Monday

A return to 5/3/1 albeit with a different protocol. I decided to lump my 5/3/1 days together:

Mondays are going to be DL and Military
Thursdays are going to be Front Squats and Bench.

Tuesdays and Fridays are going to be assistance and conditioning.

For the next month I'm going to shake each main (5/3/1) lift up in one way, no matter how small. DL, I'll pull with the offset trap bar and maintain my 5/3/1 loading schedule. Military Press, I think I'm going to do something totally goofy and press the fat bar instead of the normal bar. Front Squat, I'm going to switch to a clean grip in lieu of the arms crossed (will use straps to hold bar if necessary). Bench Press, I think I'm going to use dumbells...perhaps with fat grips depending on how Thursday goes. For all of them, I think I'll be able to keep up with the same loading progression I've been using, and I bumped everything up this month accordingly.

I'll see how this works out. I may keep the changes for a 4 month cycle. I may adopt a new series or changes. Or I may go back to standard variations (most likely) next month.

Today worked out well. The time management seemed good and I even got an assistance lift in.

Trap Bar DL
5 @ 200
5 @ 230
16 @ 260

Whole different experience from pulling with a barbell. Quick reps and a shorter ROM w/offset handles. Decided against the standard non-offset trap bar because I have no idea where I am on it and wasn't positive I could make the reps. Gonna roll with it and see what happens. Back felt a little off last month pulling with the barbell and the trap bar feels, among other things, easier on the back

Fat Bar Military Press
5 @ 75
5 @ 85
12 @ 95

Didn't notice a huge difference in using the fat bar for a press, just wanted to try it after watching some videos of Dave Tate Pressing something with Fat Grips. I always associated pulling exercises as being forearm intensive. Will stick with it and see what happens.

Assistance: RFESS on strap
3 x 5 @ +70

Still haven't decided exactly on assistance work for tomorrow AM. Probably something that looks like:

Snatches
Pull Ups
1 arm Rows w/ fat grips
Band Resisted pushups
Some sort of interval work