Sometimes i wish i had Forever, but I’ve only got the first and beyond.
Can’t talk about all those fancy names.
I really like Jims basic work.
I’ve been making my own kind of BBB challenge.
starting out with 5x10 50%, 60% 5x8 65% 70%, 5x5 75% 80% 5x2 85 90% 5x1 95% TM
Main sets I’m capping the amraps at 10, 8 and 6 if I don’t hit the weight I’ll re do the same weights.
This week I’ve started 75% 5x5 So a fair bit to go still.
Supersetting stuff in between main and BBB sets a’la Krypteia
Many have done and said building the monolith is great and 1000% awesome is one I’ve looked into as well.
Thanks mortdk, yeah I saw that in your log. Modified BBB sounds like a good plan. You’ve been doing some great stuff over in your log, and I’m sorry to hear about everything you’ve been going through, hope you’re doing alright.
I’m not sure what to do next. I can do something radically different, cross my fingers and hope it works and I don’t get burnt out, or, do something more along the lines of what you are with just a basic 531 with some modified supplemental stuff. I know the simple stuff works for me to a degree but it just gets so monotonous in my opinion. Also, I’m not sure how my body will respond to a more structured and varied program.
I’ve really only ever run three programs… 531fsl/BBB and GMM/nuttys (which felt similar to me, minus the supersets). I’m just not sure what to do haha.
Pretty much the same… still shooting for a 4 plate deadlift and I’d like to get my bench and press up as well. those are the main goals
I’d like to continue adding muscle on and slowly gain some more weight because I don’t think I’m fat enough yet to warrant a cut, but me attempting to eat in a surplus usually equates to maintenance anyway. However the way I’ve been eating lately has put on some lbs. Usually what happens is I’ll eat up to a weight and just maintain it for a (long) while until I start stalling out.
Maybe take a look at Coffinworm? I haven’t made strength gains like this since I was like 20 years old. It’s a fuck ton of work and it’s really hard, but if you eat enough to support it it really kicks ass. What’s your deadlift at right now?
Last deadlift I did was a week ago, before that it had been a couple months. Hit 345x1 easy last week and before that I hit 355x5, have gotten 375x1 before as well
Edit: and I’ll definitely look into coffinworm. I saw you were making great PRs on it. I’m personally nervous about recovery between an intense program like that and work, but I’d be more than willing to give it a shot
Just be conservative as hell with your assistance and you can do it. It also feels like it would be great as a 2 day program since you still hit all 4 lifts in a week. So if you’re not recovering from 3 days you can drop down. Another template that might be good for your situation with work is one of the full body templates. They’re kinda built for people wanting to push conditioning, which is what you’re forced to do with work.
Also, gotta echo @FlatsFarmer here. That’s some awesome progress on your T-ransformation
Thanks I really appreciate that. I went into it knowing I wasn’t going to win because I’m definitely not lean and definitely not big, but I wanted to keep myself accountable for actually gaining weight.
Hopefully next year I’ll be fat and happy and willing to cut some weight.
And thanks @garagerocker13 I’ll take a look at coffinworm tonight, really excited to run some 531 stuff again
Do you think Jim would consider work as conditioning? It without a doubt impedes my recovery, so maybe he would. No matter which program I choose, I am planning on opting out of the hard conditioning for at least a few cycles before I even attempt it.
I’d consider your work easy conditioning and could see Jim agreeing, but that’s all on him. At the very least, it should be considered a stressor you need to account for. Agree with opting out of hard conditioning given your situation, but from personal experience sled work actually kept me healthy and helped me recover. YMMV though. Forever is really a running jump down the rabbit hole programming-wise. And that’s a compliment - there’s so much in that book that it’s worth a lot more than you pay for it.
20 mins on the stationary bike, nothing too crazy. Worked up a sweat, last 3 mins added some resistance and stood up to pedal.
2 minutes rest between all sets for now. Today was pretty easy, but I will add rest time as needed. Took 58 mins for warmup/dynamic stretching, stair jumps, main work, supplemental and assistance.
Put in a lot of work yesterday on my back and shoulders. A lifelong friend of mine had a willow tree fall in his back yard over the winter and asked for some help cleaning it up. The trunk on this thing has to be 7 feet in diameter. We cut up all the brush and the branches, which were also massive. I was working a chainsaw and splitting wood (luckily very soft) with a 20lb maul for 5 hours.
Wanted to add that I thought for a while about which program to run and chose Leviathan. It seems like a good one for the summer to gain some strength, but also be able to tone down the supplemental stuff if needed. Once the fall hits I think I’ll be in a better place to jack up the intensity and volume and get down to some serious business.
Might start tracking food to be held accountable… today my diet was pretty piss poor. Forgot to clean out my lunch box from Friday, so it was a mess. Ended up buying and eating a 10oz bag of beef jerky throughout the day. 2 big scoops maltodextrin and preworkout, protein shake after workout… dinner was 3 Italian sausage patties with peppers, onions and broccoli on the side. 9 scoops organic peanut butter, a banana and another protein shake before bed to follow. Not a typical day of eating for me but it’ll have to do.
Superset assistance work
Band tri pushdown 3x12
Curls 3 sets
Hanging leg raises 3x10
17 min on the bike
42 minutes (time, from now on, will always include warm up, dynamic stretching/mobility and jumps. I will omit conditioning from the time though, as I hate it and don’t want to think about it more than I have to)
2 mins rest between all sets, all DL was double overhand. Very easy day today, but very helpful as well. I can really feel myself lock my back and lats in. Couldn’t really feel that before, probably due to minimal MMC or tiny ass muscles.
Probably undershot my TM on deadlift quite a bit but I’m fine with it as long as my form continues to improve.
From a local Mexican restaurant. There are enchiladas under all that cheese. Doesn’t really look that appetizing but it’s absolutely incredible. There was one pulled chicken with white sauce, one pulled pork with mole sauce, one beef with red sauce, and another chicken with green sauce. Saved some rice and beans for lunch tomorrow.
I’m usually not a fan of sweet stuff, but the pie was awesome. You could definitely taste the tequila in the cream, it was almost overpowering, but very good. A little too sweet for my tastes though.
Not a whole lot of vegetables yesterday. Going to have to make up for that today. Bench workout after work.
