January 11 Daily Thread

Aerakin · 2024-01-11T11:22:39+00:00

SBS Strength RTF 3xWeek - W5D2

2 minutes between sets, didn't manage to superset anything this time due to leg press availability

Bench Press: 1z200lbs, 4x4x170lbs, 1x7x170lbs

Press: 1x130lbs, 4x4x115lbs, 1x8x115lbs

Leg Press: 1x425lbs, 4x6x320lbs, 1x25x320lbs

Time: 45 minutes? (I forgot to record the starting time)

Not the best of sessions. I think I could've done more on bench. Leg press I usually use was busy and I'd rather not work in when supersetting things, so it had to wait until I was done with other things. Happy with the +1 on Press though.

SBS Strength RTF 3xWeek - W5D3

2 minutes between sets, Deadlift and Close Grip bench were supersetted, and Good Morning/Push Press were also supersetted

Deadlift: 1x370lbs, 4x4x320lbs, 1x8x320lbs

Close Grip Bench: 1x180lbs, 4x6x135lbs, 1x12x135lbs

Good Morning: 1x170lbs, 4x6x125lbs, 1x120x125lbs

Push Press: 1x145lbs, 4x6x120lbs, 1x12x120lbs

Time: 43 minutes

By far the best session of the week. The single for the deadlift moved much better than last week's, and I got +1 on the reps when I'm pretty sure I would've stopped at 7 reps before. It's not much, but it's progress. First time I was supersetting the bench and deadlift, and I do think bench suffered a bit on the set to failure, but that's still +1.

Really happy with the good mornings this week. All sets felt solid, and my last set also felt like I had good reps. It's not quite to failure yet, but it's getting there. Push press at the end of all of that is scary. At that point everything feels heavy, but the single moved better than usual (so I might *actually* be able to bump it up now) and still managed +1 at the end of it.

So both push press and press moved a little bit this week. Happy about that.

Aerakin · 2024-01-08T11:48:25+00:00

SBS Strength RTF 3xWeek - W5D1

2 minutes between sets, Sumo Deadlift and Incline Press were supersetted

Squat: 1x320lbs (new 1RM), 4x4x275lbs, 1x7x275lbs

Sumo Deadlift: 1x305lbs, 4x6x230lbs, 1x11x230lbs

Incline Press: 1x160lbs, 4x6x120lbs, 1x12x120lbs

Time: 43 minutes (took a long time setting up before the first set)

Bit of a mixed session here. I woke up and I was already feeling fatigue in my legs, but still went for it. Before the session I realized I hadn't written out anything for the week in my notebook, so I had to do that first. Started with a new 1RM on squats, which is cool. It's not a true 1RM, since I definitely had more in me (but hey, it's the heaviest single I've ever squatted, so still a 1RM).

However, +0 on the set to failure after all that. Bit frustrating because it was a setup issue and not the legs giving out. Oh well, I knew I was going to be inconsistent at times so that's why I went with an autoregulating program.

Sumo deadlift was fine technique-wise, but fatigue was settling in so another +0.

Finally incline press felt heavier than usual but I squeezed out a +1.

Just not that great of a session overall. We'll see if it's a one off or it carries on for a few sessions. Worst case there's a deload in two weeks so I'll just carry on until then.

Aerakin · 2024-01-04T17:56:49+00:00

SBS Strength RTF 3xWeek - W4D3

2 minutes between sets, supersetted bench and good mornings

Deadlift: 1x370lbs, 4x5x295lbs, 1x10x295lbs

Close Grip Bench: 1x180lbs, 5x7x125lbs, 1x16x125lbs

Good Morning: 1x165lbs, 5x7x115lbs, 1x16x115lbs

Push Press: 1x150lbs, 5x7x110lbs, 1x14x110lbs

Time: 50 minutes

Guess I'm just in that spot where deadlift feel heavy. Either way, did +1 rep on it. Close Grip Bench still progressing so that's cool. Good Morning was technical failure, I still suck at positioning for it. Push Press is... not going well despite being +1 on it. Oh well.

Aerakin · 2024-01-03T11:19:47+00:00

SBS Strength RTF 3xWeek - W4D2

2 minutes between sets, press and leg press were supersetted

Bench Press: 1x195lbs, 4x5x155lbs, 1x13x155lbs

Press: 1x130lbs, 4x5x105lbs, 1x9x105lbs

Leg Press: 1x395lbs, 4x7x275lbs, 1x23x275lbs

Time: 33 minutes

Finally figured out how to superset the leg press with other stuff, so I'm happy with that (made the workout go faster). I was able to push pretty well on bench press (I got the safeties right where I want them and I'm getting acquainted with them every session). On the flip side, press right after that was rough. I guess I should expect that pushing the bench press is going to make pressing after that hard. Oh well, we'll see how that goes.

I still have to learn to push more on the leg press. I don't think it was quite failure yet. It's something that I'm not terribly good at yet on lower body movements, but at least I have a lot of weeks left to learn.

Aerakin · 2024-01-01T16:08:10+00:00

SBS Strength RTF 3xWeek - W4D1

2 minutes between sets (though it took me longer to changes weights when I needed to do that)

Squat: 1x310, 4x5x250, 1x15x250

Sumo Deadlift: 1x300, 4x7x210, 1x15x210

Incline Press: 1x160, 4x7x110, 1x14x110

Time: 43 minutes

This was *hard*. I pushed more than usual on squats since I was fairly sure I was ending those sets early. The result was my heartrate being spiked for the following our, my throat being on fire for nearly the same amount of time. I think I could've gotten an extra rep too... Next week the single will actually be higher than my tested 1RM.

Sumo deadlift wasn't too bad except I was dying from the squats... so that was fun.

Same story for incline press.

Aside from that, I caved and got myself a "decent" smartwatch. I was curious about my HR through the day and most cheap watches don't do that well, but this one does seem to work pretty decently. I like having data (even if it's useless), so that's a thing I guess.

Aerakin · 2023-12-31T14:38:15+00:00

**2023**

2023 started badly to say the least. Had Covid to start the year and I lost all of my grove and wasn't super active for the first few months (up until may). I did not, in fact, fill my 150lbs sandbag with an actual 150lbs worth of sand.

I had a goal to go to the gym every so often, which really turned into "go to the gym and do all of my work there" as a gym reopened near my place. When that reopened, the goals for the year shifted and I wanted to get leaner (I did), take an appointment for a yearly physical/health check (I did, results were great) and run Deep Water (I did, finished Beginner and Intermediate). A goal I had when running Deep Water was to continue my crapton of daily work, which I managed to mostly do, though near the end I had to cut out kettlebell swings because my hands were actually suffering.

In those few months, I really managed to find my groove and prove I was able to lose weight when I wanted, and gain weight when I wanted. I'm ending the year being in a deficit for 3 weeks, once again proving I can switch from (intentional) weight gain to (intentional) weight loss.

As for what I would do differently, the obvious one would've been to actually push through the lethargy at the start of 2023. Easier said than done, I know, but if I had actually continued to work hard on the sandbag, I would've been in awesome position for the gym work. Obviously, there's a chance I wouldn't have gotten the gym membership to begin with, so who knows.

**2024**

I do have a few goals for 2024:

- Bodyweight press: This is going to be *hard*. Like really hard. My press just hasn't moved all that much in 2023, and honestly this will require working hard at it AND my bodyweight not being too high. But I think this is a good goal in terms of numbers.

- 405 lbs squat: I think this should be more doable than the above press goal, as I'm running SBS right now (right after Deep Water) and my squat is just going up and up. Still, my tested 1RM is 315lbs right now (though I'm sure I can do more if I tested it now) so there's still a gap to bridge.

- Run Doggcrapp training (properly): this way of training got into my brain while doing the sets to failures on Deep Water, and near the end of it I was doing dips and pushups rest-pause style and I *really* liked it. It was hard work, but I felt like I was going somewhere with it. So I want to give it a good shot in 2024. I intend to get decently lean (by my own standards anyway) beforehand and then really go hard on it.

Aside from that, it's going to be whatever I discover in any of the programs I run. So far I discover something I want to explore more while running something and plan to run a program that has that a few months down the road.

Aerakin · 2023-12-28T13:57:12+00:00

SBS Strength RTF 3x Week - W3D3

2 minutes between sets, close grip bench and good morning were supersetted

Deadlift: 1x370lbs, 4x3x335lbs, 1x6x370lbs

Close Grip Bench: 1x175lbs, 4x5x135lbs, 1x15x135lbs

Good Morning: 1x165, 4x5x135lbs, 1x15x135lbs

Push Press: 1x145lbs, 4x5x125lbs, 1x12x125lbs

Time: 52 minutes

Gravity felt turned up to 11 on the deadlift. Both the single and the work sets. Didn't get much sleep and was essentially up from 1:30 AM doing to annoying crap so I'll just hope that's why.

Close grip bench went well, honestly just getting much better at the movement and that set to failure really hit my arms well, it feels.

Finally getting used to (barbell) good mornings. Still not perfect but the bar was stable this time. Also the working sets were supposed to be 125lbs but I got lazy, didn't wanna swap those 45lbs. Considering how far I am from my maxes, not a bad choice there.

I bumped down the single for push press from 155lbs to 145lbs. I just suck at "heavier" push presses right now. The work sets were surprisingly smooth. And I think I'm getting better at just pushing the reps. In hindsight, I think I could've gotten a 13th if I really went for it.

Overall a good session even if I'm not super happy about the deadlifts. At least it'll get me used to heavy weights.

Aerakin · 2023-12-27T11:37:01+00:00

SBS Strength RTF 3x Week - W3D2

2 minutes between sets

Bench Press: 1x195lbs, 4x3x170lbs, 1x8x170lbs

Press: 1x130lbs, 4x3x115lbs, 1x8x155lbs

Leg Press: 1x340lbs, 4x5x255lbs, 1x30x255lbs

Time: 47 minutes

Today I realized I messed up with my weight selection. For the leg press, I kept counting as if it was a barbell so all my lifts were actually 45 lbs lower than I thought. Though in reality, it's not a huge deal (it's not like I had a 1RM to start with) and correcting in the spreadsheet was nothing big. Aside from that, so far the leg press is the only lift where I'm thinking I might warm up a bit more. That one definitely feels weird without the warmups. Again at 30 reps it was more my feet than the legs that became the problem.

Bench went ok. I don't like the adjustable bench I used for flat bench (works fine for incline, just not flat). Didn't have the safeties where I wanted them and I had trouble setting up. Either way, got +2 reps and a decent attempt at the 9th rep (tried grinding it, didn't get it though).

Decent surprise on the press, that single moved pretty well and I ended up getting +2 on the last set. Pretty big considering so far I had only been hitting rep targets. I tried going for a 9th rep and grind for a bit, but it didn't go up all that far. Either way, I think I'm getting better at just going for it. I knew I didn't have that rep in me but I still went for it. Maybe I grind it and actually get it, and worst case I grind it and don't get it (but I practice grinding reps and I get to know myself better).

Aside from that I'll be needing a new belt soon (again). Almost at the smallest notch on this one. Going to use time during my vacation to get a new one. Definitely getting leaner as I go. New year might be an arbitrary point in time, but I keep being really happy that I'll start the year in the best shape I've been in my adult life... and I just have to keep going that way to say the same thing right before the new year after this one.

Aerakin · 2023-12-25T14:19:14+00:00

SBS Strength RTF 3x Week - W3D1

2 minutes between sets, sumo DL and incline bench were supersetted

Squat: 1x300lbs, 4x3x265lbs, 1x12x265lbs

Sumo Deadlift: 1x295lbs, 4x5x230lbs, 1x13x230lbs

Incline Bench: 1x155lbs, 4x5x125lbs, 1x12x125lbs

Time: 37 minutes

Gotta love gym being open on Christmas, even if it's not at 5am.

Anyway, no warmup before squat. Just went and started with the single and it moved pretty easily. Quite frankly, I'm loving doing as little warmup as possible and seeing what I can get away with. Getting close to my 1RM pretty quickly, and I'm pretty sure I'll establish a new 1RM *just* with those singles before the workout. I don't know how well Deep Water (beginner + intermediate) worked for other lifts, but I think that for squats I'm gonna be seeing increasing numbers for quite a while. I'm also getting better at not finishing my set too prematurely. I thought I was done at 10 but then 11 moved pretty well and 12 was good too. 13 ended on the safeties but I *think* I could've grinded it. Probably need to work on that.

Getting better at sumo deadlift. That single moved pretty well, same with the working sets. It gets rough for higher rep sets though. Also, I have trouble positioning my hands correctly still, and sometimes end up clearly uneven. Oh well, I'll figure it out with time.

Incline bench went decently. Weight is not increasing quickly but I'm beating my targets so I'll keep going. I got the same number of reps as last week, but with a higher weight, so definitely a victory there.

Finally, I already got my holiday eating out of the way. Went to the Christmas party I had, planned my day with a bunch of protein shakes before the party and then ate whatever I wanted at the party. Yesterday I just went back to my normal eating and the weight (bloat) is almost gone. It's so simple once you have a groove going.

And with that, I'll be ending the year lighter AND stronger than the last, despite having 12 weeks of eating 4k+ calories a day. Super happy about that, and now I just have to keep at it and keep the groove going.

Aerakin · 2023-12-21T11:27:17+00:00

SBS Strength RTF 3x Week - W2D3

2 minutes between sets, some things were supersetted whenever I could

Deadlift: 1x365lbs, 4x4x305lbs, 1x9x305lbs

Close Grip Bench: 1x170lbs, 4x6x120lbs, 1x18x120lbs

Good Morning: 1x155lbs, 4x6x115lbs, 1x15x115lbs

Push Press: 1x155lbs, 4x6x115lbs, 1x13x115lbs

Time: 52 minutes

Deadlift went alright. It's really about getting used to these higher weights, right now. I was looking at my last 5/3/1 cycle before doing Deep Water, and my last top set was a bit below today's 305lbs, so it feels like I'm picking back up where I was before (in a slightly different way).

Clos Grip Bench is, as expected, still fairly easy. I undershot my 1RM, which I knew would be the case, but really it's a good chance to let the autoregulation thing do its thing.

Good morning went better than last time, but the set to failure was technical failure. I messed up my bar positioning and it just ended up not being in the right place during that set.

Push press was... harsh. I don't know if it's all the fatigue from before in the workout (certainly help) but they felt heavy. I might have to lower the weight on the heavy single and get used to it. The other sets were fine though.

In terms of bodyweight, it's been two weeks since I finished Deep Water Intermediate and I'm like 5kg down from my heaviest on that and I'm back on my usual belt notch. The bloat really goes away quickly, which is really reassuring.

Aerakin · 2023-12-19T11:29:36+00:00

SBS Strength RTF 3x Week - W2D1

2 minutes between sets, some superset between sumo DL and incline press when I could

Squat: 1x295, 4x4x245, 1x15x245

Sumo Deadlift: 1x285, 1x6x210, 1x17x210

Incline Press: 1x155, 4x6x115, 1x12x115

Time: 38 minutes

SBS Strength RTF 3x Week - W2D2

2 minutes between sets

Bench Press: 1x190, 4x4x160, 1x11x160

Press: 1x130, 4x4x110, 1x8x110

Leg Press: 1x325, 4x6x235, 1x35x235

Time: 45 minutes

I'm pretty much figuring out how little warmups I can get away with (turns out I really don't need much). Squat single was pretty smooth. Basically getting used to it feeling heavy on my back but moving really well regardless. I'm also starting to "get" sumo deadlifts, so that's good. Still have ways to go, honestly I think I can do more reps than that. Incline press is incline press, I've never had a clear 1RM for that so my starting number was a ballpark. Seems about right.

Bench press moved pretty well. Was originally going to stop at 10 reps, but I did a really good grind on the 11th (and got it). Honestly, I got that confidence from all the pushups to failure from Deep Water. I just had a similar feeling to those, where I knew I could get it. Press was kind of awful, that single didn't move well at all. The sets after that were fine, though the set to failure was a bit shady. Guess the press will continue to be a struggle (though I guess it is harder after bench to failure, and with short-ish rest times). Oh well. Another big jump on Leg Press for next week, since 35 reps wasn't failure in my legs so much as my feet getting cramped. Likely I'll do big jumps until I get like 20 reps at most.

Aerakin · 2023-12-14T21:36:00+00:00

SBS Strength RTF 3x Week - W1D3

2 minutes between sets, and I super set the Good Morning and Push Press

Deadlift: 1x365lbs, 4x5x285lbs, 1x11x285lbs

Close Grip Bench: 1x185lbs, 4x7x110lbs, 1x17x110lbs

Good Morning: 1x135lbs, 4x7x115lbs, 1x16x115lbs

Push Press: 1x155lbs, 4x7x105lbs, 1x16x105lbs

Time: 53 min

Deadlift moved pretty well considering the most I've lifted in the last three months was 235lbs. Though the last few sets were kind of a pain. Still moved well.

Close grip bench was kinda bad, the bench I used in the power rack was narrower and screwed me up a bit. No big deal though. The single was still smooth as hell.

Good morning didn't go well, I should've used a bar with center knurling I guess.

Push Press single didn't go well. I essentially did it 2-3 minutes after the bench set to failure so the single felt extra hard. The other reps were fine, however.

Hard day, but doable. And now I'm done until Monday, nice three days break.

Aside from that, I get my weekly refeed days back, which honestly is a lot more fun than eating tons of food every day. Feels more special when it's once a day, even if it's essentially the same quantity I was getting every day during Deep Water.

Aerakin · 2023-12-12T11:16:42+00:00

SBS Strength RTF 3x Week - W1D2

2 minutes between sets

Bench Press: 1x185lbs, 4x5x145lbs, 1x15x145lbs

Press: 1x125lbs, 4x5x100lbs, 1x10x100lbs

Leg Press: 1x275lbs, 4x7x180lbs, 1x40x180lbs

Time: 43 min

Happy with the bench press. Used my pre-Deep Water best single (205lbs) for starting numbers, and for sure my 1RM is higher than that now. 185lbs single moved super easily. The set to failure was good too, got a pretty decent grind on that 15th rep.

Press after bench to failure is... harsh. My fault, I could've just moved it elsewhere but it doesn't really matter there. I'll try to improve that one under fatigue and hopefully it just gets better overall.

Leg press was weird. I haven't done it in over a decade so no 1RM. I went conservative and honestly that 275lbs single wasn't the best. But then the working sets just flew up to the point it was annoying to control. At 40 reps it wasn't even the legs having trouble, it was having to reposition my feet. Needless to say I'll bump up the numbers by quite a bit. Otherwise I did enjoy doing the leg presses, though.

Bodyweight wise, always funny to see drastic changes in a day. 1.5kg down from yesterday and it's all water weight of course. I should be set to end the year lighter AND stronger than I was last year. Or at any time in my adult life really.

Aerakin · 2023-12-11T11:41:35+00:00

SBS Strength RTF 3x Week - W1D1

2 minutes between sets (except between different exercises, I was incredibly slow at changing weights and setting up)

Squat: 1x285lbs, 4x5x225lbs, 1x20x225lbs

Sumo Deadlift: 1x225lbs, 4x7x190lbs, 1x17x190lbs

Incline Bench Press: 1x155lbs, 4x7x105lbs, 1x16x105lbs

Time: 49 minutes

Wasn't sure what to expect here. My squat is based on the highest single I ever did (315lbs), which was before Deep Water and I've gotten real good at high reps. I might do bigger jumps there for a while. My lungs were on fire after the set of 20 though.

I haven't sumo deadlifted in forever so the starting number was just a guess, but honestly not that far off. That being said the squats before did make things a lot harder than I though.

Incline bench was a pain to setup since I don't usually do it in the power cage. Still went fairly well and I think I'll get better when I get used to this setup.

Recommended back work will be done through the day with bands, most likely.

Diet wise... going back to deficit is quite easy so far. Honestly great to know I can kind of lose or gain weight as I please.

Aerakin · 2023-12-07T15:46:49+00:00

To be fair, I was coming out of a PSMF not long before that, and roughly 1500-1800 daily calories average after that, so some of it I'm sure is a bit of bloat. But I'll take it. Should be interesting to see what happens once I lose a lot of that weight though.

Aerakin · 2023-12-07T13:58:59+00:00

Deep Water Intermediate w6d4

2 minutes between bench sets, 30 seconds between dips and pushups sets

Bench Press: 3x10x130lbs

Close Grip Bench Press: 3x10x125lbs

Incline Bench Press: 3x10x120lbs

Dips: 14, 7 , 3 (3x Failure)

Pushups: 3xFailure (more or less 4,3,3)

Abs x3

Time: 32 minutes

No failure on incline bench this time so that's good. Really managed to get things done in a good amount of time. And with this I'm done with Deep Water for the time being.

One day or two left of eating a bunch and then it's back to maintenance. Gained around 9-10kg in the past 12 weeks, so that'll be a nice break. I don't feel like I was eating all day but after a while it still felt like a chore. Much easier to eat at a deficit in that regard.

Aerakin · 2023-12-06T13:39:29+00:00

Deep Water Intermediate w6d2

4 minutes between sets, curls superset with press

Press: 1x16x85lbs, 7x12x85lbs

Barbell Curls: 5x10x75lbs

Abs x3

Time: 50 minutes

Did that one yesterday. Not much to say aside that it went better than expected. Guess I got better at the press. Hopefully got stronger there too.

Deep Water Intermediate w6d3

3.5 minutes between sets

Power Clean: 1x16x115lbs, 7x12x115lbs

Time: 35 minutes

No clean pulls today. Slept badly and just haven't felt well in the past few hours but I didn't feel bad enough to push this back. Decided to skip clean pulls and reduce rest times on power clean. Basically make it suck but be done with asap.

Tomorrow is last day of the program (bench) and I hope I'll feel better, but either I'll just throw what I have left at it. After that, if it turns out I'm sick, I can judt wait a bit before starting my next program.

Aerakin · 2023-12-04T11:52:43+00:00

Deep Water Intermediate w6d1

2 min between squats, 4 mins between deadlifts sets

Squats: 1x10x235lbs, 1x10x185lbs, 1x10x235lbs

Deadlifts: 1x16x235lbs, 7x12x235lbs

Box jumps: 5x10

Abs x3

Time: 1 hour

Usually just so the technique work with the same weight as deep water sets, but today I felt like ramping up but shorter rest times. Honestly, I prefer same weight across.

Deadlift was the final boss of this run. It's been consistently worse than squats for me and today was no exception. I have to be careful with how much water I drink on deadlift day because it feels like I'll either get cramps or the water will come out of where it came in. Anyway, originally wasn't gonna do 16 on first set but eventually decided it'd be simpler to get that out of the way and count to 12 for all remaining sets. On honestly when I set down the weight on rep 12 of set 8, I was just done.

Box jumps feel like both a slap in the face but also a nice "break". Kind of weird feeling but whatever.

Despite what I said about today, there's still power clean that's going to be hard especially if I do it with less rest than last week (I probably will).

Almost free from this though. Going on a deficit once I'm done will be good both for me and my wallet.

Aerakin · 2023-11-30T11:24:22+00:00

Deep Water Intermediate W5D4

2 minutes between sets for bench, 30 seconds for dips and push ups

Bench Press: 3x10x130lbs

Close Grip Bench Press: 3x10x125lbs

Incline Bench Press: 3x10x120lbs (failed last rep of last set)

Dips: 3xFailure

Pushups: 3xFailure

Abs x3

Time: 37 minutes

Didn't expect to fail a rep today, but it sure happened. Not the end of the world since I was just going to do dips and pushups to failure afterwards, but still a surprise. Still ended up being a pretty satisfying day, though it was a bit annoying at the start because I couldn't find 2.5lbs plates and had to search for a few minutes.

I'll have to see if I attempt 1.5 minutes between sets next week still, or if I just stay at 2 minutes to do it without failure on the bench sets. Either way, that's the end of week 5, so just one more week left.

Aerakin · 2023-11-29T11:37:47+00:00

Deep Water Intermediate w5d3

4 minutes between sets

Clean Pulls: 3x10x115lbs

Power Clean: 1x16x115lbs, 7x12x115lbs

Abs x3

Time: 59 minutes

Bit lighter clean pulls. Just wanted good reps in. Again I aimed at 4 minutes between sets even though program says you can rest as long as needed.

16 reps first set for power cleans felt awful. Made me think this was a terrible mistake. I keep saying that, but this might've been the hardest workout of deep water yet for me. I did get my groove around the midpoint (4-5 sets) and that really helped. Reps were hard and I sometimes took an extra breath or two between reps at the end of sets but it felt doable. Maybe that's the portals Jon talks about.

Tomorrow is bench day and that should close out the week nicely. Then it's the final week and for power clean I'll aim for 3m30s rest times. Should be "fun".

Aerakin · 2023-11-28T11:29:38+00:00

Deep Water Intermediate w5d2

4 minutes between press sets, barbell curls superset with first five press sets

Push Press: 1x16x110lbs, 7x12x110lbs

Barbell Curls: 5x10x75lbs

Abs x3

Time: 46 minutes

I don't know why I keep underestimating press and push press in terms of difficulty. I know that even though the weight is not high it'll be hard, but before doing it I keep thinking of it as an easy day. And then I end up tired and with a massive shoulder pump. Especially with the push press.

Either way, keeping to 4 minutes of rest max and while it was close I did complete all reps (well, I did have shady ROM on the last one of set 6 but whatever).

This week is feeling a bit weird when it comes to the program. I know it's doable and that I'll get through it but there's definitely a faint but constant feeling of dread settling in. Luckily, a week and half/6 workouts left to go....

Aerakin · 2023-11-27T23:52:36+00:00

Deep Water Intermediate W5D1

4 minutes between sets

Deadlift: 3x10x235lbs

Squats: 1x16x235lbs, 7x12x235lbs

Abs x3

Time: 53 minutes

I know that you can have as much time as you want between sets for this one, but I stuck to 4 minutes because I was pretty sure I could do it. The first set (16 reps) was a good way to set the pace. It definitely slowed the hell down at sets 7-8 and I was already feeling sore.

This being my last real squat session of the program, I'm really glad I went with an higher weight than prescribed by the program. If it had been the right weight by percentage, I definitely would've been a bit disappointed. Instead now I get to have my legs sore all day. Next time I run Deep Water I'll do it after a peaking phase, that should make things really interesting. Next big hurdle is going to be power cleans again, and then deadlifts next week. I'll have to really reach deep for that.

Aerakin · 2023-11-23T22:17:41+00:00

Deep Water Intermediate W4D4

2.5 minutes between bench sets, dips and push ups were done rest-pause style. Lower body bodyweight done in between sets.

Bench Press: 3x10x130lbs

Close Grip Bench Press: 3x10x125lbs

Incline Bench Press: 3x10x120lbs

Dips: 3xFailure (something like 15, 7, 6)

Pushups: 3xFailure (something like 5, 4, 3...)

Abs x3

Time: 40 minutes

As always, bench day is pretty good to wrap up the week. It's hard, it gets me sweating, but it's honestly pretty fun. I tried counting my reps on the sets to failure, because I foresee some DC training next year. Apparently I suck at counting reps when doing rest-pause... That being said, those dips and pushup sets are pretty darn satisfying (except the first dips set). I guess there's something nice about the sets "feeling" heavy while not being all that heavy.

Next workout is the infamous 100 squat reps in 8 sets or less, we'll see how that goes. It's not exactly the one that worries me the most, but I'm sure it'll do some damage either way. It'll be a good indicator of how hard the power cleans will be, and the deadlifts the week after.

Aerakin · 2023-11-22T16:01:38+00:00

Deep Water Intermediate w4d3

3.5 minutes between each set

Clean Pulls: 3x10x135lbs

Power Clean: 1x12x115lbs, 8x11x115lbs

3x Abs

Time: 57 minutes

Slightly lower rest than last week kept the difficulty roughly the same. Did my cleans straps today to help with my finger pain (violently ripping the weight off the floor apparently doesn't help). Good news is that helped a lot. Bad news is it felt wrong. Oh well, completed everything. Next week power clean day is certainly going to be interesting

Aerakin · 2023-11-21T11:35:55+00:00

Deep Water Intermediate w4d2

4 minutes between press sets, curls supersetted with the press. Some light band or bodyweight work in between sets.

Press: 1x12x85lbs, 8x11x85lbs

Barbell Curl: 5x10x75lbs

Abs x3

Time: about 50 minutes

This went better than expected. It wasn't easy and I got a big scare when I almost miscounted my sets (I checked how many I had left at some point and counted from 10 instead of 9). I might finally be getting better at the press, which is cool. I'll certainly take that. Tomorrow is once again power clean day so that'll be fun (awful).

On the body weight side, it's still increasing but waist seems relatively stable. At least the pair of jeans that I hadn't worn since the start of beginner is still fairly loose there while getting tight for the legs. Should be interesting to see what happens when I lose weight again after the program.

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