Today felt solid.

Nothing major to report, really.

Weight holding at 219, which is good.

Session today felt fine. Maybe a little more energized, but not really counting that up to much just yet.

One thing I can say is that I may switch to something like JM Press instead of close-grips. My shoulder felt strange today while doing close-grips, like maybe I shouldn’t have been pressing. Not sure, but we’ll see how it goes.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

Press

• bar x 5
• bar x 5
• 60 x 5
• 75 x 4
• 90 x 3
• 110 x 2
• 125 x 1
• 110 x 12 (AMRAP)
• 110 x 6 (50%)

Upright Rows

• 90 x 10
• 90 x 10
• 90 x 10
• 90 x 10
• 90 x 9

Side Laterals

• 20e x 12
• 20e x 12
• 20e x 8

Face Pulls

• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12

Close-Grip Bench Press

• 145 x 10
• 145 x 10
• 145 x 8
• 145 x 5

Triceps Pressdowns (350-Method)

• 50 x 25
• 50 x 18
• 50 x 14

It’s official: I’ve lost strength.

I knew this was coming. Each week the 285 got heavier, slower, more of a struggle. And today? I got down to almost parallel — you know the point I’m talking about — and just came up because I knew if I hit depth I’d get stapled. It’s been gradual, and it’s possible it was in my head. But let’s step back and be realistic here.

You are supposed to program with your every day max. And then this top work-up weight on “model 1” is supposed to be 75% of that EDM. So put it this way… I’m supposed to be working up to 75% of 90% of my 1RM. Dude, there’s no WAY this should be tough or any sort of a grinder. But yet it is. And it’s been that way for some time. Today was the breaking point.

What really sucks is dropping below 300. I worked so hard to get above that threshold, and now I’m so far below it. I’m just feeling down about it all. I know why it’s there… and it’s not just because of the defattening diet. I went back and looked at my logs and saw when this particular progression started to get tough for me. Given the events then, I probably lost enough straight-up muscle at that point and then couple that with the diet I’ve just never recovered.

I’m still pretty happy that I hung on as long as I did. But it just feels like a bigger set-back. That’s all.

So I took the 285 as a max and recalced the numbers for the 5×5 work sets. They actually felt good. Powerful, fast (C.A.T.). I’m just going to recalc and live with it. Tho I did think I might try making it 5×8 instead of 5×5, because man, the 155 seemed way light.

To that end on the high-bars I lowered the weight. I really want to ensure I’m making it a muscle, not a movement. That I really work to involve the quads in this. I’m thinking about it not just as a squat, but more like I want to “unhinge” myself, “unfold” myself. I remember as a kid trying to learn how to do a “backwards” dive into the swimming pool. I never succeeded (it was always flinging myself backwards and “back-flopping” on the water), but that came to mind as the cue… where I’m trying to extend the leg at the knee, trying to push myself, unfold myself “backwards” like that. Felt like a good cue to not just involve the quads more (I really felt them nicely today), but also to ensure I keep my back upright, don’t fall forward, and turn it into a squat where my posterior chain is what is bringing everything back up — that’s not the point.

Well… today was a bit of a downer, but well… just going to recalculate the numbers and keep plugging away. BUT get this… I just went back and looked at some things. I’ve been doing it all wrong all this time!. Base Building Squat Model 1 is supposed to work up to 75%, not 85%. Hrm….. Well, it doesn’t matter. It just means I need to use different percentages to figure my work-up. The simple fact I couldn’t hit fucking 285 tells me all I need to know.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Squats (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 165 x 5
  • 190 x 4
  • 225 x 3
  • 250 x 2
  • 285 x 0
  • 155 x 5
  • 155 x 5
  • 155 x 5
  • 155 x 5
  • 155 x 5
• High-Bar, Narrow-Stance Squats
  • 95 x 8
  • 95 x 8
  • 95 x 8
  • 95 x 8
• Leg Extensions
  • 40 x 15
  • 50 x 13
  • 60 x 12
  • 70 x 10
  • 50 x 15
• Leg Curls
  • 40 x 15
  • 50 x 13
  • 60 x 10
  • 60 x 10
  • 50 x 12
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 10

Just another day….

And because it’s “just another day”, I think that may explain my thinking as of late.

Yes I know, patience. I’m old enough and been around the block enough times to know that, to understand that, to practice that. Nevertheless, I’m still human and we all reach a point of being tired, of becoming impatient.

It’s been what? 7.5 months on The Defattening Project? And there’s more time ahead; it may well be a year on it before I get back on the gain train. While I’m certainly happy for the work and the results, on the same token I’m eager to get back on the train. I’m tired of seeing my lifts be stagnant, which they basically have been for the past 3 months. And so, my thinking is trying to make up for that… to give me something more to look forward to, that I’ll be back and rolling before you know it.

But being realistic, I don’t know how long it will take to accomplish my next goal (3/4/5). But I know if I rush it, I’ll probably screw myself and have greater setbacks. I was able to run one Strong-15 and recall how I got essentially the game gains as on 5/3/1 but feeling a LOT less beat up in doing so. There’s great appeal in that! But of course, it was only 1 run of the program AND it’s a peaking program whereas 5/3/1 isn’t necessary so. I also have to remind myself that I’ve wanted to give Paul’s programming a really good run, and while I do think all this time Base Building while cutting has been a fruitful and worthwhile endeavor, it’s not working his programming towards the end I really want: getting stronger (and bigger). So I can’t really say I’ve given Paul’s stuff a fair shake, and won’t until I spend probably at least a year with it on the gain train.

I’ve been doing more reading, more thinking, and my present thinking is evolving to something like: off the diet, stick with the current program while my body readjusts; consider a Strong-15-short-cycle to try to help find where my 1RM’s are again but I may just spend a week and max out. Then, do a full Strong-15 based upon those numbers. After that, I don’t know for sure, but I’ll probably work Base Building and/or Powerbuilding (to use a Josh Bryant term) — building strength but through reps. See where it goes. Will I perhaps do 5/3/1 again? Maybe, but right now I think I need to stay true to a prior desire to really give Paul’s programming a fair shake.

As for the session itself.

Working to remember to pause my benches. Not everything, like the work sets will probably remain touch-and-go, but at least during my work-up, ensure that first rep is paused.

Felt a little less strong this session. That last work rep I barely made it back to the upgrights (sigh), and didn’t quite get the volume on my dips as last week. Ah well… we’ll see where this trends.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Bench Press (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 160 x 3
  • 180 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 225 x 1
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 6
  • 180 x 5
• Dips
  • WT x 10
  • WT x 7
  • WT x 5
  • WT x 5
  • WT x 5
• DB Incline Press
  • 50e x 10
  • 50e x 8
  • 50e x 8
• Machine Flies
  • 75e x 12
  • 75e x 12
  • 75e x 12

I didn’t have as much time at the gym today, so I opted to cut everything down by 1 set and bump up the reps. So like instead of 5×10 aim for 4×12.

While that helped on time, it also showed something else that I need to work on: putting myself fully into every set.

I pace myself for sure. I know I have 5 sets to go, so I’ll pace for those 5 sets to ensure I get them. In general that’s good because there’s something to that effect. But I think sometimes I should strive to be fully there for each set and not pace it. So like instea of 1 group of 5 sets, I have 5 groups of 1 set, if you will. That each and every set is fully balls-to-the-wall. Probably not something to do every time, but sometimes yeah… this would be good.

Doing this somewhat today was really good. I actually felt today was more productive and not as exhausting. That’s gotta be a good thing.

On shrugs, I did the first set Meadows-style. While resting between sets, I did some “air shrugs” and found pinching my shoulder blades together was something I wasn’t doing. Remember, I’m trying to fix my posture during shrugs so I don’t kill my spine. I then opted to do the remaining sets trying to keep my shoulders pulled back and just shrugging normally (no 3-second hold). The goal was to just have the 1 “warm-up” set and then have the other sets be with the shoulders back and just rep-out.

Ended doing the curls 21-style. Just thought I’d try it. Nice pump but I question if it’ll do anything truly useful. Might be something where if I had a dedicated arm day and did a lot of direct biceps work, just 1 set of things to finish and away I go. shrug

In other news, I start to rethink the 5/3/1 approach. I’ll say that doing something like normal 5/3/1 followed by Joker Sets, followed by first-set-last (in the 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps) seems pretty appealing. But then I start think about how damn beat up I get and that’s not good. But I dunno… with RP fueling my diet, I may be able to pull it off. That was one big appeal of Strong-15 was not feeling as beat up. So I dunno. Back to waffling I guess.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

Chins

• BW x 8
• BW x 5
• BW x 4
• BW x 3

BB Rows

• 115 x 12
• 115 x 12
• 115 x 12
• 115 x 10

BB Shrugs

• 70e x 12
• 70e x 15
• 70e x 15
• 70e x 15

Wide, Neutral-grip Lat Pulldowns

• 130 x 12
• 130 x 12
• 130 x 12

Hammer Curls

• 30e x 10
• 30e x 8
• 30e x 6
• 30e x 6

BB Curls (21’s style)

• 45 x 21’s
• 35 x 21’s
• 35 x 21’s

Really, not a lot to say.

It was a 80% day, just solid and fine. Nothing bad, nothing good, just solid.

Weight holds in the 218-219 range, which is where I should be.

All in all, things are good!

I keep giving more thought to going back to 5/3/1. Maybe my math here is flawed, but I look at it this way.

I’ve been enjoying 4x week, so I’ll try to stick with that. I also preferred the 6 weeks on then a deload. So let’s say that either each cycle is 7 or 8 weeks, just because sometimes life may vary. So basically count on about 7 cycles over the year. Given the typical 5/3/1 bump of 10# squat/dead, 5# bench/press, in theory that’s 140 squat/dead and 70 bench/press (remember, you bump after 3 weeks so each cycle is 2 bumps). But to maintain this is unlikely, at least 1 reset will happen, so let’s be conservative and say 70/35 is the total gain by the end of the year, or thereabouts. Given the goal I’m setting, given where I likely am going to start from… geez, if that puts me at say 2.5 bench, 3.5 squat, 4.5 dead? Wow, I will take that.

When I do the math with other programming, I just don’t see that amount of progression.

Of course, there’s a lot of other factors that will come into play. 4x week 5/3/1 was tough for me in the past. But I’m eating better, will continue to eat better, and my work capacity is improved. Plus I’ll be approaching 5/3/1 a bit different this time, different mentality, different “starting light” and working up so I’m starting from a more proper foundation and one that isn’t as ego-based. But who knows how it will all go. But one thing I do want to ensure I do is stay focused. My prior problems were due to shifting goals, and I don’t expect that will happen this time around.

Still don’t know where exactly I’ll go and do. I really do want to still give Paul’s stuff a better shake, but I’m still thinking how to make it fully work for me to best accomplish my goals and not take “forever” to get there.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

Press

• bar x 5
• bar x 5
• 60 x 5
• 75 x 4
• 90 x 3
• 110 x 2
• 125 x 1
• 110 x 12 (AMRAP)
• 110 x 6 (50%)

Upright Rows

• 90 x 10
• 90 x 10
• 90 x 10
• 90 x 9
• 90 x 8

Side Laterals

• 20e x 10
• 20e x 10
• 20e x 9

Face Pulls

• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12

Close-Grip Bench Press

• 145 x 8
• 145 x 8
• 145 x 8
• 145 x 8

Triceps Pressdowns (350-Method)

• 50 x 20
• 50 x 16
• 50 x 12

Yeah, this hurts. 🙂

Continuing to explore high-bar, narrow-stance squats as a way to bring up my weak-ass quads. Today felt a little more comfortable. Last week I truly went “high-bar” literally putting the bar atop my traps. Well, that wasn’t so hot-feeling later on, because there’s a nice vertebrae there that got irritated – not quite bruised, but certainly felt tender. So today instead of directly atop I found a spot just off the apex where there was actually some trap-cushion. I also took a narrower grip to further build up the cushion. That worked better.

I videoed myself to ensure I was getting parallel. I was, but boy it feels like I’m bent in half. But one thing I’m noticing is my body wanting to drive up with the hips to really overcome my weak-ass quads. It did make me wonder if I wanted to do front-squats instead, since you can’t do that without dropping the bar! But I will stick with this for a while longer because I can improve technique for sure. One cue may be to really work on that “drive the head back into the bar” — really focus on making the torso upright. Again, I don’t know quite yet, but this is fun to explore.

I did up it to 4 sets, and I’m not doing too many reps yet because I’m still finding the groove. The groove felt more greased in the later sets/reps, so I’m getting there. I’d like to have these work up to somewhere in the 8-12 range. I’ll drop the weight if that’s what I need, but for now there’s no question I’m focused more on just finding the technique.

In other news, I’m pretty convinced that I’ve lost more strength than I thought. I’m not sure I could single 315 right now (or if I could, it’ll be bowling-shoe-ugly) — that 285 just feels hard. A bit depressing to feel such a setback, and perhaps that’s why I’m contemplating 5/3/1 or even Cube instead of LRB approaches, since the LRB stuff feels like it’ll get me there but slower. Thing is, I have to remember that I’ve only been able to give Paul’s approaches a partial-shake. when I did that one Strong-15 I was pleased with it, and I have to remember that. Plus, if getting to the 3/4/5 goal is going to take me “2 years”, does it matter if it takes me 20 months or 24 months, especially if 24 months means I’m less beat up by the end of it? I’m starting to feel like my approach probably should be once I’m done with the fat-loss, eat for gains, 4-6 weeks on an updated Base Building approach to get myself back in the groove (by updated, it’d be things like adding deadlifting back in), then probably do a full Strong-15 cycle with some reasonable goals (e.g. 20-30 squat/dead, 10-15 bench), and see how it goes from there. Again, just thinking out loud, because I’m getting excited about getting back on the gain train. 😉

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Squats (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 165 x 5
  • 190 x 4
  • 225 x 3
  • 250 x 2
  • 285 x 1
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
• High-Bar, Narrow-Stance Squats
  • 135 x 6
  • 135 x 6
  • 135 x 6
  • 135 x 6
• Leg Extensions
  • 40 x 15
  • 50 x 12
  • 60 x 12
  • 70 x 10
  • 50 x 15
• Leg Curls
  • 40 x 15
  • 50 x 12
  • 50 x 12
  • 60 x 8
  • 50 x 10
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 10

10!!

I hit 10 consecutive dips today. That’s a milestone.

I mean, I used to not do dips because of shoulder issues. Then I started again, bench dips, then said screw it and went for proper dips. The goal was to get 10 in a row, and today I achieved that! To boot, it was after my bench work.

Am I stronger? Sure. But the real success was dropping a significant amount of weight.

Now that I hit 10, I’m going to ride that out until I can get 5×10 across — that’s the next goal.

In other news… weight is up a hair from Thursday’s slack, but slowly coming back down. I remain in the ballpark for this mid so I’m good with it all. No question tho, the body is happier to have more carbs and more fat. I overall function better, in the gym I’m obviously hitting more reps…. it’ll be depressing in abou 4 weeks when I’m 1. back on the fat-loss train, 2. about a week of the loser-diet has been going and I’ll be all depleted. 🙂 But hopefully this is the home stretch for me, so I’ll roll with it.

Because of that, I keep thinking about where to go after this. I’m pretty firm in my desire to make my next goal bench 3, squat 4, deadlift 5… which could mean 300/400/500 or 3/4/5-wheels… Kinda going for the latter, but certainly you hit the former on your way there. Given that, I have actually been toying with the idea of going back to 5/3/1 OR maybe even finally trying Cube (Kingpin, if I did opt for any particular template). Don’t know, thinking out loud, but I am pretty certain 3/4/5 is my next goal.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Bench Press (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 165 x 3
  • 180 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 225 x 1
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 6
  • 180 x 5
• Dips
  • BW x 10 (PR!)
  • BW x 7
  • BW x 7
  • BW x 5 (hand slipped)
  • BW x 6
• DB Incline Press
  • 45e x 12
  • 45e x 12
  • 45e x 9
• Machine Flies (350-Method)
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12