Blackwell's SF 5x5 Journal

[blackwell33]

The article that I got this from has powercleans on Mon and Fri. Then it states that the power cleans can be substituted with deads. It has High Pulls for the Wed workout. I substituted rows for high pulls.

Do you think that 2 times a week is too much or could be overtraining? I'm definitely feeling it. Should I reconsider? When do you do your deads? Thanks for bringing this up.. I might need to rethink how I am doing this. Let me know what u think..

 

[anotherbutters]

I'm completely confused. I must be seeing things!

The single factor program popularised by madcow is the same as the one you linked to and both of them say that you can replace powercleans with deadlifts, which is on Mon and Fri. How come I've never noticed until now?!

I actually did a run of the dual factor 5x5 before starting my single factor. Madcow's description of the dual factor is based on non-olympic lifts and you row on Mon and Fri, and deadlift on Wed.

When I started the single factor, I just kept the same exercises from the dual factor. The difference was just that I didn't try to load/deload.

I don't think there's a 'right' answer. I think you said you had a history of back trouble, so I'd be inclined to deadlift once per week just because of that. And it will get taxing deadlifting twice per week once the weight goes up.

Are you doing any pullups anywhere? That's a good exercise to throw in.

 

[Jim Ouini]

MC2 touched briefly on this in another thread, he wasn't a big fan of the 2 times/week deadlifting, but if you want to do it, he suggested a light 'speed' day (I think speed deads are usually ~55% 1RM).

Otherwise it's the layout AB has in his post.

 

[Guinness5.0]

he suggested a light 'speed' day (I think speed deads are usually ~55% 1RM).

Otherwise it's the layout AB has in his post.

Yeah it says speed deads, which are a whole lot less taxing than regular deads.

I'd say do it like AB has it listed.

 

[blackwell33]

Great guys.. thanks a lot. On last friday I threw in about 3 sets of deads to just start getting a feel for it. On Monday I was still feeling it. After 4 sets on monday I was spent. I'll start doing it once a week from now on. It seems like a good idea especially with my back and the fact I haven't been lifting long. I'm using a lot of hypers and BB rows to supplement. Thanks for all the input..

 

[blackwell33]

Well, this week got totally screwed over. Wednesday I had to work extremely late so I couldn't make it to the gym. Thursday I spent 4-5 hours in the a.m. doing army hand to hand combatives training. This was one of the most exhausting days I've had in a while. Every muscle in my body hurts and I'm all bruised and beat to hell. Anyways, I will continue on Friday with the same weights that I ended with last week. Solid gains will come by next friday though..

 

[blackwell33]

Week 2-

Workout 3, Moderate Day-


Squat- 5x 155, 185, 205, 225
3x 255

Bench- 5x 140, 160, 180, 200
3x 210

Bent over rows- 5 sets of 5
Tricep extensions- 3 sets of 10
Bicep curls BB- 3 sets of 8
weighted decline situps- 4 x 20
weighted hypers- 3 x 15

An ok workout. I locked out on every rep. Everything felt good. I hate that I had to miss a day this week. Nothing could have changed it though. Will repeat this same workout next week and start with the deadlifts full force on wednesday. New gains will be reached on friday..

 

[blackwell33]

just a note to myself before I forget about it..

week 2 workout 3

weight- 198

Weight is up 9 lbs from 2 weeks ago. I'm sure a lot is water weight. I'm taking creatine in my pwo shakes only on workout days. I also have decided to change my squatting form. After much reading researching and thinking I'm going to start squatting below parallel and widen my stance a bit. This may affect my numbers to begin with, but will be better for me in the long run. I'm just getting started so I figured now would be the time to do it.

 

[blut wump]

If you're about to start going below parallel then you might as well get it right from the start and go fully down. Take at least 50lbs off the bar to start. Go fully down and you should feel a kind of 'settling in'. Keep everything tight lest it stress your knees and drive up from the hole.

Start with feet about shoulder width and feet flared to about 30 degrees. Don't let your ego get in the way of getting stronger and just accept that you'll be using less weight for a while.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Keep everything tight lest it stress your knees and drive up from the hole.

Just to add, in my new book it mentions how knees going over toes isn't necessarily bad, but you have to keep the muscles tight at full flexion lest the tendons and ligaments take the load.