From Little Acorn to Mighty Oak

[acorn1293]

9/20/20 207.0
Squat 321x1 felt good

Bench 260x1 faster than the other day

Seated Rear Delt Fly

Band ER

Feeling less beat up than the other day so hopefully by Tuesday evening I'm all ready to hit some PRs.

[acorn1293]

9/22/20 206.6
Test Day
Squat 355x1, 375x1, 385x1@10

TnG Bench 260x1, 275x1, 280x1...not a true 1RM; definitely had ~5 more pounds in there but 275 didn't move that well so played it conservative.

Deadlift 387.5x1 (wayyyyy too slow for an opener), 405xmissx2times...extremely disappointed. Gonna take more time off prior to testing because 6 days =/= enough time to let fatigue dissapate. I'm going to assume that had I been smarter that at least 405 would have been there so that will be my new TM moving forward. But...what to do moving forward??

[JohnHelton]

What were your previous 1RMs?

[acorn1293]

I started MM with 365/280/385 (Squat/TnGBench/Deadlift) but those were just kinda close guesses. I really do think deadlift today was just a matter of being too fatigued from my last deadlift session (should've followed your guys advice...lesson learned). Bench has realistically probably increased 5-10 lbs as I think 280 may have been an optimistic starting point. I'm thinking of running MM for more cycles, making some small adjustments and increasing weights slower (2.5 lbs for bench and 5 lbs for squat/deadlift).

[acorn1293]

Here are some videos:

Squat 385

Bench 275

Bench 280

[acorn1293]

9/26/20 208.2
Squat 250x3rx5s 2' rest

Bench 185x3x5 2' rest

Deadlift 265x3x5 2' rest

Inverted Rows just to get a feel for them

Ok so the plan Monday is to run another cycle of MM but I'm changing the order of things around a bit and adding a few things. Day 1 will be Power/Strength Squat, Hypertrophy Bench (all TnG), Inverted Row Density Block; Day 3 will be Power Bench (all Comp Pause), Close Grip Bench, Power/Strength Deadlift, Press Density Block; and Day 5 will be Hypertrophy Squat, Strength Bench (some TnG, some Pause per normal MM), Snatch Grip Deadlift. I plan to sprinkle a few accessory stuff in like GHR, chins, upper back work (face pulls, rear delt fly, etc) and maybe push-ups or dips. Any additional pushing stuff will be added in slowly. Hopefully I can get another couple of months out of this set up then I'll retest in mid December.

[acorn1293]

9/28/20 208.6
Changed my mind about MM again. I wanna try this 531 idea. Gonna look for some advice with it in the forum.
Maxes 385/285 (TnG)/405

Squat 287.5x5rx4s, x8 3' rest

Snatch Grip RDL 225x8x3 2' rest

GHR 7' Density Block x15, 7, 3, 5, 5

Time: 1 hour

[acorn1293]

9/29/20 208.2
Bench 213.5x5rx4s, x9r 3' rest; meant to do 8 but miscounted

Feet Up Bench 142.5 x10, 10, 8 2' rest

Tricep Pushdown 35x15, 45x12x3 1.5' rest

Side Delt Raises 20s x18, x15 1.5' rest

Band ER x15,12,10

Time: 1 hour

[acorn1293]

10/2/20 208 (way too much beer over my 2 week break...)
SSB Squat 225x10rx3s 3' rest

Deadlift 305x5rx3s 3'rest; hamstrings are still incredibly sore from Monday so definitely over did it.

Time: 45'

[acorn1293]

10/4/20 209.0 (starting clinic again tomorrow will get this under control...but no more beer for a while )
Squat 310x6rx4s 5' rest

Deadlift 325x6x2 8' rest; first set was garbage...put on my squat belt, used the cue "heavy in my hands" instead of "chest up" to pull the slack out and focused more and what do ya know it felt 10 times better. Also switching to flat shoes for regular deads this cycle.

Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Day 1 of Candito 6 Week Program in the books. Finally chose this program because it's short enough to keep my attention span and even has some optional bro work.

[acorn1293]

10/5/20 209.2
Bench 145x10, 190x10, 215x8, 220x6 ss w/ Pendlay Rows from the bench with same set/rep scheme 3' rest; gonna switch the rows out for regular Penlays with a slight pause at the top (gonna use 250 as e1RM to base numbers off of)

Press 75x12, 102.5x12, 115x10 (broken set), 120x7 (failed last rep) ss w/ Lat Pulldown up to 145x8 with a pause at the bottom 3' rest; dropping e1RM from 170 to 160 for press moving forward...145 for 8 was decent for pulldowns so basing warm up sets off of that next time.

Seated Rear Delt Fly 30s 4sx8r 1.5' rest

Band ER micro 15,12,10,8 no rest

Time: 50'

[acorn1293]

10/7/20 209.8 (really don't understand how this continues to go up considering the circumstances rn)
Bench 145x10, 190x10, 215x8, 220x6 3' rest

Pendlay Row (slight pause at top) 132.5x10 (too lazy to do 125), 170x10, 187.5x8, 192.5x6 2.5-3' rest

Press 72.5x12, 95x12, 107.5x10, 112.5x8 ss w/ Lat Pulldown 95x12, 125x12, 140x10, 145x8 3' rest

Seated Rear Delt Fly (slight pause at top) 20s x20, x15, x15 1.5' rest

Band ER same

Time: 1 hour 5 min

[acorn1293]

10/8/20 209.4
Squat 270x8rx4s 3' rest

Deadlift 285x8x2 5' rest

Time: 50'

[acorn1293]

10/9/20 208.6
Bench 230x7 failed rep 8
Everything else the same except 3sx20r at 20s for rear delts and band ER at 90 degrees shoulder ABD for 3x15

[acorn1293]

10/11/20 209.2
Squat 310x10 5' rest 315x3rx5s 1' rest; this was pretty tough and the next lower body workout is only gonna be tougher...

SLDL 255x8x3 3' rest; new to me so form could use some work.

Time: 55'

[FilmBuff]

Pretty strong work.

When I ran candito in the past I’d borrow some philosophy from Sheiko and auto-regulate my main lift loads +/- 5%ish to ensure i wasn’t failing reps.

I only bring it up since it can really mess with fatigue in future weeks if you’re missing reps in week 1.

[acorn1293]

Thanks man! Hopefully I can get that 315 for 10 reps next lower body workout...would definitely be a nice PR this time around. Thanks for the tip about autoregulating. I'll keep that in mind if I have an off day and still need to get some volume in. I probably shouldn't have pushed that last bench rep but I really wanted 8 reps with 230.
10/12/20 209.2
Bench 205x10, 220x8, 235x6 3' timer; gonna shoot for 235x7 next session

Pendlay Rows (controlled) 180x10, 192.5x8, 205x8 3' rest

Press 115x10, 122.5x8, 130x6 ss w/ Lat Pulldown 150x10, 162.5x8, 172.5x6 3' rest

Rear Delts 20s x20,20,15 1.5' rest

Band ER at 90 ABD micro 3sx15r

Time: 1 hour 15 min

[FilmBuff]

We’ve all been there and I’m sure you’ll blast past it pretty quick.

[acorn1293]

10/14/20 208.8
Squat 315x10 (not my prettiest work but did it), 5' rest 305x3rx10s ~1' rest...I felt like I was going to fucking die...

SLDL 255x8x3 3' rest; felt easier than last time. My shoulders start slightly below my hips but my back is straight so I guess thats just my anatomy?

Time: 1 hour 10 min

[FilmBuff]

I want to die just reading squats EMOM lol. Nice job.