Sooner or later this run of excellent sessions will run out, but until that happens I’m going to enjoy them. 🙂

Today went quite well. Again, the final work set got pinned at the 10 rep threshold — weight goes up, reps continue high and/or increase, and I’m just happy with the constant progress. And while I’m not really tracking my pullups, those continue to increase as well.

On that 3+ set, it went really really well. Today I focused on crush-gripping the bar. Not just because that helps the whole body get tight, but it helps to lock the wrist. With the wrist pain I’ve been feeling, no question it’s in part because I haven’t been keeping that locked wrist and the pressure has gotten to all those little bones. Thing is, I often start with a locked wrist but then I lose it as the reps progress because I’m focusing on other things. Well, today I focused on keeping the wrist locked, and damn if everything didn’t just move. I mean, I often think about leg drive and just don’t feel like the leg drive is really helping — but today, every rep had great drive and I felt it actually working! Amazing what happens when you stop (over) thinking and just do. 😉 That 3+ set really was awesome.

The change I made in terms of the back work seems to be working ok. I’m not unhappy or feeling as unbalanced as before, so I’ll just go with this emotion.

The trade-off of course is having to do cardio at the end of the session. 😉 But I need to get my weight reigned back in, so between tightening up the diet and adding in a little more work, it’s just what I have to do.

Part of me wants to skip deload… I’m just not feeling like I NEED it, but I know it’s something where you should take it before you need it. That said, often good lifting cycles will go 9 to 12 weeks before deloading so who knows… maybe I’ll go one more cycle. I don’t want to push it, but given I’m feeling very good and not beat up, I’m at least considering it.

5/3/1 Simplest Strength Template

• Bench Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 95 x 5 (warmup sets superset with band pull-aparts)
  • 115 x 5
  • 140 x 3
  • 165 x 3 (work sets superset with neutral-grip pull-ups)
  • 185 x 3
  • 210 x 10
• Incline Press
  • 125 x 8 (sets superset with neutral-grip pull-ups)
  • 145 x 8
  • 170 x 6
• Cable Rows
  • 100 x 20
  • 100 x 18
  • 100 x 14
• Shrugs
  • 185 x 20
  • 185 x 20
  • 185 x 20
• Overhead Triceps Extensions (superset with curls)
  • 55 x 20
  • 55 x 20
  • 55 x 18
• Hammer Curls
  • 25e x 20
  • 25e x 15
  • 25e x 12