So… same sort of thing today as yesterday.

Work up feels fine. Hit the AMRAP set, and just can’t “go”. Then the rest of the session has me hitting higher weights, higher reps… go figure.

I do think this is diet-induced, and just how it goes for now. It sucks… but it should be over in a matter of weeks. I know, I have perspective, but the immediate stuff still sucks. 🙂

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 5
• DB Incline Press
  • 45e x 12
  • 45e x 12
  • 45e x 8
• Push-ups
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 9

Well, today kinda sucked.

Squats feel good. Go for the AMRAP set and just peed out at 6. Why? I’m not entirely sure. It felt like I just had no gas. I didn’t feel muscular exhaustion, just no more go. But then look at the rest of the session and I’m hitting more reps for everything else. Did I have go, but I needed more warm-up? Was it simply because I hadn’t pushed the squats to more musclar fatigue? I don’t know. I can say the weekend was pretty trying on me diet-wise… very hungry, a couple serious dizzy spells on Sunday — just such a restriction on carbs. I reckon yeah, no gas. I’ll speak more to the diet shortly.

But so, I just tried to crank on everything as best I could. I did feel “worked” by the end of things…especially the lunges really had me huffing and puffing. Again, I just chalk it all up to the diet plan. It’s trying, but still, results are coming… yesterday’s official weigh-in at 213. Been pretty steady at 2 lb/week since I started back on the cut at the top of the month.

So to that end, I spoke with Nick about “what next”. I expect this will be my last cut, because by then it’ll have been almost a year of cutting and I’m exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally from all of this. I need a good break. I hope that by the end of this cut I will be where I want to be, or very close to it. Regardless, I’m taking a break. So with all that in mind, Nick’s plan is to take a small post-cut break (I’ll probably take a week of semi-regulated eating and allow myself some freedom finally), then I’ll go 2 months on a good massing diet, then 1 month on a mid. After that, and hopefully about a 10 lb gain, we’ll decide what to do… that I might do a 1 month mini-cut, or might try for a longer cut session. It just depends where everything is.

So on that I started to think that if that is the goal, instead of starting right back on the “get stronger” routine, I will probably follow a mass-building template for 2 months. In fact, it’ll probably be what I’m doing now but with a little more work and maybe adjusted weights. I will work hard for rep PR’s and all those things. Then during that 1 month mid, I think I might actually try a Strong-15 short cycle and see where it takes me.

Current plan. Doesn’t need to be firmed up until I get to that point in the road, but it’s my current thinking.

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 (WTF??)
  • 215 x 3 (sigh)
• Front Squat
  • 105 x 8
  • 105 x 8
  • 105 x 8
• Leg Press (350-Method)
  • 185 x 24
  • 185 x 20
  • 185 x 16
• Lunge
  • 30 x 12
  • 30 x 12
  • 30 x 12

Continuing to refine things.

I tried pyramiding the behind-the-neck press, and that seems more right. It’s a bigger movement, give it a little weight. I dig that and will keep trying it.

Otherwise, just a nice day. I kinda feel like my triceps aren’t getting enough work overall, but I’m not going to sweat it too much right now. I think as I up the bench dips that will change things.

On that note, the bench dips felt better. My shoulder is getting happier and overall feeling better since I started doing them. And today I was able to just crank right into things instead of having to have the first set or two be a slower, easing myself into things. I take that as a good sign. Thus I did a couple more reps per set. It’s still not enough to really wear me out, but again this is more about the stretch and range of motion for the sake of my shoulder (rehab more than anything). Still, if things continue to improve like this, I’ll keep adding reps until I get to around 20 or so per set. Come that point, I’ll probably do something like put a 25# plate in my lap and start over.

Inspired by Paul Carter’s methodologies

Behind-the-Neck Press

• bar x 10
• 65 x 15
• 75 x 15
• 85 x 12
• 95 x 8
• 95 x 6

Arnold Press

• 35e x 12
• 35e x 12
• 35e x 9

Upright Rows

• 90 x 12
• 90 x 12
• 90 x 9

Lateral Raises (350 method)

• 15e x 20
• 15e x 17
• 15e x 12, then some partials

Bench Dips

• BW x 12
• BW x 12
• BW x 12
• BW x 12

Minor changes, not bad.

First, it does feel good to deadlift again. My knee comes and goes, but overall things are good and nowhere near as much an issue as it used to be. Of course now that I said that, watch me blow it out. 😉 I am thinking tho about upping something. The weights generally feel light and move well, the top 330 set only just starts to feel heavy. But that said, I don’t think I’ll try upping the weights yet — I’m going to add an AMRAP set. So I’ll do the 2 back-off sets and instead of a 3rd BO set make that an AMRAP set. I’ll try that next week and see how it goes.

Chins continue to suck, but only because each round tries to be stricter than the last. I’m working to ensure as full a range of motion as my shoulder will allow, so I don’t get to a full dead-hang, but as close as I can, which then does keep tension the whole time. Keeping my legs out (pike), minimizing body english, and boy, shit’s tougher. But that’s all good.

On the rows, I’m liking the pyramiding as that feels like I’m actually getting more back engagement and work. I’m thinking about adding a 5th set, but not sure. Still refining it.

Speaking of refinement, I like adding the 2 sets of shrugs. Again, this is borrowed from something I saw often in Paul Carter’s templates: 2 sets of shrugs, 1 heavy for really low reps and 1 light to rep out. I had no idea how much weight here so I just put 225 on the bar but managed to get a lot more than I thought, so I’ll up that next week. Then strip to 135 and that was a little more than 20 but still not too bad. So, I’ll refine the weights some, but I liked this and will probably keep it. It gives me that little extra bit of work, but doesn’t add too much time.

On the curls, I’m supposed to do it 350-method but for whatever reason changed my mind. I pyramided up, then drop-set running the rack all the way down to the 8’s. Crank all I can, put DB down, couple breaths, pick up the next lower one, rep out, put down, couple breaths, next lower, rep, etc.. I’d only get maybe 5 reps (until I got to the really light DBs), but whatever. I just did it, and it felt nice to do.

So all in all, a nice day.

Oh, and weighed in at 214, which surprised me. I mean, overall it’s constant steady progress, but I was surprised because all week I’ve been up at 216, which actually is a slight increase from Sunday. I guess lack of sleep and stress wasn’t being good to me, but I’m working to get both back in line.

Inspired by Paul Carter’s methodologies

Deadlift

• 135 x 5
• 185 x 4
• 225 x 3
• 275 x 2
• 315 x 1
• 320 x 1
• 330 x 1
• 275 x 3
• 275 x 3
• 275 x 3

Chins

• BW x 5
• BW x 5
• BW x 3
• BW x 3
• BW x 2

Cable Rows

• 120 x 15
• 125 x 12
• 130 x 8
• 110 x 10

BB Shrugs

• 225 x 10
• 135 x 25

Hammer Curls

• 25e x 15
• 30e x 11
• 35e x 6
• then ran down the rank, repping out each DBk

As I suspected, reps aren’t really going anywhere… stands to reason. But I guess so long as there’s not a serious loss, so be it.

Only real thing worth commenting on was the change at the end. I dropped the push-ups in favor of flies. I’m not totally settled on what to do here.

See, I’m starting to find a flow in structuring the session. Start out with a “big” exercise: bench, squat, deadlift, press. Work that “big” exercise in a work-up, lower reps, striving for strength stuff here… but it could vary a bit depending upon the particulars, e.g. that I might rep out or just do back-offs.

After the “big”, the second exercise will be something fairly close with a similar aim, still heavy-ish but up to that 6-10 rep range in the 3-5 sets area. So right now complementary to bench is dips, because for me right now that’s perfect but when the day comes I’m doing 5×25 dips well… I could do weighted dips, or this is when I might do inclines or some such. Squats complements with front squats or pause squats. Things like that, where it’s very close to the main movement, 3-5×6-10 sort of thing.

After that starts to be something more supportive, 3-4×8-12 type of thing. So bench gets DB inclines, squat gets leg presses, etc..

And then I end with something certainly more “isolation” and certainly higher reps for more pump, like the lunges or flies or curls or whatever. This is where techniques like 100-reps or 350-Method or drop sets or whatever can start to come into play.

So it’s a bit of a ramp, starting with heavier weights and lower reps, transitioning to lighter weights and higher reps.

When I started laying out this program, that was the rough idea; I wasn’t perfect on it, but it was a general thought. Then as I’ve been going through the weeks here, I’m seeing how things are working (or not working) and how changes affect things. And this just seems to be where things are transitioning to.

In particular here then, I think the incline DB will stay but no 350-method: just 3×8-12, but then whatever I do at the end be it pushups or flies or whatever, that gets a 350-method treatment.

Anyways, tinkering…. making a change, seeing how it goes.

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 13 (AMRAP)
  • 185 x 5 (AMRAP-50%)
• Dips
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 8
  • BW x 6
  • BW x 6
  • BW x 5
• DB Incline Press (350-Method)
  • 40e x 18
  • 40e x 14
  • 40e x 12
• Machine Flies
  • 70 x 20
  • 70 x 13
  • 70 x 13

I’m digging this groove. I do hope this is better serving my current goals. I reckon it may… it works me harder than other squat/leg days I’ve had in ages.

Squats were fine. Really working on form, cues, tightness.

Front squats I continue to hate, but it’s because I obviously suck at them. Working hard at keeping upright, and one thing that helps is to keep my head neutral and use that cue of not driving my head back into the bar, but kinda like “sucking” my chin back in, if you will. That’s helping me work to keep upright…. which of course, makes it harder. 🙂

Leg press continues to surprise me because I held out against a high narrow stance for so long, because it limited range of motion. Well sure it does that, but it sure works my quads like I haven’t felt before. Still working my way up with things, but digging it.

And lunges. Actually what got me more out of them today was using weight. Sure it wasn’t much, but like all things start light and work up. I used those pre-weighted barbells since that’s the only way to get 20. Thing is, they force a rather narrow grip so to help alleviate some elbow pain I tried that “eagle claw” grip where you wrap your first 3 fingers around the bar but the pinky goes under. I know that’s not the best way to get a strong grip on the bar (pinky is very important to a strong grip), but no question it helped with my elbows. Interesting for sure.

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 9 (AMRAP)
  • 215 x 5 (50%)
• Front Squat
  • 105 x 8
  • 105 x 7
  • 105 x 6
• Leg Press (350-Method)
  • 185 x 20
  • 185 x 18
  • 185 x 15
• Lunge
  • 20 x 12
  • 20 x 12
  • 20 x 12

That felt more like it.

Last week I didn’t feel like the plan I set out was good enough. I just didn’t feel I got enough of… anything: enough shoulder work, enough triceps work. So I made some adjustments for today.

I lowered the weight on the BNP to try to get more reps.

I added 3×8-12 of Arnold Press.

Those two things there felt like the level of work I wanted.

On the upright rows, I dropped to just 3×8-12, as I then added in lateral raises 350-method. And all of that, felt right.

On the bench dips, I started out rather slow — everything was tight due to some things with Tuesday’s bench day (something got really tight in my left upper trap after dips). So I started out going really slow, working down into position, letting it stretch, and preferring to do less so I didn’t hurt anything. Last 2 sets tho I felt better for, so I just cranked through them. Still didn’t rep out, which is ultimately what I’d like to do with this movement, but until my shoulder feels right with it (which is part of the point of doing it), just taking it easy.

Inspired by Paul Carter’s methodologies

Behind-the-Neck Press

• bar x 10
• 65 x 12
• 85 x 12
• 85 x 12
• 85 x 9
• 85 x 7

Arnold Press

• 30e x 12
• 30e x 12
• 30e x 12

Upright Rows

• 90 x 12
• 90 x 12
• 90 x 9

Lateral Raises (350 method)

• 15e x 20
• 15e x 15
• 15e x 11

Bench Dips

• BW x 8
• BW x 6
• BW x 10
• BW x 10

Feels good, but not sure it’s totally right.

Am I getting enough work? I felt like my arms peeded out before my chest, and even then I didn’t feel like I got enough work. But, chances are I probably did. Plus, I have to remind myself that part of my goal is less work so I don’t feel as beat up and don’t dig as deep a hole to recover out of, while I’m on this cut diet. So mentally it doesn’t feel right, but I still need more time to know if it’s truly right enough work-wise or not. I have to remind myself the goal it to support The Defattening Project.

Otherwise not much to say.The day was what it was.

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 13
  • 185 x 6
• Dips
  • BW x 10
  • BW x 6
  • BW x 6
  • BW x 5
  • BW x 5
• DB Incline Press (350-Method)
  • 40e x 21
  • 40e x 13
  • 40e x 12
• Push-ups
  • BW x 12
  • BW x 9
  • BW x 8

Minor refinement.

Based upon last week, the first round of the new program, this week sees some changes to each session. Today’s changes weren’t much, but still there.

Squats. Using Paul Carter’s general “mass template work up” approach (5/4/3/2/1/AMRAP/50% reps; 40/50/60/75/85/73/73 percentages), things seemed good on the whole. Over the weekend I watched a video with Chris Duffin and the guys at Supertraining.tv (Mark Bell) on squatting. It’s similar cues and work to what I’ve seen before from Chris, but like many things in life if you see the same thing but presented in a different manner you can often pick up something. Plus it’s evident from the video that Chris strives to be a teacher/coach — compared to other videos I’ve seen of him teaching the same material, it was evident he’s found better ways to explain some things. That’s really a good sign of a good teacher, striving to improve in how he teaches. Point is, his cues were in my mind as I squatted.

The AMRAP set bugs me tho. Paul’s approach is you pick a weight that gets you about 8 reps, then over the coming weeks you work to build up to like 15 reps, going for rep PR’s. So I seem to be starting out fine, but I gotta wonder about the ability to hit rep PR’s on this cut diet. We’ll see. Funny thing is, on the 50% set I felt like I could do MORE work — Duffin’s cues really settled in on that set and I felt like there were probably 2-3 more reps in me. But, that’s time to just rack it. So, we’ll just see what next week brings. Going to strive for the rep PR’s, and let the diet take its course.

Front Squats. Doing some reading on them over the weekend, it seems about 8 reps is the max to do. Reason is, in order to use a weight heavy enough to work the legs, by the time 8 or so reps comes around all the smaller stabilizers in the back/torso are going to be giving out and things will fall apart. Often tho I saw 5-8 being the recommended range. So…. going to strive for that and see what it does for me. For sure I’m still getting used to the movement, but today felt better than before. I will increase 10 lb. for next week and just slowly work my way up, focusing more on getting the movement down before I really worry about weight.

Leg Press. Yeah… changing up the leg/foot positioning is killing my quads. That’s good. 🙂 I don’t like it totally because I’m still trying to find a good “bottom point” so that I’m consistent between reps… sometimes I think I have it, but then I notice my butt curled off the seat, or some arbitrary factor. It’s not a huge deal, but I just want to ensure I’m getting consistent measureable progress. But this is good and I’m liking this… I feel like I may finally get something out of leg pressing.

Lunges. I realize that I don’t hate lunges, I hate so many reps. I mean, since it’s a unilateral exercise it takes twice as long. Sure it’s 15 reps, but really it’s 30… and I hate that shit. 🙂 I get so damn bored. So I think 15 reps is good enough. My legs, especially my knees, are feeling fine. So I’m going to slowly introduce weight now, probably putting one of the 20 lb. bars over my shoulders and work from there. I use lunges as an excuse to work on posture, pinching my shoulder blades, opening my chest, keeping upright. Not only is that good for balance, but posture and so many things for me. I usually added weight to lunges with dumbbells, but I want to try a bar to see how that affects me — too easy to “collapse” my chest with the dumbells. I still will keep them to higher reps, 8-15 range per leg, but I figure a little weight is good now because else it’s just more reps. 😉

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 8
  • 215 x 5
• Front Squat
  • 95 x 8
  • 95 x 8
  • 95 x 8
• Leg Press (350-Method)
  • 135 x 26
  • 135 x 21
  • 135 x 20
• Lunge
  • BW x 15e
  • BW x 15e
  • BW x 15e