jj123's 5x5 training log

[jj123]

My back is really on the mend. I try to get up every 15 mins, even if it's to sit straight back down again.

Have been reading the naked warrior recently, am going to do a body weight routine compromising of just pistols, press ups & pull ups. Will be every other day for now, not going to failure, varying the techniques every now & again. Will go to the gym say at the weekend & find my maximums for each exercise. Will then calculate how many reps I want to do through the day, as mentioned above never going to failure. This as well as a bit of cardio should help me tone up a bit for a start, diet has lapsed so have lost some muscle & gained some fat. Plan to do this for at least a couple of weeks, then hopefully get back on the weights.

[javanek]

Glad to here you're starting to heal up some. Just take the BW recovery exercises slow, man. You'll be back to weights before you know it.

[Ridgeback]

Glad to hear that your back is improving.

I've had a look at the Naked Warrior book in the past. That's hardcore, man. It amazes me what can be achieved without necessarily using additional weights.

Pistols are tough. I can do, like, one before I keel over!

[jj123]

Cheers!!

Yeah is a good book, I can do about half a pistol lol. I find its harder on the way down, get about half way & then literally fall on my ass lol. Been using the edge of a chair to do box pistols. Makes you realise how effective they are because of the muscle tension etc needed for balance...

Going to the gym tonight (didn't have time at the weekend) to find maxes for the exercises. Will then create a plan based on them.

[jj123]

Right got down the gym last night.

Did 5 box pistols per leg using a bench, these were a bit wobbly though & I also had trouble keeping my leg up in the air as I reached the top of the movement. Will do 3 rep sets concentrating on strict form & then hopefully bring down the height of the box from there.

Then on to pull ups, managed about 2.5 reps, really want to get good at these! Will probably only do 1 a set for now.

Did push ups last, did these with 1 leg in the air both sides. Managed 10 reps, which I was pleased with. As I want to keep it to 5 though I will elevate both feet using a ledge or something from now on. Will then do 4/5 (if my max is say 6.)

Also then did some cardio, 15 mins of speed intervals which worked up a sweat. Finished off with lordosis exercises.

Will now work out a plan of how many reps I want to do a day etc.

Woke up this morning & my bicep hurts, thought I'd shaken this off. Seems like I just can't escape injury atm Hopefully be gone tomorrow though with some stretching etc today.

[jj123]

Yesterday: 3 box pistols per side, 5 press ups with feet elevated. Didn't do pull ups as thought best not to. Also again did 15 mins cardio & lordosis exercises.

Still trying to work out how many sets to do. Think I'm going to go with 5 sets for everything for now. So at present this should mean say 25 reps for press ups, 15 for box pistols & only 5 for pull ups! Hopefully the different numbers of reps won't create an inbalance or something.

Also going to drop carb intake a bit, keep protein & fat the same. Decided I'm going to tone up a bit so will be doing a bit of cardio 3 times a week for now.