The Flush (Montana 2 week template)

[KO]

So looks like you've made good progress over several cycles. I just hopped on the MM train for my first cycle. Sorry about the achy back, they're just bumps on the road. You should be back on track before you know it.

[TheFlush]

2018-08-23 C8W1D2 Press

155x1@8.5, 162.5x0 (fail), 125x6,6,5,4 = 21 in 7 minute block.

I think skipping presses last week due to my back pain affected me some this week. I attempted a small PR single, but couldn't get past my forehead. Back felt fine today though.

[TheFlush]

2018-08-24 C8W1D3 Power

Bench 165x3, 190x2, 210x1, 210x1, 230x1, 250x1
Squat 195x3, 225x2, 250x1, 250x1, 270x1, 295x1
DL 275x1, 230x3, 230x3
CGBP 175x8x3

Bench was good. Back started to feel something (not really pain) at 270. Lost upper back tightness at 295 which created RPE 9. Still better than most of the past week or so. Deadlifts didn't feel good. Beginning of pain at 275, so I didn't go higher. Tried to do some reps at 230, but it just didn't feel right so stopped after 2 sets. I figure I am better off to back down rather than risk injury. Slow progress is better than not training due to pain. I have lost 11 pounds and tightened up my belt a notch.

[TheFlush]

2018-08-26 C8W1D5 Strength

Bench 215 x (3TnG + 1 1ct pause) x4
Squat 230x3x5
SGDL 170x5, 180x5x3

Bench was good. Squats started high, but got to depth by the last set. Back didn't really hurt, but still kept weight light as I work to overcome detraining and fear. SGDL started light and added a little weight after 1st set. Changed out of squat shoes for last 2 sets which helped. Could feel something short of pain during SGDL and maybe even during squats.

[TheFlush]

2018-08-30 C8W2D1 Hypertrophy

Bench 205x4x3, 205x3x4
Squat 220x4x3, 220x3x4
Chins 28 reps in 10 minutes with black and purple bands, less assistance than last time.

Everything heavier than it should be. No back pain on squats at least, but I have gotten weaker. Wider grip on last set felt better than earlier sets.

Didn't feel like lifting today, but forced it anyway. Now glad that I did. Not sure how the weekend will go. Family in town, 2 football games to go to, alma mater on TV saturday afternoon. I hope to do something instead of skipping, but will have to see how it goes.

[TheFlush]

So after writing no back pain last night, now my back hurts a lot. I changed a car battery this morning. That's the only thing I can think of that might have triggered it. I don't think it was the squats from last night. Ugh.

[TheFlush]

I squeezed in my bench press session in between my son's JV football game and the Auburn game on TV. 160x3, 190x2, 210x1, 210x1, 230x1, 245x1, 255x1. My hurt during son's game, but actually felt good during and after bench press. Didn't have much time to try squats or deadlifts, so I blew them off. Back already hurts again. Pleased with bench press. Pissed off at my back.

[TheFlush]

2018-09-03 C8W2D5 Strength

Bench 220x3x4, 220x2x2
Squat 240x3x4, 240x2x2

Back hurt all day yesterday, while trying to sleep, and this morning. Particularly painful when/after standing up, then it eventually feels better while standing. Something about bench press makes it feel better. Maybe something about attempting to arch my back with leg drive decompresses a nerve or something else bro-sciencey. Anyway using leg drive to push back onto my shoulders also helps me lift the weight. 1 breathe for 3 reps worked well at this weight.

Squats were ... not painful at least? I am beginning to thing the back pain came from letting the bar get too far forward which put too much strain on my low back. The reason for getting too far forward is basically using low bar mechanics with a high bar position. Today I used a wider grip which let me get the bar lower and when I do this I think it is easier to maintain the bar over mid foot. I feel the weight in my hips more than in my back. However I think most reps were high today until the last 2 sets maybe. Other concern is wrist and or elbow pain due to the wider grip, which makes it harder to keep elbows from flying up during descent.

I skipped SGDL because I am still concerned about my back. I did play with RDL for a couple lightweight sets.

If I can't figure out squats before too long I might try using a trap bar or maybe trying to rig up a belt squat like TimK did using a landmine attachment.

[TheFlush]

2018-09-05 C9W1D1 Hypertrophy

Bench 195x5x7
Squat 225x5x6
Chins 28 in 10 min with black and purple assistance bands.

Bench was good. Squats were better than they had been. Chins sucked. It was hot in the garage today. Back bothered me more throughout the day than it did during lifting. Need to try to put more weight on the bar now.

[TheFlush]

2018-09-09 C9W1D3 Power

Bench 165x3, 195x2, 215x1, 215x1, 235x1, 255x1@8-8.5?, 225x3
Squat 190x3, 225x2, 250x1, 250x1, 265x1, 290x1@9?
Deadlift 135x5x2
RDL 135x5

Weird week. I have been trying to stretch my hips some because I think it limits my squats somewhat. I was doing the pigeon stretch on Thursday when I heard/felt something pop in my left knee. Not a lot of pain unless I try to cross my left leg over my right knee such as in the pigeon stretch. Anyways my back continues to hurt a lot when I first stand up. I can feel it on both sides near the back/top of my hips. It can take 10-15 seconds of standing before the pain goes away and once I am upright and walking it doesn't feel bad. Not sleeping good due to back and sometimes shoulder pain.

My schedule will be screwed up for a while due to my son's game schedule. He has a game every single day between now and next Sunday, 6 straight days. 4 soccer and 2 football. 3 home and 3 away. So I don't know when I will lift again.

Bench was OK. I added a triple after the top single since I had an extra day off and will have a lot of time off this week. Squats sucked. Top single was hard. Right elbow is hurting some. Getting closer to buying a trap bar to try in place of squats. Tried some very light deadlifts and RDLs. The eccentric felt off, so I never went up in weight. Back felt fine when I was done lifting, but doesn't feel good as I sit here typing this.

[TheFlush]

2018-09-13

Bench 220 X (3TnG + 1 1ct pause ) X 4

Good news, bad news. Good news is that I didn't have to go to a soccer game last night, so I got to lift. My sophomore son has been starting on varsity, so they let him skip the JV game that the rest of the freshmen and sophomores had to go to. Bad news is that my back is still hurting. Might even be my hips more than my back. Possibly SI joint? I have slept poorly for several nights in a row. I could barely keep my eyes open driving home from work, might as well have been drunk. Bench press was harder than it should have been. I tried 1 empty bar set of squats and called it quits. Too damn tired. I did order a trap bar to try as an alternative to squats and maybe deadlifts. It was supposed to have been delivered yesterday, but was not. I don't know if it will help with my back/hips or not, but it should help with elbow and shoulder issues. Time will tell.

[TheFlush]

2018-09-15

Bench 165x3, 195x2 ,215x1, 235x1, 250x1, 260x1,265x1, 270x1, 275x1

Trap Bar DL 135x5, 185x5, 225x3, 275x1, 285x1, 300x1

Back is feeling a little better.

Everything above 250 pounds on the bench is a recent PR. I think I am going to try the Nuckols intermediate volume bench program, so I decided to sort of max out or at least confirm my e1RM, which I did. I was estimating e1RM using the RPE table. I am a little surprised how close it was since I am mostly guessing at my RPEs. I probably could have done a little more, but I did too many singles working my way up. I screwed up the video on my max single. Video below is at 270 instead of top set of 275. I had my son spot me on the max single and I got it with some significant slow down, but he did not touch the bar.

I received my trap bar and just played with it doing some deadlifts to figure out an e1RM to base my programming on. I might play around with trying to make it more squat like. Will use 315 as my e1RM for now. These felt good and I think I will like them.

I didn't do anything else because it is time to watch college football.

[TheFlush]

2018-09-17

Bench 205x5x5
Trap Bar DL Low Handles 225x5x6
BB Curls 55x12x1, 65x12x4

Day 1 of Nuckols intermediate medium volume program. Felt OK even thought I had not previously worked this intensity and volume. Trap bar DL is OK, but my lower body is undertrained and work capacity low due to skipping stuff and reducing intensity because of my back pain. Back felt OKish. Not sure my left shoulder likes the curls. Supersetted curls and DLs. Under MM my bench went from untested e1RM of 235 to a test 275 over 4 months. Probably dumb to change programming.

[TheFlush]

2018-09-19

Bench
8@50% 140
6@60% 165
4@70% 195
4@70% 195
3@80% 220
3@80% 220

Chins 26 in 10 minute block (band assisted)

Next session calls for AMRAP at 80% for bench. It will be challenging to get the 9 reps required to add 5 lbs to e1RM. I feel confident about 6. Any above that will depend on how I am feeling that day. I am not used to doing more than 5s at almost any intensity. I also realize that I can't expect to add 5 to e1RM every week as the gains will likely become less frequent as the weight on the bar goes up.

I am going to do my trap bar deads just twice a week until my back is much better, so no lower body this session.

[TheFlush]

2018-09-22

Bench 220x9 @9
Trap Bar DL 250x3x5, 250x6x1
OHP 125x5x6
DB Curls 30s x8 x3
Standing Tricep Extension 45x12x3

First AMRAP day for the Nuckols intermediate volume bench plan. It was easier than I expected and I should have pushed myself for a 10th rep. Add 5 lbs to e1RM for next week. I slept better than usual and ate before lifting which I am sure helped. I also think I could have tested higher last week if I didn't do so many sets, so maybe this new e1RM is what I would have hit anyway. There is a small chance I got stronger over the course of the week.

Taking it slow on lower body and back stuff. Back felt better.

Haven't done OHP in a while so I just wanted to get some reps in.

Supersetted DB curls and STE for bro work. I have weak biceps.

[TheFlush]

2019-09-25

Bench 225x3x4, 210x6x3
Trap Bar DL 255x4x3, 255x3x4
BB Curls 65x12x4

This bench program is more intense than MM, but so far is manageable. The 80% (225) reps were harder than they should have been, but the 75% (210) ones were OKish. My schedule is such that I will have to go with 2 days off between some sessions, which might be a good thing for me. My elbows have been a little sore. Nor sure if from the added avg intensity or just residual from LBBS or maybe even the curls which I had not done for a while.

A bigger concern is that on Saturday during my AMRAP set I felt some pain in my groin due to leg drive on bench press. It is in the location that makes me fear a hernia. I couldn't really feel a bulge, but I have a lot of fat there and am not sure. The pain was somewhat sharp, but went away after bench press and did not bother me during DL, OHP, curls or anything else. It happened again yesterday, maybe to a lesser extent pain wise, but then I thought maybe I felt a bulge. Pain went away quickly again and did not return during other lifts. I am not sure if I should go to Dr ASAP or if I can wait until my December appointment. I will monitor this closely, but also don't want to nocebo myself.

[TheFlush]

2018-09-28
Bench
8@ 50% 140
6@ 60% 170
6@ 60% 170
5@ 70% 195
5@ 70% 195
4@ 75% 210
4@ 75% 210
3@ 80% 225
3@ 80% 225
3@ 80% 225

2018-09-29
Trap Bar DL
5@ 70% 240
3@ 78% 265
2@ 82% 280
1@ 85% 290
1@ 90% 305
1@ 95% 325

Chins 30 reps in 10 minute block, band assisted

I completed my bench press yesterday before heading to an away football game. Hard but manageable. However it feels like the bar raises unevenly with the right side trailing the left. No (hopefully phantom) hernia pain at least.

Completed my DLs today before heading to an away soccer game. I am trying to have a controlled eccentric to make it somewhat squat like, so I deadlift the bar, breathe again at the top and then start counting the reps with a little touch and go and no breathing at the bottom. I guess I am really just adding a rep to each set.

[TheFlush]

2018-10-01

Bench 225x9 @9.75
Trap bar DL 245x5x6
OHP 130x3x2
DB Curls 35sx8x3
STE 45x12x3

End of 2nd week of Nuckols program with a AMRAP set of 9. Felt OKish, but a little uneven bar rise. Elbows still sore.

OHP sucked. Planned on 6 sets of 3, but failed first rep of 3rd set, so I stopped. It was 5 lbs heavier than last time, but I should have done better.

[TheFlush]

2018/10/03

Bench
240x4x1, 240x3x3 (85%), 215x8x2, 215x7x1(F) (75%)

W3D1 of the Nuckols program. Misread the plan as 3 sets of 4 instead of 4 sets of 3. So I did a set of 4 before doing 3 sets of 3. I failed the 8th rep of the 3rd set at 215. Safety arms FTW. I was toast afterwards. Did 1 set of 5 chins and called it quits. Not sure what I will do next, but I will take at least 2 days off to recover.

[TheFlush]

2018-10-06

Bench
50% 140 1x8
60% 170 2x6
70% 195 2x5
80% 225 2x3
90% 255 2x1

Trap Bar DL
80% 280 6x3

Bench felt better than last time, but it was supposed to be easier I think.