Part I, The History
Previous logs:
1.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/85...ss-log-512924/
June 2009. Stuck with it for an entire 7 weeks. A total dumpster fire. Wasn't committed, didn't want it enough.
2.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/85...l#post34015299
March 2012. A much more concerted effort. This time I made pretty good progress over six months of steady lifting and diet. I'm not entirely sure why I fell off the wagon. It was probably a confluence of factors, including some minor shoulder and glute injuries, making unnecessary changes to my program and diet, and depression probably played a major role as well. Also, I think I was being torn between wanting to lose fat and look better and wanting to be stronger. I actually dieted down from 163# to 141# while making gains on all my lifts. But then I changed my diet too aggressively and was disappointed when my lifts began to stall in spite of me increasing calories. I think the lesson learned was that I should never make aggressive changes to the program all at once.
Part II, The Present
Started back lifting again on March 5, 2016. I'll elaborate a bit later on my diet, but I averaged 1600 calories/day for the first 5 weeks and lost about 3kg (started out at a weight of 165#/75kg). My scale weight has been constant for the last two weeks so I suspect that this number is not that far from maintenance. If I had to guess I would say I'm eating at a 200-300 cal deficit. My scale is a crappy analog one so only accurate to +/- 1kg.
Age - 31
Height - 5'5" / 165cm
Weight - 159# / 72kg
Bodyfat % - no idea, pretty high, here's some nudes:
Former 2012 PRs:
Low-bar Squat -------- 192# x 5
Bench Press ---------- 97# x 5
Overhead Press ------- 79# x 5
Deadlift ------------- 195# x 9
Current lifts (spoilers to form check vids):
Low-bar Squat -------- 110# x 8
Bench Press ---------- 80# x 9
Dumbbell OHP ------- 20# x 11 (each db)
Romanian DL ---------- 94# x 8
Supine-grip Pulldowns --- 100# x 9
Barbell Row ---------- 66# x 8
Part III, The Program
Tuesday:
RDL 2x8 @ 80% workset
*
Low-bar Squat 3x8
Bench Press 2x8, 1xAMRAP
----- Backoff 1xAMRAP @ 90% workset
Supine-grip Pulldowns 2x10 1xAMRAP
Thursday:
RDL 3x8 (heavy)
**
Low-bar Squat 2x8 @ 80% workset weight
***
Dumbbell OHP 2x10, 1xAMRAP
****
----- Backoff 1xAMRAP @ 90% workset
Bent-over BB Rows 3x8
Saturday:
RDL 2x8 @ 80% workset
Low-bar Squat 3x8
Bench Press 2x8, 1xAMRAP
----- Backoff 1xAMRAP @ 90% workset
Supine-grip Pulldowns 2x10 1xAMRAP
*****
* RDLs are done every day as dynamic warmup for the squat. I find they help me increase my proprioception of my lower back extension and posterior chain involvement in the squat.
** I currently lack the mobility to deadlift with correct form. My intent is to stick with RDLs until I am mobile enough to pull 132# off the floor with great form. I'll periodically check this, because I'd really like to be doing real deadlifts ASAP.
*** Form is and has been a major problem for me with the squat so I include the light day in the middle of the week as an imperative to perform as close to perfect form as I possibly can. It's technique day, essentially, and it's also form diagnostic day. I really don't have an issue with squatting heavy 3 days a week, I just would rather make form a priority for now.
**** Alternates with bench press. I previously had shoulder issues with the barbell ohp so I'm taking a different approach this time. Due to the inability to microload dumbbells, I'll be working within the 8-12 rep range for these and try to make week-to-week rep progress since increasing the size of the dumbbells every day is obviously unrealistic.
***** Alternates with rows. These will eventually be chinups once I can do them.
Other work:
I live in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and I get around mainly by bicycle. My gym is actually quite far away from home (4.5km) so biking there is actually a decent warmup for the training session and I accumulate around 35km a week on my bicycle.
I've considered adding GTG stuff, pushups and chinups, but for now I'm gonna keep it simple. Over-programming probably played a major role in my falling off the wagon previously. Also I think it's probable that my shoulder problems were made worse with pushups.
I really would like to educate myself more about static stretching because I know I have some flexibility problems. Currently the extent of my mobility work is 10 minutes or so of MM exercises prior to training, and YTWL shoulder stuff with very light dumbbells prior to pressing. Suggestions are welcome on this front.
Part IV, The Diet
The diet is simple. Eat basically what I want to eat, but in moderation, with the following key exceptions:
1. No alcohol or sugared beverages
2. No sweets or desserts of any kind
3. No pizza or pasta.
Carbs are permitted, but limited. I ban pizza and pasta because it's impossible to eat those foods in limited quantity. I still eat some rice (got to in southeast asia), potatoes, bread, and cereal.
The most important thing is that I log all the food I eat. I want to know how many calories I'm taking in because I want to keep a close observation on what my probable maintenance level is and what my intake needs to be for strength gains to continue.
Part V, The Goals
This time I'm really not concerned about my appearance. I'd obviously rather be carrying less fat, but my top priority is gaining functional strength. That said, I would rather not get any fatter than I am currently. My plan is to eat the minimum amount of food that is required to make linear progress, and to tweak that upward whenever gains slow. I suspect that I am fat enough / novice enough to make significant strength gains without weight gain for quite a while.
Finally, I want to make clear that the most important goal with this program and this log is to stay the course. I don't want to pick every nit about the insignificant details of my program. By all means give me criticism, but save your most scathing criticism for when it looks like I'm falling off the wagon again. Reading the last few weeks of my last log, the signs that something was amiss were obvious. I'd rather do an imperfect program forever than get stressed out over making it better so much that I lose interest altogether. It's pretty disheartening to imagine what I'd look like now if I had done some bro-split with no leg day for the last 3 years since the last log.
Thanks in advance for any replies, and thanks way in advance for your support.
Last edited by Renton555; 04-14-2016 at 11:33 AM.