Thanks, everyone, for the tips. I really appreciate yall taking the time.
Awesome work burnur.
It’s just something to get used to as far as the SSing goes. Just keep it light and you’ll be surprised with the progress you make.
Take my advice with a grain of salt- I just started doing full BW dips. I find that a slight forward lean, and actively trying to flex pecs and arms, along with shoving your pecs together and keeping your elbows tight against your body helps feel the chest and triceps in the movement and I haven’t had any shoulder or elbow issues, and am progressing pretty well on them.
Day 3.
SS1.
Back squat@95. 8/8/8/8/8
Sit ups. Done slow. 8/8/8/8/8
SS2
RDL in landmine@70. 12/12/10/10.
Back raises. BW 12/12/12/12
SS3
BW Walking lunges. 12/12/12/12 per leg
Seated ham curls@50. 15/15/15/15.
I was maybe overly cautious with the weights, and this wasn’t nearly as difficult as day 1. Probably increase the squat for next week, and maybe slight reps increase on BWs.
2 Likes
Day 4
Key notes
Start too light
8 sets of few chins (plan to increase reps slowly)
Chest supp db rows went poorly, just gonna do some other row instead
OHP 5x6@55
Did 8x2 chins as well here
Incline press DB
10@25, 12/12/12@20
DB row face down on incline bench
10@20, 12/12/20@20
I wanted to like these rows but the setup just didnt seem good for me. I had to angle the bench pretty high because of arm length, but then the range of motion is very small
So I went back to a seated cable row for the fifth set and I think I’ll stick with that or “normal” db rows
Pushups/curls@10dbs/BPA
15/20/25
15/20/25
11/16/25
10/17/25
Then another 27 hammer curls with black band, with some breaths
2 Likes
Hell yeah, keep it up man!
Day 1, again.
Last week this day was pretty shocking, so I decided to take the advice of isdatnutty and not raise weights again today. So they’re mostly the same. The exception was the landmine squat which was like a vacation last week and is still quite light this week.
I definitely had more in the tank this week, though, so I got a few more reps on the BW stuff.
SS1. TBDL@185(5x5) with hanging bent leg raises(10/10/10/9/8)
SS2. Landmine squat@70(4x8) with seated ham curl@50(4x15)
SS3. BW walking lunges(4x12each) and back raises(4x15)
2 Likes
Day 2, once again.
Chins didnt go great but I’m going to stick with the 8 sets
Most weights feel super light, and definitely not as gassed on SS as the first week.
Tried BW dips and could at least do a few. Definitely felt way better than the assisted dips machine thing.
SS1.
Incline BB 5x6@65
Chins 7x2, 1x2negatives
SS2.
DB row 5x12@27.5
Seated DB OHP 4x12@17.5
SS3.
Dips@BW+“bench” dips using back raise parallel handles: 3+7,3+7,2+8,2+8
DB Curls@10: 20, 20, 18, 15
BPA 4x25.
2 Likes
Squats, again.
SS1.
Squat 5x8@105
Sit up 5x8@bw
SS2.
Landmine RDL 12/10/10/10@70
Back raises 4x15@bw
Note. I like the feel of the landmine rdl (not really grasping how to do rdl with free weights) but it is pretty hard to keep hands from sliding off the end of the bar, due to it being at an angle.
I tried putting one hand in front of the other and switching each set, but that kind of twists my whole torso so neither side feels right.
SS3.
Lunges 12/12/12/15@bw
Ham curls 15/14*/15/15@50
*a kindly old woman wanted to do some leg curls so I did more back raises here, but with some adjustments to make it hamstringier
Nice man, do you plan on continuing to add weight as long as you hit the reps or are you going to hang at a weight until you crush it? Up to 115 next week on squats?
Probably.
I’m satisfied with the rate of progression as written in the program. Purposely started light on everything, not really in a rush to get to the highest weight I can successfully 5x(5 or 6 or 8).
But it immediately became apparent that I really overestimated (or maybe its underestimated) on squats. Thus I raised weights on squat, but not really anything else.
I think 115 will be better. I did a 3x8 at 115 a few weeks ago and that took a little bit of effort, but that was right after not working out for a few months.
Anyway, I’m planning on hitting all reps twice before raising weights on main lifts and rows. I should have quite a bit of runway due to light starting weights, so it should be the same as crushing it for at least a couple months. When I start struggling to hit all reps cleanly I’ll think about if that’s too fast progression (no part of me thinks it’s too slow, that’s for sure).
Have you been raising weights on both main and variations at the same time?
2 Likes
Yeah I have, I guess I’m just impatient though. Nutty alluded to “slow and steady wins the race” in his original thread on the program, which definitely makes sense. Being able to crush a weight before moving up.
I figure that as long as the final two sets of whatever exercise I’m doing moves fairly quickly (note:not easily, more bar speed than effort) then I have done my due diligence at that weight and can move on. I try to keep the weights so that at the end of set 5 on the main, I’m really having to dig deep to keep form and bracing 95% perfect.
Increasing both main and secondary exercises seems like it would be a no-no but typically the way that the program is laid out makes me feel as though it’s possible to do that.
For instance bench to bent over row- you’re doing one push and one pull that have, from what I understand, a small amount of muscles that are needed in both movements. My main concern when bumping up multiple movements weights is work capacity, not necessarily strength. I can do 5x5 deadlift to 5x12 hanging leg raise just fine, but can I do 5x5 deadlift with another 10lbs and 5x15 hanging leg raises?
At that point I may try it, and either my work capacity won’t be there and I’ll be hanging on for dear life trying to breathe between sets or I just won’t hit the prescribed reps and there’s always next week to do more.
The main thing to keep in mind is increase weight only when you get all reps and sets without form failure. Nutty said that towards the end of set 4 and 5 for the mains may get a little grindy (where you have to really push and give some serious effort), but you shouldn’t be killing yourself the whole way through.
Again I need to keep adding as an aside- I haven’t been doing this that long and am still very new to lifting. I don’t think I’m totally off base here but before you just start slinging weight up on the bar because boilerman said so, you might want to ask nutty to see what his view on it is. All I know is that within 9 weeks on this program my weights have gone up tremendously and I feel so much more recovered than I ever did on 531 by sticking to what I just described.
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Thanks for sharing.
I have really liked doing an upper/lower split, even though the doms has been real between the split and the fact that I usually go to the gym every other day (so not m/t/t/f type schedule) means I’ve still been fresh from session to session.
One thing I have been doing is more or less ignoring conditioning. Not great, Bob.
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Took a couple extra days off, as I was out of town for the weekend visiting with family.
Back at the gym today. Went maybe 30-45 mins earlier than usual and wow was it crowded. Never doing that again. Really hard to move smoothly through supersets. Also felt crummy today but the weights are still low from starting low so no problem on the reps.
SS1.
Ohp 5x6@55 (raise weight next week)
Chins 5x2.
Then, lat pull downs, 10/8/10@40 (single arm).
Was trying for 8 sets of chins, but the only bar in the area is between two cable things that people use for crossovers, glute kickbacks, etc. Did pulldowns instead of hovering around for a minute or two.
SS2.
5x12@60 Seated cable row
12@20s, 3x12@25 incline DB press
SS3.
Pushups 12/10/10/8
DB curl 20/20/18/15@10s
BPA 4x25
The last time I went to the gym and there was more than the usual 8ish people I normally see at 5am, I wanted to walk right back out. In the evening its all groups of 2-3 guys huddling around every piece of equipment in the place. You end up either taking an hour waiting for things, or end up doing an almost completely different workout from substituting exercises.
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Haha yes i specifically schedule to go when I think it will be as empty as possible and yes, a piece of me was just like nope
And it was almost empty (pretty much just me and “jacked smith machine guy”) by the time I was done so i guess 45 minutes really does make a difference.
Back again.
SS1.
Trap bar DL 5x5@195. Raised weight from last time. Still light enough that completing all reps is pretty much a foregone conclusion
Suspended knee raise 10/10/10/9/8. Same #reps as last time, but I feel like these reps were significantly better
SS2.
Landmine squat 8/8/8/6@75. For some reason, could not really get comfortable on these. 6 reps was mostly core limited I think
Back raises 4x12. Did these less hamstring-y and more back-y than usual.
SS3.
Ham curls 4x15@50
RFE SS 4x10 each leg.
I’ve been doing ham curls, g/h-y back raises, lunges, some landmine thing every Lower day, really wanted to try mixing it up just a bit. Thus the back-y raises and rfess.
For some reason calves and feet were cramping like crazy at the start of SS3. Had to stretch them aggressively during rest and really focus on keeping tension away from them to finish.
Hit the gym today, because I cant tomorrow.
Decided to supplement dips (cant do many) with pushups. Last week I used bench style dips (actually used parallel handles on a back raise machine) but the setup didnt feel great and my shoulder was a little pinchy afterward.
Weighted exercises are still super light, even for me. However I’m still going to stick to the progression plan of 2 weeks all reps then raise weights, not too worried about it given how much room I have to push myself on the BW work that I’m bad at.
I’m finding it very hard to stabilize both sides on DB OHP at the same time. Either side on it’s own, stupid easy. Both at the same time, feels light but it’s as if I’m drunk. Sticking with both at same time because it might be an opportunity to improve while the weights are low but if anyone has feedback I’ll hear it
SS1.
Chins.
5x2, 2x(1+negative), 1x(negative with holds)
Incline BB. 5x6@70. This is +5 from last week.
SS2.
DB rows 5x12@27.5 up to 30 next time.
Seated DB OHP. 4x12@17.5.
SS3.
Dips 4x3
Pushups 7/7/6/6(incline using bench, triceps were fried as hell)
DB curls 20/20/20/17@10s
BPA 4x25
Back again. Notes:
- After today, almost through the 3rd week. General shock over the pace of the workout is pretty much over at this point.
- Increasing weight on main lifts is obvious given how light I started. Also may add loading to some of the lower body assistance that is currently done BW.
- contemplating switching out landmine squats (done on non squat day) for something else. I hate them and the only reason I’m doing them is lack of rack at that gym. Probably I’d rather do KB front squats or even rig up a zercher setup (if that will fly at this gym)
SS1.
Squat 5x8@105. Same as last week. Was gonna up weight from last time but the women I was working in with was using 105 (side note; HAHAHAHA). Now I’ve done it twice so its definitely time to move on.
Situps 5x8 - I never did these with momentum or whatever but today I realized that I was still losing tension at the last X degrees at the top when my torso is most vertical. Cut that part out, move a little more slowly, feels a lot tighter. Gonna start pushing these for more reps and then some loading.
SS2.
Dumbbell RDL. 4x8@50dbs. I had been doing rdl with a landmine but the gym was too crowded in that area to make it work today. Really didnt understand exactly what I was supposed to be doing, I thought I had an idea but based on the feel it was hard to tell what was happening.
Back raises. 4x15. Might start loading these too.
SS3.
Walking lunges 12/15/15/15.
Ham curls 4x15@50.
May lightly increase load on these too.
1 Like
Awesome work, keep it up!
I read back to your initial post up at the top. Is your goal still weight gain? Just wondering if your goals have changed or if you have a new goal in mind
I suppose, my primary goal is still aesthetic. Probably I will need to gain some weight for that, even if gaining weight in itself isnt the goal. And ofc I do still want things like getting stronger and being able to do dips/chins etc.
I lost a fair bit of weight over the summer but I am back on the eating and meal prep train, and maybe I should be logging weight too. It’s back to something like the 173 range after morning “ritual” now so basically I got nowhere on that, maybe leaned out a very very small amount but not even sure about that