Just finished Big Beyond Belief and had some good results on that, maxed out on bench Friday and got a new PR of 140kg which beats my old record by 20kg. Although my bench went up I never really got focused on my lower body or back. So I thought it would be a good idea to do 531 so that I can put equal emphasis on each body part and hopefully get a lot stronger all around. Thats what has brought me to this log, now I know I cant skip lower body lifts as it will all be logged for you to see.
Lower body is very weak as I have had surgery on both knees and never really got into training my legs so try not to laugh too hard at my numbers.
Starting weight is 205lbs at 6’2.5" and am aiming to increase weight but also improve body composition although will not be lowering calories, just trying to cut down on carbs and add in more protein.
Although I will be using 531 for the periodization I will be training 4 times a week and using bodybuilding techniques for all assistance exercises so here goes.
Day 1, Week 1, Cycle 1
Military press- 60kg x 8
Single arm press- 17.5kg x 12, 12, 12
Rear delt raise- 10kg x 12, 12, 12
EZ bar curls- 30kg x 12, 12, 10
Hammer curls- 12.5kg x 12, 11, 10
Didn’t feel anything special but the workout felt good and I feel like I will make some good progress on this.
Day 2, Week 1, Cycle 1
Deadlift- 107.5kgx8
Lat Pulldowns- 40kg x 12, 12, 12
Seated rows- 70kg x 12, 12, 10
Chin ups- Bodyweight x 5 x 4 x 3
Chin ups are embarrassing for me especially as my back was already dead from all the other exercise but hopefully I will see a big improvement on them.
Just a note to say that all weights and reps for the main first lift of the day are from the last and heaviest set.
Maybe next time you could try doing chin ups before the pulldowns and rows. Is there any reason why you didn’t do any assistance exercises to work your hammies?
[quote]AquaCruzer wrote:
Maybe next time you could try doing chin ups before the pulldowns and rows. Is there any reason why you didn’t do any assistance exercises to work your hammies?[/quote]
I would usually do the chin ups first but don’t usually feel them much on my lats so kind of used the other exercises as a pre exhaust which felt quite good today apart the chin ups being hard as hell! I’ll see how it goes and maybe change it in my next cycle if it doesn’t work out but fingers crossed I’ll get some good growth on my back.
Left out the assistance work for hamstrings as I haven’t trained legs for so long and feel I will get enough from just doing the deadlifts at my level. Also I have to be careful not to over do it with lower body movements until I have built up some muscle around my dodgy knees.
[quote]Getting Closer wrote:
[quote]AquaCruzer wrote:
Maybe next time you could try doing chin ups before the pulldowns and rows. Is there any reason why you didn’t do any assistance exercises to work your hammies?[/quote]
I would usually do the chin ups first but don’t usually feel them much on my lats so kind of used the other exercises as a pre exhaust which felt quite good today apart the chin ups being hard as hell! I’ll see how it goes and maybe change it in my next cycle if it doesn’t work out but fingers crossed I’ll get some good growth on my back.
Left out the assistance work for hamstrings as I haven’t trained legs for so long and feel I will get enough from just doing the deadlifts at my level. Also I have to be careful not to over do it with lower body movements until I have built up some muscle around my dodgy knees.[/quote]
Makes sense. I usually have a hard time feeling my lats do the work while doing chin ups. But I noticed that when I do them weighted, I start to feel my lats working. But pre-exhausting the lats should do you well.
As for you dodgy knees, I’m sure there are plenty of articles here that can help you out.
Day 3, Week 1, Cycle 1
Feel like I am getting ill today and couldn’t seem to get warmed up properly so had a pretty bad workout which is annoying but hopefully my body will sort itself out with a good night sleep. Anyway here is the workout.
Bench Press- 107.5kg x 8
Incline DB bench press- 40kg x 12, 12, 10
Lying tricep extensions- 45kg x 12, 8, 7
Cable Pushdowns- 20kg x 12, 12, 10
Push ups- BW x 27, 18, 16, 14
Bench press felt really awkward although that could have something to do with maxing out on friday and being ill so I didn’t push too hard.
By the time I got to pushups my triceps were fried so they felt really hard but quite fun to do some push ups again.
Day 4, Week 1, Cycle 1
So today was my first squat day and I set my max really low at 100kg which I was hoping would be too low but s it turns out its just about right 
Squats- 77.5kg x 7
Bulgarian Squats- 20kg x 12, 12, 10
Bodyweight Complex- BW x 1 (Was 10x harder than I expected after the Bulgarian squats)
Ab Wheel- 3 x Max reps
What’d you do for the BW complex?
[quote]AquaCruzer wrote:
What’d you do for the BW complex?[/quote]
Pretty stupid to not put that up lol
I got it from Joe Defranco, you have to do-
30 mountain climbers
15 groiners
20 push ups
15 burpees
It doesn’t sound too bad but when I did it my legs felt like they were made of solid lead!
Haha I bet, especially after doing squats.
Day 1, Week 2, Cycle 1
Military press- 65kg x 8
DB press- 20kg x 12, 12, 12
Rear delt raises- 12.5kg x 12, 12, 10
EZ bar curls- 30kg x 12, 11, 8
Hammer Curls- 12.5kg x 12, 9, 7
When warming up I did a few push ups and my right shoulder and elbow felt really bad, didnt feel right benching on thursday either so I hope I haven’t injured it seriously when maxing out on bench although I didnt feel any problems that day so am not sure what is going on with it but it is very irritating!
My shoulder didnt seem to affect me during the workout although my elbow did feel slightly uncomfortable when pressing overhead. Despite this the workout actually went well, added weight to every exercise and still managed to get the reps. Biceps looks bad as I focused more on the contraction and cut my rest periods well down which is why my reps are down but should help me out in the long run.
Nice military pressing man! We have about the same numbers give or take some.
EDIT: as for your elbows hurting. I’d try warming up, on your upper body days, with some triceps pushdowns. Those seem to help me when my elbow is hurting.
EDIT 2.0: You’ve said previously that you have a pretty decent bench and that previously you never really focused on your back. I’m not expert, but your shoulder pain could be relieved if you make it a point to maintain at least a 1:1 ratio of pulling to pushing. Ideally it’d be more like 2:1. If anything I do some band pull aparts between sets of benching, it’s better than nothing.
[quote]AquaCruzer wrote:
Nice military pressing man! We have about the same numbers give or take some.
EDIT: as for your elbows hurting. I’d try warming up, on your upper body days, with some triceps pushdowns. Those seem to help me when my elbow is hurting.
EDIT 2.0: You’ve said previously that you have a pretty decent bench and that previously you never really focused on your back. I’m not expert, but your shoulder pain could be relieved if you make it a point to maintain at least a 1:1 ratio of pulling to pushing. Ideally it’d be more like 2:1. If anything I do some band pull aparts between sets of benching, it’s better than nothing.[/quote]
Yeah I was thinking that could be part of the problem so I am really trying to work hard on my back. Also I tried warming up with tricep pushdowns and it does seem to help tighten things up which is good.
Got way behind on my log here cause I’ve been busy with work but not missed a workout so its all good.
Day 2, Week 2, Cycle 1
Trained in a different gym today so not sure what some of the weights were for machine exercises cause they didnt have the actual weights on them, just random numbers.
Deadlift- 115kg x 10
Lat Pulldowns- Not sure on weight for these but pushed hard
Seated rows- Again not sure on weight but they felt good
Chin ups- BW x 5, 3, 3
Deadlifts felt pretty good today but think that I will put chin ups before lat pulldowns on my next cycle cause my back was fried.
Day 3, Week 2, Cycle 1
Bench press- 115kg x 7
Lying Extensions- 45kg x 12, 12, 9
Pushdowns- 20kg x 12, 12, 11
Push ups- BW x 36, 23, 16, 12
Chest felt like hell today so I switched my technique so I am now benching with my elbows tucked and think it will be better in the long run. Missed out the Incline DB press cause I want my chest to recover from what I am guessing was caused by maxing out a couple weeks ago.
Day 4, Week 2, Cycle 1
Squats- 80kg x 7
A whole lot of stretching and some YTWLs for my shoulders
Felt like crap today cause I had a bit of a cold and only got about 4 hours sleep because of work so just did the squats and some prehab work to give me a chance to start feeling better.
Day 1, Week 3, Cycle 1
Think that the YTWLs fatigued my shoulders for the workout today so was definitely not a good idea to do those the day before training shoulders.
Military press- 67.5kg x 5
Single arm DB press- 22.5kg x 12, 11, 8 (left arm is so much weaker, managed to get 12 reps each set on right arm)
Rear delt raise- 12.5kg x 12, 12, 12
EZ bar curls- 30kg x 12, 12, 10
Hammer curls- 12.5kg x 12, 10, 9
Was a bit disappointed with military press but am putting it down to shoulders being fatigued by the YTWLs.
Day 2, Week 3, Cycle 1
Deadlift- 120kg x 10
Lat pulldowns- 45kg x 12, 12, 12
Seated rows- 70kg x 12, 12, 12
Chin ups- BW x 7, 4, 3
Back started to round a little on the last couple of reps on deadlifts but wanted 10 and it felt pretty good, deadlift seems to be coming along nicely.