Db flys are a **** exercise imo. Db incline press would be ideal as a secondary chest movement

I wanted something pec-related to do on OHP day since I figure I'm novice enough to stress-adapt-recover those muscles 3x per week. Do you think there'd be any issue with overtraining triceps/delts if I did incline press on day B?

No Im sure you'd be fine

Also I think you would be better off squatting first every day and moving chins after dls. That way you get more time to rest between squat and DL and don't fatigue your back beforehand with the chins

That's a tough call because squats take away from everything that comes after. Something gets compromised regardless. I didn't think chins before deads would be such a big deal since lats aren't typically the weak link in the deadlift.

Saturday, June 11, 2016 Training

Press 44# (5, 5, 15)

Beginning GSLP programming for the press. This is the first time I've done the press in 3 years so I just started with the bar. I had more reps but I cut off the amrap at 15 because I didn't want form to break down too much.

Bent-over Rows 99# (8, 8, 10)

Dumbbell Incline Press 20# (10, 10, 15)

Again, just went really light on these to get used to them the first time.

Squat 154# (5, 5, 5) **15/15 Quality Reps**

I had to squat last because a guy was using the power rack for literally 90 minutes after I got there. These were fairly tough, but all reps were <parallel. I'm pretty pleased with these sets considering that the last 3 days were travel hell and probably 50g protein per day. I'm going to go with 3# increases from here. I'm fine with slow and steady progress on the squat.

edit: LOL, looking back I'm realizing I took a 9 pound jump on the squat instead of the normal 5. For some reason I had it in my head that I previously did 150 instead of 145. All the better!


I intended to do back extensions but the bench at my gym is a piece of crap. Gonna have to think of a replacement for non-deadlift day. Maybe 10-12 rep RDL or goodmornings. Suggestions are welcome.

Pull throughs

Thanks, I'll try those.


Week 9 Diet:



Wednesday through Friday was travel hell. Long ass layovers and an 18 hour flight. Protein wasn't great, but keep in mind with the time change that this is 6.5 days, so still over 100/day.

I'm back home now so the diet should be much more stable.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016 Training

Squat 157# (5, 5, 5) **14/15 Quality Reps**

The last rep of the last set was a shade high. I got a front-on view for the first time in a while (the first set linked).

Bench Press 107.5# (4), 91# (5), 107.5# (2), 96.5# (2)

First time benching with a new bar in a new place on a day that I already felt terrible. I had issues with grip width, going too wide on the first set. The knurling on the bar isn't what I'm used to and that's what I go by to choose my grip. I spent a lot of time resolving the grip problem, but really I just couldn't find a position that felt strong today. I'll do 96.5 next time and proceed from there.

Deadlift 132# (5), 176# (2), 209# (5)

These were pretty hard and form wasn't that great. I don't think I fully locked out on the 4th rep. Probably I am lucky that they were this good given the day I had.


***


I'm lucky I even showed up today. Fourth day back from the U.S. and I'm still pretty jet-lagged. I made an effort to stay up as long as possible yesterday to fix my sleep schedule, getting to sleep by 1am. I woke up irritable at 8am this morning, and started feeling sleepy again by 12 noon an hour or so before I had planned to go to the gym. For as bad as I felt, I'm pretty happy with the results.

Thursday, June 16, 2016 Training

Press 49.5# (5, 5, 13)

Seems like my elbows should be more forward from the bar than this. I'm going to proceed with breathing at the bottom of reps instead of incorporating the bounce. I may change that later but for now this seems simpler to learn.

Squat 159.5# (5, 5, 5) **14/15 Quality Reps**

All reps are below parallel, but I caved forward pretty badly on the last rep of the second set. I'm officially squatting more than my body weight now.

Bent-over Rows 104.5# (4), 88# (8, 8)

I tried a more horizontal torso for these and it made the reps a lot harder. It was apparent pretty quickly in the first set that I was using too much weight. I could have got more than 4 but they would have been very cheatey. I still don't know if I'm doing these damn things right, and I'm considering switching to a different row. Dumbbell rows might be better for me anyway since they're simpler to learn. They also wouldn't fatigue by lower back which is already barely recovering between deadlift workouts.

Bench Press 44# (5, 5), 66# (5), 77# (5), 88# (5), 93.5# (5), 99# (5), 104.5# (5)

Since presses are still very easy, I decided to get more practice and volume at bench presses. I'm still having a lot of trouble with setup, but today I think it was because of the shirt I was wearing. My girlfriend bought me these jersey-like material t-shirts for working out and I stupidly decided to wear one of them today. Every rep caused my back to slide down the bench and lower my arch a bit more. From now on, cotton shirts only and I may try chalking my back when benching.

I took some new nudes just past the 8 week mark for the log (14th week of lifting total):



Pretty subtle, but I can def see some fat loss here. Also, my pants have been falling off lately so I've surely lost some inches on the waist.

I also took some body measurements. I'll just leave them here for later comparison:



The plan is to do another set of photos and measurements every 8 week mark from now on.

Nice progress, man.

Regarding your DL, I think you can get a lot tighter before you pull. I try to think about pulling my chest up hard and dropping my hips a bit before I break the floor (it feels like they're going down a fair bit more than they actually are). But in any case, your lumbar still isn't set and tight when you start the pull. Maybe throw a video in the form check thread if you haven't already?

Saturday, June 18, 2016 Training

I went HAM today.

Bench Press 104.5# (5, 5, 9!)

I benched for over an hour today, getting help from an English guy with a powerlifting background who seemed to be pretty smart. He helped me a lot with my setup. I know I still have issues with bar path, but this setup felt much more powerful than anything I've done previously. Once I get the hang of it, I'll be able to devote more attention to how I execute the reps.

Squat 162.5# (5, 5, 5) **15/15 Quality Reps**

These felt pretty good. I showed the videos to the English guy after and he had a lot of negative stuff to say that I'm honestly ambivalent about. He says I need to use a thumbs-around grip which goes against much of what I've read. He also says that shoving my elbows up like I do is bad, and causes my chest to cave. Again, it seems like most of the literature I've consumed on the subject of squatting says to shove the elbows up to tighen the back and create a shelf for the bar. I dunno. All reps were deep and only a couple reps didn't have a vertical bar path so I couldn't be happier with my squat right now.

Deadlift 132# (5, 3, 3), 154# (2), 198# (1), 214.5# (5)

I allowed for a pretty generous rest interval between the last squat set and the first warmups for DL, maybe 15 minutes or more of chatting with the English guy about my squat. I probably over-warmed up for this because I couldn't settle on a setup that felt strong. The 198# warmup was just me mis-converting kilos to pounds, I'd rather that warmup had been 185 or so.

I've been pretty casual about my deadlift form for a while, just trying to focus on one or two things at a time. Now that my squat is out of the woods and my bench is starting to find it's way out, I need to start giving the deadlift more attention. It looks like I can't set my back properly during setup. It seems like some of the warmups look better than others, but I can't reliably set my back. I think it's really more likely to be a proprioceptive issue than a flexibility one. The work set reps felt very sloppy. I'm not sure if I was able to lock out, at the top of the ROM I just wanted to put the bar down ASAP lol.


I was at the gym for over 2.5 hours so I didn't do any of the accessory work.

Looks like some pretty significant changes in the side view pics in particular. Good stuff.

Week 10 Diet:



Pretty solid week for protein/day, and dead on for calories. I could be carbing it up a little less, but it's just so hard to eat low carb in Asia. I should prepare more of my food at home.

Modified program:

This is mainly a response to the fact that my time in the gym has been running a little long lately. I haven't really been able to make consistent progress on the lat pulldown machine, so to shave some minutes off of gym time I'm going to move that work to my chin-up bar at home. I also reduced some sets of accessory work. Now around 80% of the gym time will be spent on the core movements.

I'd like to deadlift twice a week if recovery allows. I really need to work on my form and have the opportunity to practice it more frequently. As for the rows, I can't seem to bent-over row correctly, nor make progress using the crappy form that I currently have. We'll see if the dumbbell rows treat me better.

The English guy who helped me with my bench setup turned me onto the DB rotations, so I'm gonna give those a try along with the lateral raises which I already do with tiny weight to warm up for bench. They make my shoulders feel good, so I'd like to try with a bit more weight.

My goal is to get in and out of the gym in 75-85 minutes.

thanks for taking my $60

Tuesday, June 21, 2016 Training

Press 55# (5, 5, 12)

Still easy. I'm thinking my grip might be a bit wide. I'll consume more OHP material in the meantime and get a front-on perspective on Sunday. I'm pretty happy that there wasn't pain during the tougher reps of the AMRAP. I had an issue with this in 2012 and it caused my press to stall at 75. Here's hoping this good fortune continues once the weight is actually hard.

Squat 165# (5, 5, 5) **14/15 Quality Reps**

Last rep of the second set is a little high. I've noticed as the weight gets heavier I'm starting to dive bomb a bit. My third set was quite a bit better than the second because I did a more controlled descent.

Dumbbell Bent-over Row 30# (12, 12, 18)

I'm doing these per this video. First time doing these so I went a little too light. Probably I will skip a dumbbell and do 40 next week.

Superset:
DB Incline Press 30# (12, 15)
Facepulls 55# (12, 15)

Again, too light on the incline press but it's still an unfamiliar movement. Facepulls at 55# on this cable crossover machine is a helluva lot easier than 42.5# was on the machine in the U.S. Weird but oh well.

Chin-up Negatives (?s, 18s, 22s, 14s)

I rested 3 minutes between these. My cat knocked over the camera during the first one so I don't have a time on that one. It was significantly longer than the others, though.

Thursday, June 23, 2016 Training

Squat 168# (5, 5, 5) **15/15 Quality Reps**

I'm hesitant to give these the 15/15 green light because while no reps were especially worse than the others, they all could have been deeper. Every rep barely broke parallel. Squats were harder than usual today.

Bench Press 107.5# (5, 5, 7)

I'm a little disappointed that I could only get 7 reps considering I got 9 at 104.5 last time. I guess that's just the psychological benefit of a spotter. Today I tried focusing more on bar path using the setup foundations that were set last workout. I think they're okay.

Deadlift 132# (3, 3, 3), 154# (2), 176# (2), 198# (2), 220# (2, 1)

I went a little crazy on warmups. My initial objective with deadlifts today was to do a bunch of doubles of increasing weight to see when form started to break down. I also tried without shoes today, which I think helped. The 2cm or so that I'm lower to the ground makes assuming the starting position significantly easier. I also used a bit wider stance/grip than previously.

97.5kg looked so bad last time I deadlifted so I thought probably I was going to need to reset the weight a bit lower. However, I smoked the 90kg (I thought), got overconfident and tried 100kg. I could only get two reps, and after 5 minutes rest I could only get a single rep in the second set.

I'm thinking probably I gassed myself a little too much with warmups. Next time I'll try 100kg again with a more typical warmup now that I'm a lot more secure with my setup position.

Superset:
DB Seated External Rotations 8.8# (13L/18R, 11L/14R)
DB Lateral Raises 8.8# (12, 10)

Chin-up Negatives (23s, 25s, 20s, 14s)

Even the strongest guys alive go through peaks and valleys in strength and endurance. Just as long as the general trend is a higher peak and higher valley you're doing something right.

You don't think Usain Bolt runs a 9.58 100m every time he is training and goes balls out. He probably barely breaks 10.

Sunday, June 26, 2016 Training


Squat 170.5# (5, 5, 4) **5/15 Quality Reps**

. Weak day today. Most reps were high and the 4th rep of the third set was very slow, so I racked it.

Press 60.5# (5, 5, 12)

2.5kg jump, same reps as last time, cool.

Deadlift 209# (5)

Squats were so dismal that I just wanted to book a win for deadlifts. 100kg is coming, but it can wait a week. I think the form looks alright except for the fifth rep, when the bar moves too far forward.

Superset:
DB Incline Press 30# (12, 12)
Facepulls 65# (15, 15)

Chin-up Negatives (33s, 25s, 20s, 17s) +13s total from previous


Today I failed a caffeine experiment. I've been doing 200mg preworkout for a while now, and while the effects are noticeable, they seem to be quite subtle. I tried a double dose today and felt really lightheaded and dizzy. I stayed home a bit longer to wait for it to pass before I went to the gym, but I still felt pretty weird and that might explain why my performance sucked.


Week 11 Diet:



I'm steadily improving my protein intake (previous weeks were 121/day, 107/day). I'm pleased to report another 1600 calorie/day week, and I lost another pound.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016 Training

Bench Press 110# (5, 5, 7)

Last rep of the amrap was the grindiest bench press rep of all time. Literally 15 seconds, the last 5-7 of which was locking out the left triceps. Happy to hit it.

Squat 170.5# (5, 4, 1)

My left adductor felt tender during warmup. The fourth rep of the second set was pretty slow so I racked it, not wanting to risk a failure rep, especially with one set left to come. After the first rep of the final set the adductor cramped up and I just called it a day to be on the safe side. I think the first set was a pretty good set so I feel that at least I outperformed the last squat workout by a little (up until the adductor flared up). Oh well.

Dumbbell Bent-over Row 40# (10L/10R, 12L/12R, 14L/14R)

I'm still feeling these out. 45# next week.

Superset:
DB Seated External Rotations 10# (10L/10R, 10L/10R)
DB Lateral Raises 10# (10, 11)


It made sense to skip the chin-up negatives on row day, so I'll be doing those on Sunday and Thursday from now on.

you need to up the carbs. im telling you mane, the difference is big. don't you like bread, pasta, rice, beans, potato, oat?

i weigh less than you and for sure i get at least 250g+ carbs a day. 107g weekly average is poverty.

I think I'm having as many as I realistically can without limiting my protein intake, which could already be higher. I certainly eat a ton of fried food that has a lot of fat, but with a 1600 calorie diet I really can't be micromanaging macros much harder than I am already without having issues with adherence to the diet. My gains are slow because I'm eating 1600 calories a day.

Thursday, June 30, 2016 Training


Squat 170.5# (5, 5, 5) **14/15 Quality Reps**

Adductor still felt weird. While it bums me out that my depth is so close that I have to run the videos in slow motion to check it, it's nice to make progress and be able to finally increase the weight. Definitely a clear improvement in performance from Tuesday and Sunday.

Press 66# (5, 5, 8)

These are starting to get challenging and since I didn't get over 10 reps I'll proceed with 3 pound increases.

Deadlift 214.5# (5)

First of all, these are a dramatic improvement from the 214.5 three deadlifts ago. They were also reasonably fast and easy so I def see myself hitting 100kg next workout. As for technique, it looks like I could get my hips a little lower and have a bit more leg drive off the floor. My shins are nearly vertical in this set so I could probably be a bit farther from the bar. My focus today was on doing the pull in one fluid movement instead of dithering at setup, so I'm happy with that part at least.

Superset:
DB Incline Press 35# (8, 9)
Facepulls 75# (12, 15)


Chin-up Negatives (30s, 26s, 21s, 20s) +2s total from previous

Sunday, July 3, 2016 Training

Changing to kg numbers. Not sure why I've been using pounds this whole time. The dumbbells at my gym are in pounds so I'll continue using it for those. I use three pound micro-loading so I'll just simplify and call that 1.25kg.

Squat 78.75kg (5, 5, 5) **12/15 Quality Reps**

Starting using a belt for the first time. During warmups I was experimenting with stance width. I found that I can get deeper with a narrow stance but I'm not as strong/stable at the bottom. The worksets ended up being pretty sloppy because I kept shifting my stance width a little between some reps to get closer to the happy medium. Probably 12-13 of the reps were below parallel. Depth is still an issue but I give today a pass because I was getting used to the belt. The belt makes my bottom position more secure and I find that I can get a much better stretch reflex than beltless. Despite the depth/sloppiness issues, I will do 80kg next time because these were pretty easy all things considered.

Bench Press 51.25kg (5, 5, 7)

Super happy about this. The second set was very sloppy but I redeemed myself in the amrap. Same reps as 50kg last time and the last rep wasn't nearly as slow. 50/50 chance I could have got 8.

Deadlift 100kg (4)

Starting using the belt for these as well and I found it was possibly a hindrance. My form was better beltless. It seems like the belt makes setup significantly more difficult. I probably could have pulled a really ugly fifth rep. It seems like I have an issue with my torso shifting forward at the start of the pull. I don't know if that means I should start with hips farther back or if it's a problem with too much push and not enough pull when I break the bar from the floor.

Superset:
DB External Rotations 10# (14, 14)
DB Lateral Raises 10# (12, 12)

Chin-up Negatives (27s, 28s, 22s, 18s) -2s total from max

It's hard to find the WIM for these when I'm so tired from the gym and the bike ride home.