I think the issue is that until 16 weeks or so of doing an exercise the vast majority of strength gains are neural adaptions so if someone's genetic potential is .5lbs a week they are gaining a tiny fraction of that early on in training. In reality people end up adding a ton of fat and either changing their workout to new lifts and/or just giving up.

My only goal is not to be above 70% bf. So,

Just to finish with the bodpod thing - here is the official printout or whatever:



Here are recent logs:

6/13 log

3 mile walk

6/14 log

DL - maybe pulled something where my hamstring meets my glute trying to do sumo DLs. I switched to conventional and I think was doing sets of 3 at 245 or something lol-light. JFC.

Did pullthroughs, light squats, ab wheel for assistance.

Btw, my hamstrings have been complete AIDS ever since this workout. Just completely trashed even with daily SMR. Just ridiculous.

6/15 log

Bench

Did like 135x5, 135x6, 135x7, 135x6, 135x5 or something like that.

Did chinups 7x7, DB rows, ripplebroe tricep for assistance.

6/16 log

Shot hoops. Dribbling is back to complete trash. Shot is....ok? I dno. Post moves are....shakier than I'd like. Gl to me at the 10 year reunion tomorrow if I find basketball to play.

Best memory from 5 year is that I won every game and just dominated playing against guys who I played intramural with in college. I was so much better (easy considering how bad I was) and they were worse imo.

6/18 log

Squats. Knee cave was just ridiculous. I went up to 195 and did like 2 with knee cave before stopping. Then had to move down to 165 and did 4 with no knee cave (1 with), 3 with no knee cave (1 with), 2 with no knee cave (1 with), then tried to do just 1 rep back at 195 or 205 or something and had knee cave.

Just a disaster - knee cave is WOAT right now. Just incredible how I can't keep my knees out even on baby weights.

Rest of workout: Did good girl/bad girl. Did pullthroughs, did ab wheel. Died a little inside.

6/20 log

OHP - worked up to 185x5x3, 185x4x2. Tough but definitely stronger than last OHP.

7x7 pullups
95x8, 95x6, 95x7 on Incline bench
DB curls 25x12x3
Pendlay rows 135x5x3

No workout today - going to 10 year college reunion. Will try to hit up some bball tomorrow but honestly kind of feeling psyched out about it. Seems like it can only end in shame and failure like all of my physical endeavours since I joined H&F and started lifting for real.

Wife is sick - so I'll probably be getting sick too. Great time for a reunion. We both just want to be at home for months doing nothing not traveling, not working, not lifting, not anything. Still not mentally recovered from deathmoon.

Now we remember why I don't log as frequently as I used to, it's even more disheartening and I'm an even bigger whiny bitch. Gotta vent somewhere though I guess.

I see loco also had a ridiculously compelling review of creatine early in his latest log. I'll look into adding it in the next couple of weeks when I (hopefully) end my cut.

I'm already bald and shave my head so idgaf about losing hair.

168# @ 6'? GOMAD + SS

OHP x 185

Whoa shiiiiiiiiiii. Yugo, have you been hustling me? That's a ridic ohp.

Lol. Ummm, 85lbs. Nice catch guys. I wish I were hustling everyone.

SS + GOMAD at 16.8% bf. Gl with that imo.

185lbs is my 1rm bench press PR that I set before deathmoon. Not OHPing that any time.....well, you can complete that or not complete that sentence, lol.

Oh lol damn Yugo I was ready to buy you a beer or sumpin'. OHP@185 is nothing to get the sads over.

Don't worry, my friend. As soon as we stop resisting the inevitable and get on PEDs we will sneer at 185 OHP.

This is my favorite log bc it makes me feel really strong

Btw yugo can we get a mini review of the new whip? I volvo

Yeah, I used to think something was "wrong" with SM. Now I just think I spent too much time interacting with him.

Well, ok, really I just want to go get drunk and have a solid cry with him and a few cats.

Every day I wake up, get in my Volvo, and love life. I'm super happy with it. It's great. I don't really know what else to say. It's as superiorly comfortable as I thought it would be, I really like the acceleration, it feels very nice driving it around, and when I see it parked sometimes I go "oh ****, whose car is that?" before remembering it's mine.

When driving it I really like that I can feel the road and feel the acceleration. It isn't a bumpy ride (although maybe for some people) by any means and it's extremely easy to be the fastest car on the road. If I had gotten this 9 years ago I likely would have gotten several speeding tickets by now, but I'm much calmer and slower than I used to be, lol.

I did spill white wine all over the trunk...but did my best cleaning up and I don't really think it smells anymore. The cabin still has new car smell.

Hmmm, what else. I'm getting 26mpg recently but I do mainly highway driving. I don't miss not having leather seats, the cloth ones are sooo much better getting into during the summer - although I probably should vacuum the interior with my new Miele vacuum cleaner (2nd most luxurious item I own) soon.

Let's see.....I dno, I owned a Ford Focus for 9 years or w/e, it's not like I can break down how it compares to comparable cars very well.

Down to 3x5x85 for OHP? Holy sheeeat. That's rough bro.

You know, looking back I should have tried to dissuade you from going to Sicily. Given what I know about you from the forums I would have guessed Italy might not have been your cup of tea, at least Sicily. The AIDS obviously made it more...AIDSy, but still. A more classic USA#1 honeymoon destination would prob be more up your alley.

Tons of post in your log, so didn't catch it - I assume you're eating fairly well now? Also, tell me more about propecia. I figure you've already done some research.

Haha. Pretty easy to see what was/is wrong with me. Actually getting down to 10-11% BF requires solid dedication. If you don't have that, wheels will be a-spinning. Obv this last winter slew me with around 2 months of illness + recovery time which was death on my brotivation. In hindsight I think cutting hard in the winter here is really stupid, in addition to being unlucky.

Just the last month of progress before I started dieting again told me strength gains will come pretty easy once I'm done (like +15 kg to 1RM DL, +10 to 1RM squat etc).

Anyways, surely you have a fairly rough road ahead. Getting ill like that really sets you back when you're just not cha/weasel'ing it up and basically don't give a f how big you are (within limits).


Lifting and body comp isn't everything

A fancy lad hating on white wine? Does not compute. I revoke your lad membership card. Come back when you can appreciate the glory that is white wine.

Everything is way down. Not nearly as rough as struggling to keep my knees out on 165x5 LBBS. I was doing 260 or 265 for 5 or 6 reps easy at my "peak".

I liked it a lot. It wasn't a great fit for my wife but, she did pull through. I thought it'd be a bit more like Italy and while an adventure, there would be some people who didn't seem like they "didn't get it" and some ppl who'd know English.

Cool that I went and got to see things though. Likely wouldn't go back for quite a while. At least I didn't die in Taormina like Mr. Sopranos though, just got a bad virus. So, raising a glass of white to that tonight!

Yeah, eating totally normal for over a week. Not tracking things well and not really on a new lifting program. Kind of just "coasting" and seem to have stabilized at ~169lbs.

I don't actually take propecia, I take a generic for proscar called finasteride. The difference is propecia is 1mg/pill and proscar is 5mg/pill. I just cut them into 4ths and take. The reason for this is that it's suuuuuuper cheaper to do it that way for me. I get a 90 day supply of a generic drug, finasteride, and it lasts me a year. I don't remember how much going with a straight prescription of propecia would cost but a few years ago I remember it was going to be pretty hefty.

It basically stopped hair loss cold. I'm not sure if I've gotten any thinner in the front since taking it or not....if I have, it's marginal. I don't think it's helped improve the thinner front of my hair but it's definitely stayed at a point where I still have awesome hair and would wager most ppl don't even realize anything. For me, the alternative is stopping it, going super thin in the front and possibly just going no hair - but that's a pretty damn big change.

You gotta keep taking it though, like, I don't think you can just go off for a few months - your hair will regress fast to where it "should" be I believe - although I'm not sure about that. Missing a day or w/e is fine but it's not something you kind of take sometimes. Also, it can inhibit sex drive. I don't really know what to say about that. I've had some issues but had them before I started taking it and feel they had more to do with being fat back then and in bad shape and also just being "older" than 18 years old or whatever.

Yeah....the good news is whatever program I choose will be hard to F up since I should gain and not feel like a failure no matter what I do as my strength levels go back up.

True, true. But it's a major, major hobby given the time/effort I put in (and for every other regular on H&F). Tough to feel like a failure at your major hobby.

I always thought DT was anti-fancy lad...

Nah bruh I was just identifying other fancies. That is actually a gif of me. Spilling white wine in your BMW trunk is super fancy. All my poodle gifs were down atm.

Wut. No, I'm fancy bro. I do keep my fancy range pretty hudge tho, so I understand your confusion.

Some encouraging news I forgot to mention is that our garage door fell on my leg and I just have a bruise, nbd. It stopped working so I had to manually lift it up. It's surprisingly heavy and awkward to grip something that low to the ground to pseudo DL/push it overhead. But I did! Then I promptly got a head rush and didn't notice that it didn't stay at the top (you have to manually hold it there ffs) so the thing came down and my leg got trapped. My wife then helped me get my leg out and we lifted it up together.

I've had to lift it a couple more times and have been careful to get breath and then pull it faster, getting more breath near the top when it's much lighter.

6/22 log

Went to the Rec Center at my 10 year reunion. Ain't nobody playin' dat hoop. Shot around by myself and didn't roll an ankle (did it close to 100% of the time when playing there in college, lol). Guess I can just confirm I'm GOAT basketball player for '03 and '08 classes by default.

6/23 unlog

Planned to do DLs but I just felt completely F'd up after reunion. Took a 2 hour nap and still felt like ass. Felt like super ass this morning but feeling more normal now.

Wife was sick for reunion (lol ugh) but not super sick. Maybe I have been fighting that off too a bit? I dno.

New Programming

This seems like a good combo of GSLP/SS type stuff plus getting more brophertrophy that DF2 has recommended to me via pm. I have no idea how long this will take but hopefully it will be within reason given that there won't be a ton of resting.

Any additional thoughts?

Day A

Main Lift (Increasing 2.5-5lbs for next week when I get all reps):
Bench 3x5

Superset A (8-10 rounds of 5 rep sets, with 90 seconds rest in between sets)
Incline DB bench & DB row

Superset B (3-5 rounds of 10 rep sets, with 60 seconds rest in between sets)
DB fly and DB rear delt fly

Extra:
5-10 sets of triceps

Day B

Main Lift:
Squat 3x5

Superset A:
Front squat and Good Mornings

Superset B:
Lunges and KB swings

Extra:
5-10 sets of abs (planks, ab wheel)

Day C
OHP 3x5

Superset A:
DB OHP and weighted chinups

Superset B:
Band lateral raises and wide grip pulldowns

Extra:
5-10 sets of biceps

Day D
Deadlift 1x5

Superset A:
Rack pull and RDL

Superset B:
Glute bridges and KB swings

Extra:
5-10 sets of abs

Don't worry, there is no way in hell I could OHP 185 at 168 lbs and 16% BF either. I would need to be at least 180 and 18% BF to have a realistic shot.

That looks like a fine program. Two comments:

- When you do lateral raises, point your thumbs up.

- I think the main reason to do supersets is so you can rest less and still get a lot out of each movement because you either use opposing muscle groups or completely different muscle groups. That doesnt happen with day D's supersets (you're using many similar muscle groups that day), so I'd rest more in between those sets than your other supersets.

Any thoughts of something to do besides rack pulls? I realize I cannot do them at my gym (except on smith machine) due to lack of rack (just squat rack, safety bars too high.

Unless, maybe I'll try to do them off of a bunch of aerobic "step" things....hmmm. Would need a lot of steps. I'll try this tonight and see if it works.