Happy birthday man!

looking good Renton! Damn, you've come from so far and now look at you.

TY. I'm skinnier than most Khmers now so luckily I didn't need to get one tailored. The last time I wore a suit was at a wedding in 2010. It was loose and awkward.

Thanks, bros!


Sunday, June 18, 2017 Training
Deadlift Variant, C4W3 TM143 5x5 @70%

1. 6cm Block Pulls (kg):

20x10 good morning
20x10 rdl
40x8 rdl
60x5
80x3
95x2
105x5
105x5
105x5
105x5
105x7 [PR]

2. Paused HBBS (kg):

30lb x10 goblet squat
20x8
40x4
60x3
80x5
80x5
80x5
80x5 (*)

2. Hanging Leg Raise:

19
19
19
19

3. Machine Seated Row (lb):

115x15
115x15
115x15

3. Leg Extensions (lb):

90x12
90x12
90x12

(*) Rear view for nuclear500.

***

Finally a lower day where I didn't train like a *****. I managed to summon a decent effort for block pulls, and made some minor progress on squats. I also have been making a ton of progress on these machine rows.

Week 62 Diet
Mass Phase Week 3



Apparently bulking is harder than cutting. Friday was my birthday so no regrets there, but even otherwise this is some pretty sloppy work. It's hard to find the discipline to make sensible food choices when I have so much leeway to make bad choices. It's like 2300 is in an uncanny valley where I'd have an easier time eating 1800 or 2600 kcal.

You didn't overshoot by much and would have been almost bang on minus the extra Birthday cals. Happy Birthday!

Thought about not even bothering to comment even though you did this 'just for me'

Anyway. On the last rep you can also expressly see the left leg come in - not so much "cave" but it goes more straight compared to the right. The stripes help see this actually. All the other reps were more symmetrical/uniform except that last one.

What does this mean? I'm not really sure but it does mean *something*. Is it worth getting all nitty about and try to correct? Probably not. It could just be fatigue set in first on the left side as you reached good form rep limit. If you'd gone for more then it might have been "worse". That side view made it look worse than this back view shows it to be, to me.

I think everybody has this to some degree, as we naturally have one leg stronger than the other that can do work longer as well. I was just concerned it looked way worse and more like you were actually rotating and shifting way more load.

nice progress

New nudes:



Measurements:



***

Since last pics, I spent about five weeks on maintenance calories and three in a surplus. The 123 lb previously was depleted and the 128 lb is fairly bloated, so it's hard to say how much actual mass gain this is. The measurements are a little hard to interpret, especially the big drop in chest and shoulders, which are likely to be from mistakes in measuring consistency. Arms and legs gains seem pretty unequivocal, though, and I'm pleased to have maintained the same waist circumference at +4% body weight.

The differences in the pics from last time are VERY subtle. Maybe a bit of chest development in the front pic. I appear to be a bit thicker in the side pic, but that might be a slightly different camera angle. There's probably more value in comparing the new pics to the 2.17 ones where I was almost the same weight but substantially less lean.

Might be time to increase the interval between nudes to three or four months instead of two.

Thanks!

Sorry for making you feel like you had to reply. That was the point of naming you, I must admit.

The rep you saw me shift on was at 87.5kg, so it may be something that only happens at heavier loads. Thanks for the reply. I'm glad that you think it's not a big deal.

Thanks. I did overshoot some, and I should have probably reined it in with some 2100ish calorie days to anticipate the birthday blowout a little. I appreciate being reassured, but it's definitely still something I need to improve on.

This is why you are the compliance King and seeing such progress. Keep on!

Awesome recomp since last time at this weight!

Cheers, bros.

This one slipped by me. Thanks! You still lifting, bro?


Wednesday, June 21, 2017 Training
Bench Variant, C4W4 TM79 6x6 @75%

1. Close-Grip Bench (kg):

20x10x2
40x4
55x2
60x4 @8.5
50x4
52.5x6
55x6

2. T-bar Row (kg):

60x7
60x7
60x7
60x7
60x10

2. Arnold Press (lb):

35x8
35x8
35x8
35x8
35x8
35x7

3. Pec Deck (lb):

120x12
130x12
130x14
130x14
130x15

3. Chin-ups (@59kg):

8
8
8
8
8

3. Cable Laterals (lb, leverage):

15x11
15x11
15x13
15x15
15x15

***

Ugh.

Went to the gym feeling pretty much 100%. Then I got to my first work set and had weakness and dull pain in my left shoulder. Yeah, this is a weight I haven't handled before, but I should be good for at least 60x8, so I knew something was wrong from the first rep.

I took some weight off and spent some time warming up my shoulder. At first, even a 10lb dumbbell lateral caused pain and I could barely lift the weight. After a few minutes, I was feeling a lot better and the lateral raises felt good. Then I began ramping back up toward 60, the pain got worse and worse with each set, and I called it quits after 55x6.

The good news is that the pain didn't affect anything else I planned to do other than pushups. I did an extra set of arnold press to make up for the lack of volume, subbed pec deck for pushups to get some tension on my chest without involving the shoulders, and gained a ton of reps on laterals which, oddly, felt absolutely fine by then.

I'll get another crack at benching on Saturday, and thankfully the deload comes after that. So if this is something that will take a little time to heal, at least it didn't ruin an entire mesocycle. My hunch is that overhead pressing should be fine, so at least I get to attempt progress at that.

Thursday, June 22, 2017 Training
Squat Variant, C4W4 TM121 6x6 @75%

1. HBBS (kg):

30lb x10 goblet
20x5x4
40x5
60x4
80x3
80x2
90x6 [PR for high bar]
90x6
90x6
90x6
90x6
90x9 [PR for any squat]

2. Romanian Deadlift (kg):

85x9
85x9
85x9
85x9

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

115x15
115x15
115x15
115x15

3. Goblet Squat (lb):

60x15
60x3

3. Leg Extensions (lb):

100x12
100x12
100x12

3. DB Hammer Curl (#):

25x9
25x9
25x10
25x11

***

Awesome day. I spent almost 90 minutes squatting and warming up to squat. Powerlifter bro gave me a tip or two, mainly to descend under more tension instead of dive bombing for depth the way I do. All sets were very tough, and none were perfect. Depth was a struggle as ever, but it definitely seems like my form is getting better.

My knee felt fine for the main work, but it began bothering me during goblet squats, and went from discomfort to pain in the second set. I'd already been at the gym forever at that point, and I really couldn't be bothered to address it so I just finished with some leg extension sets.

I'm really looking for some advice on my shoulder. The PL bro said to skip benching on Saturday, maybe even skip the entire workout.

Saturday, June 24, 2017 Training
Overhead Variant, C4W4 TM48 6x6 @75%

1. Press (kg):

10x10x2
20x5
27.5x3
32.5x2
36x6 @9.5
36x6 @10
36x4 @9
36x5 @10
32.5x7 @8.5
32.5x7 @9.5

2. Chin-ups (@58kg)

+25 lb x5 @9.5
+25 lb x4
+25 lb x4 @9.5
+15 lb x5
+15 lb x5 @9.5

2. Pec Deck (lb): (in lieu of bench)

140x12
140x12
140x12
140x12
140x12

3. Barbell Incline Press (kg):

20x5x2
30x5x2
40x3 (pain)

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

75x16
75x16
75x16
75x16
75x16

3. Cable Triceps Extension (lb, leverage): (in lieu of incline bench)

35x14
35x14
35x12
35x12
35x12

***

Kind of an annoying day. After warming up my shoulders, I discovered that the easiest way to cause the pain was by doing a front raise. Literally, a 5-pound dumbbell lifted at 90 degrees to the frontal plane caused pain and was actually pretty heavy too. Lateral raises and raises at 30/45/60 degrees felt fine. So it would appear that I have a minor tear in the anterior deltoid, one of the fibers closest to the pec. It's interesting with the way the delt works that I can overhead press with no pain, it simply hits different fibers of the anterior delt.

So a lot of the session was spent figuring out what I could and couldn't do, and how hard I could push things. Pressing didn't go great, but it's unsurprising given the conditions. Even though I could press without pain, subconsciously it was tough to give it 100% with the injury in the back of my mind.

I think I'll probably still make a modest increase to the TM, as I've otherwise had a great cycle of OHP. Just gotta have faith in the gainz.

Sucks to hear that you might have an injury, but it sounds relatively mild at least.

Nice squat volume PR! I agree that depth is improving.

Thanks!

Yeah, but I think if I'm smart about it, this shouldn't derail my progress. I'm going to switch back to a standard bench grip width for a few cycles. Hopefully, not needing to tuck as much will take some pressure off that part of the delt and reduce the risk of re-injuring once it's healed.

Sunday, June 25, 2017 Training
Deadlift Variant, C4W4 TM143 7x4 @75%

1. 6cm Block Pulls (kg):

60x5
80x3
100x1x2
107.5x4
107.5x4
107.5x4 (best set)
107.5x4
107.5x4 @9

2. Paused HBBS (kg):

20x5x2
40x4
60x3
72.5x1 (*)

2. Hanging Leg Raise:

20
20
20
20

3. Machine Seated Row (lb):

130x10
130x10
130x10
130x10
130x10

3. Leg Extensions (lb):

110x10
110x10
110x10
110x10
110x10

***



I went in still very sore from squat day, especially in the adductors and hamstrings. I spent a lot of time warming up, but I just didn't feel 100%. The third (linked) set was by far the best and the others were very tough. After the third set I was pretty sure I'd hit my numbers but the next two sets were way harder and I decided to call it a day. WIM was a factor, no doubt, and with enough WIM I should have at least dropped the weight to 100 for some backoff sets.

(*) Squat deload begins early, apparently. I couldn't reach depth (not even Renton Depth) on any set. My hips were just super tight and sore.


I'm heading to the U.S. in two days. I've scheduled the flight to happen during deload week to make things easier. I'm thinking there need to be some changes to my program. The volume (or intensity, or both) of my lower days needs to decrease a bit. Week 4 is supposed to functionally overreach, but I think that happened in Week 3 for my lower workouts, and I was too fatigued going into Week 4. It's possible that the AMRAP sets of squat and block pull are doing me more harm than good and are only there for the motivation of being able to type "[PR]" in one of my log entries.

Anyway, I have a week to think things over. Probably going to take very conservative TM jumps all around. The percentages and sets/reps bear some tweaking as well, and I have data from four cycles to process.

Week 63 Diet
Mass Phase Week 4



Not the worst week. On Sunday I went out with a friend and had a happy smoothie and ate out at a vegan restaurant, hence the dismal protein. I was stoned out of my mind for the rest of the day so a pretty tame day for calories considering.

I'm gaining weight a little faster than I am comfortable. I weighed in this morning at 131.2, no doubt thanks to the >300 carb day yesterday. I think my protocol for deload weeks will be to shoot for 1900 cal. Then I'll shoot for 2150 and no doubt go over, but will still be less than I am eating now. I'd really like to stretch this bulk as far into 2017 as possible.

Thursday, June 29, 2017 Training
Bench and Squat Variants, C4 Deload

1. Bench Press (lb):

45x10
75x5
95x5
105x5
115x5
125x5

1. HBBS (lb):

45x9
95x5
135x5
155x5
165x5
175x5

2. Chin-ups:

6
6
6

***

My first workout since I landed in USA #1. Everything will be in pounds for a few weeks. My gym has a rule that nobody can be in the shot when I record, so videos may be a challenge this month. Also, my gym is very cold which is gonna take getting used to, as I normally train in 90+ degree temperatures.

I was a bit worried about my shoulder since the pain got a little worse during the last couple of days of travel, but after a good night's sleep in a bed, it feels much better. I'm changing my primary bench from close-grip to a normal grip. For the first few sets I went with pinkies on the rings. That grip seemed a bit too wide so after the 95 set I brought the grip in about 1/2". This wider grip results in less tucking than before and is much easier on my shoulder. There was still some very minor pain in the heavier sets. After warming up and doing these sets, it was still painful to front raise an 8-pound dumbbell. Really not sure how hard to push this stuff. Absent any better advice, I'm inclined to bench as per the standard program, probably at a lower TM and never taking sets past @9.

My knee didn't feel great during warmups but once I got it going, squats went reasonably well.

I'm going to continue to mull over the details of my program during this deload week and provide a detailed post about the changes after Sunday's workout.

Saturday, July 1, 2017 Training
Overhead Variant, C4 Deload

1. Press (lb):

45x5
60x3
70x5
70x5
70x5

2. Paused Bench (lb):

45x8
75x4
95x2
110x4
110x4
110x4

2. T-bar Row (lb):

120x6
120x6
120x6

***

My shoulder felt really good today. It's a good sign, but hard to know until I get back to heavier weights.

Sunday, July 2, 2017 Training
Deadlift Variant, C4 Deload

1. Sumo Deadlift (lb):

135x3
135x3
185x3 (front)
185x3 (side)
225x2 (front)
225x2 (side)

2. Paused HBBS (lb):

45x8
95x4
135x2
155x4
155x4
155x4

***

I decided to make a deload day interesting. I have vague notions of switching to a new deadlift variant to keep things fresh so I tried sumo for the first time ever. They felt fine, but that's probably because I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. The only thing I can see is that my hips are very slightly rising before the bar leaves the floor, which probably means my shoulders are starting too far back.

Squats felt good. Only thing notable is that a bit wider stance seems to feel better on my knees. I need to stop changing stance widths daily and just pick one and go with it, so I'll be using this stance for a whole cycle and see how it goes.

Week 64 Diet
Mass Phase Week 5



Since it was deload week, I intended to put up some lower calorie numbers. Wednesday looks bad, but it's a 36 hour day. Protein is dismal but I am having a very hard time adjusting to USA macros. My family's house is filled with nothing but junk food. It will take adjusting. Hopefully, I can train hard enough this month to mitigate the damage.

Edit: No weigh-ins this month, gonna be a big surprise when I return to Cambodia.

I Love the 'woo' at the lockout on your first 225 front view sumo. timed nicely to seem as if he's giving props for locking it out.

Scattered thoughts on a few topics:

(tl;dr: Switching to standard bench and sumo deadlift. Reducing Week 1 volume. Going less HAM on amrap sets. More bro work.)

My shoulder:

It still hurts a little when I move it in certain ways. Luckily I'm able to overhead press heavy and do dumbbell laterals without pain. I may even be able to bench heavy as long as I use a wider grip and flare a bit more at the bottom. I'll ease into heavier weights over the course of the cycle and see how it goes.


My lifts:

I made a lot of progress on bench press over the last 20 weeks. If it weren't for getting hurt, I'd see no reason to change that, but now it's clear something needs to change. As mentioned above, I will bench with my former grip, with pinkies about 1/2" inside the rings. This is about 2" out from my previous grip. I'll keep the TM at 79. I'm more concerned with doing clean reps and not tearing my shoulder up more than with progress at this point. Gonna avoid the amraps too for a while.

Although I've struggled with depth on my HBBS, it's clear I made a ton of gains on it, and there are lots of gains left to make. No reason to change to a different squat variant for a while, but I will need to address intensity (more on that later). TM increases from 121 to 124, which will have me doing 92.5kg for 6x6 in Week 4.

The press is slowly but surely going up. I made practically no gains on it for months before I switched to this higher volume program, so slow gains are phenomenal in comparison. No need to change anything. Small TM increase from 48 to 50.

I've had mixed results on the block pulls. Definitely, some gains were had, but performance has been inconsistent from week to week. I think this is because of fatigue from squat day bleeding into deadlift day. My ability to assume the starting position with a flat back has improved quite a bit to the point that I can pull from the floor, so I feel it's time to change it up. I had fun trying out sumo deadlifts for the first time yesterday, so I'll rotate those in for the deadlift variant. I've no idea what the TM should be so I'll begin conservatively at 140. Keep in mind this is a theoretical number and I realize there's no way I could pull that. Comes out to be 105 for sets of 4 in Week 4. It should be easy, and I just want to pull a bunch of clean reps and learn this lift.

Program tweaks and goals:

I'm really happy with how this program has gone so far, but there are a few issues that need addressing. I think intensity, especially on the lower body lifts, needs to come down a little. To some extent I think it's just volume or intensity, pick one, and I'd rather keep the volume up at the expense of the other. I do get a lot of morale boost from hitting a rep PR for squats, but I am practically assured to have a garbage deadlift day, and probably a garbage next squat week following the day that I set that rep PR.

I'm going to avoid taking sets to failure on all lifts, especially bench since I don't want to aggravate that shoulder. I'm also going to reduce Week 4 deadlifts from 7x4 to 6x4 and slightly reduce the weight of the paused squats I do on deadlift day. I expect that sumo will have somewhat more training overlap with squats than the block pulls did, so this seems a prudent measure.

I've noticed in the last couple of cycles that I get really sore from the Week 1 workouts coming off the deload. I'm going to reduce the Week 1 volume and intensity to account for the fact that I'm re-sensitized to training at that point. Then, a more steady increase in volume and intensity as the cycle goes on. Last cycle I was already pretty run down in Week 3, and I had practically nothing to give to Week 4. I'd like for the first week to be pretty easy, the second week hard but manageable, the third week to be very hard, and the fourth week to be puke.

The last thing I want to work on is training density. I'd like to cram more volume into less time, especially for upper body. I'm going to tack on more bro work at the end of my upper days and reduce the rest between sets across the board. Lower days will be much the same as before.

Wednesday, July 5, 2017 Training
Bench Variant, C5W1 TM79 3x10 @65%

1. Bench Press (lb):

45x10x2
95x3
110x10
110x10
110x10 @7?

2. Machine Seated Row (lb): (*)

115x12
115x12
115x12

2. Arnold Press (lb):

30x12
30x12
30x12

3. Various Fly (lb):

Crossover Fly 12.5x10
Machine Fly 50x13
Machine Fly 50x15

3. Various Vertical Pulls (lb):

BW Pull-ups @131lb 7 reps
WG Lat Pulldown 110x10
WG Lat Pulldown 110x10

4. DB Laterals (lb): 15x14x3
4. DB Concentration Curl (lb): 20x9, 20x8x2
4. DB Wrist Curl (lb): 15x12x3

Training time: 1:37 (from beginning warm up until last set)

***

The gym was packed since it was closed on the 4th yesterday. I wasted a lot of time waiting on things and learning unfamiliar equipment, so 1:37 isn't bad considering. I rested 3' between primary work sets, 2' between secondary super sets, and 90" and 60" between tier 3 and tier 4 super sets respectively.

Benching went fairly well. My left shoulder is the limiting factor but the pain is diminishing.

(*) I feel like these rows allow for a much stronger lat contraction than anything else I do so I promoted them to a secondary slot. I'm frankly tired of banging my head against the t-bar row. In its place on deadlift day, I'll be doing dumbbell rows again. It's also worth noting that this machine was substantially harder for the same weight than the one I use in Cambodia. Same goes for the pec fly machine, which I could only do about 1/3 of the weight for. My guess is that it has a much longer moment arm.