Cal's Training Journal

[super_rice]

5x5 Intensity Phase - Week 7, Day 3
Friday, 25 February, 2005

Wasn't the greatest of workouts CNS wise, I was feeling tired, the weights for the most part felt heavy (180 bench felt like 200, 225 squat felt like 250). This is because the last week in terms of rest and recovery have been terrible for me, and I've done quite a lot of draining activities... playing volleyball, badminton, stuff like that, and also going to some night school courses (as well as balancing the work from that and the work from day school).

However, I still managed the scheduled squat PR, so I feel great about that! Just has an epsom salt bath too, which saved my life. I was waiting for friday on tuesday of this week! TGIF...

Will get lots of rest and do shitloads of recovery work between doing school shits.

Bodyweight: 174
Training Time: 1hr

Warmed up with snatches, they felt alright. Not too snappy, not too great. This was the first indicator that I was burned. That, and not feeling like workin out.

Bench Press
Set 1: 180lbs x 3
Set 2: 180lbs x 3
Set 3: 180lbs x 4

Last set, on the third rep I lost my grrove somehow, smacked the side of the pin on the way up, and got a shit rep. So I did another one to make up for it. Was not feeling too good about the squatting outcome, especially when I needed to PR.

Full Olympic Backsquats
Bar x 10
Set 1: 95lbs x 8
Set 2: 155lbs x 5
Set 3: 175lbs x 5 At this point, it was "oh noes," as this felt quite heavy.
Set 4: 205lbs x 3 Heavy.
Set 5: 225lbs x 2 First rep, lost groove, GM'ed it, second rep, almost got pinned to the ground!!

Set 6: 240lbs x 3 !!! 3RM PR!

[ 240lbs Full Squat Triple ]

If you watch the video, I was almost perfectly in my regular groove on the 240. Man, if only I video taped the 225 for y'all to see what happened. I almost got stapled to the floor with two plates... I guess mental strength > body.

Bent Over Rows
Set 1: 130lbs x 3
Set 2: 130lbs x 3
Set 3: 130lbs x 3

Assistance
Lying Lateral Raises 10lbs 2x10
Lying External Rotations 10lbs 2x8
Partner Resisted Leg Raises 2x8
Side Ab Bridges on Palms Iso Hold 1x30sec per side
Weighted Situps....


Now, if all goes well, I will run intensity for another two weeks. I will definately attempt 260 for a full squat triple before this ends! (as well as a 210-220 bench triple, and 290-300 deadlift triple). And shit, after I run 5x5 again, I'll have to do some cutting or restricting my diet. I've never been such a fat bastard in my life! I'm 179 after a good meal. Guesstimating 12% BF.

Hey, I just realized... I don't squat much more than I bench. Shit, my lower body must get strongerrr

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

That 240x3 looked good to me.

Keep em coming. Btw, don't worry too much about your bodyfat bro. You're eating a caloric surplus so you're gonna gain some fat with the muscle. You need to bulk baby, BULK!

Good stuff.

 

[JeSt3r]

good job bro

 

[Madcow2]

One thing I notice is that you are lifting record weights in week 7 rather than 8/9. If you aren't used to this training and your true records are higher this can certainly occur but with the 3 day deloading in the second phase you need to watch out for signs of overdoing it. What you don't want to do is push yourself too hard right after the volume phase without adequately letting your CNS recover. After week 4 most people find week 5 to be slam dunk and set weights for week 6 to be fairly non-strenuous also. Week 7 builds and week 8/9 tend to be hard from an intensity standpoint. This is why I put in the caveate that extra days of rest and even decreasing overall volume are okay in the 3 day per week 3x3 protocol - just keep the weights steadily ramping under a decreased volume (and possibly frequency) protocol. Ideally you want to do this ahead of time so you are fairly recovered by week 8/9 so Day 3 Week 7 is a bit late in the game to make this adjustment but it certainly won't hurt and at the least will set you up for entering your next volume phase. It's very important that a trainee allow adequate recovery after the volume phase and generally weeks 5-7 are where this happens.

Also regarding calories, you can run this program under caloric deficit, maintenance, or surplus levels. Generally one will still put on muscle unless they are very lean and in heavy deficit mode.

 

[super_rice]

i had a good 11 hours of sleep last night, going go to an d get another 12 or so

anyways, feeling great for monday. thanks for the point madcow, i will take the extra days as needed, however, as you said, with week 8 coming in, week 9 approaching, i may as well finish, do a good deload, and jump into the new volume phase.

the caloric deficit i will hold off until june, so, if all according to plan, will be the 3rd 5x5 cycle

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

OK, what's up with the deload after the intensity?

Madcow2 tell's me to go straight back to the volume after the intensity. What's what?

 

[super_rice]

well, the idea is that the first week of volume will be your deloading, as the weight selection, if done properly, should make week 1 of volume very easy.

if i do what i'm doing now for another two weeks, i might require more recovery time, so i would put an extra week in to deload before volume starts again.

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

I wonder if I should do that? Madcow2, what do you think?

 

[super_rice]

I wonder if I should do that? Madcow2, what do you think?

i think it all depends on your level of CNS fatigue. if you are really smashed from prior training, then by all means take whatever time you feel you need to deload before going at it again

 

[Madcow2]

I wonder if I should do that? Madcow2, what do you think?

If you peg the weights correctly and take extra days/lowered volume as needed to prevent CNS fatigue during the intensity phase it shouldn't be an issue. Like I've said before not all lifters have the capacity to accomodate the 3x per week schedule without extra time or pairing down (I'd venture the vast majority on here don't simply because they haven't built the necessary capacity over years of lifting). The 3 day per week is what I happen to use. Some need a lot less and many lifters can tolerate more it's not a pride thing it just depends upon one's tolerances (genetic and accrued from years of training) and these vary widely at all levels (even among world champions some can handle huge workloads while others can't) - the 2x per week just plays it safe so an inexerpienced lifter doesn't run into these issues and have to adjust. In the case of Super_Rice he's also doing record lifts out of schedule and appears to be pushing himself into too much CNS fatigue too early. Due to the relatively low volume in weeks 8/9 they just aren't that taxing on the body but if you are already fairly fatigued and not recovered from the volume phase by the time you get to them you may have an issue. Recovery from the volume phase is simply paramount. It is so important that it can't be stressed enough, that's why I've kind of taken to prefering the 2x per week since it's more tolerable for most lifters. Ideally over time one gets a clearer picture of exactly how much loading can be tolerated and what type of volume will allow adequate deloading as this is very individual to each lifter.