I don't think I'll ever be a pretty squatter; I can do one or two okay reps and then it gets pretty ugly. But as long as I'm hitting parallel, I'm okay with it for now. I also know that if I were using the weight that I started with six months ago, all my reps would be pretty! Also, looking at the picture above, I'm not sure sure I'm actually doing a low-bar squat. Anyway, last month I squatted 340lbs for 10 reps and so today I wanted 350lbs for the same. Also, in a previous cycle, 350lbs was my week 2 working weight and I did 8 reps, so I knew that today 9 was the minimum. I was feeling good and I got the 10 reps today (looking back at last month's video, today's reps were a lot faster as well, although I'm not sure about my depth =/).
Week 1 progress in 6 cycles thus far:
310x6 - cycle 1
315x7- cycle 2
325x10 - cycle 3
335x8 - cycle 4
340x10 - cycle 5
350x10 - cycle 6
Just thinking about the near future a little bit, I think cycle 7 (in which I finally start to hit some weight that I'm excited about) will be the last cycle I go for max reps on. I am thinking that cycle 8 I'll just hit the prescribed reps, work on form, and generally let my body recover a little bit (7 months of rep pr's may be taking its toll on me, I'm not sure yet). But who knows, I'm just thinking out loud .
Today marks the last time I bench anything under two plates (unless I have to deload, of course)!
Last month in week 1 cycle 5 I got 215x12. So, today, obviously, I wanted 12 again, but needed 11 (since I lifted 225x10 prior to this). I got the 11 and that was that -- I didn't have anything left to grind out another rep. I'm not too disappointed, though, since today's lift was better than the last two bench workouts which were regressions, not progressions. 220 x 11 puts me back in the right direction. I'm going to see how the next two bench workouts go: if they are piss poor, I'm going to tinker with some different options (decrease assistance work/only hit prescribed reps for a cycle, etc...). Looking at the big picture, though, my bench is still light years ahead of where it was, if you recall this shameful performance back in cycle 1: 220x2.
Also, assistance work nearly killed me today and it made me fairly nauseous. But it still improved!
Dumbell flat bench with the 70lb db's for 5 sets of 15 reps. one rep better than last time.
No change with the db rows: 5 sets of 10 reps with 100lb db's. Still working on grip.
My last set of deadlifts under 400lbs. I wanted to make it count!
As the caption says, this was to be my final set of deadlifts under 400lbs. Last month I lifted 385 for 15, and so I knew I wanted 15 again today at 395. I was a little worried, especially since I wasn't feeling very fresh; my back was still sore from the clean and jerks and weighted chins from two days ago. But I got that adrenaline going and ripped it off the floor. By the way, my arms have grown almost 2 inches since I started this program. In the past I always neglected hypertrophy work because I didn't think I could actually grow and that it was antithetical to getting strong. I was wrong!
Assistance work was pretty good today, but I was wiped out from the deadlifts.I did weighted pullups with +45lbs for: five sets of: 7, 7, 6, 5, 5, with abwheel work in between.
Cycle 6 has begun and I'm officially at the half way point of my year on 5/3/1. This last deload week served me well as I don't think I have ever come back this strong.
Today called for 195lbs on the final set and this used to be my week 3 weight back in cycle number 1! Anyway, the most I've done with 195lbs prior to this was 7 reps, and last month I did 190 for 10, so I knew I wanted somewhere between 8-10 reps today. Not only did I get 10 reps, but these reps were completed about 20 seconds faster than last month's and I still had at least 2 left in the tank.
Assistance work also improved, but I really had to work for it:
I upped the weight on dips from 45lbs to 70lbs. I did my first set of 10, however, with the +45 , then the remaining 4 sets of 10 with +70lbs.
I also got all 50 reps of weighted chins for the first time, but that 50th rep was a grinder.
