Finished Stage 5 of NROL4W

I'm so thrilled with my progress in this program.  I was looking at the logs I've been keeping and it's amazing to see how far I have come.  

So I'm done with Stage 5 and I'm going to take a week off from lifting before I start Stage 6.  I'm excited about Stage 6 because I really get to focus on chin-ups and more than anything, I want to be able to do chin-ups.  To me, chin-ups (actually, any move that requires you to use your own body as weight) are the test of true strength and I am ready to be really strong.  

As an aside, I deadlifted 135 lbs. this past Friday.  I had finished my last set of Romanian deadlifts/barbell row combos and I just wanted to see if I could do it.  And I did it.  And you know what?  It wasn't nearly as hard as I had imagined.  Oh, those 45s on each end of the barbell were big and intimidating looking but I deadlifted that weight sure enough.  I had read on JP fitness that deadlifting with any weight smaller than that is actually deadlifting at a deficit and makes the exercise more difficult and there is more risk of injury.  Unfortunately, this was not emphasized in the book.  In fact, in later stages, you are supposed to deadlift from a box (at a deficit) which I did so I was deadlifting at a double deficit because in actuality, I had been deadlifting at a deficit from Stage One.  Now, I'm grateful I have the flexibility I do so I was able to do it with good form.  But I wonder had I started by elevating my bar, how much more than 135 lbs. I could deadlift by now.  

Anyway, these are the things you learn as a novice lifter.  You live, you learn.  And I'm very willing to learn.  

I'm already looking ahead to what I'm going to do after I complete NROL4W.  So far, I think Maximum Strength by M.A. Eric Cressey is looking like my next step.  There's also Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe and The New Rules of Lifting.  The options available are really endless.