Bigger and Better - 5-3-1

[WatsupHannity]

Today:

Press-
5 @ 50 kg
5 @ 55 kg
10 @ 60 kg

Fine.


Pullups-
5,5,5

Fine.


Close-Grip Decline Bench-
6 @ 70 kg
6 @ 75 kg
6 @ 85 kg
6 @ 90 kg
6 @ 95 kg
5 @ 100 kg

Fine.


Machine Rows-
Some at whatever.


French Press-
Some.

Hammer Curls-
Some.

And that's it for my 2 months in Thailand.

[WatsupHannity]

I want to make a post categorizing the most helpful cues that I use for each exercise. The brain has a funny way of forgetting important things over time so I don't want to have to keep relearning this stuff.


All Exercises

Get mentally prepared to lift a PR on all your main lifts. Every month should feature new PRs, and the reason you don't attain such is mostly mental. Expect it and get in the focused zone for perfection. The work set of the main lifts is the most important benchmark, the one you should be improving every month, so give it the most focus.


Deadlift

-You need to be loose, limber and flexible. You can't accomplish this at the gym on a given workout. You have to consistently be stretching at home, stretching after workouts and foam-rolling.

-Warm up with active stretching stuff like leg swings.

-Play around with foot position.

-The olympic/sumo setup can be used in order to get your butt lower and back flatter.

-Get a LOT of tension on your hamstrings in your setup.

-CONTROL the descent and allow it to load up your starting position for the next pull.

-Run some lower-weight, wide-stance squats that focus on the hammies concurrently and see if that improves your DL because that's how you were squatting when you had your biggest DL numbers.

March 2012: You finally regained your old DL success but with some very different cues than you had previously. I won't delete the old ones so that you can see what you used to believe and it may come in handy again in the future.

-Line up like you are sitting in an erg. Feet fairly close together and toes slightly turned out. You have to bend and rip for maximum success. For you successful deadlifting has to be explosive.

-Cue up a mental image of Pendlay rows. You can row 235 for 5 so your mid-back can handle a high amount of weight. Cue the traps as well. Get them heavily involved in bearing weight.

-Over-under grip when over 315 lbs.

-Use your thumbs to prevent shin scrapage. Grip just outside of your shins in such a way that your thumbs keep the bar just an inch away from your shins; no more, no less.


Bench Press

-Tight, all the way from traps, lats, spine bridge, abs, quads to feet.

-Make sure grip is wide enough. You can readjust between working sets if it's not quite perfect.

-Aim for a spot on the ceiling. Determine this spot during your lightest warmup sets.

-Don't descend the bar too quickly.

-Concentrate on ripping the bar in half.

-WRISTS STRAIGHT, not folded back.

-Make sure your grip is strong and hasn't been fatigued in recent days. Weak grip wreaks havoc on bench above 200 lbs.


Squat

-Keep traps and lats tight; make a shelf for the bar. Use the traps and lats to "hold" the bar up and take the weight as you are making the ascent.

-Really push up hard with the traps!

-Dynamically blast up on the ascent, especially on lower weights and warmup sets.

-Hip drive.

-Don't divebomb it.

-Keep the tension active in all muscles all the way through the movement, including in the hole.

-Sit back, between your legs, in such a way that your lower back is extended and solid each time as you start the descent.

-Think about snapping your knees back into extension, like a leg press.


Press

-Keep the upper back and lats tight.

-Squeeze every muscle, including legs, glutes, and back, while performing the lift.

-RIP the bar in half!!

-Think about pushing the bar backwards over your face, to counter the instinct to move it away from the face in a C.

[WatsupHannity]

In Japan now. Doing a sort of maintenance-cut. I've come to realize that the deadlift is definitely an exercise you need to be in practice for. I haven't done real deadlifts in basically two months and I've lost a good deal of strength. I'm going to reset quite a lot to get the AMRAP set into the 10-12 range.


Today:

Deadlift-
5 @ 110 kg
5 @ 125 kg
6 @ 140 kg

Felt slag-heavy.


Power Shrugs-
5 @ 100 kg
5 @ 120 kg
5 @ 140 kg
5 @ 150 kg
5 @ 160 kg

Fine.


Good Mornings-
10 @ 60 kg
10 @ 62.5 kg
10 @ 65 kg
10 @ 67.5 kg
7 @ 70 kg

Strength is off.


Leg Extensions-
10 @ 80 kg
10 @ 90 kg
10 @ 100 kg
10 @ 110 kg
10 @ 110 kg

Fine.


Calf Raises-
2 sets.

[WatsupHannity]

Today:

Press-
5 @ 50 kg
5 @ 55 kg
8 @ 60 kg
7 @ 60 kg

Did an extra AMRAP set cuz the first set pissed me off. I hate losing strength on these exercises.


Pullups-
Neutral Grip
9,7,7,6,6,5,4+4,4+4

Well that was a pleasant surprise. The pullup contraption is like 8 feet tall, so unlike every other damn gym on the planet I don't have to bend my knees and crouch down to do pullups. Apparently when I can just reach up and start pulling I can get many many more. Awesome. The 4+4 refers to extra assisted pullups I got. I did extra sets in lieu of cable rows because the gym had shitall for back machines.


Close-Grip Flat Bench Press-
6 @ 70 kg
6 @ 75 kg
6 @ 80 kg
5 @ 85 kg
5 @ 85 kg

Fine.


Dips-
@ bodyweight
8,8,9+4


Hammer Curls-
5 @ 22 kg
5 @ 18 kg

[WatsupHannity]

Two days ago:

Squat-
5 @ 75 kg
5 @ 87.5 kg
8 + 7 @ 100 kg

Tipped forward and dumped it on the last set so I regrouped and went again.


Squat Walkouts-
15 secs @ 140 kg
15 secs @ 150 kg
15 secs @ 160 kg
15 secs @ 170 kg
15 secs @ 180 kg
15 secs @ 190 kg

Easy breezy.


One-Leg Leg Press-
8 @ 88 kg
8 @ 97 kg

Out of steam.


Rear Delts-
10 @ 10 kg
20 @ 10 kg
22 + 8 @ 10 kg

[WatsupHannity]

Today:

Bench Press-
3 @ 75 kg
3 @ 85 kg
5 @ 95 kg

Weak. I've been sleeping like garbage and running a caloric deficit and I felt pretty rough.


Pullups-
Overhand
7,6,5,4,4

Fine.


DB Shoulder Press-
6 @ 24 kg
6 @ 26 kg
6 @ 28 kg
6 @ 30 kg


Kroc Rows-
25 @ 100 lbs.
21 @ 100 lbs.
13 @ 110 lbs.


Wide-Grip Incline Bench-
10 @ 50 kg
10 @ 60 kg
10 @ 70 kg


French Press
5 @ bar + 20 kg
5 @ bar + 25 kg
5 @ bar + 25 kg


Hammer Curls-
6 @ 20 kg
5 @ 20 kg

[WatsupHannity]

Today:

Deadlift-
3 @ 120 kg
3 @ 135 kg
6 @ 150 kg

Better than last time.


Power Shrugs-
5 @ 70 kg
5 @ 110 kg
5 @ 150 kg
5 @ 170 kg
3 @ 190 kg
4 @ 170 kg

I found a pretty sweet gym but unfortunately the bars have widowmaker-knurling. The breaking point was the pain in my hands.


Good Mornings-
10 @ 60 kg
10 @ 65 kg
10 @ 70 kg
10 @ 75 kg
10 @ 80 kg

Great. Wore the belt low which seems to possibly be more effective.


Leg Extensions-
10 @ 190 lbs.
10 @ 210 lbs.
10 @ 230 lbs.
10 @ 250 lbs.
10 @ 260 lbs.

Fine.


Seated Calf Raises-
@ 40 kg
12 upper, 12 lower, 12 full-rom
12 upper, 12 lower, 60 second stretch

[WatsupHannity]

Two days ago:

Press-
3 @ 55 kg
3 @ 60 kg
7 @ 65 kg

Last rep was a mega grinder.


Pullups-
5 sets in the 5-7 range of reps. I sort of "got" how to pull using all the 50 or so muscles of my upperbody, which is a pretty good thing for my future pullup progress.


CGBP (flat)-
6 @ 70 kg
6 @ 75 kg
6 @ 80 kg
6 @ 85 kg
6 @ 90 kg

Quite happy about this.


Cable row-
10 @ 150 lb
10 @ 120 lb
10 @ 135 lb
10 @ 150 lb


Skullcrushers-
10 @ bar + 20 kg
10 @ bar + 22.5 kg
10 @ bar + 22.5 kg
7 @ bar + 22.5 kg


Hammer curls-
10 @ 16 kg
9 @ 16 kg
10 @ 14 kg

[WatsupHannity]

Yesterday:

Squats-
3 @ 85 kg
3 @ 97.5 kg
10 @ 110 kg

Good result.


Squat Walkouts-
15 secs @ 150 kg
15 secs @ 160 kg
15 secs @ 170 kg
15 secs @ 180 kg
15 secs @ 190 kg
15 secs @ 200 kg


Leg Curls-
10 @ 5th-highest
10 @ 4th-highest
10 @ 3rd-highest
10 @ 3rd-highest


One-Leg Leg Press-
Low weights, sets of 10, slow pace and full ROM.


Rear Delts-
12 @ 12 kg

[WatsupHannity]

Two days ago:


Bench press-
5@80 kg
3@90 kg
4@100 kg


Pullups-
Neutral grip
6,6,5,5,5


Press-
8@40 kg
8@45 kg
8@50 kg
8@52.5 kg
8@55 kg

Slow, working on technique.


Pendlay rows-
10@60 kg
10@65 kg
10@70 kg
10@75 kg
10@77.5 kg


Wide-grip incline bench-
10@52.5 kg
10@57.5 kg
10@62.5 kg
10@67.5 kg
8@72.5 kg


French press and hammer curl stuff to finish.