Today hurt — in the bad way.

On the first rep of the 3rd set of rows, I felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder. In short, it hurt a great deal, and was quite painful to do much of anything. I tried to get through the rest of the rows, but couldn’t. I thought to try pulldowns since it was a different plane of motion and while I could basically do them, I couldn’t get a full contraction without pain. Shrugs were right out. Hypers were fine, just uncomfortable in my shoulder/neck region.

I don’t know for sure what it did, but right now I’m not considering it anything too serious. It feels like if I could just pop/crack my neck, I’d be fine. But I can’t pop it because things are tight or something is impinged. So it’s just going to take a little time to stretch everything, work through the range of motion, and eventually it will come back.

Contributing factors? Hard to say, but right now I say a primary is probably my long nagging shoulder issues — from sleeping primarily on my left side. Last night I started on my left, felt really odd in my shoulder, then rolled over. Can’t say how much I slept on it overnight, but there we go. I think also the massive amount of tightness and soreness I’m feeling from Wednesday’s squat/deadlift session may also be a factor — everything is sore, everything is tight, including my traps. Who knows for sure.

One good thing? my diet.

I’m down about 3# already, but that’s primarily water/glycogen loss from the low-carb days. I also realized I was overengineering things. While the diet is provided in a very easy to follow format, I’ve been so used to counting every macro that I kept doing it. So say I’m to have “3 servings of fat”. A serving of peanut butter has 15g fat and 7g protein. What I was doing was calculating out both the fat AND the protein, so if I had 3 servings, I was calculating 21g protein there. Then I’d subtract that from the protein source I was to take in, so instead of having say 6oz of turkey I’d have like 2-3oz. Turns out, this is not the way they have the diet laid out. Yes those other things matter and are taken into account in the overall calculations — but in terms of the plan they give me, just stop overthinking it and follow it as-written. Peanut butter gets classified as “fat” and just count it against that. Quinoa has fair protein in it, but just count it as carb. Salmon has some fat, but just count it as protein. And so on. Again, it all matters and it calculated for on their end, but on my end, this is what keeps the plan simple to execute. I like that. Less minutia.

Granted it’s not 100% cut and dry like that, but I’m starting to see where RP’s plan is going. So… onwards. This isn’t too bad so far.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

BB Rows

• 135 x 8
• 135 x 8
• 135 x 8
• 135 x 7

Wide, Neutral-grip Lat Pulldowns

• 120 x 8
• 120 x 8
• 120 x 8
• 120 x 8

Meadows Shrugs

• None. See above.

Hyperextensions

• BW x 10
• BW x 10
• BW x 10
• BW x 10

Ho-lee-wow.

Today was tough.

Was it because of the protocol? The diet? the lack of sleep? The minimal rest between sets? Squats and deadlifts on the same day? I mean, who knows… probably a little of all things. But wow, this is pretty killer.

I forgot my belt, but meh — nothing here really requires it. I do want the belt to help with technique reinforcement (as that’s part of the intend behind Base Building), but not a make or break thing. Besides, I had other issues.

The squat overwarmups were fine. Tried to ensure those were also done with CAT, tho of course as the bar got heavier you just went slower but still you tried. The 175 of course felt really light, but man… 5×5 in about 8 minutes (do a set, rest 60 seconds, repeat four more times), with a goal of trying to make the next rep more powerful and explosive and with greater bar speed than the prior rep? Oh yeah, that builds up on you. I got all the work in, but no question I started to slow down. I also found a few times that form would slip because I’d find myself “hitching” with say my butt going up but the back staying down, then I’d get through a sticking point and good morning things up. So yeah… lots of things to take note of as indication of progress over the coming weeks.

Deadlifts? Wow. That was intense. I don’t know how much deficit I used, but it’s one of the gym’s 45# plates so maybe 1.5″? I got all the work in, but wow… that was a lot of work. No question I’ll need time to get the bar speed up.

By then end of the deadlifts, then all the bending over to put 405# of plates away, I was knocked on my ass. Again, I strove to take no more than 60 seconds rest between all sets, so that keeps you moving and you do NOT fully recover between sets. I did NOT want to leg press, but I did. I only put a 45# plate on each side of the sled, but that was a struggle. I took numerous pauses during the sets to get a slight reprieve before pressing on.

I’ll adjust, I’ll adapt to the workload. It will come in time. But man… wow. 🙂

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Squats (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 145 x 5
  • 170 x 4
  • 200 x 3
  • 220 x 2
  • 250 x 1
  • 175 x 5
  • 175 x 5
  • 175 x 5
  • 175 x 5
  • 175 x 5
• Deficit (45# plate) Deadlift (model 1)
  • 315 x 3
  • 315 x 3
  • 315 x 3
  • 315 x 3
  • 315 x 3
• Leg Press
  • 135 x 20
  • 135 x 20

Today starts a radically different approach. First, I’ve officially begun my Renaissance Periodization-based weight-loss diet. I started yesteday, actually. So far so good. A few comments on the diet.

First, the diet truly is nothing new in terms of information. If you’ve been paying attention to all the emerging research and much of the established research on weight loss, carb cycling, macro levels, nutrient timing, etc. it’s nothing new, just logically organized and laid out in a manner that’s easier to consume. I think for me that’s the big help here — having someone that knows to help me sift through the mountains of conflicting information out there. Someone that can show me what I need, not just generalized explanations and I can’t quiet dial it in for what I need. I mean, you can book learn and self-teach yourself tons of stuff, but there’s distinct advantages to having a teacher/mentor/coach, and that’s really what I see this as being for me.

Perhaps it’s like why I liked 5/3/1 so much. There are principles, but it starts out with Jim saying “here, just shut up and do Boring-But-Big for 6 months; don’t ask questions, don’t think too much, just shut up and follow this template as-written”. You do that, you get results, and you start to understand the principles. Happened in my martial arts past: just shut up, do these techniques, we’ll talk about principles, and you’ll come to better understand the principles as you do them. So I’ve gotten a lot of “principles” in my nutrition education, but now I just need someone to say “shut up and do this, and you’ll see how the principles work”.

As well, I can eat fruit. 🙂 That’s huge. Sure, there are things you just can’t eat, and other things you have only only eat at certain times in certain portions. But one contributor to past failure is being so restrictive that eventually I just crack. Being able to eat fruit and have some satisfaction of “sweet” on my palette is important to me.

Speaking of sweet…

So I’m to have peri-workout nutrition. Of the list of suggested carb sources, I opted to try Kool-Aid. I think the last time I drank Kool-Aid was as a kid, and I figured hey, this is a way to have a little fun, right? Oh dear lord… it was horrible. 🙂 I mean, it’s all really sugar and fructose, but it’s the flavoring — it’s designed for that “kid sweet” palette, and I’m so far away from that it was just horrible to choke down. 🙂 I’ll finish the small jug I bought, but I’m going to look for other options, maybe just settling on powdered Gatorade or occasionally fruit juices (since they’re expensive).

So, about the lifting.

I’m starting Paul Carter’s Base Building. Why? Because I think it will be suitable for what I’m doing. I cannot go on a strength-building program because I’m working to lose fat. I need to focus on things to help build/preserve mass. BB I think will help me work at lower intensities, more reps, and mitigate the diet. Plus, Paul even says it’s good for a diet because you can better relgulate (e.g. just adjust the weights and keep going).

I kept the rest periods short, about 1 minute between every set. Keep things working, keep things pumping.

I am starting all things in the “phase 1” state of Base Building, and I’m sure I’ll be here a while, which is fine. I could tell by the 3rd work set that my bar speed was slowing and moving every rep explosively wasn’t quite happening. Then of course I started to lose reps. But that’s fine, Paul says it’s rare that someone will start out and be able to finish it; it comes in time.

On assistance movements, I’m trying to look at them more bodybuilding-style, trying to really think about the muscle, isolate and contract the muscle to move the weight, about a 2-1-2 type of tempo with a little squeeze at the peak and controlling and focus all the way up and down. Again, thinking about mass.

If BB doesn’t work out for me over time, I’ll switch to a more body-building-style approach. We’ll just take it as it comes.

One note on the curls. There was a Flex magazine at the gym a couple weeks ago and I forget who did this, some top Olympia bodybuilder (Kai Greene?), but he said he did DB curls in 5’s. So one arm for 5 reps, then the other arm for 5, then back to the first arm for 5, then the other for 5. That’s 1 set of 10. He said he did it this way because he got more focus on the one arm, but then a little longer rest (vs. alternating every rep). I thought I’d try it, and I dig it. So I’ll be doing my curls that way to see if it does anything useful… if nothing else, it cuts out the boredom.

All in all, I’m excited about where things are going.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Bench Press (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 115 x 5
  • 130 x 4
  • 155 x 3
  • 170 x 2
  • 190 x 1
  • 170 x 8
  • 170 x 8
  • 170 x 8
  • 170 x 6
  • 170 x 4
• Pec Deck
  • 70 x 10
  • 70 x 10
  • 70 x 10
  • 70 x 10
• Behind the Neck Press
  • 75 x 10
  • 75 x 10
  • 75 x 10
  • 75 x 10
• Hammer Curls
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 8

No gym session today. I did my testing, so it’s time for a little break before I start into the next thing.

I figure it’s worthwhile to look back and think about how the cycle went.

At the end of 2013 I achieved my big goal of a 1000# total. It was a gym total (not a competition total), but whatever… I still finally got there. And so I started down a path of fat loss (again), and failed (again), then had my ankle injury which set me back. And I realized that I didn’t care as much about pure powerlifting as I did just getting bigger and stronger. So I opted to not follow the Cube Method (tho someday I probably will), and instead spent 2014 to date running Paul Carter‘s programs. I did his Big-15, which I enjoyed. And this past program was running his Strong-15 long cycle. I wanted to see how Strong-15 worked, see how it would work for me, and try to get my strength numbers back up.

For sure, it worked. At the start of the cycle, I hit a 305 squat, 430 deadlift, and 235 bench. This was below my end-of-2013 PR’s, so I had lost something due to the downtimes. Thus I opted to set modest goals of 325 squat, 445 deadlift, and 245 bench, figuring those amounts were reasonable for a 9-week cycle on a program I was unfamiliar with, and they would be true PR’s as well.

I hit my PR’s (in fact, I exceeded the bench goal due to miscalculation… PR’d at 250#)… and the thing is? I think I could have done just a bit more. Not 20# more, but maybe another 5#? 10#? Maybe. But Paul makes it clear to set reasonable goals, hit them, don’t ego it, but just keep moving making steady progress. Which certainly is the smart way to go.  What it tells me tho is that the program worked well for me. I picked up 20# squat, 15# deadlift, and 15# bench in about 9 weeks. Sweet! Plus, they are all-time PR’s for me.

One thing that’s quite clear is submaximal training leads to better, long-term gains. Strong-15 really works towards this end, with those first 3 weeks being really light, lots of volume. The program works like many peaking programs do, where the intensity goes up over the weeks and the volume goes down. There’s a very logical progression of sets/reps/weight schemes along with the work done, exercises chosen, etc.. I never felt killed, I never missed a weight, I never pushed myself to the point of death, because that’s not the point. Go in, do the work, get out, then be patient.

I do miss the more rapid feedback cycles of 5/3/1. That is, in 5/3/1 you can get feedback every gym session because you can set a rep PR. Or you get feedback then at least every 4 weeks (every cycle) because on the 5/3/1 week you are to go for it and try to set a new PR. So the program structure allows you to set PR’s fairly often. As opposed to Strong-15, where you’re not really going to set a new PR until the true end of the cycle and then only if you compete or test. But in the end, the results worked out pretty well. If I try to compare 3 cycles of 5/3/1 to 1 cycle of Strong-15 (which is a rough equivalent), I think one generally gets about the same out of them. I do think one has potential to get a little more out of 5/3/1 (if we’re talking pure numbers), but chances are if you were doing that it was just normal “off season” work, whereas Strong-15 is more geared towards a meet peak. But as well, I think I was conservative in my Strong-15 goals; I’m sure I could have put more into Strong-15, and now that I know more about it, I reckon next time I use it I will set my goals a little more aggressively.

I feel a lot less beat up from Strong-15 than 5/3/1. Was it perhaps due to the slightly lower weights? Perhaps. But I still think Strong-15 puts overall less stress on the body because you aren’t killing yourself every gym session, like 5/3/1 does by virtue of having you set rep PR’s on each main movement each time you’re in the gym. So to me, if I can get the same results and it costs me less to get there, why not do it? But that said, Strong-15 is meant to be a peaking cycle, not a year-round thing, like 5/3/1 is intended to be. Paul’s got other approaches to the whole year.

I am liking Paul’s programming. For sure you have to trust it, and be patient. Again, the feedback loop is longer, so that’s where the trust and patience comes in. But it does seem that, in the end, it works out well.

I don’t think I’ll follow Strong-15 as a normal template. But if I knew I was going to be 3-months out from a meet (yes, I think after the fat loss I’m going to get myself in shape towards doing a meet), I would like to give it a shot as the program for meet-prep. Tho depending what I was doing prior to (e.g. basebuilding), I might try the Strong-15 short cycle.

Because yes… what’s next? Basebuilding. Again, I’m enjoying exploring Paul’s approaches to things. It’s different, but not too different, and so far it seems to be reaping positive results for me. You just have to be patient.

Bench Press: 250# PR

When I set up this Strong-15 cycle, I had benched 235#. I wanted to go conservative, I THOUGHT my prior PR was 240#, so I figured 245# was a reasonble target. Again, I was just wanting to get my strength back post-injury to where it was pre-injury, and if I could go a little further, awesome. So, if the previous PR was 240, go for 245.

Well, a few days ago I was looking through my logs and discovered I was wrong: my prior PR was 245! I didn’t want to meet an old PR, I wanted to set a new PR. All through this cycle I would take my AMRAP set and plug it into a 1RM calculator, not so much to figure a 1RM but as a way to compare this week’s AMRAP to last week’s. I know these calculators aren’t true tellers, but they are reasonable and I kept calculating out at like 260-262 or thereabouts. So I figured I would easily smash 245. When I realized 245 was already set, I figured what they hey… the training up until now has been solid so let’s try a little more.

And 250 was done.

I didn’t want to get too crazy, just follow the same strategy I originally set, which was to exceed the prior PR by 5#.

The 250 went up pretty nicely. I probably could have done 255 ok, and 260…. well, probably not. So 250 was a solid enough thing and I’m happy with it.

I’m taking Friday off and the plan is to focus on lots of sleep, napping, and other rest this week because next week I start 1. my RP-based diet, 2. basebuilding. I did think that I MIGHT not jump into basebuilding immediately… maybe take next week as like a 50% deload week or something. I need the exercise for the diet so I don’t want to take a full week off, but I might want a break… it’ll just depend how I feel come Monday morning. I’m eager to get going for sure.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Strong-15 (LRB365)

• Bench Press – cycle goal: 245
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 3
  • 185 x 1
  • 210 x 1
  • 230 x 1
  • 250 x 1 (PR)

Squat PR: 325# Deadlift PR: 445#

It’s hard to beat the feeling of improvement, tangible improvement.

I set all time personal records of 325# squat and 445# deadlift. My previous bests were 315 squat and 440 deadlift, set right at the end of 2013. While this isn’t a big improvement over those numbers, especially with 7 months between them, it is for me because of the failed weight loss attempt, which really only served to have me lose strength, then the ankle injury that put me on the shelf for a while. I ditched the weight loss when I realized my path wasn’t succeeding and just focused on the ankle rehab and getting my strength back to where it was.

And I’ve done that, and a little bit more.

Alas, in doing so I also got fatter than I wanted to, thus I decided some weeks ago that the plan was to finish this Strong-15 cycle and get back on the fat-loss wagon. Well, as you can see I cut the Strong-15 a little short because I’m more eager to get on the wagon… and the thing is, I don’t feel bad about cutting things short because it was evident from how the cycle was going that I’d hit the numbers no problem, and today demonstrated that fact.

So I’m happy.

I will also attribute my success to getting my sleep back in order. I’ve still got a ways to go, but certainly recovery plays a huge role, and sleep plays the major role in recovery.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Strong-15 (LRB365)

• Squats – cycle goal: 325 (achievement unlocked)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 185 x 3
  • 225 x 1
  • 275 x 1
  • 305 x 1
  • 325 x 1 (PR)
• Deadlift – cycle goal: 445 (achievement unlocked)
  • 315 x 1
  • 375 x 1
  • 415 x 1
  • 445 x 1 (PR)

Today was fine. Just a nice bench day.

What’s really on my mind is starting up with Renaissance Periodization. I’ve been in contact, Nick sent me the questionnaires, which I returned. We’re hammering out a few things, then I’ll send my money and get started.

What hit me tho was orginally I wanted to wait until I was done with this Strong-15 cycle, then start. But when I did the math on when that actually would be, that’s so far away and I really don’t want to wait that long. I’m about 98% decided that I may call today “it”. Take Friday off, then next week do my testing — if I make my lifts I do, if I don’t I don’t. Either way, just call it and get on with things. It’s not what I want in terms of my lifting, but it is what I want in terms of the fat loss, which is of growing importance to me.

I’ll document my work there as I go along.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Strong-15 (LRB365)

Phase 3-3, Week 2-3

• Bench Press – cycle goal: 245
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 125 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 165 x 3
  • 185 x 2
  • 200 x 1
  • 210 x 1
  • 220 x 1
  • 195 x 10
• Incline Press
  • 105 x 10
• Machine Flye
  • 65 x 20

Good day.

I wouldn’t call it a +10%, but it was still good. Got a lot more sleep over the weekend. I realized my problem is simple: I’m stressed. This new life of freelancing is causing me a lot of stress. So I fall asleep, I wake up when I do for whatever reason (have to pee, body alarm says so, whatever), but then instead of allowing myself to go back to bed my brain starts running at a million miles an hour because I think about all the things I have to do or that are stressing me out or whatever… and I slowly create a sleep deficit. So this past weekend, I napped a bunch. That helped. I need to allow myself to nap — isn’t that part of why I started freelancing? so I could have more control over my schedule? I just haven’t been allowing myself because the stress work is getting to me and there’s always something that I feel I need to address now. Well… the lack of sleep is causing everything to suffer. So, if that means I only get 6 hours straight but then I take a 1-2 hour nap or a couple 30 minute naps, then whatever so be it. I HAVE to allow myself to recover and manage stress.

In fact it’s funny. At the gym this morning a new issue of Flex magazine was there. I flipped through it between sets. There was an article about recovery, and of course all it did was shill for some supplements — not one word said about SLEEP! I know sleep is key, I just need to, once again, remember to make it a priority. It’s the only way I’m going to manage the stress in my life.

Otherwise, the lifting went well. Squats were a little messy because I was just so focused on powering up out of the hole — I refused to be stapled, I refused to cut the squat short, so my main focus was full body tightness and power…. but so much on the power I sometimes lost the tightness and would find myself falling forward a bit. Oh well.

One thing that got me was the pause squats. 230# will always be a significant number for me because it was the plateau I hit so long ago with my squats and I struggled to get over. And now? I hit 295 for a pretty easy single, and 5 pause squats at 230 and didn’t really have a problem. It’s a constant reminder to me of my progress.

Deads were heavy. Felt good to get over 400 finally, but it’s all getting heavy. Not impossible, but heavy for sure.

Looking forward to finishing this cycle, seeing how things test out, then starting down a new road. Which reminds me… I need to send my questionnaire back to the Renaissance Periodization guys today.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Strong-15 (LRB365)

Phase 3-3, Week 2-3

• Squats – cycle goal: 325
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 160 x 5
  • 190 x 4
  • 220 x 3
  • 245 x 2
  • 260 x 1
  • 285 x 1
  • 295 x 1
• Pause Squats
  • 230 x 5
• Deadlift – cycle goal: 445
  • 225 x 5
  • 265 x 4
  • 315 x 3
  • 355 x 2
  • 375 x 1
  • 390 x 1
  • 415 x 1
• Deadlift – Back off
  • 355 x 3

Hit 265 today… which is not a number I’m proud of.

After waking up this morning, on a whim I stepped on the scale.

265#

Holy crap. I’m getting fat.

I remember hitting 240 and thinking how that was the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life. Obviously that makes 265 the (new) heaviest.

I know what it is. I’m eating too much.

Yeah, I gotta eat a lot more than usual, but I know I’m eating excessively — that’s the problem.

I’m a stress eater, a comfort eater. I’m under a LOT of stress these days, trying to start up life as a freelancer/indie-developer. It’s a startup, and it’s just work work work, and lots of stress and worry about things. I am very happy, don’t misunderstand. But there’s no denying the higher stress level because I just don’t have the comfort of the assurance of a paycheck every 2 weeks, that there will be work for me tomorrow, and so on. Have to spend time doing a lot of not-fun things to run a business, and being a new adventure (read: making mistakes, learning a lot) well… it’s full of stress.

So I have 2 bowls of ice cream… with chocolate chips. I have one of my wife’s awesome cookies… then another… then another. Next thing you know? 500-1000 extra calories in a day. And that obviously adds up.

sigh

So I’m angry with myself. Today’s session didn’t have my head in it because I was pissed at myself.

“Gee, you could get more pullups if you weren’t such a fat ass…”

Or trying to do the 100 rep curls, well… I hate doing reps, so it’s more of a mental thing than a physical thing. I stopped at 80 reps because I just didn’t have the mental in place. I rested 10 breaths then cranked out the last 20. But I was just so distracted and pissed off at myself.

But it’s been coming for a while. I’ve been struggling over the past few years to shed the fat. If you’ve read my logs, you’ve seen my ups and downs, my attempts and failures. But a few months ago I realized what I need: help.

I cannot do this alone. Part of it is just not knowing the right things, being overloaded and confused by so much information out there (so much of which is conflicting), and well… accountability. I understand as an educator that for all the self-teaching and self-driving one can do, sometimes you need a teacher because that’s the best way.

I decided a few months ago that I was going to get someone to help me. Recently I settled upon Renaissance Periodization. I haven’t contacted them yet, but the plan is to finish out the Strong-15 cycle, tho I may shorten it (e.g. instead of finishing the 9 weeks, taking a 50% week, then a week off, then testing; I may finish the 9 weeks, take a short break, then test… like rest up with a long weekend, then test squat and deadlift on a Wednesday and bench on a Friday, or take the whole week and test all 3 on the Friday). But I want to finish out the cycle. Then contact RP and get on their 6 month diet program. I figure if people lose 1-2# per week, I need at least 6 months… at least. While on that program, I’ll probably do more bodybuilding style lifting, maybe Paul Carter’s basebuilding — it will be about trying to preserve muscle mass, tho I’m sure I’ll be fighting a losing battle of muscle mass and strength, but that’s OK because I finally want to win the fat battle.

Meantime, I won’t change my diet much, but I gotta ease up on the meaningless food. I can’t go cold turkey, I’ll go apeshit. But instead of a cookie here and there, just have one cookie after dinner or something like that. I just gotta ease back. I doubt I’ll lose any weight, but I just don’t want to gain any more.

So… that’s the plan ahead.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Strong-15 (LRB365)

Phase 3-3, Week 1-3

Wide, Neutral-grip Pull-ups

• BW x 2
• BW x 1
• BW x 1 x 3 – negatives only

BB Rows

• 135 x 10
• 135 x 10

Meadows Shrugs

• 70e x 12

BB Curls

• EZ-Bar x 100