Sessions are 70-75 min without ab workout
Did my weekly weigh in average today
May 22 - 136.2
May 29 - 136.8
June 5 - 137.3
June 12 - 138.1
Been taking creatine this past week so could be the reason for additional weight gain too.
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Things are going nicely in here. Good stuff.
Assistance should be easy’ish as garagerocker says 5 sets where the last set is close to failure.
Do the same sets and reps for each cycle if the last week is very easy, then you can up the assistance for the next cycle.
But I tend to go to hard on assistance too, But I’m trying not to. Let’s try together.
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Bench
70% 97.5 1 3
80% 112.5 1 3
90% 125 1 3+ (11 reps)
70% 97.5 5 5
Front squat
70% 80 1 3
80% 92.5 1 3
90% 102.5 1 3+ (20 reps)
70% 80 5 5
Assistance
Skull crushers/EZ Bench: ~40 lbs 6x15/15
DB rows: 30 lbs - 5x20
Leg/hip/toe raises: 4x20
Notes:
- First time I benched better on my second benching session for the week.
I’m struggling with the notion of going easier on accessories, since it didn’t seem to impact my main lifts this session. If anything, they were better than usual.
My theory is that the creatine is giving me more energy so I’d rather milk that for all I can. I didn’t front load the creatine. Just taking 5 grams a day, but it’s probably what’s helping with my lifts.
Going hard on assistance work absolutely is affecting your main lifts for your upper body. You have a few weeks’ worth of evidence to prove this and you shouldn’t ignore all of that evidence just because you had one good day. Yes, creatine will give you a bit of an improvement, but that doesn’t justify making bad training choices.
I’m telling you to back off on how hard you push the assistance because I’ve been running 5/3/1 for 6 years and have sort of figured it out. I’ve pushed assistance hard before and it only took 3 weeks for my progress to stall. You are giving up progress by doing this.
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Okay, cool. Yeah, I think I may be getting a bit ahead of myself.
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Hill sprints - x23 (20 min)
Found a hill that was at least double the size of the previous one.
Front squat
75% 87.5 1 5
85% 97.5 1 3
95% 110 1 1+ (20 reps)
75% 87.5 5 5
Bench
75% 105 1 5
85% 120 1 3
95% 132.5 1 1+ (12 reps)
75% 105 5 5
Assistance work:
Dips (body weight): 15,15,15,13,10
EZ Curls: ~57.5 lbs - 20,20,15
Medicine ball/leg raises: 4x25
I was pretty amazed by my bench today. I remember this time to widen my grip on the bar. Is that why it went up so much? I think all my previous benches have been close grip. My theory is that I had low creatine due to mostly vegetarian diet so I’m responding to the supplement.
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Nice work man. Big performance jump like that probably means you needed to widen your grip. Keep it up 
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I have to thank @T3hPwnisher for pointing it out.
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YEAH DAWG congrats on your bench PR
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Good work man.
Can I recommend changing one thing at a time though? Because now you have no idea whether you actually needed to widen your grip or if the creatine helps. It could be one or the other, or both.
I think it’s actually a combination of three things. Firstly, I definitely think the creatine is working, because I’ve noticed a strength improvement in general. I think the grip has helped too. Lastly, I’ve also put more stuff under my feet so I can achieve a better arch in my back, so my form has improved.
I’d honestly rather just see my bench go up than to figure out the direct causes, etc. I’ve just struggled with my bench that I don’t care. I’m just glad to see it improve. However, I see what you’re saying though. It’s good to control these variables and see what’s causing what.
My biggest issue right now is my weight gain is slowing down. My target calories is 2,560 and I was gaining weight with that target, but this week it’s slowed down. My average so far for the week is around 137.8 lbs. So I’m expecting to actually see a weight drop from my previous 7 day average (which was 138.1 lbs) when I weigh in on Friday. However, despite the drop in weight my strength is going up. So I still think I’m adding muscle, despite the weight loss.
Then you need to eat more. I hope that’s the good news you wanted to hear.
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Haha! Yeah, I know I need to eat more. Eating more isn’t necessarily what I wanted, since I feel pretty full on my current calories. I think I’ll try to keep the volume the same, but just incorporate more calorie dense foods. I might treat myself once a week now to fast food…although, I tend to want to avoid the stuff.
@T3hPwnisher just wrote an extensive article on his nutritional approach (google mythicalstrength) so I won’t try and rewrite it, butbits well worth a read.
The key points for you would be:
- You will adapt to eating more.
- Josh Hillis uses the idea that your size is determined by the amount of food you eat, and the quality of the food determines your body composition. I’m sure it’s not a hard and fast rule, but a good guideline.
My personal experience is that I am not strong enough to “earn” much fast food.
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This is straight gold.
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Good job on the benching and the front squat
You should increase a bit more than the usual 10 lbs next cycle on squat again.
You should start to get less than 20 reps on the 95% days, Same with deadlift btw.
But you’re doing good man really good, keep eating the same for another week see what happens, could be the creatine that raised the BW last week and now the body is adapted to it not filling as much water in the body.
Gold statement “you are what you eat”
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Deadlifts
75% 170 1 5
85% 192.5 1 3
95% 215 1 1+ (18 reps)
75% 170. 5 5
Press
75% 85 1 5
85% 95 1 3
95% 107.5 1 1+ (7 reps)
75% 85 5 5
Assistance
Incline BB bench: 80 lbs - 15,15,15,10,10,5
Chin-ups: 5x10
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May 22 - 136.2
May 29 - 136.8
June 5 - 137.3
June 12 - 138.1
June 19 - 138.1
No change in weight for my 7 day average, but use of creatine could be throwing things off.