I’m really excited.

Today I hit 160 for 4 reps. You see, my all-time best Press is 165 for either 1 or 2 reps — I have one set of records saying 1 rep and another saying 2. So I figure, hit 165 for 3 and either way I’ve bested it. 🙂

And… that WILL happen next cycle!

Here’s the thing tho.

That dizzy issue? I found something else that might help. Today before I set up, I held my breath and clenched/tightened everything in my body. Hold that for a few seconds – that causes the dizzy to happen. I found if I do that as a part of my setup, let it settle, then get under the bar, it was a HUGE help. Basically I got the dizzy out of the way and now I could just go. However, it wasn’t a great run today because I was so focused on dealing with that issue I faltered in another key area: staying tight. On my heavier sets I just did not have the body tightness I needed – I could feel it in my torso, abs just not doing anything. Focused one place, unfocused in another.

And so as a result, when rep 1 @ 160 came down I had to take a step to regain balance. Then the other 3 reps were less than ideal because form was just shot. I know I could have pushed out 1 more rep, and probably ground out a 2nd, but meh – just rack it.

Still, I’m happy with things in general. That I’m so close to a new all-time PR, and that I’m continuing to make progress on my setup so I can function, that’s all good. It will just take time to dial it in. And frankly, it’s almost time to reset, so when that happens I should be able to put more focus into the setup stuff.

Apart from that, everything worked through ok. Upped the weights on some things, so again I’m getting things dialed in for where I want them during this phase. All in all, good.

So, this marks the end of the first cycle on this modified “massing” template. I’m generally happy with how it’s going. I upped the volume just a bit, changed the rep schemes a little and weights accordingly, and adjusted what exercises are done to be a little more rounded and less taxing (in the bad way) on my body (e.g. removing pullups, having a work-up on pulldowns). Looking forward to starting cycle 2 on it next week.

My own massing template, based upon 5/3/1 SST and some Paul Carter principles

• Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 70 x 5 (warmup sets superset with band pull-aparts)
  • 85 x 5
  • 100 x 3
  • 130 x 5 (work sets superset with pulldowns)
  • 145 x 3
  • 160 x 4 (4RM PR)
• Close-Grip Bench Press
  • 155 x 10 (sets superset with pulldowns)
  • 155 x 10
  • 155 x 10
  • 155 x 10
  • 155 x 8
• Face Pulls
  • 80 x 15
  • 80 x 15
  • 80 x 15
  • 80 x 15
• Lateral Raises
  • 20e x 12
  • 20e x 12
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 9
• Lying Triceps Extensions (superset with curls)
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 8
• Close-grip EZ-bar Curls
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 10
  • 65 x 8