Hit my first peloton in almost 2 months, eesh.
1 min plank
30 min low impact @ 115 watts
1 min plank
Took it pretty easy until the last 5 or so minutes where I pushed the intensity a bit, still wasn’t breathing too hard or testing the legs in any real capacity. Felt good to do something harder than walking.
Bloodwork in the morning followed by Deadlifts and Close grip bench, should be interesting working around the fasted state, just hoping the bloodwork doesn’t take much time.
Weight update:
265.8 this morning, down 2lbs for the week and 19.6 over the last 10. Have 3 weeks and a few days to get into the 250s, should be tight but if I keep my refeeds to just 2 cookies and 2 jelly donuts I can probably make it.
@QuadQueen the hummus without tortilla worked well yesterday but it wasn’t a lifting day, will be put to the test this afternoon.
SBS RTF W3D3
Got in a handful of almonds and about 6 dark chocolate covered pretzels on the drive to the gym from having my blood drawn. Lady said I shouldn’t workout for 20 minutes, meh.
Shoulder warmup, 20 kb swings
DL: 135 x 5, 225 x 5, 275 x 3, 315 x 1, 365 x 1, 415 x 1, 360 4 x 3, 1 x 7
CGBP: 135 x 10, 185 x 5, 230 4 x 5, 1 x 15
Seated cable row: 110 x 12, 130 x 10, 150 x 8
Hammer curls: 25 3 x 10
Deadlifts were a little slow to start and 415 wasn’t exactly snappy but it wasn’t hard either. The main work was really good for me, best my deadlift has felt off the ground in a long time. Hips high, brace hard, get the slack out and then just go hard. 7 on the top set was good enough, grip was losing steam and my brace was starting to feel suspect, decided to call it there, have 10 with a gun to my head. I didn’t though so played it smart.
Close grip bench continues to be insanely good, I had a guy spot me for the AMRAP. I paused the last rep on my chest for a second then got it up easily, he just looked at me and said “definitely didn’t need me.” Surprised this is going so well with the weight loss.
Right shoulder is feeling a bit sore, it warms up nicely and the curls help there but something to keep an eye on, will do some more work to keep it moving this afternoon.
Knocked out a little maintenance work
3 rounds
Facepulls x 15
Straight Arm Pulldowns x 12
Pullthroughs: x 10
Will get another decent walk in but not much else, OHP and beltless squat tomorrow morning.
Slept poorly and got out of bed early to get this in
SBS RTF W3D4
Shoulder warmup
OHP: 95 2 x 5, 135 x 5, 155 x 2, 186 x 2, 205 x 1, 185 4 x 3, 1 x 6
Beltless squat: 135 x 5, 230 4 x 5, 1 x 15
Neutral lat pulldown: 110 3 x 12
Dips: bw 2 x 10, 1 x 12
Shoulder is still feeling a bit buggy and overhead work was rough, slow and grindy but did decent work. I hit the rack on my first rep of the AMRAP which threw me off, probably had another rep or two otherwise, still hit the target.
Beltless squat feels good, 15 got the lungs and legs burning but in a good way
Used a wide neutral mag grip that got the lats working perfectly.
Dips were the same as last week + 2 reps on the final set, have more to give here.
Did this fasted and tired, the sleeping pill won the battle today but work is work, happy to have it done. Will get some extra work in and write a little summary of the first 3 weeks later today.
Time to eat.
Maintenance work, all with bands
2 rounds
Facepulls x 10
Upright row x 10
Lateral raises x 8
Supinated pull aparts x 10
Pronated pull aparts x 10
Pull throughs: 3 x 15
All felt good, hoping this will help keep the shoulder pain away and provide a little more growth. Pull throughs feel good on the sore hip and lower body, thinking weak glutes might be part of my lower back problems so going to keep doing these.
First wave of SBS RTF write up
Start off with the main goal for this block, weight loss. Wasn’t sure if the volume was going to wreck me or force me towards a surplus but it hasn’t, thankfully, and I’ve essentially maintained my -2 a week trend. Going to bed at 267.0, will lose about ~3 lbs of weight overnight which means I’ve lost about 7 lbs in the 19 days on this program. Important to the larger context, I’m also 70+ days into a cut and I’m down 20+ over that span.
Secondary goal is strength maintenance, which is going pretty well too. My overhead seems to be suffering a bit but bench is strong as ever, deadlifts are starting to come around, and squat isn’t too far from where I normally am.
The lifting itself has been pretty fun, my sessions have had 95%+ of their focus on 2-3 lifts which is helping me hone in on them and work on my technique. Increasing frequency isn’t hurting there either. It is a bit odd doing as little accessory work as I am but it doesn’t seem worth the effort after most of these sessions. The days of 3 amraps are grueling, doing another AMRAP after doing a front squat AMRAP should be illegal. That being said, it’s been pushing my work capacity to new levels, can’t be mad about that.
On that note, the next wave (3 weeks) is structured almost identically to this one but the weights jumó a fair bit.
Week 4:
Main - 4 x 5, 1 x AMRAP (goal 9)
Aux - 4 x 7, 1 x AMRAP (goal 13)
Week 5:
Main - 4 x 4, 1 x AMRAP (goal 7)
Aux - 4 x 6, 1 x AMRAP (goal 11)
Week 6 follows the same increases intensity pattern, I think it’s probably pretty likely hitting the AMRAP rep goal will be in jeopardy over the next month but I’m going to do everything I can to avoid that miss.
TL;DR having a great time with this, getting leaner, better at lifting, and not losing strength
SBS RTF W4D1
Decided to get this one early to avoid the 3 straight day stretch, jumped out of work an hour early without nearly enough food in the system.
Rep goals for this week are 9 for main and 13 for aux
Shoulder warmup
Squat: 135 x 5, 225 x 5, 275 x 3, 315 x 2, 365 x 1, 385 x 1, 310 4 x 5, 1 x10
Slingshot bench: 250 4 x 7, 1 x 16
RDL: 135 x 5, 225 x 5, 265 4 x 7, 1 x 18
Back extensions: 2 x 15
Holy fuck that killed me, I had eaten probably 600 cals before that and had walked 8000 steps. Running on stimulants isn’t a good way to get this kind of volume. Closest I’ve been to losing my lunch from a workout in a long time.
Squats felt much better this session, right shoulder is a little buggy still I think primarily from squatting but it warmed up nicely. Probably could’ve eked out a few more but form was degrading.
Slingshot bench went well, hit hooks on 15 and 16 then failed 17, spotter had to grab it. Triceps failed real hard. Was exerting the last good bits of energy at this point.
RDLs moved fine, I was just exhausted. Some lady next to me who was small but well built squatted 270 to depth, super impressive. More importantly, she had sardine crackers and gave me a few of them when I was out of steam. They didn’t help but I appreciated it.
Planned on doing quads but the quad extensions were taken so just did a nominal amount of back extensions.
Sat in my car for a few minutes to settle the gut down. Got some Thai food, including chicken satay that I’m putting down tonight and will refeed tomorrow, though less absurdly than last week
SBS RTF W4D2
Shoulder warmup, stretching
Bench: 135 x 10, 225 x 5, x2, 275 x 2, 315 x 1, 335 x 1, 285 4 x 5, 1 x 10
FS: 135 x 5, 225 4 x 7, 1 x 15
Push press: 135 x 5, 165 4 x 7, 1 x 13
Shoulder is not feeling great, think I’m going to switch beltless squat to SSB to try and help it, might also switch to the Duffalo bar for the main movement if it doesn’t start feeling better. In any case, definitely impacted the bench to start, top single was a little shaky and out of the groove so I stopped early. 3rd set of main work started feeling okay and the 10th rep while not particularly fast was clean. Good enough.
Front squats felt strong despite some serious posterior chain fatigue. Everything moved well, top set was tough as hell but I’m happy with it.
Once again contemplated not doing push press, shoulder soreness plus the immediate fatigue associated with a FS AMRAP still makes these much harder than they otherwise would be. First set done without a belt, realized my core was trashed, put it on for the rest of the work. Turns out my upper back is beat too, need a really wide diameter belt to encompass my entire body…. Real close to not hitting target reps here, I’ve always struggled with high rep overhead stuff but this was real rough
Will knock out some triceps and upper back at home later on.
Time to fing eat, have some sweet potatoes, chicken, leftover Thai and a few other things lying around, going to throw down before going to ref roller derby lol
Didn’t end up getting that extra work in yesterday, got home and just crashed for a few hours before the roller derby. Sat on a hard, backless bench there for a few hours but had a good time. Then went out for a few beers (3 + 1 shot) and food (mediocre quality and low protein), I also snuck in a cigarette. Not ideal but I think yesterday was still a much better day nutrition wise than last week.
Extra work, 1 round before peloton, 1 after:
Facepulls x 20
Straight arm pulldown x 10
Tri pulldown x 10
Pelotón 30 min @ 131 watts. Was a scenic ride of Iceland, less boring than normal. Cardio felt fine but my legs are pretty sore/tired.
band pull throughs x 20
Crunches 2 x 25
Got in a bit before 7 and got some work in, woke up at 4:15, dog went out and then decided to lay on top of my knees for a pillow, I didn’t make it back to sleep but got some reading done, so call it a draw.
SBS W4D3
Stretching
DL: 135 2 x 5, 225 x 5, 275 x 3, 315 x 2, 365 x 2, 415 x 1, 325 4 x 5, 1 x 12
CGBP: 135 x 8, 210 4 x 7, 1 x 18
Pullups 2 x 5
Straight arm pulldowns: 80 3 x10
Back extensions: bw + 25 2 x 1
Edit:
Knocked out more accessory
KB curls: 28 3 x 10
Pull-ups: 2 x 5
Stomach started turning on me or I would’ve got more work done, might get some more upper back in and will likely get some arms. I think energy drinks are becoming part of the problem, this issue has been worse in the last few weeks and it seems to have corresponded with an increase in the energy drink consumption, so I’ll cut those out after today for a week and see if that helps.
Deadlifts took a minute to start feeling good but ended up feeling really solid, I’m excited for these to get heavier to test my setup. Will be hitting 380+ in a few weeks for triples, so that will be a good test.
Close grip is seriously incredibly good right now, I haven’t tracked those PRs but this has to be one. Think 20 was in the bag. Some guy who has been in there a few times and is a solid deadlifter (was pulling 545 with ease, built like @guineapig) spotted me for the AMRAP and I chatted with him about some lifting stuff. Would be cool to keep a good deadlifter and solid squatter nearby.
Had a really solid April, started with 1k swings in the first week and did some prep for this program and have been doing well on this program. Averaged over 12k steps for the month (3rd highest on record) and generally moved a lot. A bit more conditioning and more commitment to core are the only things I would change for working out. Still need to refine my protein intake, goal for May is to do at least some meal prep every week. I’ll be leaving for Alaska for over a week on the 20th, so my cut will officially end then. I don’t know where my weight will be tomorrow but I’m hoping i’ll be within 5 or fewer pounds of 260. Will probably do one more refeed day, without the booze, this coming saturday then not do one next weekend to really dial it in.
Keep on keeping on.
Weight update:
265.6 this morning, down .2lbs for the week and 19.8 over the last 11.
More frustrated by this than I should be, if I am being honest. Especially given this goal that I set at the beginning of January.
In any case, my relationship with food and weight is still a work in progress. Need to keep the larger picture in mind and keep doing things that are sustainable, not knee jerk. Meh. Will get some conditioning and extra work in today
Extra stuff
Kb swings: 4 x 30
Pull throughs: 2 x 20
Face pulls: 2 x 20
At 11k+ steps and ate well today, we’re back on track mentally.
SBS RTF w4D4
Shoulder warmup
OHP: 95 2 x 5, 135 x 5, 155 x 3, 185 x 1, 205 x 1, 165 2 x 5
Beltless SSB: 145 x 8, 215 4 x 7, 1 x 18
Pull-ups: 1 x 5
Lateral raise: 15 2 x 15
KB hammer curl: 15 2 x 15
Split squats: 40lb db 3 x 8
Dios: 1 x 9
So I bailed 3 sets early on OHP because I had some acute pain in the shoulder that has been bothering me, raises and curls were trying to get some blood in there but it didn’t feel good on dips either, so called it. Not sure where to go from here, will probably skip slingshot bench next week and maybe push press in order to give it more time to rest, missing those will be worth it if I can get inflammation levels down. I don’t think I’m actually injured at this point so I’ll try to keep it moving in a variety of directions with light resistance.
Haven’t done much SSB work in the last few years but these felt phenomenal on the legs and made the shoulder happy, will keep these in instead of beltless back squats.
Will knock out some more work this afternoon around my normal Wednesday meeting hell.
Extra work
Facepulls x 20
Pull aparts x 20
Internal rotation x 10
Some weird circle movements I found on the interwebs
Seems like this is just irritating it, so took an ibuprofen and got on with the rest of the work.
Axle row: 120 x 10, 210 x 5 (need straps), 210 x 10, 230 x 10, 240 x 10
Straight arm pulldown: 2 x 12
Pull thoughts: 2 x 20
Pull-ups: 2 x 5
Appetite is kicking into gear as I push myself into more work, will keep it at bay as best as possible
Little physique and Winnie update before the final two weeks and this afternoons lifting session. Been pushing the cut harder this week and weight is coming back off again, will try to eat at maintenance tomorrow (instead of a surplus) then cut hard the last 12 or so days.
I’ve gotten a lot leaner but have a bit of work still to do, these are flat from this morning
Winnie on the other hand is in perfect shape and getting really good at pointing lol
holy smokes. you are looking lean and fantastic. well done.
Modifying this week on behalf of my shoulder. Not doing slingshot bench today and not doing push press tomorrow. Then on day 4 I’m going to either sub push presses for OHP or find something else to do. Hoping limited volume will give it some time to recover. Also thinking getting rid of these 3x days will make the cut a little less painful.
SBS W5D1
Shoulder warmup (not feeling great)
Squats: 135 x 5, 225 x 5, 275 x 3, 315 x 2, 365 x 1, 405 x 1, 330 4 x 4, 1 x 9
RDL: 135 x 5, 225 x 5, 290 4 x 6, 1 x 16
Triangle push downs:: 60 x 15, 70 x 12, 80 x 10
Leg extensions: 150 x 15, 170 x 12, 190 x 10
Wanted 10 on squats, could’ve had it if I took another 10 seconds under the bar but I’m not trying to turn these into breathing reps and the 3 previous reps sucked anyway. 405 moved much better than expected though, encouraging.
RDLs we’re hard, weight is moving up quickly because im hitting so many reps, that’s going to slow at some point soon. Not today though.
Thought about doing more but am at 12k steps and on the verge of being out of energy. Will probably take one more walk and try some more shoulder mobility stuff, in hopes that bench won’t suck too hard tomorrow.
Should do core too
Speaking of sucking, either the split squats, the ssb or some combo of them smoked my quads. Good to know, feel like they’ve actually become a weakness.
Thanks @throwawayfitness, appreciate it coming from a guy who figured out how to get lean himself!
Dude! You did a fucking amazing job! Looking lean and at the same time like a big specimen. Well done.
Also very cute dog!
Goddamn bro! Look at those triceps! You look great man!
