OK, so it turns out that the YMCA across town has an actual squat rack instead of the lame smith machine here. I will be using that squat rack for the rest of my squatting endeavors from here on out, however I doubt my ability to move the same amount of weight on a real squat that I can on a smith. From my thread in the beginner’s log it turns out that I should treat the squat as a much different exercise than the smith squat, and this makes sense - all that balance <-> strength hubbub.
So, get to the point already marrot!
After the deload week of this cycle I will spend a week working up to 1RMs on all the core lifts again. This will serve two purposes:
Set me up to squat what I’m actually able to squat for when I stop using the smith machine, and
Give me the opportunity to work up to higher 1RMs than what I’m currently basing my calculations off of in 5/3/1, speeding up progress.
Here are my goals for the week of 10/31/11:
Overhead press - 120
Deadlift - 275 (290 was a little high, based off of 13x205 formula prediction)
Bench press - 155
Squat - 225
Squat
5x155
3x175
6x195 - Last cycle’s week 3 I only did 3x190. So that’s a great improvement. Last week I did 9x185 though.
Front squat - I never planned to go above 120 this workout but it was just too easy so I went hard and it paid off.
1x6 - 115
1x6 - 120
1x6 - 125
1x6 - 130
Good morning - Never planned to go above 85 but I was fired up from front squats so I pushed hard here.
1x10 - 85
1x10 - 90
1x10 - 95
DB bulg split squat - The fatigue was starting to catch up with me so I stuck to the plan with these.
3x6 - 55s
Pull-ups
0:F - BW
Lat pull-down
1x5 - 130
1x4:F - 130
1x5 - 120
I will do a pull-up. One day.
Breakdancing
Left hand windmills - Few, nothing new to say
Flares - Few, nothing new to say
1-leg air swipes - Keep hips high
Breakdancing
Only worked on one move today.
Left windmills* - Getting better at doing them nice and slow.
*Windmills as I usually do them with a right hand freeze have cut up my shoulder. So I’m taking this opportunity to learn how to do windmills from a left hand freeze and this is what I mean when I say ‘left windmill’.
wooooooooooooooooo
Weight: 143.5 lb (up by 1.5 lb)
Waist: 29 1/8" (up by 1/8")
Chest: 37 1/8" (up by 5/8")
Increase in measurements possibly due to gasp muscle being built! Although I didn’t change my diet at all; I just threw in an occasional chicken breast once/twice per week or a little extra tuna or greek yogurt here and there.
No more Wednesday Prowler pushes. They drain energy that I need for lifting and breakdancing.
Breakdancing:
Flares - Coming along well. I’m close to bringing it all the way around for one full flare. My wrist/forearm feels good after the four-day break I gave it.
1-leg air swipes - Very good, getting much more air and power. Can transition in and out of them easily.
Suicides - Easy move but my friend told me it’d look better if I landed into them more rigid than floppy, so I’ll work on that.
Air chairs - Transition into and execution of this move is smooth and fast.
Breakdancing
Flares - VERY close to doing one full flare. I am landing with my legs spread wide, facing the floor. I just need to rotate them around that small bit more.
Headswipes - New move I started learning today. Like an air swipe, but my head is always on the floor. Need to keep BW on my upper body so my legs can launch and stay high and rotate around for the subsequent swipes.
Breakdancing
Front handsprings - Improved balance on these. I was starting to get lazy on technique because I don’t do them often. But I fixed them up so I’m good now. Will practice these more frequently to make sure they don’t go bad again.
Flares - Kicked up and brought my legs around, great spread but not perfectly centered the way I wanted them to be. Still landed in a good enough position to flip back over to the starting position for a flare.
So today I did one full flare albeit a pretty shitty one. yaaaaaaaay
Oh, and here’s a set I did on Wednesday. I got a lot better at 1-legged air swipes and air chairs. I don’t know why videos play that fast. I find it quite flattering.
Measurements:
Weight: 145 lbs (up by 1.5 lb)
Waist: 29 1/4" (up by 1/8")
Chest: 36 7/8" (down by 1/4")
Makes sense that I would get a little fatter given I eat as much as I do on hard training days as I do for deload days. Every deload week in the past I have faced various combinations of increase in weight, increase in waist, and decrease in chest. I eat as much as I do on deload days as I eat on hard-training days because I don’t want to make this all too complicated by nitpicking over exactly when to eat exactly what. I like to think that I not only have to eat/train big but I also have to think big - don’t get caught up in little things.
Overhead press
6x45
3x65
5x85
3x95
3x105
1x110
0x115 - Must’ve tried four or five times. Left shoulder kept giving out. People smirking at me. Fuck them.
Just ramped up in a way I thought would let me warm up without getting too tired. The 1RM prediction formula said that my 8x95 would let me hit 120, but I could only hit 110. I guess that formula is only accurate at low reps.
I will do more DB OHP and take out the wide grip OHP to force my left shoulder to handle its own.
Deadlift
8x110
5x165
3x195
1x220
1x250
0x260 - Tried this one three times, almost locked it out at the end of the first one but as I did it more I just got worse.
0x255 - Couldn’t even get this off the ground so I called it a day.
I did not meet my 275 goal. I am once again a little frustrated that the 1RM prediction formula kicked me in the teeth. However 250 is right on track with what it would be for cycle 5 which I am starting next week. Did not feel that any particular muscle was giving out, just felt like all around I was only strong enough to pull 250. My back was rounding a bit but that was it really.
Speaking of being on-track I decided to base my cycle 5 calculations for OHP off of 115 as the 1RM and not 110 even though I could only do 110. This is because I already did a cycle with 110 as the 1RM calculation base. Also, whether or not I had tested my 1RM this week it would only be 110 (which I know because I DID test my 1RM this week) however I would still base cycle 5’s calculations off of 115 as the 1RM and not 110.
Tried only once on each of the failed attempts. I learned from this week that trying over and over on failed 1RM attempts is actually detrimental to performance. I found that my lower back was the weak link, making my chest collapse. Need more good mornings I guess.
Long jumps
10x1
Didn’t know how far exactly but did a best of 7 1/2 paces with my size 11 shoes.
Breakdancing
Just did some easy sets of air swipes and front handsprings. Will work on flares tomorrow.
Breakdancing practice
Flares - Left knee to right ankle for getting the most air and spin. Other than that just go hard and bring it all the way around. I can feel myself getting better/more explosive at these.
Weight: 145 lbs (no change)
Waist: 29 1/2" (up by 1/4")
Chest: 36 5/8" (down by 1/4")
Doing one lift a day for this week really messed me up even more. In the future I’m going to do the assistance work no matter what I plan on doing. I hope this didn’t negatively affect how I’ll perform tomorrow. It’s a good thing I finally get to start cycle 5 tomorrow.
Farmer’s carry - started, got halfway, teacher told me I had to do it outside, so I had to start over.
75s, ~50 yds, 2 stops
Changed my assistance work for all lifts based on weaknesses I noticed while finding my 1RMs last week.
Weaknesses: How I addressed them
Weak left arm: More DB OHP to make my left arm handle its own load
Could not lock it out before my shoulder gave out: More triceps work
