Prolly your just fatigued from the pressing main sets. Bad day. Next time Will be better. It’s the same with me. 100 kg x 18 with bench . And I struggle doing 5 sets of 10 with 100 kg.
Yeah I’m sure that’s the case …
Let’s hope squats go better today at 70% …
Friday 28th sept - Cycle 3 - Week 1
Deadlift - 65% - 122.5 kg x 5
75% - 142.5 kg x 5
85% - 162.5 kg x 5
BBB - 70% - Squats
77.5 kg x 10
77.5 kg x 10
77.5 kg x 10
77.5 kg x 10
77.5 kg x 10
Good session today … deadlifts all felt great…
BBB on the squat for 70% was an absolute killer… I took a long time between sets and some of the last reps on the last couple of sets were pretty grindy but I pushed through it and got the full 5 sets of 10…
I don’t know if there is supposed to be a limit on rest between sets but if there is I probably took way too long lol
Just glad I managed to do it though … hopefully in the next couple of weeks my body will adjust to the 70% and I’ll be able to speed up a bit …
Monday 1st Oct - Cycle 3 - Week 2
Bench press - 70% - 62.5 kg x 3
- 80% - 72.5 kg x 3
- 90% - 80 kg x 3
BBB - Military Press - 70%
37.5 kg x 10
37.5 kg x 10
37.5 kg x 10
37.5 kg x 10
37.5 kg x 10
Weighted chin ups
25kg plate x 5
20kg plate x 5
15kg plate x 6
10kg plate x 7
5 kg plate x 8
Bodyweight x 10
Wow today felt great … hit all my bench press sets of 3 smoothly and controlled.
BBB military press on 70% was hugely improved this week … the first 4 sets of 10 I completed with very good form … it felt much smoother and less of a struggle this week … the final set of 10 got a bit wobbly and grindy but I still hit all 10 reps … and considering how good the first 4 sets were I’m more than happy with it…
I did take longer rests between sets though and supersetted the BBB with my chin-ups today which I hope is allowed
Overall I’d say it was a brilliant session…
Not too far from the end now … when I finish this 3 month BBB challenge I’m planning to switch to the BBS challenge and I’m going to use it with the 5s pro variant as recommended…
I’ve never used 5s pro before so I’m looking forward to that …
If anyone could offer any advice … i was wondering if I should go straight into it when I finish the BBB challenge ? Or would it be wise to run a few cycles of basic 531 before jumping into another challenge template ?
I think running 2 cycles of an appropriate Anchor from Forever would be ideal before jumping into BBS. Something like PR sets + Jokers with 5x5 FSL would be perfect after BBB challenge. Good luck with the rest of the program, I ran the 13 week BBB challenge from Beyond and it gave me the best results of any program. 5x10@70% was soul crushing. I was never so happy to move away from sets of 10 after that program.
Yeah I think I’ll bridge it with a few cycles of an appropriate anchor like you suggest … it just feels like it needs a break in between and I absolutely agree that 5x10 at 70% is crippling…
I’m surprised I’ve managed it all so far … only one I failed to complete was the bench press last week.
I thought Jim recommends only doing one template … I see you mentioned PR sets , jokers and FSL … unless you meant pick one and I’m reading it wrong…
I might stay away from jokers to be honest as I ran myself into the ground with those a few years ago when I ran 531
Yeah dont do another challenge back to back. I recommend a ‘regular’ template, this works great…
Do you own 5/3/1 Forever? PR sets + Jokers + 5x5 FSL is a common anchor. The other would be PR sets + 5x5 FSL, depending on which one sounds better for you. With jokers, do a 3/5/1 setup and only do them on weeks 1 and 3 of the cycle. They’re only 1-3 reps and you dont have to do them if you aren’t feeling it. I like the jokers idea simply because all of that time doing 10s can be boring, so doing some heavier singles, doubles, or triples can be quite fun and some of your numbers may surprise you.
Ah I see what you mean … that’s my fault I was getting my wires crossed… I remember it’s BBB that your not supposed to mix with FSL …
PRs and FSL is fine lol… I’ll happily run a couple of cycles of that between challenges …
Haven’t sat down and read the book since I last dabbled with 531 in 2016 and that was only the 1st edition … so ill have to get forever 531 and give it a good read…
I’m getting great results on this challenge … but I’m glad its coming to an end … 5x10 at 70% is brutally good but I can imagine I’d struggle to maintain that volume and intensity for much longer than a few weeks before burning myself out…
I’ve just finished today’s session so I’ll post that up later …
This looks brilliant… I’ve saved the page so I can have a proper read later
Tuesday 2nd oct - cycle 3 - week 2
Squats - 70% - 77.5 kg x 3
- 80% - 87.5 kg x 3
- 90% - 100 kg x 4 (PR)
BBB - deadlift - 70%
135 kg x 10
135 kg x 10
135 kg x 10
135 kg x 10
135 kg x 10
Had another brilliant session today …
Hit a new PB on my squat … I’ve never hit 4 reps on 100kg before… infact my squat is my weakest lift but since running this program it is now at the strongest I’ve ever had it … I was worried i wouldn’t hit my 3 reps today but I really surprised myself and cranked out a 4th…
So that’s 120kg x 4 (with the bar weight) - huge progress for me
I also smashed all 5 sets of 10 at 70% on the deadlift again today … felt like I’d been run over by a bus afterwards but strangely enjoyed it lol
Im really surprised at how well the main 531 lifts are progressing by simply just hitting the recommended reps and not shooting for PRs
I have cheated a little and pushed out the odd extra rep here and there if I’m feeling it … but 95 percent of the time I’ve just been hitting the set reps and it’s really payed off …
I believe the article mentioned that this might happen so I’m pretty chuffed
Thursday 4th Oct - Cycle 3 - week 2
Military Press - 70 % - 37.5 kg x 3
80% - 45 kg x 3
90% - 50 kg x 4 (PR)
BBB - Bench Press - 70%
62.5 x 10
62.5 x 10
62.5 x 10
62.5 x 9
62.5 x 7
62.5 x 5
Bodyweight Chin ups
x 10
x 10
x 10
x 9
x 8
x 8
Not a bad session today … I hit another big PR on my military Press today. I’ve never hit more than a couple of reps on 50kg before and today I felt confident and pushed out a 4th rep… very surprised at myself - at this rate my military Press is going to overtake my bench press lol
The BBB bench press was a huge improvement over last weeks attempt … but I still didn’t quite manage all 5 sets of 10 … I got 3 sets of 10 and then the reps started to drop so just like last week I continued with more sets until I hit 50 reps (51 in this case lol)
I supersetted my BBB with chins today which I think helped me recover a bit between sets …
Hopefully next week I’ll finally crack the full 5x10 @ 70% for bench press …
It seems like every lift is progressing well apart from my bench press … very peculiar as that has always been my second strongest lift…
I never expected bench to be the only lift to give me trouble on this challenge… I was thinking my military Press and squat would fail it lol
Friday 5th Oct - Cycle 3 - Week 2
Deadlift - 70% - 135 kg x 3
- 80% - 152.5 kg x 3
- 90% - 170 kg x 3
BBB - Squats - 70%
77.5 kg x 10
77.5 kg x 10
77.5 kg x 10
77.5 kg x 10
77.5 kg x 10
Chin ups (bodyweight) x 12
Dips (bodyweight) x 20
Upright row - 40kg x 15
Awesome session today … Deadlifts felt nice and strong.
I got all 5 sets of 10 @ 70% again on the squat and this week the form felt much better and less of a struggle - it was still pure torture though.
one more week to go … let’s hope I can finally nail the 5x10 on bench Press in the final week…
Monday 9th oct - cycle 3 - week 3
Bench press - 75% - 67.5 kg x 5
- 85% - 77.5 kg x 3
- 95% - 85 kg x 1
BBB - Military Press - 70%
37.5 kg x 10
37.5 kg x 10
37.5 kg x 10
37.5 kg x 10
37.5 kg x 10
37.5 kg x 10
Weighted chin ups
25 kg plate x 5
20 kg plate x 6
20 kg plate x 5
15 kg plate x 6
15 kg plate x 5
10 kg plate x 7
5 kg plate x 8
I felt awesome today … everything was solid and strong …
I actually did 6 sets of 10 today on the military press just because I felt like I had some more fight in me … probably a bad idea but I wanted to take advantage as I was having a good day …
Tuesday 9th oct - Cycle 3 - Week 3
Squat - 75% - 82.5 kg x 5
- 85% - 95 kg x 3
- 95% - 105 kg x 2 (PR)
BBB - Deadlift - 70%
135 kg x 10
135 kg x 10
135 kg x 10
135 kg x 10
135 kg x 10
135 kg x 10
Bodyweight dips x 20
Felt great again today … the weights were flying up and I scored a 2 rep PR on my squat…
BBB deadlift at 70% was also really flying up today and I added an extra set making it 6x10…
I don’t know where all this extra power is coming from this week but so far I’ve been killing it …
Only 2 more sessions to go … i can’t wait til deload week
Damn im really jealous of your progress. What did you think about week 1 . Was it very Easy? I Mean 5 x 10 at 50 doesnt seem much at all.
Thanks mate …
The first 3 weeks at 50% were extremely easy and I was leaving the gym feeling anxious that I hadnt done enough … but I was determined to trust the program and run it as written because my tendency is always to do too much and then I end up burning myself out and making zero progress …
In my case I think my body needed that first 3 weeks as I had just come off a routine where I was maxing myself out pretty much every day and I was continually spinning my wheels and feeling like crap …
Dropping the volume and intensity for that first month really helped boost my motivation and I found myself enjoying the movements again as opposed to just rolling the dice every workout and fighting for my life …
Been a fun read, I’m on week 4 of the challenge but using same exercise for 5/3/1 as Assistance 5x10 on same day but will be following the one where it goes to 5x5 @80%, 5x3 @ 90% and 5x1 @ TM for the last 6 weeks. So far all I can say is holy leg soreness batman.
Maybe I missed it but what kind of changes have you seen on the scale and mirror so far?
My weight has gone up by just over 2kg … I started out at 83kg and yesterday’s weigh in was sitting at 85kg … looking a lot fuller and I can still see my abs so there’s not a lot of fat gain…
I was going to finish up my last 2 workouts and then post a big review and results post separately…
This thread got a little bit muddled up at the start because I didn’t add the bar weight … so I figured it’d be a good idea to make a separate review post when I’m done …
I’ve not read the variation of BBB where you go up to 80% and 90% … but it sounds like a brilliant way of really milking some extra strength gains …
I might give that a try if I decide to do the BBB challenge again in the future …
Found it in Beyond. Goes up from 50 to 60 to 70 5x10 every two weeks. Then it switches to the scheme I mentioned. Listed as the BBB 13 week challenge I beleive.