5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 1. Week 2. Squat

BW - 200

Hypers on the GHR - 2 sets of 15

Squat -
BarX10
95X3
135X3
175X3
205X3
225X4

Pendlays -
BarX10
95X5
120X15

Dips - BWX6, 15, 6

Chiro Crunches - 3 sets of 30

Didn't feel like setting up the Reverse Hyper today, and really just wanted to get to the squats, so I only did a few sets of extensions on the GHR.  I did use some form tweaks that Paul Carter discusses in his new book, and I felt them in my back more, and my glutes less.

Squats were good.  Everything felt solid form-wise, and I probably could have gotten a 5th rep on the top-set.  I think my training max is still too high for a starting cycle, though, as I should be contemplating a 10th rep rather than a 5th at this point.  Now that I'm going ATG, the strength out of the very bottom just isn't there for many reps at this weight, BUT it's feeling better all the time.  One thing I found today is that, if I control my descent a bit more then I feel a tad more explosive on the turn-around.  I suspect this is a by-product of increased stability.  Still plan to finish out this cycle to establish a revised max with my new depth, then reset my training max for the next cycle. 

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

BW - 204

Reverse Hyper - 5 sets of 10

Pause Squats -
BarX5
95X5
115X5
135X5

Klokov Press -
BarX5
55X5
60X12

Deadlift -
135X5
205X5
235X5
265X5

Chiro Crunches - 5 sets of 25-30

Really nice session.  Seems like the best in awhile.

Doesn't seem to matter how little weight is on the bar, full, ATG pause squats just feel like they don't want to go over 5 reps.  Weird.  These all felt good though.

Just my second time ever trying these "Klokov" presses.  No matter, I went ahead and based by 531 training max on the lone, other session and predictably got a lot of reps on the top set and projected an increased 1RM.  The way Squat and Bench day went, it was nice to feel like the first week of a 531 movement was easy for a change.  Shoulders were smoking after that top set, though.  It was great.

Deadlifts felt solid.  My top strength has certainly dropped off a bit since I pulled several PR singles to push up my 1RM a couple months back, but that seems to be expected, as top end strength peaks and drops off again.  The cool thing, looking back at my progress over the last several months is that my "baseline" pulling strength seems to have shifted permanently from an average max range in the high 200's to the low 300's.  Roughly from the 285-290 range to the 310 range.  The good thing here is that 531 seems like the perfect format to sit back a tad and, hopefully, allow that average to creep up slowly.  Of course, if I'm feeling awesome one day, I will go for extra reps.  In the meantime, I'm doing hypers, rows, and chins together with tons of squatting, so there's plenty of work for the support muscles of the pull, without having to push the lift itself very often.  That's the plan anyway.  Starting with this session, I'm also holding the last rep at lockout to test/increase my grip strength.

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

BW - 200

Pause Squats -
BarX8
95X5
115X5
135X5

Bench -
BarX8
95X5
115X5
135X5
155X4

Chin-ups - BWX5, 7, 6, 5, 4

Reverse-Hyper - 100lbs.; 5 sets of 10
super-set with
Chiropractor Crunches - 5 sets of 20-25

My gym isn't air-conditioned, but thank god it's in a basement.  Hot as hell this week.

Pause Squats were fine as they should be at this light weight.  Still, good opportunity to work on my form.  Kept well back on my heels on all reps.

Bench stalled out on me.  Couldn't get the 5th rep.  This is a bit of a bummer after all the OHP and Inclining I've been doing the last several weeks.  However, my weight is down at least 5 lbs. since I set my last 1RM PR, and that was almost 2 months ago.  I'm not happy about it, but my max may just be predictably dropping with my BW.  I suppose that's the best case scenario unless this was just an off day.  I will keep my training max the same through this first cycle, and then drop it if necessary.  Along with this, I'm also starting to track my current max vs. my all-time PR's so that I can be clearly aware of where I'm at in that regard.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 1. Week 1. Hills

Hill-Sprints - 20 minutes; 97 degrees HOT!

It's goddman hot in Chicago right now, and my hill is in full sun.  I shut it down after 20 minutes and walked home.  Slowly.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 1. Week 1. Squat

BW - 201

Reverse Hyper - 5 sets of 10

Squat -
BarX10
95X5
135X5
160X5
185X5
210X5

Pendlays -
BarX15
95X8
110X8
120X8

Dips - BWX5, 7, 10, 7, 5

Chiropractor Crunches - 5 sets of 20-30

Now that my show is opened and my parents have left town, I'm finally sliding into the program I've been eyeing for a few months.  Namely 531 Full-Body.  Because I'm being an asshat, and not doing exactly the movements laid out by Wendler, this will probably take some calibration.  Case in point, I programmed Pendlay Rows and Dips instead of DB Rows and DB bench for squat day as you can see here.  The dips were fine, however I was going to try and do 8/5/3 for the Pendlays in the spirit of the 5/3/1 lay-out, and that just didn't feel like the way to do it after this first session.  If I had to do this again, I would have repped out 110 instead of working up to 120.  Some of this will be re-acclimating myself to the movement, and some just tweaking for what is going to work best.  Just because Jamie Lewis does heavy sets of 3 on that movement, doesn't mean it's going to work for me.  At least, not yet.

Also, this happened

Two of them, in fact.

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

BW - 198

Incline (steep) -
BarX10
65X5
95X3
110X3
130X3
145X3

DB Rows - worked up to a heavy set of 20

Lying Leg Curls - 5 sets of 10-15

Swiss-Ball Crunches - 5 sets of 20-25

1 mile run - 9:30

Used the steep fixed incline bench today.  So  much more like an overloaded front press than the shallower bench.  Hoped to get 5 reps on the top set, but 3 was a grinder, but projected higher than my previous session on this particular bench so all good.