Boilerman Wants It All

Training Logs
81

Fridays OHP 5’s
50x5
60x5
75x5
80x5
90x5
105x7
90x5
80x5
80 5x5

I was pretty disappointed with my performance on friday.

Yesterday’s bench 3’s
75x5
95x5
110x5
130x3
150x3
165x10
150x3
130x3
130 5x5

Bench felt alright yesterday. Still not getting past my previous PR set numbers. Went through my diet this weekend and am going to try for a small surplus to get these upper body lifts to move in the right direction.
Firday AM weight was around 191, Monday AM weight around 194. Deadlifts later today, at least I can look forward to that.

2 Likes
82

Deadlift 3’s

135x5
170x5
205x5
240x3
275x3
310x12
240 5x5

Nice. The FSL on deadlifts is really starting to take it’s toll. I feel pretty tired after the PR set, and then to go back and hit 240 after is a chore. First 2 sets feel like hell on Earth but after that they’re ok. Maybe I’ll try taking more than a 90 second break between pr and fsl sets from now on.

2 Likes
83

Keep rolling man

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84

High rep deadlifts to failure can really take its toll.
So absolutely take a bit more than 90 seconds.

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85

So I just spoke with a good friend who has been lifting for a long time. We went to highschool together and we’re in a band together in highschool/after high school. I showed him the program I have been running and he has suggested a few changes that I’m going to implement over the next few weeks. Keep in mind, he has pulled 780+, squatted 700+ (probably even more, I’d have to ask him), so I trust what he has to say about getting stronger.

I’m going to finish out this cycle of 5/3/1, then get to testing my 5 and 3 rep maxes on all lifts. The 5 rep max will not be an all out max, but to get in the ballpark. I’m tossing around the idea of taking 2 days rest between attempts on all of the lifts, depending on how beat up I feel. After that, I will be doing a 3 rep max, all out, on all lifts. I’ll definitely take additional rest days between lifts at this point. I want to get as close to max as possible.

After I get my numbers I’m going to report back to him. I will probably end up using 85% of the 5RM as my new TM for the following cycles of 5/3/1.

Beyond that, I’ll start to implement a slightly different approach to how my cycles will be progressing. I will still add 5# upper 10# lower, but after 2 cycles, possibly 3 depending on progress, I will eat in a defecit, lower my TM and focus solely on variations of the main lifts for 3 weeks. After those three weeks, I’ll start back on normal 5/3/1 with fsl (or BBB, haven’t decided yet) and continue for a few cycles, repeating the process over again.

It sounds like a solid plan to me, and his main takeaway from my current lifting was that I was do I my a great job, but just not lifting heavy and eating enough (duh) to promote strength increases especially in my upper body lifts.

Only downside(or upside, I guess) is that I’m going to have to buy more weights for my home gym. I only have 350# of weight including the bar and I’m going to assume my deadlift is a fair bit beyond that.

I’d like to hear anyone’s criticism/concerns with the plan above, or any tips/hints. I’ve never attempted a heavy max so it’ll be interesting.

Squats later today! I’m pumped.

1 Like
86

Jim suggests that you use your 5RM weight as TM. That would be in the ballpark of 85% of a 1RM.

Sounds like a nice change of pace to do a cycle of variation lifts. You could skip the 531 regimen for that 3 weeks and shoot for a 8RM each week followed by a couple of backoff sets shooting to get 12 - 15 reps here.
Trying to do a bit more weight each week.

1 Like
87

Will do the 5RM weight on the main lifts.

And I agree, trying to increase variations sounds fun too. Plus there are a lot of things to choose from so it should keep things pretty interesting.

88

Squat 3’s

95x5
120x5
140x5
165x3
190x3
200x1(had to take a long phone call between the second and PR set, wanted to make sure I was still in the groove)
210x17 (yup, I was still in the groove)
165 5x5

Julien Baker- Sprained Ankle

2 Likes
89

OHP 3’s

50x5
60x5
75x5
85x3
95x3
110x7
95x3
85x3
85 5x5

Press felt way more stable and solid than last week. Definitely in a surplus, but haven’t weighed myself. Still eating pretty responsibly. Everyone have a good weekend.

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90

Thanks, have a nice weekend

91

Bench 5/3/1

75x5
95x5
110x5
140x5
160x3
175x8
160x3
140 6x5

Bench is slowly slowly on its way back up.

Haven’t weighed myself yet, but I seem to be leaning out a bit, but also getting a little bigger. Digging it.

4 Likes
92

Deadlift 5/3/1

135x5
170x5
205x5
255x5
290x3
325x8
255 5x5

Didn’t do as well as I’d hoped today. I have to find a way to calm down before deadlifts. I think I kind of flip myself out and get way too pumped up, and think about way too much before the top set of the day. Had to skip lunch today, and was in a high pressure steam class for 9 hours today. I was totally out of my typical routine and I think it just threw me off. I was aiming for 11 reps but at the down motion of rep 8 I knew I wouldn’t be able to get 3 more, and decided to end the set. Also, I noticed 290 didn’t feel too bad, but 325 felt heavy as fuck. Again, I probably just have to get used to having this much weight on the bar. I should also build myself a platform, as I am doing deadlifts on a hardwood floor and honestly I’m worried about falling through it haha. I do a slow eccentric on every rep of deadlifts and I guess it’s possible that is catching up with me too.

I have to focus more and try to put what happened during the day out of my head.

Better luck next week.

2 Likes
93

Bad days happens every now and then. Deadlifts are a real tough lift that takes a lot out of you.
Really good days are rare and the normal grindy days are the ones that happens often.

I’m having the same issues about worrying about not getting the reps I’ve hoped.
But I know at some point it gets better.

2 Likes
94

True, I guess I haven’t really hit a “wall” yet and it’s kind of a reality check when things don’t go to plan. I suppose the right thing to do is just to keep at it and eventually it’ll go up.

Excited for squats tomorrow.

1 Like
95

Squat 5/3/1

95x5
120x5
140x5
175x5
200x3
225x14
175 5x5

Squats felt heavy today, but I ended up doing very well. I’m sort of rethinking my plan to test my maxes next week, I might do the next cycle, deload, and then test the maxes. We’ll see.

1 Like
96

I’m looking at starting 531 soon and was thinking about the pr sets. If your putting your all into them every work out, do you really need to record and try to beat them? If you can say you did as many as you were able on that day, surely the end result would be the same and you wouldn’t have the psychological pressure?

97

You don’t have to record them, as long as you put all you have into them, and if you don’t tell Jim he won’t come around and beat you if you don’t get the record.

HOWEVER knowing how many reps you need to get, sometimes gives you that extra to get the final rep to conquer or match your previous rep record.
If you record the FSL work as well then you have two goal to beat.
Jim says that if you go in the gym load up the bar and sets a big rep PR, then you sometimes just should leave the room, you’ve done enough.

So I’m recording every single damn one of them… at the moment I’ve lost a lot of strength, so I’m struggling to get even close to former strength and it’s just a year ago. So that’s a little demotivating.

1 Like
98

Makes sense. Why are you losing strength, calorie deficit?

99

probably because I’ve lost about 26 - 28 pounds since january, or because I did my own programming through the first 4 month of the year.
But I really don’t get it, it just vanished from one day to another or so it felt.

2 Likes
100

Nice work.