Just wondering how everyone else has been progressing. I’ve been running SVR for the most part and lifting 3-4 days a week. My personal bests in the past year were
Squat 440
Deadlift 460
Bench 305
Press 185
All at a body weight of about 203
Only my 7th cycle and I know with a 260 squat there’s nowhere to go but up, but yesterday I got 295x8. I told myself I would just run 3 cycles then it turned to 6 cycles now it’s gonna be a year lol
Hey, gotta start somewhere. Good work
Been running 531 since august 2013. Started with the full body template and changed to boring but big this year.
Progress is pretty good, except for the squat. I’m still not great and my technique is the main problem. Always leaning forward and then I go back down with the weight and try to change something. Now I’m doing 5s progression for the squat and just trying to do explosive reps with moderate weight till I feel sure with it.
running my 4th cycle using one joker and FSL on each main lift and progressing well.
One question, my 3 week always feels easiest, is this the same for others?
[quote]Picc wrote:
running my 4th cycle using one joker and FSL on each main lift and progressing well.
One question, my 3 week always feels easiest, is this the same for others?[/quote]
I feel similar.
[quote]Ecchastang wrote:
[quote]Picc wrote:
running my 4th cycle using one joker and FSL on each main lift and progressing well.
One question, my 3 week always feels easiest, is this the same for others?[/quote]
I feel similar.[/quote]
So do I, and I think that’s because the total volume is a lot higher on the 5 week, also considering you often try to push a high (higher than the other weeks) RPR on the 5+ set.
Been training with 5/3/1 for about a year and a half.
My squat has gone from 215 to 285. Bench has stalled from an injury, but gained about 25lbs while switching from unpaused to paused reps.
Deadlift has gone from 305 to 390.
I’ve gone through periods of struggling, but they usually come right before a breakthrough. If anything, 5/3/1 has helped me to just mentally hang in there long enough for good things to happen.
Slow
My first 4 cycles were very productive (partly due to form changes in squat; went from high-bar to low bar and started utilizing my posterior which I didn’t do before due to very severe quad dominance) but I hit a plateau. Since the 4th cycle, I’ve done 2 more and my rep maxes have not budged. I think it’s time for a change of template or a completely new program. I recently cleaned up my diet though so maybe this will change (I was on a not-so-clean permabulk for over a year; I did this because I don’t put on much fat even when the diet is aweful).
Squat 3x245 to 4x335
DL 8x265 to 4x365
Bench 3x185 to 4x215
Press 3x115 to 4x135
[quote]Dangles wrote:
My first 4 cycles were very productive (partly due to form changes in squat; went from high-bar to low bar and started utilizing my posterior which I didn’t do before due to very severe quad dominance) but I hit a plateau. Since the 4th cycle, I’ve done 2 more and my rep maxes have not budged. I think it’s time for a change of template or a completely new program. I recently cleaned up my diet though so maybe this will change (I was on a not-so-clean permabulk for over a year; I did this because I don’t put on much fat even when the diet is aweful).
Squat 3x245 to 4x335
DL 8x265 to 4x365
Bench 3x185 to 4x215
Press 3x115 to 4x135
[/quote]
Don’t be too quick to change templates! Not every week is going to produce a rep max, and sometimes, leaving a training max in place for a few months allows you to get more solid reps at the same weights than you did the months before.
If you aren’t already doing it, I’d suggest throwing in more joker sets to build confidence at heavy weights or hammer away and build muscle with a boring but big challenge. You’ve made great gains–the jumps in weight will be smaller now though: 5lbs instead of 10 or more. Slow progress is always better than no progress.
Keep lifting hard, and good luck!
I’m on the last phase of my first strength challenge (max in 2 weeks) so we’ll see! Like a dumb ass I wasn’t upping the TM right so I’m not holding my breath. I’m going to keep running it until I stall though.
I’d really like to try the FSL and Joker sets too though! Maybe in 2015.
[quote]chobbs wrote:
Only my 7th cycle and I know with a 260 squat there’s nowhere to go but up, but yesterday I got 295x8. I told myself I would just run 3 cycles then it turned to 6 cycles now it’s gonna be a year lol[/quote]
Why would you tell yourself that? This is a long term commitment.