It’s deload time, so there’s not much to write about… but yet, there is, and it has nothing to do with deloading.

So deload-wise, the program has some guidance about what to do, but otherwise my general protocol is to keep doing what you’re doing, just halve it. Do the first half of what you’d normally do. The wording is important. Simply put, if you normally do 4 sets, do 2. But let’s say there’s a workup, do the first 2 sets, which yes will be the lightest weights. This isn’t supposed to be much stress and strain, just a little movement and aid in recovery, so behave accordingly. And so, that’s all today wound up being.

If I did anything interesting, it was playing with my hand positions when I squatted to see how it might affect my elbows. I even tried touching the collars, and while that was a little awkward to (un)rack (given the way this half-rack is set up), it was good on my elbows but bad on keeping the bar on my back. Still, it was kinda telling and interesting and I might play with it some more.

But what’s more relevant is my future thinking.

I’m really enjoing the Inception program, but it is going as I predicted — it’s beating me up.

When I did 5/3/1 a few years ago, that’s a 4x/week program, but it’s really like a 2-day upper/lower A/B type of split. That was too much for me. When I made it into 3x/week, it worked well for me. When I tried some other similar 2-day upper/lower A/B type of splits, I made great progress, but it wound up being too much for me. And so I feared Inception might be the same, and sure enough it is.

It’s not that 4x/week is too much, it’s what’s done. For example, if it was 1-body-part-per-session, that can work out ok. The last cycle I did had an arm day, and thing is, even the most brutal arm day is no where near like what a squat & deadlift day is, y’know? So it winds up being 4x/week, but it’s really like a very light recovery day. And why did I start doing 4x? Because The Defattening Project: the more I go to the gym, the more I can eat, and that really helped when the off-days were so depriving that it was driving me nuts.

But do I really need it right now?

And what do I need more of? More gym? More food? No… more sleep.

So I’m giving some serious thought to dropping back to 3x/week (I’ll go back to 4x eventually, since another cut cycle is coming and I’m sure I’ll want more food), and on my non-gym days just sleeping in. No alarm, no nothing. Just sleep. My body will probably still want to get up out of habit, but don’t… or if I do, even just stay in bed for another 30 minutes. It’s still rest.

What will I do? I don’t know. Still thinking. But something like Paul Carter’s “Lift Run Bang Template” (from his “Strength, Life, Legacy” eBook, or here and here may be fitting. 3x/week. Gets some heavy work in. Not too much volume, but enough. Rotates on an A/B heavy/light sort of approach. It may be what the doctor ordered.

We’ll see. I’ll still take the rest of this week as an Inception Deload; stay the course until I’ve charted a new one.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 7 (deload)

• Squats
  • bar x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 135 x 5
• Leg Curls
  • 50 x 8
  • 50 x 8
• Leg Extensions
  • 60 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 80 x 12
• Seated Calf Raises
  • 35 x 20
  • 35 x 20

More pain. 😦

I actually wanted to do a full day today as I was feeling a little better, more motivated. However, reality kicked in as the inclines got heavier. Those arm pains/weakness? It came back.

Yeah, the top set actually went well. Tho still the same reps as last week, it was much cleaner, so that’s progress. But the pain? Too much.

As I think about it, I think it’s an elbow issue, and then some biceps get involved. My guess? Squatting. Read this article from Paul Carter regarding low-bar squat and pain. It may not be that, but I remember this happening before and after some adjustments to my squat, my arms felt better.

Which brings me to another consideration — that this may be too much. I don’t think this load is too much for someone of my age and condition, but I think that I’m not able to give my body the recovery it needs. Could I correct that? I try to, but life is what it is and sometimes sleep isn’t as good as it needs to be. And as well, I’ve been down this road before with the 4x/week stuff.. touched on this yesterday.

So my consideration is that I may not complete Inception. I’m not sure… I really don’t WANT to stop, but I’m thinking about it. As well, next week is a deload… we’ll see how it goes and how I feel come the end of it. I also have toyed around with the notion of taking a second “deload” week. Would I go back to 3x/week? Maybe… or I may stick with 4x/week but change around the program and say have an arm day, which is effectively a “nothing” day. 😉

So I don’t know. Today I just did the main work and left. I’ll Advil it up all weekend long, see how things go next week, and just take it day by day.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 6

• Incline Press
  • bar x 8
  • 95 x 8
  • 115 x 8
  • 135 x 8
  • 165 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 145 x 10 (AMRAP)

I haven’t done a “jack shit” day in a while, and today is that day.

I may not be doing 5/3/1 any more, but Wendler’s notion of “jack shit days” rides on. I’ve just been feeling worn out, no motivation, and a little beat up too. Good that deload is next week, but man, I could use a little right now. And so I did. Just did my work sets and left.

One thing is that there’s pains starting to bother (concern?) me. The weak feeling in my arm from 2 days ago? That came back. Makes me wonder how much is wrist and/or elbow related here. And then my left hand has been feeling a bunch of pain lately too — my wrist hasn’t been “normal” feeling for a couple weeks, some months ago I did something while holding a 10# plate that caused some pain in my hand, and a few days ago I started feeling pains as I was typing (I’m an iOS developer, so I type all day). A lot of little bad things, but bad enough that it’s starting to concern me. So… if a little less physical stress can be had, I’ll take it.

It does make me revisit the 4x/week program. The only reason I went 4x/week was because of the diet — more gym time means more eating! Very useful when I was really on the extremes of my cutting diet. But a difference between how I did 4x then and 4x right now is that the 4x then was more of a bodypart split only once a week. So when you have an arm day… geez, that’s basically like a rest day. 🙂 But Inception here is pretty much a 2-day rotating upper/lower split, so it’s a LOT more stress on the body. Granted, that’s what helps you grow, but it seems to be taking a toll. It’s same as why when I was doing 5/3/1 I had to go on a 3x/week schedule because it was just too much.

I’ll finish out Inception, but I may well go back to 3x/week (doing say squat/bench/deadlift) when I start my cut cycle again and save going 4x until later in the diet cycle.

Anyways, that’s that.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 6

• Squats
  • bar x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 175 x 3
  • 205 x 1
  • 225 x 5
  • 225 x 5
  • 225 x 5
  • 225 x 5
  • 225 x 5

Pretty happy with how that went — mostly.

So establishing a 6RM, and it went about as smooth as I expected. I hit 215 for 6, and I’d say it was a pretty clean set without ability for another. BUT… I think it was only without ability for any more because as soon as I unracked the bar, an odd sensation ran through my right arm — I felt weak. It wasn’t like a sharp pain or anything, but some “pain” (for lack of a better term, because it sure wasn’t pleasure) that just made that whole arm feel weak. I was able to finish the set, but it did throw me off mentally. I moved the bar slower too. And the AMRAP set afterwards certainly felt worse as well. Could I have gotten more if not for this? Probably, but probably not by much. So really, I’m not going to sweat it. All in all I think this sets up a good max to work with for the next phase.

One thing about Inception that bugs me is the time factor. Paul flat out stipulates 3-minute rests at times, which to me is fine for main movements, but when I’m doing accessory work it feels like too much. I mean, 3-minutes between sets on pulldowns? It seems excessive! And it certainly takes my 1-hour-ish in the gym up to about 1.5-hour-ish in the gym, which really does eat into the day. Since I was running a little late today, I cut 1-minute off the rest times for accessory work: if normally 3 minutes, went 2; if normally 2 went 1. That lopped about 20 minutes off the session time! And I don’t feel any worse for it. I got about the same sets/reps out of it all, and I actually felt a little more worked by it all — stands to reason. That said, being forced to take the longer rests, the structure of Inception, has actually been very insightful for me and I don’t regret being forced through it one bit.

Anyways, my 6RM is established, so I know where to go from here for the next phase. Huzzah.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week X

• Bench Press
  • bar x 6
  • 95 x 6
  • 135 x 6
  • 165 x 6
  • 185 x 6
  • 215 x 6
  • 195 x 8 (AMRAP)
• Lat Pulldowns (curl grip)
  • 100 x 10
  • 110 x 10
  • 120 x 10
  • 130 x 10
  • 140 x 12
  • 110 x 15 (AMRAP)
• DB Rows
  • 55 x 10
  • 60 x 10
  • 65 x 10
  • 75 x 11 (AMRAP)
• Bent DB lat Raises
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 10
  • 15e x 9

Progress is good. And making progress is good. 🙂

Today marks the last/heavy week of the hypertrophy phase of the Inception program. Next week is deload, then the week after starts the strength phase. Thus, the goal for today is to determine what the “max” will be to use for that strength phase. This is done by working up to an all-out set of 5 reps, no reps left on the table.

Well… I left at least 1 rep.

Based on how last week went, I figured working up to 265 would happen. As I was progressing this morning, 265 felt good. And sure enough, it did happen. But I could have gotten at least 1 more rep. As well, I may actually have been able to use 270 or 275 — yeah, I was feeling pretty good, but that good didn’t really hit until the end. Everything was firing well, tightness, technique, all there. And so the 265 came and went…. but… what was I to do? Should I have went for more reps? Should I have done another set at a slightly higher weight?

Whatever. Doesn’t matter now. I think the 265 is reasonable enough — it’s always better to be conservative, under-estimate, err on the lighter side. And when I calc the 1RM on things, it’s at about 305. Thing is, if I was really working up to a 1RM I wouldn’t be doing as much volume as to this 5RM, so I’d have a little more in me and well, maybe 315? Again, all speculation and lots goes into it, and it really doesn’t matter much. BUT, what it does tell me is that yes, all the strength I lost while defattening is returning quickly, that setting a new lifetime PR isn’t too far into the future, and that at the end of this upcoming strength phase that well… 315 is possible. We’ll have to see how the phase goes, but it’s in the realm. And I dig that, because hey, to be close to my previous best AND arguably 2 weight-classes lighter? Hell, I’ll take that!

So all in all, I’m happy with the progress and how things have been going for me.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 6

• Squats
  • bar x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 215 x 5
  • 235 x 5
  • 265 x 5
• Leg Curls
  • 50 x 8
  • 50 x 8
  • 50 x 8
  • 50 x 8
• Leg Extensions
  • 60 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 80 x 12
  • 90 x 12
  • 95 x 17
• Seated Calf Raises
  • 35 x 20
  • 35 x 20
  • 35 x 17
  • 35 x 17

Things seem to be progressing well.

I get the feeling that I picked weights and progression right, and I just keep feeling better, stronger. Looking better in the mirror too — it helps to be eating food and not on a 1.5 year long cutting cycle. 😉

Very much looking forward to next week as that’s time to set maxes to enter the strength phase. Woot!

Oh and on diet… Nick just bumped up my food intake again. Apparently I’m not bulking fast enough. ha ha ha. I’ll enjoy this now because it won’t last….

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 5

• Incline Press
  • bar x 8
  • 95 x 8
  • 115 x 8
  • 135 x 8
  • 165 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 145 x 10 (AMRAP)
• Dips
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 7
  • BW x 5
• Wide-Grip Lat Pulldowns
  • 140 x 10
  • 140 x 8
  • 140 x 8
  • 140 x 8
  • 140 x 8
• Low Cable Rows
  • 90 x 12
  • 100 x 12
  • 110 x 12
  • 120 x 13
• BB Curls
  • bar x 100 rep protocol

Was feeling rather stiff this morning, but things improved as the sets wore on. In fact, by the 5th working set I was feeling pretty good — it went up easier than the prior sets. Being warm helps, but being tight from head to toe helps too.

I still hate the pause split squats. 😉

Anyways, not much to report. It was what it was. Excited about next week and setting some maxes for the transition to the strength phase.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 5

• Squats
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
• Pause Split Squats (rear leg on bench)
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
• Leg Press
  • 115 x 20
  • 165 x 20
  • 215 x 20
  • 255 x 25
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 14
  • 40 x 17

This is what I like. 🙂

Heavier weights, lower reps…. yeah, this is what I like.

What gets me tho? How my bench is still getting better despite the relatively low volume. I dig it.

Just a few notes.

Forgot to do my last set of pulldowns (the AMRAP drop set). I just was thinking about rows and so I went to rowing and totally spaced on the pulldowns. Heh. I just skipped it. No big deal.

On rows, the DB always hits my chest. It’s a matter of angles, gravity, etc. Well, it annoyed me on my 3rd set and I repositioned myself slightly so the DB came more up at my side. Thus, a greater range of motion. I felt things in my mid-back muscles that I hadn’t. This was good, duh. So I kept that up for the last set; consequently I hit fewer reps than last week, but they were better reps. I might actually consider dropping the weight a bit so I can really squeeze out the deeper range here. Funny thing is that normally I don’t like DB rows, but doing them this way (as Inception lays it out) has actually been pretty good.

Oh, and I’m down to 207 this morning. Dropped 1.5 lb. since yesterday. 🙂 Hooray holiday bloat!

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 5

• Bench Press
  • bar x 6
  • 95 x 6
  • 135 x 6
  • 165 x 6
  • 185 x 6
  • 205 x 6
  • 185 x 12 (AMRAP)
• Lat Pulldowns (curl grip)
  • 100 x 10
  • 110 x 10
  • 120 x 10
  • 130 x 10
  • 140 x 14
• DB Rows
  • 55 x 10
  • 60 x 10
  • 65 x 10
  • 75 x 10 (AMRAP)
• Bent DB lat Raises
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 10

Week 5, and things are getting more fun. 🙂

This week is priming for next week, where maxes are determined prior to entering the strength phase. Everything’s falling in line and I’m OK with how things are going. I do feel like strength is coming back, and I expect this cycle will get me mostly back to where I was, tho I’d need another cycle to really get there. Thing is, I started thinking today about what to do afterwards. My original plan was to finish this Inception program, do a Strong-15 Short Cycle, then determine what to do. It all came down to still working on dietary/body-comp goals. Well, I was looking at the calendar again and seeing when I’d likely start the cut diet, how that would coincide with lifting, and it’s starting to feel like once I finish Inception that a Strong-15 Short Cycle won’t work out and I should probably transition to something like a Base Building, where there’s more volume but still with a strength focus. So, I don’t know. It really comes down to how the diet will fare.

But I get ahead of myself.

Today generally went well. It feels weird to think about working up to a 5RM instead of 1RM, especially because on this program, every prior set also needs to be a 5 rep set, which adds up. When you’re going for a 1RM and just work up via singles, that’s really different. So it’s a little weird, but all good. Again, strength is returning, tho it’ll still be some time and work before I’m progressing ahead. But all in all, I’m good.

In other news… now that my 2-weeks vacation is over, time to tighten the diet back up. The break was good. Being semi-strict was a break that I really needed. But in a way, it was a little scary. It showed me how easily I can fall back into old habits — even after 16+ months of ingraining new habits. How fast the weight can come back on. I’ve still got a ways to go….

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 5

• Squats
  • bar x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 215 x 5
  • 235 x 5
  • 255 x 5
• Leg Curls
  • 50 x 10
  • 50 x 8
  • 50 x 8
  • 50 x 8
• Leg Extensions
  • 60 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 80 x 12
  • 90 x 12
  • 95 x 14
• Seated Calf Raises
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 20

What better way to start the new year than to hit the gym.

Winding up week 4. Felt better today… less blah than yesterday. But slept crappy because of all the fireworks going off, waking me up at midnight. You have your priorities, I have mine — and for me, getting a good night sleep and going to the gym (read: staying dedicated to my goals) is my priority.

All in all, a good day. Hit the 12 reps on the top set of inclines, so I’ll bump up the weight next week. But that 12th rep was a grinder — no sloppy form, no butt coming off the bench or anything, but it was a grinder — true failure. As a result, the AMRAP set dropped a rep and the dips didn’t progress over last week, but I’m OK with that.

Everything else went well.

A good morning.

FWIW, diet-wise I’ve been loose the past 2 weeks. I took 2 weeks off work, relaxing, enjoying the holiday. I needed the break in many ways and many aspects of life. I’m a little bloated up from things, and tho I’m not totally happy about the scale weight, I’m good with the break I took. Come Monday morning I’ll be back in the general routine of life, and that will include diet. So, over the long-term — and I’m looking yearly here — the bloat is no big deal.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 4

• Incline Press
  • bar x 8
  • 85 x 8
  • 105 x 8
  • 125 x 8
  • 145 x 8
  • 165 x 12
  • 135 x 12 (AMRAP)
• Dips
  • BW x 8
  • BW x 6
  • BW x 5
• Wide-Grip Lat Pulldowns
  • 135 x 8
  • 135 x 8
  • 135 x 8
  • 135 x 8
  • 135 x 10
• Low Cable Rows
  • 90 x 12
  • 100 x 12
  • 110 x 12
  • 120 x 13
• BB Curls
  • bar x 100 rep protocol