3/30 – Push Press 5-3-1

Woke up achy and having chills, feeling like I was coming down with something. Shoulders sore, etc. Whenever a training day starts so poorly it’s usually an indicator that I’m going to excel in the gym. Presses flew. Target was 255 for a single, which was cake. Moved up to 280 and hit a triple for a big PR. More reps in the tank but didn’t want to stress my shoulder too much with it feeling solid now. 3 plates seems real close. Moved on to dips with a real deep rom (being careful for the shoulder), which felt good. Finished with smith reverse cgb and light pulldowns.

Push Press:
135x12x1
165x5x1
200x5x1
230x3x1
255x1x1
280x3x1 (PR)
255x3x1

Dips:
bw x12x1
+20x12x1
+20x12x1
+40x12x1
+40x12x1
+60x12x1

Smith Reverse CG Bench:
195x10x1
245x3x1
285x3x1
315x3x1
245x10x1

Y-Lat Pulldowns:
160x12x1
160x12x1
160x12x1
160x12x1
160x12x1

+ stretching

Duration: 70 minutes

3/28 – Squat 5’s

I was very worn out from a brutal Metal Alliance tour show last night so I went in and did the minimum. Good enough for today.

Squats:
135x12x1
225x5x1
395x5x1
445x5x1
505x5x1

Seated Leg Extensions:
305x15x1
305x15x1
305x15x1
305x15x1
305x15x1

Supinated DB Curls (no rests):
25x10x1
35x10x1
45x10x1
40x10x1
35x10x1
30x10x1
25x10x1
20x10x1
15x10x1

+ stretching

Duration: 30 minutes

3/26 – Incline Bench 5’s

Good pressing. Shoulder was feeling pretty good and continued with another reps PR. Did some close grip work to really hammer the tris.

Incline Bench Press:
135x12x1
155x12x1
175x5x1
200x5x1
230x5x1
260x18x1 (PR)

CG Bench Press:
225x10x1
255x10x1
275x8x1
275x8x1

Smith Reverse CG Bench:
195x10x1
285x5x1
285x5x1
195x12x1

Dips:
bw x12x1
bw x12x1
bw x20x1

BB Rows:
315x5x1
315x5x1
315x5x1
315x5x1
315x10x1

Seated Pec Flye Machine:
110x50x1

+ stretching + yoga (25min)

Duration: 85 minutes

3/23 – Deadlift 5’s

Crappy deadlifting. Form feels so off, and my left hip/low back area is still being weird when doing pulls (hampers lockout strength severely). Did what I needed to do, plus an extra rep. Rows and curls and abs to finish.

Deadlift:
225x5x1
315x5x1
435x5x1
505x5x1
575x6x1

Wide-grip BB Rows:
255x12x1
255x12x1
255x12x1
255x12x1
255x12x1

Preacher Curls:
115x10x1
95x10x1
95x10x1
95x10x1
95x10x1
75x10x1

DB Hammer Curls:
60x10x1
70x10x1
70x10x1

Wide-grip BB Curls:
45x12x1
95x12x1
45x12x1

Hanging Leg Raises:
bw x15x1
bw x15x1
bw x15x1
bw x15x1

+ stretching

Duration: 60 minutes

3/19 – Squat 3’s

Great squatting. Went into this session with little motivation. Low back was real tight today so I decided to blast it by doing all my squats beltless. I ended up hitting 535 for a solid 6 reps, which is a beltless, and overall PR. I had another rep or two left, but 6 is a nice round number, and wanted to save some legs for presses and deads later this week. Moved on to ATG zercher squats and hit a PR of 435 for 5. Awesome. Finished with some curls.

Squats:
135x12x1
225x5x1
315x3x1
425x3x1
475x3x1
535x6x1 (PR)

ATG Zercher Squats:
225x3x1
315x3x1
435x5x1 (PR)

BB Curls:
45x10x1
95x10x1
115x10x1
115x10x1
115x10x1
115x10x1
115x10x1
115x10x1
115x10x1
95x10x1
45x10x1

Reverse BB Curls:
45x20x1
45x30x1

+ stretching (20min)

Duration: 80 minutes

3/16 – Incline Bench 3’s

Another ‘doing the minimum’ workout. Shoulder was feeling weird again so I didn’t want to push it. Pretty sure I need to cut back on the Lattimers – overworking that delt. Did some light chest work and curls, with some wide-grip bb rows, which felt nice and easy.

Incline Bench Press:
135x12x1
155x5x1
185x5x1
215x3x1
245x3x1
275x3x1

Flat DB Bench:
100x20x1
100x20x1

Wide-grip BB Row:
235x10x1
235x10x1
235x10x1
235x10x1
235x15x1

Single-arm Cable Curl:
30x12x1
40x12x1
50x12x1
50x12x1

Pec Flye Machine:
100x12x1
120x12x1
140x12x1
170x25x1

Dips:
bw x12x1

Straight-arm Lat Pushdown:
75x12x1
75x12x1
75x12x1

+ stretching

Duration: 60 minutes

3/14 – Deadlift 3’s

This was pretty much a crap workout. Tired, no motivation, even caffeine didn’t alleviate the doldrums. Did what I had to on deads and called it good. Kind of frustrated with my form the last few months. I feel like I’ve passed my ‘sweet spot’ in terms of leverages now that I’ve gained more weight and I just don’t sit back as much as I used to, and end up using a lot more back. Just not feeling very explosive anymore. Think I might need to start doing some speed pulls to get some of that hip power back. My low back/hip always feels kind of tight, too, in an awkward way, so I might have some lingering injury there. I know I am stronger now than I have ever been, and can grind/power through reps that otherwise would have never went before, hence all of the recent high rep PRs. After deads I did some stiff legged sumos, which weren’t bad. Moved on to shrugs, where I woke up a bit, and at least hit a PR. Finished with some leg curls and called it good.

Deadlift:
245x10x1
335x3x1
425x3x1
465x3x1
535x3x1
600x3x1

Sumo SLDL:
515x5x1
515x5x1

Shrugs:
315x10x1
515x10x1
605x5x1
695x5x1
770x5x1 (PR)

Lying Leg Curls:
150x12x1
157x12x1
167x12x1

+ stretching

Duration: 70 minutes

3/12 – Push Press 3’s

Took a nice deload week last week, but didn’t bother logging workouts as it was just a lot of high volume, light weight stuff. I always love the week back after a deload. Activated beast mode and pushed push presses harder and hit two huge PRs, with 270×5 and 225×15. Shoulder feeling real solid today. Moved on to CG bench, which was pretty tough after the overheads, and inished with chins and some light db work.

Push Press:
135x10x1
160x3x1
190x3x1
215x3x1
245x3x1
270x5x1 (PR)
225x15x1 (PR)

CG Bench Press:
225x5x1
250x5x1
250x5x1
250x5x1
250x5x1
250x5x1

Hammer Chins (each rep from dead-hang):
bw x10x1
bw x10x1
bw x10x1
bw x10x1
bw x15x1

DB L-Laterals:
25x50x1
20x50x1

OH DB Extensions:
50x50x1
75x50x1

+ stretching + yoga (30min)

Duration: 90 minutes

3/2 – Squat 5-3-1

Great squatting today. I decided to switch gears on the 5-3-1 days for squats (and probably deads in the future) and just plow through singles and go for something heavier on the last set after hitting the target single to push things more. Hit the target single today (555) easy and went to 600. Doubled it for a great PR. Back in the 600lb club. Moved to ATG zercher squats and hit a PR there as well with 425×5. I think I could hit 500 for a single…Finished with leg extensions, abs, and light curls.

Squats:
135x10x1
225x10x1
315x3x1
405x1x1
495x1x1
555x1x1
600x2x1 (PR)

ATG Zercher Squats:
225x5x1
315x3x1
405x3x1
425x5x1 (PR)

Leg Extensions:
305x15x1
305x15x1
305x15x1
305x15x1
305x15x1

Seated Ab Work (leg raises, etc):
bw x20x1
bw x20x1
bw x20x1
bw x20x1
bw x20x1

DB Curls:
25x10x1
25x10x1
25x10x1
25x10x1
25x10x1
35x10x1
45x10x1

+ stretching

Duration: 80 minutes