So this day was a somewhat sub-par workout for a couple reasons. I was definitely very mentally fatigued going into the workout, simply due to the stress of the day, but I needed to get it done. I considered just getting the minimum reps and calling it a day, but as I started working up in the squats things were moving pretty well and figured I was better of putting in the work but without pushing too hard.

A1. Low Bar Squat – 3×5/5/5+ @ 235lbs

• 45x10x2
• 95x5x2
• 135×5
• 185×3
• 205×1
• 225×1
• 235x5x2
• 235×5+ (10 @ 9 RPE)
  • As I was working up, I could feel that I was very fatigued, so I started doing full reset reps, with a complete elimination of pump reps. This style of lifting, combined with my belt being a bit tighter than was comfortable, I was fatigued very quickly. I think if I had just pumped out reps as usual, I probably would have gotten 12 or 13 reps, but by the time I got to 10, I was just gassed out. My legs were fine, but I couldn’t get a deep enough breath to brace fully to keep going.

B1. Seated OHP – 3×5/5/5+ @ 95lbs

• 45x10x2
• 65×5
• 85×1
• 95x5x2
• 95×5+ (10 @ RPE 10)
  • I’m a little annoyed with the top set. I’m happy with the number of reps that I got, but I’m frustrated because I managed to tweak my left trap during the set. I’ve done this before and I know what the culprit is, and it’s basically my technique when I start to rush the reps. Basically, I get my traps into an elevated position and heave the bar up, which results in a weird muscle spasm. I really need to work on this moving forward to avoid it in the future. Aside from that, I matched my reps with heavier weight from my last OHP session, so that’s good at least.

C1. Conventional Deadlift – 3×3/3/3+ @ 245lbs

• 45×10
• 135x5x2
• 185×3
• 225×1
• 245x3x2
• 245×3+ (12 @ 7 RPE)
  • I think overall fatigue just finally caught up with me here. At 10 reps, I felt like I could go on forever, and considered just going for broke and seeing if I could hit 20 reps, but after finishing the 12th rep, I just let go of the bar. My body still felt pretty good and my grip wasn’t shot, but I just let go. I left it alone there, instead of pushing, simply because my rule is that the set is done once I’ve let go of the bar. I used to be much more lax in the past, but given my history of back issues, I’d rather assume that I’m too fatigued after letting go, instead of risking re-injuring my back.

Generally, just kind of confused by this workout, as it was a mixture of good and bad, but at the end of the day, it’s all good. I pushed the intensity on all 3 lifts in very different ways and was able to hit extra reps on each one without too much challenge. I think I’ll keep everything at a RPE of 6 during the next workout, and come in strong on Day 3 of this week and really push for serious PR volume.

This was just an awesome workout! I really pushed the pressure on all 3 lifts, and was happy to hit some high reps for each one.

A1. Low Bar Squat – 3×5/5/5+ @ 225lbs

• 45x10x2
• 95x5x2
• 135×5
• 185×3
• 205×1
• 225x5x2
• 225×5+ (13 @ 8.5 RPE)

B1. Bench Press – 3×5/5/5+ @ 155lbs

• 45x20x2
• 95×10
• 135×5
• 155x5x2
• 155×5+ (13 @ 9 RPE)

C1. Conventional Deadlift – 3×3/3/3+ @ 235lbs

• 45×10+135×5
• 185×3
• 205×1
• 225×1
• 235x3x2
• 235×3+ (16 @ RPE 8.5)

Knees were feeling surprisingly good during this workout, from what I remember, and I was able to get set into my hips for each rep on the squats. Deadlifts were also very locked in, I was able to maintain a much more neutral position on the pulls without overextending my lumbar spine as I have a habit of doing when setting up on deadlifts. Let’s see how this progresses with the weight increasing.

Another week, just getting the work in, and decided to dial back the intensity on the squat, while pushing the OHP and deadlift hard. My plan for now is to push the squat on Day 1 and Day 3, and just play the deadlift by ear. Ideally, I don’t want to kill myself on squats and deadlifts every workout as that will just burn me out over time.

A1. Low Bar Squat – 3×5/5/5+ @ 215 lbs

• 45x10x2
• 95x5x2
• 135×5
• 185×3
• 205×1
• 215x5x2
• 215×5+ (10 @ 9RPE)

B1. Seated OHP – 3×5/5/5+ @ 90lbs

• 45x10x2
• 65×5
• 85×3
• 90x5x2
• 90x5x5+ (10 @ 9 RPE)

C1. Conventional Deadlift – 3×3/3/3+ @ 215lbs

• 45×10
• 135×5
• 185×3
• 205×1
• 225x3x2
• 225×3+ (15 @ RPE 8)

Pretty happy with this overall, as I was able to match reps on the deadlift with last workout without too much challenge. The main issue that I am having is my grip, but just doing these AMRAP sets should help over time as I keep progressing.

I ended up not taking the 3rd testing day last week. I wanted to spend time with my family, and that’s exactly what I did. Given the current events, and the fact that I work a large part of the day, I don’t want to detract from my time with my wife and kids just to work out on a day that isn’t absolutely necessary. Luckily, I didn’t really need the 3rd day either, that was more just an opportunity to take an AMRAP on deadlifts with a heavier weight, which just wasn’t a necessity.

Day 1 of Week 1 of my actually training block in the bag now, and I’m fairly happy with how it went. Weights are all very light, as to be expected given the lack of consistency over the past few months, but I’m still very happy with everything.

A1. Low Bar Squat – 3×5/5/5+ @ 205lbs

• 45x10x2
• 95x5x2
• 135×5
• 185×5
• 205x5x2
• 205×5+ (14 @ RPE9)
  • My belt was a bit too tight on this top set, and it was making it hard to catch my breath towards the end of the set. If it had been one notch looser, I probably would have been able to get to 20 reps at the same, or a close RPE, but it is what it is. Lesson learned and one that I’ll have to remedy over the next few weeks.

B1. Bench Press – 3×5/5/5+ @ 150lbs

• 45x20x2
• 95×10
• 135×5
• 150x5x2
• 150×5+ (12 @ RPE9)
  • Nothing to write home about, the reps were relatively challenging but far from impossible. I just tried to enjoy the set and get the work in.

C1. Conventional Deadlift – 3×3/3/3+ @ 215lbs

• 45×10
• 135×5
• 185×3
• 205×1
• 215x3x2
• 215×3+ (15 @ RPE8)
  • I’m having a hard time judging the RPE of the top sets on deadlifts. Generally, grip hasn’t been a weakness of my deadlifts in the past, but given the volume and lack of training it’s definitely looking like the weak leak at the moment. That said, muscularly I probably had 20 reps in me, and I think my grip probably had another 2. So I’m trying to rate RPE based on what is failing, and not how my whole body feels. It’s a strange exercise, but one that’s getting some practice now.

This was a great conditioning and abs day, I’m actually really happy with how this went. The conditioning was more of the same from Day 2, with 30 minutes on the AirDyne, which I will outline below in more specifics, and then the ab work was again similar to Day 2, but organized differently.

The one thing I’m trying to do is keep the volume of core work fairly low, so that I’m not creating too much soreness in my midsection, which can result in instability in the big lifts when I’m trying to brace, however, I am still trying to get a sufficient stimulus through anti-flexion, anti-rotation and some intentional flexion work. Just trying to hit all of the buttons.

Here’s the full list of work:

A1. AirDyne – 30 minutes total

• 10 minutes moderate aerobic
• 10 minutes intervals (10/50)
• 10 minutes moderate aerobic

B1. Planks – 2×30 seconds per side

B2. Side planks – 2×20 seconds per side

C1. Weighted dead bugs – 2×10 per side w/ 5lbs per hand

D1. Weighted crunch press ups – 2×15 w/ 10lbs total

E1. Straight leg sit-ups – 2×10

F1. Standing band crunches – 2×20 w/ EliteFTS monster mini band

• This was done with the band simply draped over the pull up bar, and not choked up on it. This created a great level of tension but still allowed for a full range of motion.

G1. Pallof press – 2×10 per side w/ EliteFTS mini band

Everything felt really solid today, and my back was feeling much better after it was all said and done. I’m actually looking forward to hitting squats, and going for a deadlift AMRAP.

Testing my Bench Press and Hang Clean today (instead of doing a power clean), and just doing some more volume on Squats.

A1. Low Bar Squat – 3×5 w/ 235lbs

• 45x10x2
• 95x5x2
• 135×5
• 185×3
• 225×1
• 235x5x3

B1. Bench Press – 3×5/5/5+ w/ 165lbs

• 45x20x2
• 95×10
• 135×5
• 165x5x2
• 165×5+ (9 reps @ 9.5 RPE)

C1. Hang Power Clean – 5×3/3/3/3/3+ w/ 115lbs

• 45x5x2
• 65×5
• 85×3
• 105×3
• 115x3x4
• 115×3+ (7 reps @ 8)
  • Actually tweaked my hip a little bit at the start of the pull on the 4th set of 3, but it didn’t hinder me in any way during my top set, so I kind of just went with it.

Overall, I’m really happy with how this workout went, and while the hip/low back tweak is disheartening, it’s definitely a positive note that it isn’t effecting my day to day movement, and didn’t get in my way of completing the AMRAP set. My grip was the limiting factor for the top set, but that’s acceptable. These are mainly done to train my triple extension and explosiveness, and AMRAPs won’t be a big part of my hang clean training moving forward, just needed to get a decent number of reps to get a conservative TM to start training from.

Off day from lifting and just getting some conditioning in today. Hit the AirDyne with a mix of intensities, and then pulled out the sandbag for some complexes.

A1. Airdyne Bike

• 10 minutes moderate pace
• 10 minutes intervals (10/50)
• 10 minutes moderate pace

B1. Sandbag Fuckin’ Fives

• Sandbag RDLs x 6
• Sandbag High Pulls x6
• Sandbag Hang Cleans x6
• Sandbag Reverse Lunge x6/leg
• Sandbag Front Squat x6
  • The goal was 5 total rounds, but only made it through 4 rounds. Took 90 seconds between rounds.

C1. Weighted Dead Bugs – 2×10/side w/ 2.5lbs per hand

D1. Weighted Crunch Press Ups – 2×15 w/ 5lbs

E1. Straight Leg Sit-Ups – 2×10

F1. Planks – 2x30seconds

G1. Side Planks – 2x20seconds/side

Since I don’t want to start with arbitrary numbers when I begin the standard Starting Strength Linear Progression (LP), I decided it would be a good idea to take at least 1 week to test rep maxes on the main lifts, and get some estimated 1RMs for them. From there, I’m taking 90% of the estimated 1RM and using that as my beginning training max (TM) for the LP.

Once I have that TM, then I’m taking 75% of that, and beginning with the standard 3×5 programming for Starting Strength. While, I’m going to be following a basic Starting Strength programming structure, I am diverging from it slightly in 2 primary ways.

1. Starting Strength calls for straight sets of 3×5 for Squat, Bench Press and Overhead Press, 1×5 for Deadlifts and 5×3 for Power Cleans – instead of doing the standard sets and reps, I’ll be taking an occasional “as many reps as possible” (AMRAP) set. Having used the 5/3/1 program for a number of years, I’m a big fan of AMRAPs, and like to incorporate them in my programming. That said, since Starting Strength is built on a straight LP, using AMRAPs every workout can and will be incredibly taxing on my system. So, my plan right now is to take 1 AMRAP per workout, maybe 2 if I’m feeling particularly good.
2. As I said, for Deadlifts, the program calls for just 1 set of 5 reps, but I like doing more volume for my deadlifts. So I will be doing 3×3 for deadlifts, again with the occasional AMRAP on the last set. I’m going to play it by ear, but at the very least by doing 3 sets of 3, I’ll get nearly double the standard volume that Starting Strength prescribes.

Anyway, here’s my Day 1 of Test Week, I’m testing Squat, Seated OHP and Deadlifts:

A1. Low Bar Squat

• 45x10x2
• 95x5x2
• 135×5
• 185×5
• 225x5x2
• 225×5+ (10 reps @ 9 RPE)

B1. Seated OHP

• 45×10
• 65×5
• 85×5
• 95x5x2
• 95×5+ (9 reps @ 9 RPE)

C1. Conventional Deadlift

• 45×10
• 135×5
• 185×5
• 225x3x2
• 225×3+ (12 reps @ 8 RPE)

I’m very happy with how squats went, but I didn’t really go all out on my conventional deadlift set, so I’m going to hit this again on Friday, and try to get a solid AMRAP on this one.

This was another absolutely solid workout. I was completely gassed out by the end, and it took me way the hell longer than I anticipated it would. That’s largely due to the fact that I really jacked up the pulling volume for this workout and I just can’t get enough reps per set to really make a serious dent in the total count with each set.

That said, I’m still very happy with how today went. Here’s the workout:

A1. Squats w/ medicine ball – 200 total reps

A2. Inverted rows – 150 total reps

A3. Dips – 100 total reps

A4. Glute ham roller hamstrings curls – 75 total reps

A5. Romanian deadlifts (empty bar) – 50 total reps

A6. Reverse crunch w/ medicine ball between knees – 30 total reps

Total time: 56:17

B1. Belt squat marches w/ light band – 2:45

Well damn, this workout completely smoked me. My lower body and upper body were both effectively trashed, and the belt squats really hit the glute medius, which I think is really what I need to keep doing to get my knees feeling better.

Tomorrow, I’m going to take a break from these workouts, and get outside if the weather is nice and just go for a walk with a weighted vest. If I can get 2-3 miles in within an hour, I’ll be pretty happy. That should give me a decent conditioning workout, as well as a nice recovery effect, in general.

Alright, so here’s the 5th workout completed. Truth-be-told, I’m starting to get a little bored with this. And it’s largely because of the unloaded nature of all of the work that I’m doing. While I’m getting a fantastic response from my upper body in terms of soreness and pump, my lower body really just isn’t getting anything significant out of this. I find that even when I do 300 reps of single leg work (150 reps per leg) or 300 reps of close-stance squatting, I get a great pump during the workout, but then the effects have worn off the next day. What’s worst is that while my knees begin to feel pretty good during the workout, the effect is limited going into the next day as well.

My left knee continues to be finicky, but on the positive side, my right knee is mostly back to normal without any consistent pain day to day. My goal right now is to get through 15 workouts like these, but I will start to add some form of external loading onto the lower body movements at the very least. Starting with workout 6, I’m going to start doing the squats with a 20lbs medicine ball hugged to my chest, and the same for back raises.

Anyway, here’s workout 5:

A1. Reverse lunge – 50 total reps per leg

A2. Ring push-ups – 100 total reps

A3. Chin-ups – 100 total reps

A4. Back raises – 100 total reps

A5. Ab wheel rollouts – 30 total reps

Total time: 46:17

B1. Airdyne – 12:55

My watch kept on getting frozen whenever my wrist got bent back setting up on back raises and ring push-ups, so timing was a little off, but just went from 1:30pm to 2:30pm and guesstimated the time lost during the first part of the workout and tacked it on to my total time.

Ring push-ups were awesome, and will be doing more of these moving forward. The downside is that the pump from these really hampers my ability to do ab wheel rollouts simply because my shoulders become too tight to fully extend above my head. Something to try and figure out as I continue onward.