That went well.

It’s day 2-A, Legs Heavy, of this new LRB template program. All in all, good stuff, some new stuff, and just kinda happy to have some heavier stuff too. 🙂

Squats went well. I’m finding my bar speed: not too fast on the descent, not too fast (but still trying to be explosive) on the ascent. I’ve been doing so much sub-max work that it’s been hard to find the right speed: I mean, what you can do at 135 vs. 225 vs. 315 are different things, and I’d trying to get that speed and positioning for the heavier stuff, then letting the lighter follow suit. Happy this is really coming together.

Another note: while squeezing/clenching the bar with my hands is good for tightness, I just can’t do it before getting under the bar. It causes too much stress on my wrists. Better to get into position then lock things in.

The hack squats were an experiment. Hacks are part of the program, but I don’t have a hack machine at my gym. The googles said you can do it on a Smith Machine: position the bar like a low-bar squat, put your feet way out in front, and go (bottom position will look like a wall-sit). So I’m trying it. I wanted to be very light today to work on the mechanics, and I’m glad I did. It’s evident that you can get so low that leverages, angles, mechanics will just not allow you to come back up. As well, I could see a small lapse in tension or focus and you could wind up going for a quick ride to the floor. I did put the catch-hooks in place, but because of the odd angles of force on the rails they wobbled out! A simple remedy with some bands to hold them in place. But all in all, this went alright. I’ll certainly up the weight next time, but today was about figuring out the mechanics.

Leg press: all I can say is up the weight.

Split Squats. I’ve been doing the 1-legged Bulgarian Split Squat stuff for the past some weeks. I actually thought about continuing those (and apparently I need my head examined for thinking that), but no… take the variety. This is just keeping both feet on the floor, one way out in front of the other then squat down and come back up. Work to keep the torso upright and moving in as much of a vertical plane as possible (no bending, no shifting forward or back so center of gravity changes), and when in the up position get that back heel on the ground. What was interesting was finding more work happening in my hip flexors… man, they were worked. Sure the rest of the lower body got worked, but really felt it in my hip flexors on that more than any similar type exercise (the 1-legged, lunges, whatever). Interesting note.

Anyways, I dig it. Good work, and again I’m happier for the 1-hour-ish sessions again. Certainly the 1-minute rest between everything helps here (even the top work sets on squats).

Oh, and yes, I’m also so far enjoying going back to 3x/week. Getting to sleep in yesterday was wonderful.

• Squats
  • bar x 5
  • 150 x 5
  • 175 x 4
  • 205 x 3
  • 230 x 2
  • 240 x 1
  • 255 x 1
  • 270 x 1
• Smith Machine Hack Squats
  • bar x 10
  • 95 x 10
  • 95 x 10
  • 95 x 10
• Leg Press
  • 135 x 10
  • 185 x 10
  • 225 x 10
  • 275 x 10
• Split Squats
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15

So last week didn’t happen so much. Was out on business, too many long days, not enough sleep, and it was more important to sleep than to lift. I know, sounds like blasphemy, but recovery is something I need much of these days — why dig the hole deeper?

Anyways, today starts on Paul Carter’s LRB-Template from his SSL book. I am hoping 3x/week will be better for me, since that 1. shouldn’t dig as deep a hole and 2. that I’ll get more recovery.

Today was about feeling things out, finding weights and such, and preferring to start light. It did feel a little strange doing some overhead pressing before cycle benching, but it also felt good… extra warmup, and I didn’t feel too much was taken out of me.

I also worked to get my rest periods down. Inception had a lot of longer rest periods, which had its place, but it also really stretched out my gym time to 90-ish minutes, which I can’t always afford. I like hitting that 60-minute window, and if today is any indication, I’m back in that slot. I mean, I even took only 1-minute rests between the heavy sets on benching! If things get heavier and I need more time, I’ll take it. But pushing myself, I think that’s good too.

I also have to say, I really do dig the overhead extensions. It gives a range of motion like no other triceps work I’ve done, and if you really do work it all the way to lockout, it’s a lot of work.

Anyways, enjoyed things. I’ll be upping some weights for next time, but all in all, dug it.

• Seated, Behind-the-Neck Press (on the smith machine)
  • bar x 5
  • 65 x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 115 x 5
  • 115 x 5
  • 115 x 5
• Bench Press
  • 125 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 170 x 3
  • 185 x 2
  • 195 x 1
  • 205 x 1
  • 220 x 1
• Upright Rows
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
• Overhead Triceps Extensions
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 20

You work to make due with what you’ve got.

Due to circumstance, I have to modify my gym time. The key tho is to still get good work in, using what’s available to me.

So when all I’ve got is dumbbells up to 40 lb and an adjustable bench well… you do what you can to bring up the intensity and workload.

I am slightly starting on my new plan. I am going 3x/week, with a push/legs/pull sort of approach of the LRB-template. I just don’t have full facilities to work within.

So do my warmup, then start benching. To bring it up my approach was to use the 40’s, work sets of 10, rest 30 seconds between each set, use a 3-0-1-0 tempo, and really focus on just using the pectoral muscles to move things. That was fairly decent, with the last couple sets feeling it somewhat.

Then onto flies, doing a few more sets than I’d normally do just because again I needed the workload. Lateral raises. Again, a little more workload than normal. See here on these, I normally do less than 40 lb anyways so it worked out alright.

Finally, overhead triceps extensions. Never done these, but they’ll be part of my LRB work so I figured why not do that for the triceps work. I probably could have gone heavier but I figured 20-rep sets would be good. I really liked these — got a great range of motion, far more than on other extensions type exercises. And it does make me think that I should NOT go too heavy on these lest my elbows hate me in the long run.

In the end, about an hour of work, had a pretty good pump, and not too bad given circumstance.

• Dumbbell Bench Press
  • 20e x 10
  • 30e x 10
  • 40e x 10
  • 40e x 10
  • 40e x 10
  • 40e x 10
  • 40e x 10
  • 40e x 10
  • 40e x 10
  • 40e x 10
  • 40e x 10
  • 40e x 10
• DB Flies
  • 25e x 12
  • 25e x 12
  • 25e x 12
  • 25e x 12
  • 25e x 12
• Lat Raises
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 8
• Overhead Triceps Extensions
  • 20 x 20
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 16

The deload of no-deload.

Just opted to not go to the gym today. I need the break.

Instead, I sat down to outline where I’ll be going.

Inception program? For sure, going to stop. I think it’s a great program, but it’s just too much for me right now. Again, I learned this back with 5/3/1 that I just can’t recover well enough from such a split. I mean, it’s basically an upper/lower A/B 2x/week type of split. I could recover from that, if I could get enough sleep in a day. But I can’t because numerous reasons, and even 30 minutes less sleep a day adds up. Sucks, but it does show how you have to work within your “Maximum Recoverable Volume” and all that.

Again, the only reason I went 4x/week was because diet, which isn’t a reason right now. I’ll fade back to 3x, then go back on 4x when/if diet needs it again.

So what AM I going to do?

Well, I’m enjoying working on some heavier stuff, and I was about to go into the Inception strength phase. Given I know another diet cut cycle is in my future, I’d like to work on heavier stuff and some mass building while I can. But again, keeping to 3x/week, tho that means I can make those sessions pretty intensive since it’s 3x/week overall and 1x/week per “body part” if you will.

Just by chance I was flipping through Paul Carter’s Strength, Life, Legacy eBook and came across his “Lift-Run-Bang Template”. It looks to be exactly what I need. So, going to run it. There’s no time-limit on how it’s run, but it seems fitting for about a 6-week run before you’d make adjustments and run again (or change entirely). That should be appropriate for my timing on things relative to my work and diet and such.

Paul actually originally put this on his website. Part 1, Part 2.

I spent time this morning figuring out what work to do, what weights, etc.. Bench and Squat, I’m going to use the max I calculated at the end of Inception, and use that actually as the target weight to hit (given how Strong-15 calculations work). Deadlift, I haven’t done in ages, but looking at my logs, comparing it to where the squat was back then, I’m picking a number and that should be good enough for me to work with.

I won’t actually start next week. Due to circumstance, next week will be a weird kinda “free-form” week for me. I will apply the 3x/week, but the work I do will be a little haphazard, dictated by what I can do based on my situation. Nothing bad, just not ideal. Just going to focus on getting in a bunch of work. Then starting the LRB-SLL template the week after.

Oh… one other thing that comes out of the 3x/week. That means 4x/week I get to sleep in. See, one problem I’ve dealt with is all the gym days, I need to be up and out the door by a certain time. Which means alarm clock, which means that yeah, sometimes I don’t get all the sleep/recovery I need. An intentional choice in 3x/week is that then on the other days, to turn off the alarm and sleep until I wake up. Granted, my body is well-conditioned to just waking up, but if it does then I’m going to work to go back to sleep or even if I just lie in bed for a while, I’ll take that. I don’t need to hit cardio work right now (on this bulk/massing diet), and what little I do need to do isn’t a huge sweat to do a little later in the morning (the dog is loving the morning walks in the cold). Point being, more sleep should be good.

Overall, I expect this should be a better deal for me.

Deloading.

20 minutes and out.

Still tho, those split squats give me a wicked quad pump.

In other news… hanging at 209 lb. this morning. I reckon I’ll work to hold 210-ish for another month then start on another cut to get down to 190. I shall enjoy eating copious amounts of food while I can. 😉

I am also going to stop Inception and go to 3x/week. I think my body will be happier for it. Recovery is important. I don’t think Inception is bad, nor is it indicative of the program being bad or “too much”. It’s truly just a “me” thing.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 7

• Pause Split Squats (rear leg on bench)
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
• Leg Press
  • 115 x 20
  • 165 x 20
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 20

It’s deload time, so there’s not much to write about… but yet, there is, and it has nothing to do with deloading.

So deload-wise, the program has some guidance about what to do, but otherwise my general protocol is to keep doing what you’re doing, just halve it. Do the first half of what you’d normally do. The wording is important. Simply put, if you normally do 4 sets, do 2. But let’s say there’s a workup, do the first 2 sets, which yes will be the lightest weights. This isn’t supposed to be much stress and strain, just a little movement and aid in recovery, so behave accordingly. And so, that’s all today wound up being.

If I did anything interesting, it was playing with my hand positions when I squatted to see how it might affect my elbows. I even tried touching the collars, and while that was a little awkward to (un)rack (given the way this half-rack is set up), it was good on my elbows but bad on keeping the bar on my back. Still, it was kinda telling and interesting and I might play with it some more.

But what’s more relevant is my future thinking.

I’m really enjoing the Inception program, but it is going as I predicted — it’s beating me up.

When I did 5/3/1 a few years ago, that’s a 4x/week program, but it’s really like a 2-day upper/lower A/B type of split. That was too much for me. When I made it into 3x/week, it worked well for me. When I tried some other similar 2-day upper/lower A/B type of splits, I made great progress, but it wound up being too much for me. And so I feared Inception might be the same, and sure enough it is.

It’s not that 4x/week is too much, it’s what’s done. For example, if it was 1-body-part-per-session, that can work out ok. The last cycle I did had an arm day, and thing is, even the most brutal arm day is no where near like what a squat & deadlift day is, y’know? So it winds up being 4x/week, but it’s really like a very light recovery day. And why did I start doing 4x? Because The Defattening Project: the more I go to the gym, the more I can eat, and that really helped when the off-days were so depriving that it was driving me nuts.

But do I really need it right now?

And what do I need more of? More gym? More food? No… more sleep.

So I’m giving some serious thought to dropping back to 3x/week (I’ll go back to 4x eventually, since another cut cycle is coming and I’m sure I’ll want more food), and on my non-gym days just sleeping in. No alarm, no nothing. Just sleep. My body will probably still want to get up out of habit, but don’t… or if I do, even just stay in bed for another 30 minutes. It’s still rest.

What will I do? I don’t know. Still thinking. But something like Paul Carter’s “Lift Run Bang Template” (from his “Strength, Life, Legacy” eBook, or here and here may be fitting. 3x/week. Gets some heavy work in. Not too much volume, but enough. Rotates on an A/B heavy/light sort of approach. It may be what the doctor ordered.

We’ll see. I’ll still take the rest of this week as an Inception Deload; stay the course until I’ve charted a new one.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 7 (deload)

• Squats
  • bar x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 135 x 5
• Leg Curls
  • 50 x 8
  • 50 x 8
• Leg Extensions
  • 60 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 80 x 12
• Seated Calf Raises
  • 35 x 20
  • 35 x 20

More pain. 😦

I actually wanted to do a full day today as I was feeling a little better, more motivated. However, reality kicked in as the inclines got heavier. Those arm pains/weakness? It came back.

Yeah, the top set actually went well. Tho still the same reps as last week, it was much cleaner, so that’s progress. But the pain? Too much.

As I think about it, I think it’s an elbow issue, and then some biceps get involved. My guess? Squatting. Read this article from Paul Carter regarding low-bar squat and pain. It may not be that, but I remember this happening before and after some adjustments to my squat, my arms felt better.

Which brings me to another consideration — that this may be too much. I don’t think this load is too much for someone of my age and condition, but I think that I’m not able to give my body the recovery it needs. Could I correct that? I try to, but life is what it is and sometimes sleep isn’t as good as it needs to be. And as well, I’ve been down this road before with the 4x/week stuff.. touched on this yesterday.

So my consideration is that I may not complete Inception. I’m not sure… I really don’t WANT to stop, but I’m thinking about it. As well, next week is a deload… we’ll see how it goes and how I feel come the end of it. I also have toyed around with the notion of taking a second “deload” week. Would I go back to 3x/week? Maybe… or I may stick with 4x/week but change around the program and say have an arm day, which is effectively a “nothing” day. 😉

So I don’t know. Today I just did the main work and left. I’ll Advil it up all weekend long, see how things go next week, and just take it day by day.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 6

• Incline Press
  • bar x 8
  • 95 x 8
  • 115 x 8
  • 135 x 8
  • 165 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 145 x 10 (AMRAP)

I haven’t done a “jack shit” day in a while, and today is that day.

I may not be doing 5/3/1 any more, but Wendler’s notion of “jack shit days” rides on. I’ve just been feeling worn out, no motivation, and a little beat up too. Good that deload is next week, but man, I could use a little right now. And so I did. Just did my work sets and left.

One thing is that there’s pains starting to bother (concern?) me. The weak feeling in my arm from 2 days ago? That came back. Makes me wonder how much is wrist and/or elbow related here. And then my left hand has been feeling a bunch of pain lately too — my wrist hasn’t been “normal” feeling for a couple weeks, some months ago I did something while holding a 10# plate that caused some pain in my hand, and a few days ago I started feeling pains as I was typing (I’m an iOS developer, so I type all day). A lot of little bad things, but bad enough that it’s starting to concern me. So… if a little less physical stress can be had, I’ll take it.

It does make me revisit the 4x/week program. The only reason I went 4x/week was because of the diet — more gym time means more eating! Very useful when I was really on the extremes of my cutting diet. But a difference between how I did 4x then and 4x right now is that the 4x then was more of a bodypart split only once a week. So when you have an arm day… geez, that’s basically like a rest day. 🙂 But Inception here is pretty much a 2-day rotating upper/lower split, so it’s a LOT more stress on the body. Granted, that’s what helps you grow, but it seems to be taking a toll. It’s same as why when I was doing 5/3/1 I had to go on a 3x/week schedule because it was just too much.

I’ll finish out Inception, but I may well go back to 3x/week (doing say squat/bench/deadlift) when I start my cut cycle again and save going 4x until later in the diet cycle.

Anyways, that’s that.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 6

• Squats
  • bar x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 175 x 3
  • 205 x 1
  • 225 x 5
  • 225 x 5
  • 225 x 5
  • 225 x 5
  • 225 x 5

Pretty happy with how that went — mostly.

So establishing a 6RM, and it went about as smooth as I expected. I hit 215 for 6, and I’d say it was a pretty clean set without ability for another. BUT… I think it was only without ability for any more because as soon as I unracked the bar, an odd sensation ran through my right arm — I felt weak. It wasn’t like a sharp pain or anything, but some “pain” (for lack of a better term, because it sure wasn’t pleasure) that just made that whole arm feel weak. I was able to finish the set, but it did throw me off mentally. I moved the bar slower too. And the AMRAP set afterwards certainly felt worse as well. Could I have gotten more if not for this? Probably, but probably not by much. So really, I’m not going to sweat it. All in all I think this sets up a good max to work with for the next phase.

One thing about Inception that bugs me is the time factor. Paul flat out stipulates 3-minute rests at times, which to me is fine for main movements, but when I’m doing accessory work it feels like too much. I mean, 3-minutes between sets on pulldowns? It seems excessive! And it certainly takes my 1-hour-ish in the gym up to about 1.5-hour-ish in the gym, which really does eat into the day. Since I was running a little late today, I cut 1-minute off the rest times for accessory work: if normally 3 minutes, went 2; if normally 2 went 1. That lopped about 20 minutes off the session time! And I don’t feel any worse for it. I got about the same sets/reps out of it all, and I actually felt a little more worked by it all — stands to reason. That said, being forced to take the longer rests, the structure of Inception, has actually been very insightful for me and I don’t regret being forced through it one bit.

Anyways, my 6RM is established, so I know where to go from here for the next phase. Huzzah.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week X

• Bench Press
  • bar x 6
  • 95 x 6
  • 135 x 6
  • 165 x 6
  • 185 x 6
  • 215 x 6
  • 195 x 8 (AMRAP)
• Lat Pulldowns (curl grip)
  • 100 x 10
  • 110 x 10
  • 120 x 10
  • 130 x 10
  • 140 x 12
  • 110 x 15 (AMRAP)
• DB Rows
  • 55 x 10
  • 60 x 10
  • 65 x 10
  • 75 x 11 (AMRAP)
• Bent DB lat Raises
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 10
  • 15e x 9

Progress is good. And making progress is good. 🙂

Today marks the last/heavy week of the hypertrophy phase of the Inception program. Next week is deload, then the week after starts the strength phase. Thus, the goal for today is to determine what the “max” will be to use for that strength phase. This is done by working up to an all-out set of 5 reps, no reps left on the table.

Well… I left at least 1 rep.

Based on how last week went, I figured working up to 265 would happen. As I was progressing this morning, 265 felt good. And sure enough, it did happen. But I could have gotten at least 1 more rep. As well, I may actually have been able to use 270 or 275 — yeah, I was feeling pretty good, but that good didn’t really hit until the end. Everything was firing well, tightness, technique, all there. And so the 265 came and went…. but… what was I to do? Should I have went for more reps? Should I have done another set at a slightly higher weight?

Whatever. Doesn’t matter now. I think the 265 is reasonable enough — it’s always better to be conservative, under-estimate, err on the lighter side. And when I calc the 1RM on things, it’s at about 305. Thing is, if I was really working up to a 1RM I wouldn’t be doing as much volume as to this 5RM, so I’d have a little more in me and well, maybe 315? Again, all speculation and lots goes into it, and it really doesn’t matter much. BUT, what it does tell me is that yes, all the strength I lost while defattening is returning quickly, that setting a new lifetime PR isn’t too far into the future, and that at the end of this upcoming strength phase that well… 315 is possible. We’ll have to see how the phase goes, but it’s in the realm. And I dig that, because hey, to be close to my previous best AND arguably 2 weight-classes lighter? Hell, I’ll take that!

So all in all, I’m happy with the progress and how things have been going for me.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 6

• Squats
  • bar x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 215 x 5
  • 235 x 5
  • 265 x 5
• Leg Curls
  • 50 x 8
  • 50 x 8
  • 50 x 8
  • 50 x 8
• Leg Extensions
  • 60 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 80 x 12
  • 90 x 12
  • 95 x 17
• Seated Calf Raises
  • 35 x 20
  • 35 x 20
  • 35 x 17
  • 35 x 17