Weighed in @ 13st 7.4lbs at the weekend, a few lbs higher than last week, but waist onky measured 86cm/34in.
Progress pics are as follows:
Not super lean here, and I’ve been leaner, but to me this looks like an improvement from the summer, and I do feel like I’m carrying less fat at this weight than I have done previously, so that’s a plus!
Goal from here is to pivot into putting on some mass, because I am clearly small… I’ll make some notes about that in a bit
28/11 (Early AM)
Warmup
Hip thrust + inverted BB row - 10 @ 11.5 holes, 10.5, 9.5, 12 @ 8.5 holes
Deadlift - 5 @ 68.75, 80, 3 @ 92.5, 2 @ 103.75, 1 @ 115
Rack chins - 10, 8.5, 6.5
The idea with the rows was to start each rep sat on the floor, then engage the lats and thrust hips up, like a cross between a straight-arm pulldown and a hip thrust, and then follow that smoothly through into a row, focussing again on pulling with the lats rather than traps. Kept hands in the same position as for a deadlift and kept elbows tucked. It sort of worked, but I don’t think the glutes/hamstrings were actually getting that much work, and I must have been doing a sort of reverse curl motion to get the row to work because the top of my forearms, right where it comes into the elbow joint, got a bit sore by the end of these.
Deadlifts felt heavier than expected, but moved OK otherwise. I didn’t bother pushing the reps as I’m comfortable from the reps hit on the last cycle that I can use a 115 TM (which would be the normal 5kg jump recommended anyway).
I’ve tried rack chins in the past and found them tricky, and this was no exception. They’re a tad awkward to setup but do seem to isolate the lats pretty effectively.
General update:
As noted above I’ve now completed what I had set out to do over the past few months (namely become accustomed to early morning training and improve my fitness, via Couch to 5K running program and using the 5/3/1 Limited Time template).
For someone of my height & weight however I am pretty small, and as much as I like being fit and strong (take those with a punch of salt!) getting jacked is why I originally got into the gym and it’s what I often circle back to after periods of chasing other goals. I think the big issue here is that it takes a long time to achieve, whereas improvements in performance metrics are much easier to accomplish over the short-term.
The plan going forwards is to keep the running up 2x per week (to make sure I at least maintain this, and ideally continue to improve it somewhat) and lift 4x per week but with more of a ‘bodybuilding’ focus (using that term fairly loosely).
I had come up with a plan that keeps 5/3/1 lifts at the core (to ensure basic strength metrics can be tracked + progressed) but then structure the assistance work as a bodypart split and use Meadows-esque sequencing and periodisation of volume and intensity. The workout from this morning as above was an attempt at this, albeit without pushing too hard as this is meant to be a deload week.
My main concern however is the time required to pull off this type of setup (as I only have about 40 mins max in the gym) and even this morning I was up against it with only the minimum number of exercises + sets needed.
The alternative is to use a DC-type of setup, as that obviously uses intensity as the main driver and keeps the exercises and sets pretty low so I’ve got a much better chance of getting through a full session in good time. I’m thinking of just having one leg day, to avoid overworking the joints from the running, and then have the other 3 sessions as alternate push/pull workouts (based on the PPL DC split, and again helping to keep exercises per session to a minimum).
What I think I’ll do is run that for the next month, and then review at Christmas where training is likely to get a bit muddled anyway so I can use that to reset and switch out to something else if required.
The backup option would be another straight 5/3/1 template - probably 1 lift per day, 5 x 5/3/1 on the lower days and 5’s PRO + BBB on the upper days (or maybe Malcom X? Maybe using alternate supplemental movements?). Then just superset the assistance work between the main & supplemental exercises. The only reason I’m not doing that straight off the bat is that I frankly find 5/3/1 a bit boring…
Looking good, mate! Your consistency is definitely paying off.
Yeah, but… Big?
I’m excited to see how things go for you in the weeks ahead!
Haha that did cross my mind as I was typing it. I’m not totally against it as I know it works, so I might still go for it. I think there’s something about 5/3/1 that doesn’t gel with me and prevents me fully committing to it, but perhaps it’s just a mental thing.
I totally get that, even if I feel the opposite: There’s something about 5/3/1 that keeps me coming back!
Either way, I’m sure you’ll go far—it’s consistency and effort, after all, and you’ve been crushing it!
29/11 (Early AM)
Couch to 5K
31m total w/15m running
Fog came down last night and was still hanging around this morning, so very cold and dark on this run.
Didn’t sleep great last night and woke up super tired so I was tempted to just go back to bed and not bother running (as it’s only a deload week after all!) but I’m glad I did go ahead with it in the end. Runs were fine - obviously quite a short stint compared to what I’ve done in recent weeks.
One thing to note is my hip flexors were tight all day yesterday after having my legs up on the rack chins, and they were still tender first thing this morning. Didn’t seem to hinder me at all on the run, but they’re still tight/sore now which is annoying.
30/11 (Early AM)
Warmup
DB OHP (seated, flat bench) - 10 @ 3s, 8s, 9.5 @ 13s + 10 lateral raises @ 2.5s
(20-30 RP)
Decline bench - 10 @ bar, 8 @ 30, 40, 50, 7 @ 60
(11-15 RP)
Rope cable overhead triceps exts - 15 @ 10, 13 @ 15
(20-30 RP)
This workout actually felt like a breath of fresh air, although I did eat a fair bit yesterday and sleep well last night, so it may have just been a result of that.
One of the expected benefits of this type of split is that I can abbreviate the mobility/warmup stuff I do because I can be more specific with it, rather than trying to cover the whole body, and that seemed to pan out here.
One thing to note is I’ve included the RP rep ranges intended for each exercise, but as this is still a deload week I only went up to one top set, and didn’t actually do any rest-pausing. The reps on the build-up sets were a tad higher than I would use going forwards but only because I was testing the water on these exercises and didn’t know where the limit would be. I also didn’t rest a ton between sets (basically just as long as it took to change weights), so that may have impacted the top sets weight.
Pleased to have been able to bench without issue - I’ve avoided this since my shoulder issues a couple of months back and I was a little apprehensive they would come back. Kept the reps relatively slow and controlled, and tried to keep emphasis on my pecs, and that seemed to work just fine.
Edit: minor correction to reps as I had originally written this from memory
01/12 (Early AM)
Warmup
Superset:
Rack SLDL - 10 @ bar, 30, 40, 50, 60
Lying ring leg curls - 5, 6, 8, 10
Front squat - 5 @ 42.5, 4 @ 48.75, 3 @ 56.25, 2 @ 62.5, 1 @ 70
(70 TM)
RDL - 10 @ bar, 40
As noted before I’m now going to be doing the DC-setup for upper body days (alternating push/pull), but for legs I’m going to stick to the Meadows + 5/3/1 - partly that’s because with my equipment it’s hard to rotate leg exercises as needed for DC, partly it’s because I don’t like training legs that much and would rather stick to a simple structure I can progress on over time without worrying about doing anything fancy.
I quite like the SLDL/leg curl combo and think I’ll keep that in, despite the leg curls being a pain to setup. Still a deload so the reps/weight were just a feeling-out process; I definitely could have gone higher rep with the leg curls sooner though. I may make those slow-eccentrics (e.g. 3-5 second-count) as a way to keep them interesting as I think it’ll be awkward to add load.
Front squats went fine, but I just remembered to check back against the PR sets from a couple of weeks back and I did say I should only use 8 reps rather than 9 for the new TM calculation, so I’ll actually be using 68.75 going forwards, not 70.
RDL was fine - the difference between this and the rack SLDL is on the first exercise I have the safeties set so the bar is about mid-shin (just slightly higher than a standard deadlift) and I can do these with only a slight knee-bend, and the bar comes to a dead-stop with each rep. For the RDLs I just go as low as I feel I can safely manage, getting a good hamstring stretch, and pause/reverse the bar in mid-air.
02/12 (Early AM)
Warmup
Rope cable hammer curls - 20 @ 5, 10 @ 10, 15, 20, 25, 9 @ 30
(8-12 SS)
WG BB curls - 10 @ bar, 8 @ 22.5
(15 - 20 RP)
Lat pulldown - 10 @ 20, 30, 40, 9 @ 45
(15-20 RP)
Kroc rows - 10 @ 13, 23, 28, 9 @ 33 (ea arm)
(1 x 10, 1 x 20+)
This session went OK - underestimated how much weight I could do on a couple of these so ended up doing more sets/reps than needed; next time around I should be able to cut this down and get to the working weights quicker.
Kroc rows were really just standard DB rows for this session, but they will be ‘proper’ Kroc rows in future sessions so I kept the same nomenclature for referencing purposes.
OK a bit to catch up on here:
03/12 (Early AM)
Couch to 5K
33m total w/20m running
Covered 3.24mi/5.18km per Strava. Pretty damn cold out, but otherwise the run went fine. I did have a slight issue with one of my toes - the joint of my big toe on the left foot was sore with every step, which had started the day before but was obviously much more annoying when trying to run. No idea how I’ve done that (don’t remember stubbing my toe or anything), and thankfully it wasn’t super painful and kinda just numbed as I went on.
Weighed in on Sunday morning @ 13st 6lbs - slightly down on last week, but slightly up on where I was a couple of weeks back. Waist still measures 86cm/34in though, so fine with that.
05/12 (Early AM)
Warmup
DB bench press - 10.5 + 4.5 + 3.5 @ 23s (17), c.30s chest stretch
(20-30 RP)
OHP - 5.5 + 3 + 2 @ 35 (10), c.10s shoulder stretch
(11-15 RP)
O/H rope cable triceps exts - 14.5 + 7.5 + 6 @ 15 (27), c.20s weighted triceps stretch
(20-30 RP)
Highs and lows here - happy to have done DB benching for the first time in forever and not feel any major issues with my shoulders. As the reps show I ended up a tad heavier than I should have been, but I didn’t really know what I would be able to handle. As it’s only a tad short I think I’ll just stick with it and keep pushing the reps from here and I should be into the right rep range soon enough.
Disappointed to have not been able to go heavier on the OHP - I was aiming to get to 40 (based on recent performance a few weeks back under 5/3/1) but either the benching took more out of me than expected and/or doing the slow negatives had a much larger impact than expected. This even ended up a tad too heavy based on final reps, but again I’m just shy of where I’m meant to be so I’ll stick with it and push from here.
I know I did the overhead exts last time too, but I realised they fit better here because I had planned to do BB french press (CT style), but that’s probably not the best choice after OHP so I switched the exercises round.
Also tried intra-workout drink for the first time (as it was in Black Friday sales); I’d read through some Mountain Dog stuff and he talks highly of it, and given this routine is now focussed on muscle growth I thought it was worth a shot. We’ll see if it helps much, but it did make me feel a little bloated - since switching to these early morning workouts I’ve been doing them on nothing but water.
06/12 (Early AM)
Couch to 5K Redux
As you might be able to tell from how the above is laid out, this did not go well; intention was for 8 x 60s sprints, with the 90s walks in between, but at the halfway mark I was dead and bailed on the 5th sprint. After that I dropped back to just ‘regular’ running, and did one extra one at the end to try and make up for it, and also get back quicker (as I went out much quicker than I was coming back).
I’m going to have to rethink how I go about this. I could maybe try some sort of pyramid (run > hard run > sprint) or alternating (run > sprint > run etc) structure to allow better recovery, and then work back towards all sprints? I’ve not done this type of stuff before so not 100% sure
Separetely, I run on roads/pavements which are sometimes pretty uneven and I discovered that trying to sprint on them with minimal light (intermittent streetlights and a chest light that’s more for being seen than seeing with), plus eyes blurring from the cold + speed, is pretty tricky. If we get to icy conditions that might force a change too…
07/12 (Early AM)
Warmup
Alt. reverse cable curls (L/R) - 14, 11 @ 20
(10-15 SS, c.1m rest)
Chinups - 8.5 + 4.5 + 3ish @ purple band (15), c.10s hanging lat stretch
(15-20 RP)
BB spider curls - 11ish + 6ish + 3.5 @ bar (20)
(15-20 RP)
Kirk rows - 8.5 @ 50, 9.5 @ 45, c.20s weighted trap stretch
(10-12 SS, 1m rest)
This workout went OK but I must’ve been moving fairly slowly as I got out of the gym 5-10m later than I would normally.
Reverse curls were fine - I went with the weaker left arm first and then just matched the reps on the right. With the time it takes to do the reps I got about 1m rest between sets for each arm, but it wasn’t exact.
I had thought to do chinups without assistance, expecting to fall short of the required rep range but then just work on increasing reps each time until I get to the right point (and eventually add weight), but I did a few reps and with the slowed tempo for this program I realised I would only get a handful of reps, so I threw the band up and went from there.
Spider curls were a bit odd - I did these by supporting my chest on an incline bench, which worked fine, but I found on the first set I was struggling to get full contraction. Focussed on getting more ROM in the later sets and seemed to do a better job, so might just be a mental thing. Although I hit the upper limit I’ll probably stick with just the bar again next time and make sure all reps are done properly.
Kirk rows were good but I over-estimated my abilities. Did a warmup set at 40 and felt like I go heavier so I jumped to 50. Didn’t make it up to 10 so I dropped the weight a bit for the second set. Think next time I’ll use 45 for both and see how that goes.
08/12 (Early AM)
Warmup
Superset:
Rack SLDL - 2 x 15 @ 60
Lying ring leg curls - 10, 9
(1m rest)
.
Front squats - 5 @ 43.75, 51.25, 58.75
(took about 6:30)
Back squats - 20 @ 43.75
RDL - 13, 9? @ 43.75
(1m rest)
Freezing cold this morning. And the weather forecast is for sub-zero temperatures overnight for at least the next week, plus maybe snow at some point. The cold is annoying in the garage as it’s not insulated at all, and the snow/ice may put paid to my running plans - I think a backup plan for the conditioning will just be to do gym-based stuff (circuits and things).
Superset SLDL and leg curls went fine. I was surprised how quickly I fatigued on the leg curls, but then I did push the reps higher on the SLDL compared to my test run last week (plus 2 top sets this time).
Front squats went just fine. Using back squats for the widowmaker just because I don’t fancy having the bar pressed into my neck for that amount of time, plus it gets me back into back squatting. The weight wasn’t exactly heavy for this so I could have pushed the reps higher but once I got to about 15/16 my left knee started giving me some issues so I decided to just get to 20 (which was the minimum target in my head) and set that as a benchmark to beat going forwards.
RDLs went fine - used the same weight as the squats just to save time, and I’ll probably keep doing that going forwards. I realised during the first set I could focus it more on the hamstrings so I slowed the eccentric and tried to keep the reps continuous (no pause at the top) for the second set which seemed to work better.
Annoyed that my breakfast got messed up because my kitchen scales weren’t reading properly (there was a crumb or something underneath making it uneven). Hardly the end of the world of course but just bugged me a bit and I had to faff with different bowls to try and work out how much I’d actually got so far etc.
09/12 (Early AM)
BTN press - 8 + 4.5? + 2.5 @ 30 (14) + 15 lateral raises @ 2.5s
(15-20 RP)
Pushups (handles) - 8.5 + 4.5 + 2.5 @ +4.4 WV (14), c.30s chest stretch
(15-20 RP)
JM press - 10 + 6 + 4 @ 25 (20), c.10s weighted triceps stretch
(15-20 RP)
Big shoutout to past me - I put an old pair of gloves in the garage at some point when it was super cold previously and they came in really handy today! I know other people deal with colder conditions than we have here, but it felt like my hands were burning trying to grip the bar/weight plates. They’re only regular cold-weather gloves, rather than gym gloves, so they’re not particularly grippy but for pushing exercises it’s not an issue.
I’ve only ever tried doing BTN press a couple of times previously, but this seemed to go pretty well (albeit light weight). Put my hands wider than I would for OHP; I do need to make sure I’m properly engaging my core though as after the second RP set my low back was a bit achey so I must have been arching it. Also remembered to do the lateral raises (which I intend to do after every shoulder exercise).
Pushups were fine - with DC you’re supposed to finish with the negative (i.e. fail to complete the concentric, and then slowly lower the weight back down) but that doesn’t really work with these because that would mean face-planting, so I just come back down as far as I dare (not quite all the way down) and then pull my knees up under me.
JM press was interesting - never done these before but I could feel it hitting my triceps something fierce, and I ended up using less weight than I’d anticipated. I felt like the last set was easier than expected though so I think I haven’t got the form dialled in just yet and I’m probably varying it slightly each time and changing the emphasis unintentionally.
Didn’t run on Saturday as planned - was out late Friday night for a Christmas party.
Weighed in Saturday morning @ 13st 3.6lbs, waist measured 87cm/34.5in.
11/12 (Early AM)
Run:
40m total w/ 30m running. 4.34mi/6.94km total covered.
This was the run I skipped on Saturday - thought about just skipping it entirely, but that didn’t sit right.
Super cold and frost on this morning - put on extra layers which was definitely the right call. Think it was something like -3/-4. It was also super foggy, with everything fading to white about 100m away on all sides. I did this run an hour later than usual (about 7:30) and it was getting light but I’m glad I decided to take the running lights anyway because otherwise cars would not have seen me at all!
Covered more distance than I have done before, although with 5 mins to go I was a little behind so I had to step up the pace a bit, and pushed the last 1-2 mins. Made it back to the start point though so it was worth it.
Foot was painful later on in the day when going for a dog walk - it was hurting at all during/immediately after the run, but it was hurting when I was done shopping at the supermarket so I think I must have moved awkwardly while manoeuvring the loaded trolley. Still painful now (writing this Monday morning), and I don’t think I can run on it so I may have to rejig my days this week.
12/12 (Early AM)
Warmup
DB hammer curls w/ fat grips (L/R) - 9, 6.5 @ 10.5
(8-12SS) (c.1m rest)
Rack chins - 9.5 + 4.5 + 3 @ BW (16)
(15-20 RP)
BB rows - 8ish @ 60, 9ish @ 50
(10-12 SS) (1m rest)
Drag curls - 8.5 + 5.5 + 3.5 @ 22.5 (15)
(15-20 RP)
Got through these at a decent pace - snowed overnight but that meant it was actually a few degrees warmer than it has been over the past few days which helped a lot.
Hammer curls and rack chins were fine. The rows were a bit off though - I could feel them in my lower back a bit which was off-putting, and I struggled more than expected @ 60. I think I might drop to 55 next time and work from there. More recently when I’ve done this I’ve just repped them out, rather than controlling the weight down more slowly, so that might be what I’m struggling with here.
Drag curls were also a bit odd, I felt like I couldn’t quite get to full contraction and was stopping just short, but thinking it through now (and doing the movement empty-handed) and I think it was just the feel of the weight instead. Biceps certainly got pumped from them, so I guess it must’ve worked at least somewhat.
