[quote]GetStrong21 wrote:
[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
You people telling him to change exercises, switch up other shit, lower his training max, wanting to know if he is male/female and how much he/she is eating can’t see the forest for the trees.
Do all of you really expect to set a new fucking PR every single time you step into the gym? Holy shit. If you do, then you are way better at this than I am.
The real advice that needs to be taken here is this:
OP, lighten the fuck up. You are too busy over analyzing this shit. You hit 125x6 for two workouts 6 weeks apart, who gives a shit? Hit it next time. Maybe 125x6 was a struggle and a PR for you the first time you hit it, and the second time you hit it easier but just didn’t have enough to get 7? THAT WILL FUCKING HAPPEN!!!
You are not going to increase your calculated PR every workout. If you did, people who have been running 5-3-1 for 3 years would all be totaling 3,000 raw. It doesn’t work like that. You are moving forward, as evidenced by your overall strength gains. You can’t let one or two workouts where you remain stagnant, or even slightly regress, cause you to lose focus of the overall upward trend.
If you need Wendler to tell you that you can’t hit a PR every workout, you might want to consider a new program. but if you can accept this, and are busting your ass when you step into the gym, then you are on the right track.
Now stop whining and get to work.[/quote]
I appreciate the advice, and I see what you are saying. I have no problem excepting this…I guess the reason why I was so focused on increasing every time was because in the book Wendler made it seem as though the progress is made by breaking each previous weeks PR. I just felt that I was not doing well because I found this to be nearly impossible. I will continue to work hard and let you guys know in a couple of months where I am at and how it went. [/quote]
It can be disappointing not to PR whenever you attempt to but you have to realize that you are making progress. The longer you can stick to the training program without resetting, the more progress you are making. Your minimum training intensity for the 3 weeks increases over time. Say my actual bench max was 245 where I had to peak to hit that. After being on 5/3/1 for awhile I’m now at a training weight where I hit a calculated max of 260 for 3 weeks (5x225,3x240,1x250). Have I gotten stronger? Hell yeah I did if I can hit a 250 max 3 weeks in a row. 5/3/1 is a very flexible program because all you really need is to hit the minimum number of reps. The program is meant for long term use because you gradually increase your minimum strength over time. It makes it easier to predict what you can lift. I used to analyze every calculated max of each training day and that lead me to failure. Give yourself a green light if you hit the minimum reps because the long term goal is more important.
If you really love hitting PRs, back off and do the minimum reps on certain lifts so that you have more juice for the next week. Also space out max efforts for lower or upper lifts, e.g., don’t go all out on a deadlift workout and then on the next squat workout unless you really feel fresh. I’ve done the minimum reps on workouts 1,2,4,5,7,8,10,11 and do max efforts on workouts 3,6,9,12. So far I’ve made consistent progress.