8 Months in Afghanistan Doing 5/3/1

Training Training Logs
1

Im 22, 6’1 and about 195-200. Ive always been athletic and active, gone on and off from weightlifting to a lot of running/swimming, the running and swimming mainly has to do with being in the military and the training I had to do for the last few years.

Finally decided I wanted to get back into lifting heavy weight and have been getting back into it for like the past 6 months without really a specific program or goals in mind. So three months ago I realized I need to stop being a pussy and start working towards my goals with a program that will get me to those goals, and then I found Jim Wendler’s article on 5/3/1 so here goes:

My goals by end of this deployment(like 7 months from now):
DL-405
SQ-405(This one I think I need the most work on).
BP-315
OHP-205
Power Clean-245
SQ Clean-225
Also not a weightlifting goal per say, but Im growing my beard out this deployment and I would like it to look pretty sweet.

Cycle 1 max weights:
DL-285
SQ-240
OHP-140
BP-200
Those are all my max x 80% which I think was a great idea to start with cause I have been able to consistently add solid weight each cycle to the lifts.

Cycle 2 max weights:
DL-305
SQ-265
OHP-145
BP-225

Cycle 3 max weights(this is the cycle Im currently on.):
DL-325
SQ-280
OHP-150
BP-245

Here are my workouts from the past week.

19 Feb Bench day.
BP
160x5
180x5
205x6*
Close grip 3x10 at 155
Incline 4x8 with 50lb DB
SS with 3x15 DB rows at 80lb
And then a pyramid of Pull ups/dips up to max effort.
Finished with a KB snatch tabata at 35lb

20 Feb my favorite, DL.
5x210
5x240
8*x270
Power cleans 155x5/175x5/185x3/195x2/205x2/215x1
BB rows 3x8 @ 155
3x10 High pulls at 125
DB rows 3x15 at 80lb
I finished with a circuit of 5 tire flips/5 sledgehammer hits each arm per flip. Then a 40 yd farmer carry with 80 lb DBs for like 40 yards.

21 Feb was suppose to be a rest day but I was angry and bored so I cheated and worked out.
Snatches started at like 95 and worked up to 145, a new PR for me actually I havent done snatches in forever.
And then I did a military athlete workout 80 rds of 15 sec KB swings/ 15 sec rest and 15 sec KB snatch/15 Sec rest. Finished with 5 minutes walking on the treadmill bear hugging 2 25lb plates at max incline.

22 Feb OHP
95x5
110x5
125x5*
Hang Cleans 5@115/5@125/5@135/3@145/3@155/3@165
DB rows 4x12 at 80lb
SS with 5x7 DB OHP at 45lbs
Shrugs 5x15 at 185lbs

23 Feb SQ, actually starting to rival DL for my favorite, Ive sucked at squats my whole life and now Im finally starting to get my form right and actually feel some power in it.
180x5
210x5
240x8*
Front squats 3x10 at 135lb
SQ cleans 5@135/5@155/5@165/3@175/3@185
5x20 calf presses at 225lbs
10 sets of 20 second sprints on treadmill max incline/40 seconds rest.
5 minutes of walking on treadmill at max incline with 2 35lb KBs.

Overall Im really loving the program so far, I havent read the actual book on 5/3/1 as it hasnt arrived to me yet over here, mail is horrible where Im at. I only read the articles Ive found on Tnation by Wendler and a lot of his stuff on elitefts, so if Im missing something big on how the program works let me know. I try to get a little leg work and cardio in every day as I do a lot of walking around the mountains over here with a lot of gear on so I would like my legs to be strong as all hell by the time the summer comes and business gets more interesting over here. Any advice/harsh criticism is welcome. Cheers.

2

Your powerclean should be less than your squat clean.

3

Yea I know, I suck at front squats and I always get stuck down in the squat with squat cleans.

4

You should take 90% to calculate your training max, not 80%. But 80% will work, you will just be getting retardedly high reps.

BUT you should not be adding more than 10 pounds for lower body lifts and 5 pounds for upper body lifts per cycle. Take your time, the strength will come.

Your goals are very ambitious. Reach for them. The beard will help.

5

I havent actually maxed out since the first cycle, should I go back and find new maxes at the four lifts and recalculate at 90%? Ive just been adding weight each cycle and I thought I read Wendler saying to start using 80% for the first cycle I mustve misread.

6

Just stay the course for now…you’ve probably caught back up (and maybe overshot) by adding too much weight each cycle…just start adding 10/5 and you will be all set.

7

Also Im a little unsure if what Im doing for assistance work is on the right track? Ive been trying to put a lot more pulls in, even on my push days, most of what Ive been reading has been saying to try and have a 2:1 or even 3:1 ratio for pulls to pushes.

8

The last cycle went well, using these as my maxes.
DL-325
SQ-280
OHP-150
BP-245
Decided to remax out just to see where I was and I got a 430 on DL a 325 SQ but my Bench was at 245 (what I used as my training max for the last cycle) and 150 for OHP(which was also my training max last cycle.)
Im glad with the big gains in DL and SQ a little dissapointed in my upper body but oh well the strength will come.