Shit sleep so pushed to after work. Maaaaaan do I remember why I prefer morning lifts now.
Bench
45 x 10
125 x 5
150 x 5
175 x 3
200 x 5
225 x 3
250 x 6
Assistance - giant set
DB Row - 70 lbs - 5 x 20
BSS - 35 lbs - 5 x 15 reps/leg
Dips - 4 x 15; tricep pushdown - 1 x 40
Bench is moving well, I feel like my technique is getting more efficient and symmetrical. Assistance went well, but was hard to keep up with cardio-wise thanks to 3 nights in a row of shit sleep. Melatonin, passionflower, and chamomile are on the menu for me tonight at high dosage.
20 minute walk at 3.0 MPH pace and 15% incline. Calves got WORKED but heart rate stayed decently slow. When I would do these a year ago my heart rate would be at 150 BPM with the same incline, but at 2.3 MPH. Heart rate stayed around 125 BPM this time. Will increase speed next walk.
I find that training is both mentally and physically harder than my job. But, by the end of the day, I’m both mentally and physically tired from what I do. Yesterday, especially, was tough because I spent my time battling IT system issues instead of designing the product I’m supposed to design…
I also stay on task much better after lifting, so both work and lifting are better if I just nut up, get up, and lift.
Back on the horse today, good sleep, less anxiety, more bawlz.
Deadlift
195 x 5
240 x 5
285 x 3
330 x 5
375 x 3
420 x 8 - hook grip PR, potential lifetime PR
Assistance - giant set
DB bench - 65 lbs - 5 x 15
Hanging leg lift - 15, 10; lying leg lift on bench - 3 x 20
Upright row - 60 lbs - 5 x 20
Edit to add: entire session, including Agile 8 and box jumps, took exactly 60 minutes. I was cookin’ through this.
Deadlift felt amazing today, back was super stable and legs did the work. Grip held up well too, hook grip on every set. Assistance was compressed into a short time so weight may have suffered, but I kept moving and got the work done. Shoulders feel blown up and chesticles are crying.
Love hook grip, I haven’t used alternate grip for…5 years maybe? You can learn via websites and videos but you’re gonna have to tweak your form to your own hand structure. I have huge palms and short, fat fingers so I do it significantly different from what a lot of tutorials will suggest (bury the bar in my palm vs holding it in my fingers). I’ve only ever had grip endurance hurt a set, never absolute strength, and have never dropped a max single.
Shit’s officially going down. Ordered a (huge) 287 lb capacity sandbag from Cerberus Strength, with two extra liners, and some figure 8 straps for days like today where my grip is fried before I hit assistance work.
I’m really enjoying this cycle of 5/3/1 and don’t want to stray too far from it after it’s complete. After the anchor cycle for this I’ll switch to either the 2-day version of 5/3/1 from Beyond or Limited Time from Forever, and incorporate at least 1 strongman/cardio day where I do ignorant shit and hope to survive.
Press
45 x 10
70 x 5
85 x 5
100 x 3
115 x 5
130 x 3
145 x 7 - ties or breaks PR
Assistance
SS w/ press - Chin/pull ups - 10 x 5
Giant set
Snatch grip SLDL - 135 lbs - 5 x 15
Hammer curl - 25 lbs - 5 x 10
DB “plate” raise - 25 lbs - 5 x 15
Being really honest, I’ve been enjoying training more lately than I have in a very long time. Not shockingly, results are reflecting that. I like pushing for PR’s each time I lift. Gives a tingly feeling at the bottom of the ol’ scrotum that only fear can elicit. Press feels way stronger and more stable when I get a little pissed at the bar. Assistance was tough but felt good. Bring on the freakend.
I did absolutely nothing this weekend and ate like a fatass on Sunday. So naturally I actually feel really good today.
Squat
45 x 10
145 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 3
265 x 5
310 x 5
350 x 9
Assistance - giant set
Seated DB press - 40 lbs - 5 x 15
BB curl - 55 lbs - 5 x 15
Ab wheel - 5 x 15
Run - 2.2 miles in 18:15 - bigtime record pace for me
I ate a lot this weekend, including a lot of salt and unhealthy things, but made sure I got enough protein in. Apparently that was the right move because my joints felt good, I felt recovered, and I pushed weight and cardio really well. The run was really hard at first but I settled into my form/pace and likely ran the last mile faster than the first 1.2. Assistance was good, I pushed hard and got it done. Full workout took me an hour and 45 minutes including warmup and jumps, so was very happy with that.
Bench
45 x 5
100 x 5
125 x 5
145 x 3
175 x 5
205 x 5
230 x 11 - PR
Assistance - giant set
DB row - 65 lbs - 5 x 15 reps/arm
BSS - 25 lbs - 5 x 15 reps/leg
Dips - 5 x 15
Bench felt really good today, felt like I had a groove and could just keep my focus on giving the bar hell. Assistance was good, triceps are fried from dips and pushing bench hard. I did back off on weight a bit just because I cardio’d pretty hard yesterday and have pushed my main lifts hard the last two days. Got a really good pump which I’m probably due for.
@carlbm and @Bagsy thanks! Not sure why everything is clicking right now but I’m pretty happy about it. Hoping to chase some 1 rep PR’s in the anchor cycle.
Deadlift
180 x 5
225 x 5
270 x 3 - whoops, did week 2 warmup…
295 x 5
340 x 5
385 x 5
Assistance - giant set
DB bench - 65 lbs - 5 x 15
Upright row - 65 lbs - 5 x 20
Hanging leg lift - 20, 20, 15, 15, 15
I took it a bit easier today. Beat my back up a bit at golf yesterday and was feeling uneven so just did my reps and got on with life. Everything moved great, though. Arms, shoulders, and abs are ridiculously tight after the assistance work. I focused hard on detracting my spine with the HLL’s and my back feels as good as it does immediately after I get adjusted.
Edit to say, I need to tone my golf swing down a bit. Got a little too big for my willy after hitting a 355 yard drive with about 320 yards of flight and have been swinging for the fences. Average distance for me is way up this year in general, with my average drive around 305. My average distance would likely stay the same if I backed off to an 80% effort swing, but I need to get my mind, heart, and scrotum to agree to do that on a regular basis.
Officially changing this to be an anchor cycle so I finish as the T-ransformation challenge does. Next will be 2 days per week with strongman twice a week.
Press
45 x 10
55 x 5
70 x 5
85 x 3
100 x 5
115 x 5
130 x 10
145 x 1
160 x 1
Assistance - SS w/press
Chin/pull ups - 10 x 5
SS w/each other
Snatch grip stiff legged deadlifts - 185 lbs - 5 x 10
45 lb plate raise - 5 x 10
Cardio - mow the lawn
Great feeling session today. I was aggressive with my press and it worked out well. Assistance was good, the plate raises were awful so hopefully I get good results from them.
Back is definitely out, there’s a range of spinal movement that will absolutely send electric shock down to my toes.
Squat
45 x 10
165 x 5
205 x 5
245 x 3
285 x 3
330 x 3
370 x 5 - pain PR
Assistance - giant set
Seated DB press - 50 lbs - 3 x 10; 30 lbs - 1 x 20
BB curl - 65 lbs - 3 x 10; 45 lbs - 1 x 20
Dragon flag x 5 then ab wheel x 5; ab wheel - 2 x 10; leg lift - 1 x 20
My back has been killing me the last few days, not sure what I did to it. 5 hours in the car yesterday to pick up an amp in Michigan didn’t help. But I braced until my eyeballs popped out and still managed a respectable squat. Need to brace better when healthy too - I think that’s been the issue with my squat struggling lately. Assistance was great and I’m really happy I got 5 dragon flags at >200 pounds (@bigdaddi ). I like the rep setup and might go to 5, 10, 10, 25 in the future.
