OK, this is getting old.

Every time it happens, I get stronger support for this being a shoulder problem – not an arm/elbow problem. Today was no different; in fact, I’d say today provided some of the strongest support. Just where the pains were, how things would feel with the bar in my hand, whatever.

It started as soon as I put the empty bar in my hand for warmups: I started to feel the pain grow. I wasn’t sure if perhaps the elbow sleeves were contributing to the problem so I took them off and left them off the whole time. But I knew if the pain was starting with warmups, it was not going to be good.

When I did 220 it sucked. I was actually not sure I wanted to go on, but I put 245 on the bar, told myself to get 1 rep. I psyched myself up pretty hard, generate a little adrenaline to tune out the pain, and go. The first rep was ok, tho a little shaky. Like I normally do, it’s just a series of 1-rep at a time (mental approach). I figured to go for a second. That was OK. But then I racked it. I felt I had the strength for 5-6 reps, but the mindfuck of the pain plus the knowledge that the more I repped the worse the pain would be (plus I didn’t want to risk a bigger problem, like dropping the weight). So I racked it.

Pain was pretty bad, so I stopped everything else.

Yeah I know. I’m stupid. I am going to go see someone, and start to get this all looked into.

Just yesterday I was thinking how to approach this last week so I can test 1RM’s before the end of the year. At this point, I think I may take next week as a true-jack-shit deload, not even going into the gym: just sleep a lot, massage, rest and heal up. Hit one more 3-week cycle, test out, then shift gears for 12-16 weeks while I go back on a RP cutting diet.

5/3/1-based program

• Bench Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 105 x 5
  • 130 x 5
  • 155 x 3
  • 195 x 5
  • 220 x 3
  • 245 x 2

310 for 4. Progress is good!

The only thing that sucked about today was — 310. Weights like 130, 220, 310, etc. – when you’re just 5 away from the next wheel. 🙂 But as tempting as it may be, you gotta stick to the program and do what you’re supposed to do.

Given my progress, I wanted 4 and got 4. I might have been able to do 5, but it would have been sloppy and that wouldn’t be acceptable so I racked it. I am starting to lean forward a little more, but I’m not sure if that’s from the weight or from the arm positioning struggle.

Yes, that’s still a struggle right now. I’m working hard to get and keep myself in that position — wrists straight and thus it’s strain on the shoulders right now since I’m not quite that flexible. But I keep pushing myself in and it gets better, but still not awesome. I just have to keep working on it. I’m also working to find a good stretching exercise that I can do at home during the week to help out with this; still haven’t found quite the one that hits things. The search continues.

But the squat itself went well overall.

RDL’s I continue to do light so I can really get the technique. I think today is the first time it’s clicked. Not perfect, but I’m working to really keep my back straight and only just a little knee bend. It’s very easy to let the back start to round and NOT notice it, or the knees to start to bend a little more. But when I really kept it all together, I could actually feel my hamstrings doing the work, as opposed to my back or other things. This was good! I will keep the weight light so can continue to improve on this.

Everything else was what it was. Nothing to write home about. Well, on crunches I stopped before I started set 3 — my abs cramped up HARD and I was not going to do a 3rd set in that state. 🙂

What I am thinking about tho is that 2016 is almost over. I have one more 3-week cycle remaining and what to do. See, my big goal is 3/4/5 – bench/squat/deadlift 3/4/5 wheels (315, 405, 495). Still a ways from that, but some months ago I said that I was not going to test my 1RM until the end of the year, just to make me avoid the temptation and give me something longer-term to work towards. Well, that time is almost upon us. What gets me is Press? That’s a new PR. Deadlift, I doubt I’ll PR but I’m OK with that so long as progress remains strong. Squat and bench tho are right at the cusp. I did the math to set up the next cycle and the 1+ week puts my squat working with 320 and bench with 250 — both 5# away from my all-time PR in that lift. What it tells me is that breaking my all-time PR should be quite easy at this point since that PR was a struggle to get 1 rep and now I’m scheduled to hit more than 1 rep.

But what to do?

Should I just do the 5/3/1 cycle as per and then the next week run some 1RM tests? Or should I do 5 and 3 week, then on 1+ week just work up to the new 1RM? Not sure. At this point, not going to make a decision either way. I can call it as I get closer to the 1+ week.

But it’s exciting — almost there, and looking to end 2016 on a good note. 🙂

5/3/1-based program

• Squats
  • bar x whatever
  • 135 x 5
  • 160 x 5
  • 195 x 3
  • 245 x 5
  • 275 x 3
  • 310 x 4 (4RM PR)
• Romanian Deadlift
  • 135 x 10
  • 155 x 10
  • 165 x 10
  • 165 x 10
• Hyperextensions
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 13
• Crunches
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 10
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 80 x 12
  • 80 x 12
  • 80 x 12

Good, good.

Again, working with alternatives to try to continue making progress yet contend with my pain issues.

Pressing went well. One interesting thing I noticed was because of limitations of the gym’s “rack”, I actually unrack the bar pretty low. Instead, I’m now squatting just a little more (another 1-2″) thus starting with a slightly higher rack position when I bring the bar out. That keeps the bar from being “too low” and thus creating greater elbow flexion — and seems to have made things a little happier this morning. Plus more focus on straight-wrist (including using wrist wraps on the last 3 sets). Things went well. For once, I feel like my Press is progressing.

Very excited for next week as that will be Pressing 170 for truly a lifetime PR.

Continued with the Arnold Presses. It’s interesting. Just like with back work shifting focus to “pull with the elbows”, here with the Arnold instead of focusing on the twist with a wrist/forearm rotation, focus on it from the shoulder — almost like doing a fly. That does change the movement slightly and I actually felt something pretty good in my upper back, in those rotator muscles. Kinda cool. I’ll continue to go with these a bit.

Also continuing to not superset pressing with pulling to see how that fares — so far, inconclusive. Chest supported DB rows I’m finding interesting because it is a different plane of movement, with the back at more of an incline than a lot of other rowing movements. But also the forced-strictness really provides opportunity to ensure the back muscles are doing the work. I’m digging this. Still finding my groove, but so far so good.

Straight-arms – they are what they are. Still finding groove here, but so far pretty cool.

Cable lateral raises I had a revelation about. I really can use more unilateral work in places I don’t tradtionally get it, like shoulders. For sure my left arm/shoulder is weaker than my right, and this is turning out to be a pretty good thing in terms of trying work stuff. Will continue.

Tate Presses were an effort to find something different for my triceps. Alas, not enough range of motion and when the weights got heavy enough to feel something, what I really felt was a lot of elbow pain/pressure. Not sure if that’s normal or just because of my current issues, but it’s enough to not do this movement. Instead well… the gym has one of these triceps machines: rest your upper arm on a bench (think about an almost horizontal preacher bench), then there’s a couple “arms” that you hold onto (hands in neutral position) and you extend your arms. I figured why not, I’m looking for something different and this machine is different (never used it before). I’ve softened my stance on machines: they have pros and cons, just like freeweights have pros and cons. This wasn’t too bad; the main problem I had was as all machines do, forces me to conform to the machine’s plane of motion. All in all not too bad, but I’d prefer if my arms could have been raised about 1-2″, because as it is it causes a slightly awkward wrist flexion. We’ll see how this goes.

Anyways, all in all not too bad.

And of course, the new Metallica came out this morning so it was my soundtrack. I like a few tracks off the album, but so much mid-tempo stuff… not sure. Feeling like a 3.5 out of 5 stars sort of thing. Maybe I’ll like it with more listens (been that way with me with a lot of albums lately).

5/3/1-based program

• Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 70 x 5
  • 90 x 5
  • 110 x 3
  • 125 x 3
  • 145 x 3
  • 160 x 6 (6RM PR)
• Arnold Press
  • 35e x 10
  • 35e x 10
  • 35e x 10
  • 35e x 10
  • 35e x 10
• Chest-Supported DB Rows
  • 40e x 12
  • 40e x 12
  • 40e x 12
  • 40e x 12
  • 40e x 12
• Straight-arm Lat Pulldowns
  • 50 x 12
  • 50 x 12
  • 50 x 12
• One-arm Cable Lateral Raises
  • 20 x 13
  • 20 x 13
  • 20 x 10
• Triceps Machine
  • 50 x 15
  • 70 x 15
  • 80 x 15
• DB Curls (alternate, neutral-to-supinated hand while curling)
  • 35e x 12
  • 35e x 10
  • 35e x 7

Today was short and sweet. I got a bit of a late start, and had to be somewhere early, so I opted to do a “jack shit” approach and just deadlift and make the most of it.

I sometimes like doing that because sometimes I pace myself to leave things in the tank to still give proper due to the assistance work. When I do “jack shit, I really try to eek every bit of work out of it I can. So today when I worked up, I felt I might have normally shut down around rep 7 or 8, but I kept going not to try to grind out more reps and get sloppy, but to really hunker-down into good form and pushing to get the most out of every rep. That 9th rep actually felt really awesome. I didn’t feel sloppy, but I felt really nicely worked — haven’t felt that sort of response in my posterior chain in a while. It was pretty cool. I felt like it was a very productive session, despite being brief.

That said, the reps went well. Felt very good, very strong today. Making good progress.

5/3/1-based program

• Deadlift
  • 150 x 5
  • 190 x 5
  • 230 x 3
  • 265 x 3
  • 305 x 3
  • 340 x 9 (9RM PR)

Yes, I’m going to see someone about the pain.

The more and more I do things, the more support for the hypothesis that it is shoulder issues — not arm/biceps/triceps/forearms/elbows issues. Again, I’m not trying to hurt myself: I’m trying to continue progressing while investigating and collecting data. I mean, any doctor I’d see would want as much information as possible and would rely on whatever I could relay to them. They’d also run tests to find out more, and that’s pretty much what I’m doing.

And yes, it’s to a point where I’m going to go see someone. It’ll take a little time due to scheduling, but it will happen.

So while benching this morning the same pain slowly increased. I do not think that supersetting the pulling work is a problem, per se, but I do think that it makes the pain kick in sooner.

I am happy with how things went tho. Getting 8 @ 235 was good, despite the issues. I felt slower, more controlled, better bar path, all those good things.

But here I swapped things around. Instead of incline barbell I did incline DB work. I wanted to see how that would fare. I started very light and worked up, and it actually felt pretty good and seemed like a good alternative. I shall continue to explore this route.

Everything else was about standard, tho 1-fewer sets. Some stuff was lighter than usual because again the pain and wanting to manage it.

But all in all, things were alright today. Feeling generally on-track.

5/3/1-based program

• Bench Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 105 x 5
  • 130 x 5
  • 155 x 3
  • 180 x 3
  • 210 x 3
  • 235 x 8
• Incline DB Press
  • 30e x 10
  • 35e x 10
  • 40e x 10
  • 45e x 10
  • 50e x 10
• Cable Rows
  • 130 x 12
  • 130 x 12
  • 130 x 12
• Shrugs
  • 205 x 15
  • 205 x 15
  • 205 x 15
• Rope-Handle Pressdowns
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 8
• BB Curls
  • 40 x 15
  • 50 x 15
  • 50 x 11

Squats are starting to mess with my head. 🙂

I’m nearing some big milestones. Flirting with 300# (today was 290, last week’s 1+ week was 300, this week’s is 310). Flirting with my all-time PR (325). Getting close, and it’s all messing with my head. Thing is, 290 today is cake. I’ve done 290 before, I’ve done 300 before, so today I KNEW wouldn’t be an issue, but it still messed with my head. 🙂 But I put it out of my head and told myself that last time I did 290 I got 5 reps so today I need to get 6.

Getting 6 was pretty easy — I knew I had 1 left in the tank, and maybe a 2nd. Good deal! But I told myself get 6, that felt good, so I left it alone.

Only complaints about squats? Trying to get that new arm/hand/wrist/shoulder position is still quite difficult. I was really tight this morning and it took a while for me to get things rolling. Even in the beginning I would get under the bar, work into the position, struggle to get into position, stay there a moment, try to settle in, then just get out from under the bar — treat it like a stretch. So it took me a little while longer to squat this morning, but eventually things got there. Even still, it wasn’t really ideal and I did find my wrists being cocked back, pressure on the arms, and it did start to manifest in some arm pain towards the end. Not big, but just enough to provide even stronger support to the hypothesis that squats are a prime contributor to my problems. I just need to keep working on positioning and getting that shoulder mobility to do so.

RDLs continue to be “light” because I’m really wanting to ensure I’m getting technique correct. I’ll get there. Happy with this tho because this assistance is certainly working my posterior chain well.

5/3/1-based program

• Squats
  • bar x whatever
  • 135 x 5
  • 160 x 5
  • 195 x 3
  • 225 x 3
  • 260 x 3
  • 290 x 6 (6RM PR)
• Romanian Deadlift
  • 135 x 10
  • 135 x 10
  • 155 x 10
  • 155 x 8
• Hyperextensions
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 12
• Crunches
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 17
  • BW x 11
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12

Today was about experimentation, and I learned a lot.

As I contend with my arm pain, the hypothesis of biceps tendonitis is weakening, or perhaps more accurately the hypothesis of this being a shoulder — rotator cuff — issue is gaining support. I read more, I study more, I am looking at my body, trying things, seeing how things fare. And while I still can’t say for certain what the issue is, it does seem more like a shoulder problem.

As a result, I’ve been trying things. I’m foam rolling my rotator cuff muscles (infraspinatus, supraspinatus, teres minor, etc.). I’m using a Thera-Cane on them while I’m in meeetings. It’s been hurting a lot, but it’s getting a little less painful. I’m checking my posture while I sit/work. It seems to be helping, but still too early to tell.

I also want to try some changes in my gym days, and today was a strong trial on some things.

First, no more supersetting pulling movements with pressing movements. Wendler recommends this, and with good reason, but I am wondering if it is contributing to my issues. Today I didn’t do it, and everything felt good. My hypothesis is they are small muscles, but important for stabilizing the pressing movements. The work is fatiguing them, and when I need to call on them for the pressing they just don’t have it. Probably not the case, but for sure NOT pulling between my pressing sets went nice today. But 1 day is not much data.

I’m going to try move dumbbell movements. That will generally mean lighter weights, but also more involvement of stabilizers. And then, when picking the movements to do, pick ones that help to work this aspect. So instead of close-grip bench, I did Arnold Press. That’s a DB movement, and the “Arnold” aspect puts in some shoulder external rotation. Instead of regular lateral raises, use the cable to add a little more constant tension and also the angle change to hit the infraspinatus a little more (thank you exrx.net).

I opted for chest-supported DB rows because again what it would hit. But with chest-supported I really have to use the back muscles to do the work — no chance of something else taking over and actually doing the work, thus I can ensure those upper back muscles actually get worked properly.

Interesting was the straight-arm lat pulldowns. I originally opted to do these when I was leaning towards arm issues — an exercise that doesn’t involve the biceps & forearms as much. But doing these now I realized — another shoulder rotation movement. I really felt it in the teres minor — basically right up where the “lat” comes into the arm pit. I consider this a good thing.

Tate Press was a desire to find something else triceps for variety. But I suspect I’ll be dumping this because I just didn’t get much out of it — my triceps didn’t feel much work, but my elbows did feel stress. I may give it another go just to see, but I’m not optimistic.

Anyways, bottom line: all the changes are done towards trying to continue to get the work I need, yet work within the bounds of the pain. And then, to try to overcome the pain and address the issues: if something is weak, if something needs better recovery work, whatever it may be, so long-term I don’t have these issues.

Other notes: a lot of the new movements I had no idea what weight to use, so I started low and worked up. Try to get the movement right, and find the groove. Better to start too light and all that.

5/3/1-based program

• Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 70 x 5
  • 90 x 5
  • 110 x 3
  • 115 x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 155 x 7
• Arnold Press
  • 30e x 10
  • 30e x 10
  • 30e x 10
  • 30e x 10
  • 30e x 10
• Chest Supported DB Row
  • 30e x 10
  • 30e x 10
  • 35e x 10
  • 35e x 10
  • 40e x 10
• Straight-arm Lat Pulldowns
  • 40 x 12
  • 45 x 12
  • 50 x 12
  • 50 x 12
• Cable Lateral Raises
  • 20 x 12e
  • 20 x 12e
  • 20 x 12e
• Tate Press
  • 20 x 12
  • 30 x 12
  • 40 x 12
• DB Curls (alternate, neutral-to-supinated hand while curling)
  • 35e x 12
  • 35e x 10
  • 35e x 7

Today was alright.

I picked up a set of Jim Wendler’s lifting straps. I generally don’t use straps because I want my grip strength to also improve. But there certainly have been a few times when grip was the weak-point and I couldn’t work what I wanted to work (as well) because of it. So sometimes straps are useful. But I’ve generally hated most straps because 1. the material is so thick it really messes with your grip, 2. the wrist-loop is made via a loop which often gets pulled very tight under tension and causes problems unto itself. I didn’t pick Jim’s because Jim, but because of the design: fixed loop, thinner material. They arrived yesterday, just in time. 🙂

I used them for most of my deadlift sets. Again, I normally do NOT do this, but new toy and wanted to try it out. For sure the design was to my liking. Interesting thing tho? On my 4th and 5th sets I started to feel like my grip was actually weaker, and there was more pain in my brachioradialis. So on the last set I ditched the straps, went mixed grip, and life was good. Interesting data points, but not enough data to really draw any conclusions. That said, I think I’ll dig the straps. I generally won’t use them, but sometimes when/if they are called for, I’ll be happy they’re in my bag.

That said, cranked out 10 reps pretty well and good. But as I was working up, I started to think about some of my approaches — in light of how I’m trying to mod things up due to my injury, recovery needs, etc..

While the volume’s been acceptable, I think I’m going to scale it back. Instead of 4 sets of most all assistance work, I’ll do 3 and make more of each rep (maybe even slight weight increase). And while it didn’t really affect today, on my pressing days I do think I’ll look into 1. not supersetting the back work, 2. more DB work.

See, the more and more I dig into things, the more and more I’m thinking my arm pain isn’t arms or elbows, but shoulder. Rotator cuff stuff. My current hypothesis is by cutting out the supersetting of the shoulder/back work during my pressing, I won’t 1. inflame those muscles, 2. wear them out. Thus, when I need them for stabilizing during benching and pressing they will be good and fresh. Yes still warm-up the area, but don’t WORK the area. Press, then do back/shoulder work. It may not help, but I need to explore it.

I hum-hawed about DB work because while I suspect it could be better due to lighter weight, I also did wonder if it might make things work because it requires more stabilization and thus I just make things worse. Well, I don’t know for sure but I’m going to explore it. Because part of me is thinking that if in fact it is a stabilization issue, if it in fact it is rotator cuff muscles, then working to strengthen them more ought to be good. TBD.

I’ve also been doing a lot more to roll and massage out things like my infraspinatus, supraspinatus, teres minor. It hurts like hell, which is likely a sign of some problems. But it is getting and feeling better.

So… one day at a time.

5/3/1-based program

• Deadlift
  • 150 x 5
  • 190 x 5
  • 230 x 3
  • 245 x 5
  • 285 x 5
  • 325 x 10
• Walking Lunges
  • 40 x 10e
  • 40 x 10e
  • 40 x 7e
• Leg Curls
  • 40 x 12
  • 40 x 12
  • 40 x 12
• Twisting Crunches
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 18
  • BW x 14
• Seated Calf Raises
  • 60 x 12
  • 60 x 12
  • 60 x 12

Today wasn’t good.

I mean, I hit 220×10, which was nice. But that arm pain was back pretty seriously.

It actually started before I left the house. I put on the elbow sleeves and shortly thereafter the dull pain started. Was it because of the sleeves compressing things? Maybe. My elbows felt less than excited.

I started pressing, and doing just band pull-aparts in between sets. The biceps pain grew. By the 5th and 6th sets of benching, the pain wasn’t as bad as it was a couple weeks ago, but knocking on that door for sure. So I opted to stop pressing and didn’t even do much else. Just some light shrugs then some arm work — the arm work I wanted because I wanted to get some blood flow to the area.

Some interesting things:

First, a lot of the pain came from indirect biceps work — stabilization. Benching, even the pressdowns. But direct biceps work, not much pain. Yes a bit when I’d start out, but it actually felt pretty good to do things like curl. I did drop the weight significantly on the curls, because of how everything was feeling — just get some reps in.

Second, I noticed new pain up in my shoulder, especially in the infraspinatus and supraspinatus area. After I got home I did some more reading and it keeps coming up that the pain I’m dealing with of course COULD be tendonitis but may not be — it may be a shoulder issue. Given what I’ve been feeling, I suspect this could be my issue. When I look at the whole of everything, it starts to make some sense.

I mean, even considering my posture sitting all day at work, it starts to be a problem — and I can see how that could lead into this.

There’s just a lot of things — not everything that I can detail here — but lead me to think I’ve got a few issues going on. And what I need in addition to change-ups in my workouts, is more rehab work. I have not been religious about the lacrosse ball, but I should be. I have a Thera-Cane in my office, and I should use it to work on those back/shoulder muscles. Spend time every day stretching more. Heck, I started to think back to my Kuk Sool days and the “mohm puhl ki” body conditioning/warm-up exercises done there — some of those things I can’t do as fully as I did back then. But things like that work the whole body, and yeah, I suspect I need to get just as serious about recovery and rehab as I do about gym sessions.

Much for me to think about. From being overly attentive to my posture during the day, to more massage (ball, roller, cane), to more stretching and body usage work (e.g. yoga-ish stuff, mohm puhl ki, etc.). Whatever it takes to keep myself functional.

Oh, and one gym thing I’m going to try? I’m going to STOP supersetting pressing and pulling. I want to see if that may be contributing to my problems.

That all said, I’m still happy with 10 reps of 220 (even with the arm pain).

5/3/1-based program

• Bench Press (superset with band pull-aparts)
  • bar x whatever
  • 105 x 5
  • 130 x 5
  • 155 x 3
  • 170 x 5
  • 195 x 5
  • 220 x 10
• Shrugs
  • 135 x 15
  • 135 x 15
  • 135 x 15
  • 135 x 15
• Rope-Handle Pressdowns
  • 60 x 12
  • 60 x 12
  • 60 x 12
  • 60 x 10
• BB Curls
  • 40 x 15
  • 40 x 15
  • 40 x 15
  • 40 x 15

Starting a new program variation, and it started out pretty well.

The intention here is to keep on track towards my PR goals to end the year, but modifying the work I do to contend with the arm pain/issues I’m having.

First, the new setup does seem to help. Yes it’s still weird to not have a full grip on the bar, but the false grip really isn’t too bad — it’s stronger and more stable than I expected. But it is difficult to get into it; I do need to warm up into it, stretch into it, but once I got going it worked pretty well. For sure I’m going to add “getting into that squat position” to my daily warm-up to help work on stretching my pecs/shoulders out. But all in all it worked out quite well today, as the first day using it with “real weight” on my back.

Second, the elbow sleeves do seem to help, because mucho warmth. The knees sleeves too. Hard to describe, because it’s not some huge difference, but for sure my knees just felt good. Happy with the new ST sleeves.

Third, and interesting side-effect of the new setup is I find my upper back is MUCH tighter. Makes sense, because basically my chest is “thrust” further forward to make this position happen. Welcome side-effect.

And so I squatted. 275 admittedly started to mess with my head a bit, but there’s no reason as I’ve squatted more than this for reps with no problem. Still, I think because I’m flirting in the 300’s now (e.g. this cycle’s 1+ will be 310#) and close to breaking my all-time PR (325#), things are creeping into my head. That said, I just told myself the usual: just 1 rep at a time, be tight, don’t worry about where you stop just keep going and see how far you get. After I did the required 5 reps, I found myself pausing between each rep for a couple good, deep breaths. Did I necessarily need? No, but I just wanted to do that to ensure I kept things flowing. I then stopped at 9 because I was actually getting a little light-headed from all the oxygen. 🙂 It was kinda cool to have pushed a little further. Very happy with 9 reps.

Then, there’s the change-up.

I am going to do RDL’s instead of straight-/stiff-leg deadlifts. In a lot of ways the same, but for sure there’s a different execution and mental approach. Again, I find Alan Thrall really good at teaching and explaining concepts, and a recent RDL video of his gave me a few cues and tips. So today I just picked a number and went, trying to be stricter and better about RDL form and execution. I actually lowered the weight to allow better focus on technique, but by then things were feeling worn out. Next week I’ll start lower and just focus on technique — even if it means a few sessions at a very light weight, I don’t care — I want to ensure I get the most out of this.

Then into hypers and boy… I just peeded out. The lower back and glutes said they had it.

Anyways, that’s that. My arms are feeling alright, the squatting went quite well. The equipment and technique changes seem to be positive and helping. All in all, good times.

5/3/1-based program

• Squats
  • bar x whatever
  • 135 x 5
  • 160 x 5
  • 190 x 3
  • 210 x 5
  • 245 x 5
  • 275 x 9 (9RM PR)
• Romanian Deadlift
  • 185 x 8
  • 185 x 8
  • 185 x 8
  • 135 x 5
  • 135 x 5
• Hyperextensions
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 13
  • BW x 4
• Crunches
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 10
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 12