Friday Jun 19
Early AM Sled Session
16 sprints forward with about 50-60lbs for 40yard approx
-Also did walk for a few minutes to adjust straps with my weighlifting belt, the belt seems ok with this weight,anyway i dont think i need more weight for now, just cut on the rest and anyway i was exhausted.
Session been about 30minutes!
Thinking + Programming!!
Well i been through a lots of reading tonight, (job quiet hehe), i been reading almost the entire ALPHA LOG, wow this men is a beast and it got me cranked up..No excuse, must do it..well there no gym now in here but i feel like pushing iron. Well i’m not that bad i think but i have to get better! And i will do it.
So what are my goal again; lets look at my 4 big lift:
-Bench 225x10 --and im far from it…
-Military 135x10 --last time did 135x4
-Deads 315x5 --i think im not to far
-Squat 315x5 --still some work to do but its coming
But those goals are for a little later this year (sep to Dec) when i bulk and eat like crazy.
Pullups or chinups - in one of them i wanna get 20 reps --actually about 10
Its been a while since im on the 5/3/1 and i need some fun with the assistance work, inspired by ALPHA giant sets and tri-sets i builded my own program to have fun. Well i start with some superset…
This is how its gonna look
For Military and Bench Day, kind mix trimvirate & big but boring!
-The main lift 5/3/1
Superset: One exercice of group A + One of group B for 5 sets 10 to 20 reps
Group A:
-Push Press
-Military Press
-DB Shoulder Press
-DB Incline Press
-DB Flat Press
-BB Press
-BB Incline Press
-Pushups
-Dips
Group B:
-Pullups
-Chinups
-Lat Pulldown
-BB Rows
-DB Rows
*for pullups and chinups could be a 5x5 weighted or 10x5 with bodyweight only, will see.
*I might follow Harry Selkow programming also,again will see.
Group C:
Optionnal Work:
THE DELTS TRIAD TRISETS(credit Dr Clay Hyght) 2-3 sets of 12-15reps
-Lateral raises
-Front raises
-Dumbbell press
THE UPPER SHOCKER 2-3 sets of 12-15reps
-BB or DB Shrugs or Upright Row
-Biceps Movement
-Triceps Movement
TRICEPS DEATH(my own version)2-3 sets of 12-15reps
-Dips
-V-Bar Pushdown
-Bands Pushdown
THE GUN SHOW
-Biceps Movement
-Triceps Movement
THE BICEPS BLASTER
-Up and Down the rack db curls
AND FOR THE LOWER BODY DAY TEMPLATE(almost copy and paste from Defranco template)
Deadlift & Squat Day
The Main Lift 5/3/1
QUADS MOVEMENT : Pick one and do 3 to 5 sets of 6 to 20 reps
-Bulgarian split squat
-Step-up variation
-Walking lunges
-Leg Press
-Hack Squat
-Back Squat (yes even if they were main lift, never squat enough!)
HAMSTRING / POSTERIOR CHAIN MOVEMENT : Pick one and do 3 to 5 sets of 6 to 20 reps
-45-degree hyper extension
-Reverse hyper extension
-Glute-ham raises
-Romanian deadlifts BB or DB
-Leg Curls
-Seated or standing good mornings
CALVES MOVEMENT OPTIONNAL:
-1 Leg Standing Calf Raise- 4 x 8-10 x 45 sec rest (pause for 4 sec in bottom position)
-Seated Calf Raise- 2 x 50 x 90 sec rest (pause for 1 sec at bottom and 1 sec at top)
ABS MOVEMENT: 3 to 5 sets of 10 to 50 reps
-Abs circuit or pick one exercice and 5 sets of 10 to 20reps
On the deload week i cut the volume on all the workout.
That about it for tonight, still to workout to perform on this cycle and i will test my new design for sure!!
Sunday Jun 21
Cycle 11/Wave 3
BENCH PRESS: Worked up to 210x5…good performance lately, no spotter could add at least one more rep!
Then here what i did:
-DB Press & DB Incline Superset(3 sets)
-Pullups & Face Pulls superset (3 sets)
-Lat Raises & Iso Hold DB Shrugs (2 sets)
&
TRICEPS DEATH(my own version)2 sets
-Dips x 13 x 9
-V-Bar Pushdown 60x15x12 (65lbs)
-Bands Pushdown x max!!!
Then Sleep, this was performed early am on sunday morning.
Superset help me stay intense in the gym.
Tommorow Squat and sprints with the sled, will give a go to lower body day posted on previous post!
Monday Jun 22
Cycle 11/Wave 3
SQUAT: Worked up to 275x4…Pr or Almost…never really got more…
Leg Press: 3 plates/sidex10
3 plates/sidex2 then OUCH!!my knee…dont know what happens exactly but something felt really weird
in my knee, some strange pain, walk around the machine, did one rep as a bodyweight squat and no,no,no…quads over for the day…
-I went to the leg curls: bang 3 sets of 10reps…
Calf Raises: I did a whole bunch of rep, seated and standing with streching…
Got home…so pissed off about the knee…first time it happens…
On another note cycle 11 is now over, with all the writting and thinking i did this weekend i think i should changemy program, i just feel i need something new,and the article written my Nate Green today on T-Nation really cranked me up to go back on ws4sb and i will do the program written in the article today.
Rest of the week will be cardio,curls,calfs,sled,recovery and next week…Go WS4SB!!!
Tuesday Jun 23
Deload Week - G.P.P
Sled sprints - 12 all out sprints, about 10sec all out - weight on sled about 60lbs
2 backward long walk about 50 years, still 60lbs
2 sprints fwd with no weight - had the feeling of running so fast without the sled
Forget all i said about going into ws4sb routine,
Im not to sure about this…still thinking…any suggestion are welcome!
[quote]crankMAN wrote:
Monday Jun 22
Cycle 11/Wave 3
SQUAT: Worked up to 275x4…Pr or Almost…never really got more…
Leg Press: 3 plates/sidex10
3 plates/sidex2 then OUCH!!my knee…dont know what happens exactly but something felt really weird
in my knee, some strange pain, walk around the machine, did one rep as a bodyweight squat and no,no,no…quads over for the day…
-I went to the leg curls: bang 3 sets of 10reps…
Calf Raises: I did a whole bunch of rep, seated and standing with streching…
Got home…so pissed off about the knee…first time it happens…
On another note cycle 11 is now over, with all the writting and thinking i did this weekend i think i should changemy program, i just feel i need something new,and the article written my Nate Green today on T-Nation really cranked me up to go back on ws4sb and i will do the program written in the article today.
Rest of the week will be cardio,curls,calfs,sled,recovery and next week…Go WS4SB!!![/quote]
Knee pain and most other pain go away, for me any way, with Epsom salt baths (20-30 mins). Just a suggestion and congrats on your DL pr.
thanks for the suggestion Whup…never had a epsom salt bath before…maybe i will!
On another note as its deload week, here yesterday training:
-100 pushups
-Wakeboard all day!!
Thursday Jun 25
Deload Boring Week
Superset:3x
-Military Press 95x5reps for 3 sets
-Trap Bar Deadlift 215x5reps for 3 sets
Superset:2x
-Dips 2x10reps
-Chinups 10 & 6 reps bodyweight only
Dumbell Curls Dropset:
35x10,25x6 and that it!
Best wheater of the year…so hot today 29degree, no air conditionning in the gym, all wet and i dont think i push myself too much on the deload work.
Here a pic from yesterday!
Friday Jun 26
Deload …i hate deload but necessary…
-Close Grip Bench Press: 135x10, 135x10, 155x10
-Dips: bwx12
-Squat: 185x5, 185x5, 185x5
-Box Squat: 225x5
-Triceps Pushdown various grip: 100reps
here the link:
Cycle 12 Info,
New training max:
-Push Press: 135 (+5lbs of previous cycle)
-Trap Bar Deadlift: 320 (+10lbs of previous cycle)
-Bench Press: 220 (repeat previous cycle…trying to beat the log)
-Squat: 265 (-10% of previous cycle)
So 2 lifts still on the way up ,bench = repeat & squat -10%
Let it go!!
Sunday Jun 28
Cycle 12/Wave 1
PUSH PRESS: Worked up to 115x7 , one rep short of Pr..but read the following:
Got in the gym at 16h30, the girl at the desk said to me"we close at 17:00 for the summer, you know?"
Even if it usually take me 45min to 1h to get the work done..“No problem”…
So the rest period were very short and i had to superset the assistance work but got the job done in 25minutes.
No warm up today!!
-Military Press: 95x5, 95x5, 95x5, 65x8, 65x8(was supposed to be 5x10 but felt doing this)
-Chinups: bw+25x5 for 5 sets of 5reps(5x5)
Last rep of my last chinups set was with a little swing(kipping) but im happy to say it went well even with the short rest period.
Monday Jun 29
Cycle 12/Wave 1
TRAP BAR DEADLIFT: Worked up to 270x11, And yes its a PR since last time i did 265x10…
-Big But Boring Set: 215x10, 215x10, 215x10, 175x10, 175x10
-Trap Bar Shrugs: 175x15
-Abs : 3 sets of various abs movement
Enough for the day, the 5 sets of 10reps almost killed me!!
Nice work on the trap bar! I have only used one once and was able to pull an easy 495 on it. I really like those things! I have found that I can pull a lot more on there than on the traditional deadlift. Are you using those instead of deads right now?
Apostate:
Yes its my 3rd cycle using only the trapbar…i love it so far…all my work set and assistance yesterday were performed on the trapbar! Yes i can pull more on the trapbar then regular deads!
Crank,
Thanks for checking the log again, glad you like my conditioning work. Unfortunately towards the end of a session the sprints are more like a fast run no matter how hard I push. That KB hybrid you posted on my log looks nasty, I’ll give it a shot too.
Dear 5/3/1 training system..
Thursday Jul 02
Return to W4FSB cycle!
Max Upper:
1-Max Effort Exercice
Decline Bench Press (5x5)
135x5
155x5
185x5
195x5
205x5
215x5
225x3 next week i shoot for 5 reps!
2-Supplemental Exercice
Flat DB bench press palms in
50x15
50x11
3-Horizontal pulling / Rear delt superset
Db rows
80x10
80x10
80x8
Face Pulls
40x10
40x10
40x8
4-Delts Traps Superset
Plate Raise
45x7
45x7
Iso hold db shrugs
75x10
75x8
5-Gun Show
Cable curls and cable pushdown (2 superset)
Kind of exhausted after this session, took the minimum rest period ,often 60sec to keep my heart rate high enough…good session overall!
Awesome log man, just wanted to drop in to say there’s people reading it 
The fact your bench seems to be stuck prettymuch an entire year strikes me as rather odd tho, you did a 260x1 max when you started the programm and after over a year you managed (let’s say an easy 6x200, for the sake of it let’s say 7x200) which online calculators put at only 240 ?! What’s up with that? I read most of your log but I can’t see anythin about bench press accidents or pec tears/shoulders breaking in half or something, what happened?
Smack me on the head with a crankman row if I missed something but this just seems really really counterproductive from my point of view
Just skimmed through your log again and on page 5-6 you seemed to have a seriously good bench period (like allways, a happy period… alllways) but I can’t quite tell wether or not you starting cutting back carbs then.
Just really interested in what might be the problem because I’m thinking of starting 5/3/1 in 2-3 weeks, for the sole reason of bringing my bench up (been at plateau for 2 months now), SQ/DL are going up as usual, MP is going sloooooooooooooooooow but bench has just stalled and after reading your log I"m afraid I might waste some serious time ^^
Yawgmoth…
1-thanks for reading…
2-Crankman row is a kroc row…just having fun with the log…one arm db row with high reps…
3-My bench…my fu…g bench…in the past i bench 250x2 and even 225 for 5 reps…i did that in 2008(jan) at a weght of 190lbs…right now im about the same weight and benching 225 for 2 or 3 reps is kind of a max right now…At that thime i was on ws4sb template, rotating the main lift for bench, doing mini cycle(2or 3 weeks)…rotating between incline,flat,decline,floor press,board press(one board mostly)…this is why this morning had the idea of going back to this style…rotating main lift every 2 or 3 weeks…Anyway again thanks for reading again…In about 2 months i wanna bench 225 for 5 reps again…
4-My only problem with 5/3/1 is when you get many reps on the last set like 10 or more …your not sure of the real max…i dont really care about one rep max as sometimes to dangerous in the gym(no spotter)…but 3rm,5rm is what i care about…
Friday Jul 03
Return to ws4sb cycle!
Max Lower (starting routine feature in my greatest gain ever Joe DeFranco)
1-Box Squat (5x5) parralel box
135x5 warmup
185x5 warmup
225x5
245x5
265x5
275x5
285x4 not sure about the fifth rep.security purpose!!
Burnout set 75% of max weight
215x10
2-Excentric Natural Glute-Ham Raise
2 sets of 5 reps
3-Bulagarian Split Squat front foot elevated
-holding 25 plates across body for 10reps each side,speed skater style 1 and 1 1/2
-20lbs db x 10
-20lbs db x 8
4-Standing Calf Raise (4 secs at bottom then explode)
140x15
140x15
-Tough one, i forgot how tough the bulgarian split squat is a quad killer, my legs are in pain…cant walk anymore…now i understant why this is once a week only.!!!
Nice workout! Do you feel like the strength you build on the 5/3/1 program will make Joe D’s Westside variation more effective?