531 is progressing well so far. Got some wicked DOMS last week (first week of it) and it's finally worked itself out.
I keep wondering when I should stop on some of those nearly max rep movements - I get sore to the point of pain, say, in my shoulder doing military db press for instance, and it really hurts, but it's not an injury hurt and after about 30 mins, it'll feel fine. But at that point I'm done.
Just kind of tough to know if I'm being a wiener and stopping too early, or if I'm being foolish and injury prone and stopping too late.
Like Soka said, the AMRAP sets are not failure sets. You should always leave a rep or two in the tank. The way I usually do it is that I try to do 2 extra reps over the minimum: so my final work set in the 5s week is 7 reps, 5 reps on the 3s week and 3 reps on the 531 week.
As for the accessory work, it should always be light enough that you should be able to do all the reps without issue. Challenging, yes, but not to the point of grinding. Your focus is on the 531 lift. Everything else is secondary.
Does anyone practice any sort of visualization of their workouts? I tried it last night - went through my workout in my head, playing out each work set, and this morning I blew through them with no problem. It was pretty cool
I always do that! Ever since I read
this article I always visualize the lifts I'm going to do the next day when I go to bed. I try to get a feel for the weight, how it feels to grind it out a heavy weight, specially when it's a weight I've never lifted before.
The other day Brolic was talking about how heavy weights feel "different", and I think he's absolutely right. I always try to explore how that "different" feels. I think it helps me because I'm not as intimidated by the heavy weights when I do actually get under the bar for real. Sometimes when lifting heavy your body sort of has a "HOLY SHIT HEAVY" kind of response that can block you even if you are strong enough to move the weight. I find that mentally preparing myself can aid in tipping the balance towards "fight" in the fight-or-flight mechanisms encountered in these situations because you are not caught by surprise by the weight. You know it's gonna feel heavy because you've already lifted it in your mind, so to speak.