Yeah, a little more volume seems to be happy for me.

When I do 4 sets of something heavy-ish, it just hasn’t felt like enough — that I’m just warmed up and one more set would be beneficial. Been feeling this for a while with rows, and now the same with pressing. Today tho on a whim instead of doing a 5th set I did it rest-pause, but conceptually it’s the same.

So I’m going to keep going with this 5 sets thing because it does seem I’m getting more out of it. But it may not strictly be a number of sets thing, but how the sets and reps add up, e.g. at least 40-50 total reps. But given the rep ranges I generally work in, it comes down to “moar sets”.

After last week’s set/rep snafu on press, I was sure to follow things today. 🙂 I upped the weight by 5 lbs, and upped the set by a final rest-pause; probably won’t do that every time, just a straight 5th set normally. But today that’s just how I did things.

That said, things are feeling good. I actually am feeling a bit better going 4x week, eating a little more carbs, and staying a little more sane. I am in “maintenance mode” on the diet/fat-loss approach, but I still feel good, weights are still going up, and despite being maintenance I seem to have lost a little bit with this morning’s weigh-in. It may be a fluke, so I want to see how Sunday goes. But all in all, so far so good.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

Press

• bar x 5
• bar x 5
• 65 x 5
• 85 x 5
• 100 x 8
• 100 x 8
• 100 x 8
• 100 x 8-3-2 (rest pause)

Bent Laterals

• 5e x 20
• 5e x 20
• 5e x 20
• 5e x 20
• 5e x 20

Upright Rows

• 60 x 15
• 60 x 15
• 60 x 15
• 60 x 15
• 60 x 12

Triceps Pressdowns

• 45 x 25
• 45 x 25
• 45 x 23
• 45 x 15