Sun., June 1st. Workout B:
power clean - 5x3x64kg (141 lbs)
press - 5,4,5x43kg (95 lbs)
front squat - 3x5x50kg (110 lbs)
chins - 6+3+1 @ bodyweight 81kg (178 lbs)
Good cleans again. The last set was pretty tough, but I have a strong feeling that I actually did 6 sets. I had 5 marked off when I went to mark off the last one. Hm.
Almost got the presses. I actually had an easier time on the last set when I increased my tempo slightly. I think I psych out myself and start lifting slowly thus making a set of 5 much harder. No more of that!
A 5kg jump on the front squats. This was not the plan, 50kg was supposed to be my heavier single; it felt so easy I just did a full set of 5 and kept the weight there for 2 more sets. Very nice.
Getting towards 10 chins. That 6th was pretty much to failure and it made the next few hard. I probably could have done more total if I just did 5 to start. Whatever.
Wed., June 4th. Workout A:
back squat - 5,3,4x68kg (150 lbs)
bench - 5,5,4x54kg (119 lbs)
deadlift - 5x97kg (214 lbs)
dips - 5+5+4 @ bw=81kg (178 lbs)
I still increased on the back squat, but didn’t get any more reps. Maybe only .5 kg increase next time.
I’m playing a bit with my bench grip. I think a tad wider would be good. How wide are people going? I’m pretty sure I am triceps dominant on my bench. I’d like to get my chest more involved. So, wider, right?
Happy with the gains on my DL. I was tempted to go for 100kg, but that’ll wait.
I did fewer dips than previous, but I realized I’m not getting my upper arms to parallel to the floor. Gotta work on my depth.
Fri., June 6th. Workout B:
power clean - 2,3,2,3,3x65kg (143 lbs)
press - 5,4,3x44kg (97 lbs)
front squat - 3x5x52kg (115 lbs)
chins - 5+4+2 @ bodyweight 81kg (178 lbs)
Difficult workout; nothing felt easy. No major problems, just hard. Holding the cleans and OH press.
Trying to avoid failure reps on the chins.
Sun., June 8th. Workout A:
back squat - 3x5x68.5kg (151 lbs)
bench - 5,5,4x54.5kg (120 lbs)
deadlift - 5x100kg (220 lbs)
dips - 5+5+5 @ bw=83kg (183 lbs)
Back squats were much better even with a small increase. Taking in a full belly of air before I start a rep seems to help my stability a bunch.
I’m still struggling to find a comfortable setup for the bench. Not sure exactly what the problem is. However, I probably have increased it by 20 lbs since January. At least I’m making progress.
I was thrilled to pull 100kg. That’s a nice barrier. I’d like to pass 1.5xbw by the end of the year. Gonna have to do mixed grip before that though.
My dips are getting deeper and deeper. Just gotta concentrate at getting my upper-arms to parallel.
Oh, I’m also up 2 kg since I started this program. I could be a bit leaner, but I’m not gonna cut until I’ve reached a satisfactory lvl of strength. As it is, I’m pretty confident I’m not putting on any additional fat.
Wed., June 11th. Workout B:
power clean - 5x3x65kg (143 lbs)
press - 5,5,4x44kg (97 lbs)
front squat - 3x5x55kg (121 lbs)
chins - 5+4+2 @ bodyweight 82kg (180 lbs)
Great workout. Especially considering I was sick this morning. Got through all the clean work sets. I missed a single press, but I’ll probably increase anyway.
Another decent jump on front squats. I feel like I might be built better for these than back squats. Hm.
Same number of chins as last time, but I’m pretty sure it was easier. Looking forward to 5+5+5!
Good progress, man!
I just tried front squats for the first time today, and it really sucked. Then I found out my form was horrid. I’m looking forward to trying them with proper form, as I think alternating between back and front squats would keep things interesting and varied.
[quote]darwin420 wrote:
Good progress, man!
I just tried front squats for the first time today, and it really sucked. Then I found out my form was horrid. I’m looking forward to trying them with proper form, as I think alternating between back and front squats would keep things interesting and varied.[/quote]
Yeah, the first day of front squats was a mess for me too. But it always takes me a session or two to get new lifts down. I’ve enjoyed alternating them with back squats tho.
Sun., June 15th. Workout A:
back squat - 3x5x70kg (154 lbs)
bench - 5,4,4x55kg (121 lbs)
deadlift - 4x105kg (231 lbs)
dips - 5+3+3 @ bw=81kg (178 lbs)
Difficult week. I missed Friday’s workout. Just too damn busy. Ugh.
Today’s workout was pretty good though. Holding on bench and DL. I’m closing in on bodyweight for squats.
Fewer dips than last time, but they are getting close to the proper depth. These were pretty tough.
Wed., June 18th. Workout B:
power clean - 3,3,3,3,2x66kg (145 lbs)
press - 4,2,2x45kg (99 lbs)
front squat - 5,3,5x57kg (125 lbs)
chins - 5+3+2 @ bodyweight 82kg (180 lbs)
crunches - 3x8x10kg on chest
Not the best workout. That missed workout last week meant I haven’t done B in a week. Not to mention the past 10 days or so have been so damn busy and stressful.
Don’t know what the particular problem with the OH presses was. Yuck.
I decreased my rest times slightly. I wanted to add some ab work. Probably I’ll do ab stuff every B workout and just cycle through my equipment: floor, decline, hang, ball, roller.
In other news, Monday was my last formal day as a student! Thesis defended, phd complete!
Congrats and please do tell in what field.
[quote]TheDudeAbides wrote:
Congrats and please do tell in what field.[/quote]
Thanks much! The field is math. It’s a pretty liberating feeling to be done. I’ve been in school basically my entire life till now.
Sun., June 22nd. Workout A:
back squat - 5,3,3x72kg (159 lbs)
bench - 5,3,2x55kg (121 lbs)
deadlift - 5x105kg (231 lbs)
dips - 4+3+2 @ bw=81kg (178 lbs)
lying external rotation - 3x15x2kg (4 lbs)
Another missed Friday, another tough session. I should be back in the groove now though. I’ll hold all of these weights for next time. I got the DLs, but I was a bit slow between reps. The 4th rep was more of a RDL too.
I probably couldn’t have done more weight for the ext rot. I can def use some strength there. Hopefully that is gonna help my bench.
Wed., June 25th. Workout B:
power clean - 3,3,3,2,2x66kg (145 lbs)
press - 4,2,2x45kg (99 lbs)
back squat - 3,2,3x72kg (159 lbs)
chins - 5+2+2 @ bodyweight 82kg (180 lbs)
ball crunch - 36xbw
Not making progress on cleans or OH presses. The cleans are no big deal; they are already above my other lifts. I’ll probably deload them a bit. Instead of deloading the OH press, I’m probably gonna continue at this weight with push-presses for awhile. In that case, I’ll move them to workout A. I don’t want to do cleans and push-presses on the same day. I’ll probably do them 5x3 as well. We’ll see.
I dropped the front squats for now. I think the key to my progress is getting my back squat up. I ditched my safety catches cause they were interfering with my depth (gonna solve this problem soon). It was good to go ATG on these again. I might drop to 70kg next time to have a better chance at getting all the reps.
Forgot how good those swiss ball crunches are. I hit my hip flexors pretty well this way too.
Looking good and you should be able to ramp up your back squat fairly quickly.
I stalled on the OH MP too and in the process of deloading it to see if that helps.
Yeah if you stall on a lift, Rip says to drop to 90% of your best weight, and work back up to it. Also smaller lifts like presses will stall faster, and it might be better to use smaller weight increases for them.
Cool, thanks for the advice guys. Maybe I’ll deload the OH press as well then. I can always do push-presses later.
Basically I’ve been incrementing everything by 1kg until I feel that is too small. You think it’d be worth incrementing the press by as little as 1/2kg?
I’d say doing the most you can while still making consistent progress, if your lift is constantly stalling you may need lighter increments for it.
Fri., June 27th. Workout A:
squat - 5,4,5x65kg (143 lbs)
bench - 3x5x50kg (110 lbs)
deadlift - 3x100kg (220 lbs)
dips - 5+5+4 @ bw
seated external rotation - 3x15x2.5kg (5 lbs)
It was nice to get a Friday workout in finally. I basically deloaded everything. Pretty much all my lifts are stalling.
I’ve also made several changes overall. My squats are now to the proper depth again so this was not really a deload; more like the correct weight.
My DLs will drop during the next workouts. I’ve been starting them from small blocks as my biggest discs are smaller than Olympics plates. However, the bar does not rest well enough on the blocks, so I’ve decided to just lift from the floor. This basically means my DLs will be slightly from negative. On the other hand, Thibs says DLs from negative are great lower body lifts, so I’m not unhappy about it.
I don’t feel like my strength level has been progressing as much as I like. I’d be frustrated, but my physique has undergone very positive changes. This certainly is progress.
Sun., June 29th. Workout B:
back squat - 3x5x65kg (143 lbs)
press - 3x5x40kg (88 lbs)
bent-over row - 3x5x50kg (110 lbs)
chins - 3,3,1xbw
ball crunch - 35x2.5kg (5 lbs)
Deload day with some changes. Everything felt great, particularly the squats. This is especially good considering I’m totally beat up from several hours of soccer and frisbee yesterday. Ouch.
I’ve decided to drop the cleans for awhile and go for rows. These were great, but they destroyed the reps on chins. Maybe I should swap dips and chins between workouts?
Workout time today was down to 40 mins. This will probably climb back up a bit, but I’d be thrilled if I can consistently stay in the 45-50 min range (normally I’m really close to breaking 60 mins).
[quote]donpalmero wrote:
It was nice to get a Friday workout in finally. I basically deloaded everything. Pretty much all my lifts are stalling.
I don’t feel like my strength level has been progressing as much as I like. I’d be frustrated, but my physique has undergone very positive changes. This certainly is progress.[/quote]
You might want to reevaluate your caloric intake - are you eating enough for your current progression? As you get stronger and more muscular, it is inevitable to increase your calories.