An Athlete's 5/3/1 Journey

[lift4sport]

Day 5
Friday, 10/12/2012

Last day of Cycle 1

Foam Roll, Dynamic + BB Warmup, 135 clean and press x5
Clean and Jerk 185x2
Power Clean 225, rack at shoulder height.
Split Jerk – 235

Really happy about this lift. Wasn’t as explosive out of the bottom of the jerk, so stopped about 80% of the way up and had to lockout hard with arms. Still counts!

Snatch grip pull 5x250
Hang High pulls 4x250

The high pulls felt tough, the bar wasn’t moving too fast or high… Will still try and get the 250 clean on Tuesday, just want to make sure I’m well rested and not too tired.

Front Squat 5x135 (w band abduction), 5x185 (w band abduction), 6x225 Supersetted with Inverted Rows 3x10.

The front squats felt great, I’ve taken a while off from them and the 225 was moving well – full ROM, nice and deep and no pain at all. Could’ve hit 10 for sure.

RDL 3x10 Supersetted with DB Rows (3s isometric pause at top) 3x10e

Stability ball DB glute bridge w band abduction, 3x15 Supersetted with Band External rotations 3x15e

Ys, Ts, Ws, Ls – 2x15e

[lift4sport]

Cycle 2

Cycle 2 Training Maxes:
Bench Press: 245 (+5). Squat: 305 (+10). Weighted Pullups: 247.5 (+7.5). Deadlift: 415 (+15).
Cycle 1 Estimated Rep Maxes:
Bench Press: 279 (11x205). Squat: 372 (10x265). Weighted Pullups: 284 (8x225). Deadlift: 485 (365x10).



Week 1

Day 1
Monday, 10/15/2012
Bench Press: 5,5,5+ (@ 65,75,85% of Training Max): 5x160, 5x185, 10x210
Disappointed with this a bit… 10x210 is not a bad lift (using Wendler’s 1RM estimator, it puts me at about 279 which is, granted, fairly inaccurate given the total number of reps performed)…. However, the bar was moving well through reps 9, where I was confident I could push out 2 more reps. At that point I rushed through an eccentric contraction, more-or-less dropping the bar and catching it at the bottom for a grinder of a 10th rep, taking more out of me than if I had just controlled the negative portion of the lift. By the 11th rep, I couldn’t close out and required a spot half way up. On the plus side, I’m fairly confident that I can hit this lift next time.

Incline DB Press – 5x10 at 60lb DBs, Super-setted with 5x10 parallel grip lat pull-down
BB Curls - 5x9, Super-setted with Rear Delt DB raise 5x10
DB Curls - 3x16, Super-setted with DB Flyes 3x12

Went climbing and conditioning after… hips were really sore after conditioning from sprints, hopefully they’re loose and open for tomorrow on Clean and Squat day… Too bad I didn’t have yoga today!!

[lift4sport]

Day 2
Tuesday, 10/16/2012
Foam Roll + Dynamic Warmup, Barbell Warmup (various raises/pulls, squats and catches at 45lbs), Hang clean to press- 5x135,

Clean and Jerk 2x165, 2x200, 1x235 – fail.
Just shy on lockout… Tris might have been a little fatigued from bench yesterday, also diet and rest could have been better since about last Thursday. Also, my hips were tiiiiiight (and still are)… I need to make sure I do yoga on Mondays to keep my hips supple and mobile for the week.

4x250 Snatch-grip pulls, 3x250 hang pulls (w straps).

Power Clean: 1x250 – fail. 1x250 - fail.
This was fairly disappointing. The bar was moving fast and fairly high on the hang high pulls, I was very confident that I would hit this. The first rep I got the bar decently high but had an awkward catch where my forearms were fairly vertical (didn’t drop under it fast enough) and it was tough on my wrist, so I dropped it rather than grinding a front squat. I definitely have this in me. On Friday I will be training my hang pull likely 3x3 to make sure I can move that bar very fast and can definitely nail both this and the 235 clean and jerk on next Tuesday.

Back Squat – 5, 5, 5+ at (65%,75%, 85% of TMax): 5x200, 5x230, 5x260
Given my fails on both C+J and Power Clean, I decided not to max out and just to get my reps on this. For me to hit a rep PR, I would have had to get 13 or so (I got 12x265 on Week 2 of Cycle 1) and my hips were just so tight by this point, I just wanted to get my reps and go. Besides, the difference between a 12RM and a 13RM on your 1RM is negligible … Will have to just go hard next week and really nail my rep max at 275… gotta hit 11!

Facepulls - 3x12 SS with BB Shrugs, 3x20 at 285lbs
Stability ball triple threat (hamstring burnout)- 2x16e

[lift4sport]

Day 3
Wednesday, 10/17/2012
Lateral Leg Raises 2x20e supersetted with One Leg Leg press 2x10e
Glute Band Walks 2x15e supersetted with Bulgarian Split Squats 2x10e (Bodyweight only)
Kettlebell Arnold press 3x15e supersetted with Inverted Rows 3x10
High Volume band work to target upper back, rear delts, rotator cuff. External rotations for 3x15e, band pull aparts for 2x15e (Ys, Ts, Ws, Ls)
Hammer Curls 5x10

[lift4sport]

Day 4
Thursday, 10/18/2012
Incline BB Press, 4x4 (10s rest) x165, 4x3 (10s rest) x175, 4x2 (10s rest) x185, 4x1(10s rest) x200.

Weighted pullups: 5, 5, 5+ at (65%, 75%, 85% of Training Max): 5xBW, 5xBW, 11x210

Widegrip pullups, 5x6
Lateral delt superset (db raise + db upright row) 3x12e
Overhead Tricep Rope Ext3x10
Tricep Bar Push down, 3x15

[lift4sport]

Day 5
Friday, 10/19/2012
Foam roll, dynamic warmup, BB warmup, Hang Clean to Push Press 5x135
Clean and jerk, 3x190
Power clean 1x235, racked the bar, Split Jerk 1x235

Using the same weight as last week so that I can get more comfortable locking this out overhead and working towards the 235 C+J on Tuesday.

Snatch-grip Pull - 5x250
Hang High Pull 2x3 @250 (strapped) all supersetted with 3x5e step back lunges

Deadlift: 5, 5, 5+ at (65%, 75%, 85% of Training Max): 5x265, 5x310, 5+x350
Ended up doing 3x275, 2x315, 1x365, 2x405, then 12x350, because 300 and 340 are awkward weights to load.

Glute Bridge + Abduction on Stability Ball, 3x10 supersetted with lateral lunge adduction 3x5e

BB Curls 5x10

That’s a deadlift PR! Estimated max using Wendler’s formula: 488. Felt really good about hitting 2 sets of hang pulls, the bar was moving fast and high. Power Clean at 250 next week should be comfortable. Looking forward to the weekend and sleeping lots and not touching a single weight!

[lift4sport]

Week 2

Day 1
Monday, 10/22/12
Bench Press – 3, 3, 3+ at (70%, 80%, 90% of Training Max): 3x170, 3x195, 9x220

I wasn’t particularly happy with these – I feel like I wasn’t getting enough depth, which is always tricky coming off of a previous shoulder injury. I’m hesitant to go too far and strain or reinjure it, but I don’t want it to happen at the expense of completing a full ROM. I decided to do sets of decline bench (instead of incline db press) as my 5x10 auxiliary so I could still try and move some weight around but get a range all the way to the chest and not hurt my shoulder.

Decline Bench Press: 5x10 @ 185, Super-setted with 5x10 parallel grip lat pull downs

Decline felt awesome, I hit 12 reps on my last set… Will likely do these again next week and go for 5x12 at this weight. 52 reps after my flat bench sets is pretty good, that’s (52x185=) 9620 lbs moved… Next week I will go 5x12 for 60 total reps or 11100.

BB Curl, 5x10, Super-setted with Rear Delt DB raise 5x10

DB Curl 3x16, ss with incline db flyes 3x12

[lift4sport]

Day 2
Tuesday, 10/23/12
Foam Roll + Dynamic Warmup, Barbell Warmup (various raises/pulls, squats and catches at 45lbs), Hang clean to press- 5x135,

Clean and Jerk: 2x165, 2x200, 1x235. PR

4x250 snatch grip pull, 3x250 hang pulls (w straps),

Power Clean: 1x250 PR

Back Squat – 3, 3, 3+ at (70%, 80%, 90% of TMax): 3x215, 3x245, 11x275 PR

These were awesome. Definitely took a lot of work, but still had some gas in the tank. Trying to keep my rep PRs low (1-4 lbs) so I can continue to milk this for a long time.

BB Shrugs, 3x20 at 275lbs SS with Stability Ball Hamstring Triple Threats, 2 rotations of 3x16

3 PRs in one day, that's awesome. New Estimated 1RM Squat (using Wendler's method): 375. Goal for next week (5/3/1+ week) is 9x290. Very stoked on today, Looking forward to recovery day tomorrow. Probably won't do yoga as it's fairly time consuming, just lots of stretching and dynamic work.

[lift4sport]

Day 3
Wednesday, 10/24/12
Lateral Leg Raises 2x20e supersetted with One Leg Leg press 2x10e
Glute Band Walks 2x15e supersetted with Bulgarian Split Squats 2x10e (Bodyweight only)
Kettlebell Arnold press 3x15e supersetted with Inverted Rows 3x10
High Volume band work to target upper back, rear delts, rotator cuff. External rotations for 3x15e, band pull aparts for 2x15e (Ys, Ts, Ws, Ls)
Hammer Curls 3x10
EZ Bar Concentration Curls 3x15


Nice and easy, feeling good.

[lift4sport]

Day 4
Thursday 10/25/12
Decline BB Press, 4x4 (10s rest) x185, 4x3 (10s rest) x195, 4x2 (10s rest) x205, 5x1(10s rest) x225.

These felt great, I have never done this format before with decline bench. Easy on the shoulders and felt like I could likely move more weight than this next time.

Incline db press 3x15, 30s rest - just to get a bit more blood to the chest

Weighted pullups: 3, 3, 3+ at (70%, 80%, 90% of Training Max): 3xBW, 3x200, 9x222.5 PR

Widegrip Pullups 4x6
Lateral delt superset (db raise + db upright row) 3x12e
Overhead Tricep DB press 3x12
Tricep Push down, 3x15

All in all a good day. Got a good pump and was able to move around some weight, too. New estimated wt'd pull 1RM (using Wendler formula): 288.6lbs.

[lift4sport]

Day 5
Friday, 10/26/12
Foam roll, dynamic warmup, BB warmup, Hang Clean to Push Press 5x135
Hang Clean and Jerk, 2x170, 1x205
Hang Clean 225, rack bar, Split Jerk 1x240 from rack. PR

I performed all of the cleans today from a hang position with straps, because I want to learn to hang clean too (as I feel there are benefits to cleaning from both the floor and a standing position). Want to start light and get used to moving more and more weight. 225 moved up easily, which is awesome. Really excited about this 240 Split Jerk... Almost got away from me, but I was able to lockout and hold it for seconds, which is awesome. Going to stick with the same weight next week and try to bump it up the week after that by another 5lbs.

Snatch Grip Pulls, 5x255
Hang Pull 3x3 @ 255 supersetted with 3x5e step back lunges

Deadlift- 3, 3, 3+ at (70%, 80%, 90% of Training Max): 3x290, 3x330, _x375
Ended up doing 3x275, 3x315, 1x365, 1x405, then 10x375. PR

Glute Bridge + Abduction on Stability Ball, 3x10 supersetted with lateral lunge adduction 3x5e

Hammer Curls 5x10

Big deadlift PR, needed to hit 9 to break my previous PR (10x365) but I still had juice in the tank after 9 and wanted to get that extra rep. This was really exciting for me - new estimated 1RM (using Wendler equation) is 498.75. Woohoo!

[lift4sport]

Week 3
Day 1
Monday, 10/28/12
Bench Press – 5, 3, 1+ at (75%, 85%, 95% of Training Max): 5x185, 3x210, 7x230

Ok I officially hate flat bench and am not doing it for a while. When I go to depth at the chest, I feel like my shoulder is going to tear (even at modest weights)
and if I try to stop a few inches off the chest, I feel like I am barely even working. As of next week, I will be switching to Decline BB Bench Press as my main strength upper body lift, as I am able to actually complete the ROM without aggravating my shoulder.

Decline Bench Press: 5x12 @ 185, Super-setted with 5x12 parallel grip lat pull downs

BB Curl, 5x10, Super-setted with Rear Delt DB raise 5x10

DB Curl 3x16, ss with incline db flyes 3x12

Ab roll out

...I officially suck at Ab roll outs. I'm feeling really sore this morning though.. something new to work on!

[lift4sport]

Day 2
Tuesday, 10/23/12
Foam Roll + Dynamic Warmup, Barbell Warmup, Hang clean to press- 5x135,
Clean and Jerk 2x165, 2x200, 1x235

Was a little shaky on the lockout last week, so wanted to repeat the weight this week. Looking forward to bumping up to 240 C+J next week!

4x250 snatch grip pull, 3x250 hang pulls (w straps),
Hang Clean: 1x250 -

Slide lunge ss w Back Squat – 5, 3, 1+ at (75%, 85%, 95% of Training Max): 5x230, 3x260, 7x290

Was aiming for 9– hit the safety pins from descending a bit too quickly/deeply on my 6th rep and I bounced and it really took a lot out of me, the 7th was a grinder. I had also gone to sleep well past 3am the past two nights and I think that my inadequate rest had finally caught up to me. I’m disappointed that I didn’t hit this lift, but I am motivated more than ever to really focus on the components outside of the gym (rest, eating, recovery) to ensure I can continue my progress.

BB Shrugs, 3x20 at 275lbs SS with Stability Ball Hamstring Triple Threats, 2 rotations of 3x16

Disappointed with my squats for today, but fairly excited about the hang clean PR. Can’t wait until December when I get my first pair of Oly shoes – I feel like my squatting and Olympic lifts can only go up from here!

[lift4sport]

Day 3
Wednesday, 10/31/12
Lateral Leg Raises 2x20e supersetted with One Leg Leg press 2x10e
Glute Band Walks 2x15e supersetted with Bulgarian Split Squats 2x10e (Bodyweight only)
Kettlebell Arnold press 3x15e supersetted with Inverted Rows 3x10
High Volume band work to target upper back, rear delts, rotator cuff. External rotations for 3x15e, band pull aparts for 2x15e (Ys, Ts, Ws, Ls)

[lift4sport]

Day 4
Thursday, 10/25/12
Decline Bench Press – 135x5, 185x5, 225x4, 250x4 PR
Weighted pullups: 5, 3, 1+ at (75%, 85%, 95% of Training Max): 5xBW, 3x210, 6x235

Widegrip Pullups 4x6
Delt raises
Arms

Really stoked on the decline bench press, that is a PR. Going either 275 or 280 for a single on Monday. To hit a PR on weighted pulls, I would have needed 6.45 and I got almost to the top on my 7th rep but I couldn’t lock the last squeeze and needed a spot… held and got a slow negative… Hopefully soon!

Estimated Max on Decline: 283lbs.

[lift4sport]

Day 5
Friday, 10/26/12
Foam roll, dynamic warmup, BB warmup, Hang Clean to Push Press 5x135
Hang Clean and Jerk, 2x170, 1x205
Hang Clean 235, rack bar, Split Jerk 1x240 from rack.

I hit this weight last week, but I wasn't very confident on the lockout. This felt great, I am looking forward to Tuesday's 240 Clean and Jerk!

Snatch Grip Pulls, 5x255
Hang Pull 3x3 at 255 supersetted with 3x5e step back lunges. Felt good, 255 on Tuesday should FLY up

Deadlift- 5, 3, 1+ at (75%, 85%, 95% of Training Max): 5x310, 3x345, 8x395
Pulled 3x275, 2x315, 1x365, and 8x385 PR

Glute Bridge + Abduction on Stability Ball, 3x10 supersetted with lateral lunge adduction 3x5e

Awesome deadlift. New Estimated 1RM: 499.3

[lift4sport]

Week 4 Deload

Instead of Deloading this week (I’m taking all of next week off lifting) I decided to go for some heavy (~95%) singles this week to see where I’m at.

Day 1
Monday, 11/04/12
Decline Bench Press – 10x135, 5x185, 3x225, 2x250 (these felt definitely slower than Thursday’s reps), 0x275, 0x275, 2x250

Pretty disappointed with these… after my 4x250 on Thursday, my est max is 283 and I was pretty confident I would hit this. I was feeling slow and groggy, a result of poor sleeping and eating habits (as well as drinking heavily over the weekend). Gotta keep that in check, it’s not worth not hitting my lifts over.

Incline DB Press 5x10, Super-setted with 5x12 parallel grip lat pull downs

BB Curl, 5x10, Super-setted with Rear Delt DB raise 5x10

Normally I do a bit more arm – chest work here, but I’m going to go for heavy declines again on Thursday so I wanted to cut out volume. Time to recover and go HARD tomorrow for clean and jerk, hang clean, squats and deads!

[lift4sport]

Day 2
Tuesday, 11/05/12
Foam Roll + Dynamic Warmup, Barbell Warmup, Hang clean to press- 5x135,
Clean and Jerk 2x170, 2x205, 1x240 - Just missed the lockout on these.. Will have it soon! Just need to spend a bit more time training the Split Jerk separately.

4x250 snatch grip pull, 3x255 hang pulls (w straps),
Hang Clean: 1x255 PR


Slide lunge 3x5e (first 3 sets) ss w Front Squats 5x135, 5x185, 3x225, 1x250, 1x275

This felt great, I haven't done a 275 front squat in a while and I didn't even slow down at the bottom or on the way up... I probably could've hit 290 or 295... New goal for April 2013 - 1x315 front squat!

Back Squat - 2x275 1x315, 1x345

Even though my Estimated max is around 375 right now, I have only gone heavier than 315 twice in the past year-ish, and I have never done more than 335, so this was awesome for me. I have been spending the past couple of cycles hitting mostly 8-12 reps, so I feel like if I spent the next 4ish weeks training 1-4 reps, I could actually hit a single around 365-375. Feeling great!

Deadlift 2x315, 1x365, 1x405, 0x455, 1x405

Started to pull 455, but I felt my hips rising without my shoulders and by this point I was pretty fatigued and didn't want to hurt myself so I walked away from it. I don't feel bad at all... Normally I deadlift on Fridays but I won't have a chance this week.


All in all, an AWESOME day. New Hang Clean PR and, while not an Est. 1RM max on Squats, it's a max at absolute weight moved.

[lift4sport]

Day 3
Wednesday, 07/11/12
Day Off!

Day 4
Thursday, 08/11/12
Decline Bench Press: 10x135, 5x185, 4x225, 1x250, 0x275, 4x250

Still don’t quite have the 275… Was very happy with the 4x250, made sure to lock out each rep (when I hit this last week, I didn’t get each lockout so this was a definite improvement). Estimated 1RM: 283

Weighted Pullups: 2x5x bw, 3x215, 1x240, 1x265, 1x280 (just shy of lockout, got an assist for the top, 6s negatives), 2x280 (same)

Went for the BW + 2 plates today… Just shy. Will definitely have this before Xmas!!

3x12 db incline press ss with 3x12 wide grip lat pulldowns

3x15 tricep rope pushdowns ss with lateral delt raises


Great day.. Not lifting tomorrow, looking forward to next week completely off!

[lift4sport]

FIRST DAY BACK
Friday, 11/16/12
Just doing a variety of lifts, mostly upper body, to get back into the swing of things before going full on next week!
Foam roll, dynamic warm up, barbell warm up, hang clean to push press – 10x135

Hang Clean and Jerk: 2x185, 2s05, 1x225
Snatch Grip Pulls: 5x245, Hang Pulls: 3x245
Hang Clean: 1x245

These felt great, I will be going up in slow (5lb) increments as I had before, and should be able to make it back to my pre-break lifts in a week or two.

Widegrip Pullups 5x6 supersetted with Decline Bench, 10x135, 5x185, 8x225, 8x225, 12x185
Kroc Rows, 2x40 ss with lateral delt raises, 3x20

This was good, I felt really strong on decline bench press. Didn’t have a spotter, but definitely had some reps left in the tank which was great. It was my first time doing Kroc Rows, I started somewhat light but am looking forward to adding these in and making some decent gains on this. I definitely want to start increasing my grip strength, so I’m hoping to get some work out of these !

EZ Bar concentration curls, 3x20 supersetted with Rope Pushdowns, 3x16


All in all, a great first workout back. Can't wait to get back into my lifts this coming week - I am feeling strong and well rested for sure!!

[lift4sport]

Cycle 3

Cycle 3 Training Maxes:
Decline Bench Press:255. Squat: 315. Weighted Pullups: 255. Deadlift: 425.
Cycle 2 Estimated Rep Maxes:
Decline Bench Press: 288 (4x250). Squat: 375 (11x275). Weighted Pullups: 289 (9x222.5). Deadlift: 499.3 (8*395).

Week 1
Day 1
Monday, 19/11/12
Decline Bench Press: 5,5,5+ (@ 65,75,85% of Training Max): 5x165, 5x190, __x216.75

Ended up doing 11x210 because it was closer to my PR without being a 6lb PR jump 10x215)

Incline DB Press – 5x20, Super-setted with 5x12 parallel grip lat pull-down
BB Curls – 5x10, Super-setted with Rear Delt DB raise 5x20
DB Curls - 3x16, Super-setted with DB Flyes 3x12

Kroc rows - 3x50reps. Still not going very heavy on these, but I feel like they're an easy exercise to add +10 reps every session. I plan on going a week at 3x40 Monday, (3x45 Wednesday, if possible) and 3x50 Friday, then increase by 5lbs the next week and repeat until I'm moving some serious weight.

[lift4sport]

Day 2
Tuesday, 10/16/2012
Foam Roll + Dynamic Warmup, Barbell Warmup (various raises/pulls, squats and catches at 45lbs), Hang clean to press- 5x135,

Clean and Jerk: 2x165, 2x205, 1x230

4x250 Snatch-grip pulls, 3x250 hang pulls (w straps).

Hang Clean: 1x250

Back Squat – 5, 5, 5+ at (65%,75%, 85% of TMax): 5x205, 5x235, 5+x267.5

To hit a PR on this, I would've needed 12x270 and I wasn't feeling my best. Instead what I did was build up to a heavy Front Squat (1x275) and then just did my reps 5x270lbs. I felt pretty confident on the Front Squat - I really want to build up to a 300lb Front Squat in the next 5 weeks and hopefully hit a 315lb Front Squat by late spring.

Facepulls - 3x12 SS with BB Shrugs, 2x40 at 225lbs
Stability ball triple threat (hamstring burnout)- 2x16e Super-setted with DB static holds, 3x40s @ 60lb dbs Super-setted with Band External Rotations, 3x15e

[lift4sport]

Day 4
Thursday, 22/11/2012

Weighted Pullups: 5xBW, 5xBW, 11x210

Last rep or so on these became a bit sloppy… gotta stay tight and strong !!

Incl DB Press: 5x20 Super-setted with 5x6 Widegrip Pullups
Front DB Shoulder Press: 5x10 Super-setted with 5x10 Inverted Rows
Overhead Tricep Press 3x15 SS with Single Arm DB Upright Row 3x15
Rope Pushdown 4x10 SS with Lateral Delt Raise 4x10


Today was a little heavy on the pressing... Tomorrow will be doing 3 sets of Kroc rows so hopefully that helps balance things out.

[yodasbrain]

I like declines too, I also like dips.

[lift4sport]

I like declines too, I also like dips.

Ya, I do dips in my warmups every day, but I find that with declines, I can always go down to a consistent depth (ie. bar always touches the chest) while increasing weight... Weighted Dips are great because you can microload by 2.5lb plates (and smaller even!) but I find that at full depth I start to get a lot of shoulder sensitivity, and I wouldn't want to cut my Range of Motion short when I am doing my heavy weighted sets

[lift4sport]

Day 5
Friday, 23/11/2012

At my favourite gym today, it uses kgs so some of the weights are a bit atypical

Foam roll, Dynamic + BB Warmup, Clean and jerk 5x135, hang snatch 2x135

Hang Clean and Jerk: 2x185, 2x210

Hang Clean 1x236, rack the bar. Split Jerk 1x236 from rack - miss

Was snowboarding all day today and sore from yesterday, so I guess I was a bit burnt out from the week. I'm going to try putting my split jerks as my first lift on my Thursday, (Day 4) lifts before I do a lot of upperbody / pressing accessories.

Snatch Grip Pull-Shrugs 5x253, Hang High Pulls 3x3 @ 253

Deadlifts 3x264, 2x308, 1x352, 1x396, 1x418, then 8x360

I was happy with this. Usually anything after 365lbs, I use straps, but the 396 (with chalk and a belt) felt confident and I was very happy with that. I stopped at 8 reps on my working set because a PR would require a 365 and I could feel that I was starting to lift with my legs before my shoulders/chest came up. The 418 was okay, but I'm working on being able to pull from the ground, starting with a slack-less bar. I'm too used to pulling through that and I know that the heavier I go, the harder it will be on my body, so I want to get into good habits.

Glute Bridge Abduction 3x15e SS w Krock Rows, 2x40, 1x50 @50lbs
Band work for upper back / shoulders

[lift4sport]

Week 2
Day 1
Monday, 26/11/2012
Decline Bench 3, 3, 3+ at (70%, 80%, 90% of Training Max): 180, 205, 8x230 PR
Decline Bench: 5x12 at 185 SS with parallel grip lat pull downs, 5x12
BB Curls –3x10, Super-setted with Rear Delt DB raise 3x20
DB Curls - 3x16, Super-setted with DB Flyes 3x12

New Estimated 1RM using Wendler Calculation: 290.7lbs

Great day, good upperbody pump.. Forgot to do Kroc rows! Will have to add them in on another day, perhaps Wednesday on my recovery day

[lift4sport]

Day 2
Tuesday, 27/11/2012

**First day in new Olympic Shoes!! Adidas Power Perfect IIs. Felt strong, confident, and stable – just need to get used to the weight adjustment coming off of soft Nike Frees, especially on Olympic lifts and coming out of the hole on squats

Foam roll, Dynamic warmup, barbell warmup, shoulder activation, lateral leg raises
Hang Clean and Jerk – 5x135, Hang Snatch 2x135

Hang Clean and Jerk: 2x190, 1x210, 1x230

During the high pull section of the clean, I let the bar get away from me a little bit, but I was able to keep it together and still drop under it. I felt very strong under the jerk in these shoes .Bumping to 235 next week.

Snatch Grip Pull 4x255, Hang High Pull 3x255

Hang Clean: 1x255 Not a PR (I have hit this weight once before) but I felt much stronger this week on this lift, definitely not a grinder. Moving to 260 next week, a weight I have not yet attempted.

Back (Front) Squat: (5x135, 3x185, 1x230), 3x230, (1x255), 3x255, (1x280), 5x285

Happy with the front squat, weight got a little bit forward in the hole but as soon as I was able to adjust (moderate hip-drive, keep torso upright and tight) I was able to shoot out past my sticking point with no problem. The walk-out in Olympic shoes was definitely a little bit foreign to me, and I will need to adjust to this. This was my first time going over 275 since August (I have not been programming in Front Squats) so I am happy with this. Bumping to 285 next week.

Would have needed a 10x285 back squat for a PR, and I was feeling good after the Olympic lifts but a little bit spent, and I had to rush in order to still make sprints and dinner. Will be doing my normal band work for upper back tomorrow on my recovery day. All in all, a great day and I am VERY happy with the new shoes!

Finished the day off with 10x55m sprints with short rest for conditioning work.

[lift4sport]

Day 3
Wednesday, 28/11/2012
Mostly active recovery, mobility, and band work. Also played hockey for two hours, first time playing in a very long time. Needless to say, my hips are tiiiiight. Late night foam rolling and stretching for sure (other contributing factors: no usual-Monday afternoon yoga, heavy cleans Tuesday, sprints Tuesday).

[lift4sport]

Day 4
Thursday, 29/11/2012
Split Jerk: 2x165, 2x190, 1x215, 1x240 supersetted with
Weighted Pullups: 3xbw, 3x210, 7.5x230

Practiced pausing at the bottom and ensuring that I was pulling from a true deadhang and getting my chin well over the bar… I had a hard time closing out the last rep, I had the bar at mouth-level for about 3 seconds and just couldn’t squeeze out anymore.

Incline DB Press 4x20 ss with Inverted rows 4x12
Lateral Delt raises 3x15 ss with 5x6 wide grip pullups
3x15 rope pushdowns

All in all, a good upper body day. Got a big pump for sure. This was my first time since I began running 5/3/1 putting split jerks in on my Weighted Pullup Day, and I definitely enjoyed it. It takes more time to warm up, but I feel tight and fresh for them. I was having difficulty progressing them when doing them on Fridays before deadlifting (usually because of how fatigued my triceps were from Thursdays – tough to lock out and be stable).