Journal: To Fulfill My Expectations

[BigOz]

Hi. I'm a 23 year old student with aspirations toward becoming a fitness professional. Specifically, I want to be a strength and conditioning coach for a college athletic program. And I WILL NOT even attempt to reach that goal unless an athlete can look at me and tell that I know what I'm doing. I'm not gonna be a 225lb fat guy telling a 240lb linebacker how to lift.

So here's what I got:

I'm 6'1" 225lbs
Bench: Beyond embarrassing, 205lb x 3
Squat: 345lb x 3
Will add deadlift soon (Was doing Rack Pulls because I was afraid people would bitch at me in my gym. Saw a guy doing heavy deads earlier today though, so hell with it.)

Other Random:
30 inch standing vertical jump

I'm starting this shortly after beginning (Something close to) Wendler's 5/3/1. I'm in my 3rd week.

I lift 4 times a week.

Today was squat day:
Squats
4 x 135 (Warmup)
3 x 225
3 x 275
3 x 315
(Did 3 x 365 but my form was terrible, should have stuck with 345)

Yeah I don't know why I tried to jump up 20lbs from my 3 rep "max"...probably because the guy to my right was deadlifting a ridiculous amount of weight and got my competitive juices flowing

Leg Press
5x10x225 - I'm not sure why I do these, but the sample 531 I found had them in it...so I'll go through to the end and decide whether I continue these or switch em out.

Leg Curls
5x10x90

Note: Picking up the 531 ebook in the next day or two, so this should start to look better.

Nutrition: Over the last 3 weeks I've averaged 3500 calories, 165 protein a day. Going to trade out some carbs for proteins. Aiming for bodyweight in protein and a slow bulk. Not gonna be too strict though, so that slow bulk could snowball. As this progresses, I'll clamp down on my diet.

Hope I didn't ramble too much, and this journal's going to improve. Next will be Overhead Press day and I'll share some goals - both short and long term.

[GazzyG]

Welcome to WBB mate.

Good choice with 5/3/1, I'm on my second cycle of it now, I', sure it'll serve you well.

[BigOz]

Corrections: Week 2, said week 3. Week 3 starts Monday.

Okay, my upper body is pathetic.

Overhead Press:
3x95
3x105
3x115

I then alternated Chins and Dips for a total of 5 sets each.

The issue is that the dips are easy. The chins kick my ass. I was able to do 4 chins the first time, 3 the 2nd, 2 the 3rd, barely one on the fourth and wasn't able to complete the fifth. The dips I did 5 sets of 8. The last set was hard, but it should be.

Gonna deadlift for the first time in years on Monday. Gonna pick something considerably lighter than what I was doing with Rack Pulls (315) and see where it goes

I know, because I'm throwing shit together, it's not gonna much resemble a 531 yet, but after week 4, things will look better.

[BigOz]

I'm !@#$ing stupid.

I might lead off with that in a lot of my posts in the future.

Anyway, did deadlift today. It felt GREAT!

Warmed up with 135, had someone watch me throughout to make sure my form was good (The guy I mentioned that was DLing about 600 last week)

225 x 5, was easy, form was still good.
275 x 3, again pretty easy and form was still good.
315 x 1, I felt good, I've done that on rack pulls and they felt light...so I was hoping I'd be fine doing that.

It went outstanding. I don't know why I've ever made excuses not to do deads.
Now for the downside.

I got greedy with assistance. Did some SLDLs with 125lbs on the bar.

10x125 - felt good
10x125 - felt okay
4x125 - Ouch.

Pulled something in the left side of my lower back, hurts to walk because of impact (bend over, sit down, that sort of thing) I figure my form slacked, and next time I lift back, I'm wearing a belt.

Taking some ibuprofen and instead of benching tomorrow, I'm gonna take a day (at least) and see if it goes away.

[BigOz]

Welcome to WBB mate.

Good choice with 5/3/1, I'm on my second cycle of it now, I', sure it'll serve you well.

Thanks for the welcome. Note, I take advice and criticism very well, if you see something that doesn't sit right, call me out.

[BigOz]

Okay, so I did sit two days. Benched yesterday 6/14/12.

Back still felt off but there was no sharp pains anymore.

5x175
3x185
3x195 (I was surprised that the first one was easy, so went until I couldn't)

DB Bench
5x10x45s

1 Arm DB Rows
15x75
10x75
10x75
5x75
5x75
5x75

That's a lot of 1 arm rows.

tomorrow will be 531 squats and monday will be OH Press.

[BigOz]

This post will be my last two workouts, some thoughts, and my goals going forward.

Monday 6/18 was 5/3/1 squats.

I wore a belt this time, since I tweaked a muscle in my lower back a week ago (though it feels fine now).

5x275
3x315
1x335

Leg Press
20x415
15x415
10x415
5x415

Leg Curl
5x10x110

Tuesday 6/19

OH Press
5x95
3x115
1x135

Dips
50, breakdown was something like:
10
10
8
7
5
5
5

Chins
2 sets, hit 6 and hit 4. Was worn out.

Thoughts:
Replace leg press with something else. I'm not sure about squatting and then pressing. Though, I'm not sure that even matters.

Do Chins before Dips. Add weight to dips.

And I'm giving 531 second thoughts. I think I'm more "Novice" than "Intermediate" and believe I can get stronger, faster. So, instead of the progression used, I will try to add weight on the bar every workout, if it works, it works. Might be as little as 5 lbs at a time. Oh well, that's more weight. Each workout will generally stay the same though. I want to put in some back raises and neck stuff. Maybe some weighted ab work on certain days.

My goals:

By September
Squat 385
Deadlift 405
Bench 240

[BigOz]

Deadlift day in the Hey, Scratch that 5/3/1 Business! department.

Anyway, I guess I'm still fishing for what I'm capable of.

Second time pullin the bar this is what I did:

5x225lb
4x315lb
1x365lb

365 was tough. I feel that I could have done more reps (one or two) looking back. I went into it hoping for one good pull though. Once the weight hit the ground I walked away for a second, as I didn't think I could do 365 once, so i was pretty happy.

Followed that up with SLDLs with a huge focus on form, as I didn't want to hurt my back again. And I ended with some weighted situps on a decline.