Just trying to be consistent

[allPrimes]

Shallow J-hooks and rolling the bar to the edge of the J-hook is key for a good lift-off. You want as little movement as possible;

Ha! You overestimate the quality of the racks at The Ridge. Try "angled pins that stick out about 45deg from parallel."

[allPrimes]

2021-01-31

Eating well. Sleeping well. Ice cream because Jen's dad was in town. Skiing yesterday. Yay skiing!

Workout

Belted squats

1 @ 8 - 265
4x3 @ 8 - 250, balk, balk

Well this sucked. Warm up was good, several lights sets x 4, a few heaver x 3, heavier still x 2, a few heavier singles x 1, no biggie. Pushed 265lbs because it was what I did last week but it wasn't feeling fantastic, but no biggie. Made it through. Dropped to 250lbs for working sets @8. First set, no problem. Second set, first rep, no biggie. Second set, second rep, breathe in to brace and PING! something in back went twinge. It's happened before, a little pinch in one of the right erectors. Re-racked, tried to work it out, was just pinchy and didn't feel right, so bailed on the rest of squats. And the rest of the lifting session. Notably, form was fine. Just stupid muscle.

[allPrimes]

2021-02-01

Back still bit twingy today. Ibuprofen. Stretching. Lacrosse ball. Not back to normal, but at least feeling better.

Eating. Sleeping. Work stress. Seem to be handling it all okay.

[allPrimes]

2021-02-02

Sleeping well. Eating right. Work stress handled.

Back isn't "normal" but feeling a helluva lot better today than it was on Sunday evening. Still a bit twingy. I've been on it with a lacrosse ball most of the day. I'll lift today, pay attention to how things feel, and adjust accordingly.

Workout

Pin squats

1 @ 8 - 185
3 @ 8 - 195
3 @ 9 - 205, 205, 205

No back twingey through these. Nice. The @9s felt like @9s. I'm getting better at these, though, and the full-foot feeling is definitely making them easier.

Press

1 @ 8 - 140
4x3 @ 9 - 135, 135, 130, 125

Good warmups. 140 seems maybe a bit high for an @8. Rest of the sets were meh. Still nothing going on in back.

Barbell Rows

6 @ 6 - 100
6 @ 7 - 110
4x6 @ 8 - 120, 120, 120, 115

Just fine here. Nothing special. Focused on no body English to move the bar and was successful. Really focused on pinching my shoulder blades together here, too.

Short run

In shorts. And a short-sleeve shirt. Was lovely. Got home from lifting, on with the running shoes, and out the door. No doggie. He was heart broken. I love running with Merle, but he needs to stop and smell and piss on everything which kind of defeats the purpose of going out for a run.

---

After the stupidity of Sunday's back escapade, things were fine today. I was planning on adjusting to take it easier if necessary, but there was not back spasm to be found in today's lifting session. Lacrosse ball, stretching, and ibuprofen helped!

[allPrimes]

Snow this week. Looking forward to (maybe!) blowing off work tomorrow to ski Friday and ski Saturday. Hooray for snow! Hooray for recreation!

Sleep. Eat. Work. Lift. It's all going okay.

Workout

Deadlift with belt

1 @ 8 - 215
4 x 3 @ 9 - 295, 295, 295, 295

Meh. Nothing special. Just didn't feel as good this week as I did last week. Not sure why. Could be this is a HIGH STRESS week, according to The Bridge? No idea. Regardless, all good lifts, just not really feeling all that great.

Bench

1 @ 9 - 175
4x3@9 - 170, 170, 160, 150

Also meh. Nothing special. Just some benching.

Squat, no belt

6 @ 6 - 185
6 @ 7 - 195
4x6 @ 8 - did not do

Headaches, man. Not sure why I get these when I do squats last but this isn't the first time. Just fantastic headaches after every set. The squats were feeling fine but fuck if my head didn't feel like it was going to explode after each set. So I bailed.

---

Not really a great lifting week. After The Great Pinch event on Sunday, the rest of the week was just kind of meh. No new PRs, nothing special at all this week. Just lifting. I guess that's how it goes sometimes. I did have a good run on Wednesday in SHORTS and a SHORT-SLEEVE T-SHIRT. That was pretty sweet. A short run, but a run outside nonetheless. Almost makes me long for spring and warmer weather, even though I'm still stoked for skiing.

Notably, this is the penultimate week of The Bridge program. Next week is a deload week and I don't know what I'm doing after that week. Maybe A2S from Stronger by Science? I've read that's a good first "beginner intermediate" program.

I like to eat. Breakfast now, fuckers.

[allPrimes]

2021-02-07

Lifting before the SuperbOwl. Sleeps are good. Eating is good. Stressors are relatively reduced (as much as they can be, at least). This is a "low stress" week in The Bridge because it's the last week.

Workout

Squat with belt

1 @ 8 - 270
2x3 @ 8 - 255, 225

Well, moved into another PR today, somewhere north of 270. Pretty neat. The 3@8s weren't great. I could feel that little pinch coming back on the second rep of 255 so I dropped to 225. Not really sure why that's coming on. No biggie. Staved it off and didn't feel it again.

3ct Pause bench

3@7 - 135
3@8 - 140
3@9 - 145

Meh. Nothing big here. Just some lifting. Finally starting to get into the groove of what this feels like.

2ct pause deadlift

3 @ 7 - 240
3 @ 8 - 260
3 @ 9 - 265

All fine, but boy do these toast me. My (bad) plate math is why the 20lb jump between sets 1 and 2. I thought I was at 255 but added wrong. Not sure why my plate math is so fucking bad while I work with numbers all day.

---

Still unsure of where to go next. Looking at the Stronger By Science Hypertrophy I program. Also been reading about the BBM Hypertrophy program, too. I've found The Bridge pretty easy to follow--I guess--have seen progress (I mean, new PRs for squat and DL are progress, right?) but it'd be nice to start trying to add some muscle to my fatty frame in teh hopes that over summer I can maybe look less fatty and by the time autumn rolls around, I can start doing some more dedicated strength training to hit 300lb squat and 400lb deadlift. Regardless, I've enjoyed being back under the bar for the last 8 weeks. Like, a lot. It's not always been "fun" and is often a chore but like the name of the blog, consistency is king and I'm just trying to be consistent.

[allPrimes]

Fucking cold recently. I have chosen to not get up in the AM to go to the gym and deal with the cold first thing in the morning (but, still, the dog needs to go out) so I've been making it out in the afternoon. It's not much warmer, but hey, a ∆ of 15F (-10F to 5F) is pretty amazing!

Still eating fairly well. Sleeping well, too. Work stress mostly low, Jen's dad is "normalish" which means her stress is down. This is a low-stress lifting week, too.

Workout

Pin squat

4 @ 7 - 175
4 @ 8 - 195
4 @ 9 - 205

Good squats but nothing special.

Press (with belt)

1 @ 8 - 145
3 @ 9 - 140

The 145lb @ 8 was really a 9. Probs should have just stuck with 140. the 3x were just fine. Again, nothing special.

BB rows

6 @ 6 - 105
6 @ 7 - 115
2x6 @ 8 - 125, 125

More nothing special.

---

Not a grind, but nothing special here either. Feeling pretty good this week but I suspect that's as expected, given the lower volume.

Still looking for what's next. I'd really like to do some hypertrophy work (I think) with some olympic lifting. I don't need or want to do anything heavy for any sort of weightlifting. There's gotta be something out there that focuses on the major lifts for hypertrophy with some weightlifting accessory work? Maybe time for a question in the programming subforum here. I've searched but haven't found what I'm looking for.

[allPrimes]

I've really been enjoying The Bridge. I've not felt too fatigued, the loads have been good, and I've learned--at least a bit--how to handle RPE. I'm sure I'm not an expert on using RPE to gauge my reps but really, is anyone? No idea. Between being back under the seriously for the first time in several years (I say seriously because we did a lot of barbell work at CrossFit but not strength or technique, really, just barbell work to get fatigued and maybe a little bit of growth stimulus) and working with Dan on some of the finer points of form, I feel like I'm in a good position to keep on keepin' on. I mean, I hit PRs on squat (255 -> 270 @ 8) and deadlift (315 -> 325 @ 8) and have started to really nail my form down on bench press. Pretty neat.

Today is my last day of The Bridge and I've been trying to figure out what's next. Given BBM wrote the Bridge, I thought I'd stick with one of their programs next. After buying the Stronger By Science suite of plans, I also bought into Hypertrophy I and will give that a whirl for the next 10 weeks. I've never run a hypertrophy program but I I'm going to run it at my recent standard 2500 cals with 190g protein/day in the hopes I can shed a bit of body fat and perhaps--maybe!--get myself down to 210lbs or so. Then again, I really have no idea what I weigh now, likely around 220lbs. I know that while running The Bridge, I had to pull in my belt a notch. I'll start there and will adjust foods as the program progresses. I plan on doing some weightlifting specific accessory work (e.g., OHS, front squats) during the hypertrophy "block."

After these next 10 weeks, I may rerun the same program with yet still more calories, given that 10 weeks from now (mid Feb) will be late April/early May and I'll be in Spring recreation mode by then (with additional volume in the form of mostly LISS recreation). Hopefully. I really like weightlifting and while I'd like to jump back in to doing some clean/jerk and snatch work immediately, the more I read about "hypertrophy with olympic lifting" (googling "hypertrophy and weightlifting" gets you generic results about "lifting weights"), the more I read that it's better to run a "standard" hypertrophy program then shift to focus on weightlifting technique and form once a good muscular base is laid down. So. Seems like from now until June I might be a hypertrophy boy. We'll see how it all unfolds.

[allPrimes]

Eating well. Sleeping well. Feeling good. Looking good.

Workout

Deadlift with belt

1 @ 8 - 330
3 @ 9 - 320

Feeling good. Another PR for me at 330 and that @8. Neato. Felt good. The 3@9 were my heaviest 3x ever. Coolio.

Bench, 1ct Pause

1 @ 8 - 175
3 @ 9 - 170

Another good few sets. Easier to stay tight when I bench in a rack with better pins.

Squat, no belt

6 @ 6 - 175
6 @ 7 - 195
6 @ 8 - 200, 200

More good sets. These felt better than other post-deadlift sets have in a while. Not sure why. I made a point of resting 2mins between each set this time and the pressure headaches were nearly non-existent. Good sets.

---

The Bridge was a great program for me. Increased some PRs, increased work capacity (I think), learned a ton about RPE, and while working with Dan, some good form work. An awesome 8 weeks. Feeling good. Looking forward to Hypertrophy I from BBM starting Sunday.

[KarlM]

Congrats on the very excellent run on the bridge. I’m looking forward to following your hypertrophy training.

[JohnHelton]

Amazing what good programming, consistency, and good coaching can do. Congrats!

[allPrimes]

Amazing what good programming, consistency, and good coaching can do. Congrats!

Thanks!

Eating. Sleeping. Long weekend this weekend. Still cold outside. No skiing yesterday and stress from work is pretty low. ish. All in all, things are going well.

Started the Hypertrophy I program from BBM today.

Workout

Squat with belt


8 @ 7 - 205
8 @ 8 - 215
8 @ 9 - 225

Big lifts for me. I've never hit 8 x 225 before. Never really tried either. Reps were moving slow for the last few of @8 and definitely the last few @9, but 225 seemed to be a good @9 for me. Neato.

Push press

8 @ 7 - 115
8 @ 8 - 120
8 @ 9 - 125

Shoulders feeling just fine today. Most of what was causing any sort of fatigue was the fatigue from my anterior core. Still, the push presses felt pretty good and frankly, I think I could have gone higher. Then again, I haven't pushed press in a long time and never seriously so it's just fine with me to go slow and take it easy.

Back extensions

12 @ 7 - body weight
12 @ 8 - 25lb db
12 @ 9 - 30lb db

No idea what I'm doing here. I need to review a video or something about setting up the "machine" correctly as my nards were gettin' smooshed a bit and I may have pulled something in the back left of my left leg. Weird. Nothing big on the muscle pull, but feeling a bit weird.

Leg extension

2 x 12-20 @ 8-9 - 15x45, 15x55

Have never done a program with leg extensions. Not sure if these were really @8 or @9, but were still hard from a quad burner standpoint.

---

New program. Looking forward to seeing what kind of progress I have here. Just need to keep egos in check and lift the way I know I need to lift: with good form.

[allPrimes]

Holy balls. Hard ski day today. Flat light meant a lot of bouncing around. A ridge hike put the quads to the test after yesterday's heavy(ish) squats. The hike along the ridge put the stabilizers to the test. Damn. Yeah. Will be taking the rest of today easy and put off my Tuesday AM session to Tuesday afternoon.

Hard skiing is fun skiing! This is recreation!

[allPrimes]

2021-02-16

Eat. Sleep. Work. Lift. Ski. Walk with dog. Chess. Dick around. Not a bad life.

Workout

Numbers to come, though they don't really matter, I guess.

TnG Bench

8 @ 7 -
8 @ 8
8 @ 9

Just fine, not a big deal. Notably, benching in a rack makes it SO MUCH easier to stay tight than benching from one of the dedicated bench press rigs. It's the pegs, stupid.

Front squat

10 @ 7
10 @ 8
10 @ 9

Holy fuck. Yeah, didn't do 10. Ended up doing 8 for each. Need to autoregulate the weights down! Trunk is fatigued. I'd be fine until 8 then would just not be able to stay upright and take a deep breath for bracing. It was fucking work. Autoregulate down and go again later.

DB bench

1 x 70% e1RM AMRAP - 50lb dumbells for 15 reps
2 x 12 x 63% e1RM - 45lb dbs

No idea where to start just did warmup sets 10, 20, 30, 40 x 15 each.

Pec deck fly

2 x 12-20 @ 8-9 - 100 lbs x 15

I felt like a real gym rat using a machine today. Watched a video about how to do these. Felt fine, if hard towards the end.

---

DEFINITELY feeling all of this in my chest today. Good thing I'm not doing burpees today. Other than the front squats, everything was just fine yesterday but holy balls do front squats make it clear that my abs/core/trunk/whatever it is that fatigues needs to be stronger if I'm going to do any more than a few at a time.

Need to eat breakfast. Hungry. Also ate a lot of food yesterday. Didn't record any of it and I was just fine with that.

[allPrimes]

2021-02-17

Sleeping, eating, stress management still good. All that jazz is going well. Yay me. Feeling a bit down for some reason. Not really sure why. Kind of a weird thing.

Workout

Upper back work

2 x 12-20 @ 8-9

I did 3pt db rows at 2x15x50/side. Warmed up with 10 x 10, 20, 30, 40. Definitely high RPE, at least 8.

Bis and tris, baby!

2x12-15 triceps @ 8 - 2 x 15 x 50 skull crushers
2x12-15 bis @ 8 - 2 x 12 x 30 hammer curls

Ab work

7 min AMRAP - lots of weight med ball situps

Cardio

45 minutes walking at 3.5mph at 3% incline

---

So my chest is fucking sore. The benching, db bench, and pec flys on Tuesdays are holy fucking shit wow. Sore. Beyond that, things are fine. But holy shit sore.

[allPrimes]

2021-02-21

Good sleeps. Ate less than great this week but still pretty good. Hard skiing yesterday, but no hiking. Still had hunka hunka burnin' quads. Need to work on form there, too!

Workout

Squat with belt

8 @ 6 - 200
8 @ 7 - 210
2 x 8 @ 8 - 220, 220

Good session. Things were moving slowly during the @8 sets but still got them all done. Amazing how much a difference resting 3-5 minutes can make. Some of the reps weren't great but I chalk that up to being less than focused today. Regardless, these felt great.

Push Press

8 @ 6 - 110
8 @ 7 - 115
2 x 8 @ 8 - 120, 120

Nothing special here, only that the front torso fatigue was much less today than last week.

Back extensions

12 @ 6, 7, and 8 - 10, 25, 30, 30 lb dbs.

Different implement today. Less nard crushing.

Leg extensions

2 x 12-20 @ 8-9 - 15 x 60, 15 x 80

The x80 were burning. Still, got 'em done.

---

Week 2 of BBM Hypertrophy I. All is well. Interesting that this week is same set/rep scheme, only down one RPE plus a second top set. My chest isn't sore like it was last week. Recovery! Hooray! Speaking of, it will be interesting to see how I recover as this program moves on. With increases in volume and an attempted 2500cals/day, something else might have to give. I'm already a good sleeper, my work stress is low, lady stress has been a bit higher than normal, so might need to add some calories or otherwise lower some weights. Right now, all is well. Autoregulation should help!

I like lifting on Sunday mornings. Things are normally quiet(ish)

[allPrimes]

Fucking maaaassssaaaaggggggeeeee today. I'm excited.

[allPrimes]

Not bad today. Felt pretty good all around, other than I really need to bathe. Being a work from home boy means that it can be a few days before I can smell myself. Gross.

Eating. Yay! Sleeping. Yay! Workstress. Ramping up a bit. New products coming on soon.

Workout

Bench press

8 @ 6 - 125
8 @ 7 - 130
2 x 8 @ 8 - 135, 140

Seemed a bit easier today, all around. Huh.

Front squat

10 @ 7 - 115
10 @ 8 - 120
10 @ 9 - 125
10 @ 9 - 120 (this is minus 5% of the previous set)

Dropped the weights from last week by about 20lbs for the first set and things went much better. It's the breathing. Breathing at like rep 4 or 5 is the hard part. Getting a full breath to brace like I think I should is nearly impossible when I have the bar in the front rack. Challenging!

DB bench

70% of 1RM x AMRAP - 50 x 16
2 x 63% 1RM - 2 x 45 x 12

More reps than last week on the first set.

Pec Deck Fly

2 x 12-20 @ 8-9 - 17 x 100, 12 x 100

Better than last week. Didn't let my arms get as far back and tried to keep things under tension. Chest pump! OOH!

---

Not a bad session. Hopefully my chest isn't as fucking shot this week as it was last week. Also, I prepped some jalapenos for dinner tonight and took precautions to keep the oils offa my hands. Guess what? I WASN'T ENTIRELY SUCCESSFUL. Can feel the heat on my nose. Time for an oil bath for my fingers!

Chipotle pork street tacos tonight. That's a spicy pork! Been in the crockpot since 10am. Yum.

[allPrimes]

The best thing about working from home? I can often set my own schedule. The worst thing about working from home? I'm always at the office.

Missed my GPP day yesterday because I was "on" from 5:30am - 5pm then had to head to a meeting -> dinner -> bed. Regardless, work and sleep is good. Eating feels a bit off, to be honest. Libido has tanked over the last few weeks, coincidental with starting the hypertophy bbm program. Indicator that I might need to up the cals a bit.

Workout

Deadlift with belt

8 @ 6 - 245
8 @ 7 - 255
2 x 8 @ 8 - 265, 265 x 6

Whew. This last set was blah. Should have dropped the weight for the second @8 but thought I could push through. Nope. Bailed at 6 reps in. Other sets were just fine, even with 4 mins rest between.

Skull crushers

10 @ 7 - 60
10 @ 8 - 70
10 @ 9 - 80
10 - 5% of @ 9 - 70

Yikes. 10 x 80 definitely felt like an @9. Also, I'm doing these instead of close-grip bench. That toasts my shoulders.

Dumbbell Press (Arnold)

70% of e1RM x AMRAP - 16 x 30
63% of e1RM x 2 x 12 - 25

Felt like the "working sets" could be a bit higher, but still challenging.

Lateral raises

2 x 12 @ 8 - 9 - 2 x 12.5

Challenging, but not impossible.

---

A blah day. Morning session because plans this evening. Hadn't lifted in the AM in a few weeks and gotta admit that I've missed it.

[allPrimes]

2021-02-28

Travelled this weekend. Ate WAAAAYYY TOOOOO MUUUUCCCCHHHH. But it was all delicious. Got home Sunday mid-afternoon. Home. Ate some food. LIfting session. Headaches.

Work out

Squat with belt

8 @ 6 - 200
8 @ 7 - 210
3 x 8 @ 8 - 220, 215, 215

Man. Headaches for dayz. Valsalva? Headache. I chalk it up to not enough water over the weekend. Wow did these feel grindy. Resting 5 mins helped but still: shit-tay.

Push press

8 @ 6 - 110
8 @ 7 - 115
3 x 8 @ 8 - 120 x 3

Same as squats. Headaches for days.

---

Had some other stuff on the plan today, some back extensions and some leg extensions. Headaches prevented that from happening. Training is good but today was a grind and painful with the head stuff. Bailed on the non-main things.