Now that I have recovered from my hernia surgery it's time to get back to lifting. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with my training which should be the driving force of a program. However, until then, going with a basic 5/3/1 setup is a great place to start.

After being off for 12 weeks I have no idea where my numbers are. Even though I'm 100% healed, that doesn't mean I can lift 100% of what I used to. Plus, it's better to be safe than sorry.

With the above in mind, I have decided to start off with 70% of my pre-surgery max lifts. The reason I went with 70% is that I calculated a bunch of different percentages and that seemed the most reasonable to me when looking at them. Not too heavy and not too light.

For this first mesocycle (fancy lifting term for basically a month's block of training), I will not be going with the traditional 5/3/1 program AMRAP (acronym for As Many Reps As Possible), but the 5's Pro rep scheme. That means all work sets will be done for 5 reps.

I'm choosing to go with 5's Pro because I don't want to strain at any point in my training this first month back. I don't see the need to test my surgery recovery or strength. It's time to build back up slow and steady.

I'll be training four days a week. The main lift of each session will be the overhead press, deadlift, bench, and squat respectively. As far as the assistance exercises, I'm going to stick with that main body part for the most part as opposed to working the entire upper body on pressing days. The splits will be OHP with shoulders and biceps, deadlift with back, bench with chest and triceps, and squat with legs and abs.

As far as conditioning, I'm not exactly sure what my program will look like. I do know however that I will be conditioning at least on my three off training days.

MONDAY
-OHP x5's Pro
-Lateral raises 3x15
-Bent over lateral raises 3x15
-Curls 5x15

TUESDAY
-Conditioning

WEDNESDAY
-Deadlift x5's Pro
-Pulldown 3x15
-Incline dumbbell rows 3x15
-Band good mornings 3x15

THURSDAY
-Conditioning

FRIDAY
-Bench x5's Pro
-Weighted dips 3x15
-Pushdowns 3x15

SATURDAY
-Squat x5's Pro
-Lunges 3x15
-Single legged dumbbell deadlifts 3x15
-Ab wheel 3x15

SUNDAY
-Conditioning

There you have it, the beginnings of my comeback training. What I'm coming back for is still undetermined. We'll see how my body holds up after the first month and then I'll report back on progress and changes for the next mesocycle.