My Road to a Lean(er) Mean(er) Aurik

[Aurik]

So I'm about a year into my lifting journey. I've done Power/Muscle/Burn (loved it, but a bit too much volume), I did 5/3/1 (Loved it, still doing it. Sorta), and I tried Westside (great on the lower body, kills the upper body though). Sooo... I'm going to be trying a 5/3/1 and Westside Hybrid. I'm currently 3 weeks into a 5 week shoulder rehab (I injured it while doing a 1RM bench press), so I've got another 2 weeks of this, followed by a deload, and then back onto 5/3/1 for the upper body.

Yesterday was my ME Squat/Deadlift day, and it was pretty straightforward:

A few mins of cardio on the bike to warm up
Some leg swings to open up the hips
Squats (Warmup): 45/5 45/5 95/5 135/5 185/5 225/2 225/1 275/1 315/1
Bench Squats: 365/2 365/4 (Rep PR)
Stiff-legged Deadlifts: 275/5 285/5 (no straps) 315/5 (with straps)
Standing Ab Crunches: 105/10 105/10 105/10

After which I was drenched in sweat and absolutely *starving*. I was going to try for 5 reps at 365, but ended up getting out of my groove after 2 reps on the first set, and then the 2nd set I wasn't quite sure if I'd be able to get the 5th rep so I chickened out. But it's still one rep more than the last time I repped at 365, so that's good.

Next week I'll be doing some halting deadlifts, barbell shrugs, rack pulls, and quad and hamstring destruction. I can't wait

[big_swede]

Solid squatting! And good first log post!

[LtL]

I'm with Swede. Great first post.

LtL

[BendtheBar]

Looking good Aurik. Subbed, and in for some massive PRs.

[dmaipa]

Awesome work. Stay strong

[Szelago]

Nice work!

Good luck with that shoulder, buddy.

Keep on lifting and posting.

[Aurik]

Originally Posted by big_swede

Solid squatting! And good first log post!

Thanks, Swede! Encouragement is always appreciated!

Originally Posted by LtL

I'm with Swede. Great first post.

LtL

Heh, thanks Al. I'll try to keep them entertaining.

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

Looking good Aurik. Subbed, and in for some massive PRs.

I'll definitely try to post them regularly, Steve. I'm not expecting any benching or military pressing PR's for a little while, but I've got a 1RM squat week coming up in 3 weeks, so we'll see how far I can push that.

Originally Posted by dmaipa

Awesome work. Stay strong

Thanks, dmaipa!

Originally Posted by Szelago

Nice work!

Good luck with that shoulder, buddy.

Keep on lifting and posting.

Thanks with the good wishes on the shoulder. Basically I had been having some elbow problems (from too much back squatting) and it started giving me pains as I was warming up for a 1RM bench attempt. I kept on with it and bullied through the pain, got the 335 1RM, but flared out my elbows WAY too much when doing it. The result was worse elbow pain and I could barely move my arm the next day. Well, for the past 3 weeks I've been doing a lot of shoulder mobility stuff (some band type ROM work and some dislocations), dropped the bench weights WAY back and upped the reps (last week I did 20 reps at 185, and the week before I did 26 at 135) to get blood flowing in there. The shoulder is now at about 95% - I have full ROM and just experience some mild discomfort in very limited spots of the ROM. Once I get it warmed up and blood flowing, it feels just as strong as the other one. I'm going to stick with my rehab plan though and do what I can to stabilize it for another 2 weeks, do a deload, and start back on 5/3/1 for the upper body.

[Carl1174]

Nice new log Ken, subbed for sure

I am interested to see how this 5/3/1-westside hybrid works out for you mate

Carl.

[bigtim27]

Big Ken!!!!! YES!!!! Definitely subbed!! Welcome aboard buddy

[MC]

Welcome Big Ken!! Psyched to see you logging here!!