120-130. Needs to be fairly high to really benefit training. Another thing I notice is that if I get sick with a cold/flu/respiratory bug, if I'm in really good cardio shape I feel it a lot less and I tend to get over it faster.

Do different forms of exercise instead of the same thing all the time if you want to be more aesthetically pleasing and healthy. Novel idea, I know.

Just ask the hottest woman in the gym for some release before sessions so they aren't so damn big.

hahaha, good suggestion but this year the number of women in the gym has shrunk drastically compared to a year ago.

I've been taking metformin b/c I read it was overall more effective than berberine for inulin sensitivity. Big mistake. After several days in a row of dosing I feel like I stepped into a 'what it's like to be 86 years old' simulator. Fatigue, lower back pain, joint pain, slight pain urinating. One is a prescription medication and one is a common OTC supplement. Lesson learned.

Back to berberine lol. It's a lot more expensive than metformin here. Metformin is like $5 for a month's worth. Berberine is like $30 and needs to be dosed frequently throughout the day. Might need to take a few days off.

I was fine. Just needed an afternoon rep

Deadlift: 3s up to 200, 220, 200x3x3 5 total working sets
Hamstring curls: 30-35kgx12x5 paused
Hip thrust machine: Various weightx12x5
Cardio backward max incline walk 20 minutes


Gonna hit a little mini block of 3s and then back to tens from a deficit for a while high volume style. I kinda screwed up my first rep of the top set by starting with hips too high; I kept them kinda low as a bad habit from olympic lifting and find that I sometimes overcompensate with too high hips of a starting position to prevent myself from doing the "stripper pull". I got it right and fixed the problem on the backoff work, however. This feels much less exhausting than the 5x5s I was doing before, left the gym not feeling wrecked today.

Hmm, you're moving to Hong Kong or somewhere, right? Or am I forgetting the results of your're potentially changing jobs saga...

Well, maybe someone at the new gym can help. Until then, it's probably best to wear hammer pants to the gym.[/QUOTE]

I am stuck here until Fall 2024 and there's a good chance I just end up in Shenzhen with my cousin.

woke up at 102kg yesterday

Arms
Hammer curls: 15kgx12,13,13,13,11
Pushdowns: 5xfailure
single arm overhead extensions: 5xfailure
ez curls: 20kgx13x5
Seated hammer curls: 7.5kgx13x5
db skullcrushers: 7.5kgx13x5

I trained at a new BODYBUILDING gym about a 15 minute drive from my house. Sick selection of equipment but plates are the wrong height, bad quality bars, and only one cable machine. Their plate loaded stuff is ace though. I did some offseason posing in bad lighting post training and felt more than a bit of dismorphia. I definitely have the type where i want to walk around lean all the time rather than the type where I want to be big and mog everyone. I guess the desire to always be lower bf is probably healthier bc it leads to cardio-ing and eating less. Still feels crappy knowing I'm going to have to tolerate fairly high 18-22% bf until late January or so.

Anyway I was with my powerlifter friend who is being coached by pete rubish and we took a lot of videos so I wasn't as strict with the supersets and had longer rests than I'm used to except on the last exercise. Dumbbells also had super thick rounded handles, so I'll try to up reps at my regular gym next week and we'll see what happens.

Quads
Backward walk: 10 minutes
leg extensions: 17.5kgx12x4
Leg press: 20s up to 3pps, 3.5ppsx20x3, 3ppsx20,
Static lunge: 10kgx12x3 each side
Leg extensions: FST-7

okay knees weren't totally pain free. I started with leg press but it felt sore warming up so I went over to leg extensions and did that first and the soreness on leg pess was greatly diminished. I'll see how I feel next week; if there's any tenderness or soreness I'll train light and just do like 9 total working sets and like 3ppsx20x3 on leg press. I've learned not to try to push through it and let the soft tissue recover, even if it means only going hard on quads every other week and just sort of a maintenence workout on the off-weeks.

Had a disaster back workout. Mind wasn't in it and probable some residual fatigue from the deadlifts. That **** catches up to you and isn't as simple as 'oh deloaded and went 14 days between heavy dl workouts now i'm all ready to roll herp derp'

NG pullups: bwx12, 10, 6, 8, 10 really wasn't primed mentally first set
Overhand rows： 60kgx10, 70kgx10x2
Underhand pulldowns: 45kgx15,15,12,12
Did one set of row machine and quit. No pump

30 minutes of cardio, 20 minutes backward 10 minutes forward max incline.

I'm changing directions on diet+PEDs. Gonna try the approach of 3-4 different compounds all in low doses instead of 1-2 compounds in higher doses. Yes, trenbolone will be in the mix but at nothing close to a precontest dose.

Diet I'm gonna recomp for a while and stop worrying about the scale. Take out the whey blended high calorie shakes and just eat meals of steak or chicken + rice, sweet potato, or white potato with green beans and fruits 4-5x/day according to appetite. Eat when hungry, don't eat until uncomfortably full, healthy home cooked bodybuilding friendly meals. Sushi, shawarma, omelette or something reasonable like that when I feel like eating off plan on saturday/sunday or whatever.

Always great stuff in your logs, you and Loco are the last great 2p2 posters without assani fisher and stealthmunk.

How’s your range of motion on your big toes? I have had nasty tendinitis/nosis in my knee off and on over the years but recently it got debilitating and my ortho said it was because I didn’t have enough big toe flexibility. Manual stretching them with my hands, banded stretching/strengthening basically reduce symptoms almost 100 percent in 2 days.

Thanks man! The future is here and like many an old man I'm not changing with the times very well. All this training log stuff is on instagram/youtube and I'm having a hard time adapting. I mean over the years I've attracted a lot of people to read my logs and if I just did things the way they've been done since 2017 or so and put all my **** on instagram I'd probably eventualyl get a decent following and be able to monetize it. Maybe one day I will, but I have a feeling it's going to be a multi-year project. I'd like to believe I still have time at age 34, but it's certainly a lot less time than if I'd started hardcore bodybuilding around 24 instead.

I was sick last week with covid so missed 7 full days of training. I came back today for a "tune-up" session. I'm not sure what to do for testing big toe flexibility, but I'll look into it. Thusfar I'm finding leg extensions and backward walks to really do the trick very well. I suspect that with my anatomy, hbbs/fs/oly lifts really hit the outer sweep of the quad a lot and the VMO very little and i just had/have super imbalanced musculature of the quads leading to knee pain.

About 30 minutes of squat mobbing and leg extensions
hbbs 60kgx10x3
about 20 minutes of shoulder stability work including the band around wrists 1 arm db bench
incline bb: barx10x5
deadlift: 60kgx10x2

The Dr. Aaron Horshig exercise he uses with Julius Maddox where you wrap a band around your wrists and db bench with a db on only one side was the best shoulder exercise I've ever done. I can't believe this is just a rehab/prehab/stability exercise because my coincidence it was the most wicked side delt pump I've ever experienced. Better than any cable side raise variation I've ever done. I think doing the locke 3 prehab+that one+ some kind of incline free weight pressing is basically all you'd ever need to have huge delts. Maybe add one rear delt exercise with dbs or reverse cable flies. I'm going to do that every single chest+shoulder workout from now on, it's bomb.

Started the big boi cycle up again today; unfortunately test only didn't do the trick for me.

I did some internet searches and could't find that in text or video. Do you have a link to that? I'm having a hard time visualizing exactly what that is. Maybe you can break it down? I've never used bands for anything. Sounds neat. Thanks for sharing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zim7SwbFlkY

The second exercise. But honestly watch the full video+ his 6 minute one going over the Locke 3. I think all these exercises, despite being ostensibly rehab exercises, also work as cosmetic bodybuilding exercises. And then some but not all of the cosmetic conventional bodybuilding isolation delt exercises can double up as rehab/prehab exercises as well (rear delt fly variations of all types, in particular)

thanks. I'm gonna try those. The ultimate bench press one was good too. About as in-depth as a Matt Ogus one I saw. I subscribed to his channel.

First workout back yesterday. Still going very light. Gonna heat things up about 2 weeks from now.

Hams+glutes
Deadlift: 160kgx5x5
Toes elevated paused sldl: 70kgx12x3
hip thrusts: 4x12
hamstring curls: 4x14

no cardio lol

Today morning 20 minutes on the stairs.

Mincutting. Got horrid gut dysbiosis after the 2nd round of covid. The impacts on my digestive system+gut flora was way worse than respiratory this time. Appetite very low even though I've been ostensibly recovered for a few days. It'll probably take me about a month for my stomach to get back to normal.

Yesterday had a fantastic chest workout and my shoulders were feeling the best they've ever felt. I was getting a great pump and contraction even though my strength was obviously down from missing a week and recovering from covid round 2.

AM: stairs fasted 20 minutes

PM
Delts: locke 3, banded internal rotations
Cable side raises: 4x10-12
DB rear delt flies: 5kgx4 sets failure
Machine reverse fly: 3x12
Banded 1 arm db bench thing

Chest
Machine press (changed to incline): 45kgx12,12, 8, 7
Cable crossovers: variousx12x4
Incline db press: 20kgx15,12,10,8
pushups: bwx8,8,4
flies: 4 sets

Cardio: 30 minutes backward walking

My bodyfat is high. Sitting around 101kg AM fasted. Gonna slo-cut/recomp and hope to not go below around 95-97. I plan to use fairly balanced macros and eat around 250-275g protein only. I'll do anywhere between 6-12 weeks and kinda play it by ear. Adding the yohimbine+clen. started 5mg and 10mcg yesterday and did the samne thing today.

NGL I haven't been lean for about 11 months now and I'm looking forward to looking somewhat shredded again. I gotta start bulking hard again by September. I have a feeling I'm not quite at the level of fatness where my nutrient partitioning is whacked out, but it'll certainly improve if I take this time to reset and lean out.

I highly recommend Sam Sulek on youtube. He makes the 2010 style youtube videos before being an influencer was a thing. It's ultra simple with 0 editting and 0 attempts to appeal to non hardcore fitness people. Just a guy lifting weights and talking to the camera passion project not trying to get popular or sponsored or attract normies.

AM: Stairs fasted cardio 30 minutes

PM
Quads
Warmup 10 minutes backward treadmill walk
Leg extensions: 15kgx12x7
Leg press: 3ppsx20x3
Lunges: 7kgx10x3
HBBS: 60kgx12x3

additional 10 minutes of cardio but pretty gassed already

I like doing all three and fewer sets for leg press, lunge, and hbbs. I'll be taking my sweet time working up to challenging weights. Doing stairs cardio is a lot of stress on the knees and I need to make sure they have time to adapt.

That was yesterday, today did 30 minutes stairs in the morning and then gonna go train back.

AM fasted stairs 30mcg clen 7.5mg yohimbine 30 minutes

PM
NG pullups: bwx15, 10, 6, 5, 6
BB rows overhand: 60kgx10x5 short breaks
underhand pulldowns: 40kgx12x4, 35kgx12
machine rows: fives sets of twelve reps

Cardio: 20 minutes backward walk max incline level 2.3-2.5, 10 minutes forward max incline level 3
some leg extensions. Gonna do them every day as I think this is helping with quad tendon bulletproofing.

Alright I'm basically definitely going to commit to a 12 week cut. The "cut" will be just eat when hungry but keep things very clean, eat only until full rather than overfeeding, try to squeeze in oats at least once a day as they are insanely sating for how few cals they have, and an hour of cardio per day along with clen+yohimbine and eventually caffeine and synephrine. Maybe take fats down to trace fats only and "overfeed" to about 800g carbs with some goodies like sushi, dried fruit, juice, etc on my deadlift day.

Of all the stimulants, caffeine is the one that seems to mess with me the most which is funny because everyone would say that of the fat loss and stimulant products listed above its the most mild. 80mcg clen I feel pretty good. I have to about double my sodium intake to avoid cramps but high focus, easier time doing cognitive tasks, higher attention span, easier to speak and learn 2nd language, sleep stays fine. 100mg of caffeine however and my sleep is destroyed, I'm a nervous wreck, and I feel terrible and jittery/shakey. I don't have synephrine tablets separate from caffeine; the product i can get is a little bit of yohimbine+a lot of caffeine and a moderate dose of synephrine. I have standalone yohimbine by itself so I can control the dosage of that easy.

Those supplements are cool. I looked them up. I always thought clen was just an anabolic or something. Crazy it has so many uses. Does yohimbine give any neurotransmiter effects like caffeine? Iike the mood boost? I bet you you could get access to some cool herbs and stuff being in China. I always heard anecdotely green tea in the evening helped with weight loss.

Here in the land of the free USA we have to show ID to get pseudoephedrine over the counter. Lol

We can't buy ephedrine at all here, like mega-illegal and UGLs won't sell it to you. Synephrine is sorta like a weaker ephedrine; I guess it has better direct fat burning effects but less stimulant effect and less appetite suppression. Pseudoephedrine i'm not sure but pretty sure it's also illegal. Yohimbine and Synephrine both OTC and clen not written in the law but not sold publically anywhere as it was discontinued for human use once albuteral came out which was more effective. Clen is a great drug for fat loss and focus though. A lot of the western puritans have their moral panic about clen causing heart disease, but it's also been used in an experimental setting on heart failure patients at 80mcg for 12 weeks without any adverse effects. Those are bodybuilding doses for clen.

Yohimbine I haven't noticed much cognitively, but it does create some very impressive boners!

Most PEDs are basically safe in doses below 300lbs offseason ifbb men's open professional bodybuilders, including the stims. Don't let the pearl clutchers try to convince you otherwise while they slam back their 4th beer and Chili's hamburger+fries with cocacola. Tren and orals maybe don't be on them year round.


Random story because I just mentioned Ephedrine. I dated a very beautiful 40 year old single mom a few times. Her ex-husband was serving year 6 of a 20 year sentence for dealing meth. He was loaded AF but constantly gambled it all away on majiang despite a very handsome mid 6 figure USD annual income. ABP?

They're super loose about vice stuff in this city compared to my previous city in China; he was only ever caught, according to her anyway, because one of his customers ODed and died which provoked a more thorough investigation.

Ephedrine I guess can be used to make various illegal recreational stimulants, which is why it's banned. It's also banned in Thailand for the same reason, despite being so permissive about other things.

Thank your local meth addict. Luckily I have moved to somewhere that doesn't put ineffective ingredients in my cold med.

You can cook meth with it.

I was sore as **** but still performed quite well. I was training with a client and spent about 30 minutes teaching him the mandatory poses. Powerlifter who is doing a fatloss/bodybuilding block and just keeping s/b/d volume at a minimum rn. We did arms

Arms
Hammer curl: 15kgx12x5
Pushdowns: stackx36, 4 sets failure
ez curls: 20kgx10-12x5
Single arm overhead cable tricep exxtensions: 10kgx12x5
Hammer curls: FST-7
DB skullcrushers: FST-7

Sum posing with my shirtless bro (no ****)
20 minutes of cardio
leg extensions

I'm spending about ~6-8 minutes on leg extensions at the end of every session and it seems to be helping my knees.

Had a slightly busier day and didn't get my cardio in the morning. I'm gonna just add some tomorrow since I'm not weight training. Maybe 1 hour stairs AM and then during the day do some casual cycling around but not really formal cardio. Gonna add the caffeine+synephrine tomororow as well.

It'd be pretty awesome if the strategy of just hugely upping cardio, taking out fruit juices/junk, lowering rice portions, raising veggies+protein, and eating oats twice daily while just eating when hungry to the point of satiety was legitimately all I needed to do to get stage shredded. Doing this for 12 weeks will tell me if that's really all I have to do, but I suspect in my case it involves considerable more suffering and just having to tolerate the physical discomfort of hunger and also that 16 weeks is not enough for me and i'm probably a 24 week contest prep guy.

AM fasted cardio 60 minutes stairs in my apartment building. I was drenched afterword. Gonna shoot for 10k+ steps as well.

Grocery store started carrying skin removed sweet potatoes. Big W. 170-200g chicken breast+200g mashed sweet potato+60g green beens will be my go to meal, but I'll do white rice pre-workout and rice+junk carbs on deadlift days. Ordered some smoked salmon from the internet too. China finally has that protein bread Greg Doucette loves so much. Something like protein bread toast+guac+smoked salmon for breakfast everyday would be pretty great.

AM fasted weight is holding strong at 101.5. I probably regained a lot of glycogen just from returning to training after round 2 of covid.

Let me know if the protein bread is edible. Virtually every recipe with extra protein seems awful and would be vastly better by making a normie meal and then having a scoop of whey.