ExRx.net

Tuesday, Sept 20, 2011

Cycle 1, Wave 3 (5/3/1+), Day 3, Bench

All weight in pounds

Morning weight: 169

Workout time: 45 minutes

Bench
Training 1RM = 190 (down 20 from previous cycle)

-- Warmups --
45 - 5
95 - 5
-- Sets --
142.5 - 5
162.5 - 3
180.0 - 4

The 180x4 matches the last workout I did in April before I started Stronglifts (I finished that one with 185x2). I knew that doing Stronglifts would mean my bench would basically be ignored for months while I worked through the progression. Now after 5 months I can finally see myself beating that 180x4 sometime in the next cycle.

Rows
Training 1RM = 142.5 (up 2.5 from previous cycle)

-- Warmups --
45.0 - 5
77.5 - 5
-- Sets --
107.5 - 5
120.0 - 3
135.0 - 4 * Major 4RM

Rows are my poster child for 5/3/1. 4 reps at 135.0 is nothing short of a miracle for me, I could never get 5 at even 125 on either Stronglifts or Madcow. I think the variety of the 5/3/1 rep scheme broke the plateau. I really want to get this caught up to bench over the long haul.

I know most people treat this as an accessory and go for volume, but I'm still retaining a bit of the Stronglifts mentality that it is "the other side of the coin" for bench, and the 5/3/1 scheme is giving me gains so I'm sticking with it.


Press
-- Warmups --
45.0 - 5
75.0 - 5
-- Sets --
_97.5 - 5
110.0 - 3
122.5 - 3

Continuing my test from Saturday, to see what happens when you do bench and press on the same day. Conclusion: whoever goes second gets nicked for one rep, at least on the 5/3/1+ day. Because I got:

Saturday: Press 122.5 - 4, Bench 180 - 3
Tuesday: Bench 180 - 4, Press 122.5 - 3

Of course the idea today is not to set a PR for press, but to "keep it warm" so I do it more than once/week. But still I figure next cycle I'll do 3x8 @ 65% or something along those lines.

Thursday, Sept 22, 2011

Cycle 1, Wave 3 (5/3/1+), Day 4, Squat

All weight in pounds

Body Weight

This morning it was 168. I seem to be losing 1/2 pound every week or two. The wife says my belly is receding. As long as my lifts progress, I don't mind.

I dropped the whole idea of stuffing food into myself if I wasn't hungry. I eat my fill when I'm hungry and this seems to be working ok.

Squats
Training 1RM = 230 (down 20 from previous cycle)

-- Warmups --
_45 - 5
_95 - 5
135 - 5
-- Sets --
175 - 5
195 - 3
220 - 1/6 * see below

Ego came into play. Matt says only the first was perfect form, and they got steadily worse. I wanted six no matter what and "scrunched" my lower back on #6. More details in journal discussion.

-- Volume --
115x5x10

Cancelled due to lower back scrunch.

Planks
60s, 60s, 60s, 60s

Last week I made 75s for #4, this week I couldn't do it, burn was awful. Think the scrunched lower back was getting me down.

Hip Thrusts
Cancelled due to lower back scrunch

Front Raises
10x5x10

Didn't want to bail on Matt so I decided to fill my time with light exercises I haven't done in a long time. Got a burn on sets 4 and 5. If these end up in the program 10# is probably good for a little while.

Front Raises
10x5x10

Didn't want to bail on Matt so I decided to fill my time with light exercises I haven't done in a long time. Got a burn on sets 4 and 5. If these end up in the program 10# is probably good for a little while.

Seated Rear Delt Raises
10#: 4x10, 20
20#: 8

Also to kill some time since Matt wasn't finished. Wondering what weight might work for me, suppose 12-14 would be a good place if I put these into the program.

Saturday, Sept 24, 2011

All weight in pounds

Cycle 1, Wave 4 (deload), Day 1, Press
Morning weight: 168
Workout time: 35 minutes

Program is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=31

Deload
My first ever deload day. First instinct was to skip warmups since, you know, the weights are so low, but realized that defeats the point, figuring the idea is to hit every single warmup and rep with perfect form. No reason to skimp.

Press
Training 1RM = 130 (down 10 from previous cycle)

-- Warmups --
45 - 5
50 - 5
-- Sets --
52.5 - 5
65.0 - 5
77.5 - 5 * Rep PR. Ha! Just kidding. A little deload humor.

Chin-ups
body weight, neutral grip

4, 4, 4, 4

Figured for deload to reduce reps per set since its the later reps that get you. This left 4x4 as about half the reps of a normal day, seemed about right for a deload.

Pushups
10, 10, 10

Believe it or not I have never done pushups with any knowledge of form - particularly flare/tuck of elbows. This was my first time paying attention to keeping upper arms at 45 degrees to body.

3x10 was not much effort, so I figured that was fine for a deload day.

Sunday Sept 25, 2011

All weight in pounds

Cycle 1, Wave 4 (deload), Day 2, Deadlift
Workout time: 25 minutes

Program is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=31

Deload
My callouses are softening and peeling off. (I know, more info than you needed)

Yesterday I told the wife, "Deload is hard for me, I'm convinced I don't need it." She laughed out loud, "Gosh, no kidding?"

Deadlift
Training 1RM = 310 (up 10 from previous cycle)

-- Warmups --
-- Sets --
135 - 5
155 - 5
185 - 5 + 1

So on this deload stuff I'm noticing I get lazy about form when weights are light, and trying to break myself of that bad habit. On last rep at 185 I got real sloppy - not tired, just sloppy. Didn't want to end the set on that no-excuse bad note, so did one more.

BB Curls
33 x 3 x 10

My normal is 47.5 x 5 x 10, so this seemed fine for a deload

Bulgarian Split Squats
Using dumbbells. Weight noted is combined total of two dumbbells.

bw: 8x per side
bw+20: 8x per side
bw+40: 8x per side

I did these way back last year when I didn't even own a barbell or any kind of rack and could not do squats. I had been doing +80 for 8 reps, so +40 seemed fine for a deload day.

Tuesday, Sept 27, 2011

All weight in pounds

Cycle 1, Wave 4 (deload), Day 3, Bench
Workout time: 30 minutes
Morning Weight: 166, a new low for the past 6 months or so.

Program is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=31

Deload
I don't like deload week. A couple of days would have been fine I feel like. But oh well, I'll do at least one as written and see where it takes me next week on cycle 2.

Bench
Training 1RM = 190 (down 20 from previous cycle)

-- Warmups --
45 - 5
-- Sets --
70 - 5
95 - 5
115 - 5

Rows
Training 1RM = 142.5 (up 2.5 from previous cycle)

-- Warmups --
45 - 5
52.5 - 5
-- Sets --
57.5 - 5
72.5 - 5
85.0 - 5

Triceps Pushups
bodyweight 3x8

Normal will be 10/10/10+, this seemed ok for a deload

Thursday, Sept 29, 2011

Cycle 1, Wave 4 (deload), Day 4, Squat

All weight in pounds
Morning weight: 171
Session time: 30 minutes

Program is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=31

Squats
Training 1RM = 230 (down 20 from previous cycle)

-- Warmups --
_45 - 5
_70 - 5
-- Sets --
_90 - 5
115 - 5
140 - 5

Planks
60s, 60s, 60s

I'm thinking to just do these every morning when I wake up. Methinks these might benefit from frequency.

Pause Squats
Drop to parallel, come back up and stop just before sticking point, hold for 4 seconds, complete rep. Ignore wobbling legs.

3x5 @ 50% (115)

First time. Thought I'd get 3x8 @ 50%, ha. No chance. On fifth rep legs were wobbling, somehow figured that can't be good form.

Saturday, Oct 1, 2011

All weight in pounds

Cycle 2, Wave 1 (5/5/5+), Day 1, Press
Workout time: 60 minutes
Program is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=31
Training Number history is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=34

Press
45.0 - 5
67.5 - 5
-- Sets --
_87.5 - 5
102.5 - 5
115.0 - 7 * Rep PR. Previous 7RM was 110 (4 weeks ago)

Chin-ups
body weight, neutral grip

5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 5, 6(!), 5

Remember Caddy Shack, when the preacher is playing the best game of his life in the pouring rain, stroke after stroke he can't lose? Well that's kind of how this chins session went. All I needed was to be struck by lightning in the end for it to be complete.

Pause Press
Raised bar to about my nose, held for 4-5 seconds and completed rep

67.5 (50%) - 5, too light, so tried:
87.5 - 5, too heavy, went down to
77.5 - 5, 5
82.5 - 7, 7

Here is my comment on this exercise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRlj5vjp3Ko

Sunday Oct 2 2011

All weight in pounds

Cycle 2, Wave 1 (5/5/5+), Day 2, Deadlift
Morning Weight: 169
Workout time: 55 minutes
Program is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=31
Training Number history is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=34

Deadlift
135 - 5
175 - 5
-- Sets --
210 - 5
240 - 5
270 - 8 * Rep PR. Previous 255 on 8/23/11

Barbell Curls
48.75 x 5 x 10

Bulgarian Split Squats
All weights are combined dumbbells plus vest

bw: 10
bw+40: 10
bw+60: 10
bw+82: 7

On the last set found right leg was much weaker than left. Left I could do easily enough, but right was wobbly, out of balance and generally weak. Looks like the right leg is the main target.

Tuesday Oct 4 2011

All weight in pounds

Cycle 2, Wave 1 (5/5/5+), Day 3, Bench
Morning Weight: 172
Workout time: 40 minutes
Program is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=31
Training Number history is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=34

Bench
45 - 5
85 - 5
-- Sets --
127.5 - 5
147.5 - 5
165.0 - 8 * Rep PR, Previous 162.5 9/6/11

Rows
45 - 5
70 - 5
-- Sets --
_95.0 - 5
110.0 - 5
122.5 - 11(!)

Pause Bench
First time with these, so tried to find weight:

Full ROM down, lift and pause at 4-5", complete rep:
135: 5, 5, these got very heavy, so went down to:
115: 5 still could barely finish the 5th rep, so went to:

From Pins at 4.5" above chest, lift and hold off of pins, then complete rep and lower:
115: 5, 4

Suppose I'll try 5x5 @ 115 from the pins next week.

Thursday Oct 6 2011

All weight in pounds

Cycle 2, Wave 1 (5/5/5+), Day 4, Squat
Morning Weight: 170
Workout time: 70 minutes
Program is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=31
Training Number history is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=34

Squat
45 - 5
80 - 5
115 - 5
-- Sets --
155 - 5
180 - 5
205 - 5

Technically this is a 'good form' Rep PR, as I now believe I haven't done a squat with good form after passing 195# on Stronglifts. This was probably my first ever set of perfect form squats over 195.

Bulgarian Split Squats
I had some sort of freudian slip and typed in "Bulgarian Split Splats" at first. ha ha.

bw: 10
+40: 8
+72: 5
+84: 5
+94: 5

+40: 10

Just right side:
+20: 12

Skater squats (attempted) like in this article's video: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_art ... g_training

Right leg only, body weight, 5 reps

In short, my right leg is completely avoiding any work. I realized during the Bulgarians that for the right leg I was massively cheating and forcing the load onto the left foot (which, when your foot is upside down, results in one hell of a cramp fast). Even at body weight I could not force myself to stop doing that. That's why I finally tried the skater squats.

Pause Squats
Down to just above parallel, raise 3-4 inches, pauses to count of 4, complete rep.

115 x 5 x 5

These were a lot harder 1 week ago at this weight when I did them for the first time, with shaking legs and extreme effort to finish. Today no leg shaking at all, even after the Bulgarians.

Saturday, Oct 8, 2011

All weight in pounds

Cycle 2, Wave 2 (3/3/3+), Day 1, Press
Workout time: 50 minutes
Program is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=31
Training Number history is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=34

Press
45 - 5
70 - 5
-- Sets --
_95.0 - 3
107.5 - 3
122.5 - 5 * Rep PR (Previous 120 on 8/23/11)

Chin-ups
body weight, neutral grip, minimum 30 reps in as few even sets as possible, min 5 reps/set.

6, 6, 6, 6, 6 extra set: 5

Went from 6x5 to 5x6 in 3 weeks, faster than I hoped. Next week I'll slip in a 7.

Pause Press
Raise bar to eye level, hold for count of 4, complete rep

85 (about 63%) x 5 x 5

Sunday Oct 9 2011

All weight in pounds

Cycle 2, Wave 2 (3/3/3+), Day 2, Deadlift
Program is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=31
Training Number history is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=34

Deadlift
135 - 5
185 - 5
-- Sets --
225 - 3
255 - 3
290 - 3, 2

Barbell Curls
50 x 5 x 10

Up 1.25# since last week. Will probably by 2.5 next week, as these went pretty easy.

Bulgarian Split Squats
All weights are combined dumbbells plus vest

bw: 10
bw+40: 10
-- sets --
bw+72: 5
bw+84: 5
bw+94: 5

A repeat of Thursday's Bulgarian workout. This upcoming Thursday will add sets at top weight.

Tuesday Oct 11 2011

All weight in pounds

Cycle 2, Wave 2 (3/3/3+), Day 3, Bench
Morning Weight: 169
Workout time: 55 minutes
Program is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=31
Training Number history is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=34

Bench
45 - 5
95 - 5
-- Sets --
137.5 - 5 * oops, was supposed to be 3
155.0 - 3
175.0 - 7 * Baseline Rep PR, have never done 7 reps before

This was the most incredible set I've ever done -- a completely different feel. Could those pause variations make so much difference in a week? Anyway, the first 6 I blasted all the way up, even got a clink of the plates on the first two. Felt like I could go forever. On 7 I almost lost all motion just past the sticking point (as Kenny Croxdale would say, the car stops a bit after you actually run out of gas), and had to really squeeze to get lockout.

Rows
45 - 5
75 - 5
-- Sets --
102.5 - 3
115 - 3
130 - 8 (!!)

Another great day for rows. May have to start tracking Rep PR's.

Pause Bench
Put bar on pins, get under. Lift an inch off the pins, pause 4 seconds, complete rep.

120: 5, 5, 5
125: 5
130: 5 (paused for count of 6 on these)
135: 5
137.5: 5

Will likely start with 130 next week or maybe try sets across at 135 with long rests.

Thursday Oct 13 2011

All weight in pounds

Cycle 2, Wave 2 (3/3/3+), Day 4, Squat
Workout time: 1 hr 20 min (lots of time teaching Gabe more points of form)
Program is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=31
Training Number history is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=34

Squat
45 - 5
85 - 5
125 - 5
-- Sets --
170 - 3
190 - 3
215 - 4 * Baseline 4RM, have never done 4 before

Last week did not get any extras on the all-out set, was very happy to get at least one extra today. Not blasting off the way upper body has lately, but any progress is good progress.

Bulgarian Split Squats
bw: 10
+40: 8
-- sets --
+80: 5
+100: 5
+110: 5
-- backdown --
+40: 10
bw: 10

Top set is 16# higher than this past Sunday, and was easier to do. Starting to get somewhere with these.

Pause Squats
Down to just about parallel, raise 1-2 inches, pause for count of 4, finish rep

120 x 5 x 5

These are still getting easier each week, up'd the weight by 5# this week.

Saturday, Oct 15, 2011

All weight in pounds

Cycle 2, Wave 3 (5/3/1+), Day 1, Press
Workout time: 55 minutes
Program is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=31
Training Number history is here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8047&start=34

Press
45 - 5
75 - 5
-- Sets --
102.5 - 5
115.0 - 3
127.5 - 4 * Rep PR, previous 122.5 9/17/11

Chin-ups
body weight, neutral grip, minimum 30 reps in as few even sets as possible, min 5 reps/set.

6, 6, 7, 7, 6 extra sets: 5, 4

Added two sets of 7 this week. On extra sets pulled only 4 on last one, ending a 3 session streak of minimum 5/set.

Pause Press
Raise bar to eye level, hold for count of 4, complete rep

90 x 5 x 5

Five pounds more than last week. After deload will start at 90# for first sets and if it seems light will go to 95# for final sets.