fitness

I need to change up

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

My body is telling me I need to change up on my lifting. I have progressed well here, but now it’s just beating me up. It’s been 7 months and a very good run. I was expecting this would run a little longer, and I think it ultimately will – it’s more about principles and “maximizing my gainz, bro” than a specific routine. I learned a lot too. I do find something to the effective/stimulating reps theory. I need to adjust how I approach “volume” (see below). One thing is that while my muscles respond well to this, my knees and some other joints are getting a little too beat up. It’s frequency (and “volume” as a matter of).

Frequency

The upper-lower-a/b-split that has me doing a 4-day cycle going 3 days a week, thus you hit the same workout (e.g. lower-b) every 9-10 days, but you hit the same body area every 4-5, and because I wanted to “bring up weak points” (shoulders) I did them even more often. Soooo… 

If volume equated over the week is all that matters, i.e. 6 sets once a week results in the same as 3 sets twice a week all other things equal, broadly stated and oversimplified – it seems I can go hard, I just need more recovery time well… going to go to a Push (Mon) Legs (Wed) Pull (Fri) may be the way to go. It’s every 7 days… a little more, but not too much – esp. “if I hit it hard” on its day. And just keep it to it.

Top set(s)

I’m going to change how I work up: generally speaking, every set goes up in weight until I get a set that’s like 5-7 reps. Done. It’s not about working up to a known-beforehand weight for x-reps (my days of percentage-based training; or the 3×8 means: 8,7,6; 8,8,6; 8,8,7; 8,8,8; increase weight; 7,6,4; 8,6,5; etc.. Instead, it’s about working up to a # of reps to true failure. And if I do more than one set, I might drop the weight to make sure I hit the reps. Everything depends on how things feel (which takes some time to learn).

First week: just work up to 5 reps (the bottom of the range); keep doing sets of 5 increasing the weight. Eventually you hit a set where 4-5 is all you can do. You’re done. Work until I truly fail. I expect the work-up will take longer and be more fatiguing than it normally will as I work to figure it out and dial it in. Second week, week 1 gave a rough idea of how much I can do so I can make better jump selections, and I likely will slay last week’s top weight&reps, which is fine because getting dialed in. Make needed adjustments. Third week, should be tighter. Fourth week, rollin’. The goal is as few warm-up sets as needed to get warm, grease the gears, etc – not add fatigue, just get things up and ready for work, and then really good top work set(s). It might take 3 sets, it might take 5, I might do the empty bar 3 times because something wasn’t feeling good. Whatever it takes. The ease-in is fine (“start light, progress slowly”). There will still be novel stimulus.

Overall volume

The grail is maximum benefit from the smallest dose.

Volume does matter, to an extent. You gotta do enough work, but no more (“Stimulate, don’t annihilate.” – Lee Haney). If we look at the stimulating/effective reps model, you need enough stimulating/effective reps. No matter what sort of programming you do, it is ultimately about the # of those to make you grow (we’re talking hypertrophy here). Maximize that! Some Mentzer throwback. That is, volume (that we want) is more about the # of stimulating/effective reps than simply total reps. Always has been, really.

I’m going to pare way back and see what happens. It’ll be like “5 total sets” for back: 1 pulldown to a peak set, 2 incline db rows, 2 kelso shrugs, 2 supinating db spider curls. And 5 for “push”: 1 seated barbell overhead press, 2 machine incline chest press, crab flies, cable lateral raises, some cable for triceps. That’s it. If I need more, I can add more, but let’s start small. And very very intense, like 2×5-7 to failure (0 RIR, 10 RPE). First exercise of the day gets a good work up, others MIGHT get 1 warmup just to get into the groove of the movement.

Selection around very stable exercises, and also some fun. I want to do the OHP because why not: there’s the equipment at the gym, seated will be more stable than standing, and I can move a little weight. The spider curls are because I’ll have been sitting backwards on an incline bench for a while, might as well stay there. It’ll be fun!

HARD work. Less time at the gym, more time between “hitting it”. Let’s see how the body responds to this.

Training philosophy changes

/ hsoi

Sometimes we discover and learn new things, which could be a totally new thing (disruptive, novel) or simply an iterative refinement to an existing thing (more likely). Either way, let’s try and see!

Philosophy

In my history of “pumping iron”, Joe Weider was my first influence (as a teenager). In this latest chapter of my lifting, I’d say my modern influences would include Jim Wendler and Paul Carter. Paul’s actually influenced a lot of my training and training philosophy (“Death is winning; do something.”). My two sons are currently on a program which started as Paul’s Guaranteed Muscle Mass, but has evolved – and interestingly the evolution is still based around Paul’s coaching, just what he’s coaching here in 2023 vs Paul of 2014. Paul 2014: Over warm-ups, 50% sets, 350 method, upper lower a/b split. Getting strong, and big. Paul 2023: Effective reps, 2-3 sets 5-8 reps to failure, 4-6 totals sets per muscle group per “training week”. Hypertrophy.

My approach

First understand my operating context: I’m in my early 50’s. I’ve lifted on and off since I was a teenager, this latest run for I think 13 years. I have various little body issues (e.g. a couple minor pec tears, joint wear & tear, can’t really squat any more, etc.). I have to find the right balance between hard stimulating work and what I can recover from. Volume, frequency, how I lift, exercises, set and rep schemes, etc.

I’ve been really working with “effective reps”, and it’s pretty wild. I am seeing some really solid return in my quads, my arms, my delts, pecs, traps. Couple with 3 minute rests. It’s just good. I’m working more hypertrophy stuff these days: Hammer Strength machines, hack squats, cable crossovers, etc. No more singles (the cost-benefit isn’t worth it to me at this point); I really don’t want below 5 reps. My sons tho…

My sons’ approaches

The boys want to be both big and strong. They are happy with their relative strength (hooray for Starting Strength and 5/3/1) and size. Now they want to get bigger, sexier. 😄 So it’s more hypertrophy for them, but… they still want to – and should! – have fun in the gym. Like Youngest is doing 21s because that’s some fun bro shit for your biceps. And we can work around body constraints better, like Oldest is switching to hack squats for a while to give his back a break from squats. And hacks are great for your quads, and the new gym has a Hammer Strength Linear Hack Squat so….

I’m keeping their basic workout structure on Paul’s GMM. Swapping a few exercises (like hack squats for back squats for Oldest; or a similar exercise that leverages machines like instead of barbell row do a HS I-L Row machine for greater stability). Trying to get the boys down to that 5-8 rep range, to failure. And taking advantage of them being younger. Like Youngest is young enough, and he’s eating like 3000-4000 calories a day. He’s… growing. He just PR squatted 315 fast, deep, and easy the other day… never singled above 295, mostly work sets in the mid 200’s for 5-8 reps. Just keep working: you’ll get stronger. Big, strong, and growing in confidence.

Back to my approach

I’m still doing an “Upper-lower A-B” split; same basic thing I’ve been running for some months now, just minor adjustments. Upper press, lower quads, upper pull, lower ham/glute. It’s a 4-day split done over 3 days per week (so yes, 9-10 days between sessions; consequently, I try to add in light stimulus on “other” days in some manner or other).

On Upper Press I was emphasizing shoulders; I still mostly am. I did Hammer Iso-Lat Shoulder Press followed by 30º barbell incline bench press. So I was hitting shoulders first chest second. I do find the 30º bench is more about my shoulders than my upper pecs (in terms of the result I get vs 20º, but it’s still upper pec and if a little shoulder biased that’s fine as shoulder emphasis). After 4 cycles of that, I opted to swap and see how it goes (i.e. try a more upper pec focus): do incline press first, then the shoulder press. I’m actually stronger in this order… rolling with it. But then also, I didn’t feel I was hitting enough pec through the microcycle thus I swapped in “most muscular” cable flies instead of chest presses (just hit the chest, and really hit it).

Current Program

  • Upper A – Press
    • 30º Incline Bench Press
      • Work up to a heavy 5-8. Do another set of 5-8.
    • Hammer Strength (HS) Iso-Lateral (I-L) Shoulder Press
      • One quick warm-up set
      • 2-3×5-8
      • 3rd week, last set is drop set.
    • Incline DB Y-Raise
      • 2×5-8
      • 3rd week, last set ends in partial burns.
    • 1-arm neutral grip cable pushdowns
      • 2×5-8
    • Hammer Strength MTS Row
      • 1 warmup
      • 3×5-8
  • Lower A – Quads
    • Hammer Strength Linear Hack Squat
      • Work up to a heavy 5-8. Do another set of 5-8
    • Hammer Strength (HS) Iso-Lateral (I-L) Leg Extension
      • 3×5-8
      • 3rd week, last set ends in iso-hold.
    • Lunges
      • Nothing big, just like 2×10-15 each leg. Bodyweight only. It’s more about moving my body & bending my knees. Balance.
    • Seated Calf Raises
      • warm up to 3×5-8.
      • 3rd week, last set can end with some partial bounces.
    • Upright Rows
      • warm up to something heavy for 2×5-8
  • Upper B – Pull
    • HS I-L Front Lat Pulldown
      • Work up to a heavy 5-8. Do another set of 5-8
    • HS I-L Row
      • One quick warmup set.
      • 2-3×5-8
    • “Lean-back” lat pulldowns (pronated grip)
      • 2×5-8
    • EZ-bar Cable Curls
      • 2×5-8
    • “Most Muscular” Cable Flies
      • 1-2 warmups
      • 3×5-8
  • Lower B – Hams/Glutes
    • RDL
      • Work up to 2×5-8
    • 45º Hypers/Raises (with weight)
      • 3×5-8
    • Lying Leg Curl
      • Work up to 1×5-8
    • Standing Calf Raises
      • 1-2 warmups
      • 3×5-8
    • Close-grip Swiss/Football bench press
      • Work up to something @8 RPE for 5-8.

Rest 3 minutes between all work sets. Warmups can go faster (it’s warmups).

I wave it. 1st “week”: take it easy (easy is still heavy, still effective reps, but maybe @9). 2nd week, hard (@10). 3rd week hard and heavy, adding intensity techniques. 4th week, back to week 1. Generally see no need for planned deloads (if I need the break, I take it; or sometimes travel/work causes me to take a break, which I just roll with because I know I won’t lose anything and I’ll be better for the break.)

Everything has a reason. I’m really wanting to grow my “width”, so shoulders. I have a narrow skeletal structure, narrower shoulders for a typical person of my height. So wider it is. I still need some pec and triceps stim. I still like doing some sort of barbell work, and it’s fun to do barbell inclines for a couple sets of 5-8. The fixed incline benches at this new gym are 30º, and I find my pecs respond better to the John Meadows 20º. But I am noticing that now doing inclines before shoulder press that my upper pecs are responding some. And the 30º does hit my delts a bit more, which is totally jiving with my shoulder emphasis. The incline y-raises, 2-3×5-8 to failure are money for my delts and traps. A little triceps (doesn’t really matter, just novel). Then a little bit of back work because split, volume accumulation “over the week”, etc. I really can’t squat any more (SS Yoke maybe…), but hack squats are cool. My quads have always been weak, so it’s great to get to focus on them. I like the resistance curve on the HS I-L leg extension – trashes the quads nicely. A couple sets of lunges because it’s good for me (nothing heavy duty, like 2×10 each leg). Upright rows because they are awesome and it annoys Chuck Haggard. 😉 Then back… because back is great. The Hammer Strength Iso-Lateral pulldown and row machines are fun to play with – I did row then pulldown, now trying pulldown then row. The “lean back” pulldowns is basically just wide-grip-face-pulls but a bit more stable. Just trying to hit all the back angles for like 2-3×5-8 each. Cable curls are a good squeeze. And the flies – the rule is to have a little “push “work, but I opted this cycle to isolate with pec flies because I think my delts and tris get a lot of stim, and my pecs need a little more overall (over the week). “Most musclar” – think that pose, think the way there’s a “line of pull” in the tension of that pose. That. Set up the cables to replicate that line of pull. I’ve noticed I’m growing some hams and glutes, which I am happy about so I just keep working them: one hip, one knee (I miss the seated leg curl, but lying is fine). The weighted hypers (with barbell hanging from arms) are a smaller ROM but if you do it right it’s killer on the “upper glutes” (it’s not a lift, it’s a contraction; pushing the hips through). More calf work (regular calf work pays off). And then I’m wanting to dink around with some sort of push exercise here, and the football/swiss bar as a a close-grip bench press is I think cool – just have to remember to keep my elbows tucked and not let it turn into a pec exercise (and risk a tear… why I don’t really flat bench any more).

I do find merit in the notion of effective reps. I’m finding I need less “total number of sets (and reps)”. I am seeing and feeling the hypertrophy. I’m still dialing in exactly what I need, but it’s less than I thought. Like 2 sets of 5-8 reps 10 RPE, 0 RIR, true failure. Yeah… it jives.

Anyways… this is what I’m enjoying right now. Trying to lift heavy, but about to back off and get stricter and cycle again.

Now if I could just stop eating like an asshole… I’m tired of being fat.

Things are changing

/ hsoi

This is life. Life is ever-changing. It is in how we respond to change.

Sons

Oldest has a new job, and thus a new schedule. As a result, Youngest is affected too.

The boys peaked out well on 5/3/1. I opted to change-up and introduce them to more bodybuilding stuff, to expand their knowledge. So I put them on Paul Carter’s Guaranteed Muscle Mass, with some minor modifications (e.g. machine rows for bb rows). It’s a good program, fit their 3x/week schedule, introduces a bunch of new things to them. They’ve done well with it. They’ve actually been progressing faster than I expected: I up the weight expecting reps to drop, but both weight and reps increase! But it’s good: start light, progress slowly, y’know?

Still…

Youngest is going to be simple: keep on the same basic program but with some modifications. For example, do the over-warmup, then instead of a AMRAP + 50% just do 2-3×5-8 RPE 9. Going to work on getting reps into the 5-8/6-10/8-12 ranges, depending on the movement. I also threw in a set of 21s on Upper A day because a little bro-fun. 🙂

Oldest. Providing him with consistent rhythm to his days would be optimal. I’m looking at a 5x/week bro-split: legs, chest, back, shoulders, arms. Each day will be 3 exercises: first is the heavy for 2-3×5-8; second is supportive for 3×6-10; third rounds it out for 3×8-12. For example, back would row, pulldown, hyperextensions; chest would barbell incline, flat db press, dips. Get it done in 45-60 minutes. His choice to do it before or after work, either way he can get in and get out. Consistent days.

Me

I didn’t wear wrist wraps when I was pressing the other day. My wrists have been feeling good, but something about the other day while doing the machine wide chest press… and so my wrist is feeling funny again. Sigh. It’s a hard call, because I don’t want to always rely upon the wraps, but it’s become evident it will be a problem if I do not. Probably just like I used to with the belt: only on the top/hard/heavy sets, and then always on those sets.

Regarding Oldest: I’ve never had to program for this sort of scenario before (5 days, < 60 minutes) – because I’ve only done programming for me and I’ve not had such a schedule. This is an interesting challenge and stretch of my knowledge. I think what I have come up with will work, or at least will be a good MVP. We’ll see how the first couple weeks go.

Winter 2023 Programming – Turning left

/ hsoi

First Program of 2023

Going into 2023, my main goal is getting lean. This fat must be shed, for a number of reasons. That’s primarily a diet thing. Right now I want to talk about the gym side of things.

Changing gyms

For the past 2 years I have gone to the local Snap Fitness. It’s not bad, really. The one here has some age, both in equipment/facilities as well as target market / demographic. It’s got a power rack with a Texas Squat Bar, a half rack with a shit bar (my boys were always a sight, bringing my original EliteFTS Power Bar in every day), a Smith Machine, some benches, dumbbells up to 120, Cybex machines (which I’ve really come to appreciate), cardio, other “fitness” stuff. Really, it’s not a bad place. Owner/operator didn’t care if I used chalk (just clean up). I could “drop” my deadlifts (i.e. respectful clanging is ok). Good people there (other old people like me, a few young people). All in all, Snap was alright. I wish the racks were bolted down (the half-rack further out so that pole wasn’t an issue – which is why the weight storage pegs are all broken off), I wish the bar didn’t suck and there wasn’t 1 of them. I mean, it was kept generally clean. Generally functional. Did recently upgrade/replace a bunch of bench and machine pads. Not perfect, but nothing is and it was generally good. No complaints. Satisfied customer.

It’s more about a life change. Oldest is moving across town. We need to centralize, so gym switch.

As well, 2 years ago I was still on the “strong” path. I wanted to reclaim some glory and bench/squat/deadlift 3/4/5 wheels again. However too many injuries and realizing that I can get there again, I just need to take a much different – and longer – path to get there. Which is, ok at this point. Look at someone like Mike O’Hearn – say what you will, dude’s got longevity and looks better now than most (if not all) of his critics. Dude fucking inclines 405 for reps… So, just take it slower, mind the process. It will come.

And with that, I also find myself more drawn to bodybuilding at this point. I will get to a sufficient level of strength, if I just build the way I want to build. It’s so funny that I always felt a draw to things in like the 5-8 rep range – it just always felt so optimal to me. And it’s great to see how that’s actually bearing out now in research, and I see it too in my hypertrophy response. But I think only now am I willing to put in what it takes to really understand and pull out a 5-8 to failure – and I still think I have a ways to go to really blast through that mental (pain) barrier.

So I naturally want to lean more towards machines right now. So this other gym, TruFit (they seem to be an up-and-coming Texas-based chain)… they’ve got lots of Hammer Strength shit. Boy, HS’s ideal of knurling is so silky-smooth… 🙄 I mean, it’s knurling, it feels really nice, but I still feel like it’s going to slip out of my hand. But they are nice overall. The machines are pretty good, with me opting for the plate-loaded over the selectorized when possible. Hammer Strength’s plates are THICK due to the rubber coating, and it seems like many of the plate-loaded weight shafts (heh) are short (heh), so maybe 4 plates if you’re lucky on the load. I’ll see how things bear out, but so far I’m digging the machine offerings.

Turning left

I already knew I had to change things up (go read to see where this is coming from).

In light of all this new equipment, I opted to reapproach things. I have new toys, so why not!

If we look at Day 1, I wanted more delt focus, maintain upper pecs, something triceps, more delts, then a general back. I used their Iso-Lateral Shoulder Press, IL Incline Press, Rolling DB Extensions, Cable Y Raises, IL Row. The Iso-Lateral stuff is pretty nice. Presses don’t converge, but it’s ok. Row is a little different because now my humerus is about 45º, which is alright.

Day 2 I’m probably going to try the V-Squat.

Day 3 there’s more interesting back machines around there, and I’ll keep seeing what there is. I know there’s some nifty lat-pulldown types. I want a good row, a good pulldown, something rear delt, something biceps, chest press.

Day 4 I’m not sure. The good morning in the V-squat is all the rage right now, but I think I want good old RDL’s. Then probably lying leg curls. Not sure what else… there is a standing calf raise machine, so I’ll probably use that.

It’s fun to have new toys. 🙂

First Impressions

Gym was open when I got there, which is a good sign (esp. day after Christmas). Not many people (maybe no more than a dozen at any time while I was there, tho probably 2-3 dozen did cycle through).

Bathroom… generally clean. Needed soap at one set of sinks, lots of water splash on the mirrors and around sinks. When I left, I stopped into the locker room on my way out. I saw a reflection… of 2 ovals, close together, on one of the benches. I noted to not put my bag there.

There is cleaning stuff but not necessarily together. Like there’s a trash can and a cleaning bottle in the middle of the floor, but only a paper towel dispenser way on the other side on the wall. Interesting how they locate the cleaning supplies.

Took the time to look around, check out all the machines, see and start to learn what’s available. Decided to go with plate-loaded over the selectorized since I think it will fit me better – I tried some ergos and overall the plate-loaded will work better for me. There’s a nice selection of stuff.

Opted to do this shoulder press. I worked up for sets of 8 until I felt it was “there”, then did 2 (work) sets of 5-8. I didn’t think much of it. I then moved to the incline press, same work-up to 2×5-8. I will note I felt myself pushing (contracting) harder than ever before. It was… wild. And my right pec is reminding me that it’s not without prior injury, so I gotta be mindful.

After I finished those, my delts were on fire. I never felt that before. It was a crazy ache! We’ll see how it feels in the next few days.

Rolling DB extensions were ok. I have to find the groove on this equipment (e.g. “place my butt here so when I lay down my head will be here”). Plus my delts were so fried that my body was like “No, I am not going to stabilize these dumbbells, I don’t care what you say”. 😂 I may need to find another movement that doesn’t involve that stability aspect.

Good Y-Raises. They don’t have a “free motion” machine, but they have a setup that has 2 stacks at 90º close together which is good enough.

And the Iso-Lateral rows. Of the various hand positions, the top handle with pronation was the one that worked best for me (i.e. comfortable range of motion, no weird stresses, optimal width). I didn’t feel it there at the gym, but this afternoon here at home I’m feeling the work.

All in all, this is a good move. Equipment more towards what I’m now pursuing. This is novel and fun.

Being strict on my diet coupled with this work should pan out well.

Direction

I will spend the next 2-3 weeks sussing out the program: honing in on the exercises/machines, weights to get that 1-3×5-8, etc. Do more with less.

I will take this as long as I can take it, which ought to be be 3-4 months at least.

I should have a good feel for this gym by then too.

Welp… time to change it up

/ hsoi

Enough signs and emerging pattern to say that caloric deficit is taking its toll. It’s time to carb back up a bit, then start again. Small steps downward.

I’ve been building up some strength and size on various movements. I’ve picked up a bunch from the past 5 macrocycles: 1-3 sets of 5-8 reps to failure 3 minutes between (working) sets is… choice (h/t Paul Carter). I’ve got some movements better suited for my build, like I respond well to 20º incline bench – nice clavicular pec growth. Leg press ain’t just a side dish. Dedicated calf work is important, and put the ego in the backseat (the neverending reminder). Stabilization is… a thing (again, Paul Carter); that Cybex chest-supported row machine is sweet. I set some nice PRs, including inclining 265×3@8 – I’ve never inclined 265 let alone 3 easy reps.

And so the strength goes down. It’s ok. I play tricks: pick new movements where I have no idea where and how I’m strong with it. So change it up and keep on.

Here’s what I’m looking at now:

  • General
    • Mon/Wed/Fri – it’s a 4 session cycle done 3 times per week, so it’s a 9-10 day microcycle.
    • 1-3 sets of 5-8 reps aiming for true failure. 3 minutes rest between (work) sets. (Carter)
    • Start light, progress slowly. (Wendler)
    • You need less than you think you need.
    • Push the shit hard, and build up to it over the weeks. Again, start light, progress slowly.
    • Accumulate volume over the week/microcycle; since it’s 9-10 day microcycle, “working a muscle” once per microcycle isn’t enough.
    • Keep recovery in mind – I’m 50… TRT helps, but I’m still 50.
    • Do stuff out of the gym to stretch, keep mobile and limber.
    • Treadmill cool down, 20-30 minutes.
  • Day 1: Push
    • Flavor: more of a delt-focused approach. Maintain pecs. Grow tris because arms.
    • Seated smith machine overhead press
    • Incline dumbbell press (maybe… wrist sensitive; something for pecs, bias upper)
    • Rolling DB extensions (some sort of triceps work)
    • Cable Y raise (something for middle delts)
    • Those Cybex machine rows
  • Day 2: Legs, quads
    • Flavor: keep growing quads.
    • Cybex Plate Loaded Squat Press
      • Reset the weight a bit and work back up.
    • Leg extensions
      • here too.
    • Hip adduction
    • Seated calf raises (350 method… dunno… I just seem to get more out of these with those; it’s variety if nothing else).
    • Cable upright row (a little more delt, and a little biceps)
  • Day 3: Pull
    • Flavor: Keep growing the back – get really honed into activation
    • Barbell row (lighter, really work the muscle instead of muscling it…)
    • Neutral grip pulldowns (with those angle-90 grips or something where I can have neutral grip and some free movement)
    • Cable rear-delt “raises” (not sure how I’ll execute this yet…,)
    • Preacher curls
    • Cybex chest press (selectorized)
  • Day 4: Legs, posterior
    • Flavor: leg press 2x/micro was too much; swap in RDL instead. Unilateral work in lunges, which is also good for me.
    • RDLs
    • Seated leg curl
    • Lunges (I don’t want to do these, they are the right thing for me to do… so I will do them, probably half-assed, but I will do them). LOL
    • Calf raises on leg press (these are 3×5-8, stretch and squeeze; it’s not much weight)
    • Pushdowns (actually leaning over the bar and pushing down like a dip, not the hinge at the elbows pinned to your side version of pushdowns).

So basically I keep doing what I’ve been doing. What has built the muscle is what will “maintain” the muscle, because really “to maintain” means to keep (re)building the muscle. You are actively fighting against muscular atrophy. So the best weapon is that which will maximize growth. And the above is panning out pretty interestingly well to support stuff.

What will be interesting will be to see how, even in deficit, I might grow. I want to focus some on my delts/shoulders – I need some width due to my narrow skeletal structure.

I’m down…

/ hsoi

…to about 250-ish pounds. The other day the scale said 248, but that was just water/carbs.

Catching you up

I track my bodyweight via RepCount into Apple Health,; before that in spreadsheets. I’ve also written about it here under the weight-management category. tl;dr 2015 I got my leanest to date at 199 from my highest ever at 265. After that I got more into powerlifting, Vitamin T. Got strong, and big… especially big. My bodyweight has fluctuated up and down since then, tho certainly the overall trend has been increasing. This time tho, there’s far more muscle. I’ve been sitting in the 250’s for maybe 18 months now. I ballooned up to 261 from Thanksgiving bloat.

I’m tired of it

It’s fun to be big. No lie.

It’s also tiring. #IYKYK

Oh, I still want to be big – don’t get me wrong! But I don’t need to lug around fat as the amount I have does me no good (you only need so much to function). What I’ve got gets in the way more than helps. Put it this way: lean abs and big pecs help with AIWB, and I ain’t helpin’ myself.

It’s been my eternal struggle. Food is my crutch, my comfort, my drug.

That must stop. Not just change, but stop.

I’ll state right out front: death comes for us all, and until that day I will occasionally enjoy a fine meal and good whiskey. I will also not stop eating Mrs. Hsoi’s cooking, especially when she makes me large-pearl tapioca pudding (just like my Grandma Eleanor used to). I just want to ensure that until that day comes I can live well – which for me right now means leaning out.

And never going back.

#BecomingLean

Being sick was perhaps the blessing in disguise. It killed a bunch of my appetite. It’s been pretty easy to bypass the sweet snack-y things (props to Alan Thrall). That alone I know is a help – and I told myself

Or… it could be the Animal Cuts. Yes I know, but let the little bro in my live a little. LOL. I actually wonder if the appetite suppressant properties may be contributing. The tin is almost empty, so I’ll cycle off for a bit and see what happens. Over all these years I’ve always experimented on my body to see how things act, react, respond, etc. I keep data. The experiments are interesting and educational. But I know like any supplement, if you don’t put in the work, you still ain’t gonna get results. Frankly? Even if it’s placebo, if it’s only just helping me somehow be accountable (e.g. like why some people have a personal trainer) because that paying out $$$ makes you not want to waste it. 🤷‍♂️

Still, my appetite is down. I can look in the mirror and see I am VERY flat. My wedding ring comes off more easily. So while I got down from the post-Thanksgiving bloat of 261 pretty quick, it was back into the 254-257 range. So that I’m now bouncing around 248-251 is… good. I believe this is mostly water and glycogen loss, maybe a pound of tissue if I’m lucky? Which I know contributes to the dizzies at the gym. Still, that’s needed to deplete to drive the body to alternate energy sources (fat). Working to keep my protein intake high (at least 200g/day on the “lazy measure”, which means I’m probably getting 225-250g from all sources).

It’ll manage out. There’s some fine-tuning to do and I’m doing it. I know the scale is but one metric, and I know how I leverage that metric. To see 250 consistently for the past few days is actually good. We needed convenience supper last night, ordered pizza, I ate a couple more slices than I should have however I’m not feeling guilty because my body needed it. I’m coming off a really hard some months at the day job and last night started 2-weeks PTO… so I unwound a bit and don’t feel one lick of guilty about it. Woke up 250 this morning, a little fuller looking. Pretty cool. I’ll return to normal today, both in food consumption and glycogen levels. It’ll be fine in the long haul.

So… it’s a small step, but it’s a meaningful step. Slow progress is still progress.

Winter 2022 Programming

/ hsoi

This is about lifting weights, what I’ve been exploring in my program, how it’s paying off, and where I want to go next.

Explorations

I’ve been lifting for hypertrophy; no more 5/3/1 (tho principles always remain, especially start light, progress slowly). It’s been about 3.5 months and 4 3-“week” mesos (I lift MWF). It’s basically an upper/lower A/B split. I started with a “powerbuilding” approach, trying to squat/bench and other heavy stuff for progressions.

In time I had to stop squatting because my current shoulder mobility makes it hard to get into position for back squatting and starts to put a lot of strain on my wrists, elbows, and shoulders – excruciating pain, which I’m not hip to dealing with again. So, more leg pressing.

I also found myself following Paul Carter’s stuff again, looking things like “effective reps” and keeping it to maybe 3×5-8 work.

Payoff

Not squatting has been good for me. My body feels better: knees not so stiff, wrist/elbow/shoulder pain gone (well, the squat-induced pain; my left hand/wrist still has other issues, which are better but still present). Plus quads are getting bigger. I use the Cybex Plate Loaded Squat Press, which is awesome. On Lower A day, I put on my squat shoes (elevated heels), feet low on the plate, quad-bias. On Lower B, Chucks (flat sole), feet high, glute bias. Working up to something heavy, 8 reps RPE 9-10 sort of thing. I think I was getting to a point of too much heavy leg work because I was feeling it (stiff, achy, not fully recovering). I’ve started to cut back on the pure volume, as I don’t need as many warm-up sets now as I’m more in the groove of this movement. Slowly adding weight, just taking my time to work up into it – start light, progress slowly.

FWIW, I never thought much of the leg press. I always hated it. It was always a lesser/secondary to squatting. I do think the particular machine helps (vs. other styles of leg press machine), but it’s more having to make this a primary movement and working to wring out the most from it. It’s not an afterthought movement… I’m glad I’m coming to better appreciate the old leg press. It then touches on two things:

First, Paul Carter. While sometimes Paul’s online communication approach rubs me the wrong way, I’ve long appreciated his coaching and knowledge; his teaching is probably 2nd behind Wendler for me. His most recent thing is around “effective reps”. I’ve been exploring that, aiming for 5-8 rep sets to failure (or very close to it). Also, 3 minutes rest between sets. Pushing this hard has been… different. It’s taken a while to work up to where I am, and I’m still not feeling like I’m really pushing it… I’m getting there, but not there yet. And the results are so far solid.

I mean, I can feel more “boulder” with my biceps. I am quite aware of more pectoral, especially clavicular – thank you John Meadows 20º incline bench pressing. I can see my calves popping (both gastroc and soleus). Delts are getting wider. I’ve got hamstrings. Shit’s growing.

Second, less/reducing volume. I was doing more volume – in terms of simple sets & reps, and weight – because I know roughly how much stimulus I need to “stimulate, not annihilate”. Well, as things are getting heavier, as I push more towards true failure, I really need less “overall volume” in favor of “effective volume”. So I’m dropping some warm-up sets – it’s not much, but it all adds up (I don’t need those warm-ups, like going from incline benching to JM press, I was doing a few more warm-up/light sets to learn the movement, but I basically feel I have the groove so I just go right into the work sets).

Also, I’m still getting stronger – the one major indicator is my incline benching. I just did 265×3@8.5, which is all time PR. The fun thing about doing very different exercises (than SBD/P) is there’s all new PRs to set! Plus, I’m really trying to make the # on the bar be a secondary thought: not what I pursue, but a nice thing when it happens. Like to incline 300 will be pretty cool… give me a year, since I’m enjoying plodding along 5# per meso, and that will stall at some point (probably 280, based on how that 265 moved). Still, I’ll get there.

So getting bigger, getting stronger, and not feeling so beat up all the time. What’s not to like?

Next

I’ve been debating if I should replace the Lower B leg press (high-feet, glute) with something like RDLs. It was the “too much” factor. But reducing some of the volume on leg pressing has helped. If I can continue to reduce that volume while still making gains, great. I may still switch, we’ll see. But I’m enjoying this leg pressing stuff so… we’ll see.

I do want to continue to reduce “volume” where I can.

I want to keep doing my “yoga”. That’s been not an everyday thing, but I am more sensitive to it and do these moves and stretches more often. I of course can still improve here. But no question this helps all the things.

But for the most part, I’m going to keep on. It’s pretty simple progression for the most part: 3×5-8@9-10 is the goal. Trying to do “as little as I can” in terms of volume, but pouring that much more into every single rep. It’s a slow progression for me, just keep adding weight & reps each session (e.g. 1 more pound, 1 more rep) and just keep pushing it. Over time, it’ll all catch up. Then I can reset, new exercises, etc. So just keep going until it’s time to not keep going.

Diet

This is been interesting. I’ve been tracking my intake (roughly) with Macrofactor. I’m not strictly following it, it’s more a visibility and accountability thing for me. The app has some good parts, but annoys me a bit too (speaking as an iOS developer for many years). Still, it’s helped me hone in on some things. I can validate that if I basically aim for 50g protein 4x/day and make sure I do that, I’ll be in good shape. Then eat the carbs and fat my body needs, don’t go overboard. And don’t snack or overdo it. That’s the big one that I’m struggling with as it’s massive habit to overcome. But I’m recognizing it and having more successes than before so… it’s coming along.

Really? I need to become comfortable with being hungry, both literally and figuratively. That will change everything. It’s slow progress, but that’s still progress.

The Real Power of 5/3/1

/ hsoi

Jim Wendler‘s 5/3/1 (overview) is an amazing strength building program. It’s not everything, but it is something. I’ve had success with it over a number of years, and so have many others – including my sons.

Many focus upon the templates: Boring But Big, Triumverate, Beach Body, Krypteia, and there’s gazillions more (just buy the books). Templates are one magic of 5/3/1. I assert the real power of 5/3/1 is the principles.

5/3/1 was founded upon 4 principles: emphasize big, multi-joint movements; starting too light; progress slowly; break personal records. When you understand what drives and underlies these principles, it continues to hold no matter what you do. I shifted back to 5/3/1 for a time, saw good results, but I’m not a young man any more and the wear and tear caught up with me so I’m shifting to more hypertrophy-oriented work (for a time). The 5/3/1 principles remain. Starting too light and progress slowly hold well in hypertrophy work as I ease into the novel stimulus). Big movements are good, perhaps with more stability, like a Cybex machine press. PRs can now be rep PRs, inches on my biceps gained, inches around my waist lost.

5/3/1 as originally conceived is not something I can do so much any more. However, the principles of 5/3/1 will forever carry me forward.

Don’t be decrepit

/ hsoi

That is my “vision statement”: I don’t want to be decrepit.

Why do I go to the gym? Sure being bigger and stronger is cool, but it’s because I don’t want to be decrepit.

I made noises getting up and down from the ground to cuddle and play with my then-infant son – I was in my mid-20s? Not right. I was a smoker and got winded walking 2 flights of stairs to the office. Not right. I saw people, middle-aged-and-up, struggling to negotiate a “flight” of 3 steps. Not right.

I made up my mind: I don’t want to be(come) decrepit.

I don’t know when I will die, and I have so little control over it. I’m not rushing headlong into death, but I’m not out to avoid the unavoidable either. What I am doing is enabling myself to live this life while I have it. I don’t need to be wicked strong, but I need to be strong. I don’t need to have wicked endurance, but I need endurance. Being leaner is better. I need to be able to move and used my body in its entirety – picking up something that fell on the floor shouldn’t be an ordeal.

And yes, sometimes my definition of living life includes doing some stupid things and getting hurt (e.g. my pec strains), and understanding that while lifting is generally good for me it does wear on me too – but I enjoy it and I’m ok with the trade-off. And yes I know that despite my best efforts, I will still age, I will still fail, I will still fall apart, and I may become decrepit.

Yet… someday, I want to be like Sonny:

How I’m meal prepping this time around…

/ hsoi

Meal prepping – if I want to manage my weight, it’s what I need to do. My struggle is finding a sustainable way to prep, and I’ve found a few new things to try to see how well they help.

I love food, perhaps too much. I love all the ways you can combine and put it together to make symphonies – or bring comfort. Too often mean prep gets too “clean” and loses fun, flavor, and interest for me. And it can be a big time and effort investment, when I don’t necessarily have the time to do so. Every time I’ve used meal prepping I’ve achieved fair results, because it makes me monitor and constrain my intake. But it winds up being too much trouble or not enough enjoyment, and eventually it wanes and I fall back into old habits.

What’s different this time is trying to not sweat everything as much. I found this article from Joel McCain of Blacksmith Fitness called “The Lazy Man’s Guide to Fat Loss“. It strips things down even more than I’ve done before, and it may be what helps me.

Basically I figure out my target caloric intake per day. Determine protein at 1 gram per pound of bodyweight, then the remainder of calories is fat and carbs in whatever ratio – that is it, and that is key.

When I would do other plans such as from Renaissance Periodization, while I would have good success, the hard control and reduction in carbs and fats would not only be a struggle, but let’s be real – very soon I’d wind up rather constipated, having to take a supplement like psyllium husk, just to keep things going. That added a layer of irritation (so to speak) to the mix.

But if I can have more flexibility in my carb and fat intake – especially fat intake – I believe that should help me here. Plus if I can enjoy what I’m doing, that can only help me stick with it. More on this below.

In the end, the single biggest factor that affects your bodyweight is calorie balance. If I can keep my protein where it needs to be and my caloric intake lower than my expenditure, I will lose weight. Every other aspect of food, diet, weight management, macros, blah blah blah is secondary minutia (yes it CAN matter, but if you can’t control caloric intake, all that other stuff doesn’t matter so much – cart before the horse).

What I am doing

I determined my caloric take: presently 2300/day. I determined this through some simple formulas, plus leveraging some apps I have to see where they would put me. Again, I didn’t care what plan they were recommending, just calories. 2300 is a good place for me to start (when I plateau, I’ll drop it 10%, recalculate, and continue).

From there, I figure out protein, and the caloric remainder is fat and carbs.

I then use MyFitnessPal – not as a tracker, but as a calculator. I plug the 2300 calorie goal into it. I adjust the percentage dials for the three macronutrients to get protein right, then fat and carbs just to get the percentage to total 100%. I then enter one diary day of meals based on whatever foods I want to eat, focusing on the big things like meats, carbs, and fat sources (I don’t bother entering veggies). Note that I’m choosing the foods I want – the things I want to eat. For example, on my first week I simply made 1/2 lb hamburger patties from 95/5 ground beef and smoked them on my Traeger smoker/grill. I like beef, I love the flavors that result from the smoking on the Traeger. Pasta is a good carb, some fiber too, so I just got a couple boxes of ziti. Simple and things I like to eat. So I enter all the foods into 1 day on MyFitnessPal and adjust the amounts of the foods until it hits my target protein and total calories for the day. I’m not looking at specific carbs or fat numbers (other than to ensure I’m at least getting some of each), I’m not looking at details like saturated fats or sugars or even if I’m hitting the “ratio” of fats to carbs. It’s simply: am I getting the protein I need, then am I totally up everything else to hit my calorie need. I don’t care if MyFitnessPal complains about my choices – I’m not using the app as it wants to be used, it’s just a database and calculator.

That single thing took a big load off my mind because now I’m not struggling to add or remove or find ways to wedge things in just to hit the right ratios. “Oh, I gotta eat 2 spoons of peanut butter to try to get in enough fat” or “No, must eat that toast dry because this meal said only 10g fat and that’s being incidentally brought in by the fact I’m eating meat; in fact, despite being lean meat I max out my fat allowance before I hit my protein requirement so now I have to find some other protein source like 15g of whey simply to get enough protein, but wait that affects carbs slightly so now I have to readjust THAT…”. And that shit just got really old really fast having to try to cram and finagle ways to hit the macros.

This approach is so much simpler.

Plus I don’t have to actually track my meals because everything’s already determined and portioned out. Just eat what I made – no more, no less – and I’ll hit things.

Variations and simplifications

I’m trying to keep this simple, but interesting. I think those are key towards long-term success.

I have basically 1 meal, which I vary into 2 meals, tho in a way it’s 4.

The meals are all simple. For example this week it’s all: 1/2 lb lean beef patty, pasta, steamed veggie. That’s the base meal.

The first variation is sauce. Half of the meals get a Prego no-added-sugar sauce. The other half get some beef gravy with mushrooms (salisbury steak!). So now the beef and pasta have some variety in the flavors and mouthfeels, without adding much to the calories.

The second variation is veggies. Half of the meals get green beans, the other half are getting broccolini.

And I can mix and match a little more too: Prego and green beans, Prego and broccolini, gravy and green beans, gravy and broccolini. So now one base meal turns into four different meals. It’s not huge variation, but it’s enough to keep things from being completely repetitive.

A few other things in there to help with prep itself:

  1. I’m not preparing sauce. I’m using Prego jarred sauce, tho I did pick the no-added-sugar version just to keep the added calories down. The gravy is simply a prepared gravy from the store, and the mushrooms are canned and drained. I know it’s not the most gourmet way of things, but it drastically cuts down on the time and hassle of prep so I’m not spending all day in the kitchen – this is important to me.
  2. The veggies are steamed in the bag. I used to try to buy fresh and prepare them in some way, like sauté or something more fancy in the prep. Well, sometimes the only way I can find the fresh veggies I want to eat are in those steam-in-bags at the store – I used to just consider that a container, but I opted this go-round to just throw ’em into the microwave and steam-prep them that way. That has turned into a HUGE time-saver and an unexpected win.
  3. The hard part about working with pasta is there’s the dry weight then the cooked weight: all the nutrition info is by dry, but I need to portion by cooked. I used to weigh all the cooked and portion from there doing all the before vs. after math I could. Ugh. This time I knew how much nutrition I needed from the pasta thus how much I would need. I did the math to portion out how much dry that would require over 14 meals, and cooked that much. Then when it was cooked, I simply eyeballed even distribution into 14 meal containers. I didn’t sweat if today I got exactly 189g of carbs from pasta in this meal: if I consumed all my meals over the week, I’d be getting what I needed over the course of the week. It all works out just fine in the end. Much simpler execution here.
  4. Breakfast is simple. I like cereal. I picked a cereal I like and eat that using plain whey isolate as “milk”. Simple and works nicely for me.
  5. I have an afternoon snack, which is some protein powder (trying a combo of whey isolate and egg right now), some fresh fruit (I’m using fresh pineapple, which I love), and then some nuts (cashews are a favorite; but this week I’m going to try these seasoned shelled pistachios I found at the store) because honestly I wanted to up my fat intake in hitting my calorie goals. This sort of snack makes me happy.
  6. I undercook everything just slightly. It’s all going to get microwave reheated, which will break it down more too… so a slight undercooking now helps it hold up in storage and not become unappetizing upon reheating.

Yes, it’s a little more expensive to buy prepared. For example, when I’ve made the gravy in the past I bought 1 box of stock then added corn starch to thicken. This time I bought the gravy ready to go. The ingredients check wound up resulting in exactly the same gravy but cost twice as much. The couple bucks spent was more than made up for in the time saved. One money-saving trick I like doing is going to the grocery store first thing in the morning. Often you’ll find meat that is good but needs to be sold NOW marked down. That 93/7 or 95/5 beef that people tend to not buy because it’s more expensive? Well now they marked it down 25% to clear it out, so I’m getting extra lean beef at 80/20 chuck prices. You find your ways to trade off.

TBD

I’ve only just started on this particular run. It’s been 2 preps and 1 week of eating (just finished prep #2 a few hours before writing this). I don’t know how this will go, but the fact my prep this morning took me 3 hours including hitting the grocery store, the kitchen wasn’t totally wrecked, I don’t have to track every meal and day (since it’s all precalculated by the act of how I assembled each meal), and I am liking what I’m making and eating and actually looking forward to my meals… well, it’s all a good sign.