More squats

We've started a friendly competition at work to see who can lose the most weight or the highest percentage of body fat (or both) in a specified amount of time. I don't expect to win—primarily because I don't have that much to lose in the first place. Don't get me wrong—I've put on a lot of padding over the long winter, but I know others who are competing have a lot more to lose and thus have a bit of an advantage.

In spite of the wealth of information that now exists about the benefits of weight training, I still see women straying far away from the barbells in favor of running and walking. And that's just wrong.

Too many people—especially women—pay more attention to the number on the scales than they ought to. Weight is only one small factor to consider in the body composition picture. With the proliferation of body composition scales, it's really the bodyfat percentage reading that should mean more.

Just today when I was having a conversation with a co-worker (sorry, Lisa) about her progress, she mentioned that she'd been running every day and that her knees were sore.

I like running; running's great. But the one point I make to every running enthusiast as that I have never ever experienced knee pain or soreness from squatting.

What I would say to any person—male or female—about what they ought to be doing to get in shape for summer and the beach is, simply, squat. No, no, not Smith Machine squats, good, old-fashioned barbell squats.

And as assistance movements, you might also throw in some frontal squats and goblet squats.

Naturally, that's not the only exercise you should be doing, but it ought to be number one. And you should probably throw in some bench press as well and some chin-ups and bent-over row and some deadlifts. You can go easy on the deadlifts, but it's probably the single movement that has changed my body composition the most.

The squat, however, should be the king of exercises, especially for those conscious of body composition who desire a significant change. Squats employ by far the largest muscle groups in the human body. That means a lot of muscle activation and high caloric expenditure. Couple that with the long-term benefits of added muscle, and you've got the perfect formula to transform your body into a fat-burning machine.

For those just getting started, I recommend following the StrongLifts 5x5 routine. The routine consists of completing three workouts per week, performing three compound movements in each workout. Those exercises consist of squats, bench press or overhead press (OHP) and bent-over row or deadlift. Every workout begins with the squat. You alternate between two different workouts substituting OHP for bench press and deadlifts for bent-over row in the second workout.

The benefits of this routine are first that it focuses on heavy compound movements—which activate the most muscle fiber, burn the most calories and can effect the greatest change in LBM—and second that it incorporates the squat in every workout. A third benefit, and perhaps the most important one of all, is that its simplicity. It focuses entirely on very basic, compound movements. You don't have to go to the gym with a complicated chart filled with cornucopia of exercises.

In short, it represents the best possible combination of movements to build muscle and lose fat. And, yes, as long as you eat enough protein, you will build muscle following this routine.

Now, that being said, I don't know if it's the best routine to follow forever. Every serious weight training routine needs some assistance work to go along with the heavy compound stuff. That's why after a few months on the SL 5x5 plan I switched over to Wendler's 5/3/1. SL 5x5 is great foundational program. It establishes the necessary building blocks to support a more advanced approach. But I found that I started plateauing after being on the SL program for a few months. To shake things up, I moved to something new.

If you get to the point in your routine that you feel like you need more, than Wendler's plan is an excellent alternative that focuses on heavy compound movements while incorporating a lot of assistance work.

Now, I know what most women will read this and think it's not for them because these are powerlifting and bodybuilding programs. But that's exactly why they need to follow these programs. Instead of struggling with overly restrictive diets and exercise programs that consist solely of walking and/or running, more people—especially women—should be not only lifting weights, but lifting heavy and following intense routines.

You don't have to give up on running altogether, but it's time we changed our thinking about the best way to approach a weight loss and fitness program.

Benching up

Ah, yes, the Thursday bench press.

I guess from all the years I started every workout with the bench press, I look forward to the bench press days as the "easy" workout. And that's odd, considering I'm never, ever satisfied with my progress on the bench press.

Today I did pretty well. No, not satisfying, but the progress according to the plan I've sketched out is right on schedule.

I felt a lot better today than I have on recent days. I've really felt rundown lately, so to go into a workout feeling energized was a nice change. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with my caloric intake. I have always had a problem getting enough to eat. I always plan on eating at least 5 meals a day—mostly chicken and vegetables—but I often end up missing one of those meals. So I've taken to snacking on peanuts during the day to make up for it. I think it's working.

Today I maxed out at 215 on the bench press for three reps. I was hoping to do five, but it just didn't happen. According to Fitocracy, that's a personal best since I started tracking my workouts on the site. As impatient as I am to move forward, it's still solid progress, so I'll take what I can get. I'm a long way from my all-time best, however, and I hope to get back into that range before the end of the year. I figure I'll have to eat a lot more steak to make it happen, though.

I did a sort-of reverse pyramid after the max on the BP and finished up with four sets of 10-12 reps at 135. During the reverse pyramid, I supersetted in sets of bent-over row and single-arm dumbbell row.

I've been wimping out a lot lately on the assistance work, so I was pleased to get in a full workout with assistance work and high volume on the main lift.

All in all, things are looking up. I need to be more disciplined with my diet to ensure I'm eating enough. Tomorrow is squat day, so I'm going to shovel in as much food as I can.

Dreadlift Day

This was one of those days a part of me was looking for an excuse not to work out. The little voice inside my head said, "It's--it's deadlift day, isn't it?" Still too sore from the last couple of workouts, the voice said. Need a little more rest, the little voice said. That bar is going to get really heavy, really fast, it croaked.

The little voice was right in many ways. I was in fact still stiff from the previous workouts. I felt fatigued, and all I'd eaten to that point had been a couple of eggs and a couple of chicken breasts.

I was, however, also still hyped up on the frozen coffee beverage I got at Java Brewing Co. So I told the little voice to go take a little nap while I finished the workout.

Okay, I openly and unashamedly admit I did not complete the full itinerary.

At the start of the workout I felt like a dried up tree frog on Dixie Highway. With warm-up set one in the books, the little voice was saying its I-told-you-so's. Maybe I'll just go light today, I told myself, ignoring the snickering from Little Voice. Yeah, fine, I said, maybe some higher-rep, lighter-weight sets for today until I fully recover and get some good solid meals under the belt.

By warm-up set three, I was feeling a lot better. The tightness had gone away for the most part, and the fatigue was fading. I think I can do this, I told myself. We'll see what the next few sets feel like.

When I did five easy reps at 275, the idea of doing a few light sets was gone altogether. I followed that up with three reps at 295 as an acclimation set and then did a full five reps at 315.

Now, I've deadlifted more than 315 before, but I don't ever remember doing more than a few reps. Those were five big reps made all the bigger because all I wanted to do was curl up with a pillow.

I finished up with a reverse pyramid back down to 235. I had thoughts of doing a few sets at 205, but, frankly, after the last set at 235 my hamstrings were quivering, and Little Voice was accusing me of  being a masochist. Fearing Little Voice might be right, I quit for the day and didn't even bother with the hanging leg raises or the Pendlay rows. After hitting five reps at 315, I figured I'd done enough for one day.

Yes, Fitocracy, until another day.

BBB: Day One

I decided to try something a little different this week, so I switched to Wendler's Boring but Big (BBB) program. It's the same split as the Triumvirate, the only real difference being that the focus is more on the primary movements. There's little in the way of assistance work.

I deliberately set my sights high for this cycle. I want to push the envelope hard in week three this time around.

Today is OHP day, and I wanted to go as high as I could while still being able to get in some good rep work. Yes, that's counter to the plan, but I just feel it's time I tested the boundaries a bit more. The 5/3/1 program always goes below maxes anyway, so I always know I can lift more. I intended to go up to 125 today, but I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and lifted 135 instead. I made up for it by dropping back down to 115 for five reps before continuing with the plan.

The "assistance" work consisted of five more sets of OHP at 75 lbs. supersetted with hanging leg raise. I hate hanging leg raises, but I did them anyway.

After completing three reps at 135, I know I can go up to 120 or 125 in next week's Monday workout, so I'm on track with what I intend to accomplish.

I like doing the extra sets of the primary movements. I believe this will help me progress better.

As always, it's logged on Fitocracy.

Deload is over

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.

Yes, I'm still here

I had a lot going on this weekend, so I ended up skipping the Friday squat workout, intending to make it up on Saturday, but then all of the Saturday activities prevented from getting to it. And Sunday, well, Sunday I just wasn't up to it.

Now I'm starting day one of the deload week a workout behind. To make up for lost ground, I'm combining what would have been the Friday/Saturday squat workout with the Monday deload overhead press workout. And, yes, I still plan to do the deload squat workout on Friday as scheduled. If I were going to make the mistake of missing a workout, I picked the right time to do it. It will be easy to make it up as part of the deload plan.

As had been scheduled for last Friday, I worked up to 225 on the squat for three reps (since this is week 3, the plan called for one+ reps). Since I'm working this into the OHP workout, I skipped the leg presses and leg curls and instead threw in a couple of warm-down sets on the squats at 175 and 155. I think it's a fair compromise.

The OHP workout called for a max of 80, but I'm doing 95, since it's pretty light. I supersetted OHP with chins and dips across three sets. A good workout without overdoing it, which is exactly the intent of the deload week. This is recovery time for the muscles after having gone heavy last week.

I've decided to switch to Wendler's Big But Boring (BBB) plan starting next week. There's no particular reason for it other than it will give me additional work in the big movements themselves rather than splitting the emphasis with the assistance movements. The assistance exercises are great, and I'm sure I'll go back to the Triumvirate at some point; I just feel what I really need is more work on the really big stuff. So, starting next week, boring it is.

Today's log is, of course, on Fitocracy.

Doing that bench thing and thoughts on weight acclimation

As with some other exercises recently, I'm feeling the need to make some minor adjustments to the progression pattern. Today, for example, my warm-up sets were to go from 90 up to 135, with the working sets starting at 165. I know I may be a little neurotic about this, but I didn't like the 30-lb. jump from the last warm-up to the first working set, so I decided to squeeze in another set at 155 before the set at 165. That's a more gradual progression, so I think it gets my body better acclimated for the heaviest working sets.

I believe that weight acclimation is a highly underrated—and perhaps misunderstood or even unrecognized—concept. Yes, it's almost entirely psychological and thus will largely be dismissed by many, but it certainly can have an impact on your workout.

Try this experiment some time with an unsuspecting test subject:  Empty an opaque milk jug and then put it in the refrigerator. You could wait for someone to go for a bowl of cereal or you could just ask someone to pour you a nice cold glass of cow juice. What happens when they pick up the jug? Surely, everyone has done this at some point. You think a jug is full and when you grab it, it nearly flies to the ceiling.

Afterwards, try the opposite. Fill a jug full and tell someone to "throw that empty away." Again, what happens? Exactly the reverse of the previous experiment. If you think the container is empty, you exert less force against it than is actually required.

I firmly believe the same principle applies exactly the same in weight training and weight lifting. If you go into a lift cold and attempt your 1RM, chances are, you'll fail. It's not necessarily because you're incapable of lifting that much, but because your body just isn't ready for it.

Never mind the fact that trying to lift heavy without warming up leaves you vulnerable to injury.

Yes, I believe the progression matters. As I've stated before, it doesn't really matter that you only do one rep in that acclimation set as long as you do something to prepare your muscles for the heavier weights. Also consider what it feels like in reverse: After you've done a working set at your heaviest weight, drop back down to your heaviest warm-up set and see what it feels like. It seems a lot lighter than it did when you were warming up, doesn't it?

Today I again employed the additional warm-up set to acclimate myself before the working sets. My goal was to do at least one rep at 205. Instead, I did two at 215 and then dropped down to complete the bench press workout with a set of three reps at 205. I'm not going to say that the acclimation set helped me exceed my goal. The fact is, I simply knew I could do more. I opted for two heavy sets at the end just to give me some forward momentum. I'm deloading next week anyway, so why not?

I finished up with supersets of incline dumbbell press and single-arm dumbbell row. This is the first time I've included incline DB press, so I figured it was about time. It will probably become a permanent substitute in place of flat DB press.

And it's another workout in the books at Fitocracy.

Week 3 Day 2: Deadlift

If zombies decided to start lifting weights, would it be called the undeadlift?

I think I like Tuesdays the best because it's deadlift day, and there's just something kind of satisfying about moving really heavy stuff.

Yesterday, I made a couple of minor adjustments to the workout. The important one was that I decided to top out not at 295 as I'd planned, but at 305 instead. I've done 5 reps at 295 before, so I know I can do more. I was able to complete three reps at 305 and very well could have done 5. I want to continue to improve and, since this is the peak week of the cycle, there's no harm in going a bit heavier. Next week is the deload, so no worries on pushing it too hard.

The other tweak I implemented was supersetting hanging leg raise, good mornings and then ab crunches on the PowerTec Workbench. And, yes, I openly confess that part of the reason for making this change is because I hate hanging leg raises, so I don't want to do any more than three sets of the damned things. And, yes, I hate them so much that I'm more than willing to do supersets of three different exercises just to get out of doing two sets of them.

I finished up with three sets of Pendlay rows since I wimped out on Monday and didn't do them when I'd planned.

Besides, I like to do the rows on deadlift days because the two work so well together to strengthen the back. When I was following my hardgainer minimalist routine years ago, I liked to do seated row and bent-over row after deadlifts. It did a lot to strengthen my lats and traps. And I did not mind at all when doing the bent-over row that I had a tendency to allow my upper body to move upward from parallel to the floor because it just meant activating the traps more. With the Pendlays, I remain parallel, but there's still some activation of the traps. I may want to work the shrugs in more as I'd planned and some upright row.

For a little variation I will occasionally mix in underhand barbell rows, which some refer to as Yates rows.

It was a tough workout, and I'm ready for my rest day today before moving on to the bench press tomorrow. It might be time for me to push a little harder on that one as well. In two weeks I'll be starting another cycle, and it's about time to shake things up and raise expectations.

Oh, yeah. It's logged on Fitocracy.

Okay, I wimped out

It was a Monday like any other Monday. I dragged myself out of bed and prepared myself for the ordeal that is work, knowing that ugly surprises awaited me. But Monday is also OHP day in my current routine, and that's fine. The only problem is, between work distractions that followed me home and the behavior of two ornery kids, I just wasn't into it.

That means I cut things a bit short. I had expanded the OHP workout to include Pendlay rows in addition to chin-ups and dips, but yesterday I did only three sets of chins and dips and skipped the Pendlays altogether.

Yes, I wimped out.

On a positive note, however, I was able to complete a full five reps at 125 on the press, 10 lbs. more than the most I've done recently, and I could've done more. I'm in the peak week of my second Wendler cycle, so this week I will be doing the heaviest lifts on the big movements. If I had completed only one rep or two at 125, it would've been considered a successful workout, but I did five, so that's a real accomplishment.

Next week is supposed to be the deload week, but I'm seriously tempted to see what I can do at 135. But maybe not.

The plan hatching in my head right now is to deload next week and focus on reps and volume for the assistance work, which means doing all of the extra movements I decided to add for this cycle, but have, ahem, occasionally skipped.

It looks like I'm well on track to hit some recent personal bests on the main lifts. I say recent personal bests because I'm still not close to my all-time bests on any of the main lifts. But I'm still making progress. This should give me some good momentum going into the deload week to be able come out on the other side rested and ready to take some big strides forward.

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.

Bench press Thursday

For many people the bench press comes easy. It's the primary movement on which most of their effort is focused. When someone wants to know how strong a guy is, they'll ask how much they can bench. The bench press is easily the most overrated weight lifting movement. Far too much emphasis is placed on it.

And it doesn't come easy to me. It seems I've always struggled with it. From time to time I've made good strides, but very seldom have I ever felt confident that I could beat personal records.

Today was another of those days it just didn't come easy. You would think that the OHP and bench press would go hand-in-hand, at least to some extent. Doing 8 reps at 115 on the OHP was easy the other day. Today, doing five at 195 on the bench was not. I might've been able to do six or seven reps, but I was expecting to be able to do 8 or even 10. I was really thinking 8. It was the number I had in mind from the start of the workout.

The bar just seemed to have my number today. But I'm only in my second cycle of 5/3/1, so the PRs may yet come. Did I lift the weight at or above the rep total the plan calls for? Yes, but it was just more difficult than I expected. I did an extra set of dumbbell bench press and Kroc rows to try to make up for the disappointing bench press numbers. As with the squats, I often feel I'm just not doing enough on the bench press sometimes.

In the next cycle of 5/3/1 I expect I will be seriously pushing the envelope on my limits. I'll have to wait and see how it works out. The PRs on the bench press are still several months down the road. On the deadlift, squat and overhead press, they're just around the corner.

Yes, it's logged on Fitocracy.

Makeup day

Normally, Tuesday is deadlift day, but because I was a little busy attending my son's fifth grade graduation, I skipped the workout with plans to make it up on Wednesday. Finding myself preoccupied with other matters, I wasn't very motivated to do that makeup workout, but I didn't want to let it slide. So I compromised.

Instead of doing the full workout I abbreviated it a bit and focused primarily on completing the deadlift sets. I was able to do 5 reps at 280 in the last set, which puts me in good shape to be able to do some reps at 295 next week. I expect to be able to do at least 5 reps at that weight.

I realized during the workout that I'd performed the Monday OHP incorrectly. Well, not in terms of form or anything, just that I performed more reps than I was supposed to. The plan is called 5/3/1 for a reason. In each of the first three weeks of a cycle, the intensity increases and the reps decrease. Week one is the 5-rep week, week 2 is three reps in each working set, and in week 3 the working sets are 5-3-1. But I completed five reps in each of the OHP sets on Monday instead of three. Duh. Obviously, I'm no worse for wear. Plenty of time to recover before next Monday's workout.

Likewise, I have to remember that I'm doing three reps in each set of the bench press this evening. Three. Three, three, three. Except in the last set. In the last set, you're supposed to do as many as you can without going to true failure. Yeah, it's kind of a weird concept, but I can't argue with it because it seems to be working. I'm especially happy with the improvement on the OHP.

Yes, the progress is slow, I admit. If I were trying to hit my 5RM each week, I could be lifting 120+ on the OHP right now. But the mistake I've always made in the past is pushing too hard and being too impatient. The Wendler system is working for me, so there's no reason not to keep going with it. Slow and steady = constant improvement = no frustration.

The change I made to yesterday's workout was to ditch the hanging leg raises and good mornings, opting instead for ab crunches on the Powertec Workbench and close-grip chin-ups. I supersetted the three exercises to abbreviate the workout. I shuffled things a bit, but since I completed the main movement for the workout as prescribed, I don't think it's truly a violation of the plan.

Today, it will be business as usual with the bench press, dumbbell press and Kroc rows.

The deadlift workout is, of course, logged on Fitocracy. (I may have linked to an incorrect URL in previous posts. Oops.)

Wendler 5/3/1 Cycle 2, Week 2

Week two of this cycle kind of sneaked up on me, in part because of the holiday. I've grown accustomed to working out in the evening after work, so it felt a little weird to be doing it so early in the afternoon.

Today I did 8 reps at 115 on the shoulder press, which is clearly a big step forward after hitting the wall at 115 earlier. I've done 5 reps across 5 sets before, but then as other exercises—particularly the squat—ramped up, I found I just couldn't move past 115 and even dropped down in weight for a while. Being able to complete 8 reps is a minor achievement, and I'm confident I will continue to move forward if I stick to the 5/3/1 plan.

In spite of achieving something of a personal record on the press, I felt like I was really just going through the motions during this workout. I didn't feel energized at all; I was just trying to get through it.

I guess in that sense I should consider it something of a success. Even though I was just getting by, I still managed a good lift on the OHP and pushed out 8 reps on weighted dips at 65 lbs. I've done as much as 75 lbs. on weighted dips before, but 8 reps at 65 is pretty good right now—especially considering that I weigh considerably more now than I ever have before. I'm actually lifting an additional 15 lbs. more than when I was dipping with 65 lbs. a few years back.

I continued with the plan to mix in Pendlay rows. Instead of cutting short on the chin-ups, however, I supersetted them with the OHP and completed five full sets. I did the Pendlays in supersets with the dips for four sets.

All in all, not a bad workout. I have wonder, though, how much better it would have been had I been more rested and invigorated. See Fitocracy for the gory details.

Tomorrow is supposed to be deadlift day, but it's going to have to be postponed until Wednesday because I'll be attending my son's 5th grade graduation ceremony.

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.

The importance of planning workouts

You see people all the time in the gym with their logbooks, penciling in everything they do. That's great. It's important to log what you're doing. But it's far more important to plan what you're going to do for some very simple reasons that have nothing to do with charting your linear progression or having something to show off to your friends or would-be lovers.

It's really not that difficult to keep track of what you've done. On very few occasions have I carried a log book to the gym with me. I know how much I can bench press; I know how much I can squat. It's not difficult for me to remember that I did 8 reps at 185 in yesterday's bench press workout and that if I wanted to improve on that number, I might go for 9 or 10 in the next workout. Do I log my workouts? You bet. And now that I have multiple automated systems for doing so, it's a lot easier. I've logged my workouts while I was performing them, after each set, but I've also logged workouts the day after I completed them. Is it the most important part of my program? Not by a long shot.

Is it good to track what you've done? Sure. And if you're obsessed with it, you can keep a spreadsheet and turn it into some colorful graphs that show how much stronger you've gotten over the last several months. It's a tool to quantify progress if you feel the need to do it at a high level of detail.

The importance of that, however, doesn't even come close to the planning that should occur before you even set foot in the gym.

It's possible to just wing it every time you go to the gym and do whatever you want. And I'm sure more than a few people got themselves into great shape by ad-libbing their way through workout after workout. But even most of the ad-libbers probably had some kind of mental plan in place, one likely based on previous workouts.

The best way to approach any exercise program is to put a plan in place from the start.

Now, the highly success-oriented fitness gurus will tell you to set goals and determine what it will take to achieve those goals. Do you want to get stronger? How much stronger? Do you want bigger muscles? How much bigger? Do you want to get leaner?  Do you want to lose weight? A fitness consultant will ask you all of these questions and more. Depending on what goals you set, you'll then work on an exercise plan and a diet plan. You'll find yourself micromanaging aspects of your life you've long taken for granted.

While I admit that's a smart approach and will no doubt lead to success—assuming that you follow through with all of the micromanagement—a simpler approach may be all you need.

It's as simple as this: Put your workout plans on paper. I'm not talking about plans for losing weight or any of that. I'm talking about the nuts and bolts plans: the physical work you plan on doing when you walk into the gym or into the yard or onto the street or whatever.

Your plan should cover at least a couple of weeks. It will encompass which days you plan to work out, how much time you plan to spend on the workout, and exactly what exercises you are performing in each and in what order. It's a road map.

And the road map, I argue, is the number one key to a successful fitness regimen.

One reason this is true is because it commits you to doing exactly what you ought to do in each workout. If you start with a vague idea about doing some exercises in the gym or going for a run, chances are, you'll stop just short of a good workout. Without a road map, there's nothing quantifiable you intend to achieve, so any little thing you do feels like enough. Most of the time, it's not.

Putting a plan on paper also provides incentive for following through. Once you write down what you intend to do in the next workout and the workout after that, it becomes a binding contract between you and yourself. It burdens you with a sense of obligation that reaches beyond the vague feeling of, "Oh, I ought to go to the gym today." You can't look at that list or that spreadsheet without thinking that this is what you said you were going to do, so you're obligated to do it.

And you might pencil at the top of the contract the phrase "No excuses."

Drawing up a workout road map can also be a good motivator. Would you design an elaborate Lego construction and not try to build it? Okay, well, maybe you might. But I've always found that the minute I had something in place that told me exactly what I was going to do each day of the week for the next few weeks, it always made it a lot easier for me to do it. There's a psychological element to it. How can you do anything if you really don't know what you're going to do? It's always easier to go to work when I have a clear idea what needs to be done and how I'm going to do it.

Another positive aspect of a good, detailed plan is that it removes some of the guesswork and to some degree automates the whole process. Yes, you still have to put in the physical effort required, but if you plan it the right way, you don't have to sweat the details about how you're going to increase your 1RM on the bench press. Just follow your plan. That 1RM is in some respects just an irrelevant number. As Jim Wendler points out in 5/3/1, too many people are obsessed with the 1RM when gains can be quantified in increased reps at lower weight.  Wendler notes that powerlifters usually record personal records at competitions never having lifted that weight in training. Training always takes place well below the eventual PR and new 1RM.

The point is that if you follow the outline as written, you don't even have to think about that 1RM number. You do the reps at the weights prescribed and the rest takes care of itself. The best part is, the whole process of developing a plan has been automated, depending on which you intend to follow. All over the internet you can find workout planners based on various philosophies. I'm currently using Black Iron Beast for 5/3/1, but if you want to follow something like SL 5x5, you'll find that the plan is the ultimate in simplicity. You might also give Black Iron Beast for Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength a try.

What your road map looks like will vary depending on general goals. Just get it on paper or on your computer screen and sign the contract with yourself to follow it through.

Bench press Thursday

Thursday is bench press day. This is the one day I'm not going to meddle with much in terms of assistance work. I like the Kroc rows, so I'm going to stick with them for a while longer. I did add a few sets of chin-ups because Wendler recommends doing them between pressing movements. I didn't want to do much, though, because it should not interfere with the main exercises.

The bench felt pretty good, and I was able to complete 8 reps at 185. I don't know if I've ever done that many reps at 185, so it's an encouraging sign. On the dumbbell press, however, I could only do 12 reps with the 65s when I'd completed 15 across 5 sets before. After a few sets at 65, I dropped down to 50 and finished a total of 10 sets.

The Kroc rows were great today. I recently purchased some dumbbell bars and more plates, so I did my first two sets of rows at 105 lbs. I wanted to get in some good rep work, though, so I dropped back down to 95 where I was able to do 10 reps. Previously, I was doing 8 reps at 95, so, again, another small step forward. I intend to keep going heavier and heavier on the Kroc rows. I supersetted the last five sets of dumbbell press with the Kroc rows.

One could make the argument that I'm not doing true Kroc rows and that I'm not really following it as Wendler prescribes. Kroc rows are supposed to be performed at a very heavy weight and in such a way that you have to cheat a bit to squeeze out every last rep. As with some other movements, Wendler says do 20 reps in a set on this one. My plan at the current time is to work into that. I want to go heavier, but I also want to get the rep work in, so I may drop down to 75 in the next workout after a few heavy sets and go crazy with them.

I'm considering one minor adjustment to the assistance work on bench press days. I experimented with some workouts from Tom Venuto's web site a couple of years ago. One of them involved doing supersets with incline dumbbell press in which you perform several sets back to back, lowering the incline between each set until the last set is almost on a flat bench. This might be something to try on bench press days after the barbell bench press and Kroc rows are out of the way. One thing I remember from doing this is that I really felt it in my triceps.

So another bench press day in the books and on to squats tomorrow. I keep feeling like I'm not doing nearly enough for my legs, so after the standard Wendler barbell squat routine, I'm going to throw in 3-4 sets of higher rep squats before moving on to the leg press. I'm adding a few sets of lunges as new assistance work tomorrow, shaking things up just a bit without overcomplicating the workout. Fridays are always the toughest days of the week to get motivated. There's a part of me that just wants to brush it off and play games instead. Tomorrow I have to stick to the plan.

Wendler 5/3/1: Cycle 2, Day 2

Deadlift Tuesday.

Come rain, snow, sleet, hail, thunderstorms or heatwaves, Tuesday will always be deadlift day.

For my second cycle on Wendler's 5/3/1 plan, I've decided to work in some new assistance work. I was missing some movements that had been a part of my workout before I switched to 5/3/1, and I wanted to mix in some new stuff to help work on weak areas. In Monday's workout, the extra assistance came in the form of Pendlay rows, which I was performing one or two days a week on the 5x5 plan. Even though Kroc rows are part of 5/3/1, I feel it's important to include the barbell work. Most of the assistance work I'm finagling in relates to improving grip strength, which will be important to improving my deadlift.

For Tuesday's workout, I decided the primary new addition out to be shrugs. They're recommended to help improve grip and to strengthen the upper back for deadlifts. Since the workout already called for hanging leg raise, I decided to cut the number of leg raise sets in half and then make up the difference with ab crunches on the Powertec Workbench Multisystem. I confess, part of the reason for the change-up is that I despise hanging leg raises. Don't get me wrong; it's about the best ab exercise you can do. I just hate doing them. I used to have some support straps for leg raises, but now I have to hang from the pull-up bar. First of all, that's actually kind of painful on the lats. It ends up becoming as much a lat endurance exercise as an ab movement. Okay, fine, two exercises in one, but on the day after deadlifts and Pendlay rows, it's just murder. So three sets instead of five and then some ab crunches. I think that's a fair exchange to prevent me from despising my workout.

I've taken to supersetting some assistance movements to get out of my workouts more quickly. One of the basic principles of any workout plan I follow has to be getting in and out in as short a time as possible. The more time you spend in the gym lifting, the less time your body has to recover. You do not get stronger while you're lifting; you get stronger when your body is recovering. The sooner you end the abuse, the sooner your body can start mending. I was so anxious this week to get the leg raises out of the way that I actually supersetted deadlifts, hanging leg raise and ab crunches, performing them back-to-back-to-back. Since I'm only doing three sets of hanging leg raises, it's easy to get them out of the way during the warm-up sets of the deadlifts. I would not recommend supersetting any movement with the working sets of the deadlift unless your goal is to burn as many calories as possible in as short a time while simultaneously trying to assert your invincibility. Deadlifting requires a lot of energy. The more you expend on other work, the less you'll have for the really serious lifting. That's especially important in Week 3 of the 5/3/1 cycle when you're performing your heaviest lifts.

I was able to do eight reps at 265 on the deadlift and was feeling a bit drained by the time I got to that last set. I think I've actually done more at that weight in a previous workout, so for week 2 I'm going to have to make sure I get enough to eat before the workout and maybe go back to having that protein shake at the start to give me a little boost. When I'm really in need of a jolt, I mix some coffee into my workout shake. I may be doing that today.

I hadn't done shrugs in years, so I had no idea how much I could lift. Wendler prescribes high reps for shrugs—20-40 reps each set! I tried 225, and it was too heavy. I tried 185, and it was also too heavy to get into a good rep range. I eventually settled in at 135. It's going to take some getting used to. When I performed shrugs before, I was doing it all wrong. Back when I started lifting, rolling the shoulders from forward to back was recommended. Wendler and many other says, no, that's not how you do it. So I am untraining myself when it comes to the shrug.

And so it goes.

Wendler 5/3/1: Cycle 2

Yesterday I started my second cycle on Wendler's 5/3/1 plan. After the deload week my first step was to recalculate my theoretical 1RMs for the main lifts. I know this time around I have seriously raised expectations. Week three of cycle 2 will be tough, but based on what I've accomplished to date, I'm sure I will continue moving forward. I've already seen the kind of gains that boost my confidence in this plan—not only in the plan itself, but also that it's the right plan for me.

That's an important distinction I feel must be made. There are multitudes of cookie-cutter weight training, powerlifting and bodybuilding plans you can follow, the real trick is often just finding out what works best for you and your body type.

Yes, you can certainly find programs tied to the concept of somatyping (assuming, of course, you believe the  system is valid). Somatyping classifies body types into three broad categories: endomorph—people who tend to carry and store more fat; ectomorph—people who tend to be skinny and small; and mesomorph—people who tend to be lean and muscular.

Naturally, it's the mesomorph body type that most people aspire to have. Mesomorphs just naturally have leaner, more muscular bodies. It doesn't much matter what they do in the weightroom or in their jogging shoes because getting lean and strong is in their genes.

The only problem with somatyping is that most people likely don't fit neatly into one of the three categories. The study acknowledges that fact; the problem is, how would you devise a workout plan tailored to whatever hybrid you are? By this classification system, I define myself as somewhere between endomorph and ectomorph. I've never in my life ever been truly lean. I've always carried a padding of fat around my midsection even when I was a scrawny high schooler. Even when I was running three to five miles a day and lifting weights three days a week, I was still not lean. For years I ate a very lean diet and avoided sugar altogether. But still I was not lean.

At the same time, gaining strength and muscle mass also comes hard to me. I would go to the gym anywhere from three to five days a week, achieving neither noticeable mass gains nor leanness. Yes, I did get a little stronger, but the gains were not as significant as one would expect from the effort I was putting into it.

I discovered that all I really needed to know is that I am a classic hard gainer. It was Stuart McRobert's Brawn that entirely changed my approach to weight training.

I am convinced one of the reasons Wendler's 5/3/1 plan works well—especially for guys like me—is because it follows the same basic principles as McRobert's Brawn: basic heavy movements, split routines, plenty of rest days and shorter, lower volume workouts.

Yesterday's workout provided a good example of how I've improved on 5/3/1. In the last week I followed SL 5x5, I was able to do 5 reps at 115 on the overhead press (OHP). But I was really hitting the wall at that point. In yesterdays OHP workout, I did 9 reps at 110 and could have done a couple more (part of Wendler's plan calls for doing as many reps in the last set as possible above the target of 5, but he does not advocate working to failure). It's easy to extrapolate and predict where I will be next week. The periodization aspect of Wendler's plan is a valuable element that ensures success.

The key is patience. People follow straight linear progression plans because they want to see constant improvement. The problem is, obstacles on the tracks are always waiting to derail you. Periodization actually helps you avoid those obstacles; you just have to have the patience to stick to the cycles as prescribed.

For my second cycle on Wendler's plan, I decided I wanted to mix in some different assistance movements, such as shrugs, Pendlay rows and lunges. I just wasn't sure how to do that without sacrificing other assistance work I want to continue performing.

The solution—at least on paper—is to reduce the number of assistance sets of one exercise and mix in a few of the new. For example, yesterday's OHP plan called for 5 sets of chin-ups. Instead, I did three sets of chin-ups and then mixed in three sets of Pendlay rows. I supersetted the chin-ups and rows with dips. Wendler advocates doing pull-ups or chin-ups between pressing movements, so I'm going to try to do as many pull-ups and chins as I can, whenever I can. The workout, as usual, is logged on Fitocracy.

Today's deadlift workout calls for hanging leg raises and good mornings for assistance work, but I want to work in shrugs and ab crunches as well. So I'm cutting the 5 sets of hanging leg raise to 3 and working in three sets of ab crunches on the PowerTec Workbench ab machine. The shrugs will come at the very end. Wendler advocates high reps for shrugs, so my plan is to do three sets of 20 or more. I'm not sure right now how much weight that will be since I haven't done shrugs in years, so I'll have to experiment a bit. Between the shrugs I'll be doing on deadlift days, the Kroc rows on bench press days and the farmer's walk on weekends, I think I'm in good shape to improve my grip strength. I'm curious to see how this will affect my deadlift in coming weeks.

Cycle 2 is off to a good start, and I'm looking forward to the upcoming workouts. Oh, and incidentally, I used the Black Iron Beast 5/3/1 calculator to devise the base workout, but I had to create my own spreadsheet to customize. The important thing is to have a plan on paper as a contract between you and your workout routine.