Today was a good day to learn that I’m not nearly as strong as I was before my hiatus, and really need to be patient with picking up movements that I haven’t done in quite some time.

Case in point, I haven’t done a low bar squat in way too long. I honestly don’t remember the last time I did a single rep, and trying to jump back into them today was a major challenge. I tried to use 225, which was 60% of a projected estimate of my current 1RM of 365. I did 3 doubles with this weight and honestly the weight was just throwing me around, and my technique was all off. Both of my knees were complaining and it just felt wrong overall. I also, definitely, didn’t do nearly enough warm-up reps. Normally, my warm-up progression with squats is 45x10x2, 95x5x2, 135x3x2, 185×2, and then work up until I hit the working weight with singles. I did half of this and only did 1 set at each weight, and then just jumped directly from 185 to 225.

Anyway, with all these issues noted, I decided to drop the weight back down to 185 and moderated the overall volume that I’d had in mind. My original program called for 12 sets of 2 with 225. Considering the trouble I had with 225, I decided to go with only 8 sets of 2, including the 3 sets at 225, and gradually build into the higher volume dynamic work that I really like.

Given how squats were going, I opted to drop the deadlifting intensity to 50% of 1RM (230 from 275) and went with 8 singles instead of the 12 sets of 2 that I’d planned there too. Overall, I think these were good decisions that give me a place to grow and build off of rather than grinding myself into the ground.

Here’s the whole workout:

Speed Squats – 225x2x3, 185x2x5

Speed Deadlifts – 230x1x8

SSB Goodmornings – 65x20x3

• So I felt really good following the speed work, and went into the SSB Goodmornings feeling strong and dynamic. These completely torched my backside! I forgot how freaking hard this movement is, and opted for high reps with it. I’m glad I did, and I think these will pay off in the long run, but doing these was a challenge. I’m going to add some weight next DE Lower day, only 20lbs or so, but that should be more than enough. I used the wider squat stance that I was working with during the linear block and the effect was a great stretch on the hamstrings.

Back Raises – 10x10x1 SS w/ Ab Wheel – 10×1

• The other side effect of the goodmornings was that my back, glutes and hamstrings were completely fried by the end and doing the back raises, even with only 10lbs, was just too much. I’m going to lose the added weight next DE Lower day, lower the pad a little bit and get all of the programmed volume on these.
• My abs were also really, really sore from using the ab wheel 4 days ago, which is just ridiculous. That said, the 1 set I did was beyond painful.
• After 1 super set, I knew I was better off just calling the workout there and work on building the next time around.

Overall, I’m happy with the workout and looking forward to the DE Upper session on Monday morning!

I had originally planned on doing floor pressing today for my ME upper work, but I decided last second to switch that to close-grip bench press instead. No real reason aside from being lazy and not wanting to have to remove the spotter pins from the squat rack this morning.

I didn’t go to BJJ last night, although, I’m actually glad about that rather than regretting it. My son decided he was going to not sleep well around 2:30am this morning, and was just tossing and turning after we brought him into bed. The end result was me not sleeping from 2:30 to 4am, and just getting out of bed at 4 in frustration because there was no other choice. I was just wide awake at that point.

Anyway, I’ll keep this straight forward, and get into my workout:

Heavy 5 Close-Grip Bench Press – 175×5 (RPE8)

Paused Close-Grip Bench Press – 140x5x3

• Stuck to a solid 30 second rest interval between sets and that definitely caused a bunch of trouble with regards to fatigue. By the last set, the last rep felt like it was a 9-9.5 and my triceps were really pumped up at this point.

1-Arm Dumbbell Row – 65x15x3

• Much harder than I had expected these to be. The 65s used to be really easy, but considering it’s been a few months since I’ve done dumbbell rows, these were very challenging. Just have to keep at it, and wave the intensity up and wave the volume as I get stronger on it.

Overhead Triceps Extensions – 35×20/35x15x2 SS w/ Face Pulls – 35×20/35x15x2

• Simple super-set that completely fried my triceps, biceps and upper back. I had planned for 5 sets of 20, not remembering that the last time I used that kind of volume, I’d been using only 25lbs, so I’m going to have to work to build up to that. First work to hit 3×20 and then start adding sets.

Chin-Ups – 5×3

• I ended up skipping these. My arms were just completely fried and I couldn’t even stomach the idea of trying the first rep when I tried. I’m sure, if I had really pushed it, I could have gotten these done, but just didn’t care enough. I think next time, I’ll push the chin-ups to right after the primary movement so as to avoid this issue.

OK! What a weekend, and what a fun weekend, but fun has its costs. My body weight is up, and waking up this morning was a challenge. Just need to remember to keep these fun weekends in control and keep things moving in the right direction. Using today to keep a very moderate diet, focusing almost entirely on protein with some carbs, and going to BJJ tonight to get my get rid of the excess water weight that I’m definitely storing up at this point.

Woke up at 4:30am without any real issue this morning, it really helped that my kids slept well last night and didn’t really fuss at all. I rolled into my first conjugate workout this morning and it felt really good.

To be fair, I’m not using a real ME/DE program, but I’m using the basic structure to program my workouts. For example, today was my ME lower workout – in a traditional ME workout, I would work up to a true max single in the designated exercise (looking at RPE10, true maximal effort) before moving into my supplemental work and accessory work. For my purposes, specially longevity and general strength and not a true maximal effort, I’m working up to a top set of 5, where I feel like it was a RPE8. This is definitively lower than even a RPE10 set of 5, but ideally I’m hoping to get to a weight somewhere above 80% of my true 1RM, and get some volume there.

After the top set, instead of moving to a mechanically similar movement for supplemental work, I’m using the same movement and load accommodation (where applicable) and dropping to 80% of the top set and doing 3 sets of 5 with 2-count paused reps. As a raw lifter, my biggest area of challenge is always going to be at the bottom of the movement, so I think this is a good supplemental movement for me.

As I progress, and potentially find a meet to compete in, I’ll start pushing the reps lower and intensity higher as I start working into meet prep and peaking.

Here’s today’s workout:

5RM Front Squat vs 1 Chain per Side – 205×5

2-Count Paused Front Squat vs 1 Chain per Side – 165x5x3

Split Squats w/ Weight Vest – 26x15x3

Ab Wheel – 10×2/5×1

Used chains for the first time ever and it was an interesting challenge. Since I’m lifting at 4:45/5am, I’m always paranoid that I’m making too much noise and going to wake people up in the house, so the added noise from the clanging chains made me very worried. Luckily, as I worked up in weight, my mind was taken off of the noise and focused more on the weight and dealing with the way the chains throw you around. I’m going to have to play around with chain set ups as I get more savvy with them, and throw them in from time to time.

Pause squats were done with only 30 seconds of rest between sets, so there was a nice conditioning aspect to the workout. I think I got through the max work and the supplemental work within 30 minutes, which was the goal.

Split squats were great to get a solid quad pump going, I’m going to add some weight to the vest next workout and see how heavy I can get these.

I’m really hoping it isn’t going to be absurdly cold tomorrow morning, because I really want to actually get out there to run again. Regardless, I’ll just have to bundle up and make the best of it.

So I totally missed a day of writing yesterday! But that’s ok, I’m not going to beat myself up over it, it’s just writing and frankly, I didn’t exactly miss much to write about yesterday.

Anyway, I woke up today feeling quite refreshed (finally) after the 2 back-to-back BJJ workouts plus weight sessions earlier in the week. I hit squats, seated press and chin-ups today and everything was moving pretty well. My neck is still tender, so I decided to completely deload the seated press and use just the bar for 3 sets of 10, but added in a super set of behind-the-neck press of 3 set of 5, just to get blood flowing in the effected region. I did a ton of face pull aparts super set with the squats which also really helped, and I’m thinking that I should be good to go by next week.

Frankly, my neck is already feeling better from this morning, so I’m going to attribute it to the targeted blood flow in the injured area.

Anyway, here’s the workout:

• SSB Squats – 45x5x2, 115x5x2, 155×5, 205×5, 245x5x2, 245×7 (RPE8)
  • I was really hoping to get 10 reps on the top set, but I also had a feeling that it wouldn’t happen. I was able to get 10 reps on Monday, but that was the first working set where I got that. If I had done the AMRAP first today, then I would have easily had 10 reps, but by doing it this way, my total work volume was higher than Monday’s even though my AMRAP set was lower. Plus, I don’t like pushing past RPE8 when I don’t have to, so this was a good place to call it a day.
  • To compare to Mondays, where I got a total of 15 reps with 245lbs (1 set of 10 and 1 set of 5, and the set of 5 basically put me at a RPE10), today I got 17 reps, and I was feeling much better after the last rep than on Monday. So that’s definitely an improvement.
• Seated OHP – 45x10x3
  • Super set this with 45x5x3 of behind-the-neck press
• Chin-ups – 5×3
  • Nothing really to write up here, the first 2 sets I did with the pauses at top and bottom, but the 3rd set I just kind of repped out for the sake of getting it done.

Anyway, I think I’m done with the linear progression, I’m just getting bored with it, and frankly that doesn’t help me progress. I’m going to start new programming next week.

I’ve been debating between going back to 5/3/1 style programming, or a conjugate-style (Max Effort/Dynamic Effort) program, and I was originally going to go with 5/3/1. However, I’ve been reading the book The Hybrid Athlete by Alex Viada (https://completehumanperformance.com/meet-the-coaches/) who is just a complete animal and has deadlifted 700lbs while simultaneously keeping a sub-5 minute mile. He’s also competed in several Ironman triathlons as well as marathons and other endurance events. To sum up, he’s pretty much the kind of athlete that I would like to develop into.

With all that said, his general suggestion is a conjugate-style program because this style of programming is easier to fit into a endurance program due to the ability to consolidate stressors in a much more cohesive fashion.

I’ll be training 3 days a week; in effect, I’ll be utilizing 9-day micro-cycles (M/W/F/M, W/F/M/W, F/M/W/F, M/W/F/M, etc.). With that in mind, I’m going try my hand at it, and use the following program:

Day 1 (ME Lower):

• Movement 1: ME SQ/DL (alternate squat focus and deadlift focus every micro cycle)
  • Work up to top sets of 5 on squat variations and sets of 3 on deadlift variations, RPE cap of 8 on all top sets. In an ideal world, it should take no more than 15-20 minutes to get to this top set.
  • Depending on feeling, drop down to 80% of this weight, and do 3 sets of 5 with paused reps. For squats, the pause will typically be in the hole, and for deadlifts, the pause will typically be just below the knees.
• Movement 2: Single-Leg Variation
  • This will utilize some form of lunge or split squat movement, loaded with weight vest and/or chains.
  • I’ll also super set this with some kind of core movement.
• Movement 3: Core movement
  • On squat days, I’ll focus on a posterior core movement (ie. back raises)
  • On deadlift days, I’ll focus on a anterior core movement (ie. ab wheel)

Day 2 (ME Upper):

• Movement 1: ME Press (rotate in a seated press movement every 3 weeks for good measure)
  • Work up to a top set of 5 on bench variations and top set of 6-8 on seated press movements.
  • Depending on feeling, drop down to 80% of this weight, and do 3 sets of 8 with paused reps. Pause will alternate between on chest and 1″ off chest each micro-cycle. No pauses for seated press variation.
• Movement 2: Row variation
  • Typically, these will be dumbbell or barbell row variations, but given sufficient time available I’ll try and set up a landmine row or T-bar row as well.
  • Super set with triceps movement
• Movement 3: Triceps extension
  • High-volume with bands are good for this, or some kind of seated/prone extension with dumbbells or EZ curl bar.
• Movement 4: Upper back/traps/rear delts
  • High volume band pull aparts and face pulls
  • Super set with chin-ups
• Movement 5: Chin-ups

Day 3 (DE Lower):

• Movement 1: Speed Squats
  • 12x2x60% of variation used on ME day – this variation will stay consistent for the remainder of the macro cycle, add volume or intensity each micro cycle (ie. 12/15/18 sets, or 60/65/70% intensity)
  • Super set with some kind of anterior core movement
• Movement 2: Good morning
  • 3×20 with SSB bar, try to add weight in small increments each set, but the goal is the volume and not the intensity.
• Movement 3: posterior core movement
  • Back raises again

Day 4 (DE Upper)

• Movement 1: Speed Bench
  • 12x3x50% competitive bench max – macrocycles will alternate between straight weight and accommodating resistance (bands or chains).
  • When using accommodating resistance, bar weight will be reduced to account for added external resistance.
  • Add volume or intensity each micro cycle (ie. 12/15/18 sets, or 50/55/60% intensity)
• Movement 2: DB Press variation
  • Either seated, incline, flat or decline dumbbells for 3×20, press variation will be used for 3 microcycles before being changed.
  • Ideally add weight in small increments where possible.
  • Super set with DB row or one-arm barbell row
• Movement 3: DB or one-arm barbell row
  • Nothing really crazy here, just get the volume in, try to match volumes between pressing and rowing movements
• Movement 4: Chin-ups
  • Simple volume, super set with upper back movement
• Movement 5:
  • Band pull aparts or face pulls

So there you have it, this is the basic overall structure that I’m looking to follow. It looks like a lot of work each day, but my goal will be to build into this level of volume gradually. In an ideal situation, I should be able to get through the first 2 movements at least within 25-30 minutes. The ME and DE movements should really be done and packed up within 15 minutes.

At the end of the day, I’m shooting for efficiency and short gym times with moderate progress over time. It’s far from ideal to not be able to take sufficient rest breaks between sets, but that’s fine. My primary focus is on overall conditioning. Being able to recover quickly between work up sets for ME movements as well as between DE movements will only help me in the long run.

Ok! So my son was a pain in the butt again last night, but again, I really can’t complain. It’s painfully cute and it makes me happy to snuggle with him at night. That said, it does make actually sleeping a little challenging as I end up halfway off the bed somehow. At just barely 19lbs, he’s already pushing me around – this does not bode well for the future!

Anyway, I woke up at 4:30am as per usual, and got myself ready. I was feeling particularly ill-used as I got in my second BJJ class of the year last night, but that also means I’m going to be getting a significant fatiguing effect on my morning workouts the next day, which is what happened. I went down to the garage to do deadlifts and seated overhead pressing as planned. Deadlifts weren’t terrible, honestly, they felt pretty good. I did every working rep from a deadstop for the most part and that adds a certain challenge to the movement. Another huge challenge is that everything in my garage is coated in a thick coat of saw dust. My garage is also my workshop, and since it’s been so cold we’ve been doing more work indoors than I would like. I haven’t had a chance to install any kind of dust collection system or exhaust into the space, so when we need to cut anything, we just blow saw dust all over the place.

It isn’t usually so bad, but we did a lot of work the past few days and it accumulated very quickly since Monday’s workout. So I ended up probably inhaling my fair share of sawdust while training and that wasn’t helping.

In addition to all of this, I managed to tweak my neck (again!) last night, but this time it was while trying to shower. Please don’t laugh at me, but this definitely happens far more frequently than I care to admit to right now.

Anyway, like I said, deadlifts went ok, grip was really the only issue that I was having aside from the saw dust. I ended up getting 7 easy reps with 295. I definitely had more in the tank from a total body perspective, but my hands were just hurting, so I called it there. I’m thinking about whether or not I want to start incorporating straps into my deadlifting training. My grip is taxed plenty from BJJ, and that’s probably part of the reason that it was so weak today, but at the same time, getting my grip stronger will always be a good thing. Anyway, I’ll have to think about it.

My neck was causing severe issues with my overhead pressing and it was just pure agony while trying to get through the warm-ups. Did a set of 5 at 85 and just called it there, I couldn’t do anything comfortably and it just felt like I was going to tweak it worse if I kept on trying to go up in weight. It’ll probably be back to normal in a couple of days, these things tend to resolve themselves pretty quickly, so I’ll just re-do this workout on Friday.

This weekend is going to be all about cleaning up the garage. There’s an absolute metric shit ton of saw dust all over the place, plus with the winter cooling everything down outside, we’ve seen an influx of spiders and a massive increase in spider webs everywhere in the basement. So we’re definitely going to want to do something about that as well.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Hopefully, I’ll be able to put out some real content rather than just these rambling journal entries in the next few days.

I’m starting to get very frustrated, and I’m not entirely sure with what exactly, but there it is. I woke up at 4:30am as usual without too much trouble and got down to the garage to lift without any issues.

My knees felt very good warming up and only gave me any issues when I did the first work set at 245. I was very happy to hit the set of 10 with this weight, as it’s something that I don’t think I’ve ever really done, and had hoped to hit more sets. That said, I only got 5 reps on the second set and opted to not do a 3rd set as I didn’t want to increase the risk of injury. I’m not currently in prep for any competitions, so there’s no need to really push aggressively at this stage.

I opted to start alternating squats and deadlifts as I stated in my last post and that, I think, was for the best. I didn’t feel like death after all was said and done, and was able to include some good work on chin-ups instead of the deadlifts.

Here’s the workout in full:

SSB Squats – 65x5x2, 115x5x2, 155×3, 205×1, 225×1, 245×10, 245×5

Seated OHP – 45×10, 65×5, 85×5, 105×1, 115x5x2, 115×6

Chin-ups – BWx5x3

I’m really happy with how the seated pressing felt, and I think I probably had a few more reps in me on the AMRAP set, but like I said, I’m feeling frustrated and didn’t have the motivation to push harder.

Part of my struggle is the desire to start back up with my 5/3/1 programming. I’ve always enjoyed the program for its simplicity and straightforward design, and I think it’ll be really nice to get back to something that’s delivered great results for me in the past. I’m also a notorious program hopper, and I want to try every type of training program under the sun, but I think if I look at 5/3/1 through the lens of endless potential, then I can make this work for me long run.

I already have my first 5-6 cycles planned out and just want to get to it at this point.

Anyway, going to keep trucking along with the linear progression for now!

That was an interesting workout today, and I’ll be honest, part of the problem that I had with it is that I’m starting to get really bored and I’m also beginning to get worried about some overuse injuries from squatting 3x per week. Then again, squatting 3x per week with submaximal weights really shouldn’t be an issue barring piss poor form…guess what my form is probably looking like.

I’m a real stickler for form and technique, and I’m all about using super light weights or just body weight to train the body to move properly before adding external load. I insist upon it for everybody I create programs for, and anybody that asks me for form techniques gets the same advice almost 90% of the time – go back and relearn your technique.

Anyway, my right knee has been starting to act up – this isn’t new, and is frankly pretty common for me to be having cranky knees. Add on top of that my attempts at running, and you have a potential for disaster simply because I’ve never been properly coached on running form, so I could be all over the place putting my knees at enhanced risks. That’s neither here nor there at the moment, but main thing is that I got through squats and seated presses and only had the motivation to do one set of deadlifts. This is, obviously, very much in line with the set recommendations put forward by Mark Rippetoe in Starting Strength, which is a fantastic training book, but one that I generally disagree with when discussing submaximal weights.

Coach Rip prescribes one set of 5 for deadlifts, every other workout. I agree with the frequency, however, the volume is simply insufficient. I realize that the deadlift is a taxing lift, and can be very challenging to recover form, but you have to realize that the entire point of his program is to perform reps with submaximal weights. So, in theory, you should be lifting weights that are approximately 75% of your 1RM every single workout. If this is the case, and one’s progression has been consistent without significant drop offs in performance, then why shouldn’t the volume be increased?

Regardless, I only did the one set of 5 and I was spent. I’m getting very bored with the programming at this point, my knee is aching something fierce and I was just spent after the sets of 10 on squats. I’m sure I could have completed all of the necessary volume after the first set, but the lack of motivation was concerning. I’ve never in my life not wanted to deadlift, so that should tell you something about how I was feeling.

Here’s the workout:

SSB Squat – 65x5x2, 115x5x2, 155×3, 205×1, 225×1, 235x10x3

• My right knee was really angry with me during all of the warm-ups, and felt moderately better by the working sets. That said, these sets are seriously gassing me out, but I’m not feeling weak just out of shape. Last set was around a RPE 8.5-9.

Seated OHP – 45×10, 65×5, 85×5, 105×1, 110x5x2, 110×8

• Took a 10% deload from last workout (with 120) and figured I’d start up with the progression again. This was 3 steps/workouts backwards, but felt stronger overall. It was definitely a relief to have the intensity dropped a little bit, and while my AMRAP set matched the AMRAP from 3 workouts ago, the RPE was significantly reduced. This one felt like an easy and solid 7-8, while last time I rated it a 8, but also gave myself a stiff-neck on that workout. So I came through this workout unscathed and with a much more confident RPE approximation.

1″ Deficit Deadlift – 135×5, 185×3, 225×1, 275×1, 295×5

• Just the one top set, I’m going to repeat this weight next workout and shoot to get all 3 sets instead of just one next time.

At this point, I’m seriously contemplating calling it quits on the linear progression and moving onto my 5/3/1-based programming. I’m also pretty darn stubborn and want to stick with it at least until I can get the 245x10x3. Then again, I also intended to drop down to sets of 5 on squats at some point too. I think I should just stick with it and ride this out, I’m definitely getting stronger and that’s the entire point.

One change that I might make to avoid the knee issues will be to drop down to just 2 movements per workout and alternate between squats and deadlifts. So next workout would just be squats and seated press and then the following workout would be deficit deadlifts and seated press.

This way I’m still keeping a relatively high frequency of lifts, without overtaxing my ability to recover, plus my knee gets a bit of a break from squatting for 4-5 days at a shot.

Anyway, I’ll figure it out over the weekend.