200 pushups
7 Likes
E2MOM
TBDL holds at 315lbs
5 rounds
First round was around 1:15
Remaining 4 were 40-45 seconds
Tried a few farmers walks in the room, not a lot of room to turn but I got a few rounds in.
6 Likes
Definitely an accurate assessment. I’d look at the stuff aimed at “hardgainers” in your case. Even if it’s not what you are classified as, it’s what your body is being right now due to all the activity.
100%. Food is fuel and it’s anabolic. JM Blakley talked about the 3 things that need to happen when we are eating to gain. We have to eat enough to recover from the session we just did, we have to eat enough to fuel ourselvs for the next session, and we have to eat enough to grow. When we’re in a deficit, we aren’t doing 3 of those. When we’re at maintenance, we’re doing 2 of the 3. When we’re growing, were doing all 3.
Muscle gaining and bodyweight will always be interesting. I’ve been this bodyweight before and looked WAY different. I also look different when I cut DOWN to this weight vs when I eat UP to it. Weight tells part of the story, but not the whole thing.
2 Likes
I see what you mean about eating up to/cutting down to a weight and looking different.
I go through phases of doubt in my execution of what I want. I’m getting stronger and more muscular doing what I’m doing right now/what I’ve done the past year. The weight on the bar is still going up and I’d like to think my conditioning is improving as well, so it seems that I’m stimulating and eating enough to make progress. I think I need to just keep my head down and carry on, not check the scale and look at progress throughout a longer time period. Too often I’ll compare my lifts to last week’s and go into a lifting day thinking I need to smash all the rep/weight numbers… The kicker is, I normally feel like I can, so I try. Not sure if this is the smartest way of going about things, but I like breaking PRs. I like pushing myself.
After going back through the past 12 months I’ve logged on here, I think the “need” to gain weight is all in my head. I think I have shown myself over the past year that I don’t need to gain weight to put on muscle or add weight to my lifts. Not yet at least. Reading articles and posts about weight on the scale = weight on the bar aren’t made for me. At some point it may be necessary, but not yet.
I read some John Meadows stuff last night on carb timing and am planning on doing some pre/intra/post workout carbs stuff within the next week or so. I’ve just been eating them whenever I feel like it throughout the day and I could be smarter about it. Nothing too crazy, I’m not going to track any of it, but just going to follow his general guidelines.
I stopped weighing myself in Oct of '19 and it’s been one of the most positive things I’ve done. When I’m gaining, I make sure that I’m eating to recover from brutal, hellish training. When I want to be lean, I look in the mirror and see how my clothes/lifting belt fits. The scale is A data point, but often not a great one. There’s no question that making the number on the scale go up can make the weight on the bar go up, but it’s not THE only way.
1 Like
GMM W3D1
Front squat
95x10
115x5
155x4
185x3
225x1
245x0
(Dumped bar into rack)
165x5
135x15
60 second rest
135x12
Belt squat at 160lb
One set, rest at top to 70 reps
BW walking lunges
1x80 (alternating)
1x40 (alternating)
Dumped 245 about halfway up. It started slipping out of the rack position and I couldn’t save it. Caught it partially in my elbows zercher style and it flung me forward into the bar. Going to have some bruised arms tomorrow. The rack position is extremely awkward for me, I think I just need to keep doing it until it becomes normal.
Dropped amrap weight back to get more comfortable holding the rack position while my brace becomes weaker throughout the set. Decided to crush myself with accessory stuff instead.
8 Likes
Fixed that for you 
Hope your arms are OK.
3 Likes
Thanks man I’ll be fine, just frustrated haha.
2 Likes
I just stick with the arms folded approach. Good enough for Justin Harris and Arnold: good enough for me, haha.
2 Likes
I really need to practice this method. I find this really unstable and hurts my shoulders. I just hate front squats 
1 Like
Same haha
I hate not being able to do something I want to do, though… So they’re staying in, unfortunately.
I tried this a couple times on the warm up sets. I just can’t keep my elbows high enough through the bottom (with both clean grip and crossed arms), might be a weakness in core strength or something?
When you’re front squatting, is the bar practically choking you out by being up against your windpipe, or is it more on your front delts?
1 Like
Definitely choking me out upon unracking the bar. I have scrapes from the center knurling at the base of my neck where it meets my collarbone.
After dropping into the hole I feel it sliding forward to my delts, so that makes me think I’m leaning forward into/coming out of the hole.
Yeah, sounds like the posture is shifting. It’s possible you’re trying to back squat the front squat, letting some forward lean occur. The front squat is going to be bolt upright as much as possible.
1 Like
Did a Brian Alsruhe conditioning pushup session. It’s part of a paid program so I don’t want to type it out, but it took 18 minutes and was tough.
Then, dinner
1lb ribeye
Shrimp
Avocado
Cauliflower with adobo sauce
Ending the night with peanut butter
9 Likes
Hey buddy, just sorta caught up here. You’re kicking some serious ass.
Was fascinated by your post-covid symptoms. Curious, were you vaccinated? (Not trying to stir shit so will delete if you want!)
1 Like
Thank you dude, I’m trying!
Yeah I am vaccinated and got the booster about 1 1/2 weeks before getting covid. It seemed to hang around for the following 2-3 weeks or so. I’ve been feeling pretty much back to normal the past week.
I think a lot of the fatigue was due to being on vacation from Christmas to new years, and then being cooped up at home for an additional week. I thrive on a routine and that was anything but, haha.
1 Like
Gotcha. That’s pretty rare I guess, having lingering symptoms even though you’re vaxxed, I think.
Anyway, keep on trucking! How are you liking GMM this time through? Your working weights are no comparison to the first time.
1 Like
I suppose. I know multiple people that have had symptoms that linger beyond the 2 weeks of positive testing, all vaccinated… my mom being one of them. She felt exhausted for almost a month after getting it… she is in great health (super active) and not the kind of person to sleep all day or relax, but she was basically bedridden for weeks. One of my co workers had covid and had gone back to work and was feeling fine only to get pneumonia the following week due to covid. I think it’s highly dependant on individual circumstances, but I don’t know enough about it to really delve any deeper.
All I know is that during the week vacation I had, I was drinking often (not heavily, but drinking nonetheless) getting less/interrupted sleep, high activity and low food intake. Then a week of isolation, then straight back into work. I really think it was just a huge 2 week beat down on my body/mind, and it took a few days for all the stupid shit I had done to catch up with me.
I’m definitely liking it. I feel like it’s enough if a departure from 531 to keep me interested and allows me to hit a heavy single every session which I like. I’m not sure why but I get bored of 531 after 8 weeks or so. I’m just kind of using GMM as a program to bridge me between a few challenge programs I’m thinking about doing.
GMM W3D2
Log press
84x10
104x5
114x4
124x3
139x2
154x1
114x11
60 second rest
114x7
Dips at bw+35
x 17, 13, 11 (total 41)
Kroc row at 82.5lb
Lx38
Rx38
Wide grip pull up
x 9, 9, 8, 6, 6 (total 38)
Db hammer curl at 27.5lb
x 12, 10, 9
That log overwarmup may be a PR. It moved well, but still a little slow out of the bottom. I think the key to getting the log moving is being aggressive as fuck on the clean to get in high up on my chest and push like my life depends on it out of the rack. Once it’s eyeball height, I’m golden. I need to remember that. Super lightheaded after the first few reps of the 50% set, but once I took a breath it went away. Took a breath between the clean and press on the second set and had zero lightheadedness.
Wide grip pull ups felt good too. Need to remember to lock my grip in.
7 Likes