Stagger Lee's 5/3/1 Log

[Stagger Lee]

Week 2
9/12/10

Deadlift 305x3, 345x3, 390x9
GM 165x5, 185x5

Pretty strong today. Felt great, and really looks great next to my past DL numbers: 20lbs more and only 1 less rep than last week? I'll take it. Held the last rep for at least 10 seconds, still double-overhand with chalk for all reps. I wonder if I'll continue adding 10lbs per cycle all the way up to 500x10? I am hoping that once I can pull 600 I will be able to attack the 300lb+ snatch. Ah well, that's a few years down the road.

Didn't bust my ass on the assistance today.

[Stagger Lee]

Week 2
9/13/10

Press 130x3, 150x3, 170x6, 170x4, 165x5
Clean 132x1+jerk x3, 152x1+jerk x3, 177x1+jerk x3

blah, press is hard.

[Stagger Lee]

Week 2
9/15/10

Squat 275x3, 300x3, 340x10
FS 155x1, 205x1, 235x1, 275x1
RDL

I got the reps I wanted, but for some reason I was not very happy about these squats. They were breathing reps, with a couple seconds between each, so I spent a lot of time under the bar to get 10. They're high bar Olympic-style, with rebound out of the bottom where my hams smash against my calves. Might try low bar next week.

I measured my thighs this morning for a laugh and my suspicions were confirmed: they're bigger than my wife's waist. 29" and 28 1/4", R and L.

[MazdaMatt]

Just read your whole log. That's some intense lifting, man. 390x9 with DOH grip... solid. I felt like a beast for getting 330x5 doh and that was all I could muster, i've switched to mixed.

[Stagger Lee]

Thanks, Matt. I've found that my grip catches up to my DL if I always do as much as possible with DOH. It has failed in the past at PR loads and I had to switch to the hook grip to finish my sets, but it is always stronger the next week.

I think I am still benefiting quite a bit from novice gains, and I don't really like all the really high-rep work I'm getting, especially since the program's design makes it so my low-rep sets are very light weights. I would rather be getting 6-8 reps in week 2 than 8-10, so that week 3 will be a nice heavy set of 3-6. So next cycle I am going to go a little crazy and bump my DL/SQ working maxes by 20lb instead of just 10. They're at 430 and 375 for September, so 450/395 for Oct. I had already planned on going up 10lbs on my bench instead of just the recommended 5lbs, which I also did from August to Sept. Press is just going to get the 5lb increase.

Thoughts from other 5/3/1ers?

[kittenSmash]

I'd say you could definitely bump up the working max more if you're getting 9 reps. And you're grip is pretty beastly, nice job. I think my best grip strength feat was 415X5 double overhand. 9 reps at any weight for DL does not sound fun.

[utexas61]

We have pretty similar numbers...but you have some killer finishing sets. Great job man.

[utexas61]

Thanks, Matt. I've found that my grip catches up to my DL if I always do as much as possible with DOH. It has failed in the past at PR loads and I had to switch to the hook grip to finish my sets, but it is always stronger the next week.

I think I am still benefiting quite a bit from novice gains, and I don't really like all the really high-rep work I'm getting, especially since the program's design makes it so my low-rep sets are very light weights. I would rather be getting 6-8 reps in week 2 than 8-10, so that week 3 will be a nice heavy set of 3-6. So next cycle I am going to go a little crazy and bump my DL/SQ working maxes by 20lb instead of just 10. They're at 430 and 375 for September, so 450/395 for Oct. I had already planned on going up 10lbs on my bench instead of just the recommended 5lbs, which I also did from August to Sept. Press is just going to get the 5lb increase.

Thoughts from other 5/3/1ers?

Are you in a big hurry to increase your lifts? I don't think there is a need to increase your working max that much. Wendler seems to make it clear that you will go further on his program if you keep the jumps each cycle to a minimum.

But at the same time, I am interested in seeing the rep difference if you do make the jump.

[Stagger Lee]

Thanks for the encouragement, guys.

Are you in a big hurry to increase your lifts? I don't think there is a need to increase your working max that much. Wendler seems to make it clear that you will go further on his program if you keep the jumps each cycle to a minimum.

But at the same time, I am interested in seeing the rep difference if you do make the jump.

I am not in any peculiar hurry; I think most people around here would prefer to lift bigger sooner rather than later. But I am also fine with slow progress, and I hesitate to do anything that might ruin my ability to recover on a 4-day program. It's really more about the rep ranges than the weight on the bar, though. We all know that fewer reps at heavier weights is the best for strength gains, and I'm getting very little of that. At the moment my 1RMes calculated from Wendler's formula are roughly 450/340/505/200 SQ/BP/DL/P, but I bet most of those are around 10% more than I could actually get (and 10% is a lot). I worry about not having those really heavy sets.

[Stagger Lee]

Week 2
9/17/2010

Bench 200x3, 230x3, 260x10
Bent-over rows
Dips BWx5 w/u, +35x8, +35x5

Another fantastic bench day. I think this needs to be adjusted, too. Really, I knew my working maxes would be too low when I started the program, because rather than estimating my 1RM the way Wendler suggests, I took what had previously been 4 or 5 rep maxes. I did this because a muscle pull, a minor knee issue, and a cold kept me from working out for about six weeks. I knew that even though I had deadlifted 422 for 4 six weeks earlier, I probably couldn't get 2 reps at the time. The one lift that I did use Wendler's method for, the press, is the one that actually feels like the correct rep ranges. So now that I am back in shape, I can estimate my maxes the way Wendler instructs for the start of the program. A reset, of sorts. Incidentally, my predicted maxes less 10% (as advised in 5/3/1) amount to almost exactly 20lbs more than this month's working maxes.