[quote]JLD2k3 wrote:
I’m taking a ton of fish oil and 1g Niacin each day for the cholesterol. I switched doctors so my wife and I would see the same person and the new guy says my numbers are OK since I’ve been working out for the last year and a half.
Yeah I was going to recommend Vit B until I realized that is basically what Niacin is. Your numbers aren’t awful but I think most cardiologists would be concerned with them. Not really sure what to do about it though (I don’t have a lot of experience in that area). My HDL is pretty low too (I think 36). Huge improvement on the trigs.
[quote]
I’ve only just started Cycle 2 of 5-3-1. I’m happy with DL and OHP so far, but Bench and Squat are not working out as well as I had hoped. I’m going to continue for at least two more complete cycles so that I can identify some real process behavior before I think about whether I will stick to it or switch. I just pulled 380x8 and 355x10 and pressed 160x10, so I’m pretty stoked about those. I’ve got bench tomorrow and I ate a lot of carbs today so I’m hoping for something good.[/quote]
Bench and squat are tricky. The best advice I can give for those is to FUCKING EAT. Seriously. When I was eating like a horse this past December and January I was setting new bench rep PR’s every time I walked into the gym (to bench). Same with squats–my highest tested max before my meet in February was 425. Nailed 500 at the meet with pounds to spare.
Though I do think its weird your OHP is that much higher than mine proportionally. I suck at it, but yours is pretty good. you do do it standing up, right? haha I said “do do”.
I figured you would be used to it by now!!!
[quote]
now I just need to add 50 lbs to my bench and squat…[/quote]
I’m not a good person to compare yourself to since I’m a fat ass and don’t really give a fuck about conditioning or how I look. haha
Of course you don’t care how you look, or else you wouldn’t run around wearing orange with maroon! And yes, I am used to it by now Of course, UVA wins in every sport that absolutely nobody cares about, so I’ve got that going for me (I watched Caddyshack last night).
I’m hoping the Niacin and excessive amounts of fish oil will raise the HDL to where I won’t have to worry. If I’m still at risk after next year, I might try Lipitor or something. I really don’t want to die early and put my wife through all that.
Shrugs w/ 60’s and FAT GRIPZ
3x10 - Fat Gripz make it hard to hold on. I don’t feel like I got much of a shrug workout, but my forearms were screaming.
Power Clean
5x135
Snatch
5x135
Power Clean
5x155
5x185 PR
Inverted Row, feet elevated on platform
3x10 (much harder than feet on ground)
Fran - 5:09 PR by 1:01
Overall I’m happy with the workout. I’ve never done power cleans before, so I’ll probably have a lot of PR’s in the coming weeks. Fran keeps coming down since I’ve been doing lat activation, also my conditioning of Tabata and Prowler work has made Fran much easier. It’s like when I was a kid swimming, 400 IM was a challenge just to finish when I was 10, but by the time I got the endurance and strength to get through it, I could then focus on doing it better every time. I’m stoked to do a rested Fran one of these days. 3 minutes is considered “elite” so I’m driving toward that goal.
Tomorrow is squat day. I’m going to eat well today and knock it out.
Those are still real solid workouts. I hope to get my squat back around that soon. I haven’t done cleans in forever. I kind of miss them; they kick ass.
Thanks, Soda. I think the underlying issue is I’m trying to cut weight to be able to cut to 181 so I’m not eating enough. I’ve also added a lot of conditioning that has been taxing, but as my body adjusts, I hope to see increased levels of energy and strength.
I’ve been pissed about my bench, so I went in on Saturday and did some bench to see where I was compared to the end of 5x5. My best 5x5 was 265.
185x5
225x5
245x5
265x4 (no spotter, not sure if I could have done 5)
So, obviously 5-3-1 is not working for bench press and I need to adjust my assistance or drop 5-3-1 for bench and get on something else.
225x5x6 for speed
I was pissed, so I dropped the 10’s and went for speed on 225. After 6 sets I was pretty tired. I was doing db curls, pullups, triceps extensions, and dips in between my bench sets. I’m ready to leave, but a storm hits and I don’t feel like going outside, so I go to the cable station and move between pulldowns, rows, and triceps.
Not sure what to do about bench. I think BBB might be the answer, or 3x5 and get back to heavy weight.
Chins - dead hang
10 regular, 10 regular, 8 wide, 8 narrow, 7 chin, 7 neutral
Hang leg
8, 10, 6
This was a good workout. I was unsure how it would go because I haven’t had a lot of energy lately, but I was happy to keep going and tapped out on the last set of hang leg.
You finally got the DB Row weights up! Good shit. And yeah, what worked for my bench was BBB followed by 5x10 seated cable rows (done for 1 cycle, then did DB Rows for the next cycle before hitting that PR). And soda, we’re all different
[quote]Soda Popinski wrote:
sic deadlifts man…yeah 5-3-1 doesn not seem to help bench at all; only hurt it[/quote]
I’m with TisDrew on this one. 5-3-1 has done wonders for my bench. I saw my most gains when I was doing BBB and eating a fuckload. I was setting PRs every time I walked into the gym to bench.
Just restarted BBB this cycle after only doing dips for my accessory and can already tell a difference.
Thanks, guys. I was thinking of switching my bench assistance to BBB or 3x5. Maybe switching between the two or doing BBB on OHP day and going for speed work. What do you think?
I think the key here is I have softball on Monday nights, so I’m up later than I’d like and between playing LF and running the bases, I’m much more tired than I’d like to be. I’m considering switching to MWF and combining OHP with DL.
Cable Row / Face Pull
130 / 80 x 3
Dips
BW x 20 x 4
Triceps push down
3 x 120 x 10
Farmer Carries
5xfailure w/ 60’s with fat gripz
Pretty good day in the gym. I was a little disappointed with OHP, but I was exhausted after last night’s softball game. It was still 90+ and very humid when we started and I stayed pretty wet the whole night. I work out at 5:30 AM, so I’m seriously considering changing my split to make Tuesday a rest day.
Had my body fat tested first thing this morning before I worked out.
Last test / This test
BW 174 / 192
BF% 12.8 / 10.4
LM 151 / 173
Fat 23 / 19
Granted this is a 3-point caliper test, so the accuracy is not fantastic, but it was the same person testing and the same method. Rough estimates being I gained 22 lbs lean mass and lost 4 lbs fat since January. I can live with that.
Pretty good day. I’ve added BBB for bench because the results I’ve had have been disappointing. I finally got an upward trend on my 1RM estimation graph, so hopefully this is the beginning of good things. Let’s see how tomorrow’s squat day goes.
Thanks, VTBalla, for the perspective.
Here’s my take on the bench assistance:
5 Week - 3x5 start at 235 and go up 5 or 10 each cycle
3 Week - 5x10 start at 185 and go up 10 each cycle
531 Week - 5x10 start at 190 and go up 10 each cycle
Of course I’ll plateau on the BBB sets, so I figure when I plateau I’ll drop 5 and resume the progression.
I personally think you are overthinking and overplanning your bench. I struggle to get 5x10 @ 185 after bench days and my max is somewhere around 370. That could just be due to my poor conditioning though, I dunno. But if you can start out at 190 then power to ya!
What has worked well for me is just picking a number I can barely get 5x10 on (like 185). I just try to do 5x10 at that weight, and when I get all 50 reps cleanly, I’ll move up 5 pounds and do it again. This ensures that I’m not moving up weight before I can actually handle it. I think with your plan you will find yourself hitting your ceiling much quicker.
I picked 190 because I did 185 yesterday for 5x10. Maybe I should repeat that weight until it’s easy. I’ll give it a shot and see how it goes. Thanks for the feedback.
Cycle 2 - Week 2
Squat
5xbarx2
5x130x2
5x220x2
3x270
3x310
5x350
I didn’t feel like doing much more and I was happy with the squat results, so I did this instead:
DB Bench
10x70’s
8x100’s
5x120’s
4x15 Reverse crunches
DB Rows (not enough reps to call them Kroc Rows, out of respect)
2x10x100 each arm
Only reason you can’t pick them up is because you got them stuck in the ceiling last time you used them. I saw that, you pressed 'em up so fast they flew up in the rafters and nobody’s got the balls to go up and get’em down.
Cycle 2 - Week 3
DL
5x135
5x185
5x240
5x270
5x315
3x365
9x405 ← Went for 10 but right hand grip failed. Happy with the work, but I would have loved to get 10.
DB row
3x100’s each hand
Bulgarian SS
5x95
5x185
5x225
50 chins, took a while. I was tired.
Hang Leg
3x8
I’m happy with the progress I’m making on DL. A few months ago I was struggling to pull 355 for my 5. I got a form check from my buddy Big Timmy and ever since I’ve been making good progress. I was psyched to get to 405 for 5 back when I first started this log, now I’m very happy with almost doubling that output after eight weeks on 5-3-1. I’m excited to see how my next meet goes and how this will translate to my 1RM.
Thanks, Balla. I’ve only competed once and it was USAPL. I’m thinking about doing the VA state meet on 9/11 in Zion Crossroads. You want to give it a go?
Are you still keeping a log?
I saw your post in the 545 DL Race thread. I threw in my hat. My next few weeks are going to be like this:
This week - 5-3-1 Week
Next week - Deload
Following - Meet simulation: Main lift each day, then assistance. This is when I’ll test for 545 race.
Following - Vacation
Following - 5-5-5+ Week, easing back in (unless I feel awesome).
Of course, UVA wins in every sport that absolutely nobody cares about, so I’ve got that going for me (I watched Caddyshack last night).