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Another Single Factor 5x5 Journal
- Thread starter anotherbutters
- Start date
anotherbutters
New member
Well, they sent the first copy of the book out, which must have been lost, then sent the squat/powerclean posters separately, then sent out another copy of the book. I have the second book, but not the posters yet.
I'm going to start calling it Sapping Sleep, based on how much I read last night
I'm going to start calling it Sapping Sleep, based on how much I read last night
anotherbutters
New member
Week 4, Wednesday
1. Light back squats in smith machine (kg)
48 x 9 (warmup)
63 x 5
68 x 5
75.5 x 5
75.5 x 5
75.5 x 5
2. Deads (kg)
60 x 9 (warmup)
75 x 5 (up 5)
85 x 5 (up 5)
95 x 5 (up 2.5)
110 x 5 (up 5)
122.5 x 5 (up 2.5, straps) --------- PR
3. Military Press (kg)
18 x 9 (warmup)
23 x 5
25.5 x 5
29 x 5
31.5 x 5 (up 1)
36.5 x 5 (up 1) ---------------- PR!
4. Pullups (kg)
-25 x 7 (assisted, warmup)
-20 x 5
-20 x 5
<quit>
Summary
Today wasn't a good day.
For a start, I had a slight twinge in my left knee during Monday's squats and it was a little worse today. I haven't twisted it or anything, so I don't know what's up. Hopefully it'll be better for Friday.
Deads were really hard, much harder than last week. Deads felt really hard two weeks ago, then last week (slightly heavier), I felt great doing them. Today was like two weeks ago, but worse. Admittedly, I did increase all the weights, not just the top set. Maybe I should drop them again and keep the top set up.
I even had to use straps on the top set. I strapped up but didn't wrap them round the bar, but I knew I was in trouble after my first rep and quickly wrapped them round. My back did not like doing those. Lots of lower back ache - the good kind of ache, not a bad pain, but far too much ache for my liking.
I think I was feeling a bit tired today as I did a lot of gardening last night after work, digging out some tree stumps. I also hurt my wrist by repeatedly trying to hack through roots with a spade. And then I stayed up reading Starting Strength. Or maybe today was just one of those off days. Whatever.
I'm going to have to play deads by ear next week. I got the reps today, but it sapped every last piece of strength I had. Not good.
I was surprised I got the military press PR. It hurt just bending down to put the plates on the bar. The penultimate set was hard, but I just managed the final set.
Pullups were a joke. I was so drained by then that I felt like I was flogging a dead horse. I actually gave up as I didn't see any point in burying myself any more. I wasn't happy as I've never quit a workout before, but there just wasn't any point carrying on. Pullups were hard with 20kg assistance!
So, two PRs, but not a good workout.
1. Light back squats in smith machine (kg)
48 x 9 (warmup)
63 x 5
68 x 5
75.5 x 5
75.5 x 5
75.5 x 5
2. Deads (kg)
60 x 9 (warmup)
75 x 5 (up 5)
85 x 5 (up 5)
95 x 5 (up 2.5)
110 x 5 (up 5)
122.5 x 5 (up 2.5, straps) --------- PR
3. Military Press (kg)
18 x 9 (warmup)
23 x 5
25.5 x 5
29 x 5
31.5 x 5 (up 1)
36.5 x 5 (up 1) ---------------- PR!
4. Pullups (kg)
-25 x 7 (assisted, warmup)
-20 x 5
-20 x 5
<quit>
Summary
Today wasn't a good day.
For a start, I had a slight twinge in my left knee during Monday's squats and it was a little worse today. I haven't twisted it or anything, so I don't know what's up. Hopefully it'll be better for Friday.
Deads were really hard, much harder than last week. Deads felt really hard two weeks ago, then last week (slightly heavier), I felt great doing them. Today was like two weeks ago, but worse. Admittedly, I did increase all the weights, not just the top set. Maybe I should drop them again and keep the top set up.
I even had to use straps on the top set. I strapped up but didn't wrap them round the bar, but I knew I was in trouble after my first rep and quickly wrapped them round. My back did not like doing those. Lots of lower back ache - the good kind of ache, not a bad pain, but far too much ache for my liking.
I think I was feeling a bit tired today as I did a lot of gardening last night after work, digging out some tree stumps. I also hurt my wrist by repeatedly trying to hack through roots with a spade. And then I stayed up reading Starting Strength. Or maybe today was just one of those off days. Whatever.
I'm going to have to play deads by ear next week. I got the reps today, but it sapped every last piece of strength I had. Not good.
I was surprised I got the military press PR. It hurt just bending down to put the plates on the bar. The penultimate set was hard, but I just managed the final set.
Pullups were a joke. I was so drained by then that I felt like I was flogging a dead horse. I actually gave up as I didn't see any point in burying myself any more. I wasn't happy as I've never quit a workout before, but there just wasn't any point carrying on. Pullups were hard with 20kg assistance!
So, two PRs, but not a good workout.
Guinness5.0
New member
It's bound to happen. You didn't think this was going to be easy did you?
blut wump
New member
Looks like a good workout from here. Digging is one of the hardest exercises known to man and you went from digging to deads and set a PR. Awesome.
Don't worry about the pullups. If your gym has a lat pulldown machine, it can be useful for this kind of day when pullups just aren't going to happen.
Congrats on the PRs
Don't worry about the pullups. If your gym has a lat pulldown machine, it can be useful for this kind of day when pullups just aren't going to happen.
Congrats on the PRs
anotherbutters
New member
Yeh, it's just one of those days.
New rule: no more chopping down trees and staying up late the night before deads.
anotherbutters
New member
Thanks Blut Wump.
Upper body exercises always suffer on Wednesdays as deads take it out of me. I really want to work on upper body strength, but equally, I want to do deads. I don't know whether swapping the order of military and pullups from week to week might help. Maybe only try to increase the weight on the one that I do straight after deads, then maintain the other one for that week.
k IOUs to the both of you. Just have to spread it around a bit first.
Upper body exercises always suffer on Wednesdays as deads take it out of me. I really want to work on upper body strength, but equally, I want to do deads. I don't know whether swapping the order of military and pullups from week to week might help. Maybe only try to increase the weight on the one that I do straight after deads, then maintain the other one for that week.
k IOUs to the both of you. Just have to spread it around a bit first.
Jim Ouini
New member
In the latter stages of the DF 5 x 5 I think I missed all my push presses after deadlifting.
I remember MC2 saying not to worry as long as dead was going up, though, particularly that pullups weren't a deal breaker for the program.
And yes on the rare occasions when the wife can convince me to do some weeding out back, it pretty much wrecks me for the rest of the day.
I remember MC2 saying not to worry as long as dead was going up, though, particularly that pullups weren't a deal breaker for the program.
And yes on the rare occasions when the wife can convince me to do some weeding out back, it pretty much wrecks me for the rest of the day.
anotherbutters
New member
Week 4, Friday (triples day)
1. Back squats in smith (kg)
48 x 9 (warmup)
63 x 5
68 x 5
75.5 x 5
85.5 x 5 (up 2.5)
95.5 x 3 (same)
75.5 x 8
2. Bench (kg)
30 x 9 (warmup)
40 x 5
45 x 5
50 x 5
55 x 5
63.5 x 3 (up 1)
50 x 8
3. Row (kg)
28 x 5
33 x 5
38 x 5
45.5 x 5
54 x 3 (up 1)
38 x 8
Summary
I had a few beers last night for the first time in ages, but luckily it didn't affect the workout. Squats were the same weight as last Friday because I jumped 5kg last Friday, but only did a 2.5kg jump on the Monday. I'll try this weight next Monday for a new PR.
Bench was hard but I got it. Rows were surprisingly good - 1kg higher than my 5 rep PR and done with good form. I thought I'd be really sloppy, but no.
I've got a friend coming over from Oz tomorrow and beer is on the menu. I'm sure it's going to affect Monday, but I'm going to allow it because I've been real good and the only drop I've had since I started this journal was last night's and that wasn't excessive. To be honest, this program is pretty intense, in that there are no real days where you can go on a bit of a bender without affecting an important workout - they're all important!
Some good news though - I haven't been able to do freeweight back squats because my gym doesn't have a proper rack/cage, but I've finally come up with a workable solution. I never thought this would work, but I tried it today and it was ok. I put the bar on the top notch of the bench, sat on the bench and slid myself under it. Lo and behold, if it wasn't the perfect height for me - my shoulders just went under the bar! From there, I could stand up with the bar on my back, although I was then straddling the bench. I walked forward about 4 feet doing my best John Wayne impression to get clear of the bench, did a few reps, then walked back and racked it. Woohoo!
I only tried 40kg as I wanted to find out what any problems would be. Re-racking the bar was the worst part because I couldn't see behind me to see if I'd gone back enough before I needed to sit down. It could get messy with some decent weight on the bar. But if I get someone to spot me, they can help guide the bar back, so I'm going to get someone from the gym to do it every time I squat. And since I squat 3 times a week, they're soon going to be wishing they had a proper squat rack
I'm going to switch to doing these after Monday's PR attempt in the smith machine. I'll drop the weight quite a bit to start with and maybe add 5-10kg each week to get me back up to my current max. Can't wait!
1. Back squats in smith (kg)
48 x 9 (warmup)
63 x 5
68 x 5
75.5 x 5
85.5 x 5 (up 2.5)
95.5 x 3 (same)
75.5 x 8
2. Bench (kg)
30 x 9 (warmup)
40 x 5
45 x 5
50 x 5
55 x 5
63.5 x 3 (up 1)
50 x 8
3. Row (kg)
28 x 5
33 x 5
38 x 5
45.5 x 5
54 x 3 (up 1)
38 x 8
Summary
I had a few beers last night for the first time in ages, but luckily it didn't affect the workout. Squats were the same weight as last Friday because I jumped 5kg last Friday, but only did a 2.5kg jump on the Monday. I'll try this weight next Monday for a new PR.
Bench was hard but I got it. Rows were surprisingly good - 1kg higher than my 5 rep PR and done with good form. I thought I'd be really sloppy, but no.
I've got a friend coming over from Oz tomorrow and beer is on the menu. I'm sure it's going to affect Monday, but I'm going to allow it because I've been real good and the only drop I've had since I started this journal was last night's and that wasn't excessive. To be honest, this program is pretty intense, in that there are no real days where you can go on a bit of a bender without affecting an important workout - they're all important!
Some good news though - I haven't been able to do freeweight back squats because my gym doesn't have a proper rack/cage, but I've finally come up with a workable solution. I never thought this would work, but I tried it today and it was ok. I put the bar on the top notch of the bench, sat on the bench and slid myself under it. Lo and behold, if it wasn't the perfect height for me - my shoulders just went under the bar! From there, I could stand up with the bar on my back, although I was then straddling the bench. I walked forward about 4 feet doing my best John Wayne impression to get clear of the bench, did a few reps, then walked back and racked it. Woohoo!
I only tried 40kg as I wanted to find out what any problems would be. Re-racking the bar was the worst part because I couldn't see behind me to see if I'd gone back enough before I needed to sit down. It could get messy with some decent weight on the bar. But if I get someone to spot me, they can help guide the bar back, so I'm going to get someone from the gym to do it every time I squat. And since I squat 3 times a week, they're soon going to be wishing they had a proper squat rack
I'm going to switch to doing these after Monday's PR attempt in the smith machine. I'll drop the weight quite a bit to start with and maybe add 5-10kg each week to get me back up to my current max. Can't wait!
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