6'4" 180 20% bodyfat? Ouch. The realities of natty training.

Probably below 15% at 185, but yeah. A few more pounds to go and then we'll let your practiced eyes do the soul crushing.

It will be the mirror that decides. The cut ends when our collective best guess is 15% bf, not at some arbitrary number. I think upper teens is a good bet for my current bf%, because of prior projections of where it would be at this weight, the strength gains I made since I've made those projections, and stuff like the navy BF% estimator saying that I'm in that area at my current waist/neck size.

In 2-3 weeks I'll snap the <130lb picture. I'm a sucker for round number milestones.

Thursday, February 2, 2017 Training

LBBS:

20x10
40x5
60x3
77.5x2
92.5x5 [PR] @9.5
92.5x4 @9
92.5x3 @8.5

Bench Press (tng):

20x10
35x5
50x2
55x5
55x5
55x11 [PR]
50x9 w/ wide grip

SS1 Pull-ups (@61kg):

8
8
7
6 [volume PR+1]

SS1 Dips (@60kg):

4
4
4
4

Deadlift:

20x10 from top
40x8 from top
60x3x2 from floor
80x3x2 from blocks
80x3x2 from floor

***

Pretty much an awesome day. I had a great first set for squat, but the other two were flawed. I cut the second set off at 4 to save gas for the third set, and that set was kind of an all around fail.

Bench is two more reps than I got last time at 55, and is pretty promising for how this GSLP cycle is going to go. I did my back-off set with a wider grip just to train more pec. It felt alright so I'll keep doing that. I'm also considering adding an additional backoff set. Maybe something like this next session:

ramp ups
57.5x5, 4.5' rest
57.5x5, 4.5' rest
57.5x5+ @9-9.5, 3' rest
52.5x5 wide grip, 3' rest
52.5x5+ @9 wide grip

I really don't feel as if the 3x5 + backoff set + accessories is overly taxing to my recovery capacity. My pecs, delts, and triceps are rarely sore for more than a day, if that long.

On a similar note, while I definitely made gains on this last GSLP cycle of squat, I feel as if those gains were entirely due to the addition of the belt, which boosted my squat by around 8% immediately. In other words, I'm not making actual gains, and I think it's because 3x5 is simply not enough volume anymore. So in the same vein as my bench press, I'm considering the following LBBS set/rep scheme after the next reset:

ramp ups
85x5, 4-6' rest
85x5, 4-6' rest
85x5+ @9, 5' rest
75x5 paused, 3' rest
75x5+ paused @9

I'll also add more sets of leg press on deadlift day to further increase the leg volume.


What do we think of this?

Nice work!

You're almost there on the deadlift. You're gonna get there: If you can squat that low, you can learn to deadlift with more hip drive and a neutral back. It's just a matter of time and effort.

Can you do some RDL/SLDL with the barbell, or even just a full deadlift motion, and see how far down you can get before your back rounds?

Fixed my post.

From today:



From December, when RDLs were part of my assistance work. Note that these suffer from a lot of the issues we've been addressing, like the leanback at the top:

You're still rounding in both of those. Too much weight.

Do a side angle with the barbell alone. Stop descending with the back one you've sat back all the way and hamstrings are fully loaded. You don't have to go so low.

If you can't load the hamstrings doing that, just try pushing the ass back while inclining slightly forward until the hamstrings stretch, then extend, squeezing the glutes at the top. That will at least get you to stretch your hamstrings and extend while keeping the back in the proper position.That could be the first step

Doing a full deadlift motion with just the barbell could help too.

Sunday, February 5, 2017 Training

Bench Press (tng):

20x10
35x5
50x2

57.5x5
57.5x5
57.5x8

51x5 w/wide grip
51x7 w/wide grip


LBBS:

20x10
40x5
60x3
70x2

84x5
84x5
84x10 [PR]

70x5 paused w/ no belt
70x6 paused w/ no belt


SS1: Chin-ups (@60kg):

11 [PR]
8
7
6
6

SS1: Arnold Press (#):

25x12
25x12
25x10
25x10
25x9


***

Upping the volume. The 84x10 was a pretty balls-out set that I'm proud of, even if there was some form breakdown. In particular, I got more hunched over as the set went on. I decided against deadlift practice today because the session was already over two hours and I was exhausted.


Week 43 Diet, Week 25 Cut



So now that I've got four 6-week blocks of cutting under my belt, that's enough sample size to see some patterns. I averaged the weight loss of each of the weeks of each block and discovered the following:

First week (1/7/13/19) ------ (-1.3 lb)
Second week (2/8/14/20) --- (-1.7 lb)
Third week (3/9/15/21) ----- (-1.4 lb)
Fourth week (4/10/16/22) --- (-0.8 lb)
Fifth week (5/11/17/23) ----- (-0.4 lb)
Sixth week (6/12/18/24) ----- (-0.6 lb)
Maintenance weeks ---------- (-0.3 lb)

Nothing definitive here, but it seems to me that there's something to these maintenance weeks that is more physiological than psychological. I've decided in light of this data to adopt 4-week blocks of cutting from now on. So 4 weeks of cut, 1 week of maintenance instead of 6 and 1.

Tuesday, February 7, 2017 Training

Press: (5/3/1 C3W1 TM40.5)

10x10
20x3x2

26x5
30x5
35x6 @9
26x11


Deadlift (no belt):

20x10x2 RDL
40x5

60x3x2 from Floor
80x2

80x3 from 6cm Blocks
90x3
100x2


SS1: DB Incline Press (#):

30x10
30x10
30x10
30x10

SS1: Leg Press (kg):

120x8
120x8
120x8
120x8


***

Bleh. I was still pretty sore from Sunday's new volume going into today. I think my form was garbage in the press top set. I linked the 30x5 set because I feel like it more accurately resembles what passes for decent form in my press workouts.

Deadlifts were even worse. My pulls from the floor looked as bad as they ever have and, to make matters worse, I tweaked my adductor again during those pulls. I wanted to do some kind of overloading stimulus for a deadlift-like movement so I used blocks and worked up to 100. These blocks are about 2/3 the height of the wooden ones I used in a previous workout. It looks like I can get into a significantly better position from them than I could from the floor.

I substantially decreased the intensity of the assistance work thereafter, both in terms of absolute weight and proximity to failure, in my feeble attempt to auto-regulate. After the pulls, my upper back was on fire, (more thoracic erectors than lats, I think), so I skipped rows today. On that note, my upper back has been pretty sore consistently for a couple of weeks now. I'm not sure whether this is a good thing or not.

My upperback gets sore also from deadlifts. My theory is that my arms are not long enough for optimal hip height deadlifts. So I upperback round and stretch to make it happen.

Have you tried sumo? You are never going to be a powelifter so there is no reason to keep smashing your head on a wall. All you need is to find a deadlift variation that works for you. Sumo. RDL. Stiff legged. Whatever. I conclude you will never lift heavy conventional. You can be snitch or you can be pummi in your journey to health and fitness.

Isn't there an argument to be made that if you can't do conventional properly you likely lack hip mobility and should adress that (for health and fitness reasons) rather than work around it?

If it's an anatomy thing (eg short arms) that's different ofcourse

If you assume conventional deadlifts are necessary for overall health and fitness, then yes.


But that's absurd. Well unless you picking up heavy boxes or the like, for a living.

That's not what I mean, I'm saying that if you can't do conventional deadlifts atm because of a mobility issue, shouldn't you work on that because having proper mobility is just... better/healthier/fitter. Even if you never use the increased mobility to do a conventional deadlift.

Agree. He doesn't have to deadlift right now. Block pulls or sets that never touch the ground are totally reasonable.

However, a barbell hip extension exercise, IE a deadlift of some form, is a very important part of a strength program, so he needs to be doing something.

I've found SLDL is just as intensive as deadlift and builds a ton of stability strength. The only difference otherwise is less leg drive. It can also teach one to sit back and create a more flexible lifter- combined with mobility this could lead to a solid full deadlift. A full deadlift isn't a necessity though

I haven't tried sumo, but I feel that conventional pulls or sldls/rdls would have a better training effect. I am still absurdly weak so I am not per se interested in the lift that I can move the most weight at.

My tentative plan is to program my deadlift day as a heavy set and a backoff set of 6cm block pulls, with some RDL sets on a separate day to assist and provide a loaded stretch. I felt reasonably well about how the block pulls looked today (can you confirm/deny?). I pulled off 3 tiles today so maybe over time I can take one tile away every few months and be eventually pulling heavy from the floor. Shrug.

Thursday, February 9, 2017 Training

Bench Press (tng):

20x10
35x5
52.5x2

59x3 @8.5
55x5
55x6 @8.5


LBBS:

20x10
40x5
60x3
72.5x2

85x5
85x5
85x3


***

Circumstances surrounding this workout gave me low expectations for it going in. I didn't sleep well, and this morning I had some major relationship issues come up. I don't want to go into details but basically, there's a good chance my 4+ year relationship is over.

I still managed to show up and I knew something was wrong right away in the last warmup bench set. 52.5 felt like 57.5.

Squats weren't much better. I was probably good for 6-7 in the third set, but I got distracted by my thoughts during the set, racked it, and called it a day from there.

My upper back soreness came up again during squats. It seems like that fatigue just doesn't get a chance to fully dissipate. Combine that with the reasonable suspicion that I'm over-reaching with my upper body work (two consecutive dismal press/bench performances), and it seems like I need a deload. An actual week-long deload. I also feel like it may be time to change to a 4-day split. It seems like I can never have a productive training session on Tuesday, not to mention that my workouts go over 2 hours now.

Sorry man. But nice work on getting to the gym anyways.

Also, good thing you look much better now that you'll be single again!

Awesome work keeping the drive going even with bad stuff in life, thats how real habits are formed

Sunday, February 12, 2017 Training (Deload Week)

Close-Grip Bench:

20x10
35x5
50x5
50x5

HBBS:

20x10
40x5
55x3
70x5
70x5

SS: Chin-ups (@59kg):

6
6
6

SS: Arnold Press (#):

25x8
25x8
25x8


***

I'm still figuring out what my 4-day split is going to be starting next week. Israetel recommends substituting variations for the main lifts during a hypertrophy block, so I tried out a couple of those today. Close-grip bench seems like a good choice for my bench variation, given its something I haven't yet trained and it has a longer ROM than a normal grip.

For squat, I'm considering either HBBS or front, and I tried HBBS for the first time today. It felt kind of awkward, but not bad. The bar position was uncomfortable and will take getting used to. I can slightly understand why all the bros use the p-pad for these.

I'm probably going to substitute a barbell incline press for my overhead press, and I'll be trying that on Tuesday.


Week 44 Diet, Week 26 Cut



Lackluster week for lifting, amazing week for cutting. This is the most I've lost in a week since Week 1, and it's more confirming data for my theory that the diet breaks are helping. I weighed in at 130.0 (59kg) this morning for a new low.

Nudes this week.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017 Training (Deload Week)

BB Incline Bench:

20x10
35x5
45x5
45x5

Romanian Deadlift:

20x10
20x10
40x5
40x5

Block Pulls (6cm):

60x3
75x3
85x3

SS: DB Flat Bench (#):

30x8
30x8

SS: Pull-ups (@59kg):

5
5


***

Another deload day, another day of trying new movements. I've never done a barbell incline press before. It felt okay, just some awkward aspects, especially with the equipment. I'm much too small to use the higher hooks, so I have to press like 25cm out of the lower ones to get in position for the set. It will be difficult to work near failure for this, as I can't roll of shame the bar, and it even seems like it would be awkward to spot. Luckily, I'll be doing mostly high reps and avoiding failure with my new program.

Block pulls felt okay.

Squats are looking pretty good!

I would say that's an acceptable degree of rounding on the Block pulls. You could make serious progress adding weight with that form. I do think you can get some more leg drive at the start, probably by getting your hips a little lower. That might make the difference re: lumbar extension. The squats prove you can do it.

Re: the idea of removing tiles to reach the floor, it works. I think you'd be better off first working mobility to get into the bottom position, and practice a lot of light pulls from the ground with perfect positioning and form. Then either moving towards the floor or just switching to a full DL is probably ideal. Block pulls are a fine substitute all the same and there's no reason you can't get ridiculously strong doing them.

As far as RDL, just make sure you're emphasizing sitting back as far as possible. This requires sitting down to a degree. The shins might reach parallel but no further and the hamstrings/hips are loaded by the eccentric.

Nice work starting pullups as well, you should be a beast at your bodyweight

New program, based on Israetel's guidelines for a hypertrophy block:



Some thoughts:

1. The percentages, sets, and reps for the main lifts probably bear tweaking, and I feel that it's just going to be a matter of doing these workouts and seeing how they feel. I will take the last work sets to @9 just to keep a dipstick reading. Week 4 looks pretty pukey, but Israetel recommends overreaching in the week before deload.

2. The chosen training maxes are pretty lowball, and that's by design. I have very little practice with these lifts so I have basically no idea what my 1RM is, and besides, I should make some decent gains just from the sheer volume. I'll make appropriate TM increases based on performance.

3. The accessory lifts will start out with 3 sets and a fourth will be added in week 3. Later mesocycles may bump that up to 4-5.

4. Really the most important thing is a steady increase in volume, both in terms of poundage and in terms of # of sets/reps, from week to week and meso to meso.


I'm hoping this program (or some edition of it) will last me for the next several months, including the remainder of this cut and the proceeding maintenance/bulk. It will take some discipline to resist going for PRs for a while but I think it's long past time to stack up some serious volume.

Thanks.

I've been noticing that since I've been working on my deadlift per your recommendations, I've been having a lot of upper back soreness. I think maybe what is happening is that the form improvements I've made have made me a lot more aware of my posture. So now I'm continually trying to keep my shoulders from rounding and its a lot of work for my thoracic erectors throughout the day. Literally, every day that I play live poker my back is sore by the end of it, and this never used to happen to me. One of the reasons I decided to take a deload week is because the soreness just persisted, but even during deload it's still happening. Any thoughts on this?