Chest/Tri:
Assault bike, 1 min warmup, 4 min intervals (51cal burned)
7 min incline walk
BP: 135 2x10, 225 2x5, 275 2x4, 315 2x2, 335 2x1
CGBP: 225 2x10
Feeling beatup so I left there, probably should have done a bit of tri work and maybe some chest but I’ll survive. Looking for to my deload next week. I paused the 2nd of each double for 315 and got a long pause on the 2nd single of 335, which is the first time I’ve ever paused that weight. Need to remember to get as tight as possible, it solves like 93% of my bench issues.
Planning on taking a walk, so no cardio at the gym. Did some sumo mixed in with conventional until getting to 355
Back/Bi:
DL: 135 3x5, 245 2x5, 355 3x2, 405 x 2, 425 x 1, 455 2x1 (vid of the first)
Ez preacher curls: 45 3x15
Low cable row: 100 3x12
Assisted chins: -50 1x5, 1x3, -100 1x7, 2x8
DB Rows, standing/leaning against an incline bench: 90 3x10
Hammer curls: 30 3x8
Deads felt better than last session overall, the first 455 was okay, my hips still rise too early, the second one (I waited like 30 seconds after the 1st rep) sucked. If all comes together I think 475 will be easy, 495 will be hard, and 515 will be nearly impossible. I’m going to have to put some serious time in to get this piece of shit better, regardless of whether I go conv or sumo. Everything else was solid, the chins sucked largely because my grip is falling apart due to fatigue, so I used straps for the rows.
Going to hit shoulders tomorrow and probably do some rdls and other accessory work on Sunday, followed by a deload week and then we’re going to hit some PRs.
Maybe a bit ambitious but looking to hit something like 455/385/505. Squat should be pretty in range, bench should be easy assuming I’m having a good day, deadlift, who tf knows.
I’m still not fully set, it doesn’t look like, after I hit these PRs in a few weeks I think I’m going to break down my deadlift and start from scratch.
Trying to average a minimum of 7k steps a day for each month, need about 12k to make it for October.
Shoulders:
25 min walk, 1.52 miles
Band warmup from article
Ohp: 135 2x5, 155 x5, 185 x2, 205x1, 225x2 (pr), 135x12
Hang cleans: 90 3x10
Wide Face pulls: 80 3x12
Cable lateral raises: 10x15, 20x10, 30x6
Cable front raises: 10 3x12
Hit 225 and the first rep wasnt too hard so I decided to go for a second, which was very hard, it wouldn’t have gone up at 226. I was squeezing so hard my right quad started cramping lol. Took the 45s off and immediately went to 135, crazy pump. I definitely have better shoulder workouts over all when I don’t ohp but my shoulders are already more well developed than most of my body so I’m not too worried about it. Depending on how other maxes go I might try 235 or 245 here but may just pass on it all together.
Extra leg/posterior chain:
5 min walk
GHR: 3x15
Glute drive: 90 x 10, 190 x 8, 240 3x8
Rack pulls: 135 2x5, 225 x5, 295 x5, 365 2x3, 435 2x2, 505, 2x1
Rdl: 135x10, 225 5x5
Did a few chins with full ROM in there too, should be able to add volume as I get stronger/lighter. My backside is going to be toast for a few days, I’d never done the GHR before and it pumped the hell out of my low back. Glute drives were explosive, I can do more weight here easily but am trying to generate some faster movement. Had never gone that heavy on rack pulls but I really like it, forces me to get tight and get my lats engaged, gives me some confidence for my deadlift.
Felt like this was a great workout to go into a deload, my forearms are tired, my hands are tired, my back is tired. Going to do something like 3x5 around 50% of my max next week and some pump work.
Definitely underfed and definitely not inspired to workout like that very often. I can see why BB style builds more muscle though, I can do that shit wait 28 seconds and be ready to do the next set. Could get in ~39000 reps in an hour.
Going to eat a bit then get some drinks in me and watch election news until I can’t do it anymore.
Boring deload #2:
Incline walk 10 min, 2 min run at 5.5mph and 5.5% incline
BS: 3x5 205
Quad extension: 3x15 130
Ham curls: 3x10 150 (full stack)
Called it there, didn’t feel like anything else would really matter and didn’t want to go hard enough to make myself tired. Going to switch up next training block and try and do a conditioning focus, to improve weight and work capacity so that my ability to get gains coming out of it will be increased.
Been reading/skimming 5/3/1 Forever, haven’t made it all the way through but am thinking about running FSL for the last two months of the year. If I do 85% of my tm and do the 5x5 sets I should have plenty of energy to put a lot into conditioning, which is my biggest weakness. Nothing decided yet but my few months of going 5x a week and pretty intense definitely wore me down, I think it worked well and I definitely made a lot of gains but I wouldn’t be able to do it for a full year. Going forward I’m thinking I’ll have a minimum of 2 or 3 blocks a year varying, in primary focus, between strength, hypertrophy, and conditioning.
Thinking about buying this. Seems like this isn’t going to be great quality but Seattle is spiking and I don’t want to be up the creek with nothing to do. Could at least do cleans, rows, dls, ohp, front squat, etc until I get a rack and bench. Any thoughts on whether it’s worth it to buy shit tier stuff to start?
The best I can do for you is ask what’s your reasoning for buying shit tier? Is that all that’s available? Or all that you can afford? If it is the former: consider looking for less popular bars that will still let you get quality work in. I imagine quality barbells and kettlebells are maybe out of stock but what about trap-bars and axles?
Maybe seek out a welder for an axle?
With quality plates and decent, albeit not “normie” bars, you have a solid base to add a normal power bar to when the opportunity presents itself.
Personally, I’d hate having to spend money twice. Once on shit and once on quality.
I’m just starting to look in earnest and it was the first thing that seemed reasonably priced, to be honest.
My thinking was that those weights were probably not great (I was going to inspect before handing over money) but that they would probably work for as long as I wanted and that I could replace the barbell when more become readily available and just use the shit one for things like rack pulls, assuming I get a rack.
Your points are valid though and probably worth considering. I can afford to buy nicer stuff, I’m just not sure how much I want to invest at these prices.
It’s probably not going to be cheaper but there are countries where the lock down has been less severe and availability of gym equipment isn’t as dried up. If you could arrange a group buy it might even conceivably be a way to get quality through and through the entire set of equipment you need at a comparable price point. Maybe!
I was fortunate enough to find a high quality company that would freight ship to me in April. I think given your situation, it would be a better idea to shell out for a nicer barbell and to settle for whatever plates you can acquire (within reason). I am also “buy nice or buy twice,” but also, weight is weight.
Thankfully the gym equipment crisis is nowhere near as bad as earlier this year. However, my strategy would probably be similar now. Don’t think Rogue/Titan/EliteFTS vs. Craigslist or nothing. Scope out for smaller companies with equal or near equal quality (Fringe Sport, American Barbell, REP, Vulcan Strength, etc). They likely have more stuff in stock or at least have a better idea when it will be.
Okay, so my mindset has been 100% Craigslist vs those three. Thanks for the tips, I’ve heard of a few of those but know next to nothing about them. I’ll check them out!
Back to lifting, was planning on doing a Max Bench but the bench I was going to use had just been taken by a guy who I know takes forever to get through his sets. So I decided, somewhat hesitantly to do a Squat Max instead. Been sleeping poorly, been stressed, stomach feeling off and have lost about 5lbs since last week. Woke up at 294, so I was expecting mediocre results.
Legs:
7 min incline walk
BS: 135 2x5, 225 2x2, 275x2 (belt), 315x2, 365x1, 415x1, 445 x1 (ties pr), 455 x 1 (10lb pr)
Leg press: single leg 90 1x10, both legs 410 3x15
GHR: 3x10
Pretty happy about the 10lb PR, feel like I might’ve been able to get a bit more if I had been in a better place mentally/physically. Started losing the weight forward, a bit, but managed to push through. 2 things I need to work on are form and posterior strength, my legs weren’t struggling at all but my back started to collapse a bit and the weight shifted forward. I have videos of a few but not 455, they were bothersome to setup and someone (same fucker who took the bench) asked me to spot him about 15 seconds before I was going to squat.
So week one i would do?
5 x 65%,
5 x 75%,
5 x 85%
5x5 65%
Week two would be the same for the first 3 sets but with 3 reps each set with a 5% increase in intensity and the last 5 sets would be identical with the same 5% increase in intensity?
5s PRO means 5 reps on all of the main 5/3/1 sets, regardless of the week. You still follow the same percentages as normal. FSL is not the main work but rather the supplemental, so it is distinct from 5s PRO. If you’re doing 5x5 FSL for supplemental, then you do 5x5 with the weight you used for the first working set on that day.
