Beyond 531: Cycle 5, Week 1: Overhead Press; Flat Bench Press!!

Overhead Press (plug in weight: 170)
45/10, 95/5
115/5, 130/5, 145/11 (11RM), 160/5, 170/1
115/10, 115/10, 115/10
   * A video of the 145/11 set is on my Instagram page: @beetroot5m.

Flat Bench Press
45/15, 135/5, 135/5, 155/5, 185/5, 205/5, 225/1, 225/1

I'm VERY excited about how bench pressing felt. I've been going to PT for my never ending shoulder injury and I've seen some very promising results so far. I did all of the sets tonight without any pain. Even the singles at 225 didn't hurt, which I'm pumped about! Let's see if this lasts.

Beyond 531: Cycle 5, Week 1: Jefferson & V-Handle Deadlifts

Have to combine the deadlifts this week because I can only get to the gym 3 days.

Jeffersons (plug in weight: 395)
135/5, 185/5, 225/3
255/5, 295/5, 340/10 (10RM)

V-Handles (plug in weight: 395)
135/5
255/5, 295/5, 340/10 (10RM)

Elliptical.

The set of 340 wasn't too bad with Jeffersons, but it was an absolute grinder with V-Handles. I am sure the reverse would have been true had I performed the exercises in the opposite order.

I just signed up for Instagram: @beetroot5m - you can see videos of the two sets of 340 there.

Beyond 531: Cycle 5, Week 1: Incline Press

I know I said that I would start another cycle next week, but I feel good enough to start one now.

New plug in weights will be 90% of the 1RMs I just set.

Incline Press (plug in weight: 205)
45/15, 115/10
135/5, 155/5, 175/10, 195/5, 205/4, 215/2
135/10, 135/10, 135/10, 135/10

Pendlay Rows: 7 sets, various weights & reps

HIIT on the treadmill

PR Testing

Today was the day of my "competition". I decided to do all 4 exercises on the same day. I was in the gym for about 2.5 hours today, and when it was all done, I was much more mentally and physically exhausted than I anticipated. I'd imagine that the mental aspect lead to both the mental and physical exhaustion, as I never actually sweated like I would during a normal workout. This was expected, due to long rest periods and only doing 1 rep per work set.

Incline Press
warm up: 45/10, 95/5, 135/1, 155/1, 175/1, 195/1
work sets: 205/1, 225/1 (PR), 235/0
   * The warm up sets and the set of 205 flew up. Originally, I thought the elusive 225 would be my third set, but because of how fast the reps went, I knew that I would hit it with no trouble. It went up well enough that I decided to go for a pie in the sky PR. I got 235 halfway up, and then it died. I probably would have been good for 230, though. Despite missing the third attempt, I am happy that I finally did a 225 pound incline press, and it wasn't all that difficult. I tried to record the set of 225, but I messed it up, unfortunately.

Jefferson Deadlift
warm up: 155/5, 235/3, 265/1, 315/1, 345/1
work sets: 380/1, 415/1, 425/1 (PR)
   * Video: 425/1. Based on how it felt, I think I would have been good for 430, but since I missed the third attempt with the incline press, I didn't want to be greedy.

               

Overhead Press
warm up: 45/10, 95/5, 135/1, 155/1
work sets: 170/1, 180/1, 195/0
   * I was worried about this one because I just hit a very difficult 190 pound PR last week.  I could have tried 190 again, but since my goal here was to set new PRs, I decided to see how 195 felt. It went a little bit beyond my head and then hit a wall. Not disappointed at all because I knew I just barely hit 190 so recently, that it would have been a miracle to get 195 today.  I probably shouldn't have even bothered testing this, but I figured why not.

V-Handle Deadlift
warm up: 155/5, 235/3, 265/1, 335/1, 375/1
work sets: 405/1, 435/1 (PR), 440/1 (PR)
   * Video: 440/1. I was pretty spent after the set of 405, so I decided to go for a PR which I knew I'd hit (435). If it was a grinder, I would have called it a day. However, it went up well enough so I decided to end the day on a successful note and crack the 440 mark. Could I have done 445 or 450? Maybe. But, I didn't want to end the day on a miss and since I never hit 440 before, I decided it would be a nice number to conclude with.

           

Conclusion
3 nice PRs and 1 PR from last week. Not a bad day at all.
I'll do a recovery week next week and start another Beyond 531 cycle based on 90% of my new PR's commencing the first week of April.

Beyond 531: Cycle 4, Week 6: V-Handles

V-Handle Deadlifts (plug in weight: 435)
155/5, 225/5, 265/5, 300/3
325/5, 370/3, 420/3 (3RM)
325/5, 325/5, 325/5, 325/5

Elliptical

* Nice 3RM tonight. Here we are at the end of another cycle. I'm going to have a little pretend competition next weekend. After that, I will start another Beyond 531 cycle based off of the 1RMs I am able to hit next weekend. To prepare, I am going to do a few sets of 3 @ 75% for OHPs and inclines tomorrow, and for Jeffersons on Tuesday. I may do some 50% sets on Thursday just to keep the blood flowing, and then I will test over the weekend. I may do two exercises on Saturday and two on Sunday, as opposed to all four in one session. I haven't decided that yet, though.

Beyond 531: Cycle 4, Week 6: Overhead Press; Incline Press

Overhead Press (plug in weight: 200)
45/10, 45/10, 95/5, 120/5
150/5, 170/3, 190/1 (PR!!!!!)
150/5, 150/5, 150/5
    *PUMPED about finally getting to 190! It's been a long time coming. The rep was an absolute grinder, but I managed to power through.

Incline Press
45/20, 135/10
185/5, 185/5, 185/5, 185/5, 185/5

Elliptical

Beyond 531: Cycle 4, Week 6: Jeffersons

Jeffersons (plug in weight: 435)
155/5, 225/5, 265/5, 300/3
325/5, 370/3, 415/2 (2RM)
325/5, 325/5, 325/5, 325/5

Elliptical

This is a great 2RM. My previous 2RM was 405 and my previous 1RM was 410. Very happy with tonight.

Beyond 531: Cycle 4, Week 6: Incline Press; Pendlay Rows

Incline Press (plug in weight: 230)
45/20, 115/10, 145/5
175/5, 195/3, 220/2 (2RM)
175/8, 175/8, 175/8
   *220/2 wasn't too bad at all, but it does make me wonder how I missed 225 not too long ago. Perhaps a mental thing?

Pendlay Rows
135/10, 185/8, 205/5, 205/5, 205/5

HIIT cardio

Beyond 531: Cycle 4, Week 5: V-Handle Deadlifts

V-Handle Deadlifts (plug in weight: 435)
155/5, 225/5, 265/3
305/3, 350/3, 390/5 (ties 5RM), 405/4 (4RM)
305/8, 305/8, 305/8

Elliptical machine.

*Pretty happy with the new 4RM. Thinking about doing my own version of a "competition" after this cycle. Not sure, though.

Beyond 531: Cycle 4, Week 5: Overhead Press; Incline Press

Overhead Press (plug in weight: 200)
45/12, 95/10, 115/5
140/3, 160/3, 180/2, 180/2 (tied 2RM twice)
140/7, 140/7, 140/7

Incline Press
45/10, 135/8
180/5, 180/5, 180/5, 180/5, 180/5

Elliptical machine.

OHP was OK, but I failed at getting 180/3. We'll see if I can get 190/1 next week. Either way, it's time for a ramp down.

Beyond 531: Cycle 4, Week 5: Jeffersons

Jeffersons (plug in weight: 435)
135/10, 185/5, 235/5, 265/3
305/3, 350/3, 390/4, 390/4 (4RM twice)
305/5, 305/5, 305/5, 305/5

Beyond 531: Cycle 4, Week 5: Incline Press; Pendlay Rows

Incline Press (plug in weight: 230)
45/15, 95/10, 140/3
160/3, 185/3, 205/5 (5RM)
160/12, 160/12, 160/12

Pendlay Rows
135/10, 165/5, 185/5, 195/5, 195/5, 195/5, 205/5

Treadmill

* My left leg has really been bothering me, and unfortunately, I think squats are the culprit. I am not going to squat this week, see how it feels next week, and if it goes well, may revisit the SS bar and go from there. Yes, it's annoying.

Beyond 531: Cycle 4, Week 4: V-Handles; Barbell Squats

Friday's workout- forgot to enter it.

V-Handle Deadlifts (plug in weight: 435)
155/5, 225/5
285/5, 285/5, 325/5, 370/6 (ties 6RM), 400/4 (4RM)
285/5, 285/5
   * Was hoping for 370/7+ tonight, but I'm glad to get the new 4RM. Looks like my Jeffersons are catching up to V-Handles. Did an extra set of 285/5 by mistake- thought I was doing 325 and realized I forgot to add the weight! Daydreaming.

Barbell Squats
135/8
195/5, 195/5, 195/5, 195/5, 195/5
   * The most uncomfortable part of the squat for me is the unracking, walk out, and re-racking of the weight. The actual movement itself is fine.