veggiesasquatch

Thanks for all the solid advice - especially regarding de-loading or not. On my next day off (Tuesday), I'm going to map out testing my lifts so I can get going on this program. PHAT's been great, but, after reading through the e-book, I really do think 5/3/1 is going to help me progress quite a bit. Happy to read you got a lot out of it. I won't rag on sites, magazines posting this & that "killer" routine, at least they'r putting something out there. For me when these program's start trying to rewrite the book of lifting I just read 5/3/1 again . I honestly can't see myself using another program, just will mix it up by using different templates from 2nd edition. Hope the "testing" goes well. I'm sure a deload will get you chomping at the bit to get cracking, just remember the long term goal that your aimng for. When you choose the template you wish to go with just make sure it's to aid the actual big lift, I know you've already read this but it does make you think about what it is your doing, which can only be a good thing. Eg, A guy who I know exclaimed to me he'd just (isolation) curled a 16kg db for 20 reps, on asking him what was the thinking behind that he just gave me the "nobody's home" look. I did say well done though, at least he is doing something, I just wanted to plant a seed in his head haha

Also, if you don't already take glucosamine (veggie/vegan version)

Back off from anything lower body for another week or two. Regular, full lower body foam rolls & some mobility work. General rule is joints need movement, muscles stretches. Take a few cold showers & ice the area maybe. Don't go subbing squats, just back off. Subbing squats for easier "versions" is no good, rest up. If its still bad after a week or two seek advice. I'd only ever sub squats with hacks ect if a gun was held to my head

Closing in on 31 years on this planet & I'm still unable to not mix drinks, uuuugggghhhhhh Not a big drinker at all but wine, JDC & Blueberry cider doesn't make for a happy head the day after

I don't think you really need to take a deload & then spend time doing maxes. It makes more sense to take them while you are still on a program, doing them after a deload may give you a false number. You also don't need to 1 rep to get a max. I personally did it while on my 3 day strength program. When it came to my heaviest set is just went balls out on my big lifts, but I always rep till a point where I know the next may take a time to get up, never to failure though. You can even do it with a comfortable weight & again reps till you struggle, I did this with programming a loadable (is that a word) assistance eg 20 good reps with 50kg on good mornings. The formula of reps x weight x .0333 + weight is accurate. I actually took lower ranges in the hope of holding of a stall eg bench I lifted 100kg for 4 solid paused reps but when I programmed it I took just 1 rep as a max. Giving yourself an easier week before 5/3/1 sounds good. I'd recommend just doing 1 lift at a lower percentage then some rehab & stretching.

Fri-24th-Feb Cycle 2 Week 3 (5/3/1) All good today! Treadmill, Lighter sets, Prison squats ect foam rolls to warm up. Squats: 90kg 102.5kg 112.5kg+6 Assistance: Good mornings (programmed assistance 3x5) 47.5kg 55kg 62.5kg GHR 5x10 Ab circuit: V-ups, Side bends, hanging leg raises & Leg raises. Squats felt great today, 6 solid reps on the 1 set holding back a lot of reps. Form felt tight & ass to the floor. Deload next week, Tempted to do an upper/lower big lift on same day with less assistance (even deload assistance) to allow for more recovery....There's a 2 day a week template where this is shown

Shame about the 107.5, I'm sure you'd of had it for you didn't do the 105...well done though man the bench was great!!!

What do you use to edit the videos with? My other half won't let me use her mac book (final year of a degree) & I use a windows based laptop. Would of liked to use Imovie but she just expects me to do something to her uni work hahaha Was thinking of Imovie for my Iphone, ever used it? When are you planning on testing lifts for 5/3/1? I've read "the iron" to, such a great read. It made me think about how each day I'am, at the very least working towards something all the time.

bench was fine it was the kroc rows...Chins are usually not much of an issue. I recover really quickly but they still ache from Monday when my cold was pretty bad.... My grandfather's no longer with us but he (in younger days) worked digging, laying the roads. Proper hard graft, Typical Irishman cheers mate

Thurs-23rd-Feb Week 2 cycle 3 (5/3/1) Still not 100% :/ Bench press: 70kg 77.5kg 87.5kg+4 Assistance: Incline bench (programmed assistance 3x5) 52.5kg 62.5kg 70kg Kroc rows: 2x10 16kg 1x20 26kg (all per arm) Cable lat pulls, Dips, Hammer curls all 3x10 I don't track anything besides main lift, programmed assistance but a 8 rep loss on kroc rows was noticeable. Only thing I can think is that my lats were still sore from the 70+ chin ups from Monday. Never one to ache for long after a session but I think the prolonged cold that won't go away maybe just zapping me a little. Bit annoying wanted 30 reps per arm today....All in all good workout again. Saw my parents for coffee today. My father saying I'm looking more & more like my grandfather which is a huge compliment. He was a beast of a man, 52" chest & a 24" neck. Barrel with limbs....

Good luck man, for the weight class that's a great total!!! All the best dude!

wtf you'll only weigh 142lb/64kg....Jesus that's some awesome power to weight ratio. I have 20kg on you lol

21st-Tues-Feb Cycle 2 week 3 (5/3/1) Going to mini blog during the day after being inspired by Vegansludge:) 6:30: Sat at work waiting to start with a coffee. Had some converge & cannibal corpse blasting on the bus ride in, didn't improve my mood much. Woke up at 5:00 & my cold was back with a vengeance. Also fully expected my hamstrings to be tight after the treadmill yesterday, warmed up & stretched but they were throbbing come bed time....alas they were not though Work today, 7:00-19:00. Training right after then home, hopefully by 20:30 & start prepping food again for Wednesday, absolutely sucks balls..... If anyone is in any doubt I have woken up in a foul mood. Right now I have no energy & just want to crawl back into my pit. Must write to my cns to apologise. 11:30: Wish my metabolism would hurry up, this colds killing my appetite. Managed to shovel down a wholemeal roll with greens, local organic cheese & local bought mango chutney with a shake, tidy. 15:00: Finished watching the incredible hulk on my iPhone & power nap while listening to cattle decapitation on break. Woke up & ate. Feel chipper now, lifting isn't far away. Boring, Uneventful day which usually means nothing's fucked up (yet) at work. 18:20: Got that weird, pre workout feeling of "please let the rack be free" in my gut. Already hit 3000/just over calories for today & I still have my post shake/meal & bed time shake to have yet just about Take some bcaa. 19:15 Warm up was quick, couldn't spend ages doing foam rolls Ect. Dead lifts: 87.5kg 100kg 112.5kg+5 Assistance: Front squats (programmed assistance 3x5) 47.5kg 55kg 60kg Ghr 3x10 Reverse hypers 3x10 Ab circuit: hanging leg raises, leg raises, side bends, v-ups Post shake: maize starch, x2 protein, bcaa, glutamine & creatine. Post meal: mushroom stir fry, quorn pieces & brown rice. Rack area was free thank god. Pretty good session, weight still isn't very challenging. Smashed through. If anyone's wondering why my deads are not mega heavy it's because I set my sciatica off while moving home 6 months ago. I then ran 12 weeks without squatting or dead lifting at all. Bit of rehab work & since I have very slowly started them & upping weight, almost from scratch. That's why 5/3/1 is so great for me. Good mornings, ghr & proper form seem to be correcting my issue. Along with foam rolls. 22.27 & just climbed into bed, alarm set for 5:00:(((

If you want strength, proper strength you need to the abive. You obviously control it by how much you lift, not what you do. So ou control how big you get by food/weight you lift I agree with you, I study keysi & since I've gotten bigger I have lost speed. But my tech is still sound & now I'm massively stronger. You need to weigh up the balence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yha2XAc2qu8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

If its hurting the neck your not setting up right...goto YouTube & search mark rippetoe squats. There's a video of him with a guy whom he's workin with 1-1 & this is perfect technique he's teaching. You could sub it with front squats but not dumbbells. Practice squats, even body weight/free bar. This is the best movement out of anything else. If you can squat you can do anything

I train for strength as do a few of us on here, I definitely don't train for anything else. But what comes with that is what I call proper thick muscle. The big lifts will give you the strength, pissy chest flys & dumbbell bench & shoulder press won't. Don't replace bench press/military pressing with dumbbells. Builtfit.com has a pretty good 3 day lifting routine for strength. I used it after pulling my back & had to rest from squats & deads. It's basic but worked extremely well. Strength training should be simple

I will give you my usual response to people wanting to gain muscle/strength. You need to focus on compound movements. Barbell work, so military press, deadlifts, bench press & squats. These are the core lifts & should be what you build a workout around. Once you hit these, assistance work can be added but do not do a million & one assistance movements. Also they need to have a point to them eg military press day dips & chins would work extremely well. With squats glute ham rises & good mornings. Also, Personally I think lifting to failure on each thing you do is not good. Even more so if you are looking to build/get strong. Rep ranges of 12+ won't give you this. Nothing is more rewarding than planning out a workout/sets & reps then hitting the numbers. Lifting to failure constantly, I think is mentally draining & can put you in a negative state of mind....also on the bi lifts you should always keep a rep or two in the tank. It's about training to get the best out of a work out. You don't need to destroy yourself every workout. Diet looks clean enough but more protein for sure

If you signed up to the site I'm thinking you more than likely did I wouldn't worry over their reactions & comments. The site you talk about is basically (sorry if I offend anyone) full of moronic c**ts. Ideally you need to be taking in 1.5-2g of protein per body pound, if your body fat is over 25% you would work it off of lean body mass. Post up a days worth of food so you can get some feed back.

Agree here. Defiantly see a difference. The general shape to those guns look notciebly different.your face also looks more chiseled to me (in a good way) A little fluff is always good for p'lifters The point on rest days was interesting. My shift patter is over a 4 week rota so when I lift is dictated for me though I get my lifts in during the week (which in itself is a challenge when I have to work 60hrs) but when I get my lifts in & it's my weekend off you can best your life the most ill do is clean my house, the rest is spent playing music, eating & gaming on Xbox. Once you have those set big lift days it'll click (I'm aware that shift patterns could disrupt set days for you?) so I hope you come enjoy full on rest days...I savour them now.

At the moment that's a one rep max with a pause on the chest. It's near the end of my latest video blog a few posts above. I'm simply replicating what I need to do in a meet. I have done 220 x 10 before, there's a video it on my YouTube channel. 220x10 is impressive, that works out to a 293lb 1rm (oh lb how I hate you) I managed to bench 100kg for 4 with a pause not long ago. Considering 12 months ago 50kg for 8 was a push I'm pleased. I programmed 531 off of 1 rep of 100kg in the hope it'll keep me gaining longer. Pulling is what I'm best at. Need to watch videos on my day off but seeing what you're doing is a huge boost & a motivator. When I see the dead lifts it gives me the hope I'll over come a shiity lower back

Is that 236.5 for reps?

Pre workout nutrition fairly simple, been at work all day so have eaten plenty of food/supps. First meal of the day at 5:30 being oats. Then during the day things like rye bread & almond butter, chickpea salad & cottage (local organic) cheese, home made chilli with pasta ect few shakes. Still have a cold but should be gone in a day or two. I have decided to clean my diet up a little. Not that it was ever "bad" but I had become a little reliant on processed food for my protein at meal times to often. So I decided to boil up a load of dried chickpeas & borlotti beans. The pre soak & boil is a bit of a ball ache but you get so much more for such a small amount of money, time to sack up. Generally my diet as a whole is bland eg plain steamed veggies, salad with no dressing, plain pasta so it's something to look at. I'm thinking stuff like hot chilli mixed with some olive oil & home made mustard dressings..... Mon-20th-feb Cycle 2 week 3 (5/3/1) Usual warm up.... Military press: 35kg 40kg 45kg+7 Assistance: Close grip bench (programmed assistance 3x5)52kg 60kg 68kg Various chin ups 5x10 Cable seated row, tricep push downs, cable curls (light work) Power rack empty & also bench free after. Absolutely hate training in the evening. I'm not entirely convinced having all day to take in food before training benefits me, I'm sure it actually does but I'm able to wake up & basically train just as well. Felt really focused tonight though & blazed through the worked out. Started at 19:20 & was hitting the treadmill at 19:50 (no pre treadmill, rack was empty so I got right on it) Post workout shake: maize starch, x2 protein scoops, glutamine, bcaa & creatine. Post workout meal: mixed veg, Quiona & tofu in pepper sauce

Awesome news