Nailed It

A couple weeks ago was the first time I tried to attempt to deadlift 365 since I failed in November. It doesn't exactly look like it but the first rep was harder than the second and third.

A lot of my lifting goals happen to match up with some convenient numbers for adding plates to a bar. 365 is the weight of a bar, 3 45 pound plates on each side and a 25 pound plate on each side as well.

Failed It

This is me failing to deadlift 365 back in November. I thought I was close so I tried it for a second time but still failed. I also failed an attempt at 365 about a year ago. I'm not even sure why I tried it. I think I nailed 315 and then just assumed I should try to do 365. I had to scratch and claw for each pound to get up to 365.

What Now?

This is what I think I'll do for all of my lifts as I reach my goal in poundages. For now I'm just going to think it through for the deadlift.

I'm going to keep the weights where they are. I might even leave the numbers where they are forever. From here I see going into 2 phases.

Increase Reps from 5/3/1 to 7/5/3

I acknowledge none of this makes sense unless you understand how 5/3/1 works. Gradually I want to bump up my reps for my 5/3/1 sets. For example in February I'm doing 6/4/2. Like I said I'll keep the weights where they are. Assuming I hit all my lifts, then the following month I'll go to 7/3/5.

Here's how my 5/3/1 sets look for Jan, Feb and Mar look. I'm leaving out deload weeks here.

January

  5 250   3 267.5 5 287.5
  5 287.5 3 307.5 3 325
  5 325   3 345   1 365

February

  6 250  4 270  6 290
  6 290  4 310  4 325
  6 325  4 345  2 365

March

  7 250  5 270  7 290
  7 290  5 310  5 325
  7 325  5 345  3 365

So the idea is, for the rest of my life I don't deadlift more than 365 pounds. I'll do it once a month and I'll do it for a triple.

Add Cardio with EMOM

Once I increase my reps of my 5/3/1 sets (now 7/5/3, heh), then I will introduce some HIIT using EMOM.

For assistance work I always do 3 sets of 10 of whatever exercise I did for the 5/3/1 sets. So for deadlifts my first assistance exercise is deadlifts yet again for 3 sets of 10 reps at 215 pounds.

The rest of my deadlift assistance work looks like this: bb hip thrust 5 20 185 kb swing 5 20 53

I'll do them as a cycle, so hip thrusts then kettlebell swing then onto the 2nd round for hip thrusts, more kettlebell swings, you get the idea.

The first month, I guess that'll be April. I'll do the last 2 cycles as EMOM.

  1. bb hip thrust, kb swing
  2. bb hip thrust, kb swing
  3. bb hip thrust, kb swing
  4. bb hip thrust, kb swing EMOM
  5. bb hip thrust, kb swing EMOM

The next month, looking like May I'll do the last 3 cycles as EMOM and on from there until all the sets of my assistance work is EMOM. This should really get my heart going.

At the end of all this I hope to maintain solid strength and get in much better cardio shape. We'll see how it works.