Colin's 5x5 Linear Progression Log

[konkoba98]

Wed 8/1/12

Squat 240x5,5,5
Tried to use some ques to stop from doing the 'good morning' squat and letting the bar come forward - set 2 and 3 were slightly better. Chest up, push back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e__N58vqOR0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIvjnBGojZ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87zfRskb5iQ

Press 122x5,5,5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR2d3-KOTt4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRewE_-rG5k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULirQq5ltw0

Deadlift 275x5,5,5
Feeling better about deadlifts. The back didn't look as bad as before today from the side angle. Still can improve. Need to keep head down and squeeze abs and lower back before pulling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gQiQn3NFgg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_sWC0ozlnI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe8JI9vFSSE

[konkoba98]

Fri 8/3/12

Squats 245x5,5,5
Focus on not bouncing forward from the bottom. Got pretty loose in my warmup. Used Adidas bc Risto shoelace busted - didn't notice a big difference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fta1IB25P8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a58rVMmouVI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSF0M7ayPDo

Bench 195x5,5,5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBgfANLeq6s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPGjEEOmAac
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uvdYKV9VaU

Chins (green, purplex2) x 7,7,6(20)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yt41Pe8uI4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vzygT1M5B0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8DMjP6G5IA

Everything felt somewhat hard. Don't know if I got my chin all the way over the bar on each rep, but I'll count'em anyway. Need to start focusing more on recovery with some milk and juice.

[konkoba98]

Mon 8/6/12

Squat 250x5,5,5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtc8Izo5Q_w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeBz-SWkghc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6hJwNFe-xM

Squats felt better - focused on chest up and knees out ques and not falling forward.

Press 125x5,5,5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HENPPhhWQ2U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnJFz1ZSRt0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq0zTmkcgD4

Deadlift 285x5,5,5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpKsliJHaXw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nGsiy8xHuU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxpNO7m6ZaA&feature=plcp

These got hard. Might need to start doing 1 set of mixed grip dl followed by 1 with straps and maybe 1 set of the same weight from the rack touch and go off 4 inch blocks after I cross 300lb. Then 1 set DL, followed by 2 sets from the rack - rdl style after that gets too hard.

[konkoba98]

Wed 8/8/12

Squat 255x5,5,5
Didn't have great form on several reps that I rushed on and bounced forward. Need to slow down and not fall forward.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_vHF7vSd10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So2I9FE97yA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHv6zbfsGxg

Bench 200x5,5,5
Last reps were hard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p31b1HSgCw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzATS0C8E6M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHDPcuNNugY

Chins (green, purplex2) x 10,8,7 (25)
These were hard. I need to warm up before the first set bc the 2nd and third always go much better. Again, didn't finish some of the reps but counting them anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYtcIrRyIE0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uDpJiHWYt4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLONUYv-nOI

[konkoba98]

Fri 8/10/12

Squat 260x5,5,5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYwOPDbMI58
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxsDl4xIeXA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BraCqGcm1KE

Press 127x5,5,5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XENoJ_JMqBg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6VSm6AB4RI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JedX7wVyVNo

Deadlift 295x5,5,5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJsTI2yZbJ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqw8w0ytBxM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne10ujv6UQk

[konkoba98]

Today was the last workout of the 1st 4 weeks of starting back up. I’m currently back to where I was when I started failing reps in all the lifts months ago except that now my form for the squat and deadlift are much improved with my squat being deeper and having less falling forward and good morning the weight back up and losing my lower back tightness both in the bottom of the squat and deadlift. I did more in the squat before but once I filmed myself I saw I was a bit high.

At the rate I’m progressing I expect to stall at some point in the next 4 weeks in most if not all the lifts. My plan is to up the focus on recovery and delay stalling as long as possible and ensure that if I do stall it will be the 1st of the 2 scenarios described in practical programming and I can adjust as detailed in the book. My plan for the recovery is:

1. Eat more and eat cleaner – upping the milk, juice, and kefir cals, especially post workout.
2. Add an ‘off day’ recovery routine consisting of some foam rolling, stretching, and EASY bike/walking
3. Ensure I sleep 7-8 hrs/day and nap whenever needed. I work funky shifts so keeping a routine is important
4. Shorten up the workouts by speeding up the warmups and being efficient between sets and exercises.
Also, good form will be more and more important and finding mistakes and making small adjustments will be important. Warm up sets will be filmed and every effort to make the first warmup look like the last work rep will be made. I may get a belt this month but more likely I’ll just wait until I do a cut and get a smaller sized belt. After stalling on each lift and resetting twice with microloading, and each lift has progressed to TM, I’ll probably do a cut then.

[Mdemarco]

Today was the last workout of the 1st 4 weeks of starting back up. I’m currently back to where I was when I started failing reps in all the lifts months ago except that now my form for the squat and deadlift are much improved with my squat being deeper and having less falling forward and good morning the weight back up and losing my lower back tightness both in the bottom of the squat and deadlift. I did more in the squat before but once I filmed myself I saw I was a bit high.

At the rate I’m progressing I expect to stall at some point in the next 4 weeks in most if not all the lifts. My plan is to up the focus on recovery and delay stalling as long as possible and ensure that if I do stall it will be the 1st of the 2 scenarios described in practical programming and I can adjust as detailed in the book. My plan for the recovery is:

1. Eat more and eat cleaner – upping the milk, juice, and kefir cals, especially post workout.
2. Add an ‘off day’ recovery routine consisting of some foam rolling, stretching, and EASY bike/walking
3. Ensure I sleep 7-8 hrs/day and nap whenever needed. I work funky shifts so keeping a routine is important
4. Shorten up the workouts by speeding up the warmups and being efficient between sets and exercises.
Also, good form will be more and more important and finding mistakes and making small adjustments will be important. Warm up sets will be filmed and every effort to make the first warmup look like the last work rep will be made. I may get a belt this month but more likely I’ll just wait until I do a cut and get a smaller sized belt. After stalling on each lift and resetting twice with microloading, and each lift has progressed to TM, I’ll probably do a cut then.

Great to see everything is working out good for you! Only recommendation I have is to get the prediction of stalling out of your head We don't want that kernel of thought to plant any negative ideas in your subconscious. Let any stall that may occur be a surprise. You may find you will make it a few more weeks then you previously thought. Also, number 4 on your list, make sure you rest enough between them sets. It would be a bitch to fail over not resting for a few more seconds just to speed up the routine. Keep it up, and I'm subscribed to this thread, I like seeing hard work pay off

[konkoba98]

Great to see everything is working out good for you! Only recommendation I have is to get the prediction of stalling out of your head We don't want that kernel of thought to plant any negative ideas in your subconscious. Let any stall that may occur be a surprise. You may find you will make it a few more weeks then you previously thought. Also, number 4 on your list, make sure you rest enough between them sets. It would be a bitch to fail over not resting for a few more seconds just to speed up the routine. Keep it up, and I'm subscribed to this thread, I like seeing hard work pay off

Good advice. I also think I need to tweak my programming. I was doing sets across on deadlifts at the beginning only to get more practice on form and because I started light it wasn't an issue. I've kept doing 3 sets bc I could and I thought more was better but now I'm close to overdoing it. Just 1x5 for me now. Also, I'll do my bench increases at 2.5 now, same as the press. These 2 changes should keep me in lp for a good while longer.

[konkoba98]

Mon 8/13/12
squat 265x5,5,5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYrbZoavD60
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGrEWViTMLs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGh9PE3Esnc

squats got hard, but I wasn't in any danger of failing I don't think. Legs pretty fatigued after the workout - 1st time for that since starting back up 1 month ago.

bench 205x5,5,5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2y5DEVINSg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsPbri89YR8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rNvcz7WaPw

this is the big 205 that I got stuck on last time and just kept beating my head against the wall to break through - it is my 3x5 pr. I'll be dropping to 2.5lb increases for the bench same as my press - I'm glad I recently re-read the programming part of ss and pp which recommend doing that.

Chins (green, purple, red) x5,5,5 (15)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr9D9_uIzPI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJJRDbKKuXY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6LApz-0QTM

Progressing the chins with less band assistance and more reps the way I am is an experiment, but I'm happy with the progress so far. I thought these would be tougher but I got them all. I'm counting all reps where I can see the top of the window over the chin bar so I guess it is more of an 'eyes up' than a chinup.

Pretty tired after this one. Will look to get more caffeine in me before the wednesday session and get some stretching/foam rolling tuesday also. I'm happy with the programming tweaks I'm making and reading up in PP and SS and the 70's big TM part 1 is getting me thinking a 1 time pass on the deadlift this wednesday may be in order. The last deadlift 3x5 was tough and todays squats were no joke. I may have accumulated too much volume with the pulling with my mistaken 'more is better' attitude and just doing some hypers or rdl's or something this wed may allow the next several deadlift days to progress better. I guess I'll make a game time decision wed. Any input?

[melsom]

You should definitely drop the deads to one set. You have the technique down now so no need to be doing multiple sets. You can work the technique in warmups anyway. Are you doing high bar deliberately?