Dem fanboy feels when you get a @MarkKO shout out 
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Credit where credit is due mate. Wouldn’t have considered them unless you’d mentioned that it existed.
Big dinner (Turkish). Delicious and puts me waaay over budget but pretty much bang on for macros. Winning.
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@simo74, @Destrength, @adarqui, @Irishman92, @Frank_C that ball talk made me rolling around laughing my ass of. Damn that was funny 
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Woke at 219.1 lbs, looking pretty much identical to yesterday bar some lower ab bloating, and that dinner sitting there. Win.
Today’s training
45 degree back raises, GHR sit-ups, box jumps
DL, stiff bar
3xplate
3x2 plates
2x3 plates, belt on
4x3x396 lbs, first set hook then mixed
10x396 lbs, mixed - just didn’t have the juice today, weight felt pretty light though
Dead stop DL - stand up after each rep
2x3x396 lbs, first set hook then mixed
DB goblet squats
3x15x110 lbs - pretty miserable
Pullups
6 wide overhand
6 wide neutral
Lats were just cooked, I wanted more but I won’t grind pull-ups
All up an hour 15 minutes including hanging upside down etc. Actual work was done in an hour or so.
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How do you feel about how you look at this point Mark? Do you feel like your performance has increased proportionately?
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You are an amazing friend.
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On balance, yes.
That’s also a helpful question because it makes me think about specifics.
Overall, everything feels lighter even though I feel pretty beat up in terms of accumulated fatigue (which is the whole point of Greg’s system). In terms of specifics, my back is stronger than it has ever been from buttcrack to neck: 100 lbs DBs feel like 80s did at the end of 2017 while 120s feel like 100s used to and 176 lbs on the BB feels like 132 lbs used to. I can reliably hit sets of over five pull-ups either fresh or fatigued, which is as good as when I was sitting around 30 lbs lighter. Front squats have gotten stronger too, with two plates now at the ‘too light for anything less than 10’ point. Bench feels good too, 198 lbs is something I can expect to knock out for over 10 on any given day. I reckon I might be good for 220 lbs for 10, which would be an all time PR, but we rarely go heavy on anything so that’s pure speculation. Squats feel good, as do deads: three plates feels more like two now, especially on deads. Again, we rarely go heavy but the weights I’ve used and the reps suggest I’m back to or beyond my best.
Conditioning is also about as good as it’s ever been as far as I can tell. My rest periods have naturally gotten way shorter and I can run pretty much on demand for around a half mile at my mile pace or faster and not be winded for more than a couple of minutes. I get through most sessions in around an hour and 15 minutes now, and five sets of squat, bench or DL will take around 15 minutes regardless of weight. The days where we get 10 second rests have gotten easier too.
My actual physique is way fatter, obviously, but from where I sit that has come hand in hand with more width in the back and shoulders and more thickness in the back, shoulders and chest. I’d say I definitely look way more muscular than when I last weighed around 220 lbs.
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I agree with this.
Next Dexa scan date?
I think you’re pretty clear with your goals and have done a great job accomplishing them.
Nice job.
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Never had a DEXA before, just the BIA. Might get another one soon just to see where I’m at. I know the fattest I have record of is 25.1 per cent, so if I can come in around 20 per cent with appreciably more muscle mass I’ll be happy.
Thanks, also. I’m now at the stage where I’ve shed the blubbery look (I think for good as long as I’m not stupid) and am starting on the slower road to getting properly big. I want a big total regardless of weight, and I know where that number starts as far as I’m concerned. I think I’ll need to be a minimum 242 lbs at this body comp or better to achieve that, maybe even approaching the low 260s.
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I think the last few post from you have provided me with a huge plus in respect for your efforts and experience as a lifter brother. You speak truth…
I think 20% seems a little low…
You probably carry it like I do full in the belly.
I can’t imagine how much muscle you are carrying to have 240 at a sub 6’ frame. Amazing man…
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There’s your goal methinks.
Part and parcel, what would be your total at that weight, and Wilks?
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The total I’ll keep to myself until I get it, and the Wilks I have no idea and don’t care. I’ll just say that it’ll be in the general area of 700/400/700.
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Well, I’m pretty much at 220 lbs now, so add another 20 lbs of muscle and that’s what I’ll be carrying when I get there 
at a guess, it’ll be around 175 lbs of muscle.
Good summary. Sounds reasonable. It’ll be interesting to see how you peak and perform with all this super submax training coupled with it being pretty damn non-specific. Not what I’m used to seeing, that’s for sure. But I dont follow powerlifting very close, so it may be more widely followed than I think.
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Woke at 218 lbs, looking decent. Happy to see I’m staying around the 218-9 lbs window. Lats are fried.
@IronOne it’s pretty specific when you look closely, it’s just not what you see in the popular/social media training because it isn’t cool or impressive. Everything we do is focused on improving technique and eliminating weaknesses while accumulating fatigue to generate adaptation.
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Slept a ton today, was plain fucking knackered. Apparently I walked over 10 km yesterday at work, so maybe that’s part of it. Maybe yesterday’s training was more taxing than I thought too, could be a bunch of things.
Either way, feeling pretty good now.
Also, I’ve got a sort of question, which is going.to be disguised as a rant. I’ll tag my sounding board now @The_Myth @mortdk @Frank_C @flipcollar @Reed @T3hPwnisher @littlesleeper @planetcybertron @losthog @BOTSLAYER (there’d be more but the tag limit is 10, apparently)
Now, bear in mind I’m talking about powerlifting, so training to compete, not training to get stronger or better than you were before with no intention of measuring yourself against others or a set of rules and judges etc.
I get confused/incredulous and occasionally irritated when people talk about their goals and set limits, like wanting a masters record or a Wilks score of just having fun, instead of going for the biggest total they can achieve. What’s the point? Surely if you compete, you go for broke. Doesn’t mean you need to throw everything aside like work and family, but apart from that the requirements of pushing for the best you can achieve aren’t prohibitive, are they? Training doesn’t take that much time, maybe 10 hours a week (at most); nutrition for performance isn’t super hard either, unlike for physique; and getting some halfway decent sleep isn’t impossible. I mean, sure, age and previous injury will factor in at some point but I’ve seen too many strong older dudes to buy into the ‘I’m 40/50/whatever so I’ll just shoot for the masters record’ (I’m talking guys in their 40s and 50s who aren’t ‘pro’ PLers or vets with 10 or more years in the sport hitting 400 lbs and more benches, 600 lbs DL, etc).
So, when I get a guy in his 40s who’s only just started and has some decent potential looking no further than a masters national record he’ll probably get within two years, I just can’t understand it. What’s the point? Aim for the open national record, fuck, aim for the highest open national record you can find. I get not aiming for the all-time record or the world record. That’s just realism, because if you’re even vaguely in the area of being someone to set one of those this shit I’m spewing damn sure doesn’t apply to you.
Coaches and trainers not pushing this point I get - I don’t like, but I get - because they need clients to make money and you don’t make money by having my attitude. It still bugs me, but I get it.
I think it boils down to participation trophies. Be proud of your achievements, no matter how small. Absolutely. But be honest. If your total is shit, don’t act like you’re anything but someone playing at PL who has a shit total. My total is shit, but I’ll break before I stop doing what I can to make it at least respectable. I know I won’t be setting world records, because I’m not prepared to do what needs to be done for that. My family means too much to me. But I’ll be damned if I can’t be a decent husband and father and still get a total that’ll at least get a nod of respect from the big guys.
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More sounding please
@IronOne @Vincepac1500 @Irishman92 @adarqui @Destrength @Yogi1