RipStone's 5x5-GFH journal

[Anthrax Invasion]

I had no idea 3 x 2 = 5. Thanks, MC. Now I know why I sucked at mathematics.

 

[Madcow2]

I had no idea 3 x 2 = 5. Thanks, MC. Now I know why I sucked at mathematics.

LOL - whoops 6 reps. Luckily I don't need depend on my math late at night.

 

[nelmsjer]

If you want to continue, I'd do what I told someone else to do 3 sets of doubles with the weight increase rather than your top set of 5 (probably scale back on the warm ups a bit too). When this fails, drop to two sets of double (6 reps then 4 reps total). Just keep the weight and increases the same as you were doing with 5 reps. Probably not take a ton of time between these doubles if possible.

Gosh, dang it. Ignore my previous post completely. I missed the bolded portion from a previous post completely. You are saying replace the final top set of 5 ONLY...

I read it as: time period of 5x5, then time period of 3x2, then time period of 2x2. And I'm thinking, "Madcow is all about workload (among other factors, obviously), so why is he so drastically reducing workload for so long? And why is he taking people into the neural range for so long? And why...? And why...?"

Yeah. I'm only a little embarrassed. I'll go now.

 

[RipStone]

LOL - whoops 6 reps. Luckily I don't need depend on my math late at night.

3x2=5, I dont know what year it is, oh my.....

 

[RipStone]

week 14, friday

I'll start with some comments;

The good news: I had a lot more energy today and my mental focus was way up. I can attribute this to....

a) I did not do cardio on tuesday or thursday and I usually do cardio on one of those days(sometimes both). I omitted the cardio as a result of being tired and thinking that I could use the extra recovery.

b) I was excited to do something a little different.

The bad news...

I probabaly messed up Madcow's suggestions in regards to rep/set schemes and load selections. I guess you guys can tell me how bad I messed these up.

bench press(did these first cus the squats rack were in use [cough] curlers [cough]):

-bar x8(warmup)
-95x5
-135x5
-155x5
-175x5
-200x2x3(all these reps were really good. BUT, should I have dont three doubles or only two. I am thinking only two cus a normal friday I would have done just one triple so I actually increased the volume, BUT I omitted the back off set.)


squat:
-bar x8
-135x5
-185x5
-215x5
-255x2x2( the first set was really good form and i had 1-2 reps left in me with good form too. the 2nd rep of the second set i kinds GMed the ascend a little too much, again, I only did two doubles here cus I was confussed on the rep/set paramemeter).

row:
-70x5
-90x5
-115x5
-130x5
-150x2x2(my form was really good on these.)

dips supersetted with curls for time purposes:

-dips: BWx10x3
-curls: 25sx10x3

I decided not add weight to the dips in order to dampen any fatigue I might have in me. My goal for both dips and curls was to just get 3 sets of 10 reps using perfect form....I suceeded


one more comment: I guess my fatigue wasnt as bad as a I thought. Just needed a few days of sitting mon my ass for recovery....it helped. So that should answer some questions on how to proceed with my training.

 

[Madcow2]

Hmmm, well when I said 3 sets of doubles I was really thinking in place of the main sets of 5 (Monday really). I didn't really think about this particular template and the Friday triple. I'd probably just do a triple if you can get it and if not a double. Not really sure. Maybe omit the heavy set and just do the warmups and backoff work. You will have to make the call on this one and see what you want to do.

 

[nelmsjer]

Great job, ripstone, both for your numbers today and for putting up with the thread hijack (although it was an educational one!)

 

[RipStone]

madcow2- i was thinking to somehow increase volume on mon vs. fri. (ie; friday do 200x2x2, monday do 205x2x3 or 200x2x3). I am not sure how omitting the hevay set on friday would work cus then I would not have a gauge for what load to work with on monday.

BTW, do you think the 3x2 path is the right way to go now that I know that my fatigue maybe wasnt as bad as I intinally thought??

nelmsjer- thanks. it wasnt a hijack at all. i always learn from others comments.

 

[Madcow2]

If you can progress with 5's, do it.

You need to think about workload. How does 3x2 on Monday and 2x2 on Friday compare? Common sense tells me that they are both increases over your previous 1x5 and 1x3. This will be marginally more fatiguing. This wasn't to combat fatigue, this was to provide additional progression for a problem lift or two.

 

[RipStone]

If you can progress with 5's, do it.

You need to think about workload. How does 3x2 on Monday and 2x2 on Friday compare? Common sense tells me that they are both increases over your previous 1x5 and 1x3. This will be marginally more fatiguing. This wasn't to combat fatigue, this was to provide additional progression for a problem lift or two.

Its always makes more sense when you say it, even though I intuitively know it. Thanks.