GSP's Better late than never 3X5...

[anotherbutters]

Sorry, for some reason I thought you were out of town or something, and in a different gym.

 

[GSP]

5/13 Workout B

Squats (3X5) 145
Standing Press (3X5) 120 PR
Deadlift (1X5) 245 PR

Sat. Weigh-in: 182.5

Comments: Backing off on the squats felt great, definitely the right move. It carried over into Deads too, the 245 went up with no problem - I had 2-3 reps left in me. This new arrangement (which will be my Wed workout from here out) should keep my deads moving up longer. The strain of PR's on squat and deads on the same day was starting to become too taxing.

Standing press was great as well, all 3 sets were good - only the last rep of the last set was tough.

Odd to see the scale drop back almost a pound and a half in a week. I ate out about 12 times this week. My only speculation is that drinking all that milk was causing a lot of water retention, and cutting it out last week reduced that. Not concerning to me though since I was actually worried about gaining too much too quickly.

 

[GSP]

Sorry, for some reason I thought you were out of town or something, and in a different gym.

You were right, I was out of town in a different gym. I just meant I used the same bar and 45 lb. plates for squats and rows. There definitely could have been a weight difference, or simply a bad row workout for me, who knows.

 

[Cynical Simian]

The pull with the height of the 45s is a bit of an adjustment, but you might want to get used to using them instead of 35s. Oh, and of course congrats on the PRs.

 

[GSP]

The pull with the height of the 45s is a bit of an adjustment, but you might want to get used to using them instead of 35s. Oh, and of course congrats on the PRs.

I would have expected them to be a bit easier since the bar was higher off the ground - but then again, it would have been a slightly different motor pattern than what I get with 35's.

Are 45's preferrable to 35's for bar height? I've been leaving the 35's on despite being high enough in poundages for 45's because I was told at one time that the 35's gave a better ROM for the rows. Would I be better off making the switch to 45's instead?

 

[Jim Ouini]

Probably true for deadlifting but for rowing if your back is parallel and you extend your arms isn't that the ROM. Doesn't seem like it'd change much because the plates are smaller. Although when I was doing < 45's on my rows I wasn't able to deload the weights between reps. You might be built differently.

Either that or I haven't had my coffee yet

 

[Cynical Simian]

I would have expected them to be a bit easier since the bar was higher off the ground - but then again, it would have been a slightly different motor pattern than what I get with 35's.

Are 45's preferrable to 35's for bar height? I've been leaving the 35's on despite being high enough in poundages for 45's because I was told at one time that the 35's gave a better ROM for the rows. Would I be better off making the switch to 45's instead?

There're a couple of reasons I prefer 45s:
1. Necessity. I work out at home and have only one pair of 35s. My weights are still low enough that I could use 35s and smaller plates, but I plan on getting strong enough that it wouldn't be possible without buying additional small plates.
2. Comfort. I'm about an inch taller than you and found that 45s worked better for keeping my back/legs at the appropriate angles. Even though <45s give a better ROM, I don't like the slightly downward back angle or larger amount of knee bend.

Like Jim said, depending on your proportions, and if you can keep using 35s as long as you want, it doesn't really matter as long as you're consistent.

 

[GSP]

I never thought of it that way but it makes sense. The only real difference is the amount of bend in the legs between 35's and 45's. I may just switch to 45's for the simple reason that I travel quite a bit with work, and I'm always going to be able to find 45's at a gym - 35's are hit or miss in my experience.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

 

[GSP]

5/15 - Workout A

Squats (3X5) 190 PR
DB Bench (3X5) 77.5's PR
Pendlay Rows (3X5) 155 PR

Comments: Great workout. Squats really seemed to hit my glutes today. No change in form or anything, it just seems that I feel squat workouts more in different areas from week to week. Last week my quads and hips seemed more taxed than other areas.

DB Press was a killer on the last rep of the last set. It took me around 7-8 seconds to get it all the way locked out. I hate to say it, but If that was a row or dead, I probably would have failed - but there's something psychologically motivating about being under the weight as opposed to over it. I had to do flat bench last week instead of 15% incline due to equipment availablilty, I think the jump might have been stretching it given my week+ layoff from the exact exercise. I'll make a smaller jump on Friday.

Rows were great. 155 all 3 sets with no issues at all. Felt good since I struggled with the last row workout.

One other note. The shoulder pain I've been struggling with has improved every week of this program and is almost completely gone. I don't know if I had a muscular imbalance between pushing and pulling that I'm correcting now, or if all the machine work I've done over the last few years left my stabilizer muscles severely lacking - but things are looking good! If this continues, when I run my next cycle on 5X5, I'll give BB bench a run, but first things first....

 

[Jim Ouini]

Congrats. The hits just keep on comin'.

BTW speaking of push/pull imbalance, I noticed that your BB row is about the same as your DB press (77.5 x 2 = 155). Is that by design or just the way it worked out?