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.

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.

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

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Press -
BarX5
65X5X2
80X5
95X5
110X8
95X5

Chin-ups, neutral grip - BW(204)X10, 6

Standing, single-leg curls - 5 sets of 10-12

Swiss-Ball Crunches - 5 sets of 20

110X8 is a Rep PR, and a minor increase to my projected 1RM.  I didn't expect to be setting any 1RM increases on Press or DL on this 2-day split program, but I felt good today so I went for it and got it.  Just one of the smart things about this program philosophy is that it teaches this.  I expect that this is something that becomes ingrained, and years from now when I am likely doing my own thing rather than someone else's program design, I will still work with this concept of having a minimum to meet in a given session, that I can then exceed based on feel.

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

Defranco Hip Mobility

Pause Squats -
BarX5
115X5
135X5
155X5
180X5
200X5

Deadlift -
135X5X2
225X3
255X3
290X3

GHR - 5 sets of 8-10

Swiss-Ball Crunch - 5 sets of 15-20

Really long pause on the squats today.  Slightly shorter on the top set.  Similar to deadlifts, there may be a tipping point with these where things just feel heavy no matter where your 1RM is.  For deadlifts that used to be 200-225 for me, but of course after a while it moved up.  With long-paused squats, it's in the 185-200 range right now, or around 75% of my 1RM. 

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

Defranco Shoulder Mobility
Incline -
BarX10
95X5
120X5
135X3
150X3
125X10

Klokov Press -
45X5
65X3
75X2
85XFail

Chin-ups - BW(206)X10, 4

Cable Rows - 3 sets of 10-12

Swiss Ball Crunches - 3 sets of 15

Not a bad session for having been out of the gym for over a week with a low back strain.  I used a different incline bench that's a little less vertical, and my pressing was predictably stronger.  I guess I'll just have to start tracking which bench I use in a session.  Still, because my incline was weaker than anticipated in my first week, for the next three weeks, I'm dialing back my training max in the hopes to get more reps on my top set.  Because I could only get 3 reps on my top set here, I decided to do the back-off set with 125.  Both the 150X3 and the 125X10 projected to increased maxes on this movement, but again, it was a shallower bench.

Chiropractor Visit

Went to see a chiropractor yesterday to see about help with recovery and prevention with this back strain.  It was my first visit to this doctor, but I was impressed as hell.  They required a 2-hour block for a first visit as a get to know you period, and we used up all that time very well.  Primarily with discussion of my background: how I lift, how long I've been lifting, how I prepare for lifting, how life was before lifting, my day job, my diet, etc.

I told her I had gotten this strain twice in the past year, once back-squatting and once front-squatting.  She brought in some kind of padded bar and had me demonstrate my technique on both lifts, then called her partner in to watch me do them again.  They looked at each other and basically said in unison "abs."  And they discussed the knee possibly not tracking correctly, and hyper extending at lock-out which they would like me to avoid.  I've NEVER heard or seen discussion of knee hyper extension with squats before, and I see no reason not to take that advice.  Very interesting.  She prescribed some transverse abdominus work, and a neat little VMO exercise.  She also asked me to get in some short-ROM swiss-ball crunches and abductor work in full hip extension. 

When I discussed all the varieties of ab work I've been doing over the last year, she felt that a lot of that was very hip-flexor dominant, and not enough actual abdominal isolation.  That was also very interesting to hear.  She discussed the role of the abdomen in bracing the trunk, and even taking some load off the spine, and that being weak in that area was likely causing me these problems with the squat even though my form looked good on both variations.  We also discussed the anterior hip strain I got around the new year, and she agreed that it was likely the TFL, and that it was also symptomatic of asymetrical hip mobility

Another impressive thing she did, and I've never had a chiropractor do this, is that after deciding that the problem is with my right hip not moving very independently, she only adjusted my hips.  Not once have I been to a chiropractor, and not gotten a full adjustment from skull to tail-bone.  She didn't say anything about this one way or the other, it's just what she did.  Looking back on the session, that just made a lot of damn sense to me.  Find the problem, work on the problem, why fuck around with my neck, or thoracic spine if the problem is down around the sacrum?

The awesome news I got is that she's fairly certain I don't have a herniated disk.  This was my number one concern going in for the consultation.  She went to great lengths to say that she doesn't expect my disks are "perfect" (no surprise to me, based on what I've read about the spinal health of the general population), but that she saw no evidence of herniation.

I've got a follow-up with her partner in 2 weeks for massage therapy and reevaluation.  Only one visit, and I've still got to implement the recommendations and see what the results are, but at this point I would say that if you live in or around the Northern Chicago area, Andersonville Chiropractic might be worthwhile if you are looking for these kinds of services.