Just finished my first 3 week. I must say I’m really enjoying this programme. Warming up hasn’t been a huge issue for me but I’m young so I suppose I’m getting away with it for now.
Doing sets of chins/pull-ups between every set is challenging but fun.
I upped my Deadlift BBB yesterday and intended to strip the weight after every set(I think it was at 65% on the first set) but for some reason I ended up doing all the sets at that weight. Boy did I feel good(close to dying, but good ha) after it. My grip on my right hadn simply gave on the last rep of the last set. I was so ‘‘in the zone’’ I didn’t even feel it giving. Being in and out of the gym in 50mins is an alien and great feeling. I’m moving around all day at work and seeing as I go straight from work to the gym I get away with little warm-up and I’ve only really been very sore in my quads and lower back so far.
I’ve been working alot on my deadlift form and feel it’s starting to pay off. My workset reps went up really good yesterday and even though I’m not going crazy on the last set, they all felt realy really good.
Might start my prolwer/sled work on my deload week or first week of my second cycle.
Something that I read somewhere when I first started learning about 5/3/1 but it didn’t click and i forgot it. I was wondering why my weights aren’t seeming to go up and I figured it out. I haven’t been trying to hit the same reps cycle to cycle. Like 5 on 5/3/1 day. Cycle one with weight X for 5 reps and Cycle 2 with weight X+5 for 5 reps.
I was looking at my spreadsheet for hours and it just suddenly clicked. I hadn’t been using progressive overload. I just planned to get the number of reps it would take to equal the theoretical max. It just occurred to me to try to increase that. Sorry if this is obvious for everyone else but it was a mental break-through for me. I’m not planning on pushing the reps every day, just on the same day each cycle to gauge progress easily.
[quote]TisDrew wrote:
Something that I read somewhere when I first started learning about 5/3/1 but it didn’t click and i forgot it. I was wondering why my weights aren’t seeming to go up and I figured it out. I haven’t been trying to hit the same reps cycle to cycle. Like 5 on 5/3/1 day. Cycle one with weight X for 5 reps and Cycle 2 with weight X+5 for 5 reps.
I was looking at my spreadsheet for hours and it just suddenly clicked. I hadn’t been using progressive overload. I just planned to get the number of reps it would take to equal the theoretical max. It just occurred to me to try to increase that. Sorry if this is obvious for everyone else but it was a mental break-through for me. I’m not planning on pushing the reps every day, just on the same day each cycle to gauge progress easily.[/quote]
It may be odd, but before each workout I look at my spreadsheet to note and think about a few different numbers. I consider the prescribed reps, the number of reps I would need to set a PR, and the number of reps it would take to maintain/increase my projected 1rm compared to a few prior weeks. My lifts tend to show some week to week fluctuations in the projected 1rm depending on how I am feeling and when my battles are, but having these different possible targets helps me focus, regulate my workouts and keep up various paths of progression.
I don’t look at any calculations of what the reps should come out to. All write in my notebook is weight x 5+, so when I get 2,3,4 more than that (whatever I can give that day) I feel like I owned it. lol
Put together a pretty sweet little spreadsheet. In the process of adding 12 cycles total. But here it is with 5 cycles. Rapidshare says it can only be downloaded 10 times…any suggestions on where to upload the finished one?
Its pretty straightforward. Enter your current max for how many reps and everything else will adjust itself. Each page is a cycle so once you finish a cycle, if you want you can conveniently print it out to keep in a binder or whatever.
For the est 1rm calculator at the bottom, that is for the rep out sets for each week of each lift. For example, say week one, the 5+ set on the bench press you get 9 reps, plug in 9 to the empty reps cell at the bottom and it calculates your estimated 1rm.
[quote]pbclax1 wrote:
Put together a pretty sweet little spreadsheet. In the process of adding 12 cycles total. But here it is with 5 cycles. Rapidshare says it can only be downloaded 10 times…any suggestions on where to upload the finished one?
Its pretty straightforward. Enter your current max for how many reps and everything else will adjust itself. Each page is a cycle so once you finish a cycle, if you want you can conveniently print it out to keep in a binder or whatever.
For the est 1rm calculator at the bottom, that is for the rep out sets for each week of each lift. For example, say week one, the 5+ set on the bench press you get 9 reps, plug in 9 to the empty reps cell at the bottom and it calculates your estimated 1rm.
I downloaded one- wow. You really made it pretty with the colored cells, etc! Maybe you could make a torrent? I’d seed it.
ps- my lifts are around the numbers you have as default, but if I were gonna put something like that out there, I’d bump my lifts by like 3-4 hundred. Just as an ego thing. lol
[quote]pbclax1 wrote:
Put together a pretty sweet little spreadsheet. In the process of adding 12 cycles total. But here it is with 5 cycles. Rapidshare says it can only be downloaded 10 times…any suggestions on where to upload the finished one?
Its pretty straightforward. Enter your current max for how many reps and everything else will adjust itself. Each page is a cycle so once you finish a cycle, if you want you can conveniently print it out to keep in a binder or whatever.
For the est 1rm calculator at the bottom, that is for the rep out sets for each week of each lift. For example, say week one, the 5+ set on the bench press you get 9 reps, plug in 9 to the empty reps cell at the bottom and it calculates your estimated 1rm.
I downloaded one- wow. You really made it pretty with the colored cells, etc! Maybe you could make a torrent? I’d seed it.
ps- my lifts are around the numbers you have as default, but if I were gonna put something like that out there, I’d bump my lifts by like 3-4 hundred. Just as an ego thing. lol
[/quote]
Haha thanks man. How do I make it a torrent? I just left the lifts at my numbers, doesnt make a difference to me lol. Hope you enjoy it man, once i fully finish it probably tonight, ill upload it. Probably make a few minor changes plus add 7 more cycles so theres 12 total.
I’m about to finish my first cycle. I haven’t done dumbbell bench presses in a while. I tried them out after my bench press day as part of the Triumvirate Assistance work template and I found that they caused a pain in my shoulders because I let the dumbbells go as low as possible. Having had a shoulder injury before, on the next session I substituted them for a machine chest fly (rep scheme 12-10-8-6-4-4 focusing on a long negative and a squeeze at the end of the concentric) and incline push ups to get some more blood flowing in. I found that this was surprisingly much less painful for my shoulders. Do you guys feel that this is a good decision? Would it be better to stick to the dumbbell presses with a smaller range of motion (aka dumbbell floor presses)? I’ve also been doing light shoulder mobility work each session in the form of taking a broomstick and doing the shoulder dislocations on page 58 of the book. I would really like some input from you guys.
I’m about to finish my first cycle. I haven’t done dumbbell bench presses in a while. I tried them out after my bench press day as part of the Triumvirate Assistance work template and I found that they caused a pain in my shoulders because I let the dumbbells go as low as possible. Having had a shoulder injury before, on the next session I substituted them for a machine chest fly (rep scheme 12-10-8-6-4-4 focusing on a long negative and a squeeze at the end of the concentric) and incline push ups to get some more blood flowing in. I found that this was surprisingly much less painful for my shoulders. Do you guys feel that this is a good decision? Would it be better to stick to the dumbbell presses with a smaller range of motion (aka dumbbell floor presses)? I’ve also been doing light shoulder mobility work each session in the form of taking a broomstick and doing the shoulder dislocations on page 58 of the book. I would really like some input from you guys.
thanks in advance,
Vlad. [/quote]
The shoulder mobility will help. A few questions:
What prehab/rehab are you doing for your shoulders (rear delts, rotater cuff work, stretching, mobility,etc)?
How’s the balance between push/pull (are you doing enough pulling like Jim emphasizes)?
Jim says to take away the unnecessary fluff in a program, so I just wanted to prod you by asking: Do you really even need to be doing DB Bench? Do you find it really helps your bench as opposed to doing weighted dips or BBB?
I’m about to finish my first cycle. I haven’t done dumbbell bench presses in a while. I tried them out after my bench press day as part of the Triumvirate Assistance work template and I found that they caused a pain in my shoulders because I let the dumbbells go as low as possible. Having had a shoulder injury before, on the next session I substituted them for a machine chest fly (rep scheme 12-10-8-6-4-4 focusing on a long negative and a squeeze at the end of the concentric) and incline push ups to get some more blood flowing in. I found that this was surprisingly much less painful for my shoulders. Do you guys feel that this is a good decision? Would it be better to stick to the dumbbell presses with a smaller range of motion (aka dumbbell floor presses)? I’ve also been doing light shoulder mobility work each session in the form of taking a broomstick and doing the shoulder dislocations on page 58 of the book. I would really like some input from you guys.
thanks in advance,
Vlad. [/quote]
The shoulder mobility will help. A few questions:
What prehab/rehab are you doing for your shoulders (rear delts, rotater cuff work, stretching, mobility,etc)?
How’s the balance between push/pull (are you doing enough pulling like Jim emphasizes)?
Jim says to take away the unnecessary fluff in a program, so I just wanted to prod you by asking: Do you really even need to be doing DB Bench? Do you find it really helps your bench as opposed to doing weighted dips or BBB? [/quote]
I’ve been addressing shoulder issues by changing my form to one recommended by Dave Tate in his bench videos and I notice that this has taken a huge load off of my shoulders. I’ve always used light shoulder pre-hab like rotator work to keep my shoulder from becoming stiff and “crunchy”, but since I started 5/3/1 I’ve been much more aggressive with my mobility by doing these Shoulder Dislocations - YouTube at the beginning, end and sometimes in the middle of each session. I certainly do my pulling. I’ve adopted Wendler’s Triumvirate Assistance Work because I felt that it was necessary to induce light hypertrophy and because slightly higher volume keeps me from worrying about “not doing enough work” without overtraining/regressing. I’ve found that it hasn’t hindered my recovery at all, so I see no harm in it. That and I’m getting better at dipping :D.
If you’re unfamiliar with his triumvirate template. It is as follows:
Press-Chinup/pullup-dips
Deadlift-Abdominal and lower back work (using weighted back extensions and decline situps)
Bench-DB Bench-Row
Squat-Leg Press-Leg Curl
Do you have any insight on shoulder pre-hab/stability/mobility and on good substitutes for the DB bench press besides dips that I can do?
started wave two of 5/3/1 for my bench press today. 175x5,200x5,225x3,200x7,200x6,225x2… on the third set i was supposed to get 5 reps. i think i am to do this sequence with these wieghts again next week till i get the five reps with 225. the last three sets were added on because i failed to get my reps on the third set. any advice?
If you’re unfamiliar with his triumvirate template. It is as follows:
Press-Chinup/pullup-dips
Deadlift-Abdominal and lower back work (using weighted back extensions and decline situps)
Bench-DB Bench-Row
Squat-Leg Press-Leg Curl
Do you have any insight on shoulder pre-hab/stability/mobility and on good substitutes for the DB bench press besides dips that I can do? [/quote]
Maybe I read it wrong, but I thought triumverate wasn’t a set list of exercises but instead a set type of workout: only 3 exercises including the main lift. But that looks fine, I just wanted to ask the question because a lot of people, myself included, tend to make changes to the program which may be unnecessary fluff.
Substitutes for DB Bench Press would depend on what your weaknesses are.
[quote]chuckzilla wrote:
started wave two of 5/3/1 for my bench press today. 175x5,200x5,225x3,200x7,200x6,225x2… on the third set i was supposed to get 5 reps. i think i am to do this sequence with these wieghts again next week till i get the five reps with 225. the last three sets were added on because i failed to get my reps on the third set. any advice?[/quote]
If I were you, I’d do the program as suggest (do the deload week and such), then repeat this month’s weights for the bench press. If you cannot get past that plateau, I would suggest recalculating your bench max and taking 90% and start over.
If you’re unfamiliar with his triumvirate template. It is as follows:
Press-Chinup/pullup-dips
Deadlift-Abdominal and lower back work (using weighted back extensions and decline situps)
Bench-DB Bench-Row
Squat-Leg Press-Leg Curl
Do you have any insight on shoulder pre-hab/stability/mobility and on good substitutes for the DB bench press besides dips that I can do? [/quote]
Maybe I read it wrong, but I thought triumverate wasn’t a set list of exercises but instead a set type of workout: only 3 exercises including the main lift. But that looks fine, I just wanted to ask the question because a lot of people, myself included, tend to make changes to the program which may be unnecessary fluff.
Substitutes for DB Bench Press would depend on what your weaknesses are. [/quote]
Well, I would say that the weakest part of my bench is at the bottom. I doubt I need “special work” to strengthen the bottom of my lift. The Tate video has sort of indoctrinated me into believing that weakpoint training is for more advanced lifters who have mastered the form.
[quote]chuckzilla wrote:
started wave two of 5/3/1 for my bench press today. 175x5,200x5,225x3,200x7,200x6,225x2… on the third set i was supposed to get 5 reps. i think i am to do this sequence with these wieghts again next week till i get the five reps with 225. the last three sets were added on because i failed to get my reps on the third set. any advice?[/quote]
One of two things is the case. Either you were merely having a really crappy day, in which case either continue exactly as planned or, after the deload, repeat the cycle for bench. You will know that it was just a bad day if your bench is fine for the next two weeks of this cycle. In the future, if you are having a shitty workout day, it is probably bad to push it with extra sets like that. Sometimes you just have to face that you do not have it in you that day and move on.
If it was not merely a really shitty day, I think you did not set the weights correctly. In the 5-week of the second cycle, most people will be getting considerably more than 5. Probably around 8-12, depending on a lot of variables. If it was not merely a shitty day, you probably want to reset, using about 225 as your training max (so the 5 week would be at 190, at which you should easily get the 5). What did you get on your bench days last cycle?