I always liked Jim Wendler’s quote of “I want traps so big they’re illegal.” Someone asked “What does that mean?” and he said "I’d be in a jail cell somewhere, I’d ask my cellmate why he’s there and he goes “arson, how about you?” and all I say is “traps”
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Hahaha. This kind of describes where I want to be eventually. Literally so lean and big that people claim steroids or genetics.
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16 August 2021
squats 245 x 5 sets of 5, 6
push press work up to 170 x 2 (PR)
then 155 x 2 with slow negatives
then 155 x 1 slow negative
romanian deadlift 185 x 10,10,5
Today was a disaster. Fatigue was real, especially lower back. Might have started off with too much volume last week. Hopefully can bump it up just a bit next week then will take the fourth week to deload. Squats and romanain deadlifts felt super heavy. Also realized what I have been calling a stiff leg deadlift is probably more of a romanian deadlift. Go figure. Whatever it is I do it. Lastly, I woke up late at 5:30 today so I didn’t get my assistance in. Will try to later but most likely will not since this week is going to be terribly busy.
Edit:
later…
chinups x 5,5,5,5,7
superset
curls 65 lb x 12,8,8,12
OH tricep extentions 65lb x 12,10,12,13
muscle snatch 45 lb x 8,6,6,6
just need to get in grip work and shoulder work
got it in
shoulder circuit 15 lb x 20,20,20,16
fat bar holds 135 lb x 4 sets (25 seconds top set about)
snatch grip hold 135 lb 1 set
continental clean and push press 155 lb
still learning the movement here and this was with a regular bar since I am waiting to buy an axle bar for after I move but still pretty excited since I suck at this movement. It wasn’t the prettiest and I need to learn to balance better. I am hoping by the time the competition comes I can do body weight (hopefully 210 or so around competition time).
then 165 lb cont. clean and push press. HUGE PR
then power clean and push press away 165 x 3 Big power clean PR and a 165 press pr by 1 rep. still counts yo
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Coming to a very unfortunate fork in the road. I have been eating around 2700 calories a day for about 2 weeks to lessen how quickly I am cutting and my waist is going down still around a half an inch a week. The problem is though my weight has gone up from 215 to about 219 now. I thought at first this was water weight from increased carb intake (maybe it is) but it seems to be steadily going up even though my waist is going down and the problem is I signed up for my comp at under 220 class. So I am going to have to cut my calories down lower I guess, maybe starting at 2200. The thing that sucks about this is a) it seems like I am getting bigger (i.e. clothes fitting tighter in chest and arms and my wife is commenting on how huge I look) and I would like that to continue b) damn it is going to be harder to continue pushing up the volume and weights dropping my calories back again. It is not as drastic as when I first started but I was feeling super fatigued and had no energy whatsoever. Everything was a grind. One reason this could be though is I dropped conditioning for a couple of weeks because of my foot and time constraints so I might just start hitting that again now that my foot feels better.
Bro. Weight going up and waste going down is a wet dream for a meathead 
. When is the comp? How is the weigh ins done? Could you keep going and then do a water cut or something?
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I know that is why I said it sucks! Like damn I am in gains city right now it feels like and I don’t want to stop yo. I have never done a water cut and won’t unless I am competitive enough to win and for sure I am not. Either way it is novice division so it isn’t like it matters anyways. I think I could find the calories that keeps me right at 220 and then drop a couple pounds a few weeks out (Jan 15th is the comp.). I just don’t know like when shit is working you kinda don’t wanna mess with it you know?
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I’d definitely be hesitant to mess with anything if your system is working for you right now. Also, with your eating more, there is a definite chance that you are just carrying a bit more water weight from higher sodium, I notice 3-4 lb increases over night after eating a super high sodium dinner (Aka stuff myself with Chinese takeout), but it goes away in a day or two.
FWIW, I wrestled 182 class in high school, and I never walked around at a weight under 190, often 195. Water cuts definitely take some planning, and really aren’t worth it unless you are planning to be competitive. But it IS an option that could easily get you into the 220 class even weighing in at low 230s.
(BTW, some guys go bigger on water cuts. I did once, coach wanted me at 170 so I cut from 194 to 169.8 in 6 days. Ended up passing out during warmups and was hooked up to an IV before the tournament even started. 10lbs or so is doable, but I would be very, very hesitant to do any higher, especially without medical supervision, for what is really just a hobby. My two cents anyway)
Edit: forgot to mention, nice work on the PRs. Overhead strength is looking good
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Thanks. Yeah I kind of went for the 220- class to prevent from going over that weight since fat loss was a goal and I figured it would keep me from being like screw it let’s get sloppy but I really am not sure here. I guess since I have around 22 weeks another option is to let myself slowly go up to no more than 230 and then drop some more fat at the last 10 to 12 weeks but I really don’t want to do a water cut since I am not going for a win just for the experience and to set some PRs.
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17 August 2021
Woke up late at 5:30 again so had to cut it short.
31 min weighted vest walking.
A good start though. Foot felt fine.
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175 lb power clean 1rep PR. Still working on letting it fall to my delts, dipping, and not holding onto the bar.
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Just for notes I have been eating kind of off course lately at around 2650 cal so to address the weight gain thing the hope is that I can add back in Conditioning and cut back to exactly 2400 per the original plan and that will be enough for me to outpace the weight gain. If I hit 220, I will lower by 200 cal till I settle at less than 220. This is all with the assumption that I am still losing inches on my waist at about 1 inch every month. If that isn’t occurring then it will be kind of the same game plan disregarding weight.
In addition I have been hitting my fiber and keeping saturated fats low but need to watch cholesterol and also get back to getting veggie intake back up as it has slipped again.
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Congrats on the PR
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Have not worked out today yet but slipped away to hit a 175 continental clean and press pr. on oly bar. Body weight here I come!
I really was dreading this movement in the beginning not being able to even do 135 but it is quickly becoming one of my favorites right now.
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Clean and push press away 175 x 3. I just keep having more in me.
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18 August 2021
aside from the previous continental clean and press pr and clean and press pr, I did another clean and push press away at 175 for 3.
then
bench 185 for 5x5 then 10 reps
rows 185 x 4 sets of 8
slow shrugs 155 x 4 sets of 10
superset
curls 65 lb x 12,8,5,5
oh tricep ext 65 x 12,10,8,8
shoulder circuit 15 lb x 4 sets of 10
grip with 45 lb bumper plate 4 sets for time with both hands holding one
Notes:
- this whole day was as spot on as it can be. I need more technique work with cleans, continental cleans, and push presses but the fact that I can brute force it at 175 is awesome to me and it seems to be improving quickly.
- I was expecting bench to be awful since my shoulders were smoked from the push presses as I usually fight the weight on the way down pretty hard from nervousness of losing it. Not the case however. I ended up adding a set and adding 2 reps to my set to failure from last week.
- workouts were getting long so I am cutting up lower and upper body. Lower body will be tomorrow. It will be 2 days a week with increased volume during the session. So I am thinking: upper body M,W,F,Sat and lower body Tues, Thurs. I know the two upper body days back to back seem stupid but I feel my arms, shoulders, and back need an extra day of work to get in more volume and I feel it has been helping so I am keeping it till it backfires.
- gripping a 45 lb bumper was way harder than expected. Much lighter than 135 but the extra width was making all the difference. Need so much work here.
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Forgot to note. After thinking about it and also after conversations on @wanna_be log I have decided I am not happy with how fast I am losing weight and I always get to this point where I get more worried about making strength and size gains than leaning out. I haven’t been truly lean since the army and I have to get it out of my head that I will be the same skinny 165 lb guy I was then. I am much bigger now and my original goal was to get lean , fit, and healthy first and see what strength came along with that. I need to keep it a priority for a little longer to reach my goals. Hopefully I just have about 20 lb to lose and I’ll be there and if I play my cards right that might only take me 12 weeks or so then I can focus on mass gain. So at least for the sake of being patient and consistent with my goals I am going to join wanna be in the weight loss club and lean out then hit mass gain hard.
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I see you have also purchased a ticket to the promise land. Let’s hope we make it I’ve probably got 20-30 lbs to lose as well. Sitting at 215 and ~15%bf currently
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Haha then maybe my numbers are off . I am around 215 at 21% so I guess that would be more like 27 lb for me. Who knows I am just going till I look lean based off of what I think and others tell me. I’ll probably post some update pics every month to keep accountable.
Well don’t forget, even in a perfect world you’re gonna lose some muscle plus some of that goey stuff that makes them full, but lots of fat. Unfortunately it’s never just fat. But everybody I’ve seen who got really lean then started back gaining said it was amazing. So I’m just gonna keep telling myself that
My plan as well. Only using scale to track progress. If I’m lean at 190 or lean at 175 idc
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