No, not at all. It just denied me the opportunity to strain. He does it every time, squats included, which is why I almost never ask him to help out.
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Woke at 190.3 lbs, looking tight if a little flat. Either way, all good. Tired AF though and glands under ky tongue are swollen still do I’ll need to do something about that.
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is that Paul Carter? The man’s insane
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Yes, it is.
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When lunch is pb&j on corn thins followed by Coco Pops, it’s hard to find anything bad to say about your day.
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Had another caliper check with Jeremy. A bit up (abs and lower back mainly) but still below my first measurements despite being a good eight pounds heavier. Apparently my back and legs have grown too, so that’s a win.
Staying at 2600 calories and aiming to not exceed 192 lbs, basically. Jez suggested one option is to play with carb timing, and I think I may need to. Doesn’t have to be complicated and only really necessary on training days. He also cleared me to have refeeds again, which is cool, but I’ll hold off on them for a while longer and when I do have them I’ll focus on getting carbs more than anything else.
This is a breakdown of how the carb timing would work:
Total daily calories 2600 split into
Protein 190-200 grams (760-800 cal)
Carbs 260-300 grams (1040-1200 cal)
Fat 50-70 grams (450-630 cal)
Breakfast 70-80 grams carbs
Pre, intra, post training (ie two meals - pre, post - and Surge, Plazma, etc during) 210-220 grams carbs - so two meals with around 80-100 grams carbs each
Carbs combined with protein and minimal fat
All other meals protein, fat and veggies.
It shouldn’t be too tricky to manage, TBH, so I have no excuse. The only real changes will be
- training in the morning would see waaay more carbs in breakfast, then the balance during training an immediately after
- training in the afternoon would be just a matter of no carbs after breakfast until meal before training and then dinner
- non training days no change to anything, just hit total macros
In practice I’ll probably need to make a few little tweaks to my work meals but that’s about it.
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Woke at 193 lbs, looking about the same as yesterday. Trying the carb timing today.
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Interested in hearing how this goes. Wouldn’t you usually cut carbs altogether on non-training days with a plan like this?
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You could, but I tend to agree with Paul Carter in respect of cutting carbs on rest days: why cut carbs on the days you’re recovering? It just seems counter-intuitive.
What I’m looking for is minimal change to my nutrition setup while avoiding as much flab gain as possible.
Although, this raises a point. What do I want more: to stay within range of 181 lbs or to say at this level of leanness regardless of weight? In all honesty, it’s the latter. My only reason for staying within range of 181 lbs is to qualify for the 2018 nationals as I don’t think I’m quite at the level where I’d qualify for 198 lbs. Here’s my logic: 1331 lbs is a Class 1 total for 181 lbs, which is likely to just about guarantee me qualification (for this year’s nationals that would have put me around 15th or a little higher in the rankings for GPC at 181, so it’s reasonably safe to say I’d have gotten a spot at nationals). My current total at 181 lbs is 1326 with room on all my third attempts. However, a Class 1 total at 198 lbs is 1397 lbs, which is 11 lbs higher than my all time best total which I set weighing 213 lbs. I don’t know if I’ll be back at that level in time to qualify for 2018 (longer time frame, absolutely, and way beyond it). So, I’m taking a punt that I make the effort to stick within range of 181 lbs until after 2018 nationals (usually mid year). The con is that I’ll have to be fairly rigid with my diet, inasmuch as keep doing what I’m doing. The pro is that it gives my body a LOT of time to adjust to this level of leanness because I don’t see how I’ll get fluffier as long as I’m careful. I may even manage to get a tad leaner simply by adding more muscle and edging out some fat.
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Today’s training
Lazy lifter plus shoulders
Raw squat
TM is 418 lbs
Work up from bar in 44 lbs x3-5 to 60% - these felt off
3x291 lbs, under 6 RPE, two holes visible on belt - suddenly everything came good
3x346 lbs, under 6 RPE, one hole visible - should have been 335 lbs
1x374 lbs, under 6 RPE, one hole visible
6x418 lbs, 7-8 RPE, one hole visible - called it when I thought it have to grind
3x451 lbs, 8 RPE, one hole visible - did not see that coming, felt fantastic
EDIT - just saw that was 3x440 lbs, not 451 lbs. I am no seriously pissed at myself. Fuck
0x500 lbs - OK, got greedy but in my defence it felt fine unracking, fine going down and at my sticking point I just couldn’t fight through. I strained for a good bit before the spotter took it. Fuck but it was close! I’ll get it soon. I feel like I would’ve gotten it if I’d gone in singles from my TM because I didn’t seem to get pushed out of position.
This kind of burned me out for the day
Close stance squat, two holes showing on the belt
2x12x291 lbs, 8-9 RPE both sets - head just wasn’t there, balance was a tad off on the first rep of each set. Lower back massively pumped
Oly SGDL
1x8x242 lbs, 9 RPE
1x6x242 lbs, 8 RPE
Yeah, no. Just done
Weighted decline sit-ups 3x15x22 lbs
Pissed at myself for being greedy and failing 500 lbs, but seriously pleased with how good the other sets felt and moved. I’ll take that.
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You will smash it next time amigo.
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Yep, you did a lot of work leading up to 500. Cut even half out and you get it. Strong!
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Woke at 193 lbs, looking good. Day two of carbs around training.
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Can’t tell you how much I believe this beats preworkout by a long shot.
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Couple of notes for next cycle, which will most likely lead into meet cycle (because that’ll be a weird one what with the meet, less DL, etc).
DL
- Conventional, raw, TM increasing as normal
- DL bar - mostly because it’s easier to hook grip due to being thinner, plus I’ll be adding some heavier singles to gauge where I’m at, especially week three
- Squat 10-15x2-3, comp stance out of mono. I may or may not use box squats here, because they are definitely good to groove knee spread and sit back
- Probably go back to back raises, but I may not
Bench one
- Equipped, TM goes up as normal
- I’ll stick to 3-5x1 heavy sets, probably up load to 281 or 286 lbs
- I’ll keep setup and groove as for raw - despite Glen’s advice, it makes more sense than adjusting things to maximise carryover from the shirt.
- Everything else stays as is (press, BB row, etc)
- go to raw in meet cycle, probably just work up to third attempt with everything else the same as before
Squat
- raw, TM increases as normal
- out of the mono to readjust
- At some point wraps will have to go on, but I want to delay that as much as possible so I’m thinking week three (that’ll give me two heavy wrapped squat days, week three and week one of the cycle after)
- I’ll very likely keep doing what I’ve been doing by adding a heavier joker/cluster set after my TM set until wraps go on. What I’ve been doing is using my TM set to calculate an estimated max, then the heavy set is 90% of that
- when wraps go on I’ll probably just hit TM for one then work up to second and third attempts (I already know I’m good for around my opener without wraps so there’s no issue there)
- backoff sets stay close stance, as that seems my most beneficial variation
- oly SGDL swaps for 10x2 conventional on the stiff bar
- single leg probably keep Smith lunges
Bench two
- raw, TM increase as normal
- everything else stays the same
Meet cycle specifically is a little different.
Week one
- all TMs increase as normal
- 10x2 DL from squat becomes DL day, no post DL squat
- squat work up to third or second attempt, depending (last heavy squat day), no DL after
- bench one raw to second or third attempt
- bench two probably just to TM for a single
Week two
- no DL, no bench two
- squat work up to opener at most, probably just last warmup
- bench work up to last warmup or first attempt
- training days Monday, Wednesday
- cut will happen throughout the week, most likely reducing carbs from Monday or Tuesday, then sauna and dehydration on Friday
- weigh in Saturday, compete Sunday
Week 3
- no DL
- train Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
- training days bench, CGBP, squat
- go up to TM for a single on main lifts and no more, squat back to sleeves and walked out
- assistance as normal
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Oh, and:
For close stance squat - which will be my main variation from post meet to end of the year - I need to figure out my TM.
Using my backoff sets yesterday my estimated close stance max would be 407 lbs. I can see that, give or take. Given I want to be really pushing the reps, I’ll set my TM at 330 lbs, which means by year’s end it’ll have gone through three cycles and be at 350 lbs. If I can hit 15-20 close stance at 350 lbs, I don’t think my comp stance will have suffered, especially since I’ll be doing it after DL for doubles anyway.
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Aaaaand I just saw that what I thought was 451 lbs was 440 lbs. Fuck me dead but I’m pissed off now.
How the fuck do I manage to get shit like that wrong when all I’m doing is using locking collars?! I remember even thinking to myself I had to incorporate their weight and get it right while loading the goddamn bar.
Fuck me.
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Mistakes happen
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Yes, still pisses me off though.
Meh, I’ll take a smooth triple at 200 kg. Numbers aside I’m still moving in the right direction.
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Didn’t have much time today. Busted my arse a bit and got everything done in an hour 15 minutes.
Two important lessons from today before the training:
- Squeezing the lats/upper back during the eccentric on pull-ups all but eliminates tension and pressure on the elbows. Could have saved myself a lot of hassle had I figured this out years ago; and
- Citrulline malate does not taste very good
Today’s training
Lazy lifter plus shoulders
CGBP
TM is 231 lbs
Work up from bar in 22 lbs x3-5 to 60% supersetted with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 pull-up ladder - neutral wide grip is my elbows’ favourite
Working on improved unrack (it helps) and going heels to traps with my butt just kissing the bench (also helps)
All sets supersetted with 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 pull-up ladder
3x159 lbs, under 6 RPE
3x187 lbs, under 6 RPE
1x209 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x231 lbs, 9-10 RPE
11x159 lbs, 8 RPE
DB bench supersetted with DB rows
Bench 1x10x70 lbs, under 6 RPE, 2x10x80 lbs 8 and 8-9 RPE
Rows 3x10x120 lbs, no straps - when rowing with my left arm felt like a knife was being jabbed into my upper thoracic vertebra. Weird. Didn’t stop me though
Was going to do five sets but was running out of time and steam
Bis/tris giant set, short rests (didn’t time. Probably around 45 seconds)
Dead stop hammer curls off thigh 3x12x25 lbs - OK, these were stupidly easy for some reason
PJR pullovers 3x10x60 lbs - getting stronger with these
Elbows are OK, maybe a little tweaked but I’m convinced that at least part of it is tension from my upper back which needs the shit worked out of it.
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