Week 5 - A New Take on 5/3/1

Frankly, my previous attempt to program six days of heavy lifting at home was too ambitious. My back injury two weeks ago was a big, flashing neon sign warning me to re-think my plan. In order to give myself rest days during my home weeks and still do some heavy lifting, I've decided to use a modification of Wendler's 5/3/1 program. Each day of lifting is 3 sets at increasing percentages of 1RM, two exercises per day, and I'm still squishing 2 weeks of the heavy lifting cycles into six days. As long as I get the heavy lifts in, I'm not going to worry about conditioning workouts or supplemental exercises - I'll only add those if I'm feeling good.

Day 1 - 3 sets of 5+ reps

Clean & Jerk: 44kg x5, 52kg x 5, 59kg x 5

Squat: 62kg x 5, 72kg x 5, 82kg x 5

Day2 - 3 sets of 5+ reps

Deadlift: 94kg x 5, 107kg x 5, 122kg x 6

Floor Press: 50kg x 5, 52kg x 5, 57kg x 11

CF Flag WOD: Team Runny Cindy (w/ Mark) - 19 rounds +5 pullups, 2 pushups

Day 3 - Rest

Day 4 - 3 sets of 3+ reps

Clean & Jerk: 46kg x 3, 54kg x 3, 60kg x 4

Squat: 66kg x 3, 76kg x3, 86kg x 6

Day 5 - 3 sets of 3+ reps

Deadlift: 100kg x 3, 115kg x 3, 130kg x 6

Floor Press: 50kg x 3, 54 kg x 3, 60kg x 15 reps

Assistance work: Ring Dip Bottoms, TGUs, False Grip Ring Rows

I may need to increase the weights on the floor press, now that I'm taking it off a pseudo-rack instead of starting from the floor.

Day 6 - Celebratory 1st Anniversary workout with my wife at CrossFit Flagstaff!

AMRAP in 15 minutes of : 15 chest-to-bar pullups, 30 seconds of L-sitting (5 rounds)

5/3/1 Thoughts:

I like the flexibility that the final set (of as many reps as possible) introduces to the program. It means I don't have to walk as thin a line between making progress and overtraining. It also gives me a way to see if my 1RM estimates are way off.