Beerdrinker's log

[beerdrinker]

Decided I would finally make myself accountable to the board. I'll be doing a variant (from Madcow's site) of the Bill Starr intermediate 5x5. My stats and background:

Age: 30 (some days I feel it, some days I don't.)
Height: 5'8"
Weight: ~195-200 lbs. (abs are overrated. lol)

Previous routine: Rippetoe 3x5

5 rep maxes: (I'm going with what I was doing 3x5 because I don't want to overshoot the starting weights, and that last set of 5 is ugly. )

Squat: 235x5
Dead: 305x5
Bench: 210x5
Pendlay rows: 210x5
OHP: 135x5

I got to these weights pretty rapidly after a layoff of two months which wrecked a lot of progress I had made. I had been a little higher on bench, deads, and rows before my time off, but my squat has never been better. My deads are embarrassing, but I am hoping my ever improving squats will help. I am starting to feel the stress from the rapid pace of the 3x5, and I don't think I can progress on all the lifts that quickly anymore. That's why I am switching to the intermediate 5x5.

All squats will be done ATG (ALL the way down. ). Deads will be conventional. OHP may morph to push press along the way.

Layout will be (as if most don't already know):

Monday: Squat 5x5, Bench 5x5, Pendlay Rows 5x5
Wed: Squat 4x5, OHP 4x5, Deadlift 4x5 (I'll try to throw in pull ups too)
Fri: Squat 4x5,1x3,1x8, Bench 4x5,1x3,1x8, Row 4x5,1x3,1x8


Tomorrow I will post my first day.

 

[Sculelos]

Doing the good ole' 5x5 huh, well it will be good to watch someone else's progress that has given me good advice... better not take any more 2 month breaks though cause at the rate I'm advancing I might catch up to you...

 

[beerdrinker]

Doing the good ole' 5x5 huh, well it will be good to watch someone else's progress that has given me good advice... better not take any more 2 month breaks though cause at the rate I'm advancing I might catch up to you...

Yeah, those two months off hurt. I had to start pretty much back at zero. I gained back most of what I lost pretty quickly though. I'm sure not going to do it again.

I'll spell out my goal weights for 10 weeks here. It will be interesting to see if I hit them on schedule.

Squat: 275x5
Bench: 245x5
Row: 245x5
Dead: 350x5
OHP: 155x5

The goal date for these poundages is Nov. 26 for Squat, Bench, and Rows, and Nov. 28 for Deads and OHP. Which is pretty cool being the week of Thanksgiving, I'll be able to gorge myself on food to reward myself.

The early weeks should be pretty easy as it's not as intense as the 3x5. Only one top set should seem like a breeze for a while.

I don't necessarily want to gain too much weight, a recomp is more in order. I'd like to trade in 10 or so pounds of fat for more muscle. If I just gain muscle, I'm cool with that too.

My diet looks like this:

Eat lots of food. Eat lots of meat. Suck down whey and milk before bed. Fight the urge to say fuck it and drink, but occasionally saying fuck it and pounding a few beers on the weekend. No caloric deficit going on here.

In case you're wondering, with a diet like this, no I'm not training for the Olympia, lol. I just want to be strong as fuck. Not even close to that yet, but I'm on my way.

 

[Sculelos]

How long where you lifting before the two month layoff?

 

[beerdrinker]

How long where you lifting before the two month layoff?

Off and on wasting time for a couple of years. Then I got more serious. I started the 3x5 and restarted it a couple of times for about 4 months. I would sometimes take a week or two off here and there for work related crap or going out of town type stuff. Then I got sick, so I didn't lift for a week, after that I went on vacation for a week, after that I had family staying with me for a week and a half (which included too much alcohol), and then I had other family in town after that, and before you know it, it's been a month and a half without working out and I spent another two weeks feeling like crap and not working out because I felt like crap. I finally had enough and got back on the 3x5. I got most of what I lost back in a single run of it, but my deadlift really suffered. I'm still about 35 lbs behind what I worked up to on that.

 

[Sculelos]

Well I'm glad your back. Look forward to reading your log. Stay motivated and uninjured and good things are sure to come.

 

[skullcrushin22]

Yeah, those two months off hurt. I had to start pretty much back at zero. I gained back most of what I lost pretty quickly though. I'm sure not going to do it again.

I'll spell out my goal weights for 10 weeks here. It will be interesting to see if I hit them on schedule.

Squat: 275x5
Bench: 245x5
Row: 245x5
Dead: 350x5
OHP: 155x5

I think you should see better gains than this in 10 weeks. Esp. in the OHP, if you dont mind doing BTN then BTN push presses worked wonders for me.

 

[beerdrinker]

I think you should see better gains than this in 10 weeks. Esp. in the OHP, if you dont mind doing BTN then BTN push presses worked wonders for me.

Well, I'm not opposed to pushing it faster than this, I'm just going off the spreadsheet from Madcow's site. What do you think is a reasonable goal for these lifts?

 

[skullcrushin22]

Well, I'm not opposed to pushing it faster than this, I'm just going off the spreadsheet from Madcow's site. What do you think is a reasonable goal for these lifts?

When I used the 5*5 I used BTN push presses and I had the same goal for them as I did with every other exercise. Add five pounds every week. Now that may be hard for someone that has been pressing for months. But I never performed the BTN push press before therefore I went from 155 for 3 to 225 for 3 in around 12 weeks I believe, but then I stalled at 225 and switched things up. That was a huge increase but I never had done pressing before because I was a pitcher in college and I didnt mess around with heavy weight with shoulders. But I would assume you could incresase the lift by at least 35-40lbs.

 

[beerdrinker]

When I used the 5*5 I used BTN push presses and I had the same goal for them as I did with every other exercise. Add five pounds every week. Now that may be hard for someone that has been pressing for months. But I never performed the BTN push press before therefore I went from 155 for 3 to 225 for 3 in around 12 weeks I believe, but then I stalled at 225 and switched things up. That was a huge increase but I never had done pressing before because I was a pitcher in college and I didnt mess around with heavy weight with shoulders. But I would assume you could incresase the lift by at least 35-40lbs.

OK. Yeah, I see what you mean. Looking at the spreadsheet, it's definitely not increasing the weight 5 lbs. That's because the formula is the same, but the starting weights are pretty low compared to the rest of the lifts. I will do 5 lb increments and see where I end up. I think I'll still do them from the front, but push press definitely looks like the best way to get the weight up substantially. I would love to push press 185 at the 12 week mark.

What advantage do you see with the BTN? Is it easier to push heavier? I'm afraid of injury with BTN. I've always heard it's more dangerous.