3/15/17
Bench Press
Warm-Up - Talk myself into taking selfies for accountability (it took a lot of work!)
175 x 5
190 x 5
215 x 5 x 5
Assistance:
-Dips 5 x 10 +30lbs
Superset:
-Ab Wheel 5 x 10
-Inverted Rows 5 x 10
Superset:
Alright… So at some point I am going to cut and not just keep saying I am, I haven’t taken progress/accountability pictures for a long time, basically since I went from fat to fit 7 years ago (jeez time flies) so I got a wild hair up my ass today and decided to say to hell with it, time to create some accountability. I weighed in at 218lbs on the nose about 10 minutes before posting this. So, yeah…was surprisingly nervous and anxious about posting these, but heck a training log is to track all progress. So here I am in all my glory! haha
5’ 10" and 218lbs of hairy (except for the top of my damn head) man/bear/pig “…half man, half bear, half pig!”
When I’m doing PR sets I try to PR with whatever the weight is - I have a table I log all my rep PRs in, and check it when I’m writing out the day’s work. The goal for any plus set is at least one rep above the current rep PR.
Looking good, BTW
I’m logging it all in a super sweet, hi-tech, excel sheet (until you realize there are no equations its simply plugging numbers in). I think I’m getting it all figured out, as of right now I’m capping most PR sets at 10 simply because not only are they PRs (haven’t tried most of those weights for those reps. Period.) but I don’t want to just get in the habit of going to or stopping just shy of failure.
Appreciate the sentiments, I jump from being hyper critical to being way to easy on myself when it comes to physique related goals, needed to get some pictures of where I sit now to really be able to take an objective (mostly?) look at what’s been working and what needs to change.
Survived Vegas, Survived a Spartan Sprint, Survived airline travel.
3/17/2017
Sit by the pool, drink too much Maker’s Mark, get tan/burnt, eat too much food, wander the strip for cardio
3/18/2017
Nurse hangover while watching another guy in our party complete the Super Spartan, spend too much money on water and food while trying not to boil my brain in the heat and rehydrate from the Maker’s Mark.
3/19/2017
Race Stats;
-4.5 Miles
-22 obstacles
-70-85 degrees (9am-10:30am)
Run the Sprint at 9am approximately too hot degrees, the Sprint went surprisingly well, didn’t fail an obstacle, really figured my grip would fail me in the last mile, the last mile crushed a lot of souls, ha, had about 6-7 obstacles in the last mile of the race all designed around grip (rope climb, cargo netting, sled pulls, fat monkey bars, some shitty twisty monkey bar thing, bucket brigade) but it held strong (thank goodness for deadlifts and kroc rows, otherwise my 220lb ass woulda been doin burpees) our group ran it at a solid pace and we had a lot of fun, all in all it was a fun experience and would definitely recommend it to folks to do at least once if you have the means. Am definitely excited to be back home and ready to hit weights again. (This race counts as my cardio for the first 6 months of the year, ya?)
3/20/2017
Travel day, yay! Up at 0345 to get to the airport on time, fly on one of them fancy aeroplanes to SLC (cardio to get to the end of the terminal where they put all the sardine cans they fly to the western states). Played with the dogs, tried to relax, fell asleep multiple times.
3/21/2017
Will be taking one more full day off to get another good night’s sleep after traveling and shit, want to hit deadlift day as fresh as possible, stoked to be back to lift weights, enjoyed the different implements at the Spartan and the different challenges it brought, but am ready to get back on track with food and lifting.
Edit: Am going to repeat my last bench day from 3/15/17 to get back into it rather than jumping into the deadlifts, had pretty much zero shoulder/chest work from the race (mostly back, arms, grip) and feel like a slightly less demanding day would be a good way to jump back in after almost a week.
May your lifts be heavy and your injuries few,
D
3/21/2017
Repeat Bench Press
175 x 5
190 x 5
215 x 5 x 5
Huge break here, got hung up doing some stuff, came back about 30 minutes later.
Superset:
-Tricep extensions 5 x 20
Superset:
Tried a pull up today, about cried, found a spot in my lat that I used pulling during the race, hoo boy. Felt good to do something today and the weight moved easily, but definitely felt a bit drained from the weekend, really glad I didn’t do a back workout as I would have just ended up pissed off and missed weights.
3/22/17
Deadlift
295 x 5
335 x 5
380 x 10
5 x 5 @ 295
Assistance:
-Hammer Strength Rows 2 x 25 @ 90lbs
-Inverted Rows 1 x 10
Short on time, probably a good thing, fighting a sinus infection, thought my head was going to blow up during deadlifts, but got my target of ten on my PR set, maybe had one or two left in the tank, but the bar drifted out from my body on the 10th rep so I called it. Very little sleep due to congestion for the last couple nights, was honestly worried I wasn’t gonna get ten reps, hell was worried I wasn’t gonna get the ramp up sets getting to the PR set. Ah well, all’s well that ends well.
And in the immortal words of Lt. Gainz…
https://www.instagram.com/p/BRYTuJbBwxk/?taken-by=strengthshorts
3/23/17
OH Press
Sweet and easy today…
105 x 5
120 x 5
135 x 5
10 x 5 @ 105
Assistance:
-Face Pulls w/ Rope 5 x 20
-High Pulls w/ Rope 4 x 15
That’s all I had in the tank for today, terrible sleep, topped with a sinus infection made the going difficult, got the work sets in without trouble, but am not gonna push it any further for today, looking forward to a nap and some nyquil tonight.
3/24/17
Off
Recovering from head cold, feeling about 80% today, gonna go ahead and relax for the full day, get another solid night’s rest and see how everything feels tomorrow, that’ll dictate whether or not I take another rest day or hit skwaats, looking at the workout definitely feeling a bit intimidated, been awhile since I’ve felt this way about a workout, I’m loving/hating the feeling, but it creates some accountability for myself knowing this is what I should hit, and with it staring at me I can’t just sweep it under the rug and take the easy way out.
3/25/17
Skwaats
75% 215 x 5
85% 230 x 5 (Was supposed to be 245, wasn’t paying attention and loaded 230, had that stuck in my brain for some reason)
95% 275 x 5+ (Got 10, felt really good, came forward a bit onto my toes on #10, maybe had 2-3 more in the tank)
75% 215 x 20 (Lots of rest and pause in this set, definitely feeling that cold of mine, but got all 20 without racking)
Assistance:
Superset:
-OHP 10 x 5 @ 100
-BO Rows 5 x 10 @ 100
(Supersetted the first 5 sets)
-Lilly Shrugs 5 x 15 @ 45lb /ea
-Band Pull Aparts 5 x 20 green EFS band
Cardio:
Solid day, ramp up weights felt fairly heavy, but it got done, the 275 moved surprisingly well, as I’ve mentioned, am capping most PR sets at 10 simply because they are rep PRs due to the fact that I’ve typically worked in the 5-8 range with these weights in the past. Honestly felt as though I had another 2-3 reps on the PR set, but with no spotter and no safety catches (yup, we got a badass over here) I didn’t want to push it.
3/26/17
Bench Press
75% 180 x 5
85% 205 x 5
95% 5 x 5 @ 230
Assistance:
-Lat Pulldown 5 x 15 @ 95
Superset:
-Dips 10 x 5 w/ 45lb vest
-Standing Calf Raise 8 x 15
Cardio:
-20-30 minute walk with the dogs.
Minimal to report, everything moved, last set maybe not as speedy as it could have been, but didn’t have any grinders.
3/27/17
Off Day
Felt pretty beat up from squats on Saturday, and then on Sunday used Lilly shrugs as my assistance and really wiped my hamstrings out. Getting geared up for a big showing for the 405lb deadlift challenge here, ha. Did a bunch of housework, watched Vikings (shit is legit), hung out and drank water, also first day of lowered caloric intake, not necessarily tracking it, just eating less, have woken up bloated and soft the last couple days (softer than normal) part of it was lack of water, not dehydration, but definitely didn’t have enough water in my system plus a bunch of salt from previous meals, felt like i was holding onto unnecessary water.
3/28/17
Deadlift Day
Not a 5/3/1 workout, Challenge Day! Will update with weight moved and what not as my lift will take place later in the day. On a side note, after approximately 3 full cycles (possibly 4, we shall see) am looking at getting into a pure hypertrophy program for 8-12 weeks and reducing calories, familiarizing myself with CTs work, but any recommendations are much appreciated. I plan on cycling programs every 3-6 months with not necessarily opposing goals, but different goals.
Edit: This was stupid, am going to stick with hardgainers for a longer period of time, feeling pretty dumb now haha
3/28/17
Deadlift Challenge Day
Warm-Up
Assistance:
Kept the assistance short and sweet on this as I knew I’d be feeling those 36 pulls. Everything moved well, felt really solid until rep 25 on the 405, started to deteriorate a bit and could feel a slight lower back pump, but no pain in it today, so things stayed true. Pulled 5 for my rep set fairly easily (considering) but the 6th was a grinder, just hit that wall, locked it out and called it there. First pull ups I’ve done since I got back from the Spartan Race (had a massive knot, wanted to tear up a bit whenever I’d do a vertical pull) so it was good to be doing those again. Not sure about underhand rows…not super friendly to the wrists and elbows.
All in all, great pull day and it worked nicely into my programming (was supposed to hit 400 for a rep PR as part of 5/3/1 Hardgainers yesterday) so it was bout as good as you could ask for!
Critique often, advise often, all is appreciated.
D
3/29/17
OH Press
75% 110 x 5
85% 125 x 5
95% 140 x 5
75% 110 x 10 x 5
Assistance:
Cardioooooo:
Went a little hog wild with assistance today, but it felt great, had an awesome pump, didn’t feel overly taxed and it was all pretty low impact on the nervous system. Feeling bull strong, ha. Main work was smooth and fairly easy.
3/30/17
R&R
Hoo boy, feeling that deadlift challenge to-day! Feelin’ it in my soul, haha. An R&R day is definitely in order, maybe a long, romantic walk on the treadmill as it’s supposed to be rainy all day and won’t get to take the dogs out.
3/30/2017
R&R/Light Arms
Felt like I needed to get some blood flowing so I did a bunch of stretching and then hit a couple direct arm exercises to get some low impact work in today, sort of kept track of sets, sort of didn’t, just really light weight for 20-30 reps, got a stellar tricep pump, can’t seem to feel my biceps anymore (no mmc, as I haven’t hit them directly in what seems like forever). 15 minutes walking on the treadmill at an incline. Lower back is way more trashed from those deadlifts than I first expected, may squat today (3/31) may not, jury is still out.
3/31/2017
Skwaats
65% 190 x 5
75% 215 x 5
85% 260 x 12 (PR Set)
65% 190 x 20
Felt like absolute trash, lower back was fried from the deadlift challenge, buuuut everything moved really well, and I really wanted to stop at 10, so I forced myself to get 12, form held up, just cinched the belt up nice and tight to protect the lower back.
Literally do not remember any assistance, thought I had entered everything in my phone, and I had not, a little upset with msyelf. Did do 20 minutes on the treadmill at an incline.
4/1/17
Bench
65% 160 x 5
75% 185 x 5
85% 5 x 5 @ 210
Assistance:
Superset:
Dips 5 x 10
NG Chins 5 x 5
Push Press 135 x 3, 185 x 3 x 3
Band Pull Apart 5 x 15
Everything moved easily, felt like doing push press, just to moved some heavier weight up over my head as I’ve simply been accumulating volume with the OH Press days, 185 felt like a damn Boeing, amazing what lack of practice with the movement does.
4/3/17
Deadlift
65% 275 x 5
75% 315 x 5
85% 355 x 12 (straps)
65% 5 x 5 @ 275
Assistance:
-Pendlay Row 5 x 5 @ 225
-DB Row 15, 12 @ 100lb
Superset:
-Straight Arm Pulldowns 5 x 10 @ 70
-Face Pull 5 x 20 @ 70
Lower back still tired, but form is holding strong, grip seems to be improving as well, everything is double overhand and then strap up for the PR sets, even on the Pendlay Row my grip held up, these moved surprisingly well, felt like doing heavy rows for whatever reason. Things are progressing steadily (imagine that with 5/3/1 style progression, eh?)
It’s almost as if Jim actually knows what he is talking about…
