First Training Log

[spgranger]

Week 5-

Friday: Deadlift w/belt- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; Beltless Squats- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 11/10
Previous night's sleep: ~7.5 hours uninterrupted

Another great workout- pulled 300 pounds for the first time ever, and bumped my deadlift e1rm up to 358 from 339 in a single week in the process. Beltless squats went pretty well as well- worked out to an e1rm of like 275 when my numbers with a belt lately have been hanging around 290, and I was already kind of taxed from really pushing myself on the deadlifts earlier in the workout. For the first time since I stunted my progress a couple months ago with my ill advised cut down to 160 I actually feel like I'm making consistent week to week progress now, and it feels pretty great. I am considering my first meet in early December, and if I keep up this progress I think a 400 lb DL is a distinct possibility at that, which I did not think would happen.

E1RM's from week 4: 290/215/358/129

Weight after last workout of week 5: ~177 lb

[spgranger]

Week 6-

Weight to start week: 179 lb

Monday: Squat w/belt- [email protected]; [email protected]; Paused Bench (3 ct)- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 9/10
Previous night's sleep: ~8 hours slightly interrupted

Good workout overall- my first experience ever with heavy singles. The [email protected] was a really shitty rep- I rocked way forward on it so it was much more of a struggle than it should have been, but I never worried that it wasn't going to go up. Paused bench went pretty well- I got too ambitious with the @9 sets and overshot the RPE on the second one, so that was a bit of a failure, but overall I feel good about it.

[spgranger]

Week 6-

Tuesday: Paused Deadlift (2 ct, 1'')- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; Press w/Belt- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; Pin Squat- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 10/10
Previous night's sleep: ~8 hours uninterrupted

Paused Deadlift went great. Press went good- I thought about trying for 125 for my [email protected] set, but I went conservative and I think it was the right decision. Pin squat was a big jump from last week, I think because I switched to high bar, which I believe will be a revelation for me in the coming weeks. Second set of pin squats I just misgrooved the 3rd rep and failed. Dropped down for last 3 sets of pin squats because it was already a big weight jump from last week and I was pretty fatigued by that point. I'm eager to squat more on friday to see if the high bar progress carries over to beltless squats as well.

[spgranger]

Week 6-

Thursday: Bench (1 ct)- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; Pendlay Rows- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 9/10
Previous night's sleep: ~8 hours uninterrupted

A pretty good workout- I hit respectable numbers and did not miss any reps, so t hat's good. I did overshoot my RPE a couple times, but never drastically so. I was hoping to hit 205 for my [email protected], but on my last warmup at 195 I just really was not confident I could hit 205 without overshooting the RPE so I played it safe. I still might have overshot the RPE a little bit, but I'm still not very good at gauging the difference between [email protected] and [email protected] since I'm so new to heavy singles.

[spgranger]

Week 6-

Friday: Deadlift w/belt- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; Beltless Squat- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 10/10
Previous night's sleep: ~7.5 hours uninterrupted

My first experience pulling heavy singles- felt like it went very well. I hit my target number of 340, and while I'm still new at heavy singles so gauging the RPE is a bit difficult, I think I could have gotten 2 more with it. Felt good, though. Had to drop some weight off the bar for my last [email protected] set, but I don't think that's a problem. Squats had to go a bit lighter than I planned, but I'm not worried about that- I hit my numbers on my comp lift for the day so I'm good. E1RM of all 4 lifts went up this week, which I think might be the first time that has happened for me. Approaching a 900 lb combined total, which is nice.

E1RM's from week: 299/217/370/131

Weight after last workout of week: ~179 lb

[spgranger]

Week 7-

Weight to start week: 179 lb

Monday: Squat w/belt- [email protected]; [email protected], [email protected]; Pin Bench- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 10/10
Previous night's sleep: ~7.5 hours uninterrupted

Good workout all around- no complaints. Still making consistent week to week progress.


Tuesday: Pin Squat- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; Press w/Belt- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; Paused Deadlift- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 10/10
Previous night's sleep: ~8 hours uninterrupted

I decided to switch up the order of my movements today from previous weeks a bit- swapping Pin Squat and Paused Deadlift. I felt like maybe I was cheating myself some on the Pin Squats by having them after the Paused Deadlifts (which, to me, are much more fatiguing). It worked, and I was able to do a lot more on my paused squats while still making a modest jump on the Paused Deadlifts too. Press went ok- a little worse than I hoped for, but I think my expectations for that are getting a bit high.

[spgranger]

Week 7-

Thursday: Bench (1 ct)- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; Pendlay Rows- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 7/10
Previous night's sleep: ~7.5 hours uninterrupted

An ok workout- I got exertion headaches during the Bench Press, which I don't remember ever getting before, and I just generally felt a bit fatigued for whatever reason. Idk if the volume is catching up with me and I need a light stress week (which next week will be, thankfully- funny how that works out) or whether this was just an off day, but I mostly hit the numbers that I wanted to so I guess it's not a big deal.

[spgranger]

Week 7-

Friday: Deadlift w/belt- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; Beltless Squat- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 4/10
Previous night's sleep: ~8 hours interrupted

My first really bad workout in awhile. My target weight for my [email protected] was 350 and I did what I planned as my last warmup at 325. It felt heavier than I hoped it would, but I gave myself the benefit of the doubt that it was just a bad lift. 350 did not move off the floor on either of the 2 shots I took at it. At that point I tucked my tail between my legs and used my 325 single as my [email protected] and moved on to my triples at 10 pounds less than I did for 4 last week. The triples went ok. The beltless squats were an absolute grind- like seriously so taxing. Between yesterday's workout and this one I will be glad to have the light stress week next week. I have decided to do my first meet in about 4 weeks from tomorrow, so after I run the last week of the Bridge next week I will be doing the 3 week novice peaking template. I'm not really sure what to expect, but I guess as it gets closer to the meet I will try and figure out some goals for it numbers-wise.

E1RM's from week: 307/219/348/133

Weight after last workout of week: ~177 lb

[spgranger]

Week 8-

Weight to start week: 177 lb

Monday: Squat w/belt- [email protected]; [email protected], [email protected]; Paused Bench (3 ct)- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 9/10
Previous night's sleep: ~8 hours uninterrupted

Pretty good workout. Rebounded from 2 less than great workouts to end last week. Squats went really well- I think I could have pushed the numbers a bit more, but considering that this is a low stress week and I wasn't feeling great at the end of last week and over the weekend I played them safe. I realized something about my squat form over the weekend and I felt much more confident about it today. Paused bench went ok until the last set.

[spgranger]

Week 8-

Tuesday: Pin Squat- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; Press w/Belt- [email protected], [email protected]; Paused Deadlift- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 11/10
Previous night's sleep: ~7.5 hours interrupted

Great workout. Hit all the numbers I hoped to hit and then some. Big jump on the Paused Deadlifts (which felt amazing) and a solid jump on Pin Squats. I feel like my form has improved a lot on squats- I used to always feel very iffy at the bottom, but now I feel very stable and powerful out of the hole and it seems so much easier. On the Deadlifts I realized I had been setting up with the bar too far away from me, so I started a bit closer today and everything felt much easier to get off the ground (which was the problem area when I had difficulty with comp deadlifts last week). Feeling very optimistic about my meet in <month.

[spgranger]

Week 8-

Thursday: Bench (1 ct)- [email protected], [email protected]; Pendlay Rows- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 10/10
Previous night's sleep: ~7.5 hours uninterrupted

Good workout. Thought about going up to 210 for my [email protected] on bench, but I decided to play it safe and hit the 205 I got last week (but @8.5 last week). Felt like I was probably right not to bump it up. Rows were unremarkable.

[spgranger]

Week 8-

Friday: Deadlift w/belt- [email protected]; Beltless Squats- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 9/10
Previous night's sleep: ~7 hours interrupted

Pretty decent workout. Deadlifts proved last week was not a blip, unfortunately, but Squats went great. I got knee sleeves this week and this workout was my first time squatting with them, and it felt great.

E1RM's from week: 309/222/353/136

Weight after last workout of week: ~177 lb


So my first run through of the Bridge is now complete. During this run I have gone from E1RM's of 290/200/310/120 to 309/222/370/136, so +19/+22/+60/+16 and my weight has gone from 170 to a pretty steady ~177. The deadlift is actually back down a bit at the moment from its peak, but every other lift is at its peak right now. I'm now going to run the 3 week novice peaking template to prepare for my meet on December 14th, then I'm not sure what I'm going to do after that. I will probably run through another cycle of the bridge or try a short cycle of Greg Nuckols' 28 free programs. Unsure right now- I'll figure that out in a few weeks after my meet. Right now I'm hoping I can work up to 320/230/370 for my meet. Anything beyond that would be icing on the cake. Anything below say 310/220/340 will be kind of a disappointment, but we'll have to see how my peaking run goes.

[spgranger]

Peaking Template Week 1-

Monday: Comp Squat- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; Comp Bench- [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 10/10
Previous night's sleep: ~8 hours uninterrupted

Great workout. Hit new PRs on both lifts (a 15 lb pr on comp squat) and just generally felt pretty good. My squat especially has been coming along very nicely lately. With <3 weeks until my meet I'm likely looking at openers of ~290/190/320, and hopefully final numbers of ~325/225/370 or so. The deadlift is the only one I am worried about, with the way it's gone the last couple weeks, but this week will be a good indication of whether my DL numbers are going to bounce back.

Weight after first workout of week: ~179 lb

[spgranger]

Peaking Template Week 1-

Tuesday: Press- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; Deadlift w/Belt- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; Pin Bench- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 9/10
Previous night's sleep: ~8 hours uninterrupted

Overall a good workout. Finally hit that 350 DL that I had failed on 2 weeks in a row- I rated it as an RPE 9 when it was supposed to be an 8, but that's ok. Pin bench was kind of a mess- I had a lot of accumulated fatigue built up from benching yesterday and pressing earlier in the workout today. I should have dropped the weight to account for it, but live and learn I guess. This week's schedule is a little weird because of Thanksgiving, so I'm going to be lifting again tomorrow for 3 days in a row, which I don't usually do, then Thursday off for Thanksgiving and then the last workout of the week on Friday. Then back to regularly scheduled M/Tu/Th/F workouts next week.

[spgranger]

A lot to cover with this post- because of the holidays I was not able to log my thursday or friday workouts on the days I did them, so I have those to log and my workout from today as well.

Peaking Template Week 1-

Thursday: Touch and Go Bench- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; 2 ct Paused Squat- [email protected]; [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 7/10
Previous night's sleep: don't remember

TnG Bench was awful- I have no idea what happened, but I couldn't even get weights out of the rack that I normally have no problems with. Paused Squats went well.


Friday: 2'' Deficit DL- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; 2 ct Paused Bench- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 9/10
Previous night's sleep: don't remember

Deficit DL's were amazing, Paused bench went well outside of misgrooving my [email protected] set badly and failing on the third rep.

Peaking Template Week 2-

Monday: Comp Squat- [email protected]; [email protected], [email protected]; Comp Bench- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 7/10
Previous night's sleep: 8 hours uninterrupted

Another dud of a bench day- lately I seem to be bipolar or something on the bench, which should make for a fun meet in a couple weeks. Bench warmups felt fine so I tried to push the boat out a bit and went for 215 for my [email protected] and failed miserably. Dropped down to 205 and thought I should be able to do it without waiting for full rest and failed once again. At that point I decided it was time to stop messing around with the [email protected], and dropped down to 175 for my first [email protected] set. Finally got that at an RPE 7, so I bumped it up to 185 for the rest of my triples and the rest went by without issue. I think I did figure out what I was having problems with on my singles- I think I had my grip too wide. I narrowed it up a bit for my triples and they felt much better. Squats were mostly unremarkable. I had a small PR for my [email protected], but I filmed it and I think it was a bit on the high side, though it is hard to tell for sure as the angle I filmed it at was fairly close to the floor. Either way I will need to make sure I bury my squats at my upcoming meet. ~1.5 weeks out and I'm feeling ok- somewhat happy with my squats, cautiously optimistic about my DLs, and who fuckin knows about my bench.