Entry #1152

Deadlift:
375 x 3
430 x 3
482 x 3
> Felt weak. No leg drive, despite repeatedly drilling it in my mind and doing kettlebell swings on Monday. I believe I may need to warm-up more incrementally and not go from 135 to the first set so suddenly. Maybe a missing link of 225 would be just enough tonnage to practice the form under weight.

SSB box squat:
290 x 10

Entry #1151

Swiss bar bench press:
212 x 3
242 x 3
272 x 8

Swiss bar pause bench + Fat Gripz:
195 x 5 x 10

Dumbbell rows:
122 x 5 x 10

Dips:
12, 12

External dumbbell rotations

Preacher curls 

Entry #1150

I have no idea why I've suddenly stopped updating on the days I lift. Better to be unmotivated in this area than the actual training, I guess. I almost fucking killed myself on squats so I deserve the break.

Saturday

Swiss bar overhead press:
152 x 3
172 x 3
195 x 6

Swiss bar pause OH + Fat Gripz:
125 x 5 x 10

V-handle chin-ups:
13, 12, 12, 12, 12

Curls

Sunday

ROM progression squat (11th pin):
460 x 0
> Couldn't even budge the weight.

SSB box squat:
420 x 0
> Failed. Sat on the platform like a dope for a second, then bailed out. The safety bars were pretty low so I had a long way to bend before freedom. It was jarring and my back was sore a bit, but nothing injured. Holy shit, would I have been dead without the safety bars with the way I exited myself. I basically just gradually careened forward while sitting on the box. Pretty stupid.

Box pause squat:
225 x 10

Farmer's walk:
100 lb dumbbells + Fat Gripz

I really had no leg power today. I didn't even fail the box squat by merit of struggle, I just rode the descent down and stuck to the stool.

Monday

Kettlebell swings:
25 lbs x 50, 30

Entry #1149

Took four days off because of lacking sleep. Diet was decent and very high in protein, but could have been higher in calories and with less time between meals. Here are two entries:

Tuesday

Swiss bar bench press:
195 x 5
225 x 5
257 x 10
> Barely passed the 10th. Good overall, especially considering my insecurities in taking any time off longer than three days. 

Swiss bar pause bench + Fat Gripz:
192 x 5 x 10

Dumbbell rows:
120 x 5 x 10

Curls

This fucking session took something like 2.5 hours. Felt nauseous from eating so much beforehand (I was watching Expendables 2 and kind of got lost in munching on walnuts after a bowl of chili and melted cheese, then ice cream and milk for dessert) and I didn't do the rows between press sets. Not gonna make this a habit.

Thursday

Deadlifts:
350 x 5
405 x 5
455 x 5
> Picking my battles, as Emevas likes to say, and saving my max effort for the third week. There were a lot of people in the gym tonight and I felt kind of shy about making noise, believe it or not. Even though I only planned to hit 5 anyway tonight my concentration wasn't there and I pulled too slowly off the floor, resulting in more back and less quad power. Need to focus.

ROM progression squats (10th pin):
475 x 8
> Was planning on hitting 15. Don't know if this depth is a sudden drop-off or if the deadlifts affected me this much here. Had some difficulty breaking the bar off the pins at first, and reps were bouncy. Not good. Think I'm going to repeat this next week on its own day and keep everything paused. Will monitor how my back feels.

Pause box squats:
225 x 2 x 10

GHR:
25 x 2 x 10 

Entry #1148

Swiss bar overhead press:
140 x 5
165 x 5
185 x 8

Swiss bar overhead pause press + Fat Gripz:
122 x 5 x 10

V-handle chin-ups:
12, 12, 12, 12, 12

Decline skullcrushers + Fat Gripz:
35s x 12, 10

Preacher curls:
75 x 7, 10, 8
> Assuming the EZ bar weighs 15 lbs.

Bent-over rear delt flyes:
30s x 15, 12 

Entry #1147

As is typical, I neglected to record two deload sessions for both presses, and am only really doing tonight's deload to keep in pace with my squats.

ROM progression squats (9th pin):
490 x 19

Deadlifts: 
210 x 5
265 x 5
315 x 5

Pause box squats:
225 x 2 x 10

GHR:
20

Sleeping schedule is all over the place, so I'm doing good with being so consistent. 

Entry #1146

ROM progression SSB squat (8th pin):
505 x 22
> Atrocious quad pump. Felt a little terrifying getting out because my legs felt numb and I couldn't feel if the bar was racked or not. 

Pause box squats:
225 x 3 x 10
> Warmed-up doing low bar, but couldn't keep doing that comfortably.  

Ab wheel:
5, 5, 5, 6, 6

CoC #1:
5 x 6 

Entry #1145

Swiss bar bench press:
225 x 5
255 x 3
285 x 6
> Very easy, might have been good for another.

Swiss bar pause bench + Fat Gripz:
192 x 10, 10, 10, 8
> Got a pair of 1 lb ankle weights to use for microloading. Not quite as accurate as 1-1/4 plates but who cares, haha. Plus they were only $3:50.

Kroc rows:
140 x 22/14
> The plates fell off for my left arm. Ran out of time here so I couldn't finish.

A ton of chins and dips at the park after. 

Entry #1144

Deadlifts:
395 x 5
450 x 3
500 x 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb08tVvCx-0

GHR:
15

Ab and grip stuff at home.

It's hard to believe that I've never pulled 500 off the ground (without bands, anyways). I'm so glad to be over the days of 12-rep deadlifts in the program, honestly. I hit some pretty good numbers with video that I'm happy to have but I honestly hope I never have to go through that again, haha (not from a dead stop, anyway).

Entry #1143

I've set my sights on a meet here in Portland on June 22. Though I haphazardly did a power clean competition in 2011 this will be my first actual powerlifting meet, so I'm pretty stoked. Since I've been hovering comfortably at 215 for over a year now I'll be competing in the 220 lb weight class. I considered 198 but I don't want to worry about cutting or weight manipulation for my introductory contest. I'm just going to get as strong as possible and worry about myself.

It's tempting to post goals right now but I'm so far away from doing singles that I'm not going to worry about that just yet. As for my programming? Continuing 5/3/1. I'm planning on rereading 5/3/1 for Powerlifting and determining if there are any noteworthy arguments for switching the weeks up when I'm currently enjoying success off the present scheme, but if there is it should be a fairly painless transition of simply making the change for a new cycle.

My California trip showed me that the Swiss bar is amazing for the straight bench, but I had trouble going from the safety bar squat to a normal squat. I have no concerns with my pressing, but I plan on doing straight bar squats as assist work for awhile before switching from SSB max squats to straight ones entirely.

Onward.

Entry #1142

Yesterday-

Swiss bar overhead press:
140 x 5
170 x 3
200 x 4
> Failed a fifth. 

Swiss bar pause press + Fat Gripz:
122.5 x 10, 10, 9, 1
> Failed a 10th, so I reracked and then hit a final rep. Lots of rest pausing. I can still ride this out. The problem is the gym closing on me and not being able to rest long enough.

V-handle chins:
12

At the park:

Neutral-grip chins:
12, 12, 12, 12

Dips: 12, 10

1-minute chin-ups:
1, 1, 1
> Insanely painful on the biceps. I love these.

Went on a relaxing 25-minute run tonight.