Didn’t have a chance to log yesterday, so two days worth of workouts today:
5/14/15 Cycle 1 day 3
Warmup.
Bench press 5x125, 5x145, 10x165#
Accessory -BBB bench w/135#
No conditioning
5/15/15 Cycle 1 day 4
Warmup.
Power Cleans up to 3x135#
Squat 5x180, 5x205, 10x235#
Accessory - BBB squat w/185#
Situps/back extensions
Conditioning - sprints 14x40m
Overall, first week back felt really good. Weights felt heavy but hitting 10 reps on my last set was no problem on any of the 4 main exercises. Now, hopefully now that I’ve ramped up my volume from the haphazard training I was doing the couple weeks leading up to getting back on the program, and fixed my diet, I will start losing a little of the excess fat I’ve accumulated over the last 4 months.
5/18/15
5/3/1 Cycle 1 day 5
Press - 3x105, 3x115, 3x125, J+ 3x135, 3x145
Accessory: 1 arm DB press 55# 3x10
shrugs 3x10
No conditioning
Didn’t do curls, because my right elbow was hurting. I worked out at the gym at work this morning, and I’m finding that power cleans are not my friend when I can’t drop the weight, dropping the bar back down to my thigh is killing my right elbow tendons, and my elbow was screaming when I tried to curl. Pressing was no problem, and neither was doing pull-ups between sets of press. I think I’m going to drop power cleans until I have some bumper plates I can drop, and I’m not going to press at the work gym either, since I have to power clean the weights up before I press, no rack to start from.
Once I’m moved into my new house I’ll buy a bar and at least 45# bumper plates, and go crazy with the power cleans.
5/19/15
5/3/1 cycle 1 day 6
Warmup.
Deadlift 3x215#, 3x245#, 3x285#, J+ 3x315#, 3x345#
Front squats up to 5x165
1 arm DB rows w/60#
Core work.
No conditioning.
5/21/15
5/3/1 cycle 1 day 7
Warmup.
Bench 3x135, 3x155, 3x175, J+ 3x185, 3x195, 3x205
Accessory work - dips, curls
Conditioning - walked dogs 2 miles
First of all, addendum to yesterday’s accessory work, FSL bench 3x5x135#
As for today…
5/22/15
5/3/1 cycle 1 day 8
Squat 3x195, 3x220, 3x250, J+ 3x275, 3x315
Accessory work - FSL squat 3x5x195
Good mornings
hanging leg raises
Core work
Conditioning - 7x115m ‘sprints’, 30 sec rest between sets
I put the sprints in quotes because I’m not exactly lightning fast for 115m, around 25 seconds, but for me it’s a sprint effort-wise.
I was pleasantly surprised with the joker sets on squats, especially considering that I tested a 1rm 2 weeks ago as 305#, although as I said before, that was conservative. I obviously didn’t get that much stronger in two weeks, I think it’s more of a matter of getting more confident under the bar as I get back into it. That being said, my earlier estimate of retaining 85-90% of my previous strength before my 4 month layoff appears to be even more conservative than I thought. 3x315# was challenging, but I definitely had more in me.
I’m not going to reset my 1RM’s for 5/3/1 purposes, though. Obviously it’s working for me, so I’ll just stick with the program. The only deviation I’ll be doing is to do joker sets on 3’s week, and use the other weeks for volume and pushing rep records.
5/25/15
5/3/1 cycle 1 day 9
Warmup.
Press - 5x105, 3x120, 5x135#
Accessory work - 1 arm DB press, BB shrug, curls
No conditioning.
5/26/15
5/3/1 cycle 1 day 10
Warmup.
Deadlift - 5x225, 3x260, 5x295#
Short on time today, so just did main lift and went to work.
Had to go into work a little early today since I had to leave at 9, taking the wife in to get back surgery 
She’s not a happy camper.
5/28/15
5/3/1 Cycle 1 day 11
Warmup.
Bench - 5x145, 3x165, 5x185#
Accessory work - weighted dips up to 10x45#; Pullups.
No conditioning.
Also met a kid at the gym whose stepdad runs the Strength Guild gym in Topeka, an olympic and powerlifting gym which I did not know existed. I say ‘kid’, but he’s in the Army, so just a kid from my old man perspective. Anyway, exchanged info with him, and I have a new gym to check out in Topeka, which is a city I actually go to on a regular basis. Looking forward to checking it out!
5/29/15
5/3/1 cycle 1 day 12
Warmup.
Squat - 5x205, 3x235, 5x265#
Accessory - FSL squat 3x5x205#, Good mornings, 1 arm DB rows
Core work.
Conditioning - 16x40m sprints
6/1/15
5/3/1 cycle 2 day 1
Press - 5x95, 5x110, 10x125#.
Accessory work - FSL press 3x5x95#, 1 arm DB press 3x10x55#, shrugs, curls.
No core work or conditioning.
6/2/15
5/3/1 cycle 2 day 2
Warmup.
Deadlift - 5x210, 5x240, 10x275#
Accessory work - Front squats up to 5x175#
A couple of things:
- I slept badly last night, and drug up out of bed late, so I was short of time. Last week I did deadlift only, though, so I sort of rushed things to at least get some front squats in, so a little bit of accessory work.
- 10 reps at 275# was hard, not on my back or grip as much as my hands… I really need to get some chalk now that I’m back to working out.
- Front squats at 175# were hard, as in the 5th rep was hard to come out of the hole. My front squat is way off from my back squat, which really shouldn’t surprise me since I feel back squats mostly in my glutes and hamstrings, so I’m not working my quads as much as I should. Even more reason to not skip accessory work on deadlift day, and to put more emphasis on the front squats… maybe I’ll start doing front squats as an accessory exercise on squat day, too… I know I don’t have a lot of attention on my log, but does anyone out there have any suggestions to bring up front squat, other than doing more front squats? And is it worth doing if my goals are really to raise my weights on the main lifts?
6/4/15
5/3/1 cycle 2 day 3
Warmup.
Bench - 5x135, 5x155, 10x175#.
Accessory - FSL 3x5x135, Dips, Pullups.
6/5/15
5/3/1 cycle 2 day 4
Warmup.
Squat - 5x185, 5x215, 10x245#
Accessory - FSL Squat 3x5x185#, Good Mornings, 2x15x65# croc rows
Core work.
Conditioning - 4x230m run, 1:00 rest between
Squats are feeling strong, 10x245# was not hard, definitely had several in the tank, but I’m limiting myself to 10 reps on 5’s week. Did the FSL squats with about a 1 second pause at the bottom, got a good glute and hamstring stretch out of it. Paid for that when I did the runs though… The last 230m leg was hard to move my legs fast because of hamstring fatigue.
On the subject of running, I’m depressingly slow. It was a challenge to stay under 1:00 for the 230m legs, which means I’m only a little under a 7:00 mile pace on a 230m run, which sucks, but that’s okay, running is not a goal right now, and I’m still getting the conditioning benefit out of it.
6/8/15
5/3/1 cycle 2 day 5
Press - 3x100, 3x115, 3x130#, J+ 3x140#, 3x150#
Accesory - FSL press - 3x5x100#, 1 arm DB press 3x10x55#
6/9/15
5/3/1 cycle 2 day 6
Warmup.
Deadlift - 3x225, 3x255, 3x290#, J+ 3x320, 3x350#
Accessory - Front squats worked up to 5x185#
Okay, addendum to yesterday’s workout. The posted workout was in the A.M., and after work I got an extra conditioning workout - 3 hours of digging post holes with a hand-held auger… exhausting, but ridiculously good back, shoulder, arm and core work.
6/11/15
5/3/1 cycle 2 day 7
Warmup.
Bench - 3x140, 3x160, 3x180#, J+ 3x195, 3x205#
Accessory - FSL bench 3x5x140, 3x12 dips
Conditioning - 2 hours of setting fence posts and pouring concrete.
I probably could have gone higher on the bench joker sets, but I was alone in the gym and I won’t get under a bench weight I’m not 100% confident in without a spotter.
If the rain coming this weekend gives me enough of a window, the backyard fence will be done and we’ll be able to move into the new house!
My front squats went up mainly from really pushing my back squat. I did just front squat for like a year and a half and got it up like 30-40 pounds. I start back squatting hard andit jumped 40 pounds in like 3 months. I liked them more for trunk work and lunges for quads.
[quote]Ass Banana wrote:
My front squats went up mainly from really pushing my back squat. I did just front squat for like a year and a half and got it up like 30-40 pounds. I start back squatting hard andit jumped 40 pounds in like 3 months. I liked them more for trunk work and lunges for quads.[/quote]
Thanks, A.B. I think you’re right, and I think I’m being impatient as well, seeing as I just started back. I have been mostly doing back squats already, and it seems like with my stance my hamstrings and glutes do most of the work, and my quads seem to be lagging behind. I’m hitting the front squats to be balanced more than anything else. They really hit my quads, and it makes me have to keep my upper back tight, which I think is also helping me deadlift.
Anyway, on to today:
6/12/15
5/3/1 cycle 2 day 8
Warmup.
Squats - 3x200, 3x230, 3x260#, J+ 3x290, 3x325#
Accessory - FSL squats 3x5x200#, good mornings, kroc rows
Core work.
Conditioning - 8x115m sprints, :30 rest between sets
Squats are feeling good. I’m as strong as or stronger than I was before my lay-off, as far as back squats are concerned. Still going to keep the 1RM for 5/3/1 calculation purposes where it is, and keep riding the program.
6/15/15
5/3/1 cycle 2 day 9
Warmup.
Press - 5x105, 3x125, 7x140#
Accessory - FSL press 3x5x105#, 1 arm 55# DB press 3x10, shrugs.
No conditioning.
1+ week, and I decided not to limit myself to 5 reps on the last set and see how it felt. 7 was challenging but still probably had another in the tank. Skipped on curls for accessory because I spent a chunk of the weekend digging more post holes, and my right elbow hurt when I tried curling just the bar, so I left it alone. Pressing doesn’t bother it at all, pullups make it twinge a little but are manageable, but even very light curls are painful.