Awesome job man!
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@BOTSLAYER I’ve been eating when hungry the last week and it’s much easier than tracking all my food. The nice thing is because I was tracking food for a while I have a rough idea of how much I’m eating anyway because I’m eating similar things.
Squatting feels great so I’d definitely enjoy doing it three times a week. Most of my pulling already is neutral grip so I’m just going to lower the volume for this week and see how it is.
Thanks for your advice.
@furo thank you, I appreciate you following.
Regarding doing either the full body template or the other program I think I’m going to go with full body. On one of the days I’ll squat 5s and the other I’ll do 3s for some more variety. I’m also considering turning it into a leader and anchor sort of thing using 5s pro and 3x10 assistance for two cycles then deload then 5/3/1 with PRs and 5x10 assistance for a cycle although that is getting a bit beyond my knowledge of 5/3/1.
Anyone have any thoughts about this?
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I don’t have experience of that programme exactly, but in general I’m a huge fan of full body training routines. I think that the increased frequency on the basic lifts is hugely beneficial for relatively beginner trainees.
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Wisdom
I’d run it as written for a couple of cycles first. Superset the benching with chins or rows, and you could probably swap out one or two days of bench for press but otherwise leave it as is until you have a feel for it.
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21/03/17
Bench press:
10x20, 10x30, 5x40, 5x60, 15x50 (PR), 15x40
I kept the bar more over the heel of my hand today and realised I usually do tip my wrists back it just took a heavier weight to show the problem.
60kg felt super heavy so I called it there. I don’t know if the grip made a difference but yesterday was really stressful work wise and today was even worse. Whatever it was it wasn’t going well so I went for 20 reps with 50kg but couldn’t get that either which should be easy. 15 is a PR but my old one was PR was 12 and that was last September. I had a crazy chest pump from this and the last set though which again I don’t know if it’s from the stress or the grip change.
Back extensions:
3x10xBW
Dumbbell overhead press superset with hammer curls:
3x10x8s/ 3x8x8s
Crunch machine:
3x10x20
Going to get an early night and hopefully have a less stressful day tomorrow in preparation for Thursday.
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23/03/17
Deadlift:
Lotsx20, 2x5x60, 3x80, 1x100, 2x120 (PR)
I’m not sure how I feel about my deadlift. I don’t really feel any stronger than a few months ago which is odd considering all my other lifts have progressed. I feel very fast with light weight now, even 100kg was pretty explosive tonight, but come near max weights it all slows down and my technique feels off.
Now I understand this is somewhat normal but I feel like adding one rep to my 1RM over three months when the weights are so low is less than it should be. I don’t know why this is, several things in my training could be pointed to as suboptimal but they’d effect all my lifts and I train the deadlift just as hard as everything else. I also know each lift will progress at different speeds and it’s not a linear thing but surely it should have progressed more than it has. Only other thing I can think of is technique but even then I can’t see how it could be so bad it’d hold me back this much without being blatantly obvious but I’ll try and get a video next week anyway.
I hope I don’t come across as impatient; I just want to be better and I’m not satisfied. I’m all ears if anyone at all has any advice or opinions on it.
Hang power cleans:
8x20, 5x3x30
I really enjoyed these and I’m quickly getting more comfortable with them. Did a few muscle snatches with the bar after too as I was putting it away.
Split squat superset with dumbbell rows:
3x10xBW/ 20x20 (PR), x10, x20
This really blew up my back. I’m going to use both of these a lot more in future so I’ll start tracking PRs for the rows at least.
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Not really. I find reps beyond 90% are very, very rare. You might just be unsuited to heavy DL reps.
Not so. What is suboptimal for one lift may well be optimal for another. Possibly training your DL as hard as everything else is the problem.
You’d be surprised. Video lifts at 70, 85 and 95%.
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You’re definitely getting stronger, maybe you just need to get better at grinding?
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That too, although I’ve noticed for me that grinding ability in DL is heavily technique related. If I get out of position, grinding is much harder. Since I’ve improved my ability to stay in position, I’ve noticed my ability to grind improve.
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@MarkKO, @furo thank you both for your replies.
I think this is definitely true, in hindsight maybe I could have got 125kg or 130kg for a single but high rep deadlifts are absolutely horrible.
My training for the next few months will probably be a bit less intense deadlift wise so maybe it’ll help.
I’ll video some lifts next week of like 80kg, 100kg and 110kg.
I definitely think I could have grinded out one if not two more reps but I felt like the risk of injury was getting pretty high at that point and for the purpose of me just getting strong I didn’t think it’d be worth it.
I’m considering running this for my deadlift with a max of like 110kg instead of 5/3/1 in the 5/3/1 full body template to see how I am with higher intensity and less reps.
There’d still be lots of lower body volume from thrice weekly squatting and I wouldn’t say it’s any more or less intense overall than 5/3/1.
What do you think?
What grip do you use for heavy stuff? Mixed grip?
If you’re squatting three times a week I’d be very careful about ANY deadlifting.
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@magick yeah my top sets are always mixed grip.
@MarkKO in that case the Tim Henriques program may be better. If I use a training max it’ll keep the weights manageable and the volume is pretty low, it’s the + sets that eat into my recovery.
Or so what Jim recommends and pull everything double overhand. That’ll limit what you DL.
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That’s a good idea I hadn’t thought of, do you think it’ll allow me to increase my deadlift with my grip being the limiting factor?
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24/03/17
Press superset with NG chin ups:
10x20, 5x30, 3x40, 4x45 (PR)
10 chins including a set of four which is a PR
Didn’t grind enough at the sticking point and failed the fifth rep with 45kg but it’s definitely there on a better day.
Dips:
4xBW (PR)
NG lat pull-down (100 reps):
20x30, 20x35, 20x40, 20x35, 20x30
Ab wheel:
3x8xBW
Kept it short and sweet today. It was one of the first sunny days of the year and last day of term so got done in the gym quick and went and played football for about two hours with my friends. It’s shocking how bad my cardiovascular ability is now compared to about three years ago.
The body weight dips were a nice surprise, I think if I get a bit more practice with them I can push a few more. The lat pull-downs were done really quick and I could target my lats a lot with a neutral grip so I got a great pump. My lower body feels pretty beat up now I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend.
The whole point is to limit your DL by using double overhand, because you DL three days a week doing full body.
I’d say it’s because your grip is weak in relation to your body.
Bar speed/the ability to grind a rep out seems to depend on whether you could hold onto the weight in the first place.
I’d echo what MarkKO on the double overhand for the time being and not worry too much about the actual weight you’re pulling.
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Oh I don’t intend to do full body, full boring it’s the first full body template from beyond just called full body training. It only has you deadlift once.
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28/03/17
Bench press:
5x40, 5x5x50
Squat:
2x5x20, 5x5x60
Power clean:
5x3x30
Dumbell rows:
2x10x14, 30x14
Not the most interesting workout to log, just going through the motions. This week is going to be somewhat of a deload mainly because I’m going on a city break from Wednesday to Friday. I’ll do another full body workout on Saturday. I’m still feeling a little sore and stiff from the football last Friday anyway.