Strangely good.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 26, week 2

• Work Set – Bench Press (working max: 235#)
  • 45 x 5
  • 45 x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 145 x 3
  • 165 x 3
  • 190 x 3
  • 215 x 6
• Face Pulls (superset with the bench press warm-up sets)
  • 35 x 15 x 5
• Close-grip Bench Press
  • 125 x 10 x 5
• T-Bar Rows (superset with the close-grip bench press)
  • 95 X 12 X 5
• Seated cable rows
  • 95 x 10 x 3
• A bunch of light rope-handle pressdowns, and bb curls
• Foam Rolling

Today was oddly good.

Working up and everything felt solid and light. I’m still working on foot placement, tucking my feet behind me. I’m working to fine-tune the placement: a lot of tuck and while very tight I don’t feel much heel drive, less tuck and I get better heel drive but also the butt comes up. So I’m sure there’s a middle ground that I just have to find THEN find a way to index it so it’s repeatable every time. But I can tell it makes me tighter, better path, and with the “clench” queue for my grip yeah… everything’s tight and tight == strong.

So when I did 215, 3 felt… like nothing. On the 5th I felt strange, in a good way. It was like everything was so light that I could have done a million reps, at least, something felt that way. But yet, something also was saying “no, don’t do it, because you do have fatiguing muscles… either you’ll miss or you’ll hurt yourself”. So I put up a 6th rep and still had the same feeling that I could have done a million, but I could at least tell for sure yeah, the triceps are wearing out, rack it. So I did. I can’t really explain the feeling, but it was quite powerful. Maybe that means technique is starting to gel?

Everything else went alright. I do think I need to make t-bar rows for about 10 reps… go heavier, 6-10 reps but still full range of motion and ensure the upper back and lats are engaged (i.e. it’s about the muscles, not the movement; it’s not a max-effort movement). Then let the cable rows go a bit lighter and higher reps because the cable puts different tension on.

I really do need some biceps-specific work and will be focusing on that because they are lagging, in size and strength. I’m going to take a cue from Larry Scott too and work to remember to put a forearm curl in there too. So at the bottom, let the wrists extend, then as you start curling, curl/flex the wrists too to get some extra forearm work. If anyone knows how to build forearms and biceps, it’s Larry Scott. This should help my grip… and of course, we all love biceps.