5/3/1 & Bodybuilding - c19w3 - summary
This summary is about a week overdue, and there’s probably not too much point to it by now, but I’ll just go ahead and post it for completeness…
The last week of 5/3/1 & Bodybuilding was pretty awesome: I set a new 1+ press rep PR (150x6), I set a new 1+ deadlift rep PR (350x8), I crushed 159 push-ups over 4 rest-pause sets, and squatting 285 didn’t bury me. It was a decent week for sure.
I ALMOST got in all 42 30-minute weighted vest walks over the course of this template, too, but the deep freeze finally hit us—we’re talking sub-zero temps and ridiculous wind chills—so I opted to ride the bike on Friday and Saturday instead. Regardless, I’m glad the daily walks are over: boring, Boring, BORING.
As cool as the rep PRs in the last two weeks of this template were, what I’m happiest about is that I finally figured out eating: I don’t think I was eating enough in the first four weeks, but I was putting away food like it was my job during the last two weeks. I wasn’t hungry like I was during Forever BBB or BBB Beefcake or some of the other templates I’ve run, so I was basically force-feeding myself to put away the extra calories, but my abs got blurry, my love handles returned, and when it came time to lift, my body was ready.
That said, I honestly don’t like force-feeding—at least not like that. I’m not sure how exactly, but it felt different somehow. And I don’t think it’s smart to do it like that for too long, particularly given my history with food.
But I am happy to eat if I’m hungry, so when I tackle the Frankenstein’ed version of this template I’ve got planned for the start of the New Year, I’ll need to make some adjustments to make sure I’m actually hungry when it’s time to eat. Luckily that’s easy enough to accomplish with some hard work.
For now though, I’m moving into a planned deload. My goals are straightforward:
- Complete all 4 lifting workouts
- Complete 3 days of easy conditioning
- Do 50 burpees + swings every day
- Eat
Notice I didn’t say, “Eat right.” This deload falls over the holidays, so I’m just going to enjoy whatever food is available when it’s time to eat. I won’t be purposefully crazy or stupid, but we’ve got several atypical events planned, so I already know most days won’t feature my typical menu.
I’m cycling up all the weights this week—so +5 lbs on press and bench, and +10 lbs on deadlift and squat—but I’m also going to stick to the actual 7WP, Deload protocol, not the TM Test version that I often do: I’m just going to hit 5, 3, 1, and 1 for the work sets.
Beyond that, my plan this week is to:
- Finish out the last set of BB curls for 2022 (152 unbroken reps!)
- Enjoy the relaxed schedule at work (all meetings have been cancelled until after the New Year’s holiday!)
- Savor the fact that my kids still get up early on Christmas morning exactly because it’s Christmas morning
That’s it.
But it sounds like an absolutely AWESOME plan to me!