They’re definitely a great resource to have close by. When I’m back from university in summer I intend to make very good use of them.
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I’ve had to miss my last workout this week due to bad planning and being busy. I had planned to do it Saturday because I was away on Friday but forgot I also had plans Saturday and just didn’t have time. It’s not too big of a deal I’ll just continue as normal as though I did it.
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19/04/17
Seated overhead press:
3x12x20
Lat pull-down:
3x10
Squat:
2x5x20, 2x5x60
Haven’t been feeling too well this week so I gave Monday’s workout a miss. I thought I’d be fine today but by squats I had very little energy so I left it there and walked the two miles home instead of getting the bus.
I was planning to deload after one cycle of 5/3/1 but I may deload after two instead now after having pretty much a week off. I start the full body template next week.
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22/04/17
Squat:
2x5x20, 5x60, 5x80, 5x90
90kg felt pretty good, it’s going to be my training max next week so I wanted to give it a go.
Bench press superset with dumbbell row:
2x5x60, 8x60/ 3x10x22
Pushed the last bench set for a few more reps leaving about two in the tank.
Power clean:
2x5x20, 5x30
Surprisingly tiring workout for how much I did. I basically just did what I felt like reps and sets wise since I’ve not really followed the Texas method this last week. Power clean is starting to feel better.
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Starting the first 5/3/1 full body template from beyond tomorrow with the 5/3/1 deadlift substituted for the Tim Henriques program. I’m going to keep any extra assistance to the bare minimum and go by the book for the start at least- I’ll maybe just throw in some ab and back work. Also going to attend kickboxing on Friday evenings and intend to clean up my diet a bit more. I’ve ate rubbish this last month.
Training maxes will be: 90kg squat, 65kg bench, 110kg deadlift and 42.5kg press.
Looking forward to it.
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24/04/17
5/3/1 Full Body Template
Squat:
2x5x20, 5x40, 5x60, 5x70, 5x75
Capped the PR set for two reasons. First I want to ease into things a little bit and second I felt pretty awful today which I think is a combination of a few things but nothing to worry about.
Dumbell bench superset with dumbbell row:
Both 5x10x20
That was it, short and sweet. I actually feel pretty tired afterwards.
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I ran this template a while back and I supersetted the bench and rows. It was definitely tougher than I thought it would be.
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Yeah i agree it was definitely harder than it looked on paper. My worry about it was the relatively low upper body volume after the hardgainers program but it doesn’t seem like it’ll be a problem.
I’m cleaning up my diet a lot so I expect to lose a bit of fat and a bit lower volume is probably ideal for that.
Do you have any other comments about it? How did you find it overall?
I liked it but I have workout ADD. I’m big into Christian Thibaudeau’s stuff especially as I get older. He wrote some stuff about how tapping into your glycogen stores during a workout can have a negative effect on muscle building. Your body uses cortisol to break down your stored energy and cortisol is a catabolic hormone. You don’t want catabolic things going on in your body when you’re trying to be anabolic. How that applies to lifting is training volume. The body responds best when you hit failure in terms of muscle hypertrophy. It doesn’t care if it takes you 8 reps or 30 reps but the higher reps will take more energy and increase the likelihood that your body releases cortisol to tap into your glycogen stores. Based on this I stopped doing the 5 sets of 10 and started doing my assistance work with the rep schemes from The Best Damn Dorkout for Naturals.
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Been thinking about goals a bit recently and what I’m lifting for. I don’t have any plans for competitions in the near future so what am I doing?
I think achieving 2/3/4/5 plates in the main four lifts is a great goal to aim for and I’d like to do that while being relatively lean (maybe like 15% body fat, I don’t really know). While on the theme of strength goals I think a three plate clean would be really cool to be able to do but I think this one is a bit of a push. Then again who knows where I’ll be in a few years.
On top of all this it’d be good to be proficient in basic body weight movements and to be at a decent running standard but I don’t even know what that is. Sort of feel like I’m describing crossfit now I’m writing this. I’ll probably do some sort of strength competition at one point just to experience it.
Of course all these goals are long term; once I achieve them or even before I might change and aim for something else but they’re what I’m aiming for at the minute. It’s nice to have a direction in training.
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It’s funny how you feel like you’re drifting towards CrossFit when you start laying out your goals. I want to be strong, fast, have decent endurance, be able to clean… Crap I’m describing the pro CrossFit competitors!
I’m in the same boat. Going to chase the 2/3/4/5 goals for awhile and try to have decent conditioning along the way.
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Yeah I actually quite like CrossFit and don’t mind the idea of being okay at everything and great at nothing. The way I see it, lifting is always going to be a hobby for me and I have no desire currently to pursue anything in particular so being good all round fits well.
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Yeah I’m the same way. Crossfit is cool and those guys are very impressive, but I just can’t buy into the whole cult thing and I enjoy planning my own training way too much. I like doing this as a solitary thing. But I’m very keen on being barbell strong, good at bodyweight movements and acceptable at running.
The 2/3/4/5 goal is awesome but I feel like it isn’t well balanced. A 100kg press is on a very different level to a 220kg deadlift. But that’s kind of academic, it’s a cool goal and I think you should go for it.
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I agree with everything you said about both CrossFit and the goals.
About the goals I’d still count a 100kg overhead press if it included leg drive or was a jerk or something which makes it slightly less difficult. Both the presses will definitely be the most difficult of those four though.
By the way I’ve noticed you don’t bench press any more, is this because you don’t have a bench? And if so what about floor or overhead presses?
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Bingo. I think the 100 kg press would be the hardest. Honestly, of those four I figure you’ll always have two you can achieve quite easily, one with some effort and one will be a bitch to get.
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Yeah a 100kg push press would be more manageable.
Yes I absolutely love benching, but my current gym doesn’t have one. It has a matted area for deadlifts and a Smith machine and dumbbells. The best alternative would be dumbbell bench press but I just haven’t got into doing that for some reason. I tried benching with the Smith machine and it was awful lol. I do occasionally overhead press (I did yesterday).
I should definitely start doing dumbbell presses, thanks for bringing that up!
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I’m sure you’re right there! I’m ashamed to say it but the most out of reach for me is the 4-plate squat. I’ve done the deadlift and I’m 20kg out for the presses. But a 4-plate squat seems unachievable to me!
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Have you given this a try? Could maybe work for you.
It’ll be interesting to see how all the push ups have carried over to benching when you finally get back to it.
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Great video thank you very much! I’ve always been put off by not knowing how to get in position but that was extremely helpful. I’ll definitely try it out later this week.
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I’ve also seen this done while maintaining the glute bridge position. It adds a core element.
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