My Strength Misadventures...

[Gavin Harrison]

I've been doing 5/3/1 for the past month or so and like it so far, so I figured I'd post a log here so others can see what I do and how well it works out...

I'm not terribly strong at the moment, stats are:
Height: 6'
Starting Weight: 170 (now about 175?)

Current Estimated Maxes:
SQ: 205
BP: 158
DL: 292
PR: 98

Current Cycle's Training Maxes:
SQ: 195
BP: 140
DL: 255
PR: 80

Goals:
Get as strong as possible with steady progress and gain weight.

Layout right now:
M: DL / PR
W: BP
F: SQ / (maybe some BP assist)

I record things in weight(lbs) x reps x sets, or weight x reps.

Anyway, I'll kick it off with yesterday's workout, currently in the second week of my second wave:

Monday (6/23/09):
DL: 135x5, 185x3, 205x3, 230x8 (Est Max: 292)
PR: 45x5, 55x3, 65x3, 75x9 (Est Max: 98)
Back Ext: 10x5
Chins: 3x6 (not good at these, just adding sets..)
Incline DB: 20x15x4
Pulldown Abs: Whatever x5

The DL was a pretty big rep and a smaller est max PR. Press was a pretty big rep PR with 75 lbs, and a 2 lb est max PR.

[Gavin Harrison]

Wednesday (6/25/09):
BP: 45x5, 100x3, 110x3, 125x6 (Est Max: 150, 1 rep PR)
DB Rows: 35x10, 45x10, 55x12
Incline DB: 35x10x5

BP felt heavy.. a month ago I got quite a bit more reps with ten pounds less, oh well. It might be because of pressing on monday, maybe I will not push as hard on the press rep records, or switch BP and Press if it's too bad. We'll see.

[Gavin Harrison]

Got confused today and did the 5/3/1 squat workout instead of 3x3...

SQ: 45x5, 145x5, 165x3, 185x4 (Est Max: 210)
GM: 95x10x5
Abs: 5 sets

5 lb PR on the estimated max, not sure what I'll do next week, maybe the 3x3 and work up to a max single...

[Derek Simonds]

Gavin looking good on the 5/3/1. Thanks for posting your log.

[Gavin Harrison]

Thanks Derek. Just as a small update, I forgot my school's gym access card this week.. so I'm taking a forced week off, just random stuff, but nothing sturctured. Back at it next week!

[Gavin Harrison]

Decided my press sucks too much to make much difference, so I dropped it for incline presses instead. I'll be able to use more weight and feel like I'm actually doing a little bit of work on this day... So here's today:

Tuesday (7/7/09):
DL: 135x5, 195x5, 215x3, 245x4 (Est Max: 278)
Incline: 115x3 (Tested for what weight to use for cycle), 95x5x5 (For some volume)
Back Raises: 10x5
Chins: 5, 3x5
Abs: 5 Sets

Decided I was also tired of always being out of breath, so I'm going to add some conditioning work after DL and SQ days. My school has an ergonomic rower, which I found out earlier this year... first time trying it out:

Erg Rower: 5 minutes; 1006 Meters. Anyone know if slightly better than a 2:30 500M time is OK? First time trying them out, just did a moderate pace for 5 minutes as to not go overboard...

To reiterate my conditioning sucking, I can perform OK in things that kinda sorta require a bit of it (short distance running/sprinting, moving furniture, running up stairs, etc), it just takes me longer (a lot longer) to recover to normal breathing afterwards than it should...

[Júlíus G. Magnússon]

Is it a Concept 2 rower?

[Gavin Harrison]

Originally Posted by Júlíus G. Magnússon

Is it a Concept 2 rower?

Yes, not sure which model beyond that, though. I put it at about 3-4 on the dampening thing, since I remember that approximates water resistance well.

[Júlíus G. Magnússon]

For your height/weight I don't think you should be going over 2:00/500m on a 5 minute effort. It's probably just a technique issue. The CrossFit Journal has some solid articles on row technique if you have a subscription.

[Gavin Harrison]

Originally Posted by Júlíus G. Magnússon

For your height/weight I don't think you should be going over 2:00/500m on a 5 minute effort. It's probably just a technique issue. The CrossFit Journal has some solid articles on row technique if you have a subscription.

This could be, but also like I said, it was only a moderate effort. Nothing real intense. No CFJ subscription.