Galgenstrick’s Training Log
I’m getting back into lifting after a year off and wanted to start logging my routine and goals here, specifically so I can get feedback from the experienced guys on the forum.
I’ll put my current stats right here so they are easy to reference.
Age: 33
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 200lbs
Body Fat: ~25% (over fat look)
—- History —-
Training:
I trained seriously for about 2 years straight, but fell off the wagon due to a complete inability to progress despite eating in a surplus and running proper programs.
The first 6 months I cut from 195 to 150lbs running strong lifts 5x5. I got to about 10% body fat and had no appreciable muscle. For the following year I ran Mike Matthew’s program: Bigger, Leaner, Stronger in a caloric surplus. I ran it for a full year, 5 days a week, and never missed a workout. During that time I made small strength gains, but was constantly plateauing. I gained all my weight back in that year, but only put on about 5-10lbs of muscle at most.
I got pretty frustrated with my gains, and decided to see if I could gain strength running a strength program. I ran Starting Strength for 6 months on a dirty bulk. My weight went up from 180 to 225 and my lifts barely budged. I was really discouraged and depressed so I took a year off and lost all of my strength and muscle mass I had gained.
I tried one more time after that and ran Johnny Candito’s beginner program for 6 months. I gained back the strength I had in 3 months but hit a brick wall on gains after that and was making no progress for the next 3 months. Whatever I tried I just couldn’t get stronger after a certain point even at a novice level on all my lifts. I pretty much gave up completely after that. Got depressed, drank a lot, and just decided fitness wasn’t for me. That lasted for a full year, until now.
Health:
I’ve been a low energy person my whole life. I was diagnosed with thyroid disease when I was a pre-teen and struggled with treating that for a long time. I settled at 125mcg/day levothyroxine. That fixed a lot of skin and hair issues I had, but not much help for energy.
I have a deformed hip socket on my right side that doesn’t allow me to deadlift or ass to grass squat. More info here:
About 2 years ago I was diagnosed with mild/moderate sleep apnea. I have a CPAP and so far it’s treating that well on paper. Still no improvements in energy.
Recently I was diagnosed with low testosterone and went on TRT. Current protocol is 200mg Cyp + 20mg Test-E per week split into EOD dosing. You can see TRT log here:
—— Current Training Protocol ——
After TRT I got the motivation to get out of my depression, clean up my diet and started to train again. I am 6 weeks into the following program at this point.
My Goals:
I’d like to drop 20lbs of fat and gain that back in muscle, then reevaluate. I decided on a recomp approach, and am following my own program in my garage gym.
I mostly have only 3 strength goals that I really want to meet this year. Bench 225x8, low bar squat 310x8, OHP 135x8 (might be a stretch).
Aesthetically I would love to get 16” arms this year. Currently 15” flexed in the morning on rest day. And would love to lean up enough to see defined arm and chest muscles. Or in other words. I would like to look like I lift by the end of the year.
My Program:
I train Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri evenings and have a moderately active job. I walk or hike a few miles on Sundays for active recovery.
Alternate between workout A and B.
Workout A
Squat: 3x8
Bench: 3x8
Incline DB Bench: 3x8
OHP: 3x8
Bent over Lateral raise: 4x10
Cable Tricep Extensions: 4x10
Workout B
Lunges: 3x8
Bend over DB Rows: 3x8
Pull Ups: 3x10
Inclined bicep curls: 3x10
Side Lying External Rotations: 3x10
Current lifts:
Squat: 150 3x8
Bench 162.5 3x8
Incline DB bench 55 each 3x8
OHP 85 3x8
Lateral raise 17.5x10
Cable tricep extensions: 32 4x10
DB Lunges 55 each 3x8
Bent over DB row 70 3x8
Pull up: assisted 3x10
Incline bicep curls 25 3x10
External rotations 11.25 3x10
My Diet:
I eat at maintenance calories ~3000-3500/day. I cleaned out my diet pretty good, and it’s what I’ve used in the past for training. I usually have a cheat meal on Sundays and a couple drinks.
Protein: approx. 200g/day
Fat: approx. 100g/day
Carbs: the rest in carbs
Here’s what I ate today. I pretty much follow the same meal plan but sub out meats green veggies and starchy carbs.
8:00am
4 hard boiled eggs minus 2 yolks.
10:00am
2 extra lean turkey burger patties, 1 can black beans, frozen spinach all cooked in about 2 tsp of avocado oil.
2:00pm
Chipote rice bowl with brown rice, black beans, chicken, salsa, sour cream, no cheese
6:00pm
Chicken breast, yams, spinach cooked in 2 tsp avocado oil, orange
9:00pm
Glass of 2% milk
—- Conclusion —-
That’s pretty much it. Of course any feedback would be awesome. The training program I picked was mostly from my own research and includes the exercises that don’t aggravate my hips and crunchy shoulders. But I’m open to changing it up if things don’t look adequate.
