Thank you sir!!! I’m looking forward to the adventure that awaits!
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8/4/16
Deload
Paused Front Squats: 225x5
Bench Press: 225x5
Deadlift: 315x5
Some random cable curls and tricep pressdowns x a few!
Last gym session of the week for my deload. Deloads are a good and bad thing for me. They are good in that I can let my body do some recovering and will feel fresh when it’s time to get back at it. On the other hand, I lose all sense of motivation in wanting to go the gym since my mind is sort of turned off when it comes to lifting during deloads.
8/6/16
Home Workout
1 Arm KB Clean & Jerk: 80 - 5x5 (each arm)
20 minute 80# Vest walk around the neighborhood
Pretty quick, simple stuff but good enough to have me drenched in sweat!
8/8/16
Front Squat Day (65%, 75%, 85%)
Front Squat: 190x5, 215x5, 245x5 (Capped)
Deadlift (Beltless): 405 - 5x5
1A) Leg Raise: 3x15
1B) Plank: 3x30 secs
Played it safe on my PR set of Front Squats since I knew I was going to hit up some Deadlifts after. 5 reps at 245 felt very easy and definitely could’ve beat my previous PR of 8 reps but I want to kind of ease into this BBB 5x5 Template. I’m not ready to say I’m going to use 5’s Pro yet but I will probably hit the minimum reps this week and see how I feel at the end of it. The 5x5 Deadlifts at 405 is a beltless volume PR for me but I didn’t expect too much trouble anyway. Some Leg Raise and Planks to top off a pretty solid day!
8/9/16
5/3/1 Boring But Big (5x5)
Overhead Press Day (65%, 75%, 85%)
Band Pull Aparts: 3x15 during warm up sets
1A) Overhead Press: 135x5, 150x5, 170x5 (Capped)
1B) Pull Ups: 3x8
2A) Bench Press: 230 - 5x5
2B) Bodyweight Walking Lunges: 5x10 (each leg)
Even though the 5 reps with 170 were really flying on overhead press, I still played it safe with the PR set. This turned into a bit of a full body workout but felt like I got a lot of good work in for the day!
8/11/16
5/3/1 Boring But Big (5x5)
Deadlift Day (65%, 75%, 85%)
Deadlift: 325x5, 375x5, 425x5 (Capped)
Front Squat: 230 - 5x5
Standing Cable Crunches: 50 - 3x15
Felt pretty tired going to the gym today. Had a very busy day yesterday with a lot of running around getting from place to place and didn’t get a decent night’s sleep. Once I got to the gym and got moving around my mind started to wake up and felt a lot better. Still capped the PR set on Deadlift at 5 reps but the weight moved well. All sets of Front Squats moved very well. Even snuck in a few paused reps for good measure. Pretty solid session today!
8/12/16
5/3/1 Boring But Big (5x5)
Bench Press Day (65%, 75%, 85%)
1A) Bench Press: 190x5, 215x5, 245x5 (Capped)
1B) Band Pull Aparts: 3x15
2A) Oh Press: 160 - 5x5
2B) KB Swing: 55 - 5x20
KB Snatch: 55 - 3x15 (each arm)
Pretty uneventful day. Forgot to do rows during my sets of bench but stuck with the band pulls. Also had a couple of people I was benching with so kind of got caught up helping them out between my sets. I like the rotation of doing swings with oh press on this day. Makes for a good balance when I do lunges with bench press on its given day. Did snatches to finish since I went to the trouble to bring my own kettlebell to the gym so I might as well play with it!
8/13/15
80# Vest Walk - 2 miles
Heat, humidity and a massive hill made the last half mile suck a bit!
8/15/16
5/3/1 Boring But Big (5x5)
Front Squat Day (70%, 80%, 90%)
Front Squat: 205x3, 230x3, 260x5 (Capped)
Deadlift: 405 - 5x5
Capped my set at 5 reps with 260 on Front Squats today. I was starting to want to lose the bar forward on the 5th rep but I was ending there anyway. Deadlifts felt heavy today but I think it was more mental than physical. Doing sets of 5 on Deadlifts just isn’t very fun!!! Didn’t have much desire to do anything else after deadlifts so I just went back to work. Good session today!
8/16/16
5/3/1 Boring But Big (5x5)
Overhead Press Day (70%, 80%, 90%)
Band Pull Aparts: 3x15 during warm up sets of press
1A) Overhead Press: 140x3, 160x3, 180x5 (Capped)
1B) Pull Ups: 5x8 (during work sets of press and warm ups for bench)
2A) Bench Press: 230 - 5x5
2B) Bodyweight Walking Lunges: 5x12 (each leg)
Overhead Press was feeling pretty good today. Nothing new for the 1.25 people who read my log but I hang power clean my first rep each time just to keep some sort of groove with a power clean. I got a little lazy on the hang clean and didn’t really get myself off to a good start on the final set but 5 reps with 180 felt solid enough. Other than adding a couple of extra sets of pull ups and a few extra reps on lunges, nothing much else to report! Another solid day!
8/18/16
5/3/1 Boring But Big (5x5)
Deadlift Day (70%, 80%, 90%)
Deadlift: 355x3, 405x3, 455x5 (Capped)
Front Squat: 230 - 5x5
Made some minor adjustments to my deadlift setup and the weights were flying today! Once I locked out the 5th rep of 455 I seriously debated on going for 8 reps but I knew if I pushed it too hard, no way front squats would have happened. Trying to stay on the smarter end of things. Front Squats felt pretty good. I paused the first and last rep of each set. Doing things in that manner made the 5th set a little tougher than normal. Ran out of time so I didn’t get to hit any ab work but it’s not like I had much desire to do so anyway!
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8/19/16
5/3/1 Boring But Big (5x5)
Bench Press Day (70%, 80%, 90%)
1A) Bench Press: 205x3, 230x3, 260x5 (Capped)
1B) DB Row: 105 - 5x10
2A) Oh Press: 160 - 5x5
2B) KB Swing: 55 - 5x20
Getting a little more encouraged with my Bench Press lately. 260 for 5 reps moved very well. Felt good to cap the set at 5 knowing I still had several more in the tank. Oh Press and KB Swings felt crisp the whole way through. Feel like I’ve had a very solid week as far as lifting is concerned! Sleep and nutrition would be a completely different story though!!
8/20/16
Track Day
20# Medicine Ball Throws
20 x Slams
20x Backward Throws
KB Snatch: 55 - 3x10
80# Vest Walk - 400 meters
Was going to do a 1 mile walk with my vest but I slipped a bit on the grass when doing Snatches that gave my low back a slight twinge. Cut the Snatches after 3 sets to see how the vest would help or hurt my back. After 1 lap it wasn’t worth it. Packed up and went home.
8/22/16
Front Squat Day (75%, 85%, 95%)
Front Squat: 215x5, 245x3, 275x5 (PR)
Deadlift: 405 - 3x5
Beat my previous rep PR by 2 reps with 275 today (previous best was 275x3). If it wasn’t for the bar slipping a bit on the 5th rep I could have possibly gotten 1 to 2 more reps which is encouraging. The air condition in the gym wasn’t working at all so the sweat was pretty bad from the get go. Only 3 sets of Deadlifts which was good enough for this day. Not a fan of deadlifting twice a week so with the upcoming cycle I may go with a different variation or FSL. Good session today!
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8/23/16
5/3/1 Boring But Big (5x5)
Overhead Press Day (75%, 85%, 95%)
Band Pull Aparts: 3x15 during warm up sets of press
1A) Overhead Press: 150x5, 170x3, 190x4 (PR)
1B) Pull Ups: 5x8, 2x5 (50 total)
2A) Bench Press: 230 - 5x5
2B) Bodyweight Walking Lunges: 5x12 (each leg)
Really wanted 5 reps with 190 on Oh Press but sort of lost my tightness and rhythm since the bar drifted forward a bit on the 4th rep. I let it sit in the rack position for a few seconds (too long!) trying to reset and get tight again for 1 more press but the 5th rep didn’t happen. I looked back at my old spreadsheet and realized that 190x4 is technically a rep PR. Back when I was doing the Advanced 5/3/1 Template I had done 190 for 5 sets of 3 reps which is where the “technically” part comes in. Anyway I’m putting PR beside it because I haven’t put PR beside overhead press in a long time!
8/25/16
5/3/1 I’m Not Doing Jack S**t Today
Deadlift Day (75%, 85%, 95%)
Deadlift: 375x5, 425x3, 475x4
I was not feeling well at all today. Not sick or anything but just tired, achey and no motivation for the day. Went in the gym, got the main work done and went out the door and back to work. Lots of really great things going on in my life right now that require time and energy. On the plus side, if 4 reps with 475 is a bad day then I will take it! Possible deload next week just to give my mind a break and also may rethink my current template. Deadlifting heavy’ish (for me) twice a week isn’t doing me any favors at the moment.
8/26/16
Advanced 531
Bench Press Day (5x1)
Paused Bench Press: 275 - 5x1
Oh Press: 160 - 3x5
Pull Ups: 55 - total (11x5)
Last minute change of programming yesterday changing to the advanced template. Wasn’t really feeling going for an AMRAP set, so I went with 5 paused singles with 275. The reps moved very well and was pleased with this session. Did sets of 5 on pull ups during all pressing including warm ups.
I will get back to this template either next week or the week after. Looking back at my spreadsheet, I seemed to make great progress on all my lifts using his template. For deadlift, I may still go with the standard 531 setup but haven’t fully decided on that yet.
8/27/16
Home Workout
Backyard 20# Med Ball Throws
10 x Slams
10 x Backward Throws
10 x Push Press Throws ???
1.25 mile, 80# Vest Walk
Simply put, tired of the heat and humidity we have had in the south for what has seemed like forever!!
8/29/16
Advanced 5/3/1
Front Squat Day (5x5)
Front Squat: 225 - 5x5
Stiff Leg Deadlifts (SST): 185x10, 225x10, 265x10
Back Extensions: 5x10
Front Squats felt pretty decent today. All sets and reps moved well without any issues. For the supplemental work I chose the Simplest Strength Template for Stiff Leg Deadlifts as opposed to the optional 3x5 Conventional Deadlifts at 75%. Very straightforward day. Still haven’t decided how I want to setup Deadlift day yet. In my spreadsheet I have it setup as the Advanced Template but with Deadlifts I like getting my PR set done and moving on!
8/30/16
Advanced 5/3/1
Overhead Press Day (5x5)
1A) Overhead Press: 155 - 5x5
1B) Pull Ups: 50 total
2A) Bench Press: 225 - 3x5
2B) Ab Wheel: 5x10
Overhead Presses felt very good today although they should feel good using 155 pounds. Pull Ups have gotten a lot better over the past few months as far as ease of getting 50 reps for a workout. I’ve been wanting to try some weighted pull ups but finding the dip belt in the gym would be a lot of work just to hook a 10 pound plate on it. Decided to sneak in a little ab work between sets of Bench Press. Another straightforward session which is one thing I like about the Advanced setup.