@Frank_C you got it in one. It’s pretty much a high carb cheat meal, although this one was pretty high fat too.
@hugh_gilly I couldn’t tell you as I have done neither dead stop nor pin presses of any kind
Woke at 188.3 lbs, which is right where I expected. Go me. Definitely noticing a difference in look, although (to my relief) nothing has actually disappeared. Yes, there was a part of me worried is lose some abs, serratus, etc. I just look way softer.
While I definitely enjoyed the meal, I don’t find myself suddenly craving junk at all. Good.
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It’s a completely different movement gilly. With the board, constant tension is held with a slight pause. With pin presses or dead stops, tension is kept, but not as much so, and the movement is at a stand still or a deadstop if you will. Boards help overload, pins and deadstops help sticking points. I guess pins can be for overload too, but I feel like most blast through sticking points more due to the progressive ROM typically used in pin presses
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I have the new 5/3/1 book and plan to start using its programs, although with some modifications that I’m sure Jim would not approve of because I’m stubborn like that. Interestingly Triumvirate is not in the new book at all despite being one of the few I see mentioned regularly from people doing the previous books.
My main skepticism with 5/3/1 is that most of the programing came from his experience with high school football/sports players. At that age who doesn’t make progress by doing almost any old program? The other day in the forums he mentioned some guy going 135x5 to 225x1 on bench press in what would be about 6 months. I made that kind of progress when I started lifting at age 21 and don’t think I had any program really. I remember my bench program was something like 3-4 heavy sets with the same weight, and usually 1 less rep per set since it was that close to failure each set, reps were like 5/4/4/3.
I also think assistance is more important than Jim will acknowledge. On any given training day its literally more than half your workout so its worth putting some thought in. I think his concern is it takes away from the importance of the main lift but that’s the easy part, the set/reps are set in stone each week for a program, the assistance is the only thing that is variable so obviously your going to think about it more and how to improve it.
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You make some valid points. I definitely think the recent evolutions of 5/3/1 are extremely heavily influenced by Jim’s work with high school kids. I also think Jim has taken the view that most people are idiots (which I’m not exactly going to disagree with) and the more room to think he allows the worse the results will be. So he goes in the complete opposite direction, kind of trying to create an AK-47 program (in Kalashnikov’s words, a rifle any peasant with a flat rock could maintain): broadly effective across a range of scenarios, and with some refinement truly excellent.
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For some reason I’m always a bit surprised when somebody mentions Dante or Skip (or their methods)
Maybe it’s just the fact that these things are not exactly in the spotlight (although skip does write for EliteFTS So he is a bit more mainstream)
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Skip Hill is one of my top writers. Skip, Tate, Chad Aichs and Paul Carter. I was going to say top five, but those are about the only guys I get genuinely excited when I find something they wrote I haven’t read.
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Thanks Bean can for the info and also Mark for responding.
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My briefs, elbow cuffs and DL slippers should be here tomorrow. Excited.
Today’s training
Lazy lifter
Stiff bar DL
Work up from 132 lbs in 44 lbs to 60%, pull-ups between sets - these were actually a bit easier than last week, especially the first three reps of each. All overhand grip. Elbows behaving so far.
3x341 lbs, under 6 RPE, straps, sumo
3x390 lbs, under 6 RPE, straps, sumo
1x440 lbs, under 6 RPE, straps, sumo - surprised how easy this felt overall
4x484 lbs, 8-9 RPE, mixed grip, sumo - pretty sure this is a sumo rep PR. Grip on my left hand started slipping on rep three because when I pull sumo I grip slightly closer and that means my overhand was only half on the knurling. Excuses, excuses
1x528 lbs, 10 RPE, straps, sumo - sumo PR, even tried a second but couldn’t get past the sticking point.
Very pleased with this. Chalking my socked feet helped.
Decided to play with rack pulls
3x3x341 lbs around mid shin, beltless, slow eccentric, straps - interesting, I may or may not come back to these
3x5x308 lbs squats, called it at three sets as my back tired and my right hip noticeably tight to the extent depth was noticeably different to the left. Was running out of time too.
45 degree back raises with squeeze at top and slow eccentric 50 reps - this was absolutely brutal on my glutes and hamstrings
Ab wheel from knees, slow roll-out and pause at top: 15
22 lbs plate raises, slow eccentric: 20, more brutality
Playing with slow eccentrics, pauses and the like is interesting.
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Obviously something has worked, because sumo is usually my weak stance. Very gratifying. Quads also get in the way of the bar coming up, so they’ve definitely grown.
I may very well keep pulling sumo for the next few weeks, as I think with a DL bar it’ll be easier to stay in position early on.
I think the reason he doesn’t like assistance work in the book is because it really isn’t written for advanced guys. Once you get more advanced, you need less direction and more principals to follow like loading protocol, how to program in the rep schemes, and such. When you first start, however, you need EVERYTHING written for you and most still have fucking questions about absolutely nothing. I’ve always read between the lines with 531. I started it as written awhile back and still run some templates as written, but I took away a better way to train and how to use those ideas in later training. I think this was always the point of 531: to get up started on fitness (less emphasis on supplemental/assistance work, more on main work) and eventually have you set for a lifetime of knowledge of how to lift practically and get stronger with a balance of life.
(Sorry for the essay Mark, you can have your log back now)
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Strong set man.Do you have a hard time keeping form on point on such heavy sumo pulls?Given that you were pulling conventional with vertical shins and lower hips probably not but still wanna hear how the transition was/is for you
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Nice workout! Congrats on the sumo PR!
What type of position do you have on the 45 degree back raises. All I ever seem to feel when I do them is low back. The way I fit in the apparatus makes it so my legs are basically straight and I can’t move them. Here’s what I do them on:
Is it the equipment I use since it only has that small lip to hook the heels? I saw other version that have the round pads and they hit the back of the lower calf which might allow for a bit more movement in my legs.
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Something I’ve found to make hypers hit more glutes and hamstrings it hold weight and close to the machine as possible (if that makes sense).That makes it easier to keep a straight back (to my understanding it brings the center of the weight lower if that makes sense again) and makes you focus more on hip extension and less on keeping a neutral spine
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@stronkfak thanks. It’s definitely harder to hold position once the weight gets heavier, and it’s also more important with sumo. There’s no room for error like you have in conventional, especially in the first third. It’s just a whole different feel as well in that first third for me. Once it’s heavy, I feel seriously weak until the bar is around knee height so it’s a matter of being patient, staying locked in and trusting I can do it.
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@Frank_C thank you. The one at the gym is an EFS one, with a massive foot plate and roller pads. I move the pads higher so my feet are higher, which shifts the load to my hams and glutes. I also move the front pad down so the top sits below my hips, meaning I end up going lower at the bottom. What I notice with this exercise is if I don’t play with tempo I need to do a LOT of reps per set to feel my hams over my back.
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Talking a bit randomly here,but if I were to improve my sumo I’d do a lot wide stance box squats with a safety squat bar(given that I’d have access to one),maybe even with the bands slightly to the front
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Woke at 186.3 lbs. Still looking a little soft, but closer to what I now view as normal. Not bad for 24 hours.
Certainly with you on the wide stance box squat. Bands not too sure, simply because sumo is hard at the bottom. Lockout is less of an issue. If my experience so far is anything to go by, quad and hip strength along with abs and lower back play a bigger role than I expected too. I say that because those are things I’ve worked hard on since I last pulled sumo.
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