Here's my DF 5 x 5, modified

[Jim Ouini]

Congrats on getting another one under your belt and congrats on the PRs. Surely, more than just the bench is a PR? (yeah, "don't call me 'Surely'")

Thanks BW. I guess I had some PR's and some things I just got better at

PR's:

Bench 1/3 x 3

RDL 3 x 3 - default, never pushed it

Powershrug 1/3 x 3 - default, never pushed it or did them from the hang

Dips 3 x 8

Got better at:

Squat - finally feel good about my form (crosses fingers). The pointing the knees out tip really helped me. And you made a statement about benching and your sticking point that I applied to squatting (mentally)

OHP - incorporated the head thrust and contracting the traps

BB row - Switched to supinated. Elbow feels better, can pull harder

Great job, Jim! Don't forget to play around with overhead squats next week during your "fun week". It doesn't get any more fun than that!

Thanks nelms. I forgot about OH squats. I'm awful at them which means it's definitely something to try

 

[Jim Ouini]

Starting another DF 5 x 5 tomorrow, following the basic template. In fact, I used MC2's excel spreadsheet for organizing

Monday/Friday

Squat
Bench
BB row

Wednesday:

Box Squat
Dead
Push Press
Chins or Pullups, depending on how my elbow feels

I'll throw some hypers, situps and dips in there somewhere. I decided to box squat because I'll be wearing my flat soled shoes on Wed for deadlifting and they seem to go well together. Also, It'll be interesting to see where my dead is at, I think I'll start at 315 and plan on ending ~ 415 in Week 4.

 

[nelmsjer]

Hey, bud. How was "fun week"? Good to see you back!

I'm 90% that next time I go through 5x5, I'm going to use push press, as well. I LOVE working shoulders, so I think I want to load them up this time.

I may even go nuts and do OH squats for my Wednesday squat...I just can't decide. I jerked 205 last week, sometime, and I absolutely had a blast. It's not even a lot of weight, but it's FUN!

 

[Jim Ouini]

Thanks nelms. Fun week was...fun, although a little disconcerting not having a plan. I think I've said this before but I don't know how people can go to the gym and not have a plan anymore (well I do since I used to train like that for years and years lol).

Anyway, I feel refreshed and ready to go, playtime is over

Yeah I decided to go with PP instead of a strict military, just need to get more weight up this time around. Although as I remember, in Wk 8-9 I was missing all my presses after heavy deads.

 

[nelmsjer]

By the way, I forgot in my original message...are you going to be doing all 5x5 with 415 on the deads for your last week??? WOW!

 

[blut wump]

What height box will you be using? Don't forget my experiences going for a highbox with a wide stance. The work on my hips ruined my ability to deadlift and squat. Maybe with your semi-sumo work and your rdls, though, your hips are well enough conditioned to take it.

 

[nelmsjer]

blut_wump, can you elaborate on this or point me to a section in your journal? Thanks!

 

[blut wump]

I didn't log that run. I'd been having some problems with my knees and BFold suggested very wide stance box squats to a high box as a good way to squat and take a lot of stress away from the knees. I reckoned that it would also be of benefit to my posterior chain and help my deads to do some box-squatting and I'd been fancying it for a while. Anyway, I subbed it in on Weds in place of the light squats and, maybe foolishly, went heavy with it with the thought that it was intrinsically a lighter squat.

It totally fried my hips and doing deads straight after the box squats was overly hard work and very gruelling. I could hardly squat until I worked out that I was kind of OK with a very narrow stance to take my hips out of the movement as much as possible and even then my lift was down and I had to stretch a lot. When I hit week 5 there was no doubt that the 2x per week deload was the only option for me. All was well in the end: I did three weeks of 2x per week and then continued with another three weeks of 3x per week intensity phase.

 

[Jim Ouini]

What height box will you be using? Don't forget my experiences going for a highbox with a wide stance. The work on my hips ruined my ability to deadlift and squat. Maybe with your semi-sumo work and your rdls, though, your hips are well enough conditioned to take it.

Thanks for the info BW. Box will be slightly below parallel. I tried some last Friday and I felt pretty comfy with a wide stance and feet pointed out (almost touching the frame of the power rack). Better than when I tried it before using the same box.

185 last week felt really easy, I probably won't go heavier than 245, if that. I will say that I did feel some slight soreness in the glutes the next day and the thought did enter my mind about deadlifting right after...

By the way, I forgot in my original message...are you going to be doing all 5x5 with 415 on the deads for your last week??? WOW!

Well I'm not sure where my dead is at right now, I used a rep calculator based on my last '95% 1RM' from Korte to get my 5RM. Then I just plugged it in to MC2's template to get an idea of where to start - 315, 355, 395, 415 (rounding up) for Wks 1-4, respectively.

At any rate, since I haven't really deadlifted for about 10 weeks now I'm just using it as a guide.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Week 1 Day 1

Squat
bar x 8
135 x 2 x 5
185 x 2
230 x 5 x 5

Last 5 x 5 I started at 205; I looked at my hardcopy journal and it read 225 but now I see I begged off it. So even though I wanted to go light I couldn't go backwards so I went to 230. Now I see my typo, dangit. Regardless, they were pretty easy, I think I just have more confidence in my new form. My buddy worked in with me and he keeps up a pretty fast pace, which was good for me.

Bench
135 x 5
165 x 5
185 x 5
205 x 5
225 x 5

Piston-like

BB row
bar x 8
135 x 5
165 x 5
185 x 5
205 x 5
225 x 5

I'm gonna try to match my bench and row every set from now on, just for fun.

Decline situps
BW x 3 x 10

Overall: No powershrugs made this a lot easier than last time; in fact it felt downright short and skimpy. Anyway, I feel a slight cold coming on, now have to drink my concoction for the next few days: ginger, lemon, echinacea, Vitamin C and herbal tea.