Heavy-ER Day

The soreness was almost completely gone when I arrived at the gym. I am trying to get in a rhythm of having a warm up that consists of riding the bike, PVC rolling and stretching. Not only do I feel better during the session but my body is noticing the benefits when I am not training as well.

Back Squat:

5x1 @ 385#

Cleans:

3x3 @ 205#

1500m Row

5:41

Very pleased with the back squat for two reasons. First, I was a little nervous going into it because of my disaster last day of 5/3/1 where I failed at 395#. Today I felt much stronger and each rep was consistently solid. Good form and good drive out of the hole. There is a new member to the Colleseum who I immediately friended after seeing him lift. He is a competitive power lifter and has given me some advice. He told me, since I have flexible shoulders, to grip the bar with as narrow of a grip that I can tolerate. This brings me to the second pleasing thing about this workout. I didn't want to try anything too drastic but I did move my hands in a finger width in order to try to keep my chest up and prevent my butt from rising too quickly. Even with just a finger width I noticed a tighter fuller chest. I look forward to working on this technique for further progress.

The cleans felt heavy because I was tired and because the only spot I was able to do them, due to over-crowdedness, was uneven and it was hard to get good footing.

The row was just tough enough. My iPod shut off about 500m into it causing me to row with 1 hand (with which I was able to maintain a poor 2:30 pace) for about 20 seconds. This obviously increased my total time. Regardless, without expending much more energy I was able to improve on my last 1500m.

New Program!

I started my new customized program on Friday. I was excited and after two days I am satisfied! Friday is volume squat day. For this program, I am using 90% of my max as my max. This way I progress at a slightly slower rate but I find that my comfort level under the weight progresses faster, get it!?


Friday


Back Squat:
5x5 @ 300#


Weighted Lunge:
1x10 (5 each leg) @ 95#
1x10 @ 115#
1x10 @ 135#


Conditioning:
3 rounds
10 burpees
15 KB swings at 55#


3:21


This workout was great. I really enjoyed the squats, challenging but not killer. This is what I want my volume days to feel like. Lots of work, tough weights but not so tough that my form breaks down. With the 5-3-1 Program, squats specifically, I found my form breaking down on some of the sets, I feel that the progression-to-volume was to high for my form to improve. My plan with this new program is to slow the progression down and work on being more comfortable under heavier weights


Saturday


In this new program I am continuing a new 16-week cycle of 5-3-1 with my bench press and deadlift. I found my progression steady in these lifts.


Bench Press:
1x5 @ 190#
1x5 @ 225#
1X6 @ 260#


Push Jerk:
1x3 @ 185#
1x1 @ 225#
1x1 @ 255# (PR)
1x1 @ 265# (had to press it out at the top but PR overhead)


Pull Ups
1x12 @ bodyweight
1x15 @ bodyweight
1x12 @ bodyweight


Great day, legs were starting to get sore. I felt strong and I had a lot of fun with the jerks. I was a little disappointed in the bench press but I will do better next time.