2018/06/07 - The Bridge W5GPP1
7 min alternated pull-ups/chin-ups - 7+4*6+5+4+4+4+5 = 53 reps
7 min alternated tuck hold/planks - 5 of each
2018/06/08 - The Bridge W5D3
Duration 1h40 + 30min LISS
Deadlift - 1504@6.5, 1564@7.5, 1564@8, 1504@7.5, 1504@8 (beltless)
Bench - 1004@6, 1064@7, 1104@8, 1124@8, 1124@8.5, 1104@8.5, 1104@8 (beltless)
Beltless Squat - 1006@6.5, 1106@7.5, 1166@8.5, 1206@9
30 min at stationary bike
What. The. Fuck. What a shitty session. Frustrated AF. Weight didn’t feel that heavy, but form was awful, enormous back curve. I didn’t increased weight as planned, and then I reduced, but no way. And for the last session and beginning of bench, lower back was destroyed. Tried using the belt also, and it was bad. All bad.
Bench was also much worse than expected. I think form didn’t help also, somewhy. Only last set moved as I expected.
I started the squat with expectations so low that it ended up exceeding it. Nevertheless, really bad day.
2018/06/09 - The Bridge W5GPP2
7 min alternated pull-ups/chin-ups - 7+36+35+2*4 = 48 reps
7 min alternated tuck hold/planks - 5 of each
2018/06/11 - The Bridge W6D1
BW 92kg
Duration 1h40
Squat belt - 1681@8.5, 1504@8, 1504@9, 1464@8
Bench 3ct - 1064@7.5, 1103@8, 1143@9, 1143@9.5, 1103@9.5
DL 2ct - 1304@7.5, 1304@8, 1304@8, 140*4@9.5 (straps)
First set of 5 was not very good. Fighting to reach depth. The single was OK, I think.
Got 1st set wrong, 1 extra rep.
Better pause and form than last week. Still not good. Don’t know how to rate RPE for these, due to form breakdown.
2018/06/12 - The Bridge W6GPP1
7 min alternated pull-ups/chin-ups - 8 + 7+2x6 + 4x5+4 = 51 reps
7 min alternated tuck hold/planks - 4 of each
31 min riding ma bahke - 10.1km
Hit came back. Felt the heat.
Back to the saddle. Started logging, at last. Valentine’s day in Brazil, and I went back to her S2.
Did it today to clear Sat.
2018/06/13 - The Bridge W6D2
Duration 1h35
Pin squat - 1203@7.5, 1223@8, 1263@9, 1263@9.5, 1243@9
Press - __801@8__, 724@8.5, 723@9.5, 684@8.5, 684@9
Rows - 846@6, 886@7, 906@7.5, 946@8.5, 926@8, 926@8.5
Arrived feeling bad, shoulder bothering me, sleepy, sore… But it was a great day in the end! Unexpected. It’s been a while since I had these expectation upsets. I’m going to try being more agressive with loads from now on, based on this post from Austin and some of his recent Instagram stories. Maybe I’m overestimating RPEs. Maybe not. Let’s see. Anyway, 4 to 6 kg up from the planned weights, and it felt OK. Not sure how the E1RM for this should compare to Comp Belted Squat.
First PR of the program! Single should have been, 74, it flew, then went for 80. However, the sets of 4 felt much harder than they should. Maybe my intraset fatigue for this one is too big? Not sure how to address this. No noticeable form deviation from the single.
These were OK. Same evolution from last week, 6 felt much better than 8, 4 kg more than anticipated, in the end. Happy with today. Motivation coming back.
2018/06/14 - The Bridge W6GPP2
7 min alternated pull-ups/chin-ups - 8 + 27+26 + 45 = 54 reps
7 min alternated tuck hold/planks - 5 of each
__620s/2min riding ma bahke -__ 3.5km, 45kph max
Today it was cold, PR, haha.
HIIT at the bike was a new and challenging experience. Made a nice graph in Strava also.
2018/06/15 - The Bridge W6D3
Duration 1h45
Deadlift - 1801@8, 1644@8.5, 1604@8.5, 1504@7.5 (beltless)
Bench - 1261@8, 1164@8.5, 1144@8.5, 1144@8, 1144@8.5 (beltless)
Beltless Squat - 1126@6.5, 1166@7, 1226@8, 1226@8.5, 1186@8, 118*6@8.5
Better than last week. But back (curved) is still worse than normal. Not sure what to do also. Single moved well, but form made me be conservative.
This one was OK. 3rd set was a course accident.
Squat was good. Liked weights and form regularity. Need to translate it better to comp squat.
2018/06/18 - The Bridge W7D1
BW 91kg
Duration 1h35
Squat belt - 1701@8.5, 1543@8.5, 1543@9, 1503@8, 1504@8
Bench 3ct - 1123@7, 1143@8.5, 1163@9, 1163@9.5, 1143@9.5
DL 2ct - 1303@6.5, 1403@8, 1443@9.5, 1343@9
Good, today. Form was better and weights were OK.
No pin bench. Did this instead.
Forcing myself to work in form. DL loads will be much lower for a while.
2018/06/19 - The Bridge W7D2
Duration 1h25
Pin squat - 1243@7.5, 1283@8.5, 1302@9.5, 1263@9, 1243@9
Press - 801@9, 742@9.5, 723@9.5, 703@9, 683@9
Rows - 806@6, 866@7, 926@7.5, 946@8, 946@8, 946@8
Legs and lower back were a bit sore from yesterday. This week and the next it’ll have to be a Mon-Tue-Thu scheme, sadly. Hopefully I’ll have adapted. Despite this, weights were OK and I eventually got a bit greedy. 3rd rep of 3rd set maybe wouldn’t go up.
Definitely got greedy in this one. I coundn’t get myself to do less in the single than last week’s PR. This definitely affected the following sets, for which I should also have used less weight.
Now these ones were better than expected. Maybe my form improvement tentatives in both rows and pulls are improving back strength already? TBC. Overall, satisfying session, including duration.
2018/06/20 - The Bridge W7GPP1
7 min alternated pull-ups/chin-ups - 38 + 26 + 2*5 + 4 + 5 = 55 reps
7 min alternated tuck hold/planks - 5 of each
2018/06/21 - The Bridge W7D3
Duration 1h55
Deadlift - 17015, 1503@8.5, 1403@7.5, 1403@8 (beltless)
Bench - 1301@9, 1223@10, 1183@9, 1143@8.5, 1163@9 (beltless)
Beltless Squat - 1106@6.5, 1166@7, 1226@8, 1226@8.5, 1206@8.5, 1206@8.5
Changed the program. Today it was form work for DL. In the last two sets, something clicked in my shoulders. Something like shoulders up, more than chest up, that helped more. Let’s chase this again next time.
Form was off for first sets. Last two were more like it.
OK, despite flats. Form is steadily improving, still.
2018/06/23 - The Bridge W7GPP2
7 min alternated pull-ups/chin-ups - 28 + 7 + 26 + 35 + 24 = 58 reps
7 min alternated tuck hold/planks - 5/4
6*20s/2min + 35 min riding ma bahke - 3.5km, 42kph max + 11.4km
2018/06/25 - The Bridge W8D1
BW 92kg
Duration 1h25
Squat belt - 180*1@9, 1603@8.5, 1603@9
Bench 3ct - 1103@7, 1143@8, 1183@9.5
DL 2ct - 1303@7, 1403@8.5, 1423@8.5, (1422@8, 1382@8)
Not sure how my olds squat PRs count - they were probably a mile high. However, even if they did, 6kg PR! 170 felt really good, went for it. Obviously overshot RPE, but it was largely due to form breakdown. On the backoff sets, still a bit greedy with the weights, but it was mostly OK. Just some good-morningy reps, need to hold my knees in place. However, afterwards, I noticed I was just moderately greedy. Could have joined the 400lbs or the 2xBW clubs. Next time…
No big deal. Last set was just a bit too much.
Working on form. Improving. Did some extra sets.
2018/06/26 - The Bridge W8D2
Duration 1h10
Pin squat - 1184@7, 1244@8.5, 1284@9.5
Press - __841@9__, 743@9
Rows - 806@6, 886@6.5, 966@8, 96*6@8.5
Good day. Planned squat on the weekend, got sad when arrived at home and compared with last week. then I saw that it was one more rep. OK then. Back really bruised where the bar goes.
Got greedy, totally worth it! 82 didn’t go up last week, but it should. Went for 84 then. 4kg PR! Backoff was OK.
Lower back was really sore when I went for this. 2nd PR of the day! Again better than expected (but followed plan). Really hope my back is getting stronger. Good!!
2018/06/28 - The Bridge W8D3
Duration 1h30
Deadlift - 17012, 1503 (beltless)
Bench - __1361@9__, 1263@9.5 (beltless)
Beltless Squat - 1106@6.5, 1166@7, 1226@7.5, 126*6@8.5
So frustrating… After a frustrating day at work, can’t seem to find proper form. Totally clueless.
2kg PR, to make up for the DL. Backoff was definitely too heavy.
OK.
Will do some GPP tomorrow or in the weekend, and then do a recap of the program. Frustrated with the DL, but satisfied with the overall results (mostly due to 2 last weeks).
Realized today that I’ll probably have to do 3 sessions in 3 days next week and in the following… Bloody World Cup.
2018/07/01 - The Bridge W8GPP2
7 min alternated pull-ups/chin-ups - 28 +27 + 26 + 25 + 4 = 56 reps
7 min alternated tuck hold/planks - 4 of each
8*20s/2min carrying some tyres
The Bridge First Run Recap
Mixed feelings with the results of the last 8 weeks. Not so much beacuse of the program, but my DL is letting me very frustrated. By next week, I’ll try sumo for at least a few weeks and see how it goes.
For the other lifts, progress seemed really slow for the first half, but on the last weeks E1RMs steadily improved and got PRs for the three (however, it was a realization of a previous E1RM for the squat and just a 2kg improvement for the bench - press was the most undertrained and really improved well). I’m blaming this slow start on the RPE learning curve (it was one of the goals of the program), variations learning curve and on a lack of conditioning for the training sessions - all were improved, so I intend to take full advantage and make more progress on the second run. Also, I might have detrained, before program start, and then my E1RMs from before maybe were not valid anymore (definitely true for the DL).
For the other goal of the program, fix form, I feel it’s been very successful for squat and bench. Maybe some room to improve for the press, and certainly for the DL. I’m already suspecting on hip mobility issues, along with bad proportions for the lift - hence the sumo try.
I also gained some pounds (6 to 8), without changing body fat that much (maybe improving, according to mirror). It’s been a while since I didn’t gain this much weight in so little time. I think my last years with high intensity and low volume trainings helped. This weight gain was not the intention, I think I ended up overeating due to fear of being underrecovered. It’s OK though, given I don’t lose any more pants.
Current status:
As said before, I’ll run The Bridge again and try to extract more from it. Skipping first week as recommended in some posts from other people, and also making other 2 modifications: swapping rack pulls with paused DLs in first and second halves (I feel it’ll help more with form work) and using front squats instead of tempo squats (I was actually sad to do this, but it was the most indicated slot to replace. I was always really tired and with sore quads in these, even very lightweight, so I think they wouldn’t help my form too much anymore, and this tiredness and soreness is something to be worked later on. I’ll leave the paused and pin to the form work, and use front squats to improve abs and back, and let’s see if it helps the DL. They are fun also). Let’s see how it goes.
Sadly, it looks that my first two weeks will already be compromised… I may need to train Tue-Wed-Thu next week, and Wed-Thu-Fri on the following. I’ll see what can be done to avoid this, maybe finding another place to train on the first Friday or on the following Tuesday. I do not intend to miss sessions, however (managed this for the last 8 weeks for the first time in a while), and if that means 2 weeks with 3 days in a row, so be it.
2018/07/03 - The Bridge 2nd run W2D1
BW 92kg
Duration 1h40
Squat belt - 1405@6.5, 1465@7.5, 1505@8, 1504@9, 1465@8.5
Close grip bench - 1064@7.5, 1084@8, 1104@9.5, 1104@9
Paused sumo DL - 1107@6.5, 1146@8, 1145@8
I forgot how much work are fives… Also a bit tired. Gotta get used to them soon. 4th set was too high, not good.
3rd set was the bad one here. Form breakdown. Gladly last one was OK.
Starting sumos, and then paused for 7s. WTF was I thinking?
2018/07/04 - The Bridge 2r W2D2
Duration 1h25
Paused squat - 1184@7, 1244@8, 1284@9, 1244@9,5
Press - 605@6, 645@7, 685@8, 684@9, 645@7.5, 645@8 (beltless)
Rows - 808@6, 848@7, 908@8, 908@9, 86*8@8 (straps)
No holiday here. Everything felt OK today. Maybe pauses were a bit too short for squat. Tried to take it a bit easy, since tomorrow I’ll train again. Hence, 2kg less than planned for the two first lifts.
5s for the press are hard…
2kg more for the rows than planned, good! - not 100% sure about the form, though.