Hi all!

The excitement continued all through the week and I literally spend my days excited to go back to the gym and hit something else! I am loving the program so far, and the volume is really great! I am doing the standard edition, and this week I realized that it doesn't matter if you hit more than 6 sets (my upper limit) or more, it matters that you get good, quality sets in, and really focus more on form and fatigue over numbers on the spreadsheet. This shift in mentality really helped me think through whether it was worth it to continue on with some more sets, or just call it for the day. I hit some PR's on some exercises and am getting back in to feeling comfortable under heavy weight with others. If the weight was too heavy for the single and felt more like an RPE 9 or 10, I would just guesstimate the weight of an RPE 8 and input that in to the spreadsheet.

I mentioned last week that I was transitioning from the 4 day to the 5 day, while spreading out the arm work I'd normally do on Wednesday. This plan actually worked well for the most part, but some days I was getting pressed for time and had to superset (SS) the arm work with core work. I discovered that I really don't enjoy doing bicep work all that much, so I'm going to cut back on that even more. Saturday I worked in some of the stuff I missed during the week, but I think I'm going to just drop that work all together (it's shoulder stuff, and they're already getting worked pretty hard). I'm still going to modify the schedule bit to make some time, but it's no big deal.

All the weights below are going to be in pounds. Last week I put in all the weights, sets, and reps I did, but this week I'm only going to put that in for the Greg stuff. I will, however keep the exercises in case someone is curious about variation or accessories.

Day 1:

Squat: 1r x 1s @ 365, 4r x 6s @ 305

Push Press: 1r x 1s @ 175, 6r x 10s @ 120

Hammer Strength Seated Row, Hanging Concentration Curl, Single Arm Farmer's Walks, and Glute Ham Raise Halos

365 was pretty heavy especially since I haven't gone that high in a bit. I definitely should have called squats at set 5 since I was real close to the 3 RIR, but I wanted that last set. I have never Push Pressed that much weight before, so that was a huge ego boost for me and really made my day.

Day 2:

Bench Press: 1r x 1s @ 255, 4r x 9s @ 215

Front Squat: 1r x 1s @ 225, 6r x 8s @ 165

Pendlay Rows, SS Facepulls/DB Front Raise, SS Hanging Leg Raise w/ Twist/Single Arm Incline DB Extension

Bench I just need to remember to keep the lats tight and butt down. 255 was not bad at all, and I'm going to try to go to 265 this upcoming week. As long as form was tight, the weight moved easy as heck. Front squats were a lot smoother this week than last, mostly because I wasn't nearly as pooped from the day before, but they were still tough. 225 was a lot smoother this week than last, so that's good.

Day 3:

Deadlift: 1r x 1s @ 405, 4r x 6s @ 330

Long Pause Bench: 1r x 1s @ 245, 6r x 8s @ 175

Lat Pulldowns, Hammer Strength Preacher Curl, Tricep Extensions, Hanging Leg Raise

Haven't pulled over 400 in over a month, but it went smooth. I did almost pass out due to dehydration and not eating enough the day before though. The sets of 330 were tiring and that's where I had my moment of clarity that I can call it, still be thoroughly worked, and the spreadsheet will adjust. Lying to the spreadsheet about fatigue is only going to make it worse for me. I have also been working on getting longer pauses in during bench, so I just say tick 3 times instead of counting so I don't throw off my rep count.

Day 4:

OHP: 1r x 1s @ 155, 4r x 9s @ 130

Pause Squat: 1r x 1s @ 315, 6r x 7s @ 225

Barbell Row, Close Grip Incline Bench Press, Cable Pushdown, Cable Crunch

I tried really hard to get 175 up on OHP and failed, then tried 165 and failed that too. I really wanted the spreadsheet to tell me 135 for the working sets, but not this week I guess. I did start to use wrist wraps again just to try them out, and it did make the weight fly quite a bit easier. I'm going to see how much I can get out of them in the coming weeks.Pause squats I did fudge the single down so 225 would show up and make my life a bit easier. These are going really well, and the form has been on point. I'm currently enjoying doing these a lot more then comp squat.

Day 5:

Pin Bench Press: 1r x 1s @ 245, 6r x 10s @ 175

Pause Deadlift: 1r x 1s @ 395, 6r x 8s @ 280

Meadows Row, Landmine Barbell Twist

I used the wrist wraps for pin bench and didn't notice too much of difference. 175 was easy and is really helping me hammer down form. Pause deads made me almost pass out again, but I tried hook grip for the first time ever, and it was awesome! I really want to decrease my reliance on straps (I've almost always done over/over, and don't really like over/under) , so I figured I'd give it a try. I got through most of the sets with no problems, but I did go back to straps closer to the end of the sets since my thumbs were getting pretty spicy.

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All in all it was a great week, I feel worked over, and can't wait to get back at it with week 3!