Remu's 5/3/1 Log

So a quick background, I started getting into the gym and away from body weight/dumbbell training around the beginning of 09. Spent a lot of time learning how to do the compound lifts properly and tried out Dan John’s 40 day program. I had a solid grasp of technique and my form was getting very good. Then I left for Army BCT Sept. 09.

My hip mobility went to hell, got shin splints, dislocated my shoulder in the final combatives tournament followed by an 18 week AIT which I was put into the front leaning rest for long periods of time. So my shoulder is still pretty messed up. However I am addicted to lifting weights now, especially deadlifting.

So naturally the first opportunity I got to go to the gym I went for it. Pulled from the floor, bad idea. Torqued my lower back in a way that made me slant sideways for 3 weeks, the first week I couldn’t even walk.

Anyway, I’m back in good health and am ready to start training all out again.

5’8" 160lbs I’m a scrawny and weak little crap and am blood thirsty to change that.

Goals:
Bench 1x BW
Deadlift 2x BW
Squat 1.5x BW
Work on my 2 mile time

Here’s the program I’m doing (been at it for about 4 weeks so far) So I’ll start logging tomorrow.
http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/training-articles/the-best-training-for-muscle-mass-for-beginners/

Workout A:
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench
3x5 Barbell Row

Workout B:
3x5 Squat
3x5 Military Press
3x5 Deadlift

I alternate through on Monday Wednesday and Thursday.
Alternate distance running(no more than 3 miles), and either HIIT (hill sprints, 200-400 m sprints, or tabata)
Sunday rest.

Did some foam rolling before I left for the gym, didn’t sleep very well last night due to a ridiculous lightning storm. But today was still pretty good. Busted my ass with some little weights but at least the weights are getting a little bigger every time.

Squat 3x5: 155, 155, 155 (Felt pretty heavy and was urged to take some weight off but i stuck with it)
Bench 3x5: 115, 120, 115 (First time pressing 120 since I got home, damn i’m pitiful)
Barbell Row 3x5: 95, 105, 105 (More feeling how my lower back was taking the pressure, felt like i could of done more, until friday then)

If anyone has any tips for me please go ahead and be as harsh as you want, that’s really why i’m making a log.

Did some foam rolling before I left for the gym, didn’t sleep very well last night due to a ridiculous lightning storm. But today was still pretty good. Busted my ass with some little weights but at least the weights are getting a little bigger every time.

Squat 3x5: 155, 155, 155 (Felt pretty heavy and was urged to take some weight off but i stuck with it)
Bench 3x5: 115, 120, 115 (First time pressing 120 since I got home, damn i’m pitiful)
Barbell Row 3x5: 95, 105, 105 (More feeling how my lower back was taking the pressure, felt like i could of done more, until friday then)

If anyone has any tips for me please go ahead and be as harsh as you want, that’s really why i’m making a log.

Squat was getting really close to failure, I think I’m going to need to take a bit of weight off and work on technique for the next few sessions.

Squat:3x5: 155,165,155
Military Press :3x5: 65,75,70 (horrible elbow flaring on the 75, no good)
Deadlift:3x5: 185,185,205 (From an aerobic step, feeling pretty good about getting back to 2 plates very soon)

Been mixing up my deadlift with a full reset and touch and go depending on how it feels after each rep. Strangely even though I feel as if I’m setting up exactly the same for every pull, some reps feel taxing and other come up like there’s nothing more than a kitten sitting on the bar… may try and get a video up soon for critique

Finally the crick in my back has gone away. Walked into a completely empty gym today, love when that happens.

Squat:3x5: 135,155,165 (started off as just a technique practice but I felt pretty good about it and just went for it, soon i’ll warm up with 165)
Bench:3x5: 125,115,120 (125 new 5 rep pr)
Barbell Row:3x5:115,115,115

Ended with some zottman curls, i was told my arms look small compared to my torso, so i best get on that.

Might have a PT test this weekend, we’ll see how that goes.

Felt pretty solid today, attacked the bars more than usual.

Squat:3x5: 165,165,165 (very solid time to add some weight)
Military press:3x5: 65,75,75 (took a chunk out of my nose with the knurling on the bar on my second set.)
Deadlift:3x5: 185,205,205 (hi-light of my day, deadlifting is just bonerific. Going to stick to resetting on each pull.)

Seeing some decent loss of body fat while staying the same weight. I’m going to treat myself to some 400m sprints tomorrow morning.

Tried a technique I picked up from Dave Tate’s recent benching articles on Elite FTS, using a 2" board to make up for my lack of arch and chest circumference until it develops some more. Also, slamming my back into the bar on squats I found gets me that perfect tightness and bar placement every time, also gets me mentally ready to go to war.
Squat:3x5: 175,175,175
Bench:3x5:125,120,125
Barbell Row:3x5: 115,125,125 (I’m going to try and stay consistent with keeping my bench and rowing equal until one surpasses the other, which will probably be rowing.)

Wasn’t feeling the squats today, shit.

Squat:3x5: 155,155,155 (didn’t feel right so I stuck at 155)
Military Press:3x5: 65,75,80 (being my weakest lift this actually went up with some good power behind it today)
Deadlift:3x5:185,205,215 (feeling pretty easy, curious to see my 1rm)

Making some good progress, it’s slow but i’m in this for the long haul so just going to enjoy the ride.

Squat:3x5:185,185,175 (new 5 rep PR for 2 sets!)
Bench Press:3x5:115,125,125 (Finally got my lats to activate)
Barbell Row:3x5:115,115 (Ran out of time and my grip was fried, son of a bitch)

Also, started taking a creatine supp today.

Reached my main general goal of just getting back into lifting after so long of not having any weights.
Got lots of lift practice in and feel really solid with all of them so it’s time to hit 5/3/1.

Lift maxes: Training Maxes
MP- 100:90
DL-240-215
BP-145-130
Sq-215-195

Day 1-Military Press
55x5
65x5
75x8

Ass:
Dips 4x5
Chins 6x5

Never done dips before and thought I’d suck a lot more than I did, but was pleasantly surprised.
Chins are pretty explosive, going to work on volume up to 10 sets of 5 on each then add a rep and work back up to 10 sets.

Cool dude. it looks like your lifts are definitely increasing. You seem a little smallish though, so some volume might not hurt. Maybe switch up the assistance to have more work. If you are only training 3 days a week and only attacking one core lift each time, you should be able to recover from more volume.

Cool dude. it looks like your lifts are definitely increasing. You seem a little smallish though, so some volume might not hurt. Maybe switch up the assistance to have more work. If you are only training 3 days a week and only attacking one core lift each time, you should be able to recover from more volume.

Good call, Jim recommended that if you’re not as strong in the assistance moves yet to do them throughout the workout or even through out the day to build it up. I’ve got plenty of places to do dips and pull ups so i’ll probably add them throughout the day as well till I hit around 50 reps each.

Day-2 Deadlift

140x5
160x5
180x12

Ass:
Good Morning 5x12 Bar
Ab wheel roll outs 4x5

That last set of Deadlifts went pretty good, around the 8th rep i had to switch grips to mixed. Around rep 11 I felt a tweak in my lower ab/groin region. Didn’t feel it on the 12th rep but something was telling me to stop so I ended the set. Should be pretty easy to beat next time.

Working on the form of the good morning, need to look into it some more.

As I got to the bottom of the movement where my torso is parallel to the floor my legs somewhat spread apart so i’m hinging in between my hips rather than getting a sit back ham stretch.

The past 2-3 months i’ve been doing ball rollouts so I upgraded to the wheel.

Wanted to make a seperate post about assistance exercise choice.
“When you’re choosing assistance exercises, do yourself a favor and justify why you’re doing them.”
So here they are-
MP-
Dips- Extra tricep, chest, shoulder work. And Dips are pretty badass.

Chin ups- Vertical pulling to go with the vertical pressing of the military press. And being able to bust out pullups at high reps for many sets is also pretty badass. (various grips)

DL-
Good Mornings- I’ve had some lower back issues from many years ago and this looks to be perfect for getting that area in top notch condition.

Ab Rollouts- Watch rosstraining.com standing wheel rollouts on a decline hill. Awesome. I will do this.

BP-
Dumbell bench press- Work on single arm movement to help stabilization at shoulder joint.

Cable Row- Horizontal pulling to go with the horizontal pressing of the bench press. This variation feels better on my lower back and allows me to load the weight more. (various grips)

SQ-
Lunge-Single leg movement to hit imbalances and work quads.

Natural Glute Ham Raise- Awesome.

Conditioning- sprint night of leg days light-moderate runs on upper body days.

Day- 3 Bench Press

80x5
95x5
110x15

Ass:
Dumbell Bench Press 35x15x1, 30x15x2, 25x15x2
Cable Row-Neutral 105x10x5

Used a little band on my wrists during the last bench set to help me remember to pull the bar apart as I got tired. Worked pretty well.

Can barely move my arms, feels great. If there’s a surprise pt test tomorrow i’m gonna suck.

Day 4 Squat
Tweaked the back of my knee down to my calf doing combat drills this weekend so I just went in and did the main lift and left.

5x125
5x145
10x165

Week 2
Day 5 Military Press

60x3
70x3
80x7

Dipsx5 for 4 sets (shoulder started hurting, may need to evaluate doing this exercise.)
Chins by 5 for 5 sets

I always feel patheticcally weak whenever I do MP but am improving…

Side story, stopped by the store after the gym to get some food for my shake and this rather large lady started guffawing and pointing at my vibrams. Wow.

Day 6 Deadlift

150x3
170x3
190x18

Ass:
Good Mornings with the bar 5x12
Wheel Rollouts 5x4

Experimented with a slightly different DL set up and apparently it worked phenomenally, hand up in the air and swung back down into the position as if to do a vertical jump.

Did nearly double the amount of reps i thought i’d be able to, my form started to feel pretty off at the end even though i felt like i could of done even more i called it.

Feeling on top of the world right now.