good luck with the goals, keep at it and u will surely acheive them. happy new year.
[quote]wasBr0k3n wrote:
good luck with the goals, keep at it and u will surely acheive them. happy new year.[/quote]
Thanks wasBr0k3n. I hope this new year is filled with good tidings for you as well.
Squat Session #12
A) Squat: 1 X 5 X 125, 150, 175, 200, 1 X 3 X 230, 1 X 8 X 175
B) Bench: 1 X 5 X 125, 150, 175, 200, 1 X 3 X 230, 1 X 8 X 175
C) Seated Row: 1 X 5 X 105, 120, 135, 150, 1 X 3 X 170, 1 X 8 X 135
D1) Standing Press: 5 X 5 X 115
D2) Close Grip Chin-ups: 5 X 5 X BW
Not much time for assistance work but even if there was I wasn’t in the zone mentally. Staying up most of the night to ring in the New Year and catching up with family and friends all over the world didn’t leave much in the tank.
On that note, here is wishing EVERYONE out here a HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Man, you’re a machine. Those weights just keep going up.
Happy New Year!
Squat Session #13:
A) Back Squat: 1 X 5 X 130lbs, 165*, 180, 205, 230
B) Bench Press: 1 X 5 X 130lbs, 155, 180, 205, 230
C) Seated Row: 1 X 5 X 110lbs, 125, 140, 155, 170
D)Standing Press: 95 lbs x 8,8,6
E)Close Grip Chins: 5 X 5 X BW
F) Will do some Abs and Arms work tomorrow.
- Should have been 155 lbs. Basic math got fuzzy.
Had to move the tomorrow’s scheduled session up by a day. The missus is hell bent on dragging me to a late night shindig afer the show we are seeing tonight. The choice comes down to either getting my food poisoned if I don’t go or having a crappy session tomorrow for lack of sleep. I decided to invent a third and do the session today.
Thanks Skid for the kind words. I really have to be a finely tuned machine for the weights to keep going up from now. I will truly be pushing my limits the remaining 3 weeks I am on the 5 X 5. This is going to be more difficult since I will also be losing about 4 pounds at the same time.
EDIT: Abs and Arms didn’t happen. Last thing I wanted to do on Sunday.
Squat Session # 14
A) Back Squat: 1 X 5 X 130, 155, 180, 180
B) Standing Press: 1 X 5 X 105, 120, 135, 150* , 0 X 175**, 0 x 165**
C) Deadlift:
5 X 185(wu)
5 X 275
5 X 315
2 X 355
2 X 395***
About 35 mins later
4 X 395
Kind of angry at myself during today’s session.
*It started with the Press. I must have gone in with some kind of mental defeat given how the 5 X 145 felt last week. Right after I struggled through the last rep last week I started feeling there was no way I could get 5 X 150 this week.
And it reflected by how I slightly dipped my legs to cheat a bit on the last rep today. It really wasn’t necessary. Today’s was tough no doubt but not as tough as last week’s.
**I also tried to see how 175 and 165 felt leaving my upper chest. I was able to get them off about 3 inches without major effort so I am confident that when I test my PR in about 3 weeks, 175lbs is going up. That was my target for the Press before starting this 5 X 5 cycle.
*** My grips are killing me on the Deads. I made an adjustment last week on the 3rd set but apparently that was not enough for today’s session. My first attempt at the 395, the bar was slipping through the gloves so I stopped and ditched the gloves.
I spent the next 30 mins or so eating a small meal and slowly pedalling on the Recumbent bike while staring angrily at the 395lbs on the floor. Found some baby powder(closest thing to chalk at home) and attacked the weight again. Didn’t get the 5 but my anger subsided with 4 reps.
For the remaining 2 Deadlift Sessions on the 5 X 5, I am going with 3,2,1,5 reps for the 1,2,3,4 sets, respectively.
I may or may not get in some assistance work later today. Things are getting hectic on both the career and home fronts and may remain so for a couple of months. I guess that’s what happens when you waste time waiting for other people while also procrastinating. I made my bed so I shouldn’t complain.
But it means I may not spend as much time here as I would love to. Not that anybody would notice anyway. I am however going to find time no matter what to train and maintain this log. Those 2 things aren’t negotiable.
Think of me as the nosy neighbor…I’d notice if you weren’t posting.
Here’s my opinion:
Any rep that occurs within 15 sec of the last rep counts as part of the same set. This is particularly true for DL.
Overhead press is a funny animal. Like bench it is one of the first lifts adversely affected by stress and is even more persnickety regarding form than bench. As the weight gets heavier, you have less margin for error out of the groove. I find the press responds well to volume and poundage variations. The more volume you get at lower weights (within reason), the stronger the stabilizers for the move get, the higher the top weight can go.
Just an opinion, though.
[quote]skidmark wrote:
Think of me as the nosy neighbor…I’d notice if you weren’t posting.
Here’s my opinion:
Any rep that occurs within 15 sec of the last rep counts as part of the same set. This is particularly true for DL.
Overhead press is a funny animal. Like bench it is one of the first lifts adversely affected by stress and is even more persnickety regarding form than bench. As the weight gets heavier, you have less margin for error out of the groove. I find the press responds well to volume and poundage variations. The more volume you get at lower weights (within reason), the stronger the stabilizers for the move get, the higher the top weight can go.
Just an opinion, though.
[/quote]
Thanks Skid…nosy neighbors have their benefits… one being that they make you strive to get your acts together!
Regarding your opinion on OP, I completely agree. That’s why in the last two weeks or so I have been doing them on my 3 lifting days…different poundages/reps scheme.
I suspect that my stabilizers are weak on the OP. Anything over 5/6 reps is usually a grind even at some lower poundage. This infact applies to most of my lifts. It could be that I am fast-twitch muscle dominant and/or that I am conditioned that way since that’s how I usually train.
Squat Session #15
Early AM @ the gym
A) Squat: 1 X 5 X 130, 155, 180, 205, 1 X 3 X 235, 1 X 8 X 180
B) Bench: 1 X 5 X 130, 155, 180, 205, 1 X 3 X 235*, 1 X 8 X 180
C) Seated Row: 1 X 5 X 110, 125, 140, 155, 1 X 3 X 175, 1 X 8 X 140
Had to go home for morning devotion with the missus
A little later @ home
D) Standing Press: 120 X 5,5,5,5,4
E1)** EZ Bar Bicep Curls: 1 X 8 X 70 (wu), 90 X 8, 6, 8
E2) EZ Bar Lying Tricep Extensions: 1 X 10 X 70 (wu), 90 X 8,2,6, 7
- 235 X 3 felt tougher than it should on the bench and I don’t feel I should blame it on the early AM thing after a night of less than good sleep, because I have slept close to 7 hrs on each of the 3 nights prior to last. Good but unusual for me.
** Too much distraction (my fault) that made me lose focus. Another reminder why I prefer to workout at the gym.
I completed the 5th week on the 5 X 5 today. It’s a small milestone for me given that I have never stayed on a program for longer than 4 weeks. In fact I really should say I have never used a program before.
But some observations I have made so I can remember to correct them next time I give the 5 X 5 a try. Also for anyone who tried the 5 X 5 to give an input (read Skid, Steely etc)
-
I don’t think I do enough assistance work. I gave little thoughts to this when I wrote down the program.
-
I have done ZERO lower body assistance work so far, Single leg exercises especially as I have imbalances to correct. Squatting 3x a week is not a good enough excuse.
-
I don’t think the program is optimal for my deads. This is probably because my grip sucks.
-
I don’t think I assign enough time for the workouts especially from Week 3 when poundages start nearing max. Also a possible explanation for 1 and 2 above.
Maybe it’s my GPP but I find it difficult to just power through the workouts. Supersetting some of the lower poundages helps but that depends on what station is available at the gym, and far from optimal to do at home.
- My thoughts on the OP which was also confirmed by Skid in the previous post. Ditto for my chins and pull-ups.
My goal would be to find an optimal way to incorporate all these in the next 5 X 5 cycle.
Good observations. Never have been able to stay on a strict program. I say take what works, adapt it to yourself, and go from there.
Thanks Hel. Will do that.
My Weekly Scale Weight Check: 184 lbs.
I have moved this to Friday morning because bloat from cheat meals has a dramatic effect on the scale. I usually schedule cheat meals for the weekends so this makes sense to me.
I am not losing the weight as planned. Plan was to be at 180 lbs by Jan 25 without doing anything out of the ordinary. But I have not been at least 90% with my diet and low intensity cardio/NEPA is sadly no longer on my everyday rotation.
I will still try my best the next 2 weeks but my guess is that I will probably end up at around 182 lbs.
I won’t consider this a failure if I don’t make 180 lbs by then. This attempt has always been exploratory in nature- to discover what works for me and how my body responds to certain food etc.
Also I see some slight but good changes in the mirror and my strength has increased over the last 2 months, something not many people on a calorie deficit can claim.
[quote]formfunction wrote:
daddyzombie wrote:
What stance do you use for your deads FF? Nice work!
Thanks DZ. I do conventional deadlifts so my stance is feet just under shoulder width(btw 14 - 17 inches I guess), toes slightly pointed out. I hope this answers your question.[/quote]
I ask because I’ve kind of struggled getting my deadlift over 400lbs. I’ve finally done 407 at my last meet, but I’ve been told my feet are wide. No wider than yours though, and your DL is solid. Great work!
[quote]formfunction wrote:
skidmark wrote:
Think of me as the nosy neighbor…I’d notice if you weren’t posting.
Here’s my opinion:
Any rep that occurs within 15 sec of the last rep counts as part of the same set. This is particularly true for DL.
Overhead press is a funny animal. Like bench it is one of the first lifts adversely affected by stress and is even more persnickety regarding form than bench. As the weight gets heavier, you have less margin for error out of the groove. I find the press responds well to volume and poundage variations. The more volume you get at lower weights (within reason), the stronger the stabilizers for the move get, the higher the top weight can go.
Just an opinion, though.
Thanks Skid…nosy neighbors have their benefits… one being that they make you strive to get your acts together!
Regarding your opinion on OP, I completely agree. That’s why in the last two weeks or so I have been doing them on my 3 lifting days…different poundages/reps scheme.
I suspect that my stabilizers are weak on the OP. Anything over 5/6 reps is usually a grind even at some lower poundage. This infact applies to most of my lifts. It could be that I am fast-switch muscle dominant and/or that I am conditioned that way since that’s how I usually train.
[/quote]
That could be. I know I don’t generally do well on anything over 6 reps myself unless I’m dropping the weight substantially. My lifts will stall after a bit. Sweet spot for me is 3-5 usually no more than 8 sets per muscle group. Anything more and I can’t recover from it CNS-wise or metabolically. I think it was Christian Thibaudeau that wrote an article about easy-hard gainers. After following some of the recommendations in that article my strength improved.
Squat Session #16:
A) Back Squat: 1 X 5 X 135lbs, 160, 185, 210, 235
B1) Bench Press: 1 X 5 X 135lbs, 160, 185, 210, 4* X 235
B2) Seated Row: 1 X 5 X 115lbs, 130, 145, 160, 175
C1)Cable Crunches: 1 X 10 X 72.5,77.5,82.5,87.5,92.5
C2)Medium Grip Chins: 5 X 6 X BW
D1)Seated Calf Raises: 20, 20, 20, 15, 15, 10 X 90 lbs
D2)Weighted Crunches: 5 X 12 X (BW + 25lbs)
- Could only manage 4 reps on the last set of the Bench
Today’s session was one of the rare ones where I genuinely question my sanity about training.
My lower back has been acting up for the last 3 days. I have been woken up by painful spasms the last 2 nights whenever I made a ‘wrong’ turn while sleeping.
But I convinced myself to go this morning, take it slow and back off if need be.
The Squat surprisingly didn’t cause any discomfort except I had to be careful loading the plates and taking them down. I also took my time making sure I was well rested before each set.
Bench however was a different animal. I just couldn’t keep my back straight with the feet on the floor, and with that came some discomfort. I raised them up the first 3 sets and used a step-up platform last 2. I also had to use a spotter on the last set just in case. I never use a spotter for any weight I can lift over 2 reps and it took forever to find one this morning.
Out of the 25 people or so at the gym I was the only one in the free weight section. It didn’t feel right to me to go ask a stranger to get off the elliptical just because I had a measly 235 lbs on the bench.
I got the 235 for 4 instead of 5. A little disappoited but happy I escaped without aggravating anything.
Deadlift is definitely a no-no on Tuesday IF I train. Overhead press is a suspect as well. I can trace this lower back issue to these lifts from my last 2 sessions.
I have had my lower back shut down more than 2x in the past. It’s a real bummer, and not being able to move around is the last thing I need right now.
Squat Session #17:
A) Back Squat: 1 X 5 X 140lbs, 165, 190, 215, 240
B)* Bench Press: 1 X 5 X 135lbs, 160, 185, 210
C) Seated Row: 1 X 5 X 120lbs, 135, 150, 165, 3 X 180**
D)Medium Grip Chins: 5 X 7 X BW
- Was going to try the 5 X 235 on the bench again but decided against it given how the 5 X 210 felt.
** Stopped at 3, too much cheating
Lower back feels better but not enough for Deads. Fingers crossed for Saturday’s session.
Safe to say I jinxed the 5 X 5 when I declared a milestone last week. But Programs are means to an end, or so I have chosen to console myself.
Based on my schedule, recovery, and plans for next month, I have moved to a 1 On 2 Off split for the next 5/6 sessions.
I will still be following the basic premise of the 5 X 5 but with the goal of pushing my 5RM on the Squat every session. It would be nice to deep squat 260/265 for 5 two weeks from today. That should push me closer to 300 for 1RM.
Just in time to beckon Comrade Smolov for my well-deserved torture…can’t wait!
My Weekly Scale Weight Check: 183 lbs.
Exactly how I managed to lose 1 pound this week is beyond me. Not with the pizza, ice cream and other not-so-good stuffs I added to my regular diet. Plus my activity level went down a bit.
Don’t know what to say about my lower back. Definitely better from Sunday but I still feel ‘something’ when I stretch it enough. This something is now more of DOMS than what could put me out of commission. And the something gets worse when I sit for too long.
But I want to deadlift so bad it seems the only thing I think about. Can this little boy get his wish please!!!
I feel for you FF. My low back put me out of action for several days recently. I try not to sit for more then 20 minutes because my back tightens up. Try to be patient and let it heal.
5x5 is allot of reps when you add it up
and your numbers are good
squatting 3+ times a week is allot
I have similar back pain none while
in the gym but sitting , laying down,
siting on the train or in a car…
I found this article to be very helpful
http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_article//making_gains_with_pain
Page two is where it really started to make sense
kmc
Some folks like to do the 5x5, 1x5 1x3 method. 5x5 3 times a week can really beat you up after a while as the poundages increase, particularly if you aren’t going to be gaining weight while doing it.
5x5 for volume conditioning and joint prep, 1x5 for strengthening and integration and 1x3 for CNS potentiation. Volume is reduced over the week so you’re actually recovering metabolic systems at the last day and recovering CNS at the beginning of the week.
I think Rippetoe covers this in his book and a lot of this is in the Madcow online pages. Both are based on Bill Starr’s writings on training. I can’t actually speak for any of it as I haven’t gone and tried it so this free advice is probably worth every penny…
Thanks ecogenx, kmcnyc and skidmark for the concern and suggestions.
kmc…the article seems to hit the nail on the head, I will try some of the stuffs mentioned.
Early AM Yesterday (Sat, Jan 17)
Squat Session #18
A) Bench Press: 1 X 5 X 135lbs, 160, 185, 210, 2 X 235
B) Back Squat: 1 X 5 X 145lbs, 170, 195, 220, 245
C)Overhead Press: 1 X 5 X 95lbs, 115 ,135
D)Deadlift: 1 X 5 X 135lbs, 225, 315, 3 X 405
*Mobility work/foam rolling/stretching before and after
Intention for this session was to slowly work up to the next 5RM poundages on these 4 lifts.
A)Strength seems to be going down on the bench. Or it could be the early AM thing or that I was just too lazy to push myself.
B) 5 X 245 on the squat was a grind. I went deep alright but I felt like I wasn’t in TOTAL control of the set, form wise.
C) Given that last rep on 135 was almost a grind, I didn’t even bother putting 155 on the rack. I was too glad to use my lower back as an excuse.
D) Grip, more than the lower back, was the weak link here. But I was glad I pulled 3 X 405 without any incident.