Mostly good day.

“Week 1”

• 5 reps – Bench Press (working max: 215#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x85
  • 1x5x110
  • 1x3x130
  • 1x5x140 (work)
  • 1x5x165
  • 1x10x185
• Work Asst. – 1-Arm Dumbbell Rows (supersetted with work bench press)
  • 6 x 10 x 70
• Asst. #1A – Bench Press
  • 5 x 10/10/9/9/7 x 135
• Asst. #1B – Face pulls (supersetted with the asst. bench press)
  • 5 x 12 x 65
• Asst. #2 – EZ Bar Curls
  • 3 x 10/9/8 x 50

I’m not totally sure what to make of things. Have I gotten weaker? All my assistance work is at less weight but I’m also getting less reps out of it. But I have ramped up the intensity, with supersetting, a few more excercises and sets, less rest between sets. So I figure it’s all good. Certainly I’m being pushed regardless of what the numbers are.

I noticed my benching was wobbly today. Just didn’t feel stable under the bar. I was trying to work with my foot and leg placement and drive, and think I did more harm than good, but that’s alright… just go back to what I was doing.

In other news… well, I’ll discuss that in another posting.

My back is happy with me… so far.

“Week 1”

• 5 reps – Deadlift (working max: 325#)
  • 1x5x135 (warmup)
  • 1x5x165
  • 1x3x185
  • 1x5x215 (work)
  • 1x5x245
  • 1x7x280
• Asst. #1 – Hyperextensions
  • 5 x 10 x BW
• Asst. #1B – Hanging Leg Raises (superset with hypers)
  • 5 x 8/8/8/5/5 x BW
• Foam Rolling

Well, my back wasn’t unhappy with me, which I’m happy about. 🙂 As I said on Monday, form really gets minded here, and I was slacking a bit on the last set. Gym owner was watching me and told me that on that last set, on my descent, I’d get the bar past my knees then my back would round… probably me saying “just get the weight back to the floor”. But it’s right and true because I’ll go back to pull the next rep and my lower back isn’t flat and I have to reset it. So, yeah… need to watch the descent and that I don’t round it at the end. Thanx, Andy.

I did opt to NOT do more deadlifts for my assistance work, which I think is wise at this time. Did some hyperextensions instead, which gave my lower back and hamstrings some work, but didn’t kill me. Plus some nice stretch too. Supersetted that with the leg raises, which I’m trying to stop pussing out on. 😉

I don’t think it’s so much that my abs are weak (tho they could be). But moreso I’m not keeping them solid and tight throughout the duration of the movement. It certainly could be weakness, but I won’t know until everything is tight and THEN starts to collapse, y’know? I need to try to watch and analyze for this. I have even thought that I might do some light ab work during my other days, e.g. during triceps pressdowns or biceps curls, just drop to the floor and do 10 crunches or something. We’ll see. I must confess I hate ab work, that keeps me away from it and easy to justify skipping it, and that’ll be the death of me. The right thing to do is to do what you hate until you love it…. *sigh* I know this, it’s just hard to do it. 🙂 But nothing worth having in life is easy so….

With slight trepidation, I return to the gym.

“Week 1”

• 5 reps – Press (working max: 145#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x60
  • 1x5x75
  • 1x3x90
  • 1x5x95 (work)
  • 1x5x110
  • 1x8x125
• Work Asst. – Chin-ups (supersetted with work Press)
  • 6 x 2/2/2/2/2/3 x BW
• Asst. #1A – Press
  • 5 x 10/10/8/8/8/ x 85
• Asst. #1B – Wide, pronated grip lat pulldowns (supersetted with Asst #1A)
  • 5 x 10 x 120
• Asst. #2 – Triceps pressdowns (EZ-Bar)
  • 3 x 12 x 55

After my mishap with my lower back last week, I took the rest of the week off. While my back feels better, it’s still not “normal” feeling again. So with reserve I went back to the gym… I need to see what I can do, because sitting around doesn’t do anything useful at this point.

I also am resetting my weights. It’s coincidence that I reset at the same time I have the injury, but it works out and bodes well. I opted to reset just about every weight because well… there’s no harm. Always go a little lighter and it’ll be fine in the long run. Must listen to the wisdom of Wendler, even if my ego doesn’t want to accept it. Because like Henry Rollins said, “200 pounds is always 200 pounds”. Worth listening to.

So I went and did what I did. A little surprised I only got 8 reps with 125, but then I realized 1. I’m supersetting with chins, 2. I was only taking 2 minutes rest in between sets! I need to rest longer during my main lift sets. Silly me. But I figured hey why not, let’s see if I can make my last chins set also a “rep max” thing. Only got 3, but hey, why not. Every bit helps.

I’m then a little surprised how my assistance pressing went, dropping the weight and the reps like I did. But, whatever. It pushed me, and probably because I took enough out of myself during the main sets. I dunno. Whatever.

I will say, my back felt OK. Granted this isn’t deadlift or squat day, but the back is still involved here. I really did watch my form tho… really keeping my torso tight, my butt clenched, breathing well, taking time to move slower if that’s what needs be so there’s no risk of a jerk or movement more sudden than my back would desire. I gotta say, this is a good thing, and maybe, just maybe, this injury is a time to learn. I’ll take that.

Yes, I’m a little nervous about Wednesday’s deadlift session. I just don’t want to risk injuring myself, but there’s no question that if it’s too much I’ll stop. I MIGHT actually only do my deadlift main lift and then do something else for assistance work like bodyweight hyperextensions. Not sure yet… I’ll think it over and see how it goes. I want good pain, not bad pain. 🙂

After doing what I did to my lower back on Monday, I have opted to take the rest of the week off from the gym.

I felt better yesterday morning and I feel even better this morning, but it’s not totally gone. A steady diet of heat, stretching, foam rolling, and Aleve. 🙂  I figure there’s no reason to rush back into the gym. I’ll start fresh on Monday.

Meantime tho, I have opted to reset. I came up with new weight values, and I’ll start on these and start a fresh Wendler cycle on Monday. I debated adjusting my assistance weights, but given the back issues I will adjust those down too. Just adjust and reset everything. And if the weights are too light, put a little “dynamic effort” behind them.

Ouch. In the bad way… ouch. 😦

“Week 1”

• WORK – Squat (working max: 280#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x5x140
  • 1x3x170
  • 1x5x185 (work)
  • 1x5x215
  • 1x5x240
• Asst. #2 – Crunches
  • 5 x 10 x BW
• Foam Rolling

Today was bad.

When I got under the bar with the 240, I came up on rep 5 and my lower back said “fuck you”.

That was the end of the day. Well, I laid down on the floor and did some crunches. And glad I did. That let me know what happened.

See, just prior to getting under the bar for the 240, I twisted my torso. It’s a movement I do now and again to pop my lower back. It works quite nice. But sometimes it doesn’t quite reset things and I have to finagle around more to get things to reset right. That must have happened. I didn’t notice it, nothing felt out of whack. But I reckon something just out of whack because after my first set of crunches I stayed on the floor and did some other twisting and movements and got quite a nice pop as my lower back reset.

*sigh*

It hurts. I don’t think I did anything truly wrong, but time will tell.

The other thing? I can see by my performance this first week that yes in fact I need a reset. It stands to reason. I’m going to do the math and start the reset on Wednesday, but continuing with this cycle. That is, Wednesday will still be 3 reps, but at much lower weights. It’s time to fix stuff, because I want to be in this for the long haul.

But otherwise, the squats went quite well. I reread some Rippetoe last night and had a bunch of things about the squat fresh in my head. My other sets went really well, proper cues in my head, and I was pretty happy with my progress, until my back hated life. Ah well, it’s how it goes.

Boy, this new template is tough.

“Week 1”

• WORK – Bench Press (working max: 230#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x95
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x3x140
  • 1x5x150 (work)
  • 1x5x175/li>
  • 1x5x200
• Work Asst. – 1-Arm Dumbbell Rows (supersetted with work bench press)
  • 5 x 10 x 70
• Asst. #1A – Bench Press
  • 5 x 10 x 140
• Asst. #1B – Face pulls (supersetted with the asst. bench press)
  • 5 x 12 x 65
• Asst. #2 – EZ Bar Curls
  • 3 x 10/9/6 x 60
• Foam Rolling

This is tough. A lot more work than I expected it to be. I’m not sure if the back work during the work set is detracting from the bench work, but, that’s alright…. I’m suspecting based on how things are going that yes in fact I need to reset.

Let’s just leave it at that.

Ooof.

“Week 1”

• WORK – Deadlift (working max: 335#)
  • 1x5x135 (warmup)
  • 1x5x175 (supposed to be 170)
  • 1x3x205
  • 1x5x225 (supposed to be 220) (work)
  • 1x5x255
  • 1x8x290
• Asst. #1 – Deadlift
  • 5 x 10/10/8/8/6 x 205
• Foam Rolling

Frak. That’s hard. 🙂

Some weights I rounded up because my brain just didn’t want to fiddle with the plates. I am quite happy with the 8 reps at 290. This is not likely a movement I’ll need to reset.

But on the assistance. Woof. That took a LOT out of me. 2 minute rest breaks? towards the end I certainly wasn’t feeling fully recovered before I started my next set. We’ll see how pushing this (and similarly on squat days) helps my conditioning… which I know I need more direct work on.

Why dawdle? Let’s get to business!

“Week 1”

• 5 Reps – Press (working max: 160#)
  • 2×10/5×45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x65
  • 1x5x80
  • 1x3x95
  • 1x5x105 (work)
  • 1x5x120
  • 1x6x140
• Work Asst. – Chin-ups (supersetted with work Press)
  • 6 x 1 x BW
• Asst. #1A – Press
  • 5 x 10/10/10/8/8 x 95
• Asst. #1B – Wide, pronated grip lat pulldowns (supersetted with Asst #1A)
  • 5 x 10 x 100/110/120/130/130
• Asst. #2 – Triceps pressdowns (EZ-Bar)
  • 3 x 12 x 50

I know. This is supposed to be cycle 8’s deload week, but I opted to just forge ahead with my new plan. On the one hand, I’m excited and curious to see how it will work out, on another I do need to see how it’s going to work out. With my need to figure out a schedule that works for the new job and my life, I really need to figure it sooner rather than later and a week of time “lost” in this figuring doesn’t really help me. We’ll see if I live to regret this. 😉

Now on that front, this worked out alright. I did spend less time in the gym, about 10 minutes less. So it’s not a huge gain. But every minute counts and 10 minutes saved is 10 minutes earned, to borrow a phrase. Plus I think there may be some ways I could tighten things up further.

For example, note that I only got 6 reps on my last work set, and I had to work to get it. Granted I wasn’t taking HUGE rest periods — up to 5 minutes — and that certainly impacted my ability to hoist more weight for more reps. I of course have been wondering about a reset, and this makes me think yes that’s going to need to happen. But one workout and one datapoint is hardly enough. Wait until the cycle is done before I make that call.

But then on the assistance work, the pressing worked out about the same, which I was happy with. A little harder because again I’m being tighter on the rest breaks, but I am happy to see that 60% is still workable. In fact, if I do reset, I might consequently jack my assistance weights up to 70% to compensate! We’ll see.

Now on chins. I can do more than 1, but I opted to only do 1 because the moment my arms touched the bar I remembered why I didn’t do this in the past — my shoulders didn’t like it. Going from the pressing up to then the pull of gravity down, my shoulder did not like that. So I figured to ease into this. Try one each set and see how it goes. It wasn’t ideal, but I can remember how to take it a little easy, ease into it. It’s all coming back to me now. So when I do Press again, I’ll try 2 and see how it goes. Just work into it all.

Pulldowns… I think 130 is going to be reasonable weight… it’ll be tough and require me to work at it, if I do 130 across.

And the pressdowns felt so different. I’ve been doing with the rope for so long, switching to the bar felt weird, especially since it added in a balance factor. 🙂

Anyways, I did like it. I do have to remember when I walk to make sure my walk is brisk. That will help both on the time factor, and the warmup/cooldown front. Brisk, John, brisk!

I’ll say this tho. If this does not work out sufficiently for me, I wonder if I might try switching to Wendler’s 2x/week template. Of course the gains will be slower, but if it works out, it works out. It’s on my mind to think about, but I need to see my present course through.

Onwards.

I had to run this morning so I couldn’t write much, but I’ve got some time now to write.

As much as I have enjoyed doing the Wendler 5/3/1 “Boring But Big 3 Month Challenge”, I’m going to have to shelve it. The workouts are taking longer, mostly due to the extended rest periods necessary between sets, and even reps!  With the new job I can’t be as leisurely with my schedule, time is more important than before, so I need to adjust in order to get my workout times down. I just can’t make my needed schedule with the workout length I presently have.

That said, I really have appreciated the challenge, and am bummed to not finish the last month. Being forced to make assistance work weights at ever-increasing amounts was a good thing. It really pushed me and gave me a different perspective on things. I’m sure 70% would have been very eye-opening for me. I’d like to try going back on the challenge sometime in the future, just have to wait until the schedule can handle it.

So what’s my plan?

Well, what’s my goal? I have no specific goal, like training for a meet. It’s just about getting stronger, bigger, and maintaining good health. So Boring But Big remains a good template. In fact, I’m going to mostly keep the template used by the challenge, just adjust it.

Here’s the layout:

Day 1

Press, superset with chin-ups (supinated grip)
Assistance press, superset with pronated grip lat pulldowns (grip width to be determined by what pleases my shoulders)
Triceps pushdowns, cambered bar

Day 2

Deadlift
Assistance deadlift
Hanging leg raises

Day 3

Bench Press, superset with dumbbell rows
Assistance bench press, superset with face pulls
EZ-bar curls

Day 4

Squat
Assistance squat
Something for abs… maybe just good old sit-up, over the swiss ball for better range of motion

So you can see, it’s still BBB, but the traditional style of doing the main lift then doing the main lift again with lighter weight. I’m wanting to see what difference this makes vs. the mixed approach the challenge takes. Volume, y’know? Plus the assistance work is essentially the challenge’s work, just shuffled around on the days a bit.

I’m also supersetting all upper body work. I need all that back work, so might as well compress things down with supersets. Wendler always said that every pressing movement should be superset with chins, so this is getting truer to his approach. I’m also trying to superset the exercises that seem most opposite/complementary to the main movement. This, plus trying to keep rest periods during assistance work to 2 minutes at most, is where I hope to gain some time improvements. I’m also hoping this might tax my aerobic system a bit more.

On weights, I’m going to stay at the same working maxes for cycle 9 as I used on cycle 8. I’m changing up enough other things, plus I’m going to add back in doing rep maxes on the final work sets. This should be enough to give me a good work this cycle, plus help me determine if I’m really at my max level and truly need a reset, or can keep going. Weights for assistance work will be somewhere in the 50-60% range. I’ll probably start with 60% and adjust as needed. I’ll be resting less, so 60% may be a bit much, but I’d rather let the first week miss some reps and then I’ll know better how to adjust in the following weeks. And yes, while I usually stick with a weight value during the whole cycle, I will adjust immediately on this to find where I should be, if the weights are too far off. I still want the assistance work to be hard.

I also opted to mix it up just a little more. I’ve been doing DB hammer curls for a while, so let’s try barbell and using the EZ bar to involve a little more forearm. I’ve also used the rope handles for a long time for triceps, so let’s try using the EZ bar for some variety. One exercise exception is ab work. I just can’t do the ab wheel… it makes my head explode in a bad way. So traditional sit-ups may have to suffice. But I’d do them over this swiss ball, since the gym doesn’t have anything like a Roman Chair.