Realized some things today….

“Week 1”

• 5 reps – Bench Press (working max: 210#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x85
  • 1x5x105
  • 1x3x130
  • 1x5x140 (work)
  • 1x5x160
  • 1x10x180
• Asst. #1 – Bench Press
  • 5 x 10 x 120
• Asst. #2 – Dumbbell rows
  • 5 x 10 x 50
• GPP – Sprints
  • 2 “reps” of walking the course (90-ish yards each way)
  • Tabata style (20 sec. sprint, 10 sec. walk)
  • 4 “reps” (8 reps is one Tabata set)
  • 2 “reps” of walking for a cooldown
• Grip
  • 3x10xS, 2 sec. hold between reps

Today a few things hit home.

First, I’ve found myself saying “gosh, the weights felt heavy today” a lot. I think I have to come to accept something: the weights are always going to feel heavy now. I read about guys squatting 1000# and they say that it feels like you’re being crushed by all the weight. Sure I only squat a fraction of that, but the point remains: it’s just going to be heavy because it is heavy. You are going to feel all that weight upon you. So, I have to stop thinking “gosh it’s heavy” as if in some way expecting it to maybe feel light… because it won’t ever again (except maybe on deload weeks, relative to the week prior).

On that same token, I need to increase my rest periods. On the 5/3/1 exercise, warmups can rest enough to change the plates and move on. On the work sets, no more “2 min max” rest, instead go for a 3 minute minimum and more if I need it. On assistance work, at least 1 minute but no more than 2.

Both of these things come from a simple place: inexperience. Never in my life have I moved weights this heavy. I’ve never been here before. I just don’t know what to expect. Plus, all lifting I’ve ever done has always been “bodybuilder style” lifting, where you want to keep rest periods short. Now I’m about strength building (with muscle mass a secondary consideration), and that just means I will need more rest, especially as the weights get heavier. So it’s a bunch of changing my habits, changing my perceptions. The timer during my work sets isn’t to say “start lifting when the timer gets to zero or just prior”, but instead “you can’t even think about starting to lift until the timer hits zero, and take more if you need it”. Assistance work is to build some mass, so a little less rest is going to happen there, but I still want to allow myself to rest if I need it…. just not too much.

So on that….

The work sets of benching went well. Pushed out 10 reps with the 180 and felt good there.

On assistance benching, I’m going to start pausing at the bottom of the rep to give myself a little more work. Due to that, I almost didn’t make it through the sets today. 🙂

Rows felt good. Keeping my arm at about a 45º angle (instead of upper arm “pinned” to my side) and that feels like it’s hitting my back more in the way I need it. I think about moving the elbow up, not pulling the weight up. That gets more back involved, less concern about my arms.

Sprints… felt a little more comfortable with it all today, but I am still going to need time to catch my stride and feel comfortable with it. As I type this, my calves/shins are hurting… I really don’t want shin splints to happen, thus the new running shoes. But my body still needs to adapt to it all, so I’ll stick with only 4 “reps” for now until my body adjusts and adapts. On that note, I had been thinking about keeping my squat work this cycle at last cycle’s work levels because of this extra leg work. I’m not sure now, due to my change in attitude about the rest periods. I’m going to go ahead and let the next workout progress as normal (i.e. 10# jump over last cycle) and we’ll just see how it goes. If it slays me and I have recovery problems, I’ll back off. Else, press on!

I also opted to change my grip workout a bit. I’m going to do the “heavy” grip work on deadlift day since that puts a lot of grip work in with the deadlifts and the hanging leg/knee raises. But then, I’ll do the “light” grip day on bench day. I get some grip work on this day, so I think light day can happen here. This also allows more recovery time then between grip workouts instead of spreading things across every workout and risking impacting recovery in a negative way. We’ll see how it goes.