Prepping for a race in January, letting some things heal, getting stronger, and doing correctives.

Deads are progressing along well!  It has been a steady improvement and getting used to actually pushing a little bit again.

In the midst of a deload this week so I have a chance to catch up.  Life has been a little over the top lately.  Lost my grandpa this past week and it was tough.  I know a lot of people have close relationships with there grandparents as well, so I’m sure it’s relatable for many.  He was a potent dude in a lot of ways so it was an intense loss for a lot of us.

That aside, deadlifts have been the one thing that I can get after.  I came back into things very deconditioned and as a result, its been a bear getting it back.  I opened the cycle working on a higher volume.  I haven’t wholly deviated from that now.  I’m working the same percentage ranges that would still be about accumulating strength but allowing some small tastes of top-end capabilities.

I do this because as my body reaccustoms to training consistently the strength curve gets a bit whacky.  What was hard 6 weeks ago for a 3-5 is not so now.  There’s a lot of training time under my belt, so once my body is aware we’re getting back after it? Well, some adjustments need to be made.  Not getting greedy, just trying to keep an eye on what’s realistic.  In a lot of ways, it’s similar to newbie gains right now.

Deads are sticking to the format that I mentioned in the last post.  Top 2 at about an RPE 7 and then some percentage work.  I’ve been using my last set to hit a little volume and see how my endurance is holding up.  I cap the reps at 10, and if it’s solid I know I should be good for a small bump up.  I’ve been going two weeks on and one off as far as deloads go.  It’s been working beautifully.  So reps looked like the following:

Top 2

5×3 reps for main work

Final Set of 10 reps using the same weight.

I like it because it keeps me from being unrealistic about the weights for my main volume.  I get way too aggressive if I don’t watch myself.  Everything is progressing well so there is no point in being dumb right now.

One quick aside, I take the top 2 from the floor, the main volume I’m doing from about a 2-3″ deficit, same for rep set.

Done.