Ready to Reach the Next Level

Hi all,

i have lurked this site and these forums for many years but finally making the jump to join the community.
Little about myself, i have had a few up’s and downs with personal weight 260 my heaviest and 190 my lightest as an adult. I have roughly 10 years lifting experience and would say i’m experienced but not intermediate. I train with a local power lifting team when i am home but 99 percent of my training is alone.

Current stats
6 foot 1
232 pounds
bench - 320
squat - 430 monolift 375 walked out
deadlift - 485

This year im hoping to bring those numbers much higher. i have never really followed a proper program and will start with the 5/3/1 starting the 20th.

But i have a dilemma, my work is physcially brutal but i only work 2 weeks a month. Do i try and keep the same intensity while at work or do i dial it back as for 14 days 12 hours minimum a day i will be full out and wont have rest days between? i do have unlimited food which i take full advantage of and eat relatively clean. like 6-10 eggs every day, lots of veggies and 3 full meals and 2 snacks a day ie wraps or energy bars they provide.

Thanks,

Tireguy

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I would try to schedule it where I hit the deload first week of work, then the lightest seasion the second week and save the heaviest two seasions for your days off. Just my opinion.

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bodybuilding light weight high reps when working. powerlifting heavy crap when you’re not.

recovery will go much better.

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That is basically what i’ve been doing with random heavy single sets if i feel good to gauge myself, it worked for the 6 months but im stalled and hope this program does better. i did 5x5 (deadlifting) today working up to 365 with ease and hit a top single of 475 really easy and will rest from now until Saturday basically when im home to do bench with the boys. Then this week coming i plan to break my 500 marker. we will see how benching goes but if i could throw 10-15 pounds extra on ill be happy with those numbers starting the program to see how much and if i progress. Appreciate the feed back.

The above replies are on point.

Prioritising recovery is always a good idea so good on you.

I dunno how crazy your job gets but you should still be able to be plenty productive in the gym even if it’s only a deload or light work or volume building into something else.

I know plenty of strong guys working full time manual labour who make it work. You aren’t moving super crazy weights (yet) so won’t get smashed in the same way a SHW pulling 800 would.

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On average I would say, I change roughly 4-10 tires that weight between 600-750 pounds by hand a day. I stand them up by hand, I seem to be the only one who can do that lol. If I entered strong man I would have a distinct advantage in tire flipping haha.

I’m pretty productive in the gym just need a focus and outline more or less. Only thing I really do consistently are the three
Major lifts, stretching and cardio because I probably eat close to 3.5k calories or more a day.

On an attempt to combine OSU’s wisdom with wendlers work that you said you are going to start. Is there a place to do the full 531 workouts when you are off two weeks. Then on your two weeks in work do either the Jack shit programme with assistance, or ignore the heavier weights and do 10*5@fsl working on technique and explosiveness.

Either could be geared towards hypertrophy, be quick, and not run you down.

I’m hesitant because OSU and wendler are easy more advanced then me. Just these ideas keep you within the 531 percentage framework which may make evaluation easier.

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If you’re gonna run 531 then I’d suggest on the weeks you work do the minimum reps for the last set those weeks…aka 5 3 or 1.

The weeks you are off do the amrap for the last set.

I’d still keep the bodybuilding light. No barbell movement for assistance.

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Thank you both for the knowledge and help, ill keep it easy at work. Im still relatively naive and just keep hammering myself with weight because in my mind if im not doing it someone else out there is.

ill keep it basic and easy next run and see, on my two weeks off i train at a really cool gym “hole in the wall” where there is more squat racks than cardio equipment and its dusty dirty, my style of place for a real pump.

To be honest I think that’s not as bad an idea as you imply; most people under-train and don’t push hard enough to add weight to the bar, not the opposite. Psychologically, though, I think it’s way easier to cope with outside demands when training is reduced. I would pick lifts based on how much stress they cause mentally vs. their estimated reward in terms of gains; I know for me leg press < high bar squat < powerlifting squat in terms of psychological stress, but this will vary person to person and lift to lift of course. Part of it is probably down to the proportion of muscle activation in the body as a whole (isolation usually less stressful), and part due to certain lifts / training methods being better practised (higher percentage of muscular strength potential utilised)… so you can probably push hard with something like a high rep routine or an isometric-focused style, potentially giving better results than simply doing less of the same training.

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Hi all,

thanks iiswearimnothal that makes sense, but with my world load always ranging its hard to say.
This last month has been a nightmare with work and stress load and ive trained less in the last month than in the last year. Good news though, my coach is convinced now is the time to push when I get home!

when I was home last from work, I worked up to a 500lb dead lift that I made half way and was still grinding up but I felt acute pain in my left glute so I dropped it. Demoralizing is how I would explain it, but I was just messing around with a local strongman (female) competitor to see how I was feeling after a close to max bench session.

I’m going to see a dietitian and stop freestyling everything with goals I will write down and pertain too. No more free for all, commitment is now. lifes been a whirl wind, but its looking like I will settle down in a relationship so stability will be back in order to help me keep disciplined.

Being 26 and single for the first in 5 years I got lost of time and track of my goals … chasing women.

Anyways my lifes so far to date are
DL:490
Bench:340
squat:375 most recent.

Seems my squat has gone now from lack of training I feel, but these two weeks home I plan to lay the hammer down and see where the chips fall.