Leaving the nest

VW 1

Bench press

40kg x 8, 50kg x 8, 60kg x 8

62.5kg 8,8,7

50kg x 8

Incline DB press

20kg 4 x 8

DB row

25kg 4 x 8

DB Flyes

12.5kg 4 x 8

Preacher curls

Bar + 10kg 4 x 12

Standing BB row to chin

30kg 4 x 8

SLDL

80kg 4 x 8

DB thrusters

12.5kg 4 x 12

VW 1

Front Squat

40kg x 8, 50kg x 8, 60kg x 8

75kg 4 x 8

Deadlift

60kg x 8, 80kg x 8, 100kg x 8

120kg 4 x 6

Bent over BB row

60kg 4 x 8

Clean and press

40kg 4 x 8

DB Bench Press

25kg 4 x 8

Hammer Curl

20kg 4 x 8

VW 1

Squat

Bar x 8

60kg x 8

80kg x 8

100kg x 8

110kg 4 x 6

Goblet Squat

25kg 4 x 12

Kettle Bell press

14kg 4 x 12

Hammer curl

17,5kg 4 x 8

DB Bench press

20kg 4 x 8

Seated DB OH Press

15kg 4 x 8

VW 1

Bench press

40kg x 8

50kg x 8

60kg x 8

65kg 4 x 6

Incline DB press

20kg 4 x 8

DB row

25kg 4 x 12

DB flyes

15kg 4 x 8

Preacher curl

Bar + 12.5kg 4 x 12

Standing barbell row to chin

35kg 4 x 8

SLDL

80kg 4 x 8

DB Thrusters

12.5kg DB 4 x 12

VW 1

Front squat

40kg x 8

60kg x 8

80kg 4 x 6

Deadlift

60kg x 8

80kg x 8

100kg x 8

120kg x 6

130kg 4 x 5

Bent over barbell row

60kg 4 x 8

Clean and press

40kg 4 x8

DB bench press

20kg 4 x 12

Hammer curl

17.5kg 4 x 8

VW 1

Squat

Bar x 8, 60kg x 8, 80kg x 8, 100kg x 8, 120kg x 6

130kg 4 x 5

Goblet Squat

25kg 4 x 12

Kettlebell Press

14kg 4 x 12

DB Bench

25kg 4 x 8

Hammer curl

17.5kg 4 x 8

DB OH Press

15kg 4 x 8

Seated pulldown machine

54 4 x 8

VW 1

Bench press

40kg x 8, 50kg x 8, 60kg x 6

70kg 4 x 5

Incline DB Press

20kg 4 x 10

DB Row

25kg 4 x 12

DB Flyes

15kg 4 x 8

Preacher Curl

Bar + 15kg 4 x 8

Standing row to chin

35kg 4 x 8

SLDL

85kg 4 x 8

DB thrusters

12.5kg 4 x 12

VW 1

I keep expecting to run out of strength, but the weights keep moving and I'm more than a little surprised how this is going!

Front Squat 40kg x 8, 60kg x 6, 70kg x 5

85kg 4 x 5

Deadlift 70kg x 8, 110kg x 6, 130kg x 5

140kg 4 x 4

Bent over barbell row

65kg 4 x 8

Clean and Press

45kg 4 x 8

DB Bench Press

20kg 4 x 12

Hammer Curl

17.5kg 4 x 8

VW 1

Squat 60kg x 8, 80kg x 8, 100kg x 6, 120kg x 4, 130kg X 3

140kg 4 x 3

Goblet squat

27.5kg 4 x 12

DB standing press

16kg 4 x 12

DB bench

25kg 4 x 8

Hammer curl

17.5kg 4 x 8

Seated lat pulldown

54 4 x 8

VW 1

Bench press 40kg x 8, 50kg x 8, 60kg x 8, 70kg x 6

75kg 4 x 4

Incline DB press

22.5kg 4 x 8

DB row

27.5kg 4 x 12

Standing barbell row to chin

35kg 4 x 8

DB flyes

15kg 4 x 8

Strict db curl

12.5kg 4 x 8

SLDL

90kg 4 x 8

DB Thrusters

12.5kg DB 4 x 12

VW 1

Front squat 40kg x 8, 50kg x 8, 60kg x 6, 80kg x 4

90kg 4 x 4

Deadlift 70kg x 8, 100kg x 6 120kg x 4 14kg x 3

150kg 4 x 3

Bent over barbell row 70kg 2 x 8, 60kg 2 x 8. Sore right wrist.

Clean and press 42.5kg 4 x 8

DB bench press 25kg 4 x 8

Hammer curl 20kg 4 x 8

Again, hard to overstate how happy I am with how my strength is progressing here. I thought I'd have maxxed out long before now, but I'll push on for another week with doubles and then do a weeks deload before going on to a one rep max test.

I'm wondering if a double bodyweight deadlift is out of the question, I'm generally hovering between 82-85kg. My one rep max PRs (without checking back) are somewhere around 150 (maybe 160?) and 170 for squat and DL as far as I remember but they would've been at 75-78kg bodyweight. Hard to believe those PRs would've been after 3 years plus consistent training and I'm getting close to those numbers after 8 weeks of training.

VW 1

Turns out my DL PR is 180 and I don't see anywhere in my log where I have done more than 150 for squat. Definitely been in a position to squat more than that, but never got a complete cycle go correctly and a test day go correctly to do more. And here I am in a position to do 145/150 for doubles on my next session. A little strange, but I'll take it!

VW 1

Squat

Bar x 8, 60kg x 8, 80kg x 8, 100kg x 8, 120kg x 6

145kg 2 x 2

150kg 2, 4

Goblet squat 30kg 4 x 12

Dumbbell press 16kg 4 x 12

Hammer curl 20kg 4 x 8

DB bench press 27.5kg 4 x 8

Seated DB overhead press 15kg 4 x 8

Lat pulldown behind head 54 4 x 8

A big day for me! Squatted 145 for the first two doubles, was wary of jumping into the 150. Felt good, so upped to 150. Felt comfortable so tried for extra reps and managed to get 4 out, again feeling good on depth and power. Unreal. Can't wait to see where I can go with it.

VW 1

Bench press 40kg x 8, 50kg x 8, 60kg x 8, 70kg x 6,

80kg 4 x 3

Incline DB press

22.5kg 4 x 8

DB row

30kg 4 x 12

DB flyes

17.5kg 4 x 8

Strict db curl

15kg 4 x 8

Standing barbell row to chin

37.5kg 4 x 8

SLDL

95kg 4 x 8

DB Thrusters

12.5kg DB 4 x 12

VW 1

Front squat 40kg x 8, 50kg x 8, 60kg x 6, 80kg x 4

100kg 4 x 3

Deadlift 60kg x 8, 100kg x 6 120kg x 4 140kg x 3 

160kg 4 x 2

Bent over barbell row 70kg 4 x 8

Clean and press 45kg 4 x 8

DB bench press 27.5kg 4 x 8

Hammer curl 20kg 4 x 8

VW 1

Squat bar x 8, 60kg x 8

100kg 4 x 8, 17 (AMRAP)

60kg 4 x 12

A quick and straightforward squat deload session. Back started cramping so instead of other accessory work I spent 20 mins or so stretching. Will take the same approach for bench and DL and get testing next week.

VW 1

Bench 40kg x 8, 50kg x 8

60kg 4 x 8, 16 (AMRAP)

Wide grip 

50kg 4 x 8

Narrow grip

50kg 4 x 8

VW 1

Front Squat

Bar x 10, 40kg x 8, 60kg x 8

70kg 4 x 8

Deadlift

70kg x 8, 90kg x 8

110kg 4 x 8

Starting into testing now, with squat first up on saturday or sunday. Looking forward to seeing the outcomes!

VW 1

Injury struck me at the worst time, woke up a couple days after that last session with a lot of muscular pain in my lower back. Stretched non-stop for 2 weeks to ease it out, gradually got better, and an extra week to be sure. After my run of injuries over the past 2 years or so, didn't want to take any risks that would stop me training (currently not running due to an ongoing achilles injury).

Back yesterday for a re-introduction session hitting lower weight, mid-volume on the 3 compounds.

Squat

Bar x 10, 60kg x 8, 80kg x 8, 100kg x 6, 110kg 4 x 6

Deadlift

Bar x 10, 60kg x 8, 100kg 4 x 6 (lower weight as a % of 1RM, taking no back chances)

Bench

Bar x 10, 40kg x 8, 50kg x 6, 60kg 4 x 6

Felt fine physically, definitely noticed a strength drop off but that's to be expected after 3 weeks of doing no lifting. Looking forward to getting the plan together for the 12 week programme now and seeing how I get on. Going to go back to Hanley's dead simple template and see where my 1RMs wash out, and how I get on in this cycle vs how I felt I was going to do after this cycle just gone.

Was loosely hoping for 165 on squat, 180 on DL, and whatever I was going to get on bench (prob 85-90). Historically my least liked lift of the 3 and not too surprisingly the one where I always seemed to lag behind on in comparison to my squat and DL numbers.

VW 1

Squat bar x 8, 60kg x 8, 80kg x 6 100kg 4 x 6

112.5kg 5 x 6

Split squat with 15kg DBs 4 x 8

Seated OH DB press 15kg 4 x 8

DB thrusters 12.5kg 4 x 12

VW 1

Bench press

Bar x 8, 40kg x 8, 50kg x 6

62.5kg 5 x 8

Wide grip bench 50kg 4 x 8

Narrow grip bench 50kg 4 x 8

Standing OH Press 30kg 12, 10 25kg 2 x 10

Hammer curl 15kg DB 4 x 12

VW 1

Deadlift

Bar x 8, 60kg x 8, 100kg x 6

120kg 5 x 6

Bent over row

50kg x 8

60kg 4 x 8

Seated OH DB press

15kg x 8

17.5kg 4 x 8

DB shrugs

30kg 4 x 12

Standing barbell row to chin

25kg 4 x 8

VW 1

Squat bar x 8, 60kg x 8, 80kg x 6 100kg x 4

120kg 4 x 6, 10

Split squat with 17.5kg DBs 4 x 8

Seated OH DB press 15kg 4 x 8

DB thrusters 12.5kg 4 x 12

VW 1

Bench press

Bar x 8, 40kg x 8, 50kg x 60kg x 6

67.5kg 4 x 6, 1 x 9

Wide grip bench 52.5kg 4 x 8 

Narrow grip bench 52.5kg 4 x 8

Standing strict OH Press 30kg 12, 10 25kg 2 x 12

VW 1

Deadlift 

Bar x 8, 70kg x 8, 100kg x 6

130kg 5 x 6

Bent over row

60kg 4 x 8

Seated OH DB press 

20kg 3 x 8, 1 x 6

DB shrugs 

30kg 4 x 12

Standing barbell row to chin

27.5kg 4 x 8

VW 1

Squat bar x 8, 60kg x 8, 80kg x 6 100kg x 4 120kg x 3

130kg 4 x 5, 1 x 9 felt great

Split squat with 20kg DBs 4 x 8 cramping and pain on my leg being used for balance, stay same next week

Seated OH DB press 17.5kg 4 x 8

DB thrusters 14kg 4 x 12

VW 1

Bench press

Bar x 8, 40kg x 8, 50kg x 60kg x 6

72.5kg 4 x 5, 1 x 8

Wide grip bench 55kg 4 x 8

Narrow grip bench 55kg 4 x 8

Standing strict OH Press 27.5kg 2 x 12, 11,

Hammer curl 17.5kg DB 4 x 12

VW 1

Deadlift 

Bar x 8, 70kg x 8, 100kg x 6

135kg 5 x 5

Bent over row

65kg 4 x 8

Standing barbell row to chin

30kg 4 x 8

Seated OH DB press 

20kg 4 x 8

DB front raises 

6kd db 4 x 12

VW 1

Squat bar x 8, 60kg x 8, 80kg x 6 100kg x 4 120kg x 3

135kg 4 x 4, 1 x 7 squat is feeling all kinds of strong

Split squat with 20kg DBs 4 x 8 better than last week but still not pleasant

Seated OH DB press 20kg 3 x 8, 1 x 6

DB thrusters 14kg 4 x 12

VW 1

Struck down with Covid so working out at home

Bench press

Bar x 10

40kg x 8

50kg x 6

60kg X 5