Nate's Log

[Nate B]

W2D3 - Friday, 12/17:

BW: 213.2

Got sick with flu-like symptoms for a few days. Tested negative for covid twice over the span of about 48 hours, so I'm fairly certain it wasn't that. If I had to guess, I'd say it was probably the actual flu. I got my flu shot back in October, so thankfully I only really felt like garbage on Tuesday (mild fever, aches, chills, congestion) but still felt off enough on Wednesday and Thursday that I didn't feel comfortable going to the gym because 1. I still felt pretty weak and achy and 2. I was still showing some symptoms so I just assumed I was probably still contagious.

SSB Good Morning:
180x10x3 @ 7-ish

Big increase in load this week. I did this session right after getting my covid booster last week, so I expected to perform better this week, but not by this much. I was using a different SSB for these than usual, so maybe its alleged weight of 70 lbs might've been a tad high.

Conventional DL, beltless:
363x10x3 @ 7-8

My gym got a couple sets of calibrated kilo plates while I was away, hence the weird load of 363 lbs (165 kg). They're beautiful, and I'm really looking forward to using them in meet prep and having one less training variable to worry about. Adjusting to kilo math and taking appropriate warmup jumps will take some time, but I'm cool with that.

Lying Hamstrings Curl:
"9" x12x3 @ 7.5-8

Hip Abduction Machine:
"10" x12x2 @ 7-ish

Hip Adduction Machine:
"14" x12x2 @ 7-ish

I'm adding a couple sets on the hip abduction and adduction machines on this day. Like the hamstrings curl machine, the stacks just have numbers. These were both a few plates away from the bottom of the stack.

Football Bar Feet Up CGBP:
155x12x2 @ 8-ish

DB Curls:
40s x12x2 @ 8-ish

[Nate B]

W2D4 - Saturday, 12/18:

BW: 213.8

HS High Row Machine:
+270x10x3 @ 7-8

Pendlay Row:
205x12x2 @ 8-ish

DB Bench:
85s x12x3 @ 7-ish

DB Lateral Raises:
20s x15x2 @ 8-ish

W2 GPP/Conditioning - Saturday, 12/18:

Did this on the same day because of the wonky schedule and the late start to the second half of the week.

SSB JM Press:
170x12x2 @ 8-ish

DB Hammer Curls:
50s x12x2 @ 8-ish

Ab Crunch Machine:
100x13x3 @ 8-ish

Ab Wheel Rollouts, kneeling w/ 2ct hold at full extension:
3 sets of 12-15 reps

HIIT Farmers Carries:
6 sets of down & backs (~50 yards per set) with 60 sec rest between sets. Load = +110# per hand (not including handle weight)

Added a set here. I'm honestly surprised at how much I enjoy doing these.

LISS Stationary Recumbent Bike:
25 mins @ 6-ish

Did this at home while watching college bball, which is always nice.

[Nate B]

W3D1 - Sunday, 12/19:

BW: 214

High Bar Squat, beltless:
275x10x3 @ 7-ish

Cybex Squat Press:
+560x10x3 @ 7-8

Leg Extensions:
215x12x3 @ 8-ish

Bumped the load down 5 lbs and was able to do these more under control and at a more appropriate RPE.

Seated Calf Raise:
+65x12x3 @ 8-ish

EZ Bar Cable Curls:
100x15x3 @ 8-ish

Cable Rope Triceps Pressdowns:
130x15x3 @ 8-ish

[Nate B]

W3D2 - Monday, 12/20:

BW: 214

TnG Bench:
215x10x3 @ 7-8

Felt a little harder than last week, which isn't thrilling.

Pec Deck Chest Flye:
160x12 @ 7
165x12x2 @ 8-ish

Contrary to bench, 160 felt easier than last week, so I bumped the load up 5 lbs.

Pec Deck Reverse Flye:
130x12x2 @ 8-ish

High Incline DB Bench:
70s x10x3 @ 7-ish

Low Row Machine:
+250x10x3 @ 8-8.5

Was able to make this load work by just concentrating on doing these more controlled and really squeezing at the end of the concentric. Probably a good thing in general.

[Nate B]

W3D3 - Wednesday, 12/22:

BW: 214

SSB Good Morning:
180x10x3 @ 7-ish

Conventional DL, beltless:
363x10x3 @ 7-8

First two sets were pretty much dead nut RPE 7s, then set 3 jumps all the way up to an RPE 8. Same thing happened last week. Being slightly fatigued from the GMs probably has something to do with it.

Lying Hamstrings Curl:
"9" x12x3 @ 8-9

Hip Abduction Machine:
"10" x12x2 @ 7-8

Hip Adduction Machine:
"14" x12 @ 8
"13" x12 @ 7

I've started to deliberately slow down my eccentrics a bit on machine isolation work, and it's forcing me to lighten some of my loads to stay at the right RPE target.

Football Bar Feet Up CGBP:
155x12x2 @ 7.5-8

DB Curls:
40s x12x2 @ 8-ish

[Nate B]

W3D4 - Thursday, 12/23:

BW: 214.6

HS High Row Machine:
+270x10x3 @ 7-ish

Pendlay Row:
205x12x2 @ 8-ish

DB Bench:
85s x12x3 @ 7-ish

DB Lateral Raises:
20s x15x2 @ 8

[Nate B]

W3 GPP/Conditioning - Friday, 12/24:

SSB JM Press:
170x12x3 @ 8-9

DB Hammer Curls:
50s x12x3 @ 8-9

Ab Crunch Machine:
100x13x3 @ 8-ish

Ab Wheel Rollouts, kneeling w/ 2ct hold at full extension:
3 sets of 12-15 reps @ 8-ish

HIIT Farmers Carries:
6 sets of down & backs (~50 yards per set) with 60 sec rest between sets. Load = +110# per hand (not including handle weight)

LISS Incline Treadmill Walk:
25 mins @ 6-ish

[Nate B]

W4D1 - Sunday, 12/26:

BW: 215.8

High Bar Squat, beltless:
286x10x3 @ 8-ish

Just an 11 lbs. jump from last week felt heavy. I guess I haven't squatted 300+ lbs. since the meet, which is kinda crazy to think about. If 286 feels that heavy on my back, that makes me slightly dread the eventual transition back into lower rep, higher intensity work haha. The adjustment always happens pretty quickly, though.

Cybex Squat Press:
+580x10x3 @ 8-ish

Leg Extensions:
215x12x4 @ 8-9

Solid quad pump.

Seated Calf Raise:
+65x12x4 @ 8-ish

EZ Bar Cable Curls:
100x15x3 @ 8-9

Cable Rope Triceps Pressdowns:
130x15x3 @ 8-9

[Nate B]

W4D2 - Monday, 12/27:

BW: 216.8

TnG Bench:
225x10x3 @ 8-ish

Felt pretty strong today. First set might've been closer to RPE 7 than 8 tbh.

Pec Deck Chest Flye:
165x12x4 @ 8-9

Cheated on the fourth set a little bit to not exceed RPE 9. Probably could've bumped the load down a little, but oh well.

Pec Deck Reverse Flye:
130x12x3 @ 8-9

High Incline DB Bench:
75s x10x3 @ 8-9

Low Row Machine:
+250x10x3 @ 7.5-8

Ab Crunch Machine:
100x10x3 @ 8-ish

Did these today while I was waiting on the pec deck to free up.

[Nate B]

W4D3 - Wednesday, 12/29:

BW: 215.8

SSB Good Morning:
185x10x3 @ 8-ish

Conventional DL, beltless:
374x10x3 @ 8-ish

Lying Hamstrings Curl:
"9" x12x4 @ 8-ish

Hip Abduction Machine:
"10" x12x3 @ 8-ish

Hip Adduction Machine:
"14" x12x3 @ 8-ish

Football Bar Feet Up CGBP:
155x12x3 @ 7-8

DB Hammer Curls:
50s x12x3 @ 8-9

[Nate B]

W3D4 - Thursday, 12/30:

BW: 215.8

HS High Row Machine:
+280x10x3 @ 8-ish

Pendlay Row:
205x12x4 @ 8-9

DB Bench:
90s x12x3 @ 8-9

DB Lateral Raises:
20s x15x3 @ 8

[Nate B]

W4 GPP/Conditioning - Friday, 12/31:

SSB JM Press:
170x12x3 @ 8-9

DB Curls:
40s x12x3 @ 8-9

Ab Wheel Rollouts, kneeling w/ 2ct hold at full extension:
3 sets of 12-15 reps @ 8-ish

HIIT Farmers Carries:
7 sets of down & backs (~50 yards per set) with 60 sec rest between sets. Load = +110# per hand (not including handle weight)

LISS Incline Treadmill Walk:
30 mins @ 6-ish

End of Bodybuilding Block I:

Thought I'd go back and add some thoughts on the template. Though I only got to do 4 of the 6 weeks, I enjoyed it and think I reaped some benefits. I wish I had taken some measurements, but I think I may have been able to add some size, notably in my back and arms, albeit not very much seeing how it was only 4 weeks. The main benefits, though, were:

1. I was able to rebuild some good work capacity (which was predictably pretty trash after my meet prep) with the focus on higher rep sets for compounds as well as isolations, and shorter rest times for some of the movements.
2. Non-specificity, namely movement variation, lower absolute intensity, and less frequency. I noticed that some of the nagging aches and pains (elbow and the lingering glute pain I was still experiencing at a low level, even after my short "rehab" stint a few months back) dissipated pretty much completely.

Overall, it was a lot of fun to train a different way and I definitely will keep some of these tools in my toolbox for future training blocks going forward.

[Nate B]

Sunday, 1/2:
Back on a more powerlifting focused program. I'm back with Leah doing a 12 week meet prep for a meet at the end of March. My last prep could've gone better, and there are some goals that I didn't get a chance to hit when I bombed out a month ago, so I decided to jump back into a meet relatively quickly.

BW: 216

Comp Squat:
172.5kg/380lbs x3 @ 7
152.5 kg/336lbs x4x4 @ 5-ish

Easing back into things with a [email protected] and some pretty low fatigue backoff work. The triple felt worse than it looked on video.

Comp Bench:
125kg/275lbs x3 @ 8
107.5kg/237lbs x4x4 @ 5-ish

Much like squat, these moved better than they felt. Just a matter of getting reacquainted with heavier loads, I think.

RDL:
155kg/341 lbs x8x3 @ 7

[Nate B]

Monday, 1/3:

BW: 216

Comp DL:
220kg/484lbs x3 @ 7.5
185kg/407lbs x4x4 @ <5-5

Awful technique/wedging on the top triple, especially reps 2 and 3. Let the bar drift away from me. Wasn't pushing my hips to the bar and my shoulders to the wall behind me. Need to clean up cues and the movement pattern in general. Should hopefully come with increased exposure.

TnG Bench:
125kg/275lbs x3 @ 7
110kg/242lbs x4x4 @ 5-ish

Last warmup (120 kg) didn't feel great, so I took a conservative jump for the top triple, which was supposed to be RPE 8. Pretty pleasantly surprised with how well it moved.

Hatfield Squat:
168kg/370lbs x8x3 @ 7

EFTS Yoke SSB is listed as 62 lbs, so about 28 kg. These were pretty fun.

[Nate B]

Tuesday, 1/4:

BW: 215

LISS Stationary Recumbent Bike:
30 mins @ 6

Ab Wheel Rollouts, kneeling w/ 2ct hold at full extension:
8 mins x AMRAP