Review of The New Rules of Lifting - Strength II

Review of The New Rules of Lifting - Strength II

I haven't finished all of phase II yet but I wanted to write my thoughts on workout A - Squat day right now and I'll update the other days as I finish them this week and next week.

The New Rules of Lifting - Strength II - Workout A:
-Squat - I started too conservatively with my numbers due to starting too aggressively in Strength I. I started out at 225# x 4 and by the end I went up to 290 # x 4 and I most likely could have gone a little bit higher. I should have started at around 270? This way I wouldn't have had this huge jump between workouts. This was done low-bar style.
-1/4 squats - I started WAAAAY too conservatively here, I ended up at 405 and felt like I could have done at least 50 pounds more. I started out at 315 and probably could have started closer to my 1 RM for squat at 350.

Workout B:
-Barbell Row - I felt like I had a pretty good progression for this, I tried to cut corners and do a little less ramping on the warmup but I think this might have been a mistake because I usually didn't feel "good" until my 2nd heavy set. I'll try to do a little bit more of a warmup for Strength III.
-Bench Press - Same comments as above. I probably should have asked for a spot more often and my poundages would have been a little higher, I'll definitley ask for spots on III.

Workout C:
-Deadlifts - I felt I had a decent progression going I maybe could have started 10-20#'s heavier in the first week.
-Rack Deadlifts - This was a lot harder than 1/4 squats, why??? I was able to 1/4 squat over my 1RM for squat but I was only able to rack deadlift a little bit over my 1RM?
-Bulgarian split squats - still a terrible exercise but at least I'm getting better at them.

Workout D:
- This was definitley the least favorite workout out of all 4 workouts, this day was just kind of boring I guess.
-Push Press - Decent progression but I'm thinking I might diverge from barbell overhead stuff for a while. I was definitely feeling twinges after a few reps on the higher rep schemes.
-Pullups - Still weaker than my chins but it's getting close.


Overall:
I liked Strength II because I didn't rush my weights as much and kill myself the first week out like I did with Strength I. Right now though I'm debating whether or not I'll do Strength III because the overhead press is giving me some shoulder annoyances. I'm scheduled to take this week off I may take 2 and see how I feel at the end.