I haven’t been posting my diet the last few days because I’ve realized that its pointless unless I’m counting cals and grams of carbs, fat, and protein.
I’m trying to come up with a good way to chart this stuff. I’d like to do a food log website, but I am not near a computer all the time, so I think I’m just going to carry a pad around with my wallet and write down whatever I eat, then just summarize each day.
I’ve also decided to make a goal (3700 cals a day with 400 grams of protein) and work backward from there, planning when and how I’m going to consume that much food. I’ll need a ton of protein powder, precooked chicken breast, and cans of tuna. And olive oil. And fish oil. And water.
I feel great about the lifting but defeated when it comes to eating.
Lifting in the morning for a change. We’ll see if it makes any difference
Squats
155 x 5
165 x 5
175 x 5
185 x 5
195 x 5 x 3
These last sets were a mess, but I did them. I didn’t go all the way to the ground, and I had some GMs out of the hole. I think next workout, I’ll just stay at the same weight or drop it down a bit and regroup.
Bench
145 x 5
155 x 5
165 x 5
175 x 5 x 3
These went ok. Its kind of embarrassing to bench 20 lbs less than you squat, but whatever. I’m making progress, and that’s what matters at this point. I was fighting under the bar on the last rep, so I think the weight was perfect.
Romanian Deads
175 x 5
185 x 5
195 x 5
205 x 5 x 3
It felt good ripping off those deads at over 200 lbs. My form on the first two sets sucked, but I got it worked out and I could really feel the punishment my back, glutes, and hamstrings were taking. It was great.
My wife bought a scale. It said I weighed 195 so I smashed it. Not really, but I need to get the fucker calibrated. I hope I’m not under 200. . .
I trained yesterday morning, but I’m going to train again tonight because I won’t be able to tomorrow. I’m feeling a little sore, and I’m pushing the form envelope on squats (struggling and doing GMs), so I’m going to drop down to 175 instead of pushing up to 205. I’ll probably end up dropping a little on the presses too. . .
I’m still going to do powercleans tonight and probably find an alternative for the next workout.
Squat
155 x 5
165 x 5
175 x 5 x 3
That felt pretty good despite the soreness. Going ALL the way to the ground actually helped me not do a GM. I usually go down to about 12" or a little lower.
Press
65 x 5
75 x 5
85 x 5
95 x 5 x 3
These were OK. I think I can go to 105 next time.
Power Clean
115 x 5
125 x 5
135 x 5
145 x 5 x 3
This fried my grip. My form still sucks ass. I might switch to hang cleans until my upper body can catch up in strength to my lower body. . .
The warm-up sets for the squat don’t all have to be 5 sets. Try dropping the number of reps as you move through the warm up. This should leave you a lot of gas in the tank.
I usually do two sets of 5 with a very light weight (i.e., just the bar, to practice form). From there I add weight to the bar and do three to four sets. Something like:
Ax2x5
Bx1x5
Cx1x3
Dx1x2
Ex1x1
Worksets
This should leave you a lot of energy for the worksets. Just enought to get the blood pumping.
My diet up to this point has been pathetic. I think I’ve just been a pussy about what I’m eating. I need to man up and just eat every fucking thing in sight or I’ll never get enough calories to make any gains worth writing home about. This means I need to eat shit food. I hate shit food. I hate fried, greasy, pre-formed, fast food, but I don’t see how I’m going to get around it. I think I’m going to eat one crap meal a day and see if I can’t get over 4000 cals.
Food today:
Breakfast
Shake with olive oil; 450 cals, 52gs protein
12oz cottage cheese; 300 cals, 30gs protein
Plain Bagel; 160 cals
Fish Oil
Mid morning
4 tbls peanut butter; 380 cals, 8gs protein
Lunch
3 chicken egg rolls; 570 cals, 24gs protein
1860 calories by lunch. Not too bad, I guess. I fucking hate fried egg roles, but I’m going to eat them.
I think I found a pretty good deal in some sliced turkey breast. It has 400 cals and 64 gs of protein per pound. It’s $3 per pound too, which ain’t bad.
Dinner:
2 chicken breasts with bacon wrapped around them and some ham in the middle. I don’t know what you call it, and I’m guestimating it has 900 calories and 60 grams of protein.
Also had some asparagus. 60 calories.
That’s a total of 3350 so far today. In a half hour or so, I’m going to eat:
2 c. cottage cheese
Protein shake with 2 tbs olive oil
770 cals
100 grams protein
So, for today’s totals, I’m looking at:
4120 cals
332 grams of protein
Finally! Over 4000 cals. That was not that much fun. I lose pace on the eating later in the day. Tomorrow I’ll hit the turkey sandwiches pretty hard and often. Hopefully that will help.
One leftover chicken breast with bacon. I’m guessing 450 cals and 30 gs of protein.
More PB Sandwich; 4 tbls peanut butter, 4 slices wheat bread; 380 cals, 8gs protein
12 oz strawberry yogurt; 280 cals, 12 gs protein.
After this settles, I’ll have a turkey sandwich; 200 cals and 32 gs protein. With two slices bread.
That will be 2440 cals and 172 gs of protein so far.
I forgot to mention that I’m drinking a ton of water.
I’m a little sore today, which is strange. I wasn’t sore at all yesterday. . .
Squats
155 x 5
165 x 3
175 x 3
185 x 2
195 x 5 x 3
Press
75 x 5
85 x 3
95 x 3
105 x 5 x 3
I push pressed the last rep after failing to get it above my head.
Hang Clean
135 x 5
145 x 5 x 3
I switched to hang cleans because my power clean form is so fucked. I think once I get some legs underneath me, it will be more productive to do power cleans, but for now, I’m going to get better gains with the hang cleans. It was a good decision. I can feel the damage in my upper traps a lot more. I can get the explosiveness of the movement down better. It actually felt like I was doing some good work instead of trying to thread a needle with the movement. I still need to work on flexibility so I can get the catch down properly, and my grip is fried, but I think this was the smart choice.
I’m going to go eat some chicken and have a shake. I’ll post specifics tomorrow. . .
I didn’t work out last night, so I’m hitting this morning.
Squats
165 x 5
175 x 4
185 x 3
195 x 2
205 x 5 x 3
It feels good to be up over 200 with the reps, but I feel like I should drop down. My form was horrible. Not only was I off balance front to back, but I started relying on one leg over the other at the end. Obviously not great. I’ll probably stay at 205 next time and if it goes as bad, I’ll drop 20 and start again.
Bench
155 x 5
165 x 5
175 x 3
185 x 5
185 x 3
185 x 4
That was effed up. I tried to skip 175 as a workset, and I felt like I could do it, but I ended up missing the sets. I was more focused on the last set, which is why I was able to get it.
Romanian Deads
185 x 5
205 x 4
225 x 5 x 3
I’m being a bitch about deads. I haven’t even really tested myself yet. I just added 20 lbs to my previous reps and I don’t feel fatigued in my back at all. My HANDS are fried, but my posterior chain is looking for round two. I might invest in some straps and use them for sets two and three on the last set. I still need to strength work for my grip, but I don’t want to sacrifice progress on the deads for it. . .
Went to see Becca Swanson at Big Iron Gym. She made some small but very important changes to my form on squats, deads, and bench. I had two PRs today and feel like I actually know a little bit about what I’m doing now. More about that here:
Started off light at Becca’s suggestion. She read my log and thought I was progressing a little fast. She suggests I ALWAYS start with 135 and just make bigger and bigger jumps from there.
135 x 7
155 x 5
175 x 5
195 x 3
225 x 2
When I was done, I really felt the fatigue in my ass and my quads, where it is supposed to be.
Deads.
Started with 135 again. Got my form tweaked. Progressed super fast from there.
135 x 6
185 x 5
225 x 3
275 x 3
315 x 3
I couldn’t believe what a difference it made to have my form corrected. It was great. I felt my posterior chain fully activate.
Bench.
Becca made some big changes to my bench form. I planted my feel farther back towards the bar to increase my arch and my grip was changed quite a bit.
I now press the bar off the spot where my pecs meet my abs and it activated my chest way, way more than before. I’m using my chest more than my anterior delts now and I could really tell the difference.
135 x 8
155 x 7
175 x 5
185 x 2
I was pretty fried by this time. I can probably do more with the new form, but need to wait a little. I had just hit two PRs in squat and deads, so I have to wait a little to progress on the bench. Still felt a big difference though.
This workout took place last night before I had some people over to my house. I was running out of time, so I’m posting it today.
Squats
135 x 7
155 x 6
175 x 5
185 x 5 x 3
I started light, like Becca said and I’m glad I did. I could really tell the difference in stamina during the work sets. I’m pretty surprised at myself for hitting 185 x 5 x 3, but I was concentrating on my form and pushing through my heels. I guess the correct technique makes a big difference.
Bench
135 x 8
155 x 5
175 x 5 x 3
I needed a bit of time to get the form back. I forgot to lift the bar from my nipple line or lower, but once I got that straightened out, I was fine. I would have tried for 185 or 195 for the worksets, but I didn’t have a spotter.
Deads
135 x 8
185 x 6
235 x 5 x 3
I fricking love deadlifting. I hope to be repping over 300 sometime soon. I know that’s not a huge deal, but until a few weeks ago, I hadn’t moved 300+ lbs for I don’t know how long. The only problem is that I am going to run out of weights in my basement. Pretty sweet problem to have, I think.
I’ve stopped posting my diet. I am able to hit over 4000 cals a day now, and I’m doing basically the same thing every day - gainer shakes with chicken breast or tuna, cottage cheese, and bit of carbs. No need to post that over and over again. The gainer shakes are hard to get down, but I’m loving the 800+ cals in one shot.
My form wasn’t great last sessions, I figured I’d give it the same weight again. It was better. Still not perfect, so I might drop to 175 next time. We’ll see.
Bench
135 x 5
155 x 5
175 x 5
195 x 4
185 x 5 x 2
I overshot a bit. My form really slacked. I wasn’t set up right to get the bar low enough over my chest to actually use the proper muscles. Still, not bad for me.