Test day (1 day early)
Weight: 162.5
Deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 3
345 x 1
375 x 1 - small PR
390 x 3 - PR (beat goal by 2 reps)
Bench press
135 x 5
155 x 3
175 x 3
195 x 1
205 x 1 - PR (met goal)
Nice. Going to take a week off then start a new training program.
Summer summary (6/1 - 9/8)
Body weight: 153 → 162.5
Deadlift: 365 x 1 → 390 x 3
Bench press: 185 x 1 → 205 x 1
DB rows: 3 x 5 x 75 → 3 x 7 x 105
Alright, here’s my plan for what comes next. I’m trying to keep what works, replace what doesn’t, and work around the time constraints of going to school:
Monday:
Squats according to the 5/3/1 template (calculated off of 265)
Assistance work:
BB lunges
Pullups
Wednesday:
Bench press 5/3/1 (calculated off of 195)
Assistance work:
DB row
Military press
Hammer curls
Friday:
Deadlift 5/3/1 (calculated off of 380)
Assistance work:
Front squats
For the three main lifts, I will follow the 5/3/1 template. I am not doing 5/3/1 for military press at this point because I don’t know if my shoulders would be up to the task. For assistance work, I will rotate sets/reps like this:
Week 1: 3 x 10 (repeat weight from previous cycle)
Week 2: 3 x 10 (if I’m adding weight, I will do so at this point)
Week 3: 2 x 10 (same weight as wk. 2)
Week 4: 1 x 10 (same weight as wk. 2)
Rinse, repeat.
Depending on my workload, I may be able to get in extra workouts. Possibilities for extra workouts include extra upper body work, cardio, or barbell complexes.
I will follow this program through December '09. I’m hoping that switching up the sets I do for assistance work will help me stick with the exercises, unlike earlier this summer, when I would have to change up exercises that I was burning out on for whatever reason.
Comments and advice are always welcome.
Not starting the new plan yet, just taking this week to get used to the new gym and catch up on the stuff I haven’t been doing all summer (squats, pullups, rack pulls, GHR, etc.)
Weight: 160 (moving has taken its toll, I will have to refocus and break 165)
Squats
bar warmup
135 x 5
185 x 5 - hey what’s that
205 x 5 - oh huh my hamstrings kind of hurt
225 x 3 - holy shit my hamstrings are on fire
245 x 3 - fuuuuck
265 x 2 - PR (old 1RM)
Lesson learned, never take 3.5 months off of squats.
Pull-ups (narrow grip, about shoulder width)
10
5
3 (failed 4th)
Now it starts to get really embarrassing:
Bench press
135 x 5
155 x 5
175 x 2 (failed 3rd)
Lesson learned, when attempting to use leg drive it helps when your legs are not insanely sore.
That was it for the day. Time to eat, shower, lie down, and avoid stairs for a day or two.
Still sore from Tues., but what better way to deal with that than work out again? Tried the other campus gym today: better equipment, way better atmosphere.
Weight: 163.5
Deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 3
385 x 1
405 x 1 - PR - it was slow going towards the end, but I knew I had it in me.
365 x 1 - thought about getting some cluster reps in, but my lower back thought otherwise after that max attempt
Front squat (long time no see)
135 x 5
165 x 5
185 x 5
205 x 5 (old PR)
225 x 2 - PR - solid. 225 x 5 is just around the corner.
Pullups
5 x 5
(it’ll be a long climb back up… before the summer my best was ten sets of 6)
Great workout, setting my sights on that five-plate DL next.
Bit of a throwaway workout today, just rounding out the week before restarting my knockoff 5/3/1.
(No weigh in because apparently the scale is off.)
DB bench
50s x 5
60s x 5
70s x 4 (failed on 5th) - cheap PR, previous best was 70s x 3
2 x 5 x 65s
DB row
55s x 10
70s x 10
2 x 10 x 80s
Pretty easy, but the higher volume threw me off a bit, as did the thicker grip on the DBs.
Military press
75 x 5
95 x 5
115 x 3
So damn weak at this now. (Old max was 135.)
Then I went to do some GHRs, but guess what, this gym doesn’t have a GHR. So apparently it’s a choice between going to the crappy gym that does have a GHR, or a better one that doesn’t. Well, guess I won’t be doing GHRs this term.
Instead I did:
Pullups
6
6
4 (failed on 5th)
So my DB bench hasn’t gone anywhere, my military is in the toilet, and I suck at pullups again. But at least I pulled 4 plates, my squat is doing okay after being neglected the whole summer, and I’m back to eating big.
On Monday I start the new program, same as the old program. Changing the thread title to something more relevant.
First day on this program, off to a good start
Squat
135 x 5
175 x 5
200 x 5
225 x 10 - rep PR
Paused squat
3 x 10 x 135
Pullups
3 x 6
Here’s what my diet’s looking like for today:
Before breakfast:
Whey shake with milk
Breakfast:
Granola in milk (1 cup each)
2 eggs
Snack:
.5 cup walnuts
Lunch:
Orange
2 eggs
1 oz cheese
PWO:
3 cups milk
Dinner:
Ground beef (.75lb) with rice, beans, cheese, salsa
Carrots
Snack:
1.5 cup milk
1 lime
All plugged into fitday it comes out to 4212 cals, 231g fat, 285g carbs, 255g protein.
No great achievements this workout, just continuing to ease into the program:
Bench
125 x 5
145 x 5
165 x 8 - the weight felt light, but by the eighth rep I was exhausted for some reason.
DB row
55s x 10 - thinking of cutting down the reps here
3 x 10 x 70s
Military
3 x 10 x 80
Hammer curls
3 x 10 x 35s
Bench is still sucking, but at least it’s better than what I posted last week. Other lifts were tiring but not too difficult, so I’ll try adding weight next Weds. (80 lb for military press is shameful)
College gym moment of the day: two tiny dudes (not much smaller than me, ironically) doing perfectly synchronized DB lunges with the 10s for infinity reps.
Deadlift day, it’s the best day.
Deadlift
135 x 5
205 x 5
245 x 5
285 x 5
325 x 14 - rep PR
Front squat
115 x 5
3 x 10 x 155
I thought I had lowballed the load for front squats, but I was exhausted at the end. Still, going to try and up the weight next time.
Been sick all weekend, still recovering. However, I did get a home scale so I can record weight again.
Weight: 164 (including 5-10 lb of mucus, no doubt)
Squats
135 x 5
185 x 3
215 x 3
240 x 10 - big rep PR, before the summer I think I used to do 245 for doubles
Pause squats
3 x 10 x 145 - easy
Pullups
3 x 7 - also easy
Surprisingly good workout considering I felt like shit for the past two days and slept a grand total of 2 hours Saturday night.
College gym moment of the day: reverse BB curls in the squat rack, of course.
Still sick.
Weight: 164.5
Bench press
95 x 5
135 x 3
155 x 3
175 x 5 - terrible, if this doesn’t get much better next week I’ll have to reevaluate what to do the following month.
DB rows
60s x 5
3 x 10 x 75s - solid
Military
95 x 10
95 x 10
95 x 7 - overreached here
Hammer curls
3 x 10 x 35s
With my head feeling like the Goodyear blimp that’s all I had energy for.
Getting better but not all there yet.
Weight: 163
Deadlift:
135 x 5
225 x 5
265 x 3
305 x 3
345 x 12 - rep PR
Front squat
3 x 10 x 165 - wiped me out
College gym person of the day: Hurried Man, walked in wearing jeans and a t-shirt, busted out one set of pullups and one set of external rotations, then left.
Can we still be recovering from that cold, over one week later? Yes we can!
Weight: 161.5
Squats
135 x 5
200 x 5
225 x 3
250 x 10 - another good rep PR
Pause squats
2 x 10 x 155
Pullups
2 x 8
Weight: 163 (home scale, gym scale seems to be too optimistic by 2 lb)
Bench
115 x 5
145 x 5
165 x 3
185 x 3
Another disappointing bench session, I think something about the lower height of this bench (vs the one I used this summer) is keeping me from getting as big an arch. The solution is obviously to just get stronger. I will repeat the bench weights from this cycle next month, aiming to consistently get 5 extra reps rather than just 2 or 3.
DB row
60s x 10 - oops, didn’t mean to do as many
2 x 10 x 80s - good
Military
2 x 10 x 95
Hammer curls
2 x 10 x 40s
Well everybody (or anybody?), it’s been a good time logging every workout, but I’ll be letting this log go after Friday’s session. The gist of it is that I want to try a new approach to training, not really that different from what I’m doing right now but hopefully a better way to make progress. I’ll still be writing down every workout, keeping track of bodyweight, hell maybe take some before and after pics, but in any case I won’t be posting any of it until I’m ready to lay down a progress report a couple months into this thing. By that time I will have made more impressive progress than a few extra reps here and there.
Here’s to getting strong as shit.
Weight: 161.5 (home scale)
Deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 5
285 x 5
325 x 3
365 x 10 - rep PR - beat last full cycle by 2 reps
Didn’t feel like doing front squats, so instead:
Rack pull with hold
(warm ups to)
6 x 1 x 405
Finished with some rope pullups
That’s all for now.
Well, it’s been a little over two months, and I’m still going to go a bit longer before I post a full progress report, but I just wanted to put up today’s session since I’m pretty stoked about it:
Weight: 167.1
Squats
bar warmup
135 x 5
185 x 2
225 x 2
255 x 1
275 x 1
295 x 1
315 x 1
335 x 0 (lost focus around the sticking point)
335 x 1 - PR
Finished with 5 singles at 315.
So there it is, first double bodyweight squat. Just for the record, this was a day in my “easy” week where I decided to go for a new best single on the squat, not a typical squat workout.
[quote]pkoad wrote:
I am aiming for:
Weight: 170
Squat: 315
Bench: 225
Deadlift: 425
by Christmas 2009.[/quote]
It’s Christmas.
Weigh 170 - DONE. Hit 170 on Monday, and again today.
Squat 315 - DONE. Squatted 335 last week (see above).
Bench 225 - NOT DONE. Benched 195 last month, and missed 215 today (but made 205).
DL 425 - NOT DONE. Pulled 415 last month, but haven’t tested DL since.
I have to say I’m feeling really good about the two goals I did meet. 170 is 50 pounds heavier than when I started, and I overcame a small plateau in the past month to put on the last 3 pounds of that. The squat I am also really happy about, considering that I hit 315 much earlier than I expected, and kept hitting new PR singles every three weeks. The deadlift I’m not too worried about. It’s been a month and a half since I last tested it, and I’ve been adding weight to my deficit DLs and, this Monday, hit a huge volume PR with conventional DLs. So adding 10 lbs at this point shouldn’t be too challenging. Bench is a different story. I neglected it bad for over a month, then finally got some help in the Beginners forum here to rework my upper body training schedule. Santa didn’t bring me a bigger bench, so I’m just going to have to work for it.
Here are some bonus before and after measurements. This is my first time tracking progress with a tape measure, so these could be wildly inaccurate for all I know. All measurements are flexed, except for the waist.
10/18/09:
Weight 160
Waist 32"
Legs 23"
Calves 14.5"
Arms 13.5"
12/25/09:
Weight 170
Waist 32.5" (+0.5")
Legs 23.75" (+0.75")
Calves 15" (+0.5")
Arms 14.25" (+0.75")
Well done on getting two of your goals!
Would like to see more of your workouts. Why wait until you have ‘progress’? I’m having a hell of a time getting better at squats and you seem to be making gains at them, well done.
[quote]pkoad wrote:
The gist of it is that I want to try a new approach to training, not really that different from what I’m doing right now but hopefully a better way to make progress.[/quote]
Alright, it’s been ten weeks, so here it is. When I stopped logging workouts here for a while, I started training three days a week in three-week microcycles, similar to 5/3/1, but finding starting weights by feel rather than by using a percentage of 1RM. Each workout consisted of a main lift and a few accessories or variations on the main lift.
The plan was to do 5x5 on the main lift in one week, 5x3 in the next week, and 5 singles in the third week, increasing the weight by 20 lbs each week, and by 10 lbs from cycle to cycle. Any deloading would take place in the third week as necessary (i.e., one day could be heavy, but the next could be light, depending on what I felt needed the rest.) The first two cycles looked like this:
Day 1:
Main lift - low bar back squat (starting 5x5 weight: 245)
Assistance lift - pause squats 3 x 5 (~3 sec. pause at the bottom)
Day 2:
Main lift - front squat (starting 5x5 weight: 205)
Main lift - push press (starting 5x5 weight: 125)
Assistance lifts - rows, pullups, tricep extensions (varied from week to week)
Day 3:
Main lift - deadlift from 4" deficit (starting 5x5 weight: 315)
Assistance lifts - rack pulls, farmer walks, hammer curls, reverse barbell curls (varied from week to week)
I was able to keep increasing the weight as planned on my squats and deadlifts, but the Day 2 lifts were giving me trouble. On front squats, I was going ATG and was rounding my back too much, which was messing with my lower back. On push press, if I cleaned the weight up, it was messing with my back because of my awful form, or if I unracked it from chest level, it was messing with my wrists.
I tried benching one weekend, and realized that I had completely neglected upper body training this whole time. After getting help in a Beginners thread I made, I changed up my plan. The idea was to incorporate more assistance work in general, and benching-specific assistance work in particular, in addition to actually starting to bench again. This is what I’ve been doing since:
Day 1:
Main lift - low bar back squat
Assistance lift - pause squats 3 x 10
Day 2:
Main lift - bench press (starting 5x3 weight: 165)
Assistance lift - wide bar cable rows 3 x 10 or 3-point rows 3 x 10
Assistance lift - incline DB press 3 x 10
Assistance lift - neutral grip chinups for total reps
Day 3:
Main lift - deficit DLs
Assistance lift - pullthroughs 3 x 10 or 3-point rows 3 x 10
Assistance lift - hyperextensions 3 x 10
Day 4:
Pullups for total reps
One-arm DB press 5 x 5 each hand
Reverse EZ bar curls 3 x 10
Bradford press 3 x 10
Lateral raises, rotations, other shoulder stuff as time permits
I think I’m actually going places with this plan now. Day 1 absolutely kills me, especially on weeks 1 and 2. I’m usually pretty tired by the end of my regular squats, and the pause squats absolutely destroy my legs afterwards without putting too much stress on my back.
Day 3 is pretty similar, especially if I do the 3-point rows afterward - I’m just too exhausted to do anything except crawl out of the gym and go home. The 3-point rows are just DB rows that I do with both feet on the floor. I feel this setup lets me be more stable, get in a more “bent-over” position, and use more weight.
On bench days the main lift isn’t as taxing, but I seem to be able to make up for it with more assistance work. Day 4 is a nice “extra” day where I can work on more upper body stuff, as well as shoulders, which have bothered me in the past, without running myself into the ground right before squat day.
Just to get specific, here’s what I did on my most recent 5x3 week. (work sets only)
Day 1:
Squat 5 x 3 x 295
Pause squat 3 x 10 x 195
Day 2:
Bench 5 x 3 x 175
Wide bar cable row 3 x 10 x “105” on the cable stack
DB incline 50s x 10, 10, 7, 2, 0 (I tried to get to a total 30 reps, but my delts were having none of it)
Neutral grip chins: 5 x 5
Day 3:
Deficit DL 5 x 3 x 355
3-point row 3 x 10 x 90s
Hypers 3 x 10 unweighted (these really helped my back loosen up)
Day 4:
Pullups 6, 6, 6, 6, 4, 1, 1
One hand DB press 5 x 5 x 55s
Reverse curls 3 x 10 x 65
Bradford press 85 x 10, 10, 9
Leanaway lateral raises 3 x 10 x 10s
A few rotations and some shoulder stretches
Like I said, this seems to be a good plan for now. I’m going to stick to it for several more cycles (9 or so weeks, most likely), and then reevaluate.
[quote]BrockStone wrote:
Well done on getting two of your goals!
Would like to see more of your workouts. Why wait until you have ‘progress’? I’m having a hell of a time getting better at squats and you seem to be making gains at them, well done.
[/quote]
Thanks, I don’t post workouts more often because they’re not really that interesting, and I figured I’d just keep this log alive to post progress and be accountable.
This was today’s session:
Deadlift (substituting for squat for 1 cycle)
135 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 3
315 x 1
335 x 1
355 x 1
375 x 1
5 x 3 x 385
[all cluster sets, I should add; I don’t train DLs any other way]
3-point row
60s x 5
80s x 5
90s x 5
3 x 10 x 100s
One legged RDLs with an empty bar (instead of hyperextensions)
3 x 20