Lifting and Leaning Out

Bigger Stronger Leaner Over 35 Lifter
321

So far so good with the reverse grip Overhead Press.

The combination of Floor Press with a Swiss Bar and the Reverse Grip OHP makes it a little easier to run some established programs. Reading 5/3/1 Forever and downloaded a 531 app. It will take some of the thinking out of this which plagues me so much.

Started Prep and Fat Loss today. Will probably have to do a few exercise substitutions, including the two above.

Today was the Press centered day so I used the RG OHP. The assistance is alternated with the main work and each day essentially becomes a full body session with a focus on one main lift.

My assistance included Face Pulls, Lateral Box Step Ups, Pendlay Rows, DB Rows, and Chin Ups.

With some more body weight loss I’m a little more able on the Chin Ups but still not near the recommended reps. Next go around I’ll do Chin Ups when called for but and do what I can. Then will add a quick bit of Lat Pulldowns after everything else is done to get in enough vertical pulling volume.

Also, instead of mixing it up, I’ll do Pendlay Rows the first time during the week and DB Rows the latter.

Worked up to 70 lbs on the main sets of the RG OHP and did 55 on the supplemental. Felt pretty easy but I guess it should keeping with the starting light philosophy.

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322

12/5/21

Week One Modified 5/3/1 Prep and Fat Loss

Day 2 Squat Focused

16" Box Squat

Worked Up to 195 on top set.

150 for all supplemental sets

Assistance Exercises Included Crunches, Chin Ups,
Pushups on Bosu Ball, and finished with a couple of sets of Inverted Rows. Did 2 chin ups in each set.

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323

12/6/21

25 minute walk

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324

12/7/21

Modified 5/3/1 Prep and Fat Loss

Week 1, Day 3

Floor Press Focused

Worked up to 130 on top set of Floor Press. All supplemental sets done at 100.

Assistance exercises Included Reverse Flies, Box Step Ups, Chin Ups, DB BOR, and Single Arm KB Swings. Did 3 Chin Ups per the 3 sets so I added 3 sets of Face Pulls at the end for more pulling volume.

325

12/9/21

Modified 5/3/1 Prep and Fat Loss

Week 1, Day 4

Deadlift Focused

Worked up to heavy set of 250 on DL. Supplemental sets done at 195.

Assistance exercises Included Mountain Climbers, Chin Ups, and Bosu Ball Pushups. I added a high rep set of Band Face Pulls at the end. The circuit took about 48 minutes.

326

12/11/21

Modified 5/3/1 Prep and Fat Loss

Week 2, Day 1

Press Focused

As the program follows the 3/5/1 ordering, this week is lighter on the main work. And being the first go through it felt super light. Almost too light.

Worked up to 65 lbs on the Reverse Grip Overhead Press. All supplemental sets done at 50. It was actually slightly heavier. So I wouldn’t have to switch barbells from the warm up sets to the main work I used a 15 kg bar so if it called for 65, it was actually 68. Same for all other sets.

Assistance exercises Included Reverse Flies, DB Lunges, Chin Ups, Pendlay Rows, and Single Arm KB Swings. I added a couple sets of Lat Pulldowns to fill in more pulling volume since I did just 4 Chin Ups per set. I also added in some Lateral Raises at the end to hit the shoulders a bit more.

327

Also a quick update on the weightloss. Morning weigh ins have been getting down to as low as 203.2 lbs. About 3 more pounds to go on my end of year goal.

328

12/12/21

Modified 5/3/1 Prep and Fat Loss

Week 2, Day 2

Squat Focused

16" Box Squat - Worked up to 185. All supplemental work done at 140.

Assistance exercises Included Mountain Climbers, Bosu Ball Pushups, and Chin Ups. Added one large set of Face Pulls.

On the two days I do single leg work, I’ll either do Box Step Ups or Lunges. Need to keep this in my training at all times. Sore today from the lunges again from yesterday.

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329

12/14/21

Modified 5/3/1 Prep and Fat Loss

Week 2, Day 3

Floor Press Focused

Worked up to 120 on FP. All supplemental sets done at 95.

Assistance exercises Included Band Face Pulls, DB Box Step Ups, Chin Ups, DB BOR, and Single Arm KB Swings.

Again this week feels super light on the main movement.

Really pushed for time today so I pushed through with very little rest. Did all sets in about 33 minutes or so.

1 Like
330

12/17/21

Modified 5/3/1 Prep and Fat Loss

Week 2, Day 4

Deadlift Focused

Worked up to 235 on top set of Deadlifts. All supplemental sets done at 180.

Assistance exercises Included Mountain Climbers, Bosu Ball Pushups, and Chin Ups.

Everything completed in under 43 minutes.

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331

12/19/21

Modified 5/3/1 Prep and Fat Loss

Week 3, Day 1

Press Focused

My father has contracted Covid and I’m going to work out at home for the time being until I’m sure no one in my household has it. He’s about six days in. He had just received the booster on the 8th of this month so it was close to a week in his system. He is just shy of 80 and has some blood pressure issues so they went ahead and did an antibody infusion Friday night/early Saturday morning. So far his symptoms have been relatively mild thankfully. They couldn’t tell us if it was Delta or Omicron. Hopefully with him being vaccinated it will remain mild. I wish he would have had about another week in on the booster or so.

I had to improvise a little more since this is at home. One, my half rack has a pull up bar but it’s lower than the one on the rack/platforms at my gym. They are at a perfect height at the gym for me to touch down on my toes, come to a dead stop, and do each chin up from flat feet. At home I am just hanging and crossing my legs and doing standard reps. But I have to be careful not to come to a dead hang at full extension or it aggravates the hell out of my shoulder. I do a little less reps this way.

Also, instead of unloading and reloading my barbell when the program calls for Rows since it’s all superset, I used my homemade Plate Loaded KB to do reverse grip BOR.

I did Bulgarian Split Squat on the single leg sets with bodyweight.

And instead of single arm swings, I just used the Plate Loaded KB for Swings. It’s tough to not get a little squatty on these because of the width of the handle. At some point I may saw some of the end off the handles.

There will be more alterations the remainder of the week.

For today:

Reverse Grip Overhead Press I worked up to 70 lbs. All the supplemental sets were done with 55 lbs. This all still feels too light. I think my body has adjusted to adding this exercise and I could go higher. But I’m going to stick to my current training max because I know the press quickly gets tough to progress on.

Assistance exercises included something of a Bent Over Face Pull using my KB Handle, BW Bulgarian Split Squats, Chin Ups, Reverse Grip BOR with the KB Handle, and KB Swings.

FP - 14 lbs
B SS - BW
Chin Ups - 3/3/4
RG BOR - 74 lbs
KB Swings - 79 lbs

I may try to find a heavy band that is long enough to add volume on my chin ups where I could do some unassisted and some assisted. But I’ll need a fairly large one with my length.

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332

12/21/21

Modified 5/3/1 Prep and Fat Loss

Week 3, Day 2

Squat Focused

Since I’m lifting at home due to the Covid within the family I had to make a few adjustments again. Instead of doing the Chin Ups superset with squats during that portion I just did primary Pushups. At the end I just added four sets of Chin Ups. Wasn’t going to load and unload the bar every single time to free up the Half Rack to do the Chin Ups.

So I did three sets of Mountain Climbers and seven or eight sets of Pushups superset with the squats. Then four sets of Chins after.

Worked up to 205 on the Squats for the heaviest set. Then all supplemental sets done at 165.

Did 10 Pushups per set. And on the Chins I did 3,3,3,4.

Diet was garbage today. As was this past Friday. I’ve had a lot going on and less time to meal prep but I need to stop using that as an excuse.

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333

Hope your dad is okay.

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334

Thank you. He still has to be careful due to his age but he’s doing okay and the nurse from the VA called today and let him know that he didn’t need to quarantine any longer.

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335

2/23/21

Modified 5/3/1 Prep and Fat Loss

Week 3, Day 3

Floor Press Focused

Still at home for this one.

Didn’t have access to a Swiss Bar so I did the Floor Press with a reverse grip. Worked up to 135 on top set. Did 105 on all supplemental sets.

Assistance exercises included Face Pulls from the bent over position with the Plate Loaded KB Handle, BW Bulgarian Split Squats, Chin Ups, Barbell BOR, and Two Handed KB Swings.

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336

12/25/21

A little Christmas Day workout.

Modified 5/3/1 Prep and Fat Loss

Week 3, Day 4

Deadlift Focused

In no hurry so I’ll just type this one out today.

Warm Up
Deadlift 5 x 110 (Actually did this set as an RDL)
Russian Twist BW
Deadlift 5 x 140
Russian Twist
Deadlift 5 x 165
Russian Twist
Deadlift 5 x 205
Pushups 11
Deadlift 5 x 235
Pushups 11
Deadlifts 5 x 260
Chin Ups 3
Deadlift 5 x 205
Chin Ups 3
Deadlift 5 x 205
Chin Ups 3
Deadlifts 5 x 205
Chin Ups 4
Deadlift 5 x 205
Pushups 11
Deadlifts 5 x 205
Pushups 11

Took about 59 minutes not counting the warm up.

I’ll probably head back to the gym this coming week so the exercise selection might slightly be altered from this past week. Nothing major.

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337

12/26/21

Modified 5/3/1 Prep and Fat Loss

Week 4, Day 1

Press Focused

Reverse Grip Overhead Press 5 x 30
Band Face Pulls 15
Reverse Grip Overhead Press 5 x 40
Band Face Pulls 15
Reverse Grip Overhead Press 5 x 45
Bulgarian Split Squat BW 12 per side
Reverse Grip Overhead Press 5 x 55
Bulgarian Split Squat BW 12 per side
Reverse Grip Overhead Press 5 x 60
Chin Ups 5
Reverse Grip Overhead Press 5 x 70
Chin Ups 5
Reverse Grip Overhead Press 5 x 55
Chin Ups 5
Reverse Grip Overhead Press 5 x 55
Single Arm KB Rows 12 x 55
Reverse Grip Overhead Press 5 x 55
Single Arm KB Rows 10 x 55
Reverse Grip Overhead Press 5 x 55
Single Arm KB Swings 10 x 50 per side
Reverse Grip Overhead Press 5 x 55
Single Arm KB Swings 10 x 50 per side

Not including my normal warm up, the above took 37 minutes on the dot.

Finished off with a couple of higher rep sets of Cable Face Pulls.

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338

12/27/21

One hour walk on the treadmill.

I’m also trying to work up to being able to do Cossack Squats as potentially both a warm up and as part of workouts. Supporting myself with my hands in on the floor in front of me I can get into position but not comfortably. Did a little of this after the walk.

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339

12/28/21

Modified 5/3/1 Prep and Fat Loss

Week 4, Day 2

Squat Focused

All squats listed were 16" Box Squats.

Box Squat 5 x 80
Hand Walkouts 5
Box Squat 5 x 110
Hand Walkouts 5
Box Squat 5 x 130
Hand Walkouts 5
Box Squat 5 x 150
Bosu Ball Pushups 15
Box Squat 5 x 175
Bosu Ball Pushups 15
Box Squat 5 x 195
Chin Ups 4
Box Squat 5 x 150
Chin Ups 4
Box Squat 5 x 150
Chin Ups 4
Box Squat 5 x 150
Chin Ups 4
Box Squat 5 x 150
Pushups 20
Box Squat 5 x 150
Pushups 15

The above took 42:06.

Followed up by 1 x 30 x 25 Face Pulls.

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340

12/31/21

Last workout of 2021.

Modified 5/3/1 Prep and Fat Loss

Week 4, Day 3

Floor Press Focused

Gym had short hours today because of New Years so this was at home again.

All Floor Press sets done with a Reverse Grip today. The Face Pulls were done with my plate loaded KB handle, as was the KB Swings.

Floor Press 5 x 55 lbs
Face Pulls 20 x 29
Floor Press 5 x 70
Face Pulls 20 x 29
Floor Press 5 x 85
Bulgarian Split Squat BW 12 per side
Floor Press 5 x 100
Bulgarian Split Squat 12 per side
Floor Press 5 x 115
Chin Ups 5
Floor Press 5 x 130
Chin Ups 5
Floor Press 5 x 100
Chin Ups 5
Floor Press 5 x 100
BOR 20 x 100
Floor Press 5 x 100
BOR 15 x 100
Floor Press 5 x 100
KB Swings 20 x 79
Floor Press 5 x 100
KB Swings 20 x 79

Took about 50 minutes.

Felt a little sluggish on this one. Probably a combination of timing and diet being crap lately and a huge meal out with the wife earlier today.

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