It's been a while since I posted, due in part to how busy I am, in part to how routine these workouts have been. Overall progress has been steady, at least I think it's been, it will take another 1 or 2 cycles to really judge this. I have to say that at this moment I am not a huge fan of 5/3/1, I just don't think it creates enough of a workload. In reality, the highest intensity that you achieve at any point in the cycle is 90% of 95% which is something like 85.5% of a real max. It appears to be ok for steady progress, but I would NEVER touch 5/3/1 inside of 6 weeks from a meet. Anyhoo, I committed to this for 3 months which should give me a chance to complete at least 1 more cycle, more likely 2 more. I will reassess at that point.
In addition I have been pushing my prowler with a few friends of mine on a regular basis now, at least once a week if not more. The added conditioning hit my lifts for a week, but my body appears to have adjusted for now.
Anyway, here are highlights from the last week.
MP Day
150x4 (cheated #5)
130+ dips in 6 sets
DL Day
475x4 (blasted #5 to above the knees and then hit the problem that's been well documented by Frank)
Mid shin pulls: worked up to 455x5; 475x3; 495x1. I love these, 495 was barely @8. I think these may help my lockout issues.
BP
240x4
225x3 for 4 additional sets, no liftoff.
DB Rows @ 160
Squat
325x4
So, there it is. Things will be the same for the next cycle. The only thing up for debate is what kind of assistance I want to do for my squat. More 5x5's @ 75%? Pause Squats? Box squats at a higher intensity to acclimate myself to meet caliber weights? Not sure yet.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
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I'm not sure that 5/3/1 is the best pure powerlifting program either (actually, I'm pretty sure that it's not), but IMO, the main thing it has going for it is time efficiency. Something like RTS Beginner takes 1.5hrs on a good day (usually 2), while even when I was doing a bastardized version of 5/3/1 with more assistance than prescribed, I was still able to get in and out in under an hour.
ReplyDelete-- It looks like you made very good progress in BP, but not so much in SQ and DL. What were your best lifts (singles / doubles / triples) before 531?
ReplyDelete-- Not bashing 531, but ... I think that the main flaw here is Wendler's logic, implicitly saying that "one intense set is enough ... then screw around without any serious effort ...". He is DEAD WRONG, regardless of how many people broke through unbeatable barriers and increased their DL from 275 to 315 using this program.
@Danny If I had to judge it right now I would say my BP has made some progress (some being perfectly fine), but actually less than my DL and squat.
ReplyDeleteWhen I came into it 6-7 weeks ago, 540 was the upper bound of my 1RM max for DL and 365 was the upper bound for squat.
Now I would estimate these for bad days, good days going as high as 565 for DL and 385 for squat.
But again, its a bit too soon to be putting a lot of stock into projections, but I do feel that progress is there.
And to answer your original question going in
DL was 480x3 @ 9 and 495x2 @ 10
Squat was 315x4 @ 9
There's another factor at work here as well...
ReplyDeleteI like not being injured, or at least being constantly nicked up. Maybe this is coincidence, but if you remember I was constantly dinged from April - August of this year.
I agree with Shanker. I figure more than half of making good long term progress is not getting injured. If 5/3/1 keeps you from getting injured by keeping the volume relatively low, then it will likely be good over the long term.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, staying healthy and injury-free is a key ingredient in making long-term progress. On the other hand, it's not the main objective, or otherwise, we would all stay at home, watch TV, and lift the remove control very carefully, to avoid wrist injuries :)
ReplyDeleteSadly I do, in fact, take this into account.
ReplyDelete