10/9/20 New 5/3/1 cycle 1 day 4
Warm-up.
Deadlift:
3x45# + 2 power cleans
3x95# + 2 power cleans
3x135# + 2 power cleans
3x185#
3x225#
3x265#
3x295#
Jokers:
3x315#
3x335#
Superset with chinups 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8
Press:
3x45#
3x65#
3x85#
3x105#
3x120#
3x135#
Joker:
3x145#
Superset with front squats:
3x45#
3x65#
3x85#
3x105#
3x120#
3x135#
3x145#
Amber missed today, she wasn’t feeling up to it after an extra-long shift at work. I’m beat, but it was a good session.
10/11/20 New 5/3/1 cycle 1 day 5
Warm-up.
Squat:
5x45#
5x95#
5x135#
5x185#
3x225#
5x255#
Bench:
5x45#
5x65#
5x95#
5x115#
5x135#
3x150#
5x165#
Superset with pull-ups 1/2/3/4/5/6/7
Amber’s top sets were 5x85# squat and 6x70# bench.
Did this session a day early because I’m going to Topeka to do a double red blood donation this afternoon, and I will need to take a few days off to replenish some red blood cells.
Ended up having to do a regular whole blood donation instead of the double red because my iron count was too high for the apheresis machine. Went to eat right afterwards, and then I was in a daze for the rest of the afternoon once my remaining blood abandoned my brain to go to work on my digestive system…
10/15/20 New 5/3/1 cycle 1 day 6
Warm-up.
Deadlift:
5x45# + 2 power cleans
5x95# + 2 power cleans
5x135# + 2 power cleans
5x225#
3x275#
5x315#
Superset with chinups 1/2/3/4/5/6/7
Press:
5x45#
5x65#
5x95#
5x115#
3x135#
5x145#
Superset with front squats
3x45#
3x65#
3x95#
5x115#
3x135#
5x145#
Amber missed today, she’s been working a lot of hours because they’re shortstaffed at work, says she wants to take a break. I’m trying to convince her that 2-3 hours a week is a worthwhile time investment, but we’ll see.
I got a lot of work done with just two sessions a week with 5/3/1 beginners. Around 1.5 hours each
That’s basically what I’m doing, except I’m not doing 5/3/1 beginners, but my own bastardized 5/3/1 whole body variation. This last cycle was a ‘get back into it’ cycle, I’ll start working supplemental exercises in next cycle, which starts tomorrow. Anyway, I’ll have to keep working on her, but I can’t force her to train.
Anyway, for today, did a little over 1 mile run, untimed, with 3 dogs in tow, 2 on leashes, which involved lots of stops to sniff stuff and pee on things (the dogs, not me). Felt good, and the dogs stopping a lot kept me from getting too fried.
10/18/20 5/3/1 Cycle 2 day 1
Warmup:
Squat:
5x45#
5x95#
5x135#
5x175#
5x215#
10x235#
Bench:
5x45#
5x65#
5x95#
5x115#
5x130#
10x150#
superset with pull-ups: 1/2/3/4/5/10
Dips: 10/10/10
Barbell curls superset with tricep extensions 45#: 10/10/10
Good, easy day. Plenty in the tank on the last set of both squats and bench.
10/19/20 conditioning
Had to go out to the farmhouse today and get a mattress that was stored there, so took the dogs out there so we could do some non-leashed running.
10x100m sprints, about 1:00 rest between intervals but didn’t time it. Felt okay, but legs were pretty tight from yesterday’s squats. Now a day of rest before deadlift/press day.
10/21/20 5/3/1 cycle 2 day 2
Warmup.
Deadlift:
5x45# + 2 power cleans
5x95# + 2 power cleans
5x135# + 2 power cleans
5x185#
5x225#
5x255#
10x295#
Superset with chinups 1/2/3/4/5/6/10
Press:
5x45#
5x65#
5x85#
5x100#
5x115#
10x130#
Superset with front squats 3x 45/65/85/100/155/130#
1 arm DB press 45# fat grips 10/10/10
Superset with bent over BB row 135# 10/10/10
Well, working accessory exercises in is testing me, my body wanted to quit after the main lifts. That’s okay, I need to keep pushing myself.
Conditioning today. A little over 1 mile run/walk/stop and sniff/get dragged with >200# of dogs on leashes. Fun run, except that I almost wiped out thanks to a hole that was nicely camouflaged by a drift of fallen leaves, recovered from that and kept going, and then about 100m later realized I dropped my phone when that happened, had to go back and find it in said drift of leaves. Good times…
10/24/20 5/3/1 cycle 2 day 3
Warmup.
Squat:
3x45#
3x95#
3x135#
3x185#
3x225#
3x255#
Jokers:
3x275#
3x295#
Bench:
10x45#
3x65#
3x85#
3x105#
3x125#
3x145#
3x160#
Joker:
3x175#
3x185#
superset with pullups: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/10
Accessory:
Dips 10/10/10
Barbell curls superset with standing tricep extensions 45# 10/10/10
Another good session, everything feels healthy, resisting the urge to push too far too fast.
Another conditioning day with the pups on leashes. ~1 mile walk/run, quite of bit of fast running. No idea how fast, but when I was running, the dogs were running rather than trotting, a couple hundred meters at a time sometimes. Got home in a good sweat despite it being 39F outside this morning.
10/27/20 5/3/1 cycle 2 day 4
Warm-up.
Deadlift:
3x45# + 2 power cleans
3x95# + 2 power cleans
3x135# + 2 power cleans
3x185#
3x225#
3x275#
3x305#
Jokers:
3x340#
Superset with chinups 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/10
Press:
3x45#
3x65#
3x85#
3x110#
3x125#
3x140#
Joker:
3x150#
3x160#
Superset with front squats:
3x45#
3x65#
3x85#
3x110#
3x125#
3x140#
3x150#
3x160#
Accessory:
1 arm DB press 45# fat grips 10/10/10
Superset with bent over BB row 135# 10/10/10
Another good workout, except it was freezing in the garage. I was good once I warmed up, worked up a good sweat, but my fingers never got warm.
Only did 1 joker set on deadlift because I ran out of weight. I have another 220# of kilo plates out at the farm, but I didn’t think I’d need more weight for a while. Ah well, I won’t need it again until next cycle, so plenty of time to go get it in the meantime.
10/29/20 Conditioning run/walk 1 mile with dogs on leash again today. This weekend I’ll go out to the farm where I can turn them loose and get a proper run. Cold temp running was a shock to the lungs, was coughing for about 15 minutes after I got back, bronchial tubes wanted to seize up on me.
10/31/20 5/3/1 cycle 2 day 5
Warm-up.
Squat:
5x45#
5x95#
5x135#
5x185#
5x215#
3x240#
5x265#
Bench:
5x45#
5x65#
5x95#
5x115#
5x135#
3x155#
5x175#
Superset with pull-ups 1/2/3/4/5/6/10
Accessory:
Dips 10/10/10
Barbell curls superset with standing tricep extensions 45# 10/10/10
Took a nice long walk with the dogs beforehand, but no running, didn’t want to take away from the training. Tomorrow they get a good run.
11/3/20 5/3/1 cycle 2 day 6
Warm-up.
Deadlift:
5x45# + 2 power cleans
5x95# + 2 power cleans
5x135# + 2 power cleans
5x185#
5x225#
5x255#
3x290#
5x325#
Superset with chinups 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/10
Press:
5x45#
5x65#
5x95#
5x115#
3x130#
5x145#
Superset with front squats
3x45#
3x65#
3x95#
5x115#
3x130#
5x145#
Accessory:
1 arm DB press 45# fat grips 10/10/10
Superset with bent over BB row 135# 10/10/10
2 full cycles down since starting back, all is feeling well so far. Starting a new one on Friday.
Some nice work here Steve. Looks like it’s coming back to you know.
This reads like you never lost any strength, in addition to remodeling.
I’m actually pretty happy with how little muscle mass and strength I lose when I take a break from lifting, especially at 55. I think part of it is that I’m always pretty physically active even when I’m not actively lifting, so my body never has a chance to decide it doesn’t need the muscle and start dumping it.
Another part is that I eat too much, so I don’t lose a lot of muscle, but I also gain some fat, which isn’t good. I’m currently sitting at 205#, with >20% body fat. I’m not actively trying to cut weight, but I’ve dropped about 5# since I started back anyway. Right now I’m not trying to do any sort of transformation challenge, so I’m just pushing strength and fitness, and I’ll let body composition take care of itself.
11/5/20 conditioning day
Did some timed quarter-miles before taking the dogs out this morning.
Splits:
2:41
2:21
2:04
Goal was to start easy, and get a little faster on each split. I had to go all the way back to June 5th to find the last time I did quarter-miles for time, and it was 4x400, with splits of 2:39, 2:08 and 2 slower than split #2, but time unknown because my phone died. So I’m a little better off than I was back in June after 3 months of being back into training, before I took a couple of breaks. I was curious how much good the untimed run/walks with the dogs were doing me, and it appears they’re effective, which is good to know.
THEN, >1 mile run/walk with the dogs, untimed. This still felt okay, although the dogs had to drag me a little more than usual today.