Powered up today for the session that was probably the easiest, yet let me the sweatiest and most fatigued by the end. I think the sheer volume of work kind of crept up on me. The Press sets felt super easy to start, but I could definitely feel extreme burn in my delts (especially side and rear) at the end of each set after about Set 6 or so. Also my lightning fast concentrics had been slowed to about regular rep speed but the end despite my best efforts to move it explosively! I had such a sweet Upper Body Pump by the time I got to squats. Did the Widowmaker on the SSB like Jim recommends for the first time ever. The weight felt crazy light so I was able to do the reps pretty much unbroken which resulted in one of the nastiest leg pumps I’ve had in forever.
Press, Shrugs and Face Pulls were giant setted. Weighted Pull Ups were done on their own with a neck harness holding the weight. Squats were performed on their own at the end of the session.
5’s week for Building the Monolith began today! It definitely felt easy compared to last week. I did Up the challenge by doing 15 dips per set instead of 10 and did half of the Chin up sets with Fat Gripz. My shoulders and triceps were SMOKED after that huge Press AMRAP!
On another note, my plates for my weight vest should be in tomorrow, so I’ll be able to upgrade my daily walks to weight vest walks! I’m so excited for that! Also excited to have the vest to weight my assistance work!
Building the Monolith W2D1
Squat 205x5, 235x5, 270 5x5 Axle Press 105x5, 120x5, 135x5, 105x32 Chin Ups 5x10 with Fat Gripz, 5x10 with bar Dips 10x15 Banded Face Pulls Thickest Band 10x10
Got my weight vest plates in! Daily walks have been upgraded to vest walks! Did a mile and a half today, and it was definitely a nice increase in Challenge from a regular walk. Definitely felt a nice burn in quads, calves, and traps. This feels like a game changer. It’s awesome getting excited about “boring” stuff like easy conditioning!
Hey thanks for your interest Pettersson! Weight vest walking is just the preferred form of cardio from Jim Wendler and Christian Thibadeau. The benefits of walking itself I’ve known for a while thanks to Stan Efferding, DanteTrudel and the American Heart Association, I had just been neglecting it for too long Up until a few months ago. Walking is very helpful for digestion after a big meal (I had just eaten a 24 oz ribeye before), is great for heart health and blood pressure, great for cardiovascular conditioning and should also be helpful for more favorable fat distribution. As for the brand of vest, I had been holding out for probably the best one in the business, which is a little pricey, but it’s the GoRuck brand. My wife got it for me for Christmas. As for plates, I got a pair of the Rogue vest plates. Great combo! Definitely the most comfortable vest I’ve worn and it will be perfect for loading bodyweight movements!
Last night was another terrific lift in the books after coming home and napping for a few hours. Filled up the Surge bottle and headed right to the gym after waking up. Deadlift moved super easy. Bench went up easy too. Went back to my personal favorite move of hitting 10 reps on Bench on 5’s week. Feels great and is definitely a challenge.
Thank you so much man! And yeah I’m about right on the money at 6’. I guess it’s my own vanity, but I definitely have tried to maintain at least some degree of leanness while bulking up. That has meant really pushing the Training hard and keeping up with conditioning, jiu jitsu and yoga! It’s been a good recipe for keeping fat gain minimal and the distribution more favorable.
@SvenG thank you man! I’m trying to cultivate a Roger Estep esque physique haha I appreciate the sentiment that my efforts are bearing fruit! You keep on getting more jacked every time I see you too!
@T3hPwnisher I truly appreciate that from a monster such as yourself! And yes sir, I was in the same boat as you, doing those squats day 1 with 5 sets of 5 with 90%. I had to keep giving myself words of affirmation throughout the workout and reminders to pace myself. 100 chins and dips seemed like such a tall task after wrecking myself on squat and Press, but these times where we mentally power through are what give the best gains. Same exact story for Day 1 of Deep Water for me.
Awesome workout today. Second ever session at Crunch Fitness and it really went about as well as I could’ve possible hoped for! Had my brothers and my dad with me (who are also doing 5/3/1) and we really had a blast. I was so exhausted by the end, but the squats were actually perfect! Likely the best feeling squat session I’ve had in ages. Form felt perfect, The weight felt crazy light and it felt great squatting on a platform. I think it helped feeling super warm and I just had an awesome night’s sleep last night. Ate 3 huge ham and Turkey sandwiches afterwards along with some Reese’s chocolate chunk cookies before playing a little softball with my brother. Amazing day.
Thank you Simo! I really appreciate that you took the kind words and the time to check in on me! A lot of progress has been made since I was last frequently updating my log and it’s fun to be back in the swing of logging regularly!
Allergies have absolutely been kicking my butt all weekend and that’s carried over into today. Runny nose and tired. It actually worked out perfectly for my workout because I wasn’t overly fixated on how hard each set was going to be. I was just in my own world, mind wandering and just trying to get the work done. Squat moved so perfectly smooth once again. Just an elevator with weights on my back, going up and down. Focusing on a strong brace has likely been a big help. I felt so strong at the end of the last squat set, I felt like I could’ve done at least 5 more sets!
Press moved really well too, but the real star of the show was how easily the pull ups came. I did 40 reps with the Fat Gripz as 4 sets of 10. Then to challenge myself, the other 60 reps were done as 3 sets of 20. A guy in the gym seemed surprised when I was telling him about my program and asked if I could hit 20 pull ups at my size. I told him I thought I could and went to the rack and knocked out a strict 20, that honestly felt pretty easy. So I started alternating Fat Grip Chin Ups for sets of 10 with neutral Grip chins for sets of 20. On all of the sets I did 20 chins, I did 32 dips and 20 face pulls to keep the volume equated across the board in that giant set. I also wanted to hit 160 total reps of dips this week, so went in with the plan of 10x16 until I went crazy and just started doubling stuff.
Got the lift in late last night after a super long day, but always have to get it in, even if the circumstances are less than ideal. It ended up being a great session. I felt a bit weaker than usual, but I hit all of my numbers with no issues.
Got to the lift last night extremely late because I had to talk my youngest brother into coming with my other brother and I. Once we got there we taught him proper technique on the 4 big lifts for about an hour and a half, then I got to my session which took about an hour. It was almost 4AM by the time we left but I was super happy about getting my youngest brother some help and hopefully getting him on track moving forward. I’m super proud of both of my brothers!
The actual workout went well for how tired I was. I had maybe the best delt pump of my life. It really felt awesome! Also got to use my weighted vest for pull ups, which was a lot of fun. I used the SSB for the Widowmaker and maybe it was just overall tiredness, but this felt really tough. Much more so than any other 20 rep Set I’ve done this training cycle(even though I’ve done 20 reppers with 100 more pounds than this just a few training cycles ago) and I was breathing really heavy and sweating hard by the end. Maybe getting re-used to the way the bar’s weight is distributed and not accounting for the heavier weight of the bar played into it, but I think I was just done and ready for bed. Super happy I got in and got the work done though.
Another great session in the books with my brothers. This one was super exhausting, The gym was hot and I was sweating like crazy but got the work in and it felt great and I had an awesome pump at the end. Still doing things in a way that’s brutally hard, such as my dip progression and the number of chin ups I’m busting out in single sets. This program is just as hard as ever and that’s why I’m growing so well. The abundance of sleep and food definitely helps. Can’t wait to get home and get a nap in after work.
No, just to make it tougher. Works my grip and forearms a little more. I’ve seen good arm growth from the Fat Gripz, so I like to incorporate them in as much as I can.
Had a really great workout today and there were a bunch of awesome dudes at the gym around. Pretty much my favorite crew of guys who frequent the gym were there. Big, strong and experienced lifters who are laid back and friendly. Combine that with how unusually hot and muggy it was in there today, it had kind of like a Gold’s Gym Venice type atmosphere. I got an insane pump and combined with the layer of sweat, it had me looking extra jacked in the mirror, which always seems to have me h feeling extra motivated. Went for 7’s on the bench today and that was the perfect call. The deadlift flew off the floor and felt easy today. Technique felt locked in. Did Poundstone curls today to finish the workout, and set a huge PR. Pretty much just kept going until I thought my right bicep was about to tear. Amazing workout from beginning to end.
