"Fierce 5" Novice Routine

[KingCroat]

i dont take a multi.... excess vits, mins and metals can be.. undesirable to dangerous.

ideally you should get checked to see if you are deficient in anything before you go dropping multis on a daillleeeyyy.

i only supplement with
protein (to hit macros)
omega 3
vitamin d3 (uk, no sun, deficient)
creatine < none responder, so i quit this one.

and you are practically covered. barring any medical deficiency.

+10000

It's pointless to take synthetic vitamins when you're already meeting your daily requirements with your food diet. This will all show up when you get your blood test at your next physical. Just tell your doc to print you out a copy and you can look for yourself. Most doctors will advise against a multivitamin. Many naturopaths are against them too.

Just supplement with what you are deficient in (unless you can resolve the underlying issue as to why you are deficient).

Personally, I am deficient in Vitamin D3, and since I do not live in a sunny climate, I take D3 as a vitamin supplement. I also have a bit of a fatty liver, so I changed my diet to exclude simple sugars/carbs (which corrected that issue).

I'll also take a protein shake after my workouts as well, but I buy the grass-fed organic whey to make my protein shake and not the overprocessed whey isolate. Organic whey has less protein, but healthier for you overall as it doesn't have the sugars and other added unrecognizable ingredients (which would probably impact my liver to a degree).

[vvvrrr]

I'm not taking any supplements. It's just that at the op, they are recommended to every one, so I thought I should add that for health issues. But hey, it's nice to know that not only they are not essential, they might not even be recommended (save money!).

As for the diet, it's so hard to eat all those calories, specially protein wise. Luckily eggs are practical and less than 10cents here, so they are my special weapon. But still, I'm not reaching the recommended 2g per kg. And on the days I go for a run, I definitely spend more calories that I eat.

[DrakHarr]

For push-ups you could try this. Work out your max 1 set say you can do 20 then do ladders at half that. 1 set of 1 then 1 set of 2 etc upto 1 set of 10 then go down the ladder 1 set of 9 1 set of 8. Alt in some speed sets a set of 5 explosive reps X 5 sets.
Then after a few days try for max reps say you got 25 then change your ladder to 12 and so on..

Just checking in! here's what's going on since I started this a few months ago.

Squats 95->225 (though I just failed, so more like 215)
Bench press: 95->150
Pendalay Row 85->145 (also needs a reset)
Deadlift 85->215
OHP: 65->115
Lat pulldown 90->125

Bodyweight-> 160-150(ish)

Not a lot of weight cut, but I'm tripling down on cardio, as I've figured out that at 5'3 there's REALLY no other way for me to healthily cut weight. My calories would need to dip below 1,500, which... no.

[taiooo]

Hello,

I have 2 questions and 1 is stupid... So sorry in advance

I started your routine with no DL and you tell me to do squat and leg curl in every workout. I want to try the DL for testing. Can you recommend me a form of DL with less work on the lower back and exercises to learn the good form ?

And the stupid question... Why 8 reps for back and 5 reps for chest / shoulders ? We should not balance with the same number of reps ?

Thank you

[DrakHarr]

Hello,

I have 2 questions and 1 is stupid... So sorry in advance

I started your routine with no DL and you tell me to do squat and leg curl in every workout. I want to try the DL for testing. Can you recommend me a form of DL with less work on the lower back and exercises to learn the good form ?

And the stupid question... Why 8 reps for back and 5 reps for chest / shoulders ? We should not balance with the same number of reps ?

Thank you

The back needs far more work than the chest, you've got a lot more muscles. Additionally, working with the 8 rep range for the back means you are likely to be lifting farther from your 1 RM, as your back is also more prone to injury.

If you do no DL at all, and by that I mean no RDL/front squat on the B workout and got custom advice to do squats and leg curls every time, there's just not a deadlift that I know of that doesn't hit the lower back. Romanian deadlift hits the hamstrings and lower back, as do stiff legged and regular. I would advise doing RDL before regular deadlifts. Now that I have some experience I like the regular deadlifts much more, but the form on RDL is hard to screw up since there's so few moving parts.

[MyEgoProblem]

Hello,

I have 2 questions and 1 is stupid... So sorry in advance

I started your routine with no DL and you tell me to do squat and leg curl in every workout. I want to try the DL for testing. Can you recommend me a form of DL with less work on the lower back and exercises to learn the good form ?

And the stupid question... Why 8 reps for back and 5 reps for chest / shoulders ? We should not balance with the same number of reps ?

Thank you

has your specialist cleared you to do Deadlift?! as i know you where told not to.

If YES, then Sumo deadlift would likely give less lower back stress as most people will be more upright unless you are like me with short T-rex arms lol, but its still gonna stressful for the lowerback to a high degree. thats just how it works.

[NoSpeed]

Hey guys. Been having some trouble on my incline bench press recently. I seem to have stalled at 160lb. I can do 5 reps, then 4 reps, and only 3 on the last set.

Since overhead press is listed as an acceptable substitute, is it ok to do the OHP for a few weeks until it gets difficult, then go back to incline bench?

[MyEgoProblem]

Hey guys. Been having some trouble on my incline bench press recently. I seem to have stalled at 160lb. I can do 5 reps, then 4 reps, and only 3 on the last set.

Since overhead press is listed as an acceptable substitute, is it ok to do the OHP for a few weeks until it gets difficult, then go back to incline bench?

yup. if you have stalled and need to freshen things up.

but i would stick it more than "a few weeks".. minimum 8 weeks imo.

[arkwok1209]

I honestly doubt your back is the issue. I don't even know where to start with this honestly. Post videos maybe?

I was ill the last week. Also lower back feels locked up after failing front squat at 95kg a week before so could only get some deadlift video today.


This is me deadlifting 80kg for 5. I feel everything in my lower back, probably due to lower back weakness. I made the mistake to sub hip thrust for RDL a while back so that may have contributed to the problem)


This is the back view of my squat at 95kg ( the bar was just 15kg, but I thought 2plates per side looks cooler lol). As you can see on my way down my hip shift a little bit (right QL tightness compensating for my weak right lower back probably), but on the way up it corrects itself, which is weird to me cause people usually have more problems with concentric than eccentric.

Thank you for your time
TLDR: form check for my deads and squat please

[faysal9]

For push-ups you could try this. Work out your max 1 set say you can do 20 then do ladders at half that. 1 set of 1 then 1 set of 2 etc upto 1 set of 10 then go down the ladder 1 set of 9 1 set of 8. Alt in some speed sets a set of 5 explosive reps X 5 sets.
Then after a few days try for max reps say you got 25 then change your ladder to 12 and so on..

Shall i do push-ups on Both Plan A and Plan B day. 3 times a week. Or i can do it everyday?

[daawhitty]

Shall i do push-ups on Both Plan A and Plan B day. 3 times a week. Or i can do it everyday?

I'm following the routine so I don't do anything else.. You could do them whenever you want but it will impact your results on Davis program.
But you will be able to do more press ups

[ItsTiME35]

I'm following the routine so I don't do anything else.. You could do them whenever you want but it will impact your results on Davis program.
But you will be able to do more press ups

I used to struggle to do 1 push up properly. After 8 months or so of F5 I tried to do a few push ups and managed 30 reps and had gas in the tank. Guess that bench press is workin

[daawhitty]

I used to struggle to do 1 push up properly. After 8 months or so of F5 I tried to do a few push ups and managed 30 reps and had gas in the tank. Guess that bench press is workin

True dat



Das it mane..

[ItsTiME35]

True dat



Das it mane..

now I have started doing barbell bench I think it will come on even more... the Dumbbells had become repetitive. Loving bench again

[Squid24]

Shall i do push-ups on Both Plan A and Plan B day. 3 times a week. Or i can do it everyday?

I do push-ups on MY B day with other stuff, and I also do them on my off days...active rest

[taiooo]

The back needs far more work than the chest, you've got a lot more muscles. Additionally, working with the 8 rep range for the back means you are likely to be lifting farther from your 1 RM, as your back is also more prone to injury.

If you do no DL at all, and by that I mean no RDL/front squat on the B workout and got custom advice to do squats and leg curls every time, there's just not a deadlift that I know of that doesn't hit the lower back. Romanian deadlift hits the hamstrings and lower back, as do stiff legged and regular. I would advise doing RDL before regular deadlifts. Now that I have some experience I like the regular deadlifts much more, but the form on RDL is hard to screw up since there's so few moving parts.

Thank you

[taiooo]

has your specialist cleared you to do Deadlift?! as i know you where told not to.

If YES, then Sumo deadlift would likely give less lower back stress as most people will be more upright unless you are like me with short T-rex arms lol, but its still gonna stressful for the lowerback to a high degree. thats just how it works.

You are right, PT say no to DL but I'm frustrated... Ego problem here... Ok I promise to stay away from the DL for now.

Anyway, I love this routine even without DL

[MyEgoProblem]

You are right, PT say no to DL but I'm frustrated... Ego problem here... Ok I promise to stay away from the DL for now.

Anyway, I love this routine even without DL

Probably for the best.

End of the day, your spine and health are more important than relieving a bit of Boredom and frustration.

I would drop squats and deads in an instant if a specialist red-lighted them from an injury. My 2 fave lifts,but no second thoughts at all.

[Squid24]

hey guys. A quick question.
started Fierce 5 2 weeks back. its going well.
I am very much beginner . i have started Pushups challenge for myself.
Starting with 10x3 per day. for full one month. (maybe i will be doing 20x3 or 30x3 after a few days)
Doing it daily at the moment. Shall i do it thrice a day? i mean the concept should be recovering muscles right.
please guide me .
I would really like to do 100 pushups in a single rep in coming month.

Had to go and find this...lol

Since you are new to this, keep the push-ups to your rest days and call it active rest. Start out with 3x10, and then try to add to it each day you do push-ups and at the end of the month, test your 1 set rep count and see where you are at

[ItsTiME35]

Probably for the best.

End of the day, your spine and health are more important than relieving a bit of Boredom and frustration.

I would drop squats and deads in an instant if a specialist red-lighted them from an injury. My 2 fave lifts,but no second thoughts at all.

^^ amen to this... lot of lifting years ahead of you dude. marathon not a sprint

[daawhitty]

RE: Pushups - I've been reading The Greyskull LP book and he has a nice little target to aim for..

Just 100 push ups completed in 2 minutes / 120 seconds...

[Squid24]

RE: Pushups - I've been reading The Greyskull LP book and he has a nice little target to aim for..

Just 100 push ups completed in 2 minutes / 120 seconds...

Wow..when I was in the Navy I could get 100 sit-up and 50 push-ups in the 2 min ea time frames.

[beardohio]

As for the diet, it's so hard to eat all those calories, specially protein wise. Luckily eggs are practical and less than 10cents here, so they are my special weapon. But still, I'm not reaching the recommended 2g per kg. And on the days I go for a run, I definitely spend more calories that I eat.

2g/kg body weight is a pretty solid number...one that you really should not have any trouble reaching. It will vary based on your goals but I assume if you know the number you want to hit, you have already done some thinking.

Eggs are great...but at 6g/egg I'm sure you don't want to eat as many as it would require. Could be a good start to your day but as the day goes on you should use other solid protein sources.

-Nonfat Greek Yogurt/Cottage Cheese
-Chicken, steak, lean ground beef, etc. (can even be canned chicken/tuna for convenience)
-Salmon, tilapia, etc.
-Beef jerky
-Peanut butter
-Protein shakes if absolutely necessary

Just checking in! here's what's going on since I started this a few months ago.

Squats 95->225 (though I just failed, so more like 215)
Bench press: 95->150
Pendalay Row 85->145 (also needs a reset)
Deadlift 85->215
OHP: 65->115
Lat pulldown 90->125

Bodyweight-> 160-150(ish)

Not a lot of weight cut, but I'm tripling down on cardio, as I've figured out that at 5'3 there's REALLY no other way for me to healthily cut weight. My calories would need to dip below 1,500, which... no.

Solid progress man, especially on a cut!

[GreatNes]

should i just go ahead and reset my compound lifts ? , because so i far i cant move crap and i dont see the point in wasting dayss beating a dead horse .

[beardohio]

should i just go ahead and reset my compound lifts ? , because so i far i cant move crap and i dont see the point in wasting dayss beating a dead horse .

Yes.

You said you took a significant amount of time off. You can't expect to come back and set PR's.

[HashSlinging]

Aye guys,

Just started this routine this week. 4 months ago I quit year-round swimming after 8 years(High School/Club/College). In those 4 months I changed my gym routine to focus more on size and building muscle, rather than endurance. I went with Coolcicadas PPL: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=149807833. I hit a plateau rather quickly and didn't improve much after.

I really enjoy my toned physique but I also am starting to realize that if I want to reach my goal of a lean/toned 180lbs that I need to bulk up. Will I need to accept the fact that I'm going to get a small gut and lose my abs? I was pointed to this routine but it feels like 3 days of lifting per week is too little. Also realized that I need start stretching since my shoulders are not flexible enough to front squat(wtf?) - is there a substitute for that I can do in the meantime?

[kylescislow]

Is it bad to do 3x10 as opposed to 3x5 with this program?

[beardohio]

Is it bad to do 3x10 as opposed to 3x5 with this program?

Yes, it is bad. You will end up like this guy:

[ItsTiME35]

Is it bad to do 3x10 as opposed to 3x5 with this program?

Yes its bad. The program has been designed carefully by Davis including number of reps, sets, etc. Stick to the program, increase weight as prescribed.

[dgoyena216]

Is it bad to do 3x10 as opposed to 3x5 with this program?

What would be the point of it?