Post by Lucille on Aug 19, 2010 18:08:52 GMT -5
Well my husband Nielsen and I have been training at USA for a couple months now so I've decided to start a log over here. The more people involved in each others' training the better it is for everyone.
Brief history: my athletic background is track and field and cross country. I lifted a little but about a year ago decided that training for strength was more fulfilling than anything else and started reading everything I could find about powerlifting. I messed around with no particular plan for a few months, then had a few months in the winter when I didn't really train due to some personal stuff. That was bad, my lifts took a much bigger hit than I expected. Anyway my husband Nielsen and I moved to Waterloo in the spring and re-evaluated my numbers and I dug right into 5/3/1. Progress has been good. Ironically even with all the juggling numbers around I happened to end up at the end of this cycle with my top work numbers being my initial tested 100% numbers. So the last three cycles I've gone from
MP: 75x1 to 75x2 (this is a SLOWWWW one!)
Sq: 135x1 to 135x5
Bench: 115x1 to 115x3/4 (I got a fourth rep up but it was a heck of a grinder and my butt snuck off the bench)
DL: 220x1 to 220x3
I feel I probably could have pulled more reps if I were fresh but by the end of the week I was burnt out from the squat and bench PRs. I'm fighting a bronchial infection and it's really draining too. So the rest of the week I'm just resting and will do some light work on technique and conditioning.
I have NO complains about 5/3/1. It's a fantastic program and I'm having a blast. There is nothing like hitting PRs every cycle and sometimes every week. For conditioning: push/pull the prowler, tire flips, sledgehammering, jump rope, box jumps (Wendler recommends box jumps and broad jumps as an alternative to speed work to improve explosiveness although I admit I'll put some speed sets into my warm ups for work sets occasionally), rowing.
If you see Nielsen and I in the gym please introduce yourself.
Questions and advice are always welcome. Thanks.
Lucy
Brief history: my athletic background is track and field and cross country. I lifted a little but about a year ago decided that training for strength was more fulfilling than anything else and started reading everything I could find about powerlifting. I messed around with no particular plan for a few months, then had a few months in the winter when I didn't really train due to some personal stuff. That was bad, my lifts took a much bigger hit than I expected. Anyway my husband Nielsen and I moved to Waterloo in the spring and re-evaluated my numbers and I dug right into 5/3/1. Progress has been good. Ironically even with all the juggling numbers around I happened to end up at the end of this cycle with my top work numbers being my initial tested 100% numbers. So the last three cycles I've gone from
MP: 75x1 to 75x2 (this is a SLOWWWW one!)
Sq: 135x1 to 135x5
Bench: 115x1 to 115x3/4 (I got a fourth rep up but it was a heck of a grinder and my butt snuck off the bench)
DL: 220x1 to 220x3
I feel I probably could have pulled more reps if I were fresh but by the end of the week I was burnt out from the squat and bench PRs. I'm fighting a bronchial infection and it's really draining too. So the rest of the week I'm just resting and will do some light work on technique and conditioning.
I have NO complains about 5/3/1. It's a fantastic program and I'm having a blast. There is nothing like hitting PRs every cycle and sometimes every week. For conditioning: push/pull the prowler, tire flips, sledgehammering, jump rope, box jumps (Wendler recommends box jumps and broad jumps as an alternative to speed work to improve explosiveness although I admit I'll put some speed sets into my warm ups for work sets occasionally), rowing.
If you see Nielsen and I in the gym please introduce yourself.
Questions and advice are always welcome. Thanks.
Lucy