Why dawdle? Let’s get to business!

“Week 1”

• 5 Reps – Press (working max: 160#)
  • 2×10/5×45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x65
  • 1x5x80
  • 1x3x95
  • 1x5x105 (work)
  • 1x5x120
  • 1x6x140
• Work Asst. – Chin-ups (supersetted with work Press)
  • 6 x 1 x BW
• Asst. #1A – Press
  • 5 x 10/10/10/8/8 x 95
• Asst. #1B – Wide, pronated grip lat pulldowns (supersetted with Asst #1A)
  • 5 x 10 x 100/110/120/130/130
• Asst. #2 – Triceps pressdowns (EZ-Bar)
  • 3 x 12 x 50

I know. This is supposed to be cycle 8’s deload week, but I opted to just forge ahead with my new plan. On the one hand, I’m excited and curious to see how it will work out, on another I do need to see how it’s going to work out. With my need to figure out a schedule that works for the new job and my life, I really need to figure it sooner rather than later and a week of time “lost” in this figuring doesn’t really help me. We’ll see if I live to regret this. 😉

Now on that front, this worked out alright. I did spend less time in the gym, about 10 minutes less. So it’s not a huge gain. But every minute counts and 10 minutes saved is 10 minutes earned, to borrow a phrase. Plus I think there may be some ways I could tighten things up further.

For example, note that I only got 6 reps on my last work set, and I had to work to get it. Granted I wasn’t taking HUGE rest periods — up to 5 minutes — and that certainly impacted my ability to hoist more weight for more reps. I of course have been wondering about a reset, and this makes me think yes that’s going to need to happen. But one workout and one datapoint is hardly enough. Wait until the cycle is done before I make that call.

But then on the assistance work, the pressing worked out about the same, which I was happy with. A little harder because again I’m being tighter on the rest breaks, but I am happy to see that 60% is still workable. In fact, if I do reset, I might consequently jack my assistance weights up to 70% to compensate! We’ll see.

Now on chins. I can do more than 1, but I opted to only do 1 because the moment my arms touched the bar I remembered why I didn’t do this in the past — my shoulders didn’t like it. Going from the pressing up to then the pull of gravity down, my shoulder did not like that. So I figured to ease into this. Try one each set and see how it goes. It wasn’t ideal, but I can remember how to take it a little easy, ease into it. It’s all coming back to me now. So when I do Press again, I’ll try 2 and see how it goes. Just work into it all.

Pulldowns… I think 130 is going to be reasonable weight… it’ll be tough and require me to work at it, if I do 130 across.

And the pressdowns felt so different. I’ve been doing with the rope for so long, switching to the bar felt weird, especially since it added in a balance factor. 🙂

Anyways, I did like it. I do have to remember when I walk to make sure my walk is brisk. That will help both on the time factor, and the warmup/cooldown front. Brisk, John, brisk!

I’ll say this tho. If this does not work out sufficiently for me, I wonder if I might try switching to Wendler’s 2x/week template. Of course the gains will be slower, but if it works out, it works out. It’s on my mind to think about, but I need to see my present course through.

Onwards.