Sorry...

Camera broke. I'm poor. Will be a while before I get a new one =/

5/3/1 OHP 1+ Day.

Today was the last day at my current gym before I move to Arizona to begin grad school. I came to Ithaca a little over a year ago with the intention of taking the year off and with the dream of making some serious gains in the gym (after many, many years of stagnation). I surpassed my wildest expectations and it's been a great year of lifting; I doubt I'll have another one like it again.

Anyway, today was 1+ day for the press, with a final weight of 195lbs. I've never done this weight for reps, but since I got 190x6 last cycle I was hoping for 6 reps again today. I surprised myself and got 8. Now my press, like my squat, is super sloppy, but at least I'm consistently sloppy and I'm still making strength gains, so 'whatever' to all that for now.

Goals for today:

155x5

175x3

195x1+

Lifted:

155x5

175x3

195x8

--------------------------------

Week 3 Progress on OHP:

Cycle1:180x4 (bounced)

Cycle2:185x5 (bounced)

Cycle3:185x4

Cycle4:190x6

Cycle5:195x8

--------------------------------

Video of workout below:

5/3/1 Squats. 1+ Day.

That girl is never impressed =[

Another okay day today. My warm-ups felt fast (even though my right lat is still acting up) and I got the reps I wanted on my final set. The first few reps of the final set felt great, but I was lazy on the second half of the set with the last rep being pretty high. Not sure why I broke down mentally, but I always seem to struggle with repping over 450lbs on squats. Although I compared today's session to last cycles session and today's reps were much faster.

After my final set I did some heavier singles with low bar working up to a 500lb single, which was slow but easy. I just wanted to see if I could hit 500 in a fatigued state and on any day of the week. After that I did some high bar squats, working up to a few singles with 405. My legs were pretty fatigued at this point, but I figured I'd see how my back felt doing front squats (front squats are how I hurt my lat in the first place). Front squats felt amazing, and I think I finally fixed my form with them. I had the bar resting fully on my collar bones and I was able to maintain a straight back even on my heavier sets (I worked up to a few singes at 315 and 335 with a triple at 315 to end the workout).

Goals for today:

365x5
415x3
465x1+

Lifted:

365x5
415x3
465x6

----------------------------------------------------

Week 1 Progress over the last 14 cycles:

• cycle 1: 345x4
• cycle 2: 355x5
• cycle 3: 365x6
• cycle 4: 370x6 
• cycle 5: 380x7
• cycle6: 390x6
• cycle7: 400x7 
• cycle8:450x3
• cycle9:455x3
• cycle 10:deloaded, forgot what I did. 
• cycle:11: 440x8
• cycle12: 455x5
• cycle13: 455x6 (injured back)
• cycle14: 465x6 (back not as injured)

----------------------------------------------------

Video of final set below. Sorry about the quality, I shouldn't film in front of that big ass window:

5/3/1 Close Grip Bench. 3+ Day.

Damnit

Today was okay. I wanted 10 reps for my final set at 260lbs (10 reps at 255 last cycle) and nearly had it, but my triceps died right at the end. It's always a weird progression on my bench reps, going from an easy rep to hitting failure on the next. It's pretty frustrating. I should have expected only 9 reps anyway since I got 12 at 245 last week (subtract 1 rep for every 5lbs added, giving me 260x9 for today). I'm also dumb since my last workout was OHP when usually squat or deadlift precedes bench. Still, 260x9 is a PR and the heavy singles work I did afterwards all felt very strong, much stronger than last cycle. Slow and steady progress on the bench, as usual. After my heavier singles I did 5 sets of 5 with the 110lb DB's for flatbench and supersetted them with 110lb DB rows also for 5 sets of 5.

Goals for today:

200x3
230x3
260x3+

Lifted:

200x3
230x3
260x9
---------
heavier singles after (again, these aren't to failure):

275x1
300x1
305x1
315x1
325x1 (PR)
315x1
315x1
315x1
315x1
315x1
315x1 (these were all really easy)
---------

3+ Day Progress on Bench:

• Cycle 1: 210 x 8

• Cycle 2: 215 x 7

• Cycle 3: 220 x 8

• Cycle 4: 225 x 10

• Cycle 5: 225 x 10* assisted on last rep 

• Cycle 6: 230 x 9
• Bench stalled, so just a few cycles of just hitting prescribed reps, and also Smolov.
• Cycle 1: 245x8
• Cycle 2: 250x8
• Cycle 3: 255x10
• Cycle 4: 260x9

Video of 260lb set below. Lost all tightness and blew it...:

5/3/1 OHP. 3+ Day.

How to not have twig arms, pls?

Another good pressing day. Today's final set called for 185lbs. Last cycle I did 180x9 (with none left in the tank, as I failed a 10th rep) and today I did 185x9 with 1 left in the tank. Wish I got it on video, but my bag fell in front of the camera. Oh well. I wanted to get something on video so I did a PR at 230lbs (some knee kick). I felt really strong today and did a ton of volume and got back into weighted chins as well. Again, pressing is responding well to the heavier singles and doubles after my main set (something that doesn't work for me with deads and squats).

Goals for today:

145x3
165x3
185x3+

Lifted:
145x3
165x3
185x9
--------
assistance pressing:

205x1
215x1
230x1 (on video)
215x1 (1 min rest for all sets after)
215x1
215x1
205x1
205x1
205x1
205x1
205x1
205x1
135x10 ( 135lb sets supersetted with +95lb weighted chins)
135x10
135x10
135x10
135x10
--------


Week 2 progress over last 6 cycles. I've been real patient with OHP and it's starting to pay off now. 

cycle1: 170x5 (bounced reps)
cycle2: 175x5 (bounced reps)
cycle3: 175x6 (deload to work on form/dead stop reps)
cycle4: 175x8
cycle5: 180x9
cycle6: 185x9

Video of 230 PR below w/ some knee kick (or am I actually using my hips & back properly?):

5/3/1 Squats. 3+ Day.

Beard gainz. 

Great day today. Despite my right lat still being a pain my legs were fresh and I was able to do pretty well on my final set. Since last squat workout I got 415x10, I figured today I'd struggle to get 440x7. But with my back a little more healed up, things went much better than expected and I was able to do 440x9 (a lifetime PR) with one left in the tank (I feel bad for not doing 440x10, but I think leaving a rep or two in the tank is really the key to a successful 5/3/1 program -- something I definitely struggle to do on all of my final sets since ego always gets in the way). After my final set I took it pretty easy with the assistance work -- I'd like my back to be healed up completely in the next few weeks.

Goals for today:

340x4
390x3
440x3+

Lifted:

340x4
390x3
440x9 






Look below. This is what people talk about when they say let a program mature. There will be ups and downs, but always keep the big picture in mind.

Week 2 progress over the last 15 cycles:

Cycle 1: 330x4

Cycle 2: 335x5

Cycle 3: 345x7

Cycle 4: 350x8

Cycle 5: 360x8

Cycle 6: 370x8

Cycle 7: 375x8

Cycle8: N/A (smolov)

Cycle9: 425x6 

Cycle 10: 430x3 (time to deload)

Cycle 11: 405x8 

Cycle 12: 415x9

Cycle 13: 425x10

Cycle 14: 435x8 

Cycle 15: 440x9 

Video of final set below:

5/3/1 Bench. 5+ Day.

Pretty easy today. But terrible set up. 

I'm back again after taking some more time off to let my back heal up. And today was just bench so there wasn't anything too intense for my back to deal with, anyway. Last cycle called for 240lbs for which I did 12 reps. Today called for 245lbs and so I wanted 12 reps again (and got them). After that I did some heavier doubles at 300lbs for 3 sets, then some dumbbell-bench work (100x10, x10, x8, x5). Everything after my 5+ set was supersetted with chins.

Goals for today:

185x5
215x5
245x5+

Lifted:

185x5
215x5
245x12
300x2
300x2
300x2

---------------------------------
Week 1 bench progress.

Cycle 1: 200x8
Cycle 2: 205x9
Cycle 3: 205x9
Cycle 4: 210x12
Cycle 5: 215x12
Cycle 6: 220x11
Cycle 7: 220x11
----Then bench stalled and I only hit prescribed reps a few cycles ---
----smolov jr ----
Cycle 1: 235x10
----smolov jr ----
Cycle 2:240x12
Cycle 3: 245x12
---------------------------------

Video of final set below:

5/3/1 Squats. 5+ Day.

Back slowly improving. 

My back is still tweaked and hurt/cramped up a bunch during my warm up and working sets, but the cramps loosened and the pain dissipated fairly quickly after my sets, so that's an improvement over last time. I was even able to do assistance work today. Final set today called for 415lbs and before I went to the gym I planned on taking it somewhat easy and just going for 10. That's what I got -- with one or two left in the tank.

Goals for today:

320x5
365x5
415x5+

Lifted:


320x5
365x5
415x10











Assistance:

I took it real easy. I couldn't even do assistance last time, so this is an improvement.

high bar squats: 135, 225, 315, 405x1x2
front squats: 135, 185, 225, 275, 315x1


Progress for squats in week one over last 15 cycles:

• 310x6 - cycle 1 
• 315x7- cycle 2 
• 325x10 - cycle 3 
• 335x8 - cycle 4
• 340x10 - cycle 5 
• 350x10 - cycle 6
• 355x10 - cycle 7
• 365x10 - cycle 8
• 405x8 - cycle 9
• 410x8 - cycle 10 (not great depth)
• 385x10 -cycle 11 (deloaded)
• 395x12 - cycle 12
• 405x12- cycle 13
• 410x12 -cycle 14
• 415x10 - cycle 15 (taking it easy due to back)

Video of workout below:

5/3/1 OHP. 5+ Day.

Today begins a new cycle. 

My upcoming cycle. Not sure if I'll be deadlifting yet. 

Twig arms, activate!

I took the last three days completely off for my deload and I was very much ready to return to the gym today. This time last cycle I did 170x11 for my 5+ day on OHP press and today called for 175lbs, soooo I wanted 11 reps again and got them. Woo. My form is still sloppy on the AMRAP (as many reps as possible) set, but it's consistently sloppy, which at least means I'm still improving strength-wise. After my main set I continued with some heavier singles and doubles, paying close attention to form. My form is better with the singles.

















Goals for today:

135x5
155x5
175x5+

Lifted:

135x5
155x5
175x11

(All sets after 175lbs supersetted with chins.)

205x1x5

185x2x3

135x10x2

---------------------------------------

Week 1 OHP progress thus far:

cycle 1: 160x7 (bounced reps)

cycle 2: 165x7 (bounced reps) - deloaded after this one. 

cycle 3: 160x10

cycle 4: 165x10

cycle 5: 170x11

cycle 6: 175x11

---------------------------------------

Video of workout below.  Most of the reps are good, but sloppy at the end.

5/3/1 Close Grip Bench. 1+ Day.

Felt so stronk today. Also, I look like a woman.

Finally a good workout, and a nice way to end this cycle of 5/3/1. Today was 1+ day on bench with a final weight of 270lbs. For the past three cycles on 5/3/1 I've been getting 6 reps on this day, so that's what I wanted today. My shoulder and triceps both felt fine and the weight moved easily. I hit 270x7 with at least one left in the tank. Because I didn't go to failure, I felt fresh for the rest of my workout. I went on to do some heavier singles as this appears to be working well for my pressing (both for OHP and for bench). Again, these aren't to failure, just in the 90-95% range. I even hit an all time bench PR at 320lbs after many sets. So I'm definitely getting stronger at the top end.

 I finished the workout with dumbbell bench (getting a really good, deep stretch at the bottom) and supersetted with chins (100x3, 110x3, 120x4x3, 100x10).

Goals for today:

210x5
240x3
270x1+

Lifted:

210x5
240x3
270x7


295x1
305x1
305x1
310x1
315x1
320x1
300x1

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Progress on week 3 bench for the last couple of cycles:

• Cycle 1: 220x2
• Cycle 2: 225x5
• Cycle 3: 230x7
• Cycle 4: 235x7
• Cycle 5: 240x6
• Cycle 6: 245x6
• (then bench stalled for a few months and I just hit prescribed reps, plus some Smolov)
• Cycle 1 :260x6
• Cycle 2: 265x6
• Cycle 3: 270x7

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Video of final set and 320pr below:

5/3/1 Squats. 1+ Day

My stupid back =[

Well despite my back feeling good the past few days, it is still fucked apparently. During warm-ups the middle of my back was giving me some trouble and, then, after my first working set at 365,  my entire core seized up (mid back and abs). I couldn't do any sort of rotational movement with my back without quite of bit of pain. The pain is deep, feels like extreme DOMS, and like someone has hit me with a blunt object. I figured I'd try my final set and then go home. I got 6 reps, which is what I wanted, but I had to cut all the reps high because I couldn't maintain any tightness and I almost fell forward a couple of times. A pretty disappointing workout. However, this is better than the last time I did 455 (5 reps) and, if my back does heal up, it shouldn't be hard to improve upon these squats next cycle as my legs feel fresh and weren't really taxed at all.

Goals for today:

365x5
410x3
455x1+

Lifted:

365x5
410x3
455x6

Progress for week 3 over last 13 cycles:

cycle 1: 345x4
cycle 2: 355x5
cycle 3: 365x6
ycle 4: 370x6 
ycle 5: 380x7
cycle6: 390x6
cycle7: 400x7 
cycle8:450x3
cycle9:455x3
cycle 10:deloaded, forgot what I did. 
cycle:11: 440x8
cycle12: 455x5
cycle13: 455x6 (injured back)

Video of final set below:

5/3/1 OHP 1+ Day.

Setting up. 

First workout after hurting my back. Everything felt fine with only some minor soreness at the end of the workout (I did some power cleans to start my lighter overhead presses, which was dumb). My form was a lot tighter today, but it still needs work. I clenched my ass for each rep and really tried to explode out of the rack position, but this still makes my legs bend a bit. It's frustrating. Overall, though, overhead press is improving. Here is 185x4 two months ago. I've never repped 190lbs before and I remember not being able to do 190 for a single last December. I finished the workout with some singles at 190 and 200lbs and two rep out sets at 135lbs (supersetted with chins). The sets of singles felt great.

Goals for today:

150x5
170x3
190x1+

Lifted:


150x5
170x3
190x6

Video of workout below. I'm really not getting my head through fast enough, or at all:

5/3/1 Deadlifts. 3+ Day.

Woke up feeling good enough to lift. Got to the gym and that deep soreness in my back returned pretty quickly during warm-ups. I should have gone home. My first sets felt heavy and even 405x3 was a challenge. I did 495x3 and just stopped because I knew it would turn into a fight for each rep pretty quickly. I then went ahead and pulled a lat doing front squats (it hurts badly).

I'm gonna take a few days off. Even before pulling my lat I told myself after my final set that I was gonna cutout deadlifts for a bit until my back was finally recovered. To be honest, I've been pretty dumb with my assistance work on all my workouts, going too heavy for too many sets and I'm not recovering. I let my ego get back into my workouts and, well, it fucked me. Fuck.

5/3/1 Close Grip Bench. 3+ Day.

ass

Today started pretty well. I wanted 9 reps for my final set at 255lbs (250lbs x 8 last cycle) and I got 10, so that rocks. But I pushed it pretty hard and sort of put a damper on the rest of the workout. My left triceps were on fire and kept collapsing on the descent for my heavier assistance work (300x1, 305x1, 300x2, 300x1), so I cut it short. My shoulder was feeling good enough this week to do dumbbell work, though, so I did 5 sets with the 100's (3, 10, 8, 8, 7 reps) to try and build some hypertrophy while taking some of the pressure off my triceps. All sets supersetted with chins with some ab wheel work at the end.

Goals for today:

200x3
225x3
255x3+

Lifted:

200x3
225x3
255x10

Video of workout below:

5/3/1 3+ Squat Day

That highbar depth. 

Another subpar workout today. I've done 425x10 and 440x8 before, So I was wanting at least 9 with 435, but I only got 8. The only thing I can say is that today's reps were deeper than the aforementioned sets. For assistance today I tried high bar squats, and lots of them (about 20 sets of 1 rep each with 30 sec rest between each set). My thought is that these might help me with keeping my back tighter on low bar. Hopefully I have a better workout tomorrow.


Goals for today:

335x3
385x3
435x3+

Lifted:

335x3
385x3
435x8




Week 2 progress over the last 14 cycles:

Cycle 1: 330x4

Cycle 2: 335x5

Cycle 3: 345x7

Cycle 4: 350x8

Cycle 5: 360x8

Cycle 6: 370x8

Cycle 7: 375x8

Cycle8: N/A (smolov)

Cycle9: 425x6 

Cycle 10: 430x3 (time to deload)

Cycle 11: 405x8 

Cycle 12: 415x9

Cycle 13: 425x10

Cycle 14: 435x8 (big picture, still on track)

Video of workout below:

5/3/1 OHP. 3+ Day

I wore my beret today because I'm not balding at all. 

Today was okay. I would have liked to have performed some cleaner reps and done one more rep than I ended up with on my final set, but 180x9 is what I expected after last week's 170x11 (I can usually subtract 1 rep for every 5lbs added to the bar when predicting my performance). My assistance work was better in that I was able to do a pretty clean 225lb overhead press (PR) and then speedy, clean sets at 135lbs for 5 sets of 10 reps. So in the grand scheme of things, my OHP seems to be improving. Although, I'm not sure doing the heavy reps after my main set is going to be effective for OHP like it is has been for my bench. Ill see how next cycle goes before making any judgments.


















Goals for today:

140x3
160x3
180x3+

Lifted:

140x3
160x3
180x9
185x1
205x1
225x1
135x10x5

For assistance I did weighted chins and the ab wheel.

I've sort of lost track where I am on OHP since I've deloaded and changed my form so many times. But in january I did 180x4 bounced reps. So whatever the case may be, I'm right on track for my progress.

Video of workout below:

5/3/1 Deadlifts. 5+ Day. Week 1 Cycle 13.

At least my hammies look good. Hook grip practice with deficit deads. 

My deadlift appears to be stalled. I'm not sure if it's due to the lack of deadlifting for the past month, if today was a bad day, or if I'm genuinely weaker at the lift. I seem to be slower than I once was after I get past the knees. I'll see how next session goes and I'll decide from there if I need to deload. No big deal. After deadlifts today I did some deficits with hook grip up to 495lbs (singles). I tried a PR with hook grip (still at a deficit) at 525, but once I got it above my knees I stalled. After that I did front squats and chins (front squat PR of 315x5).

Goals for today:

365x5
420x5
475x5+

Lifted:

365x5
420x5
475x9 (wanted 10)

Progress over the last 13 cycles:

• Cycle 1: 355x13
• Cycle 2: 365x12
• Cycle 3 :370x14
• Cycle 4: 380x15
• Cycle 5: 385x15
• Cycle 6: 395x15 
• Cycle 7: 400x17
• Cycle 8: 405x15 (out of town)
• Cycle 9: 425x5 (just hitting prescribed reps) (also change in form to deadstop, all previous weeks were touch-and-go)
• Cycle 10: 435 x 11
• Cycle 11: 455x10
• Cycle 12: 465x10
• Cycle 13: 475x9

Video comparison of deadlifts from today and from two months ago below:

5/3/1 Close Grip Bench. Cycle 1 Week 1.

First time repping 300. Ez Pz. Also, the new shoes are super sticky, I like.

Bench felt amazing today. The bar during warm ups felt like I was having to pull it down to keep it from flying up! That's a good feeling. And my working sets and assistance work felt the effects of this. My final 5/3/1 set was 240lbs and the last time I repped near 240lbs I think I only got 8 reps. Today was much different. And for assistance work I will continue to do heavier doubles and triples as this seems to be working for both OHP and bench. Keep in mind, the heavier sets are not to failure nor are they max attempts, as I think that would be counter-productive.  I tried to do some dumbbell bench work after the close grip benching, but my left shoulder wasn't having any of that. All bench sets supersetted with unweighted chins (this helps with lat activation on the bench sets).

Sorry I don't have much info on bench progress as it's been slow. Also because I only hit prescribed reps for so many cycles after stalling on bench about 6 months ago. Things are moving again now, though. For comparison, the last time I hit 12 reps it was a struggle with 215lbs.

Goals for today:

185x5
210x5
240x5+

Lifted:


185x5
210x5
240x12
300x2
300x2
300x2
300x2

Video of workout below:

Squats - Cycle 14 Week 1

Halp!

I picked up today where I left off on 5/3/1 before starting Smolov. And today I did my 5+ day for squats two days after my max attempt day which was pretty dumb. My warm ups felt like doo doo and I considered just doing the prescribed reps for my final set. I did not do that. I did a difficult PR of 410lbs x 12 reps (last cycle 405x12, but with shittier depth). I'll take it! I finished this set and was happy to remember I only have to kill myself like this once a week now. Woooo! I did some front squat singles at 315lbs after this, but was pretty nauseous and went home.

Goals for today:

315x5
365x5
410x5+

Lifted:

315x5
365x5
410x12

Week 1 progress over the last 14 cycles:

• 310x6 - cycle 1 
• 315x7- cycle 2 
• 325x10 - cycle 3 
• 335x8 - cycle 4
• 340x10 - cycle 5 
• 350x10 - cycle 6
• 355x10 - cycle 7
• 365x10 - cycle 8
• 405x8 - cycle 9
• 410x8 - cycle 10 (not great depth)
• 385x10 -cycle 11 (deloaded)
• 395x12 - cycle 12
• 405x12- cycle 13
• 410x12 -cycle 14

Video of squats below:

Back to 5/3/1

Starting this week I'll be picking up where I last left off with 5/3/1. Here are the numbers for my upcoming cycle. I had to alter the deadlift numbers a bit because of the usual problem with fitting the weights on the bar.

I already did the first day of OHP and I got 11 reps with 170lbs with one or two left in the tank (165x10 last OHP cycle). I'll be squatting tomorrow, so I'll be back with a vid and write up then.

Smolov Max Test Day

The usual ups and downs for me on max testing day.

I took 4 days off after my last failure of a day on Smolov  and my body was feeling okay so I decided to test my maxes today. I wasn't expecting anything really, especially since I sputtered out so spectacularly at the end of both Smolov and Smolov Jr. I was prepared to come in and just call it an early day if need be. Anyway I started with squats and my legs felt very fresh, but my back still had some deep, dull soreness and my shoulder and ankle were still a little achey. No matter, I warmed up with a final set of 455 and put 500lbs on the bar. 515 was my previous max, and I would have liked to have tried for more than that today, but because of the ridiculous size of the plates at my gym my options after 515 are 545, 565, and 585, none of which leaves room for clips. So the only safe thing I could think of was to see if I could triple 500lbs. I got it --  a new PR, yay.

For bench I wanted to finally hit 3 plates, a 10lb PR, and I was able to do this. Im clearly strong off the bottom, but I need to work on my lockout strength.

Lastly, it's been a month since my last deadlift sessions in which I also attempted 585. Today I messed up in that I shouldn't have done my final warm up of 545. I probably wore myself out, and I got to exactly the same spot as last time (basically a micrometer away from lockout) when my grip failed. Oh well, not too bad.

Overall today went fine. I give it a B+.

Video of the lifts below:

Final day of Smolov

11/11 squat sessions without a missed rep, but today's sessions was beyond what I was capable of doing. I wish I had the mind of a champion, but I happily and readily welcomed my defeat today. I am just very clearly done. And, yes, I know the internet will be happy to let me know that I'm stupid for trying 3 runs at Smolov in a 6 month time period, but sometimes you just have to figure these things out for yourself. I'm very much looking forward to my rest week and I just hope that these past three weeks were not totally wasteful. I may test my maxes after the week off or just go back into a deloaded 5/3/1 cycle. I'll see how the weights feel once I return to the gym. See ya soon.

Some advice on Smolov: the base cycle should be challenging, but not bringing you near to failure like it was for me. That is all. Video below.