9/1/16
Advanced 5/3/1
Deadlift Day (5x5)
Deadlift: 385 - 5x5 (no belt)
Paused Front Squat: 225 - 5x3
Not a whole lot to say about this day. I liked doing 5x3 with Paused Front Squats more so than normal 3x5. Provides a nice variation as well as a better form builder. Plus I hate holding the rack position for 5 reps on Front Squat after Deadlifts if I’m just being honest!
9/2/16
Advanced 5/3/1
Bench Press Day (5x5)
Band Pull Aparts: 3x15 (during warm ups)
1A) Bench Press: 225 - 5x5
1B) DB Rows: 110 - 5x10
2A) Oh Press: 155 - 3x5
2B) Pull Ups: 5x5
Got through this session pretty quick yesterday. Did several paused reps throughout each set of Bench Press. All sets of Bench Press and Oh Press moved pretty fast and technique is definitely improving!
9/3/16
Track Day
10 x 50 yard sprints
5 x Single Stair Sprints
Needed a break from the weight vest and med ball throws today. Mainly to give my lower back some rest. Came to the realization that walking with the 80# vest is harder than doing sprints at the track!!
9/5/16
Advanced 5/3/1
Front Squat Day (5x3)
Front Squat: 255 - 5x3
Stiff Leg Deadlift (SST): 225x8, 265x8, 295x8
Leg Raise: 3x15
Front Squats felt really good today. 3 rep sets are a sweet spot for Front Squats and me! I did a few paused reps without thinking on a few sets but didn’t throw me off too bad. Good session today!
9/6/16
Advanced 5/3/1
Overhead Press Day (5x3)
Band Pull Aparts: 3x15 (during warm ups)
1A) Overhead Press: 175 - 5x3
1B) Pull Ups: 50 total
2A) Pause Bench Press: 225 - 3x5
2B) Ab Wheel: 5x10
Overhead Presses moved well again this week. I’m starting to get more comfortable doing Bench Presses with a pause more so than touch n’ go. Seems like it is easier for me to stay in a better groove with a pause and not lose tightness. Something to think about. Good first half of lifting so far this week!!
9/8/16
Advanced 5/3/1
Deadlift Day (5x3)
Deadlift: 435 - 5x3
Paused Front Squat: 225 - 5x3
All reps and sets moved well today. Where I was having to Deadlift was right in front of where the Hammer Strength machines were. Luckily I did not have the Deadlift farts today. Otherwise I don’t think I would be sitting here typing this out at the moment!
9/9/16
Advanced 5/3/1
Bench Press Day (5x3)
Band Pull Aparts: 4x15 (during warm ups)
1A) Paused Bench Press: 250 - 5x3
1B) DB Row: 110 - 5x10
Clean & Strict Press: 155 - 3x5 (clean each rep)
Paused Bench Press felt very good yesterday. All reps and sets felt smooth and was happy how everything felt. The DB Rows after each set of bench got me pretty tired by the end. Instead of supersetting pull ups or abs with my Oh Press, I just power cleaned each rep for my pull movement. In and out of the gym pretty quick yesterday
9/10/16
Home Workout
5 Rounds:
20 x 55# KB Swings
10 x Push Ups
KB Snatch: 55 - 3x10 (each arm)
Planks: 5 x 30 secs w/ 80# Weight Vest
Couldn’t make it to the track today so I put together a mixed bag of randomness at home. Pretty uninspired as far as conditioning but at least got some movement done for the day.
9/12/16
Advanced 5/3/1
Front Squat Day (5x1)
Front Squat: 285 - 3x1
Front Squat: 315 - 2x1 (PR)
Stiff Leg Deadlift (SST): 245x5, 275x5, 315x5
Leg Raise: 3x15
So happy to hit a 3 Plate Front Squat not once, but twice today! 285 was feeling like a feather so I decided to bump up the weight. The first single felt good and was pretty relieved when I stood up with it. The second single was a smoke show. I guess once I got the feeling of what 315 felt like in the rack position my confidence was up even higher. Debated on moving up another 5-10 percent but that was my 5th single for the day and also wanted to keep my confidence pretty high. Coming into this workout I was expecting to nail this weight anyway but it still feels really good to get that under my belt. SLDL moved very well without any issues. Good session today!!
9/13/16
Advanced 5/3/1
Overhead Press Day (5x1)
Band Pull Aparts: 3x15 (during warm ups)
1A) Overhead Press: 195 - 5x1
1B) Pull Ups: 60 total
2A) Pause Bench Press: 225 - 3x5
2B) Ab Wheel: 5x10
The Presses at 195 felt very clean and crisp. I didn’t have a desire to push anything heavier than the given weight today. I did up my total number of Pull Ups but other than that, it was a straightforward day. If it even matters, I did get a little extra cardio in for the day. Had to look everywhere for the ab wheel which required a lot of walking around the gym with a very perplexed look on my face. Asking one of the gym employees would just have been too easy!
9/15/16
Advanced 5/3/1
Deadlift Day (5x1)
Deadlift: 485x1, 535x1 (PR)
Pause Front Squats: 225 - 3x3
Happy to set another PR for the week!! The original plan for the day called for 485 at 5x1. Going into this workout I told myself if 485 flew up I would go for 535. All warm ups and even the set at 485 moved very well so I was confident I was going to hit 535. Speed off the floor was great with a little sticking point at lockout but was able to bring my hips through and complete the lift. Like the 315 Front Squat, this was a bit of an expected PR but still happy to move myself closer to 550. Typically I would go back to 485 and do 3 more singles but was sort of done with Deadlifting at that point. Moved on to Front Squats and after 3 sets I was pretty much mentally checked out at that point. Weight was light and breezy but my brain left the door way before my body. Good session today!
9/16/16
Advanced 5/3/1
Bench Press Day (5x1)
Band Pull Aparts: 5x10 (during warm ups)
1A) Pause Bench Press: 280 - 5x1
1B) T-Bar Rows: 5x10 (pyramid up to 225x10)
2A) Oh Press: 155 - 3x5
2B) DB Hammer Curls: 35 - 3x10
Bench Press moved very well yesterday. At one point I considered going for 315 with a pause but it’s been a good week of training and didn’t want to spoil it by possibly missing a rep. The way 280 was moving I’m 95% sure I could hit 315 with a pause but want to wait until I’m 100% sure. Went with T-Bar Rows as a change of pace from DB Rows to move the workout along a bit quicker. Overall this has been a great week of lifting setting a couple of PRs as well as bar speed on all of my upper body lifts. Deload next week.
9/17/16
80# Vest Walk - 2 miles
Late morning walk around the “hilly” path in my neighborhood. Can tell my neck and traps have gotten adjusted to the vest where I can just concentrate on walking as opposed to my neck area being a tad uncomfortable.
9/19/16
Deload
Front Squat Day
Front Squat: 195 - 3x5
Stiff Leg Deadlift: 135x5, 185x5, 225x5
Walking DB Lunge: 45 - 2x10 (each leg)
Leg Raise: 2x10
Nice easy day! Decided to do some dumbbell lunges to stretch out my legs a bit and get a little more blood flowing. Would not be a bad idea for me to throw in some lunges for assistance either on this day or my deadlift day. Good in theory but when lifting on my lunch break, time becomes a determining factor when it comes to planning these things out. Although on days I’m not in the mood to Front Squat after Deadlifts I could always do some sets of lunges instead but we’ll see.
9/20/16
Deload (Sort of…)
Paused Bench Press: Worked up to a Paused 315 for a miss. (Lock out - need more triceps)
1A) Oh Press: 145 - 3x5
1B) Rock Grip Pull Ups: 3x8
DB Farmers Walks: 115 (each hand) - 5 x 50 yds
My best friend who lives in Houston is in town for a few days so he joined me for this workout. I figured while he was here I might try 315 for a pause on bench. Flew off my chest but stalled a few inches from lockout. Need to strengthen my triceps a bit more but also I benched heavy on Friday so not going to beat myself up over it too much right now. Also not too worried about recovery. If I can’t properly recover from missing a paused 315 bench, I have problems!! We found a rock grip attachment on one of the new pieces of equipment the gym has so we banged out some pull ups on that thing. I will certainly add those into the mix from here on. He and I both are big Dan John fans so we finished off with some Farmers Walks. I believe this is an all around PR for me in terms of distance, weight and sets. Enjoyed the company more so than the lifting itself. Probably could’ve gotten a little more hyped up for the Bench Press attempt instead of just casually laying down and seeing what happens! We may hit up some Deadlifts together tomorrow.
9/22/16
Deload…
Paused High Bar Back Squat: 285x3
Double Kettlebell Snatch: 40# KBs - 4x10, 1x25
Ab Wheel: 2x10
It’s amazing how foreign it feels putting a bar on my back since I’ve been doing Front Squats lately. Once I got to 225 after a few warm up sets it started to feel a little better but still weird. Decided on Pause Squats mainly to reinforce position and technique without worrying about a heavy weight. Also did not feel like doing any Deadlifts today. Saw a pair of new 40 pound kettlebells the gym had and figured I would play with those for a while. They have chrome handles which felt amazing in my hands. Decided on an AMRAP on my last set. Cut it at 25 but felt like I could have gone forever with that weight and style of bell.
Speaking of kettlebells I have been struggling lately with consistently wanting to do any type of kettlebell movement. Looking back, I’ve hit a lot of my goals when it came to the ol iron ball (at least the ones I have)…
5:00 RKC 100 rep Snatch Test with the 55# Bell (Done twice)
80# KB Snatch for 5x10 each arm
5 Clean & Jerk Ladders (1,2,3,4,5) with the 80# Bell (superset with Pull Ups)
Once the weather gets cold and also the birth of our next child I’m sure I will get going with kettlebells again but at the moment kind of un-inspired when it comes to my kettlebells. Could honker down and buy the 106 pound bell but that is a lot of money that I don’t need to be spending at the moment.
9/23/16
Deload
1A) Oh Press: 155 - 3x5
2A) Weighted Pull Ups…
BW x 5
10# x 3
25# x 3
45# x 3,2
25# - 3x5
Tried weighted pull ups for the first time today. Pretty happy I got a 45 pound plate for a good set of 3. Wanted to try 3x3 with that weight but 2 was all I could muster on the 2nd set. Will add these to the routine. Thinking of starting with 25 pounds for 5x5 and go with a linear progression adding 5 pounds and see what kind of progress can be made.
9/24/16
Track Day
3 Rounds of the following:
Double KB Snatch (55’s) x 10
KB Farmers Carry (55’s) x 50 yds
Burpees x 10
KB Farmers Carry (55’s) x 50 yds
20 minute walk (cool down)
95 degrees in September just sucks! Haven’t done burpees in a very long time and it showed. This was the hardest part of the circuit. On a cooler day I will do this for 5 rounds and push myself a little harder. Heat started to get to me after the 3rd round so I called it a day and just walked for 20 minutes
9/26/16
Advanced 5/3/1
Front Squat Day (5x5)
Front Squat: 230 - 5x5
Stiff Leg Deadlifts (SST): 190x10, 225x10, 265x10
Decline Sit Ups: 2x15
Back Extensions: 2x15
Pretty straightforward day. Front Squats felt very fast and crisp as well as the Stiff Leg Deadlifts. Due to some scheduling, I may have to move my Deadlift Day to Wednesday but luckily the 5x5 weeks on the Advanced 5/3/1 Template aren’t too bad.
9/27/16
Advanced 5/3/1
Oh Press Day (5x5)
Band Pull Aparts: 3x15 (during warm ups)
1A) Oh Press: 160 - 5x5
1B) Rock Grip Pull Ups: BW - 5x5
2A) Close Grip Bench Press (SST): 135x10, 160x10, 185x10
2B) Weighted Pull Ups: 25# - 5x5
The intention for today was to do the weighted pull ups between sets of overhead press but the dip belt was taken and did not come available until my last set. The show must go on!! Hands started to get a little slippery once I got to the 3rd set of weighted pull ups but managed okay the rest of the way. Will probably stick with the 25# plate one more workout before adding 5#. Overall a good session today. Feel like my Oh Press has found it’s groove again considering how light 160 felt today!!