Today was solid. Saw progress across the board.

Weird that my bodyweight is up… have no idea why. This cut cycle is starting off on a frustrating note.

But as for the gym, went well. Biggest thing I’m happy to report is my shoulder/neck feels tons better. Movement is good, range is good. Still need a little stretching, but recovering well. I had thought about dropping weight and upping reps on the lat raises due to lat week, but nah…. opted to just continue on, and it went fine. Chalk it up to “one of those things”.

• Bench Press (basebuilding model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 140 x 4
  • 165 x 3
  • 180 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 6
  • 180 x 5
• Incline Bench
  • 135 x 8
  • 135 x 8
  • 135 x 6
• Lateral Raises
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 8
  • 25e x 7
• Overhead Triceps Extensions
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 16

Solid day.

Deadlifting went well. After I was warm, all the work sets went really well. For sure the speed was up over last week, and I know there’s still room to improve that to make the work sets feel like nothing, which is the goal. Happy here.

Chin-ups… 10 still eludes me, but I’m going to work every set to “failure”. Basically even if that “last rep” was barely chin over bar, still do another rep and fight it — I might get there, but even if I don’t, that extra work will do me well. Make the descent of the last rep really slow, and just keep working it and pushing it since this is bodyweight and tough to (over)load otherwise. I’ll get there.

One thing I thought about today was my quads.

See, I know when I deadlift that I really favor my back. I’m trying to work on that. My deadlift technique is shifting a little bit these days, starting with a closer stance to the bar and trying to really push the floor away from me when I start — get more leg drive into it, trying to keep the bar closer to me, etc.. But I know from looking at, well, everything, that my quads are weak compared to the rest of me (esp. my back and posterior chain). So I thought about it some, and I think after I’m done with this basebuilding session that I’m going to have to focus on my quads more.

For example, while I finish out this diet cut, I wanted to switch to just some freestyle hypertrophy stuff. I’m thinking out a plan for it, but I think a big part of it will be switching to front squats as a main movement (e.g. 5/4/3/2/1 workup, then a AMRAP set with 50% afterwards). And tho I’m thinking about 5/3/1 after I’m done with the cut, while I have been thinking about doing BBB template I may not and instead follow squats with front squats (something like a “simplest strength template” approach). I don’t know.

But I do believe if I want to hit my goals, I really need to bring my quads strength up. I’ve known this, and it just becomes more evident to me over time. Despite the fact I hate front squats, I think it’s time to focus on them for a good long time and work to bring up my quad strength. Probably other things too, like leg presses and one-leg bodyweight work.

Anyways, just thinking out loud.

• Deadlift (basebuilding model 1)
  • 185 x 5
  • 215 x 4
  • 225 x 3 (whoops, should have been 255)
  • 285 x 2
  • 300 x 3
  • 300 x 3
  • 300 x 3
  • 300 x 3
  • 300 x 3
• Chinups
  • bw x 9
  • bw x 6
  • bw x 3
  • bw x 3
  • bw x 3
• BB Rows
  • 135 x 8
  • 135 x 8
  • 135 x 8
• BB Curls
  • 30 x 40
  • 30 x 26
  • 30 x 21
  • 30 x 18 (then a couple rest-pause sets)

Another squat day. Just felt solid.

A few points of note.

That shoulder pain from the other day. My buddy Sam txt’d me and mentioned “levator scapulae”. I do believe that’s it. After much massaging, stretching, a little Advil at night, it felt better yesterday and even more so today. Still don’t have full range of motion, but close. It affected my squatting a little bit since it caused a little neck pain (bar pressure, etc.), but actually by the end of the squats it felt better than before I got to the gym. Huzzah.

When in doubt, crush-grip the bar. It makes a huge difference in everything. Being tight, as much of your body as possible being tight, leads to being stronger.

I am starting to think knee sleeves might actually do something for me (not just placebo). Wore them the whole time, but after the 3rd set of lunges rolled them down. On that 4th set, something in my knees was like “dude, you want the sleeves”. I can’t really describe it, but my knee did not feel as good as it had been and it was as if to say “yeah, sleeves help”. I’ll need to keep playing around, but it was the first actual bit of something to say “yeah, knee sleeves are good things (for me)”.

• Squat (basebuilding model 1)
  • bar x 5 x 2
  • 150 x 5
  • 175 x 4
  • 205 x 3
  • 225 x 2
  • 260 x 1
  • 185 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 185 x 5
• Leg Press
  • 225 x 10
  • 315 x 10
  • 365 x 10
  • 365 x 10
• Lunges
  • bw x 12e
  • bw x 12e
  • bw x 12e
  • bw x 12e

All in all, today went well. I got a couple more reps over last week, so that’s proper progress.

The main bummer came with, of all things, lateral raises. I went up in weight. First two sets went fine. On the third set, around rep 4 sudden pain/twinge in my upper trap/left side of my neck. I tried to push through a couple more reps, but no go. It was painful. I dropped weight and was able to do a final set, so nothing major here. But damn if things aren’t hurting, even now a couple hours later as I write this. Something deep in my neck/upper-shoulder area is really tight. Turning my head side-to-side hurts, can’t get full range. I’ll probably be extra sore and tight tomorrow, and it may take up to a week before things are fully normal again. Just LOTS of stretching, massage, etc. throughout the day today. Ugh.

Ah well, shit happens. I don’t think it’s anything serious, but it’s enough to be a bummer. Just have to manage it out. Glad I’ve got my Thera-Cane: should help me work it out.

In other news, I’m still hanging in the 208 zone. This is NOT where I wanted to be 2-weeks into the diet. So Nick has really bumped things: dropped food intake some, and really bumped up the cardio (ugh). It’s now 1 hour walking on my off days and 20-30 minutes on my training days. Geez. I hate it but I really want this to happen AND I want to try to get this all in before the end of May. So if I want it, I gotta put in the work, and crank. All there is to it.

• Bench Press
  • bar x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 140 x 5
  • 165 x 3
  • 180 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 5
  • 180 x 4
• Incline Bench Press
  • 135 x 8
  • 135 x 7
  • 135 x 6
• DB Lat Raises
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 6 (ouch)
  • 15e x 15
• Overhead Triceps Extensions
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 16
  • 40 x 14

Good, but not great.

So deadlift basebuilding model 1. Really the day wasn’t bad, but I’ve not gotten the best sleep this week, work is quite stressful right now, and I’m still very sore from Wednesday’s squat session (always 2 days later).

The deadlifts moved slow. Not horrible slow, not grinding, but I just didn’t have the C.A.T. behind it. Things got better as I went along tho. In the end, it’s just a baseline for me to improve upon.

As for everything else, I’m going to continue with the 2-minutes-rest between everything throughout this basebuilding cycle. Only exception will be squats, since the model puts a time constraint. I expect a little more rest will be a little more useful for me.

Chins, 10 continues to allude me, but I’m going to get there.

Curls are supposed to be 100 reps nonstop. I’ve found that doesn’t do much for me, and the “inverse 100 protocol” is alright but again I wanted to try the consistency here with the rest of the program. So I picked a weight, goal is still at least 100 total reps, but crank as much as possible, 2 minutes rest, repeat until total is over 100. That felt a lot better than either 100-nonstop or the inverse protocol. We’ll see where it takes me.

While I’m working this, I can’t help but think forward because I know it’s just one more dietary cycle here then I’m off to achieve other goals. My thinking there continues to gravitate back to 5/3/1 because it’s dead simple and works. So then I think after I’m done with basebuilding and have time until 5/3/1 I may just “do whatever”. Hypertrophy work to support the diet cycle, and frankly just go into the gym, have fun, pull an Arnold and “chase the pump”, and just enjoy that before the work kicks in. 🙂

• Deadlift
  • 185 x 5
  • 215 x 4
  • 225 x 3
  • 285 x 2
  • 300 x 3
  • 300 x 3
  • 300 x 3
  • 300 x 3
  • 300 x 3
• Chin-ups
  • bw x 9
  • bw x 4
  • bw x 4
  • bw x 4
  • bw x 3
• BB Rows
  • 135 x 8
  • 135 x 8
  • 135 x 7
• BB Curls
  • 30 x 40
  • 30 x 25
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 19

Basebuilding Squat Model 1 is always interesting.

It’s just a lot of work in a little bit of time. You’d think 5×5 may not be much, but when you have to crank to get the work within a time limit, and push as hard as you can all the way through (C.A.T.) oh yea, it’s work.

I went ahead and opted to keep that same pace throughout: about 1 minute rest between everything. That was enough. By the time I got to lunges I could tell my work capacity had decreased some, so it’ll take me a little bit to get back up there.

For the record, I’m experimenting with lunge stride. Today I kept the stride fairly short.

Oh, and I opted to have no knee sleeves nor belt. We’ll see how that goes for me.

• Squats
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 150 x 5
  • 175 x 4
  • 205 x 3
  • 225 x 2
  • 260 x 1
  • 185 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 185 x 5
• Leg Press
  • 225 x 10
  • 315 x 10
  • 315 x 10
  • 315 x 10
• Lunges
  • bw x 10e
  • bw x 10e
  • bw x 10e
  • bw x 10e

Opted to start with Basebuilding, because I might as well get rolling.

All in all it went about as expected. Didn’t hit 5×8, but that’s alright — so long as there’s progression over the coming weeks. It all feels like where it should be to start out.

I still remain impressed by how much side laterals, when I tilt my hands forward (like pouring out a pitcher), hits my traps.

One non-evident thing is rest periods. Given the nature of things I want more rest, but I’m going to try it across the board. So heavy sets, light sets, about 2 minutes. Strive to hit as best as possible, as heavy as possible, as many reps as appropriate. So like on the extensions, 12-20 reps, and that each set is hard within those limits. I want to see what it does for me.

Anyways, off we go.

• Bench Press
  • bar x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 140 x 4
  • 165 x 3
  • 180 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 4
  • 180 x 4
• Incline Press
  • 135 x 8
  • 135 x 7
  • 135 x 5
• Side Laterals
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 10
• Overhead Extensions
  • 40 x 20
  • 45 x 20
  • 45 x 12
  • 40 x 12

Just went for it, because I could. 375 is still a ways from where I want to be, but it’s better than where I’ve been recently.

Today is supposed to be “Back, Light”, but I’ve had so much fun this past week figuring out EDM’s for bench press and squat that I figured why not: let’s do deadlift.

So I did my deadlift work-up, breaking slightly from the programming. Got up to 375 and that felt sufficient — form just started to break down, but it still went up fine. I know I had more in me, if I was to go for a true 1RM, but again this isn’t determining a 1RM but an EDM that I can plug into the upcoming programming. And when I think about it, deadlift basebuilding model 1 is working up to 80% for 5×3, which would be 300#. Given how 290 for 2 and the prior weeks have felt, I think 300x5x3 will be perfect.

375 is far off from where I was, but it’s interesting to me. In all of this fat loss I’ve lost strength, but oddly my upper body strength has been mostly stagnant and arguably I’ve gained a little bit. But my lower body has lost a lot, especially my deadlift. Why? I’m not entirely sure. I did think about it today and think that part of it is due to a change in deadlift technique — trying to lift more with my legs than my back (I’ve a strong back, relative to my legs). Regardless, while it’s a ways from where I was (very far, compared to how “off” my other lifts are), it feels good — including my chronic knee issues. Hate to say it, but I believe (tho have no way to say for sure) that single-leg work has contributed to helping my knees: split squats, bulgarian split squats, lunges, etc. all bodyweight, for lots of reps, 4-5 sets. So bottom line is that I’m feeling overall better, and I’ll get to where I want to be in time. Patience. Work.

Then I just did chins and some curls to finish out the day. Chins — I was hoping for 10, but rep 9 barely got chin to bar. Still, it’s progress for me. And chins are going to continue to be part of my programming, so I’ll get there soon. 🙂 In fact, losing weight will be a big help towards achieving this!

So since I have EDMs figured out, what now? Do I deload next week? Do I get into the basebuilding? Part of me is all excited and wants to get to basebuilding. But part of me thinks that I should deload — mostly due to work-related stress. But I think I’d rather work to manage that and just hit it next week. 🙂

• Deadlift
  • 185 x 5
  • 225 x 4
  • 255 x 3
  • 290 x 2
  • 320 x 1
  • 345 x 1
  • 375 x 1
• Chin-up
  • bw x 9
  • bw x 5
  • bw x 3
  • bw x 3
  • bw x 3
• DB Curls
  • 20e x 15
  • 25e x 15
  • 30e x 10
  • 30e x 10, then ran the rack down to the 15’s

Back over 300… happy about that.

So again, I’m trying to establish some “maxes” so I can figure out programming for the next cycle. Established program would have had me work up to 285 today, but last night before bed I figured might as well go for 300 since I’ll be so close. I want to get back over that mark.

On the way to the gym I changed my mind. Opted instead of 270/275/280 to go 275/295/305. Why not?

And it went quite well. 275 felt easy. 295 had a little slowdown midway up, but I knew it was happening and I could do 305. And the 305 had a little slowdown right at mid-point as well, but got through it without problem. It didn’t feel at all like a grind, just a bit of a sticking point. So I feel fine using 185 (60%) for my 5×5’s on basebuilding. In fact, because I’m sticking at the midpoint, one thing that helps is dealing with pushing through and really accelerating the whole way — that is what Basebuilding (and C.A.T.) directly works on, so this should be good.

And I actually felt like if I was trying to work for a true 1RM, I could have hit 315 and maybe… maybe even a bit more given how the 305 went up. But again, this wasn’t about trying to find a true 1RM, just a good “working max”.

So I’m pretty happy with this. That puts me well within reach of breaking my all-time best squat — the sort of thing where I could probably program out a proper Strong-15 cycle and beat it. That is, if I was in fact able to do that. But with the cut diet starting, again my goal is to just maintain my strength so at the end of the cycle (after a little replenishment), I can get on track for my 3/4/5 goal. I’m pretty happy with all of this, and just have to remind myself for the next few months to keep working towards that and give it my all.

Because that’s something else today (and days like today) keep telling me — especially about my squat. Any time I “get serious” because I’m doing something like going for a 1RM, I find myself getting a little more serious under the bar. Why? It’s not that I shouldn’t get serious, but more that I should be that serious every time I get under the bar. Granted, we might have up and down days, but overall I should approach the bar every time like it’s going for a 1RM, like it’s working to set a new PR. That everything shoul be totally dialed in, tight as can be, all that same intensity. I just don’t always do it for whatever reason.

But hey, today was pretty solid and I’m happy. I’m happy to be back over 300.

• Squats
  • 150 x 5
  • 175 x 4
  • 205 x 3
  • 230 x 2
  • 275 x 1
  • 295 x 1
  • 305 x 1
• Smith Machine Hacks
  • 45 x 10
  • 95 x 10
  • 115 x 10
  • 135 x 10
• Leg Press
  • 135 x 10
  • 225 x 10
  • 315 x 10
  • 365 x 10
• Split Squats
  • bw x 20
  • bw x 15
  • bw x 15
  • bw x 12

This was a good day.

So I’m coming to the 3rd and final week/iteration of the LRB template. Tomorrow I start on another cutting diet cycle, so I’ll finish out this iteration then change up. More on this below.

But with that change, I wanted to establish some EDMs for the next cycle. So that’s the order of today, and each “heavy” day remaining in this cycle.

Here on day 1-A “Press, Heavy”, I’m supposed to do overheads first, but I opted to bench first. I also opted to take a little more rest between sets (2-3 minutes instead of 1 minute). I did my normal work up, but everything felt good. Tight, explosive, good leg drive. Really, everything felt so damn good today. So while I was originally going to do the programmed work up then just keep going, I opted to just adjust the singles. I figured if I could do a crisp 240, that’d be good enough for programming.

And I did that, no problem. Sure the bar speed was slow, but it wasn’t a grind. Did I have more in me? Yes. I’m sure I could have worked up to a 250-255 for a grinder, and after I got up I actually thought to myself “Man, I should (could) have gone for 2”. And I would have made it. BUT, that’s not the point of what I was trying to do. This isn’t out to establish a 1RM, it’s out to establish an EDM that I can use for the next programming cycle. 240 was solid… and doing some calculations, how I felt, etc… I do feel I got a little stronger based upon the numbers I started out with. Not huge, maybe 5#, but 5# more is 5# more. I’ll take it on this short, non-peaking, cycle.

Thing is, everything continued to move well. The BHP was programmed to be first, totally fresh, but even after benching I still hit the programming here. Granted, I took 2 minute rests, but still.

Upright rows, extensions… they were what they were. What I find cool is the 20 rep stuff. Which brings to me some assessment of this LRB template.

I don’t think the LRB template is ideal for me — at least right now. I like that I do NOT feel all that beat up, yet I still seem to be making progress, just slow progress. It’s programming that serves two masters: strength and size, and while that’s workable, you’ll never progress as fast as if you serve one master. That said, I could see using a template like this when I had no particular goals in mind other than “just keep getting bigger, just keep getting stronger”.

The template also taught me a few things, especially about higher reps. That I really need to push myself further, beyond. When my muscles and brain start to scream to stop, keep going. Maybe take 1-2 seconds to let the burn fade, but there’s still a lot of capability left in there, so keep pressing forward. When truly the muscle fails, THEN you can stop — and that point is much further along than you think. You just don’t get to this when you’re doing sub-10 reps.

I also think that while I may not normally program out to 20 reps, I think 12-20 range may be good for me. Later on in this cut cycle I will go towards more hypertrophy-oriented programming, and there I think 12-20 will do me good. But I will hit it a little different than I have been. Basically if I’m doing 5×12-20, pick a weight were first set hits 20 but second set gets maybe 18-20, and down from there — something a bit heavier. For now to get me used to and up there I’ve been doing lighter stuf and that first set doesn’t kill me: I want the first set to be hard to get 20, and downwards from there.

So what next?

Again, I start a cut cycle diet tomorrow. I’m about 212 this morning — I’m bloated after a (final) weekend of enjoying myself. Been hovering 209-212 depending how much I cheat. The goal is 190 in about 3-4 months, which should be do-able as long as I put the work in.

I’m going to finish out this LRB cycle (this week and next), then I’m going to switch to a Basebuilding model. That should be good for moderately heavy weights, higher reps, more volume — all good things for the cut, and good to start with that while I still have a reasonable food intake. The plan is to stick with that at least 6 weeks, then I’ll decide what to do next depending upon what I need to support the cut. I will stick with 3x/week for now, only going to 4x when/if I need to. I do hope to maintain strength, which should be manageable the shorter I keep the cut — the longer it goes, the more I’ll lose, which is motivation for me to bust ass and drop things quickly and steadily (2#/week would be great).

• Bench Press
  • bar x 5
  • 125 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 170 x 3
  • 185 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 225 x 1
  • 240 x 1
• Behind-the-neck Press (seated, Smith machine)
  • bar x 5
  • 65 x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 125 x 5
  • 125 x 5
  • 125 x 5
• Upright Rows
  • 90 x 10
  • 90 x 10
  • 90 x 10
  • 90 x 10
  • 90 x 8
• Overhead Extensions
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 15
  • 40 x 15