Thanks! The program prescribes something at RPE8 (2 reps in reserve) or about 90% of your 1rm as an overwarm single, so that’s all that was. I’ve hit 245 with an axle before but probably am 10ish lbs away from that right now. I’m also 25lbs lighter, so there’s that.
Extra work:
1.5 mile walk, it’s glorious outside, finally.
2 rounds:
face pulls x 20
straight arm pulldowns x 15
1 min plank
SBS RTF W2D1
Shoulder warmup
Squats: 135 x 6, 235 x 5, 275 x 2, 315 x 1, 365 x 1, 385 x 1, 315 4 x 4, 1 x 11
Pull-ups: 3 x 6
Slingshot bench: 135 x 5, 225 x 5, 255 4 x 6, 1 x 15
RDL: 135 x 5, 225 x 5, 260 4 x 6, 1 x 17
Back extensions: 2 x 15
This may not look like it but it is a ton of work, rep target was 8 for main and 12 for auxiliary work. Surpassed all of those. Been having allergies or a cold and have had a few rough nights of sleep because of it and because my partner is getting called in the middle of the night for work. Considering those things, happy with how this went.
Activity levels are increasing with the good weather, feeling leaner finally, still work to do but things are coming along
Bench main tomorrow.
Okay, definitely a cold, 3rd night in a row of garbage sleep. Got the gf sick unfortunately, dog is the only one sleeping in the house lol. Didn’t make it in until after 2pm, probably only had 600 cals in me at that point but made it.
Shoulder warmup
Bench: 135 x8, 225 x 5, 275 x 2, 315 x 1, 345 x 1, 290 4 x 4, 1 x 9
Front squats: 135 x 5, 185 x 3, 230 4 x 6, 1 x 14
Push press: 135 x 5, 170 4 x 6, 1 x 12
Tri pushdown (triangle): 70 2 x 14
Holy smokes was bench just dreadful off the chest, combination of fatigue, benching yesterday and weight loss all playing roles, I’m sure. Still not a bad effort on the top set. Probably had 1-2 more with a spotter.
Achievement unlocked: 5th belt hole
Front squats felt heavy but moved well, sweating absurd amounts though, fighting to find a good hydration/stomach happiness balance. Lungs and front rack were the failure points on this, on a good day I think I can do 20 here.
I came into this thinking I’d probably skip push press but I managed to talk myself into it. Taking longer rests at this point, gassed. Barely got the target reps here. I’ve got a feeling my push press progress is going to be strongly correlated with my work capacity.
Just straight up tired at this point, going to drink some pedialyte, eat a bunch and try to figure out how to recover for a deadlift workout in 15ish hours.
sorry you are not feeling well. at least there was some silver lining
Thanks, man! Honestly, the cold (combined with shit sleep) is the only real negative right now, things are going pretty well. Also, got steak on the menu for tonight so we’re going to be all good here.
I like your style
@boilerman just looked at your page and saw you’re also making great choices over there!
Reading update:
Read Good Omens, had seen but forgotten the show.
Read Never Let Me Go. Two polar opposite books, both very good in their own way.
Started Cadillac Desert which I’ve been meaning to read for about 15 years, will likely go to the library and get another book tomorrow.
Winnie update:
She’s getting to be a better dog, had spent a couple evenings in a row trying to snap at bumblebees on our deck, not terribly effectively.
SBS RTF W2D3
Deadlift: 135 2 x 5, 225 x 5, 315 x 1, 365 x 1, 415 x 1, 335 4 x 4, 1 x 9
CGBP: 135 x 10, 210 4 x 6, 1 x 15
Took a while to fall asleep last night but once I did I was completely out. Still not fully recovered from the cold but i’m definitely on the upswing, should be 100% by Wednesday. I don’t think, even with good sleep and health running these 3 days consecutively is smart, just too much work for me at this point, going to try to find a way to restructure things a bit. Maybe Friday afternoon, saturday, monday, wednesday, will see how it plays out.
Deadlift was agonizing, one of the older guys who I chat with occasionally walked by me before I got to 415 and told me to wake up, it didn’t work lol. 415 was slower than hell, don’t need to go higher than that for an overwarm single for a while. The 335 reps got better throughout the sets of 4 but the AMRAP set was miserable, tweaked my back on the last rep a bit, probably could’ve grindered my way through a few more but didn’t want to risk it. Doing deadstop deadlifts, like I am now, compared to touch and go is a completely different game for me, could probably hit this for 15-20 with touch and go. Hoping this gets me better off the ground over time.
Close grip continues to feel solid, probably left a few in the tank.
Was running out of time and desire so I’ll knock out some upper back and assistance work at home later in the afternoon.
Knocked out accessory work
Straight arm pulldown: 2 x 15
Face pulls: 2 x 15
Assisted pull-ups: 2 x 10
Concentration curls (kb): 28 2 x 10
Had a leftover steak, asparagus and egg burrito for lunch. Appetite definitely skyrockets on mornings I lift, eating has been pretty good for the last week though. I’m having a hard time parsing the difference between, sleep deprivation, workout fatigue, low calories, and sickness at the moment but hopefully we can eliminate two of those variables by midweek.
Weight update:
Came in at 267.8 this morning, loss of 1.6 lbs. 17.6lbs down over the 9 weeks of cut and 21.2 for the year.
Honestly didn’t expect to lose much this week, appetite has been up but manageable, was sick this weekend and still kind of am so I didn’t meal prep. Have some solid dinners on the docket but need to get some lean protein for in between, might run to the store at lunch and buy some chicken to grill.
No lifting today, lower back is sore but the tweak wasn’t as bad as last time, squats should be fine tomorrow. Will update here with daily work/conditioning if it gets done.
Facepulls: 3 x 20
Band pull throughs: 3 x 15
OHP and beltless squat tomorrow, might stick with big work in the gym other stuff at home to make things move faster
SBS RTF W2D4
Shoulder warmup
OHP: 95 2 x 5, 135 x 3, 155 x 3, 185 x 2, 205 x 1, 170 4 x 4, 1 x 11
Beltless squat: 135 x 8, 210 4 x 6, 1 x 17
Low cable row: 100 x 14, 120 x 12, 140 x 10
Dios: 3 x 10
Still not as healthy as I want to be, respiratory tract still not feeling great, thick phlegm. Going to pop a mucinex and try to get some out.
Good news is that even though I was struggling to breathe everything felt strong. Cheated a bit on the last set of rows but that’s fine, dips were clean paused a few reps in the hole. Amazing what a little practice and weight loss does for bodyweight movements.
Going to probably do a bit more accessory work and abs at home then take tomorrow all the way off and hope I can do some serious recovering.
Went and saw Father John Misty last night with Omar Velasco opening, decent enough show (FJM still an arrogant douche), liked the opener quite a bit. Had 4 drinks and felt them all today but kept eating pretty good and slept well, so no worse for the wear.
Speaking of eating, all the places we wanted to go were closed or had a 45 min wait (Ithaca food is absolutely infuriating), so we ended up trying what I believed to be a new place, The Yellow Deli. Turns out it’s a cult-run establishment with these stores across the world. Fucking creepy as hell. Was also the worst Reuben I’ve had in my life, by far. Like, if you’re going to build your cult around delis, learn to make a sandwich.
Daily work:
Facepulls 3 x 15
Band pull through: 3 x 10
Step count continues to be good for the month, should be doing more conditioning but I’m in low energy mode at the moment. Trying to conserve for lifting. Hoping to squeeze in day 1 of week 3 tomorrow, not super optimistic though.
Didn’t make it yesterday, should be able to do Tuesday instead of Monday though so I don’t have to run 3 straight days
Rep targets this week are 6 for main and 10 for auxiliary
SBS W3D1
Shoulder warmup
Squats: 135 x 5, 225 x 5, 275 x 2, 315 x 2, 365 x 1, 380 x 1, 340 4 x 3, 1 x 7
RDL: 135 x 5, 225 x 5, 285 4 x 5, 1 x 15
Slingshot bench: 135 x 5, 225 x 5, 275 4 x 5, 1 x 14
Hammer curls: 25 3 x 10
Quad extension: 130 x 15, 150 x 12, 170 x 10
Squat form was a bit off, weight was just crushing me, would get out of the hole, get close to getting stuck then get the butt engaged and pop the weight up, good to know, I suppose. Will video next session to see if I can find some obvious errors.
Switched order of bench and RDL because bench was taken, think i prefer this order, shouldn’t really matter.
Hammer curls were for shoulder blood flow, seemed to help with benching.
I’m still hitting rep targets or surpassing them so things are going well, weight loss seems to have started to impact my strength though. Bound to happen but I’ll keep fighting to minimize it.
On that note, refeed today, woke up at 265.x this morning, going to eat bigger today and probably in a slight surplus tomorrow before going back to cutting hard next week.
This turned out to be true. Going to do a quick recap because it went off the rails, not worried about it but I better have a good lifting day tomorrow.
Wake up
Coffee, hash brown
2.5 mile walk
Tortilla, probably 5 servings of hummus, 2 chicken thighs, asparagus
Gym
Handful of almonds
Rice, 3 chicken thighs, asparagus
1.5 mile walk
Like 4 more handfuls of almonds
Good through here, goes like a train in East Palestine from here
Raspberry jelly donut
Bowl of pasta bolognese
Raspberry jelly donut
4 cookies
Raspberry jelly donut
Handful of almonds
Up about 6.5lbs, but at least got in 14.5k steps and a solid lifting session.
Got a couple mile walk in and some good food, going to take it easy on food today, feel well fueled.
SBS RTF W3D2
Shoulder warmup
Bench: 135 x 10, 225 x 5, 275 x 2, 315 x 1, 345 x 1, 310 4 x 3, 1x7
FS: 135 x 5, 230 4 x 5, 250 1 x 12
Push press: 135 x 5, 180 4 x 5, 1 x 12
Pull-ups: 3 x 7
Superset, 2 rounds 70lbs for all, no rest
Facepulls x 15
Tri pulldown x 20
Tri overhead x 10
Bench was not moving that quickly but better than last time, 310 x 7 is pretty good for me at any weight, probably have done more impressive reps around this weight but I’m not far off and 15-30lbs less than I was around that time.
Fucked up front squat reps, was supposed to be 250 across the board but I looked at the wrong week, remedied it just in time to get crushed lol
Once again just fucking tired by the time I get to the push press, I moved quickly through the first 2 movements, especially squats, think that played a factor. Still a solid top set. Upper back is also beat right now, heavy squats, hard bracing for bench, front squats, RDLs, and push press all hitting it. Just hoping it looks jacked at the end of this, don’t think it will have an option to be anything other than strong.
Accessory work was just cruel to the triceps.
Overall an exhausting but really solid day, super glad tomorrow is off. Going to take a dog for a walk now
I love how you paced yourself with those jelly donuts. They were like the glass of water between each drink at the bar. LOL!
Lol yep! I remember you said you didn’t like loading things so I figured it probably applied to jelly donuts, just trying to heed your advice 
I’ve been in a hummus phase, essentially just dipping chicken thighs in it or throwing it in a tortilla with chicken thighs and some veg. The macros look reasonable enough to me, how do you feel about it?
You’re a fast learner! 
Yeah, it’s not too shabby. It’s all about the portion - as is the case with everything. It’s a good carb choice for something different and it’s definitely preferable over Ranch for veggie dipping!
Nice, thanks! Think I’ll drop the tortilla this week to avoid the double dose of lunch carbs.
Let me know how the switch feels and do about 1/2 cup for your serving since you’re replacing a full carb with it. Enjoy!!
