Saturday - Hill Sprints

No lifting on the weekends, but today I got in my final day of conditioning for the week. Due to a flat tire on my bike, I changed locations to a spot near my apartment. The hill is steeper than the previous location, though shorter, I think. I felt powerful! I was expecting the steeper incline to be more difficult. Maybe it felt easier because at this incline the running mechanics are more like a squat? Anyway, I did 10 sprints in 20 minutes and I didn't feel winded. I think I should have either done more or not rested as long. Edit: After viewing the video, the sprints were clearly too short (8-9 seconds).They should be about 60% longer. Plus, I can now see that I run like a bozo.

Video of sprint 1 below.

Friday - Bench Press

The bench press is by far my weakest lift; it's not really in sync with my squat and deadlift. I'm really hoping some time with 5/3/1 can help me.

Today's goals were:

150x5
175x5
200x5

I lifted:

150x5
170x5 (I forgot to put the 2.5's on)
200x8 - I was hoping to get more than 8 reps, but at least I got the 5 required.

Assistance work:

Dumbbell bench press: 50lb DB's x 15 reps for 5 sets. This was fairly easy.

Dumbbell rows: 70lb DB's x 1o reps for 5 sets. This was also fairly easy, but I think I will be sore from them since I haven't done a row in my life.

Thursday - Hill Sprints

After work I went to the park to run the same hill sprints as before. In 20 minutes I managed 9 sprints (~2 minutes rest between each sprint). I felt slow, especially from the soreness due to the deadlifts yesterday. Still, I managed to get in one more than I did on Monday. If you're curious, I'm running the hill at the workout stations in Rock Creek Park.

Wednesday - Deadlift

Goals for today were:

270x5

315x5

355x5 or more

50 pull-ups in 5 sets

50 leg-lifts in 5 sets

Results were:

270x5

315x5

355x13

39 pull-ups in 5 sets

40 leg-lifts in 5 sets

The assistance work is again kicking my butt. I'm also not sure if I'm supposed to be able to get so many reps on the deadlift, but I think it's ok.

Monday - Clean and Jerk + Hill Sprints

So today was my first day following the 5/3/1 routine. My goals for the day were to hit the following numbers:

135lbs x 5 reps

155lbs x 5 reps

175lbs x at least 5 reps

I was able to do all the sets and finished with 175lbs for 8 reps. I meant to get it on video, but, I forgot. Oops.

I actually found the assistance work to be more difficult than the main lifts. My goals were to get: 5 sets of 10 reps of chin-ups and 5 sets of 15 reps for dips. For chin-ups I was able to do the following: 10, 10, 7, 7, 8 (42 total) and for dips I was able to do all 5 sets of 15 reps (75 total).

Later in the afternoon I ran hill sprints for 20 minutes. My ribs (!?) are already sore from sprinting.

The Beginning.

Hi. On this blog I plan to keep a record of a year's worth of training under Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program. If you've not heard about this program, feel free to read about it here: 5/3/1 Article. A little about myself: I'm 27 years old, 5'8" and 165lbs. I'm a normal guy, not an athlete, nor do I have any sort of formal training in physical fitness. I have, however, been lifting weights (poorly) for 14 years. And though I've had some success, I've never followed any particular routine -- I just lifted what I felt like lifting. Obviously --well, not obviously to me, since I never realized until now-- this was not, nor would ever be very productive in terms of gaining size or strength. Although I've lifted 500lbs on the deadlift, I've never maintained any sort of progress and have basically been at the same level of strength for most of my adult life. My current lifts are: 405x7 deadlift (touch-and-go), 405x1 (quarter) squat, 230lb clean and jerk, and 260x1 bench. Not too bad, but not going to win any competitions either. By this time next year, after following 5/3/1 as faithfully as possible, I hope to do a 500+ deadlift, a 450lb squat, 275lb clean and jerk, and a 300lb bench. I start this Monday, let's see how it goes...