Then you need to eat more
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If anything, you may have lost weight, which isn’t conducive to your goal. Creatine should make you gain weight via water in and outside the muscle. Definitely eat more.
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Bench
75% 105 1 5
85% 120 1 3
95% 132.5 1 1+ (7 reps)
75% 105 5 5
Front squat
75% 87.5 1 5
85% 97.5 1 3
95% 110 1 1+ (20 reps)
75% 87.5 5 5
Assistance
Skull crushers: ~40 lbs 6x15,10
DB rows: 30 lbs - 5x20
Leg/hip/toe raises: 4x20
Noooo…bad bench day is back. I felt off and tired today from lack of sleep (got around 4 hours of sleep) and long bike ride yesterday. My bench was so bad I almost started to question if I mistakenly didn’t really bench 132.5 x12 on the previous session. I’m almost positive I put that much on the bar though. I’m pretty sure I even checked since it was atypical and I tend to double check anyway so I doubt that what it.
I just felt noticeable weaker though. The day I benched x12 I felt I was on and was going through all my lifts with ease. I just remember feeling really strong that day through all my lifts including accessories. I also felt like my muscles were more swollen that day and now they look more flat…which I assume had to do with the creatine but why would that stop? Today even doing the 5x5 on the bench felt heavier than I remember on my previous session. The accessories felt difficult too. There was that missing energy I felt last time that I was certain I was getting from the creatine. It just wasn’t there this time.
Anyway, my bench is all over the place. Seems weird to me. At least my other lifts are consistent. We’ll see how next cycle goes.
You haven’t been eating enough, didn’t sleep, and did a long bike ride yesterday. All three of those will hurt your training session. Make the changes you need to and you’ll be back to progressing.
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How do I incorporate at least one long bike ride into my week? Could I do it on Sunday where my next lift session is Tuesday? I’d hate to give up in it since it’s summer here and our summers are short. I also really enjoy biking.
I’d call it an events day. Weekends are fine: just eat big before and after.
Eat before and after the bike ride.
Incorporate (lack the exact word here) to your brain that the day after the bike ride you’re not as strong. Do 2 or maybe 3 sets to equal mondays session rep number.
Next week try to eat about 3 - 400 more calories a day. Good clean calories.
Hill sprints - 20x
Felt off today due to the heat. Around 30 degrees Celsius here in Canada. Decided to call it at 20. Maybe I should do hill sprints when it’s less hot out next time…but I’ve been feeling off all week.
Planning to increase my daily calories from around 2500 to 2800. Should I increase my deadlift TM more than 10 lbs since I did 18x on week three? I’m increasing my squat more than 10.
Deadlift 10 lbs is fine for the next cycle see what happens, if you’re still hitting 18 reps on the final week you could increase more.
It’s a balance act, but you have a nice low TM, you’ll reap great benefits from this. And you can increase you TM for several months before you eventually will stall out only getting 3 - 5 reps on the final week.
To clarify, your question is “the program I’m currently following is making it that I’m absolutely crushing my deadlift workouts and nailing my 1+ sets for 18 reps: should I alter the program?”
If I found a program that had me hit my 1+ sets for 18 reps, I’d honestly keep it a secret from my competition.
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Front squat
65% 85 1 5
75% 97.5 1 5
85% 110 1 5+ (20 reps)
65% 85 5 5
Bench
65% 95 1 5
75% 110 1 5
85% 122.5 1 5+ (11 reps)
65% 95 5 5
Assistance work:
Dips (body weight): 15,15,15,15,12
EZ Curls: ~60 lbs - 20,20,10
Last time I benched 122.5 I did x10 so I guess that’s an improvement. This looks more like my “real” bench vs before. Sleep shit as usual.
Going to keep curls at 60 for the rest of this cycle and just add reps.
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One thing I noticed is that my 25 lbs plates are a bit off. They weigh in at around 23.6 lbs. WTF…the other places like 10s, 35, etc. are a lot more accurate. I always felt like it was a bit lighter when I used those 25s, so I’ve trying to avoid them now. Kind of frustrating, but I guess that’s what you get with cheap plates. I assume a more high end brand like Rogue would be very accurate.
That’s such a small thing that you shouldn’t even concern yourself with it man. Forget you even weighed them. If you were aspiring to be a professional powerlifter then maybe it would matter. But in your circumstances (and 95% of the world’s circumstances) it doesn’t matter.
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Deadlifts
65% 152.5 1 5
75% 177.5 1 5
85% 200 1 5+ (20 reps)
65% 152.5 5 5
Press
65% 77.5 1 5
75% 87.5 1 5
85% 100 1 5+ (11 reps)
65% 77.5 5 5
Assistance
Incline BB bench: 82.5 lbs - 5x10 (90 sec rest)
Chin-ups: 5x11
I’m on pace to have gained about two pounds this week (weigh in tomorrow). Maybe I bumped up my calories too soon? Went from ~2500 to ~2800 calories.
Just stay at 2800 for awhile and see what happens. At your weight, you can afford to gain a little faster from time to time. Just work hard enough to justify it, especially on your 1+ sets.
Also, you can take progress pictures and get opinions from people that are more physique-oriented on here. Not my area of expertise, but there’s some really good people here that can give you advice on if/how to adjust food and why.
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My physique hasn’t changed much yet. I’m wondering how long it’ll take before I see some notable difference. I feel like it’d take over a year or more before it even looks like I maybe lift. So at this point I don’t think I have much to show in terms of physique.
Thats why progress pictures will help. This change is not instantaneous. IT will happen over time. You might not get to “the look” for a year. But you will be making improvements in that time. Take photos and record for monitoring and encouragement.
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Its important to note that the change is also gradual and if your only frame of reference is yesterday, you’ll never “see” the progress. It only becomes obvious when you look back a month, two months, however long. Especially if you can take the pictures in a very similar surroundings everytime. I used to have a mark on the floor at my gym I used so I was in exactly the same spot, with the same lighting everytime.
I have taken some photos, but not on a scheduled basis. I sort of stopped too, because even over a few photos I did see some changes, but nothing to get too excited about. My focus has been more on the numbers really (weight/strength).
Does it make sense to take progress photos once a month? Should it be on a day where you haven’t worked out so there’s no pump? Or after a workout when you have a full pump? I could start doing that and like I said, I have some older ones too. I took them all in the same spot too.