No question, triceps are a weak point

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 16 (mark 2), week 1

• Work Set – Bench Press (working max: 225#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x95
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x3x135
  • 1x5x150 (work)
  • 1x5x170
  • 1x7x195
• Asst. #1 – Bench Press
  • 1 x 7 x 185
  • 1 x 6 x 165
  • 1 x 7 x 135
  • 1 x 5 x 135
  • 1 x 10 x 95
• Asst. #2 – Chinups (band assisted)
  • 5 x 6/6/5/5/5 x BW
• Asst. #3 – Stuff
  • Flat Bench DB Flies
  • JM Press
  • Hammer Cheat Curls
  • 3 sets, 8-15 reps, enough weight to make it hard; on 3rd set immediately drop weight and keep going to failure

There’s no question, my triceps are a weak point, and perhaps my anterior delts as well. It makes me wonder if my assistance benching should be something like immediately dropping to 135 with a close-grip and working to pound out 5×10 across or something. The new position, the new technique is certainly MUCH better on my shoulder, but it emphasizes triceps more and obviously they need more work. But, it’s all good. I’ll get back there.

I did stretch… didn’t foam roll, but at least got some stretching in. Nevertheless, my left calf cramped up like crazy as I left the gym. I think I’m just low on sodium because I’ve been putting salt on everything, so I think my body is down and craving hard. Wife’s cooking is very low-sodium because of heart issues in her family history, so I know in general I don’t get enough. Need more.

Anyways, rolling on….

Squatting teaches you many things about life — no matter how heavy the load you are shouldering, stand back up for you will be better and stronger for it.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 16, week 1

• Work Set – Squat (working max: 285#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x5x145
  • 1x3x175
  • 1x5x190 (work)
  • 1x5x215
  • 1x7x245
• Asst. #1 – Squat
  • 1 x 8 x 185
  • 1 x 6 x 185
  • 1 x 10 x 135
  • 1 x 8 x 135
  • 1 x 8 x 95
• Asst. #2 – Pulldown Abs
  • 3 x 15 x 130
• Foam Rolling & stretching

This is my first true session post-flu. While I am over the flu itself, the residual effects still linger. I slept a lot over the weekend, and did wake up feeling pretty good, but I know I’m behind the curve. I certainly lost some conditioning because I was breathing hard and heavy from all the squatting, and I had only so much fuel in me.

My work sets went alright. The last set I had to grind out. It was tough, but you have to stand back up. Sure 245# isn’t much to a lot of people, but it is heavy to me.

After that tho, I knew I had only so much gas so I went with lighter weights during the assistance squatting. It still was a tough grind, mostly because I was out of breath and sucking wind pretty bad the whole time. I worked hard on technique, going deep, pushing my knees out, and I was really starting to peed out in my lower back and glutes — I felt it back there. After the 3rd set I was feeling ready to puke. No question I lost something in my sickness downtime. So due to all that, I opted to NOT pull the sled today, nor do any pull-throughs, just some ab work, and certainly some rolling and stretching.

I do need to get better about rolling and stretching, especially the back, glutes, hams, adductors. I am tighter than I should be, I know my mobility when cold isn’t where it should be, and it’s affecting my ability to lift heavier weights. I feel this twinge along the back of my glutes/hams… it’s a familiar twinge, which could be due to other reasons (I recall back in my martial arts days that I could NOT do butterfly kicks because even one would cause this same pain), but I know that the lack of flexibility is somehow involved right now. So even if I don’t stretch and roll every day, I do need to stretch and roll at least after every gym session, even if not a “lower body” day. Even if it’s just 1 minute of stretching and 20 rolls, fine; need to do something every time.

Anyways, I’m just happy to be getting back into the normal groove.

Getting back into the groove

• Squat
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 2x5x95
  • 2x5x135
  • 2x5x185
• Deadlift
  • 1x5x135
  • 1x5x185
  • 1x5x225
• Bench Press
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 2x5x95
  • 2x5x135
  • 2x5x165
• Press
  • 3x5x95
• Pull-ups (band-assist)
  • 6x5xBW
  • 1 set done after each set of bench press

Geez… about 2 weeks down from influenza. I lost 5# due to lack of eating (there’s my new diet plan – flu!). And all I wanted to do was get back in the gym. Today was finally that day.

I didn’t want to heavily work out because 1. with the cycle layout, it’s easier to start on a Monday, 2. I’m still not 100%, but close(r). All I wanted to do today was get back in the gym and have my body remember what the heck lifting weights is. I opted to do it quasi-deload style. I just hit the 4 main lifts, light wights, 60-90 seconds of rest between sets, and nothing major. Only “complicated” thing was between each bench press set I did a set of band-assisted pull-ups. I figure this is good enough to help my body ease back into things. We’ll see how I feel come Sunday.

On Monday, I’ll start cycle 16 over again. I see no reason to do otherwise, at least at this point.

With 2012 closing and 2013 starting, let’s see where my training has gone and where I want it to go.

It looks like this time last year I started my 5th cycle of 5/3/1. Until the flu derailed me, I was into my 16th cycle.

Working maxes for cycle 5:

Press – 145
Deadlift – 305
Bench – 215
Squat – 250

Working maxes as of cycle 15

Press – 165 (then I reset to 140)
Deadlift – 345
Bench – 240 (then I reset to 220)
Squat – 280

At the end of cycle 5, my 5/3/1 “maxes” were:

Press – 4×140
Deadlift – 8×295
Bench – 6×205
Squat – 5×240

At the end of cycle 15:

Press – 7×135
Deadlift – 7×330
Bench – 6×210
Squat – 3×270

Well, that just sucks.

So what happened?

First, I spent too much time not focusing on building strength. Instead, I spent a lot of time trying to dink with diet and lose some flab. As a result, I lost a lot of strength, and didn’t lose much weight. I had to reset a couple of times. I also changed to 2x week due to my day job change, and that proved to be less than optimal.

So basically, I made a lot of mistakes that took me off track of my goals, and  you can see it in my numbers, especially upper-body. Squats and deads gained, but not that much.

But what I did also gain from my weights dropping was improved technique. I know I still have a long ways to go to “master form”, but my form today is better than it was a year ago, so progress on that front is acceptable. If it means better gains over the long run, great.

Really… looking back over this is kinda depressing. *sigh*

So what am I going to do about the next year?

Well, I would still love to shed my flab, but I think the way to do that is not what I had tried this past year. I think what will help is just to tighten up my diet — it’s all about my carb intake. I also don’t think I need massive amounts of protein, sticking close to 1 gram per pound of lean bodyweight will be a good place to reset myself. Drag that sled at the end of every workout. I think I’ll get there. Yes still “eat big”, just also “eat smarter”.

But the bigger goal is to build strength. I want to get to that 1000# total. And that’s actual lifted weight, not “on paper”. Thing is, I don’t to 1RM. If I only go by what I actually lift in that last work set of my 5/3/1 week well, that will be far below what a 1RM would be and thus keep me further from that 1000# total. But that’s alright. Thing is, I don’t expect to actually total 1000# in 2013 because the math just doesn’t add up to permit it — but I’ll get closer. What I would like to see is staying on 5/3/1, going up in my weights at the normal rate (5# per cycle for upper body lifts, 10# per cycle for lower body), expecting to reset at least once and maybe twice. When you do that math well…. no I won’t get to 1000# (tho maybe doing 1RM calculations on paper I will; meh), but I will get closer. That’s fine. And doing that math, well, my cycle 16 working maxes (and actual weight lifted in the last 5/3/1 work set) are:

Press – 145 (140)
Deadlift – 355 (340)
Bench – 225 (215)
Squat – 285 (275)

If I continue 3x week, that’s 5 weeks per cycle, so about 10 cycles. In theory, 50# gains on upper and 100# on lower, but figure in a reset and that it won’t be all smooth. To Press 185# probably won’t happen in 2013, but that will be a great milestone when it happens. In theory, I should break 405# deadlift in 2013 – that would be awesome. Also I should certainly be able to break 315# squats, which would be even more awesome in my book. And if I could bench 250#, I’d be thrilled. All of THAT is do-able, and gets me closer to 1000.

So that’s my main goal: building strength and being strongly on the road to 1000. If I can have some great milestones like 3 wheels in squat and 4 wheels in deadlift, getting my bench solidly above 2 wheels (with this new technique). Keeping my shoulders and other joints happy. And yes, maybe shedding some flab because of more sled pulls and better diet…. well, I’ll be alright.

As for the immediate future….

The flu knocked me off track since Christmas, but I’m getting better each day. If all continues on this healing path, I’ll head back into the gym on Wednesday for the first 2013 workout, and that will probably be a “light” deload-like day of squat and bench, with Friday then being a “light deload-like” day of deadlift and press. Just get me back in the groove slowly as I continue to heal up. Then the following Monday, start cycle 16 all over again and go go go.

I didn’t realize I was ill….

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 16, week 2

• Work Set – Squat (working max: 285#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x5x145
  • 1x3x175
  • 1x3x200 (work)
  • 1x3x230
  • 1x5x260
• Sled drags
  • 6 trips, 75 yards each
  • 75# on the sled
  • 30 seconds rest every other trip
  • harness around waist, walking forward

I had started to feel sick the evening prior, but I didn’t think it was anything serious to worry about. Just a cough, right?

How wrong I was.

I got to the gym and was able to do my work squats just fine. Heck, the 3rd rep @ 260 was tough, but I pushed out 2 more because damnit I wasn’t going to let myself get crushed at 3×260.

But after that, I just wasn’t feeling it. Seriously not feeling it. Despite the below-freezing temperature and whipping arctic wind, I went outside to pull the sled. That didn’t last long…. the cold was too much.

I went home, and promptly passed out, and stayed in bed the rest of the day. I don’t know what I caught, but it was apparently FAR worse than I fathomed.

The worst part? Because of all the glute and ham work and that I didn’t cool down (no foam rolling, no stretching), I was in achy pain from the back of my knees up to my middle back all day while lying in bed. 🙂

I’m feeling better now and planning on going back to the gym tomorrow for bench press day, but I will take it as it comes and see how I feel.

All I want for Christmas is to increase my Press. 🙂

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 16, week 1

• Work Set – Press (working max: 145#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x60
  • 1x5x75
  • 1x3x90
  • 1x5x95 (work)
  • 1x5x110
  • 1x8x125
• Asst. #1 – Press
  • 1 x 6 x 125
  • 1 x 6 x 110
  • 1 x 8 x 95
  • 1 x 10 x 75
  • 1 x 10 x 65
• Asst. #2 – Pull-ups (band assisted)
  • 5 x 5 x BW
• Asst. #3 – Stuff
  • Upright rows
  • Flared-arm DB Extensions
  • Cheat Curls
  • 3 sets, 8-15 reps, enough weight to make it hard; on 3rd set immediately drop weight and keep going to failure
• Sled drag
  • 8 trips, 75 yards each trip
  • 75# on the sled
  • 30 seconds rest, after every second trip
  • sled straps around the waist, walking forward

I do hate that my Press is feeling so weak. I drop down the weight, the compare it against past performance I feel like I’ve stepped back too much. *sigh* But I know I’m working to improve technique. Case in point, today I was fiddling with wrist position, which caused me to take a different bar path. My arms and such moved through the same range, but with “straighter wrists” that put the bar further from me and so leverages were different. I probably don’t need THAT straight a wrist during the Press, but I’m playing with wrist positions to correct that aspect, so it was useful to experiment. As well, I notice my lock-outs are maybe 98%. I’m at full extension, but I’m not locked out and squeezing everything at the top of the movement. So, add that in, make it certain, and work things harder. On paper it looks worse, but in reality it’s pushing me to my limits so….

I am happy to have cranked out 5 reps across with the band-assisted pull-ups. I’ll now go 6 across and just keep working my way up.

On the last stuff, I thought to try flared-arm DB extensions instead of the pushdowns. Pushdowns were causing me some elbow discomfort so let’s try this instead. Well…. it felt worse. *sigh* But in a way, it also felt like if I did these they may actually be better for me. I dropped the weight down, more reps, and it was a lot better, so well… I’ll keep trying them and see how it goes. One session is not enough.

And yes, I dragged the sled. I do think it’ll be good for me to drag it moderately after every workout. I went up to 75# today (from 50# last session). Finally I felt like I was dragging something! I felt some resistence. 8 trips was enough, especially with only 30 seconds of rest every other trip. It didn’t tax me much, but my heart rate was in the “target zone” and it was some effort. I reckon doing this exact same routine after deadlifting or squatting would be a LOT more taxing, so I’ll stay here and see how it goes on Wednesday (squat #2). I’ll just keep working my way up until I have enough “reps” and weight that I’m getting a good work. I don’t want to overdo the conditioning work, but I do need to do some. The sled makes me happy.

Break with your knees first.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 16, week 1

• Work Set – Deadlift (working max: 355#)
  • 1x5x145 (warmup)
  • 1x5x180
  • 1x3x215
  • 1x5x215 (work)
  • 1x5x270
  • 1x8x305
• Asst. #1 – Good Mornings
  • 3 x 12 x 105
• Asst. #2 – Pulldown Abs (kneeling)
  • 5 x 15 x 130
• Asst. #3 – Sled drags
  • 8 trips (75 yards each), 50# on the sled

I’ve been re-reading “Starting Strength” by Mark Rippetoe. Yeah, all the powerlifting reading I’ve been doing is useful and good, but I’m not out to powerlift, I’m out to get strong. So returning to Rip’s fundamentals is good. I’ll still take lots of information from the powerlifting guys tho because they know what they’re talking about. Anyways, in talking about the deadlift, Rip mentions to “break with your knees first”. I put conscious effort into ensuring that. Yes, the bar path is much better, everything is better… but it does tax me more, because no question my back is stronger than my glutes and hams — which is why I’m focusing on them in my assistance work. So I didn’t get as many reps as I wanted to with 305, but they were all very good and taxing reps. I could have gotten 9, maybe 10… but leave some in the tank.

Interestingly, I didn’t do 5 sets of Good Mornings because I could feel my lower back was pooped… more of those could have been bad.

And then, back to the sled! Again, just buckled the strap around my waist and walked. This time tho I only took maybe 20-30 seconds break, and then only between every other trip… so up and back, then rest. Went up and back 4 times (8, 75 yard runs total). Just walk, and think about not just walking, but actually pulling back with the glues and hams with each step. It doesn’t tax me heavily yet, but I’m working my way up to it. I haven’t yet but need to go back to some books I have with suggestions for good sled routines and work myself up to it all. Huzzah.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 16, week 1

• Work Set – Bench Press (working max: 225#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x95
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x3x135
  • 1x5x150 (work)
  • 1x5x170
  • 1x7x195
• Asst. #1 – Bench Press
  • 1 x 6 x 185
  • 1 x 8 x 165
  • 1 x 7 x 145
  • 1 x 5 x 135
  • 1 x 10 x 95
• Asst. #2 – Pullups (band assisted)
  • 5 x 5/5/5/4/4 x BW
• Asst. #3 – Stuff
  • Flat Bench DB Flies
  • JM Press
  • Hammer Cheat Curls
  • 3 sets, 8-15 reps, enough weight to make it hard; on 3rd set immediately drop weight and keep going to failure

I feel so weak. But I know it’s because of a technique change. I am wearing the wrist wraps so I can get a better feel for the straight wrists — made a difference when I went to the assistance benching because I did that without the wraps and I was much more aware of my wrist position. This is just what I wanted — use ’em to help me learn. But I did notice because of that preoccupation I then lost a lot of body tightness and leg drive. Well, one can only focus on so much. It’ll all come back. Oh, the other thing I really focused on was elbow tuck on the way down. I have to tuck a lot more than I think to get the right amount of tuck.

But hey… if I get improved technique, less shoulder issues, great.

Speaking of the shoulder, I did opt to try pull-ups instead of chinups. I think the supination is just too much “twist” down my arms to my shoulders. But the pull-ups with a moderate grip width was actually quite comfortable. And yes, using bands helps… and I’ll just slowly work my way up with it all. Work to get 5 across, then 6 across, and so on.

Little welcome surprises!

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 16, week 1

• Work Set – Squat (working max: 285#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x5x145
  • 1x3x175
  • 1x5x190 (work)
  • 1x5x215
  • 1x7x245 (rep PR of sorts)
• Asst. #1 – Squat
  • 1 x 225 x 5
  • 1 x 185 x 10
  • 1 x 185 x 5
  • 1 x 135 x 10
  • 1 x 135 x 6
• Asst. #2 – Sled Drags!
  • 2 trips @ 75 yards and 25#
  • 4 trips @ 75 yards and 50#
  • about 30 seconds rest between trips

I am trying to NOT set any expectations before I lift. So that’s things like knowing my top-end work weight is X and NOT looking back through logs to see how many reps I need to hit or what I need to do in order to do better than I did before. Just know here’s the weight, go in, do what you can, strive to kick ass, and it’ll be what it’ll be. It’s really a better way to be, here in the moment instead of other places.

So that said, hitting 7 reps with 245 is a rep PR of sorts. Never did 7 reps with that weight, and some rough calculations to compare 1RM’s shows that as an improvement. Heck, last cycle’s week 1 was 240 for 6 reps, so 1 more rep and 5# more? That works.

But the cool part of the workout? Someone brought in a sled and left it there for others to use. Awesome! So I skiped the pulldown abs and pullthroughs, figuring the sled would be enough. The back parking lot is about 75 yards long, so I started with 25# on the sled, pulled it down, rest 30 seconds, pull it back, rest 30 seconds. 25# was too light, so another guy was nice enough to bring out another quarter for me and 50# was enough to start with. Did another 4 trips down and back, and that felt good. Oh, I should say I just strapped the sled harness around my waist, walk working to pull with my hams and glutes. I certainly felt it and it was a nice way to finish things off. Heart rate was working well too after the assistance squats and this. I need to look up some specifics on how I want to work sled drags in here (e.g. do it every workout? just on certain days?) but yes… with this sled available at the gym and thus not disturbing to anyone (unlike going up and down my neighborhood street) I’m so there and will pull for for a while. Awesome!