Dposey's SF 5x5 Journal

[Dposey]

Hmm, yeah I guess I'll go ahead and do that and up my calories week by week until I'm around 3500ish. I've been eating around 2900 calories and my weight has practically stayed the same, lost like 3 pounds is all.

Thanks asd, I really needed some reassurance.

 

[Tweakle]

Switch your bench to something else for the nect 4-6 weeks, declines, db pause presses or low inclines. If you're dreading the bench and not progressing chances are you're burned out on the lift

 

[Dposey]

Yeah, even after resetting to 80% I just didn't feel comfortable with the bench. If I switched to db pause presses I could still use it in the 5x5, like say start with the 35s x 5, then the 40s x 5, etc., right? I've also heard (Not sure if this is true or not) that db presses actually help your flat bench.

 

[Dposey]

Wednesday 4/26/06 - Week 8 - Day 2

Squats:
105 x 5
120 x 5
140 x 5
140 x 5
140 x 5

Push Press:
65 x 5
80 x 5
95 x 5
105 x 5
120 x 5 PR

Deadlift:
115 x 5
135 x 5
160 x 5
185 x 5
215 x 5 PR

Chin-ups:
BW x 5
BW x 5
BW x 5
BW x 5
BW x 5

Needsize Crunches:
BW+25 x 6
BW+25 x 6
BW+25 x 6
BW+25 x 6
BW+25 x 6

Comments:
Wow, I cannot believe the difference a few extra calories make. I started upping my calories this week with a modest 150-200 calorie jump (Up to 3000ish now) and I think even that small bit made a difference in today's workout. I usually don't feel tired when I lift but lately I've had problems with feeling drained, but today I was full of energy and got my PRs.

The push press was hard but I got 120x5 after failing the past two weeks. I think I'm going to go to Home Depot this weekend and buy some chain links and clips, I'll have to check out madcow's page on microloading again. I'm so close to two plates on the deadlift, I can't wait! I'm tempted to go with a 10 pound increase next Wednesday to get it but I think I'll wait and stick with the 5 pound increases as 215x5 was a bit difficult. I love deadlifting now, it's my favorite lift and I think I'm getting really good at it. These long arms might not be very good for benching but I think they were made for pulling.

I also switched up my diet a bit, I ordered some dextrose which will hopefully be here within the week and until then I'm going to use skim milk/whey for my shake. I also bought some lean ground turkey on sale at Safeway (Usually my main meat source is chicken because I'm lazy and don't like to spend a lot of time cooking on the stovetop) and it's damn good! Just had a meal of 1/2 pound ground turkey, pasta and green beans and I'm feeling full for the first time in awhile. I think I'm going to try some ground beef next time as well. I remember anthrax suggesting in the beginning that I need a bit of red meat in my diet.

Also, I've come to a conclusion that for my bench I'm going to stick with the original plan of working back up to 150 (135 this Friday, and 150 next Friday) and then use my microloading plates to try and break the plateau. If that fails for some reason then I'm going to take Tweakle's advice and change to a different type of press for 4-6 weeks. We'll see what happens!

 

[djeclipse]

Congrats on the PR's.

Get those chains and don't be afraid to use them, I couldn't find the part numbers that matched madcows site so I got some thick chain and some thinner chain, all together they weigh 2.5lbs with the collars.

 

[Dposey]

Yeah I think I'll head to Home Depot this weekend with a printout from the site and get them. I'm going to need them for push press and bench I'm sure.

And thanks on the congrats. You too, I've been reading your journal a little and it's cool to see you're doing good on your second run.