Yup. Just going forward with the 5/3/1 week was a good choice.

It’s all going smoothly, as expected, tho I am a little sore today (but I’m not surprised). 🙂 So I continue along with the 5/3/1 week, and it went well.

What gets me is I hit 8 reps with 235 – which is an 8RM PR – and my all time best bench press is 255 for 1. So, 20 lbs away, but 8 reps there. Yeah, strength is not just returning, it’s surpassing. I’m happy. And just like yesterday, I thought it’d be fun to work up and hit it, but no… not in the cards.

Otherwise, the day went well. Just was what it was. Last night I mapped out what my new program will be (to help defluff myself), and with that fresh in my mind the session today caused me to refine a little bit. One thing was that I was going to do an AMRAP set at the end of the main movement, but I’m going to drop that. It’s the “start light” philosophy. I’m going to be upping the volume in many other places, so do I really need this? Perhaps, but I figure start light, leave this as something to add in later, if appropriate.

I also thought about dropping pullups. I like them, but I cannot deny they don’t play nice with my elbows and shoulder. Plus, I just can’t get the volume out of them that I need, so I think for this defluffing I’ll just do pulldowns. I can bring pullups back when I go back to more strength-focused lifting.

Anyways, good session.

5/3/1 Simplest Strength Template

• Bench Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 100 x 5 (warmup sets superset with band pull-aparts)
  • 120 x 5
  • 145 x 3
  • 185 x 5 (work sets superset with neutral-grip pulldowns)
  • 210 x 3
  • 235 x 8 (8RM PR)
• Incline Press
  • 145 x 5 (sets superset with neutral-grip pull-ups)
  • 165 x 5
  • 185 x 5
• Cable Rows
  • 120 x 20
  • 120 x 15
  • 120 x 11
• Shrugs
  • 225 x 20
  • 225 x 15
  • 225 x 10
• V-bar pressdowns (superset with curls)
  • 60 x 20
  • 60 x 20
  • 60 x 9
• Hammer Curls (alternate, across body)
  • 30e x 20
  • 30e x 13
  • 30e x 9