abears 5X5 journal part 1

A

abear

2
today starts my new training routine. i'm gonna use one of the many variations of bill starrs 5X5 training schemes. i've been reading and reading since august so its time to put it in action.

since this will be my first time squatting 3X a week, plus following 5 sets of squats with 5 sets of deadlifts on wednesdays i'm gonna start real light and easy. thats how you're supposed to do the loading phase anyway, to work yourself into it. the plan is to go through this for november and december then repeat it for january and february. not sure yet about march and april yet but i do have some routines i'm considering.

so i start today and finish on december 23rd. today i weighed in at 171lbs, still with 14" arms and calves. waist is now 34 and 1/4th. to say i'm sick of my current size is an understatement. i've been preparing to pour everything i have into the next 6 months. :)
 
Good luck! Remember arch and a big breath!
 
LOADING WEEK 1 - WORKOUT 1

3:07pm - 3:54pm

squats - 5X5

warm-up: 90X5 120X5 150X5

160X5
160X5
160X5
160X5
160X5

bench press 1X5

80X5 90X5 100X5 110x5 120X5

bent over rows 1X5

80X5 90X5 100X5 105x5 110X5

tough but easy. form was good, especially on squats. i spent october working on going deeper. i now have to set the safety bars lower on my power rack than usual. will increase all lifts by 5lbs next week.

have to do this workout today because we have inventory at work tomorrow and i dont know what time i'm getting off. if i have time, will go out and pull the sled a little. :)
 
LOADING WEEK 1 - WORKOUT 2

3:10pm - 4:13pm

squats - 5X5 85% of monday

warm-up: 90x5 120X5 130x5

135x5
135X5
135x5
135X5
135X5

deadlifts 5X5

warm-up: 90X5 120X5

135x5
135X5
135x5
135X5
135X5

overhead press 5X5

warm-up: 70X5 80x5

90X5
90X5
90X5
90X5
90X5

chins

bwX3
bwX3
bwX3
bwX3
bwX3

i did it!! i lived thru it!!! LOL

didnt i tell you i was gonna start light and easy? haha. since the squats were so light, i worked on going down as low as i could. i already lowered my safety bars one notch and i almost hit them a few times today.

for chins you're supposed to do bodweight for 5X5 but i'm not strong enough. so my goal is to work up to that. so today i got 15 total reps and need to get up to 25 total reps.
 
LOADING WEEK 1 - WORKOUT 3

3:10PM - 3:58PM

squats 1x5

85x5 115x5 145x5 175x5 195x5

bench press 5x5

warm up 80x5 90x5 100x5

105x5
105x5
105x5
105x5
105x5

bent over rows 5x5

warmup 80x5 90x5

100x5
100x5
100x5
100x5
100x5
 
LOADING WEEK 2 - WORKOUT 1

4:20PM - 5:08PM

squats 5x5

warmup 90x5 120x5 150x5

165x5
165x5
165x5
165x5
165x5

bench press 1x5

85x5 95x5 105x5 115x5 125x5

bent over rows 1x5

85x5 95x5 105x5 110x5 115x5

i've been on jury duty since monday. so i did mondays workout yesterday as we got out early. we're supposed to finish today so i'm looking to lift thursday then maybe early saturday. then get back on schedule next week.

this workout was a little tough as i guess because i havent been moving around much this week, plus i'm not getting all my meals in.
 
LOADING WEEK 2 - WORKOUT 2

3:06PM - 4:11PM

squats 5x5 85% of monday

warmup 90x5 120x5 130x5

140x5
140x5
140x5
140x5
140x5

deadlifts 5x5

warmup 90x5 120x5

140x5
140x5
140x5
140x5
140x5

overhead press 5x5

warmup 70x5 80x5

95x5
95x5
95x5
95x5
95x5

chins

bwx4
bwx3
bwx3
bwx3
bwx3

wrapped up jury duty yesterday afternoon. today was the first day i was back on my eating schedule since sunday.

everything went good today. got 16 total reps on chins over 15 last week. not feeling sore or rundown, i'm handling everything fine so far. glad i started so low with the weights to allow me to work my way into this.
 
LOADING WEEK 2 - WORKOUT 3

12:38PM - 1:26PM

squats 1x5

90x5 120x5 150x5 180x5 200x5

bench press 5x5

warmup 80x5 90x5

110x5
110x5
110x5
110x5
110x5

bent over rows 5x5

warmup 80x5 90x5

105x5
105x5
105x5
105x5
105x5

for whatever reason, my mind just was not fully into it today. but i got done what needed to be done. worked out earlier as the lsu-bama game starts about 2:30pm
 
LOADING WEEK 3 - WORKOUT 1

3:09PM - 3:56PM

squats 5x5

warmup 90x5 120x5 150x5

170x5 170x5 170x5 170x5 170x5

bench press 1x5

90x5 100x5 110x5 120x5 130x5

bent-over row 1x5

90x5 100x5 110x5 115x5 120x5

i felt this one, wow. and i thought i started light and easy. i was told by weeks 3 and 4 things would get tougher and they werent kidding.
 
LOADING WEEK 3 - WORKOUT 2

6:06PM - 7:12PM

squats 5x5 85% of monday

warmup 90x5 120x5 130x5

145x5 145x5 145x5 145x5 145x5

deadlifts 5x5

warmup 90x5 120x5 130x5

145x5 145x5 145x5 145x5 145x5

overhead press 5x5

warmup 70x5 80x5

100x5 100x5 100x5 100x5 100x5

chins

bwx4 bwx3 bwx3 bwx3 bwx2

worked a 10 hour shift today so had to lift later. everything was fine till i got to chins, couldnt get what i was aiming for.
 
i've never maxed out on deads. my form has always been less than great on that movement. :(

it was suggested to me to get a trap bar and try trap bar deadlifts.
 
i found one online for $169 with free shipping. i've been selling some guitar books on ebay to save up. i almost have the money for it. hopefully my form will be better with it.

i also ordered the book starting strength from exrx. its said to contain very good descriptions for all the major lifts plus how to coach them.
 
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LOADING WEEK 3 - WORKOUT 3

3:09PM - 4:00PM

squats 1x5

95x5 125x5 155x5 185x5 205x5

bench press 5x5

warmup 80x5 90x5 100x5

115x5 115x5 115x5 115x5 115x5

bent-over row 5x5

warmup 80x5 90x5

110x5 110x5 110x5 110x5 110x5

one more week of loading before deload.
 
LOADING WEEK 4 - WORKOUT 1

6:12PM - 7:01PM

squats 5x5

warmup 90x5 120x5 150x5

180x5 180x5 180x5 180x5 180x5

bench press 1x5

95x5 105x5 115x5 125x5 140x5

bent-over row 1x5

95x5 105x5 115x5 120x5 125x5

was told it would be better to continue loading for another week maybe two at this point for me. so i'm gonna go into next week for sure, maybe the week after.
 
LOADING WEEK 4 - WORKOUT 2

9:11AM - 10:16AM

squats 5x5 85% of monday

warmup 95x5 125x5 135x5

155x5 155x5 155x5 155x5 155x5

deadlifts 5x5

warmup 95x5 125x5 135x5

155x5 155x5 155x5 155x5 155x5

overhead press 5x5

warmup 75x5 85x5

105x5 105x5 105x5 105x5 105x5

chins

bwx3 bwx3 bwx3 bwx3 bwx3 15 total reps
 
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