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

Defranco's Agile-8 and Simple-6

RDL - BarX10, 95X5

Deadlift -
135X5
180X5
205X5
235X5
135X10X5

Full Hanging Leg Raise - BWX3, 5, 5

I had planned to do Bench this day because I wanted to keep my back fresh for my show this weekend, but I got to the gym and couldn't talk myself out of pulling. To be on the safe side, I did both Defranco warm-ups to try and make sure everything was ready to go.

Everything went fine with the work-sets. Because I'm trying to focus on Squats, I didn't try to go for additional reps on my top set. However, I did decide to try out Boring But Big for the assistance. Normally for that program, you rep out 5X10 at between 40-50% of your training max. Rather than think too much about it, I checked to see if 135 was in that range for my true max, found it was, and settled on that. No muss, no fuss. Guys talk a lot about how much BBB for DL's destroys them, but I didn't find that to be the case. Probably because I'm using relatively light weights, although I did feel a bit light-headed after the last two work-sets. I think I could probably go a bit heavier if I wanted, but again, I'm focusing on Squats.

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

Defranco's Simple-6

Press -
45X10
65X5
75X5
85X5
100X10
super-set with
Chin-ups - BWX5X5

Chin-ups - BWX5X5 (50 total reps for the day)
super-set with
BB Overhead extensions - BarX10X5

Push-ups Ladder - 13 to 1

Hammer and Tire - 2 sets of 25 swings "each arm"

100X10 is a PR for me.  Yay!  I think next week I may just try to get the prescribed 3 reps plus one or two and save my rep out attempt for bench.  I'm really trying to take the "pick your battles" mantra to heart on this program.  I just had a couple of folks on a message board I'd been frequenting for BLAB discussion bemoan that I'd decided to go with 5/3/1 because that community had a bad experience with it.  Based on what I've been reading on the T-Nation forums, I'm hoping some of that may be due to some of the apparent common mistakes people make on the program: going all out on all final sets all the time, not starting light enough, starting light but adding more weight between cycles than the program calls for, going crazy with assistance volume, and constantly over-hauling the program rather than plugging away.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 0. Squats

Defranco's Agile-8

BB Squat -
45X5
95X5
135X5
155X3
175X3
200X3

BB Split Front Squats - BarX10X3

Front Squats - 55X10, 75X10X2

Much like Bench Day is now Bench and Back Day, this is now Squat and Quads Day (although I'm feeling it pretty good in my Glutes as well).  Seriously, I was rubber-legged on the trip home, and the front of my thighs are definitely making their presence known today.  This is good as I chose this accessory work for this day specifically for this purpose.  I'll get my back and hamstring work on Deadlift day.

Trying to adhere to the deload week 0 idea here so I didn't go for reps on the last set of squats.  Few notes here though.  I watched a Rippetoe video about squat grip, and it totally fucked up my session.  This was killing my shoulder and I was having trouble keeping the bar on top of my delts.  When I tried to abandon this and go back to my regular grip, I couldn't remember how to do it!  Really frustrating.  I had to take a break a do shoulder-dislocates to try and loosen my shoulder back up.  It's been months since I've had problems in my left shoulder, so this made me none too happy.  Also my wrists felt beat to shit as well.  In fact, my wrists took a beating all day.  On the bright side, I was getting great depth all day!  Don't know why.  I'd been worried after my last heavy set on BLAB that I'd cut the last couple of sets high.  Maybe just having that in my mind got me down into the hole more.  A really funny thing happened too me.  After my first work-set, I heard a voice behind me saying "Do you have to go so low?"

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 0. Bench

Defranco's Simple-6

BB Bench-
45X10
75X5
95X5
110X3
130X3
145X3
super-set with
Chin-ups - BWX5X5

Chin-ups - BWX5X3
super-set with
Dips - BWX10, 10, 6

T-Bar Rows - 1 PlateX12X3
super-set with
Chin-ups - BWX4, 6 (50 total reps of chin-ups on the day)

Face-Pulls - 60X20, 15, 40X20

Hammer and Tire - 3 rounds of 50 (25 "each arm")

It's funny.  This is called Bench Day, but it kind of looks more like Back Day, doesn't it?  I'd already incorporated super-sets of chins to 50 total reps on Press Day, but I was reading 5/3/1 for Powerlifting, and in that manual he advocates doing this on both Press and Bench days.  I've already invested so much time and effort into building my chins, I thought I would go ahead and incorporate that.  I guess I could have dropped the T-Bar Rows, but I suck at them and want to get better.  So this is now Bench and Back Day, I guess.

Speaking of the Bench, the work sets felt kind of heavy.  I'm not stressing it, though.  It's been 3 weeks since I set my max.  We'll just ease on back in as the program calls for.  Next week I'll do these same weights again, but 5 reps each on the work-sets.  Makes me glad I came up with the Week 0 idea.

5/3/1: Picking your battles

I've been reading and re-reading the 5/3/1 manual, as well as devouring the main series of 5/3/1 threads at T-Nation, and I think I've come to an important conclusion:  I need to make at least the first cycle, and possibly the second, about the Squat.

Jim talks about picking your battles in regards to when to go hard for max reps on the last work-set of the day's main lift.  I've been reading a lot in the threads about people having difficulty recovering enough from going all out on DL day to go all out again on Squat day.  This all has finally sunk in, and I realize I should probably target one movement, or one upper and one lower to really get after each week, or per cycle. 

I went back to a spreadsheet I keep to track my current strength levels on the What Constitutes Strong lifts.  There's a slim chance of me ever attaining any of these lifts as described, but one of the things I did in my sheet was calculate the 1RM on each of those lifts and derive a ratio from there.  Since the Press is the only lift on the list that is measured by it's 1RM, I based the ratio on that.  Here's what it looks like:
Press:     1
Bench:   1.5
Dip:         0.75
Chin:       0.5
Squat:     2.5
DL:           2.5
BB Curl:  0.75

Then I compare the ratio of my current, projected 1RM on those lifts to these master ratios, and I can see what lifts are falling behind.

Now obviously, this isn't perfect.  It's a list made by two really strong and experienced guys, but it's still just two guys' opinion.  Also,  Body-weight specific movements like Dips and Chins are problematic.  Whatever.  It gives me a rough guide to the balance between my different lifts.

The short story is that I went back and looked at this, and it reminded me of what I already knew.  Right now, it seems that my Squat is lagging way behind my Pull.  That could be because I've tested my DL max, and I haven't done a strict test of my Squat, but it's a starting point.  Also, it shows me that my Bench and Press are roughly right in balance.  Ergo, I will focus on going all out on my last sets on Squat day, and only do so on other lifts if I'm really feeling it.  Based on Wendler's writings, he would probably consider this a good idea regardless.  Big lifters love the Squat.

Slow and steady, slow and steady.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 0. Deadlift

Defranco's Agile-8

RDL - BarX10

Deadlift -
135X5
155X5
175X3
180X3
205X3
235X3

My wife and friends got together and threw me a surprise birthday party on Monday night.  It was great!  However, I was totally beat yesterday.  Luckily 5/3/1 encourages the lifter to tailor sessions to that kind of thing.  Therefore, I just went in and got the prescribed weight/reps, and left.  The lifts were fast, but everything still felt hard because of fatigue. 

I want to note that I tried out the warm-up specified in the manual this time.  Usually I would do the bar and then 95 ahead of 135.  Wendler specifies a 40,50,60% of max warm-up.  I split the difference by doing some RDL's with the empty bar first.  Not sure this was as good as usual, but it's hard to say because I was tired.  I'll try it with the Bench next time and see how I feel then.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 0. Pressing

Defranco's Simple-6

Press - 45X10, 65X5, 75X3, 85X3, 100X9
super-set with
Chin-ups - BWX5X5

Chin-ups - BWX5, 5, 3, 5, 4
super-set with
BB Overhead Extensions - BarX10, 65X6, BarX10

Push-Ups - X20, 15, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3

Hammer and Tire - 3 rounds of 20 "each arm", 60 second rests

So I'm starting 5/3/1!  Very excited.  However, testing my DL 1RM this last week really took it out of me, and I was a little nervous that I wasn't allowing enough downtime between ending one program and starting another, so I added what I'm calling "Week 0" to the program.

Week 0 is basically a deload before the program week.  For my regular 5/3/1 deloads, I'm using the updated %'s that Jim posted on his blog.  The thing I noticed when I started plugging these into my spreadsheet is that these numbers (using the MROUND function in Excel) are the same as those in the 5X week at the beginning of the following cycle. The effect is 5/3/1/3, which makes sense because a lot of people reverse the 5 and 3 weeks as a variation on the program.  This incorporates that into the deload week, you just don't go for reps on the last set.  I decided to give myself a week to ease into the program by doing 3X's at the same weight I'll start my 5X's.  Also gives me a chance to make tweaks to assistance work, and get used to the way this program "feels" in the gym.

With that being said, the presses felt good so I decided to go for reps on my last set!  Ha.  I think I was within the philosophical boundaries of the program to do so.  The 100X9 was probably the most I could have done, and that projects to be around my 9RM so fine.