ZM Training log: Up Up and away

Training Training Logs
21

Hopefully today I actually get to train.

Standing outside can be a great way to lose water weight today. Temperature at 9AM is 88F. Feels like 96. Later it will be 94, feels like 105. There hasn’t been good weather all month really. Raining off and on for this month, now its scorching hot out, and it feels like I’m swimming in the air half the time, its so humid. What sucks more is I live near a creek and I don’t want to go swimming in it because when it was tested a few weeks ago they found Legionnaires disease in it from a building up the street. Ey ey ey…

22

I think I’ve approached this strength training the wrong way. I’ve been training to gain muscles mainly, but I really need strength. How should I train? I have this training routine Im starting today but now I’m not sure if I want to use it, at least with rep range-wise. I gotta get stronger. For reference the training plan I will be doing

Monday Thursday: Chest Back and Shoulder
Incline Bench press 3x6-12 reps
Pullups 3 x max reps
Overhead Press 3x6-12 reps
Cable Crossover High to low 3x8-12 reps
Lat pulldown 3x6-12 reps
Lateral raise 3x8-14 reps
Dips 3x max reps
Horizontal weighted row 3x8-14 reps
Rear shoulder flye 3x10-16 reps
Shrugs 3x20 reps
Landmine rows 3x12-15 reps

Tuesday Friday Arms

Bicep Curl 3x8-12 reps
Tricep Pushdown 3x6-12 reps
Rope Forearm curls 3x max
Hammer curl 3x8-14 reps
Overhead extension 3x6-12 reps
Rope rev. forearm curl 3 x max
Barbell curl 3x6-12 reps
Skull crusher 3x8-12 reps
Dead hang 3x max

Wednesday Legs and Core

Squat 3x 6-12 reps
Deadlift 3x 6-12 reps
DB walking lunges 3x 12 reps each side
Leg extension 3x 8-14 reps
Hamstring curl 3x 8-14 reps
Hip Abductor 3x 10-16 reps (Moving to every other session due to perceived lack of necessity, as with Hip adductor)
Hip Adductor 3x 10-16 reps
Barbell Hip thrust 3x 8-16 reps
Calf raises 3x20-25
Crunches 3x40
Side Crunches 3x40
Leg raises 3x40
Crunch machine 3x12-18 reps
Oblique twist machine 3x15 reps
Plank 3x max

Saturday- Olympic lifts+ add-ons
Power Clean 3x12-15 reps (Im doing higher reps for now to work on form)
Front Squat 3x12-15 reps
Shrugs 3x20 reps
Punching bag 3x til my hands are sore (Im doing this to toughen my hands up to endure more pain)

How should I change the rep ranges?

23

In truth, with a goal of strength, I would overhaul almost the entire thing.

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24

That’s what I was thinking to be honest

25

You’re thinking in a good way, if I do say so.

I’m a big fan of the Tactical Barbell series of programming, as it relates to strength. 5/3/1 is quite effective as well, but I find it to be less prescriptive, which can get some trainees into trouble.

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26

Doing a bit of research on 5-3-1, and first thing that jumps out to me is Only 3-4 days of training a week?? (according to an article Im reading). I’m so used to doing 5-6 days a week, doing each workout 2 times in a week. I think this is good though, since it says you can consistently get stronger each mesocycle. It also says you can include some accessory movements, which I want to do. I have a training philosophy that you should train all the different ‘modes’ of muscle activation, as I call it. For chest that would be Linear Pressing, with bench, a Contracting press (Pec Dec), and a downward (or I suppose upwards) press (dips). How should I incorporate accessory movements?

27

No: 3-4 days of LIFTING per week. You still can and often do train 5-7 days per week.

But you’re wanting to do something different now, to get different results, right?

The point of assistance work is just to build muscle with 5/3/1. The main and supplemental work are what make you stronger.

2 Likes
28

Ok so here what Ive “come up with”

5/3/1 training Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.

Tuesday will be my current arm workout, is that effective to combine that?
Thursday Will be a The Olympic lifts+add on, plus Pullups, Weighted row, and maybe something else.

On the 5/3/1 days, can I add the assistance exercises, or should I only do the 5/3/1 workout? I would want to add (in addition to other exercises for muscle groups) Pushups and Dips, for max reps, 3 sets each. Is that too much? Im sure I’m over thinking this. What do I do??

29

Ok, I got this all wrong. For some reason I thought you did all 4 exercises in one session, x 3 or 4 a week… :man_facepalming:

Alright. I think Im going to follow Boring but Big.

30

Okay, I think I understand Boring But Big now.

I will do as an example Bench Press day

The 3 sets for the 5/3/1 basic training is the same, but the last set you only do the stated amount of reps, not pushing to the max, right?

Then do 5 sets of 10 reps for Overhead press, using the appropriate % of max 50 the first month, 60 the second, 70 the third, right?

Then since its Bench press day, i think I should do

Pullups 3xmax
Weighted rows 3x 10 reps, (And the thing says not to do anything with really any effort. Does that mean I don’t even go close to failure, just doing it for a pump basically? I don’t think I understand all the way)
Shrugs 3x20 (same question)

For Overhead press day, I would then do bench press 5x10 reps, and then for the other work I would do
DB curls 3x10
Tricep Pushdown 3x10
Forearm rope curl 3xmax (I want to get stronger forearms)
Barbell curl 3x10 (Do I need to add these two?)
Skull crusher 3x10
Deadhang 3x max
Face pull 3x10

Again same questions as before

And for the Lower body days, I feel like I should be doing some other leg exercise, but It does say not to do any others, and to do Core exercises

These would be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Friday and Saturday, what would you recommend?

31

Before I comment on this, you said your goal was to pursue strength. The goal of BBB is to build mass (Hence “boring but big”). Are you certain that’s the approach you want to take, given your goals?

I like BBB for mass gaining. It’s awesome for that.

32

I really want strength, but I also want size. Strength Is my number 1 priority though.

33

If that is the case, BBB is not the approach I would take. Dan John sums up the idea of strength pretty well: it’s practice. We improve the skill of moving the weight. Size is struggle: we grow as a result of pushing ourselves to the point of adaptation.

With periodization, we are able to accomplish both goals: just not within the same training program. We have phases where we emphasize strength and ones where we emphasize size. And they both build upon each other to realize something even greater.

This is one of the reasons I’m a fan of Tactical Barbell: The “Operator-Mass-Specialization” approach to training is very simple periodization. This can be done with 5/3/1 as well: it just requires a little more forethought from the user. You have to pick the programs that support your goal.

34

I think I am just going to stick to 5-3-1, with assistance exercises. I just am not sure what those assistance exercises should be. I definitely will add back stuff, Pullups, Weighted row machine, and Face pulls seem good. I gotta add arm stuff, Hammer Curls, Barbell curls, Tricep Pushdown, and Skull crusher seem good. And forearm rope curl. For Legs I do want to add Unilateral movement. Walking lunges should work. Shrugs/Farmers carries I should do also. These all are functional, at least in my eyes.

Monday
Bench press day
(Follow standard 5-3-1 protocol)
Pullups 3xmax plus negatives
Face Pull 3x20
Weighted row 3x8-10

Tuesday
Squat day
(standard)
Walking Lunges 3x12 each side
Farmers Walks (with the hex bar) 3x 3 laps wall to wall in gym room
Crunch machine 3x20
Leg Raises 3x40

Wednesday
Overhead Press day
(standard protocol)
Hammer curl 3x10-15
Tricep pushdown 3x6-10
Forearm Rope curl 3x max
Barbell curl 3x5-8 reps
Skull crusher 3x5-8 reps

Thursday
Deadlift day
(Standard protocol)
Shrugs 3x20
Twist Machine 3x15
Plank 3x max

Friday will be a back exercises and arm exercises (I do this so I can have a nice strong back, and strong arms as well. I use Hammer curls instead of normal Bicep curl because If I’m picking something up with that grip, Im probably going to be using 2 hands, ie, barbell curl.)

Saturday and Sunday will be rest

I feel this is good for me. Do you recommend any adjustments?

35

When you say “standard protocol”, there really isn’t such a thing with 5/3/1. Are you meaning to go for PR sets with the main work?

Ultimately, what you posted does not have any supplemental work. In BBB, the 5x10s would be an example of the supplemental work: it’s the barbell work that’s done AFTER the main work.

For me, if my goal was strength, I’d train full body 3x a week for lifting. A good approach would be squat and press one day, and bench and deadlift on another. If I didn’t want to do any supplemental work, I’d consider Jim’s 5x5/3/1 approach, wherein you work up to the top weight of 5/3/1 for your main work and do it for 5x5. If I was going to do supplemental work, I’d consider using 5s progression (5s pro) for the main lift, where I cap the lift at 5 reps, and then, for the supplemental work, start with 5x5 FSL (first set last) and then, next cycle, move up to SSL (second set last), focusing on bar speed and control.

For assistance, I would primarily use bodyweight exercises, and follow Jim’s prescription of 25-50 or 50-100 reps for an upper body push, upper body pull, and single leg/core exercises (so 25-50 or 50-100 reps of EACH movement). I like dips, chins, and GHRs for bodyweight work, along with ab wheel.

36

When you say “standard protocol”, there really isn’t such a thing with 5/3/1. Are you meaning to go for PR sets with the main work?

When I say standard protocol I mean this
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
Set 1 65% x 5 70% x 3 75% x 5 40% x 5
Set 2 75% x 5 80% x 3 85% x 3 50% x 5
Set 3 85% x 5+ 90% x 3+ 95% x 1+ 60% x 5

Il be blunt. I have little to no clue what you mean for most of what you said. As much as I know about lifting, I know literally nothing about lifting. In lifting terms and styles, I am literally an idiot.

37

I’d be happy to explain anything you are confused about. The biggest favor you could do yourself when it comes to 5/3/1 is read Jim’s books on the subject.

Although I will once again make a push for Tactical Barbell at this time, as I find one needs to do less reading to be able to implement those programs.

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38

wherein you work up to the top weight of 5/3/1 for your main work and do it for 5x5.

I don’t understand this

start with 5x5 FSL (first set last) and then, next cycle, move up to SSL (second set last),

Or this

I tried finding resources online for tactical barbell, but they all require me to purchase a book. I myself can not buy anything, and my parents probably won’t buy it for me. I could give them the money but I don’t feel like spending 25 bucks, I’m trying to save up. From what i’ve found online, however, it seems like it would be a very good program.

I feel 5-3-1 is what I really need to imo

39

This thing you quoted

Is the main work percentages. So for week 1, you’d work up to 85% and do it for 5x5.

Referring to the same thing: set 1 is the first set. Set 2 is the second set. So you’d do 5x5 with the first set weight for FSL, and 5x5 with the second set weight for SSL.

Do you have a means to access a kindle app?

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40

I second this. Strongly—if you’re serious about 5/3/1, you’ll go far with 5/3/1 Forever, though his earlier books are also worth their weight in gold.

I cannot comment on Tactical Barbell, as I’ve never run any of it myself, but I can say Pwn’s perspectives are well-worth considering.

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