State of the regimen--workout regimen, that is

Back in late 2011 I lost it--my motivation to work out, my desire to do anything other than press buttons on a remote. There was no specific reason for it; it just happened.

In January I happened to catch a couple of women's CrossFit competitions (one of the benefits of being a TV Remote Commander), and I was dumbstruck by what these women could do. Their power, strength and endurance were just plain mind boggling. And the thought that hit me was, I need to get back in shape.

Toward that end, I picked up on the SL 5x5 plan. It was simple, involved nothing but barbell work and focused on the big movements that I'd already discovered were the key to get stronger. I followed the plan for about 2 1/2 months. During this time, I also studied other plans, including Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength and Jim Wendler's 5/3/1.

The 5x5 plan worked well, but by the time I'd reached the end of that 2.5-month period, I found I was plateauing on some lifts, especially the overhead press (OHP). When you post questions about this in the various forums (I currently log my workouts on Fitocracy), you get all kinds of responses about eating more and doing this exercise or that exercise to strengthen the deltoids or triceps or whatever. But I knew it was time for a change-up.

So I've since switched to Wendler's 5/3/1. I'm in week 2 of the plan, and I already like it and am seeing improvements. One of the aspects of the plan I like best is the assistance work. I opted for the Triumverate version because I finish off each workout with 5 sets of two different assistance exercises. I believe for some lifts 5 sets of 5 is just too much. When you begin to push that 5RM, it becomes harder and harder to make real progress.

On the OHP, for example, I did 5x5 at 115 lbs. three weeks before I made the switch. In the next workout, I could barely do 3 reps at the same weight. I managed one set of 5 a few sets of 3 and one set of 4 reps. Why? Why such a huge backward slide after I was making such good progress? One reason was because the squat was taking a lot out of me. As you increase the poundages and those 5 reps become more of a challenge, you get spent a lot more quickly on the squat. Everything after that is an uphill battle. The other reason is simply that the progression is too aggressive for a lift like the OHP. Sure, Mehdi suggests making smaller, incremental increases in such cases to give your body more time to adapt, but taken with the other heavy movements, it's just not as easy as it sounds.

The basic idea of SL 5x5 is sound, and anybody can find success on it. But what happens when you hit the wall? The bottom line for me is this: Everything works--for a while. When it stops working, why would you keep doing the same thing over and over expecting it to change? It won't.

So I bid a farewell to SL 5x5--at least for now.