Another Single Factor 5x5 Journal

[anotherbutters]

Thanks for the different viewpoints guys.

I don't really want to cut right now, I've just become a little annoyed at how much fat I've put on. My annoyance is more to do with the time I feel I've lost by putting on too much fat, because I'll only have to take it off again to reach my goal of being more muscular and leaner.

But... I realise this is a journey that's going to take a few years and the extra time cutting is nothing in the grand scheme of things. I should quit complaining (slaps oneself).

This all came about because I had a job interview on Tuesday and had to wear a suit for the first time in 3 months. 3 months ago, I had to buy trousers with a smaller waist because I'd just finished cutting back then (don't ask why ). The other day, I could barely squeeze into my regular trousers, so that's about 3" on my waist in as many months.

This is the first time I've bulked and I'm learning from it. I think I'll continue, but slow down the weight increases and maybe introduce some cardio. Cardio will be useful for fitness, not just burning calories. I'll be ok as long as I don't have to wear my suit again for a while Oh, dammit, I just found out I have a second interview tomorrow

DJBJ: reduce the amount of alcohol in my diet? Oh boy! I think I've had about one bottle of red wine in three weeks. If anything, I need to increase it!

As for whether to take next week off... I'm not so sure now. It's only my deadlift that's stalled, so I'm still not overreaching. Now that I've decided to carry on bulking, I think I'll go for it and try to get that big squat increase that I was looking forward to.

Crisis over. Sorry, and thanks for listening

 

[blut wump]

lol, I'm not convinced. You have been sounding fatigued and you don't necessarily want to stretch out into over-reaching. Then again, maybe you do.

In general, a deload is preferable to a holiday but it is often recommended to take a week out from lifting once in a while and do some other form of exercise just to recharge the batteries.

 

[anotherbutters]

You might be right, I don't know. There's only one way to find out for sure...

 

[anotherbutters]

This makes me feel better

Week 1
right arm: 13"
right thigh: 22"
chest: 37"
gut: 34"

Week 11
right arm: 14"
right thigh: 24.5"
chest: 39.25"
gut: 36.5"

Not bad leg changes, given I've only just started squatting properly!

 

[anotherbutters]

Week 11, Friday

Bodyweight: 79.5kg (175lb)

1. Freeweight back squats (kg)
bar x 18 ........ warmup
40 x 9 .......... warmup
60 x 5
70 x 5
77.5 x 5
87.5 x 5 ......... up 2.5
100 x 3 .......... up 5 ...... (220lb) .... 2 plates
77.5 x 8

2. Bench (kg)
bar x 9 ......... warmup
30 x 9 .......... warmup
47.5 x 5
52.5 x 5
58.5 x 5 ........ up 1
63.5 x 5 ........ up 1
71 x 3 ........... up 1 ........ (156lb)
58.5 x 8 ........ up 1

3. Row (kg)
30 x 9 .......... warmup
40 x 5
45 x 5
50 x 5
56 x 5 ............. up 1
62.5 x 3 .......... up 1.5 ........ (138lb)
50 x 8

4. Abs - 5 second below horizontal holds
1.25kg x 8
1.25kg x 8
1.25kg x 8

Comments

Squats - cake! I could've done 5 reps today. Contemplating another big jump over the next two weeks again, even though I know that's going to be greedy.

Bench - The triple was hard, but not incredibly slow like Monday's PR. I banged the bar on the safety rail on the first rep, but recovered ok.

Rows - The triple wasn't quite to my gut, so again, I'm not sure whether I should try this for 5 reps on Monday, but I'm going to. My attitude to these has become one of pushing on, even though I know my form isn't perfect on the top set. My real 5RM with good form is probably a few pounds shy of the weight I use each week, but so long as my form doesn't get worse, I can increase the real 5RM by pushing ahead with the sloppy 5RM. I did the next to top set with really good form.

Abs - no DOMS after Monday's workout, which was a nice surprise. So I only had DOMS after my first direct ab workout! Same weight as Monday today. I'll bump the weight once a week. These get really hard on the last few reps as the blood has rushed to my head and I'm trying to hold my breath for 5 seconds - is that dangerous?!!

 

[blut wump]

Cool squats up to a tenth of a tonne.

That issue with the rows and being uncertain whether it was a good rep was what pushed me to switch to cleans on my second run of the 5x5 and was another factor in deciding that ATF squats were the only way to go. There's no doubt in either whether you made or failed the rep. I ended up missing rows, though. It's a tough call on row form. I think you're probably doing the right thing.

Try to breathe normally on abs. I think you mentioned that you dip below horizontal, maximal torque is at horizontal.

 

[anotherbutters]

Cool squats up to a tenth of a tonne.

I'm not sure if that sounds impressive or not

I do abs starting sat upright on the flat part of the bench with my legs locked around the leg extension bars, which are locked in place. Then I lean back to just below horizontal until my shoulders are nearly touching the decline part of the bench, which is maybe 15 degrees below horizontal.

I know max torque is at horizontal, but it feels harder if I go below, probably because of how much I'm stretching my abs. I don't know if that necessarily means I'm working them more. It's almost impossible to breathe with them stretched that far though, so maybe horizontal is better.

 

[anotherbutters]

Week 12, Monday

Bodyweight: 79.5kg/175lb (target: 175lb)

I've been aiming for a 0.7kg increase per week in bodyweight, but I'm going to reduce this to 1lb (0.45kg) and start tracking it in pounds as it's easier.

1. Freeweight back squats (kg)
bar x 18 ........ warmup
40 x 9 ........... warmup
60 x 5
70 x 5
80 x 5 ........... up 2.5
90 x 5 ........... up 5
100 x 5 .......... up 4 ......... (220lb) ........ PR!

2. Bench (kg)
bar x 9 .......... warmup
30 x 9 ........... warmup
50 x 5 ........... up 2.5
55 x 5 ........... up 2.5
60 x 5 ........... up 1.5
65 x 5 ........... up 1.5
71 x 3 ........... up 1 ......... (156lb) ........ FAIL

3. Row (kg)
30 x 9 .......... warmup
40 x 5
45 x 5
50 x 5
56 x 5 .......... up 1
62.5 x 2 ....... up 1.5 ........ (138lb) ........ FAIL

4. Abs - 5 second horizontal holds

2.5kg x 8
2.5kg x 8
2.5kg x 6 ...... FAIL!


Comments

I'm going to get such a big case of the 'I told you so's from Blut Wump

Squats were ok, but not easy. I won't be going for another big increase like I've done over the past couple of weeks. 2.5kg (5.5lb) per week from now on.

I bumped all the sets on bench and failed the top one. No matter how hard I pushed, the 4th rep just wasn't moving today. Last week was incredibly hard, so maybe my strength isn't improving quite as fast as the increases I'm attempting and I needed to fail this week to let my strength catch up a bit. That's one way of looking at it

Rows were a joke. Max would have been proud. I only managed two or three reps that even remotely resembled a row. I don't know whether to retry this again next week or even drop the weight a bit and build up again. Something that I don't like about these is that when I get to the top set, I use a 20kg (44lb) plate, which means the bar starts off higher than all the other sets, so the ROM is less and it feels completely different. Maybe I should not use the larger plates and stick with the smaller ones, at least until I'm strong enough to do two or three sets above 60kg (1 plate each side).

Abs - I tried doing these to horizontal and breathing, but breathing seemed to make them even harder because I released the tension in my core and I had to try even harder with my abs to hold my body up. It hurt so much I had to give up on the final set. I think I'll reduce the time to a 2 second hold because it's the holding my breath bit that kills me.

So... do I need to deload? I still don't think so as my squat is going up. My bench was really close last week, so I'm not surprised I failed today. Rows, well, they're always a bit sloppy, but I was a bit surprised how bad they were today.

I think I'll just retry this workout next week. Oh, and I'm not going to bump my deadlift this week, since I wasn't happy with last week's performance.

 

[blut wump]

You're a front-line trooper.

I have one thought with the squats: do you think these recent jumps are actually recent gains or, maybe, it's just that the weights are catching up to gains you've been making as you've transitioned to free squats? Congrats on the new PR.

I haven't really looked at your bench ramp before but the earlier sets could be taking a lot out of you. The 50Kg start set is probably over 60% of your 1RM and is over 70% of your target set. Maybe starting at 40Kg would ease the top end.

On the rows, I know what you mean about the plate sizes. Maybe you could rest the barbell on something to compensate for the height difference. In time your basic lifts are going to be 60Kg+ and anything lower just warmup weight so you might as well grow accustomed to the height of the 20s asap.

Regarding deloading, only you can tell. I usually notice being loaded by how much willpower I'm having to exert to do my later sets as the mind-numbness sets in. If they're merely heavy then keep going.

 

[anotherbutters]

I was wondering the same on squats. They are always hard, but it still feels like I've been taking up some slack, which is why I did the big increase. I suspect I'm currently gaining because I'm still learning how to recruit the muscles, not just because they're getting stronger. Were you thinking along the lines of "this is a neural efficiency gain, not a real PR, he still needs to deload"? If that's possible.

I have been quite aggressive on ramping up the earlier sets on bench and you're right, I've probably overdone it a bit. This week's increases were just to get me to nice round figures to work with, but I should probably have left them for a few more weeks. I might drop them down again next week. It's nice when someone else points out what I won't admit to myself

Good point on rows, thanks. I hadn't thought about going the other way and starting all the sets from the higher height. It seems like I can build up more momentum from the lower starting point, which helps, but maybe that's just because those sets are lighter. I'll try resting the smaller plates on a few bits of wood or something on Friday.

On deloading, the worse day for mind-numbness is deadlift day, which is why I commented on reducing the sets the other day. I was thinking about it earlier - it's been a while since I've really looked forward to a workout and gone into it keen and eager. I'm dreading Wednesday (deads) already. I keep changing my mind as to whether I need to take a break or not and still don't know

(Sorry, I need to spread k around again, but IOU)