Makeup day

Normally, Tuesday is deadlift day, but because I was a little busy attending my son's fifth grade graduation, I skipped the workout with plans to make it up on Wednesday. Finding myself preoccupied with other matters, I wasn't very motivated to do that makeup workout, but I didn't want to let it slide. So I compromised.

Instead of doing the full workout I abbreviated it a bit and focused primarily on completing the deadlift sets. I was able to do 5 reps at 280 in the last set, which puts me in good shape to be able to do some reps at 295 next week. I expect to be able to do at least 5 reps at that weight.

I realized during the workout that I'd performed the Monday OHP incorrectly. Well, not in terms of form or anything, just that I performed more reps than I was supposed to. The plan is called 5/3/1 for a reason. In each of the first three weeks of a cycle, the intensity increases and the reps decrease. Week one is the 5-rep week, week 2 is three reps in each working set, and in week 3 the working sets are 5-3-1. But I completed five reps in each of the OHP sets on Monday instead of three. Duh. Obviously, I'm no worse for wear. Plenty of time to recover before next Monday's workout.

Likewise, I have to remember that I'm doing three reps in each set of the bench press this evening. Three. Three, three, three. Except in the last set. In the last set, you're supposed to do as many as you can without going to true failure. Yeah, it's kind of a weird concept, but I can't argue with it because it seems to be working. I'm especially happy with the improvement on the OHP.

Yes, the progress is slow, I admit. If I were trying to hit my 5RM each week, I could be lifting 120+ on the OHP right now. But the mistake I've always made in the past is pushing too hard and being too impatient. The Wendler system is working for me, so there's no reason not to keep going with it. Slow and steady = constant improvement = no frustration.

The change I made to yesterday's workout was to ditch the hanging leg raises and good mornings, opting instead for ab crunches on the Powertec Workbench and close-grip chin-ups. I supersetted the three exercises to abbreviate the workout. I shuffled things a bit, but since I completed the main movement for the workout as prescribed, I don't think it's truly a violation of the plan.

Today, it will be business as usual with the bench press, dumbbell press and Kroc rows.

The deadlift workout is, of course, logged on Fitocracy. (I may have linked to an incorrect URL in previous posts. Oops.)