Hey everyone. I’m transitioning my log over here from SS. A little bit about me, I’m a 36 year old male from Phoenix, AZ. I’m currently employed as a software architect. I’m a Michigan native, USAF veteran, and an ASU graduate. My goals are to get stronger and build muscle. I train out of my garage currently, For training equipment I currently have a Rogue R-4, Ohio Power Bar, Ohio Bar, an assortment of bumper plates, as well as some loadable DB’s. My current gear wishlist includes: slingshot, aerodyne, and maybe someday a reverse hyper or GHR.
I’m not the strongest or most genetically gifted lifter in the world; genetically I’m much better at running and endurance type work. I used to do a lot of endurance stuff, especially back in my military years, but the last year and a half I’ve been focused exclusively on strength training. I’m an engineer at heart so I love to learn and I especially like to experiment and see how my body reacts to different strength training styles. I’ve definitely made a lot of mistakes in my first couple of years, but I have learned from them and am better off for them. My history started with the SS NLP. During the LP I got a bit carried away with the weight gain, I tried to eat more weight onto the bar and wound up ~22% body fat. For someone like me, who’s body likes to rest naturally in the 12-15% range that was quite a shock. I felt like crap and did a big cut where I lost 20lb on my way down to 10% body fat. I also fudged everything up and lost a ton of strength in the process, big learning lesson there. Since then I spent the last 6 months regaining 10lb slowly while doing training with a bit more of a hypertrophy bias. I built decent ratio of muscle mass surprisingly (for the first time in my life I don’t feel like the “skinny guy”). Now I’m getting anxious to change my programming up to be more strength focused and teach this new muscle to be useful. I just purchased the 12 week strength templates and I will be starting this next week. I’ve been following Jordan, Austin and co for awhile now, from the SS boards, to this site, to the more recent YouTube content. This style of training is very attractive for me, and I look forward to trying it out. As you’ll see in my log I love collecting and analyzing data and bringing RPE into the mix gives me one more piece of qualitative data that can help me paint the story of how my body is reacting to the training stress, what I respond well too, not so well, etc. In light of everything that has happened recently (and me finally taking the time to get caught up on all the discussions on the forums) I felt like it was best for me to move my log over here. I also do coach 3 of my friends currently, 2 of which are in the NLP (1 male and 1 female in early-mid 40s) and one late 20’s female of which I have currently going through an HLM intermediate program. So here I am. I hope to make gainzzz, learn, and hopefully become a part of the community over here. My old SS log is here: Strength Engineer Log - Page 32
7 min pull-ups: 63
7 min standing ab roller: 44
Banded face-pull (green band): 20/28/28
25 minute light run (4 on/1 off): 2.55 miles
Thoughts: Well I must say it feels good being able to log my conditioning/running here and not having to worry about someone talking shit to me about it, lol. Don’t know why I took so long to move my log over here, but I’m glad I did. Got a good GPP session in this morning. Next week I start week 0 of the 12 week strength template. I’m pretty beaten up from my last program, so definitely starting with week 0 to recover. I’m excited to get started.
BASELINE
e1RM’s (leaning towards the conservative end):
Squat: 300
Deadlift: 341
Bench: 195
Press: 130
Thoughts: My planned weights on squat were really close. I was a hair over on my 7&8 sets, I should have adjusted down a hair for the 8 sets when my 7 logged as a 7.5. You live, you learn. For bench this was my first time really trying a pause on bench, my RPE 6 definitely came lighter than I anticipated, that was supposed to just be a warmup set. I think the biggest limiting factor there is skill, as it’s new to me. I think that also reflects in my performance, as it got easier each set as it went along. I mean 131.5 was supposed to be 8 based off my previous sets, and it was a 7.5. Then I added a couple extra pounds hoping to hit 8, and actually dropped RPE down to a 7. So good news is I can increase this pretty quickly. For rows, I definitely focus on my RPE 10 as being form break not max weight I can get up, as I’ve had a history in the past of using a little too much back in a row to force the rep up, and straining by back in the process. Coming off of a back tweak a few weeks back, I definitely am playing rows a little more safe than sorry.
Thoughts: I’m being very cautious with deadlifts just like barbell rows, and basing RPE off of form break down, as I have a history of overloading and rounding my lower back. On press I swapped from resting at the top and TnG at the bottom, to doing competition pause with a rest at the bottom instead. As expected I can’t lift as much weight this way, but like bench I have a feeling I’ll improve my skill and make quick progress. Tempo squats are amazing. Maybe it’s just because I’m naturally really good at endurance work and high rep squats, but I actually quite enjoyed them (even though the last couple reps felt like death, they felt like death in a good way). What I liked best about them though was that it’s a great way to focus on form, bar path, and beltless bracing. That last set was probably the best beltless brace I’ve ever done. My form in general felt really solid. I’ve been having an issue in squatting recently of bringing the bar slightly forward of mid foot and feeling my balance shift forward, this helped me really hone in on the proper back angle and lock it in. Also, I can really tell a difference fatigue wise on this program, my recovery debt is clearing up. This sub-maximal training doesn’t beat me up nearly as bad, I mean squatting today for the second day in a row was no big deal.
Squat no belt: 205 x4 @7, 215 x4 @8, 221.5 x4 @9
Bench w red bands: 121.5 x4 @7, 126 x4 @8, 130 x4 @8.5
Close grip incline: 95 x10 @6.5, 102.5 x10 @ 7.5, 110 x10 @9.5
Thoughts: Kind of fun doing new variations I’ve never done before like bench w/ bands and close grip incline. I definitely had a hard time finding the right RPE on both. I was eventually able to get into a pretty good range on both, I just had to do more warmup feeler sets than I expected. I did the bands with one peg at each end of my rack and used one single end of the band. I think next time I’m going to try to keep the pegs closer together and use both sides of the band, just to see the difference. That will give a little more band tension. So far I’m really enjoying the first week of this template. I seem to have somehow strained the left side of my neck in the squat today though. I will have to pay more attention to my neck angle next time. Of note is that I have had some chronic neck pain in the past, so it’s not a new injury. I’m glad I chose to do the week 0 low-stress week, not only because I had some fatigue built up I needed to recover from, but because it allowed me to be able to feel out my RPE’s and get a bit more comfortable with the new variations before the first high volume week starts.
Thoughts: All in all that was a pretty good day out there. I was right about where I guessed my mid shin rack pull would be, I was able to do a bit more on close grip and RDL’s than I expected. I am still being very cautious with my back on rack pulls and RDL’s and basing my RPE’s not on how much total reps I can lift at all costs, but how many more reps I can hit without my back rounding. I especially took my time on RDL’s making sure I kept the bar over mid foot, as I suspect that part of my back injury a few weeks ago was from the bar swinging forward on RDL’s. This is the first time I’ve ever done heavy pulling 2x per week, this is much more pulling volume than I’ve ever done. I’m hopeful that this extra volume and frequency will finally get my deadlift moving again, as it’s been pretty stagnant for about a year now. I mean, my DL really hasn’t gotten any stronger since I finished my LP about a year ago now (DL ended LP at 300 1x5, I failed at 305). So far so good for week 0.
EDIT: want to add that after squatting yesterday I mentioned my neck hurting. Well it killed me all day, and even kept waking me up during the night. It felt like the spine was misaligned right at the base of my neck, one of the joints was sticking out. However, rack pulls today seem to have popped it back into place. The pain has mostly disappeared since doing pulls and it no longer feels like it’s misaligned. So score one for rack pulls
GPP 7 minute AMRAPS;
Weighted chin-up 25: 40 total
Ab roller from feet: 36 total
Hammer curl 22.5: 50 total
Neck extension 25: 85 total
LISS: The weather is amazing, so I’m about to go for a nice long hike.
Weekly Composition:
Average weight: 161.71 (same weight as last week)
Waist: 31.5in (-.25in from last week)
Calories: 2700
Thoughts: Since it was a low stress week I only ate 2700 calories last week. Did some nice recomping though very surprisingly, I weigh the same but lost 1/4 inch from my waist. Not going to complain there one bit! Definitely going to increase calories going into this next week since volume is going up, likely 2800. For my training today I also threw in some neck extensions, as when I have done them regularly in the past it seems to prevent the neck issues that I was experiencing earlier this week. So I’ll likely throw them in once a week on GPP day as pre-hab work. I’m not worried about adding that in effecting my recovery or anything, after all work capacity is the one thing that I have in spades. It’s a perfect 80 degrees with a cool breeze today, so my LISS is about to go and happen out on the hiking trails! Gotta take advantage of the weather while I can, it won’t be long at all before it will be too hot to hike.
Thoughts: I really like training like this, with a heavy single followed by volume work based off the single. I’ve never really trained singles before, that’s actually the most weight I’ve ever had on my back for a squat. It wasn’t too bad either, form looked really solid on the video. I have a feeling my squat is going to break out this training cycle. Last week on my comp bench I mentioned that the weight was lower than I expected and i suspected that it was because I was not used to using a pause. Well boom, this week I added +25lb to my e1rm, so I think that proves the theory. I’m still being very cautious with rows because of my recent back injury. I pulled these with my legs a bit wider apart (probably about halfway between a conventional and a sumo stance), and it actually felt quite good on my lower back. Bonus was that with my knees angled out I didn’t accidentally slam the bar into my knee caps at all, haha. I might try this going forward.
Thoughts: The press is my arch nemesis I swear. 2 weeks ago I hit an easy triple at 115, so I think 117.5 sounds like a reasonable weight to try for an @8. All warmups leading up to it feel good. Load 117.5, unrack, and press… bar doesn’t even fucking budge. I was not happy. That first rep of the press has always been tough for me. It’s one of those, if I can get it up once I can get it up 3-5 times kind of deals. I’m doing comp press now with rest at the bottom though, so hopefully eliminating the touch and go will help strengthen my press out of the bottom. I think I may have gotten a little too dependent on that stretch reflex. My LP ended a year ago with my last successful 3x5 being 112lb, so basically I’m no stronger a year later. Hopefully this program will get it moving because up until now everything I’ve done has been an exercise in futility. Other than that, this day 2 is a brutal day, much harder than it looks on paper. I’m definitely tired and ate a royal shit load of food post workout, haha. I definitely need to improve my conditioning a hair, as I was getting really winded on the last couple 303 reps each set. Should be easy to improve my conditioning though since I haven’t really done much conditioning the last 6 months or so. On the good news front, that deadlift is a +20lb e1rm from last week, 325 was actually my e1rm from last week and I hit it @8 today, haha.
Thoughts: Strange day out there today. Squat was the only exercise I got RPE’s right on. My warmups on squat were feeling heavy, so I didn’t hit the numbers I hoped today, I had to auto-regulate down. If I would have went for the numbers I wrote down I would have gotten buried today. But that’s what RPE is for, I still got a quality workout in and hit my RPE’s dead on. Bench w/ bands was another story. I had a real hard time feeling out my RPE’s there. I typically judge my RPE’s based on my bar speed, but since using bands slows the bar speed down I had a hard time quantifying my RPE and I definitely undershot it, as is obvious by my RPE’s going down as the sets went on and I started to better calibrate my RPE readings. I think I have a better feel for this exercise though, so next week I should be able to get a better reading. Close grip incline was the opposite. I was too aggressive there. I way overshot my RPE’s, having one set I had to cut off at 9 reps. Once I hit that 111 x10 @9.5 everything was pretty much downhill from there. I got more and more fatigued each set, even though I kept dropping weight and increasing rest periods I still couldn’t quite get my head back above water. So it was a strange day all around. Undershooting RPE’s wasn’t a big deal. Overshooting RPE’s on the other hand definitely hit me pretty hard. Lots of lessons learned today.
Thoughts: I’m learning the real cue for my deadlift and rack pulls are to keep my upper back tight. When I keep my upper back tight it removes the strain from my lower back, and also makes the weight feel lighter. Hopefully this is the cue I’ve been needing to get my deadlift moving again. My squat was stuck for ages until I realized I was keeping my shins too vertical and started cueing to push my knees forward, ever since then my squat has been progressing consistently. Hopefully, this unlocks that for my deadlift, finally. Other than that good day. RDL’s for 10’s suck.
GPP 7 minute amrap’s:
Chinup weighted 25: 39 total
Ab roller from feet: 38 total
Hammer curl 25: 44 total
Rear delt lateral raise 20: 42 total
LISS: ~4 mile hike
Weekly Composition:
Average weight: 161.11 (-0.6lb)
Waist: 31.5in (same as last week)
Average Calories: 2790
Thoughts: I’m really shocked that I lost weight this week. In the past 2800 calories put weight on at about the .5lb per week rate on me. The 4 day per week high volume full body lifting schedule really increases my calorie requirements. Going to go up a bit this week in calories. Probably going to shoot for 2850-2900 per day and see how that goes. Today is a high of 82 so I’m going to go do a nice long hike in the mountains outside my neighborhood for my LISS as soon as I’m done here. The 10 day forecast after today is all mid-upper 90’s, and since it is this time of year, there’s a high probability that this is the last 80 degree afternoon I’m going to see here in Phoenix until the end of October/early November, so I guess I gotta make the most of it!
Thoughts: That top single on squat was easily the ugliest squat rep I’ve taken in well over a year. I’m not so sure that weight was really a 9, I think everything just went wrong form wise and that turned it into a 9. I leaned too far forward and balance went forward of mid foot so I had to contend with trying to get back centered on the way up, I went a hair too low, and I also didn’t push my knees out as much as I usually do and my knees caved, that’s the first rep since my LP 14-15 months ago that my knees caved in on. So it was not a normal rep at all. My last warmup rep was a single at 245 and that shot up like lightening. Oh well, I guess it happens at times. Other than that everything went well. My bench with a +5lb from last week came in at a 7.5, I watched the video a few times to verify and it was definitely, and surprisingly, under an 8. So the good news is that my bench is getting stronger on a weekly basis again
EDIT: I just realized that I am dumb and I’ve been doing 1 extra set on all of my supplemental work. When the template said like x10 @9x2 I for some reason was thinking 1 at 9 and 2 backoffs… So that’s 8 extra sets each week. Pretty significant. I’ll pare that back to where it is supposed to be from now on.
Thoughts: This is definitely the longest day time wise, took me ~100 minutes to finish the workout today. Deadlift alone took me like 45, gotta trim that down a bit. I think the main reason that took so long was mainly my extreme loathing of deadlifts and dragging ass on warmups in procrastination.
GPP 7 minute AMRAP’s
Pullup: 54 total
Hanging Leg Raise: 50 total
Barbell Curl 60: 36 total
Face Pull Green Band: 75 total
LISS: 4 mile hike
Thoughts: I really like GPP days. Feels great to have a change of pace from the regular daily barbell work, and my body feel really good after getting the blood flowing.
Thoughts: Much better day out there this week. I hit my RPE’s dead on, last week I severely overshot on close grip incline and that beat me up pretty bad. This week I was right where I should be. My body is feeling great this week, I’m recovering well, and my numbers are increasing week to week across the board, so I have no complaints at this point in time.
Thoughts: Pretty good day out there. I was hoping to do +5lb on close grip, but my last warmup moved slower than expected and that told me that wasn’t going to fly, so I went with 2.5lb and it worked out well RPE wise. +5 on everything else though. All in all, it’s been a good week. GainzZz across the board.
Chin weighted 25lb: 42 total
Ab roller from feet: 41
Hammer curl 25: 42
Rear delt raise: 39
LISS: 4 mile hike
Weekly Composition:
Average weight: 162.26 (+1.15lb)
Waist: 31.66 in (+.16")
Average Calories: 2801
Thoughts: Getting strange readings the last couple weeks with my weight. Last week I ate 2790 calories and my average weight went down. This week I was planning on eating more calories, but my weight shot up right at the start of the week, so I auto regulated to keep my calories at 2800, yet I gained over a lb. I don’t really know what to make of that, my body is not normally that inconsistent. The 1lb+ was more than desired though, I can tell by looking at myself this week that most of that gain was fat. So I’m going to try 2750 calories this coming week and see how that goes, slow the gain down just a bit. I want to be about 1/2lb per week ideally; from experience, any more than that and my partitioning ratios seem to always go to shit. Also, I’m budgeting in an AirDyne bike next month, since the Phoenix oven will be cooking again at that time, and some air conditioned conditioning work would be great! I’m just going to get the cheap as dirt AD-2, because the Amazon ratings on the more expensive models don’t seem to be any better, either way they seem to break a lot, so I might as well go cheaper if there’s a high probability that the thing will break in the first couple of years.
Thoughts: Another nice comp bench PR this week. That’s just chugging along nicely. I’m surprised how quickly I’ve adjusted to a pause at the bottom, since I never trained with a pause until 3 weeks ago, lol. Squat didn’t go as desired again today though. 265 is turning into quite the bump on the road. Re-watching the video on the lift and the bar bobbles on the way up, so my balance wasn’t right. I leaned too far forward, then my body shifted back mid rep to bring the bar back over mid foot and that caused a bobble. So for a second week in a row I screwed my form up on the single, though not as bad this week as last.
Thoughts: Not my best day. I’ve been under a ton of stress the last 2 days and I barely slept last night because I had so much on my mind. I feel like hot garbage this morning. I also woke up 2lb lighter than usual today for whatever reason. So i definitely overshot my deadlift, it felt straight awful. I didn’t do my supplemental today because frankly the only thing I could find the motivation for was to simply do my main lifts. It was a check the box and get out kind of day. Shit happens sometimes, and thankfully the external stressors are all temporary.
