Back on the gainzzzz wagon today, though it'll be at least a few weeks before I PR anything. But did start the first workout in climbing back up towards higher volume and intensity work. I have my eyes on a mid-late May meet (you reading this Walter?) as my next one, so thinking about a mini peak for the upper body in February, then a full peak before that meet, with deloads as necessary along the way.
As far as squats and pulls, I figure I'll get my squat back up to previous levels (low 500's) by late January and my DL (low-mid 600's) probably a little before that. So I should have about 14-15 weeks to make progress before the meet. The stretch goal from this far removed a distance is a 1655 total raw with sleeves, which would qualify me as Pro/Elite. That could reasonably break up into something like 555/425/675. If I can actually manage to remain uninjured, however, even a bad training cycle or bad meet day should still leave me with something like 530/415/650 and a total at or close to 1600.
Anyway, enough musing. Too far out to make predictions with any accuracy.
One note: I had to bring my bar to my new training space (because I needed a bar, obviously), so when training at the gym now, I am using their shitty gym bars. It'll be at least a couple weeks before I'm doing anything heavy enough for this to limit me, but it does make otherwise easier sets, slightly (or more than slightly) harder.
Today's work:
Bench Press
335x5
Notes: Felt about like I expected it to: a challenging set but plenty of gas in the tank. I estimate my 5RM at peaking the other week of about 365 or so. So dropped a little less than 10% of that and going to work my way back up in 5's as long as I can.
Squat
45x5x2, 95x5, 135x5, 175x5, 205x5, 225x5
Notes: Come at me bro, I've gone from 115x5 to 225x5 in two weeks. Barely even had to rest. Ya, that's right. Oh, and I'll hit 245x5 tomorrow, suckas.
Press
185x5, 195x5, 205x5
Notes: Just wanted to feel these out and get used to a bit of volume again. 185 was easy, 195 was medium, 205 was fairly challenging. So I'll plan next week to do 5x5 @ 165, 175, 185, 195, 205, and then resume 5x5 @ 190 after that.
Chins
3 sets of 5
Notes: First time doing actual chins since some time in the summer, IIRC. Felt fine. Whatever was bugging my shoulder about these a few months ago was not present at all today. I will add volume slowly, but am hopeful I will do real chins and pullups instead of just chin-downs and pull-downs this cycle.
C2 Rower
Just tested out a cruise of 200m at a 2:00 pace. Back felt fine. I can start working these in again - tomorrow. Frankly, given my lack of any conditioning work at all since September, I'm surprised this single easy effort didn't wind me.