Would You, Quintus? Would I?

Decided to start my first training log… Not sure if anyone will see it, but I figure it’s worth doing on the chance that someone knowledgeable might see and tell me what I’m doing like an idiot so I fix it.

Autobiography:
5’9 and a half
around 200 lbs
24 years old
lifting for 7 years, unfortunately the vast majority of that time was spent screwing around doing whatever at random
the only significant injury I have is I tore some muscle in the left side of my lower back 6 years ago and have subsequently re-torn it 3 more times since then. The left side of my lower back is probably mostly scar tissue at this point lol. After 6 years of dumb, I went to a chiro who is also a powerlifter (awesome) and he addressed the flexibility and form issues that were screwing up my back. Been real good ever since, both sides of my back are finally starting to feel the same.

So here starts the log. I am doing 5/3/1. This is the first formal lifting program I have ever done (unless there is a lifting program that tells you to do whatever you want at random).

I started a few weeks ago, so the first few posts will be catch up.

Cycle 1, week 1
7/21/2012

Bench:
185 5x
215 5x
240 12x Certainly a rep PR. I was pleased with this.

Incline:
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x

Dips:
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 10x Tired…
BW 20x Back to 20 reps after screwing around and resting too long

I did pullups between bench and incline sets. Not all the sets, just enough to where I got 50 reps of pullups. I did 3 sets of 10, 2 sets of 5, and a last set of 10 again.

Dumbell Curls:
40’s 10x
40’s 10x
40’s 10x
40’s 10x
40’s 10x

Cycle 1, week 1
7/23/2012

Squat: I hate these
240 5x
275 5x
315 5x Just the required reps

SLDL:
185 10x
185 10x This is feeling too light
225 10x Wow fuck this, nevermind, going back to 185
185 10x
185 10x

Leg Curls: This is on some machine
5 sets of 10

Abs:
Situps - 3 sets of 10 with a 10 pound plate behind my head on a decline. There is a huge difference putting it behind your head as opposed to on your chest…
Leg raises - 3 sets of 10
Dumbell side raises or whatever the hell you call them - 3 sets of 10 with 100 pounds
The side bend things felt weird. I’m not a fan.

Cycle 1, week 1
7/25/2012

Press:
110 5x
125 5x
140 8x I don’t feel like I can breathe during a set of these. Once the reps get higher I just start suffocating lol.

Close Grip Bench:
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x Too easy

Incline Tate Press:
30’s 10x
30’s 10x
37.5’s 10x
37.5’s 10x
37.5’s 10x These feel strange.

Shrugs: Did these super strict; zero body English, traps only.
225 10x
225 10x
225 10x
225 10x
225 10x

Pullups between press sets. Did 5 sets of 10 this time. Pullup strength is already feeling better. I never really did them before.

Cycle 1, week 1
7/27/2012

Deadlift:
295 5x
340 5x
385 5x Just the required reps this time

Back raises: Whatever you call these; you know what I mean.
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x

Dumbell rows:
120 10x Fuck this
100 15x
100 12x
100 10x Steadily losing steam…
100 10x

Abs:
Situps - 3 sets of 10 with no weight on a decline
Ab roller - 3 sets of 10… sort of. This was an epic fail. How does anyone do this thing? It’s like impossible. I am realizing how stupidly weak my abs are. I never did abs in the past.

Cycle 1, week 2
7/28/2012

Bench:
200 3x
225 3x
255 9x Combined with last week’s bench, I am starting to think my max is closer to 330 than 315. Nice.

Incline:
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x EZPZ

Dips:
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x

Pullups between bench sets again. 5 sets of 10.

Dumbell Curls:
35’s 10x Tired from pullups…
25’s 10x In danger of becoming a bodybuilder.
50’s 10x Decided to man up at the end. This is technically a dumbell curl PR lol. But I think it’s like sacrilege for a powerlifter to track those.

Cycle 1, week 2
7/30/2012

Squat:
260 3x
295 3x
330 6x

SLDL:
185 10x
185 10x
185 10x
185 10x
185 10x

Leg Curls:
5 sets of 10

Abs:
Decline Situps - 3 sets of 10 with 10lbs behind the head
Ab Roller - 3 sets of 10 (mostly) with half pushups thrown in almost every rep because I can’t actually do these.

Cycle 1, week 2
8/1/2012

Press:
115 3x
135 3x
150 7x mmm… not bad.

Tangent - In last week’s press workout I felt like I barely used my shoulders at all. So I decided to replace Tate Press with 5 sets of 10 more overhead presses!

Press:
135 10x Balls were writing checks my body couldn’t cash.
115 10x Fuck this, putting the small plates on.
95 10x
95 10x
95 10x

Close Grip Bench:
205 10x I learned literally nothing from starting too heavy on the 5 sets of overhead press.
185 10x
185 10x
185 10x
185 10x

Shrugs: Done super strict; no body english.
225 10x
225 10x
225 10x
225 10x
225 10x

Pullups between press sets as usual. 5 sets of 10.

Cycle 1, week 2
8/3/2012

Deadlift:
315 3x
360 3x
405 5x

Back Raises:
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x If I start doing these too fast I get pretty dizzy

Tangent - I realized that I made a huge fuckup doing back raises first. I couldn’t remember which I had done first last week, and it was clearly not the back raises. I had an extreme erector pump, and basically doing anything, especially more back stuff was excruciating. My erectors were so swollen up that sitting, standing, and lying down were all painful.

Dumbell Rows:
100 15x
100 15x
100 12x
100 12x Swollen erectors start going back down.
100 15x

Abs:
Declined Situps - 3 sets of 10 with 10lbs behind the head. Sometimes I give myself a headache doing these from crushing the weight into my skull on the way up.
Ab roller - same shenanigans as always. Anyone who can do these is a wizard.

Cycle 1, week 3
8/4/2012

Bench:
215 5x
240 3x
270 7x Third good bench day in a row.

Incline:
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x I really need to up the weight on these.

Dips:
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x

5 sets of 10 pullups between pressing.

Forgot about curls. Oh well.

Cycle 1, week 3
8/6/2012

Squat:
275 5x
315 3x
350 3x Just the facts

SLDL:
205 10x
205 10x
205 10x
205 10x
205 10x

Squats: Doing random light weight mid workout. Still trying to find a comfortable form.
225 5x
135 10x

Abs:
same as the last 3 times.

Cycle 1, week 3
8/8/2012

Press:
125 5x
140 3x
160 6x

Tangent - There was some thread on this site around the time of this workout talking about taking like a snatch grip and doing behind the neck presses. I don’t remember what they were called, they were named after someone. Anyway, there was a big fuss about it in the thread, so I had to try them.

EDIT: Klokov press! That’s what it was called. I remember now.

Wide Grip Behind the Neck Press:
115 10x

Tangent - And that’s how long that lasted. Fuck those, I don’t know how anyone possibly does that. My arms don’t even move that way. And we’re back to regular overhead press below.

Press:
115 10x
135 10x
135 10x

Close Grip Bench:
185 10x
185 10x
185 10x
185 10x
185 10x

Pullups between pressing. 5 sets of 10.

Cycle 1, week 3
8/10/2012

Deadlift:
340 5x
385 3x
430 3x

Dumbell Rows:
100 15x
100 15x
100 15x
100 10x Gettin worn out this time for some reason
100 10x

Back Raises:
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x

Abs:
the usual

Cycle 1, week 4
8/11/2012

Tangent - DELOAD! I have never done a scheduled deload before. It felt very weird, awkward, and most of all, boring. I started getting a bit self conscious about lifting like a little babby too. Also I probably put too much load in the deload.

Bench:
115 5x
140 5x
170 5x

Incline:
115 10x
115 10x
115 10x
115 10x
115 10x

Dips:
ten

Pullups between sets. I did 7 sets of 10. I’m getting a lot better at pullups from doing pullups. Imagine that.

Ab roller - eh

Cycle 1, week 4
8/13/2012

Squats:
150 5x
185 5x
220 5x

SLDL:
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x

Leg press: New addition in lieu of leg curls. My legs feel really weak, so I thought maybe this as an assistance exercise would help? I dunno.
5 sets of 10 of something on this

Abs:
Decline situps 3 sets of 10 with 10lbs behind the head
Ab roller 3 sets of 10 as long as form doesn’t count

Subscribed.

Cycle 1, week 4
8/15/2012

Press:
65 5x
85 5x
100 5x

Press:
95 10x
95 10x
95 10x
95 10x
95 10x I’m counting that as deloading.

Close Grip Bench:
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x

Pullups between pressing. 7 sets of 10.

Abs:
Just the 10lb decline situps today. No rolling.

Cycle 1, week 4
8/17/2012

Deadlift:
180 5x
225 5x
270 5x

Dumbbell Rows:
70 15x
70 15x
70 15x
70 15x
70 15x

Back Raises:
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x

3 sets of 10 on decline 10lb abs and roller

Cycle 2, week 1
8/18/2012

Tangent - Praise be! The deload has passed! I went and saw The Expendables 2 immediately before the workout. I think the results speak for themselves.

Bench:
215 5x
230 5x
245 5x
295 1x
315 1x
315 1x
315 1x A triple smoke show of my previous max. These were laughably easy. Stoked about this.

Incline:
205 10x Okay I was riding a little too high from my three heavy singles on bench.
185 10x
185 10x
185 8x You know 315 felt easy at the time, but I am starting to feel like it took a lot out of me lol.
135 10x

Dips:
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x
BW 20x

Pullups as usual. 7 sets of 10.

Cycle 2, week 1
8/20/2012

Squat:
285 5x
300 5x
320 5x Nothing fancy here.

Goodmornings:
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x
135 10x Never really done these. They feel extremely weird.

Leg press:
5 sets of 10 started with 3 plates per side and ended with 5. I see a bunch of people who can’t squat 315 doing more than that though. I dunno, the leg press is a mystery to me.