Beyond 531: Cycle 5, Week 2: Incline Press; Pendlay Rows

Incline Press (plug in weight: 205)
45/15, 95/10
145/3, 165/3, 185/11 (11RM), 205/3, 215/1, 225/1 (ties PR)
145/10, 145/10, 145/10, 145/10, 145/10

Pendlay Rows
155/10, 175/5, 185/5, 190/5, 200/3, 200/3, 175/8

HIIT cardio

   * This was a +10 workout. My previous best at 185 was 8. Tonight, I did 11! I also almost hit a second rep at 225.. I was probably 80% up before failure.

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