Week 15/52 9th December
Back like a barn door!
Chins (palms facing) (1.4m rest)
Warm ups
x 5
x 5
x 5
x 5
x 4
Cable Seated Row (1.3m rest)
70kg
x 12
x 11
x 11
x 11
Close grip lat pull down (1.15m rest)
63kg
x 12
x 12
x 11
Face pulls (1.15m rest)
6 on weight rack
x 20
x 20
x 20
Reverse cable fly (1m rest)
1 on weight rack
x 11
x 11
x 11
Toe Taps
x 10
x 9
x 9
x 9
Another week done and progress across the board. Looking forward to 1 rep week!
After x-mas i think i’m going to run Jim’s Body building template (with probably a few small modifications).
Day 1: Shoulders and Biceps
Day 2: Back
Day 3: Chest and Triceps
Day 4: Legs and Abs
I’ll have a think about any changes i’ll plan to make.
How was week one of the new gig??
Why can’t we lift big and do a Meadows’ program? If you really love 5/3/1 for the strength progressions, just throw that in for your compounds rather than his normal work up to a heavy set or two. They’re usually at more or less the same place in the workout, so your conditions aren’t going to vary so much you can’t use that model (I wouldn’t think).
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with just doing the 5/3/1 BB template you listed, either; just throwing out an option if you prefer the Meadows days but want the 5/3/1 progression.
That’s a very good point actually. Think i’m going to rework the 531 lift progression in to a meadows split as i’m still going to do my 52 weeks of lift big to look big. Just need to sit down at x-mas and rework one of the meadows splits the 531. Maybe reactive pump hypertrophy as i loved the programme. Need to see how that looks in practise and in volume terms.
Great idea by the way!!!
New job has been really good thank you. I feel a million times less stressed and the culture there is really good. There’s lots to do and its busy as i’m settling in but i’m really happy thanks for asking.
Beautiful! I’m super glad to hear that!
I’ve got to think it will net out pretty similiarly. He typically has you work up to one truly hard, yet technically proficient, set on compounds, and counts it as 3 sets because of the ramp up; if I was describing 5/3/1, I’d come pretty close to giving the same instructions. The delta is just around the planned progression.
I continue to think there are more similiarities than differences in all the “good” programs, so I think this makes sense. @T3hPwnisher (I am tagging him a creepy amount lately) talks about “making a program his own,” which for him means putting all the planned progressions into vomit-producing giant sets, and I really like the concept of taking the 80% you like and manipulating the 20% to fit your preferences.
In any case, you’re exchanging like for like, here, so it makes sense in my tiny brain.
So to keep my 531 progress and add in meadows reactive pump programme was thinking:
Running it as
M - back session
T - chest & shoulders
W
T - legs
F - arms
So changes to add in 531 & chins work (inline with my 52 week goals):
Back -
Any rows without a supported back position I’ll swap out for supported versions.
Deadlifts out, back extensions in
Chest & shoulders -
1st exercise DB bench out
BB 531 bench in
2nd exercise BB chain bench out
DB bench explosive reps in
Legs - just changing the squats to 531 squats
Arms & core - maybe start the day with chins or move those as the main back day movement?
Need to see where to add in the 531 press, maybe on arms day? As I can’t see it working on chest/ shoulder day
@TrainForPain you know how reactive pump works so any thoughts on where to add chins and oh press, or maybe just leave 531 press? Or maybe my arm day could start with chins and 531 press, then arms and core?
For what it’s worth, I LOVED doing Chins and OHP on the same day. They just felt so in tune with eachother. Also due to the low weights used with OHP, it’s super easy to recover from (especially just one top set) and far enough from your next chest/shoulders day anyway. Having never done reactive pump though, of course maybe disregard this.
Just a note to say you should 100% run reactive pump at some point! I added some really good mass on this programme previously (probably down to adding a lot more carbs in my diet) but it’s a great programme to challenge you.
It’s guaranteed to make you add 50kg of muscle and lose 20kg of fat in only 12 weeks!!*
*this statement may not be entirely true
Why are deadlifts out? Because of injury? I may just not be all the way caught up.
Is the chinup your 5/3/1 progressive movement? I’m totally with @cdep89 that chins pair well with OHP, and neither is stressful, but if they are the focus movement I’d just keep one per day:
Arm day is super boring, anyway, so I’m always happy to add stressors there.
Yeah dead’s out due to injury. In theory I should be able to do them a they don’t loads the spine but I can’t seem to do them with straining my glutes.
I’m starting to think my hips still arnt level which is maybe causing some of these ongoing issues.
Think I’ll do OHP 531 and chins (cheers @cdep89 )on arm day then.
I’m going to start this tomorrow as I can’t wait until January lol
Huge shearing force on your spine though. Aren’t you tall too?
6’ 3 so should really sumo with my leg/ arm lengths but I’ve got too much dignity for that 
No access to a trap bar? The more I read, the more I learn, the more I realize it should be deadlift of choice for everyone that isn’t interested in competing.
I’m quite literally too stubborn to make the smart choice and make this change.
^Have never considered competing and probably never will.
Yeah there is a trap bar but I just don’t see any reward be the risk in the exercise for me.
That might be a silly point of view but I can’t seem to do them without injuring myself time and time again.
Bloody injuries 
Week 16/52 12th December
Reactive back hypertrophy
1 arm DB row (1.3m rest) Smooth reps
Warm up sets
28kg db
X 4 sets of 8 lovely smooth reps
HS row as Smith machine was taken (1.3m rest) explosive reps
40kg each side
X 4 sets of 6
Pullover (1.15m rest) constant tension
Haven’t done these in a while so took a lower guesstimate on the weight
26kg db
X 4 sets of 10
Shrugs (1.20m rest) 3 second hold at top (ss with extensions)
25kg DBs
X 3 sets of 12
Hyperextensions
X 9
X 9
X 9
X 9
Toe taps
X 10
X 8
X 6
X 6
Meadows programmes are just the best.
Also considering I did my normal back workout on Friday I’m not sore at all which probably means I can train back more frequently or I wasn’t training it hard enough.
If someone enjoys conventional and feels great doing it, why change? They are way closer to each other than people like to admit so it’s minutiae unless lower back recovery or injury is an issue.
@throwawayfitness I know you deleted your post so it was likely in jest, I just wanna say that I don’t see how lifting heavier is a problem (not that you said it is). Deadlifts don’t take muscles through a full range of motion and the value in them is the load used. A lot of the “easier/more weight” rhetoric is gotten from experiences with the high handles as well. If it feels easier, it’s easily remedied by… adding more weight. With the low handles one-rep maxes are often very close to each other compared with conventional, it’s just less reliant on good form so people don’t need to be as good at it. Another rep or two with the trap bar may be possible because it feels safer and there are fewer things to get wrong.
The trap bar is often used in rehab for back injuries (and the elderly). Just something to consider. The load is shared more amongst all the joints and you don’t get the “moment” you get with the conventional. Obviously you know your body better than anyone, I just think it may surprise you if you’ve never used one before.
Disclaimer: I am not a trap bar salesman and apologies for starting to sound like one.
I kind of feel like we could get a business going. The Trap Bar just does not get enough love, when I trained in gyms it was hardly ever used. I personally think it’s more of a full body exercise then the conventional BB deadlift. It’s much safer and easier to recover from too IMO. Also more carryover into sports especially rugby as it promotes better development of leg drive. I do enjoy a good trap bar row as well
I only tap bar dl now. 1rm is exactly 50lbs more than on a regular barbell.
The joke part was to andrewgen who has yet to claim his free 50lbs.
Gotta be careful where you brag about it! I sometimes feel like it’s a secret I almost want to keep to myself in fear of the only one in my gym suddenly not being so available.