Texas Method Team Training. Week 14. Volume Day

BW - 222

Squat -
315X5
305X5
295X5
285X3
275X3

Bench - 190X5X5

Chins - BWX5, 3, 3

Pull-downs X6

Back was feeling okay, but power output was still low.  Coach decided to see how I handled a descending set of 5 on Squats.  The first 3 sets were all brutal.  Final reps on every set were very slow, and I was completely gassed following the sets.  On the 4th set, I cut if after 3.  Just went for 3 on the final set, and all reps were strong.  Definitely felt like 5 would have been easy, but it also felt good to end feeling strong(ish).

Bench sets all took focus, and I was having trouble keeping my butt down on final reps, but everything went well.

I decided DL was a bad idea after the way squat went, so I did some chins instead.

One more training session before I go out of the country on vacation for a week.  We'll probably do 3X3 across instead of 1X5.  Just to promote a bit more adaptation carrying through the break.  We did that when I went out of town for a week for Thanksgiving, and the results were solid.

I see a lot of veteran lifters talk about "your body will let you know when it's time to back-off, if you're listening."  I've been going full bore since after Thanksgiving, so maybe that's what this is.  I'll go on vacation for a week, come back and ?probably? reset, and see what happens.  Switch to sets of 3 on Volume and Intensity days is an option, and so is 5/3/1.  Coach just switched one of the older guys in our group over to Wendler's thing because of a nagging knee issue.  We'll see!