Alright so this is very much unconfirmed - if anyone is taller than 6’9 let me know.
I wanted to document the lifts of a long limbed ectomorphic tall person (I look a bit like the picture of the dog on my avatar).
I weigh 130-2 kg/290 odd lbs.
Bf not low but I dont have a belly (possibly because I’m tall) and no one has ever called me fat.
Been lifting properly since March 2009.
Been doing 5-3-1 since March 2010.
Last week I maxed out all in one session on following 5 exercises (made me feel terrible for 3+ days):
Bench: 95kg/210lb (the bench press hates me and my long arms - a 1*bw bench seems a long way off!)
Dead: 220kg/490lb [I pull modified sumo], double overhand, no straps, lever belted
Squat: 160kg/355lb belted
Military: 75kg/167lb belted
Power Clean: 115kg/255lb belted Not exemplary form but not terrible/injurious
I hope to make this the most boring log ever: same exercises in same order on same days [I’ll only change if things are clearly not working]. 5-3-1 has so far given me some really solid gains since March [Dead from 185-220, Squat from 140 - 160 despite too many detours into front squat as main exercise, Bench only started since May, Military Press from 67 - 75] and I plan to stay on it with consistency and a boring approach for a very long time to come
Savickas Press (no more Military for a while as I cant stop leaning back and getting irritation):
45kg/100lb * 14
Chins 6*4 at 132kg/290ish. These were done at 7 minute intervals throughout the workout.
Close Grip Floor Press 31050k/110lb
Then out of curiosity I wanted to max out on these so I worked up to 85/190*1. I then tried 90/200 but failed. I’m always being an idiot and missing lifts - I obviously love failing. Because I was annoyed with myself I powercleaned the weight to re-rack it, in order to regain some of my ego and demonstrate to the other guys in the gym that I am strong really, honest. It didn’t really work.
“Why, oh why, am I so weak at pressing movements. There is something very wrong with my upper body. Because I weigh 130kg/290 but can only bench as much (or less) as people who weigh 70/155 I am obviously pathetic. In fact I am a failure as a human being.”
Power Clean 82.5kg/180lb 33
Squat 110/24420 PR Belted (first 12 were continuous, last 8 I took breaths)
Front Squat 57.5/130 3*10 (not locking out/constant tension)
Rack Pull (from mid-knee with modified Sumo stance) BELTED Went as high as 280/620 but couldnt lock that one out (upper back weakness I think). I got the 270/660 though. PR. These seem to have gone up massively since 2 months ago when I last did them: from 220-270/280. My grip has really got a lot better - chalk helps.
Felt like a BEAST when I did these - 280kg Whoop! (Stupid I know - it’s just a meaningless Rack Pull - especially pointless because my weakness is off the ground).
Deads
162.5kg/360lb*15 (Paused briefly before final rep)
GM
62.5/140kg310
DB Bulg Split Squat
25/55312 each leg.
Everything felt hard today (I’m not used to training early morning) and I struggled to get the reps on the split squats which should have been really easy. I probably felt the most nauseous, shaky and generally f’ed up after today’s workout than I’ve felt since I used to row (in boats). Then I had to go to work. Not fun.
Power Clean 85kg/190lb 33 (felt under-powered today, form is getting worse as I keep adding weight)
Squat Belted 117.5/260 * 15
Front Squat 60/135 310 (not locking out/constant tension)
2DB Single Leg RDL 30/66 3*1O
Felt nice and sick just for a change. Fell asleep on couch. Writing this I want to go and do it all over again - I must be mad.
Savickas Press from Mid-face
Worked up to 65/145 for 1 then took less than 50% of this (30/66) and did 3*10 with it
Rack Pull from below knee (no straps)
Worked up to 260/580*1. [Compare this with 280/620 done 11 days ago]. I have the habit of wanting to add in some lower body ‘fun stuff’ during upper body days, especially when I’m not getting any t PRs but thankfully I don’t act on that impulse all that often {today was an exception).
Db Row
30/66 510 done with minimal rest
Bit of Face Pulling
Today was not a good bench day and bench/military haven’t been going too well lately. I’ve been thinking about switching programs for upper body days whilst keeping 5-3-1 for squats and deads (as others on this site have done). However, I’m going to stick with the program for another 9 cycles (28 weeks as I don’t take deloads and therefore have 3 week cycles). This seems like quite a gamble as I could get to late February 2011 [!!!] and find my max is 100/222*1 and therefore my max has hardly gone up at all. Better than changing up all the time though.
NB some might pick up on the fact I don’t take deloads and say therein lies my problem. However, I’ve been making strong gains on squat and dead and upper body musulature surely has a faster rate of recovery than lower body so it surely can’t be a lack of a deload that accounts for my less than sterling upper body progress.
170/380*12 No pauses to breathe between reps, and all reps deadstop.
Piece of cake - funny this was so easy because I did a heavy below knee rack pull yesterday and heavy squats and power cleans the day before that. Didn’t do anymore reps (or any assistance exercise) because I wanted to take it easy today after 3 consecutive days of training.
I then went and recovered with some alcohol.
This was a great day at the gym, not because there was any great PRs (though this is a PR with this weight - last time I did 170kg I got 3 reps!) but because I was in and out of the gym in no time at all. There was no nausea or overwhelming fatigue, instead I felt well enough to go to a bar straight from the gym! I wish every session could just be the main lift for the day then go home. However, I’d probably become more dysfunctional and regress in strength. I’m still minded to try it for a cycle though.
Chin Ups
4*5 with up to 10 minutes rest between! I don’t know if these would be called kipping chins but I didn’t pause at the bottom. I’ve never done sets of 5 before but it’s the ridiculously long rest that allows this. If only I could get down to 90 seconds rest.
Close Grip Floor Press
45/100510
Db Row
31.5/70510 with minimal rest (both sides then 30 seconds then both sides) - The minimal rest made this very hard - hopefully a bit of a conditiioning effect was had
Power Clean 87.5/195 33 (an interesting thing I’ve been finding with powercleans is that I feel my power and technique is much better if I don’t use my weightlifting/olympic lifting ‘do-win’ brand shoes, and instead go shoeless. I definitely experienced this today when I dispensed with shoes after first set.)
Close Grip Bench 77.5/172 * 10 (better than last week’s 758 but not as good as 7512 done 4 weeks ago or 70*16 done 8 weeks ago — seemingly back on track though ---- it seemed to help that I took my shoes off and could therefore use my lower body more)