08/29/2016
Week 3 Day 1 of this program. Loving it so far. This program is what I would refer to as structured freedom.
Today was one of those days where I exercised this freedom. I just finished a 12hr shift on ~5hrs sleep today. Completely my fault, but it is still my excuse for the following workout.
STRENGTH - Medium
Deadlift
135 x 8
225 x 8
315 x 8 ← I had to re-grip to mixed on the 6th rep. Was doing double overhand until this point. Not happy about this, but I guess the higher reps tired out my grip. I typically don’t go to mixed grip until 375lbs+ but those sets are typically 3-5reps.
395 x 6 ← Hands were stretching here and causing some discomfort in my palm. Decided not to ruin my deadlift session by forcing this set.
425 x 8 ← Added straps here, my focus was to pound the posterior chain, not my work my grip.
450 x 6 ← I guess I was bracing hard enough because my hearing went on the 5th rep, I put one more up for good measure, but didn’t want to pop a top so I called it there.
Axle Barbell Timed Holds
165lbs for:
1m5s
45s
33s
31s
Since I’m working out tomorrow and likely to have another long day at work I called it here. Definitely a little added stress from work is affecting my workouts but it is temporary. Thursday is a big day, so after that work life should get better.
08/30/2016
STRENGTH - Heavy
Superset
OHP
45 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 3
175 x 3
205 x 2
215 x 1 ← Grind
205 x 1 ← Grind
185 x 3
185 x 3
185 x 3
Well, with my shoulder problems as of late, my overhead pressing strength is down. Grabbing the barbell from the cage into my front rack position is quite painful. The actual press doesn’t feel terrible, but it’s a battle to get the weight started moving at any speed.
Chinups
50lb vest x 5
50lb vest x 5
50lb vest x 5
50lb vest x 5
BW x 10
BW x 10
ASSISTANCE - Medium
Giant Set
Rope Pushdowns
90 x 8
70 x 10
70 x 10
Incline Bench Press
225 x 5
205 x 6
205 x 6
1-Arm OHP
60 x 8/arm
60 x 8/arm
60 x 8/arm
STRONGMAN - Light
Superset
Sandbag to Shoulder
85lbs x 6reps
85lbs x 6reps
85lbs x 6reps
85lbs x 6reps
85lbs x 6reps
Burpees
6
6
6
6
6
09/01/2016 Week 3 Day 3
STRENGTH - Light
Superset
Back Squat
45 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 5
285 x 5
305 x 5
325 x 5
305 x 5
285 x 5
Hanging Leg Raises
12
12
12
12
12
ASSISTANCE - Heavy
Superset
1.5 BB Hack Squat
225 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 5
Axle Zercher Good Mornings
135 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 5
09/02/2016
STRENGTH - Medium
Superset
Bench Press
45 x 10
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 10
235 x 10
245 x 8
265 x 6
225 x 12
BB Rows
45 x 10
135 x 10
185 x 10
225 x 8
225 x 8
225 x 8
225 x 8
135 x 12
ASSISTANCE - Light
Giant Set
Face Pulls (Blue mini band)
12
15
15
Feet Elevated Pushups
20
20
25
Blast Strap Fallouts
10
10
10
Hello stranger… How is your shoulders feeling? Hope your doing well!
Hey, thanks for stopping in! Shoulders are definitely still bothering me unfortunately, I have not been as consistent with my rehab as I would like to be. Life was pretty hectic last week, but should be settling back into my regular routine this week.
I’ve managed to get all my main lifts in, but have been cutting my workouts short and skipping some of my strongman style training which isn’t ideal.
My shoulders hurt the most in the morning after I wake up from a night of sleeping on my stomach with my arm under my pillow (I really need to change this sleeping habit). Overall, training is going well and I’ve been feeling pretty strong in the gym.
I’ve been on a calorie surplus now for a little over 2 weeks and trying to put on some quality mass before next year when I try to take on my first strongman competition. It looks like under 220lbs is the class I’ll be competing in so I’m going to try to push myself up to a relatively lean 215-220. Currently sitting at 205lbs.
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Well first thought is you need to work on rehab first but you already know this and are too headstrong to listen 
completely understandable! Does life ever stop being hectic haha your probably always busy regardless. It’s great your at least getting the main lifts done even if it has to be shorter now. I think it would be hard to change the way you sleep unless your strapped down… I ball up on my side and always wake up that way. I’m extremely excited about your progress and can’t wait to watch you kill your competition 
your awesome!!
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09/06/2016
Week 4 Day 1
STRENGTH - Heavy
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 3
385 x 3
455 x 1
505 x 1
555 x 1 ← Might post a video of this one later tonight or tomorrow. I was twerking to get this up.
455 x 2
405 x 3 ← Pulled sumo just for fun
Between sets I was doing some bodyweight lunges to keep my hips and lower back loose.
ASSISTANCE - Medium
Giant Set
Rack Pulls from knee height
405 x 6
405 x 6
405 x 6
DB Pullovers
40 x 12
40 x 12
40 x 12
Ab Wheel Rollout
10
10
10
STRONGMAN - Light
Tire Sled Drag - 85lb Sandbag Added
30m sprints x 6
Glutes and hams were really feeling it after these sprints. I did some casual band pullaparts throughout the workout just as a minor attempt at some shoulder rehab.
Overall, good workout. I earned those peri-workout carbs today.
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09/07/2016
Cycle 2
Wk 1
Day 2
STRENGTH - Light
OHP
45 x 10
65 x 5
85 x 5
115 x 5
135 x 5
135 x 5
135 x 5
135 x 5
135 x 5 ← Still had decent speed on this set, happy with that. Shoulders didn’t feel too bad today.
In between sets I was doing:
Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns
120 x 10
120 x 10
130 x 10
140 x 10
140 x 10
140 x 10
140 x 10
140 x 10
140 x 10
ASSISTANCE - Heavy
Giant Set
Z-Press
115 x 5
175 x 3
175 x 3
175 x 2 ← Lost core tension on 3rd rep and almost went backwards (feet off ground), had to rack it
175 x 3 ← Form broke down again at end of 2nd rep, but was able to collect myself and pound out rep 3
Bench dips with 50lb weighted vest (feet elevated)
12, 15, 15, 15, 15
BB Shrugs with raise to belly button
175 x 6
175 x 6
175 x 6
175 x 6
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09/09/2016
Cycle 2
Week 1 Day 3
STRENGTH - Medium
Squat
135 x 5
225 x 5
285 x 5
315 x 8
335 x 8
355 x 8
355 x 8 ← This set had me seeing stars. About rep 6 I almost racked it, but forced out the extra 2 reps. I almost called it a day after the way I was feeling but as I was unracking the weight I decided to punish myself for thinking about quitting…so I did a widowmaker set.
225 x 22reps ← legs had some more reps left, lower back was locking up.
In between sets I was doing sets of 12 reps of hanging knee/leg raises.
On a different note, I got a package today with some lifting gear. I finally decided to buy a 4x4 lifting belt instead of the 4x2 one that I have. I also got some neoprene knee sleeves, 2 ply elbow sleeves, titan knee wraps and wrist wraps as well. I may have also threw a bottle of nose tork in there to give it a shot on one of my next max attempts. Belt felt good, knee sleeves felt great for my squats today, and I could not fit my elbow sleeves on. I currently have them over one barbell in the rack with another barbell hanging from them in hopes to stretch them out a bit.
EDIT:
Forgot to mention that I took the dog for a 2km walk with my 50lb weighted vest before my workout. This oddly had my traps burning pretty good!
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355lbs is awesome and I’m happy you got your new goodies today!!!
Thanks, 355 started getting heavy on that second set of 8! And you gotta love Christmas in September!
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09/11/2016
Cycle 2
Week 1
Day 4
STRENGTH - Heavy
Bench Press
45 x 10
135 x 10
225 x 5
275 x 3
305 x 1
325 x 1
345 x 0 ← I’m currently overthinking my bench press. I did the slowest decent to my chest for some stupid reason, then paused, then slowly tried to press it up…I got further through the rep than I should have but I threw it on the safety hooks. FAIL.
315 x 2
315 x 1
315 x 1
315 x 1
315 x 1
315 x 1
315 x 1
I decided to feel some heavy weight for some consistent reps. These singles at 315 felt great, this might be an opener for me if I was ever to do a PL comp.
I superset my bench with:
BB Bent over Rows
45 x 20
95 x 10
145 x 10
215 x 8
235 x 5
235 x 5
235 x 5
235 x 5
235 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 5
I was kind of pissed I missed that 345lb bench so I decided to make myself feel good and get an arm pump with bis and tris, as I haven’t done that in awhile.
ASSISTANCE - Medium
Giant Set
BB Curls
95 x 12
95 x 10
95 x 10
95 x 10 then 45 x 15
1-Arm Rope Pushdown
40 x 10
40 x 10
40 x 10 then 30 x 10
DB Hammer Curls
35 x 10
35 x 8
35 x 6
35 x 6 then 20 x 8
Red Mini band Pullaparts
10, 10, 10, 10
I couldn’t touch my shoulders at the end of the workout, chased and caught the pump…success.
No strongman training, as I finished this workout at around 9:30 be at had to be up at 5:30am…I need my beauty sleep.
Falling behind on my workout logs! Don’t worry, I’m not skipping my workouts.
09/12/2016
Cycle 2 Wk 2 Day 1
STRENGTH - Light
Deadlift
135 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 5
335 x 5
355 x 5
365 x 5
375 x 5
385 x 5
335 x 5
Band pullaparts between sets
ASSISTANCE - Heavy
Axle Zercher Good Mornings
205 x 5
205 x 5
225 x 3
205 x 5
Axle Grip and Hold
205 x 45s
255 x 19s
255 x 20s
205 x 35s
09/13/2016
Cycle 2 Wk 2 Day 2
STRENGTH - Medium
OHP
45 x 10
95 x 8
135 x 8
155 x 8
165 x 8
175 x 7.5 ← Couldn’t lock out my 8th rep of this set…
155 x 6 ← With OHP, it seems once I have reached failure, there isn’t much left in the tank! This is going to have to improve if I expect any sort of success in a strongman competition.
ASSISTANCE - Light
Rear Delt Raise / Hang and Swings
10lbs x 20 / 10lbs x 20
10lbs x 20 / 10lbs x 20
10lbs x 20 / 10lbs x 20
BB Shrugs with Raise to Belly button
225 x 6
225 x 6
225 x 6
09/15/2016
Cycle 2 Week 2 Day 3
STRENGTH - Heavy
Back Squat
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 3 ← Felt a little heavier than I expected it to. I was hoping this wasn’t any indication of a bad squatting day.
385 x 3
405 x 3 ← This didn’t even seem to be difficult for me, so decided to go for a 5lb PR triple.
430 x 3 ← 8.5-9 RPE, I could have forced an extra rep here, but honestly hit 3 and was surprised and just racked it feeling good.
430 x 3 ← Again, had decent speed on all three reps. Squat has been in its groove as of late. Feeling optimistic regarding hitting a 500lb squat within the next 6months. Current PR is 475lbs. I really wish I felt this way about my deadlifts. That is currently my struggling lift…one of these days I’m going to have to run a cycle specifically for bringing up my deadlift.
I did red mini band face pulls in between sets.
ASSISTANCE - Medium
Giant Set
BB 1.5 Hack Squats
225 x 6
225 x 6
225 x 6
Leg Extensions
110 x 10
110 x 10
110 x 10
Ab Roller
10
10
10
Holy quad pump. Those one and a half rep barbell hack squats really jack up my quads. Following those with some leg extensions with squeezing at the top had me waddling around the weight room. I LOVED IT.
Good workout, called it there as it was 8pm and I hadn’t eaten dinner yet. I’m off work next week, so this week has been “try to catch up and get ahead”.
09/16/2016
Cycle 2
Week 2
Day 4
STRENGTH - Light
Bench Press
45 x 10
135 x 5
185 x 5
205 x 5
225 x 5
235 x 5
245 x 5
245 x 5
245 x 5
DB Rows in between sets of bench
20 x 10
35 x 10
40 x 10
60 x 12
60 x 12
60 x 12
60 x 12
60 x 12
60 x 12
ASSISTANCE - Heavy
Close-grip bench press
265 x 3
275 x 3
285 x 2
275 x 3
265 x 4
Seated Cable Row
180 x 12
210 x 10
210 x 10
210 x 10
210 x 10
09/18/2016
Had to slip in a quick workout tonight as I’m leaving to Nashville for week long vacation in the next hour or two…and still need to pack! Hoping to find a gym close that I can slip into for at least a couple workouts while I’m there. Bringing my ab roller, bands and my lacrosse ball so I can at least do some makeshift workouts/recovery.
Did this workout from the 5/3/1 BBB routine as I’m thinking about starting that up when I get back:
OHP
45 x 10
80 x 5
100 x 5
120 x 5
130 x 5
150 x 5
165 x 6 ← This was my plus set, it was either 6 or 7 reps…somehow I lost count…so we will call it 6
175 x 5 ← Joker set, solid 5 reps
100 x 10
100 x 10
100 x 10
100 x 10
100 x 10
Chinups
10
10
10
10 ← Had to pause at around 6 reps, to get through the set.
10 ← 6 pause. 2.5 pause, 2.5 pause
Chinup strength has definitely decreased. I’ve still been doing them at least once a week, but not really pushing myself with them. More or less using them as light assistance or warmup.
If anyone is in Nashville this week and wants to get a workout session in let me know!
Well back home after a few days in Kentucky then 4 days in Nashville. Had a great time and met several friendly locals in my travels. I did not eat healthy, and did not stick to any sort of exercise regime for the full 7 days. We did do a couple hikes, I went for some hill sprints one morning and another night I found an Anytime Fitness and did a little leg workout (DB Lunges, Leg Ext, Leg Curl, Leg Press, Calf Raises).
I feel fat and weak after eating out as much as I did. That was the unhealthiest week I’ve had in over 2 years, and honestly wasn’t near as unhealthy as a lot of my friends’ average week…
I still ate healthy when we ate in (eggs, chicken, fish, spinach, broccoli) but I did have several McDonalds wraps/burgers/salads/parfaits…it was a 16hour drive and that was the most convenient rest stop for our group of 5 travelers.
Overall, great trip and I do not regret any of it. Just more of a reason to get right back into the swing of things.
Decided to stick with 5/3/1 Boring But Big program. I plan to mix in some Strongman work here and there to keep things interesting, but I needed to simplify my program a little and make some pure strength and size gains by sticking to the basics.
Here is today’s workout:
5/3/1 BBB
Week 1 Day 2
Deadlift
5 x 200
5 x 250
5 x 300
5 x 325
5 x 375
10 x 425 ← Solid set of 10 here, going to say this is a Rep PR, as I have not hit 10reps many times for the DL
10 x 250
10 x 250
10 x 250
10 x 250
10 x 250 ← Holy deadlift volume…definitely going to feel this tomorrow, I was losing explosiveness by this set. Still relatively smooth reps, but not near the speed of the previous sets.
Hanging Leg Raises
15
15
15
15
15
Axle Curls
12 x 75
12 x 75
10 x 75
Good workout, I can’t remember the last workout I did that many reps of deadlift…we shall see how I feel tomorrow!
Also, lets record my current cycle’s 1RM’s:
PRESS = 215lbs
DEADLIFT = 555lbs
BENCH PRESS = 335lbs
SQUAT = 475lbs
GOALS:
PRESS = 250lbs
DEADLIFT = 600lbs
BENCH PRESS = 350lbs
SQUAT = 500lbs
09/28/2016
5/3/1 BBB
Week 1 Day 3
Bench Press
5 x 135
5 x 155
5 x 205
5 x 230
5 x 260
6 x 275 ← Going to set this as my current rep PR
10 x 155
10 x 155
10 x 155
10 x 155
10 x 155
Fat Grip DB Row
15 x 60
15 x 60
15 x 60
15 x 60
15 x 60
50lb Weighted Vet Dips
8
7
5
5