Monday, April 19, 2010

5/3/1 Round 2: Bench Press 5/3/1

All Notation: Weight x Reps x Sets

Flat Bench Press: 65x5, 80x5, 95x5, 115x3, 135x2, 145x5, 165x3, 185x3 (Rep Out Set).

T-Bar Row: 90x12x3

Assisted Chinup (Light/Monster Mini Band): 6 sets of 5

Nautilus Nitro Laterals: 65x12x3

Triset:
DB Extensions to the Neck: 25x12x3
DB Hammer Curls: 25x12x3
Grippers: 3 sets of 14

I've been bad with updating this blog but am trying to get better. I have managed to stay consistent as far as the working out goes: Next week I deload off of Round 2 of 5/3/1, and then I begin Round 3.

For the past couple of months, I have been training and experimenting trying to find a setup that would work for what I wanted. And what I wanted was to gain back all the mass I lost while in the hospital and to get back to a slightly better place than I was before. One of the things I did during that time was to not do cardio and just lift. I'm close to where I want to be and have started now to eat cleaner, since I am up to 234 pounds. I start doing cardio again this week: I don't have to do a Navy Physical Fitness Test until the fall so it's time to train now for that. I dropped the single leg work for a while: the way I have set it up now has me squatting/deadlifting twice a week (Squat Main/SSB Arched Back GM follow up and Conventional Deadlift/12" Front Box Squat follow up). I substituted incline bench presses for military press but do dips as a rep-out movement to follow and Nautilus Laterals on bench day to make up for it. I do grip work twice a week and that has really helped: a few weeks ago, I pulled a 345 single with a double overhand grip for the first time ever (damn Finns inspired me). I'm doing more triceps work, and have stuck with dumbbell work for biceps since doing a lot of back work takes care of my compound biceps needs. I have also started doing Reverse Hypers using my GHR and Bands (Setup article forthcoming). After deadlifting, these have really helped me recover faster from the workouts: deadlifting in 5/3/1 is hard work. After August, I'll start incorporating speed work and less rep work into 5/3/1.

To end, these were my tested maxes when I restarted 5/3/1, using tested 1RM:
Flat Bench Press: 205 pounds
Conventional Deadlift: 345 pounds
Incline Bench Press: 185 pounds
13" SSB Box Squat: 255 pounds

In Round 2 was when I started using the front squats and good mornings: Both were tested to a 175 lbs 5RM (about 196 lbs calculated max). Each week I change the rep scheme on those two.

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