Now that I have completed my first goal which was competing in a strongman competition I wanted to start another log to track my progress as it relates to my current strength levels. With only about 7-8 months of training under my belt I feel great about the progress I have made so far with my strength and my health. If my first strongman competition has taught me anything it is that I am stronger than I think I am, so it’s time to start pushing even harder.
Moving forward I plan on using Wendler’s 5/3/1 program incorporating joker sets and down sets on my main movements. My current accomplished lifts are:
Squat: 330lbs x 3 (350lb calculated 1RM)
Bench: 225lbs x 3 (250lb calculated 1RM)
Deadlift: 405lbs x 3 (445 Calculated 1RM)
OHP: 170lbs x 1 (strict press)
I plan on using the following as my training maxes to start:
Squat: 315lbs
Bench: 225lbs
Deadlift: 405lbs (although my intention is to test my deadlift today and may adjust this one)
OHP: 160lbs
Right now I am deciding whether or not I should use a 3 day split on 5/3/1 or a 4 day split. So if anyone has any thoughts they would be helpful. I want to make sure I can recover from my training properly to not impact my training.
Here were my options:
4 day split:
Monday:
Warm-up
Bench 5/3/1
Assistance
Core - obliques
Conditioning
Tuesday
Warm-up
Squat 5/3/1
Assistance
Core - Abs
Conditioning
Wednesday - Light Conditioning
Thursday
Warm-up
OHP 5/3/1
Assistance
Core - obliques
Conditioning
Friday
Warm-up
Deadlift 5/3/1
Assistance
Core - Abs
Conditioning
Saturday - Strongman event training
Sunday - Hiking or walking
3 day Split
Monday
Warm-up
Bench 5/3/1
Assistance
Conditioning
Tuesday
Warm-up
OHP 5/3/1
Assistance (would add bench as assistance to OHP)
Conditioning
Wednesday - Core/Conditioning
Thursday
Warm-up
Deadlift 5/3/1
Assistance
Core - obliques
Conditioning
Friday - Core/Conditioning
Saturday - Strongman event training
Sunday - Hiking or Walking
Not sure if the 4 day split will be hard to recover from, I may try it out and see how I feel and drop down if I feel its necessary.
As far as my diet I will be upping my caloric intake to try and maximize my strength potential. In the past I have been eating 2100 calories a day and at 275lbs seems its not enough to keep me fueled through my workouts. I plan to up that to about 3000 calories per day and monitor my weight and adjust accordingly.
I have also set a few lifting goals for me to shoot for. I know these goals are not going to come quickly but it is what I am striving for. These are in order of importance to me.
Deadlift: 600lbs
OHP: 300lbs with leg drive
Squat: 500lbs
Bench: 315lbs
Bench is last in my priority because I still plan on competing in strongman and if I am moving to a 3 day split I will not be benching as much.
This week I am on a deload to recover from my first strongman competition but starting Monday will be getting back to training hard to get ready for my next two competitions in November and January.