I called an audible on the way out the door, and I’m happy about it.

“Week 2”

• 3 reps – Squat (working max: 290#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x5x145
  • 1x3x175
  • 1x3x205 (work)
  • 1x3x235
  • 1x4x265 (PR os sorts
• Asst. #1 – Squat
  • 5 x 10 x 135
• Asst. #2 – Leg Curl
  • 5 x 10 x 70
• Foam Rolling

As you know I’ve been thinking about a major program change, wanting to focus on shedding the fat I’ve built up. There’s the diet side of things, then there’s the work side of things. This is about the latter.

Right now I follow “option 1” of the Wendler 5/3/1 2x/week setup. But that’s been proving to be difficult. First, it just takes a long time in the gym because there’s 2 main lifts per day. Second, I think because it’s 2 main lifts, it’s a big energy drain. Maybe a younger me could have handled it, but I have to adapt to what my body will allow. Sure I could eat like mad, get lots of sleep, but right now those (well, eating) are bit counter to what I need. So I’ve been thinking about keeping 2x week but using the BBB template: 1 main lift, 2 assistance with one being the main lift for 5×10.

That was the audible I called on the way out the door. I’ve been thinking about it and figured why the heck should I keep waiting around to try it. I didn’t reset the program… didn’t start over at 5 reps or whatever. Basically just keep doing this cycle as-is but now spread it out. So weights are the same, just different days and content.

I felt quite good. I didn’t feel like I had to really keep energy in reserve to make it through. It was time to squat, I squatted. I didn’t know what weight to use for the assistance work… I figured 50% but I didn’t know nor really care what the value was. I figured pick 135 because it was simple enough, tho probably on the lighter side… and it’s always smarter to go light. Now that I’m home and can look at numbers, 50% would be 145 and I can do that.

The trick here tho is all assistance work is done quickly. Strict form — which I really need work on, and thus all this extra time on that exercise will be a HUGE boon. Deep squats (I videoed a set to ensure I was breaking parallel). And only about 90 seconds of rest between sets. I want to get my heart pumping. That’s part of this.

I forgot to note when I started the workout, but I could tell it ran shorter… at least 20 minutes, which is significant for me in the morning. And later on if I deem I want to do something like 15 minutes on the treadmill post-workout, then I do have the time.

And hey… I had one hell of a pump in my legs today. I felt wiggly and wobbly as I left. And you know what? I missed that feeling. Sure it’s more of a working the muscle than working the movement feeling, but gee… I stated some time ago in terms of desire for more volume, to feel more pump, more work. And gosh, I got it. Plus I hope this won’t lead me down the road of too much work that’s too hard to recover from. If anything, I expect it’ll be better in that regard.

So here I go. Next up tho… getting the diet tightened up. I need to run numbers and will be calculating that this week.