caveman goes for 5/3/1 for 300/400/500

[caveman]

From lunch today 11/15/13
Body weight 202.4

Overhead press 90 for 5, 105 for 5, and 120 for 9. Rep PR! Estimated 1RM = 154. These really had some pop today. Last rep was EPIC. I had to take some breaths while I was finishing the lockout!

Pull ups 5, 5, and 3 supersetted with dips 10, 10, 6. I had a pretty decent upper body pump going on after that.

I think I've finally decided to be a little more disciplined with my pull up and dips. I'll do chin ups earlier in the week and pull ups later in the week. The goal is to do 5, 5, and 5 at bodyweight, then add a rep once that is achieved. Once I get to 10, 10, 10 I will re-evaluate and decide if I want to start doing them weighted or continue to add reps. For dips the goal is to get to 10, 10, 10 and then I'll either add an additional set or try to get to 15, 15, 15.

Feel like I've got some momentum going again. Feels good!

[caveman]

From yesterday evening 11/18/13
Body weight 202.2 (suprising given how much material was leaving my body versus what was getting input)

Didn't feel at all well on Sunday and although I felt better on this day, I was still far from 100%. Skipped my lunch time session for a nice bowl of Won Ton noodle soup. Then afterwork I decided I would at least try and get the bare minimum done.

Squats - 250 for 5, 280 for 3, 315 for 4. Estimated 1RM = 344. I lost the 2 and 4th reps forward, but was able to power through and save them. Actually, on the last rep I think I ended up throwing up a little in my mouth from the effort. First time that's happened and hopefully the last. I'm sure I could have done 5 without the form issues, which is encouraging because I definitely wasn't feeling strong.

6 chin ups and then I went inside.

[caveman]

During lunch today 11/19/13
Body weight 203.4 ?? Strange, as I still don't have my appetite back yet

Bench press - 180 for 5, 205 for 3, 230 for 6. Estimated 1RM = 267. Still not at a 100%. These felt sloppy with the bar moving laterally on the way down and up. It also didn't feel like my legs were doing anything resembling useful. Might have got 7, but it seemed unlikely, so I swallowed my pride, which is still better than yesterday's vomit.

CGBP 135 for 10, 10, and 8. Tried shortening up the rest times, looks like I went too much. I'll stick with around 2 minutes. I could have got 10 on the last set, but that would have been an all out effort.

Let's hope that I'm feeling 100% by deadlift day.

[caveman]

From yesterday evening 11/21/13 (was buying more weights during lunch time)
Body weight 201.6 (still haven't recovered my appetite yet, skipped dinner last night)

Deadlifts - 295 for 5, 335 for 3, 375 for 5. Estimated 1RM = 422. Wore a belt again for the top set, and that will be the norm moving forward. It does seem to facilitate getting tight at the start and for whatever reason my lower back felt less taxed afterwards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8148ULmu8KQ

Sumo deadlifts 185 for 10, 10, 10. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asqLfo6YX-U These were easy, but by the end of 10 I was sucking wind and my abs and quads were ti-r-ed.

I would have preferred lifting 6 instead of 5, but overall a solid effort. I also pussed out and put the barbell in the heated utility room and that made grabbing the bar a much more pleasant experience now that it's finally got cold outside (and in the garage).

[caveman]

From Friday 11/22/13
Body weight - I don't remember what the scale said

Overhead press - 105 for 5, 120 for 3, 135 for 6. Rep PR! Estimated 1RM = 157. Awesome! Last rep was a bit of a grind, but not like last weeks which was a character builder.

Pull ups 5, 5, 4. +1 rep from last week. Thought I was going to get 3 sets of 5, but just couldn't do it.
Dips (supersetted with pullups) - 10, 10, 11. Sweet. +3 from last week. I think I'll add an additional set instead of more reps at this time.

I had quite the chest and arm pump when I was done. Right arm measured 16" flexed.

[caveman]

From today 11/25/13
Body weight - didn't step on the scale this morning

Squats - 225 for 5, 255 for 5, 290 for 8. Rep PR! Estimated 1RM = 360. All right, making some progress! First time in a while that I felt in control of squats.

Front squats 135 for 10, 10, 6. These also felt very good. This is up 40 pounds from my last effort. Will repeat this weight again, as I believe I had the strength to do these, just ran out of steam.

Chin ups (supersetted with front squats) Either 5 or 6 sets of 5. Next time 6 rep sets.

[caveman]

From today during lunch 11/26/13
Body weight 200.6

Bench press - 160 for 5, 185 for 5, 210 for 9. Estimated 1RM = 270. These all felt heavy.

CGBP - 135 for 10, 10, 10. 2 minutes rest between sets. These were a struggle especially reps 9 and 10. Meh.

[caveman]

From Friday 11/29/13
Skipped thursday because i wasn't feeling that good.

Overhead press - 95 for 5, 110 for 5, 125 for 8. Estimated 1RM = 155. These felt good, this was all out.

Deadlifts - 265 for 5, 305, for 5, 345 for 8. Estimated 1RM = 428. One grinder in the tank. I widened my stance about 2" so that there is 6" between my shoes at the heel. The outside of each foot is now just inside the knurling. These felt really good with some of the reps feeling that the range of motion was reduced, which I believe is an indicator that I was doing them better. In any event, my lower back has not been feeling as stressed lately, which I think is due more to the improvements in form rather than the changes in programming.

I was running a little short on time so I tried to superset, dips, sumo deadlifts and pull ups. That was too much for me. I got the following done:

Sumo deadlifts 185 for 10 and 10. These aren't hard, but man do I have hard time getting through all 10.
Dips 10 and 10.
Pull ups 5 and 0. I'm sure I could have done some, but I didn't want to try.

[caveman]

Monthly Review
Seeing that things aren't as simple as they used to be with linear progression i thought it might be a good idea to review progress on a monthly basis. The current program is a 5/1 variation of the traditional 5/3/1.

Estimated 1RM's
Overhead press 148 -> 155
Deadlift 390 -> 428
Bench press 267 -> 270
Squat 335 -> 360

I'm pleased with this progress and am not planning on making any changes at this time. I wish the bench numbers were higher, but it feels stronger even if the estimated 1RM's aren't proving that out.

[Quinteros]

nice progress, i found when i did a stint of 5/3/1 my dead and bench improved much faster than my squat and press, keep chugging along !