Comments: Squats went well today, I was aiming for 12 reps and got them no problem. The only barrier in my squatting is conditioning. I was out of breath by the last rep. The strength and drive was there on the last rep just like it was there on the first rep, but I couldn’t breathe anymore. Hopefully that is something that will improve over time with doing higher rep squatting. Farmer walks were great, I designated an area in the gym where I do them, and I just walk back and forth, due to limited space. I was able to do 3 sets of 5 trips back and forth, until my grip gave out. Overall good workout. Tomorrow is off day.
Comments: Squats went well today, I was aiming for 12 reps and got them no problem. The only barrier in my squatting is conditioning. I was out of breath by the last rep. The strength and drive was there on the last rep just like it was there on the first rep, but I couldn’t breathe anymore. Hopefully that is something that will improve over time with doing higher rep squatting. Farmer walks were great, I designated an area in the gym where I do them, and I just walk back and forth, due to limited space. I was able to do 3 sets of 5 trips back and forth, until my grip gave out. Overall good workout. Tomorrow is off day.
Military Press:
45x5
65x5
95x5
105x5
125x5
140x10 (PR, last two reps were more of a push-press however)
DB Military Press:
50x5
60x5
70x4 (Hard!)
60x5
60x5
T-Bar Row:
90x10
135x10
155x10
155x10
Close-Grip Bench:
95x5
135x5
165x5
185x5
Barbell Curl:
85x8
105x8
105x8
Comments: Workout was good, Dominated the press, but cheated and used legs on the last two reps just to see how much I can do. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that, because my Lumbar spinal area isn’t feeling too good, probably due to hyperextension during the presses. Did DB military for the first time, and had a hard time judging how low should I go exactly. Arnold presses feel a lot better and use more range of motion, but I’m trying these out to get some variety. I Absolutely love t-bar row, it rips my back apart. By the time I was doing CGBP I was pretty worn out and I feel like I didn’t get much out of that.
Comments: Back wasn’t feeling great from the presses yesterday, I think I need to focus on not hyperextending it so much, because there was some pain in the lumbar region today. Even with all that I decided to hit a PR and got 10 reps for 335 on the deadlift. I planned on doing some farmer walks, but was way too drained to do more than 1 set so I wrapped it up and went home.
With OHPing and DLing, I’ve found that lower back pain has been helped by really squeezing the hell out of your glutes. Helps with staying stable for OHPing and for locking DLs out.
[quote]AquaCruzer wrote:
Man nice PRs up in here! Keep it up!
With OHPing and DLing, I’ve found that lower back pain has been helped by really squeezing the hell out of your glutes. Helps with staying stable for OHPing and for locking DLs out.[/quote]
Thanks bud. I will try that and see how it goes. DL’s don’t cause me back pain, just soreness, but the OHP has been, so I will try to squeeze my core/glutes more next time for stability
Flat Bench Press:
45x20
8 Wide Grip Pull Ups
95x5
8 Wide Grip Pull Ups
115x3
8 Wide Grip Pull Ups
155x3
175x3
195x6.5 (Needed a little assistance on my right side on the 7th rep)
Comments: Great workout today. Hopefully Bench Press gets better. Had two different people come up to me saying I look bigger and that Im gaining size/weight. Im currently at 195lb, so I’ve gained about 4 pounds since starting 5/3/1. I guess it is noticeable, because I rarely ever get these comments from people I see regularly. Squats tomorrow.
Comments: CALF SEASON IS COMING UP! I have puny calves and haven’t trained them directly in a while, so I decided I’ll be hitting them twice a week from now on to change that. They are really sore after those 3 sets and DOMS haven’t even kicked in yet. Squats were good. Nailed 255 for 12 which was a personal best, and honestly it was easy. I can’t wait till i get to bigger weights, and hopefully start repping 3 plates later in the year. I didn’t make it to the gym on tuesday, so my lower body is only getting 1 day of rest before I do deadlifts again, so I decided to skip the good mornings and save my energy for deads. Tomorrow is Overhead press. I am going to attempt to use a split stance to prevent hyperextention of my back, because it really caused some pain last time. Not sure what that’ll do to my strength, considering it is going to be a new way of doing it, but we’ll see.
Comments: Tried using a staggered stance during presses, but felt really imbalanced, and it definitely affected my numbers on my last set, but my back feels better than last week, so it’s worth it. DB presses went well considering I rested shortly between sets. After the rows I felt really fatigued and the workout slowed down. As I’m typing this I feel beat. Gettin some Jimmy John’s sandwiches later though! Deadlifts tomorrow.
Comments: Insert typical rant about Bench Press here… I’m eating enough, I’m sleeping more than enough, but I’m still stuck where I was months ago on bench press. Hopefully I can break through this plateau. Squat tomorrow
Appreciate it man, you’re absolutely right. Most of my lifts are progressing well, except for the bench press, and after a while it gets frustrating I guess. Makes me think whether I have too much volume on my assistance work that it’s hurting my progression in bench.
[quote]Dlouda wrote:
Appreciate it man, you’re absolutely right. Most of my lifts are progressing well, except for the bench press, and after a while it gets frustrating I guess. Makes me think whether I have too much volume on my assistance work that it’s hurting my progression in bench.[/quote]
This was my original thought before I read your post concerning how much volume you have in your assistance. Personally I have found that my bench press numbers make more progress with less overall upper body pushing volume.
Awesome progress on the log. I will be following, as I am also currently doing 5/3/1. It is an awesome program.
[quote]Dlouda wrote:
Appreciate it man, you’re absolutely right. Most of my lifts are progressing well, except for the bench press, and after a while it gets frustrating I guess. Makes me think whether I have too much volume on my assistance work that it’s hurting my progression in bench.[/quote]
That’s a possibility. And kind of echoing what fandango said, about the volume. Personally after the all out set, I’m pretty beat and am not really in the mood for assistance work. As long as you’re focusing and really pushing the main lift. The assistance should help your main lift, not detract from it. So if anything go balls to the wall with your main lift and take it easy with assistance.
[quote]Dlouda wrote:
Appreciate it man, you’re absolutely right. Most of my lifts are progressing well, except for the bench press, and after a while it gets frustrating I guess. Makes me think whether I have too much volume on my assistance work that it’s hurting my progression in bench.[/quote]
This was my original thought before I read your post concerning how much volume you have in your assistance. Personally I have found that my bench press numbers make more progress with less overall upper body pushing volume.
Awesome progress on the log. I will be following, as I am also currently doing 5/3/1. It is an awesome program.[/quote]
Thanks man, I agree 5/3/1 is a fun and effective routine. I’ll give it another cycle, and if the numbers don’t improve I may reduce the assistance volume and go from there.
Do you know where your weak point is as far as bench pressing? In relation to your bench, your military press seems good, so I would think that your weak point is your triceps. I may be off, but it is something for you to think about.
[quote]Fandango wrote:
Do you know where your weak point is as far as bench pressing? In relation to your bench, your military press seems good, so I would think that your weak point is your triceps. I may be off, but it is something for you to think about.[/quote]
Triceps are my strong point actually. I press with a very narrow grip on both Bench and overhead presses. My bench press weak point is the right side of my body… Not sure what is wrong with me, either a winged scapula or some posture problems, but my right side is significantly weaker and out of place compared to my left side, which holds me back on bench quite a bit. The sticking point is about halfway through, It’s not right off the chest nor during lockout. I feel that my first couple of reps are perfect and easy, and then it just goes to shit all of the sudden on the last rep. Maybe the imbalance in my left and right side causes my back to shuffle on the bench after several reps, and cause each rep to get progressively harder. I’m not sure, I should see a Physical Therapist to assess my anatomical problem I guess.