Thursday 27/10/16 C1W3D2
Bench press 47.5x5, 52.5x5 (forgot it was 3), 60x9
Should have probably stopped at 8 reps but I wanted 10. I nearly failed the 9th and realised I’m not stupid enough to try a 10th with no spotter. Also was at 9pm when I tend to be weaker than afternoon workouts. Massive PR, takes my calculated 1RM from 70kg to 77kg.
Lat pull-down 40x10x3, 45x10x2
Lateral raises 4x15x4
Incline press 40x5x3 (had no smaller plates)
Barbell rows (torso 90 degrees to floor) 40x5x3
Barbell rows (torso 45 degrees to floor) 40x8x3
Barbell shrugs 40x10, 50x10x2
Finished off with loads of back work, wish I’d brought my straps. It got a bit tough on my grip, those Elieko bars have razor sharp knurling which was cutting into my hands. Surprisingly my lower back was a lot more pumped than my upper especially straight after.
I saw a lot of strange things at the gym tonight: a man doing half squats with a 1kg dumbbell in each hand while resting his arms on his thighs, a living don’t skip leg day meme, literally his forearms where the size of his quads he had like 20 inch upper arms and a lot of people sat on their phones. Also saw my first 3 plate squat at this gym and he was hitting it for like 10 reps.
Saturday 29/10/16 C1W3D3
Squat 60x5, 70x3, 75x8
Back extension BWx10x4
Hack squat 50x20x3
Dumbbell Romanian deadlift 20x8x3
Nothing special to note about this workout really. Form broke down quite a lot on the last rep of 85kg and I probably would have failed a 9th. Someone was using the deadlift platform for snatches for at least half an hour so in the end I decided to skip stiff leg deadlifts again and used dumbbells instead. I got a pretty decent back pump from them and could really feel a stretch in my hamstrings but didn’t feel my glutes much.
Sunday 30/10/16 C1W3D4
Overhead press 27.5x5, 32.5x3, 37.5x8
super set with neutral grip chins BWx3x4
With my overhead press numbers being so small 5% makes virtually no difference, especially without microplates, so I threw on my training max for my 95% set. The 8th rep was a bit of a grind but I didn’t wanna finish on 7. I’m very happy that I was able to do proper chin ups for the first time too, especially 3.
Dumbbell rows 16x15x3
Close grip bench 30x5, 40x5, 45x5
Lat pull down 40x10, dropset: 55x4, 50x4, 45x4, 40x5, 30x8, 20x10
That’s it for my first cycle of 5/3/1. I’m not going to deload just yet I’ll do that after my second cycle. As the book says I’ll be adding 5kg to training max for lower body and 2.5kg to upper body. I’ll be doing SST again until at least Christmas and keeping the same assistance exercises. So far I’ve enjoyed it and I seem to have gotten stronger.
Also worth noting I am doing 2 hours of martial arts every Monday and Tuesday evening which I will use as my conditioning. It usually involves at least 15 minutes of high intensity warm up and stretching followed by lots of pad work and then some sparring. As a result I’m going to try and train on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday unless I’m going to be busy. On the days where I don’t hit my back directly in the gym I’m going to do 100 low intensity band pull aparts, although I may take Friday to rest completely. I’m also going to try and incorporate some light neck training twice a week but I will be less strict about this.
Training maxes for cycle 2:
Deadlift 95kg, front squat 55kg
Bench press 65kg, incline press 52.5kg
Squat 85kg, stiff leg deadlift 75kg
Overhead press 40kg, close grip bench 57.5kg
Tuesday 1/11/16 C2W1D1
So today was supposed to be deadlift day and I had to go to the gym late an hour before closing. There was group of 6 guys using the deadlift platform for the first 45 minutes and even if I wanted to just deadlift on the normal floor (which the staff go crazy at) all the bars were being used by other people doing it.
My friend wanted to do some arms so I spent probably 15-20 mins just doing easy sets of curls and triceps pull-downs. At this point at power rack became free so I did my SST front squats assistance then I decided to hit some back extensions and leave because I ran out of time.
To make things worse I’m going home from uni Friday afternoon so can’t use the gym at the weekend. I’m gonna be going Wednesday, Thursday, Friday just to fit things in normally.
My plan is either to deadlift on squat day and just hit the required reps in both then miss SST assistance or maybe deadlift tomorrow and hit my press workout next Monday.
Curls and triceps pull-down
Front squat 27.5x10, 32.5x10, 37.5x8
Back extensions BWx10, 10x10x2, drop set: 10x10, BWx5
I really didn’t feel like going to the gym today. Thinking about it my nutrition has steadily been getting worse this last week and I’ve slept very little due to a very persistent cough ive had so it’s no wonder I’m feeling beat up, especially with no rest days this week. Basically everything Wendler says not to do on 5/3/1 I’ve been doing. Next week I’m going back to working out Wed, Thurs, Sat, Sun so I’ve got four days after tomorrow to sort things out and recover well.
Today I had to deadlift and squat on the same day for reasons explained in my previous post. I decided with how I felt to just hit the required reps in both and leave. Despite not feeling great today I didn’t lift like it, everything felt fast and smooth. It’s crazy how easy 80x5 on the deadlift feels now, double overhand too, I think 5/3/1 must be some magic formula or something.
I came home from university today for the weekend so I did my press workout in my small garage gym. The thing is though both my barbells are cheap 1 inch diameter ones and neither weighs 20kg so I had a nightmare adding the weights up. This resulted in me accidentally pressing about 5kg above my training max because I forgot to add the bar weight (around 10kg) and adding about 5kg more than I meant to on my last close grip set. On the plus side though my previous press PR was 40x4 so I’ve just smashed that, although I don’t know if I can count it as a PR until I use a normal bar. Finished up with lots and lots of back work, I’ve got 4 days to rest now so I thought I’d go crazy.
Shrugs 30x20, 40x20, 50x20
Exactly 300 band pull aparts in between sets from various angles mostly using my medium strength band.
I can definitely feel my neck and traps. Now for lots of food and sleep.
I suppose you’re right, I just want to make sure it was actually 45kg. It seems too good to be true, that’s a 12.5kg increase from when I started the log in September.
Wednesday 9/11/16 C2W2D1
Front squat 30x8, 40x8, 40x6 (paused)
Deadlift 65x3, 75x3, 85x9 (PR), 60x1x5 (5sec hold at top)
Front squat holds 60x20 secs x3
Back extensions BWx10x3
Today felt good after a few days rest and good eating again. Couldn’t use the deadlift platform so decided to do my assistance first then couldn’t find any 2.5kg plates so decided to pause the last set instead of upping weight.
Hit a new deadlift PR and they were much better reps than the last time I did AMRAP with that weight. I’m going to try front squat holds for a little bit. My tight hips are effecting my martial arts and I read they’re often caused by a weak core. Today was also the first time I’ve really felt my upper back in the rack position.
On another note just to rant; my friend was doing preacher curls so I thought I’d do a few just while waiting for the deadlift platform. We were only using 2.5kg on each side and from the angle I was sat I didn’t see the collars weren’t on. So anyway one of the plate slips off because I pulled faster with one arm than the other and some guy who looks like he’s never used a gym before, sat on the lat pull-down next to me, turns his nose up at us and says in the most condescending voice I’ve heard ‘might want to use some clips boys’ then carried on half repping his pull downs. Don’t know why it pissed me off so much or why I’m even mentioning it but there we go.
A bit disappointed with this, last week I hit 55kg for 12 and I really felt like I could hit another PR today on my way to the gym. Nothing really felt off or any different to normal until about the 5th rep and then it just felt really heavy in my hands like it was a 1RM, once I got to 8 I knew there wasn’t gonna be a PR without a hell of a lot of grinding so I stopped there. Just one of those things, I’ll come in next week and do better.
Incline bench press 30x8, 35x8, 40x6
Lateral raises superset with front raises
Lat pull-down 40x10x6, 20x40
Just usual assistance. Really focused on the contraction today with pulldowns and went a lot slower which gave me a nice pump. I suppose there’s no need to be pushing for max weight, that’s not why I do them. Finished with a set of 40 reps just to get 100 but I think 20kg was too light so it didn’t do a whole lot other than make my forearms a bit achy.
Good workout today, the gym was practically empty and everything felt good. Squat PR was a little bit of a grind but nothing major. Stiff leg deadlifts felt easy and I really felt my glutes and hamstrings.
I stayed in when my friends all went out last night and it paid off. Nutrition is much better again recently too.
Sunday 13/11/16 C2W2D4
Overhead press 30x3, 32.5x3, 35x10 (PR) super set with 2 neutral grip chins
Close grip bench 35x8, 40x8, 45x6
Dumbbell rows super set with side bends 20x10x3
Press ups BWx10x3
Cable rows 30x10x3
Another good workout. Funny how things go well once you start taking the advice of a respected strength coach.
Deadlift felt really good. I’m starting to notice once I get the bar past my knees it absolutely flies up, not sure if this is technique making me slow off to floor or just being weak. Grip was going on the + set because my hands get so sweaty, I really need to use some chalk. Hit 100kg double overhand at the end just to see if I could do it, was actually easier than I thought.
Ab wheel roll-out from knees 5x3
Wow these were so hard but I like them, I’m gonna do them at least once a week, I couldn’t even get down to the floor properly.
Hack squat 80x10x3
There was a huge queue for both squat racks so I had to miss front squats and do hack instead. I got some good work done anyway so I don’t mind. Had about a 1km run home from the gym because it was pouring rain.
Thursday 17/11/16 C2W3D2
Bench press 47.5x5, 55x3, 62.5x10 (PR) with explosive press ups between warm ups
This was one of my best PRs yet. I know it’s not much weight to basically anyone else but compared to a couple of months ago, I feel so strong. Like last week the weights felt really heavy in my hands and I was slightly concerned I wouldn’t even get 1 rep with 62.5kg so that made it feel even better, I think it’s just in my head.
Dumbbell rows 14x10, 18x10, rest pause: 22x12, x8, x5
Incline bench press 35x5, 40x5, 45x5
Lat pull-down 30x20x5
Lateral raises 5x10x3 superset with side planks
Left the gym feeling great.
On another note that ab roller yesterday has given me the craziest DOMS I’ve probably ever had.