I went into the week considering taking another week to deload like the previous week.  (3 days lifting instead of 4)

When Monday came around and I felt ready to go, so I went back to my 4 days per week upper/lower split.

There's benefits to sticking to a "plan" and there are also benefits of being more flexible with that plan.

Monday- Squat 260 3x5/ Semi-sumo DL 255 5x1/ BB Curls 12,12

Tuesday- Press 140 3x6/ Semi-sumo DL 255 4x1/ Close-grip Bench 165x5,185x5,165x5

Weds. Bike/ Semi-sumo DL 255 5x1

Thurs. Squat- 240x5,5, 225x5/ Semi-sumo DL 315 4x1

Friday- Bench 220x1, 205x6, 6, 195x5/ Press 125x3,135x3, 115x6, 105x10

Sat- sled/loaded carries/ bodyweight exercises

Training notes-

Starting to get my groove back on squats. After playing around with high-bar placement and moving my stance around, I am back to what feels most powerful and steady with low-bar position and wider stance than I was using the previous few months. (slightly wider than shoulder width)

Went with more volume on both the Press and Bench Press, along with adding some close-grip to my Press day.

Adding in a set or two of higher reps to build some extra muscle mass in the upper body.

That set of 10 felt awesome!

Daily dose deadlift is almost complete. Thankfully. It's been a challenge many days to do the deadlifts. Not because they are heavy but just doing them so often starts to get tedious.

I'm glad I stuck it out, as that feels good to know I pushed through even when I didn't want to. That's the definition of discipline.

A few more days and I get to see where my max deadlift is after all this submaximal pulling.

315 was about 92% of my max. Since I shifted to the Semi-sumo DL I'm not entirely sure of what my max is as I never attempted one with that stance but I had a decent guess that it would be about 345.

At the end of the program I expect to pull at least 365, if not more.

For reference my max conventional is 405 and my max Sumo is 415, both done a few years ago.

Nutrition notes-

More dialed in this week than the previous week. Weight is steady at about 210 lbs. Need to focus on getting in more calories to reach 220 again.

Last time I got up to my target weight I was relying on too much junk to gain size.

My diet is very simple these days and I like it that way.

I don't want to think much about what I'm going to be eating. It's one less thing to have to worry about.

The foods I'm eating are mainly meat, eggs, white rice.

I have many reasons for why I eat what I eat but I'm not going to get into that here.

At the most basic level, I eat what makes me feel good (full of energy, strength, no issues with digestion or allergic reactions)

Looking ahead-

This week my goals are

• improve my squat form as I increase the weights
• build more pressing volume (bench and Press)
• max out on deadlift after 3 days submaximal pulls then few days rest - goal 365+
• EAT more- But only the RIGHT foods for me
• More bodyweight exercises on off-days