Today was fine for what it was to be.

Pressing went OK.

Accessory lifts need to change. I’m tired of the bent-over lat raises. Main reason? Since I had to cut back on what I did due to my elbow issues, I feel I need to change up exercises that get me more bang for my buck. It’s the reason compounds tend to be favored over isolation movements – isolation have their place, but all things considered right now? I think I’ll get more out of Face Pulls and generally serve the same purpose.

BB Rows too – they’re stressing my elbow a bit. Not in a bad way, just in a way that I don’t think is necessarily helping with healing. So, I’m thinking about changing to cable rows and playing around with different attachments to provide different grips (e.g. might use a neutral grip) and see how that affects things.

Anyways, stuff for later.

Right now, I just need to manage myself well so I can have a productive 1+ heavy week next week.

5/3/1 (6th cycle, anchor, 3+/5/1+, Joker Sets)

• Press
  • bar x 10
  • 80 x 5
  • 100 x 5
  • 120 x 3
  • 130 x 5
  • 150 x 5
  • 170 x 5
  • 135 x 10
  • 135 x 10
  • 135 x 6
• Face Pulls (superset with press warm-up sets)
  • 60 x 15
  • 60 x 15
  • 60 x 15
  • 60 x 15
• Barbell Rows (superset with press work sets)
  • 185 x 9
  • 185 x 9
  • 185 x 9
• Wide-grip Pulldowns
  • 105 x 10
  • 145 x 12
  • 145 x 12
  • 145 x 9
• Stationary Bike
  • 10 min

Everything felt heavy, despite it being a light week.

Need more carbs, more sleep; especially since next week is the heavy 1+ week.

Deadlifting was OK tho. RDLs feel like a good choice – I finally feel like I’m getting something out of them.

Skipped reverse hypers because fatigue, not from the session, but overall. I’d rather try to continue to let this be a semi-recovery week heading into next week.

5/3/1 (6th cycle, anchor, 3+/5/1+, Jokers)

• Deadlift (superset with band pullaparts)
  • 190 x 5
  • 240 x 5
  • 285 x 3
  • 315 x 5
  • 355 x 5
  • 405 x 5
• RDLs
  • 295 x 8
  • 295 x 8
  • 295 x 6
• Stationary Bike
  • 10 min

Today was a -10% day.

Slept like shit. Very miserable. Everything felt heavy. Decided to make it a “jack shit” day. Just did my main lift and went home.

Yes, I’m trying to figure out my sleep problems. I know it’s mostly driven by the unrelenting project at the day job, of which there’s no end in sight. It’s not a bad project, it’s just unrelenting and seeps into everything.

But hey, it’s a light 5 week anyways, with no PRs or anything. So the off is fine.

5/3/1 (6th cycle, anchor, 3+/5/1+PR, Joker)

• Bench Press
  • bar x 10
  • 110 x 5
  • 140 x 5
  • 170 x 3
  • 180 x 5
  • 210 x 5
  • 240 x 5

Today was OK.

I’m exhausted. Day job project continues to wear me out. It’s having an effect. Weights felt heavy all day. I’m struggling to find a soluton to the problem… just when things are so unrelenting, it’s challenging.

Still, it was generally a good day. I continue to be happy about depth. So now it’s about keeping that upper back and torso tight. Was a little better today, but still much room to improve. Of course, focus on one thing often leads to forgetting other things – like breaking first at the hips, pushing back, then hip drive out of the hole. I did start to remember that on the pause squats tho… sigh.

Leg press. This is interesting because in the past leg press did something but not much for me. But now, feet higher and wider on the platform, higher reps (up to 15 per set), pyramid up in weight, and man… I am feeling it. I hope this will pay off.

Anyways, generally alright day. This week is mostly a 5’s light week for everything else, but as I’m doing squats along strong-15, I just kept that going and didn’t switch it up. Rest of the week I hope will be good for recovery.

6th cycle, fixing my squat; modeled after Strong-15

• Squat (superset with band pullaparts)
  • bar x 10
  • 135 x 8
  • 175 x 5
  • 205 x 4
  • 240 x 3
  • 265 x 2
  • 285 x 1
  • 315 x 1
  • 320 x 1
• Pause Squats
  • 250 x 5
• Leg Press (feet high and wide)
  • 90 x 10
  • 270 x 15
  • 360 x 15
  • 450 x 12
• Stationary Bike
  • 10 min

Every day can’t be a +10% day – but 80% days are ultimately what it’s about.

It was great hitting PRs this week, but I knew today wouldn’t be one. The 2nd Joker set would have been 200#, which I did last week in a fresh state, so I knew 200 in a fatigued state was likely not going to happen.

Work up was ok. Top set was a mess, with my bar path all over the place. I’ve lost something with full body tightness and keeping in a good groove. Something to work on. Then the 1 Joker set was a grinder. Got it, but not ideally what I’d want. Still, there it was.

One cool thing tho was the down set work @ 135. I remember being excited when I finally hit 135 on press. Now it’s just a simple working weight. Progress is fun.

Anyways, decent week overall. Next week is a 5’s week with no rep PRs nor Jokers – meant to be a light week for some recoup. Looking forward to it.

5/3/1 (6th cycle, anchor, 3+/5/1+, Joker Sets)

• Press
  • bar x 10
  • 80 x 5
  • 100 x 5
  • 120 x 3
  • 140 x 3
  • 160 x 3
  • 180 x 5
  • 190 x 1
  • 135 x 10
  • 135 x 10
  • 135 x 6
• Bent-over Lateral Raises (superset with press warm-up sets)
  • 25e x 13
  • 25e x 13
  • 25e x 13
  • 25e x 13
• Barbell Rows (superset with press work sets)
  • 185 x 9
  • 185 x 8
  • 185 x 8
• Wide-grip Pulldowns
  • 105 x 10
  • 145 x 12
  • 145 x 12
  • 145 x 8
• Stationary Bike
  • 10 min

Pretty sweet day.

It’s 3’s week, plus 2 Joker sets. I was aiming for a rep PR on the top work set. I met the same PR from a few weeks ago, and I could have pressed further but saw no point — I wanted the Joker sets.

The 450 was fine. The 470 was sweet.

Again, my true 1RM, last I checked, was 465. So hitting 470 in a fatigued state is pretty damn nice. Moved off the floor fairly well too. So could 500 be in me? If not right now, soon.

RDLs I think are working out nicely. Happy to have chosen them; will stick with for a while to see what they give me.

Actually I know what they give me. They, along with the reverse hypers are totally killing my lower back and glutes. LOL. It sucks so much. But it’s precisely what I’m wanting right now.

All in all, decent day.

5/3/1 (6th cycle, anchor, 3+/5/1+, Jokers)

• Deadlift (superset with band pullaparts)
  • 190 x 5
  • 240 x 5
  • 285 x 3
  • 335 x 3
  • 380 x 3
  • 430 x 7
  • 450 x 1
  • 470 x 1 (PR)
• RDLs
  • 285 x 8
  • 285 x 8
  • 285 x 8
• 1-Leg Reverse Hypers
  • 135 x 20e
  • 135 x 20e
  • 135 x 20e
• Stationary Bike
  • 10 min

Didn’t get the PR I wanted, but did get an even better PR.

This week starts a new cycle, based around 3+/5/1+ (5/3/1 for Powerlifting) with Joker sets.

Work-up was to 250. I got 7 reps a few weeks ago on 3 week, so I was gunning for 8. Didn’t happen. The set was crap. Very unhappy with how it went. But then it was Joker time.

Before the session I planned to at least do 1 set of 1, and maybe a second set of 1 if things felt good. I do like doing at least 2 Joker sets on 3’s week, but I wasn’t sure. First, how did I feel. Second, the math for this put it at 280 for that 2nd Joker set. You see, 275×1 is the best I’ve ever benched – ever. So to try to bench 280 for a single after all that work? I wasn’t sure. Now, last week I did 275×3 and had a few left in the tank – so 280 itself shouldn’t be an issue. But after all that work, the shitty 250 set, I just wan’t sure.

But I opted to go for it. Because what’s the worst that can happen? And if I get it, that would kick ass – not just simply the great PR it would be, but under the circumstances too.

So I went for it. Got it. Went easy!

In fact, my spotter was surprised I only went for 1 (you can hear it at the end of the video).

Yeah… I have 300 in me. I’ll get there eventually tho. No rush.

What I really enjoy about this is doing things I’ve never done before. Pushing myself beyond my limits. Building greater confidence in my abilities, and my ability to READ my capabilities and limits. It’s pretty cool.

And this increases my confidence for the rest of the week. Can’t wait to see what deadlift and press sessions will bring!

5/3/1 (6th cycle, anchor, 3+/5/1+PR, Joker)

• Bench Press
  • bar x 10
  • 110 x 5
  • 140 x 5
  • 170 x 3
  • 195 x 3
  • 225 x 3
  • 250 x 7
  • 265 x 1 (Joker)
  • 280 x 1 (Lifetime PR)
  • 165 x 10
  • 165 x 10
  • 165 x 10
• Bent-over Lateral Raises (superset with bench warm-up sets)
  • 25e x 13
  • 25e x 13
  • 25e x 13
  • 25e x 13
• DB Rows (superset with bench work sets)
  • 100 x 12e
  • 100 x 12e
  • 100 x 12e
• Narrow-Grip Pulldowns
  • 90 x 10
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 120 x 12
• Stationary Bike
  • 10 min

Things are feeling better.

I think taking this approach is helping. Is it helping my 1RM? TBD. But it is helping me fix my technique and rebuild confidence. More warm-up, slower work-up, then just hitting heavier singles. I can focus more on what I need, which is technique and confidence.

Today was working to remember upper back and torso tightness. Wasn’t great, but was better. But the cool part was I didn’t think so much about my legs, depth, etc. and that went well. In fact, watching video, depth was quite good. I gotta just stop (over)thinking so much.

One nice thing that’s happening too is I changed my warm-up a bit. I spend a little more time doing bodyweight squats working that up too. I start by standing, bending over to touch my toes — not just the stretch, but also helping my lower back to expand and relax. After that settles in well (I don’t rush it any more), I just keep my fingers on my toes and bend my knees. Take a long as I need, but this sort of forward position takes some of the weight off and thus I can ease into things better. I do that for a bit to start greasing the wheels. Once that feels good, I do proper bodyweight squats. I’m finding I can move a LOT faster now too!

I think the reduced volume has helped; not so beat up.

So all in all, this change-up is looking like a win. We’ll see where it takes me.

6th cycle, fixing my squat; modeled after Strong-15

• Squat (superset with band pullaparts)
  • bar x 10
  • 135 x 8
  • 175 x 5
  • 205 x 4
  • 240 x 3
  • 265 x 2
  • 275 x 1
  • 295 x 1
  • 315 x 1
• Pause Squats
  • 230 x 5
• Leg Press (feet high and wide)
  • 90 x 15
  • 270 x 15
  • 360 x 15
  • 450 x 12
• Stationary Bike
  • 10 min

PR of 200 pounds overhead. That’s a cool milestone.

It’s deload week, and strictly speaking I should have just worked up to my training max of 195 for a single. But come on… being that close to such a milestone? I knew I could do it. So instead of the pattern this week of doing the training max for up to 3 reps, I opted to just hit the PR for 1 rep.

It was great.

However, I can see a few things from it:

• I can get over-psyched at times and that can throw me off.
• As a result, I wasn’t getting my breathing and setup right. All on me.
• Note the slight pause towards the top – lock-out. Hrm.

Anyways, overall happy with it.

Rest of the session was simple and easy, since deload.

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

• Press
  • bar x 10
  • 95 x 5
  • 115 x 5
  • 135 x 3
  • 155 x 3
  • 175 x 1
  • 200 x 1 (PR)
• Bent-over Lateral Raises (superset with press warm-up sets)
  • 25e x 6
  • 25e x 6
  • 25e x 6
  • 25e x 6
• Barbell Rows (superset with press work sets)
  • 185 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 185 x 5
• Wide-grip Pulldowns
  • 105 x 10
  • 145 x 10
  • 145 x 10
• Stationary Bike
  • 10 min

That was fun.

Deload week. Supposed to work up to 465×1. Did 465×3.

Thing is, 465 is my current training max, but it’s also the best deadlift I’ve ever done — about 4 months ago I went looking for a 1RM and 465 was it. So to hit 3 today — and still have something in the tank, that’s pretty awesome.

Again, shouldn’t have done it, but meh. It was fun.

Accessory work is whatever – deload week. I am going to stick with RDLs for a while tho, to see what I can get out of them. And I am going to slightly bump up the reverse hypers too.

All in all, pretty nice.

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

• Deadlift (superset with band pullaparts)
  • 185 x 5
  • 275 x 5
  • 325 x 3
  • 375 x 3
  • 420 x 1
  • 465 x 3 (PR)
• RDL
  • 275 x 4
  • 275 x 4
• 1-Leg Reverse Hypers
  • 115 x 20e
• Stationary Bike
  • 10 min