2/4/24 Day two of calculating 1RM. 12x275# on deadlift for a 1RM of 385#, and 9x125# on overhead press for a 1RM of 162.5#, so I’ll round down to 160#. Also did power cleans up to 2x135#, and front squats up to 3x125#.
Then a little running. 400m warmup in 2:46, followed by 3x200m runs, with the splits being 1:10, 1:03, 1:00. Goal was to start with an easily sustainable pace, then speed up a little each leg, so mission accomplished, but still slow AF. That’s okay though, gotta start somewhere.
Edit: day 1 of 5/3/1 cycle starts this coming Friday, and I’m just doing Friday/Sunday for weights, and walking a few times during the week, because of time constraints. This will go on until the end of March when the plant outage starts, then it’s gonna be work out when I can make time, so it’ll be hit or miss for April and half of May.
2/9/2024 5/3/1 Cycle 1 day 1 - First program cycle after a little over a year out of the gym.
Warmup:
Squat:
10x45#
5x95#
5x135#
5x185#
5x215#
10x240#
Bench:
10x45#
5x65#
5x85#
5x105#
5x125#
10x140#
superset with pull-ups: 1/2/3/4/5/7
Accessory:
Dips weighted: 10/10/10
Superset with Zercher squats 135# 5/5/5
EZ bar curls 38# 10/10/10
Superset with triceps extensions 38# 12/12/12
Conditioning: 1 mile of run 115m, walk 115m, untimed.
I was worried I might be a little ambitious with the weights for my first cycle back, but had no problem hitting 10 reps on both top sets. Kept the accessory stuff really easy because I’ve been working my way up on the main lifts, but this is my first time doing the accessory work this year. All in all, everything went well.
Deadlift:
5x45# + 2 power cleans
5x95# + 2 power cleans
5x135# + 2 power cleans
5x185#
5x225#
5x265#
10x295#
Superset with chinups 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8
Press:
10x45#
5x65#
5x85#
5x95#
5x110#
10x125#
Superset with front squats 3x 45/65/85/95/110/125#
Accessories:
1 arm db press 40# x10/10/10
Superset with bent over dumbbell rows 50# 10/10/10
Conditioning: 1/2 mile on the indoor track of run the straights/walk the curves. I was planning to do more, but got a little muscle twinge in my left calf just below my knee, so I cut it short. Doesn’t hurt exactly, but I can feel it so decided to err on the side of caution.
Also, met a young guy in the gym today who is also doing 5/3/1, just on the 3’s week of his second cycle, and he seemed pretty passionate about it. It’s good to see people working hard and learning effective programming early on in their lifting career.
Thanks! I’m actually pretty happy with that given that the last time I did a 5/3/1 cycle was 13 months ago, and I literally did no lifting for all of 2023. Goes to show that if you build a good base, it doesn’t just disappear on even an extended layoff. Of course, it’ll take me a year to get back to doing strongman levels of strength, but it’s nice to know it’s still on the table…
Squat:
10x45#
5x95#
5x135# - up to this set, cleaned and pressed the bar to get it to my shoulders as the squat rack was occupied. Other guy finished just in time since I’m not sure I would have been successful cleaning and pressing the next set.
5x185#
5x215#
3x240#
5x270#
Deadlift:
5x45# + 2 power cleans
5x95# + 2 power cleans
5x135# + 2 power cleans
5x185#
5x225#
5x260#
3x295#
5x330#
Superset with chinups 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8
Press:
10x45#
5x65#
5x85#
5x110#
3x125#
5x140#
Superset with front squats 3x 45/65/85/110/125/140#
Accessories:
1 arm db press 40# x15/15/15
Superset with bent over dumbbell rows 50# 15/15/15
Overall I had a good workout. I tweaked the front of my right shoulder somehow on Friday when I did bench or maybe on the dips, I guess I’ll have to back off to lighter weights there, but it didn’t seem to affect my press at all, as long as I concentrated on my shoulder and elbow alignment.
EZ bar curls 43# 10/10/10
Superset with triceps extensions 43# 12/12/12
Dropped bench weight down, and it was still doable, although I had to really focus on keeping my shoulder and elbow alignment. Dips were not happening, however. Tried to start a set, and could tell right away that it wasn’t a good idea. One of these days I may have to have surgery on that shoulder…
Summer with lots of work going on, and not much working out. Getting back at it now that winter is coming. Planning on some consistency. Also, will not be benching at all, I keep hurting myself every time.
Update: started getting back out to my garage gym last weekend, and just started with light weight whole body as usual, to get my body back used to moving weight. a few weeks and a 1RM test, then I’ll start programmed lifting again.
The good: Today hit 5x275 deadlift, 3x135# power clean, 5x225 squat and 5x115# press. So, semi-decent strength still there for not having moved any weights since the beginning of April.
The bad: Weighed in at 215#, and not measuring BF% but definitely greater than 25%. I need to work on that.
The plan:
Another week of all lifts every day, maybe 3 days of it, then test 1RM’s, and go purposely low on them.
Start a strongman 5/3/1 program with power cleans and Zercher squats where bench press would normally go, and swap between back squats and front squats as I progress. Again, purposely light weights starting out so I’m not taxing myself too much.
Start walking and running, and get in shape to do a 5K run in the spring. I have an old program I used before to get ready for a race, that was doable while still hitting weights. A mix of sprints, intervals, and ‘long’ runs. Goal isn’t to do anything crazy, under 30 minutes and I"ll be happy. Work on dropping some # off my bodyweight during this period.
After 5K, start working seriously on strength, look for a fall/winter strongman competition to sign up for, as motivation.
Stay healthy, don’t get over-ambitious and hurt myself.
Today I took the dogs to the dog park, then did 7x100m run with quite a bit of walking in between, not fast at all, just reminding my body what running feels like.