Arms:

hammer curls: 15kgx12x4
Pushdowns: stackx30,17,15,17
EZ curls: 20kgx12x4
Single arm tricep extensions: 10kgx10x4
Seated hammer curls: 7.5kgx12x4
db skullcrushers: 7.5kgx12x4

Diet:

Meal 1
1 banana+8oz skim milk+1.5tbsp almond butter+2 scoops protein

Meal 2,3
170g chicken breast 250g rice, 80g green beans, 15g butter 400ml orange juice

Meal 4
125g chicken breast, 300g rice, 15g butter, 85g dried mango, 60g dried pineapple, 300ml orange juice, 12iu humalog

intraworkout 600ml gatorate

Meal 5
170g chicken breast, 250g rice, 10g butter, 60g dried pineapple, 300ml orange juice, 12iu humalog

Meal 6
170g chicken breast, 10g butter 100g green beans, 200g rice, 300ml orange juice


I'm sure Thremp wants to vomit just looking at this. I feel really good eating this way. Super high carb, low-ish fat, moderate protein. The steak sandwiches and higher fats are fun but I feel more bloated and have heartburn if I have too many fats or stuff like french fries from a restaurant. Prob going to do something like this but with more fresh fruit and set up a carb cycling rotation with high carb days on arm and deadlift days.

Not any moreso than the idea of getting a pro card makes me nauseated.

Deadlift: 200kgx5x5
Messing around with reverse hypers
some 70kg sldls with a pause

No hamstring curl or hipthrust machine here and I was too gassed after dls to do barbell hip thrusts so I called it. Reverse hypers are for people with fupas; I can't use this machine without pain in my pubic bone/prostate basically. But everyone who worships Louie enough to buy one of these probably has 30%+ bf. Sorry, not sorry.

Hey 200kgx5x5 at 102-103 AM fasted weight is definitely sort of a "this guy is no longer ****ing around" milestone even among enhanced lifters. I'd say a majority of people on stage for classic physique nationals cannot do that and maybe only a small majority of people on mid level pro shows can. 272.5/600lbs is definitely falling on halloween but I don't think 280 is out of the question either. Might do some tren/superdrol peaking for it, but I'd really rather just stick to test+gh+insulin all the way until contest prep time. I'm gonna do my own Josh Bryant inspired DL program for 12 weeks and I will do deficit DLs as my main assistance rather than trap bar. 3 weeks heavy 1 week deload structure. Top triple/double/single, then some timed "speed-ish" 4s (67%)/3s(77%)/2s(87%) with volume increasing on the backdown sets as the weeks go on. Then 2 sets of deficit dls, then my normal hamstring curl/hip thrust. I've been hitting fives for a long time now. I'm actually thinking that 10s and 3/2/1s are the most productive for DLs and 5s are sort of a no-man's land.

The oly bars at my gym have much more whip than a typical bar at a gym so the difference between these oly bars and a DL bar is very small when using straps. The DL bar is considerably thinner though so it makes a big difference if I were pulling with mixed grip, however.

I got vids of all sets and I'll upload when I feel like it.

Chest yesterday
buncha delts, you know the drill
Machine press: 42.5kgx15x4
Flies: 10kgx12x4
Incline neutral grip db press: 20kgx15x4
Pushups: bwx3xfail forgot

Changed split to do arms the day after chest+shoulder day. I only do one free weight press and it's as third lift so my triceps don't get much action on chest day anymore. Meanwhile, my lats, hamstrings, and lower back are still sore AF after deadlift training. Friday will be back day henceforth. When my shoulders are healthy enough to push it harder and do db presses as first lift we'll have to re-arrange the split to where I can't do 2 consecutive days off or I just stop deadlifting. But all that said, my arms were pretty sore from Friday still so I trained fairly light.

Pushdowns: stackx26, 10,10,12
Hammer curls: 15kgx10x4
Single arm extensions: 10kgx10x4
ez curls: 20kgx10x4
seated hammer curls: 7.5kgx10x4
DB skullcrushers: 7.5kgx10x4

That's a wrap.


My digestion has been so good lately since I cut out all the delivery/daily cheat meals/eating chicken, rice, fruit, vegetables, fruit juices, and dried fruit candies all day long. Shocking.

Definitely need to start a minicut. My meal prep habits/discipline/digestion is good enough to keep bulking without severe discomfort, but I can tell I'm getting insulin resistant and not responding as well to food. Normally when I add food it reduces soreness and adds more pumps. Normally if I take insulin pre-workout I get a much more noticeable pump. Now I'm not getting much of either. I will take a break from growth hormone, get that cardio up, and get down to 97(?) kg or so and then start bulking again. No stimulants and i'm nto going to hardcore cut. Just eat when hungry instead of forcefeeding, take out some of the fruit juices/candied fruits, take out the protein shakes and replace them with cooked oatmeal and a scoop of whey, and walk to work/gym instead of biking. That alone will probably be all I need to do to drop weight consistently until I'm ready to bulk again.

This is basically Jung's "Hero" archetype, personified most famously by Jesus Christ.

That is all. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

You're completely right, of course. I've been thinking more and more than adopting Judeo-Christian values tends to make people happier and maybe adopting them is a rational self-interested decision rather than an altruistic one, even if you don't believe in all of the lore.

I assume I'm being graced by a mysterious stranger with a phd and strong vaccine opinions? If so, welcome back bro! Good to have you.

Legs

10 minute backward incline treadmill walk
Static lunge: 15kgx15x3
Leg press: 2ppsx20x3
Leg extensions: 12x7

Got almost zero pump, just some discomfort in quad tendon. But its less discomfort than last time so that's progress.

I think I need to just suck it up and start the cut/recomp phase early. It's not like the beginning will be suffering... you guys see how basic my diet is and I'll probably end up feeling more uncomfortably full throughout the day in the beginning phases of the diet as I replace the fast digesting stuff with oatmeal. I'm really excited to add more cardio though, I just feel like **** being this heavy and in comparatively poor cardiovascular shape. 20 minute backward walks 5x/wk and perhaps also sled drags will probably also do wonders for my knee health and I'll soon be back to normal weekly leg training instead of half-assed every other week leg training.

Only he would call himself "Dunyain" so, yeah, gotta be him.

The paths of the steppe are endless

I am not sure attributing the "hero" archetype to Judeo-Christian values is accurate. I suspect it is something much deeper in the human psyche. My son has grown out of it, but he went through an anime phase, and the values of the main protagonists in this genre are pretty similar to something you would see in a Superman or Spiderman comic or the Bible. I am not super familiar with a lot of other cultures, but I suspect the "masculine" stoic hero who suffers in quiet dignity and never lets himself give into despair and succumb to the darkness (of if he does it is briefly and he redeems himself in the end) is a pretty common motif.

I am not saying any human society has a strong track record of actual heros' who lived up to this ideal, but the ideal itself seems pretty ubiquitous.

1. Yeah, I'm not going to claim that at all. Just that you mentioned Jesus being the most famous representative example of this archetype made me think of just the idea of Judeo-Christian values and #WWJD generally.

2. I entered and am still in an anime phase in my early 30s and the motif you're describing is perfectly depicted by Berserk, 1997/2016 anime based on a manga that's been going since 1988. Also Vinland Saga which is still ongoing and fairly new. Frankly, most western entertainment media is woke and g4y as **** these days. And even when its not its depressingly formulaic and badly written on average (obviously there are exceptions, but it seems they're becoming fewer and further in between). It also just seems like almost everything is catering to neurotypical normie women aged 15-40 and most of us just won't find that appealing.

Most Chinese entertainment media is terrible and cringe because it's so tightly controlled and censored by boomer males to only reflect their tastes and values and nobody elses. But frankly even without the censorship it'd probably still be not very good. They are collectively just not a very artistically inclined people.

But those Japs and Koreans... both their live action and animated television and movies are super entertaining and free of irrelevant political messaging, arbitrary homosexuality, the woke faith, or the annoying tropes that get spammed out in the latest marvel movie... or at least their tropes are still relatively more novel to western audiences. And maybe they have their own political messaging inserted in there but without cultural context we literally don't even notice and can't feel patronized by it. BGP recommended a movie from Korea called Burning from 2018. It was fantastic and literally became my favorite movie.

Indian entertainment media is also pretty damn good. It leans into the campiness and cringe comfortably instead of trying to be cool and failing.

At some point just slamming more and more food you start to go backwards in terms of performance and recovery. There is an amount of food where evne though you can physically consume the calories if you just strategize like an autistic person (me) and eat high calorie low satiety foods that are easy on the digestive system like orange juice and dried mangoes, it puts so much strain on your system that you start to feel very sluggish and can't perform well in the gym. You feel tired and lethargic all the time, always want to nap. If you do it the dumb way with tasty junk food you're headed for digestive problems because the digestive system on androgens is not the same as when its natty and you become much more sensitive. I guess I had reached that point probably around a week ago or before. The last 2 days I've just been eating when hungry and that's all. Today performance was immediately better and I felt actually pretty damn good. Looking forward to this "cut", although the cut is more like "break from maximizing calories and just eating healthy bodybuilding friendly meals when you feel hungry rather than just eating on a schedule because you have to".

Back
NG pullups: bwx 14, 10, 7, 8, 6
Underhand rows: 60kgx10x5
Underhand pulldowns: 40kgx12x5
Pullovers SS with hanging from pullup bar: 3 sets
Row machine: 35kgx12x7 FST-7

Cardio 20 minutes backward walk max incline 2.3 speed. Crazy vmo pump, love it.

I'm hoping this plus some other kotg drills will result in bulletproof knees. I'm also gonna start leg pressing before single leg work. I actually might rotate out single leg work temporarily and do 1 playte paused front squats for sets of 12 after leg press. Even better if I can get a wedge thing and get even more knees over toes action to really work on those supporting muscles. I definitely think back squats/front squats can have a place in my training in the future; stopwatch timed sets of 12 with like 80-100kg when you deadlift 200kgx5x5 is really not gonna tax your spine much and if you do them second after leg press you're really not going to be feeling much in the lower back. It's just when you do like maximal sets of 10 or whatever that I think the bracing requirements get so restrictive its almost hard to feel your quads properly.

I haven't decided yet for sure, but I'm also leaning toward doing a tens phase on deadlift and working from a deficit for the next 8 weeks or so. Same reason as above... those low reps are just so taxing on the CNS and ultimately I'm bodybuilding here. I am okay with devoting 8-10 weeks or whatever to peaking my deadlift for halloween but I don't need to do like 18-22 weeks of peaking training for deadlift, that's a little silly.

I honestly find it baffling how people are totally cool with someone being able to recite random factoids from the Bible (along with the 2000 year history of conventions) but then they look at someone who can speak Quenya like a total freak.

Berserk likely GOAT. Vinland Saga part of the "big three" already (berserk, vinland, vagabond).

I have read a lot of manga over the last few years. Some can be quite political in various ways...plus, I don't know what you consider "woke" but there are quite a few very well regarded manga series that involve themes like trans/gay/etc. And often done quite well afaict. Does that make something "woke"?

Tbh at this point in time I don't know what people mean when they use that term. It seems to be a catchall for any topic people think other people are too up in arms about. But that can be literally any and every topic that exists.

Ngl, no clue what Quenya is and can't be bothered to look it up because it sounds too freakish. God bless USA#1.

Pretty sure woke used to mean "aware things suck for some people" and now means "something vague that I don't like".

Diversity now means having lots of black people.

Words change. Its k.

Quenya is a fake language created by Tolkein.

I haven't heard of Vagabond, actually. But I remember watching 1997 berserk the first time around 2013 and then recently around 3 years ago I went back and read the whole manga. I haven't read Vinland yet, just watched the anime. I'm enjoying the hell out of the second season much more than the first and the first was already really good.

Does inclusion of gay/trans/etc indicate wokeness? No, not at all. For instance, the latest Dragon Quest (very popular JRPG, and JRPGS are basically interactive anime) game includes a gay character who literally recruits some teenage boys to march around in his parade. But it was handled maturely and didn't feel forced or put on and everyone just treats him normally rather than constantly focusing on his gayness. I'll get back to you on what actually makes it "woke" becaus it's hard for me to articulate in the context of sexuality. But I guess an example in the context of race would be the way a show like House of The Dragon handles race (not woke) vs Rings of Power. It doesn't seem arbitrary, forced, or ideological in the first case but it does in the second.

You're both right to suggest it's become somewhat of a catchall and too vague. I'll be more specific next time. I guess another extreme example would be American Horror Story or The Simpsons for the last few years.

Watch Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo. You could also read it, if you are a nerd.

More on topic: LGBTQ stuff being normalized has been in sci-fi and fantasy novels for about forever. The Foundation Series has a person whose chosen pronoun is "it."

Guy,

I know what you mean. Basically repeated attempts to stuff representation into media that detract from the overall product. Endgame has a prominent girl power moment that is pretty awful.

I find both of those shows retconning black people into roles that were white kinda weird and distract me from the actual show. But maybe black people have very weak genes in HoD that are dominated by the white genes. In RoP, I just assume everyone is a fascist in the future and we'll get the early 3rd age spinoff where they address the racial culling both in the Dwarven and Elven communities.

Lets not even touch how much weirder it is for Japanese folks to shoehorn in porn stuff into their visual novels. I'm not entirely sure how cum recharges Saber's mana. Is it mere contact or does he need to dump it in her? These are the types of weird mechanics that make me pause and wonder how it actually works rather than watching a cool sword fight or enjoying the boobs.

Sounds like you need to find or write some fan fiction to explain.

Ironically I wrote tons of fanfic when I was a much younger man. I'm also a credited narrative designer, so I don't think I really need to flesh out the errata of someone else's poorly thought out world, sounds like your own problem in world building. Whether this is weird mechanics around cum or black people, pls solve this on your own.

If you're Marvel and just shoehorning in weird girl power moments, perhaps realize it doesn't make people sexist to wonder "Would an actual god help this vs woman with a vintage Iron Man suit stripped of weapons?""

But none of us are hear to make cogent arguments, we're here to just put our ideological staves in the ground and draw lines. (Much like Gandalf minus the spell.) We're here to posture on whether we are on the wrong or right side of history. Much like everyone who advocated for oral polio vaccines was clearly in the wrong and everyone else was correct. So is life.

I wanna read NotThremp authored fanfic. I think I wrote some loco fanfic a while back but I can barely remember what it was. Something about winning the master's olympia eating pancakes and ice cream on 500mg/wk of test while completing a yale math phd.

No wonder it doesn't seem to mean anything anymore.

I see. Hard pass.

All 3 are great. Vinland will very likely finish. Vagabond never gonna finish, Berserk may kinda finish.

This is generally how I feel whenever themes like this pop up with the manga I've read.

Dang, I haven't consumed any of that so I'll never know what true wokeness is.

I will read either of these.