First Journal entry

[Cantplankwell]

Yesterday

5/3/1 Cycle 5 Week 4 De-Load week, Bench Press Day

Training Max 141 lbs

Warm Up: Row 500m, arm, elbow, wrist-circles, band pass through and pull aparts, just a few minutes here all total.

Main Lifts;

45x8
45x5
40%x5, 55lbs
50%x5, 70lbs
60%x5, 85lbs

Assistance Lifts;

More Bench Presses (BBB); 45lbs 5 sets of 10
BO barbell rows; 65lbs 4 sets of 8
Skull Crushers; 20lbs 5 sets of 10 (not really sure how much that 5' bar weighs)
Some Chins
Some YTWLs

Conditioning:

Again like the other day, a brisk 35 minute walk

Nutrition: Cal:2562, Car:266, Pro:130, Fat:110

Notes: Quick session which was no strain. Protein low again. Went to the driving range after this..hit some really good drives with irons and woods. I have noticed since I have become serious about lifting, especially incorporating the OLY lifts my stroke has become much better-stronger, with distance and consistency. I think I am more connected to my muscles and nerves (more athleticism).

[Cantplankwell]

Today;

Light Cardio: 35 minute walk, cause Wendler said so.

Nutrition: Cal:2654, Car:181, Pro:223, Fat: 115

[TM79]

Another good deload session and some conditioning. Glad to hear that your golf swing is getting better. I think the only thing that would help my golf swing is if I jumped off a cliff.

[Cantplankwell]

Another good deload session and some conditioning. Glad to hear that your golf swing is getting better. I think the only thing that would help my golf swing is if I jumped off a cliff.

Jump off a cliff, thats funny! Believe me I am no "avid" golfer, its something my wife and I enjoy doing on a Sunday morning, then we go to breakfast after. Dont like going with folks that are serious, besides none of them lift anyway...there boring.

[shaneinga]

Another 531 Journal. I will jump in here and say great job!

I haven't read your entire journal yet, but which book are you reading or have read of Wendler's?

BBB template is a tough one, but it is very effective.

Enjoy the deload.

[Cantplankwell]

Another 531 Journal. I will jump in here and say great job!

I haven't read your entire journal yet, but which book are you reading or have read of Wendler's?

BBB template is a tough one, but it is very effective.

Enjoy the deload.

Thanks Shaneinga, I dont have any of his books, which makes me feel guilty as I am a big fan of his methods. Not sure which of his books would be most effective for me at this point....I probably can get at least 4 cycles more before stalling I think.

[shaneinga]

Right on. Any of his books will work. He just released his newest book here recently called 531 forever. It is a culmination of a lot of his work as well as some new templates and training philosophy that were not in his older books. He had different protocols including 5 forward 3 back prior to this book, where as in this book he talks a lot about the 7th week protocol as well as a lot more different warm up drills that include jumping and throwing and the leader/anchor templates that were not in his older books.

If you think you are going to stall, you can do the 5 forward 3 back protocol. Basically you run your program as stated. Go for 5 cycles and then go back three cycles in weight and work back up. Hence the name, 5 forward, 3 back.

Good luck, I will follow along to watch your progress.

[Cantplankwell]

Right on. Any of his books will work. He just released his newest book here recently called 531 forever. It is a culmination of a lot of his work as well as some new templates and training philosophy that were not in his older books. He had different protocols including 5 forward 3 back prior to this book, where as in this book he talks a lot about the 7th week protocol as well as a lot more different warm up drills that include jumping and throwing and the leader/anchor templates that were not in his older books.

If you think you are going to stall, you can do the 5 forward 3 back protocol. Basically you run your program as stated. Go for 5 cycles and then go back three cycles in weight and work back up. Hence the name, 5 forward, 3 back.

Good luck, I will follow along to watch your progress.

Definitely be ordering a book (and a couple of his natty T-shirts), Once I break all of my PRs and then get a few cycles beyond them I am trading in the BBB template awhile for OlY lifting. It will be main lift such as Snatches, then scheduled 531 lift, then assistance lifts. I recall one of his articles where the Oly lifts go first. Will see how it goes.

[TM79]

Jump off a cliff, thats funny! Believe me I am no "avid" golfer, its something my wife and I enjoy doing on a Sunday morning, then we go to breakfast after. Dont like going with folks that are serious, besides none of them lift anyway...there boring.

Golf is probably the only sport that I really appreciate and love to watch that I really suck at. It's truly an amazing sport and I love watching people that are good at it. I like playing too, but am not even good enough to feel comfortable playing on a business outing.

[Cantplankwell]

Earlier Today:

5/3/1 Cycle 5 Week 4 De-Load week, Squat Day

Warm Ups, skip rope, the usual mix of yoga and various other stretches, tight hip flexor today. I took 15 minutes for this work

Tuned radio Sirius to "Faction"...turned it up first song was the Sex pistols "EMI" so much fun

Main Lifts:

45x5
40%x5, 90 lbs
50%x5, 110 lbs
60%x5, 135 lbs

Assistance Lifts:

BBB Squats, 5 sets of 10, 70lbs
Snatch Practice 20kg Bar mid hang jump, mid hang pull, tall muscle snatch, tall snatch, mid hand snatch, full snatch (30kg), basically a progression from Greg Everett's book "Olympic weightlifting" did this instead of doing a EMOM, or something else or other assistance lifts, was nice to change the pace and just look at technique.

Conditioning:

Only 10 minutes left so I ripped a 1600m run in 7:25, which actually destroyed me and set the pace for a lazy morning at work

Nutrition: Cal 2607, Car:274, Pro:188, Fat:130

Notes: Had restaurant pizza and salad tonight for dinner as we were on the road most of this afternoon and evening, so dinner nutrition is guesstimated. Thank you for taking an interest in my journal and thanks for your comments, they are most welcome.

CPW

[Cantplankwell]

yesterday:

Rest day

Nutrition: Cal:2347, Car:216, Pro:166, Fat:118

Start Cycle 6 tonight, rare evening workout..report back tomorrow with how it goes/nutrition summary from today.

[Cantplankwell]

5/3/1 Cycle 6 Week 1 Military Press Day

Training Max 115 lbs

Warm Up, skipping rope, dislocations, band pull aparts, band pass thru, bunch of upper body stretches

Main Lifts:

45x6
55x5
65x3
65%x5, 78 lbs
75%x5, 86 lbs
85%x5+1, 98 lbs

Assistance Lifts:

BBB, 58lbs, 5 sets of 10*
Some Chins, several sets of 2 plus ahem..negatives,
Dips, 4 sets of 8 band assists.
YTWLs,

Conditioning:

"21-15-9" with 65 lbs- barbell, and C2 rower: 21 front squats/push press-row 21 calories, 15 front squats/push press-row 15 Cal, 9 Front squat/push press-row 9 cal, took almost exactly 10 minutes to execute. If you have done crossfit before these types of "WODS" are common, The front squat push/ press in one move is called a thruster. There is a bunch of different versions of the 21-15-9 using different movements

Nutrition: Cal:2674, Car:179, pro:193, Fat:107

Notes: Start of another cycle lets see how it goes. I have pegged my BBB set at 55% of the higher weight lifted on that day for the presses, so it follows the 85%, 90% 95% sets.

CPW

[shaneinga]

Good looking start to a new cycle. OHP is a tough lift, and you will probably stall here before anywhere else. At least that has been my experience.

Conditioning work looks solid.

[Cantplankwell]

Good looking start to a new cycle. OHP is a tough lift, and you will probably stall here before anywhere else. At least that has been my experience.

Conditioning work looks solid.

OHP=Tough...for sure, there was a lot of groaning to get the + 1, I predict a stall cycle 7...lets see, if not on the 531 set then the BBB set for it. As for the conditioning that was the hardest thing I have done in conditioning since I started to do that after the 531 work. If I had a heart monitor on it probably would have shown red line, today I have wicked DOMs all over. Thats awesome cause today is Dead lift day later on and that means conditioning will probably be the "the bear"

[TnTNZ]

Man I literally grind away at the OHP, it never feels likes it's improving.

I've been hitting hit with more volume over this cube training period. But I think it might simply be time to up frequency.

[Cantplankwell]

Friday: Rest Day,

Nutrition: Complete disaster

Yesterday: 5/3/1 Cycle 6 Week 1 Dead-Lift Day

Training Max: 275 lbs

Warm Up: Skipping rope, yoga stretches, hip openers, glute activation, some work with the PVC pipe, 20 minutes total

Main Lifts:

135 lbs x5
155 lbs x5
65%x5, 179 lbs
75%x5, 206 lbs
85%x5+1, 233 lbs

Assistance Lifts:

Front Squats; 105 lbs, 5 sets of 10
GHRs, 3 sets of 5 (Band Assisted), getting easier tho
Practice Clean with pvc pipe for a few minutes

Conditioning:

"The Bear"; 1 rep= power clean, front squat, push press, back squat, push press, 7 sets of 3 @ 30kg, do not remove hands from bar within reps, minimal rest between sets About 8 minutes here. Lot cleaner than last time, my clean is still dirty in the triple extension...too much arm pull on some of the reps, this could be because of the low weight

Nutrition: Cal:3260, Car:355, Pro:148, Fat:133

Notes; Nutrition is like banking, if you dont set a budget you wont reach your savings goals....you might also run short if you overspend on the wrong things. The bear was a lot smoother but I still have to work on the clean, too much arm pull. My snatch is a lot better than my clean, its usually the other way around for most people, this could be because of my annoyingly long monkey arms. GHRs went smoother as well, be able to ditch the band soon. Spent the remainder of the day doing yard work..planting shrubs, was totally trashed by 8 last night...Had one beer with supper which made me loopy, and spiked my daily calorie total

[TM79]

Nice job the last couple of sessions CPW. I like the metcon work. Those look plenty challenging and you knocked them out. I think I remember doing Bear before. That's a good complex. Front Squats after Deadlifts? You love punishment!

[Cantplankwell]

Nice job the last couple of sessions CPW. I like the metcon work. Those look plenty challenging and you knocked them out. I think I remember doing Bear before. That's a good complex. Front Squats after Deadlifts? You love punishment!

I think front squats and Deads are a good compliment, and in a roundabout way I am squatting twice a week. Believe me Im feeling it today, DOMS are evident, Wendler says BBB sets would make you sore.

[Cantplankwell]

Yesterday:5/3/1 Cycle 6 Week 1 Bench Press Day

Training Max:146 lbs

Warm up: The usual, skipping rope, band pass throughs/pull aparts, dislocations, arm-wrist-elbow circles, pvc pipe work. etc

Main Lifts;

45lbsx5
65lbsx5
85lbsx5
65%x5, 95 lbs
75%x5, 110 lbs
85%x5+1, 125 lbs

Assistance Work:
BBB more bench presses, 80 lbs-5 sets of 10
Bent Over barbell rows: 80 lbs, 4 sets of 8
Some Chins
Barbell Curls, 45 lbs 5 sets of 10
Tricep Extensions; 35 lbs 4 sets of 10 (wont use archaic terms like skull crushers anymore (HA HA!))

Contioning:

C2 Rower Intervals Pyramid, row 100m, 200m, 300m, 400m, 500m, 400m, 300m, 200m, 100m, rest 1 min between these intervals, around 19 minutes for this work.

Nutrition: Cal:2493, Car:186, Pro:175, Fat:96

Notes, very sore these days. Nutrition was a crap shoot over the weekend because of eating meals prepared by others, did my best to estimate based on past experience and notes. Pretty soon I am going to have to do something about my 38" waist. Its very confusing, i could "cut", carb-cycle, re-comp, intermittent fast, leaning towards the cycling and or fasting. I think I could cut to the emaciated level and there would still be a bit of a gut.

[shaneinga]

Good couple of sessions. What is your name, or do you want me to call you "Ugly" like you have in your profile? LoL.

I like the "less boring" option on the BBB sets as well. I never really cared for front squats, so more power to you for giving those a go.

[Cantplankwell]

Good couple of sessions. What is your name, or do you want me to call you "Ugly" like you have in your profile? LoL.

I like the "less boring" option on the BBB sets as well. I never really cared for front squats, so more power to you for giving those a go.

Thanks dude!

Ugly: old nickname, mainly due to a piss poor attitude when I was a younger person. It kind of rings.

The Front squats, as well as a good companion to the dead-lift (IMHO), its also a component of the Olympic "clean". At some point...if I ever achieve a realistic level of strength I want to train for some masters Olympic-lifting meets with a proper coach, so I am keeping these bits and pieces alive in the meantime.

[Cantplankwell]

Yesterday:

Morning; Easy Cardio: 30 min or so walk at a good pace.


Evening:

5/3/1 Cycle 6 Week 1 Squat Day

Training Max: 230 lbs

Warm Up: Skipping rope, yoga stretches, glute activation, hip openers, some work with the pvc pipe

Main Lifts:

45 lbsx5
115 lbsx5
135 lbsx4
65%x5, 150 lbs
75%x5, 172 lbs
85%x5+1, 195 lbs

Assistance Work;

BBB, More Squats; 107 lbs 5 sets of 10
GHRs 3 sets of 6
Seated Box Jumps 4 sets of 8

Conditioning:

Beginners Snatch Complex Version 2; 1 rep = snatch deadlift+snatch pull+power snatch+overhead squat. 30 kg, 1 rep EMOM for 10 minutes


Nutrition; Cal:3100, Car:345, Pro:190, Fat:97.8

Notes: Worked out in the evening today. struggled with the squats, some bad good mornings on all three sets which I have not done in awhile. Ill have to admit I was not really into getting it done and was feeling a little run down before the session...even my skipping rope was feeble. I was happy with the conditioning as the weight felt very light which to me is a sign of improving technique in the snatch, in the past under a coach at my previous gym if you hit a good snatch it was like the bar was weightless at times, so it does not wear you down, not sure if that makes sense? The overhead squat portion I hit full depth (not without some serious grunting to get out of it) I think my conclusion here is to not squat in the evening, at least on the 5s which is the hardest day IMHO, I can do anything 1-3 times, but 5+ is pushing it for me. When the stalls come, and they will, I am sure now it will be on the 5s.

CPW

[Cantplankwell]

Yesterday;


Morning:

5/3/1 Cycle 6 Week 2 Military Press Day

Training Max; 115 lbs

Warm Up; Skip rope, band pass through and pull apart, dislocations, wrist-elbow-arm circles, work with PVC pipes, some lower body stretches..easy 10 minutes maybe

Main Lifts;

45x8
45x5
55x4
65x3
70%x3, 78 lbs
80%x3, 92 lbs
90%x3, 103 lbs

Assistance Lifts;

BBB, mil press; 63 lbs, 5 sets of 10
Dips; 4 sets of 8 (band assisted)
Rack Delivery drill 4 sets of 8...(assistance for turn over in the "clean", used a 5' 20 lb bar for this..unloaded...hard on the shoulders in isolation)

Conditioning;

Farmers Carry. 200 lbs total with hex bar, walk 100 feet, then rest 30 seconds, rinse and repeat 5 times.

Nutrition; Cal:2700, Car: 206, Pro:212, Fat:100

Notes: I have discovered that I may not be doing my BBB template correctly, With this template on the 531 lifts you are not supposed to do any extra + reps, if you are doing the same exercise following with 5 sets of 10. However the 5 sets of 10 are supposed to increase in step with the percentages of the 531, for example they should increase instep through the cycle 50%-55%-60%..then de-load. I tried this today and found both the 333 and BBB easier to get through (still sore today) by skipping the 1 or 2 plus reps which really do take a lot out of you. I will correct and see how this changes things for the rest of this cycle. Nutrition: highest amount of protein in any one day, I cut out the yogurt cups at workn(1-3 a day) because I am getting my dairy with my protein shake (skim milk), the carbs are too high relative to anything else I benefit from them. Thank god for celery and cucumbers to keep me full at times.



Evening: 30 minute walk cause Wendler said so. Probably the nicest day out so far this calendar year.

5 k run (just for fun today I think)

CPW

[Cantplankwell]

Yesterday:

5K Run Day

27:17

Nutrition: Cal:2462, Car:231, Pro:106.8, Fat:107

Notes: Going to be dropping the jogging once a week or so in favour of 30-40 min walking sessions 3-5 days. Since I condition after nearly every lifting session I think the running complicates things more than it helps. With a few weeks of running training I could easily set a new sub 25 minute time, so obviously steady state endurance cardio is not my problem...meat and potatoes strength is a major deficiency...so I need to concentrate on that.

Dead lift day today, no sleep last night will tell you how it went tomorrow. I may skip the conditioning depending on how I feel after the assistance lifts.

CPW

[mirroroferised]

Are you doing the BBB 3 month challenge or the regular BBB? With the 3 month challenge he does not want you to do any + sets at all. On regular BBB (at least my understanding from the original book) was he wants you to go all out on the plus set.


You're doing awesome man. I love checking back in here every few days and seeing a ton of workouts, lots of posts and progress. Journal is hopping I love 531. You really can't beat this program imo. Keep at it!!!

Those farmer walks btw Nice...

[Cantplankwell]

Are you doing the BBB 3 month challenge or the regular BBB? With the 3 month challenge he does not want you to do any + sets at all. On regular BBB (at least my understanding from the original book) was he wants you to go all out on the plus set.


You're doing awesome man. I love checking back in here every few days and seeing a ton of workouts, lots of posts and progress. Journal is hopping I love 531. You really can't beat this program imo. Keep at it!!!

Those farmer walks btw Nice...

Thanks for stopping in. It would appear I am doing the regular BBB. I went back and read the 3 month challenge, you are correct on th + sets. I got confused the other day.

Yes the weights are coming up I am starting to head into uncharted territory now, where every cycle brings new PRs, its going to be an epic battle. The 531 has been an excellent program for me.

[Cantplankwell]

Yesterday;

I ended up taking the day completely off..no excercise...no nutrition recording,, this was mainly due to the lack of sleep last couple of nights. Finally turned the aircon on last night which made for good sleep, as I write this I am getting ready for some deads, stay tuned.

[TM79]

Strong work going on in here CPW. I feel ya on the no sleep thing. That has been a problem for me for about a month and a half. Well, not no sleep, but usually 6 hours or less per night. Things are just too stressful and busy. Sorry to hear that you're dropping your once per week jog. That isn't that much and it can be placed strategically enough to not really interfere with your lifts. I would plan a long run/jog for the end of an upper body workout when you are planning to take at least one day off before the next workout (preferably two days off). You should be able to recover pretty well in that time frame. Or maybe you're trying to dial back the conditioning to gain some weight?

[Cantplankwell]

Strong work going on in here CPW. I feel ya on the no sleep thing. That has been a problem for me for about a month and a half. Well, not no sleep, but usually 6 hours or less per night. Things are just too stressful and busy. Sorry to hear that you're dropping your once per week jog. That isn't that much and it can be placed strategically enough to not really interfere with your lifts. I would plan a long run/jog for the end of an upper body workout when you are planning to take at least one day off before the next workout (preferably two days off). You should be able to recover pretty well in that time frame. Or maybe you're trying to dial back the conditioning to gain some weight?

Its starting to become hard work! The + reps are getting to be a grind, coupled with the BBB work I think is starting to wear. I have to run on a non lifting day as there is not enough time before work to get both in. You are right in the timing, if I could find the timing to fit it in it might be able to keep it going, believe me I do enjoy it. For awhile I was lifting mon/tues, thursday/friday. If I could get back to that I could probably run sunday morning, as it would be the day before mil press day, following nearly 48 hours of recovery. I have to make some tough choices soon if I want all my lifts to progress, at 51 there is only so much of me to go around, notwithstanding sleep issues, getting enough quality calories, in addition to work, and family life. (My wife thinks I'm nuts with this fitness regimen)

[Cantplankwell]

Yesterday morning

5/3/1 Cycle 6 Week 2 Dead-lift day

Training Max:275 lbs

Warm up: skipping rope, yoga stetches: hip openers..glute activators, dislocations, elbow, wrist, arm circles. 20 minutes. Really important on DL and squat days.

Further Warming up: Cleans...work up to moderately difficult amount of weight in as few sets as possible, up to 60Kg, got the whole body going

Main Lifts:

135 lbs x 3
175 lbs x 3
70%x3, 192 lbs
80%x3, 220 lbs
90%x3+1, 247 lbs

Accessory Lifts;

Front Squats: 105lbs, 5 sets of 10
GHRs 4 sets of 7, band assisted.

Conditioning:

The Bear; 30kg, 1 rep= power clean, front squat, push press, back squat, push press. 3 sets of 7. Do not remove hands from bar between reps. Minimal rest between sets. This is getting smoother, but next time I am going to try the power clean from the hip to work on the second pull. This took about 8 minutes to do this, If I could have had a hear rate monitor on!

Nutrition: Cal:2195, Car:212, Pro:145, Fat:713

Notes: Overall a good sweaty session. But its official..I dont eat enough on the weekends+ there is too much to do..... For instance right after the above work out I spent 3 hours with my wife cleaning windows, absorbed in this I forgot all about lunch...which was late skimpy and abbreviated...then it was off to groceries, then clean the pool, a short nap, dinner prep,,BBQ, then finish cleaning the pool, then take garbage to dumpster at work, then clean the pool shack out...it went on and on into dusk. I can go to work today after bench pressing and more or less veg as there is no one to boss me around...as I am in charge now...till I get home.

CPW