Feels good to lift again.

Well, not that I stopped lifting, but the 50% deload from last week just wasn’t fun. 🙂 Franky when it comes to deload I’ve started to evolve to a point where I like to work hard when I’m working, and just keep working (not necessarily take a scheduled deload… even Wendler has moved away from that somewhat). When I feel beat up enough, take the whole week off. Not entirely, like I should still stretch and roll and such, but no lifting. Works fine for me. But… as part of the diet, gotta keep doing something.

Anyways, I feel right now I’m at best treading water and at worst declining. I shouldn’t be surprised given how deprived the diet is making me. I accept it, but still it sucks. Between that and watching the Raw Unity Meet 8 over the weekend, and coupled with thoughts of “where to go after the diet is over”… basicaly do I start lifting for strength or size? Part of me wants size because I feel so small… rightfully so given the fat I’ve dropped. But I realized that I had set a general goal for myself: bench 3 wheels (315 lb), squat 4 wheels (405 lb), deadlift 5 wheels (495 lb). That’s going to take some time to get to… probably a couple years at least. But I think it’s becoming clear to me that I want to get back on the strength train. And yes, I do think Base Building will be what I continue at least at first. Kinda thinking to do 6-12 weeks of Base Building; exactly how long depends on how well my body recovers from the diet stuff. Then probaby a Strong-15 short cycle to see where strength is at, and from there determine numbers and start properly programming strength-wise. Basically, I have to ease back into things and focus on strength… but I reckon with a program like Base Building I should be able to focus on building some size too with assistance work.

Anyways….

So today was what it was. Diet is what it is… the past week I upped the fats a bit and deloaded and so my weight’s pretty steady at 225 this morning. The plan is to go for about another month and get me down to 220, then “mid” for a month, then make the final push for another 3 months or so.

As for specifics of today… the only main comments I have is that going slightly heavier on the Polquin flies didn’t make my right shoulder happy. Not sure if I should continue with it — i.e. could it strengthen and be what I need? We’ll see. And I am so happy to be doing stuff like dips and chin-ups and not totally sucking at them (any more). Dips are awesome. And I did chin-ups here and there during the inclines and flies… would do a set of chest stuff, then just do 1 chin-up, then rest, then another set of chest, 1 chin, rest.. etc. Nothing major, but every bit adds up.

Oh, and benching actually felt really good. Maybe it was watching the top raw powerlifters at RUM8 over the weekend, but I just felt really good with my technique and setup today, keeping arch tight and set, leg drive leg drive leg drive.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Bench Press (model 2)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 160 x 3
  • 180 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 225 x 1
  • 205 x 5
  • 205 x 5
  • 205 x 5
  • 180 x 5
  • 180 x 5
  • 180 x 5
  • 145 x 12 (AMRAP)
• Dips
  • BW x 6
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 5
• DB Incline Press (350 Method)
  • 40e x 19
  • 40e x 12
  • 40e x 10
• Polquin Flies
  • 20e x 8
  • 20e x 8
  • 20e x 6

I want food! 🙂

Went on a date with the Mrs. last night and had a cheat meal — I haven’t had one of those in ages and it felt good for the psyche. Got a good night sleep too. So I hit the gym feeling pretty awesome. Well almost… I’m up 2 lb since yesterday due to the meal. Ha ha! I reckon it’ll be gone quickly, no big deal. While my goal was 223 for Sunday, if I’m 224 I’ll be alright with that because I really needed that cheat meal.

The gym was fine. Still 50% “deload”, but looking forward to getting back to normal next week. Nothing really to say other than I was happy to hit 7 chin-ups!

I did drop the shrug weight down. I want to ensure my form is good and I have a little more TUT as I lower the weight.

One thing that hit me? RP posted a before/after client picture the other day. The before looked very similar to how I look now, and the after looked awesome. It was a 20 lb difference, but given the guy’s musculature and weight I reckon he was shorter than me. So 20 more for me? Maybe 25 or 30? I can’t say for sure, but I can say in 20 (which is my new target: 205) things should be looking pretty damn awesome. Motivation levels are really ramped up. 🙂

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

Chins

• BW x 7
• BW x 5

BB Rows

• 135 x 8
• 135 x 8

BB Shrugs

• 185 x 12
• 185 x 12

Wide, Neutral-grip Lat Pulldowns

• 130 x 10
• 130 x 10

Hammer Curls

• 30e x 10

BB Curls (350-method)

• 45 x 15

Squat technique or chin-ups — chicken, egg, not sure which is the culprit.

But one of those, or maybe both, caused the arm pain. I did 1 chin-up today and it was enough to make things unhappy throughout the rest of the session. I don’t feel weak, but there is some serious discomfort. I got a better handle on it tho, as it’s more in the elbow area directly… like the ligaments and tendons right in that area, and then like the brachialis and the brachioradialis.

I dunno. I’ll keep an eye on things and see. I really don’t want to give up my pursuit of 10 in-a-row chin-ups.

Anyways, today then continued the 50% “deload” approach. So, it was what it was. Still lost weight: 224.

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 10

Upright Rows

• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12

Polquin-style Side Laterals

• 15e x 15

Face Pulls

• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12

Close-Grip Bench Press

• 135 x 12

Triceps Pressdowns

• 50 x 15

I’m not sure if I can keep using that Chris Duffin squat technique. 😦

So I started having pain in my elbows and biceps latter half of last week. Today while squatting, I again focused on working on the Chris Duffin techniques and cues I started looking at last week. And it didn’t take long before my elbows and biceps started hurting in the same way. I think the intense isometric hold is stressing my elbows and biceps too much.

sigh

That sucks.

I’m not sure. Going to keep playing with things. I tried during the work sets to just have the torso technique and not the arms, but they really go together to make the upper body so tight and solid. So, I don’t know. I’ll keep at it and see where it goes, but certainly if it’s going to damage my elbows and limit me on everything else, that’s not going to work.

Otherwise, keeping things at 50% capacity per the “deload” I’m doing this week.

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
• Stiff-Legged Deadlift
  • 215 x 8
  • 215 x 8
• Leg Press
  • 135 x 15
  • 135 x 15
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 65 x 12
  • 65 x 12

I saw the shadow cast by my gut, and that meant 6 more weeks of dieting. 😉

No not really.

As of yesterday I’m officially down 40 lb since I started back in August — 225 lb. Nice milestone. My original target was 215 but it was never about the scale, it’s always been about the mirror. But a number is needed for planning purposes, so 205 is my new revision. And so, that means maybe 10-12 more weeks of fat-loss dieting, maybe more because I expect a few weeks of maintenance will have to happen.

Thing is tho, I’m starting to feel pretty beat up and worn down. I mean, it’s been about 6 months of dieting and while it’s paid off, it’s also taking a toll. Recently I’ve wondered where my hormone levels are because of the massive reduction in overall diet AND so little fat. But anyways, because of all this in discussions with Nick I’m switching up for this week to see how things go.

First, adding a bit of fats back into the diet.

Second, I’m doing a deload. I would have preferred a “no-deload-deload” to do flat out nothing but sleep, but Nick discouraged that and instead preferred if I just took it at about 50%. So that’s what I did. I still did my normal work up, but all work and assistance sets were cut in half and rounded down (e.g. normally 4 sets became 2 sets, normally 3 sets became 1 set). Gets me some work, but not as much. Shouldn’t tear me down as much, should be easier to recover from, and should maybe leave a little extra food-wise for my body to use to rebuild itself. Oh, this will be my protocol for all sessions this week…. well, lifting sessions. My cardio sessions will remain as normal.

We’ll see how it goes. I admit, I am growing weary mentally, emotionally, and physically, on this diet. The results are highly motivating, both the scale and the mirror. Plus the fact I can see the light at the end of the tunnel helps too. So, I press on. But honestly, I can’t wait to be back on the gain train again.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Bench Press (model 2)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 160 x 3
  • 180 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 225 x 1
  • 200 x 5
  • 180 x 5
• Dips
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10
• DB Incline Press (350 Method)
  • 40e x 20
• Polquin Flies
  • 20e x 8

Today wasn’t too hot…

During yesterday’s session I felt some discomfort in my right biceps and elbow, but mostly the biceps itself. It was minor, didn’t think much of it. But today, it’s all about pulling, and so my biceps felt worse. Many times it felt like I was just weak… that my right arm was just weak and couldn’t pull. It could, but it was the sensation and yes sometimes I just had to stop.

I reckon it’s just irritation/inflamation somewhere. I’ll have a diet of Advil and rest this weekend and see how it goes. I reckon part of the problem is the diet and sleep — the lack of enough nourishing food, and the lack of enough recouperating sleep. Diet… well, we just keep forging ahead and progress is good, but it’s taking a toll; while I want to keep forging ahead to 220, I think once I get to 225 (hopefully Sunday) I may cry “uncle” and go maintenance for a bit. And sleep’s been lacking due to the Tesla concert earlier this week, but I should get some good sleep this weekend.

Anyways, apart from that, the session was what it was. Some things were down, couldn’t get all the reps at times, but that’s the way pain goes sometimes.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

Chins

• BW x 6
• BW x 4
• BW x 3
• BW x 3
• BW x 3

BB Rows

• 135 x 10
• 135 x 10
• 135 x 10
• 135 x 8
• 135 x 6

BB Shrugs

• 205 x 12
• 205 x 12
• 205 x 12
• 205 x 12
• 205 x 12

Wide, Neutral-grip Lat Pulldowns

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

Hammer Curls

• 30e x 10
• 30e x 10
• 30e x 7

BB Curls (350 method)

• 45 x 15
• 45 x 12
• 45 x 12

I’m just going to have to accept that my Press won’t go anywhere… at least, for now.

I’m going to chalk it up pretty simply to the diet. I’m just at a point in things where I’m not going anywhere in the weightroom. On the scales, yes I’m progressing — and that’s what matters. To that end, I’m officially 226 this morning and gunning for 225 on Sunday (which will mark 40 lb down!). But I went to see Tesla play at Emo’s last night, got to bed at 1 AM, only got like 4 hours of sleep before I hit the gym… kinda dehydrated, certainly tired. So… dunno if that played into things at all. But whatever — it all evens out in the long run, it’s just one day.

So to that end, my Press felt static today, but everything else cranked up a bit. So… it was what it was.

Really tho, I think I’m more excited about the Defattening than I am about the weights.

For example, back on Tuesday when I wore my belt again for squats, I wore my 40″ belt. Well, it’s time for me to drop back down to using my 36″ belt! 🙂 And that’s just my weight belt. My normal dress belt (a The Wilderness Instructor belt) also went from a 40″ to a 38″. My jeans are quite looser… it all is just… awesome. I’m stoked. 🙂

So all in all, things are alright.

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

• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12
• 80 x 12
• 80 x 10
• 80 x 10

Polquin-style Side Laterals

• 15e x 13
• 15e x 13
• 15e x 13

Face Pulls

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

Close-Grip Bench Press

• 135 x 10
• 135 x 10
• 135 x 10

Triceps Pressdowns (350-Method)

• 50 x 20
• 50 x 16
• 50 x 13

Squat felt better today, thank you Chris Duffin.

Scrolling on Facebook, Dr. Mike Israetel started some discussion about a squat technique that didn’t make sense to him (something about “crunching” to build a more stable core… something like that, and on the surface no it doesn’t make sense. Chris Duffin chimed in (if you don’t know who he did, Google it… but in short, a man that can squat 4x bodyweight @ 220 knows something about squatting). Duffint linked to a few of his videos:

and

and frankly, having just looked at his list of videos to find the above two, I think I know what I’m going to be watching over the next some days.

These were really cool. I tried the “compacting torso” thing while watching the video and thought wow, that really does feel better, more effective. So today I put it into practice. Now, I still have a ways to go to really get it right, but first impressions are quite positive and better than anything I’ve tried before.

The other thing was his notes about hand positioning. Now I’ve wandered around on this because I’ve heard so many approaches to hand positioning in the squat, and some are directly opposing… like some say to use the arms to drive up (like trying to press the bar off your back) to help with the overall drive out of the hole. Makes sense, but in trying it it never really worked for me… kinda drove me back down plus there wasn’t much for torso tightness (maybe I just don’t have the timing of the technique down tho). Others talked about spacing, like trying to get the hands really narrow, which indeed creates this great pad/shelf on which to rest the bar, but I never felt like it got me tight, just squished and hurt my elbows after enough times. But Chris gives a great cue: to grab the bar and try to bend it down across your back, like you’re trying to lat pulldown. I tried that and whoa… what a diff. Now in the past I looked at “pull the bar down” approaches but dismissed them out of hand because it felt like that was just adding more downward pressure, which of course isn’t what I want. But here, that cue PLUS the compacting of the torso really worked well and wow, my whole upper body felt so solid, so locked, so rigid… it was quite awesome!

That said, I do need more practice at the technique… I totally sucked at it today for sure. But I can see the potential and am going to keep it up.

The other thing was I started to wear a belt again. I can’t find the article now (updated: found it), but it was again from scrolling on Facebook and it made me rethink a bit of how I use the belt… especially how tight I cinch it up. I tried putting it at a position where I could still get a good deep breath but still have some back-pressure from it against my torso. In the past I’d really tighten it up to ensure I got the back pressure, but in return I couldn’t get a full belly breath. I may still play with the exact hole I use, but certainly today it was looser than I’d ever use it in the past and it still felt really good. I’m not sure it’ll put tons of pounds on my squat, but I can say the 285 and the 5x5x200 work sets went nice and explosive. Everything felt VERY good.

So I can’t say if it’s all because of the Duffin technique cues, the belt, or what… but whatever it all was, it all added up into something good. I’m happy with it. I’m going to keep working on Duffin’s technique tips, and keep wearing the belt because well… why not. The beltless stuff was good while I did it, but if I’m going to think about competition and such well, I might as well get back on the belt. I cannot see how using a belt, when appropriate, will be a bad thing for me… it was good exploration, so let’s try going back on it and see where things go.

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
• Stiff-Legged Deadlift
  • 205 x 8
  • 205 x 8
  • 205 x 8
  • 205 x 8
  • 205 x 8
• Leg Press
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 12
  • 135 x 12
• Standing Calf Raises
  • 65 x 10
  • 65 x 10
  • 65 x 10
  • 65 x 10
  • 65 x 10

Not a -10% day, but not a great day either.

I think it’s a simple thing: diet. I’m not progressing in the gym because the diet just doesn’t support it. But that makes sense — the diet is aiming to lose fat, not build muscle nor strength. So that I’m feeling plateaued, that I’m not really going anywhere in the gym… it all stands to reason.

Especially now because the diet is rather depleting. My carbs are cut pretty low, and in fact just took another mild cut to them. It’s all proving to work out ok because the fat loss is certain (weighed 227 yesterday, 226 today). Goal is 225 by this coming Sunday, which should be do-able.

But yeah… today just felt… bleah. I have no gas. Not only are my weekends very deprived food-wise, but then I did a lot of unexpected moving and hauling of furniture all weekend long, so that added to my caloric expenditure for sure. All good, but just didn’t lend to the gym today.

I did start to think that if things continue to be level or even regress, gym-wise, that I may lower my poundages. That’s part of why I chose Base Building as the program to follow while on the diet, because it has good allowance for such regulation. But I also thought that say on Benching, I might first fall back to model 1 and see how that does for me instead.

Don’t know. Will take it as it comes.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Bench Press (model 2)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 120 x 5
  • 140 x 4
  • 165 x 3
  • 180 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 225 x 1
  • 205 x 5
  • 205 x 5
  • 205 x 5
  • 180 x 5
  • 180 x 5
  • 180 x 5
  • 145 x 15 (AMRAP)
• Dips
  • BW x 6
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 4
  • BW x 4
• DB Incline Press (350 Method)
  • 40e x 19
  • 40e x 14
  • 40e x 11
• Polquin Flies
  • 15e x 15
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 12

The following is me just thinking out loud about my lifting. You’ve been warned. 🙂

The Defattening Project remains my focus. I’m closing in on 225 lb (from a 265 lb start). I can tell from how I look that I’m not where I want to be. And while I originally targeted 215 lb, I knew that was a somewhat arbitrary guess of a target number. At this point I am thinking it may go 205, but well… let’s get to 215 first and I’m sure I can make a better determination.

Regardless of the specific number, I’m close enough to the goal that I’m thinking what I want to do afterwards. Honestly I’m not totally sure, because I waffle between wanting to get big and get strong. I have recently started thinking I’m going to want to get big because I’m going to look in the mirror and see this “small” guy and will want to fill my frame back out. But I also think it might be good for me to ease back in and get my strength back. So while I’ve been lifting in a Paul Carter Base Building style during the Defattening, I do think that will go on the backburner. That once I can start eating upwards again, that I’ll probably do a Strong-15 cycle.

Now, I was thinking that I’d do a Strong-15 Short Cycle, to try to just jump back in and see where things lie. But thinking about it now, I think that would be a mistake. That would be good if I was in an already upwards Base Building cycle, but I’m not — I’ll be coming off some massive deprivation, and my body will probably need some fair time to adjust. So I think it would be wise for me to adopt a full Strong-15 cycle to get back into it.

I started to think about doing it LRB-365 style, doing it “man-maker template” style (day 1: squat/deadlift, day 2: bench, day 3: back/biceps), and that every 3 weeks as the main lifts go up then assistance work goes down. I think that sort of system will allow me to adapt and get back into the groove.

So then, what weights.

That is one that really kicks me. And I’m just not sure.

My first thought was to look at what I’ve been doing with Base Building, look at the values I’m using then do the reverse math to figure what my 1RM should be (in theory), then make that my goals for the Strong-15 cycle. But… when I do the numbers, I’m not sure what to make of it.

Just before I started The Defattening (August 2014), I had come off a Strong-15 cycle and set all-time PR’s of squat: 325 lb, bench 250 lb, deadlift 445 lb. If I look at the numbers I’m using today and then figure what the 100% would be, which of course is an EDM/working-max so that’s probably 90% of a true 1RM, that puts my bench around 265 lb and squat at 370 lb (I don’t know deadlift as I haven’t done conventional in a while due to knees and such). But look at that. 370 squat? SRSLY?

Now I cannot deny that my strength has gone up, despite the diet. Sure it’s going up rather slowly all things considered. Like my first run had my bench using 240 as 1RM, 225 as EDM, I worked up to a single at 190, and trying to do 5×8 @ 170 was tough. But now I’m using an EDM of 240, working up to a single at 225, then doing 3×5@205 followed by 3×5@180 followed by 145 AMRAP (16 in the latest session). So yeah, I could see with belt and wrist wraps and everything being right, I could hit 265.

And look at squat. 1RM was 325 with EDM of 292.5. I’m still following the same Base Building model (#1) and started by working up to a single at 250 and 5×5@175. Now it’s a single at 285 and 5×5@200. And this is all beltless (usually just knee sleeves); tho my 1RM is with a belt. I could maybe see maybe 350-360 as a new max, but 370? You’ve got to be kidding me. That just seems WAY too far out there relative to the work I’m doing. But, maybe I’m wrong… or just unsure of myself. 🙂

So, I don’t know. Writing it all out right now, I think what might be wise would be to look at the percentages I’m using now and just try to use similar percentages and figure out what feels more “reasonable” to do. But hey… if I kick ass with things, if the AMRAP sessions work, if the pause squats work well, great. I don’t expect this first Strong-15 post-Defattening to be awesome, just to get me back into the groove. If I feel there’s more left in the tank, then who knows… when I test, maybe I’ll just go for it and see what shakes out. Start conservative, plan conservative, get the body back in the groove, and go from there.

We’ll see. It’s still months away, because Defattening remains the priority and focus. But I can’t help but thinking about it because well… the light at the end of the tunnel may still be just a twinkle in the distance, but at least I can see it now. 🙂