Very basic and easy pulling day today. I am going to do few and/or no pullups and MUs for the next stretch and train more like a bro. Just to give the elbows a break.
Jump Day. Was expecting to have to dial it back a little, as I had tweaked my left knee a little a few days ago, but once I had warmed it up it was fine. Ended up with a rep PR at 40 inches, and did it twice. Kinda wanted to do more on the backoffs, but started getting weary, and the last thing I want to do is miss a jump and break my entire face or something.
And to follow up, this was the last jumping day before my ski vacation in a week. I will have a squat/leg day in a few days, which I absolutely will dial back, and that will end this little block of preparation I have been running just for that purpose. Will have to figure out how to move forward once I am back, but I might not change things up too much.
Back from ski trip. It was glorious. Didnāt take me long to get back into the swing of it despite having not done it in 25 years. Probably better at it now than I was back then. We skied 6 days in a row, and after the first day I was pretty concerned that I had screwed myself a little, because my legs were sore and stiff as hell. But it turns out all the leg training prep paid off, because I woke up every morning ready to go.
Anyway, first day back in the gym today after a pretty tough week on the slopes. I ate a lot of food and still managed to drop 1.5 kilo due to some crazy calorie burning. So from a lifting point of view it was like a horrible deload, and I always come back weak after deloads. Oh well, it was to be expected. The barbell in particular was just balls heavy.
Still mulling over this, not sure what to do next. I might try to go back on the gain train for a bit, but if I do it will include a lot more conditioning than how I usually do it.
Okay, so not knowing what else to do, I went and did a little 531 BBB EMB session today. No AMRAP for a change. Not sure if this means I am doing a 531, but on the other hand I have been eating today as if I am so maybe? Got a couple days to figure it out. Even if I do, I will modify it like I usually do.
Set the numbers conservatively, which is probably a good thing after a week off.
Pulling day today. Trying to slightly shift focus on really working on my back to build a better pressing plaftorm. It looks the same on paper, but I am doing slightly more reps and emphasizing the feel/pump of the reps.
And why the small change? Because I am still toying around with going balls deep on a 531 cycle, and there will be a lot of pushing.
I feel like I have been eating quite a bit for the past couple of weeks, but my weight has gone down some moreā¦about 82.5 wakeup weight at the moment, which is too low for what I am getting into.
Speaking of which, I still havenāt worked out the exact plan or cadence, but made today another 531 day, this time bench day on the incline. Would normally want to do the EMB squat cardio sets, but my legs are not recovered from last time, so may just do them tomorrow.
It is odd doing this without the AMRAP. Is this how other people experience 531? It feels too easy. So I made sure to go very slow and make all the reps high quality.
Barbell Incline Bench Press
40 kg x 5 reps
55 kg x 5 reps
65 kg x 5 reps
70 kg x 5 reps
80 kg x 5 reps
90 kg x 5 reps
60 kg x 10 reps
60 kg x 10 reps
60 kg x 10 reps
60 kg x 10 reps
60 kg x 15 reps
Standing Dumbbell Upright Row
11 kg x 10 reps
11 kg x 10 reps
11 kg x 10 reps
11 kg x 10 reps
11 kg x 10 reps
11 kg x 10 reps
Dips - Chest Version
5 reps
5 reps
5 reps | weighted | 8 kg
5 reps | weighted | 16 kg
5 reps | weighted | 24 kg
10 reps | weighted | 16 kg
20 reps | weighted | 8 kg
Hit the heavy bag a little for some light conditioning.
Did a deadlift 531 session, and it primarily just reminded me that I should consider only doing this TM style instead of BBB. I also did it conventional instead of sumo. Last by not least, has been a couple months since I deadlifted anything. All of this to say it all felt awkward and heavy and I didnāt enjoy myself. Also stopped after two of the backoff sets, because my left hip flexor was yelling at me (minor skiing injury).
Oh well, still figuring this out. Have sorta gone through a whole week now, but will have to fix the order next week.
Barbell Deadlift
70 kg x 5 reps
85 kg x 5 reps
100 kg x 3 reps
110 kg x 5 reps
130 kg x 5 reps
145 kg x 5 reps
90 kg x 10 reps
90 kg x 10 reps
Standing Barbell Shoulder Press (OHP)
20 kg x 5 reps
40 kg x 5 reps
45 kg x 10 reps
45 kg x 10 reps
45 kg x 10 reps
45 kg x 10 reps
55 kg x 10 reps
Muscle-Up
2 reps
2 reps
4 reps
Isolateral Plate Loaded Row
98 lb x 16 reps
118 lb x 16 reps
138 lb x 16 reps
OHP BBB was too easy despite soreness from the bench, so had to add 10 kilo to the last set. Ran for 6.
Jump day. Has been a tough week on the legs, so did not have much oomph here. Will do better next time. Rest was just the usual random pulling and core stuff.
C1W2D1. Doing 531, may as well log it properly. Squats today with a minor in incline bench. Still odd getting used to not doing AMRAP. It just doesnāt feel challenging, although it seems obvious that it also means my body will recover better. Still keeping the backoff sets light in accordance to the programā¦for now. In any case, it is good to do a bit of volume for a change.