This past training cycle was probably one of the most successful cycles I've had since getting past "newbie gains". I'm now officially in my 4th year of lifting/powerlifting, and so numbers move at a slower rate than in the beginning (obviously expected). What made this training cycle so "successful" in my view?
1) I improved my mental game. I was no longer "scared" of having a bad day in the gym, I went in each training session with the same mentality of trying to make every rep look exactly the same with technique I could be proud of. One thing I like about the way we've been training lately is that I work up to heavy singles (from the 8-10 range) every single week, it took away that "fear" I had of heavy singles. It wasn't fear for my safety or anything, but fear of failure/ the unknown. It made what was "scary", normal.
2) Nutrition game stayed on point. Not much to say on this except for I've made a lot of progress on learning how to just view food as food and nothing more. This is the most emotional DE-tachment from food I've ever experienced, and I'm starting to see what a "normal" relationship with food looks like.
3) No injuries. I've learned a lot about my body, what I need to do to take care of it, and where my typical "problem areas" are in terms of mobility, flexibility, etc. Learning how to take better care of myself, and learning how to individualize my warm ups, recovery work, etc. has been a huge part of this past training cycle (due to the huge increase in volume and frequency-- every major lift, every training session).
This training cycle I hit an all time Squat PR, and all time Deadlift PR (beltless), and matched my Bench PR but with much better speed and have hit it multiple times at an 8rpe. My Test Day I went 7/9 and hit: 380lb Squat (3/3) 200 lb Bench (2/3) -- missed 210 460lb Deadlift, no belt (2/3) -- missed 480