Rob's PR (or attempted PR!) Log

[RobUK]

I've always noted down all my sessions on my phone and I'm probably going to continue to do that rather than log each session here but I wanted an excuse to write about the results of my recent programme so thought I might log my progresst from cycle to cycle - hopefully PRs!

Results:

Bench - 125kg / 275lbs (failed 130kg) - about 10kg / 22lb recent PR but 5kg / 11lb below lifetime PR, bit disappointing

Squat - 182.5kg / 401lbs - ecstatic to join the 400lb club! 32.5kg / 71lb above my previous lifetime PR of 150kg / 330lb

Deadlift from blocks - 200kg / 440lbs - very happy as 20kg / 44lb PR

This cycle started round September last year when I decided as I only had 18 months or so until I hit 40 it was about time I started actually trying get strong before it was too late rather than spinning my wheels. I've always done a 4 day split with one heavy lift per session plus accessories so decided to continue doing that and go to 3x5 on the heavy lift and just progress from there (dropping the starting weights a little to allow room for improvement) and eat like fuck.

I was solidly on the 'train until you grind' SS train and then this place started up and I started reading a lot of Hanley's stuff and also the BBM crew's stuff and so my ideas changed, luckily before it was too late, recognising the importance of volume and fatigue management rather than grinding for a PR every week. I did, however, keep eating and went from 192 pounds to 220 pounds (time for a mini cut now!).

I added a 5th session to my 4 day spit so I could continue adding weight on my heavy exercise but add more volume. Squats had the most to gain, as I've always done them on and off, so they just progressed linearly, whereas deads I got to a top point and then moved back but added more volume. Bench & press I had issues with due to elbow problems (emanating from squat grip I think) so they went up and down a bit.

Anyone interested can read a bit more about my programming here:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=814&p=36386#p36386

Anyhow, I tapered off assistance exercises for a week and then just a light week and the results were as above.

My new cycle is going to look like this

Mon - Bench (H), Press (L), Dip (A)
Tue - Dead (H), Rows (A), Bis (A)
Wed - OFF
Thu - Bench (M), Squat (M), Chin (A)
Fri - OFF
Sat - Press (H), Dips (A), LTE (A)
Sun - Squat (H), Dead (L), Chins (A)
Mon - OFF

- Heavy will be 3 singles followed by volume work (18 reps to start with, reduce as necessary down to maybe 6 - 9 reps at end of cycle). Weights will progress from 85% - 95% for the singles and 75% - 85% for the volume work.
- Medium will be volume work, slightly lower weight than heavy day (30 reps to start with, down to 24 reps at end of cycle)
- Light & Assistance work - 40-50 reps going from 65% - 75%
- Will use intra set fatigue type protocol so heavy and medium days may start with 5s, be down to triples towards end of cycle.
- Will alternate deadlifting from blocks and sumo, thoughts encapsulated in post 19 of this thread

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1350&p=72279#p72279

Cheers!
Rob

[RobUK]

Squat test day today - hit 190kg (up from 182.5kg so 7.5kg pr).

I was pretty happy after hitting this because I’ve had a slightly upset tummy for the last couple of days and I sometimes have issues with squatting if I have my coffee too close to the session anyway.

So I nearly puked at the bottom of 160kg and 175kg and they both felt heavy although video showed they were quite smooth if not fast. Really didn’t know whether going for 190kg was a good idea. I waited a while, decided to go for it, untracked it and felt a bit of vomit come up, re-racked it, waited a while, decided to go for it with a notch looser on my belt and got it although it was a complete grindfest!

So whilst I was hoping to go for 200kg this cycle I was pretty proud of myself for getting under 190kg when not feeling my best. Plus I now have 6 months to hit 200kg before I’m 40 so maybe it will all come together nicely!

Bench test day in a couple of days.

[RobUK]

Bench test day, don't want to talk about it

Did 127.5kg in my last heavy session before deload so at least that's a 2.5kg current pr (2.5kg behind lifetime from 15 years or so ago).

[Wayne]

Good effort Rob, I’d be pleased with those numbers. Similarly I’ve had frustration when working towards a goal but as you approach it feels exponentially tougher!

How often are you hitting lifetime PR attempts? On the common or garden Montana Method there are singles every week at around 8ish RPE. It’s certainly helped my confidence getting under a relatively heavy weight for a single vs previous routines. Your 3x singles a day may help with this though.

[RobUK]

Good effort Rob, I’d be pleased with those numbers. Similarly I’ve had frustration when working towards a goal but as you approach it feels exponentially tougher!

How often are you hitting lifetime PR attempts? On the common or garden Montana Method there are singles every week at around 8ish RPE. It’s certainly helped my confidence getting under a relatively heavy weight for a single vs previous routines. Your 3x singles a day may help with this though.

Hi mate

I was just going to write a post about the new cycle so I could link it to the thread about progress etc and saw your post - it never came up as a notification!

I was doing singles every week for bench, squat and deads on this cycle but both of my last cycles have been very long with a traditional periodised overlay, which is great if it works but not so great if it doesn't because you aren't finding out until 4 months or whatever! Has worked great for squats as first cycle went from 150kg - 182.5kg and this cycle went up to 190kg (and I am pretty sure I would have got more if I hadn't felt so awful on test day). But still 2.5kg behind lifetime best on bench.

Deads (from blocks) was going great but I didn't test it as had nothing left after my squat.

So this cycle is going to be much shorter, prob 6 weeks, with an intention to rinse and repeat but with weights/volume moving up a little each time.

[RobUK]

Set up of new cycle is going to be similar to old - still 3 pressing days, 2 squatting days and 1 deads day every 8 weeks.

But I found the full body day tough and I need to get some cardio in. Plus I have bought an adjustable bench so am going to bring in incline bench for some of my assistance work. Lastly, Press is going to go fully to assistance rather than starting with it on one of the days as I really need to focus completely on Bench.

Mon - Bench (S), Press (S), Dip/incline (A) (will alternative between dips and incline)
Tue - Squat (P +S), Rows (L), Bis (A), cardio
Wed - OFF
Thu - Bench (P), Chins (H), Incline (H/A), Row (A)
Fri - Squats (H), cardio
Sat - Bench (H), Press (H), Lat raises & LTEs (A)
Sun - Deads (P&S), Chins (A), cardio
Mon - OFF

Have changed Heavy, Medium, Light to Power, Strength, Hypertrophy because more in line with terminology being used for DUP set ups here.

As per this thread

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2023

I am going to increase volume on V days rather than increasing weight. S days volume will be maintained with weight going up. P days weight will go up and either volume will go down or I will only do 5 singles from the get go (prob either volume will still go down or not all singles at highest weight).

[RobUK]

Bench test - finally got that 130kg I was planning to get in April - then got 132.5kg! Very, very happy! Probably shouldn't have attempted 135kg, that was a little greedy of me and it barely lifted 2 inches!

Very much enjoyed this short 8 week cycle and am going to rinse and repeat with just a few tweaks. Actually one of the tweaks I made half way through this cycle, which was to separate out S & P for squats and deadlift. So Squats S was on Tue followed by a heavy deadlift single and Squat P was on Fri followed by Dead S. Had to muck about with the assistance exercises to accommodate and will tweak them again. Hasn't changed the volume but means I deadlift twice rather than once and squat 3 time rather than twice. More practice and more focus for the P singles.

But in essence, week or two of purely volume, then transition to HPS with progress as per prev post then a couple of weeks of peaking - not purely for the purpose of testing but also as per Nuckol's thoughts on using Bulgarian method for strength improvements and potentially improving sensitivity to volume in the next cycle.

Mini cycles work nicely in terms of fitting in between holidays etc and more regular checks on progress. The longer cycles I've done always end up with interruptions and also feel a bit more risky as it's a lot of time investment before necessarily knowing how well it is going.

Oh, I didn't feel like testing squats and deadlifts today and am off on holiday tomorrow so think I will leave it for this cycle.

[Wilhelm]

Hodge congratulations, @RobUK! \o/
300 Murican pounds becon.

I am definitely going to shorten up my squat cycles after this last experiment.

[RobUK]

Cheers buddy!

I came back to earth a little when I looked at my bench ranking on this site, especially considering my weigh...but at least it's moving in the right direction now!

[RobUK]

Bench and Press test today.

Bench I equalled the 132.5kg I got last time but this time I failed miserably on 136kg (going for that 300lbs) rather than 135kg...so maybe that's progress?!

But nice bonus when I tested Press for the first time in an age - got a 2.5kg PR at 82.5kg.

Enjoyed this cycle and definitely liked the upping of volume throughout on H day and assistance exercises on all days. I'm less certain as to how to handle the peaking/tapering. I found it interesting that after my last S/P/H week for pressing I did two H sessions...the second one I felt so much fresher, I actually reckon I may have been better off going for a test then (although I did get a 3RM PR of 120kg and could maybe have got a 4th if really testing). So I wonder if a couple of sessions of low volume high intensity is actually enough to dissipate fatigue and peaking for longer may actually be detrimental.

On the other hand I had a day of illness this week (which may or may not have been related to equalling my deadlift 1RM and 95% of my squat 1RM the day before) and work has been stressful / sleep not great so that may have also impacted. I'll see how I feel on Saturday as to whether I test Squat and Deads or not before going on holiday for christmas, I am likely to get little sleep beforehand due to work deadlines!

I may play around with not reducing volume completely next time so I still get 2 or 3 weeks of heavier weights but with some assistance, we'll see. I love the idea of pushing for different rep maxes over a few weeks, hitting PRs every session for a couple of weeks would be pretty cool!

Anyway, in general very happy with my set up, I can't stop tweaking it but it's mainly round the edges!

[RobUK]

Sometimes this lifting stuff is just weird right?!

I had a so so cycle up until April, it was going pretty well but I then had a party which went on all night and I couldn't sleep in the morning either, which totally destroyed my next couple of sessions. I then had a holiday coming up so I ended up only testing Bench and failing 135 again.

After a week away, during which I only managed a couple of very light sessions in an ill equipped hotel, I felt very demotivated when I got back. Didn't do my first session for about 3 days (thereby exacerbating the impact of the holiday) and whilst I managed to keep my bench sessions going pretty much on schedule my squatting/dling ended up only mostly being working up to a single and otherwise using those sessions as back days.

Power day for bench this week and weights felt good...so I kept going up. 130kg felt light, 135kg wasn't light but felt pretty easy. After lifting it I looked at the weights on the bar suspiciously suspecting a misload (which I've somehow managed to do twice this cycle, adding to the general feel of it being a bit of a shambles).

Nope definitely 135kg!

Pretty ecstatic but also a little confused I decided to jump straight to 137.5kg rather than 136kg because the latter is a few grams shy of 300bs...and I got it!

Happiest I've ever been re: lifting since I started.

[ChrisMcCarthy1979]

Nice Lifting!

The Holiday and then the few days off probably just served to sharpen you up nicely...when you've put the work in you often get little presents like that!