If you enjoy reading about my lifting weights, read on.

I’ve completed 2 microcycles (3 micros in a meso-block) of my “move away from 5/3/1”. I wanted to capture my current state of things.

Summing up the microcycle

• 3 days a week, 4 sessions per micro (micro thus is 9-10 days long; gym 3x/week is a good balance between stimulus and recovery for me).
• Fundamentally upper/lower A/B split
  • Squat (lower A)
  • Bench (upper A)
  • Deadlift (lower B)
  • Press (upper B)
• Each session starts with a main lift: squat, bench press, deadlift, press.
  • This will be worked for strength. Work up to a crisp single.
  • Might do 1 backoff set for AMRAP; maybe.
• Shifting supplemental and accessory work to more bodybuilding style, with increasing intensity per micro, and changing up every meso-block.
• Some accessory upper worked on lower day: accumulate volume over the micro (vs. within the session); helps manage time-in-gym-vs-i-gotta-get-to-work-but-want-to-ensure-I-give-some-bodyparts-the-attention-they-need-over-the-micro. 🙂
• I adopted a few conventions
  • Be conservative. I have goals, and I can’t meet them if I’m injured. Slow progress is still progress.
  • For a lot of accessory (and some supplemental) work, do 3 sets driving each set to failure. Over the “3 weeks” (3 micros of the meso), it’ll be like this (do you even conjugate, bro?):
    • Week 1: start dialing in weight and reps, each set to failure. Won’t be a killer 3 sets but it’ll be novel stimulus.
    • Week 2: weight and reps should be fairly dialed in, so just hit it again the same as week 1, just kinda “straight set pushing it” aiming to get a few more reps/work than week 1, still to failure.
    • Week 3: weight and reps are dialed in. Hit it hard for 3 sets all to failure, then finish with some sort of intensity technique: drop sets, iso-holds, rest-pause, partials, etc. Whatever is appropriate for the movement, e.g. selectorized machines easily support drop sets, John Meadows loved iso-holds and partials at the end of lying leg curls).
  • If I work a body part additionally on “a different day”, try to find some alternative approach. For example, if on same day you went heavy weight low reps, different day might be medium-weight moderate reps or light weight higher reps. A little variety just for interest.

So it has looked something like this:

• Lower A
  • Squat. 5-4-3-2-1 rep workup to a crisp single. Backoff: 1×60%
  • Leg press. 1 warm-up, then 3×20. On 3rd micro, finish with -30% drop set
  • (I’d add Leg extensions if I needed it, but so far this has been a lot of quad stimulus).
  • Calves on (selectorized) leg press. 3×8-12, pyramiding up. 3rd mirco, finish with drop set.
  • Rope-handle cable hammer curls. 350 Method. 3rd micro finish with drop set.
  • Benched barbell wrist extensions. 3×20
  • Treadmill
• Upper A
  • Bench press. I started this “move away” on 5/3/1 3s week so: micro 1, 3s week; micro 2, 1s week + 1 Joker rep; micro 3, 54321 workup plus a Joker single.
  • Incline DB flies. Slight incline a la John Meadows. 3×15, 3rd micro finish with 2 rest-pause sets. Get that stretch.
  • Seated DB Press. 4×6-10. 3rd micro finish with drop set
  • Incline DB Y raise. 3×10-15, 3rd micro finish with partial swings
  • PJR Pullovers. 3×12-15, 3rd micro finish with 2 rest-pause sets
  • Cable Row. 4×8-15, pyramiding up in weight. 3rd micro finish with 2 drop sets
  • Treadmill
• Lower B
  • Deadlift. 54321 workup.
  • SLDL. 3×6-10.
  • Seated leg curl. 4×8-10. 3rd micro finish with drop set
  • Seated calf raises. 350 method. 3rd micro finish with partials/bounce
  • EZ-Bar pushdowns. 3×8-15. 3rd micro finish with drop set.
  • Benched barbell wrist extensions. 3×20
  • Treadmill
• Upper B
  • Press. Executed same as bench.
  • Dips. 3×5+. Easing my shoulder/body back into these, so start with 3×5 and 1+ each week.
  • Barbell row. 4×5-8, pyramid up in weight. 3rd micro finish with 135xAMRAP
  • Dante row. 3×8-15 pyramid up in weight. 3rd micro finish with drop set.
  • Face pulls. 3×12-15. 3rd micro finish with drop set
  • Wide grip EZ bar curls. 4×6-8, 3rd micro finish with partials
  • Spider curls. 3×12-25 – just rep the fuck out. 3rd micro finish with iso-hold
  • Treadmill

Results so far

Again, I just finished micro 2.

Gut response: I like it. I’m getting strength work in, and the hypertrophy work is really cranking the shit out of my muscles – I am SORE! I am glad to see hypertrophy happening, because I’m aiming to use this programming to support my cut.

Another big thing for me here is the meso supplemental/accessory progression and rotation. Where week over week it ups the intensity, then next meso you switch to a similar movement. Oh the DOMS! Good pumps have been had too. I think this approach will support where I want to go. We shall see.

Where I want to go

I need to focus on dropping my body fat once and for all. I reckon I could drop 40# of flab and be happy. I really love strength training, and I need to find a way to keep that around during the cut, minimizing (or at least tracking) its state and progress or loss. I need to retain as much muscle as possible, and the best way to do that is to work to build muscle. I need to have a gym program that will support this dietary and lifestyle shift I need to undertake.

I will move the strength work to being a more “54321 workup” sort of thing, maybe with 1 backoff for some reps. I want the 1 to be crisp (I love Paul Carter for that term; it’s razor accurate). If it’s not crisp, I stay there micro over micro until it is. Which direction things move (even if it takes a few weeks) will be informative. I would adore progression, even if slow. So I will attempt a fairly slow progression. Like week over week just increase by maybe 5#. Then step back and do it again. To illustrate, let’s take squat:

• Week/micro 1: squat 325
• Week 2: squat 330
• Week 3: 335
• Week 4/meso 2: 330 (hopefully crisper than week 2)
• Week 5: 335 (hopefully crisper than week 3)
• Week 6: 340 (cool)
• Week 7/meso 3: 335, etc.

Again, illustration. Subsequent weeks depend how preceding weeks go. But generally some sort of periodized undulation.

Point tho is strength work is just kinda this sort of thing. As well, I have thought about adopting an RPE-based and/or kinda sorta that Simmons/Tate “max effort” shit; that sort of approach got me to my strongest ever. 🤔 And there’s a part of me that wants to squat 405 again…

Accessory work is hypertrophy oriented. I’m working to ensure stimulus is constantly novel. Can you get it done in 3 sets? You betcha, if you push that shit hard. First week you basically know what you can do, so crank that. Because of novelty, it’ll be good stimulus. Week 2, you have the weight and reps more dialed in, so simply due to that you’ll be able to push a little harder with an appropriate weight. That will be sufficient stimulus. But if you keep just “doing straight sets”, you adapt. So to prevent that, week 3 you again can push a little harder, and then we finish with some sort of intensity technique. Week 1 is novel, week 2 is adapting, week 3 pushes beyond. Always pushing towards failure, increasing intensity each micro. THEN, in the next micro you switch to a new movement and start over again. So maybe you did barbell curls, now you do ez-bar curls; wide then narrow, narrow then wide, cable curls, whatever… just pick a variation (conjugate bro). Lather, rinse, repeat over the mesos.

Plus, the fact I change up every 3 weeks means I never really know how much strength I’m losing. LOL. Yes, I’ll probably stop doing SBDP eventually and replace with similar movements (e.g. return to front squat). But, if my strength stalls, that tells me something regarding my diet/loss progress too. So, it’s all good, telling, diagnostic. I may be able to do things like when I see the stall, have diet go maintenance, achieve new set point (perhaps strength increases slightly like my reps start to go back up 1 per micro), then start a new cut. It may be cycles like this… 🤔

I have seen some decent musculature appearing in just 2 weeks – it’s not huge, but there’s a difference. This bodes well for supporting weight/fat loss.

And that’s… what is next.