Set a personal record, and looking forward to the next 2 cycles as I’ll get to break nice milestones!

“Week 3”

• 5/3/1 – Deadlift (working max: 305#)
  • 1x5x125 (warmup)
  • 1x5x155
  • 1x3x185
  • 1x5x230 (work)
  • 1x3x265
  • 1x8x295 (PR)
• Asst. #1 – Good Mornings
  • 5 x 10 x 70
• Asst. #2 – Hanging LegHip Raise
  • 5 x 5 x WT
• GPP – Elliptical
  • Tabata style (20 sec. 150-ish strides per min., 10 sec. 100-ish strides per min)
  • 2 min slow (warmup)
  • 1 Tabata set
  • 2 min slow (cooldown)
• DeFranco Agile 8 – foam rolled
• Grip
  • 3x10xT, 2 sec. hold between reps
  • 3x3x1, 2 sec. hold between reps, 10 second hold on the last rep

1x8x295 is a nice personal record. What I really like about it tho is how I’m set up for the next 2 cycles, not just for the PR’s but how they are some cool milestones. Next cycle I’ll do 305, which breaks the 300# barrier, and the cycle after I’ll do 315, which will be 3 45# plates per side, another cool milestone. And then it’s on to 325, and so on.

I wasn’t sure how to assess today’s PR, but I realized that last cycle I did 1x8x285, so, same reps, more weight, that’s an acceptable improvement. I’m stoked.

On good mornings, I want to focus more on moving like a hinge, and keeping a belly full of air as I move — Valsalva. I don’t get as much a range of motion, but everything works better.

On the leg raises, due to my continuing weird shoulder issues I told myself I’d rather get 5×5 awesome reps than 5×7 or 8 reps where I am exhausted, pushing myself too hard, lose tension in my shoulder area, and make things worse. And so, I did that. The right shoulder still got that odd twinge. It’s not a bone thing, it’s like this odd ache in the medial deltoid muscle. I’d have a doctor look at it, but I don’t know what to tell them….

Gripper work is progressing nicely too. I didn’t need much help on the left hand save for the last rep of the last set so I could do the 10 second hold with a fully-closed gripper. This is all good progress. I’ll probably bump to 3×4 or 3×5 next cycle.

All in all, a great way to start off the week.