To Become Stronger and Eventually Faster

Hello everyone,

Long time reader first time poster, I’ve been keeping a written log at home but I have decided to start one here with the hopes of having more experienced lifters share their thoughts and experiences to help me throughout my strength training.

Stats are:
29 years old
228ish BW
5’10"
no clue on body fat.

Goals are to continue to build strength in the big 4 barbell movements and cut some time off my mile run. I am chasing performance first and I don’t really care about my physique for now.

Current Training maxes are:
Squat= 195lbs
Bench= 190lbs
Deads= 215lbs
Press= 125lbs
Mile run 9:38

By the end of the year, I would like to see my squat and deadlift to be close to 300lbs for reps, bench 225lbs for reps and press 150lbs for reps. For the mile run I would like to cut it down to 9:00.

I am a big fan of 5/3/1 and will be using the various programs found within 531 Forever and Jim’s previous books. I just completed 3 leader cycles of 5s pro, SSL and 2 anchors of 5s pro FSL 5x5 about a week an half ago.

Once I am able to look at my written log I will input my most recent 7th week protocol TM test later today.

I will be starting with my 7th week protocol which i completed this week.

6-6-2018
Bench TM=190
5x135
5x155
5x170
6x190, stopped at 6 due to lost of tightness in body.

Supersetted some assistance, since it is a deload I only completed 20 reps in the push,pull and single leg/core.

Ran 1600m at 1.0% grade and 5.0 speed. Run was easy.

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6-7-18

Squat TM=195
5x135
5x155
5x175
8x195 reached my goal and stopped set.

No assistance

walked 800m at 4.0% grade and 3.0 speed.

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6-12-18

Sumo Deads TM=215
5x150
5x175
5x195
6x215, wanted 8 reps and I feel like I would have gotten them but lost my grip at lockout on 6th rep. I tattempted to reset and try for 2 more reps but was unable to properly grab bar once I began to pull. Grip was double over hand.

Press TM=125
5x90
5x100
5x115
7x125, wanted 8 reps on this one too, but after 6th rep form was starting to break down and 7th rep was grindy and I did not want to continue to push it and sacrifice form further.

Attempted to walk 800m but stopped about halfway due to running out of time.

Tomorrow starts my new leader cycle of Pervertor. Will be doing three days a week and tomorrow will be bench press.

6-13-18

Started Pervertor today with the bench press.

Warm up was a circuit of 25 jumping jacks, 10 BW squats, and 10 (each leg) mountain climbers. Total of 3 sets.

10 box jumps

5x135
5x155
5x170
10x5 at 135

I supersetted the above with assistance. Completed 40 total reps for each category.

Assistance
Military standing DB press 30lbs 4x10
Walking lunges 20lb DB 4x10, 5 reps each leg
DB Rows 1x10 30lbs, 3x10 60lbs

Workout was little over an hour including the warm up. I wanted to do something on the treadmill but did not have time today.

Also workout was way more intense then expected, Pervertor is gonna be an interesting beast.

6-14-18

Warm up was a circuit of 25 jumping jacks, 10 BW squats, and 10 (each leg) mountain climbers. Total of 3 sets.

10 Box jumps

Squat
5x135
5x155
5x175
10x5 at 135

Supersetted above with: Dips 8,5,5,5 havent done these in a while so taking it easy.
Plate raise with 25lbs=10,10,10 then lowered weight to 15lbs and finished it with 15 reps. Lastly was leg raises=10,10,10,10.

Workout was good and Squat felt really easy today.

6-19-18

Warm up was a circuit of 25 jumping jacks, 10 BW squats, and 10 (each leg) mountain climbers. Total of 3 sets.

10 box jumps

Press Tm=125
5x90
5x100
5x115
10x5 at 90
Pressing felt heavy and sluggish.

Supersetted with:
Push ups = 15, 15, 15, 15
Weighted lunges 25lb dumbbells = 10, 10, 10, 10
Rows 25lbs DB 12 reps (WU), 60lbs DB 10, 10, 10, 10

Completed above in about an hour.

Ran 1600m at 1.0% grade at 5.0 speed, ended up with 12:00 mile. I plan on increasing speed and/or distance depending on how i feel.

6-20-18

Warm up was a circuit of 25 jumping jacks, 10 BW squats, and 10 (each leg) mountain climbers. Total of 3 sets.

10 box jumps

Sumo deads Tm=215
5x150
5x175
5x195
10x5 at 150

Deadlifts felt good, easily my favorite movement out of the four.

Supersetted with:
Dips = 25 reps.
leg raises = 40 reps. I hate this exercise.
Upright BB row with 20lbs = 40 reps. Will increase weight to 30lbs next lower body day.

Walked 800m at 4.0% grade and 3.0 speed. Took approximately 10 mins.

6-21-18

Warm up was a circuit of 25 jumping jacks, 10 BW squats, and 10 (each leg) mountain climbers. Total of 3 sets.

10 box jumps

Bench
5x125
5x145
5x160
5x10 at 115 which is 60% TM

Bench press was good, weight flew off chest which I had hoped would be the case since today was 5s week. I am really like the 351 set up of having a heavy week, moderate week and heavy again.

Assistance was supersetted with:
Standing Dumbbell military press 35lbs = 40 reps
Dumbbell row with 60lbs. 12 rep warm up then 40 reps.
split squat machine, this got interesting because my legs were already sore from yesterdays deadlifts, I started with too much weight at 50lbs, 10 reps each leg then dropped it to 40lbs for 20 reps and last 10 reps was 30lbs. I will probably start with 30lbs next time. total 40 reps.

Lastly, I ran 1600m at 1.0% grade at 5.0 speed. 12:00 minute mile, felt great and was fairly easy.

Total workout was approximately 1hr 15mins.

Alright so, I had a lot of life stuff that had happen which took me out of the gym to train. Kind of bummed about it, but I tried to look at it as an extended deload and tried to enjoy that time off.

I made attempts to watch what I ate and did not lose or gain any weight during that period which is nice. Hind sight, I probably should not have drank so much but whateves.

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7-17-2018

Since I took so much time off, I was unsure what to do when I came back. I decided to start where I left off and just monitor my progress, if it drastically diminished I would reassess and probably restart the cycle.

Squat TM 195

Warm up was a circuit of 25 jumping jacks, 10 BW squats, and 10 (each leg) mountain climbers. Total of 3 sets.

Box Jumps x 10

5x125
5x145
5x165
BBB 5x10 at 120 which is 60%.

I supersetted my supplemental with only one assistance, the barbell upright row with 30lbs. 50 total reps.

This workout was good but tough, especially the BBB sets. My work capacity definitely dropped off some, I should have done this workout in under an hour, but it ended up being about an 1hr 20 mins.

7-19-2018

Warm up was a circuit of 25 jumping jacks, 10 BW squats, and 10 (each leg) mountain climbers. Total of 3 sets.

Box jumps x 10

Press TM 125
5x80
5x95
5x105
BBB 5x10 at 75, 60% TM.

Pressing felt great today, came into the gym like an animal and smashed it. I supersetted BBB with DB rows at 55lbs for 50 reps.

Supersetted split squat (Machine) and incline DB press.

Split squat 30 lbs for 50 reps, my legs were still sore from Squatting the other day so this felt like 100lbs by the end of set 3.
DB press 35lbs for 50 reps.

Ran 1600m at 12:00 mins. total time, distance, and calories = 17:00/1.26/189.

Total time was about 1hr 15mins for today’s session.

7-24-2018

Warm up was a circuit of 25 jumping jacks, 10 BW squats, and 10 (each leg) mountain climbers. Total of 3 sets.

Box Jumps x 10

Deads
5x140
5x160
5x185
BBB 3x10 at 130 or 60%.

I made the switch back to conventional, it felt great and its definitely gotten stronger since the last time Ive done it, which was last year I believe. However, I cut the BBB sets to 3 sets because form was breaking down on the last few reps. I knew that there was no way I could continue for another 20 reps. If I do BBB or Pervertor again, I will have to either lower the weight to 45% or so or just cut it out and do 5x5 FSL. I will have another chance for my next leader cycle to try a lower percentage and if that does not work, I will probably just cap my deads to 5x5 FSL.

Assistance was supersetted:
Dips= 30 reps (PR)
Leg raises= 30 reps total, my core was pretty beat this began to look pretty sloppy.
Lat pull downs 60lbs=40 reps felt good and was slow and controlled the entire time. will stay at this weight for a while.

Walked 800m at 4.0% incline, and 3.0 speed. Total time 10:10.

Total training took approx. 1hr 30mins.

7-25-2018

Warm up was a circuit of 25 jumping jacks, 10 BW squats, and 10 (each leg) mountain climbers. Total of 3 sets.

Box Jumps x 10

Bench
5x145
5x160
5x180
SSL 5x5 at 160.

I was looking forward to this training day more than I usually do for benching. This entire workout felt really heavy which slowed everthing down more than I would have liked. Rest times were up to 2 plus minutes once I started SSL. The Doms I had in my chest the next day were pretty intense.

Assistance was supersetted with each other:
Standing Overhead DB press 35lbs= 30 reps
DB rows= 30lbs for 12(WU set), 60lbs for 30 reps.
Leg raises= 30 reps

I capped the assistance reps to 30 each because I wanted time to run on the treadmill.

Ran 1600m at 1.0% and 5.0 speed. 12:00 mile. I am going to start increasing the distance to 2000m since I am progressing well with this. My next 7th week I will test my mile run and see what progress has been made.

Total training time was approx. 1hr 30min.

7-26-2018

Warm up was a circuit of 25 jumping jacks, 10 BW squats, and 10 (each leg) mountain climbers. Total of 3 sets.

Box jumps x 10

Squat
5x145
5x165
5x185
SSL 5x5 at 165.

I am pretty happy with how much my squat has progressed, Id have to check my written log but when I started I believe my TM was some where in the 120s. I have since improved my technique, with the help from Tnation and I feel that my numbers are going to steadily increase in comparison to my Bench and Press.

I was still pretty damn sore from Tuesday and Wednesdays training so I only did one assistance.

Plate raises 10lbs= 75 reps.

Walked for 12:00 minutes at 5.0% incline and 3.0 speed. Total distance was approx. 900m.

Total training time was approx. 1hr 20mins

This will be the last week I do this particular lifting schedule. It has been pretty brutal in the sense that I lift 3 days in a row, which was especially felt this week. I will be rotating shifts to nights which will open up the opportunity to have a more reasonable schedule where I will have a day off or two in between training days.

I am also nearing the end of my 1st leader cycle of pervertor. I really like this program and I am looking forward to the anchor cycle where I am able to see the progress that I’ve made.

7-30-2018

Warm up was a circuit of 25 jumping jacks, 10 BW squats, and 10 (each leg) mountain climbers. Total of 3 sets.

Box jumps x 10

Press
5x95
5x105
5x120
SSL 5x5 at 105.

I recently switched gyms and my current facility had an axle bar. I’ve never used one and decided why not. This made pressing feel completely different and challenging, the weight today especially my top set was incredibly heavy. I will definitely be using this bar again in future pressing.

SSL was supersetted with back raises at 45 degrees = 50 reps. My back is definitely getting stronger, these 50 reps were incredibly easy. Felt a pretty good pump afterwards.

Assistance:
Incline DB press 35lbs = 50 reps. Will raise to 40lbs.
DB rows = 30lbs for 12 reps (warmup) then 60lbs for 50 reps. 60lbs felt good and controllable, I am still debating on whether I will be upping weight or waiting.

Ran 2000m at 1.0% incline and 5.0 speed. 15:00 minutes. This was harder than I would like to admit. I was pretty gassed out after.

Total workout was approximately 1hr 30mins.

I am nearing the end of my 1st cycle of Pervertor, this has been a pretty great program thus far. I have one more leader cycle and then I will move onto the Pervertor’s anchor cycle. I am excited to see how I have peaked when I start the pr portion and later TM test. I’m really loving the switch each week from strength building to mass building back to strength. Also, I am not sure if its a combination between my diet or program or both but I have definitely seen a change in my body composition which is pretty exciting.

8-2-2018

Warm up was a circuit of 25 jumping jacks, 10 BW squats, and 10 (each leg) mountain climbers. Total of 3 sets.

Box jumps x 10

Deads-conventional
5x160
5x185
5x205 (PR)
SSL 5x5 at 185

This workout kicked my ass, I completed all work sets and supplemental lift in about 40ish minutes. I chose not to superset any assistance with my work/supplemental lifts and instead just focused on resting adequately between sets. Completed a weight/rep PR for my top set, the 5 reps felt decent, it was definitely heavy but not grindy.

Assistance: supersetted
Dips = 34 reps (PR) completed 4 sets of 7 and last set I got 6 reps.
Lat pull down (machine) 35lbs = 50 reps
Decided not to work core.

Walked on treadmill for 12:00 mins at 5.0% incline at 3.0 speed.

Total workout was approx. 1hr 45mins.

This marks the end of my 1st cycle of Pervertor, which has been great thus far. I will be raising all TMs and start another cycle with Bench on Saturday. The nice thing is, I’am at the point now that every time I raise my TM on any lift I will be setting new PRs throughout the program. Its a pretty good feeling.

8-4-2018

Start of cycle 2 of Pervertor with increased TM. I am pretty excited that I am at sub 200s for my Bench. I just did a quick estimate and by the end of the year I should have a TM of 220 barring any set backs or resets. When I started last year my TM for bench was 140, just been steadily increasing. Also, I am really liking BBS as a supplemental and I am starting to think that when I am completely done with Pervertor I will run BBS for two cycles with 531 PRs (Jokers maybe) and windowmaker for my anchor.

Warm up was a circuit of 25 jumping jacks, 10 BW squats, and 10 (each leg) mountain climbers. Total of 3 sets. This is starting to get stale, will have to look into a new warm up routine.

Box jumps x 10

Bench TM=195
5x135
5x155
5x175 Top set was heavy but smooth
BBS at 135, no problem here.

Assistance was supersetted with supplemental
Standing DB OHP 30lbs = 50 reps
DB Rows 60lbs = 50 reps, I think I will try 65lbs next time.
Back Raises at 45 degrees = 50 reps

Ran 2000m at 1.0% and 5.0 MPH. approx. 15:00 mins. First two laps sucked but then I got into my groove and it was fairly smooth. My legs were just super tight and took forever to open my stride. However, I find that the more I run the more I really hate it.

Total workout took approx. 1hr 50mins.

8-6-2018

Warm up was a circuit of 25 jumping jacks, 10 BW squats, and 10 (each leg) mountain climbers. Total of 3 sets.

Box Jumps x 10

Squat TM 205
5x145
5x165
5x185
BBS was done with Squat Safety Bar at 145.

Supplemental felt great with the SSB, the weight felt really light today. Supplemental was also supersetted with assistance:

Dips = 35 reps (PR)
plate raises 10lbs = 75 reps
Leg raises = 50 reps, this was tough because I was sweating so much that my arm was slipping off the arm rest, I had to stop mid set for everyset to re position myself.

Conditioning, Since I have joined a new gym there is room and implements for farmer carries and prowler work, I wanted to do one of those today, but the pathway was blocked with people doing core work and other exercises.

I ended up riding Airdyne for 20 mins

Total workout approx. 1hr 40mins

8-10-2018

Warm up was 100 jump ropes and Agile 8. I learned how immobile and tight I am, will have to continue to use this.

Box jumps x 10

Axle Bar Press TM=130
5x90
5x105
5x120
BBS at 90

Supplemental was supersetted with assistance:
Incline DB press 40lbs = 50 reps
back raises = 50 reps
DB rows 65lbs = 50 reps

Conditioning: ran 2000m in approx. 15:00 mins.

I did not pay attention when I arrived at the gym, but I believe the total training time was about 1hr 30mins or so.