Curlin' in the squat rack: Logan's log

3/16 (S+70)

Just squatted yesterday, wanted to keep it short. Wanted to see how many I could get at 290, but I settled for 8 again because it's clear to me that I wasn't recovered from deadlifting, also that I'm probably training too much and not recovering well in general. Starting to get those nagging injuries, lethargy, inability to get heart rate up for big sets that accompanies that sort of thing. Yesterday my belt was tearing me up and my left shoulder and neck were screwed up, so I just stuck to the main lift and got out of there in about an hour. Not saying these things to complain, just to note them in the log. I really don't mind "overtraining" as long as I'm getting results.

290x3, 290x8, 290x5, x5, x5

I spliced the video together with the Youtube editor, and it's still processing, but once it's done this link will work.



I'm happy with how these went and I think it's good progress. Looking forward to seeing what I can do during the 3 rep wave, which begins with bench/squat/bench on mon/tues/wed.

3/18 (S+72)

Bench: 185x3x5, 185x8, 185x3x3 (paused)

OHP: 120x3x5, 120x8

Cable Row 90x15x3

Dips x20, x12, x10, x10

Face Pulls 85x20x3


3/19 (S+73)

Squat: 270x3x5, 270x8

Hamstring curls 90x20, 105x20, 120x20

I know that feel, Ghost Dawg. I was pretty beat up not too long ago. Sometimes you just have to be conservative for a week or two and wait for a second wind. Remember, it's about what you do one month from now, not tomorrow or the next day.

Wed 9/20 (S+74)

Bench: 185x3x8 (paused)
OHP: 120x3x5

kept the rest intervals around 1 minute on each of the above. I finally broke the thumb loop on one of my wrist wraps, which was disappointing. I can still get it on and wrapped but it's not the same. RIP. I guess I'll order another pair from inzer, but I'll probably be a senior citizen by the time they arrive. Or maybe I'll try to repair it, since the wrap itself is fine.. .although the velcro has seen better days.

Bent-over row: 135x8x3, 185x3x3
Cable Shrugs: Stack x 20 x 3
Dips: x15, x12, x10
Lat Pulldowns (wide): 80x15x3
Face Pulls: 85x15x3


and what were those standing cable pulldowns called that we used to do, Kyle? with very light weight and a wide grip just focusing on retracting the lats? Did some of those too.


All of the work during this first week of the 3 rep wave has felt like a deload week, which is good, since I have been skipping the actual deload weeks that are part of Juggernaut. I was thinking that on Saturday I might jump right into the 2nd week ("intensification") with my squatting, instead of repeating the last workout like I usually do. And I was also thinking that instead of repeating the same weight a bunch of times for these sets of three, that I would just gradually increase it after each set and get a better idea of where my 3 rep limits really are. If this were the case I would skip the AMRAP testing since all of that is designed to get an idea of where your 1RM/Training max is, which isn't necessary for me since I'll be testing actual 1RMs pretty soon anyway. I feel like it's incumbent upon me to do this because the meet's coming up and I need to ramp the intensity up in a way that Juggernaut isn't really designed to do.

Logan Joseph wrote:

I guess I'll order another pair from inzer, but I'll probably be a senior citizen by the time they arrive. Or maybe I'll try to repair it, since the wrap itself is fine..

I actually just order a black lever belt + a singlet from inzer and got both them in 1 week so maybe if you get on that then you can expect something similar. Yes my thought when I saw them in front of my door was

Logan Joseph wrote:

and what were those standing cable pulldowns called that we used to do, Kyle? with very light weight and a wide grip just focusing on retracting the lats? Did some of those too.


All of the work during this first week of the 3 rep wave has felt like a deload week, which is good, since I have been skipping the actual deload weeks that are part of Juggernaut. I was thinking that on Saturday I might jump right into the 2nd week ("intensification") with my squatting, instead of repeating the last workout like I usually do. And I was also thinking that instead of repeating the same weight a bunch of times for these sets of three, that I would just gradually increase it after each set and get a better idea of where my 3 rep limits really are. If this were the case I would skip the AMRAP testing since all of that is designed to get an idea of where your 1RM/Training max is, which isn't necessary for me since I'll be testing actual 1RMs pretty soon anyway. I feel like it's incumbent upon me to do this because the meet's coming up and I need to ramp the intensity up in a way that Juggernaut isn't really designed to do.

I'm not sure, but they're used at the beginning of Dave Tate's so-you-think video as a way to teach lat activation.

And I like your program manipulation idea. Makes sense to me.

Fri 3/22

Deadlift 320x3x8

Seated GMs 135x20x5

Neutral Grip Lat Pulldowns 90x10, 110x10, 120x10, 130x10x2

Foamin'

Sat 3/23

Squat 275x3x6





Kept it really simple this weekend to continue to give myself a bit of a break before ramping things up again next week. Kept the rest intervals very short on all of these sets just to keep things rigorous.

3/25

Bench: 205x3, 215x3, 225x3, 235x3, 240x3, 225x3 (paused)

Just used today to test where I was at with my bench. All of these except the last set were touch and go, but very controlled. 240 got pretty heavy and my ass definitely came off the bench, but I'll count it anyway. Going to use my Wednesday bench session to do some more heavy paused triples I think. 225 went up pretty easily, so i'll probably just do a bunch of sets of that. Maybe at some point transition to doubles instead.


OHP: 135x3, 145x3, 155x3, 160x2 Failed 3rd rep. did another set at 135x3

Just felt like testing where I was at with this.

Seated Cable Row (U-shaped gripper) 90x10, 110x10, 120x10x3

Dips x15, x10, x10

Foamin'



Pretty happy with how this went, I was stronger than I expected to be, and also felt like crap during the training session. On the other hand, I am actually worried about making 181 in April. I think I'm getting too yoked, bruh.

What are you weighing right now?

Your bench results look really great. Have you ever even hit 240x3 before? That must be close to a PR.

Yeah, now that you mention it, 240x3 probably is some sort of rep PR. I've been weighing in at around 187-188 in the morning lately.. so.. pretty damn heavy. I haven't properly been tracking my body fat percentage, but my belt is fitting looser than ever, so I don't think I'm getting fpin fatter. Not sure how much I could cut that down realistically through manipulating water weight, but cutting carbs/creatine/sodium would probably get me part of the way there.

3/26 (S+80)


So, tested my 3RM on the squat today. None of the sets felt particularly easy, even 295, but I was moderately happy with the results:

295x3
315x3
330x3
345x3
355x1

Tried 355, got through one rep and realized that it was going to turn ugly, so I didn't push it. I'm guessing I could hit 370 pretty reasonably, which is equal to my meet PR and 10 pounds short of my gym PR of 380. Considering I was heavier at the time and that I'm doing this 80 days removed from surgery, I feel ok about where I'm at. I'm going to continue to hammer triples and doubles up until the week before the meet and see what I can get. If my goal is to hit 1100 at 181, it's going to be a stretch, I think. 250 bench, 375 squat I think are realistic, which leaves me with a 475 deadlift to hit. In the past, that would've been quite doable, but with the way my deadlift has been feeling lately, I don't think it's going to happen, but I'll have a better idea of that after I deadlift on Friday. if I could find 25 extra pounds between my bench and squat, it would take a ton of pressure off of that 3rd deadlift attempt.

I'll post the video of the squat triples in a while once i get them edited together.

Logan Joseph wrote:

Yeah, now that you mention it, 240x3 probably is some sort of rep PR. I've been weighing in at around 187-188 in the morning lately.. so.. pretty damn heavy. I haven't properly been tracking my body fat percentage, but my belt is fitting looser than ever, so I don't think I'm getting fpin fatter. Not sure how much I could cut that down realistically through manipulating water weight, but cutting carbs/creatine/sodium would probably get me part of the way there.

You could always try the process out and see how much water weight you drop. If it looks like you'll have to cut a lot, just go 198.

Ultimately, you've obviously done some very good work to be this strong despite what you've had to go through. You could end up putting up your best total to date (particularly considering bodyweight), which, given the time you missed, is pretty awesome.

Pretty sure the Big Dawg has a bigger bench than me now

KKeough wrote:

If it looks like you'll have to cut a lot, just go 198.

DDDDOOOOO IIIITTTTT!!! gives me one less competitor to own

3/27

Paused Bench 225x3x8

So.. stuck with what I had planned and just did a bunch of paused triples at 225. Some were good, some were grinders.


OHP: 135x3x4, 135x5

Seated Wide Grip Cable Row (palms in) 100x10x5

Dips x10x4

Face pulls 90x20x3

3 sets weighted decline situps

stretching/foamin

Would just like to step in and say holy shit, you have come up since the surgery. I mean, damn. This is freaking great. I am so excited for this meet.

Thanks Janis, I appreciate that!


2/29

Tested deadlift triples today

355x3
375x3
395x3
405x3
420x3
430x3


420 and 430 were pretty hard. I think I probably had a little more in me, although those sets were not pretty by any means. Had to go in earlier than normal today so I wasn't really feeling good or properly fed. Also did these sets with garbage hex plates.

3/30

Squat

315x3x8

Just went in and did 8 triples, and foamed and stretched afterwards. Honestly they were harder than I would've liked, but I guess that has a lot to do with having deadlifted heavy yesterday. Just glad I'm getting some higher intensity volume in.

4/1


Paused Bench: 235x2x5, 235x1x5 (longer pauses)

The second rep on the doubles started to get grindy, so I switched to singles with a nice long pause. Kept the rest intervals short.

OHP: 140x3x4, 140x5

No idea why I'm still doing OHP this close to the meet instead of more useful pressing.. but hey, I love it.

Seated Cable Row, neutral grip: 100x15, 120x10x3

Dips: x15, x10x4

JM Press 80x8x5

Face Pulls 100x20x3

Tricep pulldowns 100x20, 100x15x2

So.. weighed in this morning at 187.5 after having drunk about 24 oz of water/coffee, which would be about 1.5 pounds. So, optimistically, I'm around 186 fasted and dry in the morning. Going to drop the amount of carbs I'm taking in on my backloads substantially. Also, Jung Dawg, if you're reading this, can you do a write-up of your water weight manipulation routine? When you cut out the sodium/creatine/carbs, the water drinking, dandelion root, etc?

Logan Joseph wrote:

So.. weighed in this morning at 187.5 after having drunk about 24 oz of water/coffee, which would be about 1.5 pounds. So, optimistically, I'm around 186 fasted and dry in the morning. Going to drop the amount of carbs I'm taking in on my backloads substantially. Also, Jung Dawg, if you're reading this, can you do a write-up of your water weight manipulation routine? When you cut out the sodium/creatine/carbs, the water drinking, dandelion root, etc?

Yeah. I'll do a Vlog on the topic and post it up.

KKeough wrote:

Logan Joseph wrote:

So.. weighed in this morning at 187.5 after having drunk about 24 oz of water/coffee, which would be about 1.5 pounds. So, optimistically, I'm around 186 fasted and dry in the morning. Going to drop the amount of carbs I'm taking in on my backloads substantially. Also, Jung Dawg, if you're reading this, can you do a write-up of your water weight manipulation routine? When you cut out the sodium/creatine/carbs, the water drinking, dandelion root, etc?

Yeah. I'll do a Vlog on the topic and post it up.

oh god anything but a fucking vlog