Finishing deload week. Elbow sleeves are good things.

So it’s just deload week, nothing really to report.

My arms are feeling better, but I’m not out of the woods. I do believe the elbow sleeves are helping, because man — warmth. Things to increase and maintain increased blood flow to the area is useful. I’ve also been rolling a lacrosse ball over my arms (biceps, forearms, elbow, triceps) while I work during the day (e.g. taking a break to think about something, or while attending a meeting).

When I start back into things next week, I will have an adjusted program, with choices made to try to contend with the arms. For example, I’m not going to be doing as many pulldowns in a week. Instead, I’ll be trying face-pulls as a pressing superset exercise. Plus, I am going to try straight-arm pulldowns so I can still get some lat work but hopefully minimize impacts to my arms. I will also call audibles, such as I intend for my “big assistance” exercise to still be 5 sets, but if I have to go 3 to avoid problems then I will. And while I have an approach set up, if I find out some new exercise isn’t helping (or is hurting), then I’ll change up.

Onwards.

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

• Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 70 x 5 (superset with band pull-aparts)
  • 70 x 5
  • 85 x 5
  • 85 x 5
  • 105 x 5
  • 105 x 5
• Close-Grip Bench Press
  • 155 x 10 (sets superset with curl-grip pulldowns)
  • 155 x 10
• Face Pulls
  • 90 x 15
  • 90 x 15
• Lateral Raises
  • 20e x 12
  • 20e x 12
• Lying Triceps Extensions (superset with curls)
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 12
• Close-grip EZ-bar Curls
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 12

Just a decent day. Deload, nothing to really write home about.

The knee sleeves are nice. Again, really crazy warmth and heat-retention with them (and sweat retention too!). They fit well, they don’t move, don’t ride up/down, comfortable. I really dig them.

Starting to have stronger thoughts about how I’ll be changing my programming for the next couple cycles, mostly towards helping deal with my arm pain issues. Haven’t finalized anything, but I need to soon.

Halloween candy is evil.

That is all.

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

• Deadlift
  • 150 x 5
  • 150 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 220 x 5
  • 220 x 5
• Walking Lunges
  • BW x 12e
  • BW x 12e
• Twisting Crunches
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 20
• Seated Calf Raises
  • 55 x 12
  • 55 x 12

New sleeves, and I think they’ll be better for me.

I picked up some elbow sleeves and new knee sleeves from HowMuchYaBench – Mark Bell/SuperTraining. Why from here? They seem well-regarded, Mark provides a lot of useful content, it’s a way of supporting/thanking for that content and information, and at least the sleeves seem to be approved gear in most all powerlifting feds so when I do compete I won’t have to buy yet another set of gear.

Why sleeves? I’ve worn knee sleeves (EliteFTS brand) for a while and they do seem to help my knees remain happy. I’ve read a bunch saying elbow sleeves can help with my tendonitis problems — both recovering and ensuring it doesn’t happen again, so why not.

They came in yesterday’s mail. Cool thing? I ordered direct from Mark Bell. Order was filled within 1-2 hours, shipped out the next day, here quickly. That’s some great service. Tried them on. They were quite comfortable. I don’t know what the EliteFTS knee sleeves are made from, but the feel here is different — the ST stuff is “fluffy”, neoprene. The knee sleeves are quite comfortable, fit well (size XL), never rode up or down, stayed in place. Even tho today was benching, I wanted to wear the knee sleeves to get the feel for them. I like.

The elbow sleeves were a little more snug (size XL), and the seam irritates me a bit. I’m not going to call the seam a problem really, because I tend to be rather sensitive to things like seams, tags, and so on. Note that it’s just the feeling/sensation, I saw no marks or other issues on my skin. Otherwise they feel pretty good, stay in place, a slight restriction of my range of motion but I don’t really notice it under load.

The biggest thing? Warmth.

Oh my my. A couple minutes after putting them on I felt warmer around my knees and elbows. I wore them from the house to the gym to get used to them. Then a couple minutes into lifting, whoa! Things started to feel HOT under the sleeves. Not painful or anything, but enough that at times my brain was like “can we please take them off to relieve some of this heat?” Crazy. But I actually dug it because yeah, for sure warmth — never felt this level of warmth from the EliteFTS sleeves. After taking them off my skin was red — not from irritation, just from the increased blood flow. Plus massively sweaty under there. 🙂 I wore them the entire lifting session and everything was pretty groovy.

All in all, I’m kinda digging it. I’ll get a better feel for the sleeves as I go along — I’ll wear knee when squatting and deadlifting, and the elbow for almost everything except deadlifting. But initial impressions are positive.

As for the session itself….

Again, deloading, so it was a good time for playing with the sleeves. I did change things up a little bit to try to avoid arm pain. When I play around a bit, it does feel like my forearms are a larger part of my problem, so I changed to do exercises that focus on other things, e.g. I did underhand pulldowns instead of overhead, I did DB curls instead of hammer curls. There was a little biceps annoyance when I’d start a movement, but then it would go away and things felt pretty good.

I am happy to be adding in some additional warmup and stretching exercises for my shoulders and arms, trying to really get muscles in my forearms, my biceps, my pecs, delts, whatever I can throughout that area to stretch. Something that I just have to work on every day.

But all in all, things went well. I don’t feel any aggravation of the area, and I am hoping that with some improved blood flow, massage, drinking lots of water, stretching, modification of exercises, etc. that things will be alright.

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

• Bench Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 100 x 5 (warmup sets superset with band pull-aparts)
  • 100 x 5
  • 125 x 5
  • 125 x 5 (work sets superset with band pull-aparts)
  • 155 x 5
  • 155 x 5
• Incline Press
  • 135 x 10 (sets superset with curl-grip pulldowns)
  • 135 x 10
• Cable Rows
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 12
• Shrugs
  • 195 x 12
  • 195 x 12
• Rope-handle pressdowns (superset with curls)
  • 60 x 12
  • 60 x 12
• DB Curls Curls
  • 35e x 10
  • 35e x 10

Yes, a change in technique seems to be helping my tendonitis.

This week is a deload week, so it’s a perfect time to explore some technique changes towards dealing with this biceps/forearms/elbow tendonitis issue. Videos I referenced from before, from Paul Carter and Alan Thrall, take different approaches to ultimately the same issue. What I tried this time was using the false-grip Alan suggested (and Paul alludes to) and really working to keep a low-bar yet my wrists straight. I do have good shoulder mobility, but it’s still a little bit of work to get into that position. Still, I spent each set today (and did a few extras with the empty bar) just to work on a good setup and getting into position. It wasn’t too hard to find the right way for me to work in there, but it was a little bit of work to achieve it. 🙂 I just have to be patient and allow myself a little “wiggle time” to get up in there AND ensure I keep my hands/wrists where they need to be.

That said, it’s a little odd-feeling for me, because it’s really just my pinkys touching the bar. But it’s a LOT more comfortable than “eagle claw” grip, because there it just added bar pressure across my fingers which just makes the problem worse.

While I squatted I focused on the arms and upper body. I found that I would regress to a VERY slight wrist bend, but no more than a good false-grip would be. It provided just enough speed bump with my palm heel to keep the bar stable on my back but not really transferring pressure down into my arm. For sure by the end of the squats I felt no more or less pain in my upper arm, which is great! I did feel a little in my elbows, but I could tell that was coming from the contortion job of getting into position. 😉 It’s really not bad, and I know that will fade in time.

I also am expanding my warm-up to include some arm/shoulder stretches. Yes, you can stretch your biceps, and apparently I need to. That should help with everything.

One thing I tried was using wrist wraps to see if that would help with my wrist position. My feeling? They actually took my focus and feel away, so I actually couldn’t keep track of how my wrists were doing. Right now, I won’t use them as I work on learning the technique. But I certainly could see using them when the weights get heavier to help reinforce and support the wrists.

All in all, I’m pleased with the technique change. I will have to see how it pans out with proper weights, and I’ll also keep working on improving mobilty and stretching in that area. Again, I’m not bad, but there’s unquestionably room to improve to help everything.

As for the rest, was just deload – cut the work in half, don’t sweat things too much.

I did throw in a couple sets of 20 reps of straight barbell curls, just to get a little blood flow into that area. I’m starting to look at supinated grip-based work for arms and back as an alternative while I work through this. Trying to see if it might be a little less inflammatory (vs. pronated or neutral, which both involve more forearm), but also if it might be good for rehabbing it given the mechanics of things. Experimenting.

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

• Squats
  • bar x whatever
  • 120 x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 160 x 5
  • 160 x 5
  • 190 x 5
  • 190 x 5
• Straight-leg Deadlift
  • 185 x 10
  • 185 x 10
• Leg Curls
  • 40 x 12
  • 40 x 12
• Hyperextensions
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
• Crunches
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 12

NEW LIFETIME BEST! And I didn’t just set a new PR, I blew it away!

And my elbow/biceps pain was pretty minimal. So quite an interesting day.

First the PR.

I knew from last week’s Press session that the PR would fall today. I also knew I’d blow it away. Best I’ve ever Pressed was 165#. In RepCount (the iPhone app I use) it lists 165×1 as my best, but in my spreadsheet (my official records) I have 165×2 listed somewhere. So either way it’s 165, and 1 or 2 reps, I knew so long as I hit 3 I’d be good, but I knew I was good for more – provided nothing stupid, like tendonitis, got in my way.

So to hit 165 for 5 reps today was pretty awesome. Which means next 1+ week should be good for an even better PR, because I should be pressing 170

Interesting thing is that in terms of Paul Carter’s 80%/+10%/-10% grading of days, today really should just be a 80% day. Today should be nothing special, as it’s really just solid progress in the progression of the program. Today was what it was supposed to be. The only reason today is cool is because it happened to also include a lifetime PR. But the thing is, I can’t really rate it at an 80% day – it’s really a -10% day because of injury.

So able that elbow/biceps pain.

It really wasn’t bad. I attribute this to a bunch of things.

First, I stopped taking NSAIDs. There’s growing evidence these can help with the immediate aftermath of pain, but in terms of being a “therapy” to help with tendonitis, the evidence is starting to show it does nothing; in fact, it could be detrimental towards the body actually healing itself. I stopped a couple days ago and honestly I can’t tell any difference in terms of managing the pain. So, unless I find I need them for some reason, not going to do them.

Second, in reading I learned about curcumin. I’m trying it. It may or may not help, but I figure 1 bottle and a couple weeks of taking it, sure can’t hurt anything but my wallet. I’m not expecting much here.

Third, I pulled out my lacrosse ball and during any downtimes at work yesterday I would roll the ball around my arm. Interesting was finding a lot of pain in my brachioradialis, more than anywhere else. I wasn’t really digging in, just enough pressure to feel something. I hope this helped, and I will continue to do this massage work every day.

Fourth, the things I did to modify my session today.

I’ve been reading about using elbow sleeves to help with such issues. I don’t have elbow sleeves (yet), so I put on my knee sleeves. They were a little loose, but I wore them the whole session. When I took them off there was sweat and some redness from improved blood flow, so I reckon they may have helped a bit in terms of warmth. The more interesting thing was how they made a small reduction in my range of motion — I wonder if that helped, because it kept the angle of flexion of my elbow a little open and may have avoided some compression from flexion. I did order some elbow sleeves from Mark Bell, so we’ll see how proper sleeves go.

I wrapped my wrists pretty tight. I do believe the full extension of my wrists is part of the problem, so wrapping to help minimize extension and also provide some support I reckon would help. I wrapped for every set, even warmups.

I continue to find my new setup approach really good at keeping the dizzy/light-headed feeling at bay. Very happy about this.

I did not superset lat pulldowns during pressing, just band pull-aparts. I figured using my biceps would of course flare things up, and I didn’t want to get in the way of PR’ing. Sure enough, this played into things because I did do a few sets of pulldowns after pressing and sure enough I started to feel the ache increase.

So then with that I made the call to minimize my assistance work. I didn’t close-grip bench at all. I only did a few high-rep sets of lat pulldowns, then some face pulls, some lat raises, and then switch up the arm work to simple pressdowns and DB curls for light weight and higher reps just to get a little bit of pump and increase blood flow to the arms. On the curls, interesting thing. I didn’t do hammers but instead did “normal” DB curls, starting with neutral grip and supinating as I curled up (and unwinding as I went back down). My arms really liked that — and maybe make sense given the brachioradialis issues. I actually felt BETTER from it. So I may put hammers on the side and do straight DB curls with supination. I might even throw in incline DB curls on the other day, for that stretch.

Point being – I’m going to be taking all this collected data and seeing how I can change up my sessions to help me work with this pain issue: letting it heal, not doing it again. From exercise selection to technique changes, etc.

So, good day. Good day.

Oh, and the new Crowbar album is awesome.

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
  • 105 x 3
  • 130 x 5 (work sets superset with band pull-aparts)
  • 150 x 3
  • 165 x 5 (new lifetime PR)
• Some light pulldowns
• Face Pulls
  • 90 x 15
  • 90 x 15
  • 90 x 15
• Lateral Raises
  • 20e x 12
  • 20e x 12
  • 20e x 12
  • 20e x 10
• Pushdowns
  • 50 x 20
  • 50 x 20
  • 50 x 20
• DB Curls
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 15

Today was good, and good data collection about my arm injury.

First deadlifting. That went well. 350 for 7 is a 7RM, and I had a couple left in the tank, so I feel progress is good. I actually ditched hook grip. Well, double-overhead for warmups, hook for the first 2 work sets, then went mixed for the top set. Hook is alright, but it honestly doesn’t feel as solid to me. Maybe I’m still doing it wrong and need more practice. But in light of my biceps issue, I dunno… mixed felt better (and I worked well to flex my triceps so there wasn’t the typical biceps tension from mixed). All in all, went well.

As for my arms.

So the pain levels are low… there’s pain, I feel ache, but nothing felt worse. In a way tho I felt better. When I was resting between crunch sets, the way I sat back basically stretched my biceps — think the position your arms are in with fully supinated hands and incline DB curls. There’s a stretch there, and that actually seemed to help. I’ve also pulled out my lacrosse ball and been rolling it over my biceps & forearms during the work day here.

One interesting thing was on a FB group I’m a part of, someone posted about this very same problem — with the very same problem. So reading into that and exploring a few things, like this Alan Thrall video:

was helpful.

I played around with squat position on an empty bar in between deadlift sets. For 100% sure, my wrists get bent over and the bar is in that “press position” (just like Paul Carter refers to in his video I posted a couple days ago). And from having this happen in the past, I’m 99% sure this is the cause of my problems — or if not the cause, for sure it’s a heavy contributor.

What I dug about Alan’s video was the solution of how to still stay in low bar, but well, I can avoid the “eagle claw” grip and just use a false grip and let my index fingers come off the bar. It might only be the outer edge of my pinky in contact with the bar, but fine — just keep a straight wrist. This is actually very hard for me to get into. My shoulder mobility is pretty good, but obviously it needs to be better to make this happen more easily. I can work into it alright, but it’s just that — I have to do a little work to get in there. I’m sure if I spend time with a broomstick and work into that position, in time I’ll get loose for it. Not far from it, just need a little more stretch.

Anyways, this was a good exploration — deadlifting didn’t bother my arms (that I could tell), and I think I’m finding better technique (because I really don’t want the eagle claw, which now that I think about it, was probably hated because I still had the flexed wrists and now the bar pressure was coming down on top of my pinky!).

So, we shall see.

Tomorrow’s Pressing should be interesting. Yes I’m still going to Press, but I’m going to be mindful and change some things up, because well…. while I could lifetime PR tomorrow, I’d rather stay healthy and gather more information. I’ll break the PR soon enough, and I’d rather be healthy.

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

• Deadlift
  • 150 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 220 x 3
  • 275 x 5
  • 315 x 3
  • 350 x 7 (7RM PR)
• Walking Lunges
  • BW x 12e
  • BW x 12e
  • BW x 12e
  • BW x 12e
  • BW x 10e
• Twisting Crunches
  • BW x 14
  • BW x 16
  • BW x 16
  • BW x 10
• Seated Calf Raises
  • 55 x 12
  • 55 x 12
  • 55 x 12
  • 55 x 12

The pain was worse.

Truly, the arm pain from yesterday was worse today. Stands to reason, given this work directly utilized the arms.

I started bench pressing, things were OK. As the warm-ups went on, I started to feel it in the brachialis, especially when the bar was on my chest – a point where the arm muscles are really working to stabilize. After each work set the ache was tremendous and got worse each set.

Last night? I looked at my last 1+ week and did 240 for 6 reps – I wanted 7 today. As the pain grew, I told myself to just do what I could. What could I do?

One.

I put 240 on the bar, did one rep, the pain was too much, the bar was shaking, and all I could think was more reps will not end well, so I racked it.

Not only did I rack it, I stopped the whole session. I mean, it’s chest and back and arms – what good would be served by doing more work?

I’m disappointed because I didn’t hit my numbers, but it’s what it is. I am going to work hard the next few days to help bring this down in hopes of still PR’ing with my Press on Friday. But even there, if it’s still some pain and I can only muster 1 rep, then so be it. For sure, next cycle will set a new PR. 🙂

And yes, next week is deload.

It’s what it is.

Interesting thing. I was talking about the problem with my wife this morning, giving her an “air” demonstration of my squat grip: normal vs. eagle claw. It was interesting that just canting my wrist (normal grip) stimulated the pain in my arms, but when I went to a straight/neutral wrist (as I would with eagle claw), the pain went away.

I was surprised it happened that way during my little demo, but it’s certainly telling.

Anyways, today was what it was. Just going to work to fix the issues and keep moving forward.

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

• Bench Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 100 x 5 (warmup sets superset with band pull-aparts)
  • 125 x 5
  • 155 x 3
  • 190 x 5 (work sets superset with neutral-grip pulldowns)
  • 215 x 3
  • 240 x 1

300 – a very painful 300!

Today was cool, but hurt a lot.

Squatting 300 itself wasn’t painful; in fact, I’m really stoked about it. Again, I lost a lot of strength during my massive weight loss, especially in my squat. So to finally get back to 300 means a lot to me. No it’s not a lot of weight in the grand scheme (I don’t think I’ll really be happy until I’m squatting at least 2x bodyweight, so I have to get into the 400’s…), but it’s a good milestone towards regaining what I had lost. Plus, with my lifetime PR at 325, I’m only 25# away.

What was also nice was hitting it for 4 reps. I knew last week that I’d have no problem hitting 300, and I wanted at least 2 hopefully 3. When I came up after 3 I knew there wasn’t a lot left but I felt good about hitting a 4th and went for it. I could have gotten a 5th if not for the massive pain… so I did good enough and opted to rack it. I’m still very happy with 4 reps at 300. Things are well on track, and I’m happy.

What was painful?

My elbows.

This is not the first time this has happened to me. It’s pretty simple. I crush-grip the bar because that does help me with tightness throughout my body. But when I do that, it starts to put my arms and elbows in particular positions. One thing is that my hands are perpendicular to the bar, but then my wrists have to cant in an odd way because my forearms are not perpendicular to the bar, nor can they be. I’d love my hands to be way out touching the collars, but the way the rack at the gym is, I just can’t so I am forced into a somewhat narrower grip (but as wide as I can make it). And so eventually all this stress goes onto my arms.

It’s precisely what Paul Carter talks about in this video:

I referenced the video after the 235 set to refresh my memory (again, this isn’t new to me). On the 270 set I did an “eagle claw” grip (pinky under the bar). That helped because it puts my hands/wrists/arms at a more natural angle, plus I can’t crush-grip the bar – so it helps with everything Paul discusses. But I just could not do it for the 300 set because you don’t go making big changes like that when you’re about to do something big. I knew the pain in my arms would be horrible, and it was. I mean, I could not “curl” my arms (well, I could, but the pain was intense). Even sitting there afterwards, doing nothing in particular, the pain was excruciating. There was no way I could deadlift – couldn’t grab the bar. Yes, that bad. I did my other assistance work and called it.

Why is this happening again? Not 100% sure, but bottom line is I suspect I will have to exclusively go with eagle-claw type grips from now on. I really don’t like it, which is why I haven’t stuck with it in the past, but I don’t think I have a choice now. This level of pressure, inflammation, etc. I just don’t need.

I’m glad next week is a deload – I’ll have some time to work on it.

And don’t worry. This isn’t horrible – yet. 🙂 I know some friends will read this and express concern, and I do appreciate it. But know that I’ll manage it just fine. Nothing to see a doctor about yet. I’ll rest, change technique, and go from there.

Anyways, so despite the pain, it was a good day. I’m very happy about hitting 300. I am confident of my ability to set a new all-time PR by the end of the year.

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

• Squats
  • bar x whatever
  • 125 x 5
  • 160 x 5
  • 190 x 3
  • 235 x 5
  • 270 x 3
  • 300 x 4 (4RM PR)
• Leg Curls
  • 40 x 12
  • 40 x 12
  • 40 x 12
  • 40 x 12
• Hyperextensions
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 13
  • BW x 12
• Crunches
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 14
  • BW x 10
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 12

Didn’t start out great, but ended better than expected.

Again, because of being sick earlier this week, I’m making up for it by doing deadlift & press today – just the main movements (and pulldowns superset with the pressing sets). Get the work in, and set myself set up for next week’s “1+ week”. Today wasn’t about killing myself, but rather ensuring I’m on track to kick ass next week.

Deadlifting went ok. Once again I used hook grip on all sets so I could continue to adapt to it. It wasn’t novel this time, and my thumbs didn’t feel as bad. However on my last set the irony was I lost my grip and had to stop at 6 reps. I’m not totally sure why, but it doesn’t feel like I actually get a good grip on the bar — no “squeeze”, just the hook hang. Hrm. Something to continue working on. I had more reps in me, but hey, today was about getting 3+ and not killing myself so, good enough. Not what I wanted, but acceptable.

But Pressing went awesome. Continuing with my new setup ritual, and that continues to prove itself out. On the last set, everything just felt so good. Tight tight tight, and the reps went up pretty easily, exceeding how I thought I’d do, which is awesome. I have high confidence that next week I’ll not just set a new lifetime PR but blow it away.

Next week will return to the normal flow of things, with 2 milestones on the docket: squatting 300 (finally, back into the 300’s!) and pressing 165 (lifetime best is 165 for 2). I’m most excited.

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

• Deadlift
  • 150 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 220 x 3
  • 260 x 3
  • 295 x 3
  • 335 x 6
• Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 70 x 5 (warmup sets superset with pulldowns)
  • 85 x 5
  • 105 x 3
  • 120 x 3 (work sets superset with pulldowns)
  • 140 x 3
  • 155 x 7

Back in the gym!

I got hit with something – cold? allergies? I don’t know exactly but it knocked me out end of last week and into the start of this week. The gym was not happening. But I’m about over it now, so back I go.

It’s 3’s week, and I only missed half of it, so what I decided to do was squat and bench today, deadlift and press tomorrow. And that’s all: just do the main movement, don’t push too hard on the last set, and leave it at that. I might do a little more tomorrow since I’ll have the weekedn to recover, but since I’m going to squat and bench today then deadlift and press tomorrow, I didn’t want to push too hard today and take away from my ability to handle tomorrow. As well, since I’m maybe 90-95%, I don’t need to dig the recovery hole too deep. Just stimulate (don’t annihilate), keep things on track, etc..

I really don’t want to derail since with next week’s 1+ week I’m going to be doing some fun stuff, like once again getting my squat to 300, and I could set a new all-time Press PR. So I want to be smart about things.

That said then, today went surprisingly well.

The squat work-up went well, and the 285 felt really good. Tight tight tight. I certainly left a few in the tank.

Bench work-up went well too. Again, left a few in the tank here too. I went in to today telling myself to just focus on getting the required reps and only do more if I felt good, and sure I did.

So yeah, it wasn’t the most killer of sessions, but this is about getting back on track after the time off due to illness. The important stuff is next week. 🙂

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

• Squats
  • bar x whatever
  • 125 x 5
  • 160 x 5
  • 190 x 3
  • 220 x 3
  • 250 x 3
  • 285 x 5
• Bench Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 100 x 5 (warmup sets superset with neutral-grip pulldowns)
  • 125 x 5
  • 155 x 3
  • 180 x 3 (work sets superset with neutral-grip pulldowns)
  • 205 x 3
  • 230 x 7