Light Chest

Prime Fitness Plate Loaded Incline Press
140/15, 140/10, 140/10, 140/10

Plate Loaded Seated Pushdown
180/10, 180/10, 180/10

Smith Machine Incline Press
185/8, 185/7, 185/7

Cardio.

Light Back

Plate Loaded Lat PD:  180/15, 200/10, 200/10

Prime Extreme Row Machine: 160/10, 160/10, 160/10

Concentration Curls: 30's/10 each, 30's/10 each to 20's/10 each (drop set)

Planks: 2:00

Cardio.

531 Light Week

Overhead Press
65/5, 95/5, 115/5

Jeffersons
155/5, 205/5, 245/5

Super Deadlift- Low Handles
155/5, 205/5, 245/5

Incline DB Press
45's/5, 55's/5, 65's/5

Pull Ups
5

Chin Ups
5

Pull Ups
5

Cardio

Super Deadlift- Low Handles

Super Deadlift Bar- Low Handles (531, Month 1, Week 3)
Plug in Weight: 410
135/10, 135/10, 225/5, 275/3
310/5, 355/3, 391/3  (531 PR)
    391/3 was tough, but felt good. 

Plate Loaded Seated Curl Machine
70/12, 70/10, 70/10

Planks & Cardio to finish. 

Next week is the scheduled light week for 531. I might do all of the 531 exercises in one day, and then use the other days for supplemental stuff/abs/cardio. 

Chest

Incline DB Press
55's/12, 65's/10, 75's/5, 90's/5, 90's/5, 90's/5 (that's the most volume I've done with 90's in a long time)

Prime Fitness Plate Loaded Incline Press
160/9, 170/5, 170/6, 170/6, 180/5

Double Pulley Pushdowns
110/20, 110/15, 110/11 

HIIT cardio

Jeffersons & Back

Jeffersons (531, Month 1, Week 3)
Plug in Weight: 405
155/10, 155/10, 245/5
305/5, 345/3, 386/2 (531 PR)

Prime Extreme Row Machine: 160/10, 180/8, 180/9, 200/7, 200/7

Plate Loaded Lat PD:  230/6, 230/6, 230/6, 180/15

Planks: 1:30, 1:00, 1:00

* Poor sleep last night, so definitely a good workout!

Shoulders

I actually did cardio first because all 6 of the racks were taken. Never saw that before, but that's what happened. I was concerned that I would use too much energy doing cardio, so instead of running, I walked hills. 

Overhead Press (531, Month 1, Week 3)
Plug in Weight: 180
45/15, 45/10, 95/5
135/5, 155/3, 170/2 (155/3 felt heavy, so I was concerned about being able to do even 1 at 170. So, I'll take 170/2 and be happy. 

DB Shoulder Press
70's/8, 75's/5, 80's/4

Front & Lateral Raise Supersets
50/10 front, 20/10 each side
55/10 front, 20/10 each side

Finished up with a plank just for fun. 

See ya tomorrow. 

Super Deadlift Bar- Low Handles

Super Deadlift Bar- Low Handles (531, Month 1, Week 2)
Plug in Weight: 410
155/10, 245/5
285/3, 330/3, 370/6  (531 PR)

Abs & Cardio afterward. 

Bodyweight: 220

Arms

I messed up this week by doing both chest & shoulders on Monday. That pretty much left me with a throw away day (today). I decided to just do some arms and cardio. Going forward, my plan is to work out 4 days per week. Day 1 will be Shoulders, Day 2 Jeffersons & Back, Day 3 Chest, Day 4 Super Deads. Within those days I will work in some arms at some point. I plan on doing cardio on three of those days, and abs twice per week. 531 will be run with OHP, Jeffersons, and Super Deads.

Cross Body DB Curls: 35's/8 each, 35's/8 each, 35's/8 each

Plate Loaded Seated Curl Machine: 70/10, 70/10, 70/8, 70/8

Seated DB Triceps Extension: 60/15, 80/8, 80/8

Single Pulley Rope Pushdown: 50/10, 50/10, 50/10, 50/10 (this was the heaviest feeling pulley pushdown I've ever used)

TRX Rows: 10, 10, 10

HIIT cardio (run 1 minute, walk 1 minute, 8 times. Speed range is 8.0-9.6 on a 1.0 incline)

Jeffersons & Back

Jeffersons (531, Month 1, Week 2)
Plug in Weight: 405
155/15, 225/5
285/3, 325/3, 365/3

Chins: 11, 11, 10

Prime Extreme Row Machine: 160/8, 160/9, 180/7

Plate Loaded Lat PD:  200/10, 220/7, 220/7

Tabata style abs.

Shoulders & Chest

Overhead Press (531, Month 1, Week 2)
Plug in Weight: 180
45/15, 45/10, 95/5
125/3, 145/3, 160/4 (ties 531 PR)

Incline DB Press
70's/10, 90's/3, 100's/2, 80's/9

Prime Fitness Plate Loaded Incline Press
160/10, 160/7, 160/8

DB Shoulder Press
65's/7, 65's/6

Lateral & Front Raise Supersets
20's/12 side, 45/10 front
20's/10 side, 45/10 front

HIIT cardio 

Super Deadlift Bar - Low Handles (today) & Back (yesterday)

Super Deadlift Bar- Low Handles (531, Month 1, Week 1)
Plug in Weight: 410
155/10
265/5, 310/5, 355/8 (531 PR, by default) - this was a good starting point.

-HIIT cardio for a half an hour.


I forgot to post my back workout from yesterday:

Neutral Grip Pull Ups: 11, 8, 7, 7

Prime Extreme Row Machine: 160/8, 160/8, 160/8

Plate Loaded Lat PD: 180/10, 200/8, 200/8

TRX Rows: 10, 10, 10

Cross Body DB Curls: 30's/12, 30's/10, 30's/9

6 sets of abs at the end. (3 sets of leg raises, 3 sets of ab wheel)

Chest

Incline DB Press
60's/10, 70's/5, 80's/5, 95's/5, 100's/2
    95's/5 would be a PR if I was still doing this 531 style. Not bad at all!

Prime Fitness Plate Loaded Incline Press
160/10, 160/9, 160/8, 160/7, 160/7

Pushups
25

HIIT cardio

Deads + News on the Super Deadlift Bar

Jeffersons (531, Month 1, Week 1)
Plug in Weight: 405
155/10
265/5, 305/5, 345/5

Super Deadlift
155/8, 245/8, 335/5, 365/3, 405/1
   * First off, shout out to Nealstar from On/Apron for suggesting straps. I did think about those, but I've always preferred chalk in the past and never liked fumbling around with the straps before each set. Tonight, I decided to flip the super deadlift bar around and use the lower handles, and voila, they are much easier to grip. My concern with lower handles has always been how they might impact my back, so I've rarely used them. However, the grip felt so good tonight, and my back didn't suffer, that I am going to use this side of the bar going forward. All in all, great news!

- Tabata style abs to finish'r up. 

Shoulders

Overhead Press (531, Month 1, Week 1)
Plug in Weight: 180
45/10, 95/8
115/5, 135/5, 150/5 

DB Shoulder Press
60's/10, 70's/6, 70's/8

Front & Lateral Raise Supersets
1) front w/ 45 lb plate/10; lateral with 20 lb DBs/10
2) front w/ 45 lb plate/10; lateral with 20 lb DBs/10
3) lateral with 20 lb DBs/10; front w/ 45 lb plate/10

Triceps Pulley Pushdowns
130/10, 150/7, 150/8

HIIT cardio for 30 minutes

Back & Biceps

Traditional Pull Ups
6, 8, 7, 7, 8

Prime Extreme Row Machine
180/8, 180/7, 180/8, 180/8, 180/8

TRX Rows
10, 10, 10

Cross Body DB Curls
35's/8 each, 35's/8 each, 35's/8 each

I finished with 3 sets of abs.

Super Deadlift Bar Issues

The first major issue I am facing at the new gym is with the super deadlift bar I mentioned yesterday. The handles are really thick, making it very difficult to grip.

My goal for tonight was to establish a starting weight for a 531 program. I did the following:

135/10, 225/5, 275/5, 315/5, 365/1+, 335/5, 345/5, 345/4+

Compare that with what I was doing on the hex bar and this is a joke. In fact, Jeffersons are actually easier than this!

With the set of 365/1+, the bar fell out of my hand before I made it to the top of the second rep. The same thing happened on my second set of 345 before I made it to rep 5. This was while using chalk, too!

Unfortunately, I am not sure what the solution is other than to just get used to the bar and get stronger at it. There aren't any other options for me. I am done taking risks with my back to try conventional squatting and deadlifting again. If I want to put a positive spin on this, I can go with the thought of if I can get to 400+ on this bar, that would be a real accomplishment.  :|

One idea that came to me was to use this bar merely as a supplement to Jeffersons and do both on the same day. However, I have enjoyed having two separate deadlift days, so I am not sure that I want to do that.

After the deads, I did a 27 minute HIIT session on the treadmill.

(Bodyweight: 218)

I'm back!

This is my first post from my new home in Orlando, Florida. I joined a gym here called Power Strength Gym, which is without question geared towards strength training. As an example, there are 6 squat racks. I've also seen 5 different guys working out shirtless. In my old gym, I would have been considered "strong". Here, I am absolutely nothing, and it makes for some great motivation.

I am going to change up my workouts a bit. For the time being, I am not going to join a separate bootcamp class. Instead, I will do HIIT cardio at the gym. I've been here a week and have been to the gym 5 days in a row, have implemented the HIIT after a few of the workouts, and so far, so good.

I will continue to use the 531 method for hex deads, Jeffersons, and OHPs. As a side note, the hex bar here isn't really a hex bar. It's called a Super Deadlift bar and is made by Power Systems. It's very difficult to grip, so I am not sure if I will be able to lift as heavy on it.

In any event, today is the first day that I will log the workout I performed:

Bodyweight: 220

Incline DB Press
55's/10, 65's/8, 75's/6, 80's/5, 90's/7 (ties 531 PR)

Prime Fitness Plate Loaded Incline Press (this is different from the Hammer Strength machine I was using in my previous gym)
160/9, 160/8, 160/8, 160/7

Incline DB Fly
30's/13, 35's/13, 40's/10

Pushups
20 (very difficult at the end of the workout)

I finished up with some abs, Tabata style.