I’ve taken a bunch of time off this week.

With the 4-day instructor class, the lack of sleep, the stress at work, just everything — I’m exhausted. Getting sleep and recoverying, being able to function through all the stress and crap of life right now is far more important. I won’t lose all my gainz. I need my gym time to be fun, productive, and good — my escape from the shit.

So what better thing to celebrate with than arm day. 😉

Was good. Everything continues to go up.

To that end, I’m giving serious thought to just changing gears — even as soon as this Monday. All this cutting isn’t fun, is just more stress, and frankly I need some sort of fun right now. I’m enjoying the gaining I’m doing, and so I’m thinking I’m going to end things now and just move along to my next goals. I’m ok with it. However, I may stick on the current gym plan thorugh Memorial Day due to some logistics. But we’ll see.

Anyways, good day today. Everything’s going up. Made sure I really focused on eccentrics today as I’ve been getting away from that.

• Close-Grip Bench Press
  • 135 x 5
  • 155 x 4
  • 175 x 3
  • 195 x 2
  • 215 x 1
  • 175 x 12
  • 175 x 6
• Skull Crushers
  • 45 x 15
  • 55 x 12
  • 65 x 8
  • 65 x 6
  • 45 x 14
• V-bar pushdowns
  • 45 x 12
  • 40 x 14
  • 35 x 17
  • 30 x 20
• BB Curls
  • 45 x 12 (strict)
  • 55 x 10
  • 65 x 8
  • 95 x 4 (cheat)
  • 95 x 3
  • 95 x 3
• Hammer Curls
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 8
  • 25e x 8
• Cable Curls
  • 55 x 19
  • 60 x 12
  • 65 x 9
  • 55 x 14

I’m on the last leg of a long event. I’m pooped, and would rather not dig too deep a hole for myself. I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning (MOAR sleep!), but off I went. I opted to do a semi-jack-shit day: get the work, get a little extra, but don’t dig too deep.

Inclines went up, feel good. Then everything else, I did my normal routine just cut the load in half (e.g. 2 sets instead of 4, etc.). Felt good, got some work, but didn’t feel too taxed.

• Incline Bench Press
  • bar x 10
  • 115 x 5
  • 135 x 4
  • 155 x 3
  • 185 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 155 x 12
  • 155 x 6
• DB Bench Press
  • 50e x 10
  • 50e x 10
  • 50e x 10
• Machine Flies
  • 80 x 12
• Seated DB Press
  • 40e x 10
  • 40e x 10
• Lat Raises
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 10

Can’t skip arm day. 😉

I opted to do a regular arm day today because I felt good, arm day isn’t all that intensive (relatively speaking), and come on brah… we can skip squatting, but we never skip curls. 😉

If anything, I did skip techniques like drop sets, rest-pause, partials, etc.

Things just continue to go up, so I’m happy. It’s really interesting to watch my weight stay the same, the results in the mirror improve, the results in the gym go up… yet I’m hungry. So much fun. Just a few more weeks….

The cable curls I think are a solid addition. They still feel weird to me because the load is different, but the way they provide tension for sure is good. I’m digging it.

• Close-grip bench press
  • bar x 10
  • 125 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 165 x 3
  • 185 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 165 x 15
  • 165 x 7
• Skullcrushers
  • 45 x 15
  • 55 x 15
  • 65 x 8
  • 65 x 8
  • 45 x 16
• V-bar Pushdowns
  • 45 x 12
  • 40 x 13
  • 35 x 16
  • 30 x 18
• BB Curls
  • 45 x 12 (strict)
  • 55 x 10
  • 65 x 8
  • 85 x 5 (cheat)
  • 85 x 5
  • 85 x 5
• Hammer Curl
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 8
  • 25e x 8
• Cable Curls
  • 55 x 16
  • 60 x 13
  • 65 x 9
  • 55 x 10

I am enjoying just “freeforming it” for a bit.

I’m exhausted and burned out. It’s a lot of things in life, from work to sleep issues, and it’s all adding up. And with a few things on the horizon, I’m trying to pace things a bit. I opted to NOT have my leg/squat session on Tuesday and instead just sleep. I also slept yesterday. Felt good. Then today (and tomorrow) it’s, I guess for lack of better phrasing, a bit of deload. I want to get some work in, but not dig my recovery hole too deep.

So I thought what would be fun? Pull-ups! 🙂 Today was all about that. I’ve done this before and enjoy it. Up to the bar, as many strict pull-ups as possible (truly going to failure), rest 1 minute, repeat. Once I can’t get any more pull-ups, switch to chin-ups and do the same. Then I figured once I was done, I’d just do something else for some reps. I opted to do a pyramid up and down of cable rows, then 1 set of shrugs just to have a bit of reps.

It wasn’t overly taxing — I think the only reason I broke a sweat was because the gym was warm and humid. But I got some work in, and feel good. Huzzah.

I also started thinking again about “where to go next” because that’s coming up. I realized one reason I’m flip-flopping between LRB and 5/3/1 approaches is simple: I’m exhausted. 5/3/1 is effective, but it really taxes me and given the state I’m in I am not sure it would be good for me. LRB stuff seems to be just as effective but doesn’t tax the crap out of me. Yet, I feel like I want the workload of 5/3/1, that LRB alone may not be enough. So I don’t know. But I did think that one must-have is only 3x/week, and the other 4 days I just sleep in as much and as hard as possible. And it may be that I do this for 4-6 weeks to get myself some recoup, then afterwards I forge ahead. For example, a simple LRB-style/Strong-15-style approach (e.g. like the “man-maker” template from the SRL eBook) for 4-6 weeks, maybe then a Strong-15 short-cycle, and if I’m feeling awesome after that, then switch to 5/3/1 SST. Basically, I gotta get my body back on track first, above all.

So we’ll see.

• Pull-ups
  • bw x 8
  • bw x 4
  • bw x 3
  • bw x 3
  • bw x 3
  • bw x 2
  • bw x 2
  • bw x 2
  • bw x 1
  • bw x 1
• Chin-ups
  • bw x 3
  • bw x 1
  • bw x 1
  • bw x 2 (go figure)
  • bw x 2
  • bw x 1
• Cable Rows
  • 90 x 15
  • 100 x 15
  • 110 x 12
  • 120 x 8
  • 110 x 8
  • 100 x 9
  • 90 x 10
• DB Shrugs
  • 70e x 20

Rain rain go away, but I still went to the gym today.

Massive thunderstorms hitting Texas today, so I had to drive to the gym. At least the lights stayed on. No big deal if they went out: it’s just benches, steel, and iron and you can keep going.

Things just keep feeling better. Reps go up, technique getting better. In fact, the slow eccentrics actually felt normal, like what I’m supposed to do. I had to stop myself from doing it during the heavier movements like the incline presses. I think that’s pretty telling that I’m getting used to it and actually enjoying it a bit.

• Incline Presses
  • bar x 10
  • 105 x 5
  • 125 x 4
  • 145 x 3
  • 175 x 2
  • 195 x 1
  • 145 x 15
  • 145 x 7
• DB Bench Press (2-1-1-0)
  • 50e x 10
  • 50e x 10
  • 50e x 10
  • 50e x 10
  • 50e x 9
• Machine Flies
  • 80 x 12
  • 80 x 12
  • 80 x 12
• Seated DB Press
  • 40e x 10
  • 40e x 10
  • 40e x 8
  • 40e x 7
• DB Lat Raises
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 10, followed by partial burns drop set

I’m having a lot of fun.

I think that’s important. I’ve got so much crap going on, I need something to give me some fun and not be a source of more “consuming” energy. For sure this just gives back to me. More on this at the end.

Still happy that all things are going up. But some things aren’t going up in simple weight or reps, but on technique. For once in my life I’m really finding myself enjoying hypertrophy techniques, such as the slow eccentrics, squeezing at the peak, and so on. I’m finding I’m getting a lot more out of it — all hail this cycle’s goal of “just chase the pump”. It’s been quite fun, and quite eye-opening. So for instance some of the isolation movements here technically went down from last week, but they went up in terms of how slow I was going, how much focus I was putting into isolating that muscle and that whole “mind-muscle connection” thing. It felt more quality.

So hey, this is fun.

And because of that, perhaps that’s why I’m feeling like putting off the 5/3/1 switch for a bit. I’m actually really enjoying this hypertrophy work, and still getting stronger too. Paul Carter’s protocols I think may serve me well if I want to keep chasing this. And I keep coming back to some light past experience where Paul’s stuff did just as much as 5/3/1 in the same amount of time yet I didn’t feel so beat up. So I guess I am feeling like it might be good to give it a serious go, since I’ll finally be off the “cutting” rollercoaster.

As for specifics here:

Happy to see my close-grip going up.

The cable curls may be the ticket. They do feel weird because the bar just balances and pulls different than a free-weight BB, but they are giving me the constant tension. I’ll stick with them for a bit.

• Close Grip Bench Press
  • bar x 10
  • 125 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 165 x 3
  • 185 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 165 x 11
  • 165 x 6
• Skullcrushers
  • 45 x 15
  • 55 x 14
  • 65 x 7
  • 65 x 7
  • 45 x 15
• V-Bar pushdowns
  • 45 x 15
  • 40 x 15
  • 35 x 13
  • 30 x 16 (then 2 rest-pause sets)
• BB Curls
  • 45 x 12 (strict)
  • 55 x 10
  • 65 x 8
  • 85 x 5 (cheat)
  • 85 x 4
  • 85 x 4
• Hammer Curl (Paul’s style)
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 8
  • 25e x 8
  • 25e x 8
• Cable Curls
  • 50 x20
  • 60 x 12
  • 65 x 8
  • 50 x 14, then 2 rest-pause sets.

8… 8… 8 pullups… ah ah ah ah ah ah! (Yes, I learned to count with The Count on Sesame Street).

Seriously, I find that to be perhaps a cooler achievement than when I first deadlifted 405# or squatted 315# or whatever. Never done 8 strict pull-ups in my life, and damnit if it’s not an awesome thing to do. 🙂 Looking forward to 10, then doing 10’s across the sets. The first time it becomes worthwhile to add weight (probably once I can do like 5×10 or 20 in a row or something), that’ll be a cool milestone too.

Anyways, overall today was just a good session. I am liking back work more and more because I am finding a good groove with it that actually seems productive, not just moving weights through the air in a manner that is typically considered “back exercises”. And everything across the board continues to go up, so what’s not to like?

That all said, I have been talking with Nick @ RP about my weight progress. I started this cut around 210 with a goal of 190 after about 12-16 weeks — very doable given past performance. But for the past some weeks I’ve been hovering in the 202-206 range depending on the day. My weight just is not going down. Thing is, I look in the mirror and I can tell my body is transforming. It’s frustrating on the one hand to not see the scale move, but on the other, I have to remember that the scale is but one metric — the mirror is another, and likely the more important one. That my body continues to transform (and even the Mrs. has noticed, so it’s not just me), that my strength is actually going up instead of the typical decline around this time of a cut cycle… well, I gotta just put my faith into things and press on.

That said, I realize I’m only a few more weeks left in this (Memorial Day weekend and I stop the cut, period). So I am picking back up on my “ok, what next?” thinking. I started to fall back to 5/3/1 and probably the Simplest Strength Template (or thereabouts) because gee if 5/3/1 doesn’t get results. But recently I started to rethink, and I wonder if I I might stick with Paul Carter’s programming philosophies. I’ve been following them for a while and they do seem to jive with me, but the problem has been that I can’t fully tell because I’ve been mostly following them while I’ve been doing all this weight-loss. I’ve long said I wanted to give them a more fair shake, and perhaps I should do that instead. As well, when I have done his stuff on a non-cut, I found I made similar progress to 5/3/1 and didn’t feel as beat-up.

So… I don’t know. 🙂

Just rethinking. Have a few weeks to make a decision.

• Pull-ups
  • bw x 8 (PR)
  • bw x 4
  • bw x 3
  • bw x 3
  • bw x 2
• T-Bar Row
  • 105 x 8
  • 105 x 8
  • 105 x 8
  • 105 x 6
• Curl-grip Lat Pulldown
  • 90 x 15
  • 100 x 15
  • 110 x 15
• Cable Row
  • 90 x 15
  • 100 x 13
  • 100 x 12, then drop set
• BB Shrugs
  • 275 x 5
  • 275 x 8
  • 185 x 23
  • 185 x 18
  • 185 x 13

Another good day.

I continue to work on my form with front squats. I’m finding a better groove. Interesting thing I noticed today was where my body wanted to bail out — it’s much sooner than with other exercises. I think it’s because there’s less tolerance for error: a little lean and the bar will dump, whereas with a regular squat you can lean a bunch and no problems. As well, it’s just uncomfortable: the bar puts pressure on your throat and clavicles, so the body wants to stop this quickly. I found myself pushing much further past the point of discomfort. The goal was 3 sets of 7 today, and I perhaps could have done 8’s, but I’m pacing myself a bit on these: I don’t want to take these to true failure, just push myself. So, insightful morning.

RDL’s were another technique point. I don’t feel like I’m still “getting” the movement, so I kept the weight light and really worked on things. It’s when I come out: I feel like I’m extending the back, not the hips. So I worked on keeping the bar close to the body, really letting it get low to get a good stretch, then raising up by pushing the hips through — or at least thinking that way, vs. thinking about lifting/extending the back. Still don’t quite have it, but I’ll keep at it.

Leg Press was funny. Sure, who cares how much you can leg press. Still, I’ve never put 405 (4 plates a side) on the sled. I’m always doing high-rep sets, so I just don’t get up there. But I wanted to do it today, just because. I mean, if I’m going to squat 405, I better leg press it first. So it was fun to work up to a higher, heavier weight. And I crushed it pretty well too — really had the mindset to just kill it and it went up easier than the 365 set did. I didn’t expect to get 10 reps, but I was happy that I did. Just fun.

After that, I did my extensions and curls superset in a 350-method style.

I’ll say that the work level of this session was pretty good — I felt a little queasy afterwards. Not that it’s a measure of anything, but at least I know I got some work in.

• Front Squat
  • bar x 10
  • 95 x 5
  • 125 x 4
  • 155 x 3
  • 185 x 2
  • 215 x 1
  • 165 x 7
  • 165 x 7
  • 165 x 7
• RDL
  • 185 x 8
  • 185 x 8
  • 185 x 8
• Leg Press
  • 225 x 10
  • 315 x 10
  • 365 x 10
  • 405 x 10
• Leg Extensions (350-Method)
  • 55 x 23
  • 55 x 15
  • 55 x 12
• Leg Curls (350-Method superset with extensions)
  • 25 x 19
  • 25 x 12
  • 25 x 9

This was good.

Everything going up. Which is interesting, because usually around this point in a cut cycle is where things start to plateau and/or I go down. So I’m pretty happy right now… well, with progress. My weight continues to be strange; been talking with Nick @ Renaissance Periodization about it. TBD

Inclines continue to be strong. The AMRAP+50% sets just keep going up each week. Good sign.

DB Bench. Went up in weight, but also in form. I really let myself sink into it at the bottom, get a stretch, then explosive up. Still keeping tempo so that the eccentric is a 2-3 count, sink in, explode up. As much as I hate DB work, I cannot deny the pump.

Machine flies were funny. I find that on this machine it’s very easy to lose posture, so today I really exaggerated and that was good. It kept my torso, head, neck, etc. all where they should be, which really increased the properness of the movement. I dug it.

DB presses, went up in weight, and that too I also made sure I sunk down at the bottom and wasn’t cutting it off too soon.

Lat raises, I continue to improve posture for that — the more I keep truly straight spine (from top of my head all the way down), keep my chin tucked in, it sure makes my shoulders happier (and the movement tougher). And as soon as I finished the 3rd set, immediately to the 10# plate for as many front raises as I could muster. Lost count, but whatever as that’s not really important.

But really, good day. Good day.

• Incline Bench
  • bar x 10
  • 105 x 5
  • 125 x 4
  • 145 x 3
  • 175 x 2
  • 195 x 1
  • 145 x 13
  • 145 x 7
• DB Bench Press
  • 50e x 10
  • 50e x 10
  • 50e x 10
  • 50e x 8
  • 50e x 7
• Machine Flies
  • 80 x 12
  • 80 x 12
  • 80 x 9
• Seated DB press
  • 40e x 10
  • 40e x 10
  • 40e x 7
  • 40e x 6
• DB Lat Raises
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 10
• Front Plate Raises
  • 10 x ?