My Journey Using 5/3/1

me: im 73 - 75kg or 165lbs and gaining weight, diet is working well. I have been training for 1 year and a bit ( all bodybuilding routines). Recently saw a heap of articles and youtube videos of powerlifts, looked really interesting and now have started powerlifting. Got reccommended to 5 / 3 / 1 and have just started it.

Totals are very low!!! but its good, means if ill be the ultimate success story when it works!

1 rep maxs:
Box squat : 80kg ( 176 lbs)
Dead lift: 110 ( 242 lbs)
Bench: 80kg ( 176 lbs)
military : 50kg (110 lbs)

low totals haha

anyway this weeks gone really good
made an 9 reps at 57.5 kg ( 126lbs) for box squats ( form was really bad though… took a week off and was way too eager to lift again)
10 reps for bench at 57.5kg (126 lbs) form was good!
today i hit a 12 rep PR for deadlifts at 85 kg ( 187 lbs) was absoultly wrecked after it! Grip strength failed me though started to slip at rep 11 and then back fell forward halfway up on rep 12.
tomorrow is military press day, hopefully another PR

goal : to get my squat and deadlift to 150kg (330 lbs) and bench to 100 ( 220 lbs)

unfortunatly australia does not have a big hype for powerlifting like america does :frowning: so internet is my best friend here!

today was overhead press day… the sesh wasnt too bad but didnt get a new PR unfortunatly

overhead press:
32.5kg x 5
35kg x 5
37.5kg x 6

nothing extradinary, shoulders are definitly a weak point on my body

even though it was an accessory i got a PR on good mornings. 60 kg x 11

ive learnt something this week though… I fucking hate mirrors, they completely throw me out of my zone.
and the other thing ive learnt is to not waste your time helping people who dont listen… tried to help someone squat this week - they were doing a tiny bend of the knee squat and i get the reply " oh well in mens health…" -_-

anyway program is wonderful absoultly loving it! Loving that i can choose how much accessory to do and the fact that ive got still got something left in the tank at the end of a workout and that they are short and sweet, i dont need to spend 2 hrs in there.

looking forward to next week!

today was squat day

was looking so forward to it, re calculated my max obvisouly last week i went too heavy and form went shit. Anyway this weeks form was much better, totally re did it. Usually i do the geared powerlifting squat with the wide stance, but since im a raw lifter i have nothing to sit back into which from what ive been told is why geared powerlifters go so wide, so they have something to sit back into. Moved them back to a bit wide than shoulder width and found a lot more of the preessure go to to my glutes and hamstrings so i was happy.

only light ( as usual :frowning: )

55 x 3
57.5 x 3
60 x 8 - new PR ( when i was doing a bodybuilding routine id do the bend at the knee squat ) so my depth was really good, with about a 4 - 6 second decent, pause at the pins and a push back up, nearly failed on the 8th rep but somehow pushed through it.

nothing special on for accessories…
front squats
4 sets x some
and lunges
3 sets x some
then some standing abbs

i think my front squats highlighted some weak points of mine that i didnt know, my lats being the main one
lower back was feeling a lot stronger than last week aswell, seems like the goodmornings are working well however i think ive strained my lower back from going too low on goodmornings. I read in an article by louie that goodmornings should only go at the angle of your deadlift - but maybe that was only to boost your deadlift… not too sure anyone know??

tomorrow is chest - looking forward to it once again!

Glad to hear you’re enjoying 5/3/1. I’m another 165 lb guy who just started, and I’m looking forward to seeing your progress.

Also, your good morning looks crazy strong for where your squat is. Your squat will probably shoot up with some technique work if you can really do 11 reps at 75% of your squat max.

[quote]spherenine wrote:
Glad to hear you’re enjoying 5/3/1. I’m another 165 lb guy who just started, and I’m looking forward to seeing your progress.

Also, your good morning looks crazy strong for where your squat is. Your squat will probably shoot up with some technique work if you can really do 11 reps at 75% of your squat max.[/quote]

same here mate. Goodluck with it, its pretty enjoyable. The training time i think is the best - you always leave with some energy and are not completely wrecked

well i hope so anyway, my squat total is so weak compared to my deadlift but apparently that isnt unusual in a raw lifter or beginner.
wish i could post videos but unfortantly dont have a phone that can take videos ( gotta love being poor )

today was bench day! set it up nicely and executed the lifts well. Found a sticky point about half way up on the lift though, especially when i get closer to failure. Although i did notice i take a very long time to decend so i might lose a lot of energy for the push up. Also when my spotter takes his hands off the bar i find i hold it there for a bit too long, i should be decending as soon as his hands go off the bar.

anyway sets were

55 x 3
57.5 x 3
60 x 6 or 7 ( wasnt counting) and on the last rep i got to the sticky point which was about mid way up and needed a tap from my spotter to get past it.

accessory exercises were:

incline dumbbell press : 5 sets x 8 - 15
dips ( noticed i have a very weak bodyweight exercises, will definitly need to improve) 5 sets x as many as i could
abbs 5 x 8 - 10

over all it was a good session. but im noticing my grip strength is failing me… it might be because my fingers and hands are getting fatter ( jim wendler placed that as a reason for when he was bulking) or it could be some other cause. I shall see tomorrow when i do my dead lifts how long ill be able to hold unto the bar. Definitly will be adding grip strength work in my de load week.

today was deadlift day… found a lot of issues.

80 x 3
85 x 3
90 x 10 new PR again!!!

however the PR did come with some cost… firstly i noticed that towards the final reps my calves started to hurt which i am guessing means that instead of me pulling back, i started to lean forward in order to get the weight up, the weight definitly shifted from my heels to my toes ( bad mistake, i should have dropped the weight and called it a set) however i wasnt in the mood to fail ( also a bad mistake, ego gets the best people sometimes). So i continued and noticed even more troubles. This time during dead lifts the weight really smashed my lower back instead of a lot of the pressure going on my hamstrings and glutes. It still seemed and felt as if i had the arch going, but it may have looked very different. The bar still smashed my shins and i held it close, but i noticed also that when it got to my knees it moved forward instead of sliding over and running up my thighs ( definitly going to have to fix that if i wish to avoid lower back injuries) might of been because my arch started to come undone. Next week i will only do reps that count, not going to risk an injury this early on. Also i may have to do more warming up… i only do about 2 sets of warm up combined with stretching before hitting the main sets.

anyhow, accessory exercises were not too bad.

kroc rows ( first time doing them and was impressed with the results i felt)

1 x 31 @ 15 kg
1 x 19 @ 15kg
not going to move up a weight until i can push out 15kg x 50 reps in one set, but it was definitly good.

next were good mornings.

1 x 10 - 15 @ 30kg
1 x 10 - 15 @ 40kg
1 x 10 - 15 @ 50kg
1 x 13 @ 60kg ( new PR)!!

i changed my form a little on goodmornings. moved my grip in a lot more and i now notice something that im doing wrong in squats. Its my grip, usually i use a wide grip with about 4 - 5 fingers away from the end of the barbell but today i moved it into the round cirlces with my pinky on the end and i noticed that i was able to push my shoulder blades together a lot easier which i believe gave me a lot more control. This time as well i used louie’s advice about only going to the angle that you set up deadlifts and i believe that it hits the lower back a lot more.

the weakness found during good mornings must definitly apply to my squats! the wide grip must force me to round my back during the push up of the lift and make it twice as hard as it should be… will definitly try next tuesday on squat day and see how it goes.

overall the session wasnt too bad, but i definitly need to look at my dead lift technique more and study where i am going wrong otherwise i fear im going to get a lower back injury.

might also start doing some conditioning work ( i walk about 40 - 80 minutes per day ( takes me 20 mins to walk to uni and 20 to walk back) ) but walking really isnt that taxing on the system. SO might start waking up a bit earlier and jogging down to the local park and do some sprints, im starting to get out of breath quite quickly. GOMAD diet is lowering my cardio vascular system, but easily fixed.

update on weight: currently weighing in at 76 - 77kg! nearly at my goal of 85!

until tomorrow!

today was military press day. Was pretty good. Placed a new exercise in instead of core workout.

standing military press -

3 sets to warmup

35 x 3
37.5 x 3
40 x 7

shoulders felt really good after the 40 final set although my left shoulder started to feel some pain in the rotator cuff - will just do some more warm ups using inner rotator cuff and outer rotator cuff exercises ( think that is what they are called anyway) and a lot more stretching. form as far as i can tell is pretty good, keeping a strong controlled motion. Apart from all that stuff military presses were pretty boring.

accessory :

seated side lateral raise :
5 x 10 - 20
dumbbell bicep curl:
3 x 10 ( i hate bicep curls have no idea why, they just suck)

and for core workout i replaced it with some grip strength training

barbell suit case holds:
1 set @ 30kg x 1 minute
1 set @ 40kg x 40 seconds
1 set @ 50 kg x 20 seconds and then another set @ 10 seconds

my hands and fingers and forearms have never felt so swole. Absoutly amazing exercise although i havnt been able to test if it works as its the first time doing them, but i am assumeing they do. Will be able to find out next week during dead lift day. I figured that i should be placing in some grip strength work so i can hold the bar for more reps ( especially during deadlifts) i find that my grip strength is failing me before my lower back, glutes and hamstrings fall out. I want the grip strength to crush coconuts! ( stolen from one of andy boltons articles if im not mistaken)

anyhow what i learned this week. Well i found that a close stance when squatting is benefiting me more than my previous stance, i found a weakeness in my squats which i believe is going to definitly help me. I found out that my form is starting to fail me in deadlifts and to definitly not try press on when form is failing ( my back doesnt seem sore today, which is a good thing!) so ill have to re look at it next week. Oh i learned that my bodyweight exercises are weak, very very weak ( dips, pull ups etc) so i might throw them in more often until they build up. I think that is pretty much it.

decided that next week im going to bring a note pad to the gym and write down what i think is wrong with my technique and then try and fix it during the de load week. Will see how it goes! And decided to chuck in a day or two of cardio, i think it might help - going to wake up early and do some tomorrow ( i hate cardio, but i feel its neccissary)

enjoy the weekend!

today was military press day. Was pretty good. Placed a new exercise in instead of core workout.

standing military press -

3 sets to warmup

35 x 3
37.5 x 3
40 x 7

shoulders felt really good after the 40 final set although my left shoulder started to feel some pain in the rotator cuff - will just do some more warm ups using inner rotator cuff and outer rotator cuff exercises ( think that is what they are called anyway) and a lot more stretching. form as far as i can tell is pretty good, keeping a strong controlled motion. Apart from all that stuff military presses were pretty boring.

accessory :

seated side lateral raise :
5 x 10 - 20
dumbbell bicep curl:
3 x 10 ( i hate bicep curls have no idea why, they just suck)

and for core workout i replaced it with some grip strength training

barbell suit case holds:
1 set @ 30kg x 1 minute
1 set @ 40kg x 40 seconds
1 set @ 50 kg x 20 seconds and then another set @ 10 seconds

my hands and fingers and forearms have never felt so swole. Absoutly amazing exercise although i havnt been able to test if it works as its the first time doing them, but i am assumeing they do. Will be able to find out next week during dead lift day. I figured that i should be placing in some grip strength work so i can hold the bar for more reps ( especially during deadlifts) i find that my grip strength is failing me before my lower back, glutes and hamstrings fall out. I want the grip strength to crush coconuts! ( stolen from one of andy boltons articles if im not mistaken)

anyhow what i learned this week. Well i found that a close stance when squatting is benefiting me more than my previous stance, i found a weakeness in my squats which i believe is going to definitly help me. I found out that my form is starting to fail me in deadlifts and to definitly not try press on when form is failing ( my back doesnt seem sore today, which is a good thing!) so ill have to re look at it next week. Oh i learned that my bodyweight exercises are weak, very very weak ( dips, pull ups etc) so i might throw them in more often until they build up. I think that is pretty much it.

decided that next week im going to bring a note pad to the gym and write out what i think is wrong with my form and try fix it during de load week! Will see how that goes for me, if it doesnt work ill just scrap it.