Nice lifting. That’s really cool that you’ve got your sights set on breaking some records. Best of luck.
I saw your comment about skipping the ab work. I’m also an offender when it comes to that. There isn’t an excuse, but sometimes I’m just hungry and tired so I convince myself that eating is more important. Somehow that works in my head…
Hey everybody! I’ve been silly busy and I’m traveling on business this week so I’m just quickly logging bench and squat day from last week. This week is deload week.
3/31/11 5/3/1 Bench
warmup 45, 55, 65
working
1x5 70
1x3 77.5
1x5 85 < I was deeply disappointed in this because I thought the wider grip was helping and this is just my usual 5 RM.
Accessories
Skull crushers 5x10 42 <finally weighed the ez-curl bar
Lat Pulldowns 5x10 120
DB bench 5x10 25s
4/1/11 5/3/1 Squat
warmup 45, 45, 65
Working
1x5 85
1x3 95
1x7 100 < I was due for 105 and there was a 5 missing from my squat rack. I had to go get one from another bench. I did my seven reps and I was all like “booyah!” then I went to unrack and … fuck I forgot to put the 5 on. So, this is ok performance but not stellar.
accessory
Lunges 1x10 20s <dumbbells. This did not feel good. I stopped.
Cable crunches 5x10 80
I’m not sure what to do this week because I’m really suspicious of a forced deload every 4th week. Three sets of five at 50% seems just stoopid anyway, so maybe I’ll just do bw stuff this week. Or god forbid, cardio.
Hope the bar feels light for all of you this week!
If you are interested, you can buy a punch pass to RMLC, something like $100 for 20 visits, and you can split that with a friend. I think I have five visits left on mine. Let me know if you go there, we can hang out together.
Yes, I am very interested in that. I’ll check in when I get back from my business trips. Thanks!
I relate to the comment about how your strength is sometimes all over the place, or hard to predict. I seem to be sort of erratic myself. I had a really good day at the gym the other day, having eaten really low carb, and also feeling tired. Weird. I’m not a good sleeper and I’m trying to fix that.
Lunges - love to hate those bad boys. Nice getting 170x3 on your DL! I tried getting 175 off the floor last week but it was glued down. I like to read your log. You’re very methodical in your training.
LOL! Too much sugar. I’m going to have to use that one, as a euphemism of course.
Thanks PP. I am indeed methodical. People sometimes mistake my final results for talent when they are motivated only by dogged persistance.
I admit to be discouraged by the first round of 5/3/1. Yes yes, I know it’s a long term program with incremental and steady progress blah blah blah. But I’m calculating my 1 RM off each max attempt and I don’t see anything moving. I put it to this audience thusly: shouldn’t I make progress this month, this week, this session, right now, in whatever form I choose? How do my muscles gear up for growing two months from now? I get that I can plateau on any given Rep/weight, but shouldn’t my estimated strength increase on this program? Or am I just a lazy ass about high reps? I am enjoying all the accessory volume to be sure.
I don’t know. Maybe I need a coach.
A couple of thoughts here. With the caviat that I’ve never done 5/3/1.
First, my understanding is that 5/3/1 is a long-term program. Consequently, it may be unrealistic to expect to see PRs after one cycle. If your goal is to increase your 1 RMs in a relatively short period of time, then 5/3/1 probably isn’t the best way to go.
Secondly, rep PRs are great. But they don’t necessarily translate into 1 RM gains in my opinion. Also, rep calculators are cruely inaccurate. In my case, they wildly underestimate my squat max and slightly overestimate my bench max. So take calculator information with a grain of salt until you know how it works for you.
I think the key is that with experience comes knowledge about how your body best responds to different training programs. I, for example, know that I cannot train submaximally for reps with certain lifts and expect any increase in my 1 RM. That being said, however, there are many, many people on T-Nation who have had tremendous long-term success with 5/3/1.
Training looks good from this end…fwiw
I’ve only been on the program for 3 weeks now. It is forcing me to rep the heavier weights for one thing. Before I would pretty much stop repping anything over 225 for my deads. I’ve needed to grow some balls. I suppose I’ll have a better answer when I retest my maxes in a couple months.
yeah you look tiny. you made those squats look easy - like you could have done 'em for reps!
i always smile when people lift with glasses. i worry i’ll smash mine with the bar or they will fly off my face but there is an Oly guy who lifts in glasses, too. Don’t know why it makes me smile, but it really really does.
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
A couple of thoughts here. With the caviat that I’ve never done 5/3/1.
[/quote]
Thank you, I always learn so much from you. I’d like to try another program, but I don’t really feel I understand most of the more advanced ones. I’m going to do another cycle of 5/3/1 while I read as much as I can and then decide at the beginning of May what to do. The good things about 5/3/1 for me are: different rep ranges and clearly defined accessory work. The bad things are way below max reps and forced deloading. But I guess as the cycles go by, I will build back up to real maxes. The other thing I can do this month is throw in those heavy singles as we’ve been discussing.
Thanks Mim, it’s always so nice to have you stop by!
Main, let’s compare our progress. I’ll go check you out.
Alexus, I’m quite sure I look like a big dork. 
I had my contacts in my bag, but I just didn’t want to be distracted by anything unusual at that meet (well, anything more unusual than a singlet and knee sox in public.)
I’m in Anaheim this week and the gym at the hotel doesn’t look bad. It has dumbbells and machines. I’m starting week 1 cycle two and I have to decide whether to go dumbbells for the military press or use the smith machine. I think… dumbbells.
Tomorrow or Tuesday I need to decide whether to substitute one-legged dumbbell deadlifts for deadlifts, change it to squat day and use the smith, or go to 24 hr fitness which is supposed to be about a mile away.
5/3/1 military press day. Training max 67.5 lb. Cycle 2, week 1
General feelings and body: left elbow inflammation improved during the deload week. I like the short sprints I’ve been doing on the treadmill and around the block (quarter mile at a time, full out, just enough to feel like I’m alive on deload week). No hand or arm numbness. Weight 114. Skin: good, red. Age: still 47!
Back: excellent. It’s pretty nice to travel on airplanes and not have my lower back hurt. I’ll tell you this again: when I was 40, I thought lower back pain was inevitable now that I was … “old”. Fuck that shit. 
I’m telling you this because someone out there reading this (or their wife, or their mom) is saying, well, now that I am 40… 50… whatever… I just have to stop doing the things I love. I just have to get fat. I just have to hurt. You don’t. You have to be careful with yourself, but you don’t have to hurt, and you don’t have to quit.
I only had dumbbells today.
DB MPress
warmup
2x5 10s 1x3 15s
working
1x5 20s
1x5 25s
1x5 30s < I actually forgot this was a max reps effort, but honestly, I don’t think I could have done another. BTW this is a 5 RM. Yay! It also implies a new 1 RM at 35, which I will surely report next week.
Accessories, slightly hampered by meetings and dinner reservations.
Dumbbell rows 5x10 30s < there was a lot of panting and moaning. I’m not saying it was me.
Mpress 2x10 20s
skullcrushers 3x10 15s < I’m not sure I didn’t miss a set here, but I always err on the low side to punish myself.
Curls 1x10 15s, 3x10 10s < gawd knows why I decided to do curls. Maybe my brain was addled by all the people who came in the gym and headed straight for the treadmill and elliptical, only pausing at the free weights to stretch against the ab bench.
Beautiful form to all of you!
good job gettin it done!!
[quote]arachne12 wrote:
Age: still 47!
Back: excellent. It’s pretty nice to travel on airplanes and not have my lower back hurt. I’ll tell you this again: when I was 40, I thought lower back pain was inevitable now that I was … “old”. Fuck that shit.
I’m telling you this because someone out there reading this (or their wife, or their mom) is saying, well, now that I am 40… 50… whatever… I just have to stop doing the things I love. I just have to get fat. I just have to hurt. You don’t. You have to be careful with yourself, but you don’t have to hurt, and you don’t have to quit.
[/quote]
You are AWESOME. Can we bottle your attitude and distribute it to women (and men, I guess) all around the world?!
Seriously, I come up against this mentality all the time in my practice. I think somebody uses the adjective “old” about every 3rd patient on an average work day when I ask them how they’re doing. Although it sometimes may seem a bit odd coming from me (almost 32) I tell people that I don’t accept that excuse. Our bodies are meant for use. Wear and tear happens-- that’s where I come in, but DECREPITUDE-- never!!! A cliche, but back pain is common, NOT normal.
BTW, love the new rifle avatar! How very Colorado of you
Mim, ya hottie. Thanks for reading!
Veggie, thanks. I’m glad to share this journey for whoever is reading. And thanks on the avi. I was worried my liberal friends on facebook think I’m a redneck, and I’m worried my PW friends here think my legs are too skinny. How’s that for an ugly journey into my head!
omg, a colleague at this uber-nerd conference told me his wife is a (bodybuilder) figure athlete! WTF! What a surprise and delight!
5/3/1 deadlift day, cycle 2, week 1. NO bar available. Training max 180 lbs
Deadlift substitutes
One legged dumbbell deadlifts
1x5 35, 40, 45 1x10 50. <that’s all they had. 50s. sad face oh, wait, that’s a 10 RM. happy Felt these in my back, hams, calves. I always have a lot of trouble with the balance on these due to skinny pony calves, but they feel terrific.
Smith machine deadlift rack pull experiment
1x5 95 and 105 < ok, this was really interesting. You can’t pull the bar back, so I put my shins closer to the bar than usual and hump my hips forward. It made me think a lot about where the bar is relative to my shins, feet, butt, etc. I wouldn’t recommend these, but I will take the body-feel lessons and try to glean something.
Accessory (machines) < I’m not putting weights here because what’s the point? Machines are so different.
leg extensions 5x10
ham curls 4x10 with a drop set
leg press 2x10 < this is literally the second time I’ve ever done leg presses. I didn’t like them. Why not squat?
Have a beautiful day, y’all.
leg press 2x10 < this is literally the second time I’ve ever done leg presses. I didn’t like them. Why not squat?
i think a lot of people feel this way about them. wish i did.
not quite sure why i like them… maybe because i get to move more weight even if the range of motion stays the same. still working on my squat form, too, and finding that the leg press gives me more concrete indicators of form deviations (e.g., if i lose my lumbar arch my butt leaves the seat or my spine presses hard rather than having a gap). i think it is helping me learn to feel form deviations (i can’t always feel when i’m losing my arch).
i think maybe it is that i find it really cool when nerd / dork types get into this heavy lifting stuff. used to thinking of these people as being non-athletic. so cool to find a bunch of nerdy athletes who are proud of their nerdiness
!!?!
that is when i throw a fit–no bars available?! NOOO!!!
but leg presses…they do make me feel it in my hamstring, quads, but they hurt my lower back. hack squats do as well. go go squats!
WHOA! what kinda firearms have you there in your avi? WHO HOO!!:D!
Great log, I really like seeing the mix of lifting and martial arts. Looking at the avi it also appears along with the blackbelt and serious strength that you might shooting an M4. Great work
1 legged DL with 50s???!!
get ready for glutey dom-y goodness!