Would you consider it inappropriate to try running DW in a commercial gym?
I’ll be totally honest man, I have no idea. I have pretty much zero experience in a commercial gym.
Are you meaning more in a hogging the squat rack for an hour type way? Or in a headspace, this dude is super intense and way too amped up type way?
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End of week 2 update
I’m feeling good. I’m happy that I am now on the home stretch of the program, but I’m feeling a little bit of the DW scaries in the back of my mind. It’ll be in full force on Thursday for sure. I’m just trying to stay calm, not think about it and prepare myself.
Like I said a few posts up, I’m down a few lbs which in theory is awesome. In reality, I’m not sure how I feel about it. It makes me think I’m not eating enough. I’ve felt recovered enough for lifting throughout the program, but this big spike in intensity is going to be a slap in the face. Also, while very small, the difference between BW and weight in the bar is going in opposite directions. That means strength is going up, but effort needs to follow the exact same pattern. It’s tough to keep up the mental intensity. I think once I get through the next squat day I’ll feel more at ease and confident.
Wife commented on how I’m looking more muscular yesterday. She doesn’t understand how it happens so quickly, because she commented the same thing about a month ago. The most noticable differences this run through have been shoulders, traps and upper back, erectors, lats, bi/tri and booty. I’m really hoping to keep the trend up for the next month. I just need to eat.
Speaking of eating, I haven’t been posting many food pics. Diet has been pretty standard, eggs/bacon in the morning (added multiple scoops of PB the past few weeks), snack is PB, lunch is 12-16oz meat and sour cream and if time allows I’ll snack on PB again in the afternoon, preworkout is 1/4 serving plazma and micro-PA, post workout is a liter of water and liquid IV, dinner has been ~1lb of beef or 1/2-3/4 of a chicken, vegetables and some sort of high fat dressing. Sometimes I’ll also eat the reminder of my wife’s dinner (fish, turkey meatballs, more chicken), prebed is either a few handfuls of raw almonds or more PB.
I still have that unstoppable feeling, and I think once I drop a bit of volume in the next program I’m going to REALLY get in the zone. I’m feeling strong, and I can really feel the muscles working. My brace and lower back have felt especially strong these past couple of weeks, which will be beneficial once the weight ramps up.
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I was thinking about both of these. I think I can get away with hogging the squat rack. But theres a lot of variables in a commercial gym.
I have a bar and rack at home so NBD.
My only excuse now would be that I’m unwilling to subject my family and myself to the strain of DW lifting/eating/living as we are under a LOT of strain as it is right now. It is clearly a good path to achieving what I want to achieve though.
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So much great stuff here, but this…
This is awesome! Way to go, my man.
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Thank you dude, for whatever reason DW clicks with me. It makes perfect sense and I notice it makes me try harder. I feel super confident in my ability to lift the weight. Mentally I’m in a good space. The issue I run into is trying to get my body to cooperate. It rebels in some pretty annoying ways.
Yeah man, I think at home would be ideal, but if not I don’t see a huge issue. My main thing (and this goes for lifting in general) is that I cuss, bleed, sweat profusely and take laps around my room between sets. I’m assuming 3/4 of that is frowned upon in a commercial setting haha.
As far as making a huge change in lifestyle to run DW, I don’t think it’s necessary. Yeah, lifting days make take a little bit longer at first, but once you acclimate to the workload it’s not that much different than any other program. The past 3-4 weeks I’ve been in and out within about an hour to an hour and fifteen mins… max time so far has been around 1.5 hrs.
Eating, if you can get away with it, isn’t difficult either. Eat what you would normally, just more of it and cut out the direct carb sources. I can have the same dinner as my wife and gorge on turkey meatballs and she can eat pasta and rice with hers and I’ll have a salad with mine. It’s not a huge lifestyle change, and if I remember correctly you had already sort of had a diet leaning that way a little while back? If money allows, I’d just cook a steak or two at night. It takes 15 mins, and one pan. Lots of fat and protein and you’re good to go.
It’s difficult to take the initial step… I sat on DW for a year and a half. As far as it adding strain to your family, that’s kind of something that’s up to you. If you do decide to commit to it, do it when you can. Maybe get the hard stuff done in the AM, save the accessory stuff for later in the evening. Maybe change the schedule from every 7 days to 9 and only hit 3 or 4 workouts a week. Or, just take some DW ideas and apply them to your programming.
I think the method behind the madness is what matters the most. Effort should be at 110% and you should, by the end of the workout, feel like you wouldn’t be able to squat, deadlift, press or bench press one more rep. DW just gives you a road map on how to get to that point.
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Thanks for that my friend!
A lot of ways to “get to yes” there!
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I remain a huge fan of this training log. I feel bad for how much I gush over it, haha. You have your head in the right spot and you’re getting some awesome rewards for it.
One of my favorite Deep Water pre-bed foods is cottage cheese with avocado. The slow digesting protein in the cottage cheese and fats from the avocado will keep you fed through the night. It also mixes VERY well with that peanut butter. I would actually mix it in powdered peanut butter back in the day. These days, I group it with some eggs, egg whites and meat, along with nuts n more on celery.
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Not a problem at all dude, I can tell you’ve been on the fence about running it. I’m not trying to persuade you either way, but I’ll be honest in saying it’s been a very valuable experience to me.
I see that you get a TON of great suggestions from very strong and experienced guys in your log. I play devil’s advocate and give a different point of view. Yes, there are times for a slow burn, but there are also times to just fucking redline everything and push yourself to the brink. Beat the hell out of yourself, eat, and then come back for more the next day. I’m not saying now is that time, or if there will ever be a perfect time, but why not? Is waiting going to make things easier?
From what I can tell, being excited, and in turn “locked in” is way more important than having the perfect program. Whatever you choose to do, do it with 110% effort. Push the weights hard, push the volume and eat like an MFer and there is no way you’ll fail to reach your goals dude.
I really, really appreciate that man. The majority of how I feel about lifting has been taken from you and Jon Andersen. I don’t think I could come.up with a more badass group to aspire to be haha. Again dude, thank you for being an awesome “coach” through this stuff. It has really helped.
You had mentioned this to me last run through, and I shut it down. Not this time, haha. I’ll be getting a couple tubs of cottage cheese today after work.
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I’m a broken record on the food front, haha. Thank you for not being annoyed with me in that regard.
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Haha dude, trust me, I will not get annoyed. I love the tips and advice!
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Dinner tonight
1lb skirt steak
5 or so medium shrimp
Large scoop sour cream mixed with taco bell diablo sauce
Whole avocado
Mixed peppers and onions
Broccoli sprouts
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I have never had skirt steak but that looks pretty good.
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Thanks man, I’m not a pro by any means but have had lots of practice haha. It came out alright, a little bit overdone though. I recently got a new larger 18" cast iron skillet that I’m trying to figure out… It can fit two of the skirt steaks, so I did them both at the same time. One for dinner, one for lunch tomorrow.
It’s definitely a good cut. Ribeye will always reign supreme for me, but for a bit less fat and ability to dip it in something (in this case… more fat), flank and skirts are where it’s at.
You certainly know how to eat!
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Deepwater Intermediate W3D1
Squats at 305lb, 9 sets to 100 reps, 4 min rest
2x15, 7x10
DL at 135lb
3x10
Planks and sit ups
Pulled a wild card and did this a day early. I decided after work to just get it over with. Your body can’t be afraid of something it doesn’t know it’s about to do. Zero anxiety before this, just drank my preworkout stuff and headed back to lift. If I did this tomorrow, it’d be on my mind all day. I think this might be the only time I’ll be able to use that trick.
I’m very confident in being able to hit 315lb for 20 now. 305 moved well enough the first set but went downhill fast after set 4.
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This is what happens when you want it all
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Life (and in turn, lifting) related update-
The mother ship has decided to dissolve the current company I work for. This is a good thing. We’re down to three guys, including me, from seven a little over a year ago. One tech (me) and two installation guys. We’re being given the opportunity to be absorbed by more specified groups that deal mostly in industrial and process boiler applications, or a general HVAC group that deals with high precision equipment (clean rooms, testing facilities, etc). They’re trying to bait me to both areas so I have free reign to choose what I want to do.
No matter which option I end up choosing, it’ll be easier from a physical labor standpoint. That could potentially mean more control over weight gain/loss cycles and actual recovery! As of right now, I just slam food all day in hopes that by night time, I’ve consumed enough to not lose weight, which hasn’t been perfect. It might make things a little bit easier.
Obviously lifting isn’t the first thing that came to mind when I heard the news, but after mulling it over a little bit and weighing pros and cons, it’s just another check in the pros column. It’s going to be a weird transition and strange to work for another company after 10 years, but I think it’ll be for the best in all aspects. Also, there will be a rotating on call schedule, which I am extremely excited for, since I’ve been on call for basically 7 months straight now.
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Deepwater Intermediate W3D2
Axle push press at 138lb, 9 sets to 100 reps, 4 mins rest
1x15, 1x14, 1x11, 6x10
Axle curls
1x130
Planks and sit ups
I was not expecting this at all. Warming up with strict pressing felt heavy, did a big jump from 103x5 strict to the first DW set. They ended up moving well until set 4, then my elbows and forearms started feeling pretty bad. Pushed through, got all 100. Curls actually felt pretty good and got tons of blood pumping through my arms.
Dinner
Set two and set nine. I’ve just been taking random videos here and there, mostly to see how my rep speed is.
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Deepwater Intermediate W3D3
Log clean at 153lb, 9 sets to 100 reps
15, 12, 12, 11, 5x10
Log clean pull, lap first and last rep of each set, 138lbs
3x10
Planks and sit ups
Did this a couple hours ago. Decided to wait a little to post to disconnect from it a little bit. I ended up taking more than 4 mins rest on the main stuff or else I wouldn’t have been able to finish. I was closer to quitting DW today than any day previous. Set 6 and on were all mental. Had to override the brain and just crush it.
Figured out by the end that speed was my friend and getting as many reps as possible quickly made everything suck a little bit less. I am so happy this is over. I’ll be posting a couple vids when I have a few mins to edit and upload them.
Set one and set nine
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