Thanks, my friend!
That’s 100% of my TM for the next leader cycle. Work sets over the next 3 weeks will be between 65% and 95% of that for 5s PRO template.
Solid benching man!
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Thanks, man! It’s been feeling good and progressing nicely.
Checked the beginning of your log to see how fast you got to that (awesome job by the way) and noticed you said you were in academia. What area?
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TLDR: Computer Science.
Technically I’m a recovering academic: I spent the first 6 years after grad school in higher education, eventually as an associate professor.
I actually left academia almost 10 years ago now to pursue my research in industry. In many ways my current position is like an academic one—I write lots of proposals, try to get external funding for my work, and publish what’s not proprietary—but it’s not a publish-or-perish mentality. It’s kinda like the best of both worlds!
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Oh cool! I work in algorithm development along with modeling and simulation development for radar systems so we do a lot of research but almost none of it is publishable since I work in the defense industry sadly.
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Yeah, that’s right: brains and brawn. 
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7WP, TM Test - d7
Saturday - 02 October 2021
Workout: Easy conditioning, 0605-0655 (50 minutes)
25 1-pump burpees + 24-kg KB swings
Weighted vest walk - 20 kg - 35 minutes
25 1-pump burpees + 24-kg KB swings
Fasted. It was a bit cold this morning, kept my pace brisk.
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7WP, TM Test - summary
Super happy I took the time to test my upcoming TMs: smashed them all, so as long as my recovery is on point, I have absolutely no reason to feel anxious about any of the sets in the upcoming cycle, maybe even two. Also made some progress with chin-up and pull-up numbers, so that’s an added bonus.
Eating this week: Horrible, plain and simple. I actually did alright early in the week when the stress was high. It was in the days following, as I let down, that things got crazy. Basically I just didn’t care what I ate, and by yesterday I was eating just for the sake of eating. Luckily I’m totally fed up with myself, so it’s time to get back on the horse.
Current plan is to continue with 5s PRO, 5x5 FSL for two leader cycles, then 5/3/1 & Widowmakers for the anchor, before taking on BBB (probably Original). There are so many enticing templates, but as I’ve said before, this one allows me to push my hard conditioning, and that’s still a top priority as I continue to work on my eating habits. I’d also like to capitalize on the nice weather; it’s not clear to me that I’ll be able to push the sled regularly when things get nasty outside. But I should be able to squeeze in the next two, maybe even three, cycles before I have to worry too much about that.
Goals for the week:
- Complete all 4 lifting workouts
- Complete 4 days of hard conditioning
- Complete 3 days of easy conditioning + direct calf work
- Add 4 kg to weighted vest walks
- Do 60 devil’s presses with 2x30-lbs DBs and 120 BPAs every day
- Clean-up my diet
Adding 4 kg to weighted vest this week (24 kg total). Not sure why, exactly, but I haven’t added any weight for awhile and now that the idea is in my head…
Continuing with 60 Devil’s presses and 120 BPAs each day. I love the burpees + swings, but there’s just something about getting the weight overhead that’s extra special.
Finally, TMs for this cycle are:
Press - 125 lbs
Squat - 255 lbs
Bench - 245 lbs
Dead - 295 lbs
Alright, let’s get 'er done.
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5s PRO, 5x5 FSL - c4w1d1
Sunday - 03 October 2021
Workout: Easy conditioning + calves, 0555-0705 (65 minutes)
Weighted vest walk - 24 kg - 35 minutes
SL CR - L/R - 30x6, 35x6 | 40x6 + isohold: 20s
Jump rope tabata - 16x20/10 - 1 round
Fasted. It was about 15 degrees warmer this morning, but still kept a brisk pace. Could definitely feel the extra 4 kg, particularly on the stairs and the bigger hills. Moving back to single-leg calf raises for a bit, mostly for a change of pace.
Chaos, any remaining devil’s presses, and BPAs to come later in the day.
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Your bench and squat are really close.
Have you always been a strong bencher?
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Or maybe just a weak squatter? 
Bench is the one lift I’ve done semi-reguarly since college. I was young and dumb way back then, I didn’t know much of anything about lifting, and I certainly didn’t have folks like those on here helping me along, so I squandered my prime muscle- and strength-building years just benching and curling 3 sets of 10, with some leg extensions and leg curls thrown in for good measure.
I didn’t start squatting with a barbell (or deadlifting, for that matter) until I began to take my health and fitness seriously as adult just a few years ago, at which point I actually started trying to learn something about lifting. So now I’m old(er) and slightly less dumb than my college-kid self. On top of that, I incurred a SI joint/sciatic nerve injury about a year ago that forced a 6-month layoff from back squats and ultimately required PT—that set me back on any progress I had made with my squat (and maybe a bit on my deadlift too).
Anyway, that’s the deal with my relative bench/squat numbers. Sorry if that was TMI. I appreciate your query, regardless!
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Ahh, well a decades head start certainly doesn’t hurt 
Part of the reason I was wondering is that about 2.5 years ago I had kidney surgery and couldn’t squat or deadlifts for around 6 months. I basically benched everyday and did some split squats and hip thrusts (but at very low intensity). Within 2 weeks of returning, my squat and deadlift were back at previous levels, squat 50lbs above bench and deadlift over 100lbs above. My bench didn’t improve at all.
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Well, I can’t speak to improving your bench, but the only other thing I did with any more regularity than benching (and that’s not saying much, TBH), is high-volume push-ups. Like intermittent periods where I’d do hundreds each day—different hand widths, different tempos, incline/decline, … You name it, lots of variation.
But now you’ve got me thinking about stuff I haven’t considered in literally 20 years, and I realize maybe I’ve always been a relatively strong bencher: I pressed 225 for reps as a college freshman in our end-of-year fitness test. (Yes, we had a required, two-semester gym class—Fitness and Wellness—as college students.) I shocked the football coach who was running the test, because I weighed maybe 150-155 lbs at the time. He didn’t even want to let me load 2 plates, let alone expect me to rep it.
So maybe all I’ve really done these 20 years is sporadically maintain whatever God-given benching strength I have, and progress it just a little these past few years.
Right, I’m blathering again… Daily high-volume push-ups. YMMV.
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which uni??
Is this still a common thing or is this an old tradition of sorts.
I’m not required to do any phys ed
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Not important, but not yours. (I did some of my grad work there, not my undergrad.)
Old tradition at my alma mater, but a good one (in hindsight, at least; I hated it at the time). Not sure about other schools…
That’s sad. Our course wasn’t particularly well-executed—the semester I rotated through the “weightlifting” mini-course, for example, that same football coach basically taught us how to use the machines in the general campus fitness facility—but the intent was there. The two-semester sequence was, in fact, better than nothing for most totally unmotivated, totally ignorant, and totally convinced-they’re-invincible 18 year-old kids (i.e., me). But like almost all college kids, I failed to pay attention.
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I hated phys ed in HS. We were graded based on heart rate measurements and avoided weight training.
I couldn’t get the heart rate monitors to work and hated team sports. Ended up with a C
Can’t speak to intent, but it sure seems poorly executed. 
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5s PRO, 5x5 FSL - c4w1d1
Sunday - 03 October 2021
Workout: Extra conditioning, 1030-1105 (35 minutes)
Chaos WOD - AMRAP, 10 minutes
8 full rounds + 0 reps (finished 9th full round in a murderous 4:04)
15 Devil’s presses - 2x30 lbs
BPA - red - 4x(10 high + 10 mid + 10 low)
Still fasted—ate all of today’s food yesterday. (Not really, but…)
That was brutal. My anterior delts are so pumped right now I expect them to float away. Really struggled with the thrusters today, but none of it was easy.
Did a 9th full round after the 10-minute timer expired because I was disappointed with today’s performance, and that took forever. I then finished up the remaining devil’s presses to bring today’s total to 60. BPAs pumped my rear delts, but not like my front ones!
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