Hahaha thank you! I love pushing myself to the physical and mental limit in my workouts. It’s just fun to me. Overcoming things like my broken toe, my knee, busting open my hands during training is part of the fun to me. At least in retrospect haha(definitely not fun in the moment). I just believe to get the results I want, I have to pour everything I have into my training.
I’m definitely going to get back to using straps. You and Pwnisher are spot on. That will help combat the sweatiness and humidity of my gym which makes my grip slip. I appreciate you and everyone else who read my log and chime in from time to time. It’s Great sharing stories, experiences, and tips with each other. The training logs are my favorite part of the site because they’re the most focused on getting down to business!
Got some better sleep last night, so I feel a lot more energetic today than I did yesterday. Also teaching high schoolers is less draining than teaching 5th and 6th graders. Also I’ve used pre workout to replace my energy drinks in the mornings since I got some samples with my last protein order.
On the workout side of things, today was my first day touching 280 on Bench and the weight FLEW UP! It felt LIGHT! I had at least 2 reps in the tank. I still can’t believe it. Also, the Boring but Big sets on Military Press are starting to feel easy! My first week at 70% on military, I hit failure on the final set and I was having to compromise form. Now I’m hitting all 5 sets with range of motion, from upper chest to lockout with no problem. Also the 95 pound dumbbell I’ve been doing rows with feels like a child’s toy at this point. The progression from week to week has been unreal. My diet has been the simple diet of eggs, milk, steak, chicken thighs, white rice, McDoubles, whey isolate, and occasionally Ice cream/milkshakes.
Bench 220x5, 250x3, 280x1
Military Press 120 5x10
Db Rows 5x10
Cable curl 3x10
Overhead Cable Tricep Extension 3x10
Face Pull 3x10
I don’t have anything big or grandiose to write about this workout. It was just another squat workout. I’m working with over 300 pounds on the squat now which is a pretty big milestone, but it’s just part of the process. Once I’m doing Widow makers with 3 plates, maybe I’ll be a bit more excited haha I just have to keep doing the work.
And this, too! I haven’t actually tested my 3-plate squat yet—I think that’s next week—but depending on when I’m able to run Super Squats, a Widowmaker at 315 may be a goal.
(Holy crap—I just went public with that thought, didn’t I!?!)
Thanks Sven! I’m just trying to keep my mind grounded. I can’t start thinking of the weights as “heavy” even though I’m entering uncharted waters on all of my lifts. I think a little self doubt can creep in if I start getting too enamored with the numbers. It’s just slightly freaky to me, because I’ve been lifting for 14 years and I’ve never been anywhere close to as strong as I am now. I just remind myself, “this is what’s supposed to happen, start trying wrap my head around Widow makers with 315, because it’s going to happen some day.” I can’t limit my thinking about my growth in strength or muscle, because I’m capable of so much more than I think I am.
And dude, I’d you run Super Squats at 315 pounds, you’ll be my hero forever haha! You’re a freaking animal dude! Few out there in the world get after it like you do!
What I’m getting from this is that we need a widowmakers party! I’m planning on running Pervertor after my deload week which includes PR Sets, optional Jokers, and a widowmaker if anyone wants to get it on the misery.
Ugh. I was thinking about a simple run of 5s PRO, 5x5 FSL anchor to “recover” after 6 weeks of Beefcake, but now you guys go and bring Pervertor to my attention…
I mean, really, how can I say, “No”?
Silly question: Is this a valid anchor option following BBB?
JW doesn’t mention it as an option in Forever, but the anchor version looks like it’s really just a mash-up of PR Sets, Jokers, and FSL with 5/3/1 & Widowmakers—oh, and a week of SSL thrown in for good measure. Save SSL, those are anchor options he lists.
I’m not too religious about 5/3/1, but I’ve been trying to do things right these past several months. Am I concerned over nothing here?
I’ve never run BBB (always being on the wrong side of lean means I’m afraid to commit to eating enough), so I’m probably the wrong person to answer this. That being said, I think it would be fine, like you said pervertor is largely an amalgamation of those other templates.
I think it’s a valid concern but I honestly don’t think that the list from which you are reading is supposed to be read super strictly, I might be interpreting that wrong, though. On the flip side, the “Pervertor, Anchor” template specifically mentions that it would be perfect after running Pervertor, so that might be worth considering.
Leaving all of Wendler’s thoughts and suggestions aside, do you have any reasoning for why you would think it would/wouldn’t work well as an anchor following BBB?
Gotcha, I definitely am not one either! It think it kind of follows that if “{{Pervertor}} is a mix of Boring But Strong, Boring But Big and Second Set Last.” that running Pervertor, Anchor as a follow up to one of those is probably not a bad idea but as far as I can see Wendler recommends Pervertor as an anchor for literally zero other templates except Pervertor the leader. So, we’re all going to be in a similar boat of running the “wrong” anchor, if we do this.
Tried this once. Got to 12 and thought i was going to die. Anything heavy over 8 reps feels like a death sentence which speaks volumes to my shitty conditioning lol. Solid work here man
I’ll check that out! It sounds like he has monster determination, and that’s truly what I like to see!
Also, I feel like any Anchor is fair game for any Leader, and Pervertor seems like a really fun change of pace with lots of different elements that make it sound fun! SVR II seems that way as well to me.
Last heavy Upper Body day of the Boring But Big Challenge tonight. My brother and cousin actually joined me for this one and it was a lot of fun. A couple of other young guys were in there to and I was basically holding court with them afterwards, trying to share whatever knowledge I could with them in that short time frame. Including my usual advisement to avoid AAS and SARMs like the plague. It’s funny to me that I’ve reached a point where I’m a guy trying to help share experience with younger lifters, that people respect my opinion on training so much. I don’t take it for granted, and I appreciate them asking me questions. I’m fortunate to have had such progress through the years, but honestly, I believe anybody could’ve succeeded to a similar degree and maybe even better if they put the same level of work into their training and eating for as long as I have. This was something I really stressed to them.
And to me, this is just a drop in the bucket, I firmly believe the me of 10 years into the future will absolutely mog the me of today. Not just in terms of physique, but knowledge of training and nutrition. I’m only just getting started.
The workout itself went great. Every rep of that military press Weight went up fast and smooth. My pump by the end was incredible. It felt like my whole upper body had just been blown up like a balloon!
Military Press 125x5, 145x3, 160x1
Bench 205 5x10
Chin ups 5x10
Modified French Press 3x10
Preacher Curl 3x10
Face Pulls 3x10
Had a super awesome Easter with my family and got to hide eggs for the kids! I know my strength has grown immensely because I’ve reached the point where 310 pounds on deadlift for 5 sets of 10 is just another day in the office. I’m trying to take Pwnisher’s advice of trying to stay calm and relaxed when dealing with Grace miserable workouts. You know what? It didn’t feel heavy or miserable. It was just the work of the day. I didn’t even need to use straps or a mixed grip. I was locked in and in the zone. As always on lower body days, supersetted some light, high rep lateral raises and tricep extensions. Also 425 deadlift is a PR. Pretty much every top set from here out is going to be a PR, so no time for fangirling for myself haha
Deadlift 335x5, 380x3, 425x1
Deadlift 310 5x10
Sit Ups 5x10
