Dave; Introduction

Hello. Frank asked me to introduce myself with my initial post, so here goes... I have had the pleasure of working at MIT since 1995, and the privilege of having direct contact while working with students through the Housing Department since 2005 when I came over from the Grounds Department just prior to the birth of my third child. I feel very fortunate that I get to interact with such a motivated, and talented student body. Every morning when I leave for home from work I am always impressed by something that someone did. It is contagious. I actually completed my undergraduate degree at the persistent urging of two students.

It is in this capacity that I had the good fortune to meet Shanker. He was kind enough to speak to me about his twin passions, lifting, and the Dallas Cowboys... I had lifted steadily for about 15 years. Looking back now, I would say that I was the classic definition of overtrained. Leg day would consist of squats, presses, hacks, extensions, lying leg curls, standing leg curls, and then another small bodypart. I should note my friend John, who's routine this was, has had great success with it, and is probably the strongest individual that I have ever trained with. For me it was just draining. Finally one day I looked at the guy I was training with that day and said "No one is paying me to be here, and walked out." I trained sporadically after, and then stopped completely after getting hurt working on Killian Court in 2001. Talking with Shanker rekindled my interest. I couldn't believe how much things had changed. Bands, chains, board presses, speed reps etc. He turned me on to this blog, and one thing that Danny had written stood out. To paraphrase it was basically, if you don't have a plan you're just wasting your time. That succincly summed up my previous years of training.

The one time I had lifted with a plan was with my friend Van out in Amherst. He had mocked my leg training, and I trained with him for a semester. All we did were squats, descending sets on leg extensions, and probably some leg curls - although my memory fails me. My squat went up about 100 pounds in 4 months, but all I kept thinking is that we weren't doing enough. Talk about not seeing the forrest for the trees....

That brings me to the present. While reading this blog I saw posts mentioning (not in a positive fashion, if I remember correctly, the IPA). I was curious and I googled it. When I looked at the world records two names jumped out at me. Mark Van Alstyne (the Van I did legs with) and Victor Boisierre, who I trained with, and was one of my closest friends out in Amherst, after Mark graduated. I thought about what Danny said about having a plan, and how much these guys had progressed while I had been wasting time. I looked up Victor, and watched videos he had posted. They showed him doing exactly the things that Shanker had told me about, and that I had read about on this blog. I thought about how much Victor's lifting had evolved. He had always been instinctive, and I remember shaking my head at some of the stuff he had done.

I found myself wanting to start lifting again, actually excited about it, and about learning how to do it a different way.

Shanker was kind enough to provide me some information on 5/3/1 and this is my second time through so here goes...

Flat barbell bench press
Warm-up
3X135X5X5X5 (30 second intervals)
1X225X5

Working
1X245X5 (3-4 minute intervals)
1X280X5
1X315X7

Assistance (3-4 minute intervals)
3X225X10X10X10