1/10 – Squat – 5’s

10/10. Great session. Moving zerchers into the ‘main squat movement’ slot for a while, and doing high-bar atg squats for speed work. Felt tremendous.

ATG Zercher Squats:
135×10
225×5
315×5
355×5
405×5

DE ATG Squats (high-bar):
315×2
315×2
315×2
315×2
315×2
315×2

Single Leg Seated Leg Extensions:
50×10-10-10-10-10

Shrugs:
315×10
405×10
495×10
585×10
495×10
405×10
315×10

Rope Face Pulls (two ropes):
50×15-15-15-15-15

Wide Neutral-grip Pulldown (leaning way back):
150×10
150×10
150×10
150×10

Single-arm Cable Curls:
20×10-10-10-10-10-20

Band Pull-Aparts:
red ×25
red ×25
red ×25

Duration: 60 minutes

1/9 – Chest/Tris

10/10. DB bench felt really nice today.

Flat Neutral-grip DB Bench * Flat DB Squeeze Press:
30×15*15
30×15*15
30×15*15

Flat DB Bench:
30-40-50×10
100×5
120×5
130×12

Incline DB Bench:
40×15-15-15-15-15

Cable Crossovers (dropset, starting @ high pulley position to low):
30×15-15-15-15-15

Single-arm Cable Crossovers (high-med-low):
20×15-15-15

OH Rope Extensions (low position, dropset):
60-50-40-30-20-10×20

DB Forearm Curls (no concentric, reps to failure, slow negatives):
55×5

Reverse DB Forearm Curls (sets to failure):
10×40
10×25
10×15-5×25

Band Pull-Aparts:
red ×25
red ×25
red ×25

Duration: 50 minutes

1/8 – Arms

All exercises done back-to-back, 90s rest between rounds.

DB Hammer Curls (hold last 5 reps at the top for  1 count):
30s ×20
30s ×20
30s ×20
30s ×30

Cable Curls:
60×20
60×20
60×20 (narrow grip)
40×30 (reverse grip)

Rope Pushdown:
60×20
60×20
60×20
60×30

Underhand Pushdown:
60×20
60×20
60×20
60×30

Duration: 15 minutes

1/7 – Deadlift – ME/5’s

8/10. Deads were OK. Still quite fatigued/achy from last week’s intense deadlifting, and then zerchers on Friday.

Deadlift:
135×10
315×3
405×2
495×1
585×1
635×1
635×1
635×1

Conventional Deadlift (training max: 640):
545×4

DE Deadlift:
315×3
315×3
315×3
315×3 (conventional)
315×3 (conventional)
315×3 (conventional)

DB SLDL:
130s ×10-10-10

GHRs (negatives only, each rep held to failure, closer foot setting – 2/2 ):
×5

Chest-supported Seated Lat Row (dropset):
100-87-75-62-50-200×15

Extra Close-grip Pulldowns (dropset, old stack):
100-87-75-62×15

BTN Pulldowns (dropset, neutral grip):
100-90-80-70-60×15

Straight-arm Lat Pushdowns (strict form):
100×15-9-6

Band Pull-Aparts:
red ×25
red ×25
red ×25

Duration: 55 minutes

1/6 – Press – 5’s

8/10. Pressing was OK. Was a bit tired and too long into my fast, so energy was low. Experimented further with the slightly wider grip for strict pressing, but the old narrower grip I’ve been using is definitely easier on my shoulders, so I will continue with that going forward. I really liked the awkward presses from a stop off pins. Easy weight today, but I can see these definitely helping my top end strength.

Strict Military Press (training max: 310):
45×20
45×20
75×12
105×10
135×8
165×5
205×5
235×5
265×8 (5 strict, 3 push press)

Strict Military Press off Pins (bar starting at nose-level, each rep from a stop off the pins):
185×5
185×5
185×5
185×5

Strict Laterals (superset with db rear laterals):
30×12
30×12
30×12

DB Rear Laterals:
30×12
30×12
30×12

Single arm DB Curls (holding opposite arm in concentric position):
20×10-10-10-10

Single arm DB Hammer Curls (holding opposite arm in concentric position):
20×10-10-10-10

DB Forearm Curls (no concentric, long negatives to failure):
45×5

Reverse DB Forearm Curls:
10×20
10×20
10×20

Band Pull-Aparts:
red ×25
red ×25
red ×25

Duration: 40 minutes

1/3 – Squat – Deload

9/10. Tried some atg zercher squats for the first time in, I believe, years. Felt really good. Going to utilize these as my main squat movement for a while and use back squats for speed/assistance.

ATG Zercher Squats:
135×5
225×5
315×5
405×3
315×5
225×5

Shrugs:
315×10
405×10
405×10
315×10

Seated Leg Extension:
150×20-20-20

Rope Face Pulls (dropset, two ropes):
50-40-30×20-20×30

OH Cable Curls (dropset):
20-17-13-10×15

Hammer Chins:
bw ×10
bw ×10

Wide-grip Pullups:
bw ×15

Hanging Scapular Retractions:
bw ×10
bw ×10

Band Pull-Aparts:
red ×25
red ×25
red ×25

Duration: 35 minutes

1/2 – Chest/Tris – Deload

9/10. Good heavy db bench with deload.

Neutral Grip DB Bench Press:
20×25-25-25

DB Squeeze Press:
20×25-25-25

Flat DB Bench:
60×5
80×5
100×5
120×5
130×8

Incline DB Bench:
20×25-25-25-25-25

Cable Crossovers:
30×25-25-25-25-25

Pec Flye Machine:
50×25-25-25

Skull Crushers:
25×20-20-20-20-20

Single-arm OH DB Extensions:
10×10-10-10

Band Extensions:
red ×15-15-15

Rope Pushdowns:
50×25-25-25

Single-arm Reverse Pushdowns:
10×10-10-10-10-10

Band Pull-Aparts:
red×25
red×25
red×25

Duration: 45 minutes

1/1 – Arms

All exercises done back-to-back, 60-90s rest between rounds.

DB Hammer Curls (hold last 5 reps at the top for  1 count):
25s ×20
25s ×20
25s ×20
25s ×20
25s ×20

Cable Curls:
60×20
60×20
60×20 (wide-grip)
40×20 (wide-grip, slow negatives)
30×20 (reverse grip)

V-bar Pushdown:
80×20
80×20
80×20
80×20
80×20

Underhand Pushdown:
60×20
60×20
60×20
60×20
60×20

Duration: 17 minutes

12/31 – Deadlift – ME/Deload

9/10. Pretty good session to end the year. Really wanted that 660 deadlift but missed it at my knees. That will fall soon enough.

Conventional Deadlift:
135×10
135×10
225×5
315×3
405×2
495×1
585×1
625×1
660×0.5
495×5

Lying Hamstring Curls:
50×15-15-15

Seated Lat Row Machine (dropset):
100-87-75-62-50×15

Rope Lat Pushdowns:
40×20-20-20

Rope Face-pulls (two ropes):
30×20-20-20

Overhand Pulldowns:
70×20-20-20-20

CG Pulldowns (dropset):
100-90-80-70-60-50-40×10

Band Pull-Aparts:
red ×25
red ×25
red ×25

Duration: 50 minutes

12/30 – Press – ME/Deload

9/10. Decided to push overheads hard to end the year. Push presses are still feeling disconnected and off, but managed a new strict single press PR, which I cannot complain about.

Strict Military Press / Push Press:
45×20
45×20
75×12
105×10
135×8
165×5
195×3
235×1 (push press)
265×1 (push press)
295×1 (push press)
315×2 (push press)
300×2 (PR, first rep strict, second rep push press)
235×13 (PR)

Strict Laterals:
20×15-15-15

Rear Laterals:
20×15-15-15

Single arm DB Curls (holding opposite arm in concentric position):
10×15-15-15-15-15

Plate Hammer Curls:
25×100

DB Hammer Curls:
20×15-25×15-15

Seated Bicep Curl Machine (dropset):
75-62-50-37-25×15

OH Cable Curls:
13×50

DB Forearm Curls:
15×15
15×15
15×15

Reverse DB Forearm Curls:
15×15
15×15
15×15

Band Pull-Aparts:
red ×25
red ×25
red ×25

Duration: 60 minutes