Probably A Bad Idea

[nealstar]

Block 8. Cycle 6. Session B.

BW - 226

Waist - 43"

sRPE @ 8

Press -
142.5X1, 1 @~8, 8.5
125X5 @8

Bench -
230X1 @8
170X12, 12 @7.5, 8

Chin-Ups - BWX6, 3, 4 @~10

Pull-Downs - X10, 7 @9,10

Solid session all around. Pressing strength showed slight to average progress. Vertical Pulling strength was a little stagnant.

[nealstar]

Block 8. Cycle 6. Session C.

BW - 230

Waist - 42.75"

sRPE @ 8

Deadlift -
385X1 @8
300X12, 12 @7.75, 8.5

GHR (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests, harder setting than previous) -
BWX14, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 @8

Solid session. DL progressed normally.

I increased the difficulty slightly on the GHR by raising the food pad one notch.

[nealstar]

Block 8. Cycle 6. Session D.

BW - 231

Waist - 43.5"

sRPE @8

Chin-Ups -
BW+20X4, 3, 3, 2 @~10
BWX5 @9.5

Rack Chin-Ups (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - BWX9, 3, 3, 3, 3, @~9

Dips -
BW+20X8 @7.5
BWX13 @9.25

Rope Pushdowns - X19 @10

BB Curls -
75X8, 8 @9,10
65X12 @10

Okay session. We had folks in town all of last week, so I had an extra day off between sessions, and also ate a shit ton of food. So everything was a bit sluggish today.

Still everything generally still increased in weight and/or reps.

[nealstar]

Block 8. Cycle 7. Session A.

BW - 229

Waist - 43.5"

sRPE@7

Squat -
370X1 @8
287.5X12, 12 @7.75, 9

Leg Press (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) -
4.5ppsX15, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 @9/8.5

Nice bounce back session on Squats.

Top end strength on Squat dipped last week. I went 370@8.25 two weeks ago, but last week was a solid 360X8. I was ready to only shoot for 365 today, but I still warmed up for 370, and the warm-ups all felt strong, and led to a very nice single at 370.

287.5X12 is an all-time 12 rep PR, and considering I did it for 2 sets with a little room to spare on both, I'm very happy about it.

5pps was clearly an overreach last week on Leg Press. I backed it off to 4-on-1-side, 5-on-the-other, and it was definitely back on track.

With Thanksgiving just a few weeks away, I'm going to try and push into an 8th week. I haven't pushed that far since I started using the Emerging Strategies framework, but this is a good chance to see if I can sustain or increase my peak for an 8th week.

[nealstar]

Block 8. Cycle 7. Session B.

BW - 229

Waist - 43.75"

sRPE @ 8

Press -
145X1, 1 @~8
127.5X5 @ 8

Bench -
235X1 @8
177.5X12, 12 @~8, 9

Chin-Ups -
BWX6, 4, 4 @ ~10

Pull-Downs -
120X10 @10
90X14 @9.5

Nice session.

I've been flagging Week 7 as my peak week since I've been using Emerging Strategies, and I will say that motivated me to dial-in a little tighter today.

Solid jumps on OHP.

Nice 5 lb. jump on Bench top set. 177.5X12 is a 12 Rep PR. Second set was much tougher for some reason.

Reps on Chins were comparable to last week, but BW was up 3 lbs. so it feels like progress.

Pull-Downs felt/have been feeling kind of plateau-y so instead of repeating the weight on the 2nd set, I dropped back to the work weight from week 1. That was 90X12 @8 on the first set in week 1, so 90X14 @9.5 on the second set feels progress-ish.

[nealstar]

Block 8. Cycle 7. Session C.

BW - 226

Waist - 43.25"

sRPE @ 8

Deadlift -
395X1 @8.25
307.5X12, 12 @8, 8.5

GHR (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - BWX16, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 @~8.5

Solid session.

Tried to push the DL a bit. Was hoping to get in striking range to try 405X1 and 315X12 next week. That may be a bit of a stretch, especially if my Time-to-Peak is truly 7 weeks and I see a plateau-and-or-regression next week. Still wanted to make the push, and it went okay. Pushed the top single an extra five lbs., but it was a touch heavier than I'd hoped it would be. Pushed the weight for 12's by just 2.5 lb.s, and it worked out well.

Added a couple of reps to the activation set of GHR myo-reps.

Was very tired by the end of this session.

[nealstar]

Block 8. Cycle 7. Session D.

BW - 227

Waist - 43"

sRPE @ 7

Chin-Ups -
BW+26.25X4, 3, 3 @~10
BWX7 @10

Rack Chins - BWX7, 3, 3, 3, 3 @~9

Dips -
BW+30X8 @7.75
BWX14 @8.5

Rope Pushdowns - 80X22

BB Curls -
75X8, 8, 8 @8/9.25

Another solid session as this block winds/comes to a close.

Chins continue to make slight progress. This was an increase in total weight on the weighted sets, and a block rep PR for unweighted chins.

Rack chins didn't get as many overall reps this session, but I played with the set-up, and got them feeling more stable in general.

Dips hit block PRs in both total weight X8, unweighted total reps, and e1RM for both. And these are both right around my all-time WeightsXReps for Dips even though the RPE is submaximal.

Curls were also much stronger this week.

[nealstar]

Block 8. Cycle 8. Session A.

BW - 226

Waist - 43"

sRPE @ 8

Squat -
375X1 @ 8.75
290X12 @8.5

Leg Press (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rest) -
4.5ppsX18, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 @9/8.5

Hard downturn in Squats this session as I try to push my block length pass my estimated time-to-peak. Top single was hard kind of out of nowhere based on warm-ups. First back-off set was so much more difficult than expected, the option was to drop weight, or just stop. Because this is the last squat session of the block, I just cut it and went to accessory. Didn't get video of the set of 12.

Leg Press did add some reps to the activation set, but with having skipped the 2nd set of 12 on Squats, who knows about that.

[nealstar]

Block 8. Cycle 8. Session B.

BW - 229

Waist - 43.25"

sRPE @ 7

Press -
147.5X1, 1 @8.5, 9.25
130X5 @8

Bench -
245X1 @8
180X12 @8.5

Chin-Ups - BWX6, 5, 4 @~10

Pull-Downs -
122.5X9 @9.5
100X10 @9.5

Funny session.

Press definitely didn't feel any stronger, but also didn't seem to backslide.

Bench high reps felt terrible on the warm-ups, but then the singles just seemed to lock in somehow, and I had a big, 10 lb. jump over last week, even with self lift-off. Hit the first back-off set, but it felt like it wasn't there (forgot to get video), so I skipped the second set, similar to Squats the day before, since this is the last week of this block. Just didn't feel like backing off more in the last week.

Likewise, chin-ups and pull-downs were all comparable to last week. Plateaued at the end of the block.

Still weird about those Bench singles, though.

[nealstar]

Block 8. Cycle 8. Session C.

BW - 228

Waist - 43"

sRPE @ 7

Deadlift -
405X2 @8.75
315X12 @7.75

GHR (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - BWX16, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 @8/7

Nice session.

Lots of PR stuff on DL. 405X2 and 315X12 are both lifetime rep PRs, and while both project lifetime e1RM PRs, that sub-maximal 405X2 really feels like one.

Similar to the other PL movement sessions this week, I dropped the second set of 12.

GHRs were fine.

[nealstar]

Block 8. Cycle 8. Session D.

BW - 227

Waist - 43.25"

sRPE @ 7

Chin-Ups -
BW+30X4, 3, 3 @~10
BWX6 @9.5

Rack Chins (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - BWX8, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, @~9

Dips -
BW+35X8 @9.5
BWX12 @9.5

Rope Pushdowns - 90X13@9

BB Curls -
80X8, 8 @8.5, 9.75
60X18 @9.5

Some ups and down on the last session of this training block.

257(BW+30)X4 ties a lifetime Rep PR on Chins. They didn't feel strong, but tying a Rep PR isn't nothing. Maybe poised to jump to some all-time PRs next block. That would be nice.

Rack Chins did feel strong. Even though I got less reps on the first set, I got more total overall reps, and sometimes you've got to be happy with that.

Dips definitely took a step back. Weighted sets were much harder this week with only ~4 more lbs., and BW back-off sets were much harder. HOWEVER, 262(BW+35)X8 is a lifetime Rep PR.

80X8 on Barbell curls is a lifetime Rep PR. These made nice, very linear progress here. Probably because I haven't had them in a regular development block in a long time.

All-in-all this block demonstrated to me the power of being able to put together a consistent run of training. Almost a year into using the Emerging Strategies framework (I may do a fuller write up of this to help organize my own thoughts), and I can see that a full ~7 "week" training block usually nets around 5-6% increases. Training Max is around 96%, and usually increases around 12% by the end of a full block. The big challenge is stringing those together around life interruptions.

[nealstar]

Pivot Block. Cycle 1. Session A.

BW - 230

Waist - 43"

sRPE @7

3-2-0 Beltless Squat -
230X4 @7
235X4, 4, 4 @~7.5

Machine Pullovers -
80X10 @7.5
85X10, 10 @8,9

Single-Leg, Elevated BB Hip Thrusts - BW+45X8, 8, 8 @9, 8, 7

Rope Hammer Curls - 70X12, 14 @8.5, 10

First session of the pivot in the books.

Reducing the tempo a bit on the PL variants this pivot to see what that's like. Also, made a game-time decision to do them beltless. Everything actually felt a bit tight and creaky. Maybe even more ready for a pivot block than I thought.

Pullovers felt solid. All reps paused at the top and bottom.

I'm going to be doing Barbell Hip Thrusts as an accessory next block, and I like to find ways to acclimate to upcoming, relatively novel development block movements in the preceding pivot block if I can. One thing that should certainly be true: doing this movement with two legs, should be MUCH EASIER than getting it set up for single-leg work. The weird descending RPE is because of getting acclimated to the set-up and execution.

[nealstar]

Pivot Block. Cycle 1. Session B.

BW - 226

Waist - 42.75"

sRPE @ 7

3-2-0 Tempo Bench -
130X7 @7
135X7 @7.5

DB Press (350 Method) - 25sX25, 17, 15 (57 total)

Inverted Row (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - BWX16, 5, 5, 5, 5, 7 @8.5/9

Flexed-Arm Knee-to-Bar - BWX6, 4, 5 @8.5/10

I'll have a bit more focus on Press next block vs. Bench, and so I've reduced the total Bench variation sets for the pivot, and upped the total reps on the Press variation. Press used Paul Carter's 350 method (3 AMRAP sets until you can get 50 reps, then up the weight next session). Blew past 50 here, so I'm going to up it to the 35s next week. That's a bigger jump than I would take in a developmental block, but with only a 2 week pivot and such high reps, I feel comfortable ramping intensity quickly here.

All the chin-up volume in the last block seems to have done wonders for the ol' flexed-hang knee raise. I've always done these as a partial curl-up, but I had no problem going knee to bar on these sets, and reps/set were comparable to past pivot blocks despite the longer ROM.

[nealstar]

Pivot Block. Cycle 1. Session C.

BW - 227

Waist - 43"

sRPE @ 7

3-2-0 Tempo Deadlift -
255X4, 4 @7
260X4, 4 @~7

Single-Leg Hack Squat -
20X8, 8 @~8
10X8 @~9

NG DB Bench - 55sX15 @8

RG EZ Curls - 50X15, 15 @8,9

Odd session.

Tempo always takes a while to get used to, especially a new tempo, so I was fine with it being difficult to get the tempo pulls dialed-in.

And I also know that Hack Squats can be pretty tough, especially relative to Leg Press. I did NOT expect them to be "almost hitting failure with 10 lbs." tough. My left leg in particular seemed to kind of hate these. I tried staggering which leg I started with, but it didn't seem to make much difference. Not really looking forward to doing these again this week, but kind of curious what full hack squats are going to be like next block. I'll be doing them for myo-reps, and right now I'm thinking it will be fairly looooow weight.

Neutral grip DB bench, keeping the elbows close to mid-line throughout, is meant to be pivot assistance for Dips.

Trying out some reverse grip curls because my right brachioradialis has been kind of achy during the prior block from chins. Seeing if some more direct hypertrophy work for it while I'm not doing chins will help when I bring them back next block.

[KarlM]

Trying out some reverse grip curls because my right brachioradialis has been kind of achy during the prior block from chins. Seeing if some more direct hypertrophy work for it while I'm not doing chins will help when I bring them back next block.

Totally take this with a grain of salt and all that, but I think it's really important to fully hang at the bottom of your chins to get a full stretch on your lats and to reduce the chances of tendon pain. I think the eccentric portion of the lift, and especially if you cut it short, pretty much guarantees bicep and/or elbow pissiness. YMMV however!

[nealstar]

Trying out some reverse grip curls because my right brachioradialis has been kind of achy during the prior block from chins. Seeing if some more direct hypertrophy work for it while I'm not doing chins will help when I bring them back next block.

Totally take this with a grain of salt and all that, but I think it's really important to fully hang at the bottom of your chins to get a full stretch on your lats and to reduce the chances of tendon pain. I think the eccentric portion of the lift, and especially if you cut it short, pretty much guarantees bicep and/or elbow pissiness. YMMV however!

Appreciate the thought! I do know I tend to cut chins...high, lol? Not come to full extension, however you want to put it.

[nealstar]

Pivot Block. Cycle 2. Session X.

BW - 230

Waist - 43.25"

sRPE @ 8

3-2-0 Beltless Deadlift - 275X4, 4, 4 @7/7.5

DB Press (350 Method) - 35sX25, 13, 10 @~9.5

Inverted Row (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - BWX15, 5, 6, 6, 6, 8 @8/9

Flexed-Arm Knee-to-Bar - BWX7, 5, 5 @9.5/10

[nealstar]

Block 9. Cycle 1. Session A.

BW - 227

Waist - 43.5"

sRPE @7

Chin-Ups - BW+17.5X4, 3 @~10

Press -
150X1 @9
135X3, 3 @~8

Dips -
BW+25X10 @9.5
BW+5X10 @8

WG Pull-Downs (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - 85X16, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 @8/9

Decent session to start the new training block.

I shifted things around to start off with the movements that struggled the most last block.

Chin-ups were about as expected.

Press ended up being a bit stronger out of the gate than expected.

I thought the opening weight on Dips might be a bit ambitious and I was right. Will back-off a touch next week.

Using extra-Wide Grip bar on pull-downs to see if I can get a little more focus on all the little muscles that struggle at the top of a chin-up. Theoretical, and probably a bad idea.

[nealstar]

Block 9. Cycle 1. Session B.

BW - 229

Waist - 43.25"

sRPE @ 7

Squat -
330X3 @7.75
250X15 @8

High Bar Squat - 250X7 @8

Hip Thrusts (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - 135X15, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 @ 8/7.5

Solid session.

Top triple on Squats moved really well. Weight came in above target, and probably could have gone up 2-5 lbs., but these top sets are really final warm-ups in this block.

Targeting @9 for the sets of 15 this block, and I know it's going to take some calibration to get there. This weight was still above target, but definitely well below @9. On the first week, I didn't want to add in another set for a couple of reasons: 1) want to avoid adductor and quad DOMS as these have caused me problems at the beginning of past blocks, 2) at reps this high, I could see myself adding weight and suddenly finding myself @ 10+ in the first week.

Plan for High Bars was to shoot for 7@8 with the final weight from low bar. Hoping to be able to go straight into it, and avoid taking off weight and doing a "warm up" set. Tried that today, and it was a bit awkward having not done high bar in a few blocks, but I'm hopeful I'll get back in the groove.

Hip thrusts went well in my first real session using them. May need to up reps on the myo-rep sets, as RPE was a little low throughout.

[nealstar]

Block 9. Cycle 1. Session C.

BW - 230

Waist - 43.75"

sRPE @ 7

Bench -
220X3 @8.25
155X15 @ 8.5

Chin-Ups 1.5s (bottom-half) - BWX3,3; 3,3; 3,3 @9/10

Upright Rows - (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - 90X10, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 @8.5

BB Curls -
65X12 @9
60X12 @9
50X12 @8

Okay session.

I hoped to push Bench to 225 for the top 3@8, but warm-up made that seem unlikely, and it turned out coming in roughly on target at 220. Back-off set came in a little under target RPE @9, but I expect that on the first week or so as I dial-in the target weights. e1RM on the top set is still starting off this block about where it was half-way through the last block.

Based on something Greg Nuckols said on a recent podcast, I thought I'd try a version of 1.5s on Chins. With this version, I get within a rep or 2 of failure on the full reps, and then I do half-reps in the bottom ROM to within a rep or 2 of failure. Not sure how to put my performance on these in context. Last block, I started un-weighted chins by getting 10 total reps across 3 sets. Here, I got 9 total, full ROM reps across 3 sets, plus nine, half-ROM reps. So...that's more? I will say, I felt a little "fresher" after these sets than I think I do after sets of full reps. We'll see!

Haven't done upright rows in a while. Thought I would be starting out with more weight for more reps, but whatevs. My traps were really sore a couple days after doing these.

Curls were also a bit weaker than I expected.