Week 4 is in the books. Now I'm mentally preparing myself for BBB next week, the first week of cycle 3 for me on Wendler 5/3/1. I have a feeling I'm going to like BBB a lot. I'm thinking now maybe I've done things in reverse order of what I should have. I should have started with BBB and then cycled over to the Triumvirate after a few cycles. So I'm backwards. I still think it will work well.
Today I honestly wasn't quite sure exactly what I was going to do for my squat workout; all I knew for sure was that I'd made up my mind to skip the assistance work and do more sets of squats instead. The plan I'd sketched out using Black Iron Beast called for three sets of squats, topping out at 140. Instead, I topped out at 155 and then proceeded to do two more sets at 155 followed by three sets at 135 and finishing with a set at 95.
I knew I was working light and I knew I was performing more reps than usual, but it wasn't until midway through the workout that I realized I could make it an even 100 reps of squats across those ten sets. All I needed to do was average 10 reps per set. Since I did 5 reps in the last warm-up, that meant I needed to make up those 5 reps in the remaining sets. So I did 12 reps in two of the sets at 135 and finished with 15 reps at 95. In the end, it wasn't an even 100 reps; I think it was more like 104. Success!
I'm very seriously considering picking up a copy of Randall J. Strossen's Super Squats. I've already experimented in 20-rep squatting, and I think it could form the foundation of a solid workout plan. I may make a impulsive decision to quit Wendler midstream in cycle 3 to focus more on the squat. It certainly wouldn't hurt, given that the squat is by far my weakest movement proportionally.
Well, that's it for two cycles of Wendler. We'll have to wait and see what the future holds.
Check it out on Fitocracy.
Showing posts with label squats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label squats. Show all posts
Friday, June 15, 2012
Friday, June 1, 2012
Squats too
Vanilla.
That's all I have to say about today's squat workout.
I worked up to 215, did 5 reps (Wendler says 3+, so I did 3+2). Not bad. Will get better. I slipped in a couple more sets along the way because a) I know that I need more of a warm-up than most people (old, poor circulation, etc.) and b) because I didn't like the big jump from 145 to 190. I firmly believe that weight acclimation sets are needed before you go to your heaviest set, even when that isn't your 1RM or your 5RM. And the acclimation set doesn't have to be any more than one rep, just to tell your body the heavier stuff is coming. But that's just me. And I always, always do the first set with just the bar to loosen up a bit and to lubricate the ol' knee and hip joints.
Most "gurus" will tell you to do two or three warm-ups and then hit the working sets. I actually like to do four or even five. You just have to know your body and know what feels right, but the important thing to remember is not to fatigue your muscles on warm-ups because that's all they're for—to warm up the muscles and get the blood circulating.
Instead of 365 on the leg press, I dropped down to 345 for some rep work and supersetted with standing leg curl. Increased the weight on the leg curl incrementally to 25. Can probably do more, but I'm taking my time. And what the—? My left hamstring is stronger than my right. Or maybe just less fatigued.
In case I haven't mentioned it before, my leg presses are performed on the Yukon Fitness Vertical Leg Press.
Will do some lunges and step-ups next week. I didn't want to overdo it this week because I'm heading to Red River Gorge for a Zipline tour tomorrow morning. The last thing I wanted was to be hobbling around stiff and sore the whole day.
And, yes, I overdid it last week. I was sore for at least three days afterwards. A bit too much volume, and the one set of lunges and step-ups I did after the leg presses and standing leg curl (not to mention the extra several sets of squats) really killed my hamstrings.
Since I'm off to the Gorge tomorrow, it also means no farmer's walks, which is just as well since I haven't purchased any handles yet, and I won't try the dumbbell handles with collars ever again. It was fine with the 65-lb. hexheads, so if that's all I have, that's what I'll use. I'll just have to go for lots of volume.
You can check out the vanilla squat details on Fitocracy.
That's all I have to say about today's squat workout.
I worked up to 215, did 5 reps (Wendler says 3+, so I did 3+2). Not bad. Will get better. I slipped in a couple more sets along the way because a) I know that I need more of a warm-up than most people (old, poor circulation, etc.) and b) because I didn't like the big jump from 145 to 190. I firmly believe that weight acclimation sets are needed before you go to your heaviest set, even when that isn't your 1RM or your 5RM. And the acclimation set doesn't have to be any more than one rep, just to tell your body the heavier stuff is coming. But that's just me. And I always, always do the first set with just the bar to loosen up a bit and to lubricate the ol' knee and hip joints.
Most "gurus" will tell you to do two or three warm-ups and then hit the working sets. I actually like to do four or even five. You just have to know your body and know what feels right, but the important thing to remember is not to fatigue your muscles on warm-ups because that's all they're for—to warm up the muscles and get the blood circulating.
Instead of 365 on the leg press, I dropped down to 345 for some rep work and supersetted with standing leg curl. Increased the weight on the leg curl incrementally to 25. Can probably do more, but I'm taking my time. And what the—? My left hamstring is stronger than my right. Or maybe just less fatigued.
In case I haven't mentioned it before, my leg presses are performed on the Yukon Fitness Vertical Leg Press.
Will do some lunges and step-ups next week. I didn't want to overdo it this week because I'm heading to Red River Gorge for a Zipline tour tomorrow morning. The last thing I wanted was to be hobbling around stiff and sore the whole day.
And, yes, I overdid it last week. I was sore for at least three days afterwards. A bit too much volume, and the one set of lunges and step-ups I did after the leg presses and standing leg curl (not to mention the extra several sets of squats) really killed my hamstrings.
Since I'm off to the Gorge tomorrow, it also means no farmer's walks, which is just as well since I haven't purchased any handles yet, and I won't try the dumbbell handles with collars ever again. It was fine with the 65-lb. hexheads, so if that's all I have, that's what I'll use. I'll just have to go for lots of volume.
You can check out the vanilla squat details on Fitocracy.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Squat Friday
Today is squat day. It's also Friday. And for me that's usually not a very good combination. You see, Friday is typically the day I find it the most difficult to get motivated to work out. I often postpone it until Saturday or do a very abbreviated version of my regularly scheduled session. Today, I'm determined not to allow the low-motivation factor to affect what I do. In fact, I'm planning on making this a big workout. The kind that will give me momentum to push through the following week with ease.
I'm following 5/3/1 to the letter in terms of the working sets on the squats. After that I'm going to strip plates off and do some higher-rep work in addition to leg press for assistance-type exercises. I'm cutting a couple of sets off the leg curls to do some lunges and step-ups. This ought to give me my legs a good workout without the risk of overtraining. I'm doing lower weights and high reps for everything after the working sets of squats. I topped out today at 205 on the squats, performing 5 reps. Yeah, I should've done a couple more in that last set, but since I'm doing the extra assistance work today, I didn't see the need.
I dropped down to 175 on the squats after the set at 205, completing 10 reps. I followed that up with another set at 175 for 8 reps and then moved to the vertical leg press at 355 for 12 reps, supersetted with standing leg curls at 20 lbs. for 15 reps across three sets.
So my plan was squats, vertical leg press + leg curls, squats, lunges, step-ups. Lower weight, lots of reps in the second round of squats.
I made one minor miscalculation, however. It's really, really difficult to do any-rep squats after you've already completed eight sets followed by five sets of leg presses. So when I went back to the squats with 155 loaded on the bar, I found that seven reps was the most I could do without my legs going on strike. As it was, they threatened a walk-out on that seventh rep, but I convinced them to stick with me at least until I racked the bar.
I went down to 135 on the next set, and my legs didn't protest as much, but they sure weren't happy either. Next Friday I may wake up and find them missing.
And then I was staring at those dumbbells for the lunges, and they leered back maniacally. I was ready to give up, but, dammit!, I will not be taunted by a set of 35-lb. dumbbells! So I compromised with my ego and did one set of lunges supersetted with one set of step-ups.
At that point I said, stick a fork in me; pizza's waiting in the kitchen.
As always, the entire debacle is logged on Fitocracy.
I'm following 5/3/1 to the letter in terms of the working sets on the squats. After that I'm going to strip plates off and do some higher-rep work in addition to leg press for assistance-type exercises. I'm cutting a couple of sets off the leg curls to do some lunges and step-ups. This ought to give me my legs a good workout without the risk of overtraining. I'm doing lower weights and high reps for everything after the working sets of squats. I topped out today at 205 on the squats, performing 5 reps. Yeah, I should've done a couple more in that last set, but since I'm doing the extra assistance work today, I didn't see the need.
I dropped down to 175 on the squats after the set at 205, completing 10 reps. I followed that up with another set at 175 for 8 reps and then moved to the vertical leg press at 355 for 12 reps, supersetted with standing leg curls at 20 lbs. for 15 reps across three sets.
So my plan was squats, vertical leg press + leg curls, squats, lunges, step-ups. Lower weight, lots of reps in the second round of squats.
I made one minor miscalculation, however. It's really, really difficult to do any-rep squats after you've already completed eight sets followed by five sets of leg presses. So when I went back to the squats with 155 loaded on the bar, I found that seven reps was the most I could do without my legs going on strike. As it was, they threatened a walk-out on that seventh rep, but I convinced them to stick with me at least until I racked the bar.
I went down to 135 on the next set, and my legs didn't protest as much, but they sure weren't happy either. Next Friday I may wake up and find them missing.
And then I was staring at those dumbbells for the lunges, and they leered back maniacally. I was ready to give up, but, dammit!, I will not be taunted by a set of 35-lb. dumbbells! So I compromised with my ego and did one set of lunges supersetted with one set of step-ups.
At that point I said, stick a fork in me; pizza's waiting in the kitchen.
As always, the entire debacle is logged on Fitocracy.
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