5/3/1: Cycle 3 Wave 1 Bench Press

I got off to a late start on Friday the 11th, and I still had to pack for my 1-hr drive to my drill site for the weekend. I did the dead benches and 2-Board Press with jump rope in between sets, then had some baked salmon and rice before heading out.

Dead Benches (Clustered, 15 seconds between reps): 65x3, 85x3, 100x3, 120x3, 140x3x5.
2-Board Press: 175x5, 185x5, 195x5.

Did not get a chance to complete the workout this weekend. No computer network set up at our new building yet, so I had to drive back close to home to work. Also had to study for the Chief Petty Officer exam on Sunday morning, so there went that.

February 14th was my son's birthday and we were taking him to dinner, so I had time to finish Friday's workout:

Warmup and Cooldown: 8 intervals on Jacobs Ladder, 45 seconds on, 30 seconds off.
T-Bar Rows: 90x10, 10, 8, 6 reps
Assisted Wide Grip Neutral Chinups (Light/Monster Mini Bands): 4 sets of 4
Nautilus Nitro Bench Press: 80x15x3
Behind The Back Shrugs: 125x10x4
Nautilus Nitro Bicep Curls: 40x10x4.

5/3/1: Cycle 3 Wave 1 Deadlift

Sumo Deadlift (345)(Working Max 310): 135x5, 155x5, 180x5, 210x3, 230x5, 245x5, 265x7 (Rep Out Set). I brought back a deadlift as the 5/3/1 movement vice the good morning. As I look at that spreadsheet I have, I could be doing 400+ for reps and mid-4s max by year's end if all works out. With the good morning and no DL, I would have to wonder at the end what my DL would be like. I also didn't want to waste all that deadlift work I did. My sumo's were solid, strong off the bottom and my back was in the perfect position all the way through. I'm gonna keep the GM as an accessory movement.

Hoist Roc-It Leg Curl (225): 135x10x4

Arched Back Good Morning (225): 135x10x4

Seated Calf Raises (75): 65x5x5

Bulgarian Split Squats w/Front Foot Elevated: BWT x 7 x 3

Pallof Press Isometric Holds: 15 x 30 secs x 3, 20 x 20 secs x 1.

Warmup and Cooldown: Jacobs Ladder, 15 minutes, 45 secs on, 30 secs off.

5/3/1: Cycle 3 Wave 1 Military Press

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Nautilus Nitro Laterals: Started from 50 pounds for 5 reps then kept adding 15 pounds until I either failed to hit 5 reps or just barely made it to 5 reps. BAely got 130x5, calculates to about a 150 max.

Hoist Military Press (139)(Adjusted Max: 135): 40x5, 55x5, 70x5, 80x3, 95x2, 100x5, 110x5, 115x7 (Rep Out Set).

Assisted Chinup (Light/Mini Bands): 5 sets of 4

Hoist Seated Shrugs: 70x10x4

DB Preacher Curls (37): 20x10x3

Cooldown: Cybex ArcTrainer Elliptical, Interval Program, Level 6, 30 minutes.

5/3/1: Cycle 2 Deload Squat

Ah, today was relatively easy. I even ditched the SSB and just did Bulgarian split squats, and tried a suggestion Jim Wendler mentioned on the Elite FTS Q&A and jumped rope between sets of the last two exercises for cardio.

Warmup: LifeFitness Elliptical, Random program, level 5 for 20 minutes.

Bulgarian Split Squats w/Strength Shoes: 3 sets of 6 each leg

Cossack Squats w/Strength Shoes: 3 sets of 6

Assisted GHR (Average Bands): 4 sets of 6

GHR Reverse Hyper (Light Bands): 4 sets of 2. Might try to use lighter DBs for spread on the bands, the 75 pounders may have been too strong.

Jumped rope in between sets of GHR and reverse hyper instead of resting.

5/3/1: Cycle 2 Deload Deadlift/Bench Press

I wasn't able to do the full workout Wednesday so I appended it to Thursday's deadlift workout. I didn't do the good mornings, and I just did 3 sets of 15 for just about everything. Was a good cardio workout if nothing else, though my muscles did get worked: I was so tired this morning that I woke up 25 minutes before I had to get to work.

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Hoist Roc-It Leg Curls: 115x15x3
Nautilus Nitro Bench Press: 95x15x3
Nautilus Nitro Low Back Machine: 70x15x3
T-Bar Rows: 75x15x3
Bulgarian Split Squats w/Front Foot Elevated: BWT x 6 x 3 per leg
Behind The Back Shrugs: 105x15x3

Cybex ArcTrainer Elliptical: 30 minutes, Interval program, Level 5: all the seated calf raise machines and the Nautilus Bicep Machine were taken so I did aerobics rather than wait. This sucked either because of the time off from the week before or, more likely, the high rep work had tired me out. But I got it done.

Nautilus Nitro Bicep Curls: 25x30x2
Seated Calf Raises: 30x25x2
Decline Situps: Sets of 11, 7, 4, 3 reps.

Dead Benches: Test

Dead Benches: 65x1, 85x1, 105x1, 125x1, 145x1, 165x1, 185x1, 205x1 (PR). On October 4, 2010 I tested at 175 for a clean single. 122 days later, I got a 30 pound PR.

Part of this was "learning" the movement. It's not like I never benched this much, I just took the stretch reflex out of it. I won't make too much light of that fact, though. In the beginning it was a 50-pound gap between a dead bench and a full bench (225 at the time), no wonder I couldn't move past 240 for the longest time. Now, I have narrowed that gap.

The other part of it was a gradual loading of volume. I did about 6 weeks for every 10 pounds, and I did the sufficient amount of reps to get stronger. The clusters work like a charm: I used a rep range per set of 2-3, to maintain speed. The only thing I will change for the future is to use sets of 1 rep when going above 90% 1RM.

All that said, I got the 205 launched with a good degree of effort and then, a few inches up, it was like I hit a brick wall. I just kept straining and straining until it budged. It made for one painfully slow rep, even with it being just singles. So I don't think I have another 10 pound gain in me. 5 maybe.

What I'm thinking of for the next cycle is a 4-week wave vice 6, with the last week being a deload. So week 1 would be 75% 1Rm for 5 sets of 3, week 2 would be 85% 1Rm for 5 sets of 2, and week 3 would be 95% 1Rm for 5 sets of 1. And to get it moving again, I might reset it to 90% of 205 to start with (about 185) and add 5 pounds each cycle. Maybe use chains every other cycle. This ought to get things moving again. Remember, it's speed I'm after with this movement.