My brother, we will both reach our aesthetic goals. I am excited for you.
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SBS w6d3
Deadlifts: 135 x 5, 225 x 5, 315 x 3, 365 x 2, 415 x 1, 435 x 1, 385 4 x 3, 1 x 8
CGBP: 135 x 10, 225 x 5, 260 4 x 5, 1 x 10
Hammer curls (d DL warmup): 25 3 x 10
Cable row (wide neutral): 100 x 10, 130 x 15, 140 x 12
Tri superset:
2 rounds
overhead x 10
pulldown x 5
Did this after work, Cornell students are trickling out so this is becoming a tolerable time to lift. Still a bit weird compared to the mornings.
Deadlifts didn’t feel great setup wise, to start but felt good through the main work. 435 moved well, definitely have close to 500 in me at the moment but no point rushing when this program ends in a peak phase. Still perfecting form and the dead stop anyway. Top set felt pretty good, faster off the ground and slower through the middle than normal. Took a vid that I may upload, upper back is rounded to start which is fine but I lose some lower back position, not ideal, not terrible. For now.
Tangential to deadlift note, gf and I were watching basketball and she noticed how freaky their wingspans are. Regularly a 6” delta between wingspan and height. I have 192cm (6’3.5) wingspan and am 197cm (6’5.5) tall, -2” diff. Explains why I’m not a professional basketball player or natural deadlifter lol
Shoulder still feels pretty shit for bench but not acute, which is nice, I guess. Slightly reticent to push hard here but doing my best. Got a spotter for the last set, was a little overhangy and helped on reps 11 and 12, which I had 0 chance of getting without help. Complete failure there. Pops off the chest gets 70% of the way up and triceps just die lol.
Solid workout overall, beltless SSB and push press (shoulder permitting) tomorrow morning for the last workout of the block.
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SBS w6d4
Shoulder warmup
Belt-less SSB: 145 2 x 5, 235 x 5, 285 x 3, 325 x 2, 365 x 1 (PR), 265 4 x 5, 1 x 14
DB press: 40 x 10, 65 x 9 (nope)
Pull-ups: 4 x 6
Split squats: 70,80,90 x 8
Facepulls: 50 3 x 20
Holy hell the short recovery time between this and deadlifts led to a slow start, grip, back, legs, everything really was just struggling to fire. Lifting the SSB, into the rack, was nearly a bridge too far.
Decided I’d fight that by getting a heavy over warm in, body would either respond or fail. Moved well. Started feeling better after that. Top set was rough but powered through.
Shoulder said “no” for db press, which I was hoping would be easier on it, no luck. Will ice and take some anti inflammatory meds. Not going to be pressing for almost 2 weeks, so hopefully that heals it.
Face pulls got a nice pump in the rear delt and split squats got the legs working. Good workout disappointed in the shoulder but really delighted with this block otherwise. A lot of good solid work over the last 6 weeks. Will probably do another session or some conditioning before vacation, which will involve a lot of movement and probably a lot of eating/drinking.
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Deload/random lifting/guns
FS: 135 x 5, 225 x 5, 275 x 3, 315 x 1, 335 x 1, 370 x 1 (PR)
Giant arm set, 2 rounds:
Overhead tri: 90 x 15
Cable curl: 25 x 15
Tri pulldowns: 110 x 8
Hammer db curl: 35 x 8
Will post some “after” pictures either later tonight or tomorrow morning, not a ton of change since the last set but hopefully a bit more definition sneaks through.
Went in thinking about hitting some squat PRs then started front squatting and realized that having not so many calories and effectively no carbs meant that I needed to get to wherever the top was quickly. Decided after hitting 315 that I was going for a +5 chip shot then I would re-assess. Hit 370 which was +5 and realized that was close enough to be a max. Much lighter than when I previously hit 365 so this is a solid win.
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Alright, so this is the end of T-ransformation (except that I’ll do a final weigh-in tomorrow AM), and of the 3 I’ve started this has been my best showing by far. Started just under 289, somewhere right about 260 now.
Started with DW beginner, which moved the scale down to 285.4, despite eating a ton and waking up at 290.4 during February. Then the cut started, ran my own strength plan for about 6 weeks, and have run 6 weeks of Stronger By Science’s Reps to Failure program.
DW was mostly to convince myself I had enough muscle to cut, a regular psychological hurdle, and it worked well. Nobody could do that and not have enough. The next block reminded me I’m too lazy to make my own programming, hard things get left out too early and too often. The last block has been a great combo of hard work and strength, I just hit a little front squat PR and I’m on the verge of being in PR territory in pretty much every other lift. Exception being overhead work, which is mostly due to a sore shoulder than strength loss.
Time to go fight a grizzly bear while riding a moose, or whatever happens in Alaska.
@TrainForPain my final entry
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looking lean
my favorite part is your face, face gains.
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I laughed at this but agree, I don’t notice the changes in body as often or as obviously as the reappearance of cheek bones and a jaw.
Also, how the hell do people flex? makes sense why bbers get posing coaches lol
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Quality consistent work here, congrats on progress!
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Final weight update, for this cut:
260.0 this morning down, 3.2 in the 5 days and 25.4 for the cut in its entirety, which is 13.5 weeks or 95 days.
I had 0 weeks where I gained weight, I had a few points where the scale slowed down a lot, so I did some adjusting and figured what I needed to do. Once I learned from my mistakes (all out cheat days), I dialed back in and the weight started coming back off again.
Fucking crushed it.
Will probably gain a few back over vacation then I’ll enter maintenance mode for a month or so then try to trim 10-15 more off.
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Hell yeah you did! Looking strong, too—nice work.
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@raven78 thanks! Consistent effort really is 98% of the battle.
@SvenG thank you, appreciate the consistent support! Looking strong, feeling strong
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@heretolog has face gains and @creative_name has hair gains
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AWESOME work!! Nice job!!
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Hell yeah man you killed it!
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@tlgains i definitely did not win the hair gains battle, that unfortunately seems to be going the heretolose route too lol
@QuadQueen thank you! Appreciate you chipping in advice along the way, helped a bunch
@boilerman thanks, gotta represent the region well haha
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Damn, what a transformation and a front squat! Congratulations!
By the way, have you listened to The Japanese House’s new tracks? I’m obsessed.
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I have not but I’ll check them out eventually!
Appreciate the compliments and the tiny FS PR
You absolutely killed it with the transformation dude!
Also what is with you and front squats? Strong work.
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Thanks!
I’m not sure what you’re asking for the front squat question, I guess I just like them. They feel like a more natural motion for my build and I’ve always had meaty quads so they’ve always been decently strong relative to other squats. Used them for Deep Water and have kept them in pretty much 1x a week since then, would love to see 4 plates by the end of the year.
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