Going forward and pulling back.

So Press progress continues well. Hit a top set of 175×6 for a rep PR. I wanted 7 but it didn’t happen. Still, that was a reach: on paper was a maybe, but 6 is really in line with things. So, not what I wanted, but I’m OK with it.

But then I’m pulling back some. I forgot that over this 6-week cycle I wanted to continually scale back my supplemental work: first 2 weeks 5 sets, next 2 weeks 4 sets, and final 2 weeks 3 sets. So all this week should have been 3 sets but I did 4 – except for today. I’ll be doing 3 next week.

I’m also trying to trim back arm work. It’s all a desire to reduce irritation of my elbow. It’s going to take a while, but I have to start now. I’ll try to continue to do something, but just nowhere near the volume I was. Ah well. At least it cuts my sessions much shorter so I can get back on the bike for a bit (knees are probably happy about this) and still get home early enough to make morning meetings.

Next week is 1+ week. Then 7th week deload. After that, the cycle I’ve been thinking about. I think I’ll go 3/5/1 (3+/5/1+, strictly speaking). I am also thinking about adding Jokers, but that will probably be minimal, like maybe just 1 set of 1. Again, it’s about keeping inflamation down. Assistance work will be minimal. And I’m thinking that after that cycle, take the light deload week, and then the week after that each day see about establishing a new 1RM. Or maybe during the deload week; have to see how the calendar works out, and even how I feel at the 1+ week then. I think the motivator here are 3 things: I feel like I could set a bench press best, maybe not 300 but close; I feel maybe 80% confident right now I could deadlift 500; and I feel 90% I could press 200. Those would be some cool milestones. But we’ll see. As much as I’d love to hit them, I actually don’t feel in a huge rush.

And then I think beyond this what to do. My current thought:

• reset weights, regardless if I need it or not.
• continue with 5/3/1 approaches
• take basically 5’s PRO approach
• then up things to be more hypertrophy focused – build some muscle
• or rather, try to not lose anything. Because I’ll want to try a 6 week minicut to shed what I can in 6 weeks (10# would be awesome).
• and then keep progressing back up.

Key is that I want to do a 6-week minicut to trim off some flab.

5/3/1 (5th cycle, leader-2, 5/3/1+PR sets)

• Press
  • bar x 10
  • 80 x 5
  • 100 x 5
  • 115 x 3
  • 135 x 3
  • 155 x 3
  • 175 x 6 (rep PR)
  • 120 x 10
  • 120 x 10
  • 120 x 10
• Bent-over Lateral Raises (superset with press warm-up sets)
  • 25e x 12
  • 25e x 12
  • 25e x 12
  • 25e x 12
• Barbell Rows (superset with press work sets)
  • 185 x 10
  • 185 x 10
  • 185 x 9
• Wide-grip Pulldowns
  • 105 x 10
  • 145 x 12
  • 145 x 10
  • 145 x 8
  • 145 x 8
• Stationary Bike
  • 10 min