Back to 5/3/1, love that program! Going to do it pretty much by the book this time however, no modifications except I'm going to replace overhead press with chinups as a 5/3/1 exercise, and I'm doing my own assistance scheme, but other than that, I'm going to follow the manual.


Incline Bench Press
180 x 5
205 x 5
235 x 10

Incline Bench Press
215 x 10
215 x 10
215 x 10

Pendlay Rows
185 x 10
185 x 10
185 x 10

Wow, that's some insane benching, dude! And powerful rows.

What variation are you following? Looks like Boring But Big only with reduced volume (i.e. 3 x 10 instead of 5 x 10).

Also, the weight on your assistance bench sets looks pretty high. What percentage of your working max is that?

Looking forward to seeing you progress. 5/3/1 is an amazing program.

I like to change it around and make it a 3 day rotation where you hit each exercise every 5 days, and I also like to change the overhead presses to chinups to make it more balanced. So I end up with something like this:
Incline bench 5/3/1
Incline bench accessory
Standing db presses accessory

Chins 5/3/1
Chins accessory
Rows accessory

Squats 5/3/1
Squats accessory
Romanian deads accessory

Now I know you're gonna ask about regular deads, but I can't to deads heavy and squats heavy in the same week, my back just can't take it anymore, so I pick one or the other for 5/3/1 and make the other an accessory. I might use deads I don't know, it depends on howy groin holds up with squats.

Now for accessories, yes I do them a bit heavier than wendler recommends. I only do 3 sets and rotate from 3x10 at 70%, then 3x8 at 75%, then 3x6 at 80%. If I find it to be too much, I can drop down to 65, 70, and 75% for the same rep scheme. I base these % off my true 1rm, not my working 1rm on the 5/3/1 exercises.

So that's my take on it. Maybe I change it a bit too much, but I tailor it to my own needs. I need to remember to do the deloads though, cause I always find myself skipping it when I feel like I don't need it.

Sounds pretty cool, actually. I really like the idea of applying chinups to 5/3/1. How would your warmup look for that workout?

Good stuff, Stew. Will be following your journal. This guy is one to watch!

I was basing the workout off of prilepins table. I dont want to do any failure sets for a little while, they always seem to kill me. This way I can do some heavier weights and low reps and not hit failure and stay relatively fresh.

Come on, you know us old guys have to adapt a bit here and there lol.

I KNOW THAT haha It seems I'm in a constant state of adapting and modifying due to injuries. It's good to see you didn't get a MAJOR injury playing hockey

Dear lord your incline scares the shit out of me. Great numbers!

I like these workouts you aren't fucking around with leg extensions and wrist curls.

You must really hate isolation exercises, lol

Almost as much as you do, judging by this journal haha.

it was satisfying that our team of late 20s, mid 30 year olds beat a team of young 20 year olds with yours truly getting the winning goal with a minute and a half left in the third period.

Hey Stewy - just popping to say hi

You are so strong - wow!

My, look what the cat dragged in. How you been TT?

Damn ATF squats and deadlifts in the same workout would kill me.

ok, gotta get back on a schedule with these workouts, I've been all over the place lately. i want to keep a 4 day schedule, none of this working out with weights 4 days in a row crap anymore, I'm feeling it.

4 days in a row? Gotta rest once in a while.

Damn man you are killin it. What's your height & weight?

Beastly looking workouts in here dude.

Squats + Deads!?

245 Floor Press!?

The hell do they put in the water down there.

I honestly have exercise add, and it's a terrible disease, trust me, it sucks.

Is your groin still messed up? Have you thought about buying some support gear to rehab it? Inzer do these things called "Power Pants" - lame name aside, they're basically similar to a PL suit to add support around the groin area during injury or overload phases.

Might be worth a look.

New program sounds cool - sometimes just saying fuck it to the complex stuff and going linear is the way to do it.

You should, dude! A friend of mine has a very similar issue because he plays a lot of soccer. Doesn't really bother him until he sets up for deads or gets low in the squat, and i suggested the pants too.

Kinda glad i suck at pretty much every team sport known to man, haha. Keeps me a little more injury-free. But also forever alone

hockey is pretty much the one thing I'm good at, oh and bowling too if you count that as a "sport".

now why do you say "forever alone"? camaraderie of team sports? if that's it, trust me it's no biggie when you get older, you play your one game a week, and maybe out of your team of 12 players,you like 5 of them, so maybe you go out with them for a beer every now and then, so really no biggie.
if you meant something else, well then I have no idea what you meant, lol.

Kinda glad i suck at pretty much every team sport known to man, haha. Keeps me a little more injury-free. But also forever alone

Well you know the old saying, "If you can't be an athlete, be an athletic supporter."

ADD---attention deficit disorder.....ie, reads too much shit on the internet and lets it influence training decisions waaaaay too often....


not add, as in 2+2, oooops

Do upright rows bother your shoulders at all? That exercise really did a number on mine.

I do the pendlays because there is less back strain since you are putting the weight down on each rep. you don't have to statically tire out your erectors to make them work. I tighten my hamstrings, and pull, then just drop the weight right down the the floor.

I don't roll my shoulders or anything, I really just try to stay as close to 90 degrees as possible and just basically do a standard row, just off the floor.

Nice. I'll have to try them too. Was lookig at those yates rows that Jake likes. dunno...I'm used to being bent over 90 deg...not 45 or less...but, will try it.
Lookin' strong, bro!

well, the thing is, if you do them pendlay style, you can have your back at pretty much 90 degrees and not feel too much strain because of the way you deload the bar on the floor.

i would imagine it would be bothersome with heavy weight on a regular row, but it really works for the pendlays.

got side tracked a bit, what else is new with me. I am wasting so much valuable time for progress it's disgusting. oh well, whatever, family is all happy and healthy, working out is secondary to that, so that's all that matters.

almost 60lb hammer curls?
screw Thor! We've got Stew!
Good job, amigo

not that hard....just come in here and find out what crazy-assed #'s you are putting up.
i still want to get into your realm of strength, brotha

good trade off though....how far are you from say....Va/DC area? 4-5 hours?
When...I'm done being all I can be here, I may be able to find work in the VA area, near DC...pay is awesome...will have to look into that.

may 15


so, like Akira, I am wondering if it is possible to deadlift like this pain free to the area in question if in fact you have a hernia? I'm trying not to be naive, but i don't see how it's possible. o well, I need to see a doc to make sure, gonna try this week.

May 12
Deadlifts 95%
275 x 5
310 x 2
345 x 10

It looks like your poundages are on the low side... I mean you are under estimating how much your 1 rep max is. The below for example, you did 10 reps for your 95% 1 rep max. This means you could easy get 425 or even 435 lbs for 1 rep.




Or am I missing something?

there's something fun or sadistic about 10+ rep deadlifts!

arlington VA by any chance? That place is awesome. right outside of DC, right near Georgetown, I went there for business a couple times back in the day, I loved it there. 4-5 hours sounds about right. I remember it was about an hour on the shuttle flight.

*switched grip one finger over, shoulder was bothering me with old grip, probably affected the numbers a bit, but not bad.

nah, no vacation, not yet anyway, in july....

i just wrapped up around a 4 week run of the wendler program, and im ready for something new. so i'm going to start a new journal and instead of giving it a specific flavor of the week routine name, I'm gonna do what I should have done a long time ago, and just title it "workout journal" lol, so I don't have to start a new journal everytime I change my mind, lol

You've got a ways to go before we start calling you Monstar.