New Deadlift PR: 355!
I felt pretty good, well-rested and -fed (and I had had to skip last Friday's workout, so I was fresh as well), and warmed up quickly, going a coupla reps each at 95, 135, 225, 315. I had intended to do 3x3x315, but my birthday's tomorrow, and I decided to give myself a little treat. I thought it would be nice to make a second attempt at 355 and see if I could get it in before beginning another year of going around the sun. I had my 'Green Day' Pandora station on, and Offspring's "Come out and Play" came on. Perfect. I needed something basic and stupid, so I cranked it.
The bar went up, very slow but steady and with good form. Then I came down in 10-pound increments, each increment feeling about as hard as 355, until I got to 315 again. Somewhere around 335 I felt a muscle in my left shoulder blade strain a bit, but I was able to keep it under control. From there, I took off two of the 45-pound grip plates and put on two 25-pounders, to bring it down to 275 and sets of 5/4/3 reps. I felt my left knee's MCL strain a bit, so I redoubled my attention to good form, and the strain went away.
Man, I was wiped out. I felt hollow and hungry.
But after a few minutes, my ATP-PC levels must've been restored or something, as I was able to launch into my Barbell Bentover Rows with pretty good pep. I switched from my Green Day Pandora station to my Black Uhuru station. The white noise had served its purpose.
I'm a little undecided about the value of BB Rows, so for this week, I've decided to combine them with the Deadlifts, as my 'lite' row day, and put the Dumbbell Rows, Russian Twists, and Cable Rows on Friday, as my heavy row day, where they'll combine with heavy squats if I skip the squats on Wednesday, or light squats and light deadlifts if I'll have ended up doing heavy squats on Wednesday. At 135, the BB BORs felt a little light, but 185 was a little too heavy to do with proper form. 165 hit the sweet spot of maximal 3x5 resistance while maintaining strict 90-degree form. They felt pretty good so I guess I'll keep BB Rows for the time being. I kind of liked the cheating "Yates" form at 185 too though, so next time maybe I'll start with strict Pendlay rows
and then add weight--maybe 225?--to finish with Yates rows:
From there I did assisted Chinups. I was able to add a rep to my sets, from 3 to 4. Still pathetic, I know, but it's progress. Once I get up to 10 assisted Chinups, I'll start doing a few low-rep sets raw. It's funny, but right now it feels like my biceps are the limiting factor. Maybe I should start doing curls again?
Finally, hyperextensions. It dawned on me that it would be a lot easier to get a dumbbell behind my neck than a barbell, like I tried last week, so I picked up one of my 25-pound rubber hex dumbbells and had at it. Wow, what a great finishing exercise. After a few sets of 7-8 reps, I was totally spent. I wanted to do a third set, but my lower back was bubbling.
No way I was going to do my box jumps. So I whipped up a protein shake with some creatine and berries, showered, and headed out to pick up the kids, feeling a little giddy about my new PR. The next 10-pound increase will mean slapping on my two 25-pound grip plates. That will look pretty nice, with three 45-pounders and one 25er on either side of the bar. I'll try it at the end of this month or beginning of September. If I can hoist it, then I'll still be on schedule for 405 by the end of the year, Jan/Feb at the latest.
My new "dead wedges" performed well, but they were kinda unnecessary. Most of the workout involved monkeying around with 10- and 5-pound plates as I pyramided down from 355 to 315. Once I get up to 405 though, they'll be nice. The idea is to eventually do worksets at 405 and drop sets at 365 with the two 25-pounders, so I'll mostly be moving the big plates.
Today I'm really feeling it in my back, like someone kicked me repeatedly, but in a kind, loving kinda way. Not feeling it too much in my glutes and hammies, so hopefully I'll be able to get in a good run down by the river later today. I'm still experimenting, but it seems like squats interfere with running much more than deadlifts. So maybe the day after squats should be interval/hills day?
I have been building up to a 1rm on the shoulder press and then doing back off sets and I really like that sequence. I have used it before for lower lifts but never upper stuff. I might try doing the bench this way. Its a nice way to add in some volume training which I think my upper pushes benefit more from them.
I really like the 1-2RM to back-off sets protocol for all the heavy lifts: Deadlifts, Squats, Bench. For rows and the 'top' lifts--OH press & Chinups--I find it nearly impossible to do 1RM with good form. Maybe I'll be able to do the OH presses that way when I'm stronger. Cool that it's working for you. What are you pressing these days?
Thanks Sid.
Pretty weak methodology though (untrained subjects), but I guess it proves that for novices, just about anything will lead to improvement! In fact, I read in one of the articles I looked up yesterday that the use of slow reps tends to decrease as experience grows, such that the author reported that he knew of no advanced lifters who did it, and only a few intermediate ones. But I think he was referring to powerlifters, not bodybuilders.