Monday, April 17, 2017 Training
Overhead Variant, C2W4 TM42 6x6 @75%

1. Press:

10x10
22.5x5
27.5x2

31x6
31x6
31x6
31x6
31x6
31x10 @10

2. Paused CGBP (kg):

20x8
35x4

51x5
51x5
51x5
51x5 (forgot to pause)
51x7 @9 [edit: felt like @9, vid looks like @8]

2. Chin-ups (@57kg)

+10lb x5
+10lb x5
+10lb x5
+10lb x5
+10lb x7 @10

3. DB Incline Press (#):

35x10
35x10
35x10
35x15 @8.5 maybe

3. DB External Rotation (#):

10x10
10x10
10x10
10x10

3. Cable Face-pull (#, leverage):

65x17
65x17
65x17
65x17

***

Another great day, though I'm guessing the two extra days of recovery and glycogen repletion played a role.

When I got in, the equipped PL bro was just warming up for squats, so I ended up rigging a way to rack my press on the frame of the smith machine. It worked surprisingly well, but the awkward walk out probably cost me a rep or two. In spite, I still managed the same sets/reps as last Week 4, with +1.25kg on the bar and -1.25kg body weight. Pretty gainsish.

I decided to rep out the last set of bench press and DB incline just to get a dipstick reading. I may go with a bit more aggressive jumps on those going forward, especially considering the cut is about to be over.

Tuesday, April 18, 2017 Training
Deadlift Variant, C2W4 TM123 7x4 @75%

1. 6cm Block Pulls:

20x8 good morning
20x8 rdl
40x8 rdl
60x4
60x2
80x2

95x4 best set, side view
95x4
95x4
95x4 good set, front view
95x4
95x4
95x7

2. Paused HBBS (kg):

20x8
40x4
60x1

72.5x6
72.5x6
72.5x6
72.5x6

2. Hanging Leg Raise:

15
15
15
15

3. Machine Seated Row (#):

115x10
115x10
115x10
115x10

3. Leg Curl (#):

90x10
90x10
90x10
90x10

3. Cable Curl (#, leverage):

65x8
65x8
65x8
65x10

***

Today we have Block Pulls a.k.a. My Eternal Struggle Against Neck Hyperextension.

Technically the percentages dictated pulling 92.5 today, but I bumped it up a little since things have been going so well. I pulled some decent sets, some less than decent sets, and the final set was quite bad. It seems like my problem is that I have too many things that require active cueing. If I don't actively focus on holding my breath throughout the reps, I'll release it at the top involuntarily. If I don't actively focus on making a "double chin," I hyperextend my neck on the harder reps. If I don't actively focus on pulling the bar up my legs with my lats, the bar gets away from me. And the only time I can do all of these conscious things as once is when the weight is light, i.e. the first couple of reps of the sets. I probably could have pulled at least 5 or 6 more ugly reps in the last set, but I felt like wtf was the point if they're going to be atrocious.

Everything else went well. Squat depth is improving. Been makin some sick gains on curlz also, which I think we can agree is what matters here after all.


Now, time for training max adjustments.

Bench Press - 73 to 76, 57.5kg for 6x6 in Week 4.
Press - 42 to 45, 33.75kg for 6x6 in Week 4.
Squat - 107 to 113, 85kg for 6x6 in Week 4.
Deadlift - 123 to 133, 100kg for 7x4 in Week 4.

I think the squat increase is conservative, the press increase is ambitious (in a good way), and the others are in between. I'm expecting a bit of a performance gain from the increased calories and adjusting upward a little to anticipate that. Advice is welcome as always.

Try holding a tennis ball under your chin while you warm up your deadlift? Or draw a chalk "x" on the floor where you want to look - is there a mirror in front of you that draws your attention?

There is a mirror but I'm not sure that's what it is. I think it's just a habit I've developed that I associate with a hard pull. I could try the tennis ball thing but it would probably only work for warmup sets, which I have no trouble keeping a neutral neck in anyhow.

I could try not pulling in front of a mirror but that's really tricky in my gym. I'd basically have to turn the barbell 90 deg to the camera and face the cable crossover. Would be a bit weird, but probably doable.

Thursday, April 20, 2017 Training
Bench and Squat Variants, C2 Deload

1. HBBS:

20x8
40x5
60x5
75x5
75x5

1. Close-Grip Bench:

20x10
35x5

50x5
50x5
50x5

2. T-Bar Row (kg):

50x7
50x7
50x7

2. Romanian Deadlift (kg):

56x8
56x8
56x8

***

I combined the first half of deload week into a single workout to make up for last week's holiday. I'm going slightly heavier this deload after the last one seemed to detrain me a bit too much. It turned out to be a pretty well-timed deload, as I felt pretty run-down today due to inadequate sleep and still pretty sore from deadlift day. These weights felt fairly heavy.

It looks like I may have a possible injury brewing. For the last three or so week's I've been developing a dull pain, or maybe a tenderness, in my left forearm. I can produce the pain by applying pressure as pictured:



I assume it's a tendon and not a muscle since I have to press up against the bone to cause the pain. I feel it when I bench and when I "bend the bar across my back" when squatting, but I feel it the most when doing both curl variations, especially when I don't keep my wrists neutral (a form flaw that I've since corrected). I'm guessing the best course of action is to switch to different curl variants or stop curling altogether for a couple of weeks.

Location makes me think golfers elbow. While not closer to the elbow where you're pressing, the entire flexor can be a trigger point, which is basically what you're doing. Its kind of odd you say you have to press into the bone though.

I would imagine any type of closed grip work will manifest this - do deadlifts really not bother it?

I've basically got the same pain (althuogh as nuclear hinted, much close to the joint, so not sure if it's really the same). Pretty sure it was caused by straight barbell curls. Pretty sure it was caused by flexing the wrists at the top of the movement and then allowing them to extend on the way down and overloading the extensors (totally speculative self diagnosis).

Possible contribution was pullups.

Possible root cause imo is my shoulder on that side being more internally rotated than the other side. Possibly tight pec on that side.

I don't know how to fix it. I really suck at doing SMR. I had some ART dude do some work on it (also pec on that side). I think that gave some relief, but I haven't had a chance for a follow up session. Will be looking into this.

I'm resting it. It's not working.

Hope that helps.

I'm not sure it's golfer's elbow or the pain that snitch is describing. The pain is localized to the middle of the forearm, specifically the ulna, in what seems like the flexor carpi ulnaris. It doesn't hurt near the wrist or elbow joints at all.

edit: It also seems to be affected more by elbow flexion under load i.e. a curl than wrist flexion/extension or grip.

Saturday, April 22, 2017 Training
Overhead Variant, C2 Deload

1. Press:

10x10
20x5
27.5x5
27.5x5
27.5x5

2. Paused CGBP (kg):

20x8
35x5
47.5x5
47.5x5
47.5x5

2. Chin-ups (@58kg):

6
6
6

***

Got a new angle on the press that shows pretty clearly that my bar path arcs around my face. The linked set was the best, but still a lot to work on here. Going forward I am gonna focus on leaning back more and racking the bar higher on my clavicle.

Saturday, April 23, 2017 Training
Deadlift Variant, C2 Deload

1. Deadlift:

20x10 rdl
40x6 rdl
60x3x2
70x3x2
80x3 (front)
80x3 (side)

2. Paused HBBS (kg):

20x8
40x4
65x5
65x5
65x5

***

Deload week seemed like a decent opportunity to revisit some pulls from the floor. They seem much improved from my old deadlift days. Paging ActionJeff?

Week 54 Diet, Week 36 Cut



The final week of the cut had some decent days and some crap days. Thursday was a day that I didn't really control my calories and ate cannabis pizza. Really not a bad week overall considering there were 5 training days and the additional 200 or so calories that is generally associated with those days.

The cut is officially over, but I'm stacking up a few consecutive <1400 cal <100 carb days just to drop some water weight before I take the bi-monthly photos. Will probably be tomorrow or the day after. I'll include a comprehensive cut progress report when I make that post.

Congratulations on finishing the cut! Looking forward to the progress pics.

For whatever it's worth, I found that (operating under the assumption that you may want to shed a bit more bodyfat) going into a surplus for a decent amount of time (6-12 months) and giving yourself some time to reset/re-acclimate to your current weight before trying to go lower (in bf%, at least).

Thanks.

That's basically my plan. I'm virtually certainly >15% bodyfat right now, which is kind of disappointing, but I've just been cutting for a bit too long at this point. I think I've been pretty patient and disciplined so far, but my habits are starting to deteriorate and become stale. I think learning how to reverse-diet will make it interesting for me again.

I can proceed knowing that I've basically mastered the art of controlled starvation while making somewhat decent gym progress. Lean is there whenever I want to devote the effort and few months necessary to make it happen, preferably at a time when I'm not as stressed out as I have been lately.

there's a chance your forearm pain is coming from not having your wrists
straight while benching and pressing. From the videos you just posted I couldn't tell about bench but ohp they were def cocked back quite a lot

+1 to great job cutting

That makes some sense. With the wrists cocked back the extensors are flexed for that position, but then to tighten your grip AND rotate your forearm your flexing the flexors in an elongated position, possibly putting undo stress on them.

New nudes:



Measurements:



All front pics from the last year:



Breakdown of cut:



***

Some observations in no particular order of importance:

- Changes are pretty dramatic from the 129 pics. It really drives home how each pound you lose makes you look exponentially better than the last one.

- I lost weight at a comparable rate during the last half of the cut as during the first, while eating more calories on average. I also trained with ever higher volumes, and with much higher volumes during the last 10 weeks.

- On a similar note, my feelings about my eating habits slipping were kind of unfounded. I've made very reasonable fat loss progress during the last 8 weeks, the break weeks just weren't regularly scheduled like before and were a bit more frequent.

- It's obviously not 15%. I definitely have a lot of excess skin, and maybe one day I'll take a gross picture of me doing a plank, but it's not enough to account entirely for how fluffy I still am. I'm basically only vascular in the arms, my upper back could be 15ish %, but otherwise, I am not there. I do have upper abs tho.

- Based on the above observations, it's awfully tempting to spend one more training cycle in cutmode. But phuck that imo. I feel more comfortable sticking to plans I made weeks ago, and I also don't have any particular interest in being a 110 ripped guy at present. Nevermind the stressful nature of cutting that I mentioned in a previous post.

damn man, you're looking a lot leaner, very impressive transformation. but I do agree its time to end the cut and start adding on some muscle now. 123lbs seems really light, how tall are you?

Great work

Yah, this series of photos makes it super obvious. Good work dude.

Awesome WIM, man. You should be proud.

Three contenders for the 2017 golden loco. Pummi just broke his back so it's only two now.

Montecore -150
Renton +130

Thanks, bros.


Thanks. I'm 5'5" / 165cm. But probably pretty small frame for my height as well. Big legs, tiny torso.


Monte has a real job and fewer gains in the tank. I'm, frankly, insulted by these odds.

PS: Whats my locogonnaloco bf%?

Amazing transformation, awesome job!

Awesome work!! Put this discipline into a 12 week slow bulk and a similar 6 week cut back to this weight and the difference will be noticeable each time

Nice dick gains