Better Living Through Iron

Training Over 35 Lifter
21

[quote]soldog wrote:
skidmark wrote:
That’s no problem. If you end up stalling out along the line (and it will happen) Mr. Wendler recommends dropping the poundages a bit and ramping back up over time. You’ll pass the weight at which you stalled. Classic “two steps forward, one back” periodization.

But it would be a bit harsh to have that happen on round 1…[/quote]

If you can’t get one rep at 90% of your max, then you probably have a lot else going on in your life that’s depleting you. All that’s required in each workout is that you hit the minimum rep count for that wave. Anything else is gravy. That’s what I love about this program.

22

[quote]skidmark wrote:
If you can’t get one rep at 90% of your max, then you probably have a lot else going on in your life that’s depleting you. All that’s required in each workout is that you hit the minimum rep count for that wave. Anything else is gravy. That’s what I love about this program.[/quote]

true that - my premise was the inaccuracy of a 1rm predictor but we’ve semi-established that this particular equation is probably good to better than 10% for our cases.

23

[quote]soldog wrote:
skidmark wrote:
That’s no problem. If you end up stalling out along the line (and it will happen) Mr. Wendler recommends dropping the poundages a bit and ramping back up over time. You’ll pass the weight at which you stalled. Classic “two steps forward, one back” periodization.

But it would be a bit harsh to have that happen on round 1…[/quote]

Indeed. But I can definitely grind out one squat at 295 (90% of that 330, rounded down), and in fact put up 3@305 Friday so it shouldn’t be too much trouble.

I’m used to wave periodization, since it’s basically what I’ve been doing for the past 7 months; my ego has no problem with taking a step back and deloading. :slight_smile:

24

[quote]mcl wrote:

Indeed. But I can definitely grind out one squat at 295 (90% of that 330, rounded down), and in fact put up 9 Friday at 295 (3x3), so it shouldn’t be too much trouble.

I’m used to wave periodization, since it’s basically what I’ve been doing for the past 7 months; my ego has no problem with taking a step back and deloading. :)[/quote]

Better than me - mcl, I was really just using your log to have a discussion on the predictive accuracy of the 1RM calculation - lol

25

Well, I’ve got my first endo appointment today. Hopefully something’ll come of it. We’ll see.

26

That was worse than a waste of time.

I walked in, described my symptoms, told him I don’t feel like myself anymore and just want to feel better, and he was adamant that I have sleep apnea. “You have sleep apnea until proven otherwise!” and referred me to a sleep center for study.

He said my numbers were perfectly normal.

He also said that I should just eat 1500 kcals/day and do a lot more cardio.

In short, he’s a complete idiot.

I’m going to follow up on the sleep study referral because I /do/ have trouble sleeping, but in spite of him and not because I think he’s right re: my symptoms being caused by it.

sigh

27

First day on the 5-3-1 workout:

Military Press: 5@70, 5@80, 11@90
Accessory work:
Dips: 5x10@bodyweight
Bent-over barbell Rows: 3x12@165
Shrugs: 3x15@90 (45 per hand)

1 minute jumping rope (trying to get the hang of this, for some alternative cardio)

30 minutes on the elliptical @~10MET.

By the time I was done with the lifting, even though it was light, my forearms, bi/triceps, and traps were pumped solid. I don’t normally get that kind of pump from the 5x5 I’ve been doing. My lats and chest looked full, but didn’t feel as pumped.

I just got back from the gym 30 minutes ago, and I’m already sore. Usually, I’m not sore until the evening or the following day.

28

2nd day of 5-3-1:

Deadlift: 5@170, 5@205, 7@235
lunges: 3x6@40
hanging ab raises: 3x15@BW

30 minutes elliptical.

Legs (quads, mostly) are a tiny bit sore. Back and stomach don’t really feel anything.

Had myself immersion tested this morning, for the 2nd time. In 3 months, my LBM stayed exactly the same, and I lost 1 lb of bodyfat. Sigh. Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me.

29

Day 3 of 5-3-1:

Bench 5@125, 5@140, 11@160
DB bench: 5x15@60 (30 ea. hand)
DB Row: 5x10@40
DB tricep extension: 3x15@15

30 minutes elliptical.

I’m going to increase all of the accessory exercises by 5 lbs next week. The DB bench felt about right; the rows felt like I could be doing more, and the tricep extensions actually took me to failure.

Oddly, my quads, hams, and ass are sore. Shoulders burn. Chest, not so much. Definitely feel the lats, but no soreness.

Got home and fell asleep for an hour. First time in a while I’ve had to nap after a workout.

30

[quote]mcl wrote:
Day 3 of 5-3-1:

Bench 5@125, 5@140, 11@160
DB bench: 5x15@60 (30 ea. hand)
DB Row: 5x10@40
DB tricep extension: 3x15@15

30 minutes elliptical.

I’m going to increase all of the accessory exercises by 5 lbs next week. The DB bench felt about right; the rows felt like I could be doing more, and the tricep extensions actually took me to failure.

Oddly, my quads, hams, and ass are sore. Shoulders burn. Chest, not so much. Definitely feel the lats, but no soreness.

Got home and fell asleep for an hour. First time in a while I’ve had to nap after a workout.[/quote]

nice!

on the nap - Ya this program will do it to you. It’s very deceptive on paper

31

Last day of first week of 5-3-1:

I forgot the gym was closing early today, so I had to squeeze my entire workout into 30 minutes. Intense!

Squats: 5@190, 5@220, 8@250. I think I had another one in the tank for the last set, but I didn’t want to push it.

Leg Press: 5x20@90+whatever the equipment added. I could’ve gone heavier, but since I don’t normally do leg presses, this was to figure out where I should be.

Leg Curl: 3x10@55. Kicked my ass.

Good Mornings: 5x10@70. Again, never done these, so I went light. I can definitely go heavier on these next week. Probably @95, or higher.

Had to skip the cardio today due to the early gym closure.

I’ll be at a two day motorcycle racetrack school Monday and Tuesday, so my legs’ll be wasted by the end of that, and I won’t be able to get to the gym until Thursday. In fairness, this’ll be the first time I’ve missed any gym time since last August, so I’m about due. :slight_smile:

32

5-3-1, Cycle 1, Week 2, day 1:

Military Press: 3@75, 3@85, 14@95
Dips: 5x10@BW
Rows: 3x12@165
Shrugs: 3x15@130

Jumprope intervals: 7@15 seconds
40 minutes elliptical

Quads and shins hurt a bit from all the exertion on the track, but overall, felt good today.

33

[quote]mcl wrote:
5-3-1, Cycle 1, Week 2, day 1:

Military Press: 3@75, 3@85, 14@95
Dips: 5x10@BW
Rows: 3x12@165
Shrugs: 3x15@130

Jumprope intervals: 7@15 seconds
40 minutes elliptical

Quads and shins hurt a bit from all the exertion on the track, but overall, felt good today.[/quote]

cranked out those MPs didn’t ya now! nice work!

34

Yup! One of the things going to the track school really drove home to me is: most of my limitations are mental. I can push myself (and/or my machinery) farther and harder than I think I can. I just need to get my brain out of the equation.

35

Cycle 1, week 2, day 2:

HOLY HELL!

Ok, I don’t know what happened, but something definitely…changed…today.

I decided to try some warmup activations…a set of 4 ab rollouts, and some rack pulls.

so, warmups:

1x4 ab wheel rollouts

rack pulls:
3@365
2@385
2@405

(the most I’ve rack pulled in the past is 315)

Then, I did my deadlifts, sumo style. Taking a cue from last week, when I got winded doing 7 straight through, I did full setups each time instead.

Deadlifts:
3@190
3@220
18@245

18!!! WTF? Where did that come from? I actually could have kept going, but after 18, I took about a minute to recover, and decided that any further reps would be cheating if I counted them.

So…out of curiosity, I went back to the rack pulls, feeling good.

AND PULLED 3@500! Needless to say, that’s a PR.

Lunges: 3x6@45 (22.5/hand)
hanging ab raises: 3x15@BW

jumprope intervals: 7@15s (30s rest)

Elliptical: 40 mins.

Even weirder, I left the gym still energized! I feel like I could go back and do more deadlifts!

I didn’t do anything particularly different today, diet-wise, or timing-wise. The only thing I can even remotely think of that could have led to this was either the 3-day break from the gym while I was at the track, a conscious decision to tell my brain to STFU, since it keeps telling me to stop before I’m truly exhausted, or the Alpha-GPC I just started taking.

I’m not complaining, just puzzled, because I’d like to keep doing whatever caused this!

36

[quote]mcl wrote:
Cycle 1, week 2, day 2:

HOLY HELL!

Ok, I don’t know what happened, but something definitely…changed…today.

I decided to try some warmup activations…a set of 4 ab rollouts, and some rack pulls.

so, warmups:

1x4 ab wheel rollouts

rack pulls:
3@365
2@385 PR
2@405 PR

(the most I’ve rack pulled in the past is 315)

Then, I did my deadlifts, sumo style. Taking a cue from last week, when I got winded doing 7 straight through, I did full setups each time instead.

Deadlifts:
3@190
3@220
18@245 PR

18!!! WTF? Where did that come from? I actually could have kept going, but after 18, I took about a minute to recover, and decided that any further reps would be cheating if I counted them.

So…out of curiosity, I went back to the rack pulls, feeling good.

AND PULLED 3@500! Needless to say, that’s a PR.

Lunges: 3x6@45 (22.5/hand)
hanging ab raises: 3x15@BW

jumprope intervals: 7@15s (30s rest)

Elliptical: 40 mins.

Even weirder, I left the gym still energized! I feel like I could go back and do more deadlifts!

I didn’t do anything particularly different today, diet-wise, or timing-wise. The only thing I can even remotely think of that could have led to this was either the 3-day break from the gym while I was at the track, a conscious decision to tell my brain to STFU, since it keeps telling me to stop before I’m truly exhausted, or the Alpha-GPC I just started taking.

I’m not complaining, just puzzled, because I’d like to keep doing whatever caused this![/quote]

fixed that for ya!

well done! you sure someone didn’t slip you something at the track?

37

500 is huge!

Congrats!

38

Thanks!

I did realize that I’m doing one thing differently: Hydrating. It was hot as hell at the track, so I was drinking a ton of water. When I got back, I decided to stay in the habit, so i’ve been drinking at least a gallon a day.

I’m dubious that simply being properly hydrated would lead to that kind of surprise strength gain, but who knows?

39

Damn. I just realized that that 18@245 = an estimated 390lb deadlift 1RM.

That may explain the 500lb rack pulls, since that’s just over 120% of the 1RM.

Still…that’s one hell of an improvement.

40

[quote]mcl wrote:
Thanks!

I did realize that I’m doing one thing differently: Hydrating. It was hot as hell at the track, so I was drinking a ton of water. When I got back, I decided to stay in the habit, so i’ve been drinking at least a gallon a day.

I’m dubious that simply being properly hydrated would lead to that kind of surprise strength gain, but who knows?[/quote]

Yup - it can make a difference.