The Danish Viking: back to 531: Road to 2-3-4 Plates

Solid lifting mate, it’s a great feeling when everything works and feels good

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Woke at 81,2 kg - 179 lbs
Didn’t track anything yesterday.

Tennis a bit later today.

Sounds like Alphas programs will be perfect for that.

Btw really good lifting mort. You’re like the strong fit dude still kicking butt in his 50s that everyone’s envy of.

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Glad you survived that workout! Keep it up and you might have to eat more to maintain weight. Those supersets/complexes really get the body burning through its fuel to recover.

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Gotta agree, I haven’t ever said it, but mort is really an inspirational guy

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I’m beginning to think so. And thanks for the kind word, I do not feel like I’m that strong dude, I do though feel fit.

@Frank_C Yeah survived was probably the right word at least for the DL. That Kroc program is beginning to be tough. And I’ve settled the weight a bit, so upping calories again.

@danteism Thanks man. That was very kind, I’m blushing right now.
Btw did you watch the ice hockey match the other day Denmark - Finland. Really hoping my team gets to the quarter finals.

Fun fact: did you know that in Denmark the number of adult hockey players are less than the number of referees in Canada :slight_smile: And we are A group - Wohoo

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I don’t usually watch hockey but I did see it, damn you guys

Quality over quantity :wink:

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Woke at 81,4 kg – 179,5 lbs
About 2600 calories yesterday

Today’s training

Rise of the Viking 5/3/1
C4W2D1

Warmup: airdyne, stretches, yoga stuff

Dynamic warmup 2 rounds of
Bear crawl, Gator walk, burpee broad jump, air dyne 30 second

Complex 1 round of Bar x 8 DL, BB row, Hang Clean, front squat, strict press, back squat, push press.

SGHP
8 x 42,5 – 47,5 – 52,5 – 57,5 kg

Giant set Pull up x5 / OHP / ab wheel x 6
OHP
5 x 42,5 kg good
5 x 47,5 kg meh
5 x 52,5 kg Heavy last two legdrive…

Back off set
4 x 5 @ 42,5 kg

Total 50 pull ups – 60 ab wheel.

Bench paused SS BPA x 6 EMOM
6 x 3 @ 65kg

Assistance SS

Ring dip 6, 7, 8, 9 @ BW

EZ Curl 10 @ 27, 30, 32, 35 kg

Took 1 hour on the dot.
I’m struggling a bit on OHP this cycle… maybe the giant sets?
The dynamic warm-ups are very good gets the blood flowing and breaks the sweat.
Totally ready to lift when I’m done.

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These giant sets sound awesome but brutal lol. Personally, I wouldn’t have OHP in the giant set if I wanted to focus on raising it. I think that I’d be so fatigued by that point that good technique and effort would go out the window. But if you’re looking to get a solid pump this looks like a great way to get one.

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Absolutely the giant sets. Especially with the exercises you picked: you’re fatiguing two of the most important stabilisers for press so it pretty much guarantees sub-par performance.

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I struggled with 185 for 5x5 bench with the giant sets. Definitely could have done more without the fatigue. Brian says that your numbers will get back up after you get used to the giant sets (might take a few weeks), but your work capacity will be higher. Sounds good to me.

Perhaps you can try to stick with it for a while. If it doesn’t get better after a few weeks, you could go back to the way you were doing it. Just an idea though. You know your body better than I do

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@idontbrag123, @MarkKO, @muskratlifts
Thanks for the inputs.
I tend to agree with the lots of you. I hope Alphas promise, that the giant sets over time will make the main lifts stronger.
That said, this is the last cycle of Jims work for a time. Using the last couple of weeks to get used to the giant sets.
I’ll try Alphas program over summer. Then when my strength have skyrocket, I am going to do the CT program @Frank_C currently uses.
I like the idea of using variation lifts (never tried that before) to get stronger and the comp lift for dynamics work in the about 60% reprange.
I’ll give it a shot and then we’ll see.


A little observation… It seems as if I can only do one cycle of 5/3/1 where the 1’s week have weights I can only manage for 5 or less, especially on pressing movements.
The next cycle I struggle… So I should maybe just maybe the next time back on Jims work try his 5’s pro with a low TM.
It could be that I use to much volume when pushing weights…

I’ve also set my eye on the Juggernaut method.
So many programs so little time to do them.

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Moving away from the comfort zone into a new method can only broaden your understanding of your body and how it reacts. Did not fear change. Embrace it. It may not work for you, but it will surely teach you something.

Learning is part of the process. You already know how you respond to 531. And it obviously has you at a plateau. Try something to bust trough…

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I noticed this too. For me, it seemed like I went from 8 reps on a 1+ to 3 reps on a 1+ within 2 cycles or something. Pretty steep dropoff. I don’t know if you were in on MarkKO’s log, but we were talking about that a little bit. It’s annoying, but 5/3/1 does more to improve bench rep PRs than 1rm. Every program has its strengths and weaknesses, and each movement responds to stimuli a bit differently. The important part is that you realized how 5/3/1 affects your pressing movements!

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One thing I failed to address which impacts pressing and benching very heavy significantly is that 5/3/1 assumes that you are constantly gaining lean-ish mass. The one period when 5/3/1 did boost my bench and press in the heavier, lower rep range I was getting fat. The moment I dialled back my food intake, all progress stopped and I quickly started to slide backwards.

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Woke at 80,9 kg - 178,4 lbs
2600 calories yesterday

@losthog, yeah looking forward to try something new.

@lava2007, yeah I saw it there too. I think at least for me bench or chest have to be trained more than once.

@MarkKO Damn you, I know it. When I’m gaining weight, Bench goes up.

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Once I started benching 2-3x/week (every other workout) I started to see better results after about 2 months. Bench can take a lot more punishment than I thought it could lol

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Todays training

Rise of the Viking 5/3/1

C4W2D2

Warmup: jump rope, agile 8, some stretches, lazy lifter, band stuff.

Dynamic warmup 2 rounds of
Bear crawl, Gator walk, burpee broad jump, jump rope x 40

Complex 1 round of Bar x 8 DL, BB row, Hang Clean, front squat, strict press, back squat, push press.

Frontsquat Giant set box jump 6 x 3 / front Squat / Hanging leg raise 6 x 5

5 x 30, 40, 50 kg, 4 x 60g

Squat Giant set Standing long jump8 x 2 / squat / sit up 8 x 8

5 x 75 kg
5 x 85 kg
2 x 5 @ 95 kg – 209 lbs Belt on last set

Overload Squat walkout
1 @ 125 kg – 275 lbs 10 seconds No belt

Squat Back off no belt

3 x 5 @ 75

SGDL speed EMOM sets
6 x 3 @ 85 kg – 187 lbs

Workout took 50 minutes
Squats felt really good for the first time in a long time.
Squat cues ala Alpha, squeeze butt before decent and not pushing butt back.
Sweating AF with these dynamic warm up and giant sets.

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Woke at 80,6 kg - 177,7 lbs
About 2500 calories yesterday.

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I mean Alpha is pretty much strong as a god lol… i’d practice what he preaches.

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