First Training Log

[spgranger]

Peaking Template Week 2-

Tuesday: Press w/Belt- [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: ?/10
Previous night's sleep: 8 hours interrupted

A very weird workout. Press went by unremarkably. Deadlift was very weird. Warmups went fine- last planned warmup at 315 went fine, and after hitting 350 last week then my really strong deficit DLs on Friday last week I thought I was ready for a big jump, so I tried for 365. I got it a few inches off the ground, but it wouldn't go further, so I dropped it down to 350 and missed that worse than 365. At that point I tucked tail and decided to count my 315 rep as my single and move on to the triples @8, dropping it down to 295 for those. As I was getting ready for my first triple on a whim I set up for sumo, which I have literally never even once done before. I pulled the 295 triple without a problem. Second triple at 295 also went no problem, so for my third triple I decided to jump it up to 315 (which is where I hit my @8 triples last week) and it also went with no problem. At that point I was feeling pretty good and decided to try for a higher single again but this time sumo. I put 355 on and it went easier than my 350 single did last week. So I guess I pull sumo now? I was super tempted to throw 370 or something on and see what happened, but I decided to walk away with my win. After that pin benches went fine- a marginal improvement from last week. I misgrooved the 4th rep on my @8 set and it ended up as an @10 instead (though I did not miss any reps at least), but then my last 2 sets went fine. I'm gradually honing in my Bench form, I think. I just have to make sure my grip doesn't get too wide and that I don't touch the bar too high on my chest.

[spgranger]

Peaking Template Week 2-

Thursday: 2 ct Paused Squats- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; TnG Bench- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Workout rating: 10/10
Previous night's sleep: 6 hours interrupted

All things considered a very good workout. Had to get up twice in the middle of the night last night for significant periods of time to tend to a sick son, the second time around 4 AM. At that point I tried to get back asleep for a bit before deciding it wasn't worth trying to get back to sleep only to get less than an hour more sleep, so I just got up and went to the gym (yay 24 hour gyms). Squats went great- I decided to try to squat in my wrestling shoes that I used for DLs rather than using my oly shoes to try and get a more vertical bar path, and it seemed like it helped. I felt more stable throughout the lift, and did my heavy single at 10 lbs heavier than last week but 1 less RPE. TnG bench was iffy again, but halfway through I realized that I had the pins set way too low- to the point that I was having to half press half skullcrusher the weight off the rack before my first rep, which was fatiguing me unnecessarily before I even started the movement. Once I moved the pins up the last 2 sets went much better, so that's something I'll have to pay more attention to in the future. Overall things are looking good a bit more than a week out from my meet. My openers of 285/205/315 look like a breeze to hit, and I think I should be able to easily move up to 315/215/350 for second attempts, and if everything goes well I can attempt some serious PRs on third attempts at ~335/235/390. If I hit 2/3 of those I'll be super pumped, and even 1/3 I'll be ok with it.

[spgranger]

Peaking Template Week 2-

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

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

Good workout. I overshot it a bit on the second set of deficit deadlifts, partly because of lack of experience with deficit deadlifts in general and even with sumo deadlifts specifically (since this was only my second time ever doing sumo deadlifts), but I hit all the reps- just at a bit high of an RPE. Bench went fantastically. Took a 5 lb bump from last week, matching an all time PR I believe, then hit 195 for [email protected] after doing that same weight for [email protected] last week. Feeling very confident in my bench right now- weirdly enough I seem to do far better at it when I pause rather than TnG. Maybe it helps me find the correct groove when I pause it compared to rushing through the rep with TnG? Anyway, done with week 2 of the peaking template, so only 2 workouts left before my meet. I normally do M/Tu/Th/F, but since I'm only supposed to workout 2 times next week before the meet I will probably do M/W instead. It's going to be a lame week only getting to go to the gym twice, but I know it's for the best and I want to make sure I'm in peak condition for the meet on Saturday. I just hope I don't catch whatever my son has right now. It would likely only last a day or two at most, but even still that would likely put me not fully recovered in time for the meet. Fingers crossed.

[spgranger]

Peaking Template Week 3-

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

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

Last real workout before my meet in ~5 days. PR'd all 3 lifts (by 5, 5, and 10 lbs) with something left in the tank for all 3. Hitting 1 more heavy single on both squat and bench on Wednesday, then nothing else before the meet on Saturday. I feel good, and I'm optimistic that my baseline goal of 900 is virtually a lock (my gym total is 890 at the moment) and my stretch goal of 950 is a real possibility.

[spgranger]

Peaking Template Week 3-

Wednesday: Comp Squat- [email protected]; Comp Bench- [email protected]

Workout rating: 8/10
Previous night's sleep: 7.5 hours uninterrupted

Last time lifting anything heavy before the meet. Overall not a great workout, honestly. Squats were very iffy- I'm so conflicted about my form right now that I'm constantly second guessing myself. Bench was ok. I'm going to just do my best to just chalk this one up as a bad day and put it out of mind for Saturday. Better that it happened now than if it had happened Saturday.

[spgranger]

Well, first meet is in the books. Went 7/9 with a moderate PR on the squat and some left in the tank, a slightly disappointing bench showing, and a huge 40 lb PR on deadlift (again with probably some still in the tank). Overall a big success, and a lot learned for the next time. Monday I will jump back into the Bridge for a second run through it. I will probably jump right into week 2 of it, as I don't feel like I really need a light stress week after meet week.

[spgranger]

Now that my meet is over I have decided that I'm going to rerun the Bridge again, as I seemed to make reasonable progress on the first run-through. I don't think I need a deload week right now, so I'll be skipping straight to week 2 of the program. I'm going to put my E1RM's for gym lifts to start this block at 325/220/385/135.

Week 2-

Monday: Squat w/Belt- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; Close Grip Bench- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; Rack Pull (mid shin)- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Everything felt good. I'm going to try a lot harder this run through to not ego lift and stick to the prescribed RPE, as that's something I think that I could have done better on my first cycle of the bridge.

Workout rating: 10/10
Previous night's sleep: ~8.5 hours uninterrupted

Tuesday: Paused Squat (2 ct)- [email protected]5, [email protected], [email protected]; Press w/Belt- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Another good workout. I'm starting to realize that at times in the past I have sandbagged my squat numbers because the innate difficult feeling of squats. They're always going to feel heavy, but I need to trust myself to be able to move the weight and start pushing myself a bit.

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

[spgranger]

Week 2-

Thursday: Comp Bench- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; Pendlay Rows- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Felt a little under the weather today, so I was kind of weak. Bench RPEs were a bit off, but I backed down for the last few to try to manage it and I think I did ok for what was obviously an off training day.

Workout rating: 8/10
Previous night's sleep: ~7.5 hours uninterrupted

[spgranger]

Week 2-

Friday: Deadlift w/Belt- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; 3-0-3 Squats- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Definitely feeling significantly under the weather now. Slept like utter shit last night because of it, so I wasn't sure how today would go, but it actually went reasonably well. I did not push for PRs or anything like that because of how off I feel, but I'm pretty happy with how I did despite feeling awful.

Workout rating: 9/10 considering
Previous night's sleep: who knows, woke up often and for prolonged periods of time

Weight at the end of the week: 181

[spgranger]

Week 3-

Monday: Squat w/Belt- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; Close Grip Bench- [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

So I've been feeling a bit under the weather the last 3 or 4 days, and this morning I foolishly decided to take dayquil before my workout. After my @7 set of comp squats I started feeling really bad- dizzy and fatigued. I gutted the rest of it out (again, possibly foolishly), but the rest of the workout did not feel great even though I hit reasonable numbers.

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