Fitness Log

[smtimelevi]

You sound pretty adamant about that 5x5. sometimes the best way to bust a plateau on a certain lift is to change the approach.

heres what i do when i get stuck. for example squats. lets say your shooting for 300x5 and are doin 295x3 but its after a ton of heavy sets and youve been doin low reps for months. take a week off of back squats. do some other leg exercises or try different resistance levels and rest periods. heres what i have done several times with great success in the no so distant past. hit front squats with low weight, short rest, high volume. then finish off with some lunges. use dbells, do em walking, whatever it takes. maybe youll want to do this for two weeks. after some time away from heavy heavy weights come back to it with a fresh attitude. if your goal is 300x5 and your close to that, you can get it. but that has to be the goal of your work out. everything is a buildup to that set. warm up do a set of 5 reps with 185 then another set with 245x5. your body will be ready for the heavy weight load but not fatigued. your mind ready for the desired rep #. put 300 on the bar and conquer it.

maybe this isnt some amazing strategy but ive used it sucessfully on most heavy compound exercises over and over with great success. hope its a help. im not saying you have to do it but consider it if your really in a rutt.

 

[Tblock1]

You sound pretty adamant about that 5x5. sometimes the best way to bust a plateau on a certain lift is to change the approach.

heres what i do when i get stuck. for example squats. lets say your shooting for 300x5 and are doin 295x3 but its after a ton of heavy sets and youve been doin low reps for months. take a week off of back squats. do some other leg exercises or try different resistance levels and rest periods. heres what i have done several times with great success in the no so distant past. hit front squats with low weight, short rest, high volume. then finish off with some lunges. use dbells, do em walking, whatever it takes. maybe youll want to do this for two weeks. after some time away from heavy heavy weights come back to it with a fresh attitude. if your goal is 300x5 and your close to that, you can get it. but that has to be the goal of your work out. everything is a buildup to that set. warm up do a set of 5 reps with 185 then another set with 245x5. your body will be ready for the heavy weight load but not fatigued. your mind ready for the desired rep #. put 300 on the bar and conquer it.

maybe this isnt some amazing strategy but ive used it sucessfully on most heavy compound exercises over and over with great success. hope its a help. im not saying you have to do it but consider it if your really in a rutt.

Oh well I am not doing the 5x5 right now, but I finished a cycle of it just over a month ago. The main thing I figured out is that one heavy top set doesn't provide enough strength gain for me except on deadlifts. But yeah thta makes since. My problem was I got 300x5, then thought I would back off and try 1x8, so I started at 1x8x270, then 1x8x275, and missed a week. Then I went for 280x8, and just 3 felt really hard so I stopped. But yeah I don't think right now I am going to stop squatting but I will keep that in mind, I added heavy barbell lunges tio my routine also.

Analite: Thanks I hope you do great on your goals too! 195 military press........hmmmm.....

 

[Tblock1]

Wednesday 4/28/10

Bench
1x8x95
1x6x135
1x5x185
1x3x205
3x3x240 PR I needed a slight spot on last rep of 3rd set

Bench off a 4 inch block
1x3x225
1x1x275 (needed a spot, tired)

High pulls
5x2x215 PR (went great!!!!)

Walking BB lunges (motherfucking brutal), all reps times each leg)
1x8x185 PR
2x4x185 PR

1 armed pushups (legs out wide, nose touch ground)
10 reps (5 each arm) done as singles

db low incline bench (supersetted with 3x8x5 db reverse flies)
3x9xheaviest db PR (3:30 rest between sets)

chest stretch
3x30 secs with 50 lb dumbells

db tricep extension
1x5x2nd db
2x8xheavy db PR

Comments:
Great workout, I was with another guy though so I didn't get enough rest on bench I usually take 3 minutes rest for bb bench sets, but only got 2 or so. BB lunges were fucking awesome, after the first set I was walking back and slammed the barbell into a machine lol! I restructured my routine exercises slightly, will post up later. db incline bench is getting closer to failure. Anyway I got the most insane shooulder pump/soreness during this workout, I'm lucky I pr'ed on incline db.

 

[Tblock1]

Thursday 4/29/10

PR Run: 2 miles 13:35 PR
Difficulty 7.5, 10 seconds off puking, nausea after run

So anyway I have had some bad shin splints the last 2 weeks, and I realized the problems with my running. I never warmed up before runs, I just figured the run was warmup enough. So I started doing warmups, and I started shin muscle strengthening exercises. Shin splints are usually caused by calf muscles that are too strong compared to the shin muscles. Anyway, I stopped getting the shin splints although there is still some pain there if I push on the area. My running form also feels much better, my stride was getting all shortened and now I do warmups and stretch before the run and it is much better. So I haven't made much progress recently, but I plan on keeping to running minimum of 3 days a week and endurance week 3 days also (pushups, situps, flutterkicks, abs, etc)

 

[the.gladiator1987]

rogssion as andalite said in other words is TONNAGE. If you have 300x5 then the tonnage is 1500. If you do 300x5, 300x4, now its 2700. etc etc

 

[oso0960]

Don't neglect intensity when dealing with tonnage though. 300x5 at 100% of your 5 rep max will probably provide more growth than if it was just 60% of your 5 rep max.

 

[the.gladiator1987]

^^ yea good point. hit it hard dont be a pussy lol

tblock i love bb lunges i can barely walk after them. try loading up 225

 

[Tblock1]

^^ yea good point. hit it hard dont be a pussy lol

tblock i love bb lunges i can barely walk after them. try loading up 225

225 is next week I think I'll video it up lol! What kind of rep range do you use for them? 225 is probably too heavy for me but I'm going for it anyway.

 

[the.gladiator1987]

225 is next week I think I'll video it up lol! What kind of rep range do you use for them? 225 is probably too heavy for me but I'm going for it anyway.

about 4 months ago when i was doing them i did 275x6-8. I felt like the heavier was better because it forced me to get 6. Its like a lift you can take past failure unlike bench or deadlift. Kind of like a shrug, you can really push more reps if you really wanted to. So i picked a weight (275) that was heavy as fuck but if i wanted to i could get 8-10

 

[Tblock1]

about 4 months ago when i was doing them i did 275x6-8. I felt like the heavier was better because it forced me to get 6. Its like a lift you can take past failure unlike bench or deadlift. Kind of like a shrug, you can really push more reps if you really wanted to. So i picked a weight (275) that was heavy as fuck but if i wanted to i could get 8-10

So is that 6-8 reps per leg? ie 12-16 reps total?

BTW, you do them till your knee touches the ground right? 275 is awesome