Title To Be Announced

[BiggT]

Your bench will move up with ease when you start training it (Jim Ouini, yours will too).....the taking time off flats to work other pressing gives carryover once you get reacclimated, it won't magically add weight to your bench....you need to adjust to the groove and go through a few weeks of newbie-like gains as you gain neural efficiency and get comfortable with the lift.....you should both hit big PRs at the end of a training cycle.

 

[blut wump]

I'm hoping so. I desperately want to cross off the three-plate bench triple and the 400 pound squat on this run. If I can get within shouting distance of a 500 deadlift, too, before the end of the year then I'll be very satisfied.

 

[Guinness5.0]

Hey, buddy.

 

[Protobuilder]

I'll be following along, BW. 300/400/500 is a very, very solid goal, and definitely w/in your reach.

 

[silver_shadow]

hey blut, i never thought about it earlier, but you could get yourself some eq (for your horses of course )

 

[SgtSlaughter]

In.

Sweeeeeet!

I'm glad I get to follow along from the begining, and In on the first page

 

[blut wump]

Proto, I think so and it was down as my goal for this year. I expected to get a three-plate bench triple on the last 5x5 but I never quite managed that third rep despite feeling that it was within my grasp. I also expected to reach a 400 squat last 5x5, too, until I fell apart. The 500 deadlift is no longer something I expect to hit this year. I've taken a lot of time away from the exercise but I did hit a 180Kg (396 lbs) single without too much bother on a spurious deadlift day a couple of weeks back. As ever, I'll just play it by ear and take what I can. I'd be pleased to be hitting 450 ish by the end of this run.

SS, I considered eq but all the talk of vascularity puts me right off it. I loathe sticky-out veins and don't want anything that's likely to encourage them. I also didn't fancy the idea of running a cycle out to 16 weeks or so just yet. I also turned down primo, despite my advancing years. A bit more lead in my pencil along with something to aid recovery is plenty for me. The deca is just there to see what effect it'll have on my joints and tendons. I tried MSM but wasn't impressed.

Hi, sarge. Welcome aboard.

 

[blut wump]

Tribulating Trials Beget Advancement

Week 1 - Day 1

Bodyweight: a portly 124.6Kg (274 lbs)

My knees felt stiff as I went into the squats. They loosened up a little into my work sets but never felt fluid. The weight was comfy on the muscles but various aches kept me from deciding to go higher. I hope the deca starts to work some magic soon.

I was wondering whether squatting on a not-level surface has been detrimental to my knees. I made a bit of effort to find a flatter piece of floor and faced uphill.

Bench went better than I expected after last week's trials. The 115Kg set was no real bother. I probably didn't have more than another couple of reps in me but I was half expecting not to be able to hit the weight.

Rows, as ever, were unremarkable. I went for 103Kg rather than 100Kg just to ensure that I improved across the board from the start of the last 5x5 which began with 110 squat, 110 bench and 100 row.

I finally used the new bench as a decline sit-up station. Not great but plenty adequate. The only abs work I've had in the past three months has been from the compound exercises, ie no direct work. The 5 sets of 10 felt about right for a start of week1.

My conditioning sucks. This overall felt like fairly hard work. Satisfying to get a new program under way and be back into some volume work. I always let my conditioning slip as I start to work towards low-rep lifts. I'll try to watch out for that this time around.


Squat
20x10, 30x10, 60x5, 80x5, 100x3, 115.5x5x5
Bench
20x10, 40x8. 60x5, 72.5x5, 85x5, 100x5, 115x5, 60x10 for 2 sets Narrow
Row
20x10, 60x5, 70x5, 80x5, 90x5, 103x5
Decline Sit Up
BW 5 sets of 10

 

[anotherbutters]

Is there a bookie event on when you're going to fall apart this time?

Just kidding. This is going to be really interesting. Good luck!

 

[Protobuilder]

LoL @ AB.

Bench is hard right out of the gate? That's not great. LoL

I hear ya' on the conditioning aspect. I s'pose that's why a 5x5 "strength" phase is eventually followed by a sports conditioning phase (specific sports training) in athletes. Pure strength training year 'round can result in poor conditioning. But who the hell needs to run anyway? LoL I noticed my conditioning had dropped some (due to foregoing my cardio, LoL) so I've started adding in some "cumulative fatigeu" squatting as well as various KB swings etc. Seems to be helping.