It's been a while, so I thought I'd check in. I've just finished another cycle and tested my true 1-rep maxes on the big three. My new grand total: 950! (270 bench, 315 squat, 365 deadlift)
Granted, still nothing to brag about when compared to the big boys, but I'm extremely happy with my progress over the last year. I should hit my 1000-pound total goal in a few short months.
Also, I thought I'd comment on my assistance work a bit. For the last three or four weeks, I've been incorporating Crossfit-style work into my assistance exercises. Sometimes I'll do the WOD, if it happens to line up with what I'm doing that day; other days, I just make it up as I go. The general goal here being conditioning work, as well as speed work. This seems to be going really well, and it gives me a bit of variety, which is a plus. Also, the work on the olympic lifts seems to be doing good things to my squats and deadlifts.
One thing worth mentioning here is that the metcon-based workouts have exposed a serious deficiency in my previous training. Working hard for 20-30 seconds at a time on a relatively heavy set is one thing; working hard for 3+ minutes is a completely different beast. I feel like this type of assistance work, in addition to the powerlifting-style template, is really working out well and will serve to make me more well-rounded.
