The Relentless Pursuit

Squat 3’s
Front Squat - 2053 2153 230*6 (felt awful and should have at least gotten 7 or 8)

Hacks - 2pps*10x 5 sets (<60s rest between sets)

BB Step-Ups - 155*10 each leg x 3 sets

Standing Calves - Stack*AMAP x 3 sets

**Didn’t feel great in the gym today but I suppose lack of sleep and food will do that to you. The front squats just never felt right today. I guess technically it’s still a PR for a 6RM but only bc I never really did front squats in that rep range before and I’m not too happy with it. Definitely feel good that I powered through the workout though bc I was about this close to just skipping out today and going home to bed. Speaking of which, time for about a pound of ground turkey and then finally some sleep!

OH Press 3’s
Push Press - 1503 1603 165*8 (+1 rep from last wave at same weight OR same reps +5lbs from last week; gotta love when you’re progressing no matter how you look at it)

Dips - 60#*25 reps; 70#*25 reps
Chins (Neutral grip) - 35#*50 reps

DB side raises, OH Cable Triceps extensions, DB Hammer curls - 10 reps x 3 times through

Conditioning - AirDyne 45 min various intervals

**Not too much to say about today. Good steady progress on the main lift and putting in work.

Started today with some power cleans - worked up to triples w/ 205… Then:

Deadlift 3’s
3203 3453 370*7 (+10 pounds +1 rep)

1-leg RDLs - 60 DBs(both hands)*10 x5 sets (each leg)

Calves (seated) - 3 sets AMAP

** Going to start doing some cleans and such on my lower days to try and get more power. Another PR on the pulls felt good. Didn’t do my normal snatch DLs from a deficit bc after the cleans, felt like my lower back needed something a little less stressful. The RDLs were hard and forced me to work on balance - I think my hammies are going to be pretty damn sore tomorrow too.

AM Conditioning
A bunch of mobility/band work to warm up

Hill Sprints x20 (about 15-20s up/rest until the next minute)

PM Bench 531
1805 2053 230*4 (+5 pounds and same reps)

Incline DB - 8010,8,7,7
T-bars - 4 plates
10x 4sets

Inc BB - 16510,8,8
Kroc Rows - 105
10,10,20 each arm

**Good work today. Solid PR in the bench and the Kroc rows at 20 reps were another PR. I’m loving the 5/3/1 program thus far – simplicity and focusing on setting PRs each week has got me looking forward to trainig sessions again. Thank you Jim Wendler.

P.S. Just found a great little deal at my local grocery store. A whole roasted chicken for like $6. Smashed down almost the whole thing after my workout with some veggies on the side. Can’t beat that for a Sunday dinner.

531 Front squats
1905 2153 240*5 (+10 lbs, +1 rep)

Hacks - 2pps+25*10,8,8

DB walking lunge - 75*16,16,16

Standing calf raises - Stack* (extended set w/ 15s rests until I got to 50 reps)

Leg press machine widowmaker - 15#*20

**PR’d the front squats and felt really strong like I probably could have nailed another but pitched forward a bit on #5 so I stopped. The calf stuff was hard and the “widowmaker” was just for kicks – worked up to a weight that felt pretty tough for about 10 reps on a machine that I don’t normally use and had at it. I like this as a mental challenge and may do these sort of one-off high-rep type things at the end of a workout (kind of like I’ve done w/ the last set of Kroc rows on my bench days).

Oh and I have no idea if anyone even looks at this, but if someone sees me doing something stupid that will screw up the program, PLEASE feel free to call my attention to it.

Conditioning, etc.

20 min elliptical to get loose

Lots of band work/traction/prehab stuff
Lax ball

Stair sprints - 10x 1 min (alternated btwn every step and every other step)/rest as long as took to climb back down to the floor I started on

OH Press 531
1405 1603 175*5 (+2 reps)

Dips - 70#*50 reps
Chins (neutral) - 35#*50 reps

Cable OH Tris, DB Curls, DB side raises X 3 times through

**The presses felt much more stable this time around than the last 531 day. I feel strong but my joints ache a bit and I’ve been a bit congested lately. I’m ready for my deload week but first need to hit some PR’s on the deadlift!

Deadlift 531
Power Cleans - worked up to 205 triples

Deads - 3155 3453 390*4

Snatch grip DL (platform) - 225*15 x3sets

Looks like you’re making good progress with 5/3/1! Whats your stats?

[quote]whup wrote:
Looks like you’re making good progress with 5/3/1! Whats your stats? [/quote]

Thanks for stopping in. Yea things are going well so far. I really enjoy the simplicity of this program.

I’m 5’10 about 185 (most days). Never done any sort of BF testing but if I had to guess, I’m probably about 10-12% (based on the very scientific method of “I can see my ab muscles pretty clearly”). Oh and I’m 24 yrs old for whatever that’s worth. Intermediate goals are to get 3 plates on the bench for a few reps, front squat the same for about 6 reps, deadlift 6 plates for a couple and OH press 2 plates for 5 or so.

[quote]jonnyblaze wrote:
whup wrote:
Looks like you’re making good progress with 5/3/1! Whats your stats?

Thanks for stopping in. Yea things are going well so far. I really enjoy the simplicity of this program.

I’m 5’10 about 185 (most days). Never done any sort of BF testing but if I had to guess, I’m probably about 10-12% (based on the very scientific method of “I can see my ab muscles pretty clearly”). Oh and I’m 24 yrs old for whatever that’s worth. Intermediate goals are to get 3 plates on the bench for a few reps, front squat the same for about 6 reps, deadlift 6 plates for a couple and OH press 2 plates for 5 or so.
[/quote]

Good goals and very achievable! My short term #s are to hit a 400 SQ, 200 OHP, 500 DL, 300 BP.

Conditioning this weekend

Jump rope - 10 min warmup, then
60s all-out, alternating foot w/ high knees; rest 60s x10 intervals

Elliptical 2 min (med pace; about 160bpm HR)+ 10 DB snatches right + 10 db snatches left X10 rounds

** Great weekend with plenty of extra activity too. Played tennis on Sunday and spent several hours swimming in the Lake Michigan waves both Saturday and Sunday. My body feels pretty good now but I think I’m still going to use this as a deload week for the main lifts and just work the assistance lifts pretty good and get some good conditioning in as well.

Bench Deload

Incline DB - 8010,8,7,7
Kroc Rows - 110
10,10,10,10

Wide grip seated cable rows - 10#AMAP x 5 sets
Pushups - BW
AMAP x 5 sets

AirDyne Intervals - 45s work/75s light recovery X 10 intervals

**Kept the rest periods short today – Did the first antagonist set w/ 45-60s rest between each. Second one was about 30s between. Good hard, quick workout today. I like doing more of this conditioning type stuff that challenges me in a different way on deload weeks… Seems to be working okay so far since I’m still making progress on the main lifts.

Squat Deload

Hacks - 2pps*10 x 10 sets (60s rest)

BB step-ups - 135*24 x 3 sets (60s rest)

** Quick one today. Doesn’t look like much written down but let me tell you I was huffing and puffing by the end and my legs were pretty pumped.

OHP Deload

Handstand Pushups5-6 + DB raises10 + Band Pull-Aparts*25 X 4 supersets

Rack Chins5-6 + Incline DB curls10-12 + Cable curls*25 X 4 supersets

Dips5-6 + OH Cable Extensions10-12 + Pressdowns*25 X 4 supersets

**About 2min rest between each tri-set. This is one based on Poliquin’s old stuff – great pump today.

Deadlift Deload

Snatch-grip DL (deficit) - 225*10 X 10 sets (45-60s rest)

Standing Calf Raise Machine - Stack*AMAP (10 minutes resting as long as it took to complete the reps)

Seated Calf raise - 1pps*1 min X 6 (1 min rest)

Yesterday
Band work/lax ball
Jump rope intervals
Elliptical 20 min

Today – Started 3rd cycle of 5/3/1; not exactly the best way to start since I was going on 4 hrs of sleep but still got some decent work in

Bench 5’s
1855 1955 210*6 (+5 lbs but -1 rep; mentally felt like I had about 7 or 8 but no energy to grind through my usual sticking pt)

Inc DB - 808,8,8,6
Kroc Rows - 110
12,12,12,12

Inc BB (fat bar) - 15510,10,10
Wide grip seated row - 13
10,10,10

Squat 5’s
Front squat - 1955 2105 225*10 (+10lbs and same reps)

BB step ups - 155*24,24,24 (so 12 each leg)

Hacks - 2pps+355 x 3 sets; 2pps20

AirDyne intervals - 40s hard/80s light x8

Conditioning - 30 min various intervals
Band work, lax ball, stretching

OH Presses tonight… Need to make up for the crappy bench performance on Sunday and get my confidence back in the upper body lifts. Though I was really happy with front squats Monday since before starting the program, the most I had ever done w/ 225 was about 5 or 6. Also, using Jim’s rep calculator that puts my estimated max just at 300lbs, which is a pretty cool benchmark to hit.