More simplification

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 17, week 2

• Work Set – Deadlift (working max: 365#)
  • 1x5x150 (warmup)
  • 1x5x185
  • 1x3x225
  • 1x3x260 (work)
  • 1x3x295
  • 1x6x335
• Assistance – Deadlifts
  • 5 x 5 x 185
• Assistance – Hanging Knee Raises
  • 3 x 5 x BW

I don’t know what to make of it, but I feel so damn strong when I lift. My lifts are just going up up up… if you compare them against last cycle and cycles before, there’s just big improvements in both weight lifted and reps lifted. Like last cycle, one month ago on “cycle 16-2, week 2” I did 325 for 6… now I did 335 for 6. I don’t know what to attribute it to, but I’m kinda leaning on Carb Back-loading. Having enough energy from the evening’s load, then in the morning it’s a fasted workout: just some water and 200mg of caffeine. Huzzah.

I feel well on track for a nice PR next week.

As for assistance work… again, because I called that audible and am trying 4x week, I’m reverting back to a more BBB-stricter template. My deads today? For some reason I just opted to do them explosively.. like I was trying to jump. That made a big difference. I felt it a lot in my posterior chain (my glutes felt things I haven’t felt before), and my posture and form was kinda cool. I think it’s the cue… instead of “pick this thing up off the floor”, I’m thinking more about jumping and trying to touch the ceiling. It’s different cues, different body positions and body response. I kinda like how things went and am going to explore this more. Probably read some more about Westside, deadlifting, and dynamic effort to try to refine this a bit. Not that I’m trying to do Westside or ME/DE, just maybe to help find some cues, find what weight I should use for optimum results, etc..

I also tried Hanging Leg/Knee Raises again… I referred to the Wendler book. And I knew that wasn’t a wise choice, what with my shoulder issues. I did a few, stopped before my shoulder hated me too much. I need to find something else.

I can’t wait for next week. I will set a true PR, and very much looking forward to that. I hope I’ll have my new BestBelt as well!

The more I do, the less I do.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 17, week 2

• Work Set – Bench Press (working max: 230#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x95
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x3x140
  • 1x3x165 (work)
  • 1x3x185
  • 1x6x210
• Assistance – Bench Press
  • 5 x 10 x 135
• Assistance – Pendlay Row
  • 5 x 12/12/10/10/10 x 115
• Assistance – Stuff
  • JM Press
  • Hammer Curls
  • 1 set, light weight, as many reps as I could muster (didn’t count, but somewhere in the teens I’m sure)

As I’m doing this 4x week thing, I’m finding myself wanting to pare back my sessions from what I was doing 3x week. Things are taking on a more true “BBB” template style.

I felt really good with my benching today, despite my head being elsewhere.. but at least this elsewhere was good stuff and exciting stuff. No, it wasn’t a PR, but looking at past numbers both before and after my technique change and this was good.

In terms of back work then, I figured rows would be the right thing. Keep things in the same plane as bench press. But I’m kinda tired of dumbbell rows so why not a barbell instead. And not just any flavor of rowing, but Pendlay. Why that version? Mostly because of the straight and flat back approach to things, and because of the “from a dead stop on the floor” approach. The gym happens to have a set of 10# bumper plates, so I used those to give me good spacing off the floor. Added then a 25# on each side, there’s the 115#, and away I went. Boy, I could feel it in my lats… which is a big reason for this flavor of row. I’m sold.

I couldn’t not do a little arm pumping tho. 🙂 But I just picked 1 exercise, light-ish weight, and just cranked out as many reps as I could… didn’t really care what, just a lot (tho not like a 5# weight and I did 100 reps and gave up cause I was bored… no, I probably got somewhere in the 15-25 range somewhere… didn’t count, didn’t really care).

It’s always nice to keep it simple.

Oopf… some days you just don’t set yourself up for success, but things mostly work out. 🙂

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 17, week 2

• Work Set – Squat (working max: 295#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x120
  • 1x5x150
  • 1x3x180
  • 1x3x210 (work)
  • 1x3x240
  • 1x4x270 (PR??)

Yesterday, the family went to the local Renaissance Faire. While not physically exhausting by any means, walking around all day, throwing axes, embarassing myself on the high striker, and well… when you structure your energy levels a certain way then do something different and expend what little reserves you already have (hadn’t had any real carbs since Friday morning) well…. that just set me up for being drained. I did have a funnel cake before we left, and ate some Buc-Ee’s Nug-Ee’s on the drive home… but that wasn’t enough. I also ended up crashing out on the couch for I don’t know how long, woke up and shuffled into the bed and proceeded to sleep 8 hours (maybe 10 hours total?). Didn’t eat a proper dinner, or pre-bedtime shake or anything because I was zonked. So uh…. yeah, not setting myself up for success. :-\

Thus today was a “jack shit” day because it was all I could muster. I probably could have done more squats and ab work, but I really didn’t feel like draining myself more than I already was.

As for the work I did do… is 4 reps of 270 a PR? Sorta. It wasn’t but cycle 15 when 270 was a PR and I got 3. Today I got 4 (5 was not going to happen). And I wasn’t even fully into it because of the physical factors, and I wasn’t very focused because I wasn’t able to unwind from yesterday and waking up barely in time to get to the gym (slept late!), I wasn’t able to get my brain ready for today either. So you know… hey… 4 reps and I wasn’t really there? Well, not ideal on paper, but in the greater context of it all, fine.

Next week… 285… that will be a true PR. That should kick ass. 🙂

Less is more?

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 17, week 1

• Work Set – Press (working max: 150#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x60
  • 1x5x75
  • 1x3x90
  • 1x5x100 (work)
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x8x135
• Assistance – Press
  • 5 x 10/10/10/10/8 x 75
• Assistance – Stuff
  • Upright rows
  • Hammer Curls

So at the last minute I decided to try 4x week. I kinda like it… if nothing else, getting into the gym 4x a week is damn fun. More weights, that’s great!

And I just felt damn strong this morning. The 115 went up so easily. I think in part because I’m paying more attention to my Press form and especially breathing, and so I’m finding my groove better and so things are just moving. Heck, I was actually supposed to do 130 but I HATE 130… so many plates to fiddle with, and it’s just not as awesome as 135… I like the big wheels. 🙂 So fuck it, I felt good, I put 135 on the bar, and cranked out 8 reps. Looking back over my logs, I’m not sure if this really counts as a rep PR, but there’s no question my performance is improving compared to the past few cycles. So, awesome!

But with that, I started doing less.

I think it’s a combination of things.

First, if I am going 4x week, I think more volume and more work doesn’t serve me well. That’s more stress, more breakdown, more to recover from, and the frequency doesn’t lend to that, y’know? Second, my shoulder joints have been bugging me, and while I don’t think chins or anything like that caused it, I think they may not be lending to things healing up. So today I didn’t do chins, I didn’t do dips. Third, I’m finding that my assistance work and even my work sets are just more intense… maybe in part from CBL, maybe in part because I’m getting more mentally there into every rep that I squeeze more out, more intense, whatever. But it just feels like less is more. I only cranked out a couple sets of the rows/curls and didn’t really care much.

I might be falling back to a more strict BBB template.

I also think that I will not do chins on both pressing days. I’ll probably do chins on Press day and DB rows on Bench Press days. Kinda winging how this cycle evolves as I deal with my shoulder, CBL, and 4x week. As long as I’m seeing good progress on the main lift, that’s the key thing.

Meh….

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 17, week 1

• Work Set – Deadlift (working max: 365#)
  • 1x5x150 (warmup)
  • 1x5x185
  • 1x3x225
  • 1x5x240 (work)
  • 1x5x275
  • 1x7x315
• Assistance – Deadlifts
  • 3 x 5 x 185
• Assistance – Pulldown Abs (kneeling)
  • 3 x 15 x 120 (1 second hold on each rep)

Today just didn’t do well. I had a lot of crap on my mind, totally distracted. I did my best to put it out my head, but I couldn’t… it was stuff I needed to think through and work through, so it just had to happen. Thus I wasn’t with it.

But it was what it was… and frankly getting 7×315 with a crappy workout is pretty good… imagine how it would have been if I was properly focused. 🙂

So it was what it was.

I also feel a need to scale back my work. If I’m doing this 4x week, I just feel I shouldn’t knock myself out with heavier and more volumous work, y’know?

Yes… Tuesday.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 17, week 1

• Work Set – Bench Press (working max: 230#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x95
  • 1x5x115
  • 1x3x140
  • 1x5x150 (work)
  • 1x5x175
  • 1x8x200
• Assistance – Bench Press
  • 5 x 10 x 135/135/135/120/100
• Assistance – Pull-ups (band assisted)
  • 5 x 7/7/7/7/5 x BW
• Assistance – Stuff
  • Flat Bench DB Flies
  • JM Press
  • Hammer Curls
  • 3 sets, 8-15 reps, enough weight to make it hard

First things first: I went on Tuesday. Why? I’m going to try 4x week. The Wendler 5/3/1 program is traditionally a 4x week program, tho you can adopt it for other layouts. I’ve done 3x week out of schedule, but schedule is different and I must admit… between the CBL and this crazy itch to hit the weights a lot (addiction?!?!?!) I figure what the hey, try 4x. There was a time I did 2x and it was NOT workable for me; I think I didn’t hit the “training adaptation curve” just right and I think 2x was too much… basically I was doing things only once a week and I think it was too long between sessions. So hey, in the name of science and finding what works for me, let’s try 4x week. Yes, this was a whim; opted to do it last night before I went to bed. Or maybe it was just an excuse so I could down a bowl of ice cream before bed. 😉

On my work set, I worked hard at my grip and arms. I have read about how you should “break the bar”, but I guess I misinterpreted it. When they said “pull the bar apart” I took it to mean like I was pulling it such that it would stretch the bar like taffy. I read something last night from Spud (If I can find the article again I’ll post it) that lead me to think that instead it’s more like well… like the strongman trying to bend a steel rod into a U-shape? Like that. That does seem to activate the lats more, the triceps more AND also cause the upper arms to tuck more. So hey…. maybe that’s the thing? So I focused on that. That I hit 8 reps with 200 was pretty cool. When I look at past progress, I’ve certainly done more than that, but this is with my new technique. Plus, last cycle was 195 for 7, so 1 more rep and 5# more? Heck, alright!

Trouble is, I noticed while I was focusing so much on the grip technique, I totally lost my leg drive! Feet were on the floor, but there was no drive. So I opted to set the swiss bar aside for the assistance benching and instead just do some light benching for my 5×10 assistance work so I could focus on technique and experiment. I did some stuff with my feet that I think may be closer to finally a good position. I sit, feet/legs are at right angles. Most importantly, my feet/knees/legs are closer together than they would normally be if I just sat down. Furthermore, ensure my feet/toes are pointed straight ahead, instead of the slight toe-out cant that normally happens. When I do this, I can get a hell of a lot of drive and stability. I still need to tweak it, but yeah, this might finally be the road to my leg drive platform.

Anyways, everything else just chugged along. I am not going to do the “drop sets” at the end of things because I’m expecting I have enough work and with 4x week well, why push my luck eh?

So far so good!

So why DID I run out of gas?

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 17, week 1

• Work Set – Squat (working max: 295#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x120
  • 1x5x150
  • 1x3x180
  • 1x5x195 (work)
  • 1x5x225
  • 1x7x255 (rep PR?)
• Assistance – Squat
  • 3 x 10 x 145
• Assistance – RDL
  • something… see below
• Assistance – Pulldown Abs
  • 3 x 15 x 120 (hold 1 sec at peak of each rep)

I was exhausted. My brain was screaming, wanting to do more, but my body just couldn’t move. I’m not sure why. Was it because I cranked like hell during squats? Was it because of CBL? Some other third thing? I don’t know.

On the squat work set, I worked hard. I pulled out 7 reps with 255. Last cycle week 1 was 7 reps at 245. Cycle 15 week 2 had 2 reps at 255. Cycle 14 was week 3 getting 3 reps at 255. As I keep flipping back, even to cycle 13 which holds my current squat PR (3×280)… I busted out more reps today than I have. So fuck yeah. But I had to work for it. I MIGHT have gotten 8 reps if I really felt like pushing it, but it would have been a gut buster and that’s not the point of work sets.

So then my assistance squatting. Recall that I’m trying to make every rep to be awesome form. This is the time to really focus on form. In fact, today was a huge focus on form. Didn’t plan on it, but it happened. I didn’t care so much about my lower body, just get into a stance that felt right. My upper body tho…. I worked HARD on keeping it tight, “inflated”, my lats were flared hard with every rep (well, I tried to… I would get tired, notice they were loosening up, then tighten then back up). I worked HARD at every rep. It was 10 sets of 1 rep, not 1 set of 10 reps. It wasn’t about pushing through just to get to 10, letting shit falter, letting the bigger stronger muscles do the work just to crank out the required number of reps. No, every rep was a reset. Every rep was the same (or greater) mental intensity. I wanted my weakest muscles to be involved and failing first, so I could make them stronger. And I’ll tell you… 3 sets of assistance work was enough. I was tapped.

Thus when I started the Romanian Deadlifts, it didn’t work out. I had no idea where to start, so 135 on the bar and off I went. But after about 6-8 reps I stopped. I wasn’t getting much depth before my back would fail. I tried a second time with 95 on the back — I’m learning the movement, better to be lighter. But even that was bad. Basically, my lower back was tapped out… just flat out exhausted and that’s not a recipe for learning a new movement. So after 2 sets I cashed it in and just did some high-rep leg curls — my hams needed something!

Also on the squats, I’m falling forward out of the hole. But you know what I noticed? The squat rack at the gym doesn’t face a mirror, but it does face a window. In the early morning, when it’s black outside, the window is basically a mirror… and I see myself. I have an old EliteFTS troubleshooting article and one of the cue points for falling forward is to NOT squat in front of a mirror. I noticed today that I was looking down… I was doing alright, because when I told myself to look up/forward, I saw myself and I think that fucked with my head. I can’t change the gym much here, but I have two thoughts 1. look to see if I can find something to put in front of the window so I stare at nothing, 2. close my eyes. I think I might try closing my eyes because I know that also puts me more in tune with what my body is doing. Could be interesting to try.

Anyways tho, I was happy at the intensity of the squat session. Sure the weights are far from elite, but it was a tough session for me. I was worked hard. I didn’t realize how I beat a bunch of rep records until I got home and looked at my spreadsheet. That’s alright.

Using the scale to measure progress is tough, because it just tells weight, not composition. If you lose fat and gain muscle, you could show no progress on the scale.

That’s my problem.

So you have to look at other things, like measurements, calipers, and so on.

I am not going crazy with measuring, tho I probably should. But here’s what I can say.

I look in the mirror and for sure I’m losing the muffin top. I’m not fat, never been fat, just had more flab on my body than I cared for. Muffin top, a bit of a gut, some smoothness in the jaw line. But I can see, while still there, they are diminishing.

My powerlifting belt was a 40″ from BestBelts. I’m now hooking it into the last hole. And with my fat loss something I certainly want to and that will continue, I know things will get smaller. So I just ordered a 36″ belt from BestBelts. I’d say this is progress in the right direction.

I can also tell because my pants fit differently. On the one hand, I cinch my belts a little tighter, a little more room around the waistband. On the other, the legs are tighter, the seat is tighter. Growth!

Another sign of growth? XL shirts are a little tight, a little uncomfortable. XXL shirts fit me better; a shoulders, arms, chest thing. They also hang different (so says Wife).

So I reckon this is all good progress in the right direction. 🙂