Like it or not, I’m learning something.

So this LRB template is alright, but I don’t think it’s an ideal setup for me. There’s a lot of good I’m getting from it. For example, that crazy trap pump? The lateral raises — never did them for 20 reps, and really pushed hard to get those reps. Never thought lat raises would hit the traps so well either.

I’m finding that isolation stuff up to 20 reps is working well, and that I need to push harder. That I’ll feel a point where my body wants to stop, and I should stop — just for 1-2 seconds — then keep going. If I do that, it’s still good progress and gets by that burn, and I can see there’s still more gas in the tank. There certainly comes a point where I truly cannot move the weight any more and THEN I can stop. I just don’t always care for super-high-rep sets, so yeah, I’m learning something.

Another thing is that perhaps longer rest periods have their place, even if I’m trying for hypertrophy. Traditionally the notion is about 1 minute max of rest between sets. Well, when I was doing Inception, Paul would have 2-3 minutes sometimes even between higher-rep sets. There was something to that. Today, a few of the sets wound up being like 50% sets — I pushed to failure on 1 set, then the next set I only got 50% after only 1 minute of rest. It’s kinda akin to the 350 method approach. So, some interesting insight, that sometimes with the higher stuff, to get that level of volume in, a little more rest would be OK.

But I’m also finding this specific template layout isn’t for me. I’ve said before that I get a lot of “push” work but not a lot of chest work.

Anyways, it’s been good for what it is, and I think I can take something from the theory and structure.

Going forward tho… I’ve only got about a week left before starting the cut diet again. I’ll finish out this template for the remaining 2 weeks (after this week), and after that I don’t know. I’m flip-flopping between doing a Basebuilding approach or just going right into a mass building type of program. What hit me is that I’ve been doing a lot of pre-set programs, which has been good because it forces me to try things I may not normally try and thus I learn from it. So it’s all good. But I know that after I finish this cut, I want to stop all the boy recomp and work towards my 3/4/5 goal — and that is likely to be nothing but pre-set programs (I’m strongly considering going back to 5/3/1). So part of me is thinking that I’d like to have some free-form fun — just know that today I’m working X and just do whatever. Yeah there’ll be some structure of course, but I’d like to just fully create my own things. Not sure.. still tossing around the notions. I’ve got a couple weeks yet to figure it out.

• Seated DB Press
  • 15e x 20
  • 20e x 20
  • 25e x 20
  • 30e x 20
  • 30e x 12
  • 30e x 9
• Incline Bench
  • 75 x 20
  • 75 x 10
  • 65 x 10
• DB Lat Raises
  • 10e x 20
  • 10e x 20
  • 10e x 20
  • 10e x 20
  • 10e x 16
• Pushdowns
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 16
  • 40 x 12

A “light back/pull” day it was.

So the RDL’s I went light on, trying to just make sure I’m getting form right. Am I? Well, I believe I’m doing it like everyone says to, but I just don’t “feel” it. I feel like I want to or should go lower, but then it starts to get into stiff-leg territory, tho I know that’s a different movement — that’s more back hinge than a hip thrust. Still….

Otherwise, things are what they are. Lots and lots of reps….

I’m not 100% sure how well it all goes for me here. I do appreciate this template because while I do get mighty sore, I’m not feeling as beat-up. Is that so much the template? or that I only hit the gym now 3x and keeping the sessions to about an hour (but working hard for that hour). Dunno.

But anyways… 209 this morning. Weight is holding steady as it should. The cut starts again soon….

• Romanian Deadlifts
  • 135 x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 225 x 5
  • 225 x 5
• Cable Rows
  • 70 x 20
  • 80 x 20
  • 90 x 20
  • 100 x 13
  • 100 x 11
• Hyperextensions
  • bw x 15
  • bw x 12
  • bw x 10
  • bw x 10
• DB Curls
  • 20e x ??? (I was distracted blew my count, so I just kept going until I couldn’t)
  • 25e x 15
  • 30x x 10

You know, it’s all good until the split squats. Those just suck. 🙂

That groove-finding with my squat, in terms of speed, is coming along. Not too slow, not too fast. Finding what’s right for me in terms of how fast I go down so that the hole and direction change still gets some stretch-reflex but isn’t some massive momentum change. I’m also finding myself being a little more upright and my quads are getting more into it than hip drive — and certainly, I can find myself making a conscious effort to drive from hips or quads, it’s kinda cool.

The smith hacks continue to be interesting… not really sure if they’re getting me anything.

But split squats… these are a motherfucker. I hate ’em. But they are very good for me; I can’t deny that.

In other news, it looks like just a couple more weeks of enjoyment, then it’s back on the cut diet. I’m hovering in the 210 range right now, and we’re going to work down to the 190 range, so probably 3-4 months. Personally I want it closer to 3 as 4 starts to sacrifice other things. So, this times out pretty decent with the template I’m on. I’ll finish out the full 6-week cycle of LRB here but what to do after that I’ve only started to think about. I certainly want to stay on 3x/week as that’s providing me better recovery — and with the stress at work right now, I need all the recovery and sleep I can get. I thought I might try 4-6 weeks of a Base Building type approach, of moderate weights and higher reps, especially while I still have a decent food intake. Then shift to whatever diet dicates later on.

We’ll see.

Ah food… you were fun while you lasted. 😉

• Squats
  • 150 x 5
  • 175 x 4
  • 205 x 3
  • 230 x 2
  • 245 x 1
  • 270 x 1
  • 275 x 1
• Smith Machine Hack Squats
  • bar x 10
  • 95 x 10
  • 115 x 10
  • 135 x 10
• Leg Press
  • 135 x 10
  • 225 x 10
  • 275 x 10
  • 315 x 10
• Split Squats
  • bw x 20
  • bw x 20
  • bw x 12
  • bw x 12

Starting the second round on the LRB template.

So, back to 1-A, “Press, Heavy”. All in all, the day went well. Weights and reps up, feeling good.

I have noticed that on this template I’m getting a lot of pressing work in, but not a lot of “chest” work in. We’ll see how that pans out long-term. Honestly, with the way the diet is going to be going here, I reckon that once I finish this one round of the LRB template, I’ll be rotating off it to a more “pure hypertrophy” type of programming, because I’m sure I’ll be back on a cutting diet. We shall see.

To that end… I’m at 208-209 — I dropped almost 3 pounds in 1 week. So I expect we’ll be upping the diet plan because for sure as-written it’s not enough to sustain me. Like I said, I’ve been very loose and “cheating” constantly to get and keep my weight up, but we need to get it dialed in so we can know exactly where to start from to make the cut happen. That said tho, I actually wondered if we might as well start the cut now. I have a good start here. 😉 why not just keep going? Honestly. I’ll go with Nick’s recommendations, but I did toss that out there… and frankly, I’d be fine with it if we did.

• Behind-the-Neck Press (seated, smith machine)
  • bar x 5
  • 65 x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 120 x 5
• Bench Press
  • 125 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 170 x 3
  • 185 x 2
  • 200 x 1
  • 210 x 1
  • 225 x 1
• Upright Rows
  • 85 x 10
  • 85 x 10
  • 85 x 10
  • 85 x 10
  • 85 x 10
• Overhead Extensions
  • 35 x 20
  • 35 x 20
  • 35 x 20
  • 35 x 20
  • 35 x 20

That didn’t feel like much.

But then, it stands to reason. This is session 3-B “Back, Heavy” — so, deadlift.

I haven’t (conventional) deadlifted since I think September, so I have no real idea where I was. I picked some reasonable numbers, plugged them into the Strong-15 percentage tables, and away I went. It didn’t feel like much, but week 1 of the cycle is quite light when you look at the numbers. Either way, a good way to break myself back into things.

Happy to be doing chin-ups again. I missed them.

Good mornings are a movement I’ve never liked. But I’ve been watching good technique videos on it, and figured I’ll go light, make sure I figure the movement out and really work to do it right. I’ll make something out of it!

Anyways, the past 2 weeks are a good start to things. My body is having some extreme DOMS from all of this, because it is a lot of and different work. The additional rest is good — I’m not feeling so worn out, tho I do have a little bit of “the crud” that’s going around right now so I am a little worn down from that. But all in all good.

On the weight front – down to 210. I am wondering if I’ll be 209 come Sunday, at the rate things are going. If so, I’m OK with that because that means moar food. 😉

• Deadlift
  • 145 x 5
  • 185 x 4
  • 225 x 3
  • 255 x 2
  • 290 x 1
  • 315 x 1
  • 330 x 1
• Chin ups
  • bw x 7
  • bw x 4
  • bw x 4
  • bw x 3
  • bw x 3
• Good Mornings
  • bar x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 135 x 5
• BB Curls
  • 45 x 20
  • 45 x 18
  • 45 x 15
  • 45 x 10
  • 45 x 10