Cole's Data Driven Strength

[cole]

11-4
upper volume

bench press
295x5 (@7)
295x5 (@8)
295x5 (@8)
295x5 (@9)
295x5 (@9)

press
160x5 (@7)
160x5 (@7)
160x5 (@7)

chins
bw x 8
bw x 8

*used elbow sleeves for benching which felt good, especially after last weeks intensity day flare up
**green chai (hot) for pre workout caffeine
***ate like shit today and i feel like im getting a lot fatter

[Les]

Nice benching! Were you a former bench bro, or did you start doing all the big lifts at the same time?

[KarlM]

Nice benching! Were you a former bench bro, or did you start doing all the big lifts at the same time?

Yeah, I want to know too!

[cole]

hey les, karl. i started with all the main movements this january after buying starting strength book. however, i was a college wrestler and we had a strength coach that introduced me to cleans, push press, front squats, and of course i did a lot of benching bc it was "cool". i can never remember benching more than once a week tho. i think ive just been lucky for the last 11 months my bench has never hit any road blocks or injuries like my lower body has.

[cole]

11-5
lower volume

squats
380x5 (@7)
380x5 (@8)
380x5 (@8)
380x5 (@10???)
380x5 (@9) rested 2 extra min.

RDL
325x5
325x5
325x5


*Earl grey, 12 oz. 5 g creatine for pre workout
**when i widen my grip and my stance for squats, i feel stronger and get less elbow pain.

[cole]

ps really enjoying this forum, better than the other place.

[KarlM]

hey les, karl. i started with all the main movements this january after buying starting strength book. however, i was a college wrestler and we had a strength coach that introduced me to cleans, push press, front squats, and of course i did a lot of benching bc it was "cool". i can never remember benching more than once a week tho. i think ive just been lucky for the last 11 months my bench has never hit any road blocks or injuries like my lower body has.

Former wrestler here too, but not college. Four years in high school. About a decade after HS I took up Judo and did that for a long run. Tore up my shoulder though. I'd like to get back to it but then I got into strength training (which has been the single best thing I've done for my wonky shoulder). At some point I'll get back onto the mat and see how well all this new strength translates into tossing people around

[cole]

thats bad ass you are a wrestler too.

[cole]

11-7
upper intensity

bench press
340x1
340x1
340x1
340x1
340x1

safe to say all at rpe 10 since they are singles, although not max effort so maybe 9.5?

press
205x1
205x1
205x0 (didnt rest enough bc i was in a hurry to watch stranger things with wifey)

*left elbow still flared up.
**my 3rd attempt bench 2 months ago at the colorado fall open was 341 which i barely got so its cool im hitting 340 for 5 singles.
***my wife has added a yellow lab puppy to the already crazy house (2 toddlers) so ill be getting approximately no sleep tonight.

[KoolaidMannn]

You definitely could have doubled that

[Skid]

Nice and smooth Cole! Well done!

[KarlM]

That was bad ass Cole! Huge bench!

[cole]

You definitely could have doubled that

looks like it on camera but i doubt it. maybe i just dont have a great sense for that yet

[cole]

Nice and smooth Cole! Well done!

thanks skid! gotta try to be a press master like you

[cole]

That was bad ass Cole! Huge bench!

thanks karl.

[cole]

11-8
intensity lower

squat
430x1
430x1
430x1
430x1
430x0

DL
450x0

*not a good session, my elbow is throbbing and its very distracting. i guess you could say i pussed out, really lost concentration after the failed 5th single on squat, elbow in way too much pain to try to match a DL PR. maybe i selected these singles too aggressively. gotta figure out my elbow thing soon tho. lots of advil i guess.

[cole]

11-11
Press Volume

bench press
275x5
275x5
275x5
275x5
275x5
(all @ rpe 7)

press
155x5
155x5
155x5

dips
bw x8
bw x8

*i reset/dropped my weights by about 10% for various reasons, mostly due to the fact that my volume day lifts were like 96% of my 5RM and were becoming intensity days.
**elbow tendon a little better

[cole]

11-12
Sq/Pull volume

squat
355x5
355x5
355x5
355x5
355x5

DL
370x5

good mornings
135x5
135x5

chins
bw x8
bw x8

*no more morning lifting, that felt harder than it should have

[cole]

I'm looking back on my logs and seeing some decent progress the last 7 weeks of TM, then hit a wall. Starting to think that "progress" may just be realization of previous strength gains from running 13 weeks of HLM prior to this TM cycle. Since I never really went Hugh intensity on the HLM it's hard to say. Either way, my current path on TM is unsustainable and resets are neccessary every 6-8 weeks, which puts me right back to where I would be had I been doing an HLM or something a little less aggressive than TM. So why put myself through the grind? I've consulted and threaded about TM with some forum members and concluded that maybe there are better options. All I've ever done is LP, HLM, and TM. I'm going to be switching to programming courtesy of Koolaid next week. I still have 2 intensity days to finish first.

[cole]

11-14
intensity pressing

bench press
305x3 (@7)
305x3 (@7.5)

press
185x3 (@8)
185x3 (@8.5)

* i did these at 90% of 1RM