Fernando's training log 5/3/1 FSL after baby born

[Famendoza1981]

5/3/1 FSL 5s week squat

Box jumps 20” x5;5;5;5

Squat
- 95 x5
- 135 x5
- 170 x5
- 195 x5
- 220 x5
- 170 x5;5;5;5;5 FSL

Assistance
Dumbbell incline press
- 30 x20;20;20;20;20
Dumbbell rows
- 30 x20;20;20;20;20
Knee raises
- BW x20;20;20;20;20

Notes:
- session time is 36 mins
- Able to get feet tight on floor by flexing lower back
- The whole session felt like a flurry of movement
- Felt tired yet was able to do all my stuff strong and fast

[Famendoza1981]

Recon Ron week 1 day 6
6;5;5;4;3
Last day of this week. Tomorrow is a break day

[Famendoza1981]

5/3/1 FSL 5s week bench press

Box jumps 20” x5;5;5;5

Bench press
- 45 x5
- 65 x5
- 95 x5
- 110 x5
- 130 x5
- 145 x5
- 110 x5;5;5;5;5 FSL

Assistance
Dumbbell incline press
- 30 x20;20;20
Dumbbell rows
- 30 x20;20;20
Lunges
- BW x20;20;20

Notes:
- felt awful during the workout. Today was definitely a bad workout, thankfully have a appropriate TM
- Session time was 30 mins due to some changes
- Reduced the assistance work to 60 total reps per category of push pull and core/legs
- Went for a nap after. Still feel achy for some reason
- Bonus: had to postpone recon Ron pull-ups since my grip kept giving out anytime I hung from the bar. I just couldn’t do a pull-up. May have been mental but my grip kept slipping.

[Famendoza1981]

Recon Ron week 2 day 1
7;6;5;4;4

After a day extra of break, was totally ready to do the next week.

[Famendoza1981]

5/3/1 FSL 5s week deadlift

Box jumps 20” x5;5;5;5

Deadlift
- 135 x5
- 185 x5
- 195 x5
- 225 x5
- 255 x5
- 195 x5;5;5;5;5 FSL

Assistance
Dumbbell incline press
- 30 x20;20;20
Dumbbell row
- 30 x20;20;20
Knee raises
- BW x10;10;10;10;10;10

Notes:
- session time 37 minutes
- I moved slower during this session today so I cut down my assistance volume
- My garage is getting colder so I’ll be using more long sleeves now

[Famendoza1981]

Recon Ron week 2 day 2
7;6;5;4;4
Felt harder than yesterday but still doable

[Famendoza1981]

5/3/1 FSL 5s week press

Box jump 20” x5;5;5;5

Press
- 45 x5
- 80 x5
- 90 x5
- 100 x5
- 80 x5;5;5;5;5

Assistance
Dumbbell incline press
- 30 x20;20;20
Dumbbell rows
- 30 x20;20;20
Lunges
- BW x20;20;20

Notes:
- session time was 30 mins. Shortest time ever!!
- I think I wasn’t as strict on my lack of lockout for press or breath holding
- At least I could do some pull-ups
- I cut volume down on assistance exercises. I feel like I’m coming down with something.

[Famendoza1981]

Recon Ron week 2 day 3
7;6;5;4;4

It looks like I need more break days between pull-up sessions for Recon Ron, or I’m coming down with something. I find my strength comes down fast as a leading indicator of a cold or illness.

[Famendoza1981]

Recon Ron week 2 day 4
7;6;5;4;4
Felt good during all these pull-ups . However I’m feeling a bit of a chill hopefully not coming down with anything. Probably lack of sleep cause of newborn.

[Famendoza1981]

Gonna use this log to post mental PRs and other things that pleasantly surprise me about my own training.

First mental PR. Did more than 300 lbs outside the power rack. I’ve been able to do up to 295 lbs various times, but yesterday I felt ready and strong enough to tackle 3 plates (lbs). The 295 lbs and 275 lbs squats prior to this felt heavy but smooth, so went for this. It’s also the second heavy workout since my 225 lbs x20 squat PR. Mental PRs are great.

[Famendoza1981]

Second mental PR yesterday evening after the squat.

Was able to do pull-ups sets for the following reps
6;6;6;5;6

Over the course from 5pm to 10pm. Haven’t been able to do anything like that in a while. Attribute it to losing weight with a new strategy.

Eat till you are not hungry and prioritize meat or eggs or full meals. Do not eat till full only till not hungry. Otherwise have a drink of water.

[Famendoza1981]

Revisiting my log since almost 7 months. Since that time I've gotten a brand new all time squat PR at 345 lbs. This exceeds any previous squats I did regardless of high bar or low bar squat. My previous best (340 lbs) which I revisited in 2022, I actually first did in 2011. So it's been 13 years since the needle moved upward, and I think I have the hang of the squat and a set of routines and plans that can move me upwards for the squat this year.

Here is the squat PR:


To achieve it today I did (in lbs)
- 45 x3
- 135 x1
- 225 x1
- 275 x1
- 315 x1
- 335 x1
- 345 x1

So a total of 6 loaded squats, 3 of them within my all time best.

I'll do a recap of the plan I took to get here in a separate post. This is actually my second run through of my plan - first run-through I got 325 (a heavy single) and tried 345 twice and failed both times. I also evolved my squat technique further for my 2nd run through.

I'm doing something different in the bench, and I'm also succeeding in that front. Just achieved 245lbs (98% of my one rep max)

[Famendoza1981]

My squat plan that I used before achieving my 345 squat max. This plan only applies to the squat.



I came up with this plan as a response to me wanting a way to max out my squat. I got some inspiration from this board based on some ideas on the Can't Explain but Believe thread. One idea that stuck in my head was to avoid any sort of regime that requires grinding heavy weights for a prolonged period. I'm taking period as meaning a set, so basically no grinding heavy sets. In my own experience, grinding heavy sets never lead to new 1RM gains, although sometimes they would lead to rep-max gains. Rep max gains means I got from 10 RM for a weight, to 11 RM for instance. I don't like those rep maxes since they're not very repeatable within a month, so the idea of not grinding heavy weights was appealing. More importantly, I never felt good doing them. Since I'm going for a heavy single, I can make peace with the fact that I'll need to build up to it with quality repetitions, and the length of time between heavy single or max attempts can be months apart.

To avoid grinding in the squat,
If it's a heavy weight (75% or above) I don't do many reps or many sets. 4 is the max, and every 5% I go down a rep per set.
I never stay in the 95% weight range for more than a few sessions. And when I move on from 95%, I go down significantly to close to 55% to take a break from heavy weight.
I always start with fewer reps and fewer sets, and never increase by more than a single rep or two sets my total workout
Above 80% my total # reps completed is going to be 10 or less.
Anything close to my 1RM will be planned with rather conservative volume (7 singles or less, 2-3 doubles at most).


The design of my plan:
All blocks are designed by weight not percentage, but they roughly tend to follow a percentage pattern. Each block has three or two weight increments scheduled to be cycled within the block.
Each block has a starting volume target and an ending volume target. How I get to the ending volume target depends on how I perform. This means blocks can sometimes take anywhere from 1-5 weeks, depending if I dive into the end target volume or start from the starting target volume and work my way up.
I progress by running a volume pattern (example 2reps x 2 sets) for all the weights scheduled in the block, then I move to the next pattern. I always prioritize increasing sets before reps, since a rep makes a set much more difficult than adding a set. The ending target volume will always be the last week in a block.
I always start with weights that are light (55% ish or so). I can decide to linger in a block with that, or simply take the end target volume.
I usually have a day or two in between workouts. If I feel good though, I can have back to back days

What I did using this cycle:
- For first block (185, 195, 205) I did ending target volume of 5reps x 3sets, skipping all of the prior volume, as I didn't consider needing it
- Did the same for second block (215, 225, 235)
- For the third block (245, 255, 265) I started off with 3reps x3 sets and worked the volume for each weight as follow

3rx3s
3rx5s
4rx3s
4rx4s

I skipped doing 3rx4s as I felt on the 245 day that I could do the extra set, so I ended fast forwarding to that week. This block took about a month to complete
- For the 4th block (275, 285) I did

2rx4s
3rx2s
3rx3s

I skipped the starting volume of 2rx3s as I felt strong on the first day of 275. Given this, there were only really 6 workouts done every other day, so just under two weeks I finished this part. For the 4th Block, there are only two weight increments since I feel there's a fine line between low rep volume and singles volume and there isn't a lot of weight increment margin since they are all really heavy. So this block and the next has only two weight increments.

- For the 5th and final block (295, 305) I was by the book so I did
5 singles for 295
3 singles for 305
2 doubles for 295
1 double for 205
7 singles 295
5 singles 305
3 doubles 295
2 doubles 305
That eight workouts was done over 2.5 weeks. For the 5th and final block, I choose to treat each of the weight on an individual volume plan, since it's my heaviest weights before I max out, and I find they cannot be treated with the same volume unlike the previous 4 blocks. The heavier one essentially lags on volume before the lighter one, and I find I can manage my recovery and performance with that stagger.

For the maximal days where I max out, I treat it as a holiday from lifting in general. There are only singles done. I ended up only having 2 max days within 2 weeks a week apart each.
First one was the day I achieved 345
empty bar, 225x2, 275 x1, 315 x1, 335 x1, 345 x1
My original target was 335 and I got it, and still felt good to lift so I went for 345 and got it (see previous post)
a week later tried
empty bar, 225x2, 275 x1, 315 x1, 335 x1, 355 but was not able to complete 355.

Now, as of today, I'm currently doing the same plan as above, with all weights in all blocks incremented by 10 lbs. Am already in the 3rd block at 255,265,275. Will see how it goes.

[Famendoza1981]

I have a similar strategy for bench press. Right now I only do Bench press and Squat and pull-ups on the regular

These strategies have gotten me back to my all time max of 250 lbs bench press which I've done in 2022 and just last week.

The plan
- take a heavy single, if you haven't done one
- take 80% of that and 3 further increments of 5lbs to make the blocks. If you've never done a block, do the Default block
- The initial weight and first increment have rep scheme. The 2nd and 3rd increment have the same rep scheme, but have lower volume than initial weight and first increment always
- take a break day after completing 3rd increment. It will be your 5th day or d5. Can either do no bench or do a bench press with light weight for 10 reps. I've also done other things
- day after break day you max out trying to beat your previous heavy single by 5lbs ONLY. So if heavy single was 200 lbs, you try to make 205 las
- if you succeed repeat the step where you take 80% of that, and so on, and do the Default block
- if you fail, repeat the weights you had, but go to the next blocks defined (Block 2, Block 3 and so on).
- 24-48h rest between days, you can take more days if needed


Default block
d1,d2 => 3r x 3s
d3,d4 => 2r x 3s

Block 2 (if failed to increase in Default block)
d1,d2 => 3r x 4s
d3,d4 => 2r x 4s

Block 3 (if failed to increase in Block 2)
d1,d2 => 3r x 5s
d3,d4 => 2r x 5s

Block 4 (if failed to increase in Block 3)
d1,d2 => 4r x 3s
d3,d4 => 3r x 2s

Block 5 (if failed to increase in Block 4)
d1,d2 => 4r x 4s
d3,d4 => 3r x 3s

Block 6** (if failed to increase in Block 5)
d1,d2 => 3r x 5s
d3,d4 => 2r x 4s
d5,d6 => 1r x 3s
**This is a special block that I've needed to do after doing Block 5, since it seemed volume was not doing the trick. I added 2 weight increments and did singles with them. This block still had a break day but it was basically day 7, and I chose to not do any benching. This allowed my to get a new max.

I can say I've reached my previous all time max with this training plan, and think this will help me break through.
My principles behind it are somewhat similar to the squat:
- grinding heavy weights for a prolonged period. I'm taking period as meaning a set, so basically no grinding heavy sets
One big difference is that there is minimal spinal loading in the bench press as opposed to the squat, so you can actually recover more rapidly and can max out more frequently. I'm exploiting that with the structure of the bench press as I'm always doing 80% or above weights, and I'm trying for a new max every time I complete a block which is about 2 weeks if I'm taking 24-48 hour rests between days in the blocks. I have a threshold on volume and will not do over 16 reps for a day for a weight. If I reach that, I'm thinking I need more intensity so I add more weight to practice with.

Those are my thoughts for now, may add more in a separate post if they come to mind.

[Famendoza1981]

Without any training since July 2023, I managed to do a press single of 155 lbs last Wednesday. What's interesting is that when I *was* training my press I could barely do 140lbs, but no training of it directly I reached 155 lbs. The only upper body I do is bench press and pull ups. Very interesting.

155 lbs standing press is 94% of my 1RM in the standing press (165 lbs). I did not feel like it was super duper challenging, but I didn't want to end in a fail and I know all it takes is a camels hair between success and failure on the standing press. Still very high percentage with zero training for at least 9 months.