5/3/1 Boring But Big - It’s Not a Sprint, It’s a Marathon

Day 4

Intensity Day

Squat
Warmups
325x5+ got 7

Bench
Warmups
270x5+ got 5

Power Cleans
155 5 sets of 3

Calf raises
3 plates 3 sets of 10

Close Grip DB bench
60x10
70x8
walked out of the gym

First week of Texas method done. Going to hit a back workout tomorrow, rest day Saturday, and start week 2 on Sunday. Debating starting a new thread after everything that’s happened

In the past month and a half I’ve gone from barely squatting 225 for 5 reps to squatting 325 for 7. Benching 205 for 5 to hitting 270 for 5. Deadlift is still moving slowly but I expected that with how fucked up my back is. Just going to keep taking it a day at a time, let’s see how long it takes me to get back to where I was.

Day 5 (last night)

Back workout

Barbell bent over row
135x10
135x10
135x10
Really don’t like the stress these put on my lower back so I stayed light

Super setted with
Wide grip pull ups
10
10
10

Close grip cable row
3 x 12

Close grip pat pull down
3 x 12

Face pulls
3 x 12

DB curls
30x10
35x8
40x6

Friday night workout so my head wasn’t really in it and I cut it a little short. Have a hard time getting excited for these accessory workouts

Rest day today, starting week 2 tomorrow.

Texas Method week 1 summary

Squat 5x5: 285
Bench 5x5: 240
Deadlift 5+: 285 x 9
Overhead Press 5x5: 150
Power Clean 5x3: 155

Squat 1x5+: 325x7
Bench 1x5+: 270x5

Texas Method

Week 2

Workout 1: Volume day

Squat
Warmups
295 5x5

Bench
Warmups
245 5x5 went to failure on the 5th set and got 8

Deadlift
Warmups
295 x 5+ Got 10

Everything felt easier than last weeks sets. Diet was on point last week and put on a couple of pounds of body weight so that’s probably why.

Close Grip bench press
135 x 12 for 3 sets
Tried to do tempo reps? I think they’re called. 2 seconds down 2 seconds up

Calf raises
3 plates each side, 3x12

Leg extensions
3 x 12 60lbs each leg
Fucking burners

Overall felt great about this workout. Weights were moving the way I wanted them to and I actually feel like I had a bit more in the tank. So I think my numbers are in the right place

Texas Method

Week 2

Workout 2: Back and Biceps (ish)

Weighted Chins w/35lbs
10
9
7

Cable Rows
3 x 12

Straight arm push downs
3 x 12

Face Pulls
3 x 15

Ez bar curls 40lbs
10 close grip, 10 wide grip
3 sets

Lower back is destroyed from Yesterday’s workout so I didn’t want to do Pendlays or any Barbell Rows. Having trouble giving a shit during these accessory workouts I just want to squat bench and deadlift

Week 2

Workout 3: Active Recovery

Strict Press
Warmups
155 5x5

Squats
Bar x 5
135 x 5

I have slipped discs from years ago and every once in a while something happens to aggravate it. Swatted a fly after my workout on Sunday twisting my torso to the side and felt a little sharp pain, didn’t think much of it. Here I am 3 days later and I can’t bend over to tie my shoes, could barely squat 135 below parallel. Going to the chiropractor tomorrow hopefully he can unfuck this because I’m a sneeze away from back spasms and shitting out my spine

Shrugs
75lb DBs 3x12

Side lateral raises
20lbs 3x12

Cable front raises
?? 3x12

Face pulls
3x12

Can’t catch a break

Well RIP lifting goals again

Went to the chiropractor and got a massage to try and loosen it up, didn’t do anything

Had to run 4 miles today for work, back felt fine while running. Still can’t bend over and a lot of pain while sitting upright

Today was supposed to be the Intensity Day,
Squat, Bench, Power Cleans.

Squats and Cleans are definitely off the table but I might go see if I can still hit my bench numbers

Week 2

Workout 4: Intensity Day, crippled edition

Bench
Warmups
275 x 5

Close Grip Bench
135 3x12 pause reps

DB flys
40lbs 3x12

CG DB press
40x12
50x12
60x12

Decline Barbell Bench
135x10
185x8
205x6

Think I’m going to have to switch to a Bro split for a month or two while I rehab my back.

Took the weekend off, did Back and Bi’s yesterday

Bench
Warmups
250 5x5
Went to failure on the last set and got 7

Incline DB bench
50x12
60x10
70x8

Close grip Bench
135x10
135x10
135x10

Did back and Bi’s Yesterday

Shoulders

Military Press
Warmups
160 5x5

Lateral raises
20lbs 3x12

Shrugs
90lbs 3x10

Face Pulls
27.5lbs 3x12

Upright rows
40x10
50x10
60x10

Front underhand DB raises?
15lbs 3x12

Leg raises 3x15

Cut my calories might as well lean out until I can squat and deadlift again

Tested the waters today with squats

High bar squat
Warmups
275 3x5

So after my back locking up 2 weeks ago I wanted to go into this cautiously. I originally planned on keeping with my numbers which would have been 305 5x5. But after not training legs for 2 weeks it was pretty clear pretty fast that wasn’t going to happen. I’ve also been eating very low calorie, so I dropped back to 275 and on my 3rd set at 275 I felt my right quad tightening up so I just called it there. I could have done the 5 sets but I didn’t want to push it to the point where I’d perform a rep with bad form and put stress on my back.

Calf raises 3 plates each side 3x 12

Leg Extensions 60lbs 3x12

Kept it light and short, but now I know I can still squat after the back injury. Gonna take it slow and build back up. Deadlifts are out of the picture for the foreseeable future though

Bench Press
Warmups
280x5

Incline Bench Press
135x10
185x8
205x6

Close Grip DB press
50x10
60x8
70x6

Tricep pushdowns
3x15

Face pulls
3x15

Worked out during my lunch break so I had to keep it quick

Back and Bi’s or whatever

Weighted Chins 35lbs
12
9
6

Cable Rows
3x12

Lat Pulldowns
3x12

Straight arm push downs
3x12

Hammer curls
50x10
50x10

Ez bar curls
30lbs 10 narrow 10 wide 3 sets

2 days ago

Shoulders

Military Press
165 2x5
Failed 3rd set

I’m down about 10lbs body weight in the last 2 months and it’s finally catching up to me

Side DB raises
3x12

Upright row
3x12

Front DB raises
3x12

Face Pulls
3x12

DB shrugs
3x12

Did back and bis yesterday

Today

Bench Press
Warmups
255 3x5

Was almost at failure each set and didn’t have a spotter so I just called it here

Squats
Warmups
315x5

Incline DB
4x10
Worked from 50lbs up to 80lbs

Calf raises
5x10 4 plates each side

Leg Extensions
5x10 50lbs

Close Grip Bench
135x12
155x10
185x6
Smoked

Tricep Pulldowns
3x12

Shoulders
Experimented with lower weight higher volume since I’ve been in a deficit for like a month

Military Press
Warmups
135x8
135x7
115x8

Next week 115 4x8

DB lateral raises
15 3x10

Upright Row
40 3x10

DB front raise
10 3x10

Face Pulls
35 3x10

Now that i can’t deadlift and powerliftings out of the picture for me i’ve switched things up a bit. Forgot to log my last week of training.

Pretty much doing a bodybuilder split which is embarrassing but whatever I actually feel and look great after this past month or so.

Back/Bis
Chest/Tris/Legs
Back/Bis
Shoulders
Back/Bis

I know the frequency looks off but it feels right for now. My back and biceps don’t feel fatigued and I feel like I can train them more frequently now that I’m not deadlifting, while my chest, legs, and shoulders definitely still need that recovery time.

Back/Bis

Trying out something I saw Stan Efferding talking about with Mark Bell. Sort of a low weight, high rep hypertrophy focused style of training. So I’m still doing my compounds heavy ish, but adding in accessory movements focused on hypertrophy.

Pull ups
5 sets of 10 slow controlled reps

Bent Over DB rows
3 sets of 20 40lbs focusing on slow reps and contraction

DB Preacher Curls
20lbs x20
15lbs x20
10lbs x20

Single Hand Lat pull downs
75lbs
3x20

Single Hand Cable Rows
75lbs
3x20

DB hammer curls
20lbs x20
15lbs x20
10lbs x20

Straight arm push downs
25lbs 3x20

Face Pulls
20lbs 3x20

Chest/Legs

Barbell Bench
Warmups
225 4x8

Incline DBs
50lbs
3x20

Tricep Pushdowns
3x20

Flys
3x20

Close Grip DB bench
3x20

Squats
Warmups
315 3x3

Leg Press
225lbs 3x20

Calf raise
225lbs 3x20

Leg Extensions
40lbs
3x20