back on my bullshit (that is, running a program)

[rjharris]

14 September 2020 (A2[R]2 W1D1)
-------------------------------

Got back from my VT vacation. Solid time with zero lifting. Did get a long bike ride, some hikes, and lots of alcohol in though. Now it's time to start Nuckols' program. This is the first time I've followed a program that has a predetermined length, and 17 weeks is a fairly long time, but it looks interesting, so I'm going to give it a shot. The way the program is structured is that you do sets of N at a percentage of your training max until you hit a specified number of reps in reserve. At the beginning, the weights are light enough that this could take forever, so I'm capping it at 10 sets. I repped out on my 10th set to calibrate my RIR. I'm doing the 6 day version

AM BW: 181.5 (cough, beer, cough)

BS: 240x5x9, 8 (this was at RPE <=8, so the RIR was >=5 at rep 5 and I was off by at least 2).
CGBP: 125x7x9, 13 (this was at RPE ~ 8, so RIR was ~6 at rep 7 and i was off by at least 2).
Chins: BWx10x5

I'm gonna do ab stuff tonight and maybe do some light rowing.

NGL, I cannot imagine just keeping on going until I actually hit RIR=3/4. Bar speed essentially didn't slow down from set to set until the very end of the rep out on the 10th sets.

[rjharris]

15 September 2020 (A2[R]2 W1D2)
-------------------------------

quads were a bit sore from yesterday's squats this morning.

AM BW: 180.5

push press and sumo today. haven't done either so i calibrated my rir on my 7th set. push press weight was aggressive, sumo was dead on.

Push press: 115x7x6,9 (last set was RIR of 2 at rep 7, so a bit harder than programmed. if i'm honest, set 5 or so was probably where rep 7 was at RIR 4)
sumo dl: 275x7x6, 11 (last set was basically at 10 and there was a soft lockout on rep 9, but that's fine)
ez curls: 67x12x5
bb rows: 135x8x4

i've been doing upper body rest times of 2-3 min and lower of 3-4. last set of sumo had probably a 5-6 minute rest because i had to take care of something.

i'm seeing what people are saying about the volume.

[rjharris]

16 September 2020 (A2[R]2 W1D3)
-------------------------------

AM BW: 179.5

banch and front squats today. i definitely overshot where i should have been for the front squats, largely due to grip issues. i tried fucking around with the cross grip and straps, but they didn't work. i'll probably need some extra technique work to dial it in and see if the clean grip (or, well, any of them) feels any better.

BP: 170x5x9, 10 @ 9.5 ish
FS: 135x7x6, 10@9ish (due to grip)
Pullups: BWx10x5

[dw]

I'm thinking of trying A2S 2.0 on my eventual cut but a little concerned that I will undershoot the RPE 7, especially on new exercises. How are you feeling about it now?

[rjharris]

I'm thinking of trying A2S 2.0 on my eventual cut but a little concerned that I will undershoot the RPE 7, especially on new exercises. How are you feeling about it now?

Given the caveats that (1) I'm only on day 3 of week 1 and (2) I've done the auxiliary lifts I have done in the last three days before, I'm liking it. I will echo what other people say, though, which is that starting out the volume will be insanely high for most lifts you've been doing at least semi-regularly and you do the program by the book, assuming yout training max is close to your e1rm... According to the program, you should keep going on the main lifts until you hit RPE 7 (for auxiliaries the target is lower), and I had to cap my main lift sets at 10 because otherwise I'd have been in the garage all day even with short-ish rests (probably could have done at least 5 more sets at least). Even with this, me 10th sets for the main lifts I've done have been at RPE ~< 5 at rep 5. If this bothers you, you may want to be aggressive with setting your training max. Allegedly this issue will work itself out by week 3 or 4 with the increments in training max, so maybe it's not a huge deal. It sure does feel silly to be working at RPE 5 though.

Ask me again in a couple weeks and I'll be able to tell you more.

[dw]

Thanks, I look forward to following your log. Seems like going aggressive with the TM is probably a good idea.

[rjharris]

17 September 2020 (A2[R]2 W1D4)
-------------------------------

AM BW: 179.5

Paused banch: 125x7x9, 11 @ 8 or 9, so the weight was close to correct
Pause squats: 165x7x9, 10 @ 8-9, so, again, weight was close to correct
Chins BW+25x5x5

Paused squats suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. I was trying to do a 3 count pause on them but looking at the videos the pause seems to be 1-2 sec depending on the set. Probably fine?

I noticed that my knees are sliding forward at the bottom and I have this weird thing in later sets where I'm not breaking at the hips / knees at the same time, so I'll need to work on that. I haven't noticed that before, so maybe it's just because I'm thinking about things too much and fucking up at the top.

[rjharris]

18 September 2020 (A2[R]2 W1D5)
-----------------------------

AM BW: 179.5

Deadlifts: 320x5x5. I did this beltless and tweaked my back juuuuuuuust a tad on the third rep. Probably had RIR 3-4 if I hadn't done so. A little annoying but whatever. Didn't really savor the prospect of doing >6 dl sets....

BB rows: 140x8x4

EZ curls: 70x12x2,11,10

[rjharris]

19 September 2020 (A2[R]2 W1D6)
-------‐------------------------

Am bw 179.5

OHP: 105x5x9, 8 at rpe 7-8
Pull-ups bw+26x5x5

21 September 2020 (A2[R]2 W2D1)
---------------------------------

Saturday night and Sunday were bad and stressful, so today wasn't great. Had a headache during squats.

Am bw 179

Cgbp: 135x6x10, 14 at rpe 8ish (tm is set hilariously low i guess)

Bs: 265x4x7 (last set at rpe 7 or 8)

I probably could have kept going, but headache and wife was painting in the garage, ugh

Chins: bwx10x6

[rjharris]

23 September 2020 (A2[R] 2.0 W2D2)
---------------------------------


Am bw 179

Ugh. misread the sheet, and did sets of 4 instead of 6 for push press this morning. Realized my mistake going over the sheet in the afternoon. I did some sets of 6 afterwards.

Push press: 125x4x10, 8 @ RPE 8ish (i misread the sheet... was supposed to be x6 with last set at RPE 7, ugh)
125x6x7 @ RPE 7ish , which is on target

EZ Curls: 70x12x5
Sumo DL: 300x6x7 (last set at RPE 7ish)

Bb rows:145x8x4

I threw in some light husafell action in the evening

Husafell carry:110 x 55m x 4

I did these light (lol the stone was empty) because I haven't done these that much or regularly at all, and they chew the shit out of my forearms. Thinking about doing a lighter volume ish day and a heavy day, but we will see.

[rjharris]

23 September 2020 (A2[R] 2.0 W2D3)
---------------------------------
AM BW: 179.5

Bench: 185x4x10, 6@RPE8-9 (calibrated rtf on 11th set, and it was pretty close to the target despite me going hog wild with push press yesterday)

Pullups: BWx10x6

Front squats: 150x6x7 (last set probably was RPE7 or below, but it's hard to tell since this is a relatively new exercise)

[rjharris]

24 September 2020 (A2[R] 2.0 W2D4)
---------------------------------
AM BW: 179.5

3 ct bench: 135x6x10, 8 @7-8 (on target; upper body volume is consistently hitting the self-imposed set caps, so I've been increasing the cap rather than the tm...)

weighted chins: bw+35x5x6

pause squats: 180x6x7 (last set @7ish)

[rjharris]

25 September 2020 (A2[R] 2.0 W2D5)
---------------------------------
AM BW: 179.5

DL: 340x4x7 (probably had 3-4 rir). could have done another set but time limited today. not sure i'll get to rows.

[rjharris]

26 September 2020 (A2[R]2 2..0 W2D6)
---------------------------------
AM BW: 179.5 (is my scale broken?)

OHP: 115x4x11
Pullups: BW+35 x 6 x 5 (was going to do x5x6, but I was tight on time and couldn't afford the extra couple minutes for the last rest period, so I just did the same volume in fewer sets)

[rjharris]

28 September 2020 (A2[R]2 2.0 W3D1)
---------------------------------
AM BW: 181 (okay, maybe scale isn't broken)

had to have a new furnace put in today (yaaaay) and I didn't want to train w/ people coming in and out, so I waited until the afternoon. will update as i do this.

CGBP: 150x5x11, 8 @ 7ish. (still hilariously easy... i may artificially bump up the training max for the last half of this block)
Squats: 285x3x7 (last set at about 8ish... I think squat tm is converging to where it needs to be)
Chins: BWx10x7

[rjharris]

29 September 2020 (A2[R]2 2.0 W3D2)
---------------------------------
AM BW: 181

Push press: 140x5x7, 7 (I calibrated on the 8th set, which was @9ish... I think that the push press tm is approximately correct)
curls: 72.5x12x5
sumo dl: 330x5x8 (i am increasing my self-imposed volume cap on these because i'm getting more used to pulling sumo). last set felt @6ish probably, though
bb rows: 150x8x4

[rjharris]

30 September 2020 (A2[R]2 2.0 W3D3)
---------------------------------
AM BW: 179

Bench press: 205x3x7 (this felt heavyish... subjectively felt @8-8.5ish for the all sets, but the bar speed didn't seem to really slow from rep to rep...)
Front squats: 165x5x7 (these were fine... only stopped because i had to go to a meeting, otherwise had a few more sets in me)
pullups: bwx10x7

7 is the name of the game today, i guess

[rjharris]

1 October 2020 (A2[R]2 2.0 W3D4)
---------------------------------
AM BW: 179.5

3 ct bench press: 145*x5x10 (was supposed to be 150, whoops. results would have been the same, so i'm counting it.)
pause squats: 200x5x7
chins: bw+45x6x5

fine.

[rjharris]

2 October 2020 (A2[R]2 2.0 W3D5)
---------------------------------
AM BW: 181

DL: 370x3x7

Not sure what else I'll have time for today. Will update if I do any more

[rjharris]

3 October 2020 (A2[R]2 W3D6)
-------------------------------------------------

Bw 181

OHP: 125x3x12
Pullups: bw +45 x6x6