[quote]sunshne wrote:
I was in your group. 
<— earring girl
Worked on my bench setup with just the empty bar… it hurt, lol. This is going to take some getting used to! Squats are tomorow. gulp[/quote]
Wow, I didn’t realize earring girl was a T-Nationer!
Just FYI, I didn’t want to rob you of your new PR, but I think you had +20lb more on your pull. When you want it, it’s there, just go get it!
I was there (philly), as stated, it was awesome.
worked some light weight with my new squat form, felt good–thanks JW
Bump
quote]Thishurts wrote:
I just want to inroduce myself and post a couple of questions. I’ve been visiting TNation for a couple of years, but not because I was interested in bodybuilding or powerlifting. That has changed. I am 47 and started trying to “get in shape” about three years ago. I began with a simple routine of mostly bodyweight exercises, cardio, and clean eating.
Since then, it has evolved/progressed into more of a focus on strength training while trying to maintain a decent level of conditioning. I dabbled with some 5x5 work incorporating the main lifts; however, I was lacking structure. To make a long story even longer, I began searching for a good “program” that would get me on my way to develop some real strength.
Enter Wendler’s 5/3/1. Some random reading on this site led me to some of Maraudermeat’s posts. I believed he could steer me in the right direction and, although I had already purchased the ebook before he could reply, he agreed that 5/3/1 would suit my needs.
I am doing the BBB protocol and will start my second week tomorrow.
My assistance exercises are as follows:
These are just the default exercises in the book.
Could I please get some feedback on what some of you are doing for assistance work and other alternatives for leg curls and GHD, since I don’t have that equipment?
I have been sprinting hills for conditioning. As a conditioning alternative, I thought about doing a light barbell complex at the end of workouts. Any thoughts on this?
Thanks Jim for the material and thanks Maraudermeat for your help.
Thanks in advance to all others for any additional help.
Down in Texas,
Scott
[/quote]
Scott-
Plan+assistance:
Military press 531
Military press BBB
Pullups
Rowing
Side/rear delts
Deadlift 531
Leg press
Standing abs
Bench press 531
Bench BBB or dips
Pullups
Rowing
Side/rear delts
Squats 531
Good mornings BBB
Standing abs
The pullups on my upper days are done between pressing sets, sometimes with added weight, sometimes not. Whatever rowing I do is just for more volume, nothing fancy, seated cable row, sometimes barbell rows, sometimes upright rows, etc. There’s some machine shrugs here and there as well as some bicep/tricep stuff tagged onto the end of a workout if I have time.
The leg days my assistance stuff is hit or miss, sometimes I just squat/deadlift and abs, but the leg press is something I am working back in as a mainstay, because looking back on my workout notebook over the past two years, when I leg pressed regularly I don’t recall having issues off the floor- the past couple months I’ve had issues off the floor and my form took a nosedive. The goodmornings I did 135x5x10 a few weeks back and it torched my hamstrings for DAYS. I’ve wanted to do them regularly lately but I have not as I’ve had running planned that I knew I’d be screwed on after goodmornings.
Hopefully something in there is helpful to you. I think you mentioned leg curls- they’re fine I guess, but I wouldn’t do them as anything other than added hamstring volume- I wouldn’t keep them around as a main accessory or anything- I can’t recall having done any leg curls in the past year- goodmornings will certainly light your legs up enough on their own.
What have you guys done when you miss a rep (or two)? I finally missed a set of 5 on military press. Back 10 lbs off that max and reset the cycle? Some days, MPs just feel heavy.
I would go back more than 10lbs, I’d drop 20lbs off the training max at the start of next cycle. Finish the cycle with your current training max, and then if you don’t blow it out of the water on the 3’s and 531 week, reset.
It seems like a pain in the ass to knock 20lbs off an upper body training max, because you feel like you just got kicked back 4 cycles, but when you reset just attack it and make sure you just get more reps than you did 4 cycles ago with that weight.
I think the further back you reset when the reps start dropping off, the longer you will see progress before you have to reset again.
If you missed 5 on our 5’s week just finish out that cycle as planned, most likely will get just 1 rep on the last week which is fine. Use that as your 1RM and take 90% starting next cycle. Overhead press has the slowest progress so it may take several attempts at some weight to get 1 extra rep PR.
The above also works. You’ll end up resetting to about the same thing. I guess I’ve never done it that way because sometimes even if I get 3 or so reps on that 531 day, I feel like re-setting to get higher reps, so I just bump back a few cycles.
Thanks for the feedback dez
Quick question: Do you guys reset between reps when deadlifting? Or do you just do “touch and go” style of DLs?
I personally prefer the touch and go method, but I notice that when I get up to the heavier percentages of my work set, I absolutely have to reset my body for each rep or else I have no power at all. I also don’t have any chalk so my grip tends to slip after a few heavy reps.
[quote]Nate86 wrote:
Quick question: Do you guys reset between reps when deadlifting? Or do you just do “touch and go” style of DLs?
I personally prefer the touch and go method, but I notice that when I get up to the heavier percentages of my work set, I absolutely have to reset my body for each rep or else I have no power at all. I also don’t have any chalk so my grip tends to slip after a few heavy reps.[/quote]
What I do at gyms that don’t allow chalk is that I take a quick restroom break to go chalk up.
I can use chalk at my gym. I was just wondering if there is any difference between keeping your hands on the bar at all times during your reps, compared to standing straight up between reps, getting grip set again and doing another pull.
And between reps is only something like 5-10 secs, definately not a “rest” period
[quote]Nate86 wrote:
I can use chalk at my gym. I was just wondering if there is any difference between keeping your hands on the bar at all times during your reps, compared to standing straight up between reps, getting grip set again and doing another pull.
And between reps is only something like 5-10 secs, definately not a “rest” period[/quote]
His book says either is fine. Some people have their form thrown off from holding the bar the whole time. Some say they don’t get as much carryover when they hold it the whole time. Some say they get less hip stress when they hold it the whole time.
[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:
[quote]Nate86 wrote:
I can use chalk at my gym. I was just wondering if there is any difference between keeping your hands on the bar at all times during your reps, compared to standing straight up between reps, getting grip set again and doing another pull.
And between reps is only something like 5-10 secs, definately not a “rest” period[/quote]
His book says either is fine. Some people have their form thrown off from holding the bar the whole time. Some say they don’t get as much carryover when they hold it the whole time. Some say they get less hip stress when they hold it the whole time. [/quote]
Thank you Irwin.
Jim and others-
Any tips to forcing the knees out during the squat? I’m having trouble “feeling” it probably because I wasn’t really doing it before. What muscles are primarily pushing the knees out? I think I feel it the most in the sides of my glutes, or perhaps that’s actually my hips?
[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:
[quote]Nate86 wrote:
I can use chalk at my gym. I was just wondering if there is any difference between keeping your hands on the bar at all times during your reps, compared to standing straight up between reps, getting grip set again and doing another pull.
And between reps is only something like 5-10 secs, definately not a “rest” period[/quote]
His book says either is fine. Some people have their form thrown off from holding the bar the whole time. Some say they don’t get as much carryover when they hold it the whole time. Some say they get less hip stress when they hold it the whole time. [/quote]
Thanks, fletch.
[quote]dez6485 wrote:
Jim and others-
Any tips to forcing the knees out during the squat? I’m having trouble “feeling” it probably because I wasn’t really doing it before. What muscles are primarily pushing the knees out? I think I feel it the most in the sides of my glutes, or perhaps that’s actually my hips?[/quote]
i cant give no sciency answer here, but try unweighted box squats with a light band around ur legs above your knees, FEEL your knees having to push out
[quote]caveman101 wrote:
[quote]dez6485 wrote:
Jim and others-
Any tips to forcing the knees out during the squat? I’m having trouble “feeling” it probably because I wasn’t really doing it before. What muscles are primarily pushing the knees out? I think I feel it the most in the sides of my glutes, or perhaps that’s actually my hips?[/quote]
i cant give no sciency answer here, but try unweighted box squats with a light band around ur legs above your knees, FEEL your knees having to push out[/quote]
Cool. Is there a reason to use the box for this, if one doesn’t do box squats normally? Thanks
I can’t do MP due to an old injury, also in the past I never gained lbs on the bench when I got better in MP… Would it be OK to drop the MP and do the floor press instead, which works on my stickypoint? I read that dips or close grip are great alternatives, but was wondering the floor press option…
Maybe I should note that I’m only planning to do 3 workouts per week.