Thanks @brady888 I’ll be interested to see how you go. I suspect better than you think.
This log always reminds me how much better structured my training should be!!
1 Like
From the guy who benches close to 400 lbs and pulls well over 600 lbs. I doubt you need to worry about your training structure. Thanks though.
4 Likes
Looks good. Yeah, presses don’t help your bench aside from just general health purposes. Do. Arm. Isolation. Repeat with me: do arm isolation. Just some curls and extensions after every bench workout, do that up until you go into your peaking phase, you’re going to bench more (extensions) and have healthier shoulders and elbows (curls).
I know it probably sounds silly, but they are super important in my experience.
1 Like
It doesn’t sound silly at all. When I started doing curls twice a week I noticed my bench feeling better. Then I had that whole left bicep tendon issue which I’m still fixing, and it seemed logical to stop direct bicep work while it got right.
Although, I wouldn’t mind starting again, I was actually beginning to enjoy it. Thoughts @Destrength?
Went and had my quarterly BIA. Very, very happy with the results.
20.3% bodyfat
Bodyweight at 205.3
Skeletal muscle mass at 94.6 lbs
That’s 11.4 lbs and 3.5% bodyfat down in three months, with just 0.88 lbs of skeletal muscle mass lost.
I think at the current rate I’ve got another six months and I’ll be able to begin phase two, reestablishing my new set point.
Quick note on the recomp so far:
25th May 2016
224.8 lbs at 25.1% bodyfat and 97.02 lbs skeletal muscle mass, LBM 168.4 lbs
Calories 2700/day
24th August 2016
216.7 lbs at 23.8% bodyfat and 95.48 lbs skeletal muscle mass, LBM 165.1 lbs
Calories 2700/day until mid October
Calories 2500/day from mid October, fat to 20% daily calories max, double bodyweight protein, rest calories from carbs
23rd November 2016
205.3 lbs at 20.3% bodyfat and 94.6 lbs skeletal muscle mass, LBM 163.6 lbs
6 Likes
Honestly I’d say keep doing it unless it actually causes irritation to use good form and moderate-low weight. Go really light and shoot for volume though, I am really fond of poundstone curls for this. The way I see it, it helps bring blood into the muscle which aids in recovery of the joint (I think there might be research supporting high repetition stuff aiding in joint integrity, I’ve heard it mentioned though I am not sure if it’s true) and muscle while still adding size and endurance so that it can take more work. I actually like to do really light work as prehab-rehab work when my muscles are injured and it always seems to make the recovery process quicker unless it was an overuse injury.
Also by bicep tendon, do you mean by the elbow, or by the shoulder? If by the shoulder, I think it’d be wise to be careful about your pull up and overhead work, those always seem to irritate it for people including me. That is also probably the one that getting stronger biceps will help the most because of the fact that the biceps serve as a shoulder stabilizer in benching.
1 Like
Shoulder. Oddly, and thankfully, neither overhead nor pull-ups irritate it in the slightest.
Well, anyway, you make an excellent point. I’ll start curling again this week and see how it reacts. Given that it’s tolerating barbell benching just fine, the pull-ups don’t bother it and overhead work doesn’t hurt I should be fine to curl.
Thanks, that helped.
Congrats Mark! Exceptional progress.
2 Likes
I will admit to being inordinately pleased about it. I went in expecting low 22s given how last one panned out. So thanks. Looks like I’ll be around 194 lbs by the end of this, or something like that.
It’s an oddly gratifying process, and I’m not sure why. Maybe because I see the progress much more clearly than with getting stronger. It doesn’t matter how I feel, if I’m leaner I can see it.
It’s 100% gratifying to experience the visual changes. Enjoy it!
You know all the advantages of being lean and strong versus fat and strong, no reason to talk about that. Not that you were fat.
What’s the most gratifying to me?
The way form fitted clothes fit and feel. It’s.fucking.awesome.
Besides, how often do you see ripped strong people? You’re on your way to being that. And you’re not that far off.
Keep grinding. The journey is half the fun!
2 Likes
It really does boil down to that. I’m a greedy SOB, I want both!
It goes along then lines of, I never doubted I could get stronger and that eventually I’ll be strong. Never even entered my mind that it wouldn’t happen if I did the work. Being lean? Almost the opposite. Just being leanER is kind of huge for me, and now I’ve really got the bit between my teeth.
4 Likes
Still mulling over the Training Maximally system and trying to decide whether I should wait to try it out for a bit longer or just have a crack at it. If I’m honest I know which one I’ll do, because it’s what I should do. Wait, obviously. Run my leader/anchor and have a meet, then run Training Maximally until end 2017.
Finally got some meet dates too, by the way. There’s one on July 9 that I like the look of. It does need me to slightly change the two peaking cycles but that’s an easy fix. Instead of going three weeks, deload, three weeks, deload, meet I’ll go three weeks, up TM, two weeks (3, 531), meet week.
Oh, and I think I just realised what is so alluring about Training Maximally: it’s a true advanced guy’s program. Using it successfully means you know your shit, you read your body right and you essentially don’t need a set program, you just need a framework.
I am nowhere NEAR that yet. Jumping on it even midway through next year would be the equivalent of ego lifting, with similar results. I’ll know when I’m ready for it. In the meantime, it’s there for me to aspire to.
5 Likes
Didn’t train today. Night shifts kind of kicked my arse this time around. The plan is to bench tomorrow and then squat Monday of deload week. That’ll still give me Tuesday to Sunday to deload.
Made the call when my alarm went off, sat up on and realised my hands were shaking ever so slightly. That, and from about midnight onwards this morning while I was at work my head kept spinning every couple of minutes. So yeah, pussied out today. I’m going with about 10 total hours of sleep between Monday 0700 and Thursday 0700 as my excuse.
Actually got some sleep today, maybe six or seven good hours so right now I’m just lack-of-sleep hungover more than actually brain shutting down tired.
Last shift coming tonight, so I might bench straight after to get it out of the way.
Slowly gearing up to train after work - while at work. All that really means is reminding myself every couple of minutes that I won’t go to bed when I go home.
Trying to figure out how I’ll do my meals. When I’m working nights I try to keep as normal a meal schedule as possible - even if all that means is a fasting window between last and first meals that is about as long as when I sleep at night.
Today’s probably the oddest one of this run, because I got up at 1630 and breakfasted at 1700. I’m going to be awake all day tomorrow, so I want to have my fasting window from around midnight to 0800 tomorrow - so that means getting my meals tonight in during about a six hour period. Doable, but weird. I’m two meals down, two to go so about on track.
None of the above probably matters for a few days, but that’s just how I work. Either I do things as close to properly as I can manage, or I don’t bother. I’m convinced that’s a main driver for whatever success I have.
1 Like
There is at least a bunch of literature stating this and it seems to work for me.
1 Like
What do you do for warm up (sets)with 5-3-1?
@BOTSLAYER same as I’ve always done. Start with the bar, then go up. Where I go from the bar differs between lifts, but it’s pretty much:
Press
Bar then, add 20ish lbs and keep going until the first work set - that usually means three, maybe four sets at most
Bench
Bar, then add 45ish lbs until I get to the first work set, although the last jump might be 20 lbs or so - usually ends up being four sets, maybe five
Squat
Bar, plate, two plates, then 40-90 lbs jumps until the first work set, belt goes on around set four or five which generally means 300 lbs or so
DL
As for squat, but I start with a plate each side
I’ll generally do about five reps for the first three sets of anything, then go down to three or even one (especially for DL).
2 Likes
Managed a small nap on a break so felt actually quite reasonable this morning. Thank #$@% nights are over though.
Today’s training
Agile 8 plus shoulders
Bench press
25 pull aparts with rotation between first there warm-up sets
Left shoulder acting up a bit for no reason I could discern. I do seem to be getting better at keeping elbow above wrist though, so I’m happy. Leg drive still a work on progress.
5x214 lbs, 6 RPE and I think they look fast AF
3x242 lbs, 6-7 RPE - felt the weight but OK
2x269 lbs, 9 RPE - I’ve accepted that my rep capacity is down at the moment
1x286 lbs, 9-10 RPE
1x297 lbs, 10 RPE - touch and go and a fairly rugged looking grinder but significant to me because I was genuinely nervous getting under the bar and managed to maintain a positive mindset. Possibly my best bodyweight/bar weight combination: 207ish lbs and 297 lbs on the bar.
FSL DB bench at 90 lbs, all seven except set four where I did eight by accident. Felt very light for some reason. 6 though to 9 RPE
Dips 50 total reps: 15, 10, 10, 10, 5
Was able to lock my shoulders down harder than usual, and this helped.
Kroc rows at 100 lbs 25 L+R
Played with the new T-bar to make up the balance of 50 reps: 7x132 lbs, 11 and 7x110 lbs. This will replace chest supported row on Mondays for a while.
Calf raises 5x30x110 lbs, these HURT (in a good way) supersetted with DB shrugs at 80 lbs: 25, 15, 15, 15
10 minutes on the stairmill at level 6
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
6 Likes