The 2022 Barbell Enthusiasts Collaborative Training Log & Hall of Fame

[veggie530]

Would you say DL is your hardest lift to improve? Cause I'm in that boat with you if so

yes. par t of it I think is I do conventional and I'm 5'9" with a 69" reach. So my flexibility/mobility really becomes an issue maintaining good form on a conventional DL while increasing weight. I feel like I'm trying to stuff myself into a small box trying to get down there to get the bar



will upload my workouts later, but hit a 5:52 mile on Sunday and hit this 300x3 on Monday

[SaviorSelfJT]

GJ on the bench PR man

—-

Last night I did a few pause squats with just 135 to keep my hips loose

Today:
Squat
Up to 405x1
335x2x2 with long pause

I wanted to try 425, but 405 felt too heavy

Bench
315x0 dammit
225x2x3

Pull-ups
5x3

[CW47]

Nice benching veggie! Most people seem to have 1 of the big 3 that they struggle with. My arms being on the longer side relative to my height gives me an advantage on Deadlift, but makes benching a major challenge.


August 24, 2022
Sumo Deadlift: 435 pounds x 1 rep [PR]

Was planning to work up to about 95% of my 1RM and then do some backoff work. During the ramp up it became pretty clear that I probably had a PR in me today, so I pushed it pretty much to a Max and hit a 10 pound PR. Actually may have been able to do even more but I probably placed my hands too close together and it resulted in a struggle on the lockout. Was maybe marginal by competition standards, but I felt like I was able to fully lock it out. Decided to just end the workout after the top single.

[CW47]

Bench Press - 3 Count Pause: 175 pounds x 1 rep @9 RPE
Bench Press - 3 Count Pause: 135 pounds x 3 reps
Incline Pin Press - 40 Degree: 95 pounds - 8 sets x 5 reps / 1 set x 8 reps

My bench technique is the best it's ever been right now. Matched my PR on the top single and undoubtedly could've set a new one but I wanted to be sure I had something left to do the back off work and hypertrophy work, unlike yesterday.

Not sure that I actually did 8 sets of 5 on the pin press. I thought I had only done 6, but my clicker said 8... Very possible that I lost count. All the sets of this were done with 15-30 seconds rest between.

Here's video of the top single:

[EliKoehn]

^^ Nice! In your experience, what's the difficulty difference between 1 count and 3 count? Between T&G and 1 count, I find it to be 30-40% harder already, but does that ratio continue for a much longer pause from what you noticed? I've only done 1 count pauses so far in my own training, and it is startling how much easier T&G at the same weight is.

C6W Week Two - Thursday (Muscular Conditioning/Hypertrophy w/ Higher Difficulty)

Squat:
330 x MR10 (7 achieved @10)

Back-Off Squats (60 seconds rest):
5 x 3 at 325 @7, 8, 9, 10, 10

Deficit Deadlift:
3 x 8 at 315

Optional Exercises Omitted

Total time: about an hour or so

Spoiler!

Not a whole lot to say. Somewhat disappointed only to have gotten 7 of 10, but I could tell from my warmups feeling heavy that it was going to be tougher than normal. Deadlifts felt excellent, however. Skipped the optional exercises because I was going to meet some friends for dinner and ran up on the time. QL pain was very mild today, which was good. I did take two decently long breaks, and probably ought not to have.

[MyEgoProblem]

Finally got my training partner back!
Race season is over - far less over seas trips lol.

Perfect timing because quite frankly I've not had the accountability to be consistent.. And I've been slipping or cutting short almost every session ive supposed to be doing.

Numbers currently blow.
Strength is down
Conditioning is down
Ability to not die mid set is down

But its a start! XD
(pr) tags are not all time records obviously. Fresh start on the app.
Cable movements are not comparable to any other previous, different stacks and pulleys.

FitNotes Workout - Friday 26th August 2022
Total Volume: 10,514 kgs
Total Sets: 19
Total Reps: 150

** Conv Sldl **
- Total Volume: 3,950 kgs
- Total Sets: 6
- Total Reps: 26
- 200.0 kgs x 1 rep [PR]@8
- 150.0 kgs x 5 reps [PR] 70%~ e1
- 150.0 kgs x 5 reps
- 150.0 kgs x 5 reps
- 150.0 kgs x 5 reps
- 150.0 kgs x 5 reps

** Mg Mag Pulldown **
- Total Volume: 3,969 kgs
- Total Sets: 7
- Total Reps: 49
- 81.0 kgs x 7 reps [PR]@7~
- 81.0 kgs x 7 reps
- 81.0 kgs x 7 reps
- 81.0 kgs x 7 reps
- 81.0 kgs x 7 reps
- 81.0 kgs x 7 reps
- 81.0 kgs x 7 reps

** Kneeling 1 arm Cable High Row **
- Total Volume: 1,215 kgs
- Total Sets: 3
- Total Reps: 45
- 27.0 kgs x 15 reps [PR]
- 27.0 kgs x 15 reps
- 27.0 kgs x 15 reps
Each arm

** Cable Ez Curl **
- Total Volume: 1,380 kgs
- Total Sets: 3
- Total Reps: 30
- 46.0 kgs x 10 reps [PR]
- 46.0 kgs x 10 reps
- 46.0 kgs x 10 reps

[MyEgoProblem]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Chxv7...d=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

On the smooth cg..
Elbows a little dumpy
Pause a little short
Not mad
Not a bad start for a block given how lazy I've been and probably not done anything close to ba bench in weeks

[CW47]

Good stuff MEP.

Eli - I lose about 10% off my max with a 3 count pause. I don't have Touch and Go and a standard Paused Bench differentiated on my PR tracking list. Whether my max attempts would be considered Paused or Touch and Go, I'm not really even sure. I always try to pause at least long enough to prevent myself from getting any bounce off the chest. Haven't done a true Touch and Go max in almost 2 years.


August 27, 2022
Conventional Deadlift: 285 pounds - 2 sets x 5 reps

Family got back from their 3 week vacation a little after 5am this morning. My parents came to visit for the day as well. Long day.
The 2 sets of deads was about 1/4 of what I had programmed for the day, but felt it was better that I just do something rather than push it off another day.

[CW47]

Floor Press: 150 pounds - 6 sets x 6 reps
Larsen Press - Camber Bar Narrow Grip: 110 pounds - 3 sets x 8 reps
Cable Pulldown - Med Supinate MAG: 60 pounds x 20/20, 80 pounds x 17
Tricep Strap Pushdown: 20 pounds x 20/16/17

Tried out some new pieces of equipment today - an American Cambered Bar from ElitFTS and the Medium Supinate MAG bar. Both are fantastic!

Full comments on this workout are on my journal: https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...post1666912263

[EliKoehn]

Logging workout from Friday and today to conclude week 2 of the program.

C6W Week Two - Friday (Muscular Conditioning/Hypertrophy w/ Higher Difficulty)

A.S.
Comp Bench (1 Ct):
205 x 10, 215 x 8, 230 x 6-8 (8 achieved) @9, 8, 10
Pendlay Row:
225 x 10, 235 x 8, 235 x 8 @8, 9, 9

A.S.
Standing OHP:
105 x 10, 115 x 8, 135 x 6 @8, 9, 9
Lat Pulldown:
170 x 10, 190 x 8, 210 x 6 @8, 8, 9

A.S.
Optional Exercise 1 (DB Lateral Raise):
3 x 10 w/ 30s
Optional Exercise 2 (Barberll Curl):
3 x 10 at 95

Total time: about 75 minutes

Spoiler!

Only comment is that curls felt particularly good. Final rep was somewhat cheated but the others felt notably solid and controlled.

C6W Week Two - Sunday (Muscular Conditioning/Hypertrophy w/ Higher Difficulty)

Comp Bench (1 Ct):
220 x MR - 12 achieved @10

Pendlay Row:
225 x 10, 235 x 8, 235 x 8 @9, 8, 9

A.S.
Standing OHP:
105 x 10, 115 x 8, 135 x 6 @8, 9, 10
Lat Pulldown:
170 x 10, 190 x 8, 210 x 6 @7, 9, 9

A.S.
Optional Exercise 1 (DB Lateral Raise):
3 x 12 w/ 25s
Optional Exercise 2 (DB Supinated Curls):
3 x 12 w/ 30s

Total time: about one hour

Comments:

Spoiler!

AMRAP on the comp bench was an improvement over 225 x 10, unless that five pounds was worth more than two extra reps, which is doubtful. Lat pulldowns finally felt clean and manageable even after the same pulling volume. Onward to week 3.

[coachcalande]

Had planned to wait for Sept 1 to reduce cals. Started yesterday.

Been sitting at 3000 cals a day, holding weight 276-278 steadily for three weeks.

400-600 cal deficit is new target and may gradually add cardio but we will see. That would be my next step after wt loss plateau if necessary-

So far strength and energy are good.

[EliKoehn]

Had planned to wait for Sept 1 to reduce cals. Started yesterday.

Been sitting at 3000 cals a day, holding weight 276-278 steadily for three weeks.

400-600 cal deficit is new target and may gradually add cardio but we will see. That would be my next step after wt loss plateau if necessary-

So far strength and energy are good.

What is your long term goal right now? I thought you switched from trying to get down to 215 and said you wanted to stay at 280 and get as strong as possible?

[coachcalande]

What is your long term goal right now? I thought you switched from trying to get down to 215 and said you wanted to stay at 280 and get as strong as possible?

Slow decent…knee injury keeping me from squatting real heavy…so might as well cut. No particular numbers in mind…if I start losing too much muscle or strength, I’m sure I’ll add cals.

[EliKoehn]

Slow decent…knee injury keeping me from squatting real heavy…so might as well cut. No particular numbers in mind…if I start losing too much muscle or strength, I’m sure I’ll add cals.

Ah, yeah I remember you mentioned that now. Good luck with whatever you aim towards!

[coachcalande]

Ah, yeah I remember you mentioned that now. Good luck with whatever you aim towards!

Trained legs yesterday, this is it works for me right now…

Start with 135 on SSb bar and pay close attention to anything odd, weirdly painful, new pain, anything at all that is a warning sign that the old surgery needs new attention…

135x reps, usually around 15.
Then make a decision…185 or 235…? If things felt great, I’ll do 235 and pay close attention…might hit 10-12 with it, deep and a brief pause…

From there either 285 or 305…just how it is…I worked up to 325 yesterday for 3 I think. It wast 400x3 but it was better than nothing.

[CW47]

Eli - Nice work. Seems like things are on a good track so far.
Coach - Glad the cut is going reasonably well. Sounds like a good approach to your squats.


August 29, 2022
12 Inch Box Squat - Speed: 145 pounds + 2 Chain - 10 sets x 2 reps
Leg Extension: 70 pounds - 3 sets x 20 reps
Strap Cable Curl: 20 pounds x 20 reps / 4 pounds x 20/13

Box Squats felt easier than last time despite the 2 extra sets. I taped most sets to monitor bar path and found that it's straying way forward most of the time out of the hole.
Did cable curls with a strap. This is by far the best a curl has ever felt for me.

Link to full workout comments: https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...post1666974833

[SaviorSelfJT]

@CW - congrats on the deadlift PR

@Coach - I think you might be right about the anxiety thing. I was getting pretty stressed at work today, and then after work I was feeling really anxious and I got sharp pains in my chest that I know I wasn't just imagining in my head

---
Today:

Squat-
425x1
365x5

Strict Press-
205xFAIL

Push Press-
185x7 (failed 8th)

Pullups-
BWx10

Good day for squats, terrible day for OHP. I failed a 315 bench last time so I guess my pressing strength is in a recession

[EliKoehn]

C6W Week Three - Monday (Linear Max OT Phase)

Squat:
3 x 4-6 at 350 (4 achieved for all @10, 10, 10)

Deadlift (beltless, w/ chalk):
2 x 3-6 at 440 (3 achieved for all @10, 10)

No Accessory Lifts

Comments:

Spoiler!

Visited the doctor this morning and was expecting to have blood work done, so I ate relatively little and fasted 12 hours beforehand, and then had eaten a salad for lunch today (mostly just for a variety of vegetables but still with a sizeable amount of dressing), so went into this one on a short term deficit and could tell I felt a lot weaker for it. Scraped out the bare minimum. I bet some of these squats were slightly shallow. Was too chaotic to film for a form check. They were still extremely difficult, so hopefully profitable in any case.

[coachcalande]

It took just two days, a total of 1000 calories that I didn’t eat to make my training suffer. Felt weak in warmups so started my bench pyramid at a miserably light 185x15, 205, 225, 225,225…just 1000 cals more and I was doing all of my sets at 285-305. This sums up my entire lifting experience…eat like a baby, get weak fast. So 500-600 cal deficit may be too much for me based on the actual number of cals, probably better off % based reductions. Going to give it a few days and see if the job stress, car stress and heat are playing more of a role in this than cals alone…either way, worth noting, I was happy as a clam at 3000 cals and sort of recomping with no real scale changes after the first five lbs dropped but my lifts,energy, mood and motivation were a heckuva lot better than they are now. Going to bed hangry is awful.

* after mulling this over, 10 cal/lb should be sufficient for weight loss! I bumped back up to about 2700 cals. When I’m up at 3:30 in the morning, four meals and two shakes seems about right.

[coachcalande]

@CW - congrats on the deadlift PR

@Coach - I think you might be right about the anxiety thing. I was getting pretty stressed at work today, and then after work I was feeling really anxious and I got sharp pains in my chest that I know I wasn't just imagining in my head

---
Today:

Squat-
425x1
365x5

Strict Press-
205xFAIL

Push Press-
185x7 (failed 8th)

Pullups-
BWx10

Good day for squats, terrible day for OHP. I failed a 315 bench last time so I guess my pressing strength is in a recession

Anxiety and panic attacks can strongly resemble heart attacks.

Now next question. What do you plan to do to address this? I sure hope this isn’t yet another vax side effect situation.

Definitely get checked out.

[jademonkey]

Getting bored with ******** and Reddit today so thought I'd log on here.

Wife has been on a diet since June 12 (I semi-track her calories) and down 10+ pounds. I finally decided to start skipping breakfast a month or so ago to lose some of the fat lbs I put on over the months. Not coincidentally the next week is about when I started losing strength on my lifts on my 6-8x per month lifting schedule.

I also started doing some aerobics in the gym, since I don't get out to bike much and my wife has been doing so much aerobics she's almost caught up with me in that department. Around this time she finally started doing some weights with me, since I told her the cut would be much more effective if she wasn't losing muscle mass. So to help keep her motivated, I'm doing aerobics first and weights second. She's still a bit intimidated to go into "the men's area" alone lol.

I'll do 30 minutes or so running or stairmaster while she does an hour, usually elliptical. Then I head off to get some solo heavy lifting in, and finish off with a short alternating upper body dumbbell workout with her. We are starting her on horizontal push-pull alternating, followed by the same vertical. Got maybe 5 workouts in on that and adding in some hip hinge. Just quads left to add in for a basic full body.

Her goal is basically a noticeable transformation by the time we get back to family in AZ this fall/winter. So I'm just in "staying in shape" mode for a while.

[jademonkey]

Preference choice of below the knee or above the knee rack pulls
Power Shrugs, I use a trap bar
Pendlay Row's

I recently tried above the knee rack pulls for the first time the other week. The rack didn't have a lower setting. Felt like a tool loading up 5 plates and pulling the bar a few inches, but damn that hammered my back HARD!

[EliKoehn]

@Jade, how's the running impacting your heavy lifts? I like running (well, a continuous slow jog in my case...) but don't want to interrupt my training since I'm chasing new maxes.

C6W Week Three - Wednesday (Linear Max OT Phase)

A.S.
Comp Bench:
3 x 4-6 at 240 (6 achieved for all @8, 8, 9)
Pendlay Row:
3 x 6 at 265

A.S.
Standing OHP:
1 x 6 at 145, 2 x 6 at 135 @10, 9, 9?
Lat Pulldown:
3 x 6 at 190 @6, 6, 6

No Accessory Exercises

Total time: about 45 minutes?

Comments:

Spoiler!

I am surprised that the benching felt so much easier than this day normally does. I am running comp only and lowered the weight significantly, however the prescribed work up to now has still been fairly challenging. When I ran this day T&G for 6s at 275, it was always completion on a razor's edge, or failure, but this felt quite easy, though the RPE up to now has been comparable between the two inputs. Interesting.

Since the volume is low and I have a rest day tomorrow, followed by only two sets on Friday, I wanted to go heavy on the rows. I managed 275 for 6 with more form degradation than I was content with, so I wanted to experiment with reducing it by 10 pounds on the same pattern. While not quite perfect, I'd still say it was pretty clean. I programmed the lat pulldowns light for 6s since I've been struggling with these after the rows, but interestingly they were all @6 or so and rather easy, so either it's just going into it with less accumulated fatigue, and/or adaption has occurred.

I wanted initially to go for 145s on each OHP set, but I hit @10 on the first one - I got it cleanly, but it was all that I had and my left quad cramped, so I decided to drop 10 pounds for the remaining two, which were still appropriately challenging. Forgot to record RPE on the last set, but it was probably @9 or so.

I've been eating fruits and veggies daily and more wholesome choices in general for the last several days and I am feeling a little better overall than I was in recent weeks.

[CW47]

Bench Press: 145 pounds - 6 sets x 6 reps
Narrow Grip Bench - 30 Degree Incline: 125 pounds x 8/8/7 reps
Close Grip Cable Row: 3 sets x 20 reps
Triceps Cable Pushdown: 40 pounds x 12/11/10

[jademonkey]

@Jade, how's the running impacting your heavy lifts? I like running (well, a continuous slow jog in my case...) but don't want to interrupt my training since I'm chasing new maxes.

C6W Week Three - Wednesday (Linear Max OT Phase)

A.S.
Comp Bench:
3 x 4-6 at 240 (6 achieved for all @8, 8, 9)
Pendlay Row:
3 x 6 at 265

A.S.
Standing OHP:
1 x 6 at 145, 2 x 6 at 135 @10, 9, 9?
Lat Pulldown:
3 x 6 at 190 @6, 6, 6

No Accessory Exercises

Total time: about 45 minutes?

Comments:

Spoiler!

I am surprised that the benching felt so much easier than this day normally does. I am running comp only and lowered the weight significantly, however the prescribed work up to now has still been fairly challenging. When I ran this day T&G for 6s at 275, it was always completion on a razor's edge, or failure, but this felt quite easy, though the RPE up to now has been comparable between the two inputs. Interesting.

Since the volume is low and I have a rest day tomorrow, followed by only two sets on Friday, I wanted to go heavy on the rows. I managed 275 for 6 with more form degradation than I was content with, so I wanted to experiment with reducing it by 10 pounds on the same pattern. While not quite perfect, I'd still say it was pretty clean. I programmed the lat pulldowns light for 6s since I've been struggling with these after the rows, but interestingly they were all @6 or so and rather easy, so either it's just going into it with less accumulated fatigue, and/or adaption has occurred.

I wanted initially to go for 145s on each OHP set, but I hit @10 on the first one - I got it cleanly, but it was all that I had and my left quad cramped, so I decided to drop 10 pounds for the remaining two, which were still appropriately challenging. Forgot to record RPE on the last set, but it was probably @9 or so.

I've been eating fruits and veggies daily and more wholesome choices in general for the last several days and I am feeling a little better overall than I was in recent weeks.

Running or climbing before lifting definitely impacts max weight significantly. Not something I want to do long term. But also I'm pushing the aerobics a bit, and I'm pretty out of shape for running, so 30 minutes takes more of a toll than it does when a weekend 4 hour bike race is the norm. I miss being very aerobically fit so don't mind prioritizing it for a while.

[SaviorSelfJT]

Anxiety and panic attacks can strongly resemble heart attacks.

Now next question. What do you plan to do to address this? I sure hope this isn’t yet another vax side effect situation.

Definitely get checked out.

I read online that anxiety can cause the chest pains because you are taking in more oxygen which hurts your lungs but isn't serious by iteslf

As far as addressing it, I feel like most of my stress comes from work and need to just stop letting stuff stress me out. Cardio exercise seems to really help too

------

Squat-
405x1
315x5

Bench-
275x1
225x5
225x5 (larson style with legs up. Didn't feel any harder than the previous set, but I don't really use much of an arch/leg drive anyway)

Pullups-
3xBW lol

[CW47]

Stiff Legged Deadlift: 365 pounds x 1 rep [PR] [8.5 RPE]
Stiff Legged Deadlift: 295 pounds x 3 reps

10 pound PR and it was pretty easy.

[EliKoehn]

Sweet, that did look easy! Nice job.

[CW47]

Thanks Eli


Narrow Grip Bench Press: 185 pounds x 1 rep [PR] [9 RPE]
Narrow Grip Bench Press: 150 pounds x 3 reps
Incline Pin Press - 40 Degree: 115 pounds - 4 sets x 8 reps --> Drop Set of 95 pounds x 8 reps

Another pretty easy PR. Been feeling like my bench is increasing steadily over the last 2-3 weeks. This seems to validate that. Feels good to hit PR's without needing to grind.

[EliKoehn]

Unfortunately I ran out of time before my gym closed on Friday to follow the program, and it will be closed on Monday as well, which throws the scheduling off track... I think I am going to just resume where I was in spite of the gap, maybe by treating Tuesday as Monday or collapsing the next two workouts together. That's less than ideal, but real life gets in the way sometimes. Today, I just did some pullups and bench pressing.

Warmed up to a 2 count comp 275 single, and then 225 T&G AMRAP. I only got 13 this time, but it was on an empty stomach and at a different gym with a worse bench setup. Pullups I interspersed singles between warm up sets and then did a set of 6, and then 8.