I legitimately thought you were fikowski for a few seconds. You look big and lean dude! Keep whatever you’re doing up!!!
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That was some good looking cleans and yeah you look damn big and lean.
I like the swole patrol, than get that teenager you busted the other day to wash and wax if the superbabes is a no go.
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Would you believe I’m almost three inches taller than him? I like that guy and follow his training a bit. He looks like a giant and he’s only 6’ 2". That just shows you how short most of those guys are.
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Nice.
Whoops. Added 9 pounds to each arm.
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Thing is, I actually said “nice” out loud because I’m as mature as any other 14 year old.
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Yeah you were!
All this has me thinking about doing home gym equipment again. I literally sold my stuff off 6 weeks ago. Sigh.
Oooooh, rough timing.
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4.2.20 Rest Day
I managed to fast until about 6:20pm today. I planned to get lunch from the Chick-fil-A drive thru for the first time since the panic set in, but it didn’t work out.
I’m way under my calories, way under my protein, and I’m about to go drink a Stone F.M.L IPA that’s about 8% alcohol.
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That should be a good healthy dinner, 3 of those and you’re done.
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4.3.20 SGSS W6 D3 - Pull
PULL UPS
10, 10, 6+3+2+1
It turns out that I don’t suck at these as bad as I thought. I’ve just been doing them in the middle of the workout and comparing it to my old performance which was first thing in the session.
DEADLIFT
185 x 5
235 x 5
275 x 3
355 x 5 x 5
I think I rushed the warm up. Sets 4 and 5 felt the best.
HANG POWER CLEAN
135 x 5
155 x 3
175 x 5 x 3 sets
HANG CLEAN PULL
255 x 5
255 x 5 clean pull from floor
255 x 5
36 minutes to this point and running out of steam.
DB REAR DELT FLY
45 x 15, 12
45 x 10+6 + 25 x 15
SA DB ROW
105 x 15+5+4
INCLINE DB CURL
30 x 12, 9, 8+2+2
Total time: 62 minutes
Here’s a bit of CT’s SGSS article…oops.
QUESTIONS
Can I use this program when “cutting”?
NO ! While I’m all for trying to continue lifting heavy to force the body to maintain muscle mass, this program is not simply based on heavy lifting. It’s based on progressive overload. On a caloric deficit, you simply will not have the nutritional support to recover and adapt to the point where you can increase strength weekly, respecting the progressive overload principle. You might have some workouts where your performance goes up, some where it stagnates and some others where it drops, and this is not what we are looking for with this plan.
Can I use different exercises on the two upper (or lower) body sessions in a week?
NO! The goal is once again progressive overload. We want to make things simple so it’s easy to respect this principle. Furthermore, by doing the same big lifts over and over you will improve neural efficiency which will make it easier to lift more weights on those big lifts.
Can I add some extra hypertrophy work?
NO! This is not a program for stimulus addicts and pump chasers. While you will feel hard and solid during the workouts, you will not feel swelled up and pumped up. If that is your main motivation for training, if that is what you enjoy, this program is not for you. If you add hypertrophy work you will further deplete energy and make the recovery process longer which could very well interfere with your capacity to use more weight every week. To be honest, some people probably have the recovery capacity to handle some extra hypertrophy work. But never assume that you are among the exceptions unless you have “proof”. Even if you have the capacity to sustain more work, you will still progress fast from doing the program as is written. But if you do not have the recovery capacity you believe that you have, then you won’t be able to sustain the required rate of progression. The only extra work I’m comfortable with is abdominal work.
Can I add conditioning work?
NO! Conditioning work is likely the worst thing to add to this program. Nothing will interfere with the required rate of recovery like conditioning work. I’m not against GPP, quite the contrary. But there is a time and place for it, and this program ain’t it.
What can I do on the off days?
Some people (me included) can’t stand not going to the gym one day. For these people, not training might actually cause more mental stress than a session, which will delay recovery in another way. So what can be done? Ideally nothing. The best option is to do the program as is. You could even add recovery work like massage, contrast baths and soft tissue work on the off days. But if you absolutely need to be in the gym there are only three things you can do: neural charge sessions (The Vital Whole Human - T NATION), mobility work , or abdominal training . Anything else might interfere with the program.
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You are a bit off CT’s ideal path.
But then again CT don’t know your snowflake body
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I think I know why I’m having an up and down time with this creation. I should probably come up with another name for it.
I ran this as written twice and wasn’t happy with my physique. Most of the growth was in my lower half and my upper body looked fluffy. I felt like I needed more upper body work so I changed some things. I’m hanging in there but looking at the Q&A section explained why it felt so good to do nothing yesterday.
4.4.20
I really need to get on the elliptical but I also want to do nothing.
This morning I looked at Built For Battle again. I’m drawn to the idea of heavy circuits. The trick is setting it up in a way that I can do it at home. There’s no chance I can do all five exercises so I’ll have to settle for three and two. I think I could do squat, DB OHP, and bent over row for the group of three and finish with deadlift and incline. I don’t think there’s room to add cleans but I could always swap deadlifts for heavy clean pulls.
I didn’t get on the elliptical today. I failed.
But I did manage to cook my meat for the next few days.
Pork chops are in the bowl. I decided to cut them up while I cooked everything else. There’s nothing better than a bowl of cubed meat!
The plate and pyrex dish have minute/cube steaks. And the Fred Flintstone chunk is a sirloin steak. All of this has been swimming in a cheap teriyaki marinade for about 28 hours.
I finally found a way to cook pork chops without ruining them. Preheat the oven to 400 and put the skillet inside if you can. I also turn on the burner on my stove to get it ready. Once the oven is ready, move skillet to stove (with pot holder - that part is important), put pork chops in skillet and sear for about three minutes. After three minutes, flip them over and put the skillet back in the oven for 7-9 minutes. I cook them til the internal temp is 140ish.
I did the same thing with the sirloin because I was lazy. I haven’t sampled it yet. I cooked the minute steaks on the stove but the teriyaki sauce made it cook like a simmer instead of frying it. That was fine with me; they’re tasty.
I need to order another 40 lbs of chicken. Hopefully they still have some. I’m going to be upset if they’re backed up due to panic buying. I also need to go raid my parents’ freezer. The above meat is the last of my stash. I usually get my third of a cow in April but I haven’t heard anything yet.
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I’ve never bought a cow (or part) but I’ve been thinking about it for two years. I live in Ohio, so it’s available. Do the cuts come out the way you’d want (without a bunch of crap you’d never eat)?
I’ve done it with a pig before; got 1/3 of a pig, but the farm we got it from just gave us a variety of cuts. Ground, chops, bacon, hams, hocks, etc. The up front cost is steeeeeep, but it’s well worth it down the line.
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The company that does the processing asks how you want it. I think I get a pretty standard spread - ribeyes, sirloin, and t-bone steaks, several different roasts, cube steak, and ground beef. I used to get Swiss steak but I have them turn that into ground beef now. I could do the same with the cube steak but I kind of like those little things.
I would guess my ground beef is around 85% lean, maybe even a bit more.
After I pay the farmer and processing, it ends up being about $3.40ish per pound most years. I can’t remember if that’s hanging weight or processed weight. I’ll have to check on that this year.
Either way, it’s worth it to us. I spend about $600 a year and it lasts the entire year. I know where and how it’s raised which is huge for us. I don’t want to contribute to the mass production of tortured and neglected animals. It also supports a local farmer.
I can get the same deal with hogs. And now that I can cook a pork chop, I might look into that again. I split one with my brother a few years ago and it was phenomenal. I had parts of it smoked and cured. Thick cut bacon, anyone?
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This. The bacon I got from my pig was the best I’ve ever had.
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That’s super helpful, thank you.
I need to just contact someone and do it. I think I may have to get on a list anyway. I definitely want to support local and humane treatment, so there’s no excuse for me not doing this
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