The point of deloads is to let the body recover. How are you going to recover well in a deep calorie deficit? What about gradually decreasing calories until you start losing weight etc or carb cycling?
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I do like the strategy of dropping cals/carbs on your off days, but for the reasons Dukey mentioned, Iād be careful digging too deep into a deficit, especially since most of your goals are strength related.
I find that slow and steady calorie restriction still allows me to maintain strength in the gym and feel good throughout the day. It isnāt until the final few weeks where it seems to start affecting performance, but that doesnāt seem to come until I start hitting new lean territory form me (<12% ish).
With my current goal, Iām only aiming for approximately 0.75lbs per week. For me, this is plenty aggressive, but I know a lot of preps aim to lose ~1.5lbs per week so overall my plan should be more than manageable. It will be the damn cardio aspect that will make or break my progress. I really need to try and be consistent with some weighted vest walking.
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Youāre going to have to pick a priority, big dog. Itās tough to grow and shrink at the same time.
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Iām not sure yet. Still working through all this. I was actually thinking about it today as I was driving home from work. I think the approach Iām going to take to to keep protein high and load carbs 2hrs pre workout and carbs post workout.
Iāve not been getting good pumps so Iām experiencing some insulin resistance to some degree so carbing up is spinning my wheels currently. On days off Iāll cut back on carbs, cut milk out all together (
bye bye milk), and no carbs after 7pm.
I want to do a quick 7 week cut so it will be drastic, rip the band aid off kind of thing. So I can eat to gain while on the conjugate program.
Really just dial in the junk, and cutting milk may do the trick. I have pleanty of reserves to draw from. CT says you donāt have to worry about a calorie deficit until you are sub 15% body fat. Iāve got some wiggle room
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Iām also a fan of short burst, severe deficit cuts. Not a long term sustainable plan for someone looking to lose weight, but definitely effective for someone with a set timeline to cut then return to a surplus.
This makes sense to me. I never seemed to be bothered by being in a calorie deficit until I started getting quite leanā¦I mean I was bothered because being hungry sucks, but it didnāt seem to affect my gym performance significantly.
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Morning weigh in: 220.6lbs (-1.0)
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I really wish my body wasnāt broken. Iād like to try the Upper Body Bodybuilder/Lower Body Athlete template. I still havenāt made it to the Krypteia template.
Somedayā¦
I had kind of written off 5/3/1 but I see that the TMs have dropped and you get to test the TMs during the deload (which seems to prevent you from increasing the TM and then grinding on things like OHP). The 5s PRO with a lower TM and SSL is right in my wheelhouse of accumulating volume to develop strength.
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Yeah, thatās a huge bummer man. I hope you can eventually get it all sorted out.
Yeah the 7th week protocol (deload) keeps you honest with your TMs. We all know that not all the lifts will progress evenly or at the same time, so this kind of ensures you stay in the sweet spot for each lift.
I plan on flying through my bench workout tonight, but Iām already getting the jitters for deadlifts tomorrow!
Where is this upper body builder, lower athlete you speak of? That on CTs forum?
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Itās a template from Jimās 531 Forever book.
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Krypteia, W1D3
BENCH
45 x 10
135 x 5
185 x 5
225 x 5 ā oops, this was supposed to be 205
225 x 5
275 x 5 ā supposed to be 260 but was feeling good and I like loading the bar with 45s and 25s lol
225 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 5
FSL wasnt too bad considering I did it with 20lbs more than the program called for. I did SLDLs with a shrug with 50lb DBs and 80lb goblet squats between each set.
Finished with 100 band pullaparts.
36minute workout.
I was feeling like this was an easy one, because it was so quick. But now, a couple hours later, Iām feeling it. We are pretty busy tomorrow, so I might not get my workout in until Sunday. Iāll try to sneak it in tomorrow morning if I can.
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@kleinhound, I finally got to the Krypteia program and itās better than the Bodybuild the Upper/Athlete the Lower template.
I like the supersets in Krypteia. The main difference would be the sets on the main lift. The BB/Athlete program uses 5x10 FSL on bench and OHP, 10x 5 FSL on Deadlift and 3x5 FSL on squat compared to the regular 5x5 used across the board in Krypteia.
It uses 5s PRO + 4x8 FSL on bench and OHP during the anchor. Squat and deads use 5/3/1 PR sets with no supplemental work during the anchor.
Krypteia uses 5/3/1 PR sets + 5x5 FSL during part three which would be the anchor phase (I think).
Krypteia states very clearly to run as is but I really like the varying volumes of the BB/Athlete programā¦
@littlesleeper, youāre running Krypteia. What do you think? I think using the supersets on the BB/Athlete program would make it more difficult and improve conditioning more. I see it as a good thing.
Of course this is all irrelevant to me right now since Iām not doing much with a barbell. 
Lastly, Sleeper, I think Iād switch to Incline press when Krypteia drops OHP. Incline is the middle of the road for bench and OHP. I can tell Jim was a power lifter by dropping OHP after part one.
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He certainly was a powerlifter, but he loves the OHP.
I think itās because of recovery he dropped OHP. Keeping bench, well because itās bench, and itās were most people move the most weight.
Youāre doing 3 days of full body with dips and chins on the lower body days, I think that would take care of shoulders.
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My brain is stuck on upper pec and delt growth these days. Thereās nothing wrong with bench; it just hurts me too often lol!
I can do Incline pain free right now but as I was reading your response I remembered that one can choose to do DB Incline and Incline DB row instead of dips and chins. Thatās what Iād do.
I think you could probably get away with it if you prefer those %'s rather than what is prescribed. Just monitor your fatigue closely, these short, condensed workouts can really catch up to you!
Confession: I missed my deadlift workout this past week. No great excuse. Many minor excuses that pushed it to the next day, to the next day, to theā¦well here we are at 8:30pm and Iāve put my comfy pants on.
Iāll do my deadlift workout tomorrow, but Iām starting this week a day behind, so I"ll have some catching up to do.
Confession #2: I ate a medium DQ Blizzard (Smarties) today and my protein intake was likely sub 100g (I was on the road with the wife visiting friends who just had a baby, they made us waffles for breakfast).
Not proud, but needed to put this here to keep me honest. This week will be good, Iām feeling it.
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Fuel!
If I run the BB/Athlete template then I think I might try to superset the main lift with assistance. If Jim were to ask me then Iād tell him I was running BB/Athlete with inspiration from Krypteia.
It feels good to get a lot of work done in a short amount of time. With my current body part split I feel like Iām just sitting around between sets when I could be productive. But Iām also not doing squats or deads. Those are deserving of rest.
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Krypteia W1D4
Finally comes day 4, Krypteiaās first deadlift session. I was not looking forward to this one. Deadlift volume (accumulated) kicks my ass, and it was here.
Deadlifts
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 5
425 x 5
480 x 5
365 x 5
365 x 5
365 x 5
365 x 5
365 x 5
In between sets I performed 12 x BW dips or 10 x BW chins (alternating).
I figured that the deadlifts would take an eternity to get through so I was rushing these sets pretty good. There were also 5 people in the home gym when I showed up so it was packed. Luckily I scooped up my barbell and went to work. I did all the above work in 35mins. I was light headed, and not too far from puking for my last two deadlift sets. They werenāt heavy (as in, nowhere close to failure) but OH MAN did they spend me.
Finished with 100 band facepulls. These were supa-sloppy and done in half rep sets of 25. I was still fighting that salivating feeling you get when you think you might get sick. Unloading my deadlift bar, while doing these facepulls took a full 10mins to hit my 45min cap for the workout. Whew. That was work for me.
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Then wait until the first easy cycle is finished and Krypteia shows up for real.
This was supposed to be an easy introduction Sleepy.
EDIT: MUHAHAHAHA (evil laughter)
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Itās a work in progress, Mort! He gets to build up to doing both assistance exercises between sets of deadlifts. Thatāll be 11 sets of dips and chins!
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Yeah but as I remember it is FSL 5 sets of 10