My BodyBlog

l learn something about bodybuilding in general or about my own body just about every time I go to the gym.   Sometimes when I learn something I say to myself ‘"that was so obvious why didn’t you realize it before?"  Yesterday my plan was to do 5×5 training on bench press, along with some pull-ups and other back exercise, plus something else.  When I got to the gym the bench press was in use so I started my workout with the pullups and standing calf raises.  I did really well with the pullups, banging out sets of 10,8,8, and 8.  A few months ago I could only do 3 or 4 reps!  Still waiting for the bench press, I did a few more sets for back, wide grip pull-downs and seated cable rows.  So far, so good.

I started my bench pressing, having worked out back and calves for about half an hour.  My goal was to do 5×5 using 205.  I was confident I could do it because last time I failed on the very last rep at the same weight.  I did a couple of warm-up sets with lower weight, then loaded on 205.  Well, as soon as I lifted off I thought to myself "this feels a lot heavier than last time" and I just barely finished the 5 reps.  I knew I was toast as far as 5 sets was concerned, and right away I had a plausible reason why.  The pullups and other back sets!  I’ve read over and over how important a strong back is to a succesful bench press, but I’d never really appreciated how true that is.  I had tired out my back before starting to bench, the back muscles couldn’t do the job I needed them to do.  So did I give up on bench for the day?  No way!  I took a rest and then I managed another 5 reps at 205.  Then I added 20 more pounds and did a single of 225.  Then I loaded up to 240 for an attempt.  This would be a new PR and I didn’t really expect to do it given the circumstances, but it would be fun to try.  I got a spotter, and asked him to help me with the liftoff but not to touch the bar after that unless I asked him to.  I thought I was doing ok, the bar was moving up albeit slowly, but wouldn’t you know it the spotter put his hand on and started to help.  Now, assisted reps are fine if that’s what you want, but I wanted to be left alone to either do the lift or fail!  It’s hard to get a good spotter, but that’s another post!

So when it’s time for 5×5 bench press again, no pullups or other back sets before.  Lesson learned! 

Yesterday, between squat sets, I was chatting with a guy I see at the gym a lot.  He made a comment about feeling old after his workout, and I said "How old are you anyway?"  He said he was 21, and I made a joke about him only being a young pup and just wait until he feels what it’s like to be my age.  He said "I’d say you’re around 30."  I said "I wish!" He said "You can’t be any more than 35!"  I must have had quite a grin on my my face when I said "I’m 43!"  He said he never would have thought that, I said it must be the weight lifting that’s keeping me young.

Now, it could be that he was a bad judge of age.  Or it could be that I really do look like I’m in my early to mid-thirties.  I’ll chose to believe the latter and accept the boost to my ego, they are few and far between!  Seriously though, I truly believe that leading a healthy lifestyle does slow down the aging process, compared to most of the population anyway.  I know how great bodybuilding makes me feel, and if it really does make me look younger, that’s an added bonus I’ll gladly accept!  I have no doubt that I’m much fitter and have a much healthier heart, lungs, and other organs than the large majority of 43 year olds in western society.  I plan on keeping it that way by sticking with bodybuilding for as long as I’m physically able to do it.

For anyone needing proof that bodybuilding keeps you looking young too, look no further than the pics of 50, 60, and 70+ year olds on this site and elsewhere.  Most of them look 10 to 20 years younger than they really are.  It’s really quite amazing!  In fact, unless modern science creates something to stop aging, bodybuilding is as close to the fountain of youth as any of us will ever get.  Take advantage of it to your fullest potential!

Just got back from the gym where I finished Cyle 3 of 5×5 with overhead barbell press @115 as my primary exercise.  This weight was hard but I didn’t come close to failure, I’m a little surprised.  Shoulders have been a weak area for me but they’ve come a long way this past year.  We’ll see how I do with 120 pounds next time!  Also did incline bench press 5×5 using 155.  The sets were tough but I did them all.  Also did some pull-ups, trap work, and cable crossovers, finishing up the workout with some cardio on the bike.

Here’s how I did on my other primary exerices during this Cycle:

Bench Press:  Working with 205, the sets were hard but I had really good form and I completed every rep unassisted until I got to the very last one…..AAARRGGHH!  Frustrating to come so close, I did 24 reps but couldn’t get the 25th…oh well, that’s how it goes sometimes.  It was a great chest workout though, and I’ll use 205 again next Cycle to see if I can finish unassisted.  In theory I should be getting stronger, so this will be a good test.

Squat.  I went with 250 and really liked how it felt and how I was able to maintain good form, going to parallel on all reps.  Next Cycle I’ll go up to 255.  I could lift more I know, but I want to keep good form so I’d rather a slow increase in weight so I don’t have to sacrafice any form to complete all 5 sets.

Deadlift.  I upped the weight by 10 to 290.  This workout was my seventh in 10 days, a really heavy stretch for me, and my energy was not as high as usual.  I compensated by taking a longer rest between sets, and I dropped one exercise from my workout that day.  I got through the 5 sets, and the hardest thing besides the low energy was maintaining a good grip for multiple reps with that much weight.  The weight itself I was fairly comfortable with.

I felt the deadlifting much more than any other exercise I did during Cycle 3.  I was sore for 3 days afterwards, in places I haven’t been sore before!  Including warm-ups, I deadlifted 10,400 pounds! That’s a big increase from my previous deadlifting experience, where I’ve been going for 1 rep maxes and would only lift in the 4,000 to 5,000 pound range every other week.  I’ll increase deadlift to 295 next cycle…this is going to get veeery interesting! 

I went ice skating this morning, first time for the season and first time since mid-April.  I had to psyche myself up to get back on the ice, I was nervous about how it would go.  That’s because I’m 43 years old and I just started to learn how to skate last year!  I decided to learn because I want to be able to go skating with my young nephew, who is just learning himself.

Last year starting out it was rough.  It took me several sessions to even begin to get the hang of it, but then I steadily improved.  Then, at the beginning of January I had a fall and sprained my wrist and bruised up my forearm.  I had to change my workouts to allow for healing time and it was about 6 weeks before I could push up any kind of heavy weight on the barbell.  Through it all though I kept a positive attitude, and I kept skating once a week. 

By April I was much more comfortable and felt confident I could keep improving.  Then no skating for about 6 months and I find myself feeling like a complete beginner again.  Would I struggle like I did the first year?  Would I fall and, it’s almost too horrifying to say this, have a serious injury that would set back my training at the gym?

As soon as I stepped onto the ice this morning, all of my worries melted away.  I felt very comfortable, had great balance, and I think I skated as good as, or maybe even better than, the end of last season.  My endurance was better too, I didn’t need to stop for a break nearly as much. I guess skating is like riding a bike, once your mind and body learn how to work together to make it happen, you never forget how to do it.  I’ll skate at least once a week and hopefully continue to improve.  By the way, I have no issues with sore calves or inner thighs like I’ve been told many new skaters do….I guess all those leg workouts are paying off big time!

Started cycle 3 of my 5×5 training program yesterday with squats.  I worked with 250 and had good sets, getting to parallel on every lift.  First cycle I used 275 and it was really hard.  Second cycle I tried 280 and although I could have pushed through the sets I wasn’t able to go very deep and I wasn’t happy with it.  I would rather have good form at this point in my training and make every rep a good rep, so I went back to 245 and finished that workout.  Lifting 250 yesterday and having it go so well gives me confidence that I can keep increasing by 5 pounds each cycle and keep good form, which will serve me better in the long run.  After squats I did some leg presses and extensions, really worked the quads hard.  After that I did abs, and I pushed almost every set to failure.  I must say that since I changed the way I work out abs I’m getting a much better burn and hopefully, in the long run, better results.  I finished up my workout with some jumping rope and HIIT on the bike.  It was a Saturday afternoon, not another soul at the gym, and it was 2 hours of pure bliss!  I left it feeling like a million dollars.

Overall, cycle 2 was good, I increased every exercise by 5 or 10 pounds.  I am very happy with deadlift, I did 5×5 @280 which is the most weight I’ve done for so many reps, and they were all good reps, I had to focus but I didn’t struggle.  I did bench press 5×5 @200, and actually found it better than the cycle before @195, I took an extra minute rest between sets and that helped a lot.  I had a spotter watch me for the last set but I didn’t need him at all.  Tonight it’s 5×5 bench press with 205 pounds.  I’ve done one set of 205×5 before, but this is a new challenge and based on my progress so far I know I will do it!

My arm workout has been over for almost 24 hours and I can still feel it when I flex.  It was a ‘bonus workout’, I’d planned 2 days rest as part of my 5×5 training program.  But I found myself with nothing to do and the gym was calling to me!  I did 5×5 close grip bench @165 lbs, followed by one or more sets of the following using heavy weight: chin-ups, ez-bar curls, dumbbell extensions, alternating dumbbell curls, rope pull-downs, inner-bicep curls, skull-crushers, rope hammer curls, bar pull-downs, cable curls.  I did bi/tri supesets with little rest between sets.  By the time I was doing my final sets the vascularity I was getting was more than I’d ever seen before and my biceps especially felt like they were going to explode.  I’ve never had such a great pump in the arms!  When I was done my head was gleaming with sweat, so I grabbed some paper towels to wipe off and…woah!  I had to work to lift my arms up to wipe off my head!  What a feeling!  What a great workout!  Back to 5×5 training tomorrow, I’ll do overhead press and incline bench. 

Just finished week 1 of 5×5 training, starting week 2 tonight.  I’ve done a lot of reading about this training method, and there are a lot of options about how to approach it.  Instead of following someone else’s program I’ve decided to design my own.  Since this is my first time doing it I’ll keep it simple but have some variety in it to keep it interesting and help keep me on the path towards my goals.  I’ll describe what I plan to do over the next 12 weeks or so.

I’ll do a four workout cycle alternating between upper body and lower body (including lower back).  The cycle will take 7 to 9 days, since I usually can’t get to the gym the same days each week.  I have 4 primary exercises and I’ll start each workout with one of them (squat, bench press, deadlift, overhead press).  I have 8 secondary exercises that I’ll also do 5×5, but I will stagger them so I’ll do them at least once every 2 cycles.  They are power clean, clean and press, incline bench press, close grip bench press, barbell curl, barbell bent-over row, stiff-leg deadlift, and barbell shrug.  I’ll do abs on lower body days, and throw in some pull-ups once a week.  If I have time I’ll throw in a few other exercises like leg press and dumbbell work for shoulders.  I’ll do HIIT cardio at the end of each session, alternating between the treadmill and bike.

My broad goals are to continue to lose body fat (come on abs!) while slowly increasing my strength.  I’ll keep my diet consistent and clean, with plenty of lean protein.  Tonight starts with squats, planning to work with 280.  I started bench press with 195, ready to move up to 200 next time.  Started deadlift at 269, maybe could have started a little higher but I’d never done much of a high volume deadlift workout before so I wanted to make sure I got through it maintaining a good pace and good form.  I’ll jump up to 280 next time on deads.  Started overhead press at 100, confident I can do 105 next time no problem.

I’m excited to see what training like this for 3 months will do for me!  Any comments or suggestions, feel free!

Yesterday I started a 5×5 training program.  I wanted to do something different and based on what I’ve read it seems perfect for me right now.  I can lift heavy, focus on compound lifts, and my workouts will be completed with plenty of time for post-lifting cardio.  I’ll train like this for the next three months and see what kind of results I get.  My goal for the rest of this year is to at least maintain my strength and mass (hopeful have some increase!) while taking as much fat off this bod as possible so maybe, just maybe, I’ll start to see my abs a little.

I figure it will take me about 4 workouts to cycle through most of the lifts I’m going to focus on.  First run through I’ll be assessing what weight I need to start at that will allow me to do 5×5.  Then if the training goes like I’ve read, I should be able to add 5 pounds to each exercise the next time I do it.  I started with some ab work yesterday.  Don’t usually do abs first, but I had to wait for the squat rack so that’s how I spent the time.  I’m trying to do ab sets to failure instead of counting reps, but man it’s hard to stop myself from counting!  On squats I did 2 warm-up sets, then loaded the bar up to 295.  As I did the first set I knew this was too heavy to start.  I pushed out 5 reps but had to rest more than I wanted between the last 3 reps.  For the second set I reduced it to 275 and although 20 pounds doesn’t seem like much it made a big difference.  I still had to rest before the 4th and 5th reps of each set, but not as much as before.  It was a great squat workout, I was sweating buckets when it was over!  I’ll try 280 next time.

My next exercise was barbell curls and after a couple of warm-ups I loaded up to 95 pounds and this might have been a little too light since I did the 5 sets with no struggle at all.  But I figure since my 1RM on this is about 125, I’ll be working up to this very soon and I now have a lot of confidence that I can do 5×5 @100 next time.  After doing this I was starting to get a great pump in my biceps so rather than stop there I continued working biceps for awhile with some dumbbell curls and some low weight-high rep cable curls.  My last set of cables I went to failure and I could see the veins in my arms really starting to pop!  I’d say this is the best biceps workout I’ve had since I started lifting and I’ve never felt such a pump!

I finished my workout with some cardio, 15 minutes doing intervals on the bike.  When it was over my legs were burning and I was panting.  But I felt great!  Next workout tomorrow, I’m doing bench press, overhead press, barbell shrug, and maybe some pull-ups.  Anyone reading this whose used 5×5 training, let me know how it went for you!