Pretty good day. Again, everything feels heavy — I want more carbs! But progress is generally still good.

I actually wonder about taking next week as a deload because I am feeling really good. But I know I should for my pacing.

I accidentally skipped ab work today. I was kinda gung ho to get on the elliptical — wow, I never thought I’d be itching for cardio — but I do believe I need to be more consistent with cardio if I’m going to hit my fat-loss goal.

Based upon 5/3/1 for Powerlifting, off-season for mass

• Deadlift
  • 160 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 240 x 3
  • 300 x 5
  • 340 x 3
  • 380 x 2
• RDL
  • 185 x 10
  • 185 x 10
  • 185 x 10
  • 185 x 10
• Bent Over Rows
  • 140 x 10
  • 140 x 10
  • 140 x 10
  • 140 x 10
• Leg Curls
  • 30 x 12
  • 30 x 12
  • 30 x 12
  • 30 x 10

Good solid day.

While I’m only supposed to do prescribed reps and no rep PRs (on the main work), another reason I like going for 2 on the 1+ week is because it gives me assurance that I am still progressing and not regressing. If 1 rep is a struggle, it’s time to reset — but was it really 1 struggling rep? Or did I just have an off-day? 1 isn’t always enough data. Still, I want to go for more, I want to hit rep PRs, but that’s not for now.

That said, today went overall well and I am enjoying the rest-pause drop set at the end as that does give me something more.

Next week will be a deload, and the week after I’ll adjust the cycle a little more. Still keeping the basic template, but the drop set changes to a pyramid AMRAP. I’ll also add some intensity techniques like after the last set of raises and curls, some burns.

Anyways, good day.

Based upon 5/3/1 for Powerlifting, off-season for mass

• Press (superset with pulldowns)
  • bar x whatever
  • 70 x 5
  • 85 x 5
  • 100 x 3
  • 130 x 5
  • 145 x 3
  • 160 x 2
  • 130 x 12,3,1 (drop set, rest-pause)
• Behind-the-neck lat pulldowns
  • 85 x 15
  • 95 x 15
  • 105 x 15
  • 115 x 15
  • 115 x 15
  • 115 x 15
  • 115 x 15
• DB Shoulder Press
  • 55 x 10
  • 55 x 10
  • 55 x 10
  • 55 x 10
  • 55 x 10
• BB Curls
  • 60 x 10
  • 60 x 10
  • 60 x 10
  • 60 x 8
  • 60 x 7
• DB Rear Raises (superset with lat raises)
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 12
• DB Lateral Raises
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 8

The weights keep messing with my head, despite the fact they aren’t a problem. Maybe it’s because so much just flirts around the 300 range and once I get into working in the 300’s regularly it won’t be such a mental game. And that should be soon since next week (1+ week) works up to 305, and it’ll only go up from there.

That all said, today went well. 20-rep squats are a bitch, and the odd thing is the more I do them the more I — well, I don’t want to say I love them, but I come to appreciate them. I was thinking in the coming weeks how I’m going to be adjusting what I do at the end of the work sets (e.g. pressing will change from rest-pause to pyramiding down) and I was wondering what to do with squats. But I think I’m going to keep the 20-rep squats in, especially since the weight is going to go up relatively quickly and it’s just going to get tougher.

Still kept the ab work light. Things felt a little funny today, so maybe the strain isn’t fully healed despite all this time? Basically it’s just a signal to me to continue working my way back slowly here.

Based upon 5/3/1 for Powerlifting, off-season for mass

• Squats
  • bar x whatever
  • 135 x 5
  • 160 x 5
  • 190 x 3
  • 225 x 3
  • 255 x 3
  • 290 x 3
  • 190 x 20 (20-Rep set)
• Leg Press
  • 275 x 10
  • 315 x 10
  • 365 x 10
  • 365 x 10
• Hyperextensions
  • 25 x 10
  • 25 x 10
  • 25 x 10
  • 25 x 10
• Twisting Crunches
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10

Woke up. Saw my shadow — 6 more weeks of dieting and lifting. 😉

Session went well. I’m happy with the slow, incremental increases in approach. It’s the same basic philosophy of “start light”. Follow the template to the “T” first cycle. This cycle only change is for the last set to be not just a drop-set but rest-pause. Next cycle I’ll make more small additions and adjustments. That way I have somewhere to go, and what I do now adds stress, gives the body something new to have to adapt to, and by the time it does, then another small adjustment. It is hard to do this because I really want to just plow forward and do all-the-things. But I’m glad I’m giving this “restraint” in programming a go, because so far it seems good. Still early, but so far so good.

Of course, the rest-pause benching took a bunch away from the DB benching, but that’s fine.

One thing I did find I reminded myself of is that in my tempo I’m so focused on slowing the eccentric that I’m forgetting to explode on the concentric! So I found mysel refocusing to ensure the concentric was fast and explosive, but still ensuring the muscles did the work (not a whole body momentum thing or anything like that). Still working on getting used to this approach in lifting, but I am enjoying it.

Based upon 5/3/1 for Powerlifting, off-season for mass

• Bench Press (superset with medium-rep lat pulldowns)
  • bar x whatever
  • 100 x 5
  • 125 x 5
  • 150 x 3
  • 175 x 3
  • 200 x 3
  • 225 x 3
  • 175 x 17, 4, 2 (rest pause)
• Wide, pronated grip lat pulldowns
  • 90 x 12
  • 100 x 12
  • 110 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 12
• DB Bench Press
  • 65e x 10
  • 65e x 10
  • 65e x 10
  • 65e x 8
  • 65e x 8
• Chest-Supported DB Row
  • 50e x 12
  • 50e x 12
  • 50e x 12
  • 50e x 12
  • 50e x 10
• Pushdowns (EZ-bar)
  • 40 x 100
• Face Pulls
  • 50 x 100

I’ll chalk it up as a good day.

I still have a hard time NOT pushing myself on the last set, going for a rep PR, but it’s how it goes. I get into the groove and want to keep going, but nope. But adding in the drop-set, now with rest-pause, gives me something extra to push, so I dig that.

The RP does take more out of me, so the other shoulder work lost a little bit, but I think it also was a net-gain. For example, I found myself on the raises really trying to isolate and lift just by contracting the relevant muscles. Of course, that’s what I’m continually working on, but today it felt like I made a little better progress on that, especially with the rear raises.

All in all tho, things feel good.

What doesn’t feel good is my weight. I feel better, I don’t LOOK quite as bad in the mirror. But on the scale there’s little change. It’s a bit frustrating to have a negative calorie balance and thus I should be dropping, yet I’m not. Who knows. It may be a slower drop. I also didn’t do as much cardio last week due to life issues, so maybe that was it. I’m just going to stick with it. All I can do.

Based upon 5/3/1 for Powerlifting, off-season for mass

• Press (superset with high-rep behind-the-neck lat pulldowns)
  • bar x whatever
  • 70 x 5
  • 85 x 5
  • 100 x 3
  • 120 x 3
  • 135 x 3
  • 155 x 3
  • 120 x 14,3,2 (drop set, rest-pause)
• Behind the neck pulldowns
  • 85 x 15
  • 95 x 15
  • 105 x 15
  • 115 x 15
  • 115 x 15
  • 115 x 15
  • 115 x 15
• DB Shoulder Press
  • 55e x 10
  • 55e x 10
  • 55e x 10
  • 55e x 10
  • 55e x 8
• BB Curls
  • 60 x 10
  • 60 x 10
  • 60 x 10
  • 60 x 6
  • 60 x 6
• DB Rear Raises (superset with lat raises)
  • 15e x 10
  • 15e x 10
  • 15e x 8
• DB Lateral Raises
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 7

Today is proof – you may not want to do it, but you do it anyways because you know it’s best, right, good, and you’ll be better off for it.

It’s been a hard week. Lack of sleep, many things blowing up all at once, behind at work, suddenly overfull plate – high stress week. Yeah first-world problems, I have that perspective, but that doesn’t negate the stress.

So when I woke up this morning, I wanted to just stay in bed. I actually slept ok and just wanted more rest. I thought about skipping the gym, going back to bed, or maybe just diving into the work day because so much to do. But no, keep the discipline and go because you know you’ll be better off for it. If it truly sucks, you can bail after squats.

But it didn’t suck.

It just got better.

After a couple warm-up sets, I was thankful for going. 🙂

Squats went well. The 20-rep sets for sure are getting harder, between doing more work before and then more work during. It’s good to start light and think things are too light, because they will get heavier and harder as the weeks wear on.

Still no ab work, but I think at this point I’m good. So next week I’ll add something back in, even if it’s just simple crunches.

Based upon 5/3/1 for Powerlifting, off-season for mass

• Squats
  • bar x whatever
  • 135 x 5
  • 160 x 5
  • 190 x 3
  • 210 x 5
  • 240 x 5
  • 270 x 5
  • 190 x 20 (20-Rep set)
• Leg Press
  • 225 x 10
  • 275 x 10
  • 315 x 10
  • 365 x 10
• Hyperextensions
  • 15 x 10
  • 15 x 10
  • 15 x 10
  • 15 x 10

Rest-pause is fun. 🙂

So I remembered to do rest-pause on the drop set at the end of bench pressing. Good times. Dropped a bit on the DB bench as a result, but that’s acceptable.

Pulldowns — work to initiate the pull with the lats, thinking about bringing the upper arms down and in — not pullilng the weight down. It’s a different mechanism, and hits the lats better. Still working, still improving on technique.

Everything else was what it was. Good solid day.

That said, it’s crazy but yes, I do start to think that once I hit my strength numbers, I may go off into the world of hypertrophy training. I won’t abandon the strength work, it just will no longer be the focus. It’ll all be about, as Arnold said, chasing the pump.

Weight-wise, yesterday I dropped to 237 but was up 2 today for some reason. Dunno what’s got me bloated because for sure that’s not tissue. The one thing I wonder about is how RP changed their approach. Used to be off-days for me had carbs in the morning and none at night, but now they have them at night — because it’s easier for the majority of clients to manage hunger and such by having no carbs in the morning but carbs at night. So maybe that’s having me blimp up a little bit. But whatever, the scale only matters so much. The one thing I have noticed is I do feel a little less “fronty” with my stomach. Tissue is actually coming off, slow but sure. Just stick to the plan, believe in the process, look at all the indicators over time.

Based upon 5/3/1 for Powerlifting, off-season for mass

• Bench Press (superset with medium-rep lat pulldowns)
  • bar x whatever
  • 100 x 5
  • 125 x 5
  • 150 x 3
  • 165 x 5
  • 190 x 5
  • 215 x 5
  • 165 x 15/5/3 (drop set, rest-pause)
• Wide, pronated grip lat pulldowns (to chest)
  • 85 x 12
  • 95 x 12
  • 105 x 12
  • 115 x 12
  • 115 x 12
  • 115 x 12
  • 115 x 12
• DB Bench Press
  • 65e x 10
  • 65e x 10
  • 65e x 10
  • 65e x 10
  • 65e x 7
• Chest-Supported DB Row
  • 50e x 12
  • 50e x 12
  • 50e x 12
  • 50e x 12
  • 50e x 12
• Pushdowns (EZ-bar)
  • 40 x 100
• Face Pulls
  • 50 x 100

Lots to deal with today, so had to jack-shit it.

Because of that, while protocol is no rep PR, I opted to go for a rep-PR because well, that’s how it goes to get the work in.

I did set a 10-rep PR, which was nice. Looking back on it now, I only stopped at 10 because that’s this semi-imposed limit, but I actually had at least 1-2 more in me. Ah well. 🙂

Based upon 5/3/1 for Powerlifting, off-season for mass

• Deadlift
  • 160 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 240 x 3
  • 260 x 5
  • 300 x 5
  • 340 x 10 (10 rep PR)

Started slow, but it got better.

I was away deer and hog hunting all weekend. So sleep was minimal, food was a little off plan (mostly timing), and just not ideal circumstances – but a lot of fun. 🙂 So when I started Pressing today, things were heavy and slow. But I also expect part of the “heavy and slow” feel is just how it’s going to be, given my diet restrictions. All in all tho, things are doing alright.

One thing that I realized I forgot to do was rest-pause. Take that drop-set at the end and rest-pause it. Just flat out forgot to do it as it’s the “new variation” I’m adding in on this 2nd half of the 6-week cycle. No big. I think the work I did the rest of the session was more than sufficient.

DB presses — getting those DB’s in position is hard, when your hair gets caught between your back and the back of the bench and suddenly you can’t move under the weight. 🙂

Curls will vary a bit. I use the straight-bar fixed barbells when the weights allow, e.g. 40#, 50#, 60#, 70#, etc. But when I have to go on the 5’s (e.g. 45, 55, 65, 75), I’ll switch to the EZ-bar because loading. I WAS using a full BB off either the bench press station or the squat rack (deal with it! when the gym is empty, meh), but the gym saw a couple of the other early-risers return this morning so had to make some light changes for equipment. No big.

Based upon 5/3/1 for Powerlifting, off-season for mass

• Press (superset with high-rep behind-the-neck lat pulldowns)
  • bar x whatever
  • 70 x 5
  • 85 x 5
  • 100 x 3
  • 110 x 5
  • 130 x 5
  • 145 x 5
  • 110 x 15 (drop set)
• Behind-the-neck pulldowns
  • 80 x 15
  • 90 x 15
  • 100 x 15
  • 110 x 15
  • 110 x 15
  • 110 x 15
  • 110 x 15
• DB Shoulder Press
  • 55e x 10
  • 55e x 10
  • 55e x 10
  • 55e x 9
  • 55e x 7
• BB Curls (EZ-bar)
  • 55 x 10
  • 55 x 10
  • 55 x 10
  • 55 x 10
  • 55 x 10
• DB Rear Raises (superset with lat raises)
  • 15e x 10
  • 15e x 10
  • 15e x 10
• DB Lateral Raises
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 8

I hate to say it, but I’m getting used to 20-rep squats. Doesn’t mean they are easy or I’m loving it, but it sure is a gut-check. 🙂

Work up today went well. Working on ensuring depth. Also working on constantly stretching my shoulders out. I’ve had no pain in my shoulders/arms in some time now, which is great. I continue to work on stretching there, flexibility, mobility, etc. Still a ways to go before I get to the point I want, but progressing.

20-reps… it’s still not totally killer, but I expect over the weeks, if I just adopt that 60% weight, it’ll soon enough kick my ass.

Continuing to focus the assistance work on the muscle, the slower eccentric, the explosive concentric. It’s still work for me to remember to do that, but it’s getting there.

Still no ab work. Abs are feeling better since that little strain, and I think I’m out of the woods, but I know better than to start right back the moment I feel good. Next week I may add a little ab work back in, like just some light crunches, 5-10 reps, 3 sets or thereabouts. Nothing that really taxes me, but gets a little work and eases back in.

All in all, very happy with how this first cycle of “531, offseason for mass” is going. I’m going to be upping my weights and kicking into the next cycle (still doing 6-week cycles) on Monday.

Based upon 5/3/1 for Powerlifting, off-season for mass

• Squats
  • bar x whatever
  • 125 x 5
  • 155 x 5
  • 185 x 3
  • 230 x 5
  • 265 x 3
  • 295 x 2
  • 185 x 20 (20-Rep set)
• Leg Press
  • 225 x 10
  • 275 x 10
  • 315 x 10
  • 315 x 10
• Hyperextensions
  • 12 x 10
  • 12 x 10
  • 12 x 10
  • 12 x 10