1/11/16
5/3/1 Full Body Template
Squat Day (70%, 80%, 90%)
Squat: 235x3, 270x3, 305x6
Incline DB Press: 65# - 5x10
Band Pull Aparts: 4x25
Decided to do my Squat Day yesterday morning at around 10:00 since I had to head out to a job site yesterday. The gym was surprisingly packed and had to wait on a squat rack. To warm up while waiting on a rack I did some power cleans and front squats to get loose. Served as a great warm up since my hips were really loose once I got to back squats. All reps felt really good and was pretty happy to hit 6 reps with 305. Was going to super-set pull ups with incline dumbbells but with the gym as packed as it was I just settled for straight sets with the presses. Found a band and just wanted to hit 100 reps of band pull aparts. Good day overall yesterday!!
1/13/16
5/3/1 Full Body Template
Bench Press Day (70%, 80%, 90%)
Squat: 225x3, 255x3, 285x3
Bench Press: 225x3, 250x3, 280x3
Bench Press / Pull Up: 225 / BW: Worked up from 1 to 6 reps and back down to 1
Decent day on Wednesday. I tried the Ladder routine with Bench Press and Pull Ups. It went over well but don’ think this is something I will use again just because I can get the exact same rep counts for each exercise in a faster time from doing 5x5 super-sets with each exercise.
1/14/15
Bodyweight Ladder Workout
Pull Ups
Push Ups
Split Squats
Worked up from 1 to 7 and back down to 1.
Got this done quick and easy at the house yesterday before heading off to a job site. Nothing eventful!
1/15/16
5/3/1 Full Body Template
Overhead Press & Deadlift Day (70%, 80%, 90%)
Paused Squat: 225x3, 255x3, 285x3
Oh Press: 150x3, 170x3, 190x4 (PR)
Deadlift: 355x3, 405x3, 450x5 (PR)
Double PR on Friday!! It was weird because mentally I was not into the workout at all. Between sets my mind would drift off to lord knows where but luckily went it came time to hit the lift my mind seem to get in focus. Very happy with this day!
1/16/16
Home Workout
Medicine Ball Work - 20# Ball
10 x Slams
10 x Overhead Forward Pass
10 x Backward Throw
Kettlebell Circuit
1 - 55# Kettlebell
5 Rounds of the following with each arm:
5 x 1 Arm Swings
5 x Snatch
5 x Clean & Press
5 x Lunge (rack position)
10 x Ab Wheel Rollouts
Nothing out of the ordinary here. I moved through the kettlebell work at a decent pace with very minimal rest between the circuits. My kettlebell clean need has been sloppy but not too worried about it.
Playing catch up…
1/18/16
5/3/1 Full Body Template
Squat Day (75%, 85%, 95%)
Squat: 255x5, 285x3, 320x4
Incline DB Press: 65# - 5x10 (super-set with Pull Ups)
Pull Ups: 5x10 (Didn’t leave the pull up bar until I got 10 reps each time)
1/19/16
5/3/1 Full Body Template
Bench Press Day (75%, 85%, 95%)
Squat: 225x3, 255x3, 285x3
Bench Press: 235x5, 265x3, 295x2 (PR)
DB Row: 100 - 5x10
You’ve made some great progress since you started this log
Thanks stronkfak!! Pretty happy with how far my OH Press, Deadlift and Bench Press have come. My Squat isn’t anywhere near where I want it to be but pretty happy with my numbers right now since I switched to high bar a while back. Even with high bar squatting it wasn’t too long ago that 225 for 5 reps was a bit of a challenge. So I guess it’s good to remind myself that I have actually made some decent progress with squats. Not too far from catching up to my old low bar numbers which is encouraging!
Kettlebell Workout
KB Snatch: 55#: 5x10 (each arm)
KB Snatch: 80#: Several Doubles with each arm
KB Swing: 80#: 3x10 -superset with 30 secs planks
Quick workout at home waiting on repair men who are running SUPER late. Happy with how snatching the 80 felt. I kept messing around with doubles with each arm and didn’t really count sets. Could make for a good ladder workout in the future.
1/22/16
5/3/1 Full Body Template
Overhead Press & Deadlift Day (75%, 85%, 95%)
Paused Squat: 225x3, 255x3, 285x3
Oh Press: 160x5, 180x3, 200x2 (PR)
Deadlift: 375x5, 425x3, 475x3 (PR)
Good day on Friday! Tried for a 3rd rep with 200 on Presses but couldn’t lock it out even though the first two reps felt really fast. Deadlifts felt surprisingly good. By the time I got to Deadlifts, my brain was kind of all over the place but was able to focus pretty well on the PR set. Very happy with 3 reps here. Maybe could’ve grinded out 1 more rep but felt satisfied with 3 and called it a good day. Friday was the first day I used my new belt. It’s a 13mm, 4" Thick Powerlifting belt by Iron Company as opposed to my 25 dollar tapered belt from Dicks. I felt so much better in the new belt especially when it came to bracing during Squats and Deadlifts. I waited a week to bring it to the gym just so I could roll it and break it in at home. Good day on Friday!
1/23/16
Home Workout
KB Snatches: 80#: 5x5 (each arm)
Kettlebell Circuit
1 - 55# Kettlebell
5 Rounds of the following with each arm:
5 x 1 Arm Swings
5 x Snatch
5 x Clean & Press
5 x Lunge (rack position)
10 x Ab Wheel Rollouts
Happy with my kettlebell workout from Saturday. Snatching the 80 pound bell for 5x5 felt surprisingly good even though on the last set of 5 with each arm I was getting lazy with my downswing after the Snatch. If you want to know if you have any flaws with your kettlebell snatch I highly recommend doing Snatches with a heavy bell. I didn’t realize how lazy I was with my downswing until I started doing reps with the 80. The circuit afterwards went well. I did not sit the bell down at any point (other than to do ab wheel) to change hands which made things move along even faster and had me breathing pretty heavy after the 5th round.
1/25/16
5/3/1 Full Body
Squat Day (65%, 75%, 85%)
Squats: 225x5, 260x5, 295x8
Incline DB Press: 65 - 5x10 -superset with pull ups-
Pull Ups: 32 total
Squats felt pretty good today. Had a goal of hitting 8 reps and nailed it. Wasn’t really feeling pull ups today so I didn’t really push too hard on those. Good workout today!
1/27/16
5/3/1 Full Body Template
Bench Press Day (65%, 75%, 85%)
Squat: 225x3, 260x3, 295x3 (Paused last rep)
Bench Press: 205x5, 240x5, 270x5 (PR by Default)
Paused Bench Press: 205 - 5x5 -superset with DB Row-
DB Row: 100 - 5x10
Leg Raise: Couple of Rest / Pause sets to get 30
Decent day… Squats felt pretty good and can tell my body has finally adjusted to squatting 3 times a week. Bench Press felt the best today than it has in a while. 270 for 5 reps is a PR even though it’s only for the required reps. I didn’t have a spotter so I didn’t feel comfortable pushing past 5. Wanted some extra work with Bench so I superset my Rows with Bench. I seem to do much better when I superset my assistance work as opposed to straight sets. Quick set of Leg Raises to end the day. Pretty happy overall with how things went today!
Snatching an 80-pound kettlebell is a very serious thing. Zoinks, Scoob. Someone has been doing some real work…I’m getting more and more solid pressing the 88 for a few reps but I cannot imagine SNATCHING the thing.
Thanks man!! Honestly I kind of surprised myself a bit when I snatched it up for the first time last week. The only time things get a little hectic with Snatching the 80 is the downswing. With my 55 pound bell I can get away with a sloppy downswing but no so much with the 80 as it will pull you forward. I’ve been keeping up with your progress as well and clean & pressing an 88 is no joke either! My kettlebell clean is pretty sloppy so I probably need to be hitting those more often than I do.
1/29/16
5/3/1 Full Body Template
Overhead Press & Deadlift Day (75%, 85%, 95%)
Paused Squat: 225x3, 260x3, 295x3
Oh Press: 140x5, 165x5, 185x5
Deadlift: 330x5, 380x5, 430x6
Decent day on Friday. I was feeling good with presses until after my 4th rep. Not sure what happened but I started to feel a little funny and set the weight down for a moment to get myself situated. Power cleaned the rep and hit one more to hit the required reps. I think my breathing got off and just made things awkward. Deadlifts felt okay. Didn’t push too hard for a PR but wanted something above 5 reps so went with 6!
1/30/16
Home Workout
KB Snatches: 80#: 5x6 (each arm)
Kettlebell Circuit
1 - 55# Kettlebell
5 Rounds of the following with each arm:
5 x 1 Arm Swings
5 x Snatch
5 x Clean & Press
5 x Lunge (rack position)
10 x Ab Wheel Rollouts
Trying to add a rep per set, per hand every week until I can Snatch the 80# Bell for 5x10 with each arm. I was very happy hitting 5 sets of 6 with the heavy bell but probably should have cut my circuit short at about 3 rounds. I normally feel really good once I get through 5 rounds of the circuit but I felt like absolute crap for a while afterwards until I ate dinner and that seemed to help. Will probably listen to my body next go around!
2/1/16
5/3/1 Full Body Template
Squat Day (70%, 80%, 90%)
Squat: 245x3, 280x3, 315x6
Incline DB Press: 65# - 5x10 -superset with pull-ups-
Pull Ups: 7x6
Squats felt good today! Had a goal of hitting 315 for 6 reps and nailed it. Definitely a recent PR for high bar sqauatting since the last time I had 315 on the bar I got it for 5 pretty tough reps. Shoulders felt achey on the first set of incline presses but they loosened themselves up after the 1st set. Pull Ups were better today than last week even though it was a bit of a struggle to get 6 reps on the final set of the day. Good day overall!!
2/3/16
5/3/1 Full Body Template
Bench Press Day (70%, 80%, 90%)
Paused Squat: 225x3, 260x3, 295x3
Bench Press: 225x3, 255x3, 285x3 (PR by Default)
Bench Press: 225 - 5x5 -superset with DB Row-
DB Row: 100 - 5x10
Decent day today even though the gym was VERY hot. I was most pleased with my Paused Squats with 295. They felt very smooth and was able to keep really good posture through the whole movement. Bench Press went as I expected with the required reps but it’s still a PR so I’m not concerned about that. The superset of Bench Press and DB Rows is where the heat of the gym really started to get to me. I was pouring sweat and it was getting to a point where it was getting a little difficult to breath. Couldn’t imagine doing Hot Yoga like ActivitiesGuy cuz yeah the gym was REALLY hot but it wasn’t 100 degrees!
2/5/16
531 Full Body Template
Overhead Press & Deadlift Day (70%,80%,90%)
Paused Squat:225x3, 260x3, 295x3
Oh Press:155x3, 175x3, 195x1 (What da crap?!?)
Deadlift:355x3, 405x3, 455x6 (PR)
Front & Side Planks: 3 rounds: 30 secs each
Squats felt alright. Not as smooth as Wednesday but not all stressful. Not sure what was going on with presses yesterday. I got the 1st rep overhead okay but as I lowered the weight back down I knew 3 wasn’t going to happen so I just moved on to Deadlifts. Since my pressing didn’t go as planned I wanted to make up for it by setting a PR. Very happy with 6 reps at 455!! Hoping at some point this year to pull a 550 deadlift but won’t really test anything for a while. Focusing on building strength and not constantly trying to test it. Decent quote I read somewhere! Anyhoo… Up and down day yesterday!!
2/6/16
Home Workout
10 Rounds of…
5 x Pull Ups
5 x Push Ups
5 x Split Squats (each leg)
Never had a chance to get any kettlebell work done since my son wanted to play a lot. This was fun because he wanted to do this with me and it didn’t take very long. Watching a 3 year old doing push-ups is as funny as it sounds. He’s a big Mickey Mouse Clubhouse fan so he kept telling me we were “Mouskercising!” I would guide him up and down on the door pull-up bar and let him try to hang for a second or two!! He’s a big kid for his age so I was pretty impressed he could actually hang on to the bar that long!
2/8/16
5/3/1 Full Body
Squat Day (75%, 85%, 95%)
Squats: 260x5, 295x3, 330x5
Incline DB Press: 65 - 4x10 -superset with pull ups-
Pull Ups: 4x8
Ab Wheel: 3x10
Very happy with Squats today!!! Was able to match my low bar PR with high bar squats of 330 for 5 reps. Wasn’t sure what to expect since I have been battling a head cold since Saturday night but the goal was 5 reps and happily nailed it. On the other hand, after 4 super-sets of Incline DB Presses and Pull Ups my energy was starting to fade. Figured I would stop there and move on to some Ab Wheel since I didn’t get to do it over the weekend. Satisfying workout all around today!
2/9/16
5/3/1 Full Body Template
Bench Press Day (75%, 85%, 95%)
Paused Squat: 225x3, 260x3, 295x3
Bench Press:240x5, 270x3, 300x1, 325xMiss
DB Row: 105 - 5x10 -superset with toes to bar-
Toes to Bar: 5x5
Was looking at my schedule for the week and realized I wouldn’t be able to get to the gym tomorrow or Friday so had to scoot in there today for bench press. Surprised how Paused Squats felt after a pretty heavy day yesterday. Not to say the 3 reps at 295 was super easy but nothing overly stressful. The 300 pound single on Bench Press felt really fast and I had it in my head that if 300 was an absolute smoke show I was going to try 325. I got 325 pretty high off of my chest but couldn’t quite lock it out. I thought I was going to be able to slowly grind it out but gravity seemed to slam the breaks on the bar. Now that the gym has a new pull-up that is tall enough for me to not have to put my feet behind me I thought I would try Toes to Bar as a superset with my Rows. Doing sets of 5 was about all I could handle between grip and abs burning. Never done those before and will certainly keep these in the routine. I will probably reset my Training Max for Bench Press after my deload next week to begin my new cycle. Decent day overall!!!
2/11/16
5/3/1 Full Body Template
Overhead Press & Deadlift Day (75%, 85%, 95%)
Paused Squat: 225x3, 260x3, 295x3
Oh Press: 165x5, 185x3, 205x1
Deadlift: 385x5, 430x3, 480x3 (PR)
Felt very stiff during the warm up sets and on the 225 set. I think pausing with 225 loosened me up a little better since 260 and 295 felt a lot better! Sadly I was happy to get 205 over my head. 165 and 185 felt heavy and was worried I wouldn’t be able to get the single. It was a little slow but managed to lock it out. Deadlifts felt good. Beat my previous PR by 5 pounds. Was wanting to push for more but things could have gotten a little dicey. Deload next week and am actually looking forward to it! Decent day overall!