This week got away from me. Didn’t realize the last time I lifted was Sunday. Starting a new HLM run on Monday, but I’ll get in a couple of short sessions before then.
I had to jam this into 55mins today, so RPE’s reflect very short rest.
TnG Bench
195x5@7
205x5@8x3
Deadlift
365x5@7
385x5@8
385x5@9
Pull Ups
7m amrap: 25 reps
Hey man. Good on you for getting in what you can. Always better to train vs not training!
Yeah, thanks. It’s only taken me two or three years to learn this.
Today
Press
150x1@7.5
155x1@9
135x5@8
125x5@7x2
Squat no Belt
260x4@7
275x4@8
285x4@9
Definitely starting a HLM run Monday. I have a new schedule with my kids and it’s tight but I think I can juuuuust fit everything in.
Right on man. Crush it
OK, back to more deliberate training. This was from yesterday.
HLM Week 1 Day 1
Comp. Squat
265x5@6
280x5@7
300x5@8
300x5@8
Comp. Bench
190x5@6
205x5@8
205x5@9
205x5@10
Rack Pulls
365x4@7
385x4@8.5
385x4@8
Wednesday (Light) (1/17)
Close Grip Bench (all sets of 4)
185@7
195@7
205@8
215@8.5
220@9
3-0-3 Temp Squat (all sets of 8)
125@6
135@7
145@8
145@8
Strict Press from dead stop (all sets of 8)
95@6
102.5@7
110@8
110@8
Today (Medium)
Comp Deadlift (all 5s)
350@6.5
365@7
380@8
380@9
TnG Bench (all 4s)
210@7.5
215@8.5
220@9
Beltless Squat (all 4s)
280@7
290@8
300@9
I’d never done tempo squats before and I can’t say that I’m sure about the RPE at all. They did produce a technical breakthrough, though. By doing the squat very slowly and focusing on my balance I realized that my tendency to get onto my toes coming out of the hole could be remedied by thinking about pushing my knees back. I don’t have time to detail what I think this changed mechanically–but it improved my bar path greatly and my the squat feel “natural”.
During my session today I found that I didn’t have to think too much to retain the technical change gleaned from the tempo squats.
I’m trying to temper my excitement about how much this change seems to have improved my squat. Belles squats this week came after deadlifting, and they still improved just over 5% from last week.
I’m going to take out one of the squat slots in the HLM template and replace it with a pressing movement. In the past that what I’ve done and I think with my job (I bike about ten miles a day towing a 200-300 pound trailer) one fewer squat slot makes sense. This also frees up training resources from more pressing, which my lanky ass needs.
I may have to do some juggling with scheduling–my children now live with my almost all the time and fitting in work and the gym around their school schedule is tough. I an fit in all nine slots but I’ll likely need to spread it out over four or five days. So it really won’t be HLM anymore, but I’m going to follow the template in terms of the reps and intensity scheme prescribed for the eight week cycle.
I was very excited to squat today to see how my technique change made the weight on the bar feel.
Comp. Squat
265x5@6
um . . . definitely felt a twinge coming out of the hole. Left adductor toward the back of the leg–I’d have to look at an anatomy chart to be sure. This part of the both legs has felt a bit more sore when squatting with the new technique. Well, it didn’t feel too bad so
285x5@7
It felt a little worse now, but still not “I’m going to pull or tear something” bad. Still, I was considering moving on to the bench, but I walked around a settled on pointing my toes a bit more forward to put less load on that muscle. I also slowed my descent. My thought was that with the improved technique I was using a muscle and tendon that wasn’t well adapter to the stress and that the twinge/tightness might just be some chatter that didn’t indicate a structural problem, and also I might be popping out of the hole a bit fast, so maybe just slow it down until my adapts to the new movement.
305x5@8
okay, leg is getting better. Toes are pointed more forward than usual and I’m almost pausing at the bottom, but the discomfort is receding, so . . .
305x5@8
305x5@8
305x5@9
Comp. Bench
190x5@6.5
200x5@7.5
205x5@8
205x5@8
205x5@8
205x5@8
The benches at my gym are narrow and I have a terrible time staying balanced on them for 5s paused, but this felt a lot better than last week.
Rack Pull
370x4@7
390x4@7.5
415x4@9
415x4@9
Second time doing these and the weight went way up mostly from improvement/familiarity/confidence with the movement.
Yesterday
Close Grip Bench
205x5
210x4
210x4
215x4
Deadlift
335x5
360x5
385x5
385x5
375x5
375x5
Press
105x8
115x8
115x8
105x8
This was a little tough—I cycled for work from 9am to 4pm, got home, changed and walked straight to the gym. Recovered a bit during the first pressing movement and deadlifts felt good by the time I hit my top set, but my energy level waned from there. I wasn’t fully recovered after five mins and had to drop the weight and REP’s climbed through the sets. Still, good session and I got all the planned work in.
Pressed for time yesterday so I just squatted so that I’ll have two days rest before the volume squatting Monday. I’ll do my press and bench today.
Squat (no belt)
285x4
300x4
305x4
300x4
Chins 7m
32 reps
Comp. Squat
310x5@8
350x1@8
310x5@8
310x5@9 not fully rested after 5m, should have dropped the weight for this set
300x5@9
Overshot the intensity there, but very happy with the ease and technique of the single.
Comp. Bench
210x5@8
240x1@8
210x5@8
210x5@8
210x5@8
Rack Pull
370x4@7
395x4@8.5
400x4@8.5
400x4@9
400x4@9
This session was very tiring but it’s the hardest one of the eight week cycle, so it probably should be taxing.
Oy the legs were rubbery today. I was hauling on the bicycle for seven hours, then rested for a little over an hour before going to the gym. Deadlift warm ups felt like hell. Deadlift felt amazing last week. Not as strong today.
Close Grip Bench (all sets of 4)
205@8?
Think I blew through the warmup and didn’t rest before this set.
205@7
Okay, that must have been it.
215@9
215@9
215@9
Comp. Deadlift
390x5@9
Grrr
430x1@8.5
375x5@8.5
375x5@8.5
365x5@8
Ran out of time and missed some high rep presses, will have to fit those in later in the week.
Strict Press
137.5x5@8
162.5x1@9.5
137.5x5x3@9,9,10
Chins 7m amrap = 30 reps
Fit this into a little over a half hour, so the short rests skew the RPE.
TnG Bench (all sets of four)
205@7
215@8
225@9
225@9
225@9
Beltless Squat (all sets of four)
285@7.5
295@8.5
300@9
290@9
290@9
TnG Press
120x7@8
120X7@9
120x6@9
100x8@9
I usually lift on Mondays while the kids are at school but today the littlest one was sick. Ended up squeezing this into one hour. RPEs kinda went out the window.
Comp. Squat
320x4x3, 355x1, 300x4
Comp. Bench
220x4x4, 245x1
Struggling to fit everything in this week. School was closed today due to snow, which means kids are home and work gets delayed (but still has to be done).
I’m working hard to cap all movements to 30m - 35m and willing to drop the weight so that I can fit in warmup + 5 sets into 30m-35m. The way my schedule is shaping up I may need to ditch the big 2hr sessions and do four sessions just over an hour.
Today:
Comp. Deadlift
400x4@8.5
440x1@9
390x4@8
390x4@8.5
385x4@7
Comp. Press
145x4@9.5
167.5x1@10
140x4@8
140x4@8.5
140x4@98
I fit this into 60m whereas I’d usually take about 80m to get it done. RPE’s higher than I’d like on the press but I’m fine hitting @9 consistently on this lift since it’s so weal for me. It’s a very different event from a recovery standpoint than hitting @9 on a comp deadlift or squat.
I’ve been experimenting with ways to fit my training into shorter sessions this week. Today I fit in 10 sets in the 47m warming up two lifts at once and alternating worksets between each lift.
I have some training work that I missed earlier in the week that I’m catching up on, so I fit in a lot today. Also, bicycle work was light today so I had a little extra pep.
Beltless Squat (all sets of four)
280@7
290@8
290@8.5
290@8.5
300@9
Close Grip Bench (all sets of four)
207.5@8
217.5@9
217.5@9
217.5@9
217.5@9
I warmed these up and started with the squats, then altenated worksets with ~3m of rest after the squat and ~2m rest after benching, with a slightly longer rest before and after the last squat set. Very pleased with the efficiency.
~4hrs later
Press
120x7
120x6
120x6
115x6
Right shoulder was a little squacky during these and I definitely felt affected by the benching early in the day.
Lat Pull Down Pronated Grip (all 10s)
120, 125, 130
I had two movements to fit in yesterday that didn’t get done earlier in the week. I monitored the weight closely since I have a lot of lifting scheduled Monday.
TnG Bench
205x6x4
Rack Pull
365x4x3
385x4x2
Comp. Squat
320x4@9
355x1@8.5
320x4@9.5
315x4@8
Comp. Bench
222.5x4@9
222.5x4@9
242.5x1@8
222.5x4@9.5
215x4@8.5
2ct Deadlift (paused just below knee, beltless)
365x3@9
385x1@8.5
365x3@9
365x3@9
This took 1hr 25m. I’ve been pushing rest periods and alternating sets on upper and lower body movements in an attempt to get the same amount of work in less time. Weights are slightly stagnant right now but I’m reminding myself that with longer rest periods the RPE’s would be lower. I overshot RPE a little on squats and I need to shave 5-10lbs off my worksets to account for the shorter rest periods. But also, I have a mild head cold today and was dragging.
Technique on the squat was a bit worky. Got onto my toes coming out of the hole again. I’m going to program light tempo squats for the next four weeks–I’ve only done them once and they helped a great deal. I think repeated exposure will help ingrain the habit of keeping my weight on my midfoot. My squat felt best technically the couple of session right after I did the tempo squats. I’ll put them in a lower body slot for as long as a can and after that maybe I’ll just use them during warmup until midfoot balance becomes ingrained.
Comp Press
167.5x1@10
147.5x4x2@ 9
147,5x4@10
137.5x4x2@8
3-0-3 Squat
175x6
185x6
195x6
195x6
still not sure what the RPE is for these–the second 195 set felt easier than the first. Probably lost count and did seven on some of the other sets.
Comp Deadlift
405x4@8
445x1@8
395x4@8
395x4@8.5
2ct Bench
217.5x3@9
227.5x1@8
220x3@9
2ct Squat
300x3@9.5
310x3@8
295x3@9