Good call, time spent with family is always time well spent.
That was some great squat workout. Glad you take some rest and enjoy the time spent with your family, a good way to come back stronger
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Forgot to log Friday’s session:
Squat
5x220 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x264 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x308 lbs, 6 RPE
All beltless. Starting to get a feel for how to keep my whole back tight.
10x308 lbs conventional were DL, 7 or so RPE. Likewise beltless
Bench press
5x154 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x176 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x198 lbs, maybe 6 RPE
10x165 lbs, 6-7 RPE
Worked up to 20x176 lbs BB rows. Used underhand grip again, I like how it feels in my upper/mid back
21x440 lbs reverse hyper
50 reps jump rope between all sets for a total of 500
40 light band pull aparts
_Cycle 2 _
Week 1 - 5s week
Slept a ton over the weekend and did nothing. Feeling very refreshed.
Today’s training:
Press
5x110 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x126 lbs, under 6 RPE
10x143 lbs, 9-10 RPE
Pressing is feeling pretty good. I have to make sure I lock my shoulders down and keep bar path straight to keep my right shoulder happy but that’s about it.
5x10 105 lbs press, starting at 6-7 RPE but 7-8 RPE by sets four and five. Also, my right quad started cramping during sets two and three. Quite distracting.
5x10 fat man pull ups. I like these. I decided to put my less taxing pulling work on press day because I noticed heavy DB rows the day before deadlifts don’t exactly enhance things.
EMOM 135 lbs/9 metre prowler sprintsx15. I should have had 176 lbs. Next time.
40 light band pull aparts
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Another 20 four day followed by three hours sleep. On the plus side, yesterday I got called and found out I got the job I wanted - an hour after getting called to say I didn’t fer another job I’d wanted. Massive relief. Now I’ve got this and next week on nights and I’m done.
Definitely a pre trainer day, but I was tired enough that I barely noticed I’d taken any.
Today’s training:
Sumo DL
5x341 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x396 lbs, 6 RPE
8x451 lbs, 9-10 RPE
Oddly, being super tired helped because it forced me to get really patient and methodical. That paid dividends big time, and these felt like some of my best sumo pulls. I do better with a narrow stance, feet quite forward and focusing on pressure on all parts of my sole while driving my knees out to come off the floor.
10x249 lbs SSB squat, around 7 RPE, but a hard, hard set. Had to really reset each rep. Abs feeling like I’d done a gazillion crunches after, so I guess at least I was getting a tight midsection.
Decided to drop down the weight because I was fading fast. Realised it was 249 lbs, not 269 lbs as I had intended. Pulled the plug. If 249 lbs was that taxing, and if I was that switched off I couldn’t load the bar properly doing more wasn’t going to do me much good.
Seems like that PR set used up what little gas I had.
Not disappointed. The PR set is what matters and I haven’t missed any BBB sets until today.
Auto regulation at work. Congrats on the new gig.
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Thanks. I’m pretty excited. I talked to my current boss and I managed to swing a week’s holiday between finishing and starting. It coincides with my 531 week which is pretty cool.
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Brought my jump rope in to work, since all I currently do is keep an eye on people with two other guys.
5x100, all unbroken in just over 10 minutes
Short rest
10x25 yard 20ish% incline sprints - carpark ramp
This way I can catch up on sleep really well tomorrow instead of doing sprints in the park
Took my 44 lbs Bulgarian bag for a 30 minute walk. Not massively taxing, although carrying it like a zercher squat for a couple of minutes was work.
Trying to do something on my Wednesday rest day that isn’t hard training but gets me moving. I realised since starting 531 I don’t just want to get stronger but better in terms of overall performance.
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Today’s training:
Bench press
5x176 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x203 lbs, a bit under 6 RPE
8x236 lbs, 10 RPE
Went back to tucking my feet. It feels better, especially if I wear my wrestling shoes.
5x10 165 lbs tng bench press, going from 7 RPE for the first set to 9 on the fifth. Quick setup for these, doesn’t seem to reduce my arch much but it is noticeably less stable.
5x12/side 100 lbs DB rows
60 reps jump rope between BBB and rows sets for a total of 600. Eight sets unbroken.
40 light band pull aparts.
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Kind of tired but keen to squat.
Today’s training:
Squats
5x291 lbs, 6-7 RPE, beltless
5x341 lbs, 6-7 RPE
10x385 lbs, 9 RPE - ran out of air on seven, pushed to 10 and by then I could basically get no air so I got scared enough to stop
A mate commented that I looked loose and I squat too deep - which is odd because I felt super tight today. Back felt locked in from neck to crack, bar felt stable, just felt overall good. Also felt I didn’t go too deep.
Anyway, I’m going to go with how it feels. If it feels good, I’m going to keep doing it.
5x10 269 lbs SSB squats, 7 RPE mostly - used my 10 mm belt just to be sure. I may have miscounted by one on a couple of sets.
3x10 154 lbs SSB lunges
1x10 132 lbs SSB lunges
1x10 110 lbs SSB lunges
DOMS already setting in.
It made my day to hear Naughty by Nature (Hip-Hop Hurray!) on the radio. I thought It Was all Kylie Minouge and ACDC down there.
Also, equipment question; I know how you crank the monolift “up”, but how do you lower it?
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RnB Friday on some radio station. I may have done a little inadvertent karaoke. There are a ton of ACDC cds but I generally don’t put on a CD unless I’m by myself. Besides, I’ll usually go with something like In Flames.
With the mono, you know how you use a handle to crank the jack up? On the Forza one at the gym you have a little down the bottom of the cylinder is a little switch. You twist it anti-clockwise to release the jack and that lowers the pins. Basically, you jack the pins up enough to set their height and release the switch to release the jack and let the pins lower into place.
Horrible explanation, I’ll try to remember to make a quick video when I’m next there.
A bunch of DOMS between waist and knees. Glutes and quads especially.
10x100 reps jump rope to get some blood flowing.
Played with my 50 lbs Bulgarian bag:
25 swings each side
10ish cleans to chest
25 swings each side
Munchkin took an interest
5x10 swings each side with 35 lbs of munchkin sitting on it
15 cleans to the shoulder
3x10 snatches
More activity today:
5x10/side Bulgarian bag swings with munchkin on it - so 85ish lbs in total
5x10/side Bulgarian bag cleans to the shoulder - by the end I realised I’d actually been working
Cycle 2
Week 2 - 3s week
Didn’t train yesterday so doing DL and press together.
Today’s training:
Sumo DL
3x368 lbs, under 6 RPE
3x423 lbs, 6-7 RPE
7x473 lbs, 9-10 RPE
Realising that my narrow stance sumo works great but only if I let my hips come up a bit and don’t force myself behind the bar. As long as I push my knees out and pull backwards it works fine. Odd, but not complaining.
Press
3x121 lbs, under 6 RPE
3x137 lbs, 6-7 RPE
7x154 lbs, 9 RPE. Short of my goal of 9 or more, but DL took a toll.
5x10 104 lbs press alternating with fat man pull ups to save time. Press sets ranging from 6 RPE at the start to 8 RPE at the end.
Left my BBB SSB squats until now. Decided to pyramid them today because I was pretty tired by this point.
10x242 lbs, 7 RPE
10x258 lbs, 7 RPE
10x269 lbs, 7-8 RPE
10x258 lbs, 7-8 RPE
10x242 lbs, 7 RPE
Very glad I decided to pyramid. Focused on staying upright and my middle and upper back tired way before my legs.
3x10/side 100 lbs side bends.
Just over two hours to get this all done. Happy with that.
Had my pre employment medical check today, so more for my own interest and information than anything:
Height 175 cm
Bodyweight (shorts, boxers, socks, T-shirt) 103.7 kg/228 lbs
Blood pressure 130/75 or 135/70, I can’t remember
Resting heart rate 80
According to the doctor I’m in good nick.
Thanks for the mono info.
I’m afraid to mess with that thing. It looks like it wants to chop my fingers off.
But I really want to try back raises, with the SSB on my shoulders, and the monolith is the perfect way to set that up.
The pins? Just move them in or out. Out is better with an SSB.
See the image? The big lever you use to move the pins up or down, and to raise the moving parts enough to adjust them. Once you’ve done that, you use the red pin to set the height. You have to pump the big handle enough to be able to move the red pin. Once you’ve set the red pin in the hole you need, you have to release the jack so the pins drop to where you need them. To do that, you twist the switch/valve at the base of the cylinder anti-clockwise. This releases the jack. Once the pins have settled, you twist the valve clockwise to close it again.
