Day 24 Session 21 1/4/13
military press
45 5
95 3
105 5
115 3
135 1 belt on, this felt like nothing
175 0 ramped way too high, this was stupid. I should be focused on making my near max feel light, not busting weight PRs every day
155 0 …
135 1
140 1
145 1
150 1
Pullups
widegrip 20
close grip 30
lol @ my abs being sore and feeling weak during pullups from the ball crunches. I want to get these in 5x10
curlz
[quote]goodfellow90 wrote:
shrugs/any upperback or traps exercise is great. Try facepulls too. i like to do sets of 20 or higher reps with the facepulls or sets of ten but with drop sets. you can do facepulls standing or you can do them like john meadows High Pull Low Rows - YouTube
[/quote]
I do them this way! I used to do standing but I never felt those. I’ve been neglecting them in favor of pullups/DB rows for the “3-5 sets of back work” but I’ll throw these in as rotator cuff work
[quote]trivium wrote:
-Form-
Trying to keep my back arched through every rep. I try to start my rep with in a stretched positition (bend over and grab the bar like you were going to do a toe touch) a by dropping my hips and then picking my head straight up. Im not the best, but these cues have helped me a little. I feel like if I keep my back nice and set, it helps make the lockout easier. If that fails, roll the bar toward you at the start of the rep (builds a little bar momentum).
-At the risk of sounding like a tool…Get Pissed Before Your Set-[/quote]
I do all that you listed but these two haha. I think my back is pretty strong for the weight I’m deadlifting, but I need stronger abs and traps. I’ll make sure to read this over again before deadlifting tomorrow
thanks for following along btw, I’ll hopefully get some squat/dead videos tomorrow for you guys to analyze.
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you got my vote
thanks for the support! I really appreciate it
Day 25 Session 22 1/5/13
squat
45 5
95 5
135 5
175 3
195 3
225 3
deadlift
135 3
225 3
290 1
took trivium’s advice for deadlifts and they did help. Next week I’ll try deads with flat shoes instead of the oly shoes - I don’t think it’ll make a big difference.
took it easy on assistance work -
back extension
BW 1x30
hanging leg raises
BW 3x10
I was feeling kind of beat up today and could feel my fatigue during warmups, so I’m definitely glad that today was a deload day of sorts. With this program you don’t max out on squats on the days that you hit deadlifts, and you never max out on deads. I felt pretty happy with my knees today, they only hurt for ~15 min after the last set of squats. The stretching and foam rolling seem to be paying off.
what do you guys think about my form? I’m happy that the depth isn’t obnoxiously low for once
That is some good form man. This is like the depth I try to reach every rep too.
In a second time for pink shoes.
Squat looked good to me. Only thing is it seemed like you didn’t quite lock it out at the top except for the last rep.
Only 2 more sessions right? You going to test your strength level afterwards?
Thanks, you’re right about lockout, I think I’m rushing the setup + reps unnecessarily. I’m not going to do any testing because I test everything apart from deadlift somewhat with the singles. I don’t think my deadlift moved up so I won’t test, and I don’t want to risk my knees with a balls-out squat max at the moment. My goal for the next cycle is to hit singles at 315 with ease.
Day 26 Session 23 1/6/13
military press
45 5
105 5
115 3
135 1
140 1
145 1
150 1
155 0, 1 wut
DB rows
100 5x10
wanted to go for 10x10 lol but fortunately the gym closed. I haven’t had carbs for almost a week and am starting to really feel it. I think I’ll do a refeed of sorts tomorrow. I noticed new stretch marks forming on my shoulders, chest, biceps, and back today haha, which don’t make sense as I’ve had low calories and look smaller imo
at home did 100 reps of band pull aparts in about 7 or 8 sets
new cycle starting soon, I’m going to keep with high frequency 5/3/1 for another month, maybe two more, and then most likely move on to a BBB/bodybuilder type of setup
goals:
-hit 275, 295, and later 315 for easy singles on squat with no knee/hip/back pain
-175 on military press
-265 on bench
-5x20 on 100 lb DB rows
-5x5 on pullups with 25 lbs around my waist
Regarding strength gains, you may find you do not realise them until your body has had a chance to recover. When I’ve had higher volume cycles, the gains usually show in the next lower volume cycle, if you follow. Deadlift in particular.
true, come to think of it I can probably beat 315x2 on deadlift if I rest up a bit and tackle it first thing. My OHP hasn’t moved much which is ok. My bench has moved up ~5lbs every session this cycle I believe because I was hitting such high volume for upper body in the past few months, and have only just now focused on low volume and heavy singles. after the next cycle of 5/3/1 frequency I’m going to do 3 or so cycles of:
day 1
deadlift 5/3/1
back squat or front squat? boring but big
abs/lower back
day 2
bench 5/3/1
bodybuilding stuff for chest, tris, shoulders
day 3
back (lats, traps, rotator cuff, all but lower back) and bis/forearms bodybuilding
day 4
squat 5/3/1
RDL boring but big
abs/lower back
day 5
military press 5/3/1
dips boring but big
some extra shoulder/tri work
day 6
same parts as day 3
day 7
off
nice goals buddy, I also will be following the 531 frequency plan still after the first month is done for me, i am loving it so far. i feel like my mil press has gotten stronger, and my bench should be stronger as well. squat too!
nice progress! I think it’s a smart program to focus on a few months
unfortunately my knees felt like they were going to explode again tonight while squatting. I finished my first cycle of high frequency 5/3/1 and want to start another, but I need to cut down on frequency a bit so that I get my knees/hips right. I’ll still be squatting 2x a week though, which is hopefully fine on my knees. If it’s not, I’ll probably switch 5/3/1 squats to box squats and the boring but big sets to lunges or something I guess. That sounds sad and boring so I hope it doesn’t come to that.
Day 27 Session 24 1/7/13
195 5
225 3
245 1
I think my knee sleeves are going to become arm sleeves now lol, they’re choking off my circulation but not giving much warmth.
Yea I think if I was you I would switch to box squats for now, start light but keep the frequency the same, and definitely keep the upper body days just as frequent as they have been. Also instead of lunges I would be doing leg press, Bulgarian squats, and of course hammer the hamstrings
I may or may not have tried to squat today lol. I think I’ll give the high frequency a rest, as I don’t think I’ll get much out of box squats (at least I haven’t in the past). Anyways I need to fix my knees. I did boring but big squats today but those will be swapped with a good mornings and maybe leg curls and bulgarian split squats. Everything but my quads are strong enough to squat more, so it won’t hurt to just do the 5/3/1 squats 1x a week only. When I sort out my knees I’ll go back to high frequency 5/3/1, it’s a great layout.
Today was
deadlift
135 5
185 5
215 5
245 15 PR
squat
135 5x10
had to rest pause some of these, my squatting strength goes to zero as soon as my knees start aching. I’ll give them time off and really focus on my mobility as well as posterior chain strength.
Congrats on that deadlift PR, deadlifting for reps is an awesome way to build your deadlift. At least it has helped me in the past. Sorry to here your knees are still aching bad, hope you can get that squared away so you can start smashing some squat PR’s.
Your form looked solid. Something that might help though. Leave yourself some time to breathe at the top of the rep. Take a nice big gulp of air at the top of the rep. Make sure you have it in place before you start to go down though. It may help you be more stable. Everything looked good though. Also, I think you can probably get more than 315x2 on the deadlift.
yeah, I rushed the reps for sure, I think I’ll slow it down and treat each rep almost as a single. Once my hamstrings and glutes come into existence I’m assuming my squat/dead #s will shoot up.
1/9/12
had massive diarrhea all day and was considering giving up on life and especially on powerlifting all day
bench
45 25
95 6
135 3
150 5
170 5
235 1 lol this was supposed to be a warmup single of sorts, but ended up being a grinder
195 5 wut, almost left after this
incline
135 5x10 felt good
bunch of different types of tricep extension and shoulder raises
edit: I’m assuming I have patellar tendinitis. I’m going to be aggressive about getting my lower body mobile/flexible and getting my posterior chain up to par. If a month of daily work on this issue doesn’t help, then I’ll look to medical attention.