Sets of faahve

May 12. Heavy day

Squat:
20kg x 5
40kg x 5
60kg x 5
80kg x 5
* sleeves *
100kg x 5
* belt *
120kg x 3
140kg x 1
147.5kg x 4

Erm... a 4RM. All 4 reps felt like dogsh1t. After 4th, my legs were jelly and I knew I wouldn't get a 5th. I've had a "shut up and lift" attitude that has helped a lot recently, but I just knew I'd have to dump the bar if I tried. Disappointed.

OHP:
20kg x 10
30kg x 5
40kg x 5
45kg x 3
50kg x 1
55kg x 5

New 5RM, +1.5kg. Made me feel better after the squats.

Deadlift:
70kg x 5
90kg x 5
110kg x 3
* belt *
130kg x 2
150kg x 1
170kg x 1
190kg x 1

I did a silly thing and decided to ignore the program here. Tried to make myself feel better by going for a new PR, and I got one. +15kg. But I video'd it and it looked crap. Back not straight and hips moving before the bar. This is the weight I should have gone for at the last meet but got greedy and jumped to 200kg. Yes, it is a PR, but I don't consider it progress.

Feeling sorry for myself. But maybe I should shut teh fcuk up and get over myself cos I did get 3 PRs today.

I'd like to think so, but I have to take into account that I made a lot of progress in a short space of time so it was all going to catch up with me at some point. I thought it would be further down the line, but hey ho.

I'm thinking of a TM deload. Basically, it's 90% of what all lifts would be but at a reduced volume (5x3 instead of 5x5). I'll do that for squats and deads for one week and then go back to where I was. It's light enough that I should get rid of accumulated fatigue but heavy enough that I don't 'forget' how heavy the bar is.

May 15. Volume (deload) day

Squat:
20kg x 8
40kg x 5
60kg x 5
80kg x 5
* belt *
100kg x 3
115kg x 3
115kg x 3
115kg x 3
115kg x 3
115kg x 3

These felt heavier than they should have. Perhaps this deload came at the right time.

Bench:
20kg x 10
40kg x 5
50kg x 5
60kg x 5
70kg x 3
77.5kg x 5
77.5kg x 5
77.5kg x 5
77.5kg x 5
77.5kg x 5

Not deloading the bench because progress there seems fine. The first set felt awful. Realised I was losing tension somewhere in the lift, resulting in my shoulder being forward at lockout. Rest of sets felt better once I fixed that but the last rep on each was hard. Tired and sweaty after these.

Power clean:
20kg x 10 (hang clean)
30kg x 5 (hang clean)
40kg x 3 (hang clean)
40kg x 3
40kg x 3
40kg x 3
40kg x 3

The real success story of the day. My power cleans are crap recently and I'd mainly put that down to me skipping them regularly as I usually run out of time. I spent extra time in warmups practising the triple extension and it really paid off.

Not all reps were good. I'm still inconsistent and sometimes forget the shrug part, resulting in me needing to semi-curl the bar into the catch position. But once I nail the controlled pull followed by explosive extension and catching the bar right, my head goes "fcuk yeeeaaahhh".

Grand day. Except for the rain. But I'm inside so whatever.

May 19. Heavy (deload) day

Squat:
20kg x 5
40kg x 5
60kg x 5
80kg x 5
100kg x 3
* belt *
120kg x 1
130kg x 3

Bit slow and grindy for my liking, considering it's lighter than it's supposed to be. I may have been a bit complacent of form. Silly.

Bench:
20kg x 10
40kg x 5
50kg x 5
60kg x 5
70kg x 3
80kg x 1
87.5kg x 5

New 5RM, +2.5kg. Last two reps were deathly slow. I think I may have gripped the bar wrong (more on thumb pad than across the hand) and only realised it during the 2nd rep. Still managed to get the work done.

Deadlift:
40kg x 5
40kg x 7 (RDL)
70kg x 5
90kg x 5
110kg x 3
* belt *
130kg x 1
140kg x 3

Form felt better than usual, but I didn't record so not sure how it looks. Had tension in the hamstrings more than usual so there's that.

Grand day.

May 24. Recovery day

Squat:
20kg x 5
40kg x 5
60kg x 5
80kg x 5
100kg x 5
100kg x 5

Bench:
20kg x 10
40kg x 5
55kg x 5
65kg x 5
65kg x 5
65kg x 5

Reverse hyper:
50kg x 8
80kg x 10
80kg x 10
80kg x 10

Pullup:
x 10
x 10
x 10

Facepull:
35kg plate x 12
35kg plate x 12
35kg plate x 12

Work is hellishly stressful at the moment and my eating yesterday amounted to very little followed by a rubbish Chinese takeaway in the evening. That was followed by a broken sleep by waking at 3am and dozing until 5am. Good thing today was an easy day.

May 29. Volume day

Saturday I had both a wedding and doms. Doms was about 10% the previous day's session and 90% the gardening work I did afterwards. Did some foam rolling of the back to be safe

Squat:
20kg x 6
40kg x 5
60kg x 5
80kg x 5
100kg x 3
* belt *
110kg x 1
120kg x 5
120kg x 5
120kg x 5
120kg x 5
120kg x 5

First 3 sets just felt awful. Realised I was leaning forward a bit much, so stayed a tiny bit more upright and everything felt smoother and lighter.

Bench:
20kg x 10
40kg x 5
50kg x 5
60kg x 5
70kg x 3
75kg x 1
80kg x 5
80kg x 5
80kg x 5
80kg x 5
80kg x 5

These were a struggle as usual. But looking back, I can see the progress. At my last meet, 77.5kg was the heaviest I had ever done for more than a single and now here I am, doing 80kg for 5x5. Touch and go 80kg vs 77.5kg paused, but still happy.

Power clean:
20kg x 5 (hang clean)
30kg x 5 (hang clean)
40kg x 3
45kg x 3
45kg x 3
45kg x 3
20kg x 3 (hang clean)

These felt like dogsh1t today. I stopped because I was getting a pain in my right elbow for some odd reason. Did some extra light hang cleans for sanity's sake. Think I need to spend more time doing more warmup sets as that's what helped improve these before.

All things considered, grand day.

June 2. Heavy day

Squat:
20kg x 5
40kg x 5
60kg x 5
80kg x 5
* sleeves *
100kg x 5
* belt *
115kg x 3
130kg x 1
140kg x 5

Felt heavy and grindy, but didn't feel like being missed either. Went a little forward on 2nd or 4rd rep, but form was good otherwise.

Bench:
20kg x 5
40kg x 4
60kg x 5
70kg x 3
80kg x 1
90kg x 4+F

Was about to match my paused PB with a touch and go 5RM but failed on the last rep. Strength just wasn't there. Guess it's a 4RM now.

Deadlift:
50kg x 5
70kg x 5
90kg x 3
110kg x 3
* belt *
130kg x 2
150kg x 5

Form felt grand for 3 reps, then started to fall apart as I got tired.

Annoyed I failed the bench. Won't dial back as every 2nd week is like a mini deload for bench, so will go at it again in 2 weeks. I'll get that fcuker.

Yes it does. I could have probably gone for 100 touch and go today, but ultimately, 100 paused is the next big goal. I'll see how much progress I can get with this program before switching things up and putting emphasis on paused benching again. If I reckon I could go for 105/110 touch and go, then 100 paused should be possible.

June 7. Recovery day

All the mobility. Upper quads were sore from hiking doms. Dunno the name, but top of foot on bench and knee on ground, pushing ass back into the heel seemed to work wonders.

Squat:
20kg x 8
20kg x 5
40kg x 5
60kg x 5
80kg x 5
100kg x 5
100kg x 5

Bench:
20kg x 10
40kg x 5
55kg x 5
65kg x 5
65kg x 5
65kg x 5

These felt horrifically heavy. Like, 65kg is supposed to be a piece of piss. I may have fatigued myself on Friday. Or be sick. I dunno.

GHR:
x 5
x 8
x 10

Texas Method calls for these, but anything hitting the same area is also acceptable. I hate GHRs as I can never do them right. Always end up cramping no matter what I do. But I did loads of reading and figured out what I was doing wrong. Basically, I had the motion and foot placement right, but had been placing the knee pad too close to my feet. Adjusted this and was able to bang out reps with no cramping. Nice pump too.

Pullup:
x 10
x 10
x 10

Need foooood