Give me strength, or give me death!

[PeterDolan]

Pardon my ignorance, I only look at the weights etc and don't read the comments too much haha but what are you currently training for at the moment?

[Phedder]

Actually entered in last minute for a bench press competition at my gym for next Saturday so I'm cycling speed bench and heavy bench work for that, but otherwise I'm just hoping to maintain muscle and strength over summer and then get more serious about training once uni starts again. My situation back at home doesn't lend well to being able to set up a solid training plan and make it to the gym on certain days etc.

Todays session especially was just a mish mosh of crap based on me pussying out from anything serious due to various sorenesses but feeling I still had to do something haha, so any confusion is very valid. Most of the time however I'm aiming to squat and bench or deadlift and OH press, and then fill in the blanks as I see fit.

[PeterDolan]

So you gonna enter any more comps?

[Phedder]

Further down the track hopefully. This one's just for fun, but I'd like to compete at a regional PL comp while I'm still a junior so a few years left yet, and I'd also like to enter at least one BB comp as a junior as well. But I'm not going to enter any serious competitions if I'm just going to embarrass myself haha. If I were to just spitball some goals off the top of my head now I'd like a 120-130 bench, 170-180 squat and 210-220 deadlift before competing and be able to step on stage in respectable condition around the 90kg mark.

Thanks for asking that actually, made me think about things a bit. I (as I'm sure many others) will write up some better thought out goals around the new year.

[PeterDolan]

I'm not going to enter any serious competitions if I'm just going to embarrass myself

Good haha so many people "do it for the hell of it" instead of putting in the effort

Thanks for asking that actually, made me think about things a bit. I (as I'm sure many others) will write up some better thought out goals around the new year.

I've never been one to set long term goals for my training.

I entered wrestling nationals after only wrestling for 12 weeks, only started BBing last December and decided to compete in May. I like to think more immediate, I find it more exciting

[Phedder]

Oh I'll definitely include short and medium term goals as well, hard to judge progress and be held accountable otherwise. Each Training cycle will have strength and muscle gain goals set. Going to give 5/3/1 a try for a bit and then possibly move into a few sheiko templates. If I could sum up my plan for the next 2 years It'd be to get bigger and stronger while trying different training programs/ideologies to find what works best for me and what I enjoy most.

I entered wrestling nationals after only wrestling for 12 weeks, only started BBing last December and decided to compete in May.

Must be so good when you're a freak of nature :wink:

[PeterDolan]

I do set myself a long term goal but to me it's more of an ideal as I don't actually set up a plan of action. I just have a monthly goal, sometimes I lack that even.

Must be so good when you're a freak of nature :wink:

Haha I'd trade in that status for 4 more inches of height...

[Phedder]

Must be so good when you're a freak of nature :wink:

Haha I'd trade in that status for 4 more inches of height...

Haha deal! 88kg at 5'9 is much more impressive than at 6'1, throw in your strength and it's too good to pass up. Know any fantastic yet slightly mental surgeons/voodoo doctors :pfft:

[PeterDolan]

Must be so good when you're a freak of nature :wink:

Haha I'd trade in that status for 4 more inches of height...

Haha deal! 88kg at 5'9 is much more impressive than at 6'1, throw in your strength and it's too good to pass up. Know any fantastic yet slightly mental surgeons/voodoo doctors :pfft:

:pray: I've hoped and hoped and hoped :pfft:

[Phedder]

Got off my lazy ass and did some HIIT stuff today, just outside on the lawn.

~50m sprint,

10 push ups,

5 squat jumps,

30 sec prone hold

Walk 50m back to start line and go again.

Did that 3 times through then did roughly 2 min of slow jog recovery before doing it another 3 times through. Then did 5 rounds of 10 push ups and 5 squat jumps non stop, followed by 50 star jumps and then some walking lunges and stretches to warm down.

Gotta get my fitness back up to scratch :oops: nothing now compared to what it was.

[Phedder]

Shit, almost been a week since I've made it to the gym. :shock: Bad Phedder!

They finally decided on times for the gyms bench comp, not good news. When I first asked about it they said it would be in the morning which was all good, but now lifting won't start until noon, and I've got work at 1pm so looks like a no go. My priority for this summer lies in earning some cash to survive my next year at uni and they run this comp every 6 months so hopefully I can fit it in next summer.

Anyway, on with the business;

Squats

10x50kg

10x60kg

8x80kg

5x100kg

3x110kg

3x100kg

10x60kg

Bench - all reps paused

10x40kg

8x60kg

3x80kg

2x90kg

1x90kg - extra long pause

2x90kg

3x85kg

5x80kg

10x60kg

DB bench rows SS with DB bench press

10x50lb for both

10x60lb for both

10x70lb rows SS 8x press

10x80lb rows SS 1x press :pfft: Press was quick and easy but couldn't balance them once up on this unstable bench :?

7x100lb rows

10x60lb for both

Ridiculously hot and humid, so much easier to train back in Dunedin haha.

[Ronin]

Ridiculously hot and humid, so much easier to train back in Dunedin haha.

Don't count on it bro...sweating like a whore in church today.

[Phedder]

Ridiculously hot and humid, so much easier to train back in Dunedin haha.

Don't count on it bro...sweating like a whore in church today.

I'd be willing to bet it's still cooler down that way

Probably won't make it back in until monday so figured I'd make today a big session

Sumo deadlifts

10x60kg

8x100kg

2x140kg - doh grip and it failed haha.

2x140kg - mixed grip, held fine but I think it's still a bit ambitious for my first proper foray into sumos, need to really get the groove first. Odd though as 100kg felt so light and easy.

5x140kg - conventional stance

5x100kg

High Pulls

4x5x60kg wide stance with hands inside legs

3x5x60kg closer stance with hands outside legs

Standing OH press

10xbar - felt a bit odd in my right shoulder

5x30kg - again odd feeling so called it quits

Front Squats - first time I've ever done these

3x5x30kg

Back Squats - working on depth, form and speed

10x50kg

10x60kg

3x5x80kg

10x60kg

Front squats -

2x5x40kg

Neutral grip cable row

10x half stack

10x 3/4 stack

4x whole stack - another machine beaten

10x 3/4 stack

Close grip Bench press

10x60kg

3x6x70kg

8x60kg

Chin ups

3x6

Front squats

3x5x40kg

OH press

5xbar - felt fine now :?

2x5x40kg

I think I'm in love with front squats :kiss: Kept going back to them when my wrists would let me, surprised I managed with the clean grip as I've never used it before, but definitely need to improve my wrist and tri flexibility, as well as pretty much everywhere else haha. Not keeping my torso as upright as I should because I felt more pressure on my wrists at the bottom than the top, so was slightly leaning forward. Love how easy it is to get nice and deep with fronts though, great feeling. Going to focus on adding reps to 40kg for now, increasing the time under the bar for my wrists and tris and to focus on staying as upright as possible.

If anyone has some helpful hints for learning form with fronts I'd be very grateful to hear what you've got to say, any useful ques etc. For now a lot of stretching will pay dividends I'm sure.

[groovy]

http://stronglifts.com/how-to-front-squat-with-proper-technique/

Amazing how easily Dabaya performs 200kgs front squat and hes only got 2 fingers on the bar.

You might have seen this already but the above link helped me heaps on the form for the front squats.

Before that my writs hurts like hell when i went heavy, but now its pretty good.

Hope it helps. And i love front squats too. Its also easy on the back and works more of the quads. (thats what i feel anyway).

[Phedder]

Thanks for that link, definitely a good place to start :nod: Going to be doing plenty of reading and watching tonight haha.

Quite a few things I'm already doing right but a few to incorporate and improve on next time. Main mistake I think I made was still breaking at the hips instead of the knees, probably what caused me to lean forward a tad. Tried a few combinations of fingers and found 3 the most 'comfortable' if you could call it that plenty of stretching and eventually it will be :pray: More quad dominant is what I need too, I back squat with more of a powerlifting stance and switching to sumo deadlift for a bit as well means plenty of glute and hammy work.

[OnlyHuman]

[Phedder]

Another good watch, thanks.

Absolutely crap training today, strength just wasn't there.

Squats

10x50kg

8x60kg

5x80kg

5x100kg - Hardest 5 reps at 100kg has ever been, bloody ridiculous.

5x90kg

10x60kg

Bench

10x60kg

5x75kg

3x5x85kg - Again way harder than it should have been, last reps were all grinders.

5x75kg

10x60kg

Front squats - Couldn't seem to get the bar position right, either back on my throat too much or too much pressure on my wrists. Very frustrating.

10xbar

8x30kg

2x5x40kg

DB bench rows

10x50lb

10x80lb

9x100lb - was happy with these, only thing that went okay.

15x50lb

Then to make things worse, I've sliced the artery under my big toe on an oyster shell this evening at a work bbq by the Wenderholm estuary. Wasn't too bad when I first did it, then about an hour later I must have put too much pressure across my toes and stretched it out and it just started pouring blood out, didn't notice until I hopped in the van to head home and my foot slipped, looked down and I'd made a pool of blood on the linoleum. Washed it under a tap, and it started actually spurting out. All bandaged up now, soaked it in some disinfectant. Closed up quite quickly, no blood in the water I soaked it in. Should be right in a few days.

[Phedder]

Gyms closed until Wednesday and then reduced hours, so figured I'd try and get in as much as I could :pfft: No more than 1 min rests between sets, often less.

Sumo Deadlifts

5x60kg

5x100kg

5x130kg

1x150kg - PB for sumos. Fast and easy, grip's my limiting factor at the moment, no chalk in my gym for the summer.

1x150kg conventional deadlift - used the mirror to compare, my torso has to lean forward so much more with conventional, and I can keep quite upright with sumo stance. I'm starting to think sumo is a more natural position for my proportions.

1x150kg sumo again

5x100kg

High pulls

3x5x60kg

Bench press

5x60kg

5x70kg

3x5x80kg

CG bench press

3x5x70kg

8x60kg

DB bench rows - each arm

10x50lb

10x70lb

10x90lb

15x70lb

Standing overhead press

10xbar

10x30kg

8x40kg

10x30kg

Neutral close grip cable rows

12x100lb

8x150lb

20x100lb

Front squats

5xbar

5x30kg

5x40kg - finally got elbows to stay nice and high, good bar positioning.

10x40kg - PB legs could keep going for days, but wrists and fingers say "Get this fucking bar off me!" :pfft: Still plenty of stretching needed here.

5x40kg

Back squats - wearing a sweat drenched singlet and slippery shoulders, no chance anything over 60kg would stay in place. So I did a circuit.

10x40kg

Circuit - 10x60kg squats, 10 dips, 8 neutral grip chin ups 3 times through non stop.

[OnlyHuman]

Looks like you had a sweet session

[Phedder]

Yeah, was one of those where everything just felt good

Waiting for the gym to open again on Wednesday, so I just got home from work and decided to do a bit of a circuit. Using the roof of our garage for chin ups, so could only grip with my fingers haha. Killer on the fingers and forearms.

Tried doing 1 press up, 1 squat jump, then 1 chin up 10 times through but didn't like the flow. Then tried 10 press ups, 10 squat jumps and 10 chin ups. Felt much better, so decided to use that sequence for time.

5 rounds of that in 10 minutes, using a slow eccentric, hold, then fast eccentric. Which left roughly 30 seconds rest between rounds, sweating like a pedo in a playground at the end and my forearms couldn't take any more, had to reset my grip 3 times for the last 10 chin ups haha.

[soundsgood]

Haha yes we all become very creative when the gyms shut!

I have been doing alot of Chinup Burpees lately. In your garage you can Jump up, do a chinup, burpee, pressup, jump back up, chinup, and so on.

12 reps, 30 second rest, another 12 reps, go till you cant do any more then do one more round. Killer burn :madman:

[Phedder]

Finished work early today (Dam rain and wind! :evil: ) So figured I'd finally finish revising and post my plan for 5/3/1. Any critiques/advice are welcome and encouraged!

Monday: Overhead press day

5/3/1 OH press

Chin ups - 5 sets to 1 or 2 reps short of technical failure (not being able to complete a rep from a dead hang or bring sternum up to the bar) Will begin adding weight once I can manage 12+ reps for all 5 sets.

Close Grip Bench press - 4x8 reps at roughly 10RM

Lateral raises - 4x10 Going to try supersetting these with CG bench.

Tuesday: Deadlift day

5/3/1 Deadlifts - Sumo

High pulls - 5x5

Squats - 5x8 at roughly 12RM

Shrugs - Haven't done these in a long time, 5x10-15 reps. Mostly using them to work on Traps and grip.

Wednesday - Sprints if I feel up to it, jogging for recovery if not.

Thursday: Bench press day

5/3/1 Bench press

DB one arm bench rows - 5x10

DB shoulder press - 5x10 will try supersetting these with the rows

Seated rows - 4x12-15

Possibly some rear delt flies to finish off, 3x10 or so.

Friday: Squat day

5/3/1 Squats

Front squats - 4x8

Romanian deadlifts - 3x10

Leg press 3x10-15

Saturday or Sunday will do some more sprint work, and if I'm not up to it at least a jog.

I'll be using plenty of auto-regulation through the program. If I'm feeling great about the main lifts on a particular day I may add a few singles, or a few sets of 5 after the 5/3/1 reps. I won't be using anywhere near my true 1rm or 5rm though, Will just be used to feel some slightly heavier weight and/or get more time under the bar. Assistance exercises are just that I'm and I'm not too fussed about them. Supposed to be somewhat challenging, but they're there to provide extra volume and bring up some weak points. If I'm feeling like shit I have no problem doing the 5/3/1 sets and forgetting the assistance all together, or doing few sets/reps. Conversely if I'm feeling great that day I may add a set or a few reps, up the weight a little etc. Will throw in rotator work/abs/calves when I see fit, probably not very often. I'll be sprinting at least once a week, twice if I feel up to it (one hill sprints and one flat would be ideal) which should take care of abs and calves anyway. May use rotator work as part of warm up for OH and bench day if time and memory allows.

Planning on starting my first cycle mid-late Jan with very conservative (75-80% of 1rm) weights to get a feel for the program, and If I can't manage 4 days a week some weeks I can combine the main lifts on same days without destroying myself, eg doing 5/3/1 OH press and deadlifts the same day. Then once I get back to uni and can commit more to training I'll follow the program using 90% of my 1rm to calculate the weights (rounded down as well to be safe and hopefully allow some more progression)

That was a tad long winded but figured I should put it all out there, any critiques/advice or questions are very welcome. If you read all of that, thank you. If not, I don't blame ya

[Phedder]

Finished work early today (Dam rain and wind! :evil: ) So figured I'd finally finish revising and post my plan for 5/3/1. Any critiques/advice are welcome and encouraged!

Monday: Overhead press day

5/3/1 OH press

Chin ups - 5 sets to 1 or 2 reps short of technical failure (not being able to complete a rep from a dead hang or bring sternum up to the bar) Will begin adding weight once I can manage 12+ reps for all 5 sets.

Close Grip Bench press - 4x8 reps at roughly 10RM

Lateral raises - 4x10 Going to try supersetting these with CG bench.

Tuesday: Deadlift day

5/3/1 Deadlifts - Sumo

High pulls - 5x5

Squats - 5x8 at roughly 12RM

Shrugs - Haven't done these in a long time, 5x10-15 reps. Mostly using them to work on Traps and grip.

Wednesday - Sprints if I feel up to it, jogging for recovery if not.

Thursday: Bench press day

5/3/1 Bench press

DB one arm bench rows - 5x10

DB shoulder press - 5x10 will try supersetting these with the rows

Seated rows - 4x12-15

Possibly some rear delt flies to finish off, 3x10 or so.

Friday: Squat day

5/3/1 Squats

Front squats - 4x8

Romanian deadlifts - 3x10

Leg press 3x10-15

Saturday or Sunday will do some more sprint work, and if I'm not up to it at least a jog.

I'll be using plenty of auto-regulation through the program. If I'm feeling great about the main lifts on a particular day I may add a few singles, or a few sets of 5 after the 5/3/1 reps. I won't be using anywhere near my true 1rm or 5rm though, Will just be used to feel some slightly heavier weight and/or get more time under the bar. Assistance exercises are just that I'm and I'm not too fussed about them. Supposed to be somewhat challenging, but they're there to provide extra volume and bring up some weak points. If I'm feeling like shit I have no problem doing the 5/3/1 sets and forgetting the assistance all together, or doing few sets/reps. Conversely if I'm feeling great that day I may add a set or a few reps, up the weight a little etc. Will throw in some rotator work/abs/calves when I see fit, probably not very often. Will be sprinting at least once a week, ideally twice if I feel up to it (one hill sprints and one flat would be ideal) which should take care of abs and calves anyway.

Planning on starting my first cycle mid-late Jan with very conservative (75-80% of 1rm) weights to get a feel for the program, and If I can't manage 4 days a week some weeks I can combine the main lifts on same days without destroying myself, eg doing 5/3/1 OH press and deadlifts the same day. Then once I get back to uni and can commit more to training I'll follow the program using 90% of my 1rm to calculate the weights (rounded down as well to be safe and hopefully allow some more progression)

That was a tad long winded but figured I should put it all out there, any critiques/advice or questions are very welcome. If you read all of that, thank you. If not, I don't blame ya

[OnlyHuman]

Good luck with the 5/3/1 :nod:

Personally I have never done it, but I only read good things about it.

It might be a good idea to keep some core and rotator-cuff work in there in an organized manner. You could always do some as a part of your warm up. Just an idea, it is up to you.

I do hill sprints on some of my off days ( once - twice at most per week) and so far they do not effect me negatively. I don't do them for long distance maybe 20-30 meters at the moment, sort of an interval thing.

Good luck with your plan :nod: I applaud your dedication and wits on picking a program that has been proven in the trenches already :clap:

[tinytraps]

Something ive taken off big Reuben (Tonka) is to do rotators and rear delts first on benching days and abs+lowback when doing lowerbody days. Good warm up and gets them out of the way. How many times do we put them at the end of a session and half arse it?

Anyways looks well thought out bro I wouldnt star too light. 90% is plenty anyless and your fucking spiders really.