I'm Ripping Off 5/3/1 & Getting HYOOOGE

Weight 158.5

Deadlifts

135 x 5
225 x 5
285 x 5
325 x 3
355 x 8 - another good rep PR

Bench press

140 x 5
155 x 3
170 x 10 - rep PR

Next B session is a much-needed deload (especially for deadlift). After that, I have one more full microcycle before I test bench and DL. Considering today’s session, I’m confident that a 205 bench and a 390 deadlift will be within my reach.

Last year’s workout:

It was interesting to write one of these up last time, so here it is again - what I did exactly one year ago.

Weigh in: 131.5

Deadlifts

135 x 4
185 x 4
205 x 4
225 x 4
245 x 4
255 x 2 PR
225 x 3

Military press

2 x 4 x 85
1 x 3 x 85

Hyperextensions

3 x 17 unweighted

DB rows

50s x 8 PR
45s x 8
45s x 6

DB curls drop set 20s > 15s > 10s > 8s

Superset x 3: A1 wrist curls x 10 A2 plate pinch 60sec


Wow, this is pretty embarrassing. First off, my weight was barely moving. If I remember correctly, this is when I was trying to “clean bulk” - getting a whopping 2500 cals or so from, well, mostly turkey sandwiches, 2% milk, and a few eggs and fruit. Needless to say, it didn’t work. I didn’t start really growing again till I had gotten back into all-you-can-eat college dining halls.

On to the workout. At least I was doing deadlifts, which is good. On the other hand, there’s at least two warmup sets there that could have been dropped. Also, my form wasn’t great - more of an RDL - and it would be another month or two until someone called me out on it. But that’s neither here nor there. I already regretted supersetting useless grip work above, so I’ll move on to this: that curl drop set. I can’t believe I thought curling the 8s was going to be a good idea in any context. So, too, with the hypers: sets of 17? Don’t ask me how I came up with that one.

Now, I’ve finally learned, after a long time of doing something similar to this workout, that my military press and DB rows really suffer when I try to do them after deadlifts. Also, as useless as 3x17 hypers were, I’m thinking that I shouldn’t continue to omit them entirely. Last semester, I’d worked up to a 25# plate before I almost tweaked my back doing them, at which point I just let it go. I should probably get them back into the rotation at some point next year.

Weight: 158.5

Reverse BB lunge

95 x 10
115 x 10
3 x 10 x 135 - tough

DB row

80s x 6
3 x 6 x 100s - so far so good

Bradford press

2 x 10 x 95
95 x 9 - I thought I had it, but I guess I didn’t

Hammer curls

3 x 10 x 35s - ugh

Bone-tired. Time for some stretching and another day off.

Weight: 159.5

Deadlift deload:

5 x 135, 185, 225

Bench press deload:

5 x 75, 95, 115

Boring but probably necessary.

Weight: 159

Reverse lunges

95 x 10
120 x 10
3 x 10 x 140 - good

DB rows

85s x 6
3 x 6 x 105s - just as I expected; will reset with 85s for sets of 7 next time

Bradford press

95 x 10

I was just completely exhausted at this point. That, and my weight hasn’t gone anywhere in two weeks. That can only mean one thing: slacking in the eating department. Starting today, I will

  • Drink 1/2 gal of whole milk every day
  • Eat carbs before every workout
  • Eat a post-dinner snack every night
  • Eat some veggies at dinner every night

It’s time to lose the eating habits that are holding me back.

Weight: 160.5

Deadlift

135 x 5
205 x 5
255 x 5
295 x 5
325 x 12 - rep PR, doubled my reps from the first microcycle

Bench press

125 x 5
145 x 5
160 x 12 - rep PR

Feeling good. So far, 100% compliance with the new diet rules. Let’s try that A workout again in two days.

Weight: 161.5

Reverse BB lunge

115 x 10
135 x 10
3 x 10 x 145

DB row

65s x 7
3 x 7 x 85s

Bradford press

3 x 10 x 90

Hammer curls

3 x 10 x 35s

All in all not bad. However, my hang clean needs a lot of work. 95-115 feels easy, 135 starts to get shaky, and anything above that gets real questionable. I’m thinking of swapping out the reverse lunges for hang cleans next A workout, maybe doing a 5x3 pyramid for sets.

Still 100% compliance on the diet front, and I think I’m already seeing results from that.

Weight: 162

Deadlift

135 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 3
315 x 3
345 x 10 - big rep PR

Bench press

135 x 3
155 x 3
170 x 11 - small rep PR

Training and diet are on track, let’s see where that gets me come test day.

Weight: 162

Hang clean

95 x 3
115 x 3
135 x 3
115 x 3
95 x 3

Good form throughout, but I gotta admit this was too easy. More weight next workout.

DB row

70s x 7
3 x 7 x 90s - solid

Bradford press

3 x 10 x 95

Hammer curls

3 x 10 x 35s - wouldn’t curl anything else

So yesterday I woke up with pain and tightness in my heel, tried to walk it off, then spent the rest of the day hobbling around and icing my foot. On top of that, my bum shoulder decided to start acting up again, and my traps were incredibly sore from those “easy” hang cleans. Anyway, that’s my sob story, here’s today’s workout:

Weight: 161

Deadlift

135 x 5
225 x 5
295 x 5
335 x 3
365 x 8 rep PR - this was my 1RM at the end of May.

Bench press

145 x 5
160 x 3
175 x 9, failed 10th rep halfway up, still a rep PR.

Everything felt solid despite hopping around on one foot. With these numbers I feel pretty good about testing my bench and DL in two weeks. I may be doing some traveling soon, so I’ll be moving my A workout around that, and also around how quickly my foot heals.

props man, i like how you list all these issues with your body (most people call those “reasons why I can’t workout”) but you go on to say what you did anyway. Just listen to your body though sometimes an extra day or two of rest can go a LONG way.

Thanks mpenix, I try to keep things like these from derailing my progress. I think it’s usually better to go in and work around minor aches and pains than straight up skip workouts. But I definitely agree that some people have gym hypochondria, where every little scrape is reason enough not to exercise at all.

Weight: 162.5

Shoulder stuff*

DB rows

75 x 7
3 x 7 x 95

Hammer curls

3 x 10 x 40s - python pr

Shoulder stuff*


  • for shoulders I did a mix of YTWLs, rotations, bb front raises, lean-away lateral raises, whatever I could come up with to loosen them up and get them moving.

Foot issue is slowly getting resolved: right now there’s just a bit of tenderness left, and some residual tightness at the bottom of that calf. I’ll keep treading lightly and see how fast I can get these to go away.

Weight: 162.5

Deadlift deload

155 x 5
205 x 5
245 x 5

Bench press deload

80 x 5
100 x 5
120 x 5

Really pleased with the weight gain this summer. I started at 153 on June 1st and now I need only another 1/2 lb to get to a 10 pound gain. That’s not a terribly impressive number, but in the past I’ve had trouble holding on to weight gains when I was home from college, let alone build new muscle.

Doing another modified A workout tomorrow, then taking two days off.

Weight: 162

Shoulder stuff (about the same volume as last time, just didn’t split it up)

DB row
80s x 7
3 x 7 x 100s

Hammer curls
3 x 10 x 40s

Time to rest up.

Well shit. My shoulder had been getting better all week, until I slept on it funny last night. All the pain came back, and then some. I still expect to bench 205 by 9/9, but this is a serious setback. Today I hit it with ice and advil, in the hopes of pulling pain-free tomorrow or the day after that, and rowing pain-free sometime next week. Still, I don’t really know what to do beyond that. If anyone has any thoughts on rehabbing shoulders, I’d love to hear them.

Alright, coming back from two days of traveling, slacking on the diet, and hurting the ol’ shoulder:

Weight: 161

Deadlifts

135 x 5
205 x 5
265 x 5
305 x 5
335 x 12 rep PR

Canned bench for today, but later in the afternoon I’ll be doing some shoulder mobility stuff. A lot of the pain went away, but it’s still stiff and kind of crunchy.

Weight: 161.5

Shoulder warm-up

DB row

65s x 5
85s x 7
3 x 7 x 105s rep PR

Hammer curls

3 x 10 x 40s

After laying out my training for the coming months, I updated my goals and moved up their deadline. (I will post my training plan in the next few days.) I changed my goals because I want to keep my weight going well past 165, and because I will have to be careful bench pressing around my bad shoulder. In a nutshell, I will continue using the 5/3/1 template for squat, bench, and deadlift, trying to tailor assistance work to my needs. I am aiming for:

Weight: 170
Squat: 315
Bench: 225
Deadlift: 425

by Christmas 2009, for a gym total of 965. I figure that from that point, I would be in a good position for crushing the 1000 lb total.

Weight 163.5

Deadlifts

135 x 5
225 x 5
285 x 3
325 x 3
355 x 10 - rep PR

Bench press

130 x 5
150 x 5
165 x 10

Bench is slowly coming back. My shoulder didn’t bother me much today, but I felt weak overall doing it.

For some reason, I’m having insane DOMS in my bis from last workout.