Things seem to be progressing well.

I get the feeling that I picked weights and progression right, and I just keep feeling better, stronger. Looking better in the mirror too — it helps to be eating food and not on a 1.5 year long cutting cycle. 😉

Very much looking forward to next week as that’s time to set maxes to enter the strength phase. Woot!

Oh and on diet… Nick just bumped up my food intake again. Apparently I’m not bulking fast enough. ha ha ha. I’ll enjoy this now because it won’t last….

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 5

• Incline Press
  • bar x 8
  • 95 x 8
  • 115 x 8
  • 135 x 8
  • 165 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 145 x 10 (AMRAP)
• Dips
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 7
  • BW x 5
• Wide-Grip Lat Pulldowns
  • 140 x 10
  • 140 x 8
  • 140 x 8
  • 140 x 8
  • 140 x 8
• Low Cable Rows
  • 90 x 12
  • 100 x 12
  • 110 x 12
  • 120 x 13
• BB Curls
  • bar x 100 rep protocol

Was feeling rather stiff this morning, but things improved as the sets wore on. In fact, by the 5th working set I was feeling pretty good — it went up easier than the prior sets. Being warm helps, but being tight from head to toe helps too.

I still hate the pause split squats. 😉

Anyways, not much to report. It was what it was. Excited about next week and setting some maxes for the transition to the strength phase.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 5

• Squats
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
• Pause Split Squats (rear leg on bench)
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
• Leg Press
  • 115 x 20
  • 165 x 20
  • 215 x 20
  • 255 x 25
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 14
  • 40 x 17

This is what I like. 🙂

Heavier weights, lower reps…. yeah, this is what I like.

What gets me tho? How my bench is still getting better despite the relatively low volume. I dig it.

Just a few notes.

Forgot to do my last set of pulldowns (the AMRAP drop set). I just was thinking about rows and so I went to rowing and totally spaced on the pulldowns. Heh. I just skipped it. No big deal.

On rows, the DB always hits my chest. It’s a matter of angles, gravity, etc. Well, it annoyed me on my 3rd set and I repositioned myself slightly so the DB came more up at my side. Thus, a greater range of motion. I felt things in my mid-back muscles that I hadn’t. This was good, duh. So I kept that up for the last set; consequently I hit fewer reps than last week, but they were better reps. I might actually consider dropping the weight a bit so I can really squeeze out the deeper range here. Funny thing is that normally I don’t like DB rows, but doing them this way (as Inception lays it out) has actually been pretty good.

Oh, and I’m down to 207 this morning. Dropped 1.5 lb. since yesterday. 🙂 Hooray holiday bloat!

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 5

• Bench Press
  • bar x 6
  • 95 x 6
  • 135 x 6
  • 165 x 6
  • 185 x 6
  • 205 x 6
  • 185 x 12 (AMRAP)
• Lat Pulldowns (curl grip)
  • 100 x 10
  • 110 x 10
  • 120 x 10
  • 130 x 10
  • 140 x 14
• DB Rows
  • 55 x 10
  • 60 x 10
  • 65 x 10
  • 75 x 10 (AMRAP)
• Bent DB lat Raises
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 10

Week 5, and things are getting more fun. 🙂

This week is priming for next week, where maxes are determined prior to entering the strength phase. Everything’s falling in line and I’m OK with how things are going. I do feel like strength is coming back, and I expect this cycle will get me mostly back to where I was, tho I’d need another cycle to really get there. Thing is, I started thinking today about what to do afterwards. My original plan was to finish this Inception program, do a Strong-15 Short Cycle, then determine what to do. It all came down to still working on dietary/body-comp goals. Well, I was looking at the calendar again and seeing when I’d likely start the cut diet, how that would coincide with lifting, and it’s starting to feel like once I finish Inception that a Strong-15 Short Cycle won’t work out and I should probably transition to something like a Base Building, where there’s more volume but still with a strength focus. So, I don’t know. It really comes down to how the diet will fare.

But I get ahead of myself.

Today generally went well. It feels weird to think about working up to a 5RM instead of 1RM, especially because on this program, every prior set also needs to be a 5 rep set, which adds up. When you’re going for a 1RM and just work up via singles, that’s really different. So it’s a little weird, but all good. Again, strength is returning, tho it’ll still be some time and work before I’m progressing ahead. But all in all, I’m good.

In other news… now that my 2-weeks vacation is over, time to tighten the diet back up. The break was good. Being semi-strict was a break that I really needed. But in a way, it was a little scary. It showed me how easily I can fall back into old habits — even after 16+ months of ingraining new habits. How fast the weight can come back on. I’ve still got a ways to go….

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 5

• Squats
  • bar x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 215 x 5
  • 235 x 5
  • 255 x 5
• Leg Curls
  • 50 x 10
  • 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 14
• Seated Calf Raises
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 20

What better way to start the new year than to hit the gym.

Winding up week 4. Felt better today… less blah than yesterday. But slept crappy because of all the fireworks going off, waking me up at midnight. You have your priorities, I have mine — and for me, getting a good night sleep and going to the gym (read: staying dedicated to my goals) is my priority.

All in all, a good day. Hit the 12 reps on the top set of inclines, so I’ll bump up the weight next week. But that 12th rep was a grinder — no sloppy form, no butt coming off the bench or anything, but it was a grinder — true failure. As a result, the AMRAP set dropped a rep and the dips didn’t progress over last week, but I’m OK with that.

Everything else went well.

A good morning.

FWIW, diet-wise I’ve been loose the past 2 weeks. I took 2 weeks off work, relaxing, enjoying the holiday. I needed the break in many ways and many aspects of life. I’m a little bloated up from things, and tho I’m not totally happy about the scale weight, I’m good with the break I took. Come Monday morning I’ll be back in the general routine of life, and that will include diet. So, over the long-term — and I’m looking yearly here — the bloat is no big deal.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 4

• Incline Press
  • bar x 8
  • 85 x 8
  • 105 x 8
  • 125 x 8
  • 145 x 8
  • 165 x 12
  • 135 x 12 (AMRAP)
• Dips
  • BW x 8
  • BW x 6
  • BW x 5
• Wide-Grip Lat Pulldowns
  • 135 x 8
  • 135 x 8
  • 135 x 8
  • 135 x 8
  • 135 x 10
• Low Cable Rows
  • 90 x 12
  • 100 x 12
  • 110 x 12
  • 120 x 13
• BB Curls
  • bar x 100 rep protocol

Just not feeling it today.

But you go anyways.

No idea what it is… just woke up, had zero desire to do anything — even go back to bed. Did not want to lift, but figured I’d feel better after I started squatting. Sure enough I did feel better, but then I wanted the bag the rest of the session. No, can’t do that.

The session itself went well. Everything does feel stronger, progressing. It’s all good. I just feel “blah” today.

On split squats, the progression there was to take a wider/longer stance, so my feet were further apart. That ups things, plus it added more to the stretch in the bottom position. That was painful. 🙂

I am thinking about next week tho and looking forward to it. The progression changes to start to prime things for the strength phase. That should be excellent. 🙂

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 4

• Squats
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 135 x 3
  • 155 x 1
  • 185 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 185 x 5
  • 185 x 5
• Pause Split Squats (rear leg on bench)
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
• Leg Press
  • 115 x 20
  • 165 x 20
  • 215 x 20
  • 255 x 18
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 15
  • 40 x 15

Pretty good stuff today.

Not much to say other than just happy to keep seeing things going up. Weights up, reps up. All in all good.

Only thing to note is on the lat raises, in an attempt to “get something out of it”, I’m really working on slowing the eccentric, plus keeping the rest time between sets short (1 minute). If I do that, I seem to get something out of it. So weight and reps may not be changing much, but at least with this approach I feel like I’m getting more out of it.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 4

• Bench Press
  • bar x 6
  • 95 x 6
  • 115 x 6
  • 135 x 6
  • 155 x 6
  • 175 x 12
  • 155 x 18 (AMRAP)
• Lat Pulldowns (curl grip)
  • 95 x 10
  • 105 x 10
  • 115 x 10
  • 125 x 10
  • 135 x 13
  • 110 x 19 (AMRAP)
• DB Rows
  • 55 x 10
  • 60 x 10
  • 65 x 10
  • 75 x 11 (AMRAP)
• Bent DB lat Raises
  • 12 x 12
  • 12 x 12
  • 12 x 12
  • 12 x 12

Week 4, and I’m liking where things are going.

Today was good…. well, sorta good.

Truly it was good. Everything moved well. Weights are going up, getting heavier. In fact, whereas last week I worked up to 205 for a “moderate” set, this was to be a work-up to 6 moderate/hard reps. Things were feeling really good so I adjusted and worked up to 235 instead of the planned 215. That felt right.

But I’m not sure what brings that about. Is it the progression? Was I a little too light to start? Was it getting lots of rest the past few days? Was it all the food consumed the past few days? That my body is getting used to training a little harder, a little heavier? I’m really not sure what to attribute it to at this point. But I’m just happy for it.

Tho, not totally happy, just because it feels horrible that 235 for 6 reps was “moderate/hard”. I’ve lost so much strength, it bums me out. If I look back over the years, it almost seems like I’ve made zero progress. But I have to remember, that’s not true. Losing 66 lbs. is a lot of progress! Building the muscle that I have (else that 66 lb. loss wouldn’t look as good), is progress. All it really tells me is the thing I really want is being stronger: not leaner, not bigger, but stronger. Sure, I do want the other things, but they are secondary. And this coming year is really going to focus still on the lean and big parts of things, not so much the strong part. So that still bums me out a bit. But hey… I’m healthier than ever before. I haven’t been this lean since… too many years. I still look better and am stronger, overall, than I have been at any prior point in my life. And I’ve got the good health to be able to do it, the time and money to afford the gym, the food, the coaching, whatever else.

Really, my gripes are minor annoyances in the grand scheme of things. And if I keep a perspective of years instead of months, then spending the whole of next year continuing on leaning out, but progressing to my key priorities then well… it’s all good. Make it a life-long journey, and just be patient.

As for specifics.

Squats went well. No complaints.

Curls and extensions, nothing to write about.

Calf raises. The 5-second pause between each rep continues to kill me. Just nuts. That said, I had to cut the last set short. Due to an old ankle injury, the flexion the foot/ankle gets put into in the bottom position sometimes causes ankle pain in the bad way. Well, one of the first reps of the 4th set just hurt bad; I tried to keep going, but the pain remained and was not going to be “worked through”. So I stopped short, thus just the few reps I got. Ah well.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 4

• Squats
  • bar x 6
  • 95 x 6
  • 135 x 6
  • 155 x 6
  • 175 x 6
  • 195 x 6
  • 215 x 6
  • 235 x 6
• 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
  • 85 x 12
  • 90 x 16
• Seated Calf Raises
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 20
  • 30 x 4 (see notes)

Yes, I went to the gym on Christmas morning.

And yes, I listened to Christmas music while I was lifting. 🙂

Today was really good. Everything felt strong. There was forward progress on everything. I am happy.

And today? I’m just glad I’m in a mass phase — it’s time to carb load on homemade apple pie. 😉

Merry Christmas, y’all!

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 3

• Incline Press
  • bar x 8
  • bar x 8
  • 85 x 8
  • 105 x 8
  • 125 x 8
  • 145 x 8
  • 165 x 10
  • 135 x 13 (AMRAP)
• Dips
  • BW x 8
  • BW x 6
  • BW x 5
• Wide-Grip Lat Pulldowns
  • 130 x 8
  • 130 x 8
  • 130 x 8
  • 130 x 8
  • 130 x 10
• Low Cable Rows
  • 85 x 12
  • 95 x 12
  • 105 x 12
  • 115 x 16
• BB Curls
  • bar x 100

Dang, that hurt. 🙂

So there’s progression, and I’m happy to be making it again. I mean, I was making a lot of good progress on the bathroom scale, but I’m happier making progress in the gym.

Squats went well. It’s “light”, but this has been really good for helping me focus on form. Had to eagle-claw-grip the bar today — feeling a lot of elbow and wrist pain.

Pause split squats. The thing to improve today was the pause part. I’ve been pausing, but not as strictly as I should. So today was about getting all the pausing in, while keeping my own balance (no external help). That certainly ratcheted things up. I tell you, the pump you get off these is crazy.

Leg presses. Man, when I do these I have to think about John Meadows, because there’s just such a pain, such a burn, but you can keep going well beyond that point of pain. It’s crazy. 🙂

And speaking of that, doing calf raises with a strict 5-second pause between each rep, man, that really adds up to some serious pain. I’ve tried lots of calf exercises in the past, but nothing seems to burn and pump like these extended pauses. Geez.

So hey, a good day.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Inception program

Week 3

• Squats
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 115 x 3
  • 135 x 1
  • 155 x 5
  • 155 x 5
  • 155 x 5
  • 155 x 5
  • 155 x 5
• Pause Split Squats (rear leg on bench)
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 13
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10
• Leg Press
  • 95 x 20
  • 155 x 20
  • 205 x 20
  • 245 x 25
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 19
  • 40 x 15
  • 40 x 15