Sunday - Squats. Week #1 Cycle #4

Waaaa!!!!! Why squats on the one rare day I'm hungover? WHYY!!!!!???

Seeing as I'm hungover, I was not expecting much in the gym today. Not much is what I accomplished. Still, I gave it everything I had; the strength just wasn't there.

Goals:

255x5
295x5
335x5

Lifted:


255x5
295x5
335x8


Video of final set below. Shit gets ugly at the end.

Thursday - Bench. Week #1 Cycle #4 | Hill Sprints #21

Get your god damned hands away from there.

Sigh. Watch the video, my instructions were pretty clear, I thought. LET ME FAIL, LET THE BAR FALL, I DON'T CARE! I was f'ing baffled when he started to touch the bar on the 11th rep and then basically grabbed it from me on the 12th. I had it, too, god damnit. Anyway, not much else to say about that and I still improved, nonetheless: 200x8 in week #1 cycle #1  to today's 210x12. One rep max calculator is putting me even closer to 300 now: 294lbs. Assistance work: 5 sets of 10 of 85lb DB rows. And 5 sets of 15,15,15,10,8 of 65lb DB bench.

Goals:

160x5
185x5
210x5

Lifted:


160x5
185x5
210x12


Video of final set below:

Tuesday - Deadlifts. Week #1 Cycle #4

Today rocked, I got 380x15. Improvement from week 1 cycle 1 to week 1 cycle 4 is 355x13 to 380x15. Not bad! I actually loaded the weight wrong on the final set and pulled a lopsided rep before setting it down again and fixing the problem. I just took a 2 min break and went for it again after that.




Goals:
295x5
335x5
380x5

Lifted:
295x5
335x5
380x15

Assitance work: weighted pullups  (+45): 6, 5, 5, 3 and Ab wheel.


Video fo final set below:

Sunday - Clean and Jerk. Week #1 Cycle #4. Hill Sprints #20

Digging deep for the 10th rep.

Today begins cycle #4. The final working set today ended up being the same weight as last month, so I knew I needed 10 reps to improve over last month's total. I was a little worried, as I've never done 10 reps at any weight for clean and jerk. It was a bit of a struggle and getting that tenth rep was exhausting; I think high rep C&Js are more tiring than squats or deadlifts. Anyway, I was pleased to get the ten! Improvement thus far is now 175x8 -->185x10. 

I finished with 5 sets of 10 weighted dips (+45lbs) and 5 sets of 10 chinups.

Goals:

145x5

165x5

185x5

Lifted:

145x5

165x5

185x10

Video of final set below:

Deload until the 24th.

Tuesday - Squats. Week #3 Cycle #3

Shitty depth. Still parallel, but week 3 set last month was much lower.  Fix that  next time.

Why didn't I go for one more rep? I re-racked the weight and immediately regretted it. Anyway, today marks the end of cycle #3 and despite today's lack of effort, I've improved from the beginning of the program, in which I squatted 310x6, to today's 365x6. Week #3 efforts have improved form 345x4 -->355x5 -->365x6. Still, today's lift could have been better both in terms of effort, and form. I didn't think wearing a raised heel would make so much of a difference, but it threw me off; I felt really uncomfortable being forced onto my toes like that. Next time I'll be sure to wear the vans.

For assistance work I did doubles of heavy front squats (225lbs is pretty heavy for me) for 5 sets and a few sets of muscle ups. No reasoning behind the muscle ups, I just wanted to see if I'd be able to do them any better than when I had tried them before beginning the program. In the past I was able to do a difficult set of 5. Today I knocked that out with ease!

Goals:

285x5

325x3

365x1

Lifted:

285x5

325x3

365x6

Video of muscle up test below:

Sunday - Bench. Workout #3 Cycle #3

Cool. I finally feel like my bench press is moving away from abysmal and embarrassing and closer to my ultimate goal of 300lbs. I also realized it has been over a month since I last got anything on video for bench, so I got over my embarrassment and set up the camera today. Progress after three months on bench has been better than I expected.  I started the program with a lift of 200x8 and today did 230x7. In terms of week #3 lifts (5/3/1 days) I've improved from: 220x2-->225x5-->230x7. My form is still trash: My elbows flare out, I don't keep a good arch, and my body is not very tight.

Goals:

180x5

205x3

230x1

Lifted:

180x5

205x3

230x7 (calculated 1RM of 283.6. 300 is coming into sight.)

Assistance work:

65lb db flat bench  for 5 sets (15,15,12, 10, 10)
85lb db rows 5 sets of 10. 

Stretch.

Video of final set below:

Hill Sprints #19

Sore as can be from last deadlift workout. Sprints went well though, getting better at them.

Friday - Deadlifts. Workout #3 Cycle #3

Winded.

Today went well. I wasn't sure how 415 would feel since I've mainly been lifting in the 300s for the first three cycles of this program. I knew going in that I wanted to get 9 reps seeing as 415x8 was something I had lifted before beginning this program. Anyway, my warm-ups were hard and stiff (that's what she said) as usual, but apparently that isn't such a bad thing since, on deadlifts,  I seem to keep pulling out a decent lift on the final working set. Mentally, though, this program is becoming difficult for me. Before I started this program I didn't have the (self-imposed) pressure of needing to knock out PR's every session. It's a little difficult to handle, but I guess learning to handle pressure can't be a bad thing.

Taking a step back and looking at the big picture, my week #3 deadlift progress, thus far, has been: 400x7 --> 405x10 --> 415x10. Not bad. 

Goals:

325x5

370x3

415x1

Lifted:

325x5

370x3

415x10

Video of final set below:

Tuesday - Clean and Jerks. Week #3 Cycle #3 | Hill Sprints #18

Today went better than I expected. Clean and jerks (and pressing, in general) are my weakest lift, and if something is off I can easily fail to complete a set. Anyway, by the time I finished my second working set, I was feeling pretty nervous and was even worried about being able to clean the weight of the final set into position. I had the butterflies in my stomach and all that fun stuff. So, really, I was happy to have gotten that first rep, which was pretty shaky, and wasn't expecting to do much better than that. After I finished my final set, I decided to do 5 sets of 5 of clean and jerks instead of weighted dips. I figure I need the practice if I'm going to get any better at this lift, especially since I've only been doing a grand total of three cleans every 8 days or so. I also did 5 sets of 10 for chinups in between the last five sets of cleans.

Oh, and thus far, after three cycles, my clean and jerk has gone from 195x5 to 205x5.

Goals:

160x5

185x3

205x1

Lifted:

160x5

185x3

205x5

Video of final set below:

A quick note on progress.

I just wanted to take a second and talk about one other aspect of improvement aside from reps and weight. I've noticed, since I keep videos of most of my lifts, how much faster I am completing my 5+, 3+, and 1+ sets when I compare them to the previous month, even when I'm doing more reps and weight. Just something to think about if you're not happy with a certain lift on a certain day...maybe you did actually improve.

Sunday - Squats. Workout #2 Cycle #3

Not comfortable.

Squats for week #2 workouts have gone, thus far: 330lbx4 in cycle #1 to 335lbx5 in cycle #2. Today called for 345lbs on my final set and I had in mind to get at least 6 reps seeing as I did 355lb for 5 in week #3 of the last cycle. I picked 8 reps as the ultimate goal, but this turned out to be a little ambitious and I ended up getting 7 reps. Still, this is good improvement: 330x4-->335x5-->345x7.  On these heavier weight, higher rep sets, I think the inflexibility in my hips and hamstrings are really starting to hinder me. My back is giving out way before my legs are. Although before beginning 5/3/1 I never did more than 1 rep or 2 reps over 300lbs, so maybe I'm just not used to it yet. On a related note, I need to warm up more. My legs are feeling like lead before I begin my working sets. Anyway, I really have no idea what I'm talking about.


Goals:

270x3
305x3
345x3


Lifted:


270x3
305x3
345x7


For assistance work I only did  front squats, 5 sets (3 sets of 135 for 7, 2 sets of 225x3). Doing back squats has made my back tighten up the past couple of squat workouts. Again, due to my tight hamstrings and hips, I think. Stretched and foam rolled afterwards, as usual.

Video of final set below:

Friday - Bench. Workout #2 Cycle #3

The program called for 220x3 as my final lift today. This time last month I lifted 215x7 so I knew I wanted to get at least the 7 reps. Still, I had in my mind the 220lb set I did in my first cycle of 5/3/1 where I only managed two reps. It all went better than expected and I managed 220 for 8. No video today, oops.

Cycle #2 progress from the beginning of the program thus far: 210x8-->215x7--->220x8

Goals:

170x3
195x3
220x3

Lifted:

170x3
195x3
220x8


I was pretty spent after my last set and struggled with the assistance work: I think I only got 50 reps (75 was the goal) in 5 sets of 65lb db flat bench. I got all 50 reps of db rows at 80lbs, though.

Tuesday - Deadlifts. Workout #2 Cycle #3 | Hill Sprints #17

1st rep. Not too confident at this point. 

The deadlifts continue to improve. At the start of the program (cycle #1, workout #2) I did 375x11. During the second cycle of the following month, I improved to 385x11. Today, cycle #3, I managed 395x12. I was pretty certain during the warm up sets that I would have a poor session since set #2 at 350lbs felt difficult and I was stiff. I have been spending most of my days sitting and studying so I think that is part of the problem. Anyway, I knew I wanted to get 12 reps when I came in and around rep 3 I think I felt like I could do it.

Goals:

305x3

350x3

395x3

Lifted:

305x3

350x3

395x12

I switched up the assistance work a bit and did 5 sets of 5 deadlifts at 255lbs (not touch and go and double overhand grip). They were pretty easy. I want to try and work up to 5 sets of 10. I continued to work with the ab wheel. 

Video of final set below:

Sunday - Clean and Jerk. Workout #2 Cycle #3

I am disspoint.

Shit.That was some garbage. I wanted a redo so badly. I had weak leg drive today coupled with an inability to get under the bar --Waaa. I think this is a result from doing hill sprints on the same day as squats last workout; I'm still sore in my legs and back from that. Anyway, I won't be making that mistake again. I wanted to get 195 for 7 since I got 190 for 7 last month and 200 for 6 at the end of the last cycle. This did not happen....I did improve my assistance work, however: I did 55 weighted dips (+45lb) in 5 sets and 50 chinups in 5 sets.

Goals:

150x3

175x3

195x3

Lifted:

150x3

175x3

195x6

Video of dissapointed man below

Friday - Squats. Workout #1 Cycle #3 | Hill Sprints #16

Squats are blowin' up! I was pretty sure today was going to be shitty since my legs felt like cold rubber throughout my warm ups. Anyway about three reps into my final set I knew I had something going, and when I hit 7 reps (the number I had in mind to hit before I got to the gym) I knew I could get 10.  I left some in the tank for next week as well.

Looking back at my week #1 numbers from the last two cycles I hit 310x6 in month 1 and 315x7 in month 2. This month I hit 325x10. Sweet. 

I limited my assistance work to some light sets of front and back squats: my legs were shaky and my back tightened up a good bit when I started to front squat. Instead of hurting myself anymore, I spent about 30 minutes stretching and foam rolling.

Edit: I ran 7 hill sprints this evening. Legs were wobbling by the end. 

Goals:

250x5

285x5

325x5

Lifted:

250x5

285x5

325x10

Video of final provided. This time the video is sideways; WTF, I am incompetent.