Home Shed Gym 5/3/1 - Focusing on the Iron

Had me some good old fashioned DOMs this morning and yesterday afternoon whilst I was out walking around with the kids.
Upper body day today

BB Floor press 80kg - 4x6
Chest supported row 80kg - 3x8
Weighted chins 12.5kg - 3x7, 1x8
Incline DB Bench 30kg - 3x10
Neck harness raises 22.5kg - 4x8

So I played rugby this weekend. Silly me. I thought I’d share a few things that I learnt as my training has changed up recently. And some of the changes have been really good. See if you agree or if you want to steal anything.

I made 5 solo tackles Saturday. Each one I made ground. I had 5 or 6 carries. Again each positive.
You can say the opposite was not up to much but even in heavy traffic I made ground. This was down to strong man moving events and high rep squats. On leg day do a widow maker set (look up 531 hard gainers). For the strong man stuff, do zercher carriers. The movement of getting your hips under the weight was crucial in a few of my tackles.

Over head pressing is more important than bench pressing. Log press is better than that.
ROWS are more important than all of them combined.
Core strength is above that. In fact I’d say I’m order of requirement:
Leg &core (including lower back)
Rowing and pull ups
Over pressing (odd objects are better than barbell)

How did you feel yesterday?

Actually looking at implementing widowmaker sets on squat days when I recommence 531 in a few weeks, been doing a few 20 rep sets once a week to start acclimatising.

Would love to do these but tried to set it up outside in my garden and it doesn’t work. Best I can do is suitcase carry which I don’t end up programming often.

100% agree, more carryover to rugby

Never done a log press, I’ve only trained in one gym that had one.
I’d personally say best lifts for rugby in terms of crossover and functionality:

Trap Bar Deadlift
Pallof Press
Unilateral Landmine Press
Heavy Rows
Squat

Hung over?
Achy. Neck was sore like never before. A few (lots) of stiffness of I sat still. Some minor and major aches. Had a hard time with the stairs. But otherwise good.

I forget you’re a home gym guy.
Z squats then. In each of my tackles I felt being practiced at getting my hips under the bar really helped me. I was getting under the ball carriers CoG and I was able to drive them backwards.

I agree with your list. It’s odd until now I might have said a core exercise was lower. But one of the paces I’m stronger now than ever is my core. And really felt that.

Weirdly I quite enjoy the feeling of waking up Sunday morning aching all over.

I do like a Zercher squat, I’m not sure in my entire time of training in gyms I ever saw anyone apart from myself do one

Full Body:
Deadlift 190kg topset x3
Struggled a bit this morning with the lockout, think I could really do with getting a mirror in the gym to help ensure my forms good. Also feeling the struggle in my lower back which is indicative of why I need to do conventional deadlifts. Much as I prefer the trap bar deadlift I don’t feel it strengthens my lower back as well as conventional. Same reps as last weeks offering

Seated OHP 65kg - 2x6, 2x5, increased weight from last week, my bar speed was pretty good this morning.
Goblet KB Deadstop Lunge 24kg - 1x10, 3x12, hate doing these especially as a superset
Kroc Row 35kg x23, same reps as last week but after doing deadlifts I’ll take this as a win
Pressups x3 AMRAP - 56 +7 from last week
BB Curls - 2x9, 1x10

Conditoning

x3 rounds of landmine complex, 12.5kg:
Squat
Unilateral Press
Deadlift
Row
Lunge
Chest Press

Did first complex 8 reps each, then two more at 10

16kg KB Swings x15
Goblet Squat x5
Pressup x3

8 rounds done in 7 minutes, grip gave out after 8th set.

Determined to start getting more metcon in, trying to shift a couple of pounds, sitting around 16 stone and trying to drop around 0.5-1lb a week. Nice and steady with moderate deficit on strength days so I can keep training quality up and on conditioning days going to go a bit of a steeper deficit. Dropped 7 pounds so far in a couple of months with this approach but gone a bit stagnant recently. Not getting too worked up about that though.

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Full Body Hypertrophy focus
Felt like dog shit most of yesterday and woke up feeling not much better. Went for a walk this morning as usual after eating and to warm up and felt like sacking it off. It occurred to me though that I’ll still feel shit if I skip training so got on with it.

Pull-ups - 3 sets = 36 reps, increase on last week
Flat DB unilateral press 35kg - 2x8, 1x9
Hip thrust 125kg - 8, 9, 10 (really felt this working this morning)
Wide grip lat pulldown with bands - 3x20, saw these on t-nation article and didn’t really do a lot for me this morning. One of the few machines I miss from not training at a gym is the lat pulldown machine. Tried a few band derivatives and nothing really hitting the mark
Behind back lateral raise with band - 2x12, 1x14
Neck curls 17.5kg - 2x12, 1x13
BB calf raises 85kg - 3x15
Finished off with some pallof presses and hanging leg raise superset

May or may not play rugby Saturday depending on if I or the kids are better

Happy restart 5/3/1 day!
Was really excited to train this morning, as my strength is starting to return in right arm decided to get back into it again. Using the following as main exercises:
Seated OHP (due to having to setup outside and noise it makes before 6am is inconsiderate to neighbours)
Floor Press
Safety Bar Squats
BB deadlift

Upper lifts will be SSSL and FSL, squats will be a widowmaker and deadlifts whatever the fuck I feel like on the day, probably jokers

Also using Trap Bar deadlift and Zercher Squats as main lower body accessory using the simplest strength template. Going for triumvirate setup for accessory, range between 6-10 using linear progression

Seated OHP day
OHP - 46kg x5, 53kg x5
PR 60kg x11
SSSL 53kg x13
FSL 46kg x14

Weighted Chins 15kg - 1x6, 4x7
Unilateral flat DB Bench 32.5kg - 2x6, 3x7
Neck harness raises 22,5kg - 1x8, 3x9

Followed by KB complex, 16kg x8 reps each exercise
Unilateral swing
High pull
Unilateral clean and press
Suitcase row
Goblet squat
Floor press

Did 2 rounds and was smoked, still got some shit in my lungs but starting to feel better. All work done within 50 minutes

Deadlift Day

BB Deadlift 122kg x5, 141kg x5
PR 160kg x8
Joker 179kg x1
Bar speed could do with some improvement so decided to do some speed work
80kg plus bands 7x2

Zercher Squat 68kg x10, 81kg x10
PR 95kg x14

Hip Thrust 125kg - 5 sets between 7-9 reps each set
DB calf raises 35kg - 1x15, 4x16

Barbell Complex
20kg on bar x8 reps
High Pull
Hang Clean
Front Squat
Snatch grip Deadlift
Bent over Row

Did 2 sets, was a real lungbuster

Yesterday - Did some weighted vest hill sprints as well as shitload of walking yesterday, hill sprints were difficult felt them all in my legs and only did 6-7 before calling it quits. Felt like one of them old school cartoons where the characters move their legs really quickly but don’t go anywhere.

Floor Press Day today

BB Floor Press 56kg x5, 65kg x5
PR Set 73kg x9
SSSL 65kg x12
FSL 56kg x14

Unilateral Landmine Row 40kg - 4x8
Unilateral Landmine Press 40kg - 1x6, 3x7
Plate Neck Curls 20kg - 4x12

Landmine Metcon, started with 15kg on bar using 5kg plates, stripped back until I finished with bar (so did 4 sets) no rest
Chest Press
Meadows Row
Unilateral Kneeling Press
Floor Press
Finished with Plate Curls 20kg, 15kg, 10kg x2

10 reps each exercise apart from Chest Press where I did 15, felt this more in the shoulders than as a gasser, got my breath back about 40 secs after finishing. Will have to have a rethink on this one.
Also decided to knock rugby on the head immediately, will be posting my “retirement” in our whatsapp group this morning. Looking to take something else up less time consuming, am thinking about a combat sport possibly Ju jitsu

Squat Day

SSB Squats - 91kg x5, 105kg x5
PR 119kg x9
FSL Widowmaker 91kg x20
Going to try and hit a widowmaker on FSL weight for each week, this was painful but not as bad as I thought. If I’d put my mind to it a little more I think I could have squeezed 2-3 more reps in

Trap Bar Deadlifts 94kg x10, 113kg x10
PR 132kg x14
Legs like jelly at this point
BB Calf Raises 85kg - 2x13, 3x15
SSB Good Mornings 70kg - 1x6, 2x8

Stairs are already lactic acid inducing…

No conditioning today, starting to see weight drop and have only reduced my overall fat macros by 5g’s per day so metabolic effect from the metcon’s clearly kicking in. Going to do a “bonus” hypertrophy circuit day tomorrow

Best idea ever.

Read CT’s new article couple of days ago when I was thinking about what to do for a bonus optional end of week day:

It ticked the boxes of my current goals so decided to give it a go this morning.
Hypertrophy Circuit 3x6-10:
BW Pullups - 10,10, 8
DB Unilateral Incline Bench 30kg - 3x8
DB Kelso Shrugs 30kg - 8, 10,10
Behind Back Band Lateral Raise - 3x10
Paused Band Face Pull - 10, 8, 8
EZ Bar Curls 35kg - 3x10
EZ Bar Skullcrushers 35kg - 3x10

Conditioning Focused Circuit 30 secs
Hanging Leg Raise
24kg KB Swings
Mountain Climbers
x2 rounds due to core fatigue

Note - 1st circuit was done with mostly sub 30 sec rest between exercises with some panting when done but nothing stupid which is the idea. Most of the rep ranges were suitable with the weights I picked other than lateral raise which was too easy for sets of 10. Conditioning circuit didn’t work as my core gave up on 2nd set of mountain climbers. Wanted to use battle ropes and med ball slams with the KB’s but had to train early this morning and I’m mindful of waking my other half whose like Grendel when woken up, plus it would be unfair to my neighbours. Think for next week I’ll stick some core in hypertrophy based circuit and then finish with a Livitnov using KB’s and weighted vest

Forgot to mention started with a set of DB Kroc rows 35kg for 24 reps, +1 from last week

Start of 3x3 week, OHP day
Went to bed last night genuinely excited to train this morning, got me thinking how do people get on without any sort of training regimen in life.

Seated OHP 49kg x3, 56kg x3
PR 63kg x10
SSSL 56kg x12
FSL 49kg x14

Triset 5 sets:
Weighted Chins 15kg, total reps = 38, increase from last week
Unilateral Flat DB Bench 32.5kg, total reps = 36, increase from last week
Neck Harness Raises 22.5kg - 2x10, 2x9, increase from last week

KB complex 16kg x8 reps each set
Unilateral Swing
High Pull
Unilateral clean and press
Suitcase row
Goblet squat
Floor press

Did 3 circuits

Overall really solid session

Deadlift Day
Trained later today after going to bed late and kids up early, was pushed for time but able to do load of mobility work this morning.

BB Deadlift 132kg x3, 150kg
PR 169kg x8
Filmed this set and noticed my chest needs to be a bit higher to get my posterior into better position. Need to get a mirror.
Joker 188kg x3, this was a piece of piss. Again filmed it and form was much better with my chest being more upright. Tempted to go for more joker sets.
Speed work 90kg plus bands - 8x2

Zercher Squats - 81kg x8, 95kg x8
PR 108kg x9

Hip thrust 125kg, 5 sets total reps 46, goal 50 to increase weight. Couldn’t be arsed to do calf work. Didn’t have time for metcon but will do it tomorrow

Conditioning Day
Would have done solely sprints but missed my complex training yesterday. Started off doing core superset training as not been doing much of it.
Pallof press - 3x15
Hanging leg raise AMRAP
BB complex 10kg a side x8 reps each exercise:
High Pull
Hang Clean
Front Squat
Snatch Deadlift
Bent over Row

Did 3 rounds, rest around 1 minute. Following on from this grabbed my 16kg KB and did Livitnov workout, 3x30 swings followed by sprint, went further in sprint distance than last time but think I was a bit slower

Changed the name of my training log due to Rugby retirement, not feeling too imaginative.
Floor Press Day

Floor Press 60kg x3, 69kg x3
PR set 77kg x9
SSSL 69kg x12
FSL 60kg x15

Tri Set
Unilateral Landmine Row 40kg 5 sets total reps = 44
Unilateral Landmine Press 40kg 5 sets total reps = 36
Neck Plate Curls 20kg 4 sets total reps = 54

Done.

First thing this morning, did fasted 2 mile weighted vest walk.

Squat Day
SSB Squat - 98kg x3, 112kg x3
PR 126kg x8
SSSL as back off set 112kg x5
Widowmaker 98kg x20, this one was markedly tougher than last weeks

Trap Bar Deadlifts (Simplest Strength Template) - 113kg x8, 132kg x8
PR 150kg x12

SSB Good Mornings 70kg - 1x8, these didn’t feel right, not a massive fan of GM’s feel like whenever I go a bit heavier to elicit any kind of decent training stimulus my form goes to shit. Swapped in for some band pull throughs - 4x15, did these as part of a core circuit. Again no calf work as I couldn’t be arsed.