Not really.
I GTG'd BW-chins for a month or two when I started GSLP in January.
That definetely helped w weighted ones too.

why are you so eager to cut at 144/5'9"?

Not so eager anymore at 144, although still have a little bit of unneeded/unwanted fat.
I started my cut at 155. At that weight I clearly started having some of that always so lovely skinnyfattiness going on.
Cut has been great, I'm fairly certain that I haven't basically lost any LBM so far.
Yes, my goal is to get stronger / put some muscle on me, but I just have 0 desire to get fat in the process, although that is inevitable at least temporarily.

Your approach is wise given your goals imo.

Your log is called "out of skinnyville." You started at 140 pounds. You gained up to 155 pounds and quite a decent bit of strength, and then decided you should cut back to 144? It seems like there's some cognitive dissonance going on here. You are really limiting your ability to get strong by being so timid about weight gain, IMO.

edit: I should add that I weigh 155 at 5' 5", and am definitely too fat, but I am 4 inches shorter than you and significantly less strong. I would be happy with weighing 150-155 and having a 300 pound squat though.

Yup, I hope to be out of there in 2014 or so, hell, even 2015 is fine. Marathon, not a sprint etc.

Yup, Unfortunately at least 50% of the weight gained was fat so I decided to get rid of the fat-part hence the cut.
With BW staying basically the same I think all I've achieved so far is trading some fat w some muscle.
That said, I'm happy with that + some strength-gains.
Although BW hasn't really stayed same cos I still weigh 2kgs more and I'm sure that once I start eating again, I'll quicly gain at least 1-2 kgs back as in water weight.

Sure, I know very well that I could get stronger faster rippetoading myself ie by putting on a ton of weight in very little time but that would conflict my another goal which is staying lean-ish at all times.
Also, my strength-levels have been creeping up throughout the whole cut so far so I don't think taking a few weeks to lose a few pounds of fat while still bulking long-term is a big deal at all.

I'm sure you'll have 300lb squat in no time. I definetely won't
Anyways, GL w ur goals, sir.

Thanks. That's what I like to tell myself, too.

+60lb. on bench, +40lb. on bench in just over 6 months! Pretty inspirational IMO. Dunno if you're outta "skinnyville" yet, but you've definitely exited "weakville"

Just thought I'd throw that out there. I really stopped in for the food pron! Def gonna attempt to recreate that quesadilla when I earn a cheat day.

Thank you, sir.

55 lb increase on bench in 6 months is considered good? I have absolutely no idea.
Also, when I compare my press to my bench I think my bench feels much weaker. Feels like I just can't get a good crasp on correct technique there.

Definetely not outta skinnyville. Barely outta extremelyweakville though I'd say.

Quesadillas r great, imo they can (and actually are for me) easily be a part of cutting-diet, too.
Obv when ur cutting, u might want to not pick the fattest cheese or meat to stuff them with but yeah.

14.6.2012

BP
4x 65.5 kg (145 lb)
6x 62 kg
7x 59 kg

Repeat next time.

DB-Curls
15 kg's (33 lb's)
9 / 9

Dips
BW
10 / 10

I think I'll alternate Incline-DB-Bench and dips from now on.

Plank
+17 kg (+38 lb)
3x30s

Your elbows should be in front of the bar at the bottom of the press. You could probably lean back a bit more as well at the bottom.

Yeah, I used to have them a bit more in front but iirc I think I was noticing that putting my wrists in less favorable position ie more bending there.
That said, I'll try to get them a bit more in front next time and see what happens.

Yeah, I guess. Will toy with layback a bit more.

Thanks.

Sleep-deprived going in. Watching football all night every night has put a dent in my otherwise solid sleeping schedule.
Damn kids wake up 6-7am every morning without caring if was up till 1am watching football

17.6.2012

OHP
4x 49.5 kg (109 lb)
6x 46.5 kg
6x 43.5 kg

Repeat next time.

Chins
6x +18.5 kg (+41 lb)
7x +13.5 kg

Incline-DB-Bench
17.5 kg's (39 lb's)
12 / 12

I think I'll ditch doing curls on pryess-day and do these instead. Dem guns get hit plenty hard w weighted chins + I think I'm much better served by doing some bench accessory work.

Ab-wheel
12 / 14

Progression on these is trying to increase ROM each time, close to full ROM now. Kneeling still obv.

I am still on my knees on these also. Do you crunch during the movement or keep your back arched¿ On youtube people are doing them differently, confused about this.

I just try to maintain neutral arch in the low back and contract the abz.

19.6.2012

BP
5x 65.5 kg (145 lb)
6x 62 kg
7x 59 kg

Hm, top set felt surprisingly easy.
Prolly just variance tho.

Hammer-Curls
12.5 kg's (28 lb's)
13 / 13

Dips
BW
11 / 11

Might wanna start doing these weighted soon.

Planks
+17.5 kg (+39 lb)
3x30s

21.6.2012

OHP
4.5x 49.5 kg (109 lb)
5.5x 46.5 kg
7x 43.5 kg

Top-set just too heavy.
Repeat again next time.

Chins
6x +19 kg (+42 lb)
7x +14 kg

Incline-DB-Bench
17.5 kg's (39 lb's)
14 / 12

Ab-wheel
14 / 14

All right, Mid-summer festivities start tomorrow, 3 days of binge drinking and BBQ'ing, drunken sauna'ing and swimming etc, here we go!
So, it'll prolly be a 5 days break from gyming for me.

Also, my cut is DONE. Still no ripped abs but enough is enough. On this weekend it'll be Mid-summer and then my summer vacation starts on Monday so this is a very natural spot to quit cutting.
Not gonna go full-****** on calories though. Masterplan is maintenance-ish for a 2 or 3 weeks and moderate surplus from there on out.

BW = 64 kg (141 lb)
-6 kg (-13 lb) in 7.5 weeks

All right, returned from the summer house and back in the gym-business.

26.6.2012

BP
4x + 3x 66 kg (146 lb)
5x 62.5 kg
7x 60 kg

Plan was to get back on GSLP-rep-scheme and do 2x5, 1x5+ w 66kg but that plan had FAIL written all over it.
I think I'll reset BP and OHP next week. That'll allow me to start a new slow and hopefully steady progression and also get in more reppage.

Hammer-Curls
12.5 kg's (28 lb's)
13 / 10

Dips
BW
12 / 12

I'll start adding weight from here on out.

Planks
+15 kg (+33 lb)
15x15s

HOLY CARDIO.
Thanks for the tip, Cha...

In case some1's interested, the rep scheme was as follows:
(15s rest btwn all reps)
5x15s
105s rest
4x15s
90s rest
3x15s
75s rest
2x15s
60s rest
1x15s

This was on Thursday, just forgot to log it.

28.6.2012

OHP
3x 50 kg (110 lb)
5x 46 kg
7x 44 kg

No other particular reason than laziness to try 50kg as the top-set.
2x15kg plates is so much easier to load than 2x10kg+2x2.5kg+2x1.25kg+2x1kg...
50kg is such a nice number too, not even slightly surprised to get only 3 reps tho.

Chins
5x +20 kg (+44 lb)
6x +15 kg

Chin-ups w a PLATE, yay!
Only 5 reps though, I think I'll reset to a weight I can do 2x8 and go from there.

Incline-DB-Bench
17.5 kg's (39 lb's)
15 / 15

More weight next time.

Ab-wheel
12 / 12

30.6.2012

BP
66 kg (146 lb)
5 / 5 / 5

>BW for 3x5, weee.
Far from a huge accomplishment I know but a milestone nevertheless. However, I can feel stall being just around the corner.

Hammer-Curls
12.5 kg's (28 lb's)
15 / 15

More weight next time.

Dips
+5 kg (+11 lb)
8 / 8

I think I'll do same with these as with chins and try to keep adding 1 or 1.25 kg per wo. And try to do 2x 6-8 reps.

Planks
+16 kg (+35 lb)
15x15s

Rubber-mat on the gym floor is tearing my skin off on my elbows with these.
Note to self, bring a pillow of some kind to the gym next time.

Anyhoo, everything felt surprisingly smooth today. I think it was because I was in a very well fed state during today's workout.
I had a very nice pre-workout-meal consisting of (1500 cals?):
- Salmon grilled with Cajun-spices
- Roasted vegetables, baked potato and chive-crème fraîche and bell pepper-cashew sauce
- Crispy sliced potatoes + mango-chili-mayonnaise
- Cheese cake with strawberry sauce
- Coke

Diet confirmed 100% crap obv.

Missus and kids were out of the house and I was too lazy/busy (playing internet pokers all morning and much of the afternoon in my underwear) to make myself breakfast or lunch so trained fasted.
So, everything felt a bit weak and sluggish.

3.7.2012

OHP
48kg (106 lb)
5 / 4.5 / 4.5

Very close to get all 5 reps on all sets but meh, it's time to reset teh pryess.

Chins
+12.5 kg (+28 lb)
8 / 7

Maybe I shoulda reset the whole 10% (BW incl.) to ensure 8 reps on both sets.

Incline-DB-Bench
18.75 kg's (41 lb's)
10 / 10

Ab-wheel
12 / 14

Missed a workout on Thursday, not good

7.7.2012

BP
57.5 kg (127 lb)
5 / 5 / 9

Reset Bench. Figured 57.5 kg wud be somewhere around 10 reps in 3rd set -category.
Close.

Hammer-Curls
13.25 kg's (29 lb's)
12 / 12

Dips
+6.25 kg (+14 lb)
8 / 8

Planks
+16.5 kg (+36 lb)
15x15s

In other news, look what UPS just brought me:



The thing was delivered in a box containing close to a million pieces so a bit of a bitch to assemble plus wife think it doesn't really fit into the interior of our house but I feel like this thing will be play a very important role in the healing process of my herniated disc.

Man I run bad on the injury-front.
This time I managed to tweak something in my mid-back by just laying down on a sofa.
That **** occured on Monday. I don't know what it was, probably locked up facet joint or something.
Anyways, I had to skip yet another workout on Tuesday because of it

However, I had a small workout yesterday - putting together the newest H&F-related toy of mine, a trampoline:





The thing weighs ~300 lbs and the springs were hard to pull yo. So a workout it was.