5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 2. Week 1. Dead

BW - 204

Deadlift -
135X5
185X5, 5
215X5
245X5
275X10

Hypers - 5 sets of 10-15

Ab Wheel - 5 sets of 5-10

+10% session, but Deadlift often is.  I focused on making sure my knees locked out after the last couple of sessions, and just thinking about it seemed to take care of the issue.  Everything felt strong, and 275X10 is right around my projected 1RM and ties my 10 Rep max.

This cycle I'm doing hypers and ab wheel for my assistance.

On hypers, my hands are behind my head, or I'm holding a weight behind my head.  Significantly harder than over my chest.

On ab wheel, I realized I can get a few more reps if I keep my head forward rather than looking at the ground.  Somewhere Mark Rippetoe is probably screaming about my cervical spine, but whatever.  When I can kick out 5 sets of 10 this way, maybe I'll return to neutral.

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

BW - 204

Bench-
BarX15
95X5
120X5
140X5
155X9

Incline-
95X10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Chins - BWX13, 5

Neutral Grip Pull-Downs - 3 sets of 15

BB Curls -
BarX10
65X5
BarX30

+10% session.  155X9 is an all around Rep PR on bench.  In fact, looking back I have never hit 9 reps on a top set of 531 bench.  Wow. 

Took a lot out of me though, and that's why I stayed at 95 lbs. for the BBB sets on Incline.

BW of 204 for 13 chins is an all-time PR, and all these reps were paused.  Pretty nice!

I meant to switch to wide-grip pull-downs for this cycle, but I forgot until half-way through my pull-down sets.  I'll hit it the rest of the cycle.  No big deal.

Got 5 more reps with the empty barbell on curls today.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 2. Week 1. Conditioning

Hill Sprints - 10 minutes

Intervals - 10 minutes

My hill is a 20 minute walk from home.  I was pressed for time today so I only ran the hill for 10 minutes, and then did sprint intervals all the way home.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 2. Week 1. Squat

BW - 204 (yay, thanksgiving!)

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95X5

Squats -
135X5
175X5
200X5
230X7
135X10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Standing Single-Leg Curl - 5 sets of 10

Almost 80%, but the last rep or two of the squats at 230 were a pretty good strain, however technique felt solid through all the effort and I got the number of reps I was looking for, and that's the goal.

Switching to back squats for the BBB sets for this cycle.  Much harder than front squats following the 531 sets, but also felt more awesome to just keep banging out back squats.  Happy with this choice.

Also switching to single-leg hamstring work for this cycle.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 1. Week 3. Press

BW - 201

Press -
BarX10
80X5
90X3
105X8

Upright Rows -
85X10, 10, 10, 10, 12

T-Bar Rows -
25X12
55X8
85X5
110X3
85X15, 10

80% session.  Press felt strong.  105X8 was NOT a grind, and puts me back in spitting distance of some of my best all-time pressing sessions.

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

BW - 202

Bench -
BarX15
95X5, 5
135X5
150X3
170X5

Incline -
95X10
105X10, 10, 10, 10

Chins - BWX11, 5

Pull-Downs - 3 sets of 12-15

BB Curls -
BarX10
65X5
BarX25

80% session.  170X5 is right around my best projected 1RM close-grip and pausing every rep.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 1. Week 3. Dead

BW - 200

Deadlift -
135X5
185X5, 5
235X5
265X3
305X3
315X3

RDL-
135X10
155X10
165X10
175X10
185X10

BW Lunges - 5 sets of 12-15

Running Thanksgiving errands, so I went to a L@Fitness near my house.  Because it was Monday, there was a queue for all the benches.  So fuck waiting for a bench and/or switching up my bench workout to accommodate that crap.  So instead of waiting for one of the 3-4 benches, I went over to the lone squat rack, dropped the bar on the ground and did Deads.

This gym has some of those crappy angle-sided weights that move around at the bottom of deadlift reps.  I knew that would suck ass if I tried to go for a lot of reps on my top set, so instead I pulled my programmed 531 top-set for a triple, then pulled my training max for the cycle for a triple.  315X3 is also a Rep PR.  Pretty fun.

RDLs and Lunges.  All good.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 1. Week 3. Squat/Hills

Saturday:
BW - 201

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95X5
135X5

Squats -
135X5
165X5
195X5
225X3
245X5

Front Squats -
95X10
105X10, 10
115X8, 8

Leg Curls - 5 sets of 20

Sunday:
Hill Sprints - 20 minutes

Okay session.  Probably not quite 80% on Squats.  245X5 was my goal for the day, but the last two sets were pretty damn hard.  It's possible I overdid the warm-up sets.  Next time I will drop back to 2 sets of Pause Squats, and only one warm-up set of full squats before my 531 sets.  See if that makes a difference.

Front squats felt stronger, though.  That was good.  However, I'm still worried about my back squat form, and I believe I will swap out Fronts for full back squats next cycle on my BBB sets.

Leg curls sucked less than usual.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 1. Week 2. Press

BW - 203

Press -
BarX10
75X3
85X3
95X10

Upright Rows -
85X10, 10, 10, 10
95X10

T-Bar Rows -
25X12
55X8
85X5
110X3
85X13, 6

Solid 80% session.  Everything showed an uptick in weight/strength.

I'm considering rotating some of my assistance for the next cycle.  If so, I will probably keep the T-Bars since I've had a lot of success with them in the past Deadlift-wise, but may switch out PBN for Uprights.  Still thinking about it.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 1. Week 2. Dead

BW - 201

Deadlift -
135X5
185X5, 5
225X3
255X3
285X8

RDL -
155X10, 10
165X10, 10
175X10

Lunges- BW 5 sets of 12

80% session.  I was only looking for 285X8 today, and that's what I got.  I will say the last couple of reps were a little harder to lock out with my legs than I would have liked.  In particular, my left knee didn't want to lock correctly.  Don't know what that is, but hopefully all the Front Squats and Lunges will benefit that area.

Decided to back off of 185 and work my way up a little more slowly on RDL's.  These were all good sets/reps, and I didn't even need a strap.  Right choice.

Upped the reps on lunges to 12 per.  I think I meant to do 11, but I forgot about that in the gym.

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

BW - 200

Bench -
BarX15
95X5
125, 145X3
160X6

Incline -
95X10, 10
105X10, 10, 10

Chins - BWX10, 7

Pull-Downs - 5 sets of 12-15

80% session.  Super-solid.  Was just gonna look for an easy 5 reps on my top set of bench, but 6 turned out to be just as easy.  No grinding, just getting a few extra reps before moving on to the BBB sets.

Switched to the shallower incline bench so I could up the weight a bit and bring some more pressure onto my chest.  Had to tweak my set-up a lot.  I don't want this to be a technical lift for me, but I still need to feel solid under the bar.

Solid 50% set on chins.

Pull-downs felt good.  Keeping my shoulder blades back, and pulling my elbows down.  No bicep effort at all, but my lats were feeling good and worked.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 1. Week 2. Hills

Hill Sprints - 20 minutes

I've done some running since I got back from vacation at the beginning of October, but I suddenly realized I hadn't hit the hill once since then.  Need to change that, and get these in before the weather gets just to crappy and I have to find something else.  Given everything, these were about as hard as I expected.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 1. Week 2. Squat

BW - 200

Pause Squats -
BarX10
135X5

Squats -
135X5
180, 205X3
235X6

Front Squats -
105X10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Leg Curls - 5 sets of 20

Again, I came in and got the reps I was looking for on my top set.  235X6 is my 2nd best squat since I reset my form.

Fronts are still gassing me.  I keep telling myself I want to go for AMAP on the last set, but by the time I get to 10 I just want the damn thing back in the rack.  We'll see if that trend continues.  Still, 5 sets of 10 is the program.

Leg curls suck.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 1. Week 1. Press

BW - 202

Press -
BarX10
70, 80X5
90X12

Upright Rows  - 85X10, 10, 10, 10, 10

T-Bar Rows -
BarX20
25X10
50, 75, 100X5
75X20

Not a bad return to front pressing.  12 reps of the top set was what I was looking for, and what I got.  Can't complain.  I took these off of a stand, but I cleaned the first rep of each set.

Uprights were heavier than I'd hoped, but I chose the correct weight for the day.  Didn't have to use straps.

Hit 20 reps with my work weight on T-Bars, now I will up it for my next session, and work to 20 again.

5/3/1 BBB: Cycle 1. Week 1. Dead

BW - 199

Deadlift -
135, 185, 185, 205, 235X5
265X10

RDL -
185X10, 10, 10, 10, 10

BW Lunges - 5 sets of 10

Pretty solid session.  I've been hitting a lot of project 1RM increases with my pull the last couple of months, so I thought I'd take the opportunity of starting the BBB phase to just hit a solid 10 reps and then move on to the accessory stuff.  As always, I held the last rep at the top for grip.

185 was a tad ambitious for me on the RDL's right out of the gate.  I probably could stand to back off to 155-165 so that I can focus on the muscle contractions rather than just making each rep.  Also, I had to add straps after the 1st set.  Going forward, I will keep my straps handy, and try to delay using them as long as possible.

5X10 lunges were pretty easy all the way through.  I'll up it to 5X12 for the next session.

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

BW - 200

Bench-
BarX15
95, 115, 135X5
150X7

Inclines -
95X10, 10, 10
105X10, 10

Chins - BWX10, 6

Pull-Downs - 5 sets of 10-15

Disrupted session.  I only took bench to a rep where the bar speed slowed dramatically.  I could have gotten 1 or 2 more, and possibly ground out a 3rd.  I decided to just take the two extra reps and focus on the BBB sets.

There were a bunch of guys in the main bench area talking NBA when I went to do Inclines and I let myself get sucked into the conversation.  The incline sets were all "fine," but they all had 3-4 minute rest between sets because of talking.  I've never really talked to anyone in the gym before, and it was kind of nice to socialize, but I feel like I diminished my workout.

Also, I used the really steep incline bench, but I think I'm gonna try the curved one next time.  The steep angle just makes it feel a lot more like an overloaded OHP rather than a deficit bench press somehow.

Since this phase is so much about volume, and since I can't do 5 strict sets of 10 on chins, I've decided to just do 50% sets of chins and follow that up with 5X10 pull-downs for lat volume.  A little bit of a call-back to the Defranco programs that started all this for me.

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

BW - 203

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95X5

Squats -
95, 135, 170, 195X5
220X8

Front Squats -
95X10
105X10, 10 10, 10

Leg Curls - 5 sets of 20

Decent session to kick off the new phase.  And my legs were KILLING me the next day.  Woke me up in the middle of the night it hurt so bad.  Just brutal.  2 days later, I'm all good.

220X8 on the Squat is in the ballpark of my best lifts the last couple of months.

Front squats felt pretty solid.  I've settled back on a pretty standard 3-fingers under the bar grip, only with my wrists rotated slightly inward.  This weight feels "light," however I kept feeling gassed towards the end of the sets.  Don't know if that's diet, sleep, or just need to get used to the 5X10 protocol on these.  Plenty of time to find out.

Leg curls suck.

5/3/1 Full-Body: In Review

Yesterday I wrapped 5 cycles/4 months of 531 - Full Body.  I'm going to go over the way I set it up, and then the progress #'s.

Here's a comparison of the textbook version of this variation and what I did:
3-Days
Wendler:
Regular Squat every session; one 531, two with lower %/reps
Me:
Regular Squat on 531 day, Pause Squats the other two with the lower %/reps.  Pause Squats help me keep my form in check.

Wendler:
Military Press with 531 sets/reps on Press/Deadlift day
Me:
I used Klokov presses instead just because I wanted to give the movement a good try.  Also, every 3rd or 4th session I would use Paul Carter's Strong-15 scheme to understand where my top end strength on the movement was in comparison to the high-reps I was getting on my 531 top set (it was always lower than projected).

Wendler:
Puts out a lot of DB/one-arm/one-leg movements as potential options for assistance
Me:
Everything was done with a barbell, or lifting my body off the floor (chins and dips)

Wendler:
One Squat, One Press, One Pull movement per session.
Me:
That plus a few cycles where I threw in ONE additional accessory movement per day targeted to bring up one certain muscle group per cycle.  So I would settle on a muscle group, and add one movement to each lifting session for that area.  I did this for two cycles with shoulders/traps, and one cycle with legs.

That's it.  I consider that directly in-line with the principals of the program as laid out by Wendler.  The only place one might quibble is with the additional movement added to bring up a muscle group, however I always had enough energy to get a quality work-out on all the lifts, and my numbers never seemed to suffer from the added work.

On to my progress:
There are a few ways to look at this, but I'm going to start with progress on the individual lifts.  One note on this: I reset my max on everything after the first cycle because I was stalling really quickly following the 2-day program I'd been on for the summer, and that's why the initial weights don't seem far off from the final weights.  I also started pausing all bench reps on my chest, and this further reduced my initial #'s.  With that out of the way:

Squat -
Best lift first cycle: 225X4, projected 1RM 250
Best lift final cycle: 225X8, projected 1RM 280
30 lb. increase

Bench -
Best lift first cycle: 160X4 (touch-and-go), projected 1RM 180
Best lift final cycle: 165X6 (all paused on chest), projected 1RM 195
15 lb. increase PLUS added pause at bottom

Klokovs -
Best lift first cycle: 70X12, projected 1RM 95
Best lift final cycle: 85X11, projected 1RM 115
20 lb. increase

Deadlift -
Best lift first cycle: 295X1 (awful); projected 1RM 305 (previous best was 345)
Best lift last cycle: 290X8; projected 1RM 360
60 lb. increase

Something else I started tracking, and another way to look at progress, is that I logged my projected "total" for each week, and then my average total for each cycle.  So for example, in week 1, I projected at 240, 175, 305 for a 720 total, I found that number for each week, and then took the average of all 3 weeks per cycle to get my average total for the cycle.  Progress looks like this:

Cycle 1 -
720, 735, 720 for Average Total - 725

Cycle 5 -
780, 835, 820 for Average Total - 810

85 lb. increase

Looking at it this way results in a very conservative number by which to judge my current standing.  Rather than just taking my best individual lifts across the whole program and saying my final total is maybe 835, I can safely say that my total is at least 810.

So there are two different ways to look at my progress.  I think the bottom line here is that progress was demonstrably made.

As to how I feel about the training like this?  I loved it.  I really did.  It was hard to talk myself into transitioning into something else.  This type of full body layout using only a compound barbell or bodyweight movements is the kind of thing I've wanted to try since I started reading Chaos and Pain, and it really worked for me mentally.  Also, I've long felt that in addition to the Big-3, my long-term staples would be standing OHP, BB Rows, Chins and Dips.  This program allowed me to ONLY to do those things for a long time, and it was awesome.  I expect I will return to this from now on for a significant portion of each year's training.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 5. Week 3. Bench/Dead

BW - 203

Pause Squats -
BarX5
95X5
135X5, 5
185X3
210X3
235X1

Lunges - BW 5 sets of 10

Bench-
BarX15
95X5, 5
130X5
150X3
165X6

Deadlift -
135X5
185X5, 5
225X5
260X3
290X8

Tough session, but with some good results.  This was the last week of 531 Full Body.  I have a tight schedule this week with 2 public readings and rehearsals for same.  Also, I'm going to try and squeeze 2+ full cycles of 531 BBB in before I start rehearsing my next show after the new year.  Therefore, I made the executive decision to combine my last 2 Full Body sessions into one, so that I can start BBB this weekend.  The big loss here is that I had to drop my final session of Kolkovs.  Everything else that got skipped (chins, leg curls) will be present in the next phase.

Pause Squats felt solid.

My quads felt mega-pumped after the 5X10 lunges.

165X6 is a tiny, tiny all-around PR on the bench close-grip and pausing every rep on the chest.  I was hoping to go for 8, but 6 was a grind.  The 150X3 was the best feeling set of the bench session as far as tightness of set-up.  Feeling positive about the adjustments I've made, and the results.

290X8 is also a small all-around PR on Deadlift.  I started making a small adjustment here, which is basically just keeping my hips a tad higher.  The bar still banged the fuck out of my knees, but didn't tear up my shins at all.  The last couple reps here were also really tough grip wise, and the final rep BARELY locked out.  I still managed to hold the weight at the top for a second or two, but I could be beginning to see the upper limit of my double-overhand grip.