OHP:
60x3
70x3
80x3 (New PR!)
Completed my 75 chins and bar dips over the course of the next 40 minutes (strict form). As I was grabbing a drink of water another guy came up and told me that my back looks like a painting. Hopefully I can actually see what he’s talking about when I’m taking pictures without a pump again at the end of the month.
My legs are still killing me from the bulgarian split squats on Sunday.
DL:
150x3
170x3
190x6 << (this lift is now going down.)
Also, I lost 4lbs in the last two weeks. I’ve been eating only one meat meal a day while food journaling the whole time to make sure my calories are coming out to the amount they need to be. My protein content has been over 200 grams for most of the days and I’m still drinking whey protein. However, I feel hungry all the time.
I think two things have happened. One, I detoxed (went to the bathroom non-stop for the first couple days after which my stomach was tighter than it’s ever been), and two my metabolism is going up.
For the rest of the week I’m going to try and eat 3000 calories per day from clean sources and see if that helps.
Bench-
90x3
105x3
115x6 (same as last month)
I’m starting to doubt the wisdom of the extremely high volume Wendler recommends for the assistance exercises. In retrospect, I was making the best progress when I was doing high weight, low rep assistance work. My progress has stalled, even fallen since beginning the high-volume assistance ex.s in the last two months. At the end of this month I’m going to reassess all of the lifts, and come up with my own assistance work involving high weight, but no more than 8 reps per set.
The eatting has been going well. I’ve been getting over 200 grams of protein per day, and my calories have been well over 2500.
Stands to reason a 300lb, test-producing guy is going to need more stimulation and will recover better than a 150lb woman. I don’t do much volume either - 5 sets for assistance is too much for me. I’ll do 3 or 4 (depending on energy and time constraints) and vary the reps. Do what you feel works for you.
[quote]Cal Jones wrote:
Stands to reason a 300lb, test-producing guy is going to need more stimulation and will recover better than a 150lb woman. I don’t do much volume either - 5 sets for assistance is too much for me. I’ll do 3 or 4 (depending on energy and time constraints) and vary the reps. Do what you feel works for you.[/quote]
Agreed.
Something is wrong with me right now, though. I teach a bootcamp class (ah…the joys of working as a corporate sellout) which basically amounts to high repetitions with lower weights and I often include crossfit-style circuits just for shits and giggles. Teaching this class is normally a piece of cake for me due to the fact that I lift so much heavier and I’m not doing everything with the class (you walk around part of the time, correct form that’s so bad it makes you want to cry, etc). Today I nearly died teaching the class. I’ve NEVER felt so weak. I struggled with a 5lb deltiod ext and a 1 min wall sit. Also, moving weights around for the people I was training afterwards felt 100xs harder than normal.
There are so many things that could be involved with this state I’m in. I’ve been working much longer hours than I’m used to, which involves moving weights for people up to 9 hours a day, I’ve been switching over to a vegetarian diet involving less nutritional creatine and certain other nutrients than before, sleeping less, and there have also been a series of colds/flu/strep throat flying around the gym.
Since I don’t know which exact cause or combination of them is at fault, I’m just going to take the following steps for recovery:
Any other suggestions would be welcome!
[quote]Oleena wrote:
Bench-
90x3
105x3
115x6 (same as last month)
I’m starting to doubt the wisdom of the extremely high volume Wendler recommends for the assistance exercises. In retrospect, I was making the best progress when I was doing high weight, low rep assistance work. My progress has stalled, even fallen since beginning the high-volume assistance ex.s in the last two months. At the end of this month I’m going to reassess all of the lifts, and come up with my own assistance work involving high weight, but no more than 8 reps per set.
The eatting has been going well. I’ve been getting over 200 grams of protein per day, and my calories have been well over 2500.[/quote]
I think that would be smart for you in regards to lowering the volume. I thrive on low volume, heavy lifting as long as it’s frequent enough. I think the standard “5x10” is just Wendler simplifying things as he always does, but I did it quite differently with the help of Cephalic_Carnage. Basically I did 5/3/1 but more BB-oriented, and each rep range besides the 5/3/1 lift depended on the exercise. For example, a bench day from a couple months ago:
5/3/1 BP
Incline BB Bench, 5 rep-ramp
Kroc rows, 20-40 reps SS (Straight-set)
Overhead tricep extensions (rope), Rest-Paused (somewhere between 15-30 reps total)
Side-lying external rotation, 3x15
So really, it just depends on the lift. And if your not progressing on high volume, go to low volume mainly and just try to get PRs on weight/reps. So lets say on my Incline BB bench press, I want to ramp up to a 4-8 rep max. I basically ramp the weight and either try to beat the logbook in one of two ways: 1) more reps in the rep range, or 2) more weight. This is basically the essence of Doggcrappp training. If I got 8 reps on a certain weight, then that means next week, I’m going to up the weight and see what I get. Hope this helps.
Just take a week off and do nothing, even if that means not doing your boot camp classes. Tell your staff what’s up. Do all the necessities like work, errands, whatever, but just chill out and have some wine and eat big daily. Don’t worry about creatine or a multi, just eat yer damn spinach and take 2k-4k IU of vitamin D a day.
Also, mobility warm-ups in a circuit fashion, just enough to get the blood pumping, are great for recovery. I’d recommend those everyday.
[quote]PB Andy wrote:
Just take a week off and do nothing, even if that means not doing your boot camp classes. Tell your staff what’s up. Do all the necessities like work, errands, whatever, but just chill out and have some wine and eat big daily. Don’t worry about creatine or a multi, just eat yer damn spinach and take 2k-4k IU of vitamin D a day.
Also, mobility warm-ups in a circuit fashion, just enough to get the blood pumping, are great for recovery. I’d recommend those everyday.[/quote]
Thanks for all of the advice, esp the mobility warm up drills. I’m going to add those in before short, easy yoga sessions. I agree about the rep ranges, and taking time off of everything. The timing of all of this works out well in terms of the bootcamp class because I’d already told my boss that I’d like a few weeks off of it.
I managed 11 hours of sleep last night and am about to go eat as much as I can.
Another thing to try oleena, is to just do fun things in the gym or outside for a week as rest. I personally find what pb Andy said is right on, but also sometimes doing something that is fun helps alot. We tend to forget that sometimes we just get wore out mentally with everything going on, and just to have some fun with training, try something new and not overly taxing. Hope you feel better soon though.
[quote]Heracles_rocks wrote:
Another thing to try oleena, is to just do fun things in the gym or outside for a week as rest. I personally find what pb Andy said is right on, but also sometimes doing something that is fun helps alot. We tend to forget that sometimes we just get wore out mentally with everything going on, and just to have some fun with training, try something new and not overly taxing. Hope you feel better soon though. [/quote]
Thanks. I end up playing around quite a bit just because of how big the gym I work in is, and the competition mindset the trainers tend to have.
BTW, standing on a large stability ball may not have any real life application but it is pretty fun. Has anyone ever seen that backflip off of the stability ball video? I laughed for a day the first time I saw it, but now I can’t look at a large red ball without wondering what it’d be like to do that… If I suddenly disappear at least yall know what happened.
Haha, i hope not, there is a gif in the demotivational pic thread where someone tries to do a back flip off a vending machine and it didn’t end well. I cannot balance very well at all, so no i haven’t it.
link: pg 31 towards the top by theuofh
hah, pretty funny Oleena. Be safe!
Here’s a circuit-type recovery workout: Use loads approx. 30% of your 1RM. Do 15-20 reps per set, and keep rest time as short as possible b/w sets.
DB Rom. Deadlift
Reverse lunge
Push-up
Seated cable-row
X-band walks
Side bridge
Cable triceps pressdown
Standing cable biceps curl
Side-lying DB ext rotation
It may not be mobility per se but you get the idea.
Not only has my strength returned nearly 100 percent in the last week, but I also am experiencing some weird, what I am guessing are hormonal, changes.
First of all, my sex drive nearly went away completely in the month and a half preceding “burnout”. I didn’t recognize this as related to diet and training- I figured it was more due to my long-term relationship + busy schedule. However, in the last week the sparks started flying again. Also, my skin has never looked better.
I’m in the process of writing a workout plan that will incorporate 6 major lifts, about 18 assistance exercises and have a two week, three day per week cycle instead of a weekly cycle through all of the exercises.
The supps I’m currently taking are 4000mg vitamim D, 100mg DHEA, and lipoic acid. I’m not going to start the creatine or the workout plan until I have the diet down.
Pwhoar!! Congrats on the increased sex drive ;), and using your expertise to take control of your own programming. I’m excited to see what will come of your plan. Will be following closely.
Spring has sprung and Oleena’s butt is in the air! =D
I’m experiencing a similar surge that I was blaming the seasons for. Rawr.
Haha. Whatever is responsible for the glowing skin and friskiness, I’ll take it (except if it’s a baby).
Here’s my workout plan so far:
Day 1:
Squat: 4 sets of 6 reps each adding more weight as soon as I’m able to accomplish the given weight with 8 reps per set. Drop back down to 6 reps with new weight.
Leg Press: 3 sets of 8 reps
Barbell reverse-lunges- 3 sets of 8-10 reps
Step-ups: 3 sets of 12
Plank holds- 3 holds working up to 3 minutes per hold. I’m at about 1 minute to 1.5 minutes.
Day 2:
OHP- (wave loading rep scheme which is 6 sets of 4-3-2-4-3-2 ending at the highest weight. I found that this upped my bench faster than anything so now I want to try it on another upper body lift)
Wide-grip Pullup- 4 sets of 6 reps adding more weight as soon as I can accomplish all sets of 6 at given weight
Bar Dips- 3 sets of near-failure. Add weight once above 25 dips per set.
Face Pulls- 3 sets of 8
leg-overs- 3 sets of 20+
Day 3:
Deadlift: 531
leg curl: 3 sets of 8
Glute Ham Raise Modified for my gym: 3 sets of 10 perfect
elevated bridge with weight: 2 sets of 12 to exhaustion
Ab wheel rollouts: 3 sets of up to 15 before adding a resistance band or something to make it harder
Day 4:
Front Squat: 531
Bulgarian split squat: 3 sets of 10 adding DBs
walking lunges: 4 sets of 6
single-leg leg-press: 3 sets of 10
Hanging leg raises: 3 sets of 15 adding DB between feet when/if this gets easy
Day 5:
Bench Press: wave-loading rep scheme
Upright bench: 3 sets of 6-8
Kroc Row: 2 sets of 15 to exhaustion
Chin-ups: 3 sets of 6-8 add weight as necessary
Weighted sit-ups: 3 sets of 15
Day 6:
Sumo Deadlift: 531
Rack pulls: 4 sets of 6
Romanian Deadlift: 3 sets of 10
Bent-over rows: 4 sets of 5
Reverse crunches on incline: 3 sets of up to 25 adding weight when reached
Note on cardio: I want to put together a rowing machine and treadmill HITT program, but I’m getting started at a local, awesome yoga studio and trying to qualify in teaching by at the end of 5 months (I do have experience doing yoga on my own and taking classes through more qualified individuals than those at the gym where I work). This means that I’ll probably be going 4-6 days per week for a variety of classes. I’ll see how this effects my body before attacking the cardio component.
Each workout will start with mobility exercises after foam rolling.
Will post diet once I complete it.
Edit: It should be noted that this ISN’T for 6 days per week, it’s for 6 days within a two-week time frame.
Ahh . . . you answered my question in your last sentence!
However, why are you mixing programs (5/3/1 + wave)? Is this . . . common?
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
Ahh . . . you answered my question in your last sentence!
However, why are you mixing programs (5/3/1 + wave)? Is this . . . common?[/quote]
No it’s not common. I’m doing 531 on my lower body because I saw good results from it when I reduced the overall workout volume. However, I’ve made faster progress on my upper body with a wave loading scheme, so I thought I’d give it a try for the overhead press.
Short answer is that I’m doing what I’ve found works best for my body.
Let the criticism begin (for both this and the program above):
Daily Diet, broken up into about 4-5 meals:
1.0 Item Apple 0.3 g 21.0 g 0.5 g 81.4 Cal
1.0 Cup Blueberries 1.0 g 20.3 g 0.5 g 80.6 Cal
1.5 Servings chicken breast 60.0 g 0.0 g 3.0 g 270.0 Cal
3.0 Servings gold standard whey 72.0 g 9.0 g 3.0 g 360.0 Cal
1.0 Cup Hummus Home Prepared 12.0 g 49.5 g 21.1 g 435.4 Cal
1.5 Servings irish oatmeal steel cut 6.0 g 39.0 g 3.0 g 225.0 Cal
12.0 Fl Ozs Milk Non Fat Skim or Fat Free 12.4 g 18.2 g 0.3 g 125.0 Cal
4.0 Servings morning star sausage patties 40.0 g 12.0 g 12.0 g 320.0 Cal
1.0 Item Pita Bread 5.5 g 33.4 g 0.7 g 165.0 Cal
1.5 Cups Potato Sweet Boiled Mashed 6.7 g 87.2 g 0.7 g 373.9 Cal
0.5 Serving raw almonds 3.0 g 3.0 g 7.0 g 80.0 Cal
1.5 Servings trim cottage cheese 21.0 g 7.5 g 3.8 g 150.0 Cal
Total protein:239.9 g carbs:300.1 g fat:55.6 g Total cal:2666.3 Cal
This doesn’t include my pre and post workout shake and the carbs I take with it. On training days I’ll be up to around 3,000 cals.
After reading your plan I am even more, more excited. I can’t wait to see what these modifications will do for your bench press and press! I am also curious about the almost entirely vegetarian diet. I know some argue it is hard to make gains on a vegetarian diet, but I am not convinced. Let’s see how it fares for you.