Thursday 7 February 2018 Training
Sheilfko W3D3

Deadlift to Knees (120"): 65x3, 80x3, 95x3 x2 sets, 102.5x3 x4 sets @<6

Comp. Bench (120"): 40x5, 50x4, 57.5x3 x2 sets, 65x3 x2 sets, 70x2 x4 sets, LS @9
DB Hammer Curl: 20lb x9 x5 sets

Sumo Deadlift (180"): 95x3 x2 sets, 110x3 x5 sets, LS @7

Pause Leg Press (90"): 130x4, 170x4 x5 sets, LS @7

T=103m @7

***

Went long because too much chatting and I had to wait for the leg press. Sumo is getting a bit more natural. I pushed it a bit heavier on bench and it went pretty well. Can't complain too much about this day.

How else can their be a neuropathy? There is damage or impingement of the nerves in the area (or those feeding it higher up the chain) in question if he's going numb.


What about if you drop into a squat?

What about if you shift the balance on your feet to just your toes or just your heels or try to feel out the 3 point? Are you even standing 3 point?

I don't generally stand for long enough during training to feel the symptoms. I don't generally drop into a squat in daily life. I suspect it would alleviate the symptoms though considering it is hip and knee flexion.

As for 3-point, I'm flat footed so it's not something that I am able to distinctively do. I haven't noticed that the symptoms occur differently based on how the weight is distributed to my feet, but I suppose it is possibly a factor.

Good news. My symptoms are subsiding. Tonight I stood waiting for my comps receipt in the poker room for over 10 minutes with no calf pain. I did have the most minor of numbness and chill to my left foot afterwards.

It probably has something to do with that this is a light-on-squatting / heavy-on-deadlifting week in the program. I'll continue going conservative on squats and monitor the results. In future programming I may reduce the heavy squatting to 1x weekly while doing something with a bit less ROM like a leg press on the other days. I can then focus on improving my deadlift, which appears to have less of an effect on my knee issue.

Ideally, this will be one of those things that I can simply fix with load management and, in a few months, be able to revisit high intensity squats without issue. I've already had this same thing happen with wider grip bench pressing and conventional deadlifting. Initially my lack of mobility caused pain in those movements but once I revisited them much later I could go heavy on them no problem.

Saturday 9 February 2018 Training
Sheilfko W3D4

HBBS w/belt (180"): 60x5, 75x5, 90x4, 95x4 x4 sets, LS @7

Comp. Bench (120"): 40x5, 50x4, 55x3, 60x3, 65x3 x7 sets, LS @7.5
NG Chin-up: x4 x9 sets

Dip (90"): x5 x5 sets

LB Goodmorning (60"): 60x8, 70x8, 75x8x2 @<6
DB Fly: 20lb x10 x5 sets

T=90m @6

***

Easy peasy. Switched to high bar squat as I figure that will aid me more in my quest to develop thoracic mobility/strength.

Sunday 10 February 2018 Training
Sheilfko W3D5

Sumo Deadlift (180"): 65x3, 80x3, 95x3 x2 sets, 105x3 x2 sets, 115x2, 120x2 x3 sets

Comp. Bench (120"): 40x5, 52.5x4 x2 sets, 60x4 x5 sets
DB Hammer Curl: 20lb x10 x5 sets

Sumo Block Pull (180"): 80x4, 95x4, 105x4 x2 sets, 115x4 x4 sets

CG Bench (90"): 40x10, 45x10, 50x10 x2 sets

Pause Leg Press (90"): 120x4, 150x4, 170x4 x4 sets

T=105m @8

***

Not a bad day, just a tiring amount of deadlift volume. It's probably @6 or 7 if I dropped the weight faster. I'm strongly considering just calling my gym's bluff and dropping sumo reps. I lose lower back position in lowering the bar and it's causing me unnecessary fatigue.

The no calorie tracking experiment was okay but I decided to start back with this week. Weight loss results have been a bit lackluster but training is going okay and I've had some movement on the scale this week. I'd like to keep it under 1800, and I have a feeling I'm gonna have to try for <1600 to actually end up achieving <1800. In particular I think I've been better about limiting fat intake, and I'd like to get that under 50g a day.

Have you considered getting some dumbbells at home and doing some hypertrophy work at home if motivation in going to the gym would be a problem ?

I was in a similar spot where I felt I was "strong enough" and outside of some sports rec leagues that lit a fire under me when someone stronger bodied me, adding more strength didn't really seem to have a purpose.

I changed my program to 1.5-2 days a week of heavy compounds at the gym and 3-4 days of hypertrophy dumbbell work (including squats) at home. I lost maybe 5% on my maxes but wound up looking better and saving 1-2 hours on the home workout days.

Thanks for the advice, but I don't think I've recent given any indication that I am having trouble complying with training.


Tuesday 12 February 2018 Training
Sheilfko W4D1

Hbbs w/belt (180"): 60x5, 75x4, 90x3 x2 sets, 100x2

Comp. Bench (120"): 40x5, 50x4, 57.5x3 x2 sets, 65x3 x6 sets
NG Chin-up: x4 x10 sets

DB Fly (60"): 20lb x10 x5 sets
Tempo Back Raise: x15 x4 sets

T=65m @6

***

I was in a terrible mood going into this one, but I'd planned for this week to be a deload for the squat regardless. I've noticed that my leg and knee symptoms have been pretty much exactly correlated with how hard I train the squat, to the point that the symptoms go away almost entirely during the 3 days I go without squatting in the middle of my week.

Today I planned to do the work as programmed, but with 10 kilos taken off for each set. Once I got to 100, it was much harder than expected and my left knee buckled in a weird way on the first rep, resulting in very minor pain after the set. I decided at that point to just call it for squat work and see how much my symptoms improve before Saturday.

Sorry, read through the whole the whole last page at once and was referencing this post, I know you go at the gym hard!

Right. The point is that compliance is easier for me if the program has progression. Not saying bb programs don't have progression but it certainly appears to be less important than just pounding set after submaximal set and hoping hypertrophy is a medium to long term outcome.

That said, this program is pretty light on progression and I'm enjoying it a good bit, so maybe I could handle a BB program after all.

Based on every bodybuilder ever, I'm not sure 'hoping hypertrophy' as an outcome is entirely accurate, lol.

Sure. But body comp progress for natties with below average genes is a snail's pace regardless how optimal the programming is IMO. Especially when compared to more tangible goals like adding 5 pounds to your bench press.

Snail's pace is relative, and I don't think it's as true as you believe it to be. If you are willing to lose some strength and comply to a BB type program and cut a small amount of weight, I think the results will be more than you expect.

Losing strength definitely sucks though, and doing less compound lifts feels "not right" and weird, but it will help in body recomp (at least visually).

Renton,

Less time sperging about your own genetic limitations and more time figuring out what your primary and secondary goals are. If your primary goal is to keep getting stronger, then powerlifting based programming is probably best; if your primary goal is to look better while retaining most of your strength, listening to G4S's and xlz's advice and switching the focus of your programming would seem to be the way to go. Powerbuilding on a PPL split would certainly allow for (some) continued progression.

I'm just a natty bro with above average genetics, but I also think you may be surprised at the joy and benefit you can get from a hypertrophy goal oriented split. There is no reason you can't use progressive overload concepts and incorporate your favorite compound lifts into the program and still use some intensity techniques to make the iso work very satisfying and challenging. Not only that, you may be less harassed by the injuries. All bs dogma aside, iso work makes your muscles bigger regardless of the cred it gives. While being as strong as possible is a nice, measurable metric, being a little less strong and looking and feeling better is pretty cool too. I am not going to crap on anyone for their preference, but from experience I can tell you that when I am at my strongest is not when people notice my gym results the most. Nobody is ever going to really care what numbers us mini-men put up so we may as well not put all this work in to look like fat guys with big traps and big forearms who have to tell people we are strong (for our ****ing size!) while being plagued injury for them to know. (not you I'm describing here)

Get ripped, bro.

You're probably right. Will consider.


The primary goal is still strength. I'm cutting because I look so bad that even I care. The problem is that it's looking more and more like I won't be able to train the squat hard for some yet to be determined length of time, so a less specific program will be necessary regardless of my goals.

And to be fair, I wasn't sperging but succinctly explaining why I feel I'd have poor compliance with a BB program.


I'm tryin, bro. 5x10 flys 3 days a week. Pretty sure I've made chesticular gains on this cut.

Tuesday 13 February 2018 Training
Sheilfko W4D2

Wide Stance SGDL (180"): 80x3, 95x3, 105x2, 110x2, 120, 120, 120f

Floor Press (120"): 40x5, 50x3, 60x2, 65x2, 67.5x2 x3 sets
DB Concentration Curl: 20lb x8 x5 sets

Incline Bench (90"): 40x5, 45x5, 50x5 x3 sets

Dip (60"): x4 x4 sets

T=71m @7

***

Decent. Overreached on SGDL again. This lift has the unique quality of being almost equally difficult for the whole range of motion. In the fail, the bar didn't leave the floor at all. I think I was just poorly positioned but the two singles leading up to it were pretty tough, so probably should have just done 115 or something.

I took it easy on the pressing weights because the program for some reason is having me do bench press doubles at 90% tomorrow.

Thursday 14 February 2018 Training
Sheilfko W4D3

Sumo Deadlift (180"): 65x3 x2 sets, 80x3, 95x3 x2 sets, 105x3 x2 sets, 115x2 x2 sets, 120x2 x2 sets

Comp. Bench (120"): 40x5, 50x4, 57.5x3 x2 sets, 65x3 x2 sets, 72.5x2 [PR] x2 sets @ 8, 8.5

Sumo Block Pull (180"): 90x3, 100x3, 110x3 x2 sets, 120x3 x2 sets, 130x2 x2 sets

3/1/0 Back Raise (60"): 10x8 x4 sets
DB Curl: 20lb x10 x4 sets

T=108m @7

***

Really good day. Bench is a legitimate PR. My touch and go PR is 77.5, I did 70x3 for short pauses a while back, and my "comp" pause PR is 73.5 for a single. Given that I went into this fatigued from two prior days of pressing, I'd say gains are being made.

Sumo is still pretty awkward but I'm improving a good bit. I strapped for all sets today because I was forced to use the bar that has no knurling where I grip. Probably for the best given how messed up my hands have been getting from 3x a week pulling.

Nice!

PR @8 is pretty sweet!

Thanks, bros!


Saturday 16 February 2018 Training
Sheilfko W4D4

Squat w/belt: nope

Comp. Bench (120"): 45x5, 50x4, 60x3 x2 sets, 67.5x3 x2 sets, 70x2 x2 sets, 67.5x3 x3 sets
Chin-up: x5 x9 sets

DB Fly (90"): 20lb x10 x5 sets

Military Press (90"): 25x8, 30x8, 32.5x8, 30x8

T=55m @7

***

I skipped squats entirely today in my continuing experiment to see how quickly my leg will improve. The plan is to very slowly ramp up the stress on that joint, probably beginning with goblet squats next week.

Pressing went fine.

Sunday 17 February 2018 Training
Sheilfko W4D5

Deadlift to Knees: 65x5, 85x3, 100x3, 105x3, 115x2 x5 sets

Floor Press (120"): 55x3, 65x3 x3 sets, 60x3 x2 sets
DB Hammer Curl: 25lb x8 x3 sets, 20lb x12 x2 sets

Romanian Deadlift (150"): 85x4, 92.5x4, 100x4 x4 sets

Incline Bench (90"): 45x5, 50x5 x5 sets

T=94m @8

***

Pretty tough day. Everything was kinda heavy and my head wasn't really in it. I skipped leg press. My leg isn't really getting better as quickly as I thought.

Tuesday 19 February 2018 Training
Sheilfko W5D1

2ct Pause Front Squat (120"): bodyweight x5 x5 sets, 20x5, 30x5 x4 sets, 40x3, 50x3 x4 sets

Comp. Bench (120"): 45x5, 50x4, 60x3 x2 sets, 67.5x3 x6 sets, LS @9
Machine Row: 100lb x10 x6 sets

DB Fly (60"): 20lb x10 x5 sets

Goodmorning (90"): 75x5, 80x5, 85x5 x3 sets

Military Press (90"): 25x10 x4 sets (lol)

T=102m @8

***

I reintroduced squatting. Gonna stick purely to pause front squat for the time being. Hopefully I can get some productive stress on my left knee this way while continuing to work on thoracic mobility.

Benching was harder than I'd hoped. Luckily the program only has me doing 62.5x3x4 tomorrow. It's almost like it knows I'm gonna be trashed for that workout.

Wednesday 20 February 2018 Training
Sheilfko W5D2

Wide Stance SGDL (180"): 80x3, 95x3 x2 sets, 105x2, 110x2 x4 sets

Comp. Bench (120"): 45x3, 55x3 x2 sets, 62.5x3 x5 sets
EZ Bar Preacher Curl: 18x10 x6 sets

Dip (120"): x6 x5 sets
Tempo Back Raise: 10x8 x4 sets

T=80m @7