Rate my Bench !

[ErikZ]

Hi Guys,
After doing the 5x5, what do you guys think of my lifts, am I on track?

All weights in pounds:

Benchpress: 3x3 - 209lbs

Squats: 176lbs

Deads 3x3: 198lbs

Biceps (3x8): 88lbs

Military (3x3): 121lbs

Row 3x3: 110lbs

Btw, my stats are 1.77m tall
Weight: 168lbs

Never did steroids.

Cheers

 

[curgeo]

You are doing fine. Are you going to continue doing 5x5? I am sure you will continue to get good results from it. Keep it up!

 

[ErikZ]

Yeah
I completed a 5x5 Volume (4 weeks) + Pure Deloading fase (2 weeks).
However, what bothers me is that one of the guys who manages the gymn, broke the world recod (or south american record, don't remember) for squats 2x, and he keeps telling me that squatting 3x per week is wrong bla bla bla, and that no gains will come from it. He maybe right, otherwise he would never have made it to the Pro circuit, however, maybe he is just telling me not to do something that did not work for him.

I am feeling great after this 5x5 cycle, and off I go again back into it next week.

 

[nelmsjer]

How were your gains over the course of the 5x5?

 

[curgeo]

See, what worked for him might not be ideal for you. Like Nelm said, how were your gains? If they were great like you implied, I would stick to it until the gains stop.

Usually when somebody is a world champion they have superior genetics to what I or you might have. He was training probably for powerlifting which is a different thing indirectly than 5x5. If you are wanting to gain size and strength all over your body which you should to develop a proper foundation and you are making good gains, do what is working for you.

 

[ErikZ]

My bodyweight did not alter much, remained more or less between the 75-80 brackets throughtout the course.
This is because I do not eat 4000+cals, because I do not like to do those huge bulking phases, since I like to look reather lean throughout the whole year (got a gf to satisfy ).

But what I did notice is that my bodyfat dropped considerably just by doing the 5x5, probably due to the increase in energy expenditure. I actually increased my biceps by 1cm and my chest looks fuller. No incredible weight-gain, just some nice, lean muscle.
I really enjoyed the 5x5.

PS: Strength is through the roof.

 

[ErikZ]

What really irritates me is to see him looking at me like: "What the fuck is that moron doing, squatting 3x a week"
It puts me off


PS: I am only 18 years old, so its more like:
"What the fuck is that punk kid doing, squatting 3x a week"

 

[curgeo]

Don't worry about what other people say.. You should see us in the gym. Personal trainers always tell their clients to avoid what we are doing.....the reason being is they don't understand it.

If your strength is inreasing, stick to it erik. You are going to get bigger and stronger this time around too.

 

[Guinness5.0]

I would tend to think that you'd be better served by the linear, intermediate version of the program - you'd likely make faster progress that way.

 

[nelmsjer]

Agree with G5.0 on this one. Head back to madcow's site and pull up the intermediate version. Use it as long as you reasonably can!

http://www.geocities.com/elitemadcow1/table_of_contents_thread.htm

 

[curgeo]

right you are guiness.. I love drinking your name by the way..

 

[ErikZ]

Hmmm...
Why do you say that guinness?
I really enjoy periodizing my training.
Plus, I couldn't break the 85kg plateau for like, 2 years, and with the DF i did it

But maybe you are right, please point out why u think so.

 

[Guinness5.0]

The way to determine whether or not you should periodize if if you NEED to. In other words, if you are able to make week-to-week progress, you should do it as long as possible. I'm basing my assumption on your poundages - not to be an ass, but generally you'd be further along before periodized training is needed.

Think of periodization as a necessary evil, not a rite of passage The longer you can keep weekly gains going, the better. Hit up madcow's site for a more detailed explanation.

 

[ErikZ]

I cannot increase my records week by week guinness..
Yeah, my poundages are not massive, but look at my bodyweight and my age
=P

But like, in SF you should be breaking records weekly?

 

[Guinness5.0]

Yeah, after a period of 'ramping' where you use liighter weights and build up to your current 5rm's. So in week four you'd wim for your current 5rm's, then bump 'em little by little.

Trust me bro - the fact that your bench is better than your deadlift means there's LOTS of room left. My deadlift absolutely sucks for my weight/experience, but if I tried to bench it I would probably be killed by it

 

[Cynical Simian]

Good advice from Guinness as always. Madcow's site explains it in more detail, but basically the idea is that the goal is to get stronger, and to take the most direct route to that goal. It might be fun to periodize your training, but I really doubt it's optimal at this point; you almost certainly have a lot of room for progress on your dead and squat.

Do what allows you to make the fastest gains, which at this point is probably the SF 5x5. Believe me, if Guinness, blut wump or any of the other "veterans" on the board could still add 10 pounds to their squats twice a week as on the Rippetoe beginner program, that's what they'd be doing.

 

[blut wump]

If you have made great gains then the program has worked for you despite what 'experts' might think of the high squat volume. As Curgeo says, anyone who is a champion at something has something extra in their genetics which takes them out of the norm. It's also likely that he's thinking in terms of three monster all-consuming leg workouts per week rather than the Heavy/Light/Medium that the 5x5 entails.

It could also be that he is just telling you what worked for him. Think, though, that he might have made his own progress faster when he started had he had better training knowledge. Most people get where they're going by personal trial and error.

Quite a few people here have done a run of the single-factor version after running the dual-factor. I ran the single-factor version myself for more than a month at the start of this year after having had a poor December and taking a Christmas break from workouts. It's a very efficient way to make progress until you feel the need to do more. I've come to enjoy the extra volume of the dual-factor version but it can be more work for the same gains if the single-factor will still give you progress.

 

[ErikZ]

Blut, i would give you 200000000000 karma i I could... but I can't
Thanx man

 

[blut wump]

Thanks ErikB.

By the way, I'm no veteran. I'm just a geriatric gym rat who has grown old enough to have too many opinions and be unafraid to share them. The veterans posted before I did.

 

[ErikZ]

Thank you my little veteran friends: Guinness and Nemls

 

[Cynical Simian]

By the way, I'm no veteran. I'm just a geriatric gym rat who has grown old enough to have too many opinions and be unafraid to share them. The veterans posted before I did.

...a modest gym rat, it seems.

In all seriousness, my apologies if you think "veteran" misrepresented your (in my estimation, pretty high) level of experience and knowledge.

 

[liegelord]

Ericb:

What were your starting weight in each exercise and how many weeks did you do the 5x5?

 

[anotherbutters]

I cannot increase my records week by week guinness..

But like, in SF you should be breaking records weekly?

How about having a little faith in yourself!

It's true that you attempt to set records weekly, but we're talking about small increases. That might mean only 1kg per week on your bench and 2-3kg per week on your squat and deadlift. However, these soon add up if you consistently add a bit to the bar every week. The key thing is to keep the weight going up, even if it's only a little bit.

 

[mm107]

YEA THIS IS TRUE. Siek yourself out for it. EVERY day in the gym i tell myself i am going to be beating a or setting a new Personal record. EVEN if i dont, ill try and move on. But i have had success in beating my PR's.

Even if i only throw on the 2.5lbs on each side. its something. Plus slow proggress = permanent progress in my book =]

 

[ErikZ]

Thanx for the motivation ab
hahaha
My initial lift records were like, 30lbs less than that.
Maybe I do need to go SF.

However, this is a question I raised:
Don't you get overtrained for running SF like mad for like, 10 weeks?
Just a thought (yeah, I know you reset it once you stall and all, but doesn't it trigger ot?)

 

[blut wump]

The volume on the SF is low enough that over-training isn't really an issue.

 

[ErikZ]

Thanx BW

 

[TheOak84]

id personally work more on rowing and stall on the bench press, you want a good strong back and delts before u press heavy weights

 

[blut wump]

It's true, the row is a fair ways behind the bench press. That's one of the good things about the SF version: over a couple of months you can move the row faster than you will the bench.