I also told her to go to a park and play on the monkey bars; or come climb with me. I figure both are hang/grip oriented, fun, and absolutely work the lats and get you used to pulling yourself up.
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Do the climbing one: climbing is awesome.
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I agree, I was not able to do a single pullup until I started climbing.
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Friday
Conditioning
10 minutes, EMOM
2 bear complexes per minute, 85lb
Then
8 Tabata rounds of Assult Bike
Sweating and tired by the end of the complexes. Also clipped my chin with the bar going from a front squat to push press. That was graceful, felt awesome.
I was shot about half way through the bike sprints. They ended up pretty slow at the end.
Heading north for the weekend. Even this desert rat doesnât want to be out in 100+ all weekend. Forecast says 75 and sunny.
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Saturday
A bit of walking around, some hiking, some Jeeping. Closed out the day with 11k steps.
Warning: stories from the weekend, not lifting related.
#1 - I enjoy the forest and mountains. Temps were perfect. Trees smell nice. But, I forget how many things are alive there. One of the reasons the red rock amd deserts will always hold my heart. Around 3am Friday night my hubby woke up be because he heard a noise outside the tent. He sat up a bit in time to make eye contact with a very large, male moose. They made eye contact. Then, the moose decided to gallop away. Shook the ground with his departure. I am not ashamed to say we slept in the Jeep the rest of the night.
#2 - While Jeeping we saw an older lady walking along the trail alone. We stopped to see if she needed anything. She introduced herself as âGrandmaâ, then asked if she could get a ride up the trail to find her sons that had left eariler. She said her truck wouldnât make it. So we had her climb in the back seat and we continued up the trail.
At one point, there was a pretty rough section that my hubby wanted to scope out. We all got out of the Jeep and started hiking up the rocks. I took off on a separate fork to look at a possible bypass. As I started up the hill, I heard Grandma say, âLook at her go, now that is a woman that can carry herself.â
We eventually caught up to her sons and they thanked us for bringing her up. When she climbed in one of their trucks Grandma said, âTheir truck is sooo smooth and fancy. I need one.â
Gotta love Fox Suspension.
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Sunday
About 7 miles of hiking, then random walks. Finished the day with 19k steps.
Also went off diet. There may have been a brat, fries and a scoop of ice cream involved.
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Afaik, the near unanimous approach to building up to your first pull-up seems to be doing timed holds at top and then building up to doing negatives until you can finally do a pull-up. Bands and assisted pull-ups are not as good because they allow you to get to past sticking points through the use of assistance, and so donât build strength through the full ROM. Iâm sure climbing works too but Iâve never climbed before.
As for push-ups, I honestly recommend submax EMOM burpees done for lots of reps. Iâm serious with this suggestion.
I have horrible horizontal pressing strength- at my strongest I had a 185/195lb (I forget exactly) max bench and a 155lb max OHP while weighing somewhere around 180-185lb, so basically a bw bench and darn near bw OHP. And I always had trouble getting past more than 30-40 push-ups in a single set.
I blew through my push-up weakness this year with burpees. I had a solid 3 months where I pretty much did 100 daily burpees in EMOM sets and it got me to doing 50-60 miserable feeling push-ups. I then started alternating with regular EMOM push-up sets (also for 100 reps total) and did that for the last 3 months. Last time I tested I did 50 push-ups with no real trouble.
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That is an excellent idea! I would have never thought to suggest burpees. This could be because I avoid them myself⊠I will add those to her list.
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Can confirm this to be true @unicornsandrainbows
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Monday
531 for Busy Guys C1W5D1
100 band pullaparts
50 KBS
Belt Squat
5 x 10 x 70
RDL
5 x 10 x 145
40 dead bugs
Goblet squats
3 x 10 x 50
The gym was a zoo. All squat racks were full when I got there. I started with a warm up then worked on assistance waiting for a rack to free up. Well, in the 45ish minutes I was there none of them were emptied. I finished off with some goblet squats because I had grocery shopping to do. I will add the 531 squat sets to bench day.
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Tuesday
6 hill sprints, walking between.
Beautiful morning again. 75 and sunny.
I have a consultation with a local coaching company today. I am looking to start with full meal plans so I donât have to think about it anymore, but it could lead to more.
@QuadQueen any questions I should ask them?
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Meal plans! Thatâs great and will definitely take some of the diet stress off! The questions that might be important - depending on exactly what youâre looking for are:
- Are all recipes and grocery shopping lists included?
- Will portion sizes and meal options be tailored to me and my goals? (Lots of times they give you what I refer to as a âMeal Plan in a Canâ - super generic, no portions, no nutrition info, etc. They just give everyone the same plan and say - good luckâŠ)
- How often do I get a new plan? (New recipes, meals, etc.)
- Be clear about your goals and if you have a certain macro breakdown in mind - find out if theyâll cater your plan to that.
- Will my plan be tailored to fit my preferences? (Likes/Dislikes.; If you want snacks - will those be figured into the equation?)
- If I follow the plan exactly, but donâ t see results, will it be adjusted?
- Is there built-in flexibility? (If something isnât available - will there be options for subs?; If Iâm going hiking all day - will there be options that travel and hold well?)
- Is there any diet support/coaching included? (Whatâs working?; Whatâs not?; Obstacles?; Follow-up?)
I would say that those would be the BIG ones and if the company is good - your coach/consultant should ask/address all of these. This is where I start with my new meal plan clients. If they donât ask/talk about this stuff at minimum - youâre probably getting a âMeal Plan in a Canâ. Donât pay for anything that isnât going to fit you!
I hope that helped! Let me know how it goes and if you have any follow-up questions. GOOD LUCK!!! 
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Those are perfect questions! I had a few to ask, but that covers everything and then some. I am going to bring your list and ask anything they do not cover.
I do not want to end up with a meal plan in a can. That is what I have currently with my own searching for recipes.
Thank you for the detailed list!
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Anytime! Let us know how it goes!!
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Wednesday
5/3/1 for Busy Guys C1W5D2
75 Band pullaparts
2 x 5 box Jumps
Make up Squats from D1
5 x 155
3 x 180
1+ x 200 (4)
Bench
5 x 100
3 x 115
1+ x 130 (6, PR?)
Incline DB press
5 x 10 x 35
DB row
5 x 10 x 35
Hammer Curls
3 x 10 x 20
Feeling good and strong today. Flew throught the squats I missed on Monday. 200 felt heavy, but moved more times than I thought. 4th rep got a little slow on the way up.
Bench was good, I would have to scroll back through, but I am pretty sure 6 x 130 is a PR. I think that means I can probably push a couple of reps with a plate now. So that is cool. Next, I want the OH Press there.
-Nutrition/coaching consultation update:
I spoke with the owner of the business as well as his head coach. Nice facility, a little small, but they only allow current clients to train there. Even at 530 only 7 people were there.
They asked me many questions about goals, history, preferances, issues, injuries, etc. I feel they actually cared to listen. The owner had a great pitch, without being too pushy. They focus on adding training and cardio vs. Dropping calories super low to lose fat. He went from being obese and pre-diabetic to stepping on stage, it was nice of him to share some of his history. He took caliper body fat measurements (25% in case anyone wanted to know the arbitrary number) and said my upper body is pretty lean. According to him, I am at a perfect recomp start. Okay, he was a bit of a salesman.
Ultimate break down is this:
Full coaching and bi-weekly checkins, gym access, 2-3 private training sessions a week, full custom meal plans every week is $3360/6 months.
Nutrition only checkins and meal plans every week is $1500/6 months.
I did not know what to expect on pricing going in. I think it would provide a lot of value and learning experience, but I am struggling with how to fit that in the budget.
On a side note, the coach made a comment that is a recurring theme. He said that the less condiments you have, the longer it will take to reach your goals. He showed me an example meal plan that was a lot of protein shakes, chicken, brown rice and veggies. My problem really is the food adhd⊠Time to look in the mirror on that one.
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Do you really need coaching? Given your lifting numbers, experience with 5/3/1, and the forum youâre a member of, I donât believe this to be necessary.
As for the nutrition and meal plans, does this include the actual food? If it does, sounds like a good deal to me. If not, I think itâs an expensive way to have someone tell you what you already know about eating.
On a slightly different note: your goals are mostly aesthetic, correct? Obviously getting stronger feels good, but I believe this to be secondary to you looking how you want to look, no?
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Probably not. I was looking for a way to put meal plans and training plans on autopilot. Plus a side of extra accountability. But you are right, he didnât say anything that I have not already come across on these forums. Also, thank you for the numbers mention.
No food included, hence my hesitation and sticker shock.
Mostly, yes. I have never been really lean and am curious to see if I can get there. Then I would enjoy seeing how strong I can get, without adding all the fat back on. Seems to be my default.
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My take on 5/3/1 is that Jim Wendler breaks out in hives everytime he hears the word âdeficitâ. This is understandable given the nature of the program, but I donât think this type of training (or dieting) is super conducive to leaning out.
If you are really aiming to get leaned out (without losing much strength), I think Thibbs has a program that might be your style. Hard Body Training for Women - Bigger Stronger Leaner - COMMUNITY - T NATION (realized I posted this earlier as well, not sure if you read through it before).
Are you still meal prepping?
FWIW, @unicornsandrainbows, I respectfully disagree: Iâve been running 5/3/1 templates for just over a year now, and Iâve gotten as big and as lean as Iâve ever been during that time.
Could I have done it faster with other programming? Perhaps.
But when I gave up chasing âoptimalâ and instead focused on working harder than I ever have before (and eating to support that work), I realized work ethic and consistency have far more to do with success than does programming.
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I probably should have been more specific. I think it works reasonably well for guys who are leaning out (effort and person dependent), but women seem to do very well with anything âcrossfit styleâ and programs that have circuits; I believe this is related to better recovery for women with high output exercises than recovery in men. This is based entirely on my own observations.
I think the lean-ness seen in a lot of the guys who do 5/3/1 speaks for itself (Pwn, Dave, you, and likely others as well). I just think its more common to see women look like powerlifters when training like powerlifters. YMMV =)
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