I just had three days to workout this week, and on each one I went for a new PR on the squat, bench and deadlift.
On Monday, I managed to squat 295 for two reps. On Wednesday, I did 240 pounds on the bench press for four reps. And today I did a 315 pound deadlift for two reps.
On each of these lifts, you're supposed to do between one and four reps. I only pulled off four reps on my bench press.
My calculated one rep max on my bench press went up from 245 pounds to 265 pounds. That's awesome. Yet my squat only went from 300 pounds to 310 pounds, and my deadlift stayed roughly the same, near 330 pounds.
I crunched the numbers, and my combined calculated max weight on all three exercises comes out to 905 pounds. Just 95 pounds short of my goal, but not nearly as close as I should have been.
I'd like to say that this is just because I'm hitting a plateau, but I'd be lying to myself if I did.
The truth is that I've failed in three areas, and they're all from a lack of discipline.
1. I'm still drinking too much booze. Not only does alcohol cause you to lower your body's rate of testosterone output (which you need to build muscle), but it would also cause problems with number 2.
2. My workout times are inconsistent. I started out on this plan doing my workouts in my home gym, shortly after I woke up. But because I would drink after coming home from work at around midnight, my workout times varied. If I didn't drink, I'd workout in the morning hours the day after. If I did, I'd workout after I got out of work, because I'd be too hungover to workout in the morning. The inconsistency of my hours made it difficult for me to do my lifts consistently this week.
3. Lack of food discipline. This is my biggest failure by far. There have been times when I would meal prep my meals for the week, but not eat them. Sometimes I wouldn't be very hungry, so I'd grab a bag of chips at the vending machine at work instead of eating my protein packed healthy meal, or I'd just hit up the Wendy's near my work instead when I was hungry but tired of eating the food I cooked. Either way, there were times where I wasn't eating enough, or I was eating too much food that was dense in fat and empty calories. Neither of these are good.
So on this next cycle, I have to lay off the alcohol, make sure that I consistently workout in the morning, and make sure that I stick to my meal plan. I'm lifting too heavy now to half ass this thing.
And just to be on the safe side, in case this really is a plateau for my lower body, I'm adding pin squats to my optional lifts. I might as well be used to lifting heavy until the end of my next cycle. If that doesn't work, Johnny Candito has some advanced plateau busting workouts for the squat and bench press. I'll use that if all else fails.
Either way, just 95 pounds more to go, and over a year to do it. I WILL reach my goal.
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