Finally been back in the gym for the last couple weeks after lockdowns have been relaxed. Figured I’d start a log as this is the third (fourth?) time I’ve had a run through the beginner template in the last couple years. 5’11", 38 y/o, starting b/w 210 lbs.
Not a bad week. Stronger than I thought I was going to be. Added the additional upper back and ab work on the GPP day because I’d been doing some bodyweight stuff at home while the gym was closed and I figure it can’t hurt.
Lower body lifts are all going up 10 lbs, getting stronger much quicker than I thought I would. Can’t complain. Getting much faster on the rower as well. Good week.
Day 3 bench is starting to stick, repeated last weeks sets and they felt a lot better. No complaints thought, the est. 1RM for that lift is way ahead of the Day 1 bench. Day 3 squat only went up 5 lbs. Not gonna cry about it, squatting sets of 10 makes me cry enough. Swapping the GPP upper back work next week. I figure the inverted rows will be better not doing them the day after a bunch of Pendlay row volume.
Pretty good week. Last sets on Pendlay row, day 3 bench, and day 3 squat are all exceeding RPE targets, which makes me think they’re starting to get stuck. Might get a few more weeks out of them before I have to move on to phase 2. Still making progress on GPP elements. Moving the inverted row to the day after deadlifting was a good idea.
Felt pretty beat up all week. The 4-rep lower body lifts are still going up quickly, but the higher rep stuff has all slowed down to 5lbs jumps, with the exception of the Day 3 Squats for 10 reps. Wasn’t feeling a jump this week so repeated last week’s weights, and all sets were at the right RPE targets. Est 1RM stayed the same though, and if it stays there that’s a stall. All other 1RMs went up a little bit. Went for a 5lbs jump on the Day 3 Bench and only did one set at top weight because it was a solid RPE 9. We’ll see what happens next week. I might get 2-3 more weeks before moving on the Phase 2.