Great Log! I always liked the 5x5 routine. Ya know you can vary the 5x5 in a few ways over time. Like for example you can start with a 5 x5 for your first exercise and then the rest of your work that day do a typical 4x 8-12 . Or switch it up to a 10 x2 where you can go heavier to try to bust through a plateau.
One thing great about 5 x 5 is you just have to focus on about 5 good reps with solid perfect form. Sometimes when we go higher rep we can start showing bad form.
I may try something like you describe with my bench press, since I seem to be stuck where I am. This past workout, I even regressed a little bit. Baybe the 10 x 2 might help kick things in gear again.
Today was back day. Since I just did legs yesterday, which included heavy squats and hack squats, I skipped deadlifts for today. I believe this artificially boosts my strength on the rest of my exercises - maybe not artificially, but it removes the pre exhaustion factor that deadlifts give. It's good for my ego, however, so I'm not complaining! LOL!
Weighted pull ups with 25 lb plate. Weighed myself with the plate and weighed in at 238 like this, just to see how muchbweight I'm actually "pulling up".
5x5 - got all 5x5, but will repeat with this weight to improve form, and when deadlifts precede pull ups, may not be able to do it with a 25 lb plate. We'll see.
Barbell rows:
225
5x5
Again, I'll repeat this to improve form. Not too bad, but this is an exercise that is so easy to cheat. Maybe easier to say it's difficult to maintain strict form with the heavier weight.
I decided to throw in lat pulldowns. I was so impressed with myself last time with these, I couldn't resist. Lol!
240 6; 8; 8
1st set I did without straps. The knurl on my pulldown bar is so sharp, and the bar so small (Ibthink it's less than an inch), that my hands were the limiting factor here. Put my straps on to protect my hands for the 2nd and 3rd sets. I'm sure I memtioned this last time I logged back day, but 240 lb lat pulldowns really show how much stronger I've gotten. I hadn't done lat pulldowns since I started this routine; last time I did them prior to starting 5x5's, the heaviest weight I used was 180. So my weight on lat pulldowns, after pull ups and barbell rows, is up 60 pounds over what I was doing before!
That's not to mention that I'm up on all my other lifts as well.
My cheapo barbell os now a little bit bent, I think I mentioned this yesterday. So I'm now barbell shopping. I will probablyy end up picking up a used Texas Strength Systems powerlifting bar, which a used equipment source tells me he has. Texas Power Bar is the name of it. Been looking at a bunchbof different options and that seems to be one of the quality pieces out there.