Alrighty folks, in for a long one.
So a few days ago I ended my first real intentional bulk. I spent 4.5 months lifting with much higher volume than I normally do, while eating significantly more food than I normally do. For the first two months, I followed a pretty strict “clean bulk.” Eating just pounds of chicken a day, pounding rice and nut butters. All of my food was healthy, I just was eating a lot more of it. The last two months, I switched over to a “dirty bulk.” Couple reasons for this. firstly, life just got freaking busy, and I started struggling to keep up with meal prepping enough food to make it through the week. Part of it was just being tired of eating so much damn chicken and rice after doing it for a year. A decent part of it was to prove to myself I could. I had been so strict for so long, and honestly had developed a slightly unhealthy relationship with food. I wanted to make sure I could eat junk food and gain a few lbs without it being the end of the world. And without delving too personal, part of it was just not giving a damn about my diet while going through some pretty extreme life stresses. As long as I was getting enough protein, I was good.
Learned a lot from the bulk, and am happy I did it. overall, in 4.5 months, i went from 210 to 232, which is a little heavy, but im actually pretty pleased with it. Right around 5lbs gained in a month. I know thats certainly not all muscle, but its within the limits of what I consider for me to be an acceptable gain. When doing a clean bulk, I realized I can eat ALOT more food than i thought and still maintain weight, it takes some dedicated effort to put on the pounds when following a healthy diet. When doing a dirty bulk, I was surprised by how little weight I would gain from eating “dirty.” I could eat out 3x a week and pound some microwave snacks every night, and still only gain 2ish lbs in a week. I also found that alcohol is an absolute x-factor, and not in a positive way. Nothing makes me pack on weight as much as booze, and I am very much aware that the weight that comes with that is nothing close to muscle.
So now I am here, looking at the plan ahead. The plan when I started way back when was to get to 190, and I still think that would be a good endpoint for me. The bulk was needed not only for sanity, but also to just reset some hormones and get my body primed for the final push. In that aspect, I am feeling good. While I definitely put on fat, this is the leanest by far that I have ever been at this bodyweight. Up until about 224, my wife would mention how much more defined I looked, which is always a great thing to hear while bulking. My lifts feel strong, my body doesn’t feel depleted, and I am getting some decent sleep for the first time in years.
Looking back at my progress over the last year, I have mixed feelings. Without question, I hit my goal of dropping the weight. I am in better shape now than I was, period. That being said, I am not entirely happy with my strength gains. Yes, my lifts are expected to go down as I drop weight, but I was still hoping for some more progress than I got. I am stronger now than I was a year ago, but I wouldn’t say in any transformational type of way. Looking back, I think I can identify why. I program hopped way too much. Part of that was just out of curiosity. There are so many cool ways to train, and I just wanted to try everything. Part of it was ego. Its been a hell of a year, and I have had some setbacks. Covid, Pneumonia, Broken toe, another move, just seemed like every few months I had something that had me out of the gym for a week or so, and every time I came back with a new program. While I still put in some serious effort, which I think led to the gains I did get, I think I would of been better off If I stayed more consistent with a program.
Enter my plans for 2023: The year of 5/3/1.
5/3/1 has always been a staple program for me. My high school football coach put all of us on it when we were in the offseason, and it freaking worked for me. its the program I always find myself coming back to. But I never really “got it.” I read the books and plugged in the numbers, but I dont think I really appreciated what Wendler meant when he talked about seasons of training, focusing on anchors and leaders, pushing certain areas while cutting back on others. One good thing about the last year is I feel like I have learned more about training than ever before, and after a careful readthrough of Forever 5/3/1, the program “clicked” for me in a way it hadn’t before.
So, I am throwing down the gauntlet. 2023 is going to be 5/3/1. No excuses, no switching programs, nada. Following Wendlers recommendation of 2 leaders followed by an anchor with the 7 week protocol. So many programs in his book to keep my interested, keep allowing me to subtly change the programs while still following the fundamentals of the program that has always treated me so well.
While I have always preferred action based goals vs results based goals, I find it best to have both. In that respect, I have come up with a few more for 2023.
- Full Year of strict 5/3/1. No specific goals for the big lifts, just pushing hard and seeing where the program ends me at.
- 190 +/-5lbs bodyweight at the end of the year
- compete in at least one strength competition this year. Could be powerlifting or strongman, I am fine with either. Planning to just modify 5/3/1 to prepare for whatever comp I have, and then just go for it. Doing this for fun, don’t need to change everything for my first competition since college.
- Make Monthly goals each month. I always did better when I had monthly goals. Not sure why I dropped off of doing this, but it was a mistake.
- hit 17 Pullups. That would be a PR for me that I havent beaten since I was wrestling in high school. That also means I need to get my elbow to start behaving again so that im not in searing pain after 3 reps.
- Run Building the Monolith. Probably going to hit this right after the T-ransformation challenge ends. Always wanted to do this, but always been intimidated by the 100 chins. I figure if there is ever a time for me to do it, its when I get by bodyweight down low.
- Improve conditioning. This is a vague goal, because I don’t really have any specific performance metrics I am trying to get here. Im not trying to run a marathon or hit a 5 minute mile, I just want to build a strong engine, both to be more efficient in the gym, and just general health as whole. going to listen closely to Wendlers advice on this one.
There we go. My plan for 2023 in a nutshell. So, starting this off right:
January Goals
- Drop 6-9 lbs. Before, I was always going for 10lbs a month. I want to slow that down a bit, try to keep my calories higher and feel a bit more fueled in the weightroom while more gradually dropping weight. Ideally, I would lose exactly 6lbs a month, but I am giving myself some extra room this month to account that some weight will probably drop quick as I start my diet.
- Lift 4x per week. This isn’t the easiest with my work schedule, but I can make it work for this month. I feel I respond best to 4x per week, so I want to keep this up as much as I can, while accepting that some months this year I will definitely need to follow a 3x per week approach.
- Conditioning 4x per week. 2 medium intensity days of 15-20 minutes at moderate consistent effort, one 30min+ LISS day, and then one Hard day. No strict rules for the hard day, other than make it suck. Might be tabata air bike, might be a burpee challenge, might be an interval run, whatever. I just need to hate my life at the end of it.
- Count my Macros daily. This is a new one for me. I typically don’t count macros, I just eat more or less of the same foods, but I never really counted what they added up to. I want to count my Macros for a few reasons. 1) Its a pain in the ass, and a little extra discipline is always a good thing when starting anything. 2) I am genuinely curious to how my body responds to what. 3) I want to be able to control my weight loss a bit more… scientifically? not sure if thats the word I really mean, but I want it to be a known outcome. and 4) I am so god damn sick of chicken and rice. Just burnt out lol. So i am going with some new meal preps. Introducing some pasta, oats, more turkey and red meat, whole milk. Healthy food that I like that most importantly, Is not freaking chicken and rice lol. To make it easy, I am eating the same thing for 7 days in a row (unless work throws me off unexpectedly), so the macros should all be pre-planned.
- Not lifting related, but read 2 books. Through high school and college, I would always read 52 books a year. Kind of a yearly challenge for myself. I power through a ton whenever i’m deployed, but honestly its a habit I have largely dropped with other life factors buying up my time. I feel 2 books a month is a reasonable ask.
Planned meal plan for the upcoming week:
Monster Mash: 575c, 13f, 59c, 47p
- Ground Beef: 308C, 13f, 0c, 43p
- white rice: 241 C, 0f, 53c, 4p
- Lots of Spinach
- carrots: 186c, 0f, 45c, 5p-> 26c, 0f, 6c, 0p
Planned Breakfast: 681cal, 26f, 41c, 61p
1 serving oatmeal: 150cal, 3f, 27c, 5p
1/4 cup blueberrie: 21cal, 0f, 5c, 0p
Protein powder: 120 cal, 0f, 3c, 25p
3 large eggs: 240cal, 15f, 0c, 18p
1 cup Whole Fairlife: 150c, 8f, 6c, 13p
Burrito Bowl: 560 Cal, 13f, 44c, 59p
1x Zatarans Cilantro Lima Rice: 100C, 0f, 22c, 2p
2x Pinto Beans: 110C, 0f, 20c, 7p
Wholly Guacamole: 70cal, 5f, 2c, 0p
8 oz chicken breast: 280C, 8f, 0c, 50p
Pasta Dish: 570C, 21f, 61c, 37P
2 packs Frozen Meatballs: 280C, 18f, 12c, 28P
Pasta Sauce: 50C, 2f, 3c, 1p
Pasta: 240C, 1f, 46c, 8p
Totals: 2386C, 73F, 205C, 204P
Protein is high, I feel like 2400 calories is a decent starting point, and again, not all chicken and rice lol.
Lets get to work.