After finishing Nate Green’s built for show, I decided to try out the 5/3/1 (thanks to airborne101) and go on from there. On 17 Oct 2010, i did all four main exercises to get the max and this is what i got for starting next week. I will say that I was disappointed with my max for the squats but i did not want another ego buster as I learned my lesson from the built for show program. Im 6’1" 206 lbs.
Maxes
Standing Military Press - 140 (Training Max - 130)
Deadlift - 370 (Training max - 330)
Bench Press - 245 (Training max - 220)
Squat - 250 (Training max - 225) <~~~mad as hell
I will be keeping a log and will try to update at least once a week on here. My diet has been ok but not the greatest. I just need to eat more. Supplement wise, I have Surge Workout Fuel, Surge Recovery, and Flameout. Not much of an expert on all the other supps.
I will also be logging all my activities on an excel spreadsheet and keeping that up to date so I can track my progress as well. I’ve got my friends on the 5/3/1 and they love it. I look forward to pushing it all out on the last rep.
So Cycle 1 Week 1 wasnt too bad at all. Being sore was expected but i didnt think I would be this sore on the hamstrings. Now I feel better.
Here’s how week 1 went:
Day 1
Did some foam rolling and dynamic stretching.
Standing Military Press - Actual Max 140, Training Max 130
Warmed up first before going into the exercise
85lbs x 5 reps
100lbs x 5 reps
110lbs x 10 reps
Assistance Exercises
Did 5 sets of 15 Dips except on the last set I only got 13.
Also did variation chin ups/pull ups with a towel to build grip strength. All done with dead hang…
First set was the normal wide grip which I did 3 reps
Second set was underhand which i got 3 reps
Third set was Neutral which I did 5 reps
Fourth set was back to normal wide grip for 3 reps
Last set was underhand for 3 more reps
Day 2
Did some foam rolling and dynamic stretching
Deadlift - Actual Max 370, Training Max 330
Warmed up first before going into the exercise
215lbs x 5 reps
250lbs x 5 reps
280lbs x 6 reps
On my all out set, I felt tired and lost my gripping for some reason so I had to settle with 6.
Assistance Exercises
I wanted to try glute ham raises but the gym I go to does not have one so I ended up doing leg curls for 5 sets of 15. The next day my hamstrings were extremely sore and i could barely walk.
Did situps for 5 sets of 25. It felt like I could do more but just following the book for now.
Day 3
I had a pretty good day here.
As usual did foam rolling and dynamic stretching.
Bench Press - Actual Max 245, Training Max 220
Warmed up of course
145lbs x 5 reps
165lbs x 5 reps
185lbs x 10 reps
I wanted 11 reps but gave out half way so I had to settle with 10 reps which is fine.
Assistance Exercises
Dumbbell Incline Bench Press (5 sets of 10)
120 x 10, 130 x 10, 140 x 9, 140 x 8, 140 x 8
The third set on I was starting to get tired
Dumbbell Rows (Kroc Row Version!!!)
Warmed up with a 45lb dumbbell for 10 reps each arm.
Warmed up a second set with 60lb dumbbell for 5 reps.
I felt that 85lbs would probably be the heaviest dumbbell that I could easily handle so I started rowing as much as I could and got 17 reps out of each arm. My shoulders didnt like that afterwards…
Day 4
Foam rolling and dynamic stretching
Squat - Actual Max 250, Training Max 225
Wanted to focus on form here.
Warmed up.
145lbs x 5 reps
170lbs x 5 reps
190lbs x 14 reps
As I said before I know Im way stronger than that but I dont want the ego buster so im going to keep my mouth shut.
Assistance Exercises
Only did one assistant exercise
5 sets of 15 on the horizontal leg press machine.
Personally I dont think it really help me out so i think im going to scrap that one off my list of exercises and resort to the bulgarian split squat and some type of lunge exercise.
Started off cycle 1 week 2 off with some foam rolling and some dynamic stretching
Warmed up for 3 sets before going into the standing military press
Standing Military Press Actual Max - 140, Training Max - 130
90lbs x 3 reps
105lbs x 3 reps
115lbs x 8 reps
I wanted that 9th rep so bad but I couldnt dish it out but it was a pretty good run.
Assistance Exercises
Bumped up the dips in an attempt to do 5 sets for 20 reps (fail when i got to the third set…)
1/20, 2/20, 3/13, 4/12, 5/13 reps. I will get there eventually…
Pull up/chin ups with towels 5 sets of 5 reps
1/3 standard grip, 2/4 underhand grip, 3/5 neutral grip, 4/4 standard grip, 5/2 underhand grip
Looking forward to deadlifting tomorrow…
Forgot to foam roll today before I went to the gym. Did a lot of dynamic stretching though
Deadlift - Actual Max 370, Training Max 330
230lbs x 3 reps
265lbs x 3 reps
295lbs x 9 reps
I was gettin it in on the last set as you can see
Assistance Exercises
Leg Curls (5x15)
65/15, 80/15, 80/13, 95/9, 95/8
Situps (5x25) - i dont think im challenging myself enough…
During the leg curls, it feels like I want to do more but when I push myself, my hamstrings start cramping up. Even drinking my Surge (peri workout) the cramps come back. Ill probably look into reducing the number of reps for leg curls. Just a thought. Other than that, it was a pretty good workout. Time to enjoy my rest time then hit it up again the next day. I need to start including sprints for conditioning.