Time for a fresh start. I’ve been posting at Starting Strength for a couple of years but I’m planning to follow one of Jordan’s templates so I thought it would be a good idea to jump to these forums. I’m a masters 3 lifter with one USAPL meet under my belt–last March in Albuquerque. As the only competitor in my age and weight class at that meet I managed to steal a medal with a 375 squat, 253 bench and 480 dead at a weight just over 205 pounds. (just missed qualifying for the 93 kg class.) All the lifts were PRs for me, giving me a total of 1108.
Tweaked my back a few weeks ago one week before the Raw Nationals in Spokane, so I had to withdraw from the meet. Now I’m looking ahead to the nationals in Chicago next year.
I’m slowly ramping up now with some linear programming, trying to baby the old back. Today’s workout:
Squats: 240x5x1; 245x5x1; 250x5x1; belted, four minutes rest. Normally I don’t start wearing a belt until I’m close to 300 but I thought I’d better play it safe.
Bench: 190x5x1; 195x5x1; 200x5x1; four minutes rest
Today: Some light squats plus some presses and rows.
squats: 205x5x3; no belt
Press: 125x5x3
BB rows: 155x5x1; 160x5x1; 165x5x1
One-arm overhead db triceps extensions: 32.5x10x3.
My back felt pretty good today, almost normal. I still feel something in the area that I tweaked but I wouldn’t describe it as pain, or even discomfort, just a sense that something was strained and needs some recovery time. I’ll ride the airdyne tomorrow and do some ab wheel roll-outs. Then on Saturday I’ll do some squat in the 260 range and a deadlift of 295 and see how that feels.
Squats: 255x5x1; 260x5x1; 265x5x1; belted, four to five minutes rest.
Bench: 205x5x1; 207.5x5x2; five minutes rest. The first set at 205 felt good so I added a couple of microplates to each side of the bar.
Deads: 295x5x1; 315x5x1; six minutes rest; no belt–chalk and hook grip. I was planning on doing just one set at 295 but my back felt good so I loaded on another 20 pounds for a second set. I’ll continue to ramp up next week with two deadlift workouts, one at the beginning of the week and one at the end, maybe with three sets, depending on how my back is doing.
DB curls: 35 (each) x 10 x 2, two to three minutes rest.
I think my back is back to normal, more or less. Everything in today’s workout felt good. I’ll continue ramping up this week and next week I’ll switch over to Andy Baker’s Strength and Mass After 40 program, which has worked well for me. After a few cycles with that program I’ll try one of Jordan’s templates, either The Bridge or the 12-Week Strength program.
Squat: 270x5x1; 275x5x1; 280x5x1; belted, five to six minutes rest. On Saturday I’ll try sets of 285, 290, and maybe 295.
Close-grip bench: 190x8x1; 192.5x6x1; 195x6x1
SLDL: 275x8x1; 275x6x1; straps, five minutes rest.
Thanks, gymdad. I was looking at some wooden blocks on rogue’s web site. I’m wondering if I can get by with rack pulls from pins. Is there some advantage to using blocks instead of pins?
Light day today.
Squats: 225x5x3; three to four minutes rest, no belt.
Press: 127.5x5x3, four to five minutes rest.
BB rows: 170x8x3, three minutes rest.
One-arm overhead db triceps extensions: 32.5x10x3, two to three minutes rest.
Last day of ramping up today. I think my back is pretty much recovered. Next week I’ll switch to Andy Baker’s Strength and Mass After 40 program and after that I think I’ll try one of Jordan’s strength template.
Squats: 285x5x1; 290x5x2; belted, six to seven minutes rest.
I’ve been curious about The Bridge program for a while. I spent a good part of the weekend reading about it and decided to give it a try for the next eight weeks. Today was my first workout with the program, and my first attempt to use RPE’s as a guide to my working weights.
Squat: 225x5x1@6RPE; 280x5x1@7.5; 285x5x1@8. Belted for last two sets, four minutes rest. The second set was supposed to be at RPE7 but it felt a bit heavy so I lowered the weight on my third set from a planned 295.
Close-grip bench: 180x4x1@7; 190x4x1@8; 200x4x1@9
Rack pulls: 250x7x1@6; 262.5x7@7; 275x7x1@8; four to five minutes rest. I don’t have much experience with rack pulls so judging RPE was tough. Probably underestimated a bit but I wanted to make sure to get all the volume in.
It will take a while to get the hang of RPEs–I think today’s last bench set, for example, might have been closer to 8 or 8.5 than a 9. I’m looking forward to seeing how this experiment goes. I really like the way RPE’s force me to think more carefully about my training.
I was impressed by the presentation in the Bridge pdf. Austin and Jordan make a strong case for their ideas. I was debating whether to try the Bridge or to have another whack at Andy Baker’s Strength and Mass After 40 program, which I really liked. So I’ll see where things stand 8 weeks from now.
Two-count paused squat: 260x4x1@7; 270x4x1@8; 285x4x1@9; four to five minutes rest. I realized after my workout that these were supposed to be done without a belt. When I do them next week without a belt I might drop the weight slightly.
Press with belt: 117.5x5x1@6; 123.75x5x1@7; 130x5x1@8; four minutes rest. These felt about right, with accurate RPEs.
BB rows: 155x8x2@6; 162.5x8x2@7; 170x8x2@8; three minutes rest. Probably underestimated the weights a bit. Might add five pounds next time and see how that feels.
Yes, the first squat workout of the week is belted. The second squat of the week calls for a two-count pause, like the squats I did today. On the third squat day you do a 3-count descent, no pause at the bottom, and then a 3-count up out of the hole. The second and third squat days are beltless so you work with somewhat lighter weights.
This was an interesting experience. Typically I would rest five to seven minutes between sets of 8 weighted chins. Today I rested two minutes and made 24 reps in 7 minutes (3 sets of 7 reps and 1 set of 3). Guess I’ve been babying myself.