Sunday, March 26, 2017 Training
Deadlift Variant, C2W1 TM123 3x7 @65%

1. 6cm Block Pulls:

20x8 goodmorning
20x8 rdl
40x5 rdl
60x4
70x2

80x7
80x7
80x18 (lol)

2. Paused HBBS (kg):

20x8
40x5
60x2

67.5x8
67.5x8 front view
67.5x8 side view

2. Cable Straight-back Crunch (# w/ leverage):

115x12
115x12
115x12

3. Machine Seated Row (#):

100x14
100x14
100x13

3. Leg Curl (#):

90x13 (misload)
80x13
80x13

3. DB Hammer Curl (#):

15x14
15x13
15x13

***

As I was doing block pulls today, it occurred to me that my reps generally look better when I stay tight between reps instead of resetting my back each time. In other words, I let the eccentric phase pull me into tightness at the bottom, take a breath, and pull the next rep. In the last set, I did this until I began to lose tightness, then stood back up and reset/repeated. It turned out pretty well.

Squats were hard but good. I'm happy with the depth. As for the other assistance work, I'm finding that there's a heavy overlap between the rows and the hammer curls. I'm not sure if I need to be separating these or something. Maybe I should move the curls over to press day.

Week 50 Diet, Week 32 Cut



Unfortunately, it looks like my 1400 calorie diet has morphed involuntarily to a 1600 calorie one. Fortunately, it appears that my TDEE is on the rise and I lose >1lb a week anyway.

It is definitely the case that my dieting discipline isn't what it once was. There are a couple of reasons for this. One, I've been having more demands in my social life lately, and often food comes with this. I still generally eat sensibly when I go out, but the act of going out results invariably in me eating more average calories. Second, I am hungrier all the time. Where I was previously capable of having a 400-500 calorie meal and being satiated for five hours, now I'm hungry again after three. I'm guessing that the overall increase in my activity level and my increased leanness are both playing a role here.

For the remainder of the cut, I'm still going to aim for 1400 calorie days, but not gonna sweat the ones that get away from me and drag the average up to 1600.

Per IFcalc, your TDEE should be around 2k calories/day anyway, and if 1600 results in better satiety and compliance and fits in better into your life, then go for it.

The decision point as to whether to begin lean massing is coming, by the way. You've still got a pretty low amount of LBM based on the noodz, so it's actually probably better to slow down the cut a bit regardless. I wouldn't go lower than 115, and then after that be prepared to roll on a ~200 calorie/day surplus for a year and try to pack on some lean mass and gain some strength.

I previously mentioned that the cut would be over on Apr 23 regardless of what I look like. My guess is that I'll be around 120-122 by then. At that point, I'll increase to maintenance calories over a 5 week period and stabilize my weight in the mid 120s. Then 10% surplus for hopefully a very long time.

Yeah. Volume is nice but isn't the only way. Having at least one Chin set per week where you go for max reps works really well for beginners. Adding moderate intensity sets doesn't always produce the results one can get from pushing progression with a max effort, high intensity set (+ some volume)

Monday, March 28, 2017

Chin-ups / Push-ups / 90s rest:

3, 10
4, 12
5, 14
6, 16
5, 14
4, 12
3, 10

Over the last few months I've quit going for intensity (weighted) on pull-ups and gone for frequency to build volume. Not doing heaaaaps of volume, but 5-6 sets of 4-6 reps supersetted over my workout 3-4 times per week. So probably up around 100 reps per week. I haven't tested my max reps in ages, but the 4-6 rep sets are certainly feeling solid\thick\tight. Also getting some more jacked lats and maybe traps presumably on the back of the volume.

It's more than 50. Twice more.

I'm kind of doing the opposite. I've decreased my reps/week and am focusing on adding reps to max intensity sets. I couldn't keep adding reps and smashing volume at the same time.

Your method sounds good. My training partner does a more volumetric approach like yours except with higher rep sets, and is massively jacked

Despite being mean to me, I was fairly sure Monte did something similar during his comeback?

ftr, last year I also tried a higher intensity, lower volume approach. I don't know which works best. Everything works. Nothing works.

The point was that 100 reps/week isn't "volume".

If it was in the form of 15-20 hard sets of 4-6, seems like volume to me.

On that note I'm a bit curious when I should begin adding weight to them. I'm choosing higher reps for the main lifts because I felt bored with / adapted to 3x5, but there's no reason not to try lower reps for chins. Especially if it can help me break through a plateau.

Now seems fine. Brian Alsruhe had a pretty nice recent video on pullups and progression thereon that you may find instructive.

I don't think sets of 4-6 could be that hard when you have 8+ rep max and are capable of 20 such sets per week. Seems like a very low intensity approach. Good to get really proficient at the actual pullup movement, not so much to progress to added weight or max reps

10-12 reps is probably a good range for adding weight. Though you could certainly progress to higher reps than that first. I'm currently working around that rep range and just added in 2 sets per week of weighted pulls. I figure I can afford to add reps to my bodyweight sets while also progressing max strength

I meant weighted ones at a weight where 4-6 reps is a "hard" set.

Snitchy was taking about greasing the groove with submaximal sets, if I correctly understood. In that context, 100 reps per week isn't much. 100 weighted reps would be, though.

Until recently I was doing 80-100 total reps over 9-10 sets twice a week (varying my grip between days). I'm moving towards a bit more weighted work now. I'm greasing the groove with push-ups (around 150/day) and would be doing the same with pull-ups if I had an at home bar.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017 Training
Bench Variant, C2W2 TM73 4x8 @70%

1. Close-Grip Bench:

20x8x2
35x5
45x2

51x8 @9 wtf
51x8 @8.5 better
51x6 @8.5 ugly
51x7 @9

2. T-Bar Row (kg):

60x8
60x8
60x8
60x8

2. Arnold Press (#):

30x9
30x9
30x9
30x9

3. Lat Pulldown (#):

115x10
115x10
115x10

3. Cable Lateral (#, leverage):

15x9
15x10
15x10

3. Push-ups:

13
13
13

***

I slept through my alarm which made me late for the gym. When I got there it was super crowded. Benching was super weak but I'm going to blame the crowd. I just have a lot of trouble benching when surrounded by distraction. I think the performance deficit was entirely form-based, since I actually made substantial gains on the dumbbell presses.

Rookie question. What does the @8/ @9 mean?

Towards the end of the video it looks like your core / back loses control ? Is that from the big back arch getting weak from being in that position for so long? Could be 110 percent off on this, just an observation.

http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/autoregulation/

@10 means you couldn't do another rep or you failed the last rep
@9.5 means you could maybe do another rep but not sure
@9 means you def could have done another rep, but certainly not two
@8.5 means you def could have done one more and maybe two
and so on.

And yes, I lost my upper back tightness toward the end of the set.

Thanks for clarifying. Keep on grinding the cut

Thursday, March 30, 2017 Training
Squat Variant, C2W2 TM107 4x8 @70%

1. HBBS:

20x10
40x5
60x2

75x8
75x8
75x8
75x15

2. Romanian Deadlift (kg):

60x8
60x8
60x8

2. Cable Straight-Back Crunch (#, leverage):

100x16
100x16
100x16

3. Leg Press (kg):

145x10
145x10
145x10

3. DB Hammer Curl (#):

20x13
20x13
20x13

3. Good Morning (kg):

40x10
40x10
40x10

***

Pretty much the antithesis of last week's squat day. I wasn't sure how many reps I'd get in the last set, as the 3x8 was pretty hard. It's astonishing how much of squat performance is simply mindset. Every rep after #8 felt ridiculously hard, and my form was still decent enough on #15 to bang out another couple. Still, it's arguably my best squat set ever and I couldn't be happier.

All the other stuff was pretty easy and there's a lot of room to add weight/reps for a while, assuming my strength doesn't decrease.

is that squat in pounds or kgs?

kg