Man, that 50-rep challenge is painful. 🙂

As I near the end of this cycle and approach what I hope is my last round of cutting to get me down to my desired weight, I’m going for a few things.

First with my current plan, I just want to crank because this is about the extent of it for many months.

Second, I’m trying to figure out my forthcoming plan. More on that in a bit.

So today I just wanted to push…. and 12 reps with 225 felt good. Left 1-2 in the tank, and really just feeling alright here. In a way, I think about wanting to do stuff with less reps and more sets (e.g. instead of 3×8 doing 8×3) to dial in form better. But that will come — eventually.

All in all, just felt good. More reps than last time. I can’t complain.

And yes, that 50-rep challenge is a bitch. 🙂

But I can’t help but think about what my next cycle of programming will be like. What hit me on my walk to the gym? I think I want to go back to 3x/week. Past experience has shown me I do better with 3x/week. I think it’s a combination of factors, such as my age, how much I recover (age, food, sleep, life stress, etc.), and that when I’m in the gym I kinda like doing more volume. Thus 4x/week is just too much for me and over time wears me down. The thing is, I can see from this last cycle that I actually do alright with 4x week because I do see myself progressing week-over-week, which is a good sign! But I also see that I’m feeling burned — I haven’t done my Friday sessions, because I do not feel like going to the gym.

I realize that a lot of what has driven my gym work has been the diet — the whole reason I went 4x/week was at Nick’s recommendation because it’d be a way to get more carbs and have a little more diet sanity than the deprevation I was under at the time. Well, my diet is pretty nice right now, and at the start of this cut it’s still going to be pretty nice. So while I thought this weekend I had finally nailed down my plan, this morning I took a step back and am going to revisit it. The thing that I need to determine is: do I want 3x/week because truly that’s better for me? or because I’m just fried right now? Hard to say, but I’ll mull it over. I mean, is the fact I’ve been skipping a session due to listening to my body a tell-tale sign that my body wants me to go back to 3x/week? Thing is, I could see going 3x/week for now, then when the diet gets to a particular point, go 4x/week again. That’s resonating with me pretty strongly right now, so who knows… if I can’t figure it out, I may just go 3x and see what happens.

That all said, another thing is Nick has urged me to always keep working somehow… take a deload when needed. Thing is, sometimes I do well with a “no-deload deload” — to do “jack shit”, truly. Just take a vacation from the gym, don’t think about it, don’t go, sleep in, rest up. Yeah, maybe stay active and walk or do yard work or whatever — don’t become a couch slug. But I think the fact that basically in a year I haven’t taken ANY break from the gym is probably catching up to me. I’m thinking next week will be a “no-deload deload”, doing some active things, but basically avoiding the gym and enjoying the refresh.

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

• Squat
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 4
  • 195 x 3
  • 245 x 2
  • 275 x 1
  • 225 x 12 (AMRAP)
  • 225 x 6 (50%)
• Stiff Legged Deadlift
  • 145 x 5
  • 185 x 4
  • 255 x 3 (whoops… should have been 225, but I did 255)
  • 275 x 2
  • 315 x 1
  • 255 x 12 (AMRAP)
• Split Squats
  • BW x 50-rep challenge

Ho-lee-crap. That was intense.

Up’d the ante a bit today.

Front squats, the big thing was keeping my chest up/big. It actually hurts because that really drives my throat into the bar. But I want to really work on that form, because it really helps get the most of it the front squat. If I start to collapse over, not only do I risk dumping the bar, but it turns into a mess instead of a front squat. That said, when I start back on the cut, I’m not sure I’ll keep with front squats. I might, maybe alternating back squats one week and front the next, but I don’t know right now. Or I might do back squats only but low bar and high bar. Still firming up plans.

Leg press I just went for it and upped the weight. That was a good decision.

But then… the lunges.

Again, I opted to try that 50-rep challenge approach: pick a weight you can do for about 25 reps, then crank it out as much as you can, rest 15 seconds, keep cranking, rest 15 seconds, etc. until you total 50 reps. Of course, with lunges this is 50 each leg (100 lunges total).

Holy crap.

Now, I started with an empty bar (45#) on my shoulders, but when that only got me to about 15 reps I realized this may not pan out. Then I only got up to 21 and yeah… so from there I ignored the bar and just kept going. 15 seconds really isn’t enough to recover much, maybe only getting another 7-ish reps each time. But I just kept cranking and got to 50.

It hurt.

Like… it hurt because my quads were so pumped, the pressure from all the blood gorging my muscles was intense… it was not like a good hurt, this fucking sucked. It hurt like hell… the pressure in my legs was crazy. I sat there for maybe 5-10 minutes just pounding on my thighs, massaging them, pressing them. I mean, this wasn’t like a bad pain that I should stop and go see the doctor about, but it was rather amazingly uncomfortable. 🙂 And then I think about guys like John Meadows and realize that’s probably how he always operates and I’m being a wuss and never really pushing myself. 🙂

But yeah… these 50-rep challenges are going to stick around when I get back on the cut. I’m not sure if I’ll do split-squats or lunges, but probably just pick one or the other and do whatever makes me feel less bored.

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

• Front Squat
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 115 x 4
  • 135 x 3
  • 165 x 2
  • 185 x 1
  • 155 x 11 (AMRAP)
  • 155 X 6 (50%)
• Leg Press (350-method)
  • 365 x 15
  • 365 x 15
  • 365 x 12
• Lunge
  • 50-rep challenge

Today just felt solid.

No complaints, no interesting things to point out.

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

• Bench Press
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 105 x 5
  • 135 x 4
  • 160 x 3
  • 200 x 2
  • 225 x 1
  • 200 x 10 (AMRAP)
  • 200 x 5 (50%)
• Incline Press (350 Method)
  • 105 x 19
  • 105 x 13
  • 105 x 10
• BB Row
  • 155 x 8
  • 155 x 8
  • 125 x 12
  • 125 x 10
• Wide Pronated-Grip Pulldown (350 Method)
  • 115 x 18
  • 115 x 14
  • 115 x 12
• BB Curl (350 Method)
  • 45 x 21
  • 45 x 15
  • 45 x 12

Well, that was cool. 🙂

I figure with just a couple weeks to go before I’m back to the cut diet, let’s bump up the weights and get “as far along as I can”. I mean, if I can hold at this level for 3 months I can live with that.

So I upped the weight on the squats and deadlifts, by about 15# working weight but it worked out to more-or-less 10# jumps each set. The 275 squat went up well. I’m still unhappy that I lost so much strength in my squat, but at least I’m getting it back. It makes me think futures, but more on that in a bit.

One change I did was the split-squats. I’m starting to plan out my program for when I’m back on the cutting diet, since the program needs to support fat loss (and muscle retention). One thing I wanted to do was add some finishers as a way to bump up the “work” to help with the fat burning. I read about the “50-rep challenge” which is basically taking a weight you can do for about 25 reps, doing it, resting about 15 seconds, crank out as many more reps as you can, rest 15 seconds, crank, rest, etc. until you total 50 reps. I thought on either lunges or split squats that’d be good to try out. So I thought to give it a go this morning to see how it went. I did remember the technique incorrectly: I would do one leg for as many reps, switch legs and match the reps, then immediately switch to the other leg and keep going, etc.; I never took a rest other than maybe a few seconds to switch legs and steady out my balance. Still, it burned. 🙂 I think it’ll be a good change up, or at least worth a try during the forthcoming program.

I admit I’ve got mixed emotions… I am enjoying the more relaxed diet, I’m enjoying getting some strength back, and I don’t want to leave that. But boy do I want to get the rest of this fat shed and get on with things again. So take the short-term pain for the long term gain. Really tho, I just can’t wait to be back on the “growth” program that I want.

To that end, I do find myself thinking more and more about 5/3/1. Why? A lot of reasons. It’s a known way of progressing, it works and has worked well for me. It gets back to lower reps and heavier weight. Paul keeps saying things like his Strong-15 is really meant more for peaking, but then I see some things that make it seem like you could run Strong-15 all year round. So I don’t know. I really do want to give Paul’s programming a more serious shake, as it’s all be predicated under my defattening. I guess… I’m just itching. 🙂

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

• Squat
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 4
  • 195 x 3
  • 245 x 2
  • 275 x 1
  • 225 x 9 (AMRAP)
  • 225 x 5 (50%)
• Stiff Legged Deadlift
  • 145 x 5
  • 185 x 4
  • 225 x 3
  • 275 x 2
  • 315 x 1
  • 255 x 10 (AMRAP)
• Split Squats
  • BW x 50 Rep Challenge, didn’t keep track of how many each leg per switch… just kept going.

I realized that I have no idea where my math is.

The 2-rep set is supposed to be 75%, and the AMRAP sets are to be 75%… so why am I using different weights? I have no idea, and I have no idea why I didn’t notice this until now.

I’m going to correct it, but the reality is it doesn’t matter much. I’m planning on sticking with this routine just a few more weeks, then I’m back on cutting… and I’m going to change up my lifting routine to be better suited for that end. So… meh.

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

• Overhead Press
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 60 x 5
  • 75 x 4
  • 90 x 3
  • 110 x 2
  • 125 x 1
  • 115 x 13 (AMRAP)
  • 115 x 6 (50%)
• Dips (350 Method)
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10
• Chin-ups
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 4
  • BW x 3
• DB Rows (350 method)
  • 55e x 19
  • 55e x 15
  • 55e x 12
• DB Curl (350 Method)
  • 25e x 17
  • 25e x 13
  • 25e x 11

Not sure what to make of this other than “needs more data”.

The way it should work is that you are recovered — and hopefully supercompensating — before your next workout. If you aren’t yet, then you’re going to eventually go downhill. If you wait too long, you lose the supercompensation benefits.

I’ve been feeling like I’ve not been recovering enough… Monday I squat, Thursday I squat again. I really felt it today, like I wasn’t ready — maybe one more day. I mean, Paul originally laid out this program to be 3x week, so that would be 1 more day of rest and recovery. And I know from past work with 5/3/1 that doing it as laid out 4x/week was too much for me — I’m older, I don’t have the ability to be mega-dedicated to recovery (e.g. sleep 10 hours a day, daily massage, etc.), so I need a little more time. 5/3/1 worked well on a 3x/week rotation. Only reason I’m doing 4x week is beacuse of the diet — more lifting days means more days to eat food and not be hungry, yet still make progress.

But, I did well today. I blew my prior rep PR’s out of the water compared to last time. So maybe I am actually hitting the groove just right? I think in part it’s the ability to eat, plus I’ve been doing a LOT better about rest and sleep.

So I think it may depend on my recovery abilities.

So like when I go back on the cutting diet, I don’t think I can follow this program any more — it’s just going to be too much on too little food. If I want to stick with 4x week, I probably need to hit body parts once a week, like legs/back/chest/arms sort of split. Or if I do a squat/deadlift/bench/press sort of thing, I should go 3x week on a 4-session rotation.

Just interesting things to learn about myself and how to structure stuff.

Still could use more data here, but so far, so interesting.

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

• Front Squat
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 115 x 4
  • 135 x 3
  • 165 x 2
  • 185 x 1
  • 155 x 10 (AMRAP)
  • 155 x 6 (50%)
• Leg Press (350 Method)
  • 315 x 25
  • 315 x 18
  • 315 x 13
• Lunge
  • BW x a bunch — had to bail early, so just did walking lunges as I left the building

Why not. Up the iron.

Went ahead and bumped up my working weight because why not. I’ve only got a few weeks left before I resume the cutting diet, so I might as well take advantage of the food while I can. 🙂

I have to admit as well, that I’m getting tired of “bodybuilding-style” lifting. Yeah, the reps are generally good for me and certainly appropriate for the diet and “body shaping” goals, but I’m really itching to get back to lifting heavier. I keep thinking that, as much as I’m enjoying Paul Carter’s methodologies, that once I can truly start lifting again I’ll just go 5/3/1 for a while… just because. I dunno, in part it’s a longing for something I can’t have, so I’ll see how it actually pans out once I get where I want. I’m just growing tired of lifting how I have to instead of how I want to, y’know?

But that said, it felt good to bench 225 — been a while since I could, either because of programming or because of strength loss. Even cranking out 9 with 200 felt good, and I certainly left a couple in the tank so hey… strength is doing better for sure. It actually makes me want to crank harder on my squats, instead of trying to work up to 20 reps, again get back to 5’s and triples and such.

Ah well… I’ll be there again someday. 🙂

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

• Bench Press
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 105 x 5
  • 135 x 4
  • 160 x 3
  • 200 x 2
  • 225 x 1
  • 200 x 9 (AMRAP)
  • 200 x 5 (50%)
• Incline Press (350 Method)
  • 95 x 22
  • 95 x 17
  • 95 x 10
• BB Row
  • 155 x 8
  • 155 x 8
  • 125 x 12
  • 125 x 10
• Wide Pronated-Grip Pulldown (350 Method)
  • 115 x 17
  • 115 x 13
  • 115 x 10
• BB Curl (350 Method)
  • 45 x 22
  • 45 x 17
  • 45 x 12

Oh man… haven’t felt that “good” in ages.

And by “good” I mean, almost throwing up. 😉

No, I don’t like working out to the point of puking: I don’t see how that’s a positive thing nor what it accomplishes. But sometimes it happens. All through the split squats, I just got more and more nauseous, so I pushed but not too hard because no, I have no desire to throw up.

But it all started with the squats.

I used last week as a deload, lifting lightly and trying to take as much rest/sleep/naps as possible. I feel a lot better. Not out of the woods, but better for sure. And so I continued ignoring how many reps and told myself to just keep going until I can’t go any more — don’t sow any mental limits. 14 reps came pretty easily. Felt good. But then the 7 after started the toll-taking.

And 15 reps of the stiff-legs. I swear, this was the first time I really felt it in my hamstrings and glutes. I truly was burning. It was pretty cool to finally feel that back there from this movement. But yeah, the toll was being taken. And so split squats? Oh… I just did what I could. 🙂

All in all tho, good session. More reps came out, and I just generally feel alright. Weight bloated up over the end of last week, between less work and enjoying myself some over the holiday. But I’m back down to 222 this morning, so I’m in pretty good shape. In discussions with Nick I’m going to work to hold steady now, and come August we’ll start the cut again. I have mixed emotions — I don’t want to go back on the restrictive diet, but I really do want to achieve my goal in the Defattening Project. So, onwards.

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

• Squat
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 125 x 5
  • 155 x 4
  • 185 x 3
  • 235 x 2
  • 265 x 1
  • 215 x 14 (AMRAP)
  • 215 x 7 (50%)
• Stiff Legged Deadlift
  • 145 x 5
  • 175 x 4
  • 215 x 3
  • 265 x 2
  • 305 x 1
  • 245 x 15 (AMRAP)
• Split Squats
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 10

Deload continues.

Nothing exciting to report. Just get in, do work, get out. Rest.

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

• Front Squat
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 115 x 4
  • 135 x 3
  • 165 x 2
  • 185 x 1
  • 155 x 5
• Leg Press
  • 315 x 10
  • 315 x 10
  • 315 x 10