Nice to see you back! I ran the Beginner template after a long summer of many missed workouts and I thought it was pretty challenging.
Thursday 07/08/2021 - Late Entry
Beginner Template (Reduced and Modified) D2 (no week yet)
Note - still continuing just the movements for now. Not worried about any numbers. We’ll see what happens this coming week.
Back Squat (safety bar) w/ belt: 95x7; 115x7; 135x7; 145x7 RPE 6
Overhead Press: 55x4; 65x4; 85x4; 95x4 – again maybe RPE 6 on the last set
Bent Rows: 95x10; 105x10; 105x10; 105x10 RPE 7 on the last two sets
Whatever’s going on with my right shoulder is not affecting my bench press. Just a touch of something on overhead press, but really not what I would call pain…
Monday 07/12/2021
Beginner Template (Reduced and Modified) D3 (no week yet)
Note - still continuing just the movements for now. Not worried about any numbers. We’ll see what happens this coming week.
Deadlift: 145x4; 185x4; 205x4 @ 7; 205x4 @ 7 - RPEs creeping up. I’ll start to hit RPE during the next round and then after that each counted set will be @ 8 for each movement (that’s when I’ll actually start the template)
Back Squat (safety bar) w/ belt: 95x10;105x10; 115x10; 125x10 RPE 6 - keeping it light for DOMS avoidance
Bench Press: 65x10; 85x10; 115x8; 135x8@7; 135x8@7
Ready to start amping up the effort/load a bit.
Wednesday 07/14/2021
Beginner Template (Reduced and Modified) D1 W1
Starting to increase load/RPE
Back Squat (safety bar) w/ belt: 165x4; 175x4; 185x4; 185x4 RPE 8 on the last 2 sets
Bench Press: 85x10; 115x10; 135x10; 135x10 – again maybe RPE 7.5 on the last 2 sets
Deadlift: 145x8 x 4 – RPE about 7 or so - protecting my back a little.
Target next time for D1 will be 4 sets at RPE 8.
Given the number of reps, happy with the pressing. Squats still need some technique work. Safety bar makes it kind of low bar / high bar hybrid, probably closer to high bar.
Saturday 07/17/2021
Beginner Template (Reduced and Modified) D2 W2
Back Squat (safety bar) w/ belt: 95x7; 125x7; 135x7; 165x7 RPE 8 on the last set
Overhead Press: 85x4; 100x4; 105x4 x 2 – RPE about 7
Bent Rows: 95x10; 105x10; 105x10; 105x10 RPE 7 on the last two sets
Monday 07/19/2021
Beginner Template (Reduced and Modified) D3 W2
Back Squat (safety bar) w/ belt: 115x10; 125x10; 145x10 x 2 @ 8
Bench Press: 85x8; 115x8; 140x8 x 3 @ ~ 7.5
Deadlift: 185x4 @ 6; 235 x 4 x 3 @ ~ 7.5
Inching closer to the effort I want. Managing DOMs and 4 disc herniations so still working hard on my forms.
Wednesday 07/21/2021
Beginner Template (Reduced and Modified) D1 W3
Back Squat (safety bar) w/ belt: 185x4 x 4 @ RPE 8 on the last 2 sets
Bench Press: 135x10 x 4 @ RPE 8 by the last 2 sets (doing full 4 sets)
Deadlift: 155x8 x 4 – RPE about 7 or so - still protecting my back a little.
DOMS are no longer a concern. Gym’s been open for 3 weeks now and my body is getting used to the work load.
Friday 07/23/2021 (Late Entry)
Beginner Template D2 W3
Back Squat (safety bar) w/ belt: 135x7; 165x7 x 4 @ 8
Overhead Press: 95x4; 105x4 @7.5 ; 110x4 x 3 @ 8
Bent Rows: 110x10 x 4 @ 8
Lower back went out a bit - had a rough weekend after this…
Wednesday 07/28/2021 (Late Entry)
Beginner Template D3 W3
Schedule and body too tight - skipped Monday.
Back Squat (without safey bar!) w/ belt: 95x10; 135x10 x 3 @ 6. Working out the tightness around the lumbar discs. Good response - light weight. Still shoulder trouble, but less than before…
Bench Press: 150x8 x 4 @ 8
Deadlift: 235 x 4 x 4 @ ~ 7.5 Kept the weight the same as last time; again accommodating the lower back. Went well
Friday 07/30/2021
Beginner Template D1 W4
Back Squat: 190x4 x 4 @ RPE 8 - Shoulder ok. Heavier loads may be a problem because when the weight goes up I feel it and tend to favor it a bit. Still encouraging for now.
Bench Press: 135x10 x 4 @ RPE 8
Deadlift: 155x8 x 4 – RPE about 7 or so - still protecting my back a little.
Not much of a load change because the back is still tight, but I’m working on setting myself better. That seems to help.
Monday 08/02/2021
Beginner Template D2 W4
Back Squat: 170x7 x 4 @ RPE 8; the shoulder is going to be an ongoing thing until I get it looked at, but at least it’s mobile enough to squat for now without using the safety bar.
Bench Press: 165x4 x 3 @ RPE 7.5; 170x4 @ RPE 8; Had to replace overhead press w/ bench because of shoulder mobility.
Bent Rows: 115x10x4 @ RPE 7 - again, still dealing with lower back disc stuff, so not quite where I want to be w/ RPE yet.
Wednesday 08/04/2021
Beginner Template D3 W4
Back Squat: 145x10 x 4 @ RPE 7
Bench Press: 155x8 x 4 @ RPE 8
Dead Lift: 245x4 x 4 @ RPE 7
Still protecting the lower back stuff, but that’s getting a little better with each training session. Feels good to be doing this regularly again. Rumor has it we may close the gym again, but I’ll remain hopeful…
Monday 08/09/2021
Beginner Template D1 W5
Back Squat: 200x4 x 4 @ RPE 8
Bench Press: 140x10 x 4 @ RPE 8
Dead Lift: 165x8 x 4 @ RPE 7
Wednesday 08/11/2021
Beginner Template D2 W5
Back Squat: 175x7 x 4 @ RPE 7.5; Maybe could have pushed that little bit more, but I’m still babying the shoulder. A couple of weeks ago I could not hold the bar for low bar back squat. Still feel a twinge, but getting better.
Bench Press: 185x4 @ RPE 8; Shoulder still preventing overhead press - so gonna stick w/ bench for awhile. This was a true RPE 8. Had a hard time trying to find that.
Bent Rows: 120x10x4 @ RPE 7 - same story - still dealing with lower back disc stuff, so not quite where I want to be w/ RPE yet.
Friday 08/13/2021
Beginner Template D3 W5
Back Squat: 150x10 x 4 @ RPE 7
Bench Press: 160x8 x 4 @ RPE 8
Dead Lift: 275x4 x 4 @ RPE 8 First time since I got going again that I took the weight to a true RPE 8. Quite happy with the response.
I know this is not the Beginner Template in full, and I don’t have the full thing, but I’m going to keep this going as a NLP for now until I need to switch. Right now I’m just trying to get to RPE 8 on everything, while not caring (or trying to not care) about the numbers. Then I’ll go back to one of the the purchased templates I used prior to our Covid shutdown. But for now, just happy to have 6 consistent weeks back in the saddle.
Monday 08/16/2021
Beginner Template D1 W6
Back Squat: 205x4 x 3 @ RPE 8; 210x4 x 1 @ RPE 8
Bench Press: 145x10 x 4 @ RPE 8
Dead Lift: 185x8 x 4 @ RPE 7.5
General progress comment - shoulder mobility is pretty good. I seem to be handling increased squat loads with no effect, which is good. Still not able to get the range of motion I need to include any overhead press. I may look at some sort of light weight rehab style moves to work on that. If it persists much longer I may go ahead and have an orthopedist look at it. I’m sure he/she will prescribe some sort of PT, but I’d rather have a jump on that.
Also, having been off for more than a year, dialing in the RPE properly is a little tricky, but I’m getting closer.
Wednesday 08/18/2021 (Late Entry)
Beginner Template D2 W6
Back Squat: 185x7 x 4 @ RPE 8
Bench Press: 190x4 x 4@ RPE 8
Bent Rows: 125x10x4 @ RPE 7 - same story - still dealing with lower back disc stuff, so not quite where I want to be w/ RPE yet.
Friday 08/27/2021
Beginner Template D3 W6
Out of town on business travel for a week. Did some HIIT on the C2 Rower on Tuesday, 8/24 and some Smith Machine squats and dumb bell presses just to stay active.
Returned home late Thursday night (about 1130p). Up after 3 hours sleep for more work stuff. Stumbled into the gym feeling exhausted and had a real good session. I would not have predicted it.
Back Squat: 150x10 x 4 @ RPE 7
Bench Press: 165x8 x 4 @ RPE 8
Dead Lift: 285x4 x 4 @ RPE 8
Monday 08/30/2021
Beginner Template D1 W7
Back Squat: 215x4 x 4 @ RPE 8;
Bench Press: 155x10 x 4 @ RPE 8 (8.5 last set)
Dead Lift: 195x8 x 4 @ RPE 7.5
Wednesday 09/01/2021
Beginner Template D2 W7
Back Squat: 190x7 x 4 @ RPE 8
Bench Press: 195x4 x 3 @ RPE 8; 200x4 x 1 @ RPE 8.5 (I was chasing a number…)
Bent Rows: 130x10x4 @ RPE 7.5