Oh crap, this is killing me… and it’s only the first week (of the 2nd month of the BBB challenge).

“Week ” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

• WORK – Squat (working max: 280#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x5x140
  • 1x3x170
  • 1x5x185 (work)
  • 1x5x215
  • 1x5x240
• Asst. #1 – Deadlift
  • 5 x 10/10/10/6/6 x 205
• Foam Rolling

Holy crap…. 🙂

Squatting was ok… and I’ll talk about this more in a moment.

Deadlifting was killer. It involves so much of your body, so many muscles, so many large groups, it gets your blood pumping and I’m sucking wind. The weight wasn’t heavy, I was pooped! I suck. 🙂

I couldn’t do the hanging leg raises… I was empty. But I was sure to foam roll the heck out of my lower body. Will try to remember to do more of that tonight.

As for squatting….

I’m noticing my form is improving, but because the weights are heavier, it’s then hurting me. Like on my last set today I was all over the place, heavy forward lean. I am giving thought to resetting my squat weight, so I can get my form back in order. That “pull the head/chin back/in” cue is really a great cue. Plus I’m videoing myself to ensure I go deep in the hole, and putting all of these things together, the heaviest weights I’m doing are just getting sloppy. But, that might be ok… your heaviest weight is going to be less than ideal form, but it still feels like it should be better. So I don’t know for sure. Thinking aloud right now.

Whoops… realized I forgot to write this up!

“Week 1” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

• 5 reps – Bench Press (working max: 230#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x95
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x3x140
  • 1x5x150 (work)
  • 1x5x175
  • 1x5x200
• Asst. #1A – Press
  • 5 x 10/10/10/7/9 x 95
• Asst. #1B – 1-Arm Dumbbell Rows (supersetted with the Press)
  • 5 x 10 x 70
• Asst. #2 – Rope Triceps Pushdowns
  • 3 x 12 x 45
• Foam Rolling

Yeah man… 60% is killer. It doesn’t kill me, but it sure works you hard. And so yes, I think it’s the place you want to be, once you’ve been doing BBB for a while and have gotten used to the work. Wendler recommends starting at 40% and working your way up, so yeah, work your way up here at least. It works you hard.

Benching went fine, and I still kinda get bummed out that I can’t rep out. But it makes so much sense when you have to do things at the level of 60%.

On the pressing, you can see set 4 only got 7 reps but set 5 got 9. This is because I didn’t quite have my breathing right and when I went for 8 it just wouldn’t go. But I got my breathing back in order on the last set and you can see how it cranked.

Lifting heavy is good.

I knew this was going to be tough….

“Week 1” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

• 5 reps – Deadlift (working max: 335#)
  • 1x5x135 (warmup)
  • 1x5x170
  • 1x3x205
  • 1x5x225 (work)
  • 1x5x255
  • 1x5x290
• Asst. #1 – Squat
  • 5 x 10/10/10/8/8 x 170
• Foam Rolling

Ooof…. that’s hard. 🙂

The deadlifting went fine. I actually was to do 220 but did 225 instead because I was being lazy with plates. The notable thing was I did the last set with double-overhand grip. I usually go mixed on the last set, but I wanted to see how well I could handle it with this weight. It was hard to hold on, but I did.

Then squats. Oh my… you can see I only got to 8 and the last 2 sets. I could have ground out 2 more reps on each of those sets, but why? This isn’t about going to failure, especially on assistance work. I sure pushed it, but wasn’t going to kill myself. Tough tough tough.

One thing I did try was a different cue. I forget where I read this, but it was saying that instead of a “chest up” cue to use a “head back” cue. That is, you pull your head back… or more like drawing/sucking your chin in. If you do that, it really tightens everything up in your shoulders AND brings your chest up. I find this a far better cue than “chest up”.

I dropped the ab wheel. As I mentioned before, it gives me massive intra-cranial pressure. I had enough after squatting, why make it worse? I’m not sure what else I’ll do for ab work here, if anything. Maybe I will do nothing because, at least at my level, do I need specific ab work or should I be getting all I need out of good squats and deadlifts? What would Rippetoe say…?

And so begins month 2 of the “BBB 3 Month Challenge”. Also my 8th cycle on Wendler 5/3/1.

“Week 1” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

• 5 reps – Press (working max: 160#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x65
  • 1x5x80
  • 1x3x95
  • 1x5x105 (work)
  • 1x5x120
  • 1x5x140
• Asst. #1A – Bench Press
  • 5 x 10 x 140
• Asst. #1B – Chinups (supersetted with Bench Press)
  • 5 x 4/4/3/2.5/2.5 x BW
• Asst. #2 – Face Pulls
  • 3 x 12 x 65
• Asst. #3 – DB Hammer Curls
  • 3 x 10/9/8 x 35
• Foam Rolling

Yeah… month 2 is where the challenge really starts. 🙂 Assistance weights go up to 60% now. Bench press isn’t a big deal for me, but others… we’ll see how it goes.

All in all, the pressing went fine. I wasn’t in a good groove this morning (slept weird last night) and my form wasn’t as good as it should have been in either pressing movement. But you get through and do what you have to do.

Chin-ups move to 4 reps across, but as you can see I didn’t get there. In fact, I’m upset that I dropped to “2.5” reps on the last 2 sets. The only people recording half-reps are those that can’t do enough (which is me), but I want to remember them because I am getting up there, can’t get all the way… hold it… hold it… hold it… then slow lower. So it’s still some sort of work, and I’m hoping it will be something that helps get me over the hump towards more full reps.

All that extra work from the chins, the face pulls… it didn’t leave me with much in the tank for the curls, but meh.. it’s curls. I thought about dropping down to 30’s and trying to get 10-12 reps instead, but no… just stay with this. This is a challenge, so keep moving along.

Next workout is going to be… interesting. Squats assistance… should kick my ass. 🙂

“Week 4” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

• Deload – Squat (working max: 270#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x5x135
  • 1x5x165
• Asst. #1 – Deadlift
  • 3 x 10 x 165
• Asst. #2 – Hanging Hip-Leg Raise
  • 3 x 8 x BW
• Foam Rolling

Meh. Whatever. deload. 🙂

And so, month 1 of the “BBB 3 Month Challenge” comes to a close. I’m happy to have gone back to BBB because it’s just a solid template. If you don’t have any specific areas to address, it’s the template to do.

I can say that 50% weight is too light for me. Sure, Jim says in the book to start at 40% — start light, underestimate, it’s better that way for the long term. And over time I did adjust weights some, maybe 50% on some, 60% on others, but when you have everything uniform and see it all in front of you, you can’t help but take note. It’s just not sufficient. Good to start, not good to stay there. I reckon 60% will become the new standard, maybe even more depending on things. I just can’t see lifting less than 60% on the assistance lifts… the new “floor” for things.

And so, next month should be climbing a bit higher on the challenge. But… that’s why it’s a challenge. It’s not supposed to be easy, and nothing in life worth having is easy.

“Week 4” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

• Deload – Bench Press (working max: 225#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x95
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x5x135
• Asst. #1A – Press
  • 3 x 10 x 80
• Asst. #1B – 1-Arm Dumbbell Rows (supersetted with the Press)
  • 3 x 10 x 65
• Asst. #2 – Rope Triceps Pushdowns
  • 2 x 12 x 40

Nothing much to say. It’s deload week. I came, I lifted, I left. Very short workout too.

Deload week.

“Week 4” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

• Deload – Deadlift (working max: 325#)
  • 2x5x135
  • 2x5x165

• Deload – Press (working max: 155#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x65
  • 1x5x80
  • 1x5x95
• Asst. #1A – Bench Press
  • 3 x 10 x 115
• Asst. #1B – Chinups (supersetted with Bench Press)
  • 3 x 3 x BW
• Asst. #2 – Face Pulls
  • 3 x 12 x 60
• Asst. #3 – DB Hammer Curls
  • 2 x 10 x 30
• Foam Rolling

Deload week. Nothing much to write about. It is the first time doing deload on the “BBB 3 Month Challenge”, so I was trying to figure what to do and what not to do. In the end, I figured to make it a “press day”, add in deadlift, and drop the sets and/or weights down… tho oddly I did the opposite on face pulls, and I’m not sure why.

Anyways, just trying to keep things moving, but light.

My lower back really appreciated the foam rolling.

I can’t believe it’s been a year since I first set foot in a gym.

OK, it hasn’t strictly been a year, but it’s just a few days shy and close enough for a retrospective.

First “Program”

So about a year ago I opted to give lifting another try. I checked out a local gym, found it to my liking, and signed up. I started doing full-body “bodybuilder” type workouts. This is because the lifting knowledge I had up to this point was mainly what I gained in high school, worshiping Joe Weider. So I’m out to work “muscles”, how good do I look in the mirror, etc.. So I’d squat, then barbell rows, then bench press, then a dumbbell press, then calf raises, and end with some curls. You know… work to hit each muscle group with a basic exercise, 3 sets, 8-12 reps, etc..  I started light and easy because I was going from sedentary to work, and I knew I had to ease into it.

I did that for about a month and a half a couple of times a week. Then I came down with something that laid me up for 2-3 weeks. I hated it. But during that time I read all that I could. I learned about the Wendler 5/3/1 program via a caption on a video on the beastskills.com website. Reading on that eventually lead me to Mark Rippetoe and Starting Strength. I learned about some other programs too, but the more I read about 5/3/1 and SS, the more I realized those were the way to go.

Rippetoe and Wendler Come Along

Why those programs? What do I want? To be strong. To have some muscle mass. To lose fat. To look good. To have practical and useful strength, because strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and generally more useful (Rippetoe). But I realized that I don’t just want to have big puffy muscles that are useless. I want foremost to have strength and usefulness. If I have useful muscles, they’ll be big enough and look good enough. And so, programs like SS and 5/3/1 are the way to get there. Heck, SS is the way to start no matter what you want to do (get big, get strong, etc.), because it focuses on all the basics, so no matter what your goal, if it involves lifting weights, SS is the place to start.

And so I did, tho I actually did a variant, the Practical Programming Novice Program, because I couldn’t do cleans in my gym (I could now, but that’ll have to come later after I finish my current run). But it only worked for about 2 months for me because it’s just brutal. I don’t have the ability to dedicate to the recovery necessary because I’m not 18 and because I have other things in life to do than just train. Still, it helped me build a good foundation and I’m thankful for that. I still refer back to Rip’s books and videos.

Then I opted to switch to Wendler 5/3/1. Sure there’s stuff like Bill Starr’s stuff, StrongLifts 5×5, Texas Method, and countless other programs. But what appealed to me about Wendler was that it was a logical progression, it focused on making long-term gains, it was simple and straightforward, no bullshit, and there was focus on slow and steady while allowing for recovery. Sounds like what the old man needs. 😉

As I publish this, I’m finishing my 7th cycle on 5/3/1. I hit the gym 3 days a week, mostly having done the “boring but big” template, but then I changed things around trying to see how it would go, but in the end I’m back on BBB because it’s solid and simple, and until you really know what you’re weak at or if you have a particular goal, there’s little reason to do any other template, IMHO.

Progress/Results (the numbers stuff)

Well, it’s hard to compare strength changes because of how things started. So, I’ll just give some markers.

My initial “full body, bodybuilding-esque program”, I was squatting 95# for 3×12, tho my records show on the last set I only got 10. And I’m sure my form sucked and I wasn’t getting deep enough. I benched 65# for 3×12. I did a seated dumbbell press of 40# (I’m sure that is 2 20# dumbbells) for 2×12 and 1×8. That was literally from the first day I went into the gym a year ago. Oh, and I didn’t deadlift.

Practical Programming Novice program started with the first workout working up my squat to 105# for 3×5. My bench press worked up to 115# for 3×5. I couldn’t do a single chinup. My press came in at 65# 3×5. And my deadlift started at 1x5x135. When I stopped the PPNP program just shy of 2 months later, I was squatting 220# for 3×5, press 107.5# for 3×5, bench press 170# for 3×5, and deadlifted 240 for 5 reps. So you can see, SS/PPNP, due to the fast and constant linear progression every workout, really leads to fast gains. It’s a great thing for a novice to do.

But my form was sucking… in fact, that squat number wasn’t my last nor my highest during the cycle. 230# was the highest squat I achieved, but my form was terrible. I did reset the squat during the cycle, but things just weren’t working. I think in part because I didn’t get enough time under the bar to squat (odd I know, given how much you’re supposed to squat) and the weights went up quickly, and my form went to crap. It was just beating me up too much.

Wendler switch. I based the “working max” numbers upon what I had been doing on SS/PPNP and adjusted for the continued progression and any other little tweaks I felt I needed. So I started with working maxes of: press 110#, deadlift 265#, bench 180#, and squat 220#. The PR’s I set in my first cycle were: press 105# for 8, deadlift 255# for 5, bench 175# for 10, and squat 210# for 5.

Now 7 cycles later, my working maxes are: press 155#, deadlift 325#, bench press 225#, and squat 270#. In terms of what I’ve actually lifted, it was all this past cycle during the 5/3/1 week and I set new PR’s in every movement: press 150# for 3, deadlift 315# for 3, bench press 215# for 3, and squat 260# for 3. Limited to 3 reps because I’m on the “BBB 3 month challenge”, which really would have me only doing a single, but I want to do at least a triple. 🙂

How much progress did I make? From the perspective of working max values (since it gets hard to compare reps), I went up 45# on my press and bench press, and 60# on my deadlift, and 50# on squat. Not bad for 7 cycles on the 5/3/1 program. Now if we compare just the plain weight PR’s today vs. my first day a year ago? My squat went from 95# to 260#. My bench press from 65# to 215#. Deadlift from 135# to 315#. Hard to compare “overhead pressing” since I started doing 2 20# dumbbells seated to 150# barbell standing, but it’s evident there was massive progress. Plus, whereas before I couldn’t do a chin-up to save my life, now I’m doing 5 sets of 3 reps of bodyweight chins; I still feel like a wuss, but it’s a step along the road to non-wuss-dom.

It’s cool to look back and see the weights that were once PR’s are now initial warm-up weights. 🙂

Other

Yes I feel a little beat up. I feel a little worn. But overall I feel great and I’m looking better. The fat loss is hard because to get big you have to eat big, and I’m still working on sticking to the diet and ONLY the diet. 🙂  But I can tell there’s muscle growth, and I have lost overall weight, I can see some flab has been shed, and I know muscle is growing. So, all is good. The dietary stuff is the hardest part, the most difficult transformation to make.

I don’t take much for supplements. In the morning I’ll take: 2 NOW Adam softgel multivitamin, 3g of fish oil, 2g vitamin C. With my lunch I’ll have 3g of fish oil, 2g vitamin C, and 3 Citrical tablets. Before bed I’ll take ZMA; still experimenting with this, not sure if it makes any huge difference but I do feel like I get more rested and I really enjoy the weird dreams it gives me. I will consume some whey during the day because it’s quick and easy, but if I have time I’ll try to eat down a 10-12oz can of chicken instead. I’d prefer to use whole foods over whey, but sometimes the convenience factor matters. I am weighing my food to ensure I get what I should: not more, not less. I strive for 200-250g of protein a day; strive for 250 but if I get 225 I am not killing myself over it. I don’t monitor fat much, but I try to keep it lean-ish and don’t drink down a tall glass of lard every day. I eat fruit and veggies as much as I can handle. I do my best to cut out grains, but I realized this isn’t totally working for me, that I do need some carb source. This is what I’m playing around with most right now. It’s a matter of finding the right amount I need to take in. I’m getting there.

During the past year I tried a bunch of other “fancy” supplements. Mostly because I could. As a kid I always wanted to try the fancy shit, and now that I can I realize it’s just that: shit. Waste of money. Was good to try, got the curiosity out of my system. Moving on. Frankly the most “magical” supplement has been upping my fish oil intake. I read about how it helps reduce joint inflammation and once I started upping my dose from the massive underdosing on the label? I certainly felt the difference. I then dropped down/off, then back on, played with it to try to confirm it was in fact working, and as far as I can tell it sure is.

Looking Back. Looking Ahead.

I’m very happy with things, and so long as I can keep doing interesting things like the Wendler program, moving iron isn’t so boring any more. I guess it was all “mindless” to me before because there was no challenge; it was just moving iron through the air. But now I think about form, I think about technique, I have to involve my brain a lot because of the mental game. Plus, seeing the constant progression, the proof, the setting of PR’s… that’s so rewarding and keeps motivation high.

I realize I started out with a nebulous “goal”, to exercise, to keep my body from going to pot. That was a nice thought, but there was no real goal… I had no real way to set milestones and measure progress other than feeling good. But when I got to the Rippetoe and Wendler stuff, I was able to have a more focused goal (get strong(er)) and then ways to track and measure that progress, to have milestones, and to stay motivated with it. I think that’s in part why it’s been working well for me.

It’s also a mindset change. I’m no longer working “chest and abs” today. It’s not about working some muscle. It’s about working a movement and working to improve that movement. Focus on the big 4: press, bench press, deadlift, squat. Anything else done is to help make those better. And that there isn’t much else done! It’s not a zillion exercises per workout, it’s just a lot of sets of a few exercises, the stuff that works. It’s about keeping focus, that the work sets matter, and the bicep curls really don’t. It’s about breaking through mental barriers, like my life-long hangup with squatting. I still don’t love squatting, but I’m hating it a little less now. Like Henry Rollins said, “200 pounds is always 200 pounds“.

Of course, there’s a physical payoff in here too. No denying that. I can see some flab has been shed, tho I still have more to go before I’m satisfied. I don’t care to be a ripped bodybuilder or a douchebag showing off my abs, but consider this picture of Jim Wendler; that’d be good, with less tattoos and more hair. 🙂  I do see muscle mass growth, perhaps not as much as I want, but this program is more about strength than size, but size is coming and that’s alright. I always liked John Stone Fitness, not just because of how the guy transformed his body, but because he keeps a good record of his progress and you can see how much growth you can have in a year, in 2 years, and how it takes a number of years before you can have that body like you see in all the sexy commercials. That’s all fine. I’m happy with the progress. I’m happy that my health is good, that I feel better than I have in a long time, and that I’m getting stronger.

What’s ahead? I’ll be staying the course on the Wendler program for the foreseeable future; I see no reason to change to something else, tho I’m sure I’ll change up the specifics slightly (e.g. I’ll finish the “BBB 3 month challenge” then go back to regular BBB). It’s possible by the end of this calendar year I could hit the 1000# club, but I am expecting to have to reset sooner or later and that may throw things off. If I’m over that milestone by this time next year? That’s fine. Or even if I’m not, that’s OK too because, as far as I can see it now, it’s only a question of when I pass the milestone, not if. If I can progress as I am, certainly within a year I’ll get there; only reason I won’t is because something big gets in the way (e.g. injury). And is it that big a deal to hit 1000#? I’d be lying if I said “no it isn’t”, but I’d be stupid to think that’s anything more than another marker along a longer road.

I’ve even had thoughts about competition. Certainly I don’t expect to win anything, but it’s not about winning. It’s about doing. About having the experience. About seeing how far I can push myself, and how disciplined I can make myself to prepare for it. How far can I go? What can I do? And what’s it all like. I am not certain of this, no hard and serious thoughts… but it runs through my head. I don’t think I should bother tho until I can put up some more reasonable numbers and get my form more locked in. I kinda feel like I should be in the 1000# club first. And of course, I’ll need to prep properly for it, probably switching to the “5/3/1 for powerlifting” version. And what sort of competition would I do? A formal federation-sponsored event? A local event (e.g. the Hyde Park Gym’s annual push/pull)? A full event? push-pull? single event?  I don’t know… no promises nor guarantees, but it has crossed my mind a number of times.

It’s been a good year, and I look forward to the year ahead.

I ain’t doing jack shit, except setting a PR.

“Week ” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

• 5/3/1 – Squat (working max: 270#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x110
  • 1x5x135
  • 1x3x165
  • 1x5x205 (work)
  • 1x3x230
  • 1x3x260 (PR)

I’ve been losing a lot of sleep the past few weeks. A bunch of things going on in my personal life, it weighs heavily on my mind, and if I wake up in the middle of the night to go pee, that’s it… I can’t get back to sleep because my mind instantly starts racing. *sigh* Only got 5 hours last night, and it’s all building up on me.

Consequently, I didn’t feel it would be wise to abuse my body. My right knee continues to feel bad, and I was worried I’d make it through today. So why bother putting more stress on my body that I just won’t be able to recover from due to the lack of sleep? Just do the work, set the PR, go home happy.

And that I did. Again I did work the magic 230 number, and that felt like nothing and my form felt damn good. I’m really working to move some more details of the squat out of Rippetoe mode and into more powerlifter mode, such as my eye positioning, and working to not get tight shoulders/traps by lifting the elbows back and up but instead just keeping tight and when coming out of the hole to drive the elbows under the bar and press up with the arms too. Everything pushes up. My form faltered some on the PR set, some leaning forward, but it was a mental thing… a “I’m going to move this damn weight 3 times, period” So that I had great form on 230 and then got sloppy on 260 well… not ideal, but I’ll take it. I’m just thrilled to keep moving along with my squat… overcoming my dislike of it.

That’s how to get better: do the things you hate, until you don’t hate them any more. I don’t love squatting yet, but I don’t hate and dread it like I used to. In fact, because of my wariness with the larger squat weights, I’ve always asked for a spot on the last set, even tho there’s the catch rails. Today, I thought about NOT asking for a spot, and I probably would have been fine because I felt NO struggle to get the weight up. I’m getting over the hump.

Anyways, deload next week. I have been tossing around a “jack shit” deload, but I’m going to go in, do a few things to keep moving, but nothing major. Like I might just do the assistance work for 3 sets, I might drop it all down 5-10# so it’s not as stressful. Just move, don’t kill myself. I need the recovery.

PR week is always good.

“Week 3” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

• 5/3/1 – Bench Press (working max: 225#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x95
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x3x135
  • 1x5x170 (work)
  • 1x3x193
  • 1x3x215 (PR)
• Asst. #1A – Press
  • 5 x 10 x 80
• Asst. #1B – 1-Arm Dumbbell Rows (supersetted with the Press)
  • 5 x 10 x 65
• Asst. #2 – Rope Triceps Pushdowns
  • 3 x 12 x 40
• Foam Rolling

This was a good PR. I felt strong. I felt like I could have done more than just the 3 reps. But I’m only fudging on the program a little bit. But it did feel good, and I feel really solid towards the 225 target.

On pressing, I’m working more on form, keeping my (lower) body tight and having more follow-through with my head… that’ll slack off as the reps get harder towards the end. But it’s rolling well.

And I opted to go for 12 reps on the pushdowns, just to add a little more something to the mix, given the exercise.

In the end, good day pressing things.

I’ll express a bit of concern here tho. My legs are feeling odd. Knees aren’t happy, some other things. I’m not sure what to make of it. I’ll still hit it hard on Friday, but I’m thinking next week I’ll do a “jack shit” deload. Foam roll, stretch, ice things down, maybe some light movements like pushups and hindu squats or something. But take the heavy stress off the body. I’ll make the call later.