I appreciate you Tim! Thanks for following along on my journey! I really enjoyed you sharing info from the Bill Pearl book in your log! Those workouts looked crazy!
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So began the cut…several days ago lol. I’ve just been bad about logging again. I finished off Building the Monolith last week, where I had began to taper off my calories. A big milestone hit last Monday, I squatted 315 for a very easy 5x5. Significant because when I finished BtM last August I failed several times and basically had to Malcolm X my way to 25 reps. I’m so much more confident and strong a squatter now. The weight moved up and down with no issues Each rep. It was a good measuring stick for progress.
Creeping Death II by John Meadows commenced last night. This is my first time running PPL Split since 2017. I really had a great workout and it was a bit faster than my usual 5/3/1 session lately. This definitely felt much lower fatigue, which is good considering I’m running on less food. I have a crazy amount of soreness in my mid back muscles today. Not sure what did it, but I’m loving it. This seems like it’ll be a super fun routine and I’m loving it thus far! Long live the Mountain Dog!
Creeping Death II Day 1
Meadows Row 115 4x8
Weighted Chins 25 3x8
Banded Db Pullovers 50+Orange EFS band 3x10
Db Shrugs 100 3x12
Hypers x30
Dead Hang 25lbx1 min
Decline Leg Raises 4xFailure
Db Preacher Curl 45x10,10,8,7
Db Hammer Curl 45 4x8+5 partials
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Well I really got a significant pump and really pushed myself hard in last nights session. My chest, triceps and shoulders were absolutely eviscerated by the end of this workout. It really felt like I molotov cocktailed all of my push muscles with extreme ferocity, there was just nothing left for them by the end. I had to sub out Machine Press with flat Barbell Bench, as my gym does not have any sort of chest Press Machine. I really feel like I’ve pretty much returned to Fortitude Training, the sessions have been very comparable so far.
Creeping Death II Day 2
Slight Incline Dumbbell Press 100 4x8
Incline Bench 225x6,245x6,255x6
Bench Cluster Set 245x8,4,2,2
Cable Flye “12”(Cybex Cable Arm Machine) 3x8 w/ 10 second hold in Stretch on final rep
Reverse Cable Flye “6” 4x15
Cage Press 135x6,6,5,4
Dips 4x10
Skull Crushers 125 4x12
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Love the description of the sheer brutality of this workout. Nice one
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Thanks Simo! These sessions have been so intense, it’s really been fun mixing up my training so much. It feels like I’m making gains, even in a deficit. This might not be true, but it feels that way and it keeps pushing me forward!
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I haven’t updated in a while so I’m just going to upload a picture of my workout journal from April 19-22nd. I think this how I will do the updates for a while going forward. Typing the workout out every day is very tedious.
The biggest takeaway as I enter week 3 of CREEPING DEATH II is that I absolutely love it! Oh my goodness this is such a freaking fun way to train. I love the intensity, I love the volume, I love the pumps! I like the blend of strength and pump work. I also NEVER feel absolutely killed after any of these sessions. Very good stimulus to fatigue ratio! 5/3/1 was very easy for me to build up massive amounts of fatigue from the high weights all the time. This is the kind of reset my body needs.
My weight is down to 222 so I’ve lost 10 pounds in the 2 full weeks I’ve now been cutting. I likely haven’t gained any new muscle tissue, but I kind of feel like I have. Could just be an optical illusion from having more definition. Still far from my goal, but I hope to be pretty shredded by the time I’ve finished running Creeping Death II. I’ll update with April 23-26th after I get that workout completed on the 26th.
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I’ll be honest and say I didn’t bother reading what was in that log picture, but it did remind of a day when things were simpler and all I too to the gym was my little A5 pad and a pen. Keep smashing it mate.
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I love the old school simplicity of tracking everything in a notebook! If this is not very readable or doesn’t look very good, I can go back to typing everything out daily. Just let me know guys if this format is just too much to look at at once!
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I think you’ve earned the right to log how ever the heck you want, man.
Are the tally marks for each set you complete? If so, I do the same thing. I get winded, my brain stops working, and I worry I’ll lose count. And I have. Many, many times.
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Haha yes that’s exactly what I’m doing. When I’m tired, I can’t rely on my brain to remember which set I’m on, so I tally as I go haha.
Well as promised, here’s the last 4 days (including today) of hard lifting. I will likely take the next two days off since my wife is off work and I’ve lifted 8 days straight. But honestly, I feel good! If I have any free time the next two days I may actually get back to it. I seem to be recovering super well. Only bad news is that I have an ingrown hair on my shin that has gotten infected, is fairly swollen and hurts pretty darn bad. Other than that, life has really been great lately!
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Update from the last two days. A couple of Upper Body Pump days. These sessions were absolutely spectacular. Pump was mind blowing, just filled the muscles with so much blood. Also got to incorporate some new exercises which is always fun. This really feels like training that was made for me. Just like Fortitude Training. I see why this is the preferred way of training for @TrainForPain I’m getting so much out of it. And the increased frequency has actually been amazing. I’ve been feeling so good and never run down or overtrained.
Only bad news is that the infection in my leg is very painful and has made me forgo high intensity cardio for the time being. I’ve just cut back my calories a little more. Upside being that I’ve had a ton of energy to put towards my gym sessions. I will always pave a way!
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That’s awesome man! Glad to see it’s going well. You’re a jacked dude already, so I’m excited to see where you take this!
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Thanks man! This is really what I needed to keep my head in the game during my cut and really feel like a jacked ‘n stacked bodybuilder!
A couple of notes: I realized I should’ve been doing one armed barbell rows, not Meadows Rows as those are coming next. Oh well. I’ve been progressing on them. When it comes time for the switch I’ll just do the one armed barbell rows, which I should’ve started the training cycle with. Oh well, shouldn’t be a huge deal.
Also that infected ingrown hair turned out to be a full blown staph infection and left a hole in my shin. I’ve been on an antibiotic since Sunday and am feeling basically pain free and the wound is looking better. Just one of the potential dangers of Grappling. Oh well. Hopefully I can get back on the mats in the next week or two. Not going to rush it though. Want to be 100% healed up.
Back and biceps were absolutely pumped beyond belief after this session. Bicep is cramping when I try to flex it haha! I think the cut is actually making me look larger so far, especially with the enhanced definition of my chest and abs, it’s really doing a good job of making it look like I’ve gained mass haha, awesome for the ego during a cut.
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Your weights are absolutely putting me to shame man. I don’t think I’ve ever even considered an 80 for pullovers. That’s nuts
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Thanks man! I’m trying to keep the weights up and push my limits. I want to lose as close to 0 strength and muscle as possible on this cut, and even gain some if humanly possible haha!
I miscalculated my weight on Hex Press so it took me what felt like a million reps to reach failure. I was also a little overly aggressive in adding weight on incline. If I had a spotter, I would’ve gone for those last two reps, but they would’ve been a serious grind I didn’t feel comfortable trying on my own. Also getting those Banded Overhead Presses into position is a major challenge that I think will take some practice. Last set I did with no bands for that reason.
Ready for leg day tomorrow!
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You’re crushing it. 275 for reps on incline is impressive.
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Thanks man! Determined to get the full 6 within a few weeks!
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This was one of the most hellacious Leg Days I’ve ever experienced. I really went to absolute hell, shook hands with Hades, and came back to our earthly realm. The leg curl sets felt really hard. Worked like hell to get all those reps. Squats pushed me hard. I haven’t squatted very heavy since I began my cut and returning to 3 wheels today was a challenge and getting the full 8 reps just wasn’t in the cards. I failed attempting rep 7. Maybe it was all in my head, but rep 6 felt like it took every ounce of my being to complete. My confidence just wasn’t quite there on those today.
Hack Squat Drop Set of Death was on the agenda for today. I have no access to a hack squat in my brother-in-law’s garage gym, so I decided to do Barbell Hack Squats for the first time ever. Wasn’t too hard to figure out. Scraped my hamstrings a bit but after a couple sets of 5 with 135, I was off to the races. This ended up being one of the most grueling and miserable experiences of my life. 10 reps with 225 left my quads so sore and wobbly I had no clue how I would repeat that effort 2 more times and then complete the drop set. I had to summon every ounce of internal fortitude I had to tough through the extreme pain in my quads and the fact that I was breathing like a dog in heat. Following that up with a stretch and then leg extension drop set was diabolical, but did not deliver the same level of pain as the hack squat so I gutted it out. The 3 plates on stiff legged deadlift felt like an easy break. That’s the kind of day it was.
I look forward to being better prepared for this sort of intramuscular assault in the future.
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Tremendous work, my dude—just tremendous!
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Thanks man! I’m usually never lacking for motivation. I love this stuff! I just try to share that with everyone here
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