Melatonin. What fun.

My sleep has been really bad the past some weeks. Life stress, primarily. I started taking melatonin a few days ago to see if it might help. First few days, nothing, but last night I actually slept pretty well — not sure if it’s the melatonin or other factors (had a good day), but for sure I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. But to the gym you go.

Pressing went fine. As has been the norm, everything continues to go up, so I have zero complaints.

Well, maybe a couple.

First, I am debating what to do about pull-ups. They are putting some stresses on my body that aren’t doing well, which really annoys me. I think the hard part is that it’s just right into lifting my bodyweight — no real way to ramp up and warm up to it, so those first sets really kill me. I’m thinking I may do something like let the first 3 sets be some medium-weight pulldowns, then 3 sets of full-body pull-ups. I dunno, just thinking about what to do.

Second, I did switch up triceps work. Instead of the overhead extensions, I am going to use the v-bar and do pushdowns. I want to see how well this still gives me work yet takes some stress off my elbows.

So in general, keeping with the program, just fine-tuning so it’s all gain and no (bad) pain. 🙂

5/3/1 Simplest Strength Template

• Bench Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 95 x 5 (warmup sets superset with band pull-aparts)
  • 120 x 5
  • 145 x 3
  • 155 x 5 (work sets superset with neutral-grip pull-ups)
  • 180 x 5
  • 205 x 10
• Incline Press
  • 110 x 10 (sets superset with neutral-grip pull-ups)
  • 130 x 10
  • 150 x 10
• Cable Rows
  • 100 x 20
  • 100 x 20
  • 100 x 18
• Shrugs
  • 205 x 20
  • 205 x 20
  • 205 x 15
• V-bar pressdowns (superset with curls)
  • 45 x 20
  • 45 x 20
  • 45 x 12
• Hammer Curls (alternate, across body)
  • 25e x 20
  • 25e x 14
  • 25e x 10