Enter the Montana Method

[SquatsALot]

8/24

Low Bar Wide Stance tempo 4-1-0
170 6@5
175 6@5.5
185 6@7.5
167.5 7@7

RDL
115 2x12@6
120 12@7

Pendlay Rows - controlled eccentric
105 13@8
95 11@9
95 8@6

Tough session, was pretty fatigued. Had to take RDls super light, and I'm weak on rows when I am doing them slower and not explosively off the ground.

[SquatsALot]

8/27

Week 2 Session 1

High Bar Squat
225 3@6
250 3@7
215 3x4@6

1ct Pause Bench
115 lbs sets of 9,6,6@7

RDL
125 7@5
145 2x7@7,8
115 7@5

Still beat up from session 4 of last week, plus played golf between sessions, so my back and shoulder are bothering me. Was having trouble maintaining back extension on both squats and RDLs, so not my best day.

[SquatsALot]

8/28

Week 2 Session 2

Conventional Deadlift
205 5@5
220 5@6
230 5@6.5
215 10@7

2ct Pause Pin Bench
100 6@5
107.5 6@5.5
115 2x6@7

Curls
53 lbs 4x10

Deadlift went awesome, conventional is feeling really good, and I finally have work capacity on it. We'll probably start gradually raising the workload now.

Shoulder is still sore but not too bad.

[SquatsALot]

8/30

Week 2 Session 3

Pause Bench
135 2@4
145 2@5
150 2@6
127.5 4x5@5,6

High bar Squat
187.5
1x9 @7, then
2x6@5

Single arm DB OHP
15 lbs
Sets of 22,22, 20

Didn't get as many reps on my first set of squats today (targeting RPE 7), so it ended up not being much work. Bench feels normal again and not like death.

[SquatsALot]

8/31

Week 2 Session 4

4-1-0 tempo squat
175 5@5
185 5@6
195 5@7.5
175 7@7

RDL
115 10@5
125 10@6
135 10@7

Pendlay Row, controlled eccentric
95 11@6
95 10@6
95 12@7
95 10@8

RDLs were still not cooking with full gas, but I just rated them softly to hit my RPE targets to compensate for the pulling sensation in my lower back.

Getting the hang of the rows. Much less tired this week.

[SquatsALot]

Did sessions of 15 minutes, 15 minutes, and 35 minutes on the stationary bike this week. Finally connected to the electronics unit on the bike trainer, so I'm going to start logging total wattage output per session in my own spreadsheet and track over time. I hooked it up to Zwift today, but all of those seem to be geared towards people who want to 'compete' with other users, etc. I just want to pedal while watching TV and track my session stats. Argh. Everything is so 'social' these days.

[SquatsALot]

9/3

Squat (High Bar)
240 1x2 RPE 6
255 1x2 RPE 7
230 1x3 RPE 7
230 1x1 RPE 10 (had an accident)
Tried to continue by lowering weight all the way down to 155, but could not. Tweaked my back when I lost my balance and tried to retain control of the bar.

Bench
120 lbs
Sets of 11,8,8

RDL
95 6@4
115 6@5
95 3x6@6,6,7

On the squats, hit the plate against the upright at some point and got off balance, wrenched my back a bit trying to stay in control. Instead of the usual way of failing (leaning forward at the bottom to let the safeties take the bar), I kind of went over backward at the bottom. Should have bought the R3 rack instead of the RML.

[SquatsALot]

9/4

Deadlift
185 4@5
205 4@5.5
220 4@6.5
205 8@7

Pin Bench
105 5@5
115 5@5.5
125 5@7

Curls
58 lbs
4x9
1x8

Deadlift was uncomfortable due to my back, but manageable.

[SquatsALot]

9/6

Bench
140 1@5
150 1@6
160 1@7
120 5x4@7

High Bar Squat
185
1x8@7 (AMRAP to @7)
2x5@6

Single Arm DB OHP
15 lbs
3x25@6

Squats were impacted due to my back, but still got some work in.

[SquatsALot]

9/7

Low bar wide stance 4-1-0 squat
155 lbs
3x4
1x8

RDL
95 1x8
85 1x6
65 1x8

Rows controlled eccentric
95 2x9
100 1x9
105 2x9

Squats and RDLs were terribly impacted again due to my back. Rows were fine, though I'm not very strong at doing them without exploding them off the ground yet.

[SquatsALot]

9/10

Back is (mostly) better

High Bar Squat
185 1x4
215 1x4
235 1x4
190 2x6

Bench
125
1x7
2x4

5-2-0 Tempo RDLs
95 1x6
110 1x6
120 2x6

Squat was basically recovered, though off by about 10-15%. Surprised my first set (AMRAP) didn't do better but oh well. Tempo RDLs are hard to stabilize through my lower back but I was able to be produtive.

[SquatsALot]

9/11

Conventional Deadlift
205 1x6
220 1x6
230 1x6 (RPE 6)
217.5 1x7 (RPE 7)

Pin Bench
110 1x6
117.5 1x6
125 1x6
130 1x6 RPE 8

Curls
48 lbs
4x13 @7-8

Pretty good deadlift day. The first sets were super easy, knew I could do normal weight today. The 230 lb set was slightly slower, and ran out of gas a bit on the last set. But pretty happy, it's finally going to trend up now.

Pin bench was good, getting used to the lift.

Curls with the ez-curl bar are bothering my wrist, but I have a swiss bar on the way, so I'll switch to hammer curls once UPS remembers where my house is. They're claiming my address is not correct, even though they deliver here all the time lol.

[SquatsALot]

9/13

Bench
162.5 1@6.5
167.5 1@7
175 1@8
135 4x5 @6-7

High Bar squat
175 lbs
9@7
2x6@6,4

Single Arm DB OHP
17.5 lbs
2x25@6
1x18@7
1x20@7

Good bench day.

Bad squat day, for some reason my back and hips hurt today. It's not the same back issue as last week.

The DB work is getting better.

[SquatsALot]

9/4

Low bar 4-1-0 temp squat
160 6@5
175 2x6@6
170 1x7@7
Was supposed to do an RPE 8 set but actually misloaded the top set, basically forgot to put the weight on between sets.

5-2-0 Tempo RDLs
95 8@5
115 8@5.5
140 8@6.5

Rows (controlled eccentric)
105 lbs
15@7
12@7
11@7
95 lbs
10@8

Back was 100% today. The Tempo RDLs were better than I expected, and the top set was supposed to be an RPE 8, though I decided not to add a set to the overall workload.

[SquatsALot]

Finished my cut the week of Thanksgiving at 161 lbs, for a total loss of 20 lbs. Currently sitting at 163. Naval measurement is around 32", though I can draw it tight down to 29 or so if I really snug it. Have to wear 30" waist jeans now, so stopped weight loss. I'll just have to add some lean mass first to get truly lean, even at such a light weight. This is a long process!

I didn't seem to lose any strength. Bench e1RM is still hovering around 200, Squat e1RM still tracks around 300-315 (usually tests ~5% higher than my training e1RM though). Deadlift e1RM was hovering around 300. I have an AMRAP programmed on Thursday to see where my bench is at, as I'm not so great at measuring sets at RPE 6-8 on bench press, and the training cycles didn't line up right to do a peak and a real 1RM test.

Unfortunately, the week after ending my cut I tweaked my back on light RDLs and all lower body work is compromised, just when I got back to maintenance calories and finished a deload/pivot week. Not worried about it, I should be fine once I get back from Christmas break. Things had been rocking and rolling so well, I had started getting super aggressive on my RDLs and doing an explosive lockout. And, in retrospect, my lower back had been simmering for a week or two before I injured it (waking up in the morning with an ache, etc.). So going forward, I need to avoid explosive movements, my spine just doesn't take dynamic stuff under load.

I'm still training with Josh from DataDriven Strength - I highly recommend reaching out to them if you're looking for coaching.