Today marks a detour.

So I managed to get down to about 210 lbs (from 265 back in August 2014). That’s pretty damn good. I cannot deny that what I see in the mirror now I’m happy with, but I’m not yet satisfied with. But after 9 months of fat-loss dieting and deprevation — because let’s be honest here, it’s all about depriving yourself — I’ve had enough. Mentally I’m tired of it. Emotionally I’m tired of it. Physically I am tired and just can’t take it any more. My body is actually starting to show signs of “no mas”. I’ve been quite dizzy the past few weeks; it comes and goes, but it’s slowly been getting worse and it’s been difficult for me to simply operate on a daily basis. I’m not prepping for a competition or anything, so there’s really no reason to continue to beat myself up — this is a marathon, not a sprint. So after some discussion with Nick we’re going to stop the fat-loss diet for a while. I’m going to take on a bulk-style diet, get my body happy again, get a little “good weight” back on me. After that goes on for a little while (maybe a couple months), then I’ll get back on the loser train to take another ride towards getting where I want to be in terms of fat loss. Don’t get me wrong, I’m quite happy with how things are today — to have my shirt hang down and not be poked-out because of a gut is a wonderful thing! But I know there’s maybe 10-20 lbs. more fat that I’d be happy to shed… but I just can’t keep going like this because I need to operate in a day. Extended break is needed.

With that then, it was good timing. Yesterday was a Mother’s Day brunch so I was just happy to eat and not care too much about the diet. And for supper I polished off 3/4 of an extra large deluxe pizza by myself. It sure felt good, and I feel a lot better this morning — only dizzy I got was post-Valsalva, so I know I’m not out of the woods yet in terms of glycogen replenishment, but certainly on my way.

I am going to start back on creatine too. I went off it because it causes some level of water-retention and I know that alone causes my bodyweight to fluctuate a lot; I didn’t want it to affect my weigh-ins so I went off it during the weight-loss. Plus I’d been on creatine straight for geez… many many months, so I felt no harm in taking a break. Will I go off it during the next cut? Remains to be seen.

With the diet change I knew I wanted to change my lifting even more to be more mass-building and bodybuilding oriented. That Paul Carter “Guaranteed Muscle Mass” seemed right up the alley for me. It allows me to continue to explore Paul’s programming philosophy, and it’s geared towards muscle mass (natch). I’m going to only make some small changes to the program. For example Paul says “weighted dips, 350-method” but I can’t even do enough bodyweight dips to exhaust the 350 method, so I’ll just do bodyweight dips 350-style. That’s not really a change to the program, per se, but it isn’t 100% as-written so…. 🙂 But one true change is that Paul has the program as a 3x week program but I’m going to make it 4x. Relative to how I’ve been lifting, each day is actually less volume than I normally do, so I thought it’d be interesting to modulate frequency to see how it goes for me. I’ve been doing pretty well with 4x week on a general upper/lower/upper/lower type of approach; plus that’s basically how 5/3/1 approaches things. And coupled with the diet well… I think 4x is worth a shot and an experiment for me. If it works out, great. If not, hopefully I learn something from it. But otherwise, I want to try the program as-written.

So with that, today I opted to figure out a few things. It works out well because Thu/Fri this week I won’t be making the gym due to some schedule issues, so using today to figure out some lower-body stuff and tomorrow to figure out some upper body stuff I think works out great. Then next week I can hit it.

Big thing I needed was to figure out some 1RM’s.

First up, Front Squat.

I did some warm-up sets and then just worked my way up with singles. I don’t believe I’ve ever lifted this much in a front squat, so a lot of what happened was just the novelty of having that much weight on a bar across my shoulders. It felt odd, but cool too. I worked up to 205 and felt good with that and called it off there. I could have done more but while I don’t believe Paul mentioned it in the article I do know he’s generally more about working with your everyday max (EDM) and so I think 205 makes for a good EDM right now. Then dropped back to do the AMRAP and 50% sets.

Next up, stiff-legged deadlifts.

I actually could see myself wanting to use straps here because grip was certainly my weak-point. But no, I’d rather get stronger there… it just feels weird mix-gripping on stiff-legs for some reason. But did the same thing. Worked up to a 1RM making sure to mind form… I’m good about just “bending over” to do this, but it really should be more about pushing my hips back to lower it and bringing my hips forward to raise it. Worked up to 335 and felt that was good enough… but I do know that stopped more out of grip than back/legs. Still, dropping down to the AMRAP set got some good work there.

Point is, these numbers are just good starting points. Over time they should increase nicely…. at least, so I hope now that I’m getting more food in me. 🙂

And that’s all I did today. Just figure it all out, get some starting numbers. Tomorrow I do the same with some upper body exercises.

Looking forward to this. It feels good to eat again and not feel like shit in the gym. 🙂

Based on Paul Carter’s “Guaranteed Muscle Mass” article.

• Front Squat
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 85 x 5
  • 115 x 3
  • 135 x 1
  • 165 x 1
  • 185 x 1
  • 205 x 1
  • 145 x 8 (AMRAP)
  • 145 x 6 (50%)
• Stiff Legged Deadlift
  • 135 x 5
  • 185 x 3
  • 225 x 1
  • 275 x 1
  • 315 x 1
  • 335 x 1
  • 235 x 12 (AMRAP)

That worked out alright.

First, normally pressing/shoulders is later in the week, but again due to present circumstances I had to put it today. In part because I know there’s going to be some carb consumption today (diet choices aren’t fully within my control right now), so that means I better hit the iron. 🙂 And yes, the remainder of the week will be adjusted accordingly.

Second, I didn’t have to modify too much given my limited circumstances. I am not moving massive weight here, so the max-40# DB’s were just fine. Main adjustments I made were:

No BHP – just more Arnold Presses

Upright Rows were with dumbbells

No bench dips, but I did get into that position and spend some time stretching.

All in all, not too bad a day.

Oh, and the leg day from yesterday? Man, it must have been alright because at one point during the day yesterday I got out of a chair and my quads about cramped up. They are also mighty sore this morning. Who knows… maybe I’ll keep some of these things in a proper routine; it’s been enlightening for sure.

Inspired by Paul Carter’s methodologies

That went better than expected.

So since I’m without normal gym facilities right now I’m improvising. Alas, what I do have access to is limited so I’m doing what I can with what I have. I didn’t think today would go all that well: squat day, only 40 lb. dumbbells… I figured I would have to take on a lot of reps, a lot of sets, and not much rest.

To my welcome surprise it worked out better than expected.

I warmed up on a treadmill for about 15 minutes of brisk walking. Then I started squatting. Just hold a DB in each hand and squat. Because of this, I had rather a narrow stance, forward facing feet, and my back was more upright than usual. Basically this was like a high-bar squat or almost front squat (tho not as truly upright as that). But still, this position put a LOT more work into my quads than I expected, and since I’m really weak at front squatting, I actually got some good work here. I did aim for more reps, but did find myself getting worked and actually tired. Shows how weak I am, really.

Then I did some bodyweight step-ups onto the bench. Started just alternating legs and stepping up and down. Set 2 was still alternating but going slower trying to have my one leg actually work to get me up instead of a little push-off with my other foot. Set 3 was even more emphasis on just using the leg to press me up but also not alternating; same with set 4. It wasn’t exhaustive, but I did get some work out of it. What was really big for me here was my knee. I do think it’s healing and/or getting strong… whatever exactly is happening, I don’t feel as much wobble or pain or whatever the weirdness is that I often feel. This has been steadily getting better over the weeks and past few months, so I’m quite happy this went as well as it did.

Finally some lunges.

I really got more out of this than I expected, so I’m pleased. It’s not the session I wanted, but again this is all about supporting the weight-loss so it’s mostly just about getting some work in right now.

Inspired by Paul Carter’s methodologies

• DB Squats
  • BW x 10
  • 20e x 12
  • 30e x 12
  • 40e x 12
  • 40e x 12
  • 40e x 10
  • 40e x 10
  • 40e x 10
• Step-ups
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
• Lunge
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 10
  • 20e x 10

Things were quite different today, and will be for the next few days.

I don’t have access to my normal gym; in fact, what facilities I do have access to are rather limited. Basically a treadmill, an adjustable bench (no uprights, just bench), and up to 40 lb. dumbbells. Hrm. Well, I have to make due. Given that, I’m doing a few things:

First, switching ordering. Instead of squat, bench, deadlift, press; I’m doing bench, squat, press, deadlift because I should have normal gym access in time to deadlift. And it’s a bit easier to work with lighter weights on upper body stuff since by nature upper body isn’t as strong as lower.

Second, just lots of work with those 40’s doing whatever I can to get some amount of work. More sets, more reps, less rest, 350-method, whatever. Yeah, squat day will be interesting for sure.

So today I started by 15 minutes on the treadmill to get me going. Remember, a key goal isn’t so much to get h000g3 or anything, just to keep supporting the fat loss; so getting “work” in is key. So brisk treadmill to start and warm me up. Then a couple small sets with 20’s and 30’s to get the feel, and into the 40’s. I opted to try the GVT approach: 10 sets of 10 reps. I’ve never done that sort of volume so I figured maybe the 40’s would be enough. They weren’t. I didn’t start to feel much work until about the 8th set. I just didn’t have enough experience in this specific realm to be able to adjust the pacing. If I had to do it again, I’d probably drop the rest periods to 30 seconds (from 60), or maybe just go 12 or 15 reps per set. But it did get me going enough so that…

40’s with inclines were something, since I did them 350-Method. I started to feel something now.

What else could I do? Just did flat bench DB flies, and yes… finally. 🙂 Polished off with some pushups and then 10 minutes on the treadmill (finish the podcast I was listening to) and done.

It wasn’t great, but hopefully it’s enough to keep supporting my efforts during this temporary period.

It does tell me that tomorrow, for legs, I should just go all out… don’t try to “pace it” for some big 10×10 GVT style thing… just won’t happen. Just go go go and see how it goes.

Inspired by Paul Carter’s methodologies

• Bench Press
  • 20e x 10
  • 30e x 10
  • 40e x 10 x 10
• DB Incline Press (350-method)
  • 40e x 25
  • 40e x 17
  • 40e x 14
• Flat bench DB flies
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 13
• Push-ups
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 10

Maybe I’m on to something… or maybe, it’s just lucky.

I’ve been battling progress vs. regress. Been experiencing a lot of regression, but this past week has been different. I don’t chalk things up to major progress, but certainly I’m not regressing and I even seem to be making very small progress. It’s the sort of progress that I’m not sure if it’s statistically significant or not, but certainly straight-up numbers compared to the prior session show on paper some progress.

Could it be consuming the carbs earlier than usual so they get into my system and I actually have some gas to go on?

Could it be that I’ve just got a better attitude going (which I do)?

I don’t know for sure. But I’m happy for it. I do think the carbs have made a difference because I don’t feel as gassed and I don’t feel that mid-way “kick” either. So, fingers crossed. 🙂

Otherwise, the session felt fine. I have to say that the Arnold Presses are feeling like a right choice. I feel that some sort of seat dumbbell press is just what I needed to give my shoulders the work I’ve been looking for.

The bench dips continue to be wonderful for my shoulders — they just haven’t felt this good in ages. I opted to add a 25# plate to my lap today and drop the reps back down. Certainly could have done more reps but again, this is geared more towards a rehab, so taking it slow.

All in all, good.

Next week will be interesting. Due to circumstances, I won’t have access to my normal gym facilities; in fact, I’m not sure exactly what I will have access to. So we’ll see how next week goes. I am keeping the possibilities open.

Inspired by Paul Carter’s methodologies

Well, I’m not regressing.

Today felt alright. I would like to feel more like I was progressing, but at least I’m not regressing.

I can’t think of much to say. Just chugging along.

Weighed in at 211 this morning. Back on the loser-train for sure.

Inspired by Paul Carter’s methodologies

That wasn’t too bad.

I am suspecting the ingesting of the pre-workout carbs further away from the workout is helping. Again this morning I woke up and had my Tang and Whey upon waking, so that put it about 45-60 minutes before I started lifting. Best I can say is that my “usual” sensation of just being out of gas and then about half-way into things starting to feel some gas, that sensation never happened. I just felt steady the whole time.

As well, while I didn’t really progress much vs. last week, I certainly didn’t regress. And if anything, I did feel a bit more (e.g. got 1 more rep on dips, 1 more on inlines — which really doesn’t mean much, but yet given the trend it actually means something). So hey… maybe this will help me get through.

Only real comment I have is that at the end I opted to do push-ups then machine flies. So I’d do pushups until I couldn’t, then went over to the flies machine and cranked out a few reps focusing on having just my pecs move things. So I’d get maybe 10 pushups then like 5 flies… nothing big, but why do this? I don’t know… I just did. I waffle between the two in terms of which is a better. I actually think the push-ups would be better, but the flies really give my chest that final bit that I don’t get otherwise. Eh. If nothing else, I can just keep doing what I’m doing and rotate each week. shrug

Inspired by Paul Carter’s methodologies

• Bench Press
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 120 x 4
  • 145 x 3
  • 180 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 185 x 10 (AMRAP)
  • 185 x 5 (50%-AMRAP)
• Dips
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 7
  • BW x 6
  • BW x 6
• DB Incline Press
  • 45e x 12
  • 45e x 12
  • 45e x 9
• Push-ups & Machine Flies
  • 3 sets of I don’t really remember because I didn’t mark it down. But I’d get like 10 push-ups then immediately go to the flies machine and get maybe 5 reps @ 70 lbs really focusing on contracting just my pecs to move things.

Today was better than past days.

Why? Not 100% sure, but I can think of a few possible things.

First, I’ve been feeling out of gas. I go to AMRAP and just no go. But I also notice then about half-way through the session I get more energy. Was I just needing to warm up and get things flowing? Or because I’m so depleted after the weekend diet deprivation, and the morning carbs are finally kicking in? I started to play with the latter. See, the RP diet has me taking in some fast sugars and whey while lifting, but 1/3 of it is to be consumed before starting. My usual has been to drink it before I leave for the gym, so it’s maybe 20 minutes between ingesting and starting. I never figured that was enough, but it was also never noticeable.

Today I consumed my 1/3 upon waking, so it was maybe 45-60 minutes between ingesting and lifting. Could that have given me the juice I needed to do what I needed to do? Perhaps.

I will say I also did not take my caffeine nor yohimbine. It wasn’t a choice to do that; I usually have it with my 1/3 and today didn’t due to the switch and planned on taking it just before I left. But I forgot to, remembered when I got to the gym, too late, so skipping it. I have been thinking about cycling off them for a little while… now seems a good enough time. So I’m going to go a few weeks without them and see how it goes.

Second, it’s in my head. I have been feeling stressed, beat up, and “down” about things. The diet is getting tougher and tougher to deal with, life stress is present, and the gym performance just got to me. Seeing everything dropping, further regression, and then spending the past week not losing any weight really took it out of me. But since I didn’t drop any, Nick revised my diet plan, which I received last night. Oh… this sucks even more. 😉 But somehow it perked me up. I made no conscious choice to “redouble my efforts” or any such thing, but somehow it just got me motivated again. I had a better, more solid mindset today.

So, was it the carbs? Was it a better mindset? Combination? Neither? Something else? Can’t say. But I can say I am feeling mentally stronger regarding the diet plan, and today’s gym session did go over better

I mean, on the squats AMRAP. So I only hit 6, but I didn’t feel like it was killing me. Bar speed slowed a bit on rep 6 so I went ahead and racked it and figured 3-4 on the 50% set would be acceptable. I got 6 and felt like I could do more. That surprised me, but I’m happy for it happening.

Front squats went up in weight, and the reps held pretty well too. Same with leg presses, and even lunges. That’s something I have to consider here: I upped the weight on everything, and still got good reps out of it. All in all, performance did go up, even if limit strength is fading.

All in all, feeling better. Here’s hoping some small changes, like ingesting carbs 45-60 minutes prior will help out.

Inspired by Paul Carter’s methodologies

• Squats
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 115 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 175 x 3
  • 225 x 2
  • 250 x 1
  • 215 x 6 (AMRAP)
  • 215 x 6 (AMRAP-50%)
• Front Squat
  • 115 x 8
  • 115 x 8
  • 115 x 7
• Leg Press (350-Method)
  • 225 x 15
  • 225 x 15
  • 225 x 13
• Lunge
  • 45 x 10
  • 45 x 10
  • 45 x 10

Today felt better… but also not for the best of reasons.

The diet’s been trying the past few weeks. Not mentally, but physically. It would manifest itself now and again with a dizzy spell — this is not uncommon for me to have happen when something is depleted. So on Tuesday I had lunch with my accoutant and well… I couldn’t tell you what was in that Chinese food, but it was certainly not diet strict. I didn’t worry about it too much because I sure felt better. I’ve also found myself being a little more lax this week. As a result, my weight has been at about 214 all week — actually about a pound up since the last weigh-in. Not really what I want to see. But the flip side is that I’m feeling tons better. I did buy some pecans from the most-excellent Berdon Pecan Farm store on the drive home from KRT yesterday, and that should be better at satisfying cravings than getting something “carby”.

But it’s also paid off in terms of gym performance. Today was pretty good, and actually a bit of progression. Hooray carbs, right? 🙂

One change I made was with upright rows. The gym has these pre-fab barbells and I’ve used them until today. Since I’m about to tap them out on the max available weight, time to just move to a regular bar with plates. That felt a little different for two reasons. First, being MUCH longer it balances and handles differently. Second, being that it is longer I can play with hand spacing a lot more here and did so. I ended up taking a wider grip than usual, and will play around because I have found in the past that grip width and thus range of motion and thus affects on my shoulder. But then, my shoulder is feeling so much better these days, so who knows. Anyways, it handled a bit differently so I have to get used to it, but overall I liked it.

Oh, the bench dips. Today I finally felt like I was getting tired from them. 🙂 But this is good. 4×15 and my shoulders feel pretty happy and like they’re getting precisely what I want out of them. My daily whatevers that use my arms feel good. I just do NOT feel the shoulder pains, stiff/tight, etc. that I’ve been feeling. I don’t say it’s bench dips per se but rather the position and range relative to what my shoulders needed, and yeah… it’s been a big help. I’ll probably start adding some weight next week, like a 25 lb. plate in my lap and let the reps drop back down. I don’t want to get too low here, this isn’t about some max-effort exercise… it must maintain that rehab approach.

Inspired by Paul Carter’s methodologies