Some reflexions for next cycles and programs: maybe start including some triceps work as my elbows are feeling much better and I don’t feel any pain. I’ll still avoid dips for a while though.
I think that getting my shoulder stronger through the BBS for the press in my BTM cycles helped me a lot. and I’m glad I’m focusing my assistance on shoulders for the current program.
Maybe I’ll include some close grip bench as assistance (inspired from MarkKo’s log) in the next program.
I’m also handling squatting 3x a week pretty well so far, I might keep going with full body.
End of 3’s week, C8W1D3
Box jumps 3x3 90cm
Squat
5x5x74, focusing on bar speed
SS with DB rows 5x20 with 18kg
Bench
10x5x51, focusing on bar speed and technique
Assistance
Front plate raises 5x10 with 10kg
Hammer curls 5x10 with 8kg
Ab wheel roll outs from knees 5x10 SS with hanging knee raises: 5
Weight: 81.2kg
Two more weeks before a deload, and then the anchor.
I felt pretty good, and as Mark told me recently, if you don’t miss it’s not a bad idea to bump the weight a bit.
1x100 paused
1x110 paused
1x120 paused I asked my girlfriend to film it… but there was no space on my phone! I had to do another one…
I put an extra 5kg and jumped right on it.
1x125 paused, two sticking points but I was sure I had it. Very happy with this, it felt light enough on my back compared to my 115kg PR 10 weeks ago.
Sorry for the weird angle. Any feedback welcome!
I have also been playing around with my grip. With that much volume with lower weight it is ideal to do that now. I found that bringing my grip in BUT using a thumbless grip allows me to stay tight without puhing my wrists back.
If I was fresh I imagine I could do a bit more than that… Soon!
OHP
5x35
5x40
5x45
3x8 FSL
Assistance
DB shoulder press 5x10 with 10kg
3x20 raises front lateral rear
5x10 ab wheel
Weight: couldn’t weight myself as the gym is moving everything at the moment.
Note: BBS is not a very sexy program. Doing all these sets of 5 IS boring… but it works! I aso believe that the added frequency to work on technique was very helpful to me (stay tight, thinking about the cues etc).
Only thing I’d say is watch your descent speed. It’s hard to stay tight dropping that fast. I wouldn’t be surprised if you hit that same weight with slower descent and better tightness you may not even have much of a sticking point.
Bench
Main sets
10x5x48
SS with barbell row 5x5x60, the gym has moved equipment and the dumbells are not where to racks are so I used a barbell instead.
Assistance
Front plate raises 5x10 with 10kg, SS with shoulder raises 5x20
Hammer curls 5x10 with 10kg, SS with ab wheel from knees 5x10
Quick edit: the gym has removed the back raise machine… Any alternative ? I’ve never performed a good morning and not reall keen on that exercice. SLDL is kida weird, my hamstring BURN like crazy with 40 kg, it’s more painful than anything.
I’m away for three days tomorrow and might not find a gym so I decided to take just one day off between the two weeks.
Squat
10x5x80
Bar speed was good, focused on going slow on the way down and explode up.
OHP
5x40
5x45
5x50
3x8 FSL
Every set SS with pull ups, 100 total
Assistance
DB shoulder press 5x10 with 10kg
Ab wheel roll outs 5x10 (from knees)
5x20 raises: front lateral rear
Weight: 81.9kg
Two more workouts for this cycle and my leaders are done. Next week will be deload with probably just two workouts.
Then the anchor starts. I am using 3/5/1 again, with jokers and PR sets in the first and last week. The second week is done for minimum rep, no PR set or jokers.
I am thinking of crushing PR’s in the 3’s week, with jokers to build confidence in higher weights. The 5’s week will be easier as mentioned. In the 1’s week, I will do minimum reps and build up to a new 1RM for the squat and bench. I will do PR sets for the press and DL, but definitely no jokers on the DL as it has not been a priority recently, I just want to get my last 1’s week weight for 10, which would be a great PR anyways.
I’m starting to think about my next cycles. I’d like to organize it that way: 3 cycles of hypertrophy (high reps), 2 of strength and 1 of peaking (building and testing new maxes).
The issue is I’m going home in about 5 to 6 weeks, I will have finished my anchor by then. My training schedule will be irregular, probably training every three days: Monday, Thursday, Sunday, Tuesday etc.
I am not sure which program to use from the book. Using BBB is an option but I like full body routine and squatting each time I workout.
I could also alternate upper/lower with opposite assistance, that’s 1.5 squatting session a week.
There are higher volume full body programs in 531 Forever so I might choose that.
For the strength part I might do a similar thing to what I have just done: BBS for bench and squat because it worked pretty well for me. There are also other strength templates from the book and by then I should be back to a consistent 3 days/week.
Any input welcome on what to do for the 3 first cycles? @MarkKO, how would you set it up ?
This is something that worked well for me for something similar to your three hypertrophy cycles:
Main lift
5s Pro with 5x5-8 FSL (5x5 snatch grip for DL, 5x5-8 front squat for squat)
For bench, I trained it twice a week. You could just do press and bench.
Assistance
Bench Monday: 50 total reps press, then 100 total reps T-bar row (any press/row combo will work), then supersetted 50 total reps curls/100 total reps shrugs
DL Tuesday: 350 set of SSB squats (normal squats are fine too), then 100 total reps back raises, then supersetted 50 total reps abs/100 total reps calves
Bench Thursday 50 total reps dips, Kroc rows top set with backoff sets to 50 total reps, then supersetted 50 total reps curls/100 total reps shrugs
Squat Friday 50 total reps per leg split squats, then supersetted 50 total reps abs/100 total reps calves
For the strength cycles you could go back to plus sets, drop the FSL to three sets and lower the assistance volume. For peaking I suppose you could drop FSL completely and add in jokers.
The issue is that with an infrequent schedule i’m not sure that would work as well:
Bench Monday, DL Thursday, Bench Sunday, Squat Tuesday. But I’ll need to make a compromise for training less frequently anyways, there is no optimal solution.
I like how your assistance is set up, I’ll definitely use something from that!
I have thought of having two days AB and alternate every three days.
A
Squat, 5’s Pro + BBB
Press 5’s Pro 5x5 SSL
B
DL 5’s pro 5x5 FSL or SSL
Bench 5’s Pro + BBB
The price would be to reduce the assistance… and not do BBB for DL and Press. Not sure how that could impact me. Anyway 5x10 on the DL is not something I see myself doing, I like your option of 5x5 FSL snatch grip.
I still have time to think about it anyways, thanks as always for your input!
C8W3D3, end of the 1’s week and of the leader
Squat
5x5x80
Bench
10x5x55
Assistance
DB shoulder press, 5x10 with 12kg
SS with straight bar curls, 5x10 with 20kg
Ab wheel roll outs 5x10
DL, work up to TMx1
Main sets
I did 5’s to warm up, then
3x100
1x113
1x125
I did some pulls ups too, 3x10
OHP, work up to TMx1
3x43
1x49
1x55
Both TM singles felt fast and controlled, happy about this.
Assistance
3x10 DB incline with 20 kg, SS with 3x10 DB rows with 30 kg
Ab wheel from knees 5x10
I forgot to weight myself…
My second deload workout will be on friday, with bench and squat. Then two days of rest before starting the anchor on monday.
I am thinking of capping the PR sets for squat and bench. My top weight for the 3’s week (next week) for the squat is 100kg. I can do that for 10 reps but I don’t see the point in doing 10’s when I am trying for a 1RM two weeks later. I’ll do the required reps and use the jokers to do doubles or singles. Similarly for bench.
EDIT: I’m still thinking about my next cycles. I’m tempted to introduce power cleans and front squats in my training. Front squats would replace back squat on one day of the week, for 5x5 FSL/SSL. I have been working on my mobility and wrists and I’m getting closer to the rack position. I think they would allow me to recover from the 5x10 back squat at the end of the week but still allow to get volume.
Power cleans would be done at the start of the two workouts where I’m not deadlifting, as describe in 531 Forever. I still need to work on my form with these, I have done 50kg before without too much trouble. I think it’s a pretty interesting movement and could help me develop power. It would also prepare me for the BBB workouts and… not get bored! Sets of 10 will be boring before the anchor and then the strength cycles.
High rep front squats suck. Use straps instead of clean grip if you decide to do them, though.
Not a fan of power cleans, but that’s just me.
I always think like this when adding or swapping an exercise: will the addition further what I want to achieve? Will it do that better than what I’m currently doing?
I liked doing front squats in one of my cycles. I do think they can be valuable to help me stay upright as I squat high bar.
I don’t intend on doing more than 5’s with them and you’re probably right about the straps.
For power cleans I’m still not sure. As you said, I need to make sure I have a good reason to put them in. I think it would be a good thing to add to my “toolbox” as a lifter. Not that I’m trying to do everything at the same time, but Wendler and Rippetoe do mention them in their articles. For instance the texas method has them in it, though just once a week.
I don’t think they would take away from the other main coumpound lifts, but rather prepare me for them. In the same fashion as I do box jumps. It shouldn’t take that much time to do 5 triples/doubles or work up to TM for 3-5.
After my anchor I will probably deload and try to work on my technique for both the front squat and power clean. If I see it’s not worth it, I won’t add them in.
Any reason why you don’t like them ? I’ve read on your log you did a lot of kettlebelt work, have you tried weightlifting movement before ?
After that I was curious about my front squat. I worked up with singles up to 105x1. I’m pretty sure I can do more but because it was the first time in a while I didn’t want to push it too much. It’s definitely the upper back/front rack position that hold me back in pushing harder too. My legs were fine.
Having said that, the proper front rack position is SO much more comfortable than crossing my arms: the bar does not burry my shoulders at all.
That could give me an idea of my TM if I decide to use them, glad I did it.
Assistance, took it easy
Pull ups 3x10
Push ups 3x20
Ab wheel from knees 5x10
Start of the anchor!! I did some hill sprint on saturday but my legs feel fresh.
C9W1D1
Squat, 3’s week
Main sets
3x77
3x88
3x100
Singles, I knew I wanted to go pretty heavy to prepare myself for my PR in the 1’s week
1x110
1x120, this one felt fast, and I did 125kg two weeks ago so I took a bigger jump
1x130, faster than I thought! So I went for an extra
1x135, there was a bit of a sticking point but not too much. This is a 20kg PR from mid-april!
2x120 to work on speed.
Please give me any feedback!
Very happy with this. With proper rest I’m confident I can get 140 in two weeks.
OHP
Not sure which PR I am the most happy about:
3x38
3x44
10x50 !! I think my PR was 7 with this weight.
1x55
1x60, which is the most I have ever done on the OHP.
Very happy because the OHP was not my focus for the last 6 weeks.
Assistance
5x10 pull ups between the sets of squat and OHP
5x10 Db rows with 28kg
5x10 DB shoulder perss with 12kg
5x10ab wheel roll outs