7WP, TM Test - summary
Kind of an up-and-down week: new rep PRs with squat and deadlift TMs, but failed to hit required reps for press and bench TMs. In fact, I dropped 2 reps on press (down to 160x0) and 1 on bench (down to 280x3) compared to the 7WP, Deload just before the Pervertor, Anchor cycle. And, FWIW, I don’t think I’ve worked harder on a squat set before—not even some of those Widowmakers I’ve done. But I’m still pretty happy with 335x5. The deadlift set (375x5) was the most solid of the bunch, but that’s not saying much.
Not trying to be a Debbie-Downer here, just want to be realistic about how things are going. I’ve decided to go with the new TMs for squat and deadlift because I’m confident in the percentage work I’ll be doing in Cycle 13. And I’ve decided to rollback the TMs for press and bench rather than keep them the same because, although I’ve already done work with the required weights, I’m going to try that running-start thing and see if I can break the plateau in Cycles 13 and 14 to hit the new TMs as I fly into the Cycle 15 anchor.
I did better with my diet this week than I have for the past several 7WP weeks, but that’s not saying much either. At the same time, I’ve not derailed myself, which is huge, so I’ve just gotta keep the ball rolling.
I’m actually looking forward to keeping my nose to the grindstone for the next 6 weeks and really just focusing on the work. I think the combination of 7WP, Deload (with new TM tests) into Pervertor, Anchor (with PR sets and jokers) into 7WP, TM test (with more new TM tests) left me mentally exhausted (to say nothing of physical exhaustion). I try not to do much of the chest-pounding psych-up stuff, but even so, 5 weeks with TM tests, PR sets, and jokers was maybe more of a mental burden than I realized… Now that I’m at the end of it, I feel like a weight’s been lifted. (Hah! See what I did there?)
I also took some time yesterday afternoon to get the swirling thoughts out of my head and actually plan out the next 2-3 cycles. So 13 and 14 will be 5s PRO, 5x5 FSL leaders with extra Widowmakers for every lift. And I’m eyeing up Full Body, 5s PRO for the following anchor: no PR sets (mental relief!) and I’ve not tried a 5/3/1 full body template before, so that’ll be interesting. The anchor isn’t written in stone just yet, so we’ll have to see how things go over the next 6 weeks.
Anyway, Cycle 13 will look a lot like Cycle 5, Week 2 (back in November 2021) and Cycle 14 will look a lot like Cycle 5, Week 3. In addition to the typical stuff, I’m also going to row daily to address the lack of upper back size and strength. Oh, and I’ll be running these cycles 3/5/1.
So, the next 6 weeks will allow me to just focus on quality reps with sub maximal weights and some decent volume. That sounds like a recipe for success to me!
Alright. My goals for the week ahead are:
- Complete all 4 lifting workouts
- Complete 3 Widowmaker sets for each lift
- Hit (at least) 65 reps for each assistance category
- Complete 2 days of hard conditioning
- Complete 3 days of easy conditioning
- Do (at least) 50 burpees + swings every day
- Row something heavy every day
- Eat well
One Widowmaker set will close out each lifting workout, and I’ll do 2 back-to-back sets for each lift 2 days later. Hard conditioning will be sled pushes on Tuesdays and Fridays. Easy conditioning will look like it has for the past several weeks, but I REALLY need to get up to the park and start running again. Just need to get back in the habit there.
I also plan to do a The Last Castle-style workout on Sunday afternoons and hit up a CrossFit-style WOD or one of Pwn’s Bad Ideas on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. That leaves Monday and Thursday afternoons free for now, but that’s how I did it in Cycle 5, and that worked really well. If I find I need or want more work, there’s room to add it later in the cycle. (Rumor has it front squat tabatas only take 4 minutes, haha!)
Finally, my TMs for Cycle 13 are:
Press - 150 lbs
Squat - 335 lbs
Dead - 375 lbs
Bench - 270 lbs
and the Widowmaker weights for Week 1 are:
Press - 100 lbs
Squat - 215 lbs
Dead - 240 lbs
Bench - 175 lbs
That’s it. I’m gonna crush this stuff. Because, of course, I am inevitable!