ME squat/DL (5RM)
squat
2x10x20kg (start warmup)
8x50
5x65
5x75
3x85 (end warmup)
5x95 (209 lbs)
DL (sumo, dbl overhand)
5x50kg (start warmup)
3x80
3x95 (end warmup)
5x112 (247 lbs)
back extension
5x10x3kg
reverse crunch
5x10
Pretty good. First 3 squat reps were solid, the last two were not too pretty. It will be interesting to focus on 3RM later.
My deadlifts were mostly back pulls. Ugh. My hammies were sore from earlier this week and I didn’t start the pull with my hips low enough. This was stupid of me. I should have pushed down more. Still got the reps, but my erectors are fried. I hope to keep this in mind for next time.
In other news, I need to buy a new bar and plates. 110kg is about the limit this bar is rated for. Yes, it’s a shitty standard bar (I know, I know). It’s been a pain in the ass to find O-bars out here, but now I really got to put my mind to it.
RE bench day
bench
10x45kg
10x45
10x45
10x47
10x47 (ow, hardly)
chins
2+4+3+3+3+2+1=18 (forearms already fried)
OH press
10x32kg
10x32
10x32
10x30
10x30
bb row (45 degrees)
10x48kg
10x48
10x48
10x46
10x46
close grip bench
10x35kg
10x35
10x35
10x35
10x32
ez bb curl
10x25kg
10x25
10x25
10x23
10x23
Good session. The last bench set ruined my forearms and really gave me trouble on the chins. This was pretty annoying as I felt like I could have hit my back/lats harder.
Close grip bench was new for me. I like it better than tri extensions that just don’t seem to target my triceps properly.
Only problem now is that the session is taking around 80 mins. I’d like to be down closer to 60. Hrm.
RE squat/DL day
squat
10x62kg
10x62
10x62
10x65
10x65
RDL
10x60kg
10x60
10x60
10x62
10x62
lunge
5x10x20kg (per side)
back extension
5x10xbw+3kg
swiss ball sit up
5x10xbw (too easy)
Solid session. Feelin’ good. I can probably pull a fair amount more on the RDLs. I didn’t really know where to start on them. Lunges are feeling better now that I’ve been doing them regularly now. I’ll probably jump them in 2kg increments for now.
Now I need to find a good scalable ab movement. Hangling leg raises would be ideal, but I’m just not strong enough to do 5x10 of them to start. Adding weight to crunch variations never seems to work well for me.
ME bench day
bench
2x10x20kg (warmup)
6x35
5x45
3x55 (end warmup)
1x60
1x68
1x66
1x66
bb row (45 degrees)
10x47kg
10x48
10x48
10x50
10x50
band pull-apart
5x10 (doubled blue - easy, not standard blue)
close grip bench
10x35kg
10x35
10x37
10x37
10x37
Hrm. Not great, but not too bad either. Weight just felt heavy on bench, so I ended up just doing some singles. Not the plan, but it went okay. On the other hand, a single was what the program actually called for today, so…
Bar speed was great for the rows and CGBP. Nice.
Substituted pull-aparts for upper back and dropped curls as I’m pressed for time today. Damn Fridays.
ME squat/DL
squat
2x10x20kg (start warmup)
7x50
5x65
3x80
2x90 (end warmup)
3x100 (220 lbs)
DL (standard stance, dbl overhand)
5x50kg (start warmup)
3x70
3x90 (end warmup)
4x109.5 (241 lbs)
back extension
10x3kg
10x3
10x3
10x4
10x4
swiss ball crunch
5x10x5kg (on chest)
Solid. I probably could have squeezed out another squat rep, but I’ve deiced to be pretty conservative with my form on ME days.
Sumo stance DL seems more comfortable, but I have a feeling I’m actually stronger with standard stance.
RE bench day
decline bench
5x10x47kg
chins
3+3+3+2+1+1+2+1=16
OH press
10x32kg
10x32
10x33
10x31 (slower)
10x27 (slower)
bb row (45 degrees)
5x10x48kg (all sets quick)
close grip bench
10x37kg
10x37
10x37
10x35 (slower)
10x30 (slower)
ez bb curl
10x24kg
10x24
10x24
10x22
10x22
Ouch. Kept it to about an hour this time. That’s a good 20 mins faster than last time. Needless to say I’m thrashed. I was pretty strict about rest times and this forced the total tonnage down a bit. No worries.
My chin numbers are stalling again. They are too heavy for RE work for me. Perhaps I’ll do them on the bench ME day where my grip does not get so wasted. I expect it won’t be a problem to increase them once my other big lifts reach appropriate levels.
I think I curl less with the ez bar. Go figure. I might be better off rotating the bars between workouts actually.
Can you add any weight to your chins? Even if it’s 2.5kg it’ll help improve your chins.
[quote]Bloobird wrote:
Can you add any weight to your chins? Even if it’s 2.5kg it’ll help improve your chins.[/quote]
Thanks for the advice, Bloobird. I can add weight to my chins. I got a furniture-lifting strap I use. I’m pretty sure it can take 20-30kg of plates easy. Plenty for quite awhile, I should think.
Actually, before this program I was doing 3x5 chin work with like 1kg or 2kg. I’m going to take your suggestion. Gonna start doing heavy chin work on the ME bench day instead. Obviously I am nowhere near the level of 50 total pull-up reps that Rhodes’ program calls for on the RE day.
Any ideas for how to do a bit of easy warmup for heavy chins/pull-ups? If I’m only adding 2.5kg or so, a warmup set of BW seems too heavy. Unfortunately, I don’t have a good band to help me (I should fix this).
[quote]donpalmero wrote:
Bloobird wrote:
Can you add any weight to your chins? Even if it’s 2.5kg it’ll help improve your chins.
Thanks for the advice, Bloobird. I can add weight to my chins. I got a furniture-lifting strap I use. I’m pretty sure it can take 20-30kg of plates easy. Plenty for quite awhile, I should think.
Actually, before this program I was doing 3x5 chin work with like 1kg or 2kg. I’m going to take your suggestion. Gonna start doing heavy chin work on the ME bench day instead. Obviously I am nowhere near the level of 50 total pull-up reps that Rhodes’ program calls for on the RE day.
Any ideas for how to do a bit of easy warmup for heavy chins/pull-ups? If I’m only adding 2.5kg or so, a warmup set of BW seems too heavy. Unfortunately, I don’t have a good band to help me (I should fix this).[/quote]
I suppose you could use the lat pulldown or assisted pullup machine to warm up.
[quote]Bloobird wrote:
I suppose you could use the lat pulldown or assisted pullup machine to warm up.
[/quote]
Ah, I would, but I workout in my basement. I shoulda said that. Maybe a few jumping chins would do the trick.
[quote]donpalmero wrote:
Bloobird wrote:
I suppose you could use the lat pulldown or assisted pullup machine to warm up.
Ah, I would, but I workout in my basement. I shoulda said that. Maybe a few jumping chins would do the trick.
[/quote]
Ah, negatives or jumping chins should do the trick.
[quote]Bloobird wrote:
Ah, negatives or jumping chins should do the trick.[/quote]
I appreciate the help!
Today:
RE squat/DL day
squat
5x10x62kg
RDL
5x10x62kg
lunge
3x10x20kg (per side) (thrashed)
back extension
3x10xbw+3kg
lying leg lift
3x10xbw
Sheesh. I kept pretty strict rest times today to make sure I completed everything in 60 mins. This was nasty. I hit the wall on the third set of lunges.
I think all this 5x10 is just too much volume for me. Especially on the squat/DL days. 5x10 squat and 5x10 bench are not created equal. I do like the general Westside ME v. RE/DE template though. I’m thinking of altering what I’ve got into one of the WS4SB programs. (Probably I’ll do 5/3/1 sometime after New Years.)
[quote]donpalmero wrote:
Bloobird wrote:
Ah, negatives or jumping chins should do the trick.
[/quote]
No problem man, any time.
WS4SB is a great set up, you should definitely trying it out if your looking for a good westside set up.
Do 5/3/1 … pm me for the spreadsheet.
[quote]TheDudeAbides wrote:
Do 5/3/1 … pm me for the spreadsheet.[/quote]
Yeah, will do. The lifting you’ve been doing lately looks excellent.
I can’t do heavy single DLs (and probably squats) till I buy a new bar and plates though (yes, I admit, I’m still using a POS standard bar). That’s why I gotta put the program off for a bit. Any guess what I’m getting myself for Christmas? 
ME bench
bench
2x10x20kg (start warmup)
5x35
5x45
3x55 (end warmup)
1x66.5 (stalled)
5x60
chins
7+4
A1 bb row (45 degrees)
8x50kg
10x50
10x50
10x50
A2 rear delt fly
4x10x7kg (per db)
power shrug
12x50kg
12x50
12x50
15x50 (pretty easy)
seated incline curl
10x10kg (per db)
10x10
12x10
Nice change. No trouble getting through everything in an hour today.
I have to reset my bench. I stall so damn quickly on it. Frustrating. According to Rippetoe’s strength standards it’s the only lift for which I haven’t hit the “novice” level. Arg.
Rear delt flys were interesting. I think I went too heavy though. They were not very pretty. I have a serious flexibility imbalance between my left and right sides.
DE lower body
standing hurdle jumps
8x3x80cm (31 in) (pretty easy)
bulgarian squat (dumbbells)
8x20 kg
8x20 kg
10x20 kg
back extension
15xbw
12x3 kg
12x3 kg
hanging leg raise
10xbw
10xbw
10xbw
8xbw
lots of time left, so:
box squats (31 cm/12 in box)
2x3x20 kg
2x3x40 kg
5x3x50 kg
1x3x55 kg
Fun session. I took my time through the 4 planned movements and I had tons of time. Figured some box squats can’t hurt. Probably next time I’ll start with box squats or do them just after the jumps.
Jumps were completely new. Fun though. I’ll have to play around with the height a bit next time. These were probably too easy. The sets of 3 were just 3 jumps with no rest on the same hurdle, not 3 hurdles in a row. At the moment that’s not an option unfortunately.
RE upper body
push-up
18,13,12 x bw
A1 chins
5,4,3 x bw
A2 rear delt fly
3 x 12 x 4kg
db military press (seated)
4 x 10 x 12.5kg
B1 power shrug
12 x 54kg
12 x 54kg
15 x 54kg
B2 seated incline db curl (45 degrees)
8 x 10kg
9 x 10kg
10 x 10kg
plate pinch (15 kg plate)
3 x fail (per hand)
Good stuff. Got through all the work pretty quickly. I’ll probably start adding weight on chins on the ME day and keeping bw on the RE day.
I’m a bit dubious about the value of direct grip work right now. I might drop it and add some more pressing or inverted rows.
ME lower body
squat
2 x 8 x 20kg (start warmup)
6 x 50kg
4 x 60kg
3 x 80kg
3 x 90kg (end warmup)
2 x 102kg (225 lbs!)
bulgarian squat (db)
10 x 20kg
10 x 20kg
9 x 20kg
back extension
12 x 3kg
12 x 4kg
12 x 4kg
ab circuit
3 x 10 x sprinter crunch, v-ups, toe touch, hipthrust
Pretty good. Hitting two wheels was excellent. I need to work on my upper-back strength though. I keep a more upright torso on box squats, so I’m gonna make those my ME lift for awhile now.
We’ve got an amateur American football league here and a new team is forming next year. I’m seriously considering trying out at the end of January. I will probably adjust my training to prepare. Mostly by adding regular track work. Any other ideas?
Not many people in this country have experience playing football, so I think I’d have a legit shot at the tryouts. We’ll see…
track work
10 x 10m (1 min rest)
6 x 20m (2 min rest)
4 x 40m (4 min rest)
It was good to get to the track even if it was half covered with snow.
I had planned to do ME bench today, but sprinting in the cold turned out to be plenty. Well, I’ll lift tomorrow.