Wednesday 30 Sep
W3D3

Bench Press: 45x10, 95x5, 135x3, 155x3 x3 sets

Incline Bench: 75x12, 85x12, 95x12 @7.5

Deadlift: 115x10 x5 sets
Chinups: x3 x3 sets, x2 x2 sets

Dips: x8 x3 sets
1-Arm Cable Rows: 40x20 x3 sets

T = 0:52, RPE 6

***

After 3 days of ~1600 cal/day and dramatically reduced fats, my weight dropped 3-4 lb. I guess it's not that surprising.

Bench felt better than yesterday. I felt a minor crick developing in my upper back during flat benching and based on yesterday's performance I dramatically undershot weights on incline. Probably could have somewhat comfortably done 105x12 for 3 sets. Oh well.

Light pulls continue to feel great. Chins are still weak but I'm fat and untrained in them. Cable rows felt really great. I think someone in the old thread gave me **** for doing them a few years ago. It seems that for a supplemental exercise at the end of a workout, and for high reps, they fill a slot pretty well.

edit: I just improved my breakfast macros. I like chick fila and it's convenient when I don't have time to prepare breakfast in the morning. So maybe 3 days per week I've been eating breakfast filets with a little honey mustard to offset the saltiness, which was about 325 calories, 26g protein and moderately high fat. Today I tried the egg white grill and it's 290 calories, 26g protein also, and has much lower fats, not to mention tasting better.

Thursday 1 Oct
W3D4

Bench Press: 45x10, 135x3, 155x3 x3 sets

CG Bench Press: 135x10, 145x10 x2 sets @9.5

Pec Fly: 60x20 x3 sets
NG Lat Pulldown: 85x20 x3 sets

Treadmill: 20 minutes

T = 0:58, RPE 7

***

Saturday 3 Oct
W3D5

Deadlift: 125x10 x5 sets

Bench Press: 45x5, 135x3, 155x3 x3 sets, 175 @7, 185 @8

Incline Bench: 95x10, 110x10, 115x10 @8

Pause Squat: 45x5, 135x5, 145x5 x4 sets
Leg Press: 2 plates x10 x4 sets

T = 1:03, RPE 7

***

Bench was fairly snappy so did a couple of singles to test the waters a little. The program wants me to do 185 for triples across next week, which seems pretty sketchy. We will see.

Week 8 Diet:



Killed it. I had two prepped meals on each day. Just a lean homemade chili con carne and a simple baked chicken and couscous thing. Breakfast was generally a metrx bar or an egg white grill from chick fila. I ate out a couple of times but it was always sensible stuff.

This week I made this using breast instead of thigh and it came out pretty great at 608 cals/55 protein per serving along with some baked tilapia with frozen vegetables at 522 cals/46 protein. Those servings include the rice I'll be eating with them. Got 4 meals in the fridge and 7 in the freezer.

edit: Sunday is missing the whey shake that i'm about to drink.

Tuesday 6 Oct
W4D1

Bench Press: 45x5, 135x3, 155x3, 170x3 x9 sets @8.5-10

CG Bench Press: 125x 13, 4, 3 (racked bar for 5 breaths in between each)

Pause Squat: 45x5, 135x5, 155x5 x5 sets

T = 0:50, RPE 8

***

The last half of the cycle is 2 days a week benching and intensity goes up. This was a pretty tough day. I'm planning to do a back-oriented day with some treadmill on Thursday and hit the bench hard again on Saturday when I have more time and with some good preworkout nutrition.

Thursday 8 Oct

Deadlift: 135x10 x5 sets

Neutral Lat Pulldown: 85x20 x2 sets, 70x20

Low Row: 85x20

Treadmill: 20 minutes

T = 0:50, RPE 5

***

Deadlifts felt pretty shitty today. No pain, just didn't feel "right." They're still RPE negative 20, but I might consider switching up the programming on them. Maybe do two days a week, one where I do really light sets of 10 to keep building back endurance and another where I do heavier doubles or triples that are still 8-10 reps away from failure. That way I get to handle something heavy enough that it actually takes some effort to maintain form.

What back rehab exercises are you doing? I do a lot of Donnie Thompson stuff (links below) and kettlebell swings/double kettlebell deadlifts. They always work for me and I’ve had several major back issues.


https://youtu.be/oTkuStNAfuM
https://youtu.be/N_G0crDTxOs
https://youtu.be/eixkcrX_Qh8

Lately, no specific exercises. Just managing intensity on squat/dl main lifts and accessories. Which seems to work to a point. I previously did McGill big 3 and it was never clear if it helped. I don't have a lot of time to spend so I try to do what gives the biggest bang for buck. I find the deadlift-as-rehab method more motivating because I can at least progress them and feel like my back endurance has increased.

Just prior to revamping the log, I was squatting fairly heavy (290 compared to my former PR of 305) with no pain and it was only heavy DL that I couldn't do. Then I pulled something glute-related during a squat set and for the last month or so I haven't been able to squat heavy either. Now I'm just steadily progressing both lifts from baby weight while I attempt to increase my bench. I haven't had pain in several weeks but I sometimes feel "inhibited" in the low back area (as yesterday).

Saturday 10 Oct
W4D2

Bench Press: 155x3, 175x3 @8.5 [PR+5], 185x3 @10 [PR+15], 175x3 x4 sets @9-10

Incline Bench: 85x20 @7

Deadlift: 135x10 x5 sets

Pause Squat (no belt or sleeves): 135x5, 165x5 x4 sets

Hack Squat: 1 plate x10 x4 sets

T = ?:??, RPE 8

***

Pretty decent day. Program called for a broad range for 170-185lb for 5-10 sets. I was confident enough in the 175 triple that I didn't use a spot. What should have been a reasonably comfortable 185x3 ended up being an all-out effort when my left hamstring cramped up during the second rep. Then I had some tightness in my shoulders after a bunch of 175 triples so I called it there.

Deadlifts felt much better than on Thursday, and squats were also good. I haven't filmed a squat in a while, and it seems like my depth has improved a lot. My pauses were short on the filmed set so I fixed that on the other three.

Congrats on the PR triple despite the cramp. Looking that the video, you should have more PR triples pretty soon.

Thanks. Yeah 175 looks like it could be a 5RM with a little luck. I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't get more 185 sets but any bench progress on 1600 calories is welcome.


Week 9 Diet:



Crushed again. Fats were a little high on the weekend because of a couple of cheat meals. I'm down to 161 (~10lb). Weight loss has been remarkably slow given the calories but I'd like to think that I'm enjoying some recomp with the improved macros. Not to mention I've added creatine back so there's probably some water gain from that.

edit: Meal prep week 3 is down, also. I think this is something I can actually stick to.

Good job on the diet / weight loss

+1; good stuff in here!

Woah you put 15lb on your 3rm bench while dieting?

TY

Addressed in DMs but for everyone else, yeah kinda but not really. I benched 185x2 @9 on 22 August before I started really cutting. So it's mostly just maintaining some upper body strength that I had from sitting at a heavier body weight for a while. That said, I tried to TNG 180 for a single last year and got stapled, so def some recent gains have been made.


Tuesday 13 Oct
W5D1

Bench Press: 135x3, 155x3, 175x3 x3 sets @9-9.5

Squat w/belt: 135x3, 185x3, 205x3 x5 sets

Pause Leg Press: 2 plates x10 x3 sets
Pec Fly: 85x20
Facepull: 60x20

T = 0:48, RPE 7

***

The program called for 180-185 for 3x3 but the bros in the bench area were all wearing gloves and no-touch benching 135 so I knew I wasn't gonna get a reliable spot. Given how challenging 175 was, I might not have been able to hit those numbers anyway.

I've decided to do something resembling squat/dl programming. Gonna do a full belt/sleeves squat once a week and keep the RPE under 8, with another day that I squat less heavy and try to continue building depth and back stability. DL will be along the same lines except that I'll hard cap the RPE at 6-7. I'm also doing 1-2 minutes rest between sets to further limit the weight I can use. If I can get a few more pain free weeks while ramping up to somewhat heavy weights then I'll begin pushing things harder at that point.

Thursday 15 Oct

Deadlift: 115x3, 165x3, 185x3 x5 sets

Chinups: 5, 5, 5, 4, 4

Low Row: x20 x3

Treadmill: 20 minutes

T = 0:55, RPE 5

***

DLs good. Chins are a lot stronger than they've felt in a while.

Guy runs good for 6 weeks and makes this brag. 42k for him is like us winning 1k at a $10 buy in no big deal. We build a physique only this guy can dream about save up ur money bro cuz u can’t buy this physique. This guy reminds me of a molester that acts like a manchild, this violent Mexican sex offender has Loco tattoo’d on his arm and treats the other sex offender like **** cause he came from a violent prison. Thinks he is superior to others with fake a$$ credentials. No wonder he’s got loco as a tat. We move on as we hear this cardio tard tell us how to lift “eye roll”.

Saturday 17 Oct

Pause Deadlift: 135x5 x5 sets

Bench Press: 135x3, 155x3, 170x5 @9.5 [PR], 175x3 @9.5, 175x2f, 165x3 x2

Pause Squat w/sleeves: 135x5, 155x5, 175x5 x4 sets

T = under an hour, RPE 7

***

Bench today was kind of a mixed bag. The bench area was mobbed so I decided to attempt benching in the hammer strength rack with a hammer strength adjustable bench. This bench is friggin stupid. It has all this unnecessary steel that causes it to weigh 150lb, yet it rolls freely and has no locking brakes to prevent this. So I had to sandwich it between the rack and a 45 on the floor in order to keep it from sliding around, and it still shifted when I leg drove during hard reps.

So the 170 rep pr is basically with compromised leg drive. I added another plate which helped but I was kind of spent by then. Program called for 175x3x5 which was gonna be tough even under ideal conditions. I feel at this point that it is about a coin flip whether I hit 205 in testing next week. 175/0.85 ~= 205. Hopefully there's some peaking effect in the next week.

Week 10 Diet:



I was a little soft on macros this week compared to the last two. There were some cheat meals for sure, and on the weekend I had birthday cake. Weight is still hovering around 161.

Meal prep this week:

Pressure Cooker Beef Barley Soup

came out awesome.

Stir-Fried Beef with Chinese Broccoli

Kind of dumpstered this one because I switched to chicken breast to improve macros and also had to use regular broccoli when Chinese gai lan couldn't be found. My first time using a wok.

That’s some poverty calories, time to reverse diet.

I think if you saw my current physique you'd tell me to drop to 1400. Weight loss is still super slow at these calories but I definitely feel/see some recomp happening.


Tuesday 20 Oct
W6D1

Bench Press: up to 155, 175 @7, 185 @8

3ct Pause Bench: 165x3 x3 sets @8-8.5

Squat w/belt: 135x3, 185x3, 205x3, 225x3 x4 sets

Pause Leg Press: 2 plates x12 x3 sets

T = 0:52, RPE 6

***

Pretty good day. If there'd been a reliable spotter around I might have went ahead and tested bench. I was pretty happy to easily hit 165x3x3 for long pauses after having not paused a bench rep in 6 months.

I'm finally back to two plates on squat. Everything felt really easy and good. I think the leg press is going to make me sore as **** though.

I’m not so sure of that cause I’m looking at a health perspective too. How low can you really go/ plan to go? For me very low is 1950-2200 at 164 lbs. Granted I move a lot and have a good metabolism. I would think at a certain point it would be too low for your weight/height/age/activity level.

Your 164 is more like my 135, in terms of body comp. 1950*(135/164) = 1605.

I don't see myself going much lower than 1600. I could see doing short bursts of 1400 as part of some aspergers nutrition periodization thing, but I think 1600 gets me where I want to be, eventually.

Thursday 22 Oct

Bench Press: up to 155, 175 @7.5

Deadlift: 135x3, 185x3, 205x3 x5 sets

Chin-ups: x5 x5 sets

T = 0:45, RPE 5

***

Program called for only 2 days of benching this week, including test day, but I decided to ramp up to a light single just to get a little extra practice. Deadlifts continue to feel really good. I guess I'll just go with 10lb weekly increases from here.

Chins 5x5 is a post weight gain milestone.