Deload week.

I opted for this deload to work up to a reasonably heavy but not bad single. Just warm-up sets, then a triple, a double, and a single. Just something that gets me up there in the weights but nothing really stressful nor strenuous. So today worked up to 315 for a single and that was fine.

This will be my basic order of business all week for the deload: work up to a reasonable single. Then, any additional work will just be something light but also starting to experiment and groove for next cycle. For example, I’m going to add in pause squats because I do want some more squats for that volume and work, and I think pause squats will serve me best right now to help with my tightness and “confidence in (and out) of the hole” issues. So this week is some light experimentation to see how things will groove out.

One fun change too?

I opted to try out the “new” powerlifting equipment at the gym. That is, instead of using standard olympic plates and the power racks, using the calibrated plates, a Texas Strength Systems combo rack, a Texas Power Bar, etc. — the University of Texas Longhorns Powerlifting team is now officially based out of Ignite Fitnez, so all their equipment is here and we’re allowed to use it (except during team training time, which is evenings and thus not a confict for me).

It was different in a good way. The equipment itself was like butter. Really enjoyed using it. There are currently 3 combo racks and I’ll cycle through them all to see which I end up preferring (they’re all basically the same but each slightly different). All in all, I dug it and am likely to stick with them for squatting, benching, and deadlifting – Pressing may stay over in the power racks because of logistics.

One downside? The power racks are in front of a mirrored wall (and back at my prior gym, in front of the windows) — so I’ve always had some sort of visual feedback. This is a blessing and a curse, but now? No such thing — what’s in front of me is a big area of the gym. So I’m going to have to get better with my own body awareness here (squat depth); probably use video to help me mind this. Learn to trust what I’m feeling and not demand at least a hint of visual confirmation, y’know?

But then the flip side of this is the area where these racks are is up front. So there’s a lot of foot traffic, potentially right in front of your eyes. It actually didn’t cause me much problem today, because I tend to angle my eyes downward when squatting, so it wasn’t a big deal — but the gym was only medium-busy — it’ll be interesting to see how other group classes and a more busy gym affect this. Plus being up front like that, it felt like I was in a fish bowl or a zoo – on display for everyone coming into the gym to watch and see. I mean, not like people can’t watch you anyways, but it just felt more “on display”. Plus, it was right up against where the big “shelves” are that people put their stuff – we’ll see how socially distracting it becomes (e.g. will people want to talk – I tend to avoid chit-chat, because I’m working).

Don’t get me wrong – the benefits outweigh everything. It’s mostly that today was novel and new, and in time I’ll adjust and it won’t be a big deal.

5/3/1 (deload

• Squat (superset with band pullaparts)
  • bar x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 5
  • 200 x 3
  • 225 x 3
  • 275 x 2
  • 315 x 1
• Band Pullaparts
  • Not tracked
• Pause Squats
  • 225 x 3
  • 225 x 3
• 1-Leg Leg Press
  • 45 x 10e
• Front Plate Raises (all the way overhead)
  • 45 x 10
• Reverse Curls
  • 70 x 12
• Stationary Bike
  • 10 min

Today was OK.

I hit decent numbers, but it wasn’t quite what I wanted. My breathing was all off for whatever reason, which affects my setup, which affects my stability, and everything from there. And this was new: all 5 reps of the 175 were literally shaking — my legs were all jittery. Never had that before.

Not totally unhappy with the 5, but I wanted at least 6.

Then during the 185 I originally planned for 1, but did 2 because I was upset at the prior set and I felt I could do it. Should have gone for 3 because… but oh well. Not part of the plan.

So, it was what it was.

Everything else was groovy. I was running out of gas, towards the end but kept pushing. I mean, I didn’t want to do biceps curls — something’s seriously wrong. 😉 But yeah, that pooped.

I wish I could take a mid-day nap, but current work project is unrelenting. Still, I need to find a way to work it in – it’ll do me a lot of good. I’m glad next week is deload.

5/3/1 (3rd cycle, anchor, 3/5/1, PR, Jokers, FSL; modified for knee rehab)

• Press
  • bar x 5
  • 75 x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 110 x 3
  • 140 x 5
  • 155 x 3
  • 175 x 5 (PR set)
  • 185 x 2 (Joker set)
  • 140 x 5
  • 140 x 5
  • 140 x 5
• Bent-over Lateral Raises (superset with press warm-up sets)
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 15
• Normal-grip Pulldowns (superset with press work sets)
  • 145 x 12
  • 145 x 12
  • 145 x 12
  • 145 x 10
• Barbell Rows (superset with press FSL sets)
  • 165 x 10
  • 165 x 10
  • 165 x 10
• Lying Triceps Extensions
  • 80 x 12
  • 80 x 12
  • 80 x 8
• BB Biceps Curl (100 rep protocol)
  • 45 x 100

This was a pretty good day. Set more rep PR’s.

It’s also testimony that even if you don’t feel like going, you go. This is the difference between motivation and discipline. I still don’t find myself as disciplined as I want to be, but I am better than I was before — and here’s a place it manifests. I’m feeling run down, I know I could use a break, but I go. The lifts all felt heavy, each one sowed a seed of doubt if I could hit the weight of the next set — but I know I can, so I set the doubt aside, and I set a PR.

Just keep going.

It’s not about “feeling like it”. It’s about wanting results and doing what it takes to achieve them, even if you don’t feel like it — you do feel like achieving your goals, don’t you?

I worked up to 420. Looked at my history and saw that 5 reps would make an all time rep PR – so that was my goal. Hitting it was heavy but actually went quite well — I felt like I could have done at least 2 more reps, but I hit my goal so I shut it down.

Then I saw that if I did 440 for 2, that’d also be a rep PR at that weight. So I did that. I thought about continuing with the Jokers, but no — I said this week was just 1 Joker set for a single, or a double if things were really humming.

All in all, went well. Looking at trends (hooray for graphs and stats in RepCount!), everything continues to go up and progress well. I’m happy.

Belt squats are finding a groove. Let the belt hang pretty much straight down, heels shoulder width apart, toes pointed slightly out — basically be comfortably positioned. Curl the toes up to ensure weight is back on the heels. Squat deeper than parallel, and go. It’s feeling good, so I’m just going to stay here and keep upping the weight to see where it gets me. Still not 100% sure if it’s truly benefiting me, but now that I’m finding a groove with the movement I want to keep going to see where it takes me.

Everything else was what it was, just assistance work.

That all said, thinking ahead:

Next week is deload. I’m going to take it easy. I might work up to a bit of work but nothing big. I’ll cut assistance work back, but I also want to experiment. Mostly the lower body days I want to experiment. I want to see about going with either front squats or pause squats instead of leg presses, tho I would then keep leg presses towards higher reps and ditch leg extensions. I also want something different for my hamstrings. I’d like to ditch the leg curls and see if the reverse hyper is going to work for me. I have some weird lower-back/leg issues that cause me some serious discomfort at times – last time I tried the reverse hyper it wasn’t good. BUT, I’d like to see if 1-leg might be workable, so I’m going to do some experimenting next week to see. If it works, I’ll go that route and see where it takes me. If it all fails, I’ll probably do something like stiff-leg deadlifts.

So it’s looking like this, at least for the 6 weeks after deload:

• Traditional 5/3/1, with that weekly progress and PR sets (not AMRAP, but PR)
• 6-week cycle
• Squat supplemental may be front squats or pause squats, probably 3×3 or 3×5 depending
• Deadlift supplemental depends: if I can do reverse hypers the belt squats are supplemental and reverse hypers accessory; if I can’t, then probably stiff-legs for supplemental and belt squats for accessory
• Bench supplemental will likely remain more benching tho not the 5×5 FSL approach – I’m thinking more “hypertrophy” type, probably picking something out of Beyond 5/3/1. TBD
• Press supplemental, same.
• Accessory work will remain mostly the same tho maybe some light variations. For example, change my pulldown grip; regular DB rows instead of Krocs, cable or DB upright rows instead of BB, etc. Mostly the same, just variations.

5/3/1 (3rd cycle, anchor, 3/5/1, PR, Jokers, FSL; modified for knee rehab)

• Deadlift
  • 185 x 5
  • 225 x 5
  • 265 x 3
  • 335 x 5
  • 380 x 3
  • 420 x 5 (rep PR!)
  • 440 x 2 (Joker, & rep PR!)
• Band Pullaparts (superset with deadlift warmups and work)
  • Not tracked
• Belt Squats
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 12
• Seated Leg Curls
  • 125 x 12
  • 125 x 10
  • 125 x 9
• Upright rows
  • 125 x 12
  • 125 x 12
  • 125 x 10
• 1-arm supinating cable curls
  • 35 x 12e
  • 35 x 12e
  • 35 x 12e

NOTE! If you’re reading this on Facebook – this might be the last post you see from me.

Facebook is changing how they allow 3rd party tools (like WordPress) to publish/share to Facebook. Since this syndicates to my personal Facebook page, well… it won’t any longer because Facebook. I’m not sure what I’ll do about it yet: maybe I’ll post then manually post to Facebook. I don’t know yet.

Best I can say? Come to the blog itself and click/tap on the Subscribe and follow the blog directly.

Anyways…

Today was good! Made up for yesterday’s crap. I set 2 rep PRs today!

The work up on the bench press went well. The 200 set was fast, very fast. I had to tell myself to slow down because I went too fast and got out of position.

When I did the 250, I just didn’t care: get as many reps as I can, leaving something in the tank. Getting 6 reps felt good, something still in the tank, racked it. Looked at my stats in RepCount — all-time rep PR there. Nice! While I was looking at stats I noticed I could set a rep PR on the 260 Joker set too if I hit it for 2 reps. So I did. Was not a struggle.

I’m really pleased with this. Looking at the trends, I can tell that I’m progressing, getting stronger. Slowly but steadily. I mean, back when I did the 1RM testing about 3 months ago, I benched 265 for a single and stopped – I knew I could do more but didn’t bother as that was good enough for my purposes. It’s paying off, because hitting 260 for 2 today AFTER so much work? Yeah, that’s getting stronger.

Downside? Irritated my arms/shoulders a bit. I also felt pretty beat up after yesterday’s squat session. I’m thinking next week’s deload may not be 7th week protocol but will really scale it back so I can rest and recoup a bit more.

Everything else was what it was. Things progressing nicely. Feeling good.

I do need to figure out exactly what the next 3 mesocycles will look like. I have an idea, just need to finalize it.

5/3/1 (3rd cycle, anchor, 3/5/1, PR, Jokers, FSL; modified for knee rehab)

• Bench Press
  • bar x 5
  • 105 x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 160 x 3
  • 200 x 5
  • 225 x 3
  • 250 x 6 (all time rep PR)
  • 260 x 2 (Joker, and all time rep PR)
• Bent-over Lateral Raises (superset with bench warm-up sets)
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 15
• Neutral-Grip Pulldowns (superset with bench work sets)
  • 145 x 12
  • 145 x 12
  • 145 x 12
  • 145 x 12
• Kroc Rows (superset with bench FSL sets)
  • 60 x 10e
  • 60 x 10e
  • 60 x 28e
• Pushdowns
  • 100 x 20
  • 100 x 20
  • 100 x 15
• Cross-body alternating hammer curls (superset with Pushdowns)
  • 35e x 12
  • 35e x 11
  • 35e x 8

Today was not the day I wanted.

This week is the culimination of the past 9 weeks. I was aiming to get 5 reps on the top set, at least.

I only got 4.

Every set didn’t feel right. Things were off, out of groove. I found myself on the 285 set cutting depth short. I also found I had to fight that dizzy feeling more than usual. Every single rep of the 320 set was bad, and while I felt I had the strength for a 5th rep (and that would have still left 1 in the tank), everything was so off, the dizzy was real, and I felt it wouldn’t be prudent to take the rep.

sigh.

It’s my fault tho.

This past Saturday was a very long day teaching at KR Training. Up at 3 AM, not in bed until 10 PM. Out in the 100º heat all day teaching two sold out classes. It was draining. Sunday then I should have napped more, and I did nap some but not as dedicatedly as I should have. and then that threw off my eating and I didn’t eat as well as I should have. So this explains part of it: still worn out, poorly fueled. All my fault.

The other part of it? I psyched myself out. I’m finally emerging from my strength loss and getting into new weights I’ve not done before. It’s a little intimidating. But the thing is? I can DO these weights no problem. I just got myself all psyched out, found myself changing my approach to the bar all day today. Being worried about making the reps so I cut that depth short and was like “why the fuck did I do that?” because I’d rather hit depth and get good but fewer reps than get any amount of shitty reps. I just blew the mental game.

So, some good learning got reinforced – because most of what happened I know already, I just need to consistently do it. For example, if this is how I need to approach the heaviest weights, then I need to approach EVERY weight this way. So if there is something technique wise I feel I need to adjust, I should do it.

But I think part of it is that I need to go BACK to what I was doing. That is, instead of adopting the shit I did today, today I should have done what I’ve done all along. For example, keeping tight and allowing the descent to be slightly slow but tight. I found myself allowing for a little more acceleration on the descent and trying to reverse that speed didn’t fly well.

However to be fair — one consideration in that specific thing? Could I actually change my technique now that my knees are so much better? In part my technique to date has been considering my knee pain. But that’s well under control. So might I be able to adopt different technique now? Something to consider.

To that — next week is deload week. Wendler’s 7th Week Protocol has a specific approach to a “post-anchor, pre-leader” deload, which is basically some sort of testing week to ensure your training max is correct. I am not sure I’ll follow it. I might actually use the week to still play it deload, but play with technique some. TBD. I’ll think about it this week.

Anyways, the day is what it was, and that I learned something is good.

As for other stuff.

1-leg press is getting better. I’m not worrying about weight but getting good reps here. After my changes to belt squats last week, here I opted to allow my toes to point slightly out. That made a positive difference! I found my quads getting hit better, because I got a slightly deeper ROM. But what surprised me was the amount of gluteus minimus (side of your butt) burn I felt! That bodes well for the whole reason I’m doing these: the knee rehab work. I shall continue to explore this.

1-leg extensions I want to continue to play with, because I don’t have that 100% mind-muscle connection here, but it’s getting better.

Front plate raises continue to be a ton of fun. I like these.

The reverse curls are good. I am also enjoying the daily biceps work. Things are feeling better.

Skipped calves. Because yes, I didn’t feel like it.

10 minutes bike.

5/3/1 (3rd cycle, anchor, 3/5/1, PR, Jokers, FSL; modified for knee rehab)

• Squat (superset with band pullaparts)
  • bar x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 5
  • 200 x 3
  • 250 x 5
  • 285 x 3
  • 320 x 4 (PR set)
  • 335 x 1 (Joker)
• Band Pullaparts
  • Not tracked
• 1-Leg Leg Press
  • 45 x 14e
  • 45 x 14e
  • 45 x 12e
• 1-Leg Leg Extensions
  • 40 x 15e
  • 40 x 15e
  • 40 x 13e
• Front Plate Raises (all the way overhead)
  • 45 x 20
  • 45 x 15
  • 45 x 12
• Reverse Curls
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 10
  • 70 x 8

Today’s Press session brings “light 5’s week” to a close.

Overall a solid session with not much to report. Things moved well, felt good.

Next week: 1+ week. I must admit, the thoughts and numbers intimidate me a bit given it’s 1’s + PR, and then Joker sets. But I’m smiling about it. A little bit of fear here is good. It mean I’m pushing myself into discomfort, and that’s how I’ll get better. I have to remember that it wasn’t too long ago the weights I threw around today while yawning once intimidated me — and now, it was boring. 🙂

5/3/1 (3rd cycle, anchor, 3/5/1, PR, Jokers, FSL; modified for knee rehab)

• Press
  • bar x 5
  • 75 x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 110 x 3
  • 120 x 5
  • 140 x 5
  • 155 x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 120 x 5
• Bent-over Lateral Raises (superset with press warm-up sets)
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 15
• Normal-grip Pulldowns (superset with press work sets)
  • 145 x 12
  • 145 x 12
  • 145 x 10
• Barbell Rows (superset with press FSL sets)
  • 165 x 10
  • 165 x 10
  • 165 x 8
• Lying Triceps Extensions
  • 75 x 12
  • 75 x 12
  • 75 x 12
• BB Curls (100 rep protocol)
  • 45 x 100

Today was fun. Experiments are fun.

Again, light day, but a few things got figured out.

Deadlifts, nothing to report really. Light work, went well.

Belt squats are still an experiment, but I think I’m finding something that works. Before I was trying to replicate (somewhat) a hack squat approach or say squats on a smith machine were you put your feet out in front and push back into things — thus in the bottom position you’re a bunch of right angles and your butt is NOT atop your feet. That’s been… questionable. I found myself today instead having feet shoulder width, toes angled slightly out, and positioned in a way where the belt went straight down (instead of this other stuff, where I moved back and the belt got horizontal). So it was more akin to a normal squat position and a little more comfortable too because feet were a little wider than they have been, and just a slight angling of the feet.

That wasn’t bad. It still felt like it hit the right things too. I think I’m going to continue with it, up the weight, and see how it continues to go. It’s a slow and steady experiment.

Then – biceps. Other than “I want to do a few sets of biceps work every gym session”, I really had no idea what to do today, other than something different than my other days. So I thought: cables, because that’s a different strength curve. Then I thought, 1-handed, because I’ve been doing more unilateral work lately and really enjoying the different take (you can really focus more on the muscle). Then when I gripped the handle I found myself in a neutral hand position so why not? I supinated. So I opted for 1-handed supinating cable curls. 🙂 I just picked a weight, and it was good. It wasn’t a tremendous amount of work, and it’s not intended to be — just some fair work every session that adds overall work but recoverable work. It is helping my biceps and tendons feel better, and yeah I am curious how over the weeks this helps my biceps grow, because that’s important. 😉

Calf raises have felt stagnant, so I opted to up the weight and drop the reps to see what difference that might make.

And then 10 minutes on the bike, which continues to be useful.

So yeah, decent light day.

5/3/1 (3rd cycle, anchor, 3/5/1, PR, Jokers, FSL; modified for knee rehab)

• Deadlift
  • 185 x 5
  • 225 x 5
  • 265 x 3
  • 290 x 5
  • 335 x 5
  • 380 x 5
• Band Pullaparts (superset with deadlift warmups and work)
  • Not tracked
• Belt Squats
  • 115 x 12
  • 115 x 12
  • 115 x 12
• Seated Leg Curls
  • 125 x 12
  • 125 x 10
  • 125 x 8
• Upright rows
  • 125 x 12
  • 125 x 12
  • 125 x 9
• 1-arm supinating cable curls
  • 30 x 12e
  • 30 x 12e
  • 30 x 12e
• Stair Calves
  • 80 x 12
  • 80 x 12
  • 80 x 10

Carb restriction is working well. I’ve shed 3-4 pounds of scale weight, I can physically see and feel the difference (in the belly area, especially). This is all working according to plan. I’ll stick with it today and tomorrow, then back to normal.

So as for today’s performance, as expected. Again, it’s just a light 5’s week, tho a few things were increased such as the bent-over lat raises, pulldowns, etc.. All in all performance was up, so all good.

One aside that I’m focusing on? My posture. Work has me stressed heavily and I’ve noticed I’m emotionally down, and it’s been reflecting in my posture. I know this is bad not only for all the reasons, but also that it contributes to my shoulder/arm pain. So, really working on my posture, trying to work it in everywhere I can. For example, during the banded side-steps during warmup (and as part of my knee PT), I’m putting my arms behind me and really pushing out my chest, exaggerating good posture. It provides a good stretch too.

Speaking of – I did snap a band today. 🙂 I’ve been trying to find bands that will stand-up, but so far any bands I find, reviews are mixed in terms of durability. I’ll keep searching.

Anyways, all seems good.

5/3/1 (3rd cycle, anchor, 3/5/1, PR, Jokers, FSL; modified for knee rehab)

• Bench Press
  • bar x 5
  • 105 x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 160 x 3
  • 170 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 225 x 5
  • 170 x 5
  • 170 x 5
  • 170 x 5
• Bent-over Lateral Raises (superset with bench warm-up sets)
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 10
• Neutral-Grip Pulldowns (superset with bench work sets)
  • 145 x 12
  • 145 x 12
  • 145 x 12
• Kroc Rows (superset with bench FSL sets)
  • 60 x 10e
  • 60 x 10e
  • 60 x 25e
• Pushdowns
  • 100 x 20
  • 100 x 20
  • 100 x 20
• Alternating Cross-Body Hammer Curls (superset with Pushdowns)
  • 35e x 10e
  • 35e x 10e
  • 35e x 10e
• Bike
  • 10 minutes

Carbs make a huge difference in performance.

I’ve been feeling a little bloated, so I’m opting to trim back the carb intake. Started Friday, did it over the weekend, and will probably continue for a few more days. I’m not going no-carb, just reduction. I’ll have some in the morning around my workouts and in the evening, but mid-day aiming to be as carb-less as I can get. Nothing scientific here other than simple reduction in caloric intake, and doing it “mid-day” just works well for me, life, family, etc.

But boy, I felt it today.

Now it was strategic: this is a simple 5’s week. No PR set, no Jokers, just intended to be a light week. But man, when I got that 285 on my back, it felt heavy and 5 reps felt impossible. But again, expected and calculated. I can take it this week — I won’t be able to take it next week. Plus I have to teach this weekend and with the weather as grueling as it is now, I have to be in good form. So I’ll probably keep this up through Wednesday at most, then get back on carbs.

Anyways.

Apart from that, things went ok.

Squats were fine. Felt a little out of groove the whole time, but nothing too bad.

On the 1-leg Leg Press a few things. 1. I’ve always put 45# in extra for the sled. Skipping that. Just straight weight now — I’ve mis-loaded the sled a few times because of that, so it’s just easier to put the weights in. 2. I’m going AMRAP now because I want to see if that will be more fruitful for me.

Calf raises. I’m not sure what gives here. I feel I’m at a plateau, so I’m going to find a way to bust it. Not sure what I want to do just yet.

And I’m going ahead with my plan to add some sort of biceps curl to every workout. I was originally going to wait until next cycle, but might as well start now — it’s been helpful. It won’t be much, just 3-ish sets of like 6-20 reps (depending, I’ll mix it up). Today I opted to do reverse curls. Tommorrow will be Hammer curls. Deadlift day, not sure, might do one-hand cable curls or something. Then I really like saving the 100’s for Press day. Just something so there’s a little biceps work every day. I want to see how much benefit I get from it.

5/3/1 (3rd cycle, anchor, 3/5/1, PR, Jokers, FSL; modified for knee rehab)

• Squat (superset with band pullaparts)
  • bar x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 5
  • 200 x 3
  • 220 x 5
  • 250 x 5
  • 285 x 5
• Band Pullaparts
  • Not tracked
• 1-Leg Leg Press
  • 45 x 15e
  • 45 x 15e
  • 45 x 13e
• 1-Leg Leg Extensions
  • 40 x 12e
  • 40 x 12e
  • 40 x 12e
• Front Plate Raises (all the way overhead)
  • 45 x 15
  • 45 x 15
  • 45 x 13
• Reverse Curls
  • 65 x 10
  • 65 x 10
  • 65 x 10
• Stair Calves
  • 70 x 15
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
• Bike
  • 10 minutes

The horror of getting to the gym and discovering you left your phone at home. 🙂

I did my best to remember what my plan and weights were. When I got home and looked at what I did vs. actual, it was close enough.

And while I didn’t have my music, at least the gym music was OK today. I think the Pandora station seed must have been Eminem, so things were passable today. I still wore my earbuds tho — universal sign for “don’t bother me”. LOL

Press itself was good. I was hoping 165×7 would have been a rep PR but it was just a tie for the same weight from some time ago. Still, it was good.

Biggest thing I remembered was that I was to work up to 185 today, so I based my weight guesses on that. My plan was 175 for 2 then 185 for 1 — that’s been my pattern with Jokers all week. But man, the 175 went up easy and I knew 185 would be cake. The 185 went up well, I felt good, so I went for 2. That went well. Very happy with that! My all time best Press was 195×1 set some weeks ago, so 185 for 2 after all that work? I’ll take it.

Mis-figured the weight on the pulldowns. No big.

FSL work I changed a bit. It should have been 130, but if there’s one thing I don’t like it’s weight values just shy of the next wheel: 130, 220, 310, 400, etc. I figured 135 would be no harm today so I did that and it was enjoyable.

Thing is, I’ve been feeling beat — this week has taken a bunch out of me, mostly due to the day job. I felt like jack-shitting today, but after the 185×2 I figured at least do the FSL. The I was going to scrap the arm work, but I’ve been wanting at least some biceps work to help with the irritation there. My original plan was to do the lying triceps extensions superset with empty bar curls — just AMRAP each set. Then as I got into this I thought “just do 1 set of AMRAP and call it”. But as soon as I started curling I thought “Nah, let’s do that 100 rep-inverse-time protocol” (where it’s 100 reps total; do as many as you can, then rest for the # of seconds equal to the reps remaining; then continue, and keep doing this until you total 100 reps). That actually wound up not just with a great pump, but my biceps felt really good — no doubt because of all that increased blood flow to the area. I may keep these.

Anyways, good day. Next week is “5’s” week, no PRs, no Jokers — intended to be a “light” week for some recovery. Looking forward to it.

5/3/1 (3rd cycle, anchor, 3/5/1, PR, Jokers, FSL; modified for knee rehab)

• Press
  • bar x 5
  • 70 x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 115 x 3
  • 130 x 3
  • 145 x 3
  • 165 x 7 (PR set)
  • 175 x 2 (Joker)
  • 185 x 2 (Joker)
  • 135 x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 135 x 5
• Bent-over Lateral Raises (superset with press warm-up sets)
  • 17.5e x 15
  • 17.5e x 15
  • 17.5e x 15
  • 17.5e x 15
• Normal-grip Pulldowns (superset with press work sets)
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 12
• Barbell Rows (superset with press FSL sets)
  • 165 x 10
  • 165 x 10
  • 165 x 8
• BB Curls
  • 45 x 100 (100 rep protocol)