[grole]

01/21/2012

5/3/1 C2W1 D1 & D2

Press
20kg x5, 25kg x5, 30kg x5, 35kg x5
40kg x8

Deadlift
65kg x5, 82.5kg x5, 97.5kg x3, 105kg x5, 122.5kg x5
137.5kg x8

Monday's and Wednesday's sessions combined. No assistance exercises.
Hard session, especially out in the cold!

[grole]

04/2/2012

5/3/1 C2W1 D3 & D4

Squat
20kg x5, 60kg x5, 72.5kg x5, 85kg x3, 92.5 x5, 107.5 x5
120kg x8

Bench
20kg x5, 30kg x5, 35kg x3, 40kg x5, 45kg x5
50kg x13

Chin ups
3 negatives, 2

Yet another cold morning in the barns.

The squats felt heavy during the warm ups, but seemed to go alright on the working weights. One short of my calculated goal on the top set.
The bench presses felt really easy up until about rep 5 of the final set, when some serious fatigue set in. Yet again one rep short of my calculated goal.

Was going to go with the jack assistance program (ie none) but thought I would put in a few negatives on the chins. Then decided to try and see how many dead hangs I could do, but only managed two.

[grole]

Yesterdays training.

08/0/2/2012

5/3/1 C2W2 D1 & D2

Press
20kg x5, 25kg x5, 27.5kg x3, 32.5kg x3, 37.5kg x3
42.5kg x8

Deadlift
65kg x5, 82.5kg x5, 97.5kg x3, 115kg x3, 130kg x3
147.5kg x4

Monday's and Wednesday's sessions combined.

The presses felt heavy right from the first working set @32.5kg for some reason, and I started to have doubts about how the final set was going to go. Strangely enough, even though the last set felt heavy I didn't have any trouble hitting my goal reps (6) and even managed a couple more.

The deadlifts went well and the bar felt light right up until the final set. The final set was a real struggle and only managed one rep more than the prescribed 3 reps. The 5th rep attempt was messy as the bar seemed to want to stay within an inch or two of the ground and my back appeared to be bending to accomodate this. Aborted the attempt rather than continue to pull with bad form and curved back.

I was planning to fit in a few sets of BBB squats but felt totally drained and decided that the Jack s*** assistance program was in order.

Overall, not a bad session, but I would have preferred to have got a couple more reps on the deadlifts. I can't help feeling that my deadlifts are going backwards.

[grole]

11/0/2/2012

5/3/1 C2W2 D3 & D4

Squat
20kg x5, 60kg x5, 70kg x3, 85kg x3, 100kg x3, 112kg x3
125kg x7

Bench
25kg x5, 30kg x5, 35kg x3, 42.5kg x3, 47.5kg x3
55kg x10

Friday's and Saturday's sessions combined.

Squats went ok, got 7 reps on the final set which matched my calculated goal.

Bench felt light for some reason today. Only started to feel heavy at about rep 5 of the last set, but still managed another 5.

Had a mild headache all day today, which got worse during the session eventually changing to a bit of a raging pain as I forced out the last couple of reps on the bench. Other than that I would say it was a fairly good session.

 1RM-11-02.png (30.06K)
Number of downloads: 1

[grole]

13/02/2012

5/3/1 C2W3D1

Press
20kg x5, 25kg x5, 30kg x3, 35kg x5, 40kgx3
45kg x 7

Press BBB
10 each of 27.5kg, 27.5kg, 27.5kg, 27.5kg, 25kg

Chin ups
1,2,1,2,1 (+ 3 negatives on each)
1st 3 sets supersetted with Press BBB

It feels good to be back on the regular programming.

The main press sets felt good and the last set got difficult fairly rapidly. The last couple of reps were a bit of a struggle, like they should be.
Felt good after the main sets so I added 2.5kg to the scheduled weights for the BBB sets. Struggled to lock out on the last few reps of the last two sets. Felt more like a mobility issue than a strength issue, as it really felt like my shoulders didn't want me to push my head through 'the hole'.

Did a bunch of shoulder dislocations before each of the remaining 2 sets of chin ups, which seemed to sort out the issue.

[grole]

15/02/2012

5/3/1 C2W3D2

Deadlift
65kg x5, 82.5kg x5, 97.5kg x3, 122.5kg x5, 137.5kg x3
155kg x 3

Squat BBB
10 each of 77.5kg, 77.5kg, 77.5kg, 70kg

Pull ups
1,2 supersetted with Squat BBB

Deadlifts were V difficult. Hoped to get 5 reps on the final set but only managed 3 (still hit calculated goal).

Started late and had to cut the session short to avoid being late for work for the 2nd time this week. Lower back stiff and a bit sore for about an hour after the session. Fine now.

[grole]

17/02/2012

5/3/1 C2W3D3

Bench
25kg x5, 30kg x5, 35kg x3, 45kg x5, 50kg x3
57.5kg x 8

Bench BBB
10 each of 35kg, 35kg, 35kg, 32.5kg, 30kg

Kneeling AWR
5,5,5,5,5 (may have done a couple more sets)

Good session this morning.

Bench felt light until about the 4th rep of the final set. Failed on 9th rep and had to do the wiggle of shame from underneath the bar on the safeties. Was aiming for 10 reps and had a calculated goal of 9 reps on my spreadsheet. Happy with 8.
Upped the weights on the BBB sets by 2.5kg over the scheduled weight. 1st 2 sets were easy, last couple of reps on set 3 were a struggle. Same on the final two sets.
AWRs felt good, actually touching the ground with my nose a few times (no jokes about having a long nose please ). Totally lost count of which set I was on twice. On both occaisons what I ticked off on my session sheet did not match what I had thought I had done. Not sure if I just lost track or forgot to mark sets down. I completed 5 sets according to the worksheet but may have done 1 or 2 more.

[grole]

18/02/2012

5/3/1 C2W3D4

Squat
20kg x5, 60kg x5, 85kg x4, 105kg x5, 120kgx3
132.5kg x 4

Squat BBB
10 each of 90kg, 90kg, 75kg, 65kg, 60kg

Deadlift BBB
10x5 of 65kg

Chin ups
1,1.75,1, 1,75,1

Main squat sets went about as expected but one short of my calculated goal on the last set. Happy with that.

Thought I would experiment with doing squat BBB after squats as the main lift as well as BBB deadlifts. Not a resounding success as I went way too heavy with the initial 2 sets. It took me until the second set to realise this, I guess this was hidden on the first set by the 'wow this is a lot lighter than the last set' effect. It took a lot of rest and determination to continue at that point.
Things weren't so bad once I dropped the weight, but I was still somewhat gassed for a while.

Went extra light with the deadlift BBB sets and by the end I had recovered enough to pump out the sets of 10.

Worked the chin ups in with the last couple of light squat sets and the deads. Failed to get 2 reps on both attempts with my chin about an inch short of clearing the bar.

The whole session took about 2 hours. Not something that would be sustainable before work in the mornings.

Experiment conclusions: Some potential to add in the two BBB sets on my saturday session (more time + training post breakfast) but I would need to get the weights right.

[grole]

21/02/2012

5/3/1 C2W4D1/C3W1D1

Press
20kg x5, 25kg x5, 30kg x3, 32.5kg x5, 42.5kgx3
42.5kg x 7

Press BBB
10 each of 27.5kg, 27.5kg, 25kg, 25kg, 22.5kg

Chin ups
1,2,1,1,1 (supersetted with Press BBB)

Oops, did the wrong session. Was meant to be on the last week of the cycle, deloading, but somehow messed up printing my session sheet out and did the 1st session of the next cycle. All the way through the warmups and working set I had this feeling that something was off, and it was only after the main set on the press that it finally clicked that I was supposed to be in a deload week.

Finished up the session as written as there didn't seem to be any point in deloading just for the assistance work. I will be deloading for the rest of the week and see if I can do a little better when I repeat this session next week.

[grole]

23/02/2012

5/3/1 C2W4D2 Deload week

Deadlift
65kg x5, 75kg x5, 80kg x3, 90kg x5
105kg x 5

Deadlift BBB
10 each of 75kg, 75kg, 75kg, 65kg, 65kg

Pull ups
1,1,1,1,1 with 3 negatives after each
supersetted with Deadlift BBB

Following last Saturdays session, tried putting the DL BBB sets on the same day as DL main lift (thinking about switching squat & DL BBB so they are done with the main lift). Went extra light but still found the BBB sets hard work and was breathing fairly heavily after each set.

[grole]

25/02/2012

5/3/1 C2W4D3&4 Deload week

Bench
25kg 3x5, 27.5kg x5, 32.5kg x5
40kg x 5

Bench BBB
5x10 30kg

Squat
20kg x5, 50kg x5, 60kg x3, 62.5kg x5, 77.5kg x5
90kg x 5

Squat BBB
5x10 60kg

Kneeling AWRs
5x3 supersetted with Squat BBB

Very light weights but due to combining two days into one a lot of volume. A little under 1.25 hours.

Off to work now as I have to work this weekend.

[grole]

28/02/2012

5/3/1 C3 W1 D1

Press
20kg x5, 25kg x5, 30kg x3, 32.5kg x5, 37.5kg x5, 42.5kg x5
42.5kg x7

Press BBB
10x 25kg, 25kg, 22.5kg, 22.5kg 20kg

Chin ups
1,2,1,2,1 (supersetted in with the BBB sets)

Good session except I lost track of which set I was on and just did 5 reps on the main set. Had a long rest and did a max set and managed 7 reps (calculated goal was 10). Probably could have done more if I hadn't already done the set of 5. As usual with the press the BBB sets got difficult fairly quickly. The chin ups, on the other hand, felt strong and fairly easy.

[grole]

29/02/2012
5/3/1 C3 W1 D2

Deadlift
67.5kg x5, 85kg x5, 100kg x3, 110kg x5, 125kg x5
142.5kg x7

Deadlift BBB
75kg 5x10

Pull ups
1, 2, 1, 2, 1

Another good session, not easy but felt good. Everything went as it was meant to and on the final DL set I beat the calculated goal of 6 reps by one. I was defintely breathing pretty heavily after the 7 rep DL set and each of the 10 rep sets.

[grole]

02/03/2012

5/3/1 C3 W1 D3

Bench
25kg x5, 32.5kg x5, 37.5kg x3, 40kg x5, 47.5kgx3
52.5kg x 12

Bench BBB
5x10 32.5kg

Kneeling AWR
5x5 (supersetted with Bench BBB)

Another good session. Everything seemed to go as it should and only really felt difficult when it was supposed to.

[grole]

03/03/2012

5/3/1 C3 W1 D4

Squat
20kg x5, 60kg x5, 70kg x5, 85kg x3, 90kg x5, 110kg x5
122.5kg x8

Squat BBB
10 each of 72.5kg, 72.5kg, 72.5kg, 60kg, 60kg

Chin-ups
1,2,1,2,1 Supersetted with Squat BBB sets.

Main squat sets went well even though I did one set with 90kg instead of 92.5. Not a big deal. Beat my rep goal on the last set by 1.

On one of the later reps the second BBB set I felt mysellf somehow shifting more of the weight to my right foot and perhaps going up out of the hole with a bit of corkscrew motion. Paid more attention to my form for the rest of the set. In the middle of the next set I felt myself doing the same thing again and felt a slight twinge in the right side of my lower back as I attempted to correct it. Decided to drop the weight for the last two sets.

Everything feels fine now.

[grole]

05/03/2012

5/3/1 C3 W2 D1

Press
20kg x5, 25kg x5, 30kg x3, 35kg x3, 40kg x3
45kg x7

Press BBB
10x 30kg, 27,5kg, 25kg, 22.5kg, 20kg

Chin-ups (Supersetted with BBB sets)
2,1,2,1,2

Happy with this morning's session. Presses felt good and beat my calculated goal by two reps, although I would have liked to have managed one more rep. Same weight and same reps as the ones set last week.
As usual fatigue really started to set in towards the end of each BBB set and rep 10 of every set took some real effort to lock out. The last set of 2 chins was a struggle too.

Only 40 minutes start to finish in the barns which is good, but would have been quicker if I hadn't needed to start increasing rest time as the BBB sets got difficult.

[grole]

07/03/2012

5/3/1 C3 W2 D2

Deadlift
65kg x5, 85kg x5, 100kg x3, 117.5kg x3, 135 x3
150kg x7

Deadlift BBB
85kg x10, 75kg x10

Pull-ups
2,1 (supersetted with BBB deads)

Hard session today! From the last warm up set (100kg) onwards the bar felt heavy, but I went into the last set determined to get 8 reps (calculated goal 6 reps to match last week's estimated 1RM). I managed the first 6 reps without too much trouble. The 7th rep was tough, but within my capabilities, but I only managed to get the 8th rep to just below my knees. I really tried to force the last rep out but it just wasn't happening.
After a long period of heavy breathing and resting I went on to the BBB sets and pull-ups. I wasn't having any problems with the pull-ups but the deads were difficult, really exhausting and were starting to punish my lower back. After two sets I decided that I was not getting any benefit from continuing with them and was risking harm so I stopped.
With hindsight I think I pushed it a bit too hard trying to get that final rep on the main set and just didn't leave anything in the tank.

[grole]

I'm back!

I moved house a couple of weeks ago, haven't trained since my last update and was only reconnected to the internet at the weekend.

I have decided to move on to the singles week of my program just doing the prescribed reps to get back into things. The assistance work will be based on how I feel on the day but will probably be at a lower weight, have fewer sets or just be skipped altogether.

26/03/2012 5/3/1 C3W3D1 - Press

Press
20kg x 5, 25kg x 5, 30kg x5, 37.5kg x3, 42.5kg (45kg) x3
47.5kg x1

Press BBB
10 x 25kg, 25kg, 22.5kg, 22.5kg, 20kg

Chin-ups (Supersetted with BBB)
2,1,2,1,2

Main sets felt difficult, especially after I managed to set the bar up with an extra 2.5kg plate on one side for the '42.5' set.
Assistance work didn't seem as difficult as normal though and completed them without too much trouble. (Please note the intentional avoidance of the word easy, they weren't easy but did not seem as difficult as usual. This was especially true for the chins)

[grole]

29/03/2012

5/3/1 C3 W3 D2 just the 'main course'

Deadlifts
67.5kg x5, 85kg x5, 105kg x3, 125kg x3, 142.5kg x3
160kg x1

The bar felt heavy from 105kg onwards and I started to have doubts that I would even be able to do 1 rep by the time I got to 160kg, 142.5 x3 felt like a max lift. For some strange reason 160 felt easier and I reckon I could have repped out at least 3 or 4, maybe more if I went balls to the wall.. Resisted the temptation though.

Prescribed reps done, I'm happy.

[grole]

30/3/2012 5/3/1 C3 W3 D3 Bench

Bench press
25kg x5, 35kg x5, 40kg x3, 47.5kg x3, 52.5kg x3
60kg x1
70kg x1
75kg x0

Kneeling AWRs
5,5,5

Bench BBB
3x10 25kg

Funny session this morning. The bench warm ups and work sets all felt light and easy for some reason including the main 60kg lift. After doing my prescribed 1 rep on 60kg I stopped (as I am not doing max reps this week), but sort of felt cheated. So I put another 10kg on the bar and tried that and did a rep with very little difficulty. I upped the weight to 75kg and tried that. Although it still didn't feel heavy as I lowered it, my body rebelled when I tried to push it back up and the bar barely moved more than a couple of mm.

Went on and did a reduced set of assistance exercises. No problem with the BBB sets, but the AWRs felt tough and my abs weren't happy with me. 3 sets was enough, so I stopped.

On paper, I guess 70kg is a new 1RM as I don't tend to attempt 1RMs and don't recall lifting 70kg before. I don't think it is my true max as I didn't really treat my lifts as a max attempt and didn't really rest much between the last couple of lifts.