Sorry to tag you again @T3hPwnisher - but after someone on here tipped me off about your website I had a read and I was blown away.
I want to ask you about your diet plan. It appears to be as simple as:
Get a protein source - and a big one.
Get some veg (dark veg like spinach, or broccoli)
Make is palatable with a sauce or something.
Eat as much as you like.
Add carbs if around training - which I’m assuming is 1-2h and carbs are potatoes / rice based.
Glad you appreciate it dude.
You have it right as far as weight gain goes in terms of portion sizes. My mind’s eye has it’s own idea about what a “serving” of meat is, and when gaining I go have more of that and when losing I’ll have less of that, or I’ll just have more of fewer meals. I pretty much never eat “as much as I’d like”, because if I did I’d be VERY fat. I have a voracious appetite and have only been full 3 times in my life. But I eat large amounts when gaining and small amounts when losing.
The carbs are rarely rice or potato based. About the only time I ever have rice or potatoes is fried rice or french fries as part of a cheat meal. These days, I’ve cut out a bit of junk, but when I was gaining I was eating 2 pop-tarts before training and my post training meal was 1 cup of breakfast cereal, 1 cup of fairlife skim milk, 1 serving of oatmeal, 2 scoops of whey, 1 scoop of PB fit, some whipped cream and honey. Now, pre-training I’m having a cup of breakfast cereal and post training is 2 scoops of when with 1 cup-ish of skim milk and a scoop of PB fit.
By pre-training, I mean like 5-10 minutes before training. Stems from when I used to trian first thing in the morning.
Its great.
As you can guess I’m not great with food. I tend to eat and eat and eat. I need “simple” rules. I looked at the Deepwater diet and and I think something very simple like 10 eggs, 500g of dark chicken meat (I find this easier to eat than breast) and 100g of nuts. This is 2300 cals and 225g of protein. If I eat this every day during deep water I’d hope to keep up with the training and lose the gut!
Make sure to get in the veggies too.
I am definitely inclined to overeating. I actually use that inclination to figure out portion sizes. When I want to lose fat, I consider what would be a satisfying amount of food and then take less than that. When I want to gain, I eat the amount I would want to eat.
After a bit of soul searching I’m going to hold off on DeepWater for a while. I’ve starting my new diet and I’m starting my new job is a few weeks. And after not getting 20 reps squats quite right I want to get this spot on. I can fall back on 531 I know how to run it and I know I can preform well on it. DeepWater is a bit of unknown. I would take it on when I’m sure I can get it right.
So I’m going to do these 2 work outs:
Lower body:
Front squat - 531
Back squat -20 reps with the same weight
Lunges - 2/3/4 sets 12 reps.
Upper body:
531 press
3 sets AMRAP pull up
Incline bench - 2 sets of 10
One Arm Rows
2 sets of 10
Lat rises and Curls
FS - 5+ (10) @ 114. Happy I mean 10 days ago I struggled to 8 with 118. So 10 with 114 seems like an increase.
Back squat with 114. 20 reps. Happy enough. Nothing special. But I must remember - just because its not your max does not mean its not helping.
Lunge - 2x10 on each leg with 30kg. Very hard.
531 press 68kg 8 reps. Confident this will go north. I just need to get back into the swing of things after a month off over head press.
Incline bench 80x 10
Pull ups 3 x 2 sets of 2. IE do 2, then rest 20 seconds and do 2. Then leave it for a while and repeat.
One Arm Row
40kgx20
Press up 25, Curl (25kg) 12, Press ups 12, Curl (25kg) 12.
Front Squat - 120 x 8
Back Squat - 120 x 20
Lunge - 30kg x 10 / 3 sets.
This is a kick ass work out. Nothing left in the tank afterwards. It also ramps up /moderates my volume with the 5/3/1 weights.
Ohp 70 x 9. Knew it was just a matter of time (1week) until my new pressing strength arrived. CT says it - when you build new muscles with a new exercise it can take a while to learn how to use them. My new incline bench and behind the neck press will take a while to translate. I’m sure there is more coming.
Pull ups 3 sets of 3 singles. But less than 1 second between each single.
Ie
Pullup (1 second) pullup, (1 second) pullup.
Rest
Incline bench
80 x 12
70 x 5
60 x 6
50 x 7
I love this drop set. I feel the muscle so much. The stretch is unreal.
OAR
50 x 15
Curls 20kg plate to failure.
Lat rises 4kg to failure.
I just recently found this out. I dropped deadlifts and just zercher squatted for a couple of months and coming back to DL now. I can feel my lats and upper back so much better. I can tell when I “lock in”.
Not sure if it’s MMC in my case or what but I’m into it.
What is OAR?
One arm row.
Yeah, when you get a good carry over exercise it’s good. But it can take a while for you to translate that over. Zercher movement are killer. But really effective.
I love zercher squatting. I’m definitely going back to them after my 531 run I’m on now.
I’m hoping to do the same with skullcrushers now. My bench and press has been stuck for a long time and triceps are definitely a weak point for me. Do you find BTN press translates well to bench as well as OHP?
Dude sorry for the delay. Totally kissed your post some how.
I gave the press at 5 week rest. And made massive gains in the behind the neck press and incline bench. Its paid off. Normally it takes 3-4 sessions to get your body used to it’s new muscle and strength. After 2 weeks of coming back to pressing I equalled my best ever press for reps. I’m confident I’ll be smashing it in the next 2 months as I become familiar with the lift again and get accustomed to my new delts.
If you triceps are the weak link add in more pressing. I genuinely do 0 trice p work. I have done but it was all a bit last minute stuff. But I guess over the years its added up. I do mainly push downs with FULL range of motion. As in at the bottom I’m straining for every inch so hard I’m about to pass solids.
Leg work out - 126kg for 6 reps. Might have had a 7th but I froze thinking about it and the strength went. The down side to having no safety bars. I have to be VERY careful with missing a rep.
Drop set - 20 reps. Fairly hard but not overly. I go to 8-10 quickly and then was doing them in 2/3s to the end. Was not doing them in 1/2s.
Lunge 3x10 with 30kg. Will go up a weight now. These are very burny. But this is good. After this work out I dare say this is expected. Up this to 34kg next week.
Is it correct that you work out in your home and not in a place that’s amenable to dropping a heavy barbell on the floor?
That’s it man. I work out in the spare room. If I drop the weight I might end up damaging the ceiling in the kitchen.
No problem at all man. That’s interesting. I’ll give the 531 program I’m running now a fair shot before I make any adjustments, but that’d be something I’d be willing to try.
I’m not sure if strength is the issue or I just can’t feel them doing work during pressing movements. MMC or form issues I guess?
I have the same thing with the back. It took so major changes. Put simply I had to add in new exercises AND up volume.
But since o done this 5 months ago my rows was 12 reps with 40kg. Its 62kgx7 of 60kgx10. That’s near enough a 20kg gain(each arm). I’m happy enough with that.
What pressing do you do already? What does your work out look like?
I’ve been doing 4day a week 531 Leviathan. Work up to 85% max for 1, then ohp I do 10x5 @ ~%60 max, bench is 5x10 @ ~50%max.
Just doing curls, pullups, dips etc for assistance.
Edit: just to add, I’ve been more or less the same bodyweight for a long time which also may be a apart of the issue
If you are following a 531 work out to the letter then it’s most likely a diet issue. Especially if you’re not gaining weight. Unless you’re body composition is changing dramatically.
Saying that:
I’m not familiar with many 531 programmes (I know the bones of it and fill in the blanks myself). But it looks like Leviathan has you working upto singles of your TM. I loose strength like this. I dropped quite a bit of strength when I done BBB. I need a balls to the wall set to even retain strength.
Give this current training cycle a fair go. Never stop a training block with out very good reason. But if you loose strengthen fail to gain any, make note. Some people respond differently to high volume/ low intensity.