Day 2 Week 5 (Test Day)
Warmup drills
Bench - 135 x 5, 185 x 3, 205 x 2, 225 x 1,
240 x 1
Deadlift - 135 x 3, 225 x 3, 275 x 2, 315 x 2, 365 x 1,
395 x Miss
Today didn't really go as planned but after taking a step back, I've figured the reasons why.
Leading up to today, I was kind of low on drive and wasn't really excited about testing. I had very little motivation to push really hard or energy or desire to do so. I believe this is caused by a burnout in specificity. I've just been doing these lifts for too long.
Bench was okay. 240 wasn't too hard but I had little desire to go up. It was early, I didn't have my usual partners in training and no spotter. Considering my BW has dropped from near 180 to just above 170, this isn't a big blow. After bench, I didn't feel really motivated to deadlift heavy. After 365, I felt like meh. Didn't put much effort into 395 to be honest.
Looking back on my training logs, I've realized that some of my best gains on the big lifts in recent years, is actually when I wasn't even performing them. I've been reading CT's work on Neuro types. I can say without a doubt, I fall into the 2A category, blend of neural and muscular system. The 5 x 5 x 5 is a good program, no doubt. But it may work better for me in a shorter time period and after a long period of not doing my competition lifts. It does focus mostly on the neural aspects and does disregard the muscular one. For me, this may not be best right now. After losing some size, I definitely felt a bit unstable un-racking my heavier bench attempts. Also, I haven't handled much heavier weights recently. This messed with me psychologically. As for the deadlift, I think
@Dekapon had good advice about it earlier in my blog. I've "over deadlifted".
As far as neuro types go, according to CT, mine thrives on variety and a mixture of explosive, heavy and muscular training. I think this may be true. Also note, he stated programs must be changed often as I adapt very quickly. Note that my best week on 5 x 5 x 5 was week 2. After that, I felt like I wasn't really getting better. Good to know, will tuck it in my back pocket for later. I've all ready decided the best course of action for myself.