I actually did a few leg press (machine) sets to warm up?
10 x 180
10 x 230
10 x 260
7 x 360
Squats
5 x 175
5 x 5 195 still dealing with the shoulder issue (feel like I am going to drop the bar backwards and mangle my shoulders by not letting go) but as result I as so tight before I lift I don?t even feel the weight.
I missed Tuesday?s bench workout so?
Heavily assisted Dips
X 10
X 8
X 6 this felt good, I don?t think I ever had a good set of dips (I hate them)
Cable tri pushdowns
10 x 140
8 x 160
6 x 180
4 x 190
Cable curls
2 x 5 x 120
Funny office person?a lady in marketing spends at least ½ hour and often much longer printing every email she has sent and received. To put this in perspective, I (different department, recruiting AKA Talent Acquisition, AKA Headhunter) send/receive an average of 15 emails (15 x 2=30 emails/hour x 8 hours=240 emails per day) while she does this. This company generates emails by the jigawatt so this ritual is pretty dammed ridicules.
Walked 20 minutes on the treadmill
I have re-rededicated myself to some sort of cardio, weight management every workout. I am heavier than I have ever been, but not as fat as I have been. I have added a lot of muscle, (just a guess but at least 25lbs) but because I am fat, I just look fatter, not stronger. I tried on a suit over the weekend. The jacket was my size, but I could barely get my arms/ shoulders into it. I could see biceps through the jacket. The tailor looked at it once and said, ?no.? All this is frustrating. Ok, it was a “slim” fit, but still…a wake-up. I will (already started) really go low carb, no back loading, and I will do no less than 20 minutes before I touch a barbell?really.
Also, I am going to map out a new routine based on the 531 rep scheme but tailored to my needs. Still a lot of strength but more aesthetic focus.
Back/hip is still tender. I started with bent over barbell rows, an old love/hate of mine. One warm-up set was enough to say this was not a good idea.
Seated Cable Rows
10 x 100
10 x 120
5 x 160
3 x 180
1+2 x 200
3 x 10 x 140
Hyper ext.
4 x 10 (no weight)
Finally some mobility time. I stretched my back, hips, groin, hams every way I could think of. I think things improved.
(1559)
20 minutes on the treadmill?top speed 3.7 mph ?it?s a start
Bench
5 x 165
3 x 195
1 + 2 x 225
3 x 10 x 165 I might have gone a little harder than I intended, pecks/shoulders ache this morning
Cable curls?straight bar
10 x 100
7 x 120
5 x 140
Tri extensions w/rope
10 x 100
8 x 120
5 x 140
listed to Cadillac Jones radio on Pandora, I am one funky mo-fo now. Cadillac Jones - Upper Decher - YouTube
20 minutes on the treadmill, 3.7 mph
Squat
…a whole lot of warm-up
5 x 195
3 x 3 x 225
Leg press
5 x 405
2 x 5 x 495 I was feeling blah…weird week, but low carb is going well.
20 minutes on the dread, 3.5 mph but with 11.5 incline
OHP
5 x 65
5 x 85
3 x 3 x 105
Cable rows
10 x 120
7 x 140
6 x 160
4x 180
2 x 3 x 200
Hyper ext
3 x failure (8-10)
I was pretty hung-over, sort of a funky weekend. Had a mediocre fight with the wife. I went back to the city that made me an adult. Well, first I went a local strip bar, talked politics with a beautiful naked woman, but one of her regulars showed and lap-dance blocked me. Thence, I jetted up to the city of homes. I wanted to hit one of my all time favorite dive strip bars. Not only was the bar closed but the building was literally wiped off the face of the earth. I was happy in a way, that place was a pleasure and depressant all in one. I used to live near there, and was one of the few white regulars. I decided to commit to my (future at that time) wife there when a stripper I knew and tried to date over the years came over and almost burst into tears right in front of me because life was beating her bad (she wasn’t a cokehead, junkie whore like some of the girls there) and she was so completely alone. I actually had a dream, or nightmare that I went there but I was really old. Needless to say, its gone. Sort of a sleazy version of “you can’t go home again.”
I went down the street and found another strip bar (these are not gentlemen’s clubs, their strip bars) had a good time, actually got invited to a swingers club by a stripper (who da’ thunk?) but not too good and got home with no diseases, scars or records.
20 minutes on the tread, 3.7 mph, 7.0 incline
Bench
5 x 175
3 x 3 x 205
Heavily assisted dips
3 x 5
I’m on vacation this week so I went in the morning. A quiet gym without bro’s doing curls in front of every mirror is a pleasant change.
Hi Kraken… I enjoyed reading your progress regards the 5/3/1 program, I did a couple of cycles of the big but boring program myself but I don’t think I was strong enough yet to benefit from the program so switched to a basic 5x5 program
Like yourself I could only train 3 times a week so was having to spread the 4 work outs over 2 weeks which meant I was only squatting every 9 days as a result it meant that I couldn’t walk properly for up to 3 days after it was like continuously squatting for the first time ever lol.
From what I read when you’ve been doing your last set you didn’t go all out ie you left a couple of reps in the tank ? I was under the understanding that you were meant to go all out on the last set and try and break rep records or have I misinterpreted what I have read ?
So the log title says 5 / 3 /1 but reading this it appears to me that it doesn’t resemble the program. Are you still doing 5/3/1 or did you pack it in for something else?
Last2thegame,
I followed 531 for 6 cycles and had great results, but I tried to switch to conventional DL and ran into some issues there and with squatting. I did a couple 5x5ish rep schemes for squats and I think I am back on track there (although I have not squatted for two weeks. On DL, I found a couple weeks ago that I could not DL at all, and even bent over rows were painful, hence cable rows, etc. Overall, although I am no longer following the sets/reps, I am still using some of the principals of the program, chiefly concentrated efforts on big lifts, low reps, high quality work.
I plan design my own program based on more aesthetic/weight loss and my own goals. I’m a little behind on this (no real excuses) so in the meantime I have kept my overall 3x week split, DAY 1 OHP/DL, Day 2 Bench, Day 3 DL
25 minutes on the tread! 7.0 incline @ 3.5 mph
OHP
5 X 65
5 X 90
3 X 100
1+1 X 115
5 X 10 X 70 A pinch in the left shoulder, sometimes I get it warming up with light sets, this time it stuck around.
Seated cable rows
100 x 10
140 x 5
180 x 5
200 x 3
220 x 1+1
Back extensions (machine)
5 x 195
5 x 235
5 x 265
5 x 285
3 x 295
My wife is was very sick, (Sunday) so I knew we weren?t going anywhere, or doing anything much so this turned into a max effort day.
Also, I am down three pounds, but I had eaten like crap most of the time. The one change was basically no diet soda (a staple at the office). I think I may be on to something there.
20 minutes on the tread, 7.0 incline, 3.5 mph
Bench
5 x 170
5 x 205
3 x 225
Cable fly?s
3 x10 x 60
Tri cable pushdowns
3 x 180
Sort of a dull session, although bench keeps getting stronger (something that was lagging before). It took a while to get to hulk mode, I think because of little sleep due to wife’s lung hacking. All the warm-up sets and the first and second set were forced. Starting to feel sore this morning so I guess something worked.
20 minutes on the tread 7.0 incline, 3.0 mph?feeling the effects of a loooong week
Squat
5 x 170
5 x 205
2 x 225?bad unrack, reracked and did another 3
3 x 225
2 x 245
Finally feeling confident under the bar again. Another bright note, a kid a couple weeks ago was squatting nicely to depth, but was really unstable, weight shifting all over his feet, etc. I told him it helped me a lot to focus on pushing through my heels, and pushing the floor away from me. Last night he stopped me and looked really excited and said my advice was making a huge difference.
Sounds like progress! Keep it going.
[quote]late2thegame wrote:
Sounds like progress! Keep it going.[/quote]
Yes! thank you, progress back to where I was a month or two ago when I was rep’n low 3’s easily. I am amazed and embarrassed how much mental and small details have gotten in my way. A little delayed soreness, my gluts/hips are sizzling this morning.
I have been racking my brain trying to come up with programing but I keep landing on an every so slight variation of 531. I like the whole set-up, reps, progression, splits, and so on. Even though I am bored with it I am not bored with the results, so I guess I’ll continue.
20 minutes, elliptical, resistance 3-4 incline 4
I did some mobility work to try to open my hips/back for DL?s but I was feeling stiff as hell so I went with caution
Cable Rows
5 x 140
5 x 160
5 x 180
10 x 3 x 120
OHP
5 X 85
5 X 95
3 + 2 X 105 (goal was 5, but I had to re-rack, but did not take my hands off the bar)
5 x 10 x 65
Back hyper ext
3 x failure w hands overhead
Hip/lower back feeling much better now. I think my bed might be the issue, or at least exacerbating it. At the same time, I think the rows are having a positive effect on everything.
Getting back to 531 finally. This week is a 5’er, next week, 3’er and so on. Although, I have not felt ready to DL in a while, but I’d rather keep working overall than DL until I can’t get out of bed.
20 minutes on the elliptical, 4 incline, 3-4 resistance
Bench
5 x 155
5 x 195
5 x 225
5 x 10 x 145 the last set was misery! I did these with limited rest periods (I was sort of in a rush) and I barely made the last set.
In other news…while on the elliptical I noticed 4 guys strutting around with major upper body size, all doing various isolation exercises on chest, shoulders and arms. All of these guys looked like they had never done a compound movement in their life. Two of them I see all the time, and never see them do any lower body work, never mind a squat. One of them (never noticed him before) had the largest arms I have ever seen in person, but looked like you could kick his scrawny legs out from underneath him to end any fight.
20 minutes on the elliptical?sort of a struggle to get through this. Physically it was no problem, mentally I was not in it.
Squat?I dropped my max down to 330 from 345 but I am hoping to recover that quickly. It seems more of a confidence issue than an ability issue.
5 x 185
5 x 225
5 x 255 the first 2 sets were cake walks, the last set was a little harder but done.
5 x 10 x 145 BBB is the most diabolical idea in weightlifting. All the pain with all of the embarrassment of straining under 145 lbs.
So?just as I got my squat back?new book idea, How Kraken Got His Groove Back?the guy who has been moping around the gym for a month even though he has clearly packed on 25 lean pounds in the last year, without his hot girlfriend, showed up with her like nothing had ever changed. Happy endings for all?for now?
20 minutes on the tread–7.0 incline, 3.8 mph
OHP
5 X 85
5 X 95
5 X 105 crankd these out–in the past the last OHP set has been a breathing set, often with a reset.
5 x 10 x 65–sets 3, 4 I may have only hit 8, counting above 5 is not a strength of mine.
Cable rows, straight bar–I was feeling a good DL session, but I also traveling next week for a conference and did not want to get broken
5 x 140
5 x 160
5 x 180–drop mike, out.
Funny gym guys…3 young feller’s were doing bench sets were the spotter would sort of unrack, then let the weight (clearly too much) almost pin the lifter to the bench, then jerk it up and repeat. I can sort of see the benefit here, overloaded eccentric movements, but this seemed like a shoulder surgeon’s wet dream. Lots of shaking, tilting, more elbow flair, and feet kicking.
in other news…The guy who curtsy squats 365, or 3.5x his BW, was also OHPing but doing push/press, 1/2 reps on OHP, basically chin to forehead. He is also the guy who always lifts heavy, with bad technique and very limited ROM, but still qualifies as a good live action Bevis of Bevis and Butthead fame.
20 minutes on the elliptical
Bench
5 x 165
5 x 195
1 x 225
1 x 225 totally bombed this, left shoulder felt like it was going to give, and my head was not ?in the game.?
Cable flys
4 x 8-10 x 45-65
I started feeling crappy on the way home, sort of medicine heady. I think it was a combo of a light lunch, and a long day.
20 minutes on the elliptical
Squat
(lots of warm-up sets bar to 165)
5 x 5 x 195
I have been traveling and a t a conference most of the week and dog tired. I hve given up working out on the road because my feet get worked over badly on these trips and any time off the feet is important. 8+ hours on my feet, for 3 days followed by four on planes and another 6 in airports (2x?s) takes their toll.
I planned to repeat the 5 cycle of 531, but the first set I felt knee strain, and some groin area strain. I did not want to get broken.
OK, traveled, came home, spent the last two weeks as the CEO’s punching bag (some my fault, some just because), lost power in the bedroom, replaced outlet in the dark (phobia of electricity and paying electrician’s rates) got sick as all fuck, stomach, fever, slight cough, general soup sandwich-ness, but I am back.
20 minutes elliptical
OHP
5 X 75
5 X 85
5 X 95 dialed the max back a little
10 x 3 x 65
very light DL’s
3 x 5 x 135 these came up easy as pie, but I know from experience to ease into DLing. Would have been 5 sets but I had another ass-splosion preceded by chills so I thought it best to leave with my shield rather than on it.