Ah, the first 5/3/1 week, and it’s full of changes.

“Week 3 – 5/3/1”

• 5/3/1 – Press (working max 110#)
  • 2x5xbar (warmup)
  • 1x5x45
  • 1x5x55
  • 1x3x65
  • 1x5x85 (work)
  • 1x3x95
  • 1x8x105 (PR)
• Asst. #1 – Press
  • 5x10x45
• Asst. #2 – Close-grip pulldowns
  • 1x10x100
  • 1x10x110
  • 1x10x120
  • 1x10x110
  • 1x10x100
• Metcon – jump rope
  • 1 Tabata set, single hop

Look closely. Something’s different.

First, this marks entry into “week 3” of the program, which means the work sets are done in a 5/3/1 manner. While in theory you can be setting PR’s every workout, truly it’s the last work set of this week that is the PR setter. While the last heavy Press workout I did was on the PPNP and I did 3x5x107.5, today I did 1x8x105. Which is more? Well… I’m going to call 1x8x105 a PR because I couldn’t get 107.5 up for 8 reps (if I remember correctly), but of course I did more volume overall. So… whatever. No biggie. I’ll just say it felt good pushing out 8 reps. 🙂

But that said, I’m back to wondering if I underestimated my working max weights. Maybe I have the wrong impression but, that last set is supposed to be 95% of your working max (which is 90% of your 1RM), and you are to do at least 1 rep but hopefully more. So given that weight and intention I would have the feeling I should be moving a weight heavy enough to only crank out like 4-5 reps. But I got 8. It’s this stuff that’s making me think my weight bump for the next cycle will be slightly larger than normal.

The big change for today tho? I dropped chin-ups… because I’m not doing chin-ups, at best I was doing just a few sets of a few reps of negatives. The reality is, I’m not getting enough work volume this way. I’m just not strong enough yet (and I’m still too heavy). Part of my goals in this routine is for my assistance work to be “fast and intense”, so it’s 5×10 for the most part with a minute of rest in between sets. I want to work those muscles but also get my heart rate up and keep it up the whole time… from the time I finish my main lift until I’m done with the entire workout, I want my heart rate up. Doing just a few reps of negatives with a long rest? I’m not going to get there. So, I’m going to move to close-grip pulldowns so I can get the volume but also build up the strength I need throughout the range of motion.

When I do the pulldowns I’m working to mimic chin-ups as much as possible. Underhand (supinated) grip, close together, keeping up chest up, eyes looking at the bar/ceiling, when the weight goes down ensuring it pulls my shoulders as “up and out” as possible (as if I’m dead hanging), then when I pull down that I pull all the way down to my chest and pull my shoulders as far “down and back” as possible. I also want to lift as heavy as I can while still getting the reps in, even if it means on the last couple reps of the last couple sets form goes a bit, I have to cheat a bit, rest a couple more seconds between reps, or whatever. Today I just picked a weight and went with it. I think next time I’ll try 5x10x105 or 110 and see how that goes.

I know I wanted to stick with chins, but the reality is I don’t feel like it’s going to help me reach my goals, so why continue down that road merely to be stoic? Is that really the discipline? or is the discipline to identify what’s working and what’s not, what’s holding me back from goals or will get me there, and being willing to change as soon as a better path is known? 🙂