The mind matters.

I’ve got some heavy shit on my mind, so I’m not sleeping well. Then about half-way through I was just so distracted I wanted to just call it and go home. But no… am I going to let this issues own me, or do I own them? So I pushed through, had a reasonable session all things considered. It wasn’t great, but given the mental state of things… I’ll take it.

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 11 (AMRAP)
  • 115 x 5 (50%)
• Dips (350 Method)
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 11
  • BW x 8
• Chin-ups
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 4
  • BW x 4
  • BW x 3
  • BW x 3
• DB Rows (350 method)
  • 50 x 20
  • 50 x 15
  • 50 x 13
• DB Curl (350 Method)
  • 25e x 20
  • 25e x 13
  • 25e x 10

Don’t know what to make of today.

My head was elsewhere… just some things about life. So I wasn’t into things. But even still, I thought the session was generaly OK.

When front squatting, I’m trying to work on technique, but I was focusing so much on upright that I totally missed depth. Rather, I was hitting too much depth, going WAY below parallel. I noticed that what feels normal depth from all the back squatting, that same feeling is WAY deep for front squats; I have to feel like I’m cutting depth really short and THAT is parallel for front squats. Well… I was going WAY deep, which I noticed because everything felt normal (bad sign) and then I only hit 10 on the AMRAP set before I started falling forward and losing the bar. I videoed the 50% set and sure enough I was WAY down in the hole… which of course isn’t horrible, but isn’t really what I want.

So is this progress?

In a way, yes, because I hit the same reps as last week but doing something harder. But I don’t like it because it wasn’t more reps (plain and simple) AND because I was slipping on technique. But then, I was trying to work on fixing upper-body issues and well… you can only focus on so much. So… whatever. It was what it was; learn from it, move on.

Leg presses then certainly went up in weight, and oddly hit almost the same reps as last week (just a couple shy). I’ll stay at this weight tho and really crank out more reps before I go up again. But taking the narrower “higher” stance is really doing a number on my quads. I dig it.

And lunges… I just hate them. 😉

So, despite being out of it, it wasn’t a bad session.

Oh, and I’m STILL at 217 lbs. Been almost 2 weeks at this weight, so… i can haz moar füd now? plez, Nick? 🙂

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

• Front Squat
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 85 x 5
  • 105 x 4
  • 135 x 3
  • 155 x 2
  • 175 x 1
  • 145 x 10 (AMRAP)
  • 145 x 6 (50%)
• Leg Press (350 Method)
  • 275 x 20
  • 275 x 18
  • 275 x 15
• Lunge
  • 45 x 12
  • 45 x 12
  • 45 x 12
  • 45 x 10
  • 45 x 10

Gettin’ better.

Man, this feels a lot better than the past many months. I am making forward progress. Right now it’s just more reps, but that’s progress! It feels good physically but more so mentally. This is really the sort of break I needed.

Benching went fine. I was surprised I got 15 on the AMRAP set. That is the signal to add more weight, but given how transitional everything is right now, I’m going to stick at these weights at least 1 more week to see how things go.

Rows were… different. Because I dropped below 135 that meant I used the 25# plates. The gym used to have some 10 kilo bumpers, and I also recall a set of 35’s, but they are no where to be found. Thus the range of motion was greater. Instead of touching ground tho, I just let my arms extend as much as I was willing (didn’t want to go slack with the weight in my hands and thus pulling on my shoulders), and just rowed. That kept tension the whole time, which I’ll take.

Oh, and I weighed 216 this morning, which surprised me given how I ate yesterday. I’m good with this tho… because I wouldn’t expect to bloat up today, tomorrow is a rest day, so I do hope this means moar food! 😉

As well, I was NOT as sore today as I was same time last week. Body is getting used to this. Huzzah.

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

• Bench Press
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 120 x 4
  • 145 x 3
  • 180 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 180 x 15 (AMRAP)
  • 180 x 7 (50%)
• Incline Press (350 Method)
  • 95 x 19
  • 95 x 12
  • 95 x 1
• BB Row
  • 155 x 8
  • 155 x 8
  • 125 x 12
  • 125 x 7
• Wide Pronated-Grip Pulldown (350 Method)
  • 110 x 18
  • 110 x 14
  • 110 x 12
• BB Curl (350 Method)
  • 40 x 20
  • 40 x 15
  • 40 x 12

Better. Not sure why, but better.

Today went better than last week, which is great! I’d like to attribute it to MOAR FOOD, but it’s hard to tell.

Is it because more food (well, more carbs) and so I have more energy? Is it because of the creatine? Is it because my priority this weekend has been to nap every chance I get (and I’ve been doing so)? Is it because I just felt good today? It is because my body is more used to the workout and thus just worked better at it? Combination? Something else? Hard to say.

But whatever the exact reason, to see increase over last week is such a refreshing change from the months of stagnation due to the Defattening Project. My body is feeling so much better, I can’t begin to tell you.

And I’ve been holding weight. I’ve been 217 for a little over a week now, tho I was actually 216 even this morning, so I lost some yesterday (an off/rest day, so not many carbs consumed). The plan is if I stay here at 217 a little longer that we’ll bump up my food intake a bit more. Frankly, I am going to work hard to say at 217 until the next weigh-in so I can get my food bumped. 😉

And with gym sessions like this? I reckon it’ll happen. Man, again it doesn’t look like much on paper, but it sure does work you. Those split squats are deceptive….

Squats overall felt better. I still am bummed that I appear to have lost so much squat strength, but I am feeling better under the bar so I’ll just go with it. It’ll be a while at this weight since the plan is the AMRAP’s should work up to about 18-20 reps before you increase the weight. So it just means I gotta crank on the AMRAP. I think that will go a little slower tho, because I have to get used to higher reps like that. I peed out more from “too many reps”. 🙂 Tho on that 6th of the 50% I could have done 1-2 more, I racked it. It was a very solid 6th rep (last week’s 6th was kinda slow). So, tho it’s only a little increase, it’s still an increase. Awesome.

Stiffs ended at 12 reps because I was losing grip. I know I could have gone longer if not for grip. So I think I need to start using mixed grip on the AMRAP set, or look into straps. I’ll go mixed-first. I just have to remember to do it.

And split squats. Geez…. I hate doing so many reps, and it’s really double since it’s 20 reps per set each leg (so really 40 reps per set). But damn it hurts. 🙂 This is totally where the soreness comes from.

So yeah… I’m digging this new setup. It’s only the start of week 2 on it, but so far so good.

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

• Squat
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 115 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 175 x 3
  • 225 x 2
  • 250 x 1
  • 205 x 12 (AMRAP)
  • 205 x 6 (50%)
• Stiff Legged Deadlift
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 4
  • 200 x 3
  • 250 x 2
  • 285 x 1
  • 235 x 12 (AMRAP)
• Split Squats
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 16
  • BW x 13

First true week down, and I’m doing well.

I do like the change of pace. I do like the simpler approach. And I do feel worked by the end of it. I certainly feel more worked on the lower days than upper days, because well, focus and volume. But again this is an experiment to see how such a program might work for me. And I gotta admit, as much as I’m enjoying Paul Carter’s methodologies, part of me is wanting to get back to 5/3/1 I think because of the “rapid” pace of strength gains. I’m sure I could actually run Paul’s Strong-15 for a few cycles in a row, but that’s not really what it’s about. So I dunno. But it doesn’t matter — until I’m done defatting myself, gym time is basically bodybuilding oriented.

I am happier to see more reps, better performance. Hooray for food! 😉 Next week will be the telling week tho. I expect to increase, like at least 1 rep on the AMRAP sets.

I’m also really happy with something. Dips. I used to not be able to do any. Now I crank out 15 and that’s 15 after a bunch of pressing. In the grand scheme it’s nothing, but it’s significant for me. I’ll be happy when I get 10 chin-ups. While it seems like I’ve regressed on those I really haven’t; I’ve gotten stricter, especially about getting into the bottom position. I used to cut it a little short because of shoulder issues, but my shoulders have been feeling so much better and I’ve just naturally been allowing myself to get lower and be at almost a dead hang (I don’t go fully dead, fully limp, but I’m pretty much all the way down). And other things like really clearing the chin over the bar (not just “reaching” the chin to the bar), that there’s no relief in the bottom position (I might touch my toe to the ground briefly to stop any swaying, but I try to avoid allowing the foot to support anything). So, on paper I haven’t progressed, but they are more quality chin-ups. I’m good with that.

I tried rotating DB curls today. Technically Paul’s program is “Dumbbell Curls”. I thought, for a giggle, try rotating. So that’s where in the bottom position the hand is pronated, and at the top it’s supinated. I don’t think I’ll do that again. I never felt like I got anything out of the rotation. Pick a position (pronated, neutral, supinated) and just stick with it. Hell, I think I’d get more out of reverse grip curls for that matter. Ah well.

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 10 (AMRAP)
  • 115 x 5 (50%)
• Dips (350 Method)
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 9
• Chin-ups
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 4
  • BW x 4
  • BW x 3
  • BW x 3
• DB Rows (350 method)
  • 45e x 25
  • 45e x 19
  • 45e x 15
• DB Curl (350 Method)
  • 25e x 15
  • 25e x 14
  • 25e x 12

You know, I’m digging this.

First, I’m really digging front squats. Yes it’s awkward, yes I have a ways to go before I’m efficient at the movement, but I’ll only get better by doing it. I’m enjoying it all tho, and I can only hope I’ll see some good benefit over time.

Second, I was still very lower-body sore from Monday, tho finally this morning felt like I could move. 🙂 While on paper these sessions don’t seem like much, they sure leave you feeling worked — tho you have to certainly put in the work and push yourself. So far I’m digging this approach, and I am hoping the slight less volume but slightly more frequent sessions may pan out for me over time. Liking it tho. If nothing else, the change is welcome.

I also think that my body is getting happier with me. It’s been about 10 days of eating more food, having creatine, no caffeine, and it seems to be showing in my performance and generally how I feel. I think 9 months of strict dieting paid off, but I also paid a price for it in terms of some wear and tear on my body. But I am feeling “normal” again, so… here’s hoping.

Onwards.

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

• Front Squat
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 85 x 5
  • 105 x 4
  • 135 x 3
  • 155 x 2
  • 175 x 1
  • 145 x 10 (AMRAP)
  • 145 x 6 (50%)
• Leg Press (350 Method)
  • 225 x 23
  • 225 x 18
  • 225 x 15
• Lunge
  • 45 x 10
  • 45 x 10
  • 45 x 10
  • 45 x 10
  • 45 x 10

Again, it doesn’t seem like a lot of work, but it sure winds up feeling like it.

I am eager to see how the increased frequency will pan out here.

The DOMS from yesterday is setting in pretty hard. Walking up and down the stairs was difficult yesterday, and today a little worse. Tomorrow should be loads of fun, especially since I’m sure there’ll be the start of DOMS from today!

I think overall my numbers wounds up being where they should be. I do need to adjust the row weight a bit, but otherwise OK. Generally pleased with things, and looking forward to seeing where this goes.

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

• Bench Press
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 120 x 4
  • 145 x 3
  • 180 x 2
  • 205 x 1
  • 180 x 12 (AMRAP)
  • 180 x 6 (50%)
• Incline Press (350 Method)
  • 95 x 18
  • 95 x 12
  • 95 x 10
• BB Row
  • 155 x 8
  • 155 x 8
  • 135 x 10
  • 135 x 5
• Pulldowns (pronated grip) (350 Method)
  • 110 x 18
  • 110 x 12
  • 110 x 10
• BB Curl (350 Method)
  • 35 x 27
  • 35 x 20
  • 35 x 14

Today starts the new routine in earnest. And oh… this is going to be interesting. 🙂

Last week I figured out some numbers, and I think these numbers should hold me well. I think they are where they should be for the purposes of this program, and I expect things should improve over the course of it. I don’t necessarily expect to increase weights (unless I did underestimate), but I do expect to increase reps on the AMRAP sets and see some sort of progress. Hopefully the increase in carb intake as well as going back on creatine should help out here.

So Squats went fine.

Stiff-legs were fine too. I did them without a belt, but I think I should use a belt at least on the 2, 1, and AMRAP sets. If nothing else, it does help me keep my back a little flatter/straighter simply due to the 4″ of stiff leather making it hard to get too much bend. 🙂 The work-up felt very light, but given how many I hit on the AMRAP I say I’m where I should be.

That said, on both Squats and Stiff-legs I peeded out more from other things. Like on the first AMRAP set of Squats I stopped more because my torso was just starting to collapse, the exhaustion was primarily there. It’s interesting to discover where I’ve become weaker due to the dieting.

But I expect I’ll adjust/adapt to the workload over the next few weeks and things should improve.

Oh, the split squats? Damn… I hate that shit. 🙂 First, I really hate working up to 20 reps, but it’s really 40 reps per set since it’s all 1 leg then the other leg. But man, that kicked my ass. Ouch! I have to remember tho, Paul tends to view 8-12/15 reps as the best range for building upper body mass, and 12-20 as the best rep range for building lower body mass. So, if I’m going to follow Paul’s stuff, I gotta follow Paul’s stuff, even if I hate it. 🙂

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

• Squat
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 115 x 5
  • 145 x 4
  • 175 x 3
  • 225 x 2
  • 250 x 1
  • 205 x 11 (AMRAP)
  • 205 x 6 (50%)
• Stiff Legged Deadlift
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 4
  • 200 x 3
  • 250 x 2
  • 285 x 1
  • 235 x 9 (AMRAP)
• Split Squats
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 20
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 12

Yesterday was figuring out some lower body stuff, and today some upper body stuff.

The big figure was the 1RM on pressing. I have done overhead pressing again in recent months, but not really a proper press, and a press for larger weight. A little bummed to have stopped at 150, because it was more a stoppage from feeling light-headed and almost losing the lift because of that. I battled this for a while before and honestly forgot what I did to combat it, so I need to try searching through back notes. But I think it’s a matter of getting a LOT of deep breaths before I unrack (e.g. like 10 deep through the nose into the belly breaths), then after I unrack have another exhale-inhale cycle THEN press.

But 150 is reasonable enough for now. I’m sure I wouldn’t have gotten a whole lot more anyways.

Everything else was figuring out too, and I think I know where I’ll officially start with things come next week.

I will say that the DB rows surprised me. In the past I never felt like I got much out of them, but today I really did. I think I’ve gotten better about ensuring my back work isn’t me going through the motion but in fact ensuring to make the back do the work — I’m not rowing, I’m contracting my back muscles to have them pull my upper arm backwards, y’know? That sort of thing. Makes a big difference.

And I also continue to feel like I am not going to get the daily volume as I’m used to, but that the increased frequency of work well… I’m going to be really interested to see how that fares for me.

Oh, and today made me remember one other minor change from the as-written program. Paul has you do chin-ups after rowing. Well, I can’t do many chin-ups and if I do it after rowing I really won’t get much work, if any. So I am putting chin-ups BEFORE rowing to ensure I get some level of chin-up work. It’s easier to modify the amount of weight lifted in a row, not so much on a chin-up. So, that makes my program changes: chin-ups then rows (because I’m not strong enough), bodyweight dips instead of weighted (again because I’m not strong enough yet), and the 4x week instead of 3x.

All in all, feeling good. And feeling especially happy that instead of having to wake up and get on the elliptical tomorrow, I can sleep in. 😉

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

• Overhead Press
  • bar x 10
  • bar x 5
  • 75 x 5
  • 95 x 3
  • 120 x 1
  • 135 x 1
  • 150 x 1
  • 115 x 8 (AMRAP)
  • 115 x 5 (50%)
• Dips (350 Method)
  • BW x 15
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 9
• DB Rows (350 method)
  • WT x REP
• Chin-ups
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 4
  • BW x 3
  • BW x 3
  • BW x 2
• DB Rows (350 Method)
  • 45e x 25
  • 45e x 17
  • 45e x 12
• BB Curl (350 Method)
  • 45 x 15
  • 40 x 12
  • 40 x 10

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)