Foxriver's 3x5 journal

[Cynical Simian]

^^^Exactly (to the last two posts). Don't dilute your progress by throwing a bunch of isolation stuff in there. The Rippetoe program has you adding weight to the bar on a few big lifts at a very high rate, and not hampering your recovery with superfluous exercises is part of the design.

 

[foxriver]

^^^Exactly (to the last two posts). Don't dilute your progress by throwing a bunch of isolation stuff in there. The Rippetoe program has you adding weight to the bar on a few big lifts at a very high rate, and not hampering your recovery with superfluous exercises is part of the design.

I think I understand what you have all just stated. I don't suppose anyone would recommend a program that blatantly omits an important body part. I think what is happening is my biceps are stronger at this point than my back, which is why it feels like I am not working them out, but this with time will balance out.

I totally crapped out today. Didn't go to the gym because of the soreness, and a few pre-scheduled appointments I had after work. Not a big deal since I was using this week to find out where my weights should be. I will most likely go full tilt boogie on the 3x5 next Monday, and like I mentioned before, I think I will run with the 140 lb squats and see how that bites me for 3 times a week. I'm still walking a little bit funny, it seems like my legs will buckle. Not so much the left leg, but certainly the right one. To give you an idea of what it feels like, let me explain:

Normally when you walk you do not lock your knees. They are slightly bent. Well now when I walk, I can't quite get comfortable, nor control my right leg from locking at the knee. Its a little wobbly. Almost like a newborn horse. A little shaky. I figure giving it the weekend to rest, I should be back to normal on Monday and I won't overstress it next week. Don't think that I'm giving up already. I think my ego was bigger than my legs since I never really used to work them much. I pretty much only did the 45 degree leg press contraption at the gym one day a week, throwing in calf raises on it at the end of the set.

 

[carlsuen]

I think I understand what you have all just stated. I don't suppose anyone would recommend a program that blatantly omits an important body part. I think what is happening is my biceps are stronger at this point than my back, which is why it feels like I am not working them out, but this with time will balance out.

I totally crapped out today. Didn't go to the gym because of the soreness, and a few pre-scheduled appointments I had after work. Not a big deal since I was using this week to find out where my weights should be. I will most likely go full tilt boogie on the 3x5 next Monday, and like I mentioned before, I think I will run with the 140 lb squats and see how that bites me for 3 times a week. I'm still walking a little bit funny, it seems like my legs will buckle. Not so much the left leg, but certainly the right one. To give you an idea of what it feels like, let me explain:

Normally when you walk you do not lock your knees. They are slightly bent. Well now when I walk, I can't quite get comfortable, nor control my right leg from locking at the knee. Its a little wobbly. Almost like a newborn horse. A little shaky. I figure giving it the weekend to rest, I should be back to normal on Monday and I won't overstress it next week. Don't think that I'm giving up already. I think my ego was bigger than my legs since I never really used to work them much. I pretty much only did the 45 degree leg press contraption at the gym one day a week, throwing in calf raises on it at the end of the set.

lol dude.. this is only the first month.. max.. after that u'll begin to feel how powerful your legs truely are..

 

[Cynical Simian]

Not a big deal since I was using this week to find out where my weights should be. I will most likely go full tilt boogie on the 3x5 next Monday, and like I mentioned before, I think I will run with the 140 lb squats and see how that bites me for 3 times a week.

You might want to take another week to get used to the exercises and frequency. Even with the conservative start, you'll pretty quickly get to some difficult weights - if you start at 140, you'll do 145 on Wednesday and 150 on Friday. And especially having skipped Friday's workout, you'll probably have a similar, if slightly less extreme, problem with soreness after Monday's workout.

That's not to say you couldn't just jump in and have a great run if you start tomorrow, but taking another week at "test weights" might be helpful. You could post questions about any form issues rather than trying to work them out as you're simultaneously increasing the weights.

 

[Mercere]

You might want to take another week to get used to the exercises and frequency. Even with the conservative start, you'll pretty quickly get to some difficult weights - if you start at 140, you'll do 145 on Wednesday and 150 on Friday. And especially having skipped Friday's workout, you'll probably have a similar, if slightly less extreme, problem with soreness after Monday's workout.

That's not to say you couldn't just jump in and have a great run if you start tomorrow, but taking another week at "test weights" might be helpful. You could post questions about any form issues rather than trying to work them out as you're simultaneously increasing the weights.

Cynical Simian is right, PR weights come quickly even if you start light. Especially on squats.

 

[GSP]

Cynical Simian is right, PR weights come quickly even if you start light. Especially on squats.

Just in case you need a 3rd opinion on this one, 3X per week PR's compounds itself very quickly! Hell, If you started at 95 lbs and increased 5 lbs. per workout, you'll be pushing 2 plates per side up in under 9 weeks!!

I'm looking forward to following your progress on this, good luck man.

 

[foxriver]

On Cynical Simian's advice, I decided it would be best to use this as another practice week. I also figured, why not start at a lower weight for each exercise. Since the weights will be increasing so rapidly, it's probably smarter this way so I don't overwork my obviously undertrained body. (See last week's catastrophy)

So today I woke up and weighed in at 214.5.

Did Squats/Deadlifts/Bench all at 135 lbs for 5 reps each with the warmups as follows:

Squats - 8 reps at 45 (bar) and then 3 sets of 5 reps @ 135
Deadlifts - 8 reps at 45 (bar) and 3 sets of 5 reps @ 135
Bench - 8 reps @ 45 (bar), 5 reps @ 95, 3 sets of 5 reps @ 135

How did I feel during? Actually quite good. I felt them, but it wasn't as overwhelming as last week. Deadlifts were a bit light, but that will all catch up later in the coming weeks.

How do I feel know about an hour later? My quads are sore, but not nearly as bad as last week. My chest is moderately sore and my back feels tight.

I can't seem to get a good stretch. I use the stretching machine thing at the gym, basically its a seat with handles on either side to twist your body for the middle back (better than the hands on the hips and twisting in my opinion) and the movable bars for the chest. Everything else I do on the floor and I pretty much follow each stretching exercise that is listed here . Usually just one stretch per body part. Anyway, stretching the lower back seems to be tough for me as I can never quite feel it, and the traps/delts seem to not get stretched very well either. Can anyone suggest anything for these areas? I seem to recall someone once telling me to lie on a large yoga ball to help arch my back, but doesn't that stretch the abs? Also when I do the hamstring stretch, I do feel a stretch in the lats, so that helps some.

In any case, my weight at the moment is at 212, which I don't see as a loss since I didn't drink much water at work today (only 64 oz.) and it was about 95 degrees today. (I didn't sweat alot as I work in an office with air conditioning, but still the drive in and to the gym definitely took its toll since my truck's AC is broken and I did sweat quite a bit) Oh well. We'll see how it is tomorrow.

 

[foxriver]

So about today...

It's Wednesday, and I had to go grocery shopping after work. I got home around 6:30 PM. Now, normally once I get home, the trip to the gym is shot, because I no longer feel like getting in my truck, driving 10 minutes down the road lifting, and driving all the way back. Laziness? Not quite, I'm just not a huge fan of driving. Normally I go to the gym right after work because I already have to drive. But today was different. I had to go grocery shopping, as I said, I brought the groceries home, had my girlfriend put them away, changed, and went to the gym. I even amazed myself. I haven't even quite started the 3x5 and I'm already in the "zone".

So today was "test" workout B.

Squats 1x8 @ 45 3x5 @ 135

I was only slightly sore today, and I know for sure this is the weight I should have started at last week, rather than trying to ramp up to 185 to figure out what weight I should be using. I am moderately sore now after the workout, and I'm pretty sure that I'll even be able to hit the 3rd day this week. I've never done the same exercise 3 times in one week before, so we'll see how this goes.

Pendlays 1x8@ 75 3x5 @ 95

Felt pretty good today. I knew I did something at least partially right when I was doing these, since as my legs were slightly bent while pulling up slowly, my legs were wobbling. Not enough to lose balance, but they were trembling while I did the rows. Overall I think it worked pretty well.

Military Press 1x8 @ 45 ABORTED @ 95 (what was I thinking?) 3x5 @ 75

My attempt at keeping the weights on each day close together (obviously the squats will change much faster than everything else, but as for the other 2) was a total loss. I don't know if anyone else does this, but I used the squat rack to hold the weight up high enough for me to get my elbows underneath the bar to start the press. Maybe that's common practice, or whatever, but it dawned on me pretty quickly when I tried to pick the 95 lbs off the floor to attempt the rows. So I ended up deadlifting it to the squat rack and reverse squatted it to the higher rungs. Then I attempted the one rep at 95, failed it miserably, and lowered the weight to 75 which did the trick. My two reps I thought I almost would need a spot... but I pulled through anyway. I'm sure I'll feel like jello tomorrow.

Anyone figure out a good way to stretch the back muscles for me yet? I still can't seem to stretch the middle-back (lats/delts/traps) and lower back. The sides of the lats and external obliques I have no problem stretching, and even the neck is easy to stretch.

EDIT: I forgot to add that I woke up at 211 lbs this morning, and weighed in at 212.5 after my workout. Something can't be right, can it?

 

[foxriver]

So today is a day off, and suprisingly, I do not feel at all sore. Could I be getting used to the 3 day a week workout, or is it likely I'm not doing something right? I seem to be having some trouble sleeping this week, I wake up in the middle of the night now, when I never used to. I wonder if it has anything to do with the protein shake before bed. Any thoughts?

 

[GSP]

So today is a day off, and suprisingly, I do not feel at all sore. Could I be getting used to the 3 day a week workout, or is it likely I'm not doing something right?

Perfectly normal! The first few workouts are the worst in terms of soreness. After that, as long as you don't miss workouts, soreness is generally not an issue. If you take some time off or go light for a week or two, you will get sore again when you pick back up, but for now, it probably won't come back.