That sounds way better than a prison guard. I was going to ask if you knew Chopper.
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@FlatsFarmer I think I definitely had a narrow escape there: I made it to the final stages of the corrections job but found out I didn’t get it an hour before I got the call for my current one. Funnily enough, one of our group came across from working at the same prison I applied to work at.
More defensive tactics, including against edged weapons. Got the back of my head bounced off the mats early on. Not exactly comfortable.
Then it was time for the body scan which was an impedance one (BIA), apparently giving results within 2% of a DEXA. Anyhow, I’m sitting at 25.1% bodyfat with 97 lbs of skeletal muscle and a fat free mass of 168.3 lbs. My weight was 224.8 lbs. I got a BMR value of 2022 calories, so it looks like 2700 is a good target.
The bodyfat I was a little surprised by, but it’s good to know.
I’ll do another one in three months.
omg ur the guy who stand all day doing nothing… omg omg omg i got job offer of that and i dont work btw… what is GHR
is a bit high… i got around 15 and im sad :d was digti scal too
ur a bad ass !! super strong…
like the idea u eating more food when ur 25 %fat
Oh man that made me giggle! I’ve never actually done the stand around and do nothing security work - thankfully, because it’s horrible work. What I’m doing now is a lot better. Depending on what the offer was, talking if you want but be careful. The general rule of security work is that 95 per cent of the time you get to do whatever you want but the other five per cent really makes you pay for that 95 per cent.
Yes, 25 per cent is high. That’s why I’m eating less now - 2700 for me is a deficit for sure. I’m trying to tread the fine line between losing fat slowly while not losing any significant strength and muscle mass.
I’m nowhere NEAR super strong. I’m not weak, but for my size I’m only just edging respectability.
Last day of defensive tactics. Lots of moving people around. My neck tightened up a bunch from the head knock yesterday. Yesterday hit 2900 calories, 3100 today. The meat pie my other half made that I’ve been eating the last few days is delicious but not good bang for buck in terms of protein for calories. So, to hit my minimum protein I’ve had no choice but to eat a bit more (not pie, but calories add up).
Today’s training:
Bench press
3x198 lbs, 6 RPE
3x225 lbs, 6-7 RPE
For some reason my usual grip was feeling wrong, and it felt like it was making me flare too early. Moved my grip in one finger’s width each side.
5x253 lbs, 10 RPE - less than my goal of seven, but the grip and touch felt good. Likewise not flaring too early. Different, but good. My inability to get the reps felt more because there just wasn’t the gas.
8x198 lbs, 9-10 RPE - that narrower grip feels better. I’ll keep using it for a while.
I’ll be honest: I expected this could happen when I decided to go into a deficit. As long as I’m hitting or exceeding my minimum reps everything should be OK.
Supersetted DB bench (70 lbs/arm)/DB rows (100 lbs)
3x10/12 each respectively
100x53 lbs kettlebell swings in two lots of 50. Took four minutes.
Not really, it’s considered acceptable by many organizations. And, considering your career and power lifting, probably expected.
I’m skeptical. I’m obsessed with body fat, have a scale, a handheld, and calipers. I use the scale and the handheld everyday, and the calipers about once every six weeks. The variance can be huge. I chart in a spreadsheet everyday and calculate an average for the week. It gives me an idea of trend, not true body fat. The scale and the hand held are usually within .5% of each other, the calipers about 4% lower. True body fat is probably somewhere in between. It’s a useful tool, but, don’t get too wrapped up in it (like me). I suspect you aren’t.
Bench - It looks to me that your grip is wider than ideal, your forearms aren’t at ninety degrees to the bar. I’m sure you are doing that for a reason, but it was something my SSC pointed out to me, so I thought I would pass it on.
Good job on the calories, keep it up!
The issue is that if I grip so that 90 degrees happens I either a) grip very narrow or b) touch higher without much tuck, which isn’t great for shoulders. Neither are particularly good options.
The bottom line is I’m not a particularly strong bencher at all. I’m constantly working on figuring outnwhat will keep it moving upwards.
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Pretty tired by now, and when I hit the gym I really just wanted to get in and get out. This went to the extent of when I saw that the monolift had a standard Ivanko barbell instead of the Texas squat bar I decided to go ahead and use the Ivanko.
Today’s training:
Squat
3x324 lbs, under 6 RPE
3x374 lbs, 6 RPE
9x418 lbs, 9 RPE
12x324 lbs, 8 RPE
The bar was whippy as anything but it was kind of fun. I wasn’t massively uncomfortable with a narrower grip, but I’m not going to use the standard bar if I can avoid it just to be sure my elbows don’t play up.
By now I was really tired and running out of time.
Supersetted GHR/lunges
2x12 of each, 110 lbs on the bar because that’s what Tom (in the video) was using. On a side note, he is a strong young bloke, and at 19 years old has a very mature attitude to training. His DL sits around 600 lbs with a lot of room to move. Bench isn’t shabby either (9x264 lbs recently I believe). Once his squat is up to speed he’ll be looking at something like 500/315/600, and he’ll only be getting started.
This left me with a back pump that lasted for about an hour.
Week 3 - 531 week
Hit 2800, 2800 and 2900 calories Saturday through Monday. I could have hit 2700 today but I was hungry as hell and I seem to be chugging along OK with what I’m doing so I took the soft option. Still hungry but not so much I’ll find it hard to sleep.
Today’s training:
Press
5x132 lbs, under 6 RPE
3x148 lbs, 6 RPE or just under
6x165 lbs, 9-10 RPE
Felt good enough to hit some joker sets:
3x176 lbs, 10 RPE
1x187 lbs, 10 RPE - not the smartest move I’ve made because I came very, very close to failing but I’m still pretty pleased
11x132 lbs, 9-10 RPE
Supersetted dips/chest supported rows (65 lbs/arm)
3x10 of each - dips were much easier than last time
2x30 medium band pull aparts - I’ve been slack with these, I need to up my game and do them every session like I used to. I’m going to buy a band for my bag.
Really tired today for no apparent reason. Doing building searches all day didn’t help, even though it was interesting.
Today’s training
Deadlift
Hamstrings twanging from the get go.
5x401 lbs, 6 RPE
3x456 lbs, 7 RPE
4x511 lbs, 9-10 RPE
8x401 lbs, 8-9 RPE
Supersetted 220 lbs front squats/GHR
3x10/12 respectively
40 medium band pull aparts
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Hit just 2700 calories yesterday, and had chicken breast today so I’ve got about 1000 calories to fill before bed. Chinese takeout should help with this.
Absolutely exhausted by the time I got home last night and still tired today so very glad I didn’t have training. Got a cheap 15 lbs (or kg, I forget, although it feels more like 15 kg or 33 lbs) band today which I’ll keep in my training bag for pull aparts.
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Feeling vaguely normal today. Not completely though.
Today’s training:
Bench press
5x209 lbs, under 6 RPE
3x236 lbs, 7 RPE
4x264 lbs, 10 RPE - tried a fifth and failed
8x209 lbs, 9 RPE - TNG
On the one hand, I wanted to hit five or more for a 264 lbs rep PR. On the other hand, four was my rep PR going in so it doesn’t look like I got weaker. Didn’t feel locked in, but it felt less loose than last week or the week before.
My back feels funny when I push my chest up, a gentle kind of tingle in the small. Not sure what’s going on there.
Running out of time by now so instead of three supersets did one AMRAP:
13 70 lbs DB bench/17 100 lbs DB rows
50 pull aparts with my new band. My bench not moving as well seems to have started not long after I got slack with these, so it’ll be interesting to see if getting back on track with pull aparts has a positive impact.
Jump rope for about 10 minutes:
5x10/leg
50/leg
100
50x1/leg
50x1/leg, unbroken until 99
I’d been slack with conditioning so far this week so had to get some in.
Going to do alternating legs more.
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By the time work was over I was pretty knackered. It’s been a tiring week for some reason.
Today’s training:
Squat
5x346 lbs, 6 or so RPE
3x396 lbs, 7 or so RPE
7x440 lbs, 10 RPE
11x346 lbs, 8-9 RPE
Running out of time and energy so just hit some 2.5’ deficit deadlifts:
14x286 lbs
10x286 lbs
50 pull aparts
Here’s something I’ve noticed since starting 531: for some reason, I’m able to push on the plus set almost every session. In three cycles, I’ve only once hit the minimum reps (DL, 531 week of cycle one); and six times not hit a rep PR (three of those bench this cycle, two press - one this cycle, one last cycle - and one DL this cycle). I’m fairly pleased with that. Yes, I use pre-workout most days if it’s after work, so I need to take that into account.
I expected bench to stagnate a little with my calorie cut, so all in all things are panning out OK given the other lifts are moving well enough. I’ll admit to being surprised (pleasantly) with how squats are moving especially.
Quick update on calories Tuesday through to Saturday: 2700, 2700, 2700, 2800, 3000.
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What is your current 5/3/1 template?
Currently I’m doing FSL with a very abbreviated triumvirate for assistance because I haven’t got a ton of time to train. So, I superset my assistance and do just three sets. If I’m really short on time I’ll do an AMRAP superset and leave it at that; or I might just do a couple of sets of one assistance exercise.
Honestly, I’m really not overthinking my assistance. If I can, I’ve got a plan and I follow it. If I can’t, I do something and leave it at that.
For conditioning I either skip (between sets or on its own) or do kb swings. That’s the most time dependent for me. The assistance supersets get my heart pumping, so that helps too.
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Decided to drop DL this week as its a deload and I missed a day yesterday. It’ll probably do my hamstrings good. Trained at my work gym, which was different. Not terrible, but I wouldn’t train properly there.
Today’s training:
5x110 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x121 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x132 lbs, under 6 RPE
15x110 lbs, 8-9 RPE
AMRAP superset of dips/chest supported rows (66 lbs/arm)
15/13 - it didnt help that the bench I was using kept sliding on the carpet
100x24 kg kb swings in 70 and 30, took 3 minutes 15 seconds
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What with one thing and another I’m glad it’s a deload this week. A large portion of my energy has been devoted to not catching the bug my other half has. I was going to train this morning but something wasn’t quite right so I didn’t. I’ll bunch bench and squat together tomorrow.
Next week I’m into the mainstream at work too, so I can start planning training around shifts.
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Didn’t train yesterday, felt too crook. Good decision because I feel much better today. In Sydney for the weekend with the other half. I hate Sydney, but seeing her happy is awesome and for a visit the place is tolerable. Hotel gym is pathetic, heaviest DB is 44 lbs, no BB or anything else. Nice hotel though. Awesome bed.
So
8x10 push-ups/20 pull aparts. Varied the push-ups set to set.
Looking forward to getting stuck in to cycle four next week.
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