Today's 5 x 5 workout and some fun facts

[Jim Ouini]

Wk 6 Day 2

Dead (sumo)
Warmup to 385 x 3 x 3

Felt great. I moved my stance in a bit and decreased my foot angle so they were pointing forward more.

My friend was watching my worksets and said they looked 'easy.' Then again, inbetween sets he was telling me a story of how he wrestled a black bear cub to the ground when he lived in Alaska, so who knows how accurate his assessment is.

Still, I'll be bitterly disappointed if I don't get 405 in Wk 8. Debating if I even should attempt it next week, or take it slow like 395. Probably the latter.

Push Press
Warmup to 140 x 3 x 3

Maybe should've gone up a bit more instead of messing around with 2.5's but I thought I'd save some considering this is only Wk 6.

Chin-ups
45 x 3 x 3

 

[Jim Ouini]

Wk 6 Day 3
BW after workout = 203. Uhm I think the scale at the gym needs to be calibrated (it's one of the sliding ones). Last monday on the same scale I weighed 192.

Weigh about 201 at home on our digital scale.

Squat
Warmup to 345 x 3

Felt terrible. My squat's officially broken.

Bench
Warmup to 265 x 3 x 3

Clean Pull
Warmup to 275 x 3 x 3

 

[Guinness5.0]

Squat
Warmup to 345 x 3

Felt terrible. My squat's officially broken.

Care to elaborate?

 

[Jim Ouini]

Care to elaborate?

Not really, I try not to think about it

I've started having some knee/form trouble - I think due to trying to convert from parallel to ATF floor squats too fast/too heavy.

In fact I still haven't settled on a stance and toe angle.

I *thought* I was ATF towards the latter part of my first run through and had the form dialed in - I get my wife to watch my form (that was my first mistake ) and she says 'below parallel but not ATF'. Well being at the point in the program that I was I didn't want to back off on the weight and kept pushin' on.

As a result my knee's really been bothering me and I'm still not happy with my depth.

Anyway as I've found out and, as MC2 has said on occasion, the 5 x 5 isn't a time to try new techniques/lifts.

So my plan is to finish this cycle as best I can and then take a few weeks doing some core/assistance/form work before diving back into a size/strength phase.

 

[Guinness5.0]

Anyway as I've found out and, as MC2 has said on occasion, the 5 x 5 isn't a time to try new techniques/lifts.

So my plan is to finish this cycle as best I can and then take a few weeks doing some core/assistance/form work before diving back into a size/strength phase.

Sounds exactly like what i'm doing, except that I'm happy with depth but unhappy with the weight being on the balls of my feet.

I think I'm gonna do some GM's for the first time ever after this run, then depending on how they go incorporate them into the next run. A lot of people say they're good for boosting DL #'s.

 

[Jim Ouini]

I think I'm gonna do some GM's for the first time ever after this run, then depending on how they go incorporate them into the next run. A lot of people say they're good for boosting DL #'s.

Yeah I was planning on GM's and pullthroughs. SL/Romanian DL's used to be a staple of mine and I'd throw in GM's as a sub every once in awhile. I really liked them.

I want to do a squat variant - either ATF front or overhead squats. I'm thinking this may help my core stabilization as well.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Wk 7 Day 1
BW after workout = 203.5 (on an iffy scale)

Squat
Warmup to 345 x 3 x 3

Fixed my squat (for now) - decided to find a stance that gives me the least amount of knee pain - which for me is a bit wider than shoulder width and toes pointed out just a tad - and go as low as I can. No more messing around.

Bench
Warmup to 275 x 3

Failed 3rd rep; spotter had to tap it. Will stay here next week.

Clean Pull
Warmup to 295 x 3

Really focused on speed and explosion this week. Felt much better.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Wk 7 Day 2
BW after workout = 203.5

Dead (sumo)
Warmup to 395 x 3 x 2, 405 x 3 x 2

395 felt pretty good. I was going to stay there for my 3rd set but then I saw some guy out of the corner of my eye watching me and sure enough he comes up to me asked me 'are those deadlifts?'. He was doing deads with 135 over at some other station and asked me to watch him.

Well he had rounded back and was way over the front of the bar so I pointed that out to him.

After that I thought to myself 'What kind of guy gives advice and can't even do 405?'. So I tried it.

1st rep was shakey, 2-3rd were pretty solid. But then I was worried I did touch and go, although this guy said I didn't. But I couldn't remember .

So I did another set with like a 1 second pause after each rep and this one felt even better.

I am very happy hitting this in Wk 7 (although I'm hoping the extra set is no big deal in terms of too much loading). Best program ever

Push Press
Warmup to 145 x 3 x 3

Pretty easy. I'll take a bigger jump next week.

Chin-ups
50 x 3 x 3

Tough.

 

[Guinness5.0]

There's something magic about 4 plates. Congrats

 

[Jim Ouini]

Thanks! It's a big PR for me.

Damn, it just occurred to me - I forgot to sit on them