AB's Happy Smiley Thoughts journal

[Cynical Simian]

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On his comeback, AB's deadlift's gone from 100kg to 130kg (220lb to 286lb) in 5 weeks. His old PR was 292lb. How much should AB dead next week?

133kg (293lb): *
135kg (297lb): *
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Don't take this as an attempt at another "clever" reply: neither. If your microplates will allow you, go for 134 kg. For whatever reason, 2.5% increases seem like a good rule of thumb (probably because that's what was recommended on the old-school SF 5x5 page). If that's not an option, here's my vote:

--------------------------
On his comeback, AB's deadlift's gone from 100kg to 130kg (220lb to 286lb) in 5 weeks. His old PR was 292lb. How much should AB dead next week?

133kg (293lb):
135kg (297lb): *
--------------------------

With deadlifts, it seems like unless the weight choice is completely ridiculous you find a way to get it up (insert Daisy_Girl reference here).

 

[Jim Ouini]

With deadlifts, it seems like unless the weight choice is completely ridiculous you find a way to get it up

Yeah I found that to be true as well, as long as it's reasonable. So I vote for 297

 

[enigma4dub]

another vote for 297 lbs, you can do it!!!

 

[Gymgurl]

Come on baby boy! You can do it!!

 

[anotherbutters]

I guess if I'm going to get anywhere near my Christmas goal of a 4 plate dead, I'm going to have to pull my finger out. Just have to keep telling myself it's not even 3 plates next week. 3 plates the following week maybe!

 

[djeclipse]

Fatass. <3

You're just jealous.

 

[djeclipse]

I guess if I'm going to get anywhere near my Christmas goal of a 4 plate dead, I'm going to have to pull my finger out. Just have to keep telling myself it's not even 3 plates next week. 3 plates the following week maybe!

Just suck it up and do it, you've gained the momentum now, time for a new PR...

Joe Dirt voice, "You can do it!"

 

[anotherbutters]

SF 5x5 Week 6, Friday

Bodyweight: 177.8lb ... I've been eating a lot more, trying to find the right balance. I was 176.2/176.4 on Mon/Tue!

Previous weeks in colour, warmups not included.

1. Core work
Curlups, side bridges and birddogs: 6x10 secs each

2. Cleans (kg)
30x5 ... 35x5 ... 40x5 ... 45x5 ... 50x5
35x5 ... 40x5 ... 45x5 ... 50x5 ... 55x3
35x5 ... 40x3 ... 45x3 ... 50x3 ... 55x3 ... 55x3 ... 55x3
35x3 ... 40x5 ... 45x5 ... 50x3 ... 55x3 ... 60x3 ... 62x3 ... PR
35x5 ... 40x5 ... 45x3 ... 50x3 ... 55x3 ... 60x3 ... 64x3 ... PR

This pic has really affected and helped me: http://www.olmagazine.citymax.com/i/Animation GIFs/Kahki.gif. Just keep an eye on the bar and watch its path. It's perfectly vertical and the guy loses no energy pushing or pulling the bar forward or backward. It's so damned cool!

Anyway for some reason I found myself picturing that vertical path today and it seemed to let me pull the bar straight up and whip myself under it without thinking about the mucles involved. Previously I've been thinking about the slow start, the second pull, the shrug, pulling my shoulders back, etc.

Whatever happened, I could have done more today. I kept it at 64kg because I'm trying to go up 1kg twice per week anyway.

3. Squats (kg)
40x5 ... 50x5 ... 60x5 ... 68x5 ... 74x3 ... 70x8
40x5 ... 50x5 ... 60x5 ... 70x5 ... 78x3 ... 70x12
50x5 ... 60x5 ... 65x5 ... 70x5 ... 84x3 ... 70x12
50x5 ... 60x5 ... 70x5 ... 82x5 ... 94x3 ... 80x8
50x5 ... 60x5 ... 75x5 ... 83x5 ... 95x4 (FAIL) ... 80x8

95kg: same as Monday. I was going for 5 reps and I failed again. Damn! The first four reps were pretty good then all of a sudden I stalled half way up and had to bail.

4. Bench (kg)
40x5 ... 45x5 ... 50x5 ... 58x5 ... 64x3 ... 60x7
40x5 ... 45x5 ... 50x5 ... 58x5 ... 65x5 ... 60x10
40x5 ... 45x5 ... 52x5 ... 60x5 ... 67x3 ... 60x10
45x5 ... 50x5 ... 55x5 ... 62x5 ... 70x3 ... 62x10
50x5 ... 55x5 ... 60x5 ... 65x5 ... 71x3 ... 65x8 ... 8 rep PR!

I probably could have squeezed out another couple of hard reps on the triple, but I'll save them for Monday. I looked back in my notes and the back off set is a PR.


Comments

I'm disappointed with my squat. My dead and bench virtually match my old PRs, but I'm over 10% down on squats. I know it'll go up over time, but I'm impatient! I'm wondering whether more volume would help. Maybe drop the weight on Mondays and do 5 sets across, but keep the ramping on Fridays.

Thoughts?

 

[Cynical Simian]

Didn't Pendlay say in RipStone's (remember that guy?) old journal that the only ways to mess up a program like this are to take jumps that are too large or to violate the "rules" by doing more/fewer reps before changing the weight? Well, it looks like you're guilty on both counts on squats.

Even though you're just working back up to previous PRs, that 10-kg jump (84 to 94) was a pretty big one, and getting from three to five reps between Friday and Monday is tough enough without tossing an extra kilo in there. I probably won't be able to talk you into going back to 94 kg for Monday's set of 5, but if you don't get 5 with 95 you should consider it.

 

[anotherbutters]

You're right. I expected the weights to keep climbing because things suddenly got easier as I got back into it, but then things came to a screeching halt instead.

Here's the squat progression so far:

Mon .. 80 x 5 (week 1)
Fri .... 83 x 2 ... fail
Mon .. 70 x 5 ... reset
Fri .... 74 x 3
Mon .. 74 x 5
Fri .... 78 x 3
Mon .. 80 x 5
Fri .... 84 x 3
Mon .. 90 x 5 ... suddenly felt a lot stronger
Fri .... 94 x 3 ... but then this was hard
Mon .. 95 x 2 ... fail
Fri .... 95 x 4 ... going for 5 reps, but failed (today)

I guess even if I do get 95x5 on Monday, I'm probably not going anywhere afterwards. Maybe a small reset to 90 with strict 3kg maximum increments is in order.

This is also why I don't want to jump too quickly on deads, since I've rocketed up 5kg per week so far.