The mind is a powerful determiner of your success or failure.

I know this, but I’m obviously not yet a master of it.

Monday’s squat session was in part due to feeling physically great, but also having a killer mindset that I was going to squat that 315. But today? If I’m honest with myself I know that I’ve had doubts about hitting the 265 all this time. In general I don’t know why as the cycle went well, but I think it’s just general trepidation about benching my max. I work out alone, and the gym doesn’t have the best setup for failing on bench press. There is something I can do, but the metrics of it are off by just enough that it actually makes things worse in their own way. I don’t want to fail (and risk bad injury), and so I psyche myself out.

I was to go 235, 240, 245. I thought I’d try the 265, but I could tell I was doubting. The 235 went up fine. I figured go for 245, but then half-way through the rest period I bumped it to 250 because I felt 250 would give me a better gauge if I could hit the 265 (a 15# jump instead of a 20#). The 250 went up hard; I totally lost my leg drive because I was so focused on pressing. And so, 255 was my top for today and it was an ugly grinder, but I got it. It matches my previous lifetime PR set just a few weeks ago, so it’s not all bad, but I also know this went up harder than that prior 255.

I could say it’s a matter of other things… I was mentally distracted by other life things. Diet, rest, etc…. and yeah, maybe the played a part. But I doubt it. I’m pretty sure it was all in my head. I approached it like it was going to be heavy, and it was. I just didn’t have the mindset that it was “Ronnie Coleman light weight”, just enough doubt… and nope.

Ah well.

Strong-15 Short Cycle, from LRB365

• Bench (goal: 265)
  • bar x 5 x 2
  • 135 x 5
  • 155 x 4
  • 180 x 3
  • 200 x 2
  • 235 x 1
  • 245 x 1
  • 255 x 1
  • 215 x 5 (AMRAP)
• Incline Press
  • 105 x 15
  • 105 x 15
• Dips
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 5

A +10% day, so I went for it. Got it. It’s awesome when you reach your goals, isn’t it? 🙂

This is my last week of the Strong-15 Short Cycle. Again, I opted to NOT do the deload then testing weeks because I really need to focus on the fat loss — that’s truly my main and proper goal. But the whole reason I did this short cycle was because I needed it. And being honest with myself, tho I shouldn’t feed my ego, I’m still human and if you starve the ego it doesn’t really help you either. So while I’m getting off the peaking cycle and onto a plan that’s better suited to support the fat loss efforts, man… I still wanted to finish strong because that’s the whole point of this effort.

I went in today planning to work up to 295 because that’s what I was supposed to do. But I felt so good. I’ve been getting more sleep. Work has been calming down and I’m a lot less stressed. I barely thought about anything today other than the lift before me. I kept with my mantra of “tight, go down, come up”. The warm-ups felt a little heavy, but they always do — it’s warming up. Then the 275 felt really good… and while I was supposed to then go 285 then 295, I said “screw it” and put 295 on. It went up, a little grind, but still easy enough that told me I had more in me. I put 315 on the bar. Rested up. Grabbed the bar so hard that the steel oozed from between my fingers, tight tight tight, went down, came up. And frankly, it felt easier than the 295.

Damn, that felt good. I’m still smiling. 🙂

See, my best squat ever is 325, which I set a little over a year ago, just before I started The Defattening Project. Now I’m 45-50 lb. lighter and within 10 lb. of that best-ever. In fact, after I squatted the 315 I felt like I had more in me, but I didn’t do it because I still had the rest of the session to go and frankly 315 was my goal so be happy with it. I lost a lot of strength over the past year, but spending the past 3-ish months bulking up and lifting in a mass-building and then strength-peaking way? Yeah, it’s coming back. Heck, I set a lifetime PR on bench just before I started this peaking cycle so shit… this isn’t too bad. 🙂

Will I try for my goal weights on Wednesday (bench) and Friday (deadlift)? I don’t know. The only reason I did today was because I felt damn good, so I reckon it’ll just depend how I’m feeling and how the weights move.

But for now, I’m still smiling and happy that things are coming back. Yeah, I expect I may well lose some over the next couple months while I continue my cut cycle, but that’s how it goes. I am planning next week to start on a Base Building Model 1 for 4-6 weeks (at least) in an effort to solidify the strength gains and start transitioning to rep work; this should hopefully work out alright for me in terms of trying to preserve what I have, support the fat-loss diet, and set me up for later success as the diet cycle progresses.

Onwards.

Strong-15 Short Cycle, from LRB365

• Squat (goal: 315)
  • bar x 5 x 2
  • 155 x 5
  • 185 x 4
  • 215 x 3
  • 235 x 2
  • 275 x 1
  • 295 x 1
  • 315 x 1
• Pause Squat
  • 250 x 3
  • 250 x 3
• Leg Press
  • 315 x 20
  • 315 x 15
• Leg Curls
  • 40 x 15
  • 40 x 12
  • 40 x 8
• Calf Raises
  • 110 x 10
  • 110 x 10
  • 110 x 10

A few things from today.

First, I had a passing thought that maybe next week (being the last week of the cycle) I’d actually work up to my proposed max. But quickly put the kibosh on that because again, what purpose? Just ego. Just do the work, call it good.

Then shrugs I tried being stricter about. I did some “air shrugs” to get the proper feel of just contracting my traps to lift the bar. Gotta do that more so it translates into moving the bar. Just that, y’know?

Then… chin-ups. I’ve been feeling a bunch of elbow pain lately, and while I don’t know if chin-ups caused it, I know they are aggravating it. I used to not go to full dead-hang, stopping just above it — for the sake of my shoulders. But now that I’m going all the way down, it puts a torque on my arms and my left elbow is really feeling it. So… I’m gonna stop. For sure other grips are less stress on the elbow, like neutral-grip. So, Paul Carter often talks about v-bar pull-ups, so why not. It’s basically a very narrow-grip, neutral-grip. Might as well give them a try. It was a little fumbling today tho as I work to figure out a good placement of the bar so my head doesn’t bang into things. I’ll get it figured… but might as well see what these do for me. 🙂

Otherwise… I’m just looking forward to next week!

Strong-15 Short Cycle, from LRB365

• Deadlift (goal: 405)
  • 160 x 5
  • 200 x 4
  • 245 x 3
  • 285 x 2
  • 345 x 1
  • 355 x 1
  • 265 x 1
  • 325 x 3 (backoff)
  • 325 x 3 (backoff)
• Stiff-Legged Deadlift
  • 255 x 9
• BB Shrugs
  • 255 x 5
  • 185 x 20
• Chin-ups
  • BW x 5
• V-bar pullups
  • BW x 3
  • BW x 4
• BB Curls
  • 60 x 10
  • 60 x 8

Good day… but I’m rethinking.

As week 4 of this Strong-15 Short Cycle progresses, I’m starting to wonder….

Should I keep going?

I knew it’d be an experiment to try a peaking cycle with the start of my weight-cut. I figured it could work OK since I was at the start of the cut and food would be essentially the same as it had been during my prior bulk/mid. But I think cutting out all those cheats and the fact I am losing weight is making a difference. Not so much the weight-loss itself, but the lack of volumous food. I have started to get the occasional dizzy-spell, which is a tell-tale sign of the carb depletion. I’m still doing well in my sessions, but it’s enough to make me wonder if I really will get to the end OK.

Also, the amount of work I’m doing per session just isn’t what I need to support the fat loss. This I expected, but I have to remember that my goal is fat loss and I need to be supporting THAT goal right now.

So why did I do this short-cycle? Because I wanted to. Because I miss lifting this way. Because I miss the heavier weights. Because I miss trying to build strength; because I miss being strong(er) than I was before. So yeah, it was all emotional and ego, but lord I needed it after a year of other stuff. So I don’t regret it, I do think the mental break was good.

But what I’m starting to think is that I’m going to skip the testing. So finish this week, finish next week (which technically marks the end of the cycle — after that you’d deload for a week, then test). And then switch gears. Why? Because what will testing accomplish for me other than the ego satisfaction? Granted, I want the ego satisfaction, but that’s not a Good Enough™ reason to do it. I have to also consider that my fat loss hasn’t been at the rate I’ve wanted, and if I want to hit my goal (weight loss in time-period) then I gotta get focused on it — so that means changing my gym work to up the volume and workload to support that goal-work. Besides, after next week I will have put in all the work, so really… is there anything truly lost here? No, I don’t think so.

So, it’s an ego-check, really. I think that’s a good thing. I think that I’ll benefit more in the long-run by doing this. I’m good with it.

Strong-15 Short Cycle, from LRB365

• Bench (goal: 265)
  • bar x 5 x 2
  • 135 x 5
  • 155 x 4
  • 180 x 3
  • 200 x 2
  • 225 x 1
  • 235 x 1
  • 240 x 1
  • 200 x 7 (AMRAP)
• Incline Press
  • 105 x 15
  • 105 x 15
• Dips
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 6
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 5

4th week, and feeling good.

Really, getting tight beyond tight is what it’s about. Crush that bar so hard the steel oozes from between your fingers. It makes a huge whole-body difference.

The other big help is having a clear head. I’ve been so busy, my brain buzzing with work and life issues, that my gym sessions are more thinking about that than the weights. It’s not about being focused — if anything it’s about having a clear mind, no mind. All I’m thinking about is what’s immediately in front of me. That’s been huge too.

Hitting 285 today isn’t much in the grand scheme, but coming back from all my losses it’s one of the bigger weights I’ve moved in ages. Next week’s 295 will be telling, but I feel no qualms about that going down and then coming back up. 315 is going to happen! I’m very happy about that, because I’m getting closer to regaining where I used to be.

Anyways, all in all today went well. Not much else to say.

Strong-15 Short Cycle, from LRB365

• Squat (goal: 315)
  • bar x 5 x 2
  • 155 x 5
  • 185 x 4
  • 215 x 3
  • 235 x 2
  • 270 x 1
  • 275 x 1
  • 285 x 1
• Pause Squat
  • 235 x 3
  • 235 x 3
• Leg Press
  • 315 x 20
  • 315 x 15
• Leg Curls
  • 40 x 15
  • 40 x 12
  • 40 x 9
• Calf Raises
  • 105 x 10
  • 105 x 10
  • 105 x 10

Things are getting heavy.

So brings an end to week 3 of the cycle. This is where things aren’t quite heavy, but they are starting to.

I’m going mixed grip on the singles from here out.

Really tho, I was surprised today went so well. I was out of town for the past 2.5 days on business, with bad travel, time-zone changes, and not a lot of sleep. My body did NOT want to get out of bed this morning — “MOAR SLEEP!” it cried. But once I got in there and got going, everything went pretty well.

Looking forward to how the last few weeks of this cycle go.

And yes, I’m leaning towards going Base Building after the cycle is done. I hope that will help me cement the work done in this Strong-15 Short Cycle, and start the transition back to rep-work and “bodybuilding” as I finish out this cut/diet cycle. Alas, the business trip may have set me back a little bit — I’ll know better come my weigh-in on Sunday, I’m hoping to at least have maintained weight. But when you have to eat a little and drink a little to be socially polite to your hosts and business partners, well… calories-in don’t care much about your business deals. Ah well, should just be a small bump in the road. For the record, Arcadia Ales is pretty damn awesome (had the Brown Cow… man, that was good).

Strong-15 Short Cycle, from LRB365

• Deadlift (goal: 405)
  • 160 x 5
  • 200 x 4
  • 245 x 3
  • 285 x 2
  • 335 x 1
  • 345 x 1
  • 355 x 1
  • 305 x 3 (backoff)
  • 305 x 3 (backoff)
• Stiff-Legged Deadlift
  • 255 x 9
• BB Shrugs
  • 255 x 10
  • 185 x 23
• Chin-ups
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 4
  • BW x 3
• BB Curls
  • 60 x 10
  • 60 x 7

Taking a cue from Monday’s squat day — tight tight tight.

I worked on my bench setup today. Really getting my body locked in, from my shoulders being dug into the bench, to my feet being planted and arching hard. I don’t get much arch, but when my feet are in the right spot, if the arch is as high and tight as I can get it (which isn’t much, but still going as far as I can), boy that all really helps. Granted, I found myself losing my leg drive because I was focused on too many things, but I can live with that for now while I work through all of this.

After I get all tight and in there, hold it for a moment, settle, THEN unrack the bar. For whatever reason I get in place then unrack the bar without waiting… probably because I don’t want to tire out, but come on, it’s not that big a deal. I do want to work more on that technique of just pulling the bar out via lats, instead of “lifting” the bar out… all an effort to keep the shoulder blades back and pinned, y’know? Then unracked, let things settle and reacquire shoulders if needed, THEN start benching. Pause a moment at the bottom, then push.

So yeah, working on technique. It’s better, but it’s also a bit of a step back just because I’m thinking so much that it’s almost over-thinking and not just moving the bar, y’know? It’ll get there.

Anyways, things were generally good today.

Strong-15 Short Cycle, from LRB365

• Bench (goal: 265)
  • bar x 5 x 2
  • 135 x 5
  • 155 x 4
  • 180 x 3
  • 200 x 2
  • 220 x 1
  • 225 x 1
  • 235 x 1
  • 185 x 11 (AMRAP)
• Incline Press
  • 105 x 15
  • 105 x 12
• Dips
  • BW x 8
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 4
  • BW x 4

Today I learned many things.

First, the power of tight. This never ceases to amaze me. I already know that tightness brings strength, but every time I think I know it, I find out that there’s still more to learn. I’ve read a lot from guys like Dave Tate about crushing the bar, from the moment your hand first touches it until the moment your hands come off the bar, crush it. I grip it, hard, but what seems to happen is I start to focus on some other things in technique and so I lose the crush grip — not entirely, it’s still a hard grip, but certainly not a crush.

Well today I was able to keep outside world stuff off my mind and kept my focus on the next set and only the next set. I would spend the 2 minute rest period just telling myself things like “tight, go down, come up”. Tight tight tight. On that top set? I crushed the hell out of the bar the moment my hands touched it, and the telling sign was as I then got under the bar it hurt my arms/elbows/shoulders because I hadn’t loosened my grip one bit and so everything didn’t bend the same — telltale sign I haven’t been crushing as much as I could! Then I hit the rep and well… it’s hard to describe. I obviously felt the weight, I knew it was there, but the whole rep felt otherworldly, like I was there but wasn’t there and that it just happened.

That’s what I gotta keep striving for, because that was the easiest rep of the day for sure.

I do believe the helper was, as Dave has said, that crush grip, because it activates the whole body, the whole nervous system wakes up and charges up for it. And to do it from the start, first thing, gives the body a few to get up there, not when I’m already under the bar.

Yeah yeah… little things get better.

Second, the need to check equipment before you do anything with it.

I put the 315 on the leg press. I held onto one of the sled bars as I sat down into position… and the sled dropped. Not the whole way, but enough. From what I can gather, the person who last used it didn’t fully engage the hold bars/handles on one side and it popped out under load. The other was fully engaged so she didn’t move far, but BOY it was disconcerting to think about getting crushed, y’know? Was this the other person’s fault? One could argue that, but really the responsibility is my own for ensuring things are as they should be before I use them. So yeah, check your equipment — a check won’t take you out of the zone, but getting injured sure will.

Third, relaxed leg curls. Oh yeah, keeping my feet/ankles/calves relaxed through the leg curls makes a HUGE difference. Sure I can’t move as much weight, but who cares — it’s a leg curl. But it sure worked my hamstrings like I’ve never felt before. So here’s a place to NOT keep tight. 😉

Anyways, good session. I really have to stay focused and keep my head clear because the weights are going up and getting closer to “heavy” now (for me).

Strong-15 Short Cycle, from LRB365

• Squat (goal: 315)
  • bar x 5 x 2
  • 155 x 5
  • 185 x 4
  • 215 x 3
  • 235 x 2
  • 260 x 1
  • 270 x 1
  • 275 x 1
• Pause Squat
  • 220 x 3
  • 220 x 3
• Leg Press
  • 315 x 20
  • 315 x 17
• Leg Curls
  • 40 x 12
  • 40 x 12
  • 40 x 12
• Calf Raises
  • 100 x 10
  • 100 x 10
  • 100 x 10

Nothing much to report, really. Just felt really solid.

The deadlifts went up fast and easy. All good.

I will say, on a whim I changed and instead of chin-ups opted to do pull-ups. Well, I wanted to… been wanting to for some time to see how I fare. The trouble tends to be grip width then in relation to not causing shoulder problems, so while I sat for a moment to figure it out I just stopped thinking about it and grabbed the neutral-grip handles and went (less thinkie, more do-ie). Felt just fine on my arms/elbows/shoulders. In fact, I found I could actually go to a dead-hang, which I can’t do without shoulder problems in chin-ups (supinated grip). But then, in that dead-hang, yeah… because I can’t work that portion well, it’s obvious I haven’t — it was tough for me to get from dead-hang to even start. 🙂 But that’s good… tells me where I’m weak and need to improve. So, I’m going to go back to chin-ups for the rest of this cycle, but after I’m done with this Strong-15 Short Cycle and switch to whatever I do after it (probably 4-6 weeks of Base Building), I’ll go with the neutral-grip pull-ups and work on improving there.

Strong-15 Short Cycle, from LRB365

• Deadlift (goal: 405)
  • 160 x 5
  • 200 x 4
  • 245 x 3
  • 285 x 2
  • 315 x 1
  • 335 x 1
  • 345 x 1
  • 285 x 3 (backoff)
  • 285 x 3 (backoff)
  • 285 x 3 (backoff)
• Stiff-Legged Deadlift
  • 255 x 8
• BB Shrugs
  • 255 x 10
  • 185 x 20
• Neutral-grip pullups
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 3
  • BW x 1
• BB Curls
  • 60 x 10
  • 60 x 9

I don’t know what to make of it.

The singles feel heavy and unstable. But the reps? Just keep crankin’.

I think it’s a question of set-up. I feel pretty good with deadlift setup, just have to remember to do it. Squat setup is getting better and better. But bench setup… every time I think I’ve got it, something demonstrates that I don’t. I do think I’m getting better about planting my feet in a good position for me (not too far in, too far out, too close together, too far apart, that gives me solid footing and ability to get leg drive AND keep my butt on the bench). Good grip, etc. But well… I just have to think more about whole-body tightness I guess. I dunno. Just going to keep “studying” it and trying to figure it out — all I can do.

I will say I am also working to have a slight pause at the bottom, at least on the work sets. The AMRAP is certainly touch-and-go. Who knows, maybe that’s it, because I’m not used to that. It might also be figuring out my descent… the speed there.

Ah, there’s always something. I know what’s going through my head, it’s just hard to put into words. 🙂

That said, it was kinda cool to have a slightly heavier workup here (it’s only week 2 of the cycle), and then more weight for the AMRAP set than last week, but then hit more reps this week than last week. That was cool. And then on the inclines to hit the same as I did last week too. Plus whereas dips felt totally out of whack for me last week, this week it was alright — it didn’t feel foreign to me. So I’ll just chalk up last week to one-off weirdness.

Strong-15 Short Cycle, from LRB365

• Bench (goal: 265)
  • bar x 5 x 2
  • 135 x 5
  • 155 x 4
  • 180 x 3
  • 200 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 220 x 1
  • 225 x 1
  • 170 x 16 (AMRAP)
• Incline Press
  • 105 x 15
  • 105 x 12
• Dips
  • BW x 8
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 4
  • BW x 4
  • BW x 4