Give me strength, or give me death!

[Phedder]

hey Phedder, making some good ground on those front squats huh.

Phedder wrote:

Putting that into the calc I have in my 5/3/1 spreadsheet gives me a 1RM of 175, best I've pulled sumo so far was 160. Given I had more reps in the tank too I think this calc is pretty far off,

^My experience is that the formula is too "generous" so take it with a pinch of salt. According to the formula I could squat ~15kg more than I actually can and bench ~10kg more than I can.

I'm loving the front squats, just wish my wrists would co-operate haha. They're slowly adjusting so shouldn't complain really.

Exactly what I suspected with the formula, but I suppose it's okay to help measure progress when the reps are still high. Can never really tell if doing 5kg more for 1 or 2 reps less is actually progression haha, so can help to keep an eye on it I suppose.

Noticed your reps are insanely high, thought I'd set my weights light You going to do a bigger jump for the next cycle or just stick with it for the long term to ensure you keep progressing?

[rimma]

hey Phedder, making some good ground on those front squats huh.

Phedder wrote:

Putting that into the calc I have in my 5/3/1 spreadsheet gives me a 1RM of 175, best I've pulled sumo so far was 160. Given I had more reps in the tank too I think this calc is pretty far off,

^My experience is that the formula is too "generous" so take it with a pinch of salt. According to the formula I could squat ~15kg more than I actually can and bench ~10kg more than I can.

I'm loving the front squats, just wish my wrists would co-operate haha. They're slowly adjusting so shouldn't complain really.

Exactly what I suspected with the formula, but I suppose it's okay to help measure progress when the reps are still high. Can never really tell if doing 5kg more for 1 or 2 reps less is actually progression haha, so can help to keep an eye on it I suppose.

Noticed your reps are insanely high, thought I'd set my weights light You going to do a bigger jump for the next cycle or just stick with it for the long term to ensure you keep progressing?

I'm keen to put front squats in my assistance maybe after I finish a few cycles. The two or three times I've done them my wrists were letting me down haha so I know what you mean.

Re; the formula, I still use it as a way of comparing rep maxes. Each week I work out the number of reps that are needed to beat the previous max so that I have a goal and direction in each workout. Overall it might not be dead accurate but its still useful I think.

As for the high reps, haha, I'm just going to progress as normal. Wendler's very big on the slow build-up and taking as long as possible to build up and plateau. So I think you're wise to start light... to me it jars the ego/instinct and feels somewhat counterintuitive, but will definitely be best in the long run.

[Phedder]

I've included them because my quads are a weak point, and it's just a cool movement you don't often see. I've never actually seen anyone else do front squats besides videos haha, get some funny looks doing them . Also wana start doing cleans at some point too so figure fronts are a great way to help build that flexibility. If you plan on including fronts eventually I'd suggest start stretching your wrists and triceps now, and maybe to a few sets with just the bar after a workout once in a while to help adjust.

I like your idea of working out the reps needed to beat the max, definitely helps to have a goal each session. I think I'm gonna steal that one from ya haha.

I hear ya about the slow build up, I started lighter because I just wanted a chance to feel out the movements and assistance more, especially as I'm somewhat new to sumo deadlifts, and slightly changing my squat technique and bench set up. Was going to do a 10kg jump for squats and deads after my first cycle but maybe not now. We'll see how I'm going by the end of this cycle, but I expect my strength to start coming up again quicker when I can start eating plenty again.

[rimma]

I've been thinking abut oly lifts recently, so yeah fronts would definitely be good. Limbering up now would be an idea haha...unfortunately I will probably never get round to it.

I thought about maybe making an assistance template with front squats, cleans, snatches and clean+press for fun if/when the current template gets stale.

As to the breaking records each week thing, that's wisdom straight from Jimmy himself. Have you got the ebook? pm me if you want me to send it to you.

Are you on calorie restriction atm?

[Phedder]

The E-book would be great, have read a lot of feedback on different forums and all the Q&A stuff on EFS but haven't actually read the book, thought I had to gist of it all.

Are you on calorie restriction atm?

Not voluntarily :pfft: Back home with the folks for summer and they don't like feeding me haha. Dropped 3-4kgs over my first 6 weeks back but weight hasn't changed the last 2 or 3 weeks, started cramming in more oats and peanut butter with breakfast and eggs and CC before bed. Got 1 month before heading back to Dunedin so hopefully I can keep maintaining. Most of the weight I did lose seemed to be fat but still noticed my strength drop a little.

[Phedder]

Lots of cheesecake, movies, and swimming yesterday. The swimming made me feel less guilty haha.

Week 1 day 3

lots of dislocations, OH presses, push ups etc to warm up.

8x40kg

5x60kg

5x70kg

14x75kg -PB for reps. Odd though, bench is the one lift that I actually left at around 90% all others are closer to 80-85%, yet I've gotten the most reps on this :-s 1RM calc puts that at 110, so definitely not accurate on the 15th rep my leg drive slid me right up the bench so lost a lot of tightness and didn't get it to lock out, dumped it on the pins.

3x80kg - Long pauses and explosive up still without much leg drive. Can't wait to get back to a decent bench \:D/

10x40kg - Long pauses and explosive up again, trying to figure out how much leg drive I can use without sliding up the bench - not a lot

DB bench rows - each arm

10x50lb

3x10x90lb

20x50lb

DB shoulder press

10x10kg

10x15kg

5x20kg - blarg. Hate DB shoulder pressing. Therefore, I need to do more of it :roll:

Pull ups

3x5 - Chins are so much easier, therefore I need to do more of these.

Lat pull downs - just saw it there and thought why not :shifty:

2x10x100lb

[Phedder]

Week 1 day 4 - I actually made it in 4 times this week :shock: Probably has something to do with me not working the last 4 days...Need to make more money!

Squats

10xbar

8x40kg

5x60kg

5x80kg

5x85kg

12x90kg - PB Need to sort out my breathing though, it's letting me down. None of the reps were grinders, just started getting a bit winded and uncomfortable hips.

2x10x60kg - realise my stance was maybe a tad wide for the 90kgs. Brought it in maybe an inch or two and hips felt heaps better.

Good mornings

3x10x40kg - Been a while since I've done these, just feeling them out. Felt the stretch in my right hammy way before the left :?

Front squats

10x40kg

2x10x60kg - PB Finally got to 60kg for 10, twice :grin: Still my wrists forcing me to stop though, shits killer. I reckon as I get more flexible here I'm good for maybe 75-80kg for 10.

Leg press

10x50kg

10x100kg

10x150kg

10x200kg

10x240kg

10x280kg - PB and the fun begins. Drop set all the way down, only stopping to unload machine ~30secs

10x240kg

10x200kg

10x150kg

10x100kg

20x50kg - Jelly legs and light headed, Whoo! :grin:

[mike27]

nice, whats ur bodyweight?

[Phedder]

nice, whats ur bodyweight?

Last time I used a scale I'd trust was at CBC last tuesday, was 88.1kg there, Doubt it's changed much.

[Beowulf]

Just a thought but with the wrists playing up during front squats have you considered trying Zerchers?

Or maybe doing Front Squats the non-olympic way where the bar rests on your shoulders and neck?

[Phedder]

Just a thought but with the wrists playing up during front squats have you considered trying Zerchers?

Or maybe doing Front Squats the non-olympic way where the bar rests on your shoulders and neck?

The thing is I want to develop the flexibility to comfortably use the clean grip, as I eventually want to start incorporating some oly movements. It's improving each time I do them anyway, can hold either the same weight for more reps, or more weight for similar reps etc. I do think next time after my wrists and fingers say no, I'll use the cross armed grip to make sure my legs are really getting worked too. Saying that, I still have some lingering DOMs from friday haha, that leg press dropset never fails me.

Today;

week 2 day 1

Overhead press

8xbar

5x30kg

3x40kg

3x40kg

10x42.5kg

2x10x30kg

10xbar

Neutral grip chin ups

50 reps total

CG bench press

20xbar

4x10x60kg - last set I had to rest for 10 sec to get the last 2 reps

10x50kg

Seated Lateral raises - Didn't really feel any different to standing :-s Spose I'm reasonably strict when standing too.

3x10x8kg DBs

[Beowulf]

I do love to hate leg DOMS I dont get any soreness from my current work :cry: :cry:

[Phedder]

Week 2 day 2

Sumo Deadlifts

5x60kg

5x80kg

3x100kg

3x120kg

10x135kg PB Quite happy with these, again grip limiting me so a few left in the tank 1rm calc puts this higher than last weeks efforts so that's an improvement. 3 weeks today until I'm back in the land of chalk and a cooler training environment \:D/

5x100kg - conventional, yep sumo is definitely for me haha.

High pulls - Turned into muscle cleans haha, nice and explosive.

5x60kg

5x70kg

5x60kg

Squats

5x60kg - wrong positioning in the rack, bottomed out and threw me off.

4x10x60kg - Really happy with these, all quite explosive. Bar was coming up a bit at the top from momentum

[OnlyHuman]

Nice work on the sumo

Thought about using straps for the last set?

[Phedder]

Nice work on the sumo

Thought about using straps for the last set?

Cheers Never crossed my mind actually I don't own any, and no point buying some now because in 3 weeks I'll be back in a gym with plenty of chalk. Thanks for the suggestion though :nod:

[Phedder]

Week 2 day 3

Took me a lot longer than usual today to get into it, after 2 long work days in this blazing heat my motivation and energy was somewhat low, not helped by the guy who spent 25 mins on the only flat bench doing 2 board presses with 60kg :doh: Not a small guy either, 100kg at least.

So, while waiting I did my usual warm up, a lot more stretching and shoulder warm ups than usual +

Decline bench

20xbar

10x40kg

5x60kg

20 chin ups, which ripped a callus off :evil: Got a blood blister under it from Tuesdays deads so luckily not much blood.

Flat Bench

5x60kg

3x70kg

3x75kg

10x80kg PB 10 reps seems to be my thing this week, will shoot for 11+ on squats :nod:

3x85kg

10x60kg

One arm DB bench row

10x50lb

10x70lb

3x7x100lb PB I spose, never done more than 1 set with the 100s haha. Could have done more reps, but 7 or so was the limit on that damn callus.

Lat pulldowns

3x10x100lb

Lots of light weight shoulder movements, side laterals, shoulder press, rear delt flies etc. All done with 3kg DBs changing the movement every 5 reps or so, roughly 100 reps total I'd say.

[tinytraps]

Looking good phed. Still dont know if I agree on this lift light to lift heavier thing, we shall see how it pans out in the future 8) One thing alot of guys found out is they were breaking rep PBs but they werent use to hitting the max weights. Maybe add some heavy singles every so often to keep it fresh?

[Phedder]

Looking good phed. Still dont know if I agree on this lift light to lift heavier thing, we shall see how it pans out in the future 8) One thing alot of guys found out is they were breaking rep PBs but they werent use to hitting the max weights. Maybe add some heavy singles every so often to keep it fresh?

I think having it a bit light at the moment is just helping me re-learn technique a bit better with the main lifts before I tackle some decent weights. Next cycle will definitely include more singles and such on days I feel good about it though. Glad it's light at the moment too, absolutely terrible session today. Pissed off to say the least.

week 2 day 4 - Disaster. SI joint was not cooperating today, felt a little stiff when I woke up so spent a good 30 mins this morning stretching and doing a little rolling with my ball, felt much better. Got to the gym a few hours later and spent another good 20 minutes warming up and stretching, but just wasn't happening.

Squats

10x40kg

2x5x60kg

5x75kg

3x85kg

3x90kg

5x95kg - 3 of which I forced myself to depth. Could have kept going easily strength wise but was just uncomfortable as f*ck at or below depth so got the required reps and stopped.

On Tuesday I was getting well below parallel without any issues, AFTER deadlifts. Today having done nothing lower back strenuous the days before or today, and it just felt wrong :evil:

Wasn't even going to attempt Good Mornings.

Front squats - cross armed grip because clean stretches out the callus too much. Found these even more uncomfortable on my shoulders :roll:

10x40kg

5x40kg

5x60kg

Leg press - Going nice and deep was no worries for some reason, but when I'd extend right out I'd get the pain again? Wtf?

10x50kg

10x100kg

10x150kg

10x200kg - Didn't want to continue

Did some rotator stuff and face pulls etc, nothing of note really.

Hope this shit doesn't happen again next Friday.

[samuelNZ]

- Disaster. SI joint was not cooperating today

Your a pretty on to it fella but have ya tried this? Helped my TP a hell of a lot.

[Phedder]

Thanks for that, will give it a go tomorrow morning in a monster stretching session haha It comes and goes once in a while but usually a few various stretches sorts it out no worries, just pissed it decided to stick around on squat day :roll:

[samuelNZ]

Haha it'll come right mate. Your still getting some decent weight shifted so keep it up.

[Phedder]

Baby weights compared to what they should/will be Come march I'm predicting everything will be heading up quite nicely :pray:

[Phedder]

FUUUUUUU!!!!

Turns out my gym was only open until 1 today..and I arrived at 1:10 Lovely 25 minute drive for nothing. Would have driven down to coast instead had I known and not wasted gas driving to a closed gym :roll: Guess tomorrow I'll be doing 5/3/1 OH press and deadlifts the same session, shouldn't be an issue though.

So when I got home just did some press ups and chin ups in the garage.

5x20 press ups supersetted with

5x10 chin ups - Killer on the wrists and forearms when you can only grip with your fingers :twisted:

Solid pump from that actually, had trouble reaching my back in the shower haha.

[Phedder]

Week 3 day 1+2

Overhead Press

8xbar

5x30kg

5x35kg

3x40kg

10x45kg PB :grin: Was so sure I wasn't going to get there, even the first rep felt heavy but somehow managed to keep pushing.

Sumo Deadlifts

5x60kg

5x80kg

5x100kg

3x120kg

5x140kg PB but not happy, could have kept going but again grip was the issue. Huge blood blister at the base of my right middle finger. Maybe straps would have been a good idea...

High pulls -did 3 reps at 60kg and called it quits, even DOH was a bitch. Straps definitely would have been nice :shifty:

Squats

5x60kg

4x10x60kg - much better than friday but still don't quite feel right, hopefully should be good for friday with a nice warm up.

Just wasn't really feeling it today after the overheads, popped the blood blister when I got home so hopefully it'll be all healed for next week.

[samuelNZ]

10x45kg PB :grin: Was so sure I wasn't going to get there, even the first rep felt heavy but somehow managed to keep pushing.

Looking good!! Thats some high reps for 531!

Still having trouble with your SI on squats?