Looking sharp Mark. Ive been doing my best to follow along. lol
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Set out next week - dropping all DL, upper main lifts to three sets. Lower body days will be 4x8 squats and then 5x5 front squat, but with short rests. Also making Monday and Friday chest focused and Wednesday shoulder focused. I figure I’ve put some decent size on my shoulders but not as much on my chest. I’ll six or so weeks after next week to add some chesticles and then it’ll be into meet prep.
I’m not changing much in terms of exercises. Just having DB bench on Monday and feet up bench on Friday. Keeping military press except moving it to Wednesday. Incline press moves to secondary after DB bench, because I seem better at it than the other presses so arguable it makes sense not to focus on it as much. Conditioning comes in Monday and Friday as I mentioned before.
Front squat switches to 5x5 but keeping 60-90 second rests and adding load by feel in the 308-352 lbs window. I’ll bring RDL back in after it. DL I’m switching to beltless 10 cm block pulls 10x3 with short rests, then probably swap after three weeks to SGDL with the same set/rep scheme. Squat after DL I’ll change to 3x10-12, starting at 319 lbs again and going from there.
That should set me up nicely for last week of January where meet prep starts.
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I’ll second Mark. Deficit is proberly great haven’t been doing them, might do them some time in the new year.
I had a horrible DL form. (proberly still have)
Did snatch grip DL for about 4 - 5 months, last year.
I had to lower the weight on DL because of a small injury. So did SGDL, and just kept doing them, because they where fun to do.
DL did skyrocket when I got back from 240 pounds or so to around 360 (I know nothing to brag about, but at 53 former biker/runner im happy) now in about 10 - 11 months, still going up. And I blame the SGDL for that.
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Woke at 202.4 lbs, looking decent. Another reasonable sleep too.
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Twelve pounds a month is pretty insane progress @mortdk. I’d be pleased too. Even half that would be great. SGDL is a great variation. I’ve started playing with using blocks with it too, and that’s another good one or so it seems.
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How clean has your diet been the last 2 weeks?
I always find that now when I fall off the wagon and eat pretty lenient my sleep is greatly impaired compared to when I’m eating only clean foods
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I’m the opposite - it’s when I sleep badly I tend to end up eating more crappy food. Although, TBH, the issue I’ve had is simply too much. I haven’t eaten anything very different, just more of it. Easy fix.
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I have problems sleeping because I smash a KFC Giant Feast right before bed.
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Yeah I am very pleased and surpriced too 
I have my eyes set on 200 kg (450 pound) may 20 2019. The date only because it’s my birthday.
Squat is going up as well. Press and Bench is stuck, hell it’s even decreased a bit, and it pisses me off. But i’m in no rush.
BTW you do look as if, you put on some meat. And a bit of that fat around the waist. But it’s looking good, you’re not going BB on stage i suppose, so it’s ok.
You’re on a building phase. To what i know, it’s hard not to gain a bit of fat. When PL phase begins again, you know your body and can regulate calorie intake again.
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Apparently. I’m actually pretty happy. I’ve gained around 10 pounds in around two months. Actually, I need to do my numbers. BRB
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Definitely time to dial back a tad.
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I’m not going to lie here,
I had one of them on Friday night with a stacker burger and an extra 6 wicked wings…
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Bruh
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KFC is life
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The way I see it you can get more recovery by (roughly):
Sleep more
Eat more
Deload more
Less volume
Less intensity
Less frequency
There are probably more but my point is that you have been eating more to recover from the larger volume and frequency. You cant sleep more (can you?) and you don’t want to train less so the only logical thing remaining is to take more deloads now that you can’t eat as much to recover.
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I read an article the other day by Lonnie Lowery on T-Nation about fasted LISS. He does it 5-6 times a week pre show, but I think adding in one or two sessions a week is a good idea if you want to keep eating to keep gaining strength.
Obviously, you know your self pretty well, so govern yourself accordingly.
Woke at 201.7 lbs, looking decent. Took measurements.
Chest at nipples 112 cm, up 1 cm
Shoulders at armpits 131.1 cm, up 1.5 cm
Waist at navel 97.5 cm, up 1.5 cm
Both biceps 36 cm, up 1 cm
Both thighs 64.5 cm, up 0.5 cm
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@Irishman92 @The_Myth you’re both pretty bang on. Mostly what I need to do is be less blase with my eating and ditch the bi-weekly refeeds. That, with a dash of cardio should be all I need to do.
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Today’s training
Pec flye machine a bunch at pin 6
DB bench
10x25 lbs
10x45 lbs
8x65 lbs
3x10x85 lbs, 6, 8 and 9 RPE - so still hitting my target even though it’s back off week
Incline press supersetted with strict barbell rows
Press 3x12x132 lbs
Rows 3x10x209 lbs
Was helping a mate out so had a little time to muck around
Comp bench
5xbar
5x88 lbs
5x132 lbs
5x176 lbs
5x220 lbs, 6 RPE
1x264 lbs, felt around 8-9 RPE so tried a second and lost it at the sticking point but don’t mind a bit.
OK, so bench has definitely not gone down. Did everything without wraps, oly shoes or bands to stop me slipping. By the feel of the first rep at 264 lbs, I reckon I’ve got 286 lbs happily.
Pec flye machine supersetted with T-bar rows
Flyes 3x15 at pin six, elbows on handles - up to pin seven next week
Rows 3x15x121 lbs - up to 132 lbs next week
DB tricep rollovers
3x12x20 lbs - one more week then go to 25 lbs
Incline treadmill max incline for 15 minutes at 5 km/h
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