Start of 5/3/1 Cycle 3...

The beginning of this past week started cycle 3 of 5/3/1 for me. Heres how the past week went:

I began on Monday with squats. The previous deload week I had been low carb all day, every day as part of the preparation phase of Carb-Backloading. I wasn't exactly sure how that would go over, but to my surprise it went well. I hit my top set of 315x5 with relative ease but did not want to push it.

Wednesday brought on benching. I decided also to go with a close grip for this cycle (compared to my normal pinky on ring grip). This week's top set was 195 and I got that for a PR of 8 reps close grip.

Next up was deadlifts on Friday. Top set for this week was 360 and I got it for 7 reps. It felt ok but was not a PR as I previously did 365 for 7 reps. I am not too concerned about how the pulls went though.

To cap off the first week of cycle 3 was military press on Saturday. The top set was 155 and I got this for a PR of 7 reps.

Video's of each day's top set are up on my youtube channel (www.youtube.com/user/pbclax1). From here on I will update each training session with a full write-up and linked video.

Squatting tomorrow to start off the second week! Looking for a solid PR.

A little about me

I've been training for powerlifting going on two years now and currently have done three raw full power meets. After my last meet in June didn't go how I wanted it to go, I decided to go back to simple training so I am using 5/3/1. This has been going very well and I feel I'm finally getting back on track to progress.

My three meets went like so:
#1: End of 10/2011: 363/242/440 1045lbs Raw w/o wraps @198lb weight class
#2: Beginning of 3/2012: 410/255/410lbs 1075lbs Raw w/ wraps @198lb weight class
#3: Beginning of 6/2012: 380/245/425lbs 1050lbs Raw w/o wraps @198lb weight class

Best competition lifts:
Squat: 410lbs (w/ wraps); 380lbs (w/o wraps)
Bench: 255lbs
Deadlift: 440lbs

I video my top sets of the training session and post to my youtube channel (www.youtube.com/user/pbclax1)

The next meet I have planned is the end of October where I am looking to total over 1100lbs with no looking back on that number.