April 26, 2010 - Day one of 531 training

Today marks the beginning of a new page in my training. For the past 15 months, I've been following OPT's Big Dawg blog daily, almost to the point of obsession. However, I feel that the change to something different is in order and timely. With that being said, I've decided to focus on Wendler's 531 program and give it a go for a few cycles and monitor my progress here.

For those who are unfamiliar with the 531, the program focuses on four movements: back squat, deadlift, press, and bench press. However, Other weightlifting movements will be worked on during the conditioning aspect of the program.

This program is based on your "working" one rep max, which is actually 90% of your last max effort single lift. If you squat 300#, you will base the whole month's numbers off 90% of that: 270#. This is a four week cycle. The first week you lift 3 sets of 5 reps. The second week you lift 3 sets of 3 reps. Third week is 1 set 5 reps/1 set 3 reps/1 set 1 rep. Fourth week is a deloading week of 3 sets at 5 reps light loading. All the sets work on percentages of the working one rep max number.

Today's Training:

Cycle One - Week One

Strength:

Press (1RM=165#; "Working" 1RM=150#)

• Set #1 is 5 reps @ 65% of "working" one rep max = 100#
• Set #2 is 5 reps @ 75% = 115#
• Set #3 is 5 reps (or more) @ 85% = 130(x6)

Weights felt very light in the warm up set and in the first working set, however when I attempted MAX reps in the third set the wight felt much heavier! I don't think I rested long enough between movements to give myself the best opportunity to really get after the higher rep numbers. I'll assess this more, maybe I'll need to adjust the working weight of the press for future sessions.

REST 5 minutes

Conditioning:

AMRAP in 3 minutes:

3 HSPU

6 Clapping Push ups

9 Box Jumps - 24"

Rest 90 seconds

Repeat for 4 cycles

1.) 2 rounds + 3 HSPUs + 6 Clapping Push Ups + 5 Box Jumps

2.) 2 rounds + 3 HSPUs + 5 Clapping Push Ups + 0 Box Jumps

3.) 2 rounds + 3 HSPUs + 6 Clapping Push Ups + 2 Box Jumps

4.) 2 rounds + 3 HSPUs + 6 Clapping Push Ups + 6 Box Jumps

Shoulders got really smoked after each set of the HSPUs and made the clapping push ups that much harder. I was able to dig in and finish each set unbroken. I felt that the box jumps were easy and quick, despite focusing on jumping to the center of the box on each rep.

Overall, good first day of the program. Working upper body is definately a weakness and focusing on it here will be key.