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: