3 wheels.

To quote Stone Cold Steve Austin… “OH HELL YEAH!”. 🙂

“Week 3” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

• 5/3/1 – Deadlift (working max: 325#)
  • 1x5x135 (warmup)
  • 1x5x165
  • 1x3x195
  • 1x5x245 (work)
  • 1x3x280
  • 1x3x315 (PR)
• Asst. #1 – Squat
  • 5 x 10 x 135
• Asst. #2 – Ab Wheel
  • 5 x 7 x BW (from the knees)
• Foam Rolling

3 Wheels. 315# deadlift. That’s awesome. Again, I had to limit myself to only 3 reps due to the “BBB 3 Month Challenge” (which is 2 more than you really are supposed to do, but hey….). I felt like I could have cranked out another 3-5 reps; it felt that good, that strong. In the grand scheme of it all, I’m still not strong; Bill Kazmaier can sneeze more than that. 🙂 But for me, it’s one hell of a PR and I’m thrilled with it. I do feel I’m starting to move into the realm of “not as much of a wuss” as the general population. So, I’m good with that.

In fact, I started looking at numbers and planning, and so long as I stay healthy and things progress reasonably well, I could be on track to join the 1000# club by the end of this calendar year. I plan on keeping progress steady, there may be a reset in my future too, so we’ll see how it all goes. I’ll get there either way, just a question of exactly when I’ll get there.

Because that said, my right knee is feeling weird. Kinda unstable. I’m a little unsure and nervous about it. I think my leg/knee angle when squatting may be a factor here, so I’m paying more attention to it. I am also willing to bail out of the 3 month challenge if it puts my health in jeopardy… the 70% squats, if it’s going to break me well… I don’t need that. I do this to make my health better.

So with that in mind, I’m not sure I’ll keep doing the ab wheel. It hurts my head, bad. When I’m doing it, it starts to feel like I’m going to pop a vein in my head. It’s the most intra-cranial pressure I feel doing anything. Even after my walk home, while just talking with Wife my head still hurt. I don’t think that’s good. I really love how the movement feels, I’m getting better at muscle involvement and making it a good work for me… but the head pressure is NOT good. Exhaling while I contract helps, and I even found myself relaxing more during the final sets helping too… but it’s still a lot of head hurt, in the bad way. I may be willing to experiment with it a little longer to see if technique can change it, but if not well… it’s going to go.

In the end tho, I’m just stoked at this PR. The next “obvious milestone” PR for me is 225# on my bench press, 2 cycles away. Of course, every cycle has PR’s, every cycle is milestones. That’s why I say “obvious”.

I’m still smiling tho from the PR. I mean… I had that 3rd rep up, and just stood there holding it, looked at myself in the mirror, and felt damn good. Next up, 325#. Onwards.

I love 5/3/1 week. 🙂

“Week 3” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

• 5/3/1 – Press (working max: 155#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x65
  • 1x5x80
  • 1x3x93
  • 1x5x120 (work)
  • 1x3x135
  • 1x3x150 (PR)
• Asst. #1A – Bench Press
  • 5 x 10 x 115
• Asst. #1B – Chinups (supersetted with Bench Press)
  • 5 x 3 x BW
• Asst. #2 – Face Pulls
  • 3 x 10 x 60
• Asst. #3 – DB Hammer Curls
  • 3 x 10 x 30

I haven’t been feeling it so much lately, but 5/3/1 week always gets me up because it’s time to set some personal records.

Today, 150# for 3 reps was a new PR. Technically on this “BBB 3 month challenge” you’re supposed to only do the prescribed reps, so I should only do 1 rep. But damnit… it’s PR time and I’m allowing myself on just this week to do more than the prescribed reps, up to 3. And so I did. 🙂 It felt good! Not just to hit the PR, but the pressing itself. I’m starting to find a better groove with heavier (overhead) pressing, getting the full body into it (e.g. clench your butt), and just a better overall groove when pressing. It’s hard! But nothing worth having in life is easy. 🙂

I also sat there thinking how it felt like “just yesterday” I was thrilled to be breaking the 135# barrier, and now 135 is just another work weight for me. In some regards, progress is its own reward.

Speaking of progress, getting 3 chins for 5 sets across felt really good! OK, the last chin was a bit of a struggle at the top, had to throw my chin up there, but still… it wasn’t like the last weeks where there was no way I could even pull myself up and just had to do a negative instead. My goal? I’d like to work up to 5×15, and once I can do that, I’ll start adding weight. I also figure once I get to 5×10 I’ll try varying up my grip. I will get there.

On face pulls, 60 isn’t doing much for me but I’m getting better with form, engaging the shoulder more, not “pulling” so much. Think to pull the elbows back, not the wrists/hands in. But I’ve read that this movement works better with higher reps, so instead of bumping up to 70 for 10 I think I’ll try 60 for 15, then move up from there.

I also started thinking about the “BBB 3 month challenge” so far. I have mixed feelings on it, but generally positive. I miss hitting rep maxes, but I understand why that’s how things are done… and I’m sure I’ll appreciate it a lot more when my assistance work goes to 60% and 70%; I’m cool with it. I really like that it took me back to a simple program: just press, deadlift, bench press, and squat, and then a little extra to round things out (e.g. back work). So simple, so effective. I am not sure about the alternating of main lift and assistance. That is, on normal BBB you do your main lift, then follow it doing the same lift again with a different weight and set/rep scheme. On “BBB 3 month” you do the main lift, but follow it with the “other related lift” for assistance, so main press assist bench, main bench assist press, main squat assit deadlift, main deadlift assist squat. Jim said it was to make things not quite so boring. 🙂 I’m of mixed feeling on it, and this is probably something I’ll have to give a verdict on much later. I like doing a lot of the same exercise because there’s a lot of volume in that specific movement. But then, the movements you alternate with aren’t that much different from each other (it’s not like you press then squat). And I might be getting more out of it because I am switching it up a bit, able to lift heavier and better by mixing it up, or that I’m getting more out of it because of the stagger. Or maybe it all doesn’t matter one lick and it’s all in my head. I’m thinking the latter.

I was thinking what to do post challenge, and my present thinking is I will probably stick with this template, but not do it challenge style, just go to 60% on the assistance lifts because I reckon that’s going to be difficult but not exhausting taxing. We’ll see… too early to make a decision, but yes I like to think ahead.

Right now, let’s just think about the next workout. 315 Deadlift PR. That’s going to rock.

Another day of not feeling it, but working out well in the end.

“Week 2” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

• 3 reps – Squat (working max: 270#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x110
  • 1x5x135
  • 1x3x165
  • 1x3x190 (work)
  • 1x3x225 (supposed to have been 220 but I didn’t feel like doing the plate math
  • 1x3x245
• Asst. #1 – Deadlift
  • 5 x 10 x 165
• Asst. #2 – Hanging Hip-Leg Raise
  • 5 x 8/7/7/7/6 x BW
• Foam Rolling

Today was another morning of waking up and not feeling it, tho today’s was slightly different. I woke up early and got into a groove programming an update to kwikkEmail, lost track of time, and thought about skipping the workout because I was on such a roll. But no, that’s not the way to proceed in life. Headed to the gym, but also wasn’t totally feeling it because I know my right knee and some other parts of my lower body (ankle, etc.) weren’t too happy in prior days. I had no idea how it would affect me. But I did my best to put it out of my head and forge ahead. If I can’t squat, I can’t squat… I want to not squat because I truly can’t, not because I erected some mental barrier.

And gee… 245 for a triple felt fine. I think my new found eye positioning is helping. And again, I recalled how I struggled so long at 230 and now 245 for a triple didn’t phase me much. Progress!

Felt good by the end of the workout.

Looking forward to the workouts ahead now… 5/3/1 week. PR time. Woot!

Some days you just don’t want to go to the gym, but you go anyways because to not go means you’re losing. And you always feel better when you leave and are glad you went. Today was one of those days.

“Week 2” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

• 3 reps – Bench Press (working max: 225#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x95
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x3x135
  • 1x3x160 (work)
  • 1x3x180
  • 1x3x205
• 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 10 x 40
• Foam Rolling

I had a long weekend, very exhausting, getting as much sleep as I could… and I just didn’t want to get out of bed this morning… I wanted more sleep. But the Sun doesn’t stop rising, the Earth doesn’t stop spinning, business and commerce chug along with or without me, so I best be with it. I trudge in, and didn’t expect the workout to be all that good, but it was better than expected.

When I was benching, I actually wanted to crank out a couple more reps of the last set, but no… that’s not allowed and I said I’d only permit myself to do extras on the “5/3/1” week. But that was a good signal to me that the day was going to go alright.

I’m a little worried about Wednesday tho. My right knee has been acting funny the past couple days and continues to. We’ll see how squatting goes. I’d rather give up on the squat on Wednesday to rest up and allow myself to hit the 315# deadlift PR next week. 🙂

Heavy weights are heavy.

“Week 2” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

• 3 reps – Deadlift (working max: 325#)
  • 1x5x135 (warmup)
  • 1x5x165
  • 1x3x195
  • 1x3x230 (work)
  • 1x3x265
  • 1x3x295
• Asst. #1 – Squat
  • 5 x 10 x 135
• Asst. #2 – Ab Wheel
  • 5 x 6 x BW (from the knees)
• Foam Rolling

Yeah, things are just feeling heavier, but I was kinda happy with how I dealt with it.

On the deadlifting, I usually use double overhand grip for all sets save the last (heaviest) set, which I’ll do mixed grip. Today, since I knew I wasn’t going to do more than 3 reps I just did it double overhand. Worked great! I was happy about that. If I had to do more reps I know I wouldn’t have lasted with the double overhand, but that’s alright.

Squatting was kinda cool today. For some reason I picked a better spot for my eyes to stare at and that made a huge difference in my form, in keeping my chest up, not letting things fall forward. Very cool. I was very happy with how squatting went.

The ab wheel… geez. Deceptively hard. Last time I did them it killed my knees, so I needed padding. The gym has one of those quarter/half sphere things that aerobics people can stand on to help with balance. It’s soft enough, not too high off the ground, perfect padding. It also made the rolling a little tougher since there’s a littl more balance involved and a slightly steeper angle. I only did 6 reps across because I’m still learning the movement and how to do it best. Get all the way down, body parallel to the floor, arms up by the ears, nose almost touching the ground, then really be sure to use the abdominals to crunch back up, not the lats to pull myself back up. I’ll slowly add reps while I get the form right.

Not a bad workout. Looking forward to next deadlift tho… I’ll PR at 315# and 3 plates on a side. That’ll be cool. 🙂

“Week 2” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

• 3 reps – Press (working max: 155#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x65
  • 1x5x80
  • 1x3x95
  • 1x3x110 (work)
  • 1x3x125
  • 1x3x140
• Asst. #1A – Bench Press
  • 5 x 10 x 115
• Asst. #1B – Chinups (supersetted with Bench Press)
  • 3 x 3 x BW
  • 1 x 2/1neg x BW
  • 1 x 1/2neg x BW
• Asst. #2 – Face Pulls
  • 1 x 10 x 50
  • 2 x 10 x 60
• Asst. #3 – DB Hammer Curls
  • 3 x 10 x 30
• Foam Rolling

Chugging along. Today went alright. Still feels weird to not rep out. I did rush today’s workout some, not resting much between sets because 1. I need to be somewhere this morning, so I left to get to the gym early but 2. the gym opened late. Ugh. Oh well. So I moved pretty quick through the workout.

I was happy to get 1 more chin. 🙂

On face pulls, 60 seems like a good weight to work with now. It’s giving enough resistence that it affects form, but it’s not really all that hard. Still, I’ll stay here a bit, tighten things up, then progress up from there.

Not too bad a day.

Yeah, this is going to be another fun day. 🙂

“Week 1” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

• 5 reps – Squat (working max: 270#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x110
  • 1x5x135
  • 1x3x165
  • 1x5x180 (work)
  • 1x5x205
  • 1x5x230
• Asst. #1 – Deadlift
  • 5 x 10 x 165
• Asst. #2 – Hanging Hip-Leg Raise
  • 5 x 8/8/6/6/5 x BW

Yeah… squats then deadlifting is going to be fuuuun. 🙂

Squats went well. I had to do 230# today and gee, it wasn’t long ago I was struggling to deal with 230. Now it’s just another work weight. Cool!

Deadlifting… best I can say here is I MUST remember to really stay strict. It’s easy to let your back and form get out of whack on those last reps of those last sets. Have to remain vigilant.

Bumping up the leg raises. Even tho my reps don’t show it, every time I do these I get better. Stricter form, more complete motions. Everything. I don’t care that much that my reps don’t show it if I can see progress in how everything gets better and stronger. All good. Plus my shoulder isn’t complaining as much since I have a better “ritual” in getting on the bar. Huzzah!

I’m liking the BBB 3 month challenge so far… but I’ve only just begun.

“Week 1” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

• 5 reps – Bench Press (working max: 225#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x95
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x3x135
  • 1x5x150 (work)
  • 1x5x170
  • 1x5x195
• 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 10 x 40
• Foam Rolling

Man, it’s hard to not rep-out on the last work set. *sigh* I will be generally restrained here, but on my 5/3/1 week, that last set I will allow myself to do up to 3 reps. Gotta get some sort of satisfaction. 🙂

Today was fine. Really, not much to write home about. One comment I can make is how Jim’s template suggested arm work across the Press and Bench Press days. There’s some choice and flexibility on how you do things, and I think it’ll work ok for me to do it as I am. I think my selections and structure will work out. But if not, I’ll change it up per cycle.

I can say that while this 50% month isn’t too tough, I can tell the next 60% and last 70% are going to be a bitch. 🙂