Deadlift Goal Achieved
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.
- bb hip thrust, kb swing
- bb hip thrust, kb swing
- bb hip thrust, kb swing
- bb hip thrust, kb swing EMOM
- 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.