I wonder…is there a better place to ask questions than my log? I don’t seem to be getting any answers.
Mon July 20th - Sleep 8.5/10 - still sick though. Sinuses really clogged/etc.
Not a lot of energy today but going to give deadlift a try.
Switching to the Triumvirate workout rather than the Big But Boring…at least as much as I can.
Deadlifts
5x135 ← detailing warmup lifts when I remember
5x155 ← detailing warmup lifts when I remember
5x190
5x210
20x220 ← seems a bit high. I ground the last 5 out though…was hard.
Good mornings
12x45
4x12x65
Hanging Leg Raises (as per the 531 manual, feet to bar).
Rx 5x15, I am just going until I break set
7, 5, 5, 5, 4 = 26
Good workout, feeling drained though.
I typically have Chronix Aggression on during a workout. Today’s run of tracks was exemplary. Highlights were:
Rob Zombie - Scum of the Earth
Slipknot - Sulfur
Dope - Die MF Die
Wed July 22nd - Sleep 7.5/10 - still sick but it is mostly a throat/head phlegm thing now. Still a bit of the chills/sweats.
Bench
5x135
5x155
5x175
5x190
12x200
5x10x135
DB Row
5x10x50
Good workout, felt really good. Coughing a lot.
Songs of the workout:
Slipknot - People = Shit (live version)
Ministry - Just One Fix (live Sphinctor tour)
Fri July 24th - Sleep 8.5/10 - still sick, but getting better
No energy for this workout. Surprised I got through it. BBB template for this day since I don’t have a leg press or other such leg related machines.
Squat
7x45
5x95
5x140
5x150
16x155
10x85
4x10x95
Sun July 26th - Sleep 9/10 - Still sick mostly in head/throat now. Fever and chills are mostly gone.
Just noticed that my spreadsheet was wrong and the entire last week was really a quasi week 2/3 weight instead of week 1. The last set weight was right but the first two sets were 10% too high. Much heavier than it should have been. That being said I did OK…
Going back to regularly scheduled programming this week, although it will be slightly lighter than last week.
Military Press
3x95
3x110
6x120
Dips
2x15, 3x10/5 (last 3 sets broken, 10 reps then 5 reps)
Chinups
5x10 varying grips, all sets other than #1 broken
Tried setting up some boards across sawhorses and then putting my pushup bars on it. Disaster. Right pushup bar got pushed out, it collapsed, I came down on sawhorse with my ribs. Quite the nasty roadrash and sore ribs. Hopefully they are OK 
Mon July 27th - Sleep 5/10 - hot sick sweaty night 
Lower right back tweaking during the day, presumably because of mishap yesterday
Deadlifts
5x135
3x180
3x210
16x235
Good mornings
3x12x75
2x12x65 ← felt a bit of tweak with 75, and being tender on lower back
HLR
9, 7, 9, 7, 5 = 37 <— halfway there 
With your squat and deadlift being as low as it is, you should consider trying Cressey’s latest posted workout that concentrates on developing the rear-chain muscles. I’ve been doing it on Mon and Thu for a few weeks now with Wendler’s 5/3/1 on Tue and Wed and I’ve already made some definitive progress. I’m also pretty much the same size as you (6’1" 190) and a hard gainer. I hurt my back, then fell off a roof and fucked up my neck a little bit, so I had to take a break from weights for a couple of months and remained pretty inactive, but my gains are increasing rapidly on this workout, especially Cressey’s. Basically it goes like this, on a 4 week rotation:
Mon: Box Squats- warm up to 3 sets of 1 rep at 90% or more of 1rm, followed by 3x4 of 80% of 1rm-the 3x1 must all be at least 90% of your 1rm
week 1-3x1, 3x4
week 2-3x1, 3x4
week 3-4x1, 3x4
week 4-3x1
Speed Deadlifts: 10 reps as explosively as possible, each rep will be 30 seconds apart
week 1-10x1 with 60% 1rm
week 2-10x1 with 65%
week 3-10x1 with 70%
week 4-nothing
Any single-leg movement 4 sets, 10-15 reps
Some ab shit with cables/weights. I lift at my house, so I usually do the single-leg movement with some sort of ab-related move, like one-legged squats with a 35lb. disc held at arms length. Then I do rollouts or hanging leg raises.
Hip, knee and ankle mobility/stretching
Thursday: Front squats done explosively
week 1-8x2 with 55% of 1rm
week 2-6x2 with 60%
week 3-8x2 with 65%
week 4-4x2 with 70%
Sumo Deadlifts: go as heavy as possible
week 1-4x5
week 2-3x5
week 3-3x5
week 4-3x5
single-leg 4x10-15
abs
stretch/mobility
With this workout I’ve almost gotten back to my pre-injury numbers in three weeks (plus a couple weeks of light lifting to get back into the swing of things). Squat-360 Front squat-290 Deadlift-420
Thanks for the advice artw. Glad to see someone reads my log 
Does this workout replace deads and squats in 5/3/1 and I do military/bench as per normal?
ie. I’d do Sun-military, Mon-squats/deads, Wed-bench, fri-squats/deads?
Should I maybe give 5/3/1 a chance for a while and work this in once I plateau (since I seem to be progressing with it for now) or jump to this now to replace my squats/deads days?
I really need to build/buy me a box.
Another question for people out there. This may be mentioned in Jim’s book but I cannot seem to see it.
I am getting fairly high reps in for my last set.
eg: deads today were 16x235.
Should I be getting that high or is that a symptom that my maxes are too low? I set them conservatively a bit low on purpose to ease into it slowly as per the advice in the book. But really if I am ‘on target’ what should I be getting on the 3 day for reps? 6? 10? 15? 20? Or does it really matter. Just lift and it will eventually even itself out as I get my weights to a place where I can’t possibly handle 16 reps?
Wed July 29th - Sleep 3/10 - still sick, dry cough, back is hurt from my mishap on Sunday so I can’t lie down properly.
Bench
5x135
5x135
3x165
3x190
9x210
10x135
4x10x140
DB row
10x55
4x10x60
This new method of doing bench appears to tweak my left shoulder a bit, in addition to making me a lot weaker. 3 months ago 3x10x225 was a reasonable set of sets, now I get 9x210 with the elbows tucked. Am I perhaps doing it wrong? I don’t think so…but why does my left shoulder hurt sometimes even on warmup weight. It doesn’t keep hurting post-workout, just tweaks during workout. Strange thing is my right shoulder is my bad one, not my left one. Right one feels fine.
Tried some abmat crunches, no go due to abmat hitting the back right where it is very very sore.
Well…I guess my working out has come to an end for a while.
The ‘mishap’ I had two sundays ago…turns out I broke 1 or more ribs. I’ve been working out with it since and it’s been fine from a working out point of view. This morning I shifted and felt a stabbing pain. Turns out that stabbing pain has continued and it is a dislocated rib.
I have a dry cough right now and everytime I cough or breathe now it feels like I’m being stabbed.
Xrays done, will be looked at after the long weekend Guess I could go to emergency rather than the walk-in.
Dr says my core is strong and was keeping the rib in place, but at some point it just decided to slip.
This really sucks. I was really getting into the rhythm of working out again. I will find out Tuesday how long it will be until I can do any sort of weights (even lunges/etc) again.
I’ve been told I can workout, but to back off on the weight.
So I may turn this week and next week into deload weeks and start the cycle over once I feel healthy enough to.
I think you’re doing well, and you will make amazing gains. 5-3-1 is a blessing to remind us to focus on the important things in training and cut out all the bullshit.
Reform your schedule to this, I’ve done them all, this is the best one.
Monday: Military
Tuesday: Dead
Thursday: Bench
Friday: Squat
If you really broke a rib by workout out, you need to seriously consider looking into “starting strength” by mark rippetoe… its the best instructional video for the main lifts. Or just read Jim’s explanation in his book well.
Thanks dymdez.
Thanks for the Starting Strength recommendation, it is a good one and I have the book already. Have had it for a number of years.
I didn’t break a rib working out…I broke it doing something else.
That schedule you said is very similar to what I am doing now but I have mine spaced to allow for my healing.
[quote]BrockStone wrote:
Thanks dymdez.
Thanks for the Starting Strength recommendation, it is a good one and I have the book already. Have had it for a number of years.
I didn’t break a rib working out…I broke it falling onto a sawhorse when my dip bars gave out and I fell on it.
That schedule you said is very similar to what I am doing now but I have mine spaced to allow for my healing.[/quote]
Stick with what you’re doing. You will have better, long term progress.
Sun Aug 16th - Sleep 8/10 - dry cough still, 2 diff drs figure I had swine flu. Ribs still hurt but the dislocation is just a dull ache now rather than a knife in my side. Going to come back very slowly, deload type weeks for a while to keep the muscles working. Some activites I may go 5-3-1 full (ie. military) and see how my body takes it
Military
5x45
5x65
5x75
5x95 ← oops was supposed to be 90
5x100
7x115
Neck/upper back a bit sore after doing this when I turn and look left. Maybe just too tense and strained it.
Dips
5x15 ← very broken sets
Pullups
2 ← pulling up is fine, lowering back down hurts like s !@# where dislocation happened. Stopped after two…shouldn’t do something that hurts while I am hurt
Sat August 29th - Sleep 6.5/10
Torn right lat is down to a dull pain now. Broken ribs are tender to touch but don’t cause pain anymore when moving. Giving a light ‘tester’ workout another try. Last one was unsuccessful.
Military
10x45
5x65
5x75
5x85
5x95
5x105
5x115
Feels good. I figured out that when I look UP when doing any sort of lat or shoulder press movement I strain something in my upper back that lasts for 2-4 days.
Dips
2x15
Pullups (always varying grip…forward, backward, narrow, medium, wide, I mix it up)
3x15 ← going slow. torn lat a bit tight but no pain when descending anymore, last two sets broken
Feel OK now.
Did a big hike last weekend, 32km in 2 days and my IT band in my left knee was destroyed. Foam roller and leg stretches EVERY night going forward. Will add chest stretches to that as well since my posture is poor due to my chest being so much stronger than my back, pulls my shoulders forward.
Sun Aug 30th - Sleep 7.5/10
5 hill sprints outside. Big hill, man are those hard.
I should start timing these, run, walk down, allow heart rate to get to 110, run again. See how long 5 take as it should go down over time
HR spiked as high as 175. That is about the max I’ve ever seen my heart hit. I am not a hummingbird like some people who can get their HR to 200…
Mon Aug 31st - Sleep 5/10 - had a friend who may have needed help and kept waking up to check for a text msg
Deadlifts - test session to see how the torn lat feels
5x135
5x155
5x175
5x195
5x215
5x235
5x255
Felt fine, bit of tightness, and lower back was groaning that it hasn’t been used in a while. So skipping good mornings.
Hanging leg raise
9, 3 - back saying enough is enough. not hurting, just not wanting to push.
Overall pretty happy with this Feeling OK
Wed Sept 2 - Sleep 8/10
First try at bench in a month.
Bench
5x135
5x155
5x175
5x195
5x215
3x10x135
DB row
3x10x60
Felt fine, weak, but fine