fideli's training log

[fideli]

About time I started a training log as I think I need some motivation to stay regular now that I'm past the easy quick progress part of SL 5x5. I started the 5x5 in October 2008 with little strength training background; thus, all exercises started with the 45 lb bar except for the deadlift, which I started at 95 lbs. I was very regular from October to December, on and off from January to May, and am getting back to a regular schedule now with serious motivation to break through the current plateaus I'm at.

Parameters:
Age: 25
Sex: Male
Height: 5' 8"
Weight: 170 lbs

Lifts:
Squat: 195 lbs 5x5
Deadlift: 215 lbs 1x5 - PR is 225 lbs 1x5, working my way back to it
Bench press: 105 lbs 5x5
Overhead press: 75 lbs 5x5
Barbell row: 100 lbs 5x5
Chinups: 1x3 - I tend to be able to do a few full chinups in a row, after which I do a few slow negatives to complete a set
Pullups: 1x2 - same technique as chinups
Dips: 1x12
Pushups: 1x12

I usually skip the ab exercises as I really don't enjoy working my abs as much as the other lifts. I did a lot of prone bridges and reverse crunches when I first started the program, but nowadays I'll do the first four exercises each of workouts A and B (sometimes the first 3) and call it a day. In February I switched inverted rows to barbell rows in my program.

As my numbers indicate, my legs seem to have zoomed much further ahead than my upper body. I've barely broken 100 lbs on my bench press and my overhead press has not increased very much either. My concern is that I tend to stall on every two weight increases for each of these exercises, respectively. There were a lot of technique issues at first, but I think that's largely not a problem anymore. I just haven't been able to get my arms to push as hard as I can push my legs out of the bottom of a squat.

Next workout is tomorrow.

[fideli]

7/27 Workout A
Squat - 200 lbs 5x5
Bench press - 110 lbs 5,5,5,4,2
Barbell row - 95 lbs 5x5
Dips - 5,3,1

I decided to deload on the row in order to work on form. I really worked on making sure that I was pulling my elbows back instead of to the side, and shifting my focus to that helped me lift the bar up to my chest. Stalled on bench press; 2nd sequential stall. Once more and I'll hard deload to 75 or 80 lbs. I've been stuck at ~100 lbs for a few months now.

[fideli]

7/29 Workout B
Squat - 205 lbs 5x5
Overhead press - 80 lbs 5x5
Deadlift - 225 lbs 1x5
Pull-ups - 1 full, 4 negatives; 1 negative

I was pretty dead today after the barbell exercises. On that note, this was one of the best workouts in months. I hit 2 PRs (squat and press), and matched my previous deadlift PR. For pull-ups, I tried to do as many negatives as I could. I helped myself up by putting my foot on a hot water radiator in front of me, then removed my foot and slowly lowered myself back to the starting position.

My biggest achievement today is overhead press. I've struggled with this exercise since the beginning, mainly with improving my mobility to be able to hold the bar with the proper form. Even with proper form, my baseline shoulder strength was low and unbalanced (due to a right anterior shoulder dislocation that I've mentioned before on the forum). So there were times where I would cycle between 65 lbs and 60 or 55 lbs due to stalling. But lately I've really been able to push this through 70 and 75, and now 80 lbs 5x5.

[fideli]

Off days
Having not been to the gym in a few days, I decided to do a few sets of push-ups at home today. 2xF: 11, 6.

[fideli]

8/4 Workout A
Squat - 210 lbs 1x3.

Wasn't feeling right today. Went for a 6 hour bike ride yesterday and did not sleep well last night. Should have known better and gone to bed early. Will attempt Workout A again tomorrow.

[fideli]

Had a terrible sleep schedule this week so avoided training. Likely will go tomorrow.

[atypical1]

Sometimes it's good to take a break from the gym. Good work so far.

james

[fideli]

Decided to do 3x5 today since I hadn't been to the gym in two weeks (life reasons, no good excuse).

8/17 Workout A
Squat - 210 lbs 5,5,4
Bench press - 110 lbs 3x5
Barbell row - 100 lbs 3x5
Pushups - 10, 5, 3
Prone plate switches - 2 sets* with 4 plates

*I'm thinking one set is moving them all from side A to side B, then all back to side A. If so, then I did that twice, just to get the hang of it.

I felt like doing something for my abs and wanted to try out plate switches. Wow, they hit my abs pretty hard and I really enjoyed it. I might do it again next time. Biggest achievement today was bench press. It was only 3x5 (I usually do 5x5) but it felt a lot better than it did the last time I tried it. I've been focusing on keeping my back tight and feet planted into the ground, and I think it's working. The squat was very taxing and I found it difficult to remain tight during the movement, but I'm sure I'll hit it next time.

[fideli]

My lats are quite sore today. To me that indicates that I'm finally using the proper form on my barbell rows. Feels good. I'm debating whether I should stop increasing the weight on my squat and deadlift and work on increasing the other exercises. I would really like to break 135 lbs on the bench press and 100 lbs on the OHP. Here's my progress graph since I started SL 5x5:



Bench and OHP have been pretty flat, OHP being slightly better. Hmm, not sure what weights I'm interested in taking my squats and deadlifts to, respectively, before I stop increasing.

[FiveByFive]

Nice log fideli. Maybe that break from the gym helped you push through on the bench? Seems like recovery is as important as training.

[fideli]

@FiveByFive: I'm always worried that I'm losing muscle whenever I take a long break from the gym. That actually makes my "break" last longer since I don't want to think about having to deload when I go back to the gym. Likely just a mental block.

Anyway, today's workout was okay. Wanted to hit 0.5 BW OHP, but alas, maybe next time.

8/19 Workout B
Squat
135 lbs 1x5
185 lbs 1x3
205 lbs 1x3
210 lbs 5,5,4,3,1

Overhead press
25 lbs - a number of single reps
45 lbs 1x5
65 lbs 1x3
85 lbs 2x5
65 lbs 1x5
70 lbs 1x5
75 lbs 1x5
80 lbs 1x2

Deadlift
135 lbs 1x5
185 lbs 1x4
235 lbs 1x5

Analysis
I suppose fleshing out my squat from 2 days ago shows where it would have gone (5,5,4,3,1 vs 5,5,4). I'll get it next time. My form was much better than last time so that's a bonus.

For overhead press, I did not achieve my 0.5 BW of 85 lbs, but I didn't let the exercise go easily. On the third set at 85 lbs, the bar basically went up, then over my head, then back down onto my traps. I walked it into the rack and decided to not continue at my work weight. Instead, I deloaded to 65 lbs and did a series of 5 rep sets increasing the weight up to 80 lbs, where I did a set of 2 reps. That was enough punishment for me not making it through the 5x5 at 85 lbs.

Deadlift was fine. No assistance exercises today.

[Wellhairedbeast]

For overhead press, I did not achieve my 0.5 BW of 85 lbs, but I didn't let the exercise go easily. On the third set at 85 lbs, the bar basically went up, then over my head, then back down onto my traps. I walked it into the rack and decided to not continue at my work weight. Instead, I deloaded to 65 lbs and did a series of 5 rep sets increasing the weight up to 80 lbs, where I did a set of 2 reps. That was enough punishment for me not making it through the 5x5 at 85 lbs.
.

Don't worry its tough, and i think around 85lbs (approx 50kg?) was when i noticed the OHP feeling heavy. Just think this time next year it will be one of your warmups!!

[fideli]

8/24 Workout A
Warm-up
Hamstring stretch
Leg swings 10 front-back and 10 side-side for each leg
Split squat 10 for each leg

Squat
135 lbs 1x3
185 lbs 1x3
215 lbs 5,5,4

Barbell row
105 lbs 5,5,5,2,1

Bench press
65 lbs 1x6
115 lbs 5,5,5,4,2

Prone plate switches
2 sets with 4 2.5 lbs plates

Analysis
The only comment I want to make is that I'm trying to correct my barbell row. I had a friend watch me (who doesn't do barbell rows btw) and he said that I was shrugging quite a bit while pulling the bar. I tried the last couple sets without shrugging, focusing on lats and my reps went down fast. Need to work on my form for the rows. I could probably have used more warm-up today too. I do a series of mobility exercises at the beginning of each workout which I decided to start keeping track of here too.

[fideli]

8/28 Workout B
Warmup
Same as usual

Squat
45 lbs 1x5
95 lbs 1x5
135 lbs 1x3
185 lbs 1x3
135 lbs 1x3

Overhead press
45 lbs 1x5
65 lbs 1x3
85 lbs 5,5,4,3,1

Deadlift
135 lbs 1x5
185 lbs 1x3
245 lbs 2x1

Prone plate switches
1 set with 4 2.5 lbs plates

Analysis - Pain
I started to feel pain in my right leg where it meets the pelvis, similar to this thread. Like Transformer there, I'm guessing it's either the psoas or iliacus. I decided against doing my work weight on the squat and did not push the deadlift too far either.

On the weekend, I did some tennis-ball soft tissue work on that region, as well as more mobility exercises (including leg swings, spidermans). I had this pain earlier (no log at that time, so I can't remember exactly when), and that's when I got into the habit of doing my current warmup routine. I may add spidermans to my warmup.


8/31 Workout B - again
Warmup
Regular warmup
Spidermans

Squat
45 lbs 1x5
95 lbs 1x4
135 lbs 1x3
185 lbs 1x2
215 lbs 3x5

Overhead press
45 lbs 1x5
65 lbs 1x3
85 lbs 5,5,5,4,2

Deadlift
135 lbs 1x5
185 lbs 1x3
245 lbs 1x5 (switched to mixed grip on 3rd rep)

Pullups
Set 1: 0.5, 3 negatives

Analysis - No Pain, Re-education of Glute Activation
I basically wanted a rerun of last workout, with better results. Throughout the workout today, I made sure that my glutes were squeezed. Starting at my 45 lbs squat warmup all the way through my weak pullup effort. During my squats, I also made sure that my knees were pushed out and my form was tight throughout. I was able to push through 215 lbs 3x5 with no trouble. I'm going to keep my squats at 3x5 now going forward.

Overhead press felt much better than last time. My form was tighter too, with my hands slightly closer together on the bar than before. This allowed me to begin with my thumbs an inch away from my shoulders, something I wasn't flexible enough for before. I was able to make it through all sets feeling great, but missing a few reps. I'll likely get it next time. However, I'm wondering if it's worth switching to 3x5 for the OHP as well (based on today's performance, this sounds convenient, I know). It's 0.5x body weight for me. Not sure what's considered "non-beginner" for this exercise.

Deadlift was my greatest achievement today. Even though I've done 225 and 235 before, it still feels weird setting up the bar with that much weight. To work on grip strength, I held my 135 lbs bar at the top for close to 20 seconds before putting it back down (I read that somewhere on these forums today). I did that for the 185 lbs as well, but for maybe 5 seconds. Either way, for 245 lbs, I felt the bar slipping out of my hands during my first 2 reps. Decided to quickly switch to mixed grip for the rest of the reps. Wow, that makes a big difference. Pushed through 245 lbs like it was nothing. My glutes were flushed with serious aching, but that was the point, and it felt great afterwards.

After that, I wasn't quite into the workout. I felt like I achieved all that I came to do, and I did some negative pullups just for the sake of it.

Next time, going to nail that 115 lbs bench press.

[fideli]

9/3 Workout A

Warmup
Hip mobility exercises
Glute activation exercises

Squat
45 lbs 2x5
95 lbs 1x4
135 lbs 1x3
185 lbs 1x3
205 lbs 1x1

Did not do work set 220 lbs 3x5. I'll discuss this further down but I've been debating halting my progress on squats and deadlifts for a bit in order to allow the upper body to catch up. Either way, all these sets felt really good and allowed good warmup for bench.

Bench
45 lbs 1x5
65 lbs 1x4
95 lbs 1x3
105 lbs 1x2
115 lbs 5,5,5,5,3

Almost made it! The 4th rep of the final set was where the bar just would not lift once I brought it down onto my chest. Next time.

Was in a rush that day and left after I finished bench.

Camping trip
Went car camping in Algonquin park over the long weekend and did a lot of canoeing. My arms were sore and tingly each day after 4+ hours of canoeing. Elbows were slightly stiff as well.

9/9 Workout B
Squat
45 lbs 1x5
95 lbs 1x5
135 lbs 1x4
185 lbs 1x3
205 lbs 1x2

Did not do work set 220 lbs 3x5 again.

Overhead press
45 lbs 1x5
55 lbs 1x5
65 lbs 1x5
85 lbs 1x4

Elbows were really stiff, likely still fatigued from the weekend canoeing. Decided to skip the rest of the sets this time.

Deadlift
135 lbs 1x5
225 lbs 1x2
255 lbs 1x5

1.5xBW deadlift! Huge milestone. And it felt like nothing, too. Mixed grip for each rep at 255.

Cut workout short today since I was elated after the deadlift.