeling OHP:
125x5 @ 6
135x5 @ 7
140x5 @ 7.5
135x5 @ 7

DB Bulgarian Split Squat:
70x12x3 @ 8-ish

Deep and bit of a slower tempo. Got a little quad pump from these.

[Nate B]

Thursday, 12/17:

Third day in a row of training due to the late start, and I'm going to try to make it four in a row tomorrow. I have DOMS pretty much everywhere, but things are going well.

Box Squat:
245x8
265x8 @ 7
275x8 @ 8

Not sure how much I liked these, and I doubt they'll have much carryover to my comp squat, but I figured I'd do them since I'm trying to take a break from hyper-specificity for a few weeks. Haven't done these since high school basketball and they felt pretty foreign. I was a lot weaker on these than I thought I'd be, but I guess it's not too surprising since you lose all tension when you sit down in the bottom. Took a while to figure out a setup where I could use my bench as a box and still get below parallel, but I was able to stack up enough pieces of plywood to stand on to get the job done.

Feet Up CGBP:
185x8 @ 6
195x8 @ 7
205x8 @ 8

Wanted to do floor press in this slot, but since my wife and I moved a bunch of our outdoor terracotta pots into the shed for the winter, there's not enough clearance for the sleeves/plates that close to the floor anymore. So, I opted for these.

Push Ups:
45# x 25, 24, 23

3 AMRAP sets w/ 45 lbs (RPE 9 cap).

JM Press:
95x15x3 @ 8-9

DB Hammer Curls:
40s x18x3 @ 9-10

Lateral Raises:
Red band x15x3 @ 8-9

[Nate B]

Friday, 12/18:

Fourth day in a row. Everything is sore.

Unilateral Lever RDL:
125x8 @ 6
135x8 @ 7
145x8 @ 8

Surprised I had room in the shed to do these single legged RDLs lever style with a barbell - thought for sure I'd have to use DBs. Approached these with a bodybuilder mindset and really tried to isolate the hamstring and glute with a slow controlled eccentric. Went pretty well. Might have to remember these in the future - maybe not for a secondary DL assistance movement, but for a tertiary supplement for sure.

DB Bench:
95s x8 @ 6
95s x8 @ 6.5
110s x8 @ 8.5

Two more pairs of 10s really would've helped here. I think 100s or 105s would've been a more appropriate load for an RPE 8, but couldn't load that with the plates I have. Hopefully as I get more accustomed to the movement with the DB 110 will be a more appropriate RPE 8 load.

Chin Ups:
BW x12, 12, 10

3 AMRAP sets with bodyweight (RPE 9 cap). I have a dip belt for weighted chins, but the plates hit the ground at the bottom of the chin up in my shed setup so bodyweight it is. I'll bump up to 4 sets next week.

[Nate B]

Sunday, 12/20:

HBBS w/ belt:
295x6 @ 6
305x6 @ 7
315x6 @ 8
285x6x2

Borderline 7.5 with 315. Will probably have to increase to 320 to hit RPE 8 next week as I get more accustomed to HB.

TnG Bench:
245x5 @ 6
255x5 @ 7
260x5 @ 8
235x6x2

DB Rows (Myo Reps):
110x13 @ 8
110x5, 5, 5, 4