5/3/1 for Hardgainers - c16w3d2
Monday - 22 August 2022
Workout: Daily work, 1630-1655 (25 minutes)
3 rounds of:
a) Sled ground-to-overhead - about 70 lbs - 10, 10, 30
b) Kroc rows - L/R - 65 lbs - 10, 10, 25
Felt good to get up and move, even if my head was cloudy. But that’s not a bad thing—I wasn’t just going through the motions, it was a good effort. At the same time, I didn’t notice how hard it actually was, just did the work.
Nice work sir. Squatting getting up there now. Quality
This is a good sign that your engine has gotten bigger. Nice
@simo74 - Thanks, mate! My ability to squat for reps continues to progress even if my top end strength isn’t moving as quickly. But that IS progress too, so I’ll take it! Not sure it was my engine in that afternoon work so much as my head was just so tired I was kind of on auto-pilot, haha!
5/3/1 for Hardgainers - c16w3d3
Tuesday - 23 August 2022
Workout: Bench, 0525-0630 (65 minutes)
Indigo-3G - 0500
Surge - 0530-0615
Warm-up
Throws
Begin: 0540; End: 0626; Duration: 46 minutes
Bench - 120x5, 150x5, 175x5 | 200x5, 230x5, (255x5)x5
Box jump - 24 in - 10
Seated DB press - 2x45 lbs - 14, 14, 14, 14, 14
Chin-up - BW - 14, 14, 14, 14, 14
Assistance totals:
Push - 70 reps
Pull - 70 reps
Single-leg/core - 0 reps
Semi-fasted: black coffee upon waking, then Indigo-3G and Surge as above.
Oh yeah! Crushed that work today. The first two sets at 95% were more of a fight than they should’ve been, and I had a fleeting thought that today was going to be a disaster. But then I sucked it up and the last 3 sets were just phenomenal. In fact, the last one might have been the strongest of them all: smooth crisp reps. Not super fast, but not grindy, either. Just good solid reps. Last few reps of the last few sets of chins were a little dicey, but I more or less smashed all of the assistance work, too!
Warm-up sets and assistance in 10 minutes, main work and assistance in another 33 minutes, then finished out the chins and got the bar loaded for daily work.
Ate a normal breakfast at normal breakfast time yesterday, but I missed most of lunch—go figure!—so I ate like a beast from dinner until bed (a period of about 5 hours). I confess I was force feeding after dinner, but I’m (mostly) glad I did: I’m pretty sure it helped this morning, and at the very least it didn’t hurt.
Daily work and the sled later today.
“Some men are born posthumously.”-Nietzsche
Definitely seems to fit here.
Haha, absolutely! I definitely experienced some kind of rebirth several minutes later, once I successfully pulled myself off the floor.
(I’m sure YOU know that feeling all too well.)
I always like to use the Fight Club quote “We just had a near-life experience!”
5/3/1 for Hardgainers - c16w3d3
Tuesday - 23 August 2022
Workout: Daily work + sled, 1155-1210 + 1540-1625 (15 + 45 minutes)
3 rounds of:
a) Pendlay rows - 125 lbs - 10, 10, 25
b) Clean & press - 125 lbs - 10, 10, 10
10 rounds of:
a) Sled push - 50 yds, 135 + sled = 222 lbs
b) 10 (short) BB drag curls - 50 lbs
c) 8 alternating lateral squats - L/R - 30 lbs
Time: 29:10
That gets the HR up quickly. Breathing is still a bit ragged, but job done. I’ll edit in the sled work once it’s complete.
Edit: That’s that. Breathing still the weak link here, but whatever—came in under 3:00 per round on average, I killed this morning’s bench workout, and I know I’m still adjusting to the new schedule, so I’m content with that time. Think I’ll bump up the weight on the drag curls next time, and maybe the laterals, too.
5/3/1 for Hardgainers - c16w3d4
Wednesday - 24 August 2022
Workout: Easy conditioning, 0540-0635 (55 minutes)
Weighted vest walk - 30 kg - 15 minutes (to park)
Easy run - 9 laps, about 1750m - 10:35
Weighted vest walk - 30 kg - 16 minutes (from park)
Fasted.
I wasn’t pushing this morning, but 10:35 is pretty bad, even for me. We went to Dairy Queen after my daughter’s middle school orientation last night to lament the end of summer and celebrate the start of a new school year, so maybe that small Blizzard I ate was bogging me down this morning…
Calves, daily work, and the Kevin O’Rourke WOD to follow at various points throughout the day.
5/3/1 for Hardgainers - c16w3d4
Wednesday - 24 August 2022
Workout: Calves & daily work + conditioning, 1210-1305 + 1735-1755 (55 + 20 minutes)
Jump rope - 300+ reps
3 rounds of:
a) Cluster - 125 lbs - 10, 10, 10
b) CS DB rows - 2x45 lbs - 10, 10, 25
c) Seated CR - 210 lbs - 30, 25, 20
Jump rope - 300+ reps
(Modified) Kevin O’Rourke WOD - EMOM, 10 minutes
a) 2 front squats - 155 lbs
b) 5 burpee box jumps - 24 in
I hate clusters. But I think you know that already… I’ll edit in the (Modified) Kevin O’Rourke WOD once it’s done.
Edit: Well that’s a real a$$ kicker! Chose it because it was short, and now I know why—it’s intense! Had to modify down from Rx 225-lbs front squats because my front squat sucks. (And because I did a bunch of clusters already today—I mean, that’s gotta count for something, right?) I’m an uncoordinated lunk, so the first few rounds went very nearly to the top of the next minute because I had to remember what I was doing, but I found my groove and had about 8-10 seconds to spare by the last few rounds. Heavily winded throughout, HR in the upper 160s and spiked past 170 a few times. Sweating like a pig, too, so that’s awesome: got the engine revved up!
5/3/1 for Hardgainers - c16w3d5
Thursday - 25 August 2022
Workout: Deadlift, 0525-0655 (90 minutes)
Indigo-3G - 0500
Surge - 0533-0646
Warm-up
Throws
Begin: 0548; End: 0653; Duration: 65 minutes
Deadlift - 175x5, 215x5, 255x5 | 290x5, 330x5, 370x6 (rep PR) | 290x5, 290x5, 290x5, 290x1 (DNF)
Box jump - 24 in - 10
Ab wheel + cable crunch - ramp (19) + 50 - 5 + 20, 5 + 20, 5 + 15
Dip - 60 - 14, 14, 14, 14 (DNF)
Pull-up - BW - 14, 13 + 1, 12 + 2, 10 + 2 + 2 (DNF)
Assistance totals:
Push - 56 reps
Pull - 56 reps
Single-leg/core - 70 reps
Semi-fasted: black coffee upon waking, then Indigo-3G and Surge as above.
Well that’s a first: my lower back went absolutely crazy somewhere in the middle of the second rep of the 4th supplemental set, I totally collapsed, and the pain was excruciating enough that I just called it—I did not finish this workout.
I’m not sure what happened, and there’s some achy tenderness there now, but it’s my own fault: I was pushing too hard, and my body just shutdown.
Not sure what I’m going to do now… Rest up in the short run, then I might try to get in the remaining dips and pull-ups. I’ve got daily work yet to do, as well—sled ground-to-overheads and Kroc rows—but all of that is suspect at the moment.
Stay tuned for more, I guess.
very nice. congrats.
Were you hitting those supplemental reps immediately after that PR set of the deads? I could see that getting a pretty nasty back pump.
Solid deadlift PR. Those are always hard earned.
@throwawayfitness, @shaneinga - Thanks, guys! I wanted 8, but given the way things went down throughout the rest of the workout, I’m thinking 6 was already more than I had to give today.
@T3hPwnisher - I’m still working assistance moves in between each of the sets of the main lift, so yes, the supplemental reps followed more or less directly afterward. I was hoping it was just a nasty pump or cramp like last week, but…
5/3/1 for Hardgainers - c16w3d5
Thursday - 25 August 2022
Workout: Missed assistance & daily work (0 minutes)
(none)
Okay, so I seem to have jacked myself up pretty well: it’s been almost 11 hours since this morning’s work, and my lower back/hips have been getting progressively worse throughout day. Sitting in meetings doesn’t help, but I’ve been stretching and moving as much as possible, with little to no positive impact.
It’s not like when I was straight up injured after my SI joint popped several years ago, but it’s FAR worse than whatever happened during last week’s deads: I am in a fair amount of pain just sitting here.
I MIGHT be able to grin and bear it through the remaining sets of dips and pull-ups from this morning, and I MIGHT be able to do some chest-supported DB rows and very light plate ground-to-overheads, but I’m just not even gonna try—I like to think I’ve got nothing to prove, and this is ACTUAL pain, not the usual crap that pops up from time-to-time that I’ve learned to live with or work through as I’ve aged. The smart play is to avoid further damage.
So, that’s it for today—I’ll owe myself the missing work. Now, though, I’m going to eat, keep moving, and eventually sleep, then reassess in the morning.
I doubt this’ll keep you down for long, dude. I hope you heal up quick and come back stronger.
Boom another PR. LOL
Nice work Sven, keep them coming mate. 400 for lots of reps soon.
I have had my lower back do something similar a few times and always after heavy pulls for reps. I usually find movement really helps and by that I just mean walking and some very light stretching or bending. Usually takes me a few days for the back to calm down and then I am good to go. Hopefully this is just really tight back muscles or a minor tear that you can work around.