Pre-juice 5x5: Darkness on the Horizon

[Guinness5.0]

only thing i question is the frequency of the leg training...? how are you getting around the recovery times...? if i did my legs on Monday, by Wednesday i have a hard time even thinking about doing legs...

The thing to remeber is that there's really only two tough weeks. You couldn't really hit legs heavy and hard w/ volume indefinitely, so you work up to it, hit it hard, then back off and allow for recovery.


Here's a great article for you. Covers it very well:
http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/PlannedOvertraining.html

 

[Madcow2]

Hey madcow, is it OK that I still feel kinda beat up from HST? I assume that this week and next will serve as adequate deloading, then I'll be pushing again. Sound about right?

You'll find out. Just play it by ear and if you have to deload early that's okay. Watch your performance though, if it starts to really dip on lifts as you are just beginning to load (or before which is worse), you have to watch revisit this. But if you can make it through even not setting new PRs - you are still loading, the rebound should take care of you. You'll just have to be very careful if you intend to build to records in the 3x3 phase again and make sure you recover well in weeks 5/6.

Wish I could give you a yes/no but it's a learning process and an impossible call over the net. The safest move is to start fully recovered but that's not always optimal for long term planning. It's getting a feel for the grey areas that lets you navigate them.

 

[Guinness5.0]

MC2-

Cool. I think I'll push on to see what happens. If I have to bail out early then at least I'll learn what it feels like to be too "loaded" going in to the program.

 

[anotherbutters]

Good luck mate. Nice to see you doing 5x5. Haven't seen anyone doing that for a while

 

[Cynical Simian]

Good times...looking forward to seeing what you and the DF version can do this time around. Good luck, although I guess the whole point of planning your training cycles is that you're not relying on luck.

Also, belated congratulations on your unsuccessful cut/successful recomp.

 

[RipStone]

Best of luck with the program. I'll be following ya.

 

[Guinness5.0]

Week 1 -- FRIDAY



Squat 1x5: 135x10x3, 225x5, 245x5, 275x5, 295x5
-I really think fatigue has dissipated notably since monday. These felt like they should - nice and light. EDIT: I did 3 sets w/ 135 because I live in the Chicago area and it was like 20 degrees - I was cold to the core.

Bench 5x5: 225
-easier than monday (same weight). I am going to revert back to 1x5/5x5 for bench. For the record, my current bench 1x5 PR is 295, which was tough but not all out ball-bustingly excruciating, and later that week for my 5x5 PR attempt I just barely missed 285. So 295/285 will be my week 3 targets for 1x5/5x5 respectively. Week 3 will be quite tough this way without the extra volume. Hopefully I'll end up with new 1x5/5x5 PRs of 305/295 in week 4.

Power clean 5x5: 155
-I think I've got these really close to perfect. I am brushing my shirt with the bar occasionally on the way up, and whipping my elbows around has become automatic (finally ). The only problem I foresee is not dipping enough once the weight starts to climb. With 155 the bar lands high w/out my having to dip down at all.

Fluff: BB curls 75x8x2, upright 'tricep' dips BWx10x2, weighted decline situps (BW+25)X15x2

 

[Jim Ouini]

Squat 1x5: 135x10x3, 225x5, 245x5, 275x5, 295x5
-I really think fatigue has dissipated notably since monday. These felt like they should - nice and light. EDIT: I did all those sets w/ 135 because I live in the Chicago area and it was like 20 degrees - I was cold to the core.

Nice work, although it irks me a little that you're doing my Week 9 1 x 3 in Week 1

 

[Guinness5.0]

Week 2

MONDAY

Squat 5x5 warmups, 315
-Pretty easy

Bench 1x5 135x14, 225x5, 245x5, 255x5, 265x5, 225x8
-Screwy I know, but all these weights are easy so I didn't do all the warnmups and added a backoff instead.

Power cleans ?x? 135x5, 155x5, 165x3x2, 185x3, 205x2
-These are coming along swimmingly. I had to dip just a bit at 185 but it happened smoothly enough. The bar stays close, the movement's all hips and traps, and it racks great!

BB curls/'tricep' dips 85x8x2/BWx12x2

Decline situps BWx15x2
-Still had DOMS from Friday. Looks like I should keep ab work in all my cycles. I think my abs are showing a bit more just from the little direct work I've done lately.


BTW gut is down to 38.75 inches (another ~.25 since HST)

 

[casualbb]

too late now... but i'd have you decondition for a week before the 5x5, both to recover from fatigue and decondition the muscle tissue for more growth.

its always a good idea to take a week off between workout cycles or when switching a routine