Road to 2/3/4/5

Everyone has to grow up at some point. Time for me to hit some big boy weights. Flaming will be considered friendly banter, and is encouraged.

stats
Age: 22
Height: 6’2"
Weight: 195-200

lifts
Press: 160x6
Bench: 250x6
Squat: 280x10
Deadlift: 360x9

goals
Press: 225
Bench: 315
Squat: 405
Deadlift: 495

The lifts above are from my most recent workouts. This is after two months of working towards my goal. Upper body lifts have been stagnant, lower body lifts making good progress due to focusing them. I workout first thing in the morning: four days of weights, two days of cardio. Here’s the ideal schedule:

Tu/Th
6:00 brain candy
6:15 1 serving plazma
6:30 lift
8:00 1 serving mag-10, 5g creatine

wed/fri
7:00 brain candy
7:15 1 serving surge
7:30 low intensity cardio
8:00 1 serving mag-10, 5g creatine

sat
8:00 brain candy
8:45 1 serving plazma
9:00 lift
10:30 1 serving mag-10, 5g creatine

sun
9:00 brain candy
11:45 1 serving plazma
12:00 lift
1:30 1 serving mag-10, 5g creatine

goal of the month
Increase speed on big lifts by adding some plyometrics to workout.

3/8

Weight: 200

A: plyo push ups 3x5
B: bench 195x3, 220x3, 250x6
C1: bench 195x5x5
C2: dumbbell rows 80x5x10
D1: barbell curl 3x10
D2: v-bar pressdown 3x10

3/9

A: box jumps 3x5
B: deadlift 280x3, 320x3, 360x9
C1: deadlift 280x5x5
C2: cable crunch 5x10
D: front squat 3x10

Similar goals, almost said similar size, similar starting places. In for funsies

Thanks, best of luck.

3/10

Weight: 201.2

2 miles in 20 mins
Heart rate: ~130

Heart rate a bit higher than normal. First week of creatine has me bloated and heavier than usual.

3/11

Weight: 201

A: plyo push-ups 3x5
B: press 120x3, 135x3, 155x7
C1: press 120x5x5
C2: chins 5x10
D1: dips 3x10
D2: trap bar curl 3x10
D3: face pulls 3x10
E: overhead triceps extension: 1x40

Woke up with a sore throat, still had plenty of energy. I’m a physics PhD student and have been missing a lot of sleep recently, but spring break is in a week and core coursework in done in May which will give me some rest.

My legs and core weren’t on the same page when I was pressing, I think from not stretching my hips enough after the run yesterday. First time I ever did curls with a trap bar and it gave me an insane pump, particularly in the forearms. Had to do some extra tris afterwards just to even out the swell.

3/12

A: box jumps 3x5
B: squats 220x3, 250x3, 285x10
C1: squats 220x5x5
C2: Russian twists 5x10
D: RDL 3x10

Nursed a hangover all day so had the first night session in a while. Much better muscle control being awake for more than an hour before lifting. Could have got a bit lower in the hole with 285 but still hit good depth. Made sure to sit at the bottom with the 5x5 sets and will probably hit some heavy singles next week to get comfortable with bigger weights. The twists really woke some muscles out of hibernation.

3/14

Weight: 198

A: plyo push-ups 4x5
B: bench 175x5, 205x5, 235x5
C1: bench 175x5x5
C2: dumbbell row 85sx5x10
D1: ezbar curl 3x10
D2: vbar pressdown 3x10

The body is an amazing thing; between work induced insomnia and too much tea in the afternoon I only got about 3 hours of sleep last night. Still made it to the gym, I think in part due to brain candy, but moving the clocks forward meant I was up before sunrise and this always puts a chip on my shoulder.

The plyos and/or creatine are really starting to improve my training. 175 moved like an empty bar. However 235 felt very heavy, I think from lack of sleep. Regardless, this is a better “bad day” than the last time I had one which speaks on progress. Just need to survive until the end of the week then I will have some top tier recovery.

3/16

Weight: 199.2

A: box jumps 4x5
B: deadlift 280x5, 320x5, 340x5, 380x1, 420x1, 440x1

This was a very unusual workout for me, but I wanted to see where my form would break down on a heavy pull. I made sure to stay tight on all my sets and failed at 455 without rounding my back. Two takeaways: (1) I need to pull faster off the ground and (2) I need to hypertrophy my lower back so I can put more energy into moving the bar rather than keeping it neutral. I am already working on the first and will tackle the second next phase. Regardless, this was a 15 lb PR for a single and with much less intensity. Progress.

1 Like

3/18

Weight: 198.6

A: plyo push-ups 4x5
B: press 115x5, 130x5, 150x5
C1: press 115x5x5
C2: chins 5x10
D1: dips 3x10
D2: trap bar curls 3x10
D3: face pulls 3x10

3/20

A: box jumps 4x5
B: squat 190x5, 220x5, 250x5, 280x1, 310x1, 325x1, 340x1
C1: squats 190x5x5
C2: Russian twists 5x10
D: RDL 3x10

Missed yesterday because of an outreach event. Extra sleep from break gave me a lot more energy than usual, and was off the wall with the caffeine from the brain candy. Singles felt good, need to record next time to check form. 340 is a 15 lb PR so there’s progress.

3/21

Weight: 198.5

A: plyo pushups 5x5
B: bench 205x5, 235x3, 260x4
C1: bench 205x5x5
C2: dumbbell row 5x10
D1: barbell curl 3x10
D2: vbar pushdown 3x10

Bench has not been progressing but I’m not too upset since squat and deadlifts have been moving along. I’m not failing at a particular spot, just not getting a good base to press off of so I think I could use some back development and this should help my deadlift too. Will start this after next week.

3/23

Weight: 201.8

A: double hurdle jump 5x5
B: deadlift 300x5, 340x3, 380x6
C1: deadlift 300x5x5
C2: cable crunch 5x10
D: front squat 3x10

The platform for box jumps was taken by someone doing lots of calf raises so I took two smaller boxes to bound over. The landing and taking off again got me more fired up than what I’ve been doing so this might become the standard warm up.

3/25

Weight: 200.4

A: plyo push-ups 5x5
B: press 130x5, 145x3, 165x3
C1: press 130x5x5
C2: chins 5x10
D1: dips 3x10
D2: trap bar curls 3x10
D3: rear delt flys 1x10, face pulls 2x10

Felt pretty weak pressing, but going to keep at it with some added upper body hypertrophy work next week and drop 5x5 for bench and press. This has worked well for me in the past. Other than that, great arms and shoulder pump from the triset at the end.

3/30

Weight: 199

A: hurdle jump 5x5
B: squat 240x5, 270x3, 300x8, 330x1
C1: squat 240x5x5
C2: Russian twists 5x10

Despite the PR on squats, pretty bad day. I took some extra time off and haven’t lifted in 5 days. Was having trouble walking out, I think because of not getting tight before unracking. With 300 the weights started to slide off one side which really killed the 7th and 8th reps so I guess I’ll use clips from now on. Wanted to hit a single to make up for the grinding of the previous set but ripped my underpants at the bottom. Rest of the workout was just a grind. Also couldn’t find the second box for my plyos so I just did single hurdle jumps which is not quite as good of a warmup as the doubles I did last time.

I tried 2 servings of Plazma today and think I was a bit dehydrated since I replaced the usual 1-2L of water intra workout with 500mL of Plazma which I sipped on slowly. Next time I’ll either take water as well or finish it faster so I can hydrate.

On the positive side I felt really good at the bottom of my squat, I think in part due to having a week off from deadlifts. Going to switch to 3 days/week to maintain sleep habits over the next 6+ weeks as I finish the semester along with one conditioning day.

4/1

Weight: 201.4

A: med ball chest throw 3x5
B1: bench 135x5, 160x5, 185x5
B2: chins 3x10
C1: incline dumbbell 5x10
C2: dumbbell row 5x10
D1: barbell curl 3x10
D2: vbar pressdown 3x10

Staying light to deload this week then back to real weights next Saturday. Need to focus my mind on targeting chest and lats with the dumbbells, didn’t hit them as good as I expected.

4/2

Weight: 204.8

A: double hurdle jump 3x5
B1: squat 160x5, 190x5, 220x5
B2: chins 3x10
C1: front squat 5x10
C2: back extension 5x15

Not sure where all the weight came from. Still pretty sore from Thursday but the front squats helped loosen me up.

4/6

Weight: 201.4

A: med ball slam 3x5
B1: press 85x5, 100x5, 115x5
B2: chins 3x10
C: box jumps 3x5
D1: deadlift 210x5, 250x5, 280x5
D2: chins 3x10
E1: rope cable rows 5x10
E2: dips 5x10

Back to heavier weights Saturday. This is a pretty lengthy workout so we’ll see how I hold up next week.