be back soon! hill sprints #47, 48, 49

squats. week 1 cycle 8 | Hill sprints #46

Short post since I'm out of town without a computer. Doing this from iPod. Anyway, skipped deadlifts and bench and chose to do squats since I had no chalk for deadlifts or a spotter for bench. did 365 x 10 for the final set which is what I wanted. I messed up filming as usual and can't see if my depth was any good.

Assistance work: 7 sets of front squats @ 225lbs. 3 reps per set.

Week 1 progress for squats over 8 cycles has thus far been:

• 310x6 - cycle 1 
• 315x7- cycle 2 
• 325x10 - cycle 3 
• 335x8 - cycle 4
• 340x10 - cycle 5 
• 350x10 - cycle 6
• 355x10 - cycle 7
• 365x10 - cycle 8

 
Goals for today:

280x5
320x5
365x5

Lifted:

275x5 (gym didn't have 2.5lb plates...)
325x5
365x10

Video of final set below:

Hill Sprints # 45

Clean and Jerk. Week 1 Cycle 8 | Hill Sprints # 44

My double chin is really starting to come in nicely.

Whoops forgot to post this workout before I left for vacation:

I'm starting cycle 8 early, since I'll be unable to lift for a bit due to the upcoming holidays and travel. Anyway, today was the c&j. The final weight for today was 205lbs, a weight I've seen a few times over the last eight cycles (getting 205 x 5, 205 x 6, and  205 x 8). Well, since I lifted 207.5 x 9 last cycle, I knew that I should at least get 10 today. WELL I GOT 11 OKAY!? GET OFF MY BACK. Gawl.

Goals for today:

155x5
180x5
205x5

Lifted:

155x5
180x5
205x11



Assistance work.

I was tired so I cut the volume for chins in half: 5 sets of 6 reps with +25lbs
Standing overhead press: 135lbs for 5 sets of 5
Abhweel: 5 sets of 6.

Progress on week-1 clean and jerks over the last 8 cycles has thus far been:

Cycle 1: 175x8
Cycle 2: 180x8
Cycle 3: 185x9
Cycle 4: 185x10
Cycle 5: 190x10
Cycle 6: 195x10
Cycle 7: 200x9
Cycle 8: 205x11 (+30lbs and +3 reps)


Another way to look at the progress is to compare my first c&j workout (175 x 8) to my last week-3 c&j workout (220x7). Damn near 50lbs added to c&j since beginning 5/3/1.


Video of final set below:

Squats. Week 3 Cycle 7.

Squats still ugly as sin, but progressing nonetheless.

Momentous day for me. Today marks the end of cycle 7 and I knew I had the chance to make it special (you'll see why below). Despite only a few hours of sleep, my warm-ups felt great, my first two working sets felt great, and I didn't have the usual feeling of dread when getting under the bar. I was excited. I nailed the final set and now my squat matches what my deadlift was when I started 5/3/1: 400 x 7. Holler. Another way to put this into perspective is that a year ago, almost to the day, I did my first powerlifting competition in which my final squat was 390lbs. This is progress.

Week 3 squat progress of 7 cycles thus far has been:

cycle 1: 345x4
cycle 2: 355x5
cycle 3: 365x6
cycle 4: 370x6
cycle 5: 380x7
cycle6: 390x6
cycle7: 400x7


Goals for today:

315x5
355x3
400x1

Lifted:

315x5
355x3
400x7


Assistance work:

• 5 sets of front squats: 3 reps at 225lbs
• 5 sets of muscle ups: 3,3,3,4,3 reps. No chalk, this felt dangerous w/o chalk, so I kept the reps to a minimum.

Video of final set below:

Hill Sprints #43 | Bench (prescribed reps only). Week 3 Cycle 7

Today is the last day that I'll be hitting only the prescribed reps for bench. Next cycle I'll be going back to attempting rep records.


Goals for today:

190x5
220x3
250x1

Lifted:


same as above

Assistance work:

• 5 sets of 10 reps of 1-arm dumbbell rows @ 100lbs
• 5 sets of 10 reps of barbell bench @135lbs

I'll be back Saturday with a real squat workout. 

Deadlifts. Week 3 Cycle 7.

I lift in a bar from the 80s.

Grip failed me today. It failed on my First set of 355 (pre-chalk) and on my last set of 455lbs. Anyway, Today's final set called for 450lbs, which marks the +50lbs on weight added to deadlifts since I started 5/3/1. Unfortunately, my gym has these comically large clown plates that take up too much room on the bar so I couldn't actually fit all the little plates it takes to get to 450lbs and I had to go up to 455. Also, I blew it with the recording again today since I got chalk all over the lens. Speaking of chalk, I was told (after 6 months of lifting at this gym) that I'm not allowed to use it anymore. Time to quit my membership there.

Assistance work:

• 5 sets of weighted (+45lbs) wide grip pull-ups: 6, 6, 6, 6, 5 reps
• 5 sets of ab-wheel. 

Goals for today:

355x5
400x3
450x1

Lifted:

355x5
400x3
455x10


Progress on week 3 deadlifts after 7 cycles thus far has been:

• Cycle 1: 400x7
• Cycle 2: 405x10
• Cycle 3: 415x10
• Cycle 4: 425x10
• Cycle 5: 430x11
• Cycle 6: 440x10 
• Cycle 7: 455x10

Video of final set below:

Clean and Jerk. Week 3 Cycle 7

No hair  = more aerodynamic 

The clean and jerk begins the final week of cycle 7. The weight for my final set ended up calculating to the exact same weight (220lbs) as last month, but that's okay, just meant I had to beat the reps from last time (6). I did just that and left a few in the tank.

Assistance work is also coming back to normal levels:

• 5 sets of 10 reps of weighted chins (+25 lbs)
• My shoulder still hurts, and I keep agitating it doing hill sprints, so I avoided the dips and did 5 sets of 5 military presses (135lbs). These were easy. My shoulder only hurts in dip position, not on bench of ohp, which is nice. 

Goals for today:

175x5

200x3

220x1

Lifted:

175x5

200x3

220x7

Progress on week 3 clean and jerks over 7 cycles has thus far been:

Cycle 1: 195 x 5

Cycle 2: 200 x 6

Cycle 3: 205 x 5

Cycle 4: 210 x 4

Cycle 5: 215 x 5

Cycle 6: 220 x 6

Cycle 7: 220 x 7 (this set done more quickly than last cycle's, too)

Video of final set below:

Squats. Week 2 Cycle 7 | Hill Sprints # 42

Wanted to get at least something worthwhile on camera.
Also, my hair is gone

Today was good. Squats called for a final weight of 375lbs. Last month was 370 x 8, so again I wanted 8 reps today. Unfortunately, I forgot to wear my converse (flat soled shoes) and my first two sets felt terrible, so I went barefoot for my final set. It felt a little awkward at first, especially with sweaty feet, but after the second rep it felt awesome. I got the 8 reps with at least one or two left in the tank. I will be going barefoot again in the future, for sure.

Unfortunately I continue to suck at recording my lifts and only managed to get the weights in frame. Because of this recording failure I decided to go 'heavy' on my front squats to at least get something on camera. Last time I went heavy on front squats I put up 300lbs, so I figured I'd try for 3 plates today. It went up ugly, but felt easy.

Goals for today:

295x3
335x3
375x3

Lifted:

295x3
335x3
375x8



Week 2 progress on squats for 7 cycles has thus far been:

• Cycle 1: 330x4
• Cycle 2: 335x5
• Cycle 3: 345x7
• Cycle 4: 350x8
• Cycle 5: 360x8
• Cycle 6: 370x8
• Cycle 7: 375x8

Big week for squats next week when I leave behind the 300's and go for my first 400lb squat set. 

Assistance work was short today as I had to leave the gym early. I just did a few sets of front squats: 135x2, 225x2, 275x1, 315x1, 225x3, 225x3, 225x3.

Video of 315 front squat:

Video of final set (pointless to watch, really) below:

Bench. Week 2 Cycle 7 | Hill Sprints # 41

Today was easy since I only went in and did the prescribed reps. My bench has somewhat stalled, so I'm seeing if just hitting the required reps for the next two bench workouts will jump start things a bit.

Goals for today:

185x3
210x3
235x3

Lifted:

Same as above.

Assistance work: I cut the weight and volume quite a bit.

• DB rows with 75lbs for 5 sets of 10. 
• Flat bench 135 for 5 sets of 5.  

This took all of 5 minutes.


I'll be back Wednesday with a real squat workout.

Deadlifts. Week 2 Cycle 7 | Hill Sprints # 40

Not much to say other than that today was good: I hit the reps I wanted (13) and my assistance work is on the rebound. On an unrelated note, I remember when today's final weight (425lbs) was my max three years ago. Woo.

• Assistance work: 5 sets of weighted (+45lbs) wide grip pull-ups for: 7, 7, 5, 5, 5 reps (better than last time!). 
• Ab wheel 5 sets of 8. 

Goals for today:


355x3
380x3
425x3


Lifted:


355x3
380x3
425x13









Week 2 deadlifts over 7 cycles has thus far been:

Cycle 1 Week 2: 375x11
Cycle 2 Week 2: 385x11
Cycle 3 Week 2: 395x12
Cycle 4 Week 2: 400x13
Cycle 5 Week 2: 410x13
Cycle 6 Week 2: 415x13
Cycle 7 Week 2: 425x13 (+50lbs and +2 reps)


Video of final set below:

Clean and Jerk. Week 2 Cycle 7

Loaded the bar like I loaded my socks. 

Today's numbers called for a final set of 210lbs. The last time I did this weight was in week 3 cycle 4, in which I did 4 reps. Now last week I did 200 x 9 and the week before that 220 x 6, so I knew I wanted to be somewhere between 7-8 reps for today.  Unfortunately for me, I am not too smart, and I loaded the bar incorrectly. I  forgot to place a 2.5lb'er on on side, putting the weight at 207.5lbs. Still I did 9 reps, which matches last week's reps at 200 lbs. Can't complain about that.

Goals for today:

165x3
185x3
210x3

Lifted:

165x3
185x3
207.5x9












Assistance work is still off, but better than last time. I'm also still avoiding weighted dips since my shoulder still hurts (where my clavicle ends).

• Standing OHP: 5 sets at 135lbs for: 6, 6, 6, 5, 5 reps. (none of these are to failure)
• Weighted (+25lbs) chin-ups for 4 sets at: 10, 10, 10, 7. One un-weighted set for 5 reps. 

I'll keep taking it somewhat easy on assistance work and hopefully it will continue to improve back to where it was before I got sick.



Week 2 clean and jerks for seven cycles thus far have been:

cycle 1: 185x7
cycle 2: 190x7
cycle 3: 195x6
cycle 4: 200x7
cycle 5: 205x6
cycle 6: 205x8 
cycle 7: 207.5x9


Video of final set below:

Squats. Week 1 Cycle 7

Good depth.

Back on track this workout and the squats continue to progress. Today's final set called for 355lbs while last month  in Week 1 I did 350 x 10. Not much to think about today, I wanted 10 again. Not only did I get the 10 reps, but I kept one or two in the tank while my depth was way better. Holler.

Week 1 squat progress thus far over 7 cycles:

• 310x6 - cycle 1 
• 315x7- cycle 2 
• 325x10 - cycle 3 
• 335x8 - cycle 4
• 340x10 - cycle 5 
• 350x10 - cycle 6
• 355x10 - cycle 7

Goals for today:

270x5
315x5
355x5

Lifted:

270x5
315x5
355x10

Assistance work:

5 sets of triples for front squats: 225, 225, 245, 245, 245.

Video of final set below:

Bench. Week 1 Cycle 7 | Hill Sprints #39

Fail.

My bench hasn't been making great progress lately, and this week called for the exact same weight as last month's week 1: 220lbs. Last month I did 11 reps. Today I got 11 reps. Sad face. Comparing both videos, today's performance was actually better: no assistance with lift off and I managed 1/2 a rep more. Still, I'd like to be making some more concrete progress, so I'm going to only hit the prescribed reps (not going for the +) for the next few weeks. I'll be cutting back on the assistance work as well, I'm feeling really exhausted at the end of these workouts, which I'm sure is hurting my ability to recover.


Assistance work:

• 140lbs barbell bench press for 5 sets of 15 reps. 
• 110lbs dumbbell db rows for 3 sets of 10. grip was failing pretty badly so dropped to 100lbs for last two sets of 10 reps. 

Week 1 bench progress over last 7 cycles:

Cycle 1: 200x8
Cycle 2: 205x9
Cycle 3: 205x9
Cycle 4: 210x12
Cycle 5: 215x12
Cycle 6: 220x11
Cycle 7: 220x11


I've pretty much been stuck since Cycle 5, Week 1. 

Goals today:

170x5
195x5
220x5

Lifted:


170x5
195x5
220x11


Video of final set below:

Deadlifts. Week 1 Cycle 7 | Hill Sprints #38

Is this how you deadlift?

I've finished my round of antibiotics and I'm feeling much better. Anyway, today was deadlifts and the last time for the year that I'll be doing under 4 plates for any final sets. I wanted to make it special! The weight for today, 400lbs, is the weight I had for week 3 way back when I started in cycle 1. On that day I had pulled seven reps...I wanted to annihilate that number.

Goals:

305x5
355x5
400x5

Lifted:


305x5
355x5
400x17


Mission accomplished.










Assistance work wasn't great, and has been on sort of a backwards slide for most of my workouts. I felt pretty much done after my final set, so I don't know if I just blew my wad completely or if I'm still a little affected from being sick. We'll see how it goes. I know Wendler says not to worry if your main lifts are going up and your assistance work isn't.

• Weighted pullups with +45 lbs for 5 sets: 6, 6, 6, 5, 5 reps.
• Ab Wheel: 5 sets of 10 reps. 

--------
Week 1 Deadlifts for 7 cycles have thus far been:

• Cycle 1: 355x13
• Cycle 2: 365x12
• Cycle 3 :370x14
• Cycle 4: 380x15
• Cycle 5: 385x15
• Cycle 6: 395x15 
• Cycle 7: 400x17

--------

Video of final set below:

Clean and Jerk. Week 1 Cycle 7

At least the power clean was nice.

So today begins cycle number seven. Woo. I feel good enough that I can't blame being sick on today's shitty performance. Last cycle I got 195lbs for 10, so today at 200lbs for my final set I wanted 10 again. I got 9 and 3/4. Blah. I just had no energy left after that ninth rep and my core/legs were shaky as hell.   Hopefully things will improve as the cycle progresses. I'm gonna take two days off after today and hit up deadlifts next time!

Assistance work today was low-key. My shoulder still hurts from last time I did dips (I didn't warm up properly and pulled something), so I stuck with weighted chins and some strict overhead pressing: 5 sets of 5 at 135lbs.

Also, no official deload week this time due to all the time off from sickness.

Week 1 progress over 7 cycles has thus far been:

Cycle 1: 175x8
Cycle 2: 180x8
Cycle 3: 185x9
Cycle 4: 185x10
Cycle 5: 190x10
Cycle 6: 195x10
Cycle 7: 200x9





Goals for today:

150x5
175x5
200x5

Lifted:


150x5
175x5
200x9


Video of final set below:

Squats. Week 3 Cycle 6

So it turns out that squatting while sick is not really a great idea, but I  wanted to end this cycle already. Anyway, I'm sick and today sucked. The only good thing I can say about today is that one year ago in my first and only lifting competition, 390lbs was my final lift on squats. Today I did that six times while sick. So there.  Did I mention I am sick?

Assistance work: Felt turrible, did some front squats but wanted to vomit. Went home.

Week 3 squat progress for 6 cycles so far:

cycle 1: 345x4
cycle 2: 355x5
cycle 3: 365x6
cycle 4: 370x6 
cycle 5: 380x7
cycle6: 390x6


Goals for today:

305x5
350x3
390x1

Lifted:


305x5
350x3 (felt like shit here)
390x6 (good god these sucked)




Video of final set below:

Blah - Still sick.

Bench. Week 3 Cycle 6

Spotter is bored. 

Still under the weather today; I felt good enough to get my sniffly self into the gym, though. Today called for 245lbs for my final set. This time last month I did 240 x 6, so I wanted those six reps again today. I got them, but my form was sloppy and my endurance just wasn't there. I'll blame the sickness, for now.

Assistance work stayed the same:

• 70lb dumbells for flat bench: 5 sets of 15 reps.
• 100lb dumbells for rows: 5 sets of 10 reps.

Week 3 bench progress for 6 cycles thus far has been:

• Cycle 1: 220x2
• Cycle 2: 225x5
• Cycle 3: 230x7
• Cycle 4: 235x7
• Cycle 5: 240x6
• Cycle 6: 245x6

Goals for today:

190x5

220x3

245x1

Lifted:

190x5

220x3

245x6

Video of final set below:

Deadlifts. Week 3 Cycle 6

I'm in New York City this weekend, woo! Anyway, I was still a little sick yesterday and only had five hours of sleep followed by a six hour bus ride. As such, I was not expecting to be able to lift very much (and was ready to scrap my workout if my warm-ups were causing too much trouble). When I got to the gym I ended up having to adjust my form a little on the deadlits, since they only had those octagon shaped plates; I couldn't roll the bar around to get into a comfy position. Still, things went better than expected. I think about half way through the set of 440lbs I knew I could get 10 reps and leave a couple in the tank, too. I didn't get it on video, argh!

Goals for today:

350x5
395x3
440x1

Lifted:

350x5
395x3
440x10

Assistance work stayed the same as last time (although I'm pretty sure I did the sets more quickly):

• 5 sets wide grip pullups: 7, 7, 7, 7, 6 reps with +45lbs
• No ab wheel at this gym, so hanging leg raises for 5 sets (8 reps each set)

Week 3 improvement at the six month mark:

• Cycle 1: 400x7
• Cycle 2: 405x10
• Cycle 3: 415x10
• Cycle 4: 425x10
• Cycle 5: 430x11
• Cycle 6: 440x10 

For those on reddit, yes I have a fitocracy account. On an unrelated note: I am sick. Will be back to finish cycle 6 soon.

Clean and Jerk. Week 3 Cycle 6

Better than expected.

Today marks the end of clean and jerks for cycle 6; I finished better than I expected with 220lbs for 6 reps (I wanted 5 reps today since last cycle I did 215x5). In fact in cycle 6, I've hit all the numbers I wanted to for clean and jerks.

Assistance work was good today as well.

• 5 sets of 10 reps of weighted dips @ +70lbs
• 52 reps of weighted chins @ + 25lbs (10, 10, 10, 10, 12 reps)

Week 3 improvement over the last 6 cycles has been:

Cycle 1: 195 x 5

Cycle 2: 200 x 6

Cycle 3: 205 x 5

Cycle 4: 210 x 4

Cycle 5: 215 x 5

Cycle 6: 220 x 6

Goals of today:

175x5

190x3

220x1

Lifted:

175x5

190x3

220x6

Video of final set below (bad angle again, sorry):

Squats. Week 2 Cycle 6 | Hill Sprints #37

Sorry about the lighting. 

I'm frustrated about today's camera work, I really wanted to see if I improved my depth over my last workout! Anyway, despite the silhouette, I think I can see I got good depth. Today called for 370lbs, a weight which I saw back in week 3 cycle 4, for which I got 6 (difficult) reps. Today, then, I knew I needed 7 (but wanted 8 to keep the progress from the last few cycles consistent). I got the 8 without any drama. Woo.

Assistance work: 6 sets of 3 reps at 225lb front squats.

Week 2 squat progress for 6 cycles thus far has been:

• Cycle 1: 330x4
• Cycle 2: 335x5
• Cycle 3: 345x7
• Cycle 4: 350x8
• Cycle 5: 360x8
• Cycle 6: 370x8

Goals for today:

285x3

330x3

370x3

Lifted:

285x3

330x3

370x8

Video of final set below:

Bench. Week 2 Cycle 6

I think cycle 6 is starting to see my bench improve again, especially in comparison with Cycle 4 and 5 which had both good and 'less-than-good' bench performances. Today called for 230lbs for my final working set. I saw 230lbs in week 3 cycle 3 during which I got 7 reps. I also got 235x7 in week 3 cycle 4, so today I knew I wanted at least 8 reps to improve over those last sessions. Things went better than expected, and my first few reps felt really strong I ended with 9 reps: no lift off, no bad spots, and I didn't go to failure this time.

Assistance work was awesome.

• 100lb db rows for 5 sets of 10 reps. No grip problems, all super fast. 
• 70lb db bench for 5 sets of 15 reps. Still difficult, but easier than last time. 

Week 2 bench for 6 cycles has thus far been:

• Cycle 1: 210 x 8
• Cycle 2: 215 x 7
• Cycle 3: 220 x 8
• Cycle 4: 225 x 10
• Cycle 5: 225 x 10* assisted on last rep 
• Cycle 6: 230 x 9

As you can see, it's not been totally linear progress (same can be said for my clean and jerks as well), but overall things have been improving. I feel like my power on the first few reps has improved tremendously, although this doesn't really show up in the numbers, but I hope it shows up when I go to do my one rep max in the future (it definitely shows up in the videos when I compared this set to week 3cycle 3's 230x7 -- tonight's set was completed in the same time and the first 5 reps were way faster) . 

Goals for today:

180x3

205x3

230x3

Lifted:

180x3

205x3

230x9

Video of final set below:

Hill Sprints #36

Remember: don't do these the day before a squat or dead workout.

Deadlift. Week 2 Cycle 6

bloodied shins and double chins.

Another good workout today. This time last month I lifted 410lbs x 13.Today called for 415 and again I hit 13 reps with maybe one or two left in the tank. I tried doing that little bar roll that I see so many people do before their deadlift, but I didn't really like it; I wasn't as tight to start the rep as I normally would've been. Anyway, assistance work improved as well and I hit 4 more reps than last week on weighted wide-grip pullups for five sets of: 7, 7, 7, 7, 6 (with sets of the abwheel in between as usual). Ultimate goal is to do five sets of 10, but this will take a few more cycles to reach.

Wee 2 progress for 6 cycles has thus far been:

• Cycle 1 Week 2: 375x11 
• Cycle 2 Week 2: 385x11
• Cycle 3 Week 2: 395x12
• Cycle 4 Week 2: 400x13
• Cycle 5 Week 2: 410x13 
• Cycle 6 Week 2: 415x13

Goals for today:

325x3
370x3
415x3

Lifted:

325x3
370x3
415x13

Video of final set below:

Clean and Jerk. Week 2 Cycle 6

woo.

Great workout today. I don't know if there's any science behind this, but it seems like every time I'm a little bit tired going into my workout, I usually end up being pretty strong. Anyway, today's numbers called for 205lbs on the clean and jerk. Now that I've got a bunch of cycles under my belt, I'm starting to see the same weights appear from previous cycles. I first saw 205lbs way back in week 3 cycle 3, then again in week 2 cycle 5. In cycle 3 I managed five reps and in cycle 5 I got six reps. That meant that today I wanted seven reps to continue the progress. Despite feeling a little out of it, I got 8 reps and even left some in the tank. I can tell I'm getting better at these by looking at the first few reps on today's video: I don't even need to fully extend my back leg to knock out most of the reps.

Assistance work also improved a ton. Last week, even though I completed all 50 reps of chinups with +25lbs for the first time, it was a huge struggle. Today it was actually easy and I did all 5 sets of 10 without pausing any of the reps. I even added one more rep to show off, thus : 5 sets for 51 reps of chinupps with +25lbs. Dips also improved as this time I did all 5 sets (instead of only 4 sets last week) with +70lbs for 5 sets of 10. These were also drama free. To put some of this into perspective, in 5 sets, I could only do 42 unweighted chinups when I started 6 months ago. 

Week 2 clean and jerks for six cycles thus far have been:

cycle 1: 185x7
cycle 2: 190x7
cycle 3: 195x6
cycle 4: 200x7
cycle 5: 205x6
cycle 6: 205x8 (+20lbs and +1 rep)

Goals for today:

160x3
185x3
205x3

Lifted:

160x3
185x3
205x8


Video of final set below:

Squats - Week 1 Cycle 6 | Hill Sprints #35

New angle so you can see how ugly my squats are. 

I don't think I'll ever be a pretty squatter; I can do one or two okay reps and then it gets pretty ugly. But as long as I'm hitting parallel, I'm okay with it for now. I also know that if I were using the weight that I started with six months ago, all my reps would be pretty! Also, looking at the picture above, I'm not sure sure I'm actually doing a low-bar squat. Anyway, last month I squatted 340lbs for 10 reps and so today I wanted 350lbs for the same. Also, in a previous cycle, 350lbs was my week 2 working weight and I did 8 reps, so I knew that today 9 was the minimum. I was feeling good and I got the 10 reps today (looking back at last month's video, today's reps were a lot faster as well, although I'm not sure about my depth =/).

Week 1 progress in 6 cycles thus far:

• 310x6 - cycle 1 
• 315x7- cycle 2 
• 325x10 - cycle 3 
• 335x8 - cycle 4
• 340x10 - cycle 5 
• 350x10 - cycle 6

Just thinking about the near future a little bit, I think cycle 7 (in which I finally start to hit some weight that I'm excited about) will be the last cycle I go for max reps on. I am thinking that cycle 8 I'll just hit the prescribed reps, work on form, and generally let my body recover a little bit (7 months of rep pr's may be taking its toll on me, I'm not sure yet).  But who knows, I'm just thinking out loud .

Goals for today:

265x5
305x5
350x5

Lifted:

265x5
305x5
350x10



Video of final set below:

Bench. Week 1 Cycle 6

Today marks the last time I bench anything under two plates (unless I have to deload, of course)!

 Last month in week 1 cycle 5 I got 215x12. So, today, obviously, I wanted 12 again, but needed 11 (since I lifted 225x10 prior to this). I got the 11 and that was that --  I didn't have anything left to grind out another rep. I'm not too disappointed, though, since today's lift was better than the last two bench workouts which were regressions, not progressions. 220 x 11 puts me back in the right direction. I'm going to see how the next two bench workouts go: if they are piss poor, I'm going to tinker with some different options (decrease assistance work/only hit prescribed reps for a cycle, etc...). Looking at the big picture, though, my bench is still light years ahead of where it was, if you recall this shameful performance back in cycle 1: 220x2.

Also, assistance work nearly killed me today and it made me fairly nauseous. But it still improved!

• Dumbell flat bench with the 70lb db's for 5 sets of 15 reps. one rep better than last time. 
• No change with the db rows: 5 sets of 10 reps with 100lb db's. Still working on grip.  

Goals for today:

165x5

190x5

220x5

Lifted:

165x5

190x5

220x11

Video of final set below:

Deadlifts. Week 1 Cycle 6 | Hill Sprints #34

My last set of deadlifts under 400lbs. I wanted to make it count!

As the caption says, this was to be my final set of deadlifts under 400lbs. Last month I lifted 385 for 15, and so I knew I wanted 15 again today at 395. I was a little worried, especially since I wasn't feeling very fresh; my back was still sore from the clean and jerks and weighted chins from two days ago. But I got that adrenaline going and ripped it off the floor. By the way, my arms have grown almost 2 inches since I started this program. In the past I always neglected hypertrophy work because I didn't think I could actually grow and that it was antithetical to getting strong. I was wrong!

• Assistance work was pretty good today, but I was wiped out from the deadlifts.I did weighted pullups with +45lbs for: five sets of: 7, 7, 6, 5, 5, with abwheel work in between. 

Week 1 Deadlifts for 6 cycles have thus far been:

• Cycle 1: 355x13
• Cycle 2: 365x12
• Cycle 3 :370x14
• Cycle 4: 380x15
• Cycle 5: 385x15
• Cycle 6: 395x15 (+40lbs and +2 reps. Woohoo!)

Goals for today:
300x5
350x5
395x5

Lifted:

300x5
350x5
395x15


Video of final set below:

Clean & Jerk. Week 1 Cycle 6 | Hill Sprints #33

Thumbs up, brah.

Cycle 6 has begun and I'm officially at the half way point of my year on 5/3/1. This last deload week served me well as I don't think I have ever come back this strong.

Today called for 195lbs on the final set and this used to be my week 3 weight back in cycle number 1! Anyway, the most I've done with 195lbs prior to this was 7 reps, and last month I did 190 for 10, so I knew I wanted somewhere between 8-10 reps today. Not only did I get 10 reps, but these reps were completed about 20 seconds faster than last month's and I still had at least 2 left in the tank.

Assistance work also improved, but I really had to work for it:

• I upped the weight on dips from 45lbs to 70lbs. I did my first set of 10, however, with the +45 , then the remaining 4 sets of 10 with +70lbs.
•  I also got all 50 reps of weighted chins for the first time, but that 50th rep was a grinder. 

Goals for today:

150x5
170x5
195x5

Lifted:

150x5
170x5
195x10

Video of final set below: