Thread: X~Factor Journal (4/1/2011)

Nice workout

Deads after squats has to be tough.

Flat Bench (5/3/1: cycle1/wave2)
140 x 3
160 x 3
180 x 3 + 3

DB Incline Bench
50 x 12
70 x 8
80 x 6
90 x 2 + 1 forced rep

Dips
BW+20 x 10
BW+30 x 8
BW+35 x 8
BW x 12

Pec Deck Flyes
90 x 16
120 x 16
140 x 10
150 x 10

Seated Cable Overhead Tricep Extension
50 x 12
60 x 12
75 x 10
80 x 6

Longhorn Steakhouse 12 oz steak for lunch. Juicy!!!

Nice incline DB bench, that's as much as you flat BB benched lol.

Originally Posted by ihateschoolmt

Nice incline DB bench, that's as much as you flat BB benched lol.

You're right. Damn.

To be honest, I really can't wait to not do flat bench anymore. It really does nothing for me. If it isn't known to be one of the best upper body exercise out there, I wouldn't even bother with it. I'm tempted to switch to incline BB bench in the middle of my 5/3/1.

Dude fuck flat bench, if you don't like it drop it. It's really over rated in my opinion. I think other chest exercises are better than bench.

I'm gonna bring it up and see what my partners think. Next week is when we find out if there is an improvement on the weight when we do 200 lbs. We'll see then.

Woke up this morning and weighed 180 lbs. WTF?!?! It took me a month to lose 3 lbs just to gain it back in 2 days!!! So I did what anyone worth their protein shake would do, I hit the gym (a day earlier).

Yates Rows (5/3/1: cycle1/wave2)
160 x 3
180 x 3
205 x 3 + 6

V-grip Pulldowns
150 x 12
180 x 8
210 x 6
240 x 4
150 x 12

Iso-lateral Rows
180 x 12
230 x 8
280 x 8
180 x 12

Seated Alternating DB Hammer Curls
30 x 16
35 x 12
40 x 12

Standing High-Cable Curls
25 x 12
30 x 12
35 x 12

Are you carb cycling? That 3 pounds might just be water, unless you ate 10500 calories over maintenance the last 2 days you didn't gain 3 pounds of fat.

The only thing I did differently this week was up my Creatine to 10 grams from 5 grams. you could be right, it could be just water. On the plus side, I do feel bigger and stronger... which is all well and good but my goal right now is to see my damn abs. I gotta reevaluate what and how much I put in my mouth. I want abs so badly.

Oh dude, you probably weren't hitting your maximum creatine intake at 5g's it's 3 pounds of water from sufficient creatine. 5g's helps but most can retain a little more.

Interesting. How much do you take?

None it doesn't work for me. Will brink says to dissolve it in hot liquid before you take it otherwise it barely works. I tried it both ways and never gained a pound. I know Gazhole and built told me to take 10g though. Just to make sure you are getting as much as you your body can absorb.

Military Press (5/3/1: cycle1/wave2)
95 x 3
110 x 3
120 x 3 + 2

DB Shoulder Press
65 x 8
75 x 4
80 x 3 + 1 forced rep
85 x 1***

DB Laterals (rear, side, front - superset)
20 x 12 x 3

BB Shrugs
225 x 12
315 x 10 (got 10 reps but too heavy to feel it work my traps)
275 x 12

Abs
2 machines, 3 sets/12 reps each

*** it took about 5 seconds to get it up but I got it. I told my partner don't touch it, DON'T TOUCH IT! LOL

Awesome workout, getting the 85's after the MP's is awesome.

Thanks man. My goal is to get that 100-lb dumbell. The first time I saw someone use that weight to do shoulder press, I was in awe. I'm thinking as long as I stay healthy, I got a shot at it.

Nice 85 isn't too far off 100 pound DBs man. Good pressing.

Strong shoulders X

^^Thanks. I'm pretty happy with how things are moving along. This week is when I do MAX reps on my 5/3/1. Depending on how much more I do on my max, I will increase the weight between 5 lbs to 20 lbs. I'm a little disappointed though, I completely forgot that 5/3/1 calls for 10 lbs less than your targeted max. I was really looking forward to doing 200 lbs on bench on Friday, instead I'm only doing 190 lbs. So I won't know if I'm making progress or not for another month. I feel like this is taking forever.

Squat (5/3/1: cycle1/wave3)
170 x 5
190 x 3
215 x 1 + 3 (almost parallel... again)
215 x 1 + 1 (another do over)

Deadlift
135 x 8
225 x 8
275 x 3
275 x 3

Leg Press
270 x 10
340 x 10
340 x 10

Standing Calf Raises
180 x 16
270 x 10
270 x 9

Refusing to wait another month to find out if I'm progressing on 5/3/1, the session today turned from bench 5/3/1 to bench find-out-what-my-true-rep-max-at-this-point-is.

Flat Bench (5/3/1: cycle1/wave3)
155 x 5
175 x 3
195 x 1
200 x 1
205 x 1
210 x 0 ***

Iso-Lateral Incline Press
180 x 8
230 x 6
230 x 6

Decline Bench Press
135 x 12
185 x 2 (failed on the 3rd, shoulders are already exhausted at this point)
135 x 12

Cable Flyes
30 x 16
40 x 16
50 x 16
60 x 12

Rope Pulldowns
25 x 16
40 x 16
50 x 16
60 x 8

***base on this, I'm upping my next bench 5/3/1 to get 210 lbs.

That's a lot of heavy singles I bet you can hit 210 easy if you just go for next time.

Originally Posted by ihateschoolmt

That's a lot of heavy singles I bet you can hit 210 easy if you just go for next time.

I know what you mean. The first 3 maxes went up strong. By the time I got to the 210, I had nothing left and felt it with the bar coming down.

I know i've personaly used 2 pyramiding schemes;
one is a powerlifting style template; do sets of 5 until you feel you can't get a 5th rep, then sets of 3 until you can't get a 3rd then sets of 1 until you find your 1rm

another method that i use more commonly but really only for rep PR, or sub maximal PRs is to decide the weight for your heaviest set and then figure out how many sets you wish to operate in, generally i will choose 4-6 then increase the weight each time by the same weight each set(one should probably use % but i'm not mathematically gifted enough :P)

Originally Posted by trapzilla

do sets of 5 until you feel you can't get a 5th rep, then sets of 3 until you can't get a 3rd then sets of 1 until you find your 1rm

That's exactly what I did. Can't do too many of 1 RM though. It's exhausting! lol


Had an early morning workout today. Not feeling too good... felt light-headed the entire time. Might be coming down with something, plus I'm doing back to back workout days. I feel beat.

Yates Rows (5/3/1: cycle1/wave3)
175 x 5
195 x 3
225 x 1 + 7***

Iso-Lateral High Rows
180 x 10
230 x 8
270 x 8 (couldn't get a full ROM)
180 x 12

Seated Cable Rows
120 x 10 x 3

Cybex Bicep Curls
70 x 10
90 x 10
100 x 8
100 x 8, 90 x 3, 70 x 3 (dropset)

***Not really feeling 5/3/1 with rows, Trapz right. I'm thinking of switching it up with pullups with added weight instead.

Originally Posted by x~factor

That's exactly what I did. Can't do too many of 1 RM though. It's exhausting! lol


Had an early morning workout today. Not feeling too good... felt light-headed the entire time. Might be coming down with something, plus I'm doing back to back workout days. I feel beat.

Yates Rows (5/3/1: cycle1/wave3)
175 x 5
195 x 3
225 x 1 + 7***

Iso-Lateral High Rows
180 x 10
230 x 8
270 x 8 (couldn't get a full ROM)
180 x 12

Seated Cable Rows
120 x 10 x 3

Cybex Bicep Curls
70 x 10
90 x 10
100 x 8
100 x 8, 90 x 3, 70 x 3 (dropset)

***Not really feeling 5/3/1 with rows, Trapz right. I'm thinking of switching it up with pullups with added weight instead.

Have you considered rack deads for your back day 5/3/1 exercise X? they'll certainly allow you to pull some massive weight and give you some great thickness by the end of it.

Originally Posted by trapzilla

Have you considered rack deads for your back day 5/3/1 exercise X? they'll certainly allow you to pull some massive weight and give you some great thickness by the end of it.

Its an idea but its too similar to a regular deadlift, which I'm already doing on leg day.

One of my partners missed 2 workouts, went with him to catch up with the 5/3/1 and did squats and bench presses.

Squats
135 x 10
185 x 3
205 x 3
225 x 3
225 x 3

Smith Machine Front Squats
135 x 8
185 x 4
185 x 6

Seated Calf Raises
135 x 12 x 3

Flat Bench Press
135 x 8
155 x 6
175 x 3
195 x 1***
135 x 12

Incline Bench Press
135 x 6 x 3

***struggled with this one. I guess 3 days rest isn't enough for chest for me.

Weight @ 175 lbs
BF @ 15.3%
BMI @ 24.4

Got the BF%/BMI at the gym using the hand held machine below. I know its not the most accurate way but its better than nothing, I guess. I'll measure it again when I hit my target weight of 170 lbs, hopefully in a month or two.