Everything felt good here. I kind of wanted to hit it for another round tbh but i knew performance was going downhill yesterday so i let common sense prevail - stuck with 2 rounds per Rx.
Got my bloods drawn today and I’ll have you know I only cried for 15 minutes (before and after). Will post results in my TRT thread.
(Did this late yesterday so i didn’t post)
Weight: 222.2lb
Sleep: 7h 51m (75% fitness score)
5/3/1 Bench
10x45
10x135
5x225
3x255 1+6x285
W5 Push
Exercise
Sets/Reps
Load
Effort
1RM
Weight
Week 1
Week 2
A
Above-Shoulder 2-Dumbbell Walk
1 x 2 min.
Light
Met2
45x2
45x2
45x2
B1
Push Press
2 x 5 reps
70-75%
Res
235
164.5
5x175, 5x155
5x165, 5x165
B2
Dumbbell Lateral Raise w/ Multi-Rom
2 x 10-15 reps
Medium
Full
15x2
15x10, 15x10
15x12, 15x10
B3
Overhead Dumbbell Carry
2 x 1 min.
Light
Met1
45lb
45, 45
45, 45
Rest 4 min. or less
C1
Decline Bench Press
2 x 5 reps
65-70%
Res
320
224
225x5, 225x5
225x5, 225x5
C2
DB Bench Press w/ Multi-ROM
2 x 10-15 reps
BW
Full
45x2
45x12, 45,12
45x14, 45x12
C3
Two Push-up Strict Burpee
2 x 1 min.
BW
Met1
BE
1m, 1m
1m, 1m
Rest 4 min. or less
D
Dip Top Position Iso. Hold
1 x 2 min.
BW
Hold
BW
50s, 40s, 30s
1m, 30s, 20s, 10s
Rest 4 min. or less
E
Dumbbell Bench Press Loaded Stretch
1 x 2 min.
XLight
Hold
25x2
1m, 1m
1m 15s, 45s
Completed in 32m 24s
Bench Training Max to go 285 to 315… lol no more baby benching over here!
Shoulders are extra tight, gonna need some attention.
Sounds like this challenge will be wrapping up and put behind a paywall per Mr. Patterson’s comment. Will wait for details before making any decisions.
In the meantime, I’ll be mulling over some bastardized 5/3/1, crossfit and hypertrophy combination. Considering doing something along the lines of agonist/antagonist vertical, horizontal, legs and gap with supersets to simulate MetCon effects.
Really wasn’t feeling it today, but i got through it unscathed. Time decreased a tad; to be expected when not feeling it.
Otherwise unremarkable session.
Considering getting some blood flow restriction cuffs for my arms. I mean, my arms are already 17.25(ish) cold, but i want some cannons (like 18"+) and I’m cool with dropping some cash to make that happen. Looking at both the strap options and the air-pump ones - the latter being at least 10x more expensive… not sure if their worth it or not, but might try them out for whatever their trial period is.
^ to be used after this program is over, if i pull the trigger on it. Will keep y’all posted.
It’s been a few days, I’ve been feeling super burnt out - not sure if related to training or something else but I’m ready to get over it already.
Bed has been telling me that my nights of sleep with 7hrs+ are worse quality by a significant amount… strange. Maybe i just got used to sleep deprivation so much that i just started sleeping faster lol.
I had no idea your bench was so big. I’m a bit jealous.
I have definitely found sleep quality and quantity are somewhat divorced. I don’t have any secrets for maximizing either one, though. I’ve been reading about the bed you got and it’s like reading a brochure for a Tesla there’s so much going on!
To be fair, it took my bench forever to somewhat catch up with the rest of my lifts. Also, running 5/3/1 helped a LOT (which is why I keep recommending it to you and @rugby_lifting).
Absolutely the case. Both are important, but id wager quality>quantity, as with most things in life.
As you close it out, what have your thoughts been on the program and Surge Workout Fuel? You were already a big strong guy, and I know your eating was restricted during this, so I’m definitely curious how you felt it went in that deficit context.
I want to give this program the writeup it deserves, so I’ll be holding off on (1) until i have the time to write this thoroughly (or until i need a hard distraction from school).
As for Surge (2)…
My performance has been steady on Surge, and I’ve gotten stronger despite being in a deficit - kind of putting the whole “you can’t get stronger while you cut” argument to rest IMO.
More importantly though, is that ive had very few bad training days while using Surge. It’s not like a huge noticeable difference when taking it, but it’s absolutely noticeable when not taking it.
Plus it tastes great. Will continue to use this product, although probably not 3x servings on the daily as prescribed… no noticeable difference between 2 and 3 servings, probably a 30% (subjective) better result when double-dosing vs single dose though.
100% agree on all of this. I also feel much more “steady” on surge, and after about week 2 I ran out of traditional stim preworkout, and stopped using it all together…after using it every single training morning for probably 5 yrs, I have to say I wont go back. I’m a surge guy now, my workouts and overall day go much better now. I would also agre on 2 being good, but 3 just feeling like a chore. On rest days, I like taking it in the evening and it makes me feel more ready to go for my early AM traning. I also agree lemon>berry, ordered 2 bags of it on the refill.
I’ve been tracking in a calorie deficit this whole program, but have shown strength progress each and every week. I’m very interested to get my body measurements and photos at the end, because importantly I don’t feel flat or weak. I feel pretty smoked in the evenings, but during training I’m fine. The scale isn’t moving much for me, but I feel like that may be due to actually building some muscle on this program (at least that’s what I’m telling myself). The one downside with the Surge is I do feel somewhat bloated/waterlogged with it on training days when using 3 doses. Could be that I also have a postworkout shake after training, so that’s consuming about 2L of liquid right around training using the Surge protocols.
Slept like shit last night. Unsure why, just need more sleep.
Strongly considering taking a total off week when this program is over (next week). No diet, no gym, nothing. Might help me get back on the wagon mentally.
Also considering either going full keto for 1-2 months (to help lower my A1C) or changing up to a more Vertical Diet approach to help fix my lipids.
Lab Results came in, view and comment here if interested.
