5/3/1 Log: Cycle 2. Week 1. Pressing

Defranco's Simple-6

Press -
BarX10
65X6
80X5
90X5
100X7

EZ BB Overhead Extensions - 55X12, 65X8, 8, 7, 8

T-Bar Rows - 45X12, 60X10, 65X9

Push-Ups - BWX14, 13, 12, 10 (49 total)

Hammer and Tire - 4 sets of 50 swings (switching grip after 25); 10 minutes

Presses felt pretty good.  Still focusing on Squats and Bench, so not really planning on going for lots of PR's with these.  Still form is feeling pretty good.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 4. Squat and Bench

Defranco's Agile-8 and Simple-6

Squat -

BarX6

135X5

160X3

185X3

210X3

Bench - 

BarX10

95X5

115X3

130X3

150X3

Half Mile Jog X2

Squats felt good.

Bench felt stable but my arms were shaking like crazy on the top set even though the set itself didn't feel too heavy.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 4. Press and Deadlift

Defranco's Agile-8 and Simple-6

Press (first rep cleaned to shoulders) -
45X10
85X5
90X3
100X3

Deadlift -
135X10
155X5
185X3
215X3
240X3

Hanging Leg Raise - 3X5

Hammer and Tire - 3 rounds of 25 swings "per arm" (7 minutes)

Deload week.  Decided to do everything at the Deadlift station, thus cleaning the fist reps on the Press.  I suck at cleans, but the bar got up so screw it. 

Top set of Deads felt heavy.  Have to see how that plays out next week when I do the same progression but with sets of 5.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 3. Squat

Defranco's Agile-8

Squat -
BarX10
135X7
175X5
195X3
225X5

Split Front Squats - 55X10X3

Front Squats - 95X8X2, 105X8

Defranco's BLAB Core Circuit #2 - X1

100 yard incline sprints - 10 minutes

Really successful squat session.  225 is a 5 Rep PR, and possibly projects to an increased 1RM as well.  Really focused this session on keeping upper body tight, and keeping my knees out on the way up.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 3. Bench

Defranco's Simple-6

Bench -
BarX10
95X8
130X5
145X3
160X6
super-set with
Chin-ups - BWX7X5

Chin-ups - BWX7X3 (54 total Chins on the day)
super-set with
Dips - BWX10, 10, 5

Dips - BWX7, 7, 6, 5 (50 total Dips on the day)
super-set with
Face-Pulls - 30X15, 15, 15, 20

6 Rep PR on the Bench.  Really, really focused on my form for all sets/reps.  Trying to keep the decent controlled, keeping everything tight, elbow tuck and flare, driving through the legs.  The final rep was a grinder, and I maybe shouldn't have gone for it....but I got it.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 3. Deadlift

Defranco's Agile-8+

Deadlift -
135X10
185X5
205X5
235X3
260X3
155X10X5

RDL - 95X10, 7, 10

Great DL session.  I made a few changes, and I think they were good.  I opted not to warm-up with RDL's of the empty bar and 95 as I have been.  I jumped straight into 135lb. Deads because I wanted to focus on my form knowing that loose form caused my back strain last week.  Also, in all sets, I tried to give myself a moment between each rep to run through the checklist making sure everything was tight and reminding myself what do do on the pull.  As a result of all this, the pulls were all good.  I might have gotten more reps on the top set, but I felt my form starting to go so I stopped.  It's still a 3 rep PR for me.  I also had to use a mixed grip for the first time.  I felt my grip weakening on the 2nd work-set, so I switched to mixed for the top set.  No big deal.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 3. Pressing

Defranco's Simple-6

DB Press - 15sX16

Press -
BarX8
65X5
85X5
100X3
120X1
110X5
super-set with
Chin-ups - BWX7,7,7,6,7,7

Chin-ups - BWX7, 5, 3
super-set with
BB Overhead Extensions - 55X10, 12, 8, 8, EZ-Curl BB (45lb.)X16

Wide-grip Lat-pulldowns - 90X10X3
super-set with
DB Shoulder Cleans - 15sX13, 10sX12, 8

More bad math.  I mistakenly loaded 120 instead of 110 for my last work-set, and couldn't get more than 1 even with double lay-back.  Afterwards, I realized my mistake, dropped back down to the correct weight and got a 5 Rep PR!  That's a 5 Rep PR in each of my last four work-outs.  Cool.  I knew tracking my actual rep PRs was going to be motivating.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 2. Squats

Defranco's Agile-8

Squats -
BarX10
95X5
135X3
195X3
210X5

BB Front Split Squats - 45X10, 55X10X2

BB Front Squats - 85X10X3

Defranco Core CircuitX2
Toe TouchesX20, BicycleX30, Side-PlankX30sec. each side

200 yard incline sprints - 4 sprints/10 minutes

I was bad at math all weekend.  I was supposed to go 165, 195, 210 on my work-sets for the Squat.  I did the math wrong and jumped straight from my last warm-up of 135 to 195.  I was so freaked out when I walked the weight out, I though there was no way I'd make the next jump!  Actually an okay session, as I just went ahead and went to the final set and got a 5 Rep PR for myself.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 2. Bench

Defranco's Simple-6

Bench -
BarX10
95X5
115X3
120X3
140X3
155X5 (5 Rep PR)
super-set with
Chin-ups - BWX6X6

Chin-ups - BWX6X3
super-set with
Dips - BWX10, 6, 8

Dips - BWX7, 5, 5, 7
super-set with
Face-pulls - 4 sets of 15-20

As I mentioned in my last two posts, I'm going to start tracking Actual Rep PR's in addition to PR's for a higher projected 1RM.  155 could have been a 3 Rep Bench PR, but I thought I could get 5, and I did.  So that's my new 5 Rep Bench PR.  Another great way to stay motivated and have fun instead of frustration.  I had to make a separate table to keep track of this however.  All the tables I'm keeping are starting to get obnoxious.  Otherwise the bench felt pretty good today even with my new, slower descent.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 2. Deadlift

Defranco's Agile-8+

RDL - BarX10, 95X5

Deadlift-
135X5
175X3
195X3
220X3
250X5
155X10
135X10X2
super-set with
Hanging Leg-Raise - BWX4-5X7

Really rough session.  I threw my back out on the 250 set.  I'm pretty sure it was a form issue.  I said fuck it and went and did some of the BBB back-off sets anyway.  I got my form more dialed in on these, and my back actually seemed to feel best while I did them.  I think it was the right decision.

This is becoming a chronic injury for me, and the ironic thing is I was hoping DL's were going to help prevent back strains in general.  One way of looking at it is that this weight is 65lbs. heavier than the last time this happened Squatting, so maybe it IS helping.  I had bad form that time as well.

I did, however, realize something important.  I mentioned this in my last post, but I can now see the value in keeping rep PR's in mind.  Not getting in enough reps to project to a higher 1RM, but rather doing more weight for that number of reps than ever before, and being happy about it.  250X3, the prescribed final work-set of the day, would have been a 3RM PR for me.  I injured myself on the 5th rep.  If I had stopped at 3, I would be fine today.  I still believe it was my form and not the weight that got me injured, but there's still a lesson here.  I'm supposed to be focusing on my squats this cycle.  So it's okay to consistently settle for rep PR's in the other lifts.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 2. Pressing

Defranco's Simple-6

DB Shoulder Press - 20'sX10

BB Press-
BarX5
65X3
85X3
95X3
105X7
super-set with
Chin-Ups - BWX6X5

Chin-Ups - BWX6X4 (54 total chins on the day)
super-set with
BB Overhead Extensions - 55X10, 45X10X3, 50X10

DB Cleans - 15sX15, 12sX10, 10sX8

Hammer & Tire - 4 rounds of 20 swings "per arm"

Decided to add a set up DB Presses as my warm-up on Press day to get the joints good and warm with lighter weight and through a wider ROM.

Press was fine.  I didn't try to go for a projected 1RM increase, however 105 is a 7RM PR.  This is one of those things Wendler and other guys talk about, but I only realized the importance of this week.  I will talk more about this in my Deadlift post.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 1. Squats

Defranco's Agile-8 plus some of the Simple-6

Squats -
BarX10
95X5
135X3
155X5
175X5
200X8

BB Split Front-Squats - BarX12, 12, 10

BB Front Squats - 75X10, 85X10X2

Core Circuit X2 (toe touches, bicycle, low side-plank)

No PR available for me on the Squat.  I think since the couple of weeks I had off from squatting my depth has increased.  I think this is psychological carry-over from doing some pause squats and realizing I was getting significantly deeper on those than regulars.  The issue is that my max is almost certainly lower this way than previously.  On a couple of reps in my last work-set, I had to force myself to go all the way down, because instinct started to kick in and cut them higher (probably where I used to cut them). 

I have two options here:  1)  I can continue to work at the new depth, and accept that I will probably top out relatively soon and have to reset my training max, or 2)  I can attempt to go back to the previous depth so that I can go longer without resetting.  Honestly, I think either is acceptable, and the most important thing is consistency.  I'm tempted to go with option 1, because I'm concerned about fucking around with option 2 and wasting time and possibly even fucking myself up mentally as well as physically.  This will require more thought.

As a side note, whatever was going on with my grip and bar placement issues last time has completely resolved itself.  Everything felt fine as far as that's concerned.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 1. Bench

Defranco's Simple-6

BB Bench-
BarX10
95X5
115X5
130X5
145X7
super-set with
Chin-ups - BWX5X5

Chin-ups - BWX5X5
supers-set with
Dips - BWX10, 10, 5, 5, 5

One-arm DB Rows - 65X15, 10, 12
super-set with
Dips - BWX6, 9

Shit session.  Bad decision making on top of what was probably gonna be a -10% day anyway.

The bench was fine, I guess.  I didn't come in planning on going for extra reps on the top set.  I would have needed 10 for  PR, but I'm trying to save my gas for Squat day.  I was feeling good about them and decided to split the difference and go for 7.  Honestly, I don't know if I could have gotten more.  I realized on the first two work-sets that I was bouncing the bar off my chest a lot.  So on the last set I brought it down a little slower and with more control.  Naturally this made everything harder, but correct.