Ran out of time so had to miss conditioning again which is annoying. I’ll try get out to do some hill sprints later and make up for missing twice in a row.
Presses felt easier than last week but I think the pull aparts before make it harder. My rear delts and upper back fatigue first even though the weight still feels light. All the more reason to do the pull aparts but I might not increase my TM next cycle. I wouldn’t have got any more reps with 30kg on the rows without cheating so I stopped early. Next heaviest dumbell is 35kg so I’ll make sure I can own 30kg before I go up.
Missed out on hill sprints again so that’s no conditioning this week. Both times once I’ve got home I just really couldn’t be bothered. The problem isn’t the hill sprints but the 20-30 minute walk each way to do them- I don’t want to spend an hour conditioning when I’ve been in the gym already. Both days I’ve taken the dog for a brisk half hour walk instead so at least there’s that.
On another note I’ve decided I’m going to allow myself to hit some joker sets next week in the squat and deadlift before deloading the week after. Providing I feel ok I plan to work up to a 100kg squat and 120kg deadlift to give myself an idea of where I stand with heavier weights. If I feel extra good I may go for a 50kg overhead press just because I know I have it in me and I missed it before but I’m in no rush to do it.
Now that I’ve nearly ran a full cycle of BBB and had a think how it’s going there’s a few things I want to add in to the next cycle.
At the beginning of each day I want to add three sets of a throw or jump and should have from the start really. Jim seems to swear by these and I know Alpha does a fair few so they’re worth trying in my opinion. On bench day I am going to add waiter walks for a few reasons; I feel like my overhead endurance is very bad, I lack stability overhead and I want to be doing some kind of carry weekly. On overhead press day I’m going to add 25 reps of side bends in because there’s no direct oblique work otherwise and it’s something I want to try. Finally I’m going to add hang cleans before deadlifts. Initially I was going to do 5/3/1 minimum reps but it seems silly at this point when I’m still learning the lift so I’ll do 3x5 with 20, 25 and 30kg in weeks 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Even with all these additions I’m still within Jim’s recommendations for assistance and it’s something I’m taking it nice and easy with. So far I feel great recovery wise.
I might do some easy curls, push downs or calf raises once a week if I have extra time or something but nothing to effect the rest of my training at all and they won’t be programmed. I’ve updated my previous plan and posted it below to refer back to.
Day 1
Box jumps (3 sets)
Squat 5s PRO superset with chins
Squat BBB superset with chins and ab wheel rollout
Dumbell incline press (25 reps)
Day 2
Med ball throws (3 sets)
Bench 5s PRO superset with pull aparts
Bench BBB superset with pull aparts
Barbell rows (5x5) superset with kettlebell swings and waiter walks
Sled (10 minutes)
Day 3
Hang cleans (3x5) superset with long jumps
Deadlift 5s PRO superset with chins
Deadlift 5x5 FSL superset with chins
Bodyweight press (25 reps) superset with bodyweight abs (25 reps)
Day 4
Med ball slams (3 sets)
Overhead press 5s PRO superset with pull aparts
Overhead press BBB superset with pull aparts and side bends
Dumbell rows (5x10) superset with split squats (25 reps)
Sled (10 minutes)
I had a bit of hip pain squatting last week and read a possible cause is weak glutes then I also came across the article below. Decided I may as well try stretching and warming up a bit before my workout so did the stuff from phase one of the article.
Low box jumps: 3x5
Squat (TM-90):
3x5x20, 5x40, 3x60, 5x67.5, 5x77.5, 5x85, 1x92.5, 1x100, 5x10x45 Superset with ab wheel rollouts: 5x5
Fairly long and tiring workout today, squats were weird. Warm ups felt great then working sets felt average but the bar felt really really heavy on my back. It’s the first time I remember the walkout feeling difficult so it’s probably time to work on that a bit. Both joker sets went up well so I’m happy with that.
The BBB sets were ok too and I’m considering keeping them at 50% of my training max for the other cycles. My reasoning is that it’ll allow me to make every rep as good as possible and also keep the workout times down. If I can get through them all easily with a minute rest at most between sets then I think thats as good as grinding sets with heavier weights and 3-5 minute rest periods. Providing I have no pains or anything in the next few days I think I’ve got my technique down pretty well.
Only one rack was available so I couldn’t use another to do chins between sets. I wanted to do lat pulldowns at the end but it was in use so I did chest supported rows and felt them in my back A LOT. I think I’ll swap them with barbell rows in cycle three.
Squats looked very good and easy! What is current PR there? Also I might be off, but try lowering the pins by one setting. It may help with the walkout. In your video it looks as though the actual unracking seems difficult.
Thank you! I did 5x100 in March with probably another rep there but I haven’t maxed out since other than PR sets. I think with having some SI problems and stuff since then though I got a bit weaker and I’m probably not much stronger now than I was back then which is why I wanted to see how 100kg felt. When I start WS4SB in October I’ll be going for a new 5RM so I will just have to see then.
About the rack height, it’s funny you said that. Up until the set with 77.5kg I had it one pin lower but it seemed like it was too low and I was doing half a rep unracking it. The pin it was on for the video was probably too high though, a few times I did catch the lip of the hooks. Somewhere in the middle would probably be ideal. I don’t usually use that rack so I’ll see how it feels next week.
That makes sense. 100 kg looked easy. I wouldn’t be suprised if you would squat 115-120 probably. Do you always train beltless? Also on the SI joint issue: There are a few things that might help. It might be dislocated. That would acutally be an easy fix. A good physiotherapist with experience in manual therapy can crack it back in, in just a few minutes. Maybe also try a stretch of this kind:
Also: Use a lacrosse ball on your glutes. Especially the upper/ outer area, around where the piriformis locates. Also don’t neglect external hip rotation, the 90/90 hip stretch is an excellent choice there.
Thanks for that, I actually used to do that stretch a lot and it did help. In the end I just sorted my technique and I never really feel it anymore. Activating my glutes before squatting today seemed to feel really good too but I need to do it more before I really decide.
I’m always belt less, I don’t have one and I’ve never bothered to use the few lying around the gym although I might out of curiosity soon. I’m thinking of getting a decent leather one for Christmas. Hopefully I can hit around 110kg for five by October.
Good productive workout. Bench was fine, rows felt good too. 60kg is as heavy as I want to go for now to keep them strict and next cycle instead of increasing the top set weight I’ll do more sets before with a heavier weight. Sled work was difficult but not as bad as previous weeks.
Do you do your rows bent over, without putting the barbell back down each rep ? I feel awkward doing them, I much prefer DB rows… I might put them back in a few cycles though.
Yeah I try to let my arms/lats stretch fully at the bottom of each rep. I tried more Pendlay style where I reset the bar each rep but I found it awkward and my knees were getting in the way. I prefer DB rows too and do them on a separate day. I want to spend some time trying BB rows though and hopefully bring it closer to my bench.
So the plan was to work up to a single at 120kg but after the first rep I for some reason decided to do a second and since that was easy I thought why not get a small PR. I’m quite sure I could pull 120kg for at least five reps now so we will see later in the year. 110kg was hook grip which is by far the heaviest I’ve done so it’s nice to see it holds up with heavier weights, although it did hurt. My hands and grip were a bit worn out by the last few FSL sets so last two were done with straps and everything else except 120kg was double overhand as usual.
Here’s a video of the 3x120 set.
Definitely need to sort out that overextension at the top before I hurt myself. It feels like I’m just squeezing my glutes and locking out fully but obviously not. The bar also seems to kick out a bit to start but other than that it doesn’t look too bad. Anyone have any suggestions how/where to improve?
BW: 85.5kg
Surprised to have lost weight because I’ve been eating lots but all the extra activity must be outweighing it. Will eat a bit more.
@MarkKO Thanks I’ve been trying slowly to sit back more since I saw you mention it a while ago. I actually felt myself pushing through my heels a lot more than usual on that set. What does the twisting your toes out do?
