Nate G's Log

Hello! I went to med school with the boys of BBM and have been drinking the BBM/SS kool-aid on/off since 2012.

I tend to forget to log but would to do so for 2 reasons: 1) long term documentation purposes 2) receive assistance and assist others along the way.

CURRENT STATS
30 year old male
~200 lbs give or take
US Army Family Physician
PRs: 410/300/450/185 (squat/bench/DL/press)

GOALS:
-Surpass previous PRs
-OHP >BW

POTENTIAL BARRIERS
-New Fellowship program starting in July (Sleep Medicine)
-New (first) baby in July
-Biannual Army APFT requirement

PAH (PAST ATHLETICS HISTORY)
–Historically all over the place in terms of athletics – varsity offensive lineman in middle and high school football, but was too small/underweight to play college (probably a good thing)
–Use to run, a lot, until I ran a marathon, got injured and started cycling – raced road bikes infrequently as a collegiate club athlete, still love recreational riding of all types these days
–Started weight training (outside of my off-season stuff from football) in med school while I attended classes with the legend himself, Dr. Baraki
–Gained ~30 pounds in med school of muscle and fat, trained up to a competition where most of my PRs were made
–Took a short hiatus on/off during family medicine residency, now that I’m graduating getting back into training on a regular basis.
–Previous log link: The Struggle: Riding Fast Bikes or Picking Up Heavy Weights

CURRENT PROGRAMMING
–SSLP → Custom program by Jordan → nothing/long break → SSLP → The Bridge → Hypertrophy template → 12 week press template
–Tried a short cut period of 10 weeks through RP templates and BBM Hypertrophy template – cut wasn’t overly successful, but managed to maintain/gain some strength while getting leaning out a tad
–Now on Week 2 of Press template

Will come back with an update of where I’m at after a GPP session today.

Hey dude - welcome!

Thanks man, glad to be here!

21JUN2018 Week 2 GPP #1
Alright so this is kind of weak…
Sick dog = multiple trips outside, lots of walking at moderate pace for 30 minutes x 6 trips @ 6
That’s pretty much steady state training, yeah?

22JUN2018 Week 2, Day 3

Paused Squat 2ct: 245x4 @easy, 260x4 @6, 275x4 @7, 290x4 @ 8,8,8.5
Paused Press (forehead, 2ct) 120x4 @6, 130x4 @7, 135x4 @7.5, 8, 8
CGBP 150x10 @6, 160x10@7, 170x10@8.5, ran out of time and didn’t do the backoff set here

I video 90% of my sets for determining bar speed and RPE (still trying to develop Austin’s Spidey-Sense for RPE) but way too much of a hassle to link them. Will save those for the heavy singles or PRs.

23JUN2018 Week 2 Day 4
Feels: suboptimal due to reduced sleep and fatigue? Noticed this happened the last time I was on the Bridge…Hypertrophy template was different, everything just seemed lighter which I suppose it was designed to be that way. Anyway, on with it.

Rack Pulls, mid shin
275x4 @easy, 295x4 @6.5, 315x4 @7ish, 335x4@7.5, 345x4 @9, 330x4 @8, extra set for good form 315x4 @8
Still working on what RPE is what here.

Press (unbelted)
135x4 @6.5, 135x4 @7, 145x4 @8, 8, 8

RDLs
135x10 @ easy, 175x10 @6, 225x10 @7ish, 275x5 @ WTF was I thinking

RDLs in the Hypertrophy template really helped me work on getting my lowerback in check for conventional pulling. For a short period I dabbled with sumo, but overall since having RDLs and rack pulls in my programming, my back is finally learning how to listen to my brain.

Hiatus not on purpose… it’s been a busy week and a half.

Managed to move our two bedroom apt, graduate residency, start a new job, and now am within two weeks of fatherhood (fingers crossed)!

Here’s the brief recap, but effectively I started Week 3 of the Press template, took time to move in the middle of the week so ended up repeating day 1 of Week 3 again.

Week 3
Day 1 (25 JUN)
Comp Squat
315 x1 @ easy, 345 x1 @7, 365x1 @8.5 (done in 20 minutes) followed by 300x5 for 5 sets, all @ RPE8-8.5

Comp Press
155x5 @9 (for warmup), 165x1 @7, 170x1 @8, 155x5 @9, followed by 150x5 for two sets at RPE 9, finished with 140x5 @8

GPP/MOVE DAY (27 JUN) @ RPE 1000

Week 3 (redo)

Day 1 (1JUL)
New gym, new weight set with mix of kgs and lbs so don’t judge my math
Comp Squat
319x1 @easy, 339x1 @6, 351x1 @7.5, 365x1 @8.5 followed by 295x5 for 5 sets @ RPE 7-8

Comp Press
153x1 @7, 165x1 @7.5, 175x1 @7.5, 185x0 @10 followed by 155x5 for 4 sets at RPE 8-8.5

CGBP 95x10 @RPE dead

Day 2
​​​6JUL
Deadlift w/ belt
345x1 @ easy, 365x1 @6, 385x1 @7, 405x1 @ 8.5 followed by 325x5 for 5 sets at 7,7,7,8

Comp Bench
Singles 240, 250, 260 @ 6, 7, 8 respectively followed by 225x4 for 5 sets at 7,7,8,8

Videos: Top singles, first and last working sets for DL, and top single for CB

Week 3, Day 3
7JUL

2 ct Paused Squat worked up to 275x4 for 3 sets @ 8,8,9
Pin Press shoulder height worked up to 150x4 for one set, backed down to 145x4 for 2 sets
CGBP 135x10, 179x10 for two sets, 165x10

4/20/19
Total time: 1 hour 18 minutes
Session RPE: 6-7
Program: Bridge 3.0

I’m terrible at checking in. Sometimes it’s just easier to keep track on the BBM template spreadsheets and IG live stories TBH.

Anyway, felt like logging, might delete later…

Semi-annual APFT completed earlier last week. Had been running BBM’s Bridge 3.0 then Hypertrophy 2.0 then back to Bridge. Good news is I’m slightly stronger than I was when I started this log. Bad news is, I’m only slightly stronger. But, unlike past APFT seasons, where I typically would let the strength drop a bunch, I was able to maintain pretty decent numbers by training 1-2x weekly, hitting the main lifts and skipping supplemental lifts for practicing push ups and sit ups. Despite the added running volume of a minimum 2 mile run (easy) and 2 mile faster paced run 3-4x weekly, I was still able to keep my squat up (literally just kept hitting the same reps/sets/prescribed RPEs which honestly the weights kinda kept the same…) e1RM on squat stayed around 400-407 and I was consistently hitting a heavy single at 385 for RPE8 most weeks. Today wasn’t much different, but again, considering in the past I HAVE LOST SO MUCH STRENGTH from training for the APFT, this was a pretty damn good day.

Competition Squat
365x1 @7, 385x1 @8, 350x4 @8.5, 315x4 @ 7,7,7 [heavy singles to last set completed in 24 mins]

Competition (1ct Pause) Bench
245x1 @ 6, 265x1 @7, 275x1 @8, 250x4@8, 230x4 @8,9, 205x4 @7 [completed in approx 30 mins]

1-2-ct Paused DL
185x5, 225x5, 275x5 @7-8, 7-8 [completed in 20 mins] – cut short, and limited mostly due to hook grip failure

Videos are unedited so you might see some butt scratching, dancing, and camera failures

1 Like

5/5/2019
BW 201.4
Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Session RPE: 8.5

Missed logging about a week after the last update, then got swept up with missing a few training days leading up to some longer distance bike riding, followed by missing training days for another week due to GI illness (no code browns in the bottom of the squat for me). Finished another easy ride this weekend and now back on track.

Last thing which has been cool: doing a slow cut for the last 1.5-2 months by tracking macros (aiming for 210/160/75 daily). So far about 10lbs, and strength seems to be maintained despite this and the issues highlighted above.

PS that new 13mm Pioneer Cut PL belt is real nice.

Competition Squat
365x1 @7.5, 380x1 @9, 335x4 @8, 300x4 @ 7,7,7

Competition (1ct Pause) Bench
245x1 @ 6, 275x1 @8.5, 250x4@9 (but came off last rep), 230x4 @8.8,8

1-2-ct Paused DL
225x5, 275x5 @7, 295x5 @9 w/ straps completed with minimal rest between sets

As before, videos are unedited. Phone died at the end of the session.

5/8/2019
BW 199.0
Total Time: 45 minutes
Session RPE: 7

Short session today. Missed the back exercise due to timing.

2ct paused squat
275x5 @8, 285x5 @9, 270x5 @7, 270x5 @7

CG bench press
185x4 @7, 225x4 @7.5, 240x4 @9, 225x4 @8, 225x4 @8

5/11/2019
BW 197.9
Total Time: 45 minutes
Session RPE: 7

Officially down 10+ lbs on this cut. Strength isn’t going up, but at least holding steady.

Competition Deadlift
365x1 @7.5, 385x1 @9, 340x4 @7, 315x4 for 3 sets @6,7,7

Pin bench press
185x5 @6, 225x5 @8, 235x5 @9, 225x5 @8, 225x5 @9

5/13/2019
BW 199.7
Total Time: 1 hour
Session RPE: 7

Competition Squat [completed in 27 mins]
315x1 @air, 365x1 @8, 330x4 @8, 295x4 for 3 sets @7,7,8

Competition (1ct Pause) Bench [completed in 23 mins]
250x1 @6, 275x1 @7, 285x1 @8.5, 260x4 @9, 240x4 for 2 sets @8,9, 225x4 @8

5/8/2019
BW 198.3
Total Time: ~1 hour 05 minutes
Session RPE: 7

2ct paused squat
275x5 @7, 290x5 @8, 305x5 @9, 290x5 @8 [eRM 365, completed in 23 mins]

CG bench press
185x4 @6, 225x4 @7, 240x4 @7.5, 250x4 @8.5, 225x4 for 2 sets @7 [eRM 290, completed in 25 mins]

SLDL (light)
225x5 @6, 275x5 @8, 275x5 @8

5/19/2019
BW 198.6
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Session RPE: 8

Pretty similar stuff for this session compared to last week’s.

Competition Deadlift
365x1 @7.5, 385x1 @9.5, 340x4 @8, 315x4 for 3 sets @6,8,7

Pin bench press
185x5 @6, 225x5 @7, 240x5 @9, 225x5 @8, 225x5 @9