Just another day….

And because it’s “just another day”, I think that may explain my thinking as of late.

Yes I know, patience. I’m old enough and been around the block enough times to know that, to understand that, to practice that. Nevertheless, I’m still human and we all reach a point of being tired, of becoming impatient.

It’s been what? 7.5 months on The Defattening Project? And there’s more time ahead; it may well be a year on it before I get back on the gain train. While I’m certainly happy for the work and the results, on the same token I’m eager to get back on the train. I’m tired of seeing my lifts be stagnant, which they basically have been for the past 3 months. And so, my thinking is trying to make up for that… to give me something more to look forward to, that I’ll be back and rolling before you know it.

But being realistic, I don’t know how long it will take to accomplish my next goal (3/4/5). But I know if I rush it, I’ll probably screw myself and have greater setbacks. I was able to run one Strong-15 and recall how I got essentially the game gains as on 5/3/1 but feeling a LOT less beat up in doing so. There’s great appeal in that! But of course, it was only 1 run of the program AND it’s a peaking program whereas 5/3/1 isn’t necessary so. I also have to remind myself that I’ve wanted to give Paul’s programming a really good run, and while I do think all this time Base Building while cutting has been a fruitful and worthwhile endeavor, it’s not working his programming towards the end I really want: getting stronger (and bigger). So I can’t really say I’ve given Paul’s stuff a fair shake, and won’t until I spend probably at least a year with it on the gain train.

I’ve been doing more reading, more thinking, and my present thinking is evolving to something like: off the diet, stick with the current program while my body readjusts; consider a Strong-15-short-cycle to try to help find where my 1RM’s are again but I may just spend a week and max out. Then, do a full Strong-15 based upon those numbers. After that, I don’t know for sure, but I’ll probably work Base Building and/or Powerbuilding (to use a Josh Bryant term) — building strength but through reps. See where it goes. Will I perhaps do 5/3/1 again? Maybe, but right now I think I need to stay true to a prior desire to really give Paul’s programming a fair shake.

As for the session itself.

Working to remember to pause my benches. Not everything, like the work sets will probably remain touch-and-go, but at least during my work-up, ensure that first rep is paused.

Felt a little less strong this session. That last work rep I barely made it back to the upgrights (sigh), and didn’t quite get the volume on my dips as last week. Ah well… we’ll see where this trends.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Bench Press (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 160 x 3
  • 180 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 225 x 1
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 6
  • 180 x 5
• Dips
  • WT x 10
  • WT x 7
  • WT x 5
  • WT x 5
  • WT x 5
• DB Incline Press
  • 50e x 10
  • 50e x 8
  • 50e x 8
• Machine Flies
  • 75e x 12
  • 75e x 12
  • 75e x 12

I didn’t have as much time at the gym today, so I opted to cut everything down by 1 set and bump up the reps. So like instead of 5×10 aim for 4×12.

While that helped on time, it also showed something else that I need to work on: putting myself fully into every set.

I pace myself for sure. I know I have 5 sets to go, so I’ll pace for those 5 sets to ensure I get them. In general that’s good because there’s something to that effect. But I think sometimes I should strive to be fully there for each set and not pace it. So like instea of 1 group of 5 sets, I have 5 groups of 1 set, if you will. That each and every set is fully balls-to-the-wall. Probably not something to do every time, but sometimes yeah… this would be good.

Doing this somewhat today was really good. I actually felt today was more productive and not as exhausting. That’s gotta be a good thing.

On shrugs, I did the first set Meadows-style. While resting between sets, I did some “air shrugs” and found pinching my shoulder blades together was something I wasn’t doing. Remember, I’m trying to fix my posture during shrugs so I don’t kill my spine. I then opted to do the remaining sets trying to keep my shoulders pulled back and just shrugging normally (no 3-second hold). The goal was to just have the 1 “warm-up” set and then have the other sets be with the shoulders back and just rep-out.

Ended doing the curls 21-style. Just thought I’d try it. Nice pump but I question if it’ll do anything truly useful. Might be something where if I had a dedicated arm day and did a lot of direct biceps work, just 1 set of things to finish and away I go. shrug

In other news, I start to rethink the 5/3/1 approach. I’ll say that doing something like normal 5/3/1 followed by Joker Sets, followed by first-set-last (in the 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps) seems pretty appealing. But then I start think about how damn beat up I get and that’s not good. But I dunno… with RP fueling my diet, I may be able to pull it off. That was one big appeal of Strong-15 was not feeling as beat up. So I dunno. Back to waffling I guess.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

Chins

• BW x 8
• BW x 5
• BW x 4
• BW x 3

BB Rows

• 115 x 12
• 115 x 12
• 115 x 12
• 115 x 10

BB Shrugs

• 70e x 12
• 70e x 15
• 70e x 15
• 70e x 15

Wide, Neutral-grip Lat Pulldowns

• 130 x 12
• 130 x 12
• 130 x 12

Hammer Curls

• 30e x 10
• 30e x 8
• 30e x 6
• 30e x 6

BB Curls (21’s style)

• 45 x 21’s
• 35 x 21’s
• 35 x 21’s

Really, not a lot to say.

It was a 80% day, just solid and fine. Nothing bad, nothing good, just solid.

Weight holds in the 218-219 range, which is where I should be.

All in all, things are good!

I keep giving more thought to going back to 5/3/1. Maybe my math here is flawed, but I look at it this way.

I’ve been enjoying 4x week, so I’ll try to stick with that. I also preferred the 6 weeks on then a deload. So let’s say that either each cycle is 7 or 8 weeks, just because sometimes life may vary. So basically count on about 7 cycles over the year. Given the typical 5/3/1 bump of 10# squat/dead, 5# bench/press, in theory that’s 140 squat/dead and 70 bench/press (remember, you bump after 3 weeks so each cycle is 2 bumps). But to maintain this is unlikely, at least 1 reset will happen, so let’s be conservative and say 70/35 is the total gain by the end of the year, or thereabouts. Given the goal I’m setting, given where I likely am going to start from… geez, if that puts me at say 2.5 bench, 3.5 squat, 4.5 dead? Wow, I will take that.

When I do the math with other programming, I just don’t see that amount of progression.

Of course, there’s a lot of other factors that will come into play. 4x week 5/3/1 was tough for me in the past. But I’m eating better, will continue to eat better, and my work capacity is improved. Plus I’ll be approaching 5/3/1 a bit different this time, different mentality, different “starting light” and working up so I’m starting from a more proper foundation and one that isn’t as ego-based. But who knows how it will all go. But one thing I do want to ensure I do is stay focused. My prior problems were due to shifting goals, and I don’t expect that will happen this time around.

Still don’t know where exactly I’ll go and do. I really do want to still give Paul’s stuff a better shake, but I’m still thinking how to make it fully work for me to best accomplish my goals and not take “forever” to get there.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

Press

• bar x 5
• bar x 5
• 60 x 5
• 75 x 4
• 90 x 3
• 110 x 2
• 125 x 1
• 110 x 12 (AMRAP)
• 110 x 6 (50%)

Upright Rows

• 90 x 10
• 90 x 10
• 90 x 10
• 90 x 9
• 90 x 8

Side Laterals

• 20e x 10
• 20e x 10
• 20e x 9

Face Pulls

• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12

Close-Grip Bench Press

• 145 x 8
• 145 x 8
• 145 x 8
• 145 x 8

Triceps Pressdowns (350-Method)

• 50 x 20
• 50 x 16
• 50 x 12

Yeah, this hurts. 🙂

Continuing to explore high-bar, narrow-stance squats as a way to bring up my weak-ass quads. Today felt a little more comfortable. Last week I truly went “high-bar” literally putting the bar atop my traps. Well, that wasn’t so hot-feeling later on, because there’s a nice vertebrae there that got irritated – not quite bruised, but certainly felt tender. So today instead of directly atop I found a spot just off the apex where there was actually some trap-cushion. I also took a narrower grip to further build up the cushion. That worked better.

I videoed myself to ensure I was getting parallel. I was, but boy it feels like I’m bent in half. But one thing I’m noticing is my body wanting to drive up with the hips to really overcome my weak-ass quads. It did make me wonder if I wanted to do front-squats instead, since you can’t do that without dropping the bar! But I will stick with this for a while longer because I can improve technique for sure. One cue may be to really work on that “drive the head back into the bar” — really focus on making the torso upright. Again, I don’t know quite yet, but this is fun to explore.

I did up it to 4 sets, and I’m not doing too many reps yet because I’m still finding the groove. The groove felt more greased in the later sets/reps, so I’m getting there. I’d like to have these work up to somewhere in the 8-12 range. I’ll drop the weight if that’s what I need, but for now there’s no question I’m focused more on just finding the technique.

In other news, I’m pretty convinced that I’ve lost more strength than I thought. I’m not sure I could single 315 right now (or if I could, it’ll be bowling-shoe-ugly) — that 285 just feels hard. A bit depressing to feel such a setback, and perhaps that’s why I’m contemplating 5/3/1 or even Cube instead of LRB approaches, since the LRB stuff feels like it’ll get me there but slower. Thing is, I have to remember that I’ve only been able to give Paul’s approaches a partial-shake. when I did that one Strong-15 I was pleased with it, and I have to remember that. Plus, if getting to the 3/4/5 goal is going to take me “2 years”, does it matter if it takes me 20 months or 24 months, especially if 24 months means I’m less beat up by the end of it? I’m starting to feel like my approach probably should be once I’m done with the fat-loss, eat for gains, 4-6 weeks on an updated Base Building approach to get myself back in the groove (by updated, it’d be things like adding deadlifting back in), then probably do a full Strong-15 cycle with some reasonable goals (e.g. 20-30 squat/dead, 10-15 bench), and see how it goes from there. Again, just thinking out loud, because I’m getting excited about getting back on the gain train. 😉

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Squats (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 165 x 5
  • 190 x 4
  • 225 x 3
  • 250 x 2
  • 285 x 1
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
• High-Bar, Narrow-Stance Squats
  • 135 x 6
  • 135 x 6
  • 135 x 6
  • 135 x 6
• Leg Extensions
  • 40 x 15
  • 50 x 12
  • 60 x 12
  • 70 x 10
  • 50 x 15
• Leg Curls
  • 40 x 15
  • 50 x 12
  • 50 x 12
  • 60 x 8
  • 50 x 10
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 10

10!!

I hit 10 consecutive dips today. That’s a milestone.

I mean, I used to not do dips because of shoulder issues. Then I started again, bench dips, then said screw it and went for proper dips. The goal was to get 10 in a row, and today I achieved that! To boot, it was after my bench work.

Am I stronger? Sure. But the real success was dropping a significant amount of weight.

Now that I hit 10, I’m going to ride that out until I can get 5×10 across — that’s the next goal.

In other news… weight is up a hair from Thursday’s slack, but slowly coming back down. I remain in the ballpark for this mid so I’m good with it all. No question tho, the body is happier to have more carbs and more fat. I overall function better, in the gym I’m obviously hitting more reps…. it’ll be depressing in abou 4 weeks when I’m 1. back on the fat-loss train, 2. about a week of the loser-diet has been going and I’ll be all depleted. 🙂 But hopefully this is the home stretch for me, so I’ll roll with it.

Because of that, I keep thinking about where to go after this. I’m pretty firm in my desire to make my next goal bench 3, squat 4, deadlift 5… which could mean 300/400/500 or 3/4/5-wheels… Kinda going for the latter, but certainly you hit the former on your way there. Given that, I have actually been toying with the idea of going back to 5/3/1 OR maybe even finally trying Cube (Kingpin, if I did opt for any particular template). Don’t know, thinking out loud, but I am pretty certain 3/4/5 is my next goal.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Bench Press (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 165 x 3
  • 180 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 225 x 1
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 6
  • 180 x 5
• Dips
  • BW x 10 (PR!)
  • BW x 7
  • BW x 7
  • BW x 5 (hand slipped)
  • BW x 6
• DB Incline Press
  • 45e x 12
  • 45e x 12
  • 45e x 9
• Machine Flies (350-Method)
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12

Who knew how good food could be. 😉

Yesterday I was on the road and so I ate in a manner that wasn’t very in line with the old diet. But you know… I’m on a mid, so a little fudge is fine, one day off the wagon won’t kill me. But geez, I woke up bloated this morning…. or at least, I hope it’s bloat. 😉 I’ll see what tale the scale tells in a few days.

But it certainly lead to a nice day at the gym! More glycogen, more reps! I don’t peed out from being out of gas. How nice! And 8 reps on chin-ups…. dude, it was kinda surprising to me that I kept going! I was stoked. 10 reps is near!

I continue to try to keep weights heavy enough but to maintain some better form, especially on shrugs. I really have to overcome slouching when I shrug since that’s well… just not good when you’re putting such a load on your spine.

I also am finding that my biceps respond to heavier hammer curls than lighter with more reps. Hrm….

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

Chins

• BW x 8
• BW x 5
• BW x 3
• BW x 3
• BW x 3

Cable Rows

• 115 x 10
• 115 x 10
• 115 x 10
• 115 x 10
• 115 x 8

Meadows Shrugs

• 65e x 12
• 65e x 12
• 65e x 12
• 65e x 12
• 65e x 12

Wide, Neutral-grip Lat Pulldowns

• 130 x 10
• 130 x 10
• 130 x 10
• 130 x 9

Hammer Curls

• 30e x 8
• 30e x 8
• 30e x 8
• 30e x 6

BB Curls (350-method)

• 40 x 15
• 40 x 14
• 40 x 15

80%

As I think about it, there’s not a lot to say. Today was just a day, a good 80% day.

Weight holds steady at 217, which is expected and good. I will say all the extra carbs and the hair more fat is just wonderful. I’m filling the void with more fruit, and a little less “care” about what I eat. I mean, I still care, but like last night instead of just “1 serving” of some pecans I probably had what equated to 2 or maybe even 3… and I’m not sweating it. There are worse things I could “binge” on.

Feeling good tho. Cannot complain.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

Press

• bar x 5
• bar x 5
• 60 x 5
• 75 x 4
• 90 x 3
• 110 x 2
• 125 x 1
• 110 x 11 (AMRAP)
• 110 x 6 (50%)

Upright Rows

• 90 x 10
• 90 x 10
• 90 x 10
• 90 x 9
• 90 x 7

Side Laterals

• 20e x 10
• 20e x 10
• 20e x 8

Face Pulls

• 75 x 12
• 75 x 12
• 75 x 12
• 75 x 12
• 75 x 12

Close-Grip Bench Press

• 145 x 8
• 145 x 8
• 145 x 8
• 145 x 8

Triceps Pressdowns (350-Method)

• 45 x 23
• 45 x 17
• 45 x 15

Sometimes you gotta call an audible.

I forgot where exactly I read this, but it was a revelation. I find myself wanting to “good-morning” my squats every now and then. All the wisdom I’ve read up to this point says that means you need more posterior chain work, and so I’d think along those lines. Well, reading something (probably something Greg Nuckols wrote) made me realize that’s precisely wrong! The body is good at finding the most efficient pathway to do something, and so if my body wants to start good-morning-ing the weight up, it’s because that part of my body is strong! And this I know, because my deadlift is extremely ahead of my squat — I’ve got a strong back. I don’t need more posterior chain work — I need more quad work! I’ve got weak-ass quads. And this all makes sense given the experiences in squatting I’ve had over the past however long.

So, I’m changing things up to try to put more work into my quads. Have my assistance work focus there.

I was going to do it by front squats and leg presses, but once I got into the gym I called an audible and changed everything up.

First, instead of front squats I thought I’d try high-bar squats. Foreign to me, and that first set felt really weird. 🙂 Thing is, front squats are fine, but I spend a lot of time focusing on keeping the bar from rolling off, which isn’t where I want to focus! So I thought I’d try high-bar squats to see if that might work instead. Normally I am low-bar squatting, so going high-bar felt really strange. I’m also having a different stance, with my legs almost touching, toes pointed forward. Man, when you get down in the hole it feels so much deeper. So, all strange, and I’ll just work my way up with it. But the intent is to get some heavy-ish work that puts a little more emphasis on the quads. We’ll see how it goes.

Then, I was going to continue with stiff-legs and leg presses, but again figured no… if I’m supposed to work on building up my quads, then let’s spend what limited time and energy I have on that. So I went with good old leg extensions. I know powerlifters tend to frown on that, but Ed Coan used them so good enough. 🙂 If it means more work for my quads, if I can help them grow and thus be stronger, great. I’ll find the groove here in time, but the goal is higher-reps, build some muscle.

I then opted to drop the stiff legs and just do some leg curls. I think my posterior chain will get enough work right now in the normal course of squatting, so let me focus my assistance work elsewhere. See what happens.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Squats (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 165 x 5
  • 190 x 4
  • 225 x 3
  • 250 x 2
  • 285 x 1
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
  • 200 x 5
• High-bar, narrow-stance Squats
  • 155 x 5
  • 135 x 6
  • 135 x 6
• Leg Extensions
  • 40 x 15
  • 50 x 12
  • 60 x 12
  • 50 x 12
• Leg Curls
  • 40 x 15
  • 50 x 12
  • 60 x 8
  • 50 x 12
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12
  • 70 x 12

Carbs… sweet sweet carbs! 🙂

I’ve been on the (fat) loser train for a little over 3 months now, so it’s time for a break. I don’t really want to take a break, but it’s appropriate after such a long stretch, especially since I have another long stretch ahead of me. Officially weighed in at 219 yesterday, which was up a hair… but given I was 217 this morning, I am pretty sure I was just retaining something. So, taking a “mid”… following same basic dietary template, but adding in some carbs (including on my off days!!) and bumping up the fats a hair too. I’ll stay on this for about 4 weeks, expect to gain at most 5 lb. or so, but that should be just things like water, glycogen, etc…. no real fat or even muscle gain expected here.

So I did eat carbs yesterday. Not sure if that affected me today or was pure placebo… but I did feel good, and it showed in my work.

I continue to focus my later assistance work on tempo, with explosive concentric and a good controlled eccentric. Also trying to just make the muscle work. Like on the incline DB pressing, I don’t think about pressing, I just think about my pecs pulling my upper arms “together”. Yeah… the challenge really starts to become how hard you can make the muscle work, with as little weight as needed to make that happen It doesn’t satisfy the external ego, but it sure seems to be more internally satisfying and working.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Bench Press (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 165 x 3
  • 180 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 225 x 1
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 8
  • 180 x 5
  • 180 x 4
• Dips
  • BW x 8
  • BW x 7
  • BW x 7
  • BW x 6
  • BW x 6
• DB Incline Press
  • 45e x 12
  • 45e x 12
  • 45e x 9
• Machine Flies (350-Method)
  • 70 x 17
  • 70 x 17
  • 70 x 12

Yeah, slow and steady seems to make my back happy.

I continue to work on lifting more bodybuilder-like, and no question my back actually gets good work from that! I dig it.

I will say, I think lighter loads are coming as well. Yeah the ego never likes to go down in weight, but the reality is the body doesn’t know — it’s about the stresses. For example, I often find when I am standing with dumbbells that my posture craps out, which means I’m now supporting this weight in a sub-optimal way, which winds up being bad for me. But when I make sure I’m having good posture, well… the weight can be too much. Small stabilizers start to feel stressed and fatigued before other things, which is kinda good… shows that I’m always struggling with good posture, and strengthening those little guys will help. Or like the position of the DB’s when I’m doing shrugs — in front of me I can move more weight, behind me I can’t, but the more in front the worse it is on my upper spine and posture. So it’s just stuff I need to continue to play with, and get more strict about. But it’s all good for the short-term if it means better long-term payoff — I must remember that I’m primarily in this for my health, to make sure that as I age I am strong, mobile, etc..

That said, I also think I’m refining what I do heavier and as a movement and what I will do more for a heavier muscle thing, or a lighter pump thing. Like I think I may find some benefit eventually in refining my back work so I still do maybe 4 sets of some sort of heavier row, as a movement more than a muscle (e.g. traditional BB rows, t-bar rows, etc.). But then follow it up with 4 sets of a lighter, stricter row (e.g. cable rows). Not sure what I’d do more as an isolation here tho. But like for legs, squats heavy movement; then leg extensions would be lighter, slower, strict; and leg presses would be somewhere in between. Or here with biceps, I’m finding it a little better to work them on something heavier for maybe like a 4-5×5-8, then like 3-4×8-15. Those sorts of progressions seem to give me better work.

Of course, the real test will be once I can eat again. 😉

Still, the discipline of figuring a lot of this out now is all being done to prime me for things in a few months when I’m done with Defattening and can start building up again.

Another thing that I’m thinking about playing with are less straight sets and doing other sorts of progressions. So it could be that I just rep to failure across multiple sets, which is sorta what the 350-method works. But I also see lots of bodybuilders that do progressions like 5 sets with like 15 reps, 12, 10, 8, 6, 6 or something like that, starting with a lighter weight and then working up the weight and lowering the reps. Never tried that sort of progression, but finally curious to try.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

Chins

• BW x 7
• BW x 6
• BW x 3
• BW x 3
• BW x 3

Cable Rows

• 110 x 10
• 110 x 10
• 110 x 10
• 110 x 10
• 110 x 10

BB Shrugs

• 65e x 12
• 65e x 12
• 65e x 12
• 65e x 12
• 65e x 12

Wide, Neutral-grip Lat Pulldowns

• 130 x 10
• 130 x 10
• 130 x 9
• 130 x 8

Hammer Curls

• 30e x 8
• 30e x 8
• 30e x 6
• 30e x 5

BB Curls (350-method)

• 35 x 25
• 35 x 20
• 35 x 15