If the 5x5 with 225lb is not easy, then it might be a better idea to do higher reps with 205lb.
Like 10x5 (weigh it around the total rep you want to hit I think) with 205lb and add a rep every week or some such.
5x5 with 225 is probably (in terms of RPE) like a 5-6 depending on the day. I’m gonna start with the 10x3 @ 225 on Monday and see how it goes. If it feels to difficult, I’ll scale back, but I think it’ll work. Today was just out of it because of the morning. Plus I’ve never started doing 225 after sets of 10s before (also did 135x12, 155x10, 185x10, 205x10 before even getting to 225 lol. Plus I ran 12 sprints yesterday when I’ve just been running 6 lol. So my legs felt it today!
Oh ok. If 225lb 5x5 is not that bad then doing 10x3 looks fine.
I’ve tried something similar to the 10x3 and adding reps scheme you proposed. I failed, and I think it’s largely because I chose too heavy of a weight.
When it comes to volume, starting with a heavy that is quite easy to hit 5 reps with seems like a good bet to me.
Yeah for sure man! I’ll play around with it a bit. The good thing about having a Clean, Squat, Press 3x a week is that I can mess with the volume/intensity each day. I might even just do 225x3 as many times and I can. If I don’t get to 10 sets, the remaining sets I’ll use 205 and if i need to 185.
I’m viewing this as a challenge because it’s something I’ve never done.
First time I’m trying to use sub-maximal weights for volume to try to drive up my strength.
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Sorry to hear about the thieving bastards. I have my Atlas stones sitting out in the front yard, but figure the number of people ABLE to steal them is low.
I almost expect to come home missing them one day. Let’s hope not, I won’t take it as well as you did.
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If someone stole atlas stones, I think I would be pissed as hell, but thoroughly impressed lol.
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If it makes you feel any better, somebody went in my house a stole my ground beef out of the freezer a few months ago. Eight 4-5 lb packages. And I live way out in the country. 
They had to have walked thru a pasture to do it.
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That’s crazy!! I swear the things people steal…
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##Day 7 of 365
Sunday 4/16/17 (Lower)
So now with the wedding approaching rapidly, my fiance is adamant she want to lift with me to speed up her weight loss. She wants to lift 4x a week. So with this being the case, I will move into a lower/upper 6x a week. Basically spreading my full body into 6 days. Recovery won’t be an issue since the program already has that built in. The good thing is we will be working out from 530-645am each morning. Get it out the way!!
CLEAN & JERK - Light day so felt crisp.
135x3
135x3
135x3
135x3
135x3
BACK SQUAT + AB WHEEL - 1 min breaks had my heart pumping!
205x3 / 5
205x3 / 5
205x3 / 5
205x3 / 5
205x3 / 5
205x3 / 5
205x3 / 5
205x3 / 5
205x3 / 5
205x3 / 5
RDL + BW LUNGES - RDL’s are so underrated.
135x12 / 10
135x12 / 10
135x12 / 10
135x12 / 10
JUMP ROPE - Starting to move like a boxer now.
15 min.
LATER IN THE DAY
6 Sprints
NOTES: 5/3/1 (even though I only ran it for 1 cycle lol) taught me how to adjust on the fly without truly changing your program. I understand now how to morph from a 2 day split to a 7 day split without actually changing the basis of the program. This single concept has kept the gains coming and able to adjust when life comes at me. I think this will very helpful if I decide to do law school, eventually when children enter the picture, or even when I’m so slammed at work.
Day 8 of 365
Monday 4/17/17 (Upper)
OVERHEAD PRESS + CHIN UPS
115x5 / 9
115x5 / 6
115x5 / 5
115x5 / 5
115x5 / 5
BB ROW + FLOOR PRESS
135x10 / 135x15
135x10 / 135x15
135x10 / 135x18
135x10
135x10
POUNDSTONE CURLS + PUSH UPS
100 / 82
LATERALS + REAR DELT FLYES (Using 10lb bumper plates)
12 / 20
12 / 20
12 / 20
AFTER BREAKFAST SPRINTS
6 Sprints
NOTES: I got this entire workout done in about 45 min (sprints were seperate). Upper body looked SUPER pumped up lol. I haven’t done over 25 push ups in about 2 years and my chest was about to explode lol. Since I still had about 8 minutes after the push ups, I decided to just throw in some laterals and rdf’s. Felt really good.
Working out in the AM is tough. I felt a bit sluggish and weaker especially since I don’t eat anything since I’m up so early. Might need to eat something that will go down fast. I know my weights on my lower body days will be lowered, but that’s all good!
DAY 9 of 365
Tuesday 4/18/17 (Lower)
CLEAN
155x3
155x3
155x3
155x3
155x3
FRONT SQUAT + GHR
185x3 / 10
185x3 / 10
185x3 / 8
185x3
185x3
185x3
185x3
185x3
SPLIT SQUAT + AB WHEEL
12 / 15
12 / 15
12 / 15
JUMP ROPE
15 min
NOTES: Back was a bit fatigued after Clean’s today, so decided to front squat instead. Good workout. Been messing with keeping my rest times to below 2 min to any movement. Squats have been feeling extra crispy lately!
LUNCH TIME SPRINTS
6 sprints
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Random Rant
A part of me feels like I should drop the Olympic lifts for now and truly just focus on overall strength. With the limited time each day I have to train, I think I’d be better off just focusing on that.
Maybe do bar work for the c&j and snatch to warm up and then go right into lifting. I think this will help me focus on total strength but with the back squats, front squats, overhead press, push press, rdls, rows and I do OHS during my warm ups, when I go back to it I’ll still have the mobility in order to add weight to the Olympic lifts. I’m thinking instead of a full squat clean like I do now, to just do powers and maybe add deadlifts back in. I would still pull a deadlift like a clean pull just so my motor patterns don’t get all messed up.
Since my primary focus is to get much stronger, I think it would benefit me to drop it for now. 6 months of purely focusing on strength might be worth it.
I got to keep remembering my goals. Squat, Press, Pull!
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It depends really on your goals brother. It seems like you are chugging along fine, but I understand where you are coming from. I would say the best idea would to definitely warm up with complexes, but stay on the mobility side of it. Keep your shoulders good for snatches and your wrists mobile for cleans. Should be okay in the long run tbh, but again, stay goal oriented always.
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If your primary focus is general strength and you don’t have a desire to do the olympic lifts then I would certainly drop them. No need in doing something you aren’t interested in and not give it your full attention. If your plans are to eventually compete in weightlifting then I would definitely keep at the movements and continue to master them. If this is just a recreational hobby and a way to get into or stay in decent shape then do what is going to keep you motivated. For those of us who enjoy throwing weights around for the fun of it, we have a lot more leeway than the competitive strength athlete.
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X2. I used to do cleans, snatch grip high pulls, snatches, etc to warm up and gradually progressed the weights. All that did was take up space in my training. When I dropped them I had more room for more useful work.
IMO unless you’re a weightlifter or crossfitter the Oly lifts and their variations are pretty much useless.
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My goals are to just get a bigger squat & press primarily right now. But I don’t want to lose my oly technique. Once I hit my squat goal then I will get after my Oly lifting goal because I can just maintain leg strength at that point.
Well the thing is eventually I want to hit certain #'s for a snatch & clean&jerk. I don’t want to put in the work to be in nationals or anything like that. I want to have fun with it, hit some big numbers (for what i consider big) and still have some good technique. I might want to compete at some local/state level comps though that’s for sure to say I have competed.
I eventually want to compete (even at a local/state level) and hit some decent numbers (big long term goal of a 225 snatch 285 c&j). So I think I would want to keep up technique sharp more than anything. I’m thinking I might be better off just alternating days like 3 days strength training and 2-3 days olympic lifting. I’d have to adjust volume.
But then again my primary goal is to get my squat to 315. Then my leg strength won’t be an issue for quite some time (want to first hit a 185 snatch and 225 clean & jerk).
Day 10 of 365
Wednesday 4/19/17 (Upper Body)
HANG SNATCH
135x2
135x2
135x2
135x2
135x2
135x2
OVERHEAD PRESS + CHIN UPS
95x15 / 8
95x15 / 8
95x12 / 8
BB ROW + FLOOR PRESS
155x8 / 155x5
155x8 / 155x5
155x8 / 155x9
155x8
POUNDSTONE CURLS + PUSH UPS
100 / 76
NOTES: Felt good to snatch. Workout was fast and to the point. The “light day” workouts always go way faster. I like having the lighter main lifts but heavier assistance on this day. Sets me up nicely for the intensity day.
LUNCH TIME SPRINTS
6 sprints
Day 11 of 365
Thursday 4/20/17 (Smoke your lower body day)
CLEAN
185x2
185x2
185x2
185x2
BACK SQUAT
185x5
205x3
225x3
225x3
225x3
185x10
185x10
185x10
135x20
RDL + BW LUNGES + AB WHEEL
135x15 / 10 / 15
135x15 / 10 / 15
135x15 / 10 / 15
MOVING 50 bags of Concrete (yes this was a workout itself lol)
NOTES: Squats are starting to feel extra crispy!! I use the RDL to really feel my hams stretch. I can still feel them from 3 days ago.
YOGA
Did this video after everything. Love these 15-20 min yoga videos.
LUNCHTIME SPRINTS
6 Sprints
##Part 2
Found out we have some guests coming to stay with us tomorrow so will not have a chance to get a full session in so decided to get a basic one in tonight.
OVERHEAD PRESS
115x5
135x3
135x2
135x1
115x8
BARBELL ROW
60 total reps @ 135lbs
BB CURLS + PUSH-UPS
50 reps each
NOTES: Hit 3 more reps at 135 for OHP! Whatever I’m doing is working. Past few days I’ve been eating kinda shitty so glad I was able to do this. Will only be doing Squats + Ab Wheel tomorrow so I can maximize a 30 min gym session in the morning. Gotta keep moving!!
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DAY 12 of 365
FRONT SQUAT + CHIN UPS
185x3 / 3
185x3 / 4
185x3 / 3
185x3 / 4
185x3 / 3
185x3 / 8
NOTES: Body was tired from yesterday full day of lifts, so just decided to get some nice clean fast reps in. Really focused on staying tight and exploding up with the weight. Good quick session.
Workout including warm ups took less than 30 minutes!!
LUNCH TIME WALK
45 Min - Figured I should give me knees/hip/ankles a break from sprinting for 2-3 days. Felt nice to get out and walk in a nice chilly day in Denver!
DAY 13 of 365
4/24/17 (YMCA Workout)
BACK SQUAT (This was almost EMOM)
185x5
205x3
225x2
225x2
225x2
225x2
225x2
225x2
185x10
185x10
185x5
INCLINE PRESS + CS ROW
115x10 / 70x6
135x6 / 70x6
135x6 / 70x6
135x6 / 70x6
135x6 / 70x6
NOTES: Going to Cabo for my bachelor party on Thursday, so about to lift heavy and hard 3 days in a row and get those last few sessions in before all I do is drink and eat lol!
LUNCH TIME SPRINTS
5 of them
EDIT: Sometimes I write out what I plan on doing before doing it and then do it. If I do not I edit the post with the proper numbers/lifts. Going to do my chins, curls, push ups, abs in the evening.
I think once I’m back from Vacation I’m going to do things a bit differently. Where in the AMs I do my squats/oly lifting. Lunches I do my upper body work at the YMCA down the street, and then after work is where I’ll run or go on a walk with my fiance. I think this will keep all my goals intact while being able to attack each session with supreme focus. I tend to fly through UB sessions and lower body seems to take much more focus and time. I’ll give it a try. Got to get Wedding ready now!
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