I noticed that most of the bridge logs here are incomplete. I find it very helpful to see examples of other people’s progressions and comments about little mistakes and fixes they made. So here goes: let’s try to do this from start to finish. But first some stats and history:
30 years old. 6’1", 220 lbs approx 25% bf. Looking to shed some novice fat and get below 20% Aiming for 220 carbs, 250 protein and 70 fat. I started tacking my macros for the last week and it’s clear that it’s not doable to reduce to that all at once so I will just aim to get closer. I’ve been maintaining on about 3500 calories and 150g of fat so I will NOT be a happy camper if I bump that to 70 overnight.
Been training for 8.5 years (shame!). No bro splits. SSLP (it was just called SS then and there was no advanced novice either) right from the start. Started at a very underweight 140 lbs, drank my gomad like a good boy and ended up at 205 lbs. All in all I did everything pretty well except I made LP mistake #7 way too many times. I felt that considering my weight gain my lifts (295 squat, 202 bench, 375 dead) shouldn’t be done linearly progressing so like an idiot I reset again and again and ended up regressing. Then life got busy and I started training less frequently. As soon as I stopped gomad my weight began to drop. I lost momentum. I trained even less frequently. I always intended on starting up again but I knew I wouldn’t get anywhere unless I made a huge commitment to eating again. Years went by. I regressed further. I actually never quit once. I trained steadily, albeit infrequently and lazily.
Then about a year ago I finally decided to stop dicking around and finally finish my lp. I did a sort of modified advanced novice progression (still hadn’t seen PPST3) It took me a couple months to get my lifts unstuck, which is stupid because looking back through my old training log I can see that by the end of my long stagnation my lifts were stuck at where they were after only a few months of LP originally. I would have been better off just starting over. But at least I didn’t repeat my old mistake. This time I kept my lifts going up slow and steady with no stalling and no resetting allowed. When I felt I was about to stall I switched to TM which I did for 14 weeks. I made good progress despite its flaws but I’m ready to try something new. I found out about the bridge from Alan Thrall’s video and here I am. A Texas Method survivor who got out before it was too late. So, despite my long history I’d say I have about a year of productive experience under my belt.
Now might as well throw up a TL/DR TM summary for context:
Best LP Lifts:
Squat: 315x1x5
Bench: 187.5x1x5
Press: 123x1x5
Deadlift: 360x1x5
Aftter 14 weeks of TM:
Squat: 405x2x1
Bench: 250x3x1
Press: 155x3x1
Deadlift: 450x1x1
I know I cheated by going from 5s all the way down to singles but I won’t complain about nearly 250lbs on my total in a little over 3 months! Now let’s hope the bridge will take me back up to some of those numbers but at RPE 8 this time.
Here we go with day one. We’re already YNDP but I was really second guessing myself and overthinking about my ability to gauge RPE. So since this is such a low volume week, when I did 5 reps of squat @8 I decided to “prove it” by doing 2 extra reps. I feel this was essential for me as I am one of those who always tend to rate squats high on the RPE but could miraculously grind out extra reps if I had to. I paid careful attention to the feel and the speed of the 5th rep to remember as my RPE 8 benchmark. I know it’s dumb that I’m fucking with the program already but I will sleep much better after this.
Wednesday, 11/01/2017:
Squat with belt:
5x305 @6
5x320 @7
7x330 @9.5
E1RM: 412.5
Close grip bench:
5x185 @7
4x195 @8.5
6x200 @9.5
E1RM: 243
Everything is fucked up there. I was distracted by some guy waiting for my bench after I’m done and having to search for the only pair of 2.5s in the gym and ask to borrow them from the girl who was using them, while trying to time things out while keeping an eye on how long I’m resting in between sets and trying to keep it consistent. First I forgot I was supposed to do 4 reps because I’m just so used to 5s. Next I hit 8.5 on my second set so I decided to only go 5 lbs up for my top set. Maybe I didn’t rest long enough before the second set because that wasn’t a good indicator of my performance since I got 6 reps on the last one (going all out again) and I possibly could have done one more. Oh well. I think I’ll go 10 lbs up for my first 4@9 set next week if I can.
Rack pulls:
7x275 @6
7x315 @8
E1RM: 366
This was a disaster. I thought I was going to go up to 350 for @6 but I called @6 on what was only supposed to be my second last warmup. 315 was supposed to be my last warmup but I called that one @8 (not going all out to prove a point on this one) which means I skipped right over @7. Maybe I was being a baby, but my back is not used to this kind of pulling volume, even just for the warmups. When doing normal deadlifts I usually warmup with 135x5, 225x3, 275x2, 315x1, 365x1. Never anything for 7 reps and this 7 rep for all warmups thing is really new to me. The rack pulls felt a lot heavier than I thought considering they are only a partial deadlift.
Ok, Moving along with Week 1 day 2.
Friday, 11/03/2017:
Legs were a little sore to start this workout. Not “Texas method light day, won’t feel better until intensity day” sore, but “will probably forget about it once I start squatting sore”
2 Count Pause Squat:
4x275 @7
4x285 @8
5x295 @9.5
E1RM: 347
Pretty happy with how these went. The 4@8 felt pretty hard so I had to prove to myself that I could do an extra rep with my @9 target weight. I possibly could have done one more. Glad I proved it. The slowness of the reps was psyching me out. All the reps are slower than normal squats thanks to the lack of stretch reflex so that made it a little bit tricky to relate them to certain RPEs when they get slower still.
Press:
5x115 @6
5x120 @7
7x125 @9.5
E1RM: 156
These went pretty perfectly according to plan. I wasn’t sure how they would pan out because I am used to doing touch and go, which sometimes allows me to do 5 reps at a weight that was hard to lift the first time. I did all these ones from a dead stop with no dip are hip drive. Of course I had to test out my RPE again and could have maybe got another rep. That’s ok, because I plan on adding 2.5lbs per week to these things as long as I can and don’t feel like messing around with 1 or 1.5 lb increases yet.
Rows:
8x145 @8
8x150 @7
10x155@10
E1RM: 209
That’s right, hit @8 with the first one and kept going. I was using these stupid rubber covered weights that are bit shorter than the iron 45s. I didn’t think it would make much of a difference on rows. I had done 10 reps with 155 before, so I guess the rubber weights did make a difference. Switched to irons, took a 4 minute rest and we’re back on track. Was hoping to go up to 160 but oh well. The extra 2 reps were pretty gnarly but I got them. I was probably using my back to hoist the weight a bit and ducking to get back down. I don’t know why I suck to much at rows. Not sure if I should even try adding 5 lbs per week at first. Pfft, who am I kidding? Of course I’m gonna try!
GPP day no. 1
Sat, 11/04/2017:
Chins: 20 in 3 minutes
Ab Wheel: 7 sets of 5 rollouts in 5 mins
Chins: 20 in 3 minutes
Wow, I suck at chins after cutting them out for my last 4 weeks on TM. I split them into smaller chunks on either side of the ab rollouts or else I would just be grinding out one at a time for several minutes. Either that or resting most of the time to do one or two more sets of several. Maybe I should be doing a lighter BB or cable row GPP. NAH! Then how will I get better at chins?
I chose the ab wheel because I already do planks every night where I am not training the next day. It’s supposed to help me fix my anterior pelvic tilt…I know…I know. 5 minutes is plenty. I really feel the ab wheel in my triceps. Hopefully it’s just the long head and won’t affect my bench tomorrow.
Elliptical: 25 mins @HR 135
I had to pedal the thing slower than I knew possible to keep my HR under 140. Then I was going so slow that I couldn’t build any momentum between strokes and was actually working harder. Really hard to find a sweet spot where I could keep my HR down. Jeez, am I really that out of shape?
Well I survived week one in a deficit! The real test will be if I successfully adding weight in week 3, not having gotten buried by week 2. The first week was actually harder than I thought. The way I saw it was just one set of each lift but the @6 and @7 lifts sometimes aren’t that much lower in weight than the @8 so they definitely aren’t negligible.
Was sore as hell this morning and sleepy. Didn’t want to get up. Even my pecs were sore from that stupid ab roller. Hopefully I’ll be more used to it next week so it doesn’t affect my bench.
Deadlift with Belt:
5x335 @6
5x355 @7
5x375 @8
E1RM: 463
Went a few pounds lighter than I hoped on the @8 set. I also very conservative with the @6 and @7 since I’ve never done 3 sets before. I was pretty happy with how the @8 set felt but I didn’t push it.
1 Count Pause Bench:
5x180 @8
5x182 @7
8x185 @10
E1RM: 234
This one was a real ego bruiser. I don’t know if it’s because of the ab roller or they are really that much harder than touch and go. 180 was supposed to be @6 but it felt like @8 (I know better now but I left it). I took an extra minute or two rest and made smaller jumps than I intended to get back on track. The last set was very educational. Everything felt hard. I didn’t know how many reps I was going to get but 8 was a surprise. That means if left it at 5 reps like I was supposed to it would have been only @7. But I thought 180 was @8. Wow. Glad I tested my limits on that one because now I know that when the reps go much slower because of the pause it doesn’t mean I’m about to fail. When I do TnG bench as soon as one rep is significantly slower than the last the next one is in jeopardy.
3-0-3 Tempo Squat:
8x185 @6
8x200 @7
8x215 @8
E1RM: 290.5
I was shocked at how gassed I felt after my second warmup set (at only 135) so I had to rechart my course to end a few pounds lower than I intended. I had to remember to hold my breath the whole time and to take a BIG breath in between each. I think I got better at them as I went so they weren’t as brutal as I was expecting after my humbling experience with 135.
Ugh. I don’t even want to write about this one. I couldn’t wait to get back to the gym to squat and close grip bench (rack pulls not so much) despite a little lingering upper back pain from deadlifting on Sunday that I didn’t even think was worth writing about at the time. I only got up to 225 on my squat warmups and I had to rerack the weight because the pain was too great. I can’t believe that after 2 days off it hurt way worse than it did during my entire Tempo squat session on Sunday. Sure, the weight was a little lighter but I had it on my back for a lot longer.
So I’m basically Kaput on The Bridge for now. I think the best possible scenario is that I repeat this week next week and use last weeks weights for squat and deadlift. I ended up squatting 95 lbs for 20 reps then 135 for 3 sets of 10 with no pain. Did 3 sets of 10 with 185 for rack pulls then 4 sets of leg press (trying to replicate my squat stance as much as possible) with 4 plates for 4 sets of 5. If this injury lingered enough to cause this much trouble after 2 days off I’m definitely not going heavy on pause squats on Friday and probably not even Deadlift on Sunday. Maybe tempo squats by then. Hopefully. So with really only close grip bench to do today I must have done a good job, right?
Close grip bench:
4x195 @7
4x202 @8
4x210 @9
3x210 @9.5 (oops!)
E1RM: 244
I thought since there is just one extra top set I could repeat the same weight @9 if I take a long enough rest (5 mins) 4th rep didn’t go well and strayed back over my shoulders fast (which apparently doesn’t work as well for close grip bench) and my spotter grabbed it right away. I maybe could have got it but I don’t blame him. It looked pretty bad. I guess if it was iffy enough that I thought I might need a spotter then it was too heavy. I probably BSd myself a little with the RPEs of the first 3 sets because I really thought I should get this because it’s only a modest E1RM PR over last week’s performance and I thought taking a reduction in E1RM on the second week would set a bad precedent for losing strength while cutting.
Managed to get through this workout with no back pain. Funnily enough, my back hurt when I was lying down and resting for a few minutes before I left the house. The past couple of days it’s been hurting most first thing in the morning. I probably could have pushed it further but I didn’t. I’m confident I will be able to do my tempo squats like normal on Sunday and hopefully be back to normal squatting by next week.Not sure what I want to attempt for deadlifts or if I should just leave it alone and not risk fucking up my back again.
Friday, 11/11/2017:
2 Count Pause Squat:
10x185
10x195
10x205
Still sore from leg presses. These were actually pretty hard. Hopefully back to 4 reps (with appropriate weights) next week.
Press:
5x117.5 @6
5x122.5 @7.5
5x127.5 @10
5x122.5 @8.5
5x120 @8
5x120 @8.5
E1RM: 148 (-8)
What a mess. The RPEs of the first two can’t be right in retrospect, unless I really just fatigue that fast or 4 minutes in between sets for presses isn’t long enough. I’ll try 5 next week.
Rows:
8x145 @8
8x150 @7
8x155 @8
8x155 @8
8x155 @10
E1RM: 209 (no change)
The set that was supposed to be @6 felt hard again and once again the next one was easier. Didn’t get to add more weight this time and not impressed how the RPE of the last one shot up.
Doing my GPP in the same workout this time. I couldn’t get to the gym until much later than usual today (my car is busted). I don’t want the headache of trying to figure out how to get to the gym before it closes early tomorrow. I will also have to be there much earlier on Sunday and it will nice to not split up my reduced recovery time before then and to not have to worry about the chins and ab rolls affecting my bench.
Elliptical: 25 mins @HR 135
Chins: 20 in 3 minutes
Ab Wheel: 40 ab rollouts in 5 mins
Chins: 14 in 3 minutes (ouch, didn’t rest after the rollouts. Was in a hurry.)
Sunday, 11/12/2017:
Deadlift no Belt:
135-315
many sets of 5
No back pain here. Probably could have done my deadlifts normally but I’m not taking any chances. I can’t risk a setback in my injury like Wednesday. I just did lots of sets of 5 starting with 135 and working my way up in cautious 20-30 lbs jumps and monitoring for pain. By the time I got to 315 I was probably in the real RPE territory. 6 or 7.
1 Count Pause Bench:
5x175 @7
5x180 @8.5
5x180 @8
5x180 @8
5x180 @9 Was too far back on the bench. Knocked one of the uprights on rep 2. Thought about restarting but finished.
5x180 @8
E1RM: 222 (-12)
Overshot right off the bat. Took a smaller jump than planned and ended up staying with what was supposed to be my @7 weight. A longer rest got it back on track @8. It’s a bummer that my upper body lifts have gone down so far. Don’t know if it’s a general trend since I couldn’t squat or deadlift right this week. I really hope this isn’t a trend that will continue while I’m cutting (I have been eating much more since I hurt my back because I don’t want to lose weight while I can’t lift fully). It could be I’m stressed out with my car being busted and never getting to the gym at the times I would like. I really hope it just because the first week of the bridge had much less upper body volume than I’d been doing on the texas method. I was doing bench and press for volume and intensity every week.
3-0-3 Tempo Squat:
8x190 @6
8x205 @7
8x215 @8
E1RM: 290.5 (no change)
Set everything up to be 5 lbs more than last week but messed up on the last one and repeated last week’s weight because I was in a hurry. Also had to ditch the second top set because the gym closed.
Not sure where to go from here. I am going to try to squat and do rack pulls normally (or whatever normal is now) on Wednesday. I am thinking of starting the bridge over for squats and pulls but keeping the presses at the week 2-3 volume until I get to week 4. I’d probably fuck myself over if I jump right into the higher squat and deadlift volume now but I don’t see any reason to reduce the presses to week 1 volume again.
Ok. Now we’re getting back on track. Not sure if I can call this a complete bridge log anymore no matter what I do anymore. Well maybe if you ignore the last week and this next week there will be 8 weeks of the bridge as written. So her’s what’s happening. Sort of like I said above I’m restarting the bridge to ease back into the deadlifts and squat w/ belt. Everything else I will keep at week 2 volume for now.
Wednesday, 11/15/2017:
Squat with belt:
5x305 @6
5x320 @7
5x330 @8
E1RM: 407.5 (down 5lbs, only because I didn’t do 7 reps with 330 @9.5 this time. Maybe this one today was only 7.5 but I can’t tell so I’ll just call it 8)
Pretty much a perfect repeat of 2 weeks ago except for the amrap set. Feels good. Can’t wait for next week.
Close grip bench:
4x197 @9
4x200 @8
4x205 @9
4x205 @9
E1RM: 238.5(down 5.5)
Wasted lots of energy on the first one unracking the bar. I like to scooch down the bench to get far enough away from the uprights, but it’s different with close grips and maybe I overdid it a bit on the first one and it was like doing a very heavy skullcrusher. I got a spotter to help with a liftoff for the rest and they went smoothly. Didn’t go as high as I wanted to (212.5), mostly because the first set freaked me out. I hope I’m finally gonna start moving with these next week.
Rack pulls with belt:
7x315 @6
7x325 @7
7x335 @8
E1RM: 440.5(up 26. Probably cheating cause I’m using the belt now but whatever)
Yep, I decided to just throw the belt on. My back likes it much better that way. I probably had more in me but I’ll just call that my @8. I don’t want to overdo it with the stress with the belt or hurt my upper back again. I’ll probably just add 10lbs each for the next 3 weeks and it shouldn’t get too hard.
Friday, 11/17/2017:
2 Count Pause Squat:
4x275 @7
4x285 @8
4x300 @9.5 Felt a little off balance at first so I adjusted a little. I had an extra 5 on one side! Was supposed to be 295. Doh!
4x285 @9
E1RM: 341 (down 6, not worried about that considering my screw up, how sore I was and that I haven’t done these proper in two weeks)
Was still pretty beat up from Wednesday. Feels good (and also bad) to work hard on squats a couple days after a heavy session. If I was still on the Texas method I would be doing like 250 for 2 sets and praying I can recover for my one precious intensity day set.
Press:
5x115 @6
5x120 @7
5x125 @8
5x125 @8
5x125 @8
5x125 @8.5
E1RM: 154 (up 6)
I feel like I’m finally getting back on track with these even though 125 is the top weight I did 2 weeks ago. At least I did 4 sets of it this time without the RPE increasing too much. I improved my form a bit on the second set onward by shoving back a bit more right off the bat and moving my face further to get out of the way. If I was doing that on the first set it probably would have been @7.5 so there was pretty much a whole RPE point increase across the sets. 4 minute rests again because I decided ain’t nobody got time for 5 minute rests on presses.
Rows:
8x140 @6
8x150 @7
8x160 @8
8x160 @8
8x160 @8
E1RM: 216 (up 7)
I was tired of stagnating on these so I decided to go up to 160 no matter what and see what happens, but much to my surprise they felt strong from the start today so that was no problem.
Doing the GPP day in the same session again. There is supposed to be a big storm tomorrow and I would much rather stay off the road. People have no idea how to drive in early winter snow and every season somebody comes so close to smashing into me.
Elliptical: 25 mins @HR 135
Chins: 22 in 3 minutes
Ab Wheel: 41 rolls in 5 mins
Chins: 23 in 3 minutes
This one was a real grind, even with only one top set of DLs
Sunday, 11/19/2017:
Deadlift with Belt:
5x350 @6
5x365 @7
5x375 @9
E1RM: 446 (down 17, what a difference the @9 makes. I could take my E1RM for the day from the @7 set but whatever, I will just take it from my top set)
Decided not to cheat on the 6 and 7 sets this time. Still not used to this kind of DL volume because according to the first 2 sets the top one should have been bang on @8.
1 Count Pause Bench:
5x175 @8 Ouch supposed to be @6 Gonna take 5 mins and attempt to rest my way down to @7
5x180 @7.5 Not quite. Won’t go as high as I hoped on the top sets.
5x182.5 @8
5x182.5 @8
5x182.5 @8.5
7x182.5 @10
E1RM: 225 (up 3)
I changed up my form a little on the second set onward just like the previous presses. I crunched further down the bench (bigger arch) mainly to allow myself room to push the bar back earlier on the way up. I hope I’m not flaring my elbows too much now but it feels stronger. I was second guessing the RPEs, everything seemed really hard and I thought I was losing strength so I had to reassure myself on the top set. Yep, I had the right weight. At least for that one. A true @10. I have to remember that the last rep of an @8 with a pause still feels really fucking hard and that doesn’t mean I’m @9 or 10. It’s equivalent to the speed of the last rep or 2 before failure on the TnG bench. With that in mind (and hopefully staying in this time) I can push these a bit harder than I have been.
3-0-3 Tempo Squat:
8x195 @6
8x210 @7
8x225 @8
8x225 @8
E1RM: 304 (up 13.5)
These are funny. I feel like I’m gonna die before I’m done my warmups without being anywhere near muscular failure. My warmup set at 145 felt like almost an @10 for being out of breath and fatigue in my back just from holding the damn bar so long. Then I take a rest and get my work sets done fine.
Wednesday, 11/22/2017:
Squat with belt:
5x315 @6
5x325 @7
5x335 @8
5x335 @8
5x335 @9
E1RM: 413.5 (up 6, but dubious, I was afraid of this happening eventually and it’s happening already: setting sketchy estimated PRs that rely on my not BSing myself on RPE as the weight goes up)
These felt harder than last week where 330 moved super fast. I was probably conservative rating that @8 but now I may be doing the opposite here. The last rep of the last set was a bit of a grind. That one was definitely above 8 but I’m going to see how I recover from this and hopefully keep pushing. Maybe the first two really were @8 and I just keep forgetting that a true @8 for squats still feels pretty hard. I had some trouble with my belt too. My normal setting is too loose to do much for me now but the next tighter hole is still too tight for me to get a big enough breath in my belly.
Close grip bench:
4x200 @8 supposed to be @7 take 5 and try to rest my way to @8 at a higher weight (but not as high as I hoped)
4x205 @9.5 nope now try to rest my way to @9 at this weight
4x205 @9.5 shit!
4x200 @9
E1RM: 233.5(down 6)
Feeling weak af on these. No excuse besides losing weight. I had a big breakfast of 60 protein and 80 carbs first too. Also had help unracking the bar for all 4 sets.
Rack pulls with belt:
Psyche! My lower back was hurting after Sunday’s workout this time and not my usual low back pain either. Sharp and focused. It still popped up a little bit a few times over the next two days. It was kind of bothering me in between sets of squats but I didn’t notice it or think about it while I was squatting. Well warming up with 135 for rack pulls didn’t feel good. 185 with the tight belt didn’t feel good either so I decided rack pulls aren’t worth it. Even just the DL volume on the bridge is way more than I used to be doing, but now I’m not sure whether I’ll even be able to do those properly on Sunday. I don’t know If I should go easy on the pause squats on Friday to increase my chances.
All in all pretty bummed today. I started with a positive attitude and was psyched to be able to make some strength gains while losing weight after reading the TBAB article and listening to some podcasts. But now I can’t help but wonder whether the best I can hope for is to break even (if even that). I’m sure I could make some gains if I lose weight very slowly but I don’t want to spend 6 months or more losing the 20 lbs I want to lose. Maybe I should just get it over with, keep training hard and get back to eating in a surplus to make some gains.
Friday, 11/24/2017:
2 Count Pause Squat:
4x280 @7
4x290 @8
4x300 @9
4x295 @9
E1RM: 341 (up 9)
My legs felt better today than they have at the start of any Texas Method light day, which is incredible considering that 2 days ago I 5x5d an average weight of 327 which is 12 lbs more than my heaviest 5x5 on TM and much lighter ones than that have crippled me. I guess squatting higher volume on the other two workouts of the week helps me recover from the 5x5 without being crippled. I didn’t expect that. I thought the 5x5 would cripple me like usual then I would have to fight my way through the other squats of the week. Anyway, I breezed through these today with 3-4 minute rests. Feels good to have a perfect day at something, even if it’s just an assistance lift. My back hurt a bit (but no worse than I’ve been getting every time I bend down the past few days) after each set but faded into the pump within seconds and it never hurt while I was squatting. I’m glad I didn’t skip these to rest my back because it wouldn’t have helped. I did some RDLs with just the bar and it hurt so I’m not feeling too confident about deadlifts on Sunday.
Press:
5x117.5 @7 Supposed to be 6 but did my warmups quick and didn’t rest long, not worried.
5x122.5 @8 Didn’t rest very long, still not worried. Nothing’s going to keep me from an attempt at 127.5 @8
5x127.5 @9 Shit! I rested this time but now I’m worried!
5x125 @9 This isn’t good
5x125 @10 I have no idea how I expected to get this one down to 8 when the last one was 9 but I must have had some stupid idea at the time that obviously didn’t work
5x120 @9
E1RM: 152 (down 2)
Well that one hurt. I’ve always found it so brutally hard to make progress on presses.
Rows:
8x145 @6
8x155 @7
8x165 @8
8x160 @9
8x160 @10
E1RM: 222 (up 6)
The gym owner was there and complained to the girl at the counter about how much noise I was making on the first top set so she had to come over and warn me. I didn’t want to get her in trouble so I had to control the weight on the way down a bit more on the next two, which sucked.
I don’t have any really good reason to do the GPP on the same day this time except that it saves time and I’ve done it this way the last two weeks. Well there’s also the fact that the ab wheel kills my arms and pecs so more time to recover before benching is good.
Elliptical: 25 mins @HR 135
Hit a new PR RPM at HR135 
Chins: 24 in 3 minutes (tied my PR from my TM days)
Ab Wheel: 35 rolls in 5 mins
Chins: 20 in 3 minutes
Sunday, 11/26/2017:
Sumo Deadlift no Belt:
1x315
1x365
1x405
E1RM: 405 (up 405)
I was afraid this workout would come around and I’m still not ready to deadlift. Oh well, maximum weight throughout the ROM that can be done pain free. Wait that’s nothing. Partial range? Nope. Umm, a variation? Ding ding ding, I’ll try sumo! Never done it before. Sets of 5 still didn’t feel that great and it’s kind of confusing because even if I can get a set of 5 mostly pain free it hurts quite a bit after. Only did 3 reps with 225 and it felt a bit better so I decided to try a single at 275 and it barely hurt at all (only after, not during). So, I kept going all the way up to 405 and it was no worse than any other. I have no idea what I’m doing here, I know this is not what you are supposed to do for rehab but rehab didn’t seem to be working for this. At the very least I prevented my deadlift from detraining too much and now 12 hours later my back feels better than it has all week and I can do a few pretend conventional deadlifts with no pain. This has got me thinking maybe I should switch to sumo normally. I don’t know what the fact that I was able to pull 405 on my first try says or doesn’t say about my potential at sumo compared to conventional deadlifts, but even if I’m not as strong at it, perhaps my back could tolerate training it way harder which would more than make up for it. So far on the bridge my back has just been a shit show trying to do all these deadlifts and rack pulls.
1 Count Pause Bench:
5x175 @6
5x180 @7
5x185 @8
5x185 @8
5x185 @8
5x185 @8
E1RM: 228.5 (up 3.5)
Only a 2.5lb increase from last time (and only equalling what I did on the first week), but considering what’s been happening on the press and that I was losing strength on this too I’ll take it! First one was a soft 8 or maybe 7.5, which is good because there’s no way I’d be able to do 4 sets across @8 if it wasn’t. Last one was a hard 8 or maybe 8.5.
3-0-3 Tempo Squat:
8x200 @6
8x215 @7
8x230 @8
8x230 @8
E1RM: 311 (up 7)
Nothing to report here (phew). Just lots of huffing and puffing.
# YNDTP ALERT!!!
I tried to add a warning to the topic title so no one clicks on this expecting a faithful bridge log but apparently I can’t edit the title.
Anyway here is Week 3 day 1 of my bridge.
Weigh in today reads 215.0. That means I’m down 5 lbs in exactly 4 weeks (one of them I wasn’t dieting) The last week I’ve been locked steady at 2750 cals except a few extra on Friday when I did lifting and GPP. Keeping close to 275 carbs, 75 fat and 240 protein but I often end up lowballing the carbs by 10-25 and overshooting the fat and/or protein.
Wednesday, 11/30/2017:
Squat with belt:
5x320 @6
5x330 @7
5x340 @8
5x340 @8.5
5x330 @9
E1RM: 420 (up 6.5)
These felt hard again today, but then again squats almost always feel hard to me (except two weeks ago). That is why I am determined to keep pushing these and not let a misguided attempt at sticking to the RPE bring the weight down each week. I’d actually rather err a bit on the side of overshooting on these because if I am allowed to undershoot I WILL wimp out and reduce the weight every week while cutting. Within reason of course. As long as I am not failing or getting injured the worst I can see happening is I won’t have great performance on the pause squats. The 340@8 may be a bit of wishful thinking or it may be legit. I was surprised that I felt confident to do a second one but I was definitely feeling the fatigue by the last set.
3 count pause bench:
4x175 @7.5
4x180 @8
5x190 @10 testing if I had the right weight for a 4@9. Turned out to be bang on
4x185 @9
E1RM: 221(up 221)
That’s right. 3 count pause bench even though it’s only week 3. I’ve seen Jordan say several times that assistance exercises are only really good for 4 weeks at a time and I’ve already done close grip bench for 4 weeks due to my bridge restart. But the biggest reason is that I am disgusted with how weak my 1 count pause bench is compared to my previous TnG benching. I feel like the close grip wasn’t doing much for it because it’s not specific enough. I’m sure it’s specific enough in general as an assistance exercise, but maybe not specific enough for me because it’s the pause that is really giving me trouble. Anyways, if I start this now I will have 4 weeks of it before I’m supposed to do pin bench. I’d much rather have that than 6 weeks of close grip and only 2 weeks of 3 count before the pin bench.
Now we get even more yndtp because I have no idea what I’m doing with deadlifts and my back.
Sumo Deadlift no belt:
275x3
315x3
365x1
365x1
Conventional rack pulls were a no go at any weight, especially for 7 reps. Can’t do sumo pulls in the rack. Tried sumo block pulls but I hate how it feels putting the weight down and trying to line up at the start (don’t have proper blocks). Tried some light pause sumos but my back didn’t like the pause. So I decided my MO was just to do normal sumos fairly light and get in a little bit of volume this time instead of just singles. Was able to tolerate 3 rep sets but my back hurt a bit after each set. Was going to do a few sets across at 315 but it felt hard so I tried to do a few EMOM singles at 365. That was hard too so I only ended up doing 2. I should have just did EMOM at 315 or backed off to 275 for more sets of 3. Now I know why rack pulls are paired with the belted squat on the bridge. Pulling sumo off the floor is hugely affected by leg fatigue after doing 5x5 squats.
Friday, 12/01/2017:
My back has been hurting worse since the last workout. I guess those sumo triples weren’t a good idea. When I woke up this morning with my back hurting in bed (it usually only hurts after bending it) I knew the pause squats were in jeopardy. I decided to do a refeed for today and possibly until my back is better or at least I’m able to squat. Ended up spending the day helping my mom paint her garage and didn’t get to the gym until much later than usual. To make things worse I developed a new pain in my back over the course of the day that feels like the upper back pain I had a few weeks ago but in my mid back this time. I probably didn’t stand much of a chance of getting the squats done since I already decided to refeed in case I can’t (don’t want to be losing any weight while I’m not squatting or deadlifting properly). Warmups didn’t bother my lower back but even just holding 135 on my back hurt my new mid back thing. I tried some front squats with just the bar (first time ever) but my wrist and my knee didn’t like those. I feel so fragile 
Press with belt:
5x115 @7 Oops that should have been 6. Maybe it was just a bad set?
5x120 @8 Nope
5x120 @8
5x120 @8.5 Will take a little more rest. Not dropping this further!
5x120 @8
5x120 @8.5
E1RM: 148 (down 4)
I guess my refeed didn’t come soon enough to save my presses. Had 2 meals of over 60 protein and 100 carbs each before training today but the damage is done. On the bright side I finally learned how to hold the damn bar today so I don’t need wrist wraps for such light weight. Now I need to learn the bulldog grip for bench.
Rows:
8x145 @6
8x155 @7
8x170 @10
8x160 @9 Gonna try to rest this one down
8x160 @10 Nope
E1RM: 215 (down 7)
Continuing the losing streak. Went for a PR but overreached. It seems I can never drop the weight enough to recover from an overreached attempt @10. Well I’m sure I could but I never think that I should have to drop as much as I actually do.
Elliptical: 25 mins @HR 135
Chins: 18 in 3 minutes (I was so sore at first that the first couple sets actually hurt. almost quit but glad I didn’t)
Abs: 25 rollouts, 3 planks (30s, 30s, 60s) in 7 minutes
Chins: 21 in 3 minutes (incredible that I got more than the first set and that they didn’t hurt at all. best part of the workout)
Sunday, 12/03/2017:
This is my last ditch attempt to rest my back before Wednesday. If this doesn’t work then I don’t know what to do. I’ll either have to get medical attention (but they’ll probably just tell me not to lift) or forget about trying to follow the bridge and do some rehab from scratch. I really thought this should have taken care of itself by now and it wasn’t a rehab situation. The real turning point is that it got worse after squatting and sumo on wednesday
1 Count Pause Bench:
5x175 @8 That sucks. Maybe I wasn’t warmed up enough from not doing deadlifts first (edit: also remembered after that I experimented with a wider grip on this one. The full maximum 32 inches. Didn’t like it)
5x180 @8 That’s a bit better
5x185 @8.5 First video!
5x185 @8.5
5x185 @9
5x180 @8.5
E1RM: 225.5 (down 3)
The last rep in the video doesn’t look very slow but it sure felt slow. Maybe it was only an @8. I’m not gonna start amending RPEs based on video unless I film all my sets though. Jeez my arms are smol for a 215. That’s one reason I need to cut some weight. I need room to make some gainzZz without ending up nearly 30% bodyfat at 240.
Wednesday, 12/06/2017:
Squat with belt:
5x315 @6
5x330 @7 Probably BSd these first two. Not gonna change them after.
5x345 @10
5x330 @9
5x315 @8.5
E1RM: 401 (down 19) What a difference the @10 makes. Well my previous E1RMs were iffy anyway.
Back felt great at first. Was really worried about it and worried about my strength after skipping both my assistance squats last week. Foolishly tried for a PR since it has been in my head from the start and got my ass handed to me. 340 was my best set of 5 on TM before I reduced the intensity day reps. The PR is more bitter than sweet considering that was 3 months ago and I should be able to do much more now if I am going @10. As usual with overshooting, I couldn’t strip weight off the bar fast enough to get back on track @8. The last one felt pretty bad on my back. This is supposed to be high stress week. Not going to do that for lower body after last week. I will do high stress week for upper body. I don’t know if I will get back on track and redo week 4 properly next week (high stress for squats at least, probably not DL) which would make 2 high stress weeks in a row for upper body or just move on to week 5.
3 count pause bench:
4x175 @8 Trying a bulldog grip, don’t like it.
4x180 @7.5 wraps for the rest the 7.5 is telling me to go for a PR
4x195 @9.5 Overshot a little but don’t regret it. I knew it wouldn’t hurt me as bad as the 345 lb squat if I did
4x190 @9
4x185 @9
E1RM: 224(up 3) That’s cute that I managed to snag a 3 pound pr even though I overshot. Of course it’s iffy though because there is actually no such thing as an @9.5 in reality. If I tried for a 5th rep I would either get it or not.
Pretty happy with how those went. This is day 6 of refeeding. I’m tired of trying to eat 400 carbs a day. I think I will go back to dieting after 1 more day as long as I can do my squats without fucking up my back further. I need to be moving in a more pain free direction If I have hope of doing deadlifts again without hurting myself.
215.0 again this morning. I got lighter then heavier but now back to 215. Back is getting better. If I don’t push it I should be able to get back to doing deadlifts next week. The number one priority though is to not push it and fuck up my squat again.
Friday, 12/08/2017:
2 count pause squat:
4x265 @7.5
4x275 @8
4x285 @9
E1RM: 331.5 (down 18.5)
That is plenty for today. Mainly because my back was kind of hurting between sets. I just want to prevent my squat from detraining again. It’s not worth throwing away my back progress. Also, my legs were still sore AF from Wednesday. I really overdid it considering it was my first time squatting since the previous Wednesday. Now I understand why bros hate leg day so much. If you only do it once a week it kills you. We’re not just talking the shut up, do your warmups and you’ll be fine soreness either.
Press with belt:
5x115 @6
5x120 @7
5x125 @8.5 Damn, almost had this one back on track. Will take a 5 minute rest. Really want to get 125@8 again
5x125 @9 Grrrr
5x120 @7.5 Too easy, will do an extra. I wanted to do an extra anyway to see if it will make any difference next week
5x120 @8
5x120 @8.5
E1RM: 152.5 (up 4.5)
Almost back on track (my starting point) for presses but not quite.
Rows:
8x145 @6
8x155 @7
8x165 @8
8x165 @8.5
8x160 @8.5
8x160 @8.5
E1RM: 222 (up 7)
Elliptical: 25 mins @HR 135
Chins: 24 in 3 minutes Tied my PR again
Abs: 7 minutes 5x5 rollouts, 30 second planks in between
Chins: 22 in 3 minutes Was doing great, on track to hit a new PR but I got carried away and failed a rep early in the last minute and it threw everything off.
Sunday, 12/10/2017:
3-0-3 Tempo Squat:
8x205 @6
8x220 @7
8x235 @8
E1RM: 317.5 (up 6.5)
Did these first today because I wanted to see how they feel before I decide if I’m doing any deadlifts or not. They felt pretty good backwise. I was still feelin’ the burn from my other squats this week though, and I was crunched for time so I did only one top set. Still hit a PR but it’s probably just a PR of how hard I was willing to go rather than what I can actually do.
1 Count Pause Bench:
5x175 @8
5x180 @9
5x175 @8
5x175 @8
5x175 @8
5x175 @8.5
5x175 @8.5
E1RM: 216 (down 9.5 OUCH)
I always just do the same weight for the first 2 sets to help me feel out what the top sets should be (I’m not able to do that just from warmups). I have also overshot the RPE on the @6 set several times and then managed to get it under control with even more weight. Not this time. OUCH! Who know what happened here. It could be that I’m out of coffee and had no caffeine today. Or it could be the extra pressing volume earlier in the week. I hope I really haven’t lost that much strength. That wouldn’t make sense since I’ve been carbing up for a whole week and just went back the the cutzZz two days ago, making an extra effort to keep my carbs as high as I can this time.
I did 5 reps of sumos at 135 and they didn’t quite hurt but didn’t feel great so I’m not gonna push it. This back pain has been going on WAY too long and I really want to be doing deadlifts steady starting next week. I was confident I could by Wednesday, but my back has been hurting tonight before I typed this so maybe not til Friday.
Also, I think I might just go on with the bridge week 5 next week. I didn’t end up getting in a high stress week at all for the lower body and I probably couldn’t handle it until I’ve had a good medium stress week first, including deadlifts. That would mean going back to week 3 again. I’ve already taken 6 weeks to half ass my way through the 4th week so I think it’s time to just get on with it for better or worse.