jesus, well done. 1.25bw at that volume

Thanks. Just need to get my press to start cooperating similarly.

RDL is continuing to improve. You cut depth a little and are falling forward less at the bottom. Big ups

Saturday, April 1, 2017 Training
Overhead Variant, C2W2 TM42 4x8 @70%

1. Press:

10x10
20x5
25x2

29x8
29x8
29x8
29x12 @10

2. Chin-ups (@58kg)

8
8
8
7 @9.5

2. Paused CGBP (kg):

20x5
35x3

49x7
49x7
49x7
49x7 @9

3. DB Incline Press (#):

35x10
35x10
35x10 @8.5

3. DB External Rotation (#):

10x10
10x10
10x9

3. Cable Face-pull (#, leverage):

65x16
65x16
65x16

***

The gym was packed because it rained all morning. I still managed a decent workout, one of my better press days in a while. In particular, I made some gains on DB incline, with more reps than ever at 35s and reps in the tank on each set. I think I'm just getting better at handling dumbbells.

Chin-ups still as lackluster as ever. I'll add some weight next week and see if that spurs any progress.

Sunday, April 2, 2017 Training
Deadlift Variant, C2W2 TM123 4x6 @70%

1. 6cm Block Pulls:

20x8 good morning
20x8 rdl
40x7 rdl
65x4
75x2

87.5x6
87.5x6
87.5x6
87.5x14

2. Paused HBBS (kg):

20x5
40x5
60x1

70x7
70x7
70x7

2. Hanging Leg Raise:

14
14
14

3. Machine Seated Row (#):

115x10
115x10
115x10

3. Leg Curl (#):

90x10
90x10
90x10

3. Cable Curl (#, leverage):

65x8
65x7
55x12

***

I can't complain too much about this one. Pulls were pretty sloppy in the top set, as I was distracted by mistakes and had to reset too frequently. The other linked set was better.

Squats were maybe a bit high, too. My knee felt perfect the other day when I did 75x15, but it was hurting a little today during warmup.

Week 51 Diet, Week 33 Cut



Bleh.

I had a guest from out of town, which made it quite difficult to stick to cutting calories. I kind of undid all of last week's progress, but it's obviously water weight. Three weeks out from the end of the cut, I'm keen to string together a couple of really good weeks to close it out. This week I'm going to attempt to go 8 straight days without eating out at a restaurant, which should help.

Don't breathe during the rep imo

Monday, April 4, 2017

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

3, 10
4, 12
5, 14
6, 16
7, 18
6, 16
5, 14
4, 12
3, 10


Two weeks in a row of this. Goin' all floppyj out this *****.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017 Training
Bench Variant, C2W3 TM73 5x7 @72.5%

1. Close-Grip Bench:

20x10
35x5
45x2

52.5x7
52.5x7
52.5x7
52.5x7 @8.5
52.5x8 @10 (failed #9)

2. T-Bar Row (kg):

55x10
55x9 (miscounted reps)
55x10
55x10

2. Arnold Press (#):

25x13
25x13
25x13
25x13

3. Lat Pulldown (#):

100x14
100x14
100x13
100x12

3. Cable Lateral (#, leverage):

15x10
15x9
15x9
15x9

3. Push-ups:

14
14
14
14

***

A productive but exhausting day. My bench form is tighter than it has been in a long time. I really felt like 9 should have been there in the amrap, but looking at the video it just looks like my strength ran out. Might have lost the groove a little in the 8th rep.

Rows seem to be improving a little. My setup is essentially to sumo deadlift the bar up to lockout, then RDL until my back is about 45 degrees, then begin rowing. There's still a lot of upper back and trap involvement but the reps where I focus on my lats are a bit better.

I've been tweaking the volume up a bit on my upper days, based on the reasoning that the lower body lifts are more taxing per set. Not to mention that my lower days tend to take substantially longer. There's just more time on press and bench days to do an extra set or two. Whether this extra volume is in my capacity to recover from, time will tell.

Bench looking thick, tight and solid.Last one went a little straight off the chest or I think you'd have ground it out.

That's great to hear. Thanks.


Thursday, April 6, 2017 Training
Squat Variant, C2W3 TM107 5x7 @72.5%

1. HBBS:

20x10
40x5
65x2

77.5x7
77.5x7
77.5x7
77.5x7
77.5x8

2. Romanian Deadlift (kg):

62.5x8
62.5x8
62.5x8
62.5x8

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

115x12
115x12
115x12
115x12

3. Leg Press (kg):

150x9
150x9
150x9

3. DB Hammer Curl (#):

20x14
20x14
20x13

3. Good Morning (kg):

45x9
45x9
45x9

***

I weighed in at a paltry 56.6 kg this morning, which made me feel that topping last week's squat effort would be unlikely. Still got pretty pumped, but my sets were plagued with form issues. Each set was better than the last, but I didn't feel comfortable enough with my form in the last set to push it to being one of my balls-out 15 reppers. Then, funnily, the video of that set turned out to look just fine other than the 5th rep. Oh well, no need to go ham all the time I suppose.

Saturday, April 8, 2017 Training
Overhead Variant, C2W3 TM42 5x7 @72.5%

1. Press:

10x10
20x5
25x2

30x6 (miscounted reps)
30x7
30x7
30x7
30x10 @9

2. Paused CGBP (kg):

17x10 (20 kilo bars were being used)
32x5
42x2

49.5x6
49.5x6
49.5x6
49.5x7

2. Chin-ups (@57kg)

+10lb x5
+10lb x5
+10lb x5
+10lb x6

3. DB Incline Press (#):

30x14
30x14
30x14
30x14

3. DB External Rotation (#):

10x10
10x10
10x10
10x10

3. Cable Face-pull (#, leverage):

55x22
55x22
55x22
55x22

***

Pretty solid day. Minor but observable gains on all lifts. Bench was a little frustrating because I couldn't seem to remember to actually pause the reps. I did an extra rep in the last set as punishment.

I added weight to chins for the first time. Just did the dumbbell in between the feet thing. This should work fine up to 25 lb.

What do you mean by leverage in this case, I'm not seeing what I would call 'leverage' which would be something behind your knees preventing the weight from lifting you up - like the purpose of the knee pads on a lat pull down machine.

I'm just putting that note on any exercise that uses the cable crossover. In other words, pulley leverage as per the discussion we had about this recently in the thread.

Sunday, April 9, 2017 Training
Deadlift Variant, C2W3 TM123 5x5 @72.5%

1. 6cm Block Pulls:

20x8 good morning
20x8 rdl
60x4
60x3
75x2

90x5
90x5
90x5 (best set)
90x5
90x11

2. Paused HBBS (kg):

20x8
40x4
60x1

70x7
70x7
70x7
70x7

2. Hanging Leg Raise:

14
14
14
14

3. Machine Seated Row (#):

100x15
100x15
100x15

3. Leg Curl (#):

80x15
80x15
80x15

3. Cable Curl (#, leverage):

55x14
55x14
55x14

***

Pulls are getting better, I think, but still a work in progress. I still have a bad habit of craning my neck. The linked set of 5 was the only one in which I didn't do this on any reps. Squats felt really solid and deep (for me). All in all, it was a very productive Week 3.

edit: Sorry for the Dutch angles on all the vids. Not sure what happened there.

Week 52 Diet, Week 34 Cut



I failed dismally at this, having eaten dinners out on 3 of the 8 days. That said, the attempt led me to order much more conservatively those times. On Tuesday I ordered a steak with steamed vegetables instead of the mashed potato. On Saturday, I had a pork chop at the same place, with the same replaced potato with vegetables. Tonight, I had another steak at a proper French place, this time with mashed potato, but at least I passed on the dessert that everyone else had.

I'm going to continue attempting to limit eating out for the next two weeks. I'd really like to break into the 123.x's or even the 122.x's, and finish this cut strong.

Also, this makes a year of calorie logging.

Oh. Well, feel free to keep tracking on that.

I only nitted it up because N1H seemed to think he was weak when the reality was different leverage - whether the machine itself or leaning.

So unless you plan to quantify it so "real" numbers are represented....but then that ultimately doesn't matter like someone else said nobody cares about face pull PRs. Just that their is an improvement in reps, form and weight.

But it's...it's easy … to, to talk about... It's easy to sum it up when you're just talking about facepulls. We're sitting in here, and I'm supposed to be the franchise lifter, and we in here talking about facepulls. I mean, listen, we're talking about facepulls, not a squat, not a bench press, not a pull, we talking about facepulls. Not a deadlift. Not, not … Not the lifts that I go out there and die for and attack every lift like it's my last. Not the lifts, but we're talking about facepulls, man. I mean, how silly is that?

Wednesday, April 12, 2017 Training
Bench Variant, C2W4 TM73 6x6 @75%

1. Close-Grip Bench:

20x10
35x5
45x2x2
50x6 (misloaded first workset )

55x6
55x6
55x6
55x6
55x6
55x8 @10

2. T-Bar Row (kg):

60x7
60x7
60x7
60x7
60x7

2. Arnold Press (#):

30x8
30x8
30x8
30x8
30x8

3. Chin-ups (@57kg):

7
7
7
7

3. Push-ups:

15
15
15
15

3. Cable Lateral (#, leverage):

15x9
15x9
15x9
15x10

***

Since my bench press has been in a somewhat comfortable place lately, I decided to experiment with some new cues today. Namely:

1) I tried to "hover" my ass off the bench a little instead of allowing it to rest during the set. By which I mean it still is touching the seat, it just isn't putting its entire weight on it.

2) I tried to, at least for the first 2/3 of the set, get two reps per each breath. I think I waste some energy deliberating between reps that probably isn't made up for by the increased precision/focus that gives me when the reps are gonna be easy anyway.

I struggled a bit with these during the first few sets but it sort of clicked in the final set, which I feel is one of my best bench sets ever.

Facepulls, for lack of a better word, are good. Facepulls are right, facepulls work. Facepulls clarify, cut through, and capture the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Facepulls, in all of their forms; facepulls for strength, for prehab, for love, knowledge have marked the upward surge of mankind. And facepulls, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.

It speaks to my preferences in life that I insta-knew what Teldar Paper was and thus the reference. I had to Google when Aidan posted last night though cause I knew it wasn't just random gibberish.

Cockboat

Thursday, April 13, 2017 Training
Squat Variant, C2W4 TM107 6x6 @75%

1. HBBS:

20x10
40x5
60x2
70x1

80x6
80x6
80x6
80x6
80x6
80x11

2. Romanian Deadlift (kg):

65x9
65x9
65x10
65x10

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

115x13
115x13
115x13
115x13

3. Leg Press (kg):

150x9
150x9
150x9
150x9

3. DB Hammer Curl (#):

20x14
20x14
20x14
20x14

3. Good Morning (kg):

50x8
50x8
50x8
50x8

***

I weighed in at a new low of 56.4 kg. Then I went and had an awesome squat day. I'm even running hot at poker this week! LIGWIM.

Week 53 Diet, Week 35 Cut



Bit of a weight plateau happening. My clean eating habits are slipping so this isn't a big surprise. I carbed it up quite a bit this week, thanks to buying a bunch of muesli and porridge when I went grocery shopping. That said, I've made a ton of lifting progress during the last month so I'm holding out hope for the recomp.

Annoyingly, Khmer New Year has interrupted my Week 4 work. I'll be doing those workouts tomorrow and the day after, and this cycle is going to have an abridged deload week so I don't get off track.