Not sure what to make of it.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Base Building – Mass cycle

• Incline Press – Working max: 205
  • 45 x 5
  • 45 x 5
  • 85 x 5
  • 105 x 4
  • 125 x 3
  • 155 x 2
  • 175 x 1
  • 160 x 10
  • 160 x 5
• DB Bench Press
  • 60e x 10
  • 60e x 10
  • 60e x 8
  • 60e x 7
  • 60e x 6
• Behind the Neck Press
  • 95 x 8
  • 95 x 8
  • 95 x 5
• BB Upright Row
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
• Tricep Pushdowns
  • 50 x 20 – rest pause

I don’t know what to make of this. Could it be the lack of creatine? Could it be last night’s horrible sleep? Just don’t know.

But, just one of those days I guess.

I also think I have some boredom. I almost didn’t want to go to the gym, and I did think to myself “screw it, start the Strong-15 now”. So yeah, maybe it’s just wanting to get moving. Next week will be determining working maxes for Strong-15, then a deload week, then into it. I’m really looking forward to that… I want to get back to that sort of lifting.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Base Building – Mass cycle

BB Rows

• 140 x 8
• 140 x 8
• 140 x 8
• 140 x 8
• 140 x 8

Seated Cable Rows

• 100 x 15
• 100 x 15
• 100 x 10

Meadows Shrugs

• 50e x 12
• 50e x 12
• 50e x 12
• 50e x 12
• 50e x 12

Wide, Neutral-grip Pulldowns

• 95 x 15
• 100 x 12
• 100 x 12
• 100 x 12
• 100 x 12

BB Curls

• 50 x 8
• 50 x 8
• 50 x 8, then rest pause

Actually felt good today. The rep-deaths of the past 2 sessions didn’t appear to be an issue today.

I did try some minor tweaks.

Rows. These are still BB rows, not strict Pendlay Rows, but between each rep I set the bar down on the ground. I kept fairly strict, but just not keeping the bar in the air the whole time. I don’t know why I did this, but I did it and went with it, and it seems better. I felt a lot more worked in my back. I think when I keep it in the air the whole time, my arms bear a lot of the work. But here, I can ensure I come off the ground and really initiate the work with the back. Certainly felt it more in my back than I normally do. Good thing.

On the Meadows Shrugs, I probably went too light because it wasn’t killing me like it was last week. But I played around with my positioning to try to get a better range of motion. What I settled on was DB’s hanging mostly in front of me, tho not strictly as if I’m holding a bar in front of me (they are DB’s, let them rotate a bit to a natural position). Angle the torso slightly forward at the hips, just very slightly (5º? 10º?). Then “turtle” the head/neck forward. This allows the shoulders to get a little higher at the top. Try it. Suck your chin in and really pull your head back. Shrug your shoulders and hold it up there. Now “turtle” your head/neck/chin forward and see how your shoulders move up a little more? More range of motion. So I’ll go with that

I also dropped the reps and increased the weight slightly on pulldowns — why not keep experimenting? That felt a LOT better to me, aiming for 12 reps instead of 15. It just worked a bit better, I felt more worked in my back and not in my arms. So, I’ll keep going with that emotion.

I’m not sure what to make of this.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Base Building – Mass cycle

• Squat – working max: 295
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 150 x 4
  • 175 x 3
  • 225 x 2
  • 250 x 1
  • 215 x 10
  • 215 x 5
• Stiff Leg Deadlift
  • 205 x 8
  • 205 x 8
  • 205 x 8
• Lunge
  • BW x 10e
  • BW x 10e
  • BW x 10e
  • BW x 10e
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 45 x 12
  • 45 x 12
  • 45 x 12
  • 45 x 12

Is it the removal of creatine that’s doing this? I don’t know. I couldn’t squeeze out any more squat reps, and I’m down from last week. But then, I cranked out a full round of stiff-legs, and I did a 4th set of lunges. So I don’t get it. Not really sure what’s up here, but I continue to just press on.

Meantime, I’m thinking during week 5 I’ll try to determine maxes for the Strong-15 cycle, take week 6 as a light deload (still hit the gym, just light weights for like 3×8 or something), then hit it. I admit, I’m anxious to get started… and I’m pretty sure I’ll find out why Paul Carter calls that one template the “man maker”.

Today was… interesting.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Base Building – Mass cycle

• Incline Press – Working max:
  • 45 x 5
  • 45 x 5
  • 85 x 5
  • 105 x 4
  • 125 x 3
  • 155 x 2
  • 175 x 1
  • 160 x 14
  • 160 x 4
• DB Bench Press
  • 60e x 10
  • 60e x 10
  • 60e x 5
  • 60e x 8
  • 60e x 8
• Behind the Neck Press
  • 95 x 8
  • 95 x 7
  • 95 x 5
• BB Upright Row
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 8
• Rope Tricep Pushdowns
  • 45 x ? a bunch… rest pause style

I cranked out 14 reps, then I barely got 4. Huh? Weird. Then while DB pressing, 3rd set I suddenly failed. I was almost done with a 6th rep when suddenly everything just stopped — muscles said “I’m done”. I am not sure if I got out of the groove and things just didn’t happen, but look… I got 2 sets of 8 afterwards. Eh?

I’m not sure what to make of this.

I’ve been off creatine for a bit… maybe I’m now starting to see the effects and am losing out on those last few reps? Maybe today just sucked? Maybe I really drained myself on the 14 reps and that sucked it out for the rest of the session? I will say even those 14 turned into a grinder. I really can’t say based on one day. But… it’s curious for sure.

In other news… I’m continuing to think about what to do when this cycle is done. I am starting to lean towards a 9-week Strong-15 cycle, THEN trying like 6 weeks of basebuilding followed by the Strong-15 short cycle then back to mass/BB-style stuff. I dunno. Key thing is I want to get back to some strength building. Still toying around.

This was good.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Base Building – Mass cycle

BB Rows

• 140 x 8
• 140 x 8
• 140 x 8
• 140 x 8
• 140 x 8

Seated Cable Rows

• 100 x 15
• 100 x 15
• 100 x 10

Meadows Shrugs

• 40e x 12
• 45e x 12
• 50e x 12
• 55e x 12
• 50e x 12

Wide, Neutral-grip Pulldowns

• 95 x 15
• 95 x 15
• 95 x 15
• 95 x 13
• 95 x 12

BB Curls

• 45 x 21’s
• 45 x 21’s
• 45 x 21’s

Today was pretty cool.

Last night Paul Carter posted something to Facebook showing progress of doing “Meadows Shrugs”. These are from John Meadows and it’s basically a DB shrug with a 3 second hold at the top. After 5 weeks, Paul was showing significant growth in his traps. So what the hey… let’s try them! Paul said to go light, so I did and worked up. If I do 4-5×12, I think 50’s will probably get me by for now. I will say, that hold… it does get to you, so you really have to squeeze and then squeeze harder to maintain it. If anything tho, my grip was getting tired before my traps were, but that’s OK too as grip work is never a bad thing. Afterwards? I can say I’ve never had a pump like this in my traps. I’m going to keep at them for this cycle. Why not?

That said, the methodology spilled over to my pulldowns. See, a common problem I have with my back work is my arms get too involved. So I work to take them out of the equation as much as I can. Cues like to ensure from the hands, it’s the pinky that does the work. Or that really when pulling, I pull from the elbows, not the hands. Alas, these cues do well to keep my arms out, but not always to then ensure I fully involve the back. All too often I do wind up with my arms being the weak link and they peed out before my back does. So when I moved over to the pulldowns, those don’t work for me to do a hold — my arms bear the brunt. So I tried instead that when I got down, to give it a little more pull — like a crunch, like a squeeze, to really get my back/lats a little more tight without getting my arms any further involved. That seemed to help out. So this may be something I have to do for my back — more “tricks” and things to continue to get full-range of motion and less arm involvement, while getting my back muscles actually worked hard.

Funny thing then… my arms didn’t get as much work as usual, so I did some 21’s (7 full reps, 7 top-half reps, 7 bottom-half reps) at the end.

One thing I’m not sure how it factors in… a few changes.

First, sleep seems to be getting better for me. Still weird, but I see increments of progress.

Second, I am cutting out all caffeine. I propped myself up pretty badly over the past 1-1.5 years due to the day job. While I would then taper, I’d still do things like take a 200mg capsule before lifting or drink iced tea. Dropped those.

Third, I’ve cut out creatine. I don’t cycle it — take it steady. While I don’t think this was having a negative impact on me, if I do wind up wanting to get a blood test to see if I may have some deeper issue with my sleep and such, I’d like to not have the artificially elevated creatine levels.

Anyways, today was a lot better than last week. So, we’ll just see how things work out over time.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Base Building – Mass cycle

• Squat – working max: 295
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 150 x 4
  • 175 x 3
  • 225 x 2
  • 250 x 1
  • 215 x 12
  • 215 x 5
• Stiff Leg Deadlift
  • 205 x 8
  • 205 x 8
  • 205 x 4
• Walking Lunge
  • BW x 10e
  • BW x 10e
  • BW x 10e
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 45 x 12
  • 45 x 12
  • 45 x 12

I am adjusting to this workload. The 73% working max is ass-kicking, especially doing the 50% style. But it’s a good level of work here, and reps increase week over week. So, all good.

This is just a lot of work, so I dropped the leg presses. I’ll try to come back to them in time, but for now, I’m pretty damn worked.

Did standing vs. seated raises, mostly due to other people in the gym and equipment access. No worries. I kept the methodology the same. I’m doing more ankle work outside of the gym too, mostly simple things like full range movement, stretches, rotations, etc.. I noticed some improvement today when in the “down” position, so I think that’s all paying off and getting me my range of motion back as well as continuing to strengthen the ankle.

I have to admit… I started feeling a twinge of wanting to not do Base Building after this cycle and instead do a 9-week Strong-15. I debate. I want to get my strength back up, but I know that base building would probably be better for me in the long run. It would help my conditioning, build more mass, and build a more solid strength base. So, I’ll just keep thinking about it.

Solid.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Base Building – Mass cycle

• Incline Press – Working max: 205
  • 45 x 5
  • 45 x 5
  • 85 x 5
  • 105 x 4
  • 125 x 3
  • 155 x 2
  • 175 x 1
  • 160 x 13
  • 160 x 5
• DB Bench Press
  • 60e x 10
  • 60e x 10
  • 60e x 9
  • 60e x 7
  • 60e x 6
• Behind the Neck Press
  • 90 x 8
  • 90 x 8
  • 90 x 8
• BB Upright Row
  • 60 x 15
  • 60 x 15
  • 60 x 15
  • 60 x 15
  • 60 x 13
• Tricep Pushdowns
  • 40 x bunch… rest-pause… some more… rest-pause… a few more

Today felt solid. Nothing really more to say.

Tho I will say, I’m kinda itching to try the base-building part. And I even wonder if I’ll have the patience to do it for so many weeks with what will seem (on paper) like a lack of progress. Maybe I’m feeling impatient to get my numbers back up. I was reading some Cube Method group postings where a bunch of people just finished a 10-week cycle under Brandon and seeing how they all increased their numbers got me itching. But I need to be patient.

Something’s not right with me….

Based upon Paul Carter’s Base Building – Mass cycle

BB Rows

• 140 x 8
• 140 x 8
• 140 x 8
• 140 x 7
• 140 x 5

Seated Cable Rows

• 95 x 15
• 95 x 15
• 95 x 15

Shrugs

• 155 x 20
• 155 x 20
• 155 x 20
• 155 x 16
• 155 x 12

Wide, Neutral-grip Pulldowns

• 95 x 15
• 95 x 15
• 95 x 15
• 95 x 10
• 85 x 12

BB Curls

• 45 x 12
• 45 x 10
• 45 x 10

I don’t know what it is, but I’m just wonky.

The best I can figure, when I step back and look at the whole of my life right now, is my body is reacting to my life change. My sleep is all messed up, tho it shows signs of normalizing. I’m more stressed out than I realized. I’ve been propping myself up with caffeine on and off for the past 2 years, and I’ve essentially given it up for the past week.

I think my body is crashing, trying to deal with all of this. Bleah.

It’s probably just going to take time to normalize. Try to get as much rest as I can. Eat well. Keep exercising. I’ll get there.

I have thought tho that it might be good to visit a doctor and get a full blood panel done, looking at everything (including test levels). I’ll give it a little bit tho. Let myself attempt to normalize first.

But anyways, today was what it was. Overall not too bad. Rest periods were very short and tight. I got to the gym much later than I have been, so there were others there. I kept earbuds in and just wanted to focus on lifting, so I kept a very tight watch of the clock and probably took 45-60 seconds of rest between sets, fairly strictly. Not a bad thing.

Got my work in, and away I go.

When I want to really understand something, I have to keep coming back to it. So I read or take a class or whatever gets me started. Then I go do it for a bit, then come back and read the book again or take another class, then do it again. Sometimes I step away for a bit and forget about it, doing something else with my time. Then I come back and do it all again. Every time I do this, my understanding deepens.

And so, I’ve been reading and re-reading Paul Carter’s 3 eBooks to digest his training strategy, programs, and philosophy. It started out out of need, because while I really love Paul’s writing and think he’s a very knowledgable and insightful person, I found the eBooks are a wee disjointed and unorganized — at least upon first read. The more I reread the 3 books, the more it all starts to gel because all the information is in there, but maybe the explanation for one thing is in another book, or the knowledge to really grok the concepts just has to come from immersion in his concepts. So reading and rereading his stuff has been quite useful because the more I do it, the more I understand.

So from this, I’m looking at his “base building” as the plan to follow for a while. I think what appeals to me about it (vs. Big-15, Strong-15, or other programs) is that it is about getting stronger through volume. How you look at guys like Coan and Kaz, and they were strong as hell and big as an ox. It’s a philosophy you find in the Cube Method as well. How the entire base building cycle you might stick with the same weight, but if you can move it faster, move it to a point where the last rep of the last set is like nothing — that’s getting stronger, that’s building the base.

But it really sunk in the other morning in an unlikely way.

I live in a 2-story house. When we first move into the house, all the going up and down the stairs was tiring! We’d find our legs getting tired from all the stair walking. Now granted, this isn’t a huge stress, but it was still something our bodies had to adjust to. After a week of this, the body was no longer tired. After months of this, we could fly up and down the stairs all day long, 2-steps at a time, and it was no problem.

This is base building, to speak.

It hit me again recently. See, after 2 years of working in an office and with my home office being upstairs, well… many times I would come home, dump my bag on the floor, and that was it for me for the night. I might go a couple days before I went upstairs. Then I had my ankle injury and didn’t go up the stairs much at all. Some weeks ago, I tried going up the stairs 2 at a time, and could not — my left leg was just not happy about it. It looks like between the ankle injury, the fasciitis, then doing a lot of compensation to avoid aggravating those conditions well… I lost something in my left leg (which I even noticed when squatting). This is part of why I’m wanting to do more one-legged work, to help remedy this.

Well, in the week I’ve been back full-time at home, I’ve been doing a lot more stair walking. I didn’t realize it at first, but after a week I looked back and realized that yeah, it was something I had to adapt to again (the ankle/leg problems made it more evident). I also made some other adjustments in how I walk so I was no longer compensating for my pain, instead trying to be smart about working through it to help overcome the issues. So far, it’s working, because things are strengthening.

And again, this is base building.

I’m not changing weights, I’m not changing reps, but I am working the same thing over, faster, quicker, shorter. There’s more intensity, and trying to build up a more solid foundation of strength so that I’m just strong and keeping that strength. We tend to measure progress in the weight room primarily by more weight on the bar and secondary by doing more reps. But there are other factors too, and this is where base building is.

So ok…. it’s going to be many months before I really know how this works out for me, but the more I think about it, the more I read and experience…. yeah, the more it makes sense to me.

I guess today would be a -10% day

Based upon Paul Carter’s Base Building – Mass cycle

• Squat – working max: 295
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 150 x 4
  • 175 x 3
  • 225 x 2
  • 250 x 1
  • 215 x 10
  • 215 x 5
• Stiff Leg Deadlift
  • 205 x 8
  • 205 x 4
• Walking Lunge
  • BW x 10 each leg
  • BW x 10 each leg
  • BW x 10 each leg
• Seated Calf Raises
  • 25 x 5 — for… I don’t know how many sets. See below.

If I had to classify today, I’d have to put it into the -10% column. I’m pooped. Since I changed my employment position, I’ve not gotten much sleep. I sleep maybe 4-5 hours, wake up because I need to go to the bathroom, then cannot get back to bed because my brain starts going. I think the job situation allows me more freedom, but is also bringing a little more stress and worry. I’ll adapt and figure things out in time. But meantime, I’m not getting enough rest.

Compounding it, yesterday I didn’t get much sleep at all, then woke up and dealt with a picnic table all day. Drove up to Michele’s uncle’s house (about 2 hours away), loaded it up, hauled it back, stained and assembled it. It’s a nice table, but it was just a lot of labor. Spending 4-5 hours yesterday “bent over” to stain it really took a toll on my lower back and glutes. But at least the lack of sleep coupled with that work made me sleep like a rock for about 8.5 hours. Huzzah! Maybe that’s what I needed to help me kick my rhythms to where they need to be — blessing in disguise.

That said, the session wasn’t horrible. It was my first using adjusted squat numbers per Paul Carter’s percentages (Big-15 style). I kept the tempo up, basically changing plates then squatting again — little rest. That 250 didn’t go up like a rocket (first indication it was a -10% day). And the 215 reps? Holy geez…. last week I was doing 185 for reps, and today 215 for almost the same number of reps. That felt good, but oye… that, plus yesterday, took a bunch out of me.

I did my first set of stiff-legs and barely made it to 8. I started feeling dizzy, and I mentally checked out… thus the 4 reps on the second set. I just did not want to risk passing out while lifting and totally psyched myself out. I figured given my recovery situation it wasn’t best to push it too crazy. Skipped the leg presses and just did walking lunges. I want to do some one-legged work to help my ankle situation. I settled on walking lunges because I think that will also help me emphasize some posture improvements too…. plus it’s less boring to walk than to just work “in place”.

After that, seated-calf raises because again, my ankle. This was interesting tho. I did NOT want to go heavy because it was more about getting the most from the movement for my ankle. I just put 25# on for a cursory weight. I would settle into the bottom position… maybe a good 5 seconds, really letting things settle in and stretch. I can tell I have some shortened mobility in my left ankle due to things, so I just let the stretch settle in — hurt a little bit (like “bad way” hurt), so I didn’t push it but did try to improve. I’d slowly raise up, hold for a couple seconds, then lower, stretch, and repeat. I could only manage about 5 reps each time because the pads resting on my lower thighs started cutting off circulation enough that my pumped/burning quads got upset with me. 😉 So I’d get about 5 reps, then rest a few seconds to let the blood flow in my thighs again, then do it again. I have no idea how many sets and reps I did. It didn’t exhaust me at all, but it did feel good for my ankle and that’s more of what I need right now.

I also had an epiphany regarding “base building”. I’ll write on that separately.

So, not an awesome day, but not too bad. I got the main work in, and what I really needed with acessories (ankle) I got. So, life goes on. And hopefully sleep will improve.