Thanks! I definitely made some major mistakes on the recovery front. As my wife says, I need to take myself more seriously as an “athlete” if I’m going to train like one, which means both more food and more rest.
It’s so easy to get carried away when you are enjoying what you are doing and experiencing positive results!
Back in the saddle. Running the first two cycles of CT’s Best Damn High Volume Workout for Natties 2x/week now through the end of January. Goal is to maintain muscle while dropping 10-odd pounds (during holiday season!) ahead of Transformation 2020.
BW: 152.2
waist: 33"
Macros: 1924 = P191 F50 C120
wrist: 6.5"
arms: 14"
neck: 15.5"
thigh: 22"
chest: 36"
shoulders: 46"
High Volume Low Frequency Training
warmup sets/reps not shown
Back squat / RDL
150 x 4 x 8 / 125 x 4 x 8
Guillotine press / T-bar row
110 x 4 x 8 / 130 x 8; 140 x 3 x 8
Arnold DB press / Weighted Chins / Hanging Leg Raise
20s x 4 x 8 / BW+10 x 3 x 8; BW+10 x 6(2) / BW x 4 x 12
Just under 90 minutes. Felt a little rusty, but the weight adjustments I made from the last round of HVT seem on point. Looking forward to losing a few pounds and making those weighted chins a little easier!
Daily Net Calorie/Macro Goals: 11/4 - 12/27/2019
Sunday: <1500 / Balanced
Monday: 2000 / High Protein & Carbs
Tuesday: 500 / Moderate Protein
Wednesday: 2000 / High Protein & Carbs
Thursday: 500 / Moderate Protein
Friday: <1500 / Balanced
Saturday: <1500 / Balanced
Maintenance calories for me are around 1750. This plan gives me a 400 calorie a day deficit on average. I’ll be using cardio on Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday to help reach calorie goals.
That would be something 
Looks like a good plan BTT
Tuesday
BW: 152.6
waist: 33 1/4"
Macros: P125 F63 C44 => 1,294
Cardio/BJJ Day
AM cardio
Incline treadmill walk
2.5 miles / 280 calories
BJJ
No training. Tutored first class. Coached second class.
PM cardio
Incline treadmill walk
2.5 miles / 331 calories
Wednesday
BW: 151.2
waist: 33 /14"
Macros: TBA
HVLFT: Low Day
Leg extension / Leg curl
140 x 4 x 8 / 140 x 4 x 8
Overhead decline triceps extension / Preacher curl / Cable ab crunch
40 x 4 x 8 / 35 x 4 x 8 / 150 x 4 x 12
Low2high cable flye / Kroc row
35 x 4 x 8 / 60 x 4 x 8
Thursday
BW: 153.2
waist: 33 1/4"
Macros: P123 F64 C51 => 1,215
BJJ/Cardio Day
BJJ
Tutored first class. Eight minutes drills + ten minutes specific training (standing) + eight minutes live training in second class.
PM Cardio
Incline treadmill walk
3.01 miles / 435 calories / 50:16 minutes / 8.7 RPE
Felt great to be back on the mats after what seemed like a year on the DL (was only two months). Knee held up through standing and ground training, which was a very pleasant outcome.Looking forward to coaching teammates at the Revolution Tournament on Saturday.
Diet Update: Week One
Starting weight: 150.4
Total weekly net calories: 10,645
Daily average net calories: 1,520
Ending weight: 150.4
Looks like maintenance calories may be significantly lower than I’d thought.
I’ve always been suspicious of the BW x 12-15 maintenance formulation as being too high - for me, at least. BW x 10 is more like it. It also syncs up more anecdotally with what I’ve read here on the forums about how low huge bodybuilders would take their calorie totals when cutting for a show.
Friday & Sunday - Rest Days - No Training
Saturday
BW: 151.2
Macros: P110 F43 C113 => 1,596
Afternoon cardio
Rower / Tempo Intervals
3km / 16:33 minutes / 156 calories / 9.45 RPE
60 secs pace > 3:00m/km; 15 sec pace < 2:00m/km
Incline treadmill walk
2.0 miles / 303 calories / 33:37 minutes / 9.0 RPE
Monday
BW: 150.8
Macros: P131 F35 C145 => 1,742
HVLFT: Medium Intensity Day
Leg press
180 x 8
200 x 8
220 x 8
240 x 8
Smith machine hip thrust
125 x 4 x 8
Smith machine high incline press / Horizontal row compound superset
45 x 4 x 8 / 140 x 4 x 8
Weighted dip / Hanging leg raise / Wide grip lat pulldown compound triset
BW+15 x 4 x 8 / BW x 4 x 12 / 120 x 4 x 8
Post-training cardio
Incline treadmill walk
2.0 miles / 315 calories / 33:16 minutes / 9.47 RPE
Threw in some post-training cardio after reading a thread reminding me that adding cardio is preferable to skimping on a meal when it comes to fat loss. Extra cardio was my “key to victory” going from 160 to 143 this year, so it makes sense to go back to those winning ways.
In other T-Nation news, I came across an interesting strength standards idea: Be able to at least lift 50% of what the world record holder at your size has lifted.
In my case, that would be the 67.5kg/148 lb division. I used drug-tested raw power IPL numbers:
Squat: 507.1 lbs (50% = 253.55)
Bench: 385.80 lbs (50% = 192.9)
Deadlft: 628.30 lbs (50% = 314.15)BTW, these were from three different athletes.
I haven’t tested maxes in awhile. But as of the end of 2018, I had surpassed all of those 50% levels (I think I topped out at 305 / 220 / 355). Wouldn’t mind getting up to 65% of the world record (330 / 250 / 408) by the end of 2020 …
Tuesday
An annoying day at work followed by an annoying evening on the mats. I won’t elaborate on either save to say, w/re2 the latter: there’s nothing glamorous about being an over 50, under 150 pound, post-injury jiujitsu black belt - unless you’re running the school.
BW: 150.4
Macros: P160 F53 C40 => 1392 gross (821 net)
BJJ/Cardio Day
BJJ Training
Tutored first class / Approx. 18-20 minutes Live Training in second class
PM Cardio
Incline treadmill walk
2.8 miles / 45:22 minutes / 445 calories / 9.8 RPE
I tweaked my previously-injured knee twice during my second roll. Still sore after PM Cardio, but I’m hoping some ibuprofen, some Cissus, and some Curcumin will help calm things down before Thursday. I’m really going to have to insist on who I train with for the next month or so, or I’m going to constantly be on guard against re-injury.
On the upside, a guy I trained with back when we were blue belts - and whom I haven’t seen in several years - showed up at the academy tonight. He’s just getting back going after a LONG time off the mat, and it was really great to see him again.
High CNS work tomorrow: squats, RDLs, bench, weighted chins …
Wednesday
BW: 148.0
Macros: P170 F52 C206
HVLFT: Heavy Intensity Day
Back squat / RDL compound superset
150 x 4 x 10 / 125 x 4 x 10
Guillotine press / Chest-supported row compound superset
110 x 4 x 10 / 145 x 4 x 10
DB Arnold press / Weighted chin / Cable ab crunch compound triset
20s x 10 / BW+5 x 10 / 150 x 10
20s x 10 / BW+5 x 7(3) / 150 x 10
20s x 10 / BW+5 x 8(2) / 150 x 10
20s x 10 / BW+5 x 8(2) / 150 x 10
Really wasn’t feeling focused for this workout, but grateful for getting my sets and reps in. I think it was a bit of a psychological hangover from yesterday. Much better today post-workout. At least w/re2 jiujitsu, I have a scheme or two that I think will make my training time more constructive - which is critical when you only train twice a week.
Jiujitsu tomorrow night. Then three days of recovery - with a little LSD cardio on Saturday.
Current Supplement Schedule
Morning
Vitamin D
Selenium
Curcumin
Noon
Cissus
Curcumin
Forskolin
Evening
Forskolin
Fish oil
Cissus
PM
Magnesium
Fish oil
Zinc
Thursday
BW: 149.0
Macros: TBA
BJJ/Cardio Day
BJJ Training
Tutored first class / Approx. 10 minutes Live Training in second class
Had to quit Live Training after one round. The knee pain is back. I"m going to have to take it easy at least through the rest of November and maybe even December to allow this (MCL I think) to heal more fully. Fortunately doesn’t seem to affect weight training or regular cardio at all.
PM Cardio
Incline treadmill walk
2.75 miles / 46:45 minutes / 417 calories / 8.9 RPE
I’m not putting anything called forskolin in my mouth!!!
Haha! Not the best branding in the world, is it?
Uh yeah… ima start taking this stuff called analfalun lol
I remember doing the 75 pound DBs for 55 reps. Those were fun.
Friday
Should have been a rest day. But annoyed at the persistence of fatness, I tried to do a little cardio. Emphasis on “little”.
BW: 150
waist: ???
Incline treadmill walk
2.5 miles / 45:39 minutes / 260 calories / 5.7 RPE
Saturday
Did a cardio medley today in advance of the evening’s anticipated feedbag.
BW: 150.8
waist: 32 3/4"
Rower
3.5 km / 20:07 minutes / 187 calories
Bike
2.0 miles / 10:04 minutes / 54 calories
Incline treadmill walk
2.0 miles / 32:52 minutes / 314 calories
I always have a hard time getting comfortable on stationary bikes. Regular bikes no problem. But I’ve never had a good cardio session on the stationary bikes at my gym - hence the short duration of this workout.
Sunday
BW: 151.8
waist: 32 3/4"
An expected weight gain after a Movie and Dinner date yesterday. The Joker. Baby back ribs. Whiskey. Not a bad evening, at all.
Incline treadmill walk
2.5 miles / 44:11 minutes / 285 calories
Monday
BW: 152.4
waist: 33"
Macros: P160 F44 C86
High Volume Low Frequency Training: Low CNS Day
Leg extension / Leg curl compound superset
140 x 4 x 10 / 140 x 4 x 10
Low2high cable flye / DB row / Hanging leg raise compound triset
35 x 4 x 10 / 60 x 4 x 10 / BW x 4 x 10
Overhead cable tricep extension
60 x 4 x 10
Rope cable bicep curl
50 x 4 x 10
Switched to these last two arm exercises because Preacher bench and EZ curl bar were taken. Good fortune for me! Got a great pump on both of these and will swap them in for the EZ curl bar variations going forward.
Also did DB rows rather than Kroc rows after reading some good points in another thread about which is a better back builder. Probably wasn’t going heavy enough for real Kroc rows anyway. Keeping the weight the same and changing technique toward the more conventional.
Post-training cardio
Incline treadmill walk
2.0 miles / 33:01 minutes / 315 calories / 9.5 RPE
Did some post-training cardio to deal with this weight. One thing I like about doing cardio later in the day is that I always have more energy than I do the first thing in the morning.
All in all a good workout today… Felt like a long week, last week. Glad to reset.
My dad was Jewish - I no longer have a forskolin.
Hi there! Indeed that’s a very mature thought: if you progress, why change? But yeah with the cardio you add and BJJ that’s a lot of volume!
I think regular rows are better indeed that Krocs. And if you’ve already been 12 weeks on the program, changing a few exercises (at elast isolation) to attack differently your weaknesses might be great