Also, my shoulders were more sore last night after the 5/3/1 Press and BBB Bench then they normally were; my one day experiment with bench with my hands almost out to the collars is aborted

fun while it lasted

Yeah, you're becoming a true montecore imo, .

I weigh 188 atm and have hovered around there to 190 for the last several weeks I'd guess. I need to come up with a specific plan before my wedding in May of next year since I don't want to be bulking at that point in time and instead at something of a localized low.

Thoughts on just cutting hard for a month trying to get below 185? Then eating surplus for 10-15 lbs (2 months or so) then cutting down slowly to whatever makes me look good for the wedding? Should I do a couple bulk/cut cycles by then?

Btw, I didn't plan on asking these questions in your thread, they just kind of came out, lol, .

I'm literally the worst person on this board to talk about cutting/recomp since I've never done it

But I'm not sure how much cutting down to 185 before bulking is really going to get you

Yugo, u crazy, bro.

11/15 Bench

5/3/1 Bench
5x45, 5x95, 5x135 (warmup)
5x205, 3x230, 6x257.5 (estimated 1RM 299)

Big bunch of meh; gym was literally empty so there was no one to spot me. I would have hoped for 7 or 8 but 6 was a grind, which is kind of concerning

BBB Press (1RM 160)
5x10x80

1 Arm DB Row
5x10x70
Still relatively easy, will probably bump up to 75s next week

Supersetted the following 3 exercises:

Preacher Curl
10/8/8x65

VGrip Tri Pressdowns
3x10x85

Facepulls
3x10x47.5

Good workout, except for the bench stuff

If the gym is that empty, drag a flat bench over to the power cage and bench there (with pins to let you rep out safely). As I get heavier in bench, I *really* like having a power cage to bench in... I can't imagine I'd like trying a heavy weight without it now, even if I have a spotter. (Exception obv being a meet or something with three spotters or whatever.)

Oh, hi there. I forgot I flashed a big latman signal out. Sorry 'bout that, I'll try to be careful not to cry wolf next time and bring something important to your attention.

Fwiw my pullups/chinups are ahead of all of my lifts comparatively afaik, .

don't think I didn't notice you're a better chinner than I am

I'm coming for you though

Keep on eating now, start cutting in February or so, depending on how low you want to get imo.

Also the wrong thread, but you being at ~20% BF sounds fairly correct. You weigh 12 lbs more than me at the same height. I'm currently at 14ish I'd guess. Turns out that BF is usually higher than you think. Saw a site on it which I can't be bothered to google right now.

11/16 Squat Week 3 Cycle 1

Squat (1RM 270)
5x45, 5x95, 5x135 (warmup, beltless)
5x205, 3x230, 5x255 (est 1RM 287)

Meh, was folded a bit on the last few reps of 255 but other than that it was fine; I'm considering staying with this 1RM for the next cycle to try to solidify things a bit. I tried KC's elbows down cue and it felt alright; I'll see how it goes for the next few times squatting I guess.

BBB DL (315 1RM)
5x10x160

Hanging Leg Raise
5x11xbw

So should I do the full BBB sets during my deload week, or dial them back a bit too? Other than the squats, none of them are that strenuous, so unless that's a bad idea I'll probably just keep it up.

My first GGO in a while: guy that I'd noticed but hadn't really been paying attention to me asks me if I was doing squats (after I was done and setting up for DL). I mumble yes, he starts talking about how he did them when he was starting out and they were good because you had to stabilize in all directions and some other ****. I again mumber something like "that's the idea" and put my earbud back in. Then he goes over to the smith machine, which has the plastic pussy pad attached, and proceeds to do combo squats/calf raises with his heels hanging off the edge of a riser. Amazing

I dial everything back during deload week....usually fewer sets and fewer reps...

I was talking with one of the guys at my gym who "knows what he's doing" and he recommended squats in the Smith Machine. . I cried a little inside. His bench form is solid though fwiw.

I was 189lbs, 19.8% bf today after eating out a bunch yesterday. Seems the secret to lower bf% is to just get fatter and eat tons of carbs.

But yeah, I may be fatter than I thought. But still, I really would be surprised if I'm 20% atm. But I mean, sure, I don't know so w/e.

The problem with "get big now and cut in Feb" is....like....if I'm 20% bf that's higher than I want to be anyway - I don't really want to be 25%-30% bf at any point unless it's going to be really helpful or necessary...

11/19 Press (Deload)

Press (160 1RM)
2x5x45
1x5x65, 1x5x80, 1x5x95

BBB Bench (270 1RM)
3x8x135

Chins
10/8/6xbw

The last three exercises were supersetted:

EZ Bar Curl
2x10x45

V-Grip Tri Pressdown
2x10x60

Facepulls
2x10x40

Lower back is still a little sore, probably means either the ab wheel is killing me, I need to shore up my DL form, or both.

Probably abwheel. A couple of videos on YouTube touching on that subject. Abwheel top10 exercise though but obviously not worth it if you gonna snap your back. Probably gut to massive and thus low back bothering you. Trollface.

I was hoping that's what it was, because my DL form is actually decent-ish from what I can tell, and it's not like I'm lifting super heavy.

It's probably more likely to be my massive balls than my gut

Replied in your log.

11/20 DL (Deload)

DL (315 1RM)
5x135, 5x160, 5x190

BBB Squats (270 1RM)
3x8x135

Ab Wheel
3x6xbw

Kept my abs tighter and my butt a bit lower throughout the ab wheel reps and it felt a lot better; hopefully this helps with that slight lower back discomfort I've been having.

11/29 Cycle 2 Week 1

Bench (275 1RM)
5x45, 5x95, 5x135 (warmup)
5x185, 5x205, 9x235 (est 1RM 302)

Probably had another rep at 235 in the tank, but I'm trying not to push it.

BBB Press (1RM 165)
5x10x82.5

Easy.

1 Arm DB Row
5x10x75

This was tough, probably sticking at this weight for a few weeks.

Supersetted the following three exercises:

EZ Bar Curl
10/7x65

VGrip Tri Pressdown
2x10x82.5

Facepulls
2x10x47.5

Felt good to get back, but holiday layoffs blow.

If 5x10 82.5 is easy on shoulder press, I say **** it and bomb away. Squatting and deadlift is a different animal because your conditioning is not up to par. And on top of that, those bad boys stress your CNS big time.

But military press? Please, your CNS is like come on fagboy that's all you got????

Damn, second cycle and you're already 25lbs ahead of your 1rm with your estimated 1rm. Beastly imo.

Well I'm going to be starting BBB next cycle, so I'll be doing 60% and 70% of 1RM in months 2 and 3. I'm fairly certain my CNS won't be calling me a *** then.

Thanks!

Full disclosure, I dialed down my 1RM on bench a bit because I hadn't lifted heavy in a while when I started 5/3/1; I was doing sets of 5 across at 275 on TM, so I've got a bit more room to grow I think.

11/30 Squat Week 1 Cycle 2

5/3/1 Squat (1RM 280)
2x5x45; 1x5x95; 1x5x135 (warmup)
5x180; 5x210, 7x240 (est 1RM 288)

Seems fine, feels kind of meh though.

BBB DL
5x10x165

Still easy-ish

Hanging Leg Raises
5x12xbw

First leg workout in a while, feels pretty good -- I'm excited to be super sore tomorrow.

12/3 Press Week 1 Cycle 2

5/3/1 Press (165 1RM)
5x45, 5x75, 5x95 (warmup)
5x107.5, 5x125, 8x140 (est 1RM 174)

Meh, was hoping for 9 or 10; still decent I guess.

BBB Bench (275 1RM)
5x10x140

Easy as usual.

Chins
9/8/7/5/5xbw

Been a while since I did these, hopefully I can start adding one or two reps total per workout and get to 10 across within a few months; would be pretty stoked if I could make that happen. When/if I cut a bit of weight, I'm sure that would help.

Last three are supersetted:

Preacher Curl
10/9/9x65

VGrip Tri Pressdown
3x10x85

Facepulls
3x10x47.5

12/4 DL Week 1 Cycle 2

5/3/1 DL (1RM 325)
1x5x135 (warmup)
5x210, 5x240 (beltless)
7x275 (belt) (est 1RM 330)

meh. Didn't feel great for whatever reason, felt my lumbar rounding a bit so I called it quits after 7 reps. Probably could have toughed out 2 or 3 more, but better safe than sorry I think.

BBB Squats (1RM 280)
5x10x140

Ab Wheel
5x7xbw

These are much easier keeping my lower back extended and my ass tucked. May try going for 5x10 next time.

12/6 Bench Week 2 Cycle 2

5/3/1 Bench
5x45, 5x95, 5x135 (warmup)
3x192.5, 3x225 (was supposed to be 220 but **** moving all those extra plates around)
7x247.5 (est 1RM 297)

Meh. 8th rep would have been nice (I got about halfway up and couldn't push past it), but whatever. I don't feel like I've gained anything on my bench, but with knocking off 10% or a bit more off that's to be expected.

BBB Press (1RM 165)
5x10x90

After being shamed by loco last week I bumped up the weight; definitely more challenging, but it felt good and wasn't ultra hard. I'll probably bump it up by 2.5 lbs a session until it approaches 60% or so and just keep it there; I don't think I'm as efficient at producing maximal effort on my presses anyway so these numbers seem appropriate enough. I should bump up the percentage on my BBB bench too, since 140 is cake.

1 Arm DB Row
5x10x75
Felt better than last time but still tough; I'll probably stick with this for one or two more weeks and then give the 80s a try. Slowly but surely my back is approaching the strength of my front.

These last three supersetted:

EZ Bar Curl
3x10x65

VGrip Tri Pressdown
3x10x87.5

Facepulls
3x10x50