Big Challenge (I Think) for the Group

Training Bodybuilding
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Here’s my “progress” for the week… It pains me to post this, as the observant among us will notice that I’ve actually LOWERED my weight on several exercises.

Before the serious heckling starts, I’ll mention again that this week I really took a close look at my form and compared it to what Rippetoe describes in his book, and I realized that it’s been off on a few things:

  1. Bench Press: I’ve been stopping about an inch or two above my chest, and Rip speaks very strongly about touching the chest with the bar. Had to knock 15 pounds off my bench to be able to do a good 3x5!

  2. Military Press: Stopping at my chin. Rip’s book: The bar must touch the top of the rib cage / shoulders. Cost me 10 pounds.

  3. Bent-over Rows: Stopping an inch or two short of touching my torso with the bar. I can’t even find this exercise in Rip’s book (not sure why…?), but my assumption is that I need to come all the way up with the bar for a rep to count. 10-pound penalty!

And today I noticed that I’m starting to let my back arch forward a little on the deadlift. If I can’t correct this next week, I may need to back off slightly on that as well until I can get my form right again…

I guess it’s good to check oneself occasionally to ensure that things are being done correctly, right? Great when the numbers go up on our logs, but doesn’t really count if we have to “cheat” to make this so…

Okay, let the heckling begin! Better than a back injury… LOL

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I’ve been following this thread off and on since the beginning. Keep up the good work! Get the form down and keep progressing.

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[quote]Freaky Styley wrote:
I’ve been following this thread off and on since the beginning. Keep up the good work! Get the form down and keep progressing.[/quote]

Thanks for the encouragement! A little tricky on the psyche to have to drop my numbers a bit, but at my stage I don’t have too much pride to suffer anyway… LOL

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Almost forgot to post last week’s progress…

Squats: Still making steady progress, and since this exercise is the foundation of this particular program, I’ll take this as a sign that I need to continue with this program for now (as opposed to upgrading to a new routine, which will come eventually)…

Bench Press, Military Press, Bent-over Rows: With the adjustments to form, I look stalled on all of these on paper, but I’m definitely getting stronger on my sets. Should be adding weight to all of these again soon. Not rushing…

Deadlift: Got my form back in order, and have added weight this week.

Dips and Hanging Leg Raises: Definitely stalled. Is this because I’m increasing workload (by adding weight or correcting form) on the exercises that precede these? Triceps more taxed than before on Bench Press, so Dips suffer; abs getting hit harder all the time by Squats, etc., so Hanging Leg Raises getting affected. Or am I grasping at straws? Be honest with me, guys: Am I making the kind of progress I should be right now?? (I’m happy, but what do I know?)

Chin-ups: Yes, it’s true – finally broke through to a strong 2x8. Good sign, I guess

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Hey, thought you guys would like to see where I work out…

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[quote]speakman wrote:
Hey, thought you guys would like to see where I work out…[/quote]

(That was a joke… thought the escalator added comic irony…)

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Just my latest progress post… Remaining consistent on the program; really watching my form; progressing on some exercises better than others (achieving a more “proper” balance of overall strength?); etc.

One thing I might mention is that I continuously “look better” in the mirror, though the changes are very subtle from week-to-week. Very slow change, but unmistakable. I’m sure if I was 20 and my metabolism, natural T levels, etc., were in order I’d be making quicker progress, but glad to be making progress at all! My weight is still right around 170, but my body composition has definitely improved (I suspect I’m down a couple of % BF, though just avoiding my worthless Tanita these days…). I guess the main thing is that my strength continues to go up. So, 3 months so far, and continuing to push forward…

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Excellent work man! Let me know when your progress is stalling and you are ready for something new and Ill take care of it.

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[quote]Stronghold wrote:
Excellent work man! Let me know when your progress is stalling and you are ready for something new and Ill take care of it.[/quote]

May be getting close, but still think that as long as I’m making significant progress on even just a few exercises, maybe I should stick with the current program. My theories rarely pan out, but the current one is that (for example) I should be squatting a LOT more than I’m lifting on the military press. I started with my squats 20 pounds lighter than my military press, and now my squats are 25 pounds in front. I think this suggests that I’m working toward balancing out my body’s overall strength. So, maybe we should wait to switch up the program until I’m pretty much stalling on everything… Do you agree?

P.S. Did you get the package I sent? :slight_smile:

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Most definitely, keep going until the lifts stop going up, then well change things up a little.

I got the package last week actually. I appreciate that man.

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Speakman,

Read through this and your Carbolin 19 thread (which is how I found you, thanks for your review and thanks fo saving some cash)

Looks like you have landed on your feet with some top advice.

Keep up the good work mate! Will keep an eye on your progress, I am learning a lot from the advice you are getting.

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[quote]not_so_big_mike wrote:
Speakman,

Read through this and your Carbolin 19 thread (which is how I found you, thanks for your review and thanks fo saving some cash)

Looks like you have landed on your feet with some top advice.

Keep up the good work mate! Will keep an eye on your progress, I am learning a lot from the advice you are getting.[/quote]

Thanks, Mike! Always glad to hear that others are benefiting from this really long thread! LOL

Just realized that I haven’t posted my progress in a couple of weeks. I’ll try to get a fresh chart posted this week (major distractions lately with move into new house, work stuff, etc.; but making sure nothing is interfering with my program at least!)… Meantime, suffice it to say that I’m still steadily progressing; one week on some exercises, the next week on others, etc. In other words, I’m not adding weight to every exercise every week (as in the first month or so), but my overall workload is definitely going up every week. And since the program is total-body-oriented (would I get flamed if I used the word “holistic”?), I guess a steady increase in general workload means good progress…

BTW, I wanted to mention that starting this week I’m going to try something new on the body-weight exercises (chin-ups, dips, hanging leg raises): Instead of simply trying to add reps (seem to be really stalled with this approach), I’m going to switch these to the same as the weighted exercises: 2 or 3 sets of 5 reps, but with a dumbbell strapped around my waist (or feet for the hanging leg raises, if I figure out a way to do this). This hadn’t occurred to me before, but saw another guy using this approach in the gym last week. Big epiphany! And his comment was that the way I was doing it (simply increasing reps) was great for toning, but not the best approach for building strength. So, now all of my exercises will be straight weighted exercises… Pretty excited to get started with this!

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so… did u get stronger or what

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Wow! Can’t believe it’s been almost 2 months since my last post… Just so no one thinks I’ve given up, I definitely, definitely have not!!

In fact, I’m working harder than ever and am still sticking to my original Rippetoe program (with the slight tweaking I’ve mentioned along the way), consistently hitting the weights 3 days per week…

That said, I think most of you would find it a little remarkable how little my body composition has changed since I got on the correct training/nutrition/supplementation path.

My strength has definitely increased, without a doubt (to answer ZeusNathan’s question), and I definitely look more muscular in the mirror than ever before.

However, still struggling with body fat sticking around AND little actual muscle mass gain. To put it simply, my weight and BF% are inexplicably pretty close to what they were when I started all of this many, many months ago.

Also, I had started to really plateau in my workout about two months ago. Without bothering to post my progress chart (unless someone really wants to see it), suffice it to say that pretty much all of my numbers have been static since my last post.

On top of that, for a couple of weeks there, it actually felt like my strength was going backward… Instead of 3 sets of 5 (of military press or bench press or whatever), maybe the next workout I could only do 1 set of 5, then 1 of 4, then 1 of 3.

The clincher was the day a couple of weeks ago when on the military press I could barely squeeze out 1 rep on my last set; and this using the same weight where previously I could do 3 sets of 5!

And, again, this trend was occurring over a couple of weeks, so it wasn’t just a “tired” day. I also started to look less muscular in the mirror, and my muscles started to feel smaller, etc., in spite of 100% consistent training, nutrition and supplementation!

Does this make sense to anyone? It sure didn’t seem like the kind of results a “normal” man would expect. So, back to my very first post on this thread wherein I laundry-listed all the reasons I “can’t” succeed at building a good physique.

This was all tongue-in-cheek, of course, and pretty much all of the reasons were bogus… except one: my Testosterone levels. Some of you may recall that my doctor put me on a Testosterone supplement cream a year or so ago after discovering via blood work that I had the T levels of a 9-year-old girl.

Well, the cream has also been a consistent part of my life, but with the recent developments (or lack thereof) in the gym, something occurred to me: maybe the cream ain’t doing what it’s supposed to!!

So, to make a long story just slightly longer, about two weeks ago I went to my doctor, dropped the cream in his trash can, and had his cute young nurse give me a big T shot right in the butt.

I go in for my third one tomorrow. The change: On Saturday, I put the same weights onto the bar for my bench press that I’d been doing (badly; recently 1 set of 5, then 4, then 3) for the past couple of months…

But this time, I squeezed out 5… then 5… then 8 reps!! Couldn’t believe it. Then yesterday on the military press (which, again, had deteriorated all the way down to 1 rep on my last set), I “easily” squeezed out my full 3 sets of 5! Just a fluke? Wow, I hope not!! And I really don’t think so… Time will tell…

In the meantime, I just keep fighting forward with everything I have. And it may be premature to say, but I might just end up proving that the ABSOLUTE #1 INGREDIENT of what T-Nation and the bodybuilding lifestyle really are all about is very, very simply that magical little hormone called Testosterone…

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Glad to hear things are going well. Keep me posted. I think we are getting pretty close to time for a new program.

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[quote]Stronghold wrote:
Glad to hear things are going well. Keep me posted. I think we are getting pretty close to time for a new program.[/quote]

Possibly… I was definitely thinking that when my numbers froze up for so many weeks, but now that I’m actually getting some T in my blood, maybe there’s still some benefit in the basic Rippetoe program for me.

Let’s see how the next couple of weeks go. Again, the amazing last couple of workouts might have just been a fluke… We’ll see…

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Haven’t posted a chart in awhile (mainly because I was plateaued for so long!), so here’s the latest…

As you can see, I seem to be making progress again… I guess now that I’m getting a testosterone shot in my butt once a week that’s to be expected!! So far, the new pattern of appearing to be getting stronger seems to be holding. Keeping my hopes up…

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speakman what is your HRT regiment?

Test Cyp 100 mg 1/week?

And have you since done blood work after getting the treatment to see where it puts you at?

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[quote]Scott M wrote:
speakman what is your HRT regiment?

Test Cyp 100 mg 1/week?

And have you since done blood work after getting the treatment to see where it puts you at?[/quote]

Okay, finally got the answer to this from my doctor (or, more accurately, the cute nurse who gives me the shots)… Looks like I’m getting 200 mg/ml of Testosterone Cypionate each week (good guess!).

Still waiting for the cycle plan from the doctor:

  1. How long should my cycle be? 12 weeks?
  2. How long should I cycle off for? 2 weeks?
  3. Should I take anything during the off time?
  4. Should I take anything else besides the T during the cycle?
  5. Can I go on with this plan (whatever it ends up being) forever?

I’ll let everyone know what the doctor comes up with, and of course would be open to feedback from the group in the meantime. Or is this a question more appropriate for the “Steroids” forum?

Incidentally, I realize that what I’m taking is an anabolic steroid, so it may seem now like I’m “cheating” in terms of trying to add mass and strength with the Rippetoe program. However, I’m not sure this would be the right way to look at it, since my natural T levels were so low. Aren’t I just “leveling the playing field” now in order to give myself a fair chance at success? Curious how everyone else sees this…

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Have you actually been making any progress or is this the T-Nation equivalent of a fat chick’s blog?
So you have low T → ok you got HRT. Now whats your excuse?
Whats your eating plan like? How many calories are you getting in a day?you plan to stay on rippetoe forever?
What the hell is going on? We’re all going against a running clock and a month wasted is a month wasted.

summation:: NO ONE CARES ABOUT you being on HRT. But posting on your weblog for several months with no apparent progress is a little depressing. Go and lift.