O Thou of the Disquieted Shoe

[unruhschuh]

Hi everyone,

I've been training on and off for several years but life got in the way in nice (newborn) and bad (illnesses) ways.

Anyway, after my last major set back due to illness, I ran a quick linear progression to the following top sets (not necessarily 5RMs):

Squat	315x5
Deadlift	405x5
Press	153x5

I'm male, 34, 176cm / 5'9", 93kg / 205lbs.

I started without the bench press, since it gives me shoulder issues.

On 2017-06-15 I started a new program I cobbled together inspired by Andy Baker's article on rotating rep ranges which looks as follows:



In the beginning, on both days I did Dumbbell Bench Presses and Barbell Curls as assistance exercises.

Obviously, one cycle takes three weeks, but the Press progresses at twice the rate and goes through two cycles during that time frame. My reasoning behind this is: The press loves volume and frequency. So both shall be given. Let's see how it goes.

The last cycle before starting this log was (8 / 5 / 2)

Squat	260 / 295 / 330 lbs
Press	130 / 144 / 166 lbs
Deadlift	330 / 375 / 420 lbs

The current program

As described above, but assistance looks like this:

Monday	Wednesday	Thursday	Saturday
Dumbbell Bench Press	Chin ups	Barbell Bench Press	Pull ups
Barbell Curls		Barbell Curls

[unruhschuh]

2017-09-12

Exercise	weight x reps x sets	[rest in minutes]
Squat	265x8x3	[7,11]
Press	144x5x5	[6,6,6,8]
Paused Deadlift	255x8x3	[5,7]
Dumbbell Bench Press	70x9, 60x9+8+8+7=32	[2,2,2,2]
Barbell Curls	57x15+9+8+7=39	[2,2,2]

VideosShow

Squat (last set)


Press (last set)

[unruhschuh]

2017-09-16

Exercise	weight x reps x sets	[rest in minutes]
Deadlift	335x8x3	[8,8]
Press	166x2x3	[8,8]
Paused Squat	215x8x3	[5,5]
Dumbbell Bench Press	75x8, 60x11+9+8+7=35	[2,2,2,2]
Barbell Curls	60x15+9+7+7=38	[2,2,2]

VideoShow

Press (last set)

[unruhschuh]

2017-09-18

Exercise	weight x reps x sets	[rest in minutes]
Squat	300x5x3	[5,5]
Press	132x8x3	[5,7]
Paused Deadlift	300x5x3	[5,5]
Dumbbell Bench Press	75x9, 60x12+10+8+8=38
Barbell Curls	62x14+9+8+8=39

VideosShow

Squat (last set)


Press (last set)


Paused Deadlift (last set):

[unruhschuh]

Incorporating chin ups / pull ups
Andy baker wrote in a recent article on chin ups / pull ups: “One of the most frustrating exercises to make improvements on for many trainees is the Pull-Up and the Chin-Up.”

That’s exactly how I feel. I have never done them consistently for a long time, because progress always stopped at some point. So here is my plan:

I do have a chin up bar at home, so I will do two days a week additionally to my training days, where I only do chin ups and pull ups. I usually train Monday and Thursday, so I will use the days in between.

I can do 12-14 strict chin ups, so I will start by doing a total number of 20 chin ups on Tuesday or Wednesday and a total number of 20 pull ups on Friday, Saturday or Sunday with 2 Minutes of rest between sets. This worked well on Curls and DBBPs partly because it keeps the total time under control which helps me with compliance. It is similar to Jordan Feigenbaums advice to do as many reps in a 7-8 minute time frame, but I like constant rest times better. Of course, I will adjust the rest time if that doesn’t seem to work.

Every week I will add 5 reps to the total number until I reach approximately 50 reps, so that’ll be in 6 weeks. At that point 50 reps should take no more than 5-6 sets. If it does, I will do less otherwise I predict compliance issues (know thyself!). Ramping up the number of reps this way also worked well on Curls and DBBP and avoids burning out quickly.

At some point I will add 1-3 sets of weighted chins/pull ups in front of the body weight ones while keeping the total number at approx. 50 reps.

I might use straps on the weighted chins/pull ups and maybe even the last sets of the body weight ones, because I don't want grip strength to be a limiting factor. My grip already gets a lot of work through deadlifts.

Now that I said it in front of the entire Internet I have to comply Kind of the point of this log anyway.

[unruhschuh]

2017-09-20
Chin Ups 12+8=20 [2]

After this herculean effort I cracked a cold one to celebrate my compliance. Cheers!

[unruhschuh]

2017-09-21
As I was ripping through my deadlift sets, letting the weight fly towards the ceiling, I thought to myself: “This program you invented is working like a charm! How smart you are! Even Rippetoe called you a sharp guy, so it must be true. I Andy Bakered the shit out of this program.”. After the third set I realized that I misloaded by 10lbs. In shame I did a fourth set with the correct weight and came back to baseline self esteem of "I don't suck too badly", which in my book is a good thing.

Also, I learned from the weird "fist pumpin"-Thread in Andy Baker's forum how to do tables. So here we go:

DL	370x5x3
	380x5	[5,5,5]
P	145x5x5	[6,6,6,6]
PSQ	240x5x3	[5,5]
DBBP	75x6+7=13
	60x12+9+9=30	[2,2,2,2]
BB curls	64x13+10+7+7=37

VideoShow

Last Deadlift set (the correct weight)

2017-09-24
Pull Ups 10+6+4=20, CU 8 [2,2,2]

2017-09-26
I felt better today after a total of 7 hours of sleep last night. Good enough to do some chins:
Chin Ups 12+7+6=25 [2,2]

[unruhschuh]

2017-09-28
Last night I brought our son to bed at 8pm. Next thing I know is waking up at 6am. 10 hours of sleep (PR).

The second set of presses was a bit of a grind, so I took 8 minutes rest before the third one, which went up faster. Generally I try to keep the rest time between 5-6 minutes.

I started doing bench presses, hoping my shoulder holds up. I currently consider it an assistance lift for the press, and treat it accordingly, alternating with dumbbell bench presses. I keep the reps highish and concentrate on volume. Shoulder problems occurred in the past, when things got heavy (relatively speaking, my PR is 100kg x 1). I use a narrower grip now, and concentrate on pulling my shoulders back and down.

I started to use heavy/heavier top sets on the barbell curls. My strategy for assistance lifts is to linearly progress them while doing 4-5 sets or 40-50 total reps until the total number of reps drops significantly (probably stole that idea from Baker or Feigenbaum, but I don’t remember). Then I introduce heavier top sets. I kept rest time between the heavy sets at 2 minutes. Longer rest time is better for strength development, so next time I’ll use 5 minutes for the heavy sets and 1 minute for the lighter sets for the pump. Yep, I said ‘pump’. I also did them in the squat rack. I don’t give a shit.

Exercise	weight x reps x sets	[rest in minutes]
Squat	335x2x3	[5,5]
Press	168x2x3	[5,8]
Paused Deadlift	315x2x3	[3,4]
Bench Press	115x12+12+12+10=46	[2,2,2]
Barbell Curls	70x10+8+7=25, 60x9+7+8=24	[2,2,2,2]

VideosShow

Squat (last set)


Press (last set)

[unruhschuh]

2017-09-30
Pull Ups 10+7+6+5=28 [2,2,2]

2017-10-01
I only had 90 minutes today, so I had to rush through this one. Couldn’t do the barbell curls at the end, so I did drop sets with dumbbells starting at 30lbs going down to 15lbs. I didn’t count the reps.

Apparently it was Guns’N Roses day at the gym, so my mood was especially good. They played the whole “Use Your Illusions II” album in a loop. Naturally I sang every chorus and whistled most solos. I wasn’t even the only one. Usually I wear ear protection plugs, because most of the time the music there is god aweful and way too loud. They have gone through three sets of speakers and the bass on the current ones is already farty. If it wasn’t for the equipment, I’d be the hell outa there.

Exercise	weight x reps x sets	[rest in minutes]
Deadlift	425x2x3	[5,5]
Press	135x8x3	[5,6]
Paused Squats	260x2x3	[3,3]
Dumbbell Bench Press	75x8+5+5=18, 60x11+9+9=29	[2,2,2,2,2]
Dumbbell Curls	Drop sets starting at 30

VideosShow

Deadlift (last set)


Press (last set)

[cgeorg]

Yep, I said ‘pump’. I also did them in the squat rack. I don’t give a shit.

[unruhschuh]

What can I say, curling in the squat rack is my guilty pleasure.

2017-10-03
Chin Ups 11+7+6+6=30 [2,2,2]

[unruhschuh]

Strength Projections

Since I finished my 5th cycle, I'm trying to do some strength projections for the end of 2017 (the most popular of the arbitrary time horizons). Thus far, the rates of progress on the three lifts for the doubles have been:

Lift	lbs / week four doubles
Squat	1.61
Press	1.45
Deadlift	1.61

If I can keep up those rates, by the end of this year (2017-12-31), the weights for doubles would be:

Lift	projected weight for doubles
Squat	357
Press	187
Deadlift	446

Assuming, that three sets of doubles corresponds 1:1 to 5 RM (is this a fair assumtion?), my projected 1RMs for the end of 2017 would be according to Brzycki (5RM is 88.89% of 1RM):

Lift	projected weight for 1RM
Squat	402
Press	210
Deadlift	502

This is probably too optimistic for the press. Having a 400 / 200 / 500 by the end of the year would make me very happy. I'm thinking of testing my 1RMs end of 2017 / beginning of 2018.

I'm writing this down to have a goal and because projections are fun.

[damufunman]

How old is your son? We're expecting in December, and I'm gonna have to start thinking about planning my training for next year. I like your projections, it makes training more fun I think, having a goal to get to at the end of a cycle.

[unruhschuh]

How old is your son? We're expecting in December, and I'm gonna have to start thinking about planning my training for next year.

He turned 2 in July. It's a fun age, the best so far. Boy or girl?

I like your projections, it makes training more fun I think, having a goal to get to at the end of a cycle.

I also get a chance to fiddle with spread sheets, which is fun in my book.

[damufunman]

He turned 2 in July. It's a fun age, the best so far. Boy or girl?

Boy. Super excited and kinda scared. Knowing me it'll get worse come December.

I also get a chance to fiddle with spread sheets, which is fun in my book.

Agreed. I have everything planned out until end of November in Google Sheets so I can update it as needed. Very important to have access to training information/plan while at work.

[unruhschuh]

Very important to have access to training information/plan while at work.

Very important

2017-10-05
I had the dumbz today. First I took 5 minutes rest on the press when it should have been 6. Before the last set I spotted a fellow lifter in the squat and thus took 11 minutes rest before the last set. I’ll repeat that weight next time and take 6 minutes rest throughout.

Then I did Bench Presses immediately after Presses, so I swapped them with the Paused Deadlifts.

To top it off I tried to film my squats with the 4K settings on my phone without realizing that it only allows a recording time of 1 minute. I need a new brain.

Maybe I was distracted, because my back acted weirdly the whole day. It always felt like a cramp was going to happen and then it didn’t. No problems thus far since then.

I’m still trying to figure out how to do the Barbell Curls. This time I did three sets of 5s accross with 3 minutes rest and then AMRAP@8-9 (gasp, RPE!) on 1 minutes rest. It felt alright and I think I’ll stick to that approach for the moment.

After reading Les’ thread on KUA, I feel tempted to try it out, but I’ll stick to my program as long as it works. It seems like I could morph my program slowly into KUA, given it also revolves around doing 8s and then tapering it down to 2s and 1s, though over the course of a longer time period than three weeks.

Exercise	weight x reps x sets	[rest in minutes]
Squat	270x8x3	[5,5]
Press	147x5x5	[5,5,7,11]
Bench Press	135x10+10+7+7=34	[2,2,2]
Paused Deadlift	260x8x3	[5,5]
Barbell Curls	75x5+5+5=15 50x14+8+8=30	[3,3,1,1,1]

[unruhschuh]

2017-10-08
I’m already at 5 sets for 30 reps of pull ups and my goal was to do 50 reps at some point. I’ll either settle with less reps or I might try taking only 1 minute rests to speed things up. I’m mainly concerned with compliance here, cause if it takes too long, I might lose the drive to do them at all. They are my least favourite “lift”.

Pull Up 10+6+6+6+5=33 [2,2,2,2]

[unruhschuh]

2017-10-09

The last rep of the second set of Presses was already a grind, so I took 9 minutes rest before the third set, which was an uber-grind (see video below). Not sure what to do here. Either I drop to singles or try to repeat weights once I fail. From experience I know, that the latter doesn’t work very well, though.

Exercise	weight x reps x sets	[rest in minutes]
Deadlift	340x8x3	[5,5]
Press	170x2x3	[6,9]
Paused Squat	225x8x3	[5,5]
Dumbbell Bench Press	75x5+5+5=15 60x10+7+7=24	[3,3,1,1,1]
Barbell Curls	77x5+5+5=15 50x12+10+9=31	[3,3,1,1,1]

VideoShow

[unruhschuh]

2017-10-11
Chin Up 10+7+7+6+6=36 [2,2,2,2]

[unruhschuh]

2017-10-12

I’ll give the bench press another try. If the shoulder pain comes back, I’m officially retarded for trying it yet again. I changed my grip. It is more narrow, maybe 2-3cm on the inside from the mark. I make sure to stay tight, and pull my shoulders back and down. I also don’t allow my elbows to trigger flare out. Let’s see how it goes. So Monday (which is Thursday*) is Squat and Bench day and Thursday (which is Monday*) is Deadlift and Press day.

* I skipped one day due to illness and now my schedule is out of whack. But that is the beauty of this kind of program, Monday is Thursday, could be Wednesday, it doesn’t matter.

3s Press is a strict press where the concentric part takes 3 seconds, similar to Jordan Feigenbaum’s tempo work with 3-0-3, but I don’t do 3 seconds on the eccentric part, because it is aweful and stupid and I don’t want to/can’t hold my breath for 6 seconds. I tried breathing both at the bottom and at the top, but then I’m not able to count my reps. I can only brain one at a time.

On the press day I’ll probably do LTEs or something, I haven’t decided yet. Barbell curls stay where they are, I want them gunzZzZz.

Exercise	weight x reps x sets	[rest in minutes]
Squat	305x5x3	[5,5]
Bench Press	145x5x3	[3,3]
Paused Deadlift	302x5x3	[5,5]
3s Press	95x5x3	[3,3]
Barbell Curl	77x5+5+5=15 50x11x10x8=29	[3,3,1,1,1]

VideosShow

Squat (last set)


Paused Deadlift (last set)