young_squatters Single Factor 5x5 Journal

[young_squatter]

Cardio: Eliptical
Duration: 30 Minute
Distance: 3.95 Miles
Calories Burned: 505

Comments: Good cardio workout today, for some reason my IPOD nano didnt charge last night, so I had to do cardio listening to christmas music, I almost didnt make it. Legs were pretty sore today, especially hamstrings. Hack squats hit the hamstrings pretty hard.

 

[blut wump]

Always take a spare iPod with you.

 

[anotherbutters]

You won't make that mistake again.

 

[young_squatter]

I wish I had a spare IPOD nano so that shiz dont happen again, it was horrible.

You won't make that mistake again.

OH HEAVENS NO.

 

[young_squatter]

Incline Bench Press: 135x3..PR, 135x2, 125x4

Assisted Pull Ups: 40x5, 40x3, 40x3 (40x5 is PR)

Dumbell Curl: 35x3, 35x4x2 (See comments)

Skullcrushers: 65x5, 65x4, 65x3 (Should bump to 70 next week)

Duration: 1 Hour

Comments: I am satisfied with this workout, For incline bench 135x3 is a PR, I guess I can increase 5 lbs every week and get the same rep range, even though it would be nice, lol. Assisted pull ups were good, its hard to get these to hit the lats good, so what I do is kinda lean back a bit to hit the lats, works pretty good.
I tried to get the 40lbs dumbell curls but couldnt, My biceps were very fatigued after the back movements. And its hard to increase each arm by 5 lbs in 1 week, to bad they dont got 37.5 lb dumbells. But I increased my other bicep exercise I did so im satisfied. I dont really worry about not setting PR on biceps, becasue they get hit hard during other movements and as long as I can increase those movements and stick with the bicep movements in the same rep range, they will grow.
Skullcrushers were good, I dont go to my head with these, I go behind my head.

Question:
For incline Bench I dont go all the way down and touch my chest, I usally stop like .5-1 inch before touching, because its hard to go all the way down to my chest on this but I do it for some reps, but most of time I stop 1 inch short. Is this ok for incline bench?

 

[young_squatter]

Thanks everyone for the help. I will go all the way down on bench.


Leg Press: 480x10...PR, 500x8....PR, 510x6...PR +40 sec static hold

Seated Calve Raise: 150x5...PR, 150x5, 150x3

SLDL: 210x5...PR, 210x4, 210x3

DB Shoulder Press: 35x5, 40x5x3 (First time doing these in forever, ill bump to 45's next week

Barbell Shrug: 195x5x3....PR (OH YEAH, THIS WAS EASY) (205 wed)

+6 sets abs, 3 sets obliques

Duration: 1 hour 15 minutes

Comments: One of my best workouts on paper since the start of the program, got PR on everything I wanted, I hit my all my goals which makes me very happy. On Leg Press I went as deep as usual, my legs are usually 90 degrees which is all I have to go to. So I am very satisified with leg press, it hurt my leg a little today, but nothing to serious. The Leg Press really hit my hamstrings and quads pretty good today. The SLDL were heavy, I lost my grip on the second set, I could of had 5 if my darn grip didnt fail on me. I do pretty much perfect form on SLDL but I dont ever really feal them in my hamstrings, Maybe I should do them off a box or something to go deeper?
DB Shoulder presses felt great, I feel like I can get 45x5x3 next week. We will see. Also I made PR on all my isolation exercises as well. So good workout.

 

[young_squatter]

Bench Press: 145x2x2, 135x3 (See comments)

Barbell Rows: 120x5, 120x4, 120x3 (bump to 125 next week)

Barbell Curl: 80x3x3

CGBP: 115x5..PR, 115x3x2

Duration: 1 hour

Comments: Today was actually a good workout except the bench press. On Bench Press I stopped 1 rep short of failure, And I have decided that Flat Bench Press is just not for me, I have made my best gains in Bench Press by not even Bench Pressing, and Bench Press does not hit my chest the way I would Like, So I have decided to Replace Flat Barbell Bench with Flat Dumbbell Press for 3x3-5 to try and strength them. Last time I hit a plateau in bench press I went to dumbbells and increased those and my bench went up. So I am done with Flat Bench Press, Now my main focus is to increase my Flat Dumbbell Presses. I will still keep incline bench on friday though, Because that hits my chest hard. I increased my Incline DB presses today which made me happy. I got PR on all my back movements today which is good. Barbell Curls were good, im glad that I was able to make PR on all back exercises well still maintaining my strength on barbell curls from last week. CGBP I stopped 1 rep short of failure on the last 2 sets, So I could of had 5,4,3 but I would have hit failure, so I might increase that next week to 120 or stick with 115 for another week. We will see.

Questions:
On barbell rows today I came up a little above parallel, when I hit a certain weight I always come up just a bit from parallel, but I can feel it in the lats better this way. Is this ok?

Do you guys agree with me switching flat bench to flat dumbbells? Dumbbells just work better for me. Bench doesnt do anything for me.

 

[young_squatter]

Deadlifts: 235x5x3 (Good form)

Hack Squats: 195x10..PR, 205x6 RP2, RP2, 205x6 PR2, RP2 (Oh yeah)

Military Press: 90x4, 90x3, 85x5 (See comments)

Barbell Shrug: 205x5...PR, 205x4x2 (Ill get 3x5 on Saturday)

+6 Sets abs, 2 Sets Obliques

Duration: 1 Hour 17 Minutes

Comments: Good workout today, The Deadlifts were good form so Im happy with that. Hack squats were strong today, I made a 15lb PR with that 205x6, I am very pleased with that. For Military Press I just cant do them with rep range of 3-5. So I am going to do 3x5 next week, because Extraultra gave me a lot of good advice on 3x5. And 3x5 is working great for my shrugs. So that is what ill start doing for pretty much everything instead of 3-5. Except this week on incline bench ill do 3-5, but if I get stuck then ill move that also to 3x5. Barbell Shrugs felt really good, grip gave out, so ill get 3x5 with 205 on saturday.

SOME GOOD NEW: Today I did Leg Press, And usually when I do these I have some pain in my leg. But today I had NO PAIN at all. Which is awesome news, I believe that this means its almost time to start squatting again. And the leg is almost fully healed from my injury.

 

[young_squatter]

Incline DB Press: 55x5x2 PR, 55x4

Assited Pullups: 40x5, 40x3, 50x3

Dumbbell Curl: 35x4, 35x3, 30x8

Skullcrusher: 70x5x3 (PR)

Duration: 1 Hour

Comments: Good workout, The reason I did Incline DB instead of barbell is because I wanted to see how well they felt in my chest with lower reps, I think I might stick to Incline Barbell because I like them better though.
Today on all back movements my biceps were dead, back movements hit my biceps so hard. But good workout.

Statements:
People always say that to have a strong back to have strong biceps, But I think it works the other way to. In order to have a strong back you have to have strong biceps. I dont think biceps should get neglated, because I know for a fact that I wont get a big back until I get bigger biceps. Your back is only going to be as strong as your biceps let it be. The stronger your biceps the more you can pull.


Also next week will kinda of be a deload week to get ready for the 6 day split, I will complete the same number of sets, but all will be stopped 1-4 reps short of failure to let my cns recover.

 

[Kane Fan]

Hey Guinness, I'm beginning to like this chap, what do you think?

YS, I'd spread them out a bit too. Maybe squat 120, 140, 160, 180, 200 and bench 80, 90, 105, 120, 135. See how it feels. If they feel really light, increase them a little bit, but not so much that you risk missing the top set. The top set's the important one.

Try to get hold of some smaller plates if your gym doesn't have any. You can't add 5lb to your bench every week. It's important to keep increasing the weight, even if it's only a small increase. Try to get hold of some 1lb plates or something around that, then you can make the smaller increases. Try to add roughly 2-3% per week. So aim for 205 squat and maybe 137 bench next week (starting with three reps on Friday).

if you can't find the magnetic kind, even if you can really this is probubly cheaper
wrist/ankle weights
just put them on the bar out near where the weights are