Yes, I did. Three, I think.
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Looking very good Bro, #nohomo. You have good mass, shoulders and chest looking good.
This is what you’ll look like at 180.
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Getting shredded!! Nice
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HUGE progress man. You’re to the point now that when you’re totally relaxed the abs are visible. Nothing says “Stay the fuck out of my way” like when you can see abs on a thick frame, without flexing at all.
Keep it up man! (I think all that posing practice is paying off haha)
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haha “questionable posing” the smile paired with the full muscular is on point 
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Legs for days, dayum @The_Myth
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I’m enjoying this whole process now. Back needs waaay more width and thickness though.
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Nice work MarkKO putting us other older guys to shame, and there’s nothing wrong with a good pair of budgie smugglers mate.
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I swear it’s easier when you’re around 30 or over. Not sure why, I think it’s something to do with having a lot of the ego knocked out of you by then so you’re more ready to just work. Plus confidence. In my 20s I’d get intimidated by any method I didn’t understand and reject it as too much effort or too complicated. Now when I don’t understand a method I just accept it, and either chip away until I do or wait patiently to learn more generally until I do.
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I think you are right, coming back into the gym in my early 40’s after a long time away (10+ years) I noticed how I am willing to just follow a program make small increases and just love the work week in week out. Maybe it has something to do with realising that I dont know everything and being conditioned by years of working for a living to just work and work.
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This. When you combine it with youth, the results are freakish. There’s one young bloke at Elite who’s 19 and around 200 lbs who just works and pulls well over 600 lbs, benches around 350 lbs and squats around 500 lbs in sleeves.
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Noice
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Woke up at 193.8 lbs. Pleased. Mulling over my FBFB cycles and something didn’t sit right, but I’ve figured out what it was: not enough back work, so I’ll fix that damn quick and sub out SGDL for BB rows (one day strict AF, one day Yates).
Today’s training
Lazy lifter plus shoulders
Bench press
30 pull aparts between first three warmup sets
5x187 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x214 lbs, 6 RPE
5x242 lbs, 8 RPE - first rep set the tone and everything felt tight and fast. Took a lot of effort not to push for a rep PR.
3x5x187 lbs, under 6 RPE across
OK, so this seems to be how I need to bench because today bench felt fucking amazing:
- touch the boob crease
- flare elbows aggressively like against a Slingshot
- head goes up as bar comes down, and shoulders pulled back and down
- pull bar into chest while head is up
- squeeze glutes hard
- drive every damn thing
Dips 50 total reps with 22 lbs: 17, 11, 11, 11
These felt good too, all sets around 8 RPE. Not sure where that came from, maybe being lighter, maybe supercompensation from last Friday’s beatdown.
Kroc rows 120 lbs 23 L+R - focused on squeezing the DB tight, and for the first time with 120 lbs my back gave out first. So, my focus now will be getting back to 30 with NO grip fatigue.
Balance to 50 reps with 90 lbs: 14, 13 - focused on squeezing my lats/rhomboids and this was rewarding. More learnt from last week’s DB rows. One day I might even get the MMC.
Supersetted Hammer curls/rear delt flyes (fuck it, RDFs from hereon in)
Curls 50 total reps with 30 lbs: 13, 10, 15, 12 focusing on a slow, controlled eccentric resulting in a hell of a pump
RDFs 100 total reps with 25 lbs: 26, 26, 26, 22 - felt like a tumor developed in my upper traps by the end of this, but in a good way
Incline treadmill walk because I didn’t feel like Stairmilling 13 minutes at 15 incline and 5 km/hr - would have been 15 minutes but the stupid machine went into cooldown mode on 13 minutes which I now suspect may have been due to me accidentally knocking the emergency stop button.
Squats tomorrow. Good day today, pumped for tomorrow.
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NOW I’m happy with my FBFB cycles. What bugged me, as I said, was not enough back. I think now this will not be a problem.
Monday
Lazy lifter plus shoulders
Squat, 5/3/1 with PR set
Press, 5s week with pull aparts between warmup sets
Strict BB row 5x10
RFESS 50 total reps
Tuesday
Lazy lifter plus shoulders
Front squat 5s week
Bench press 5/3/1 with PR set, with pull aparts between warmup sets
Yates row 5x10
Back raises 100 total reps
Thursday
Lazy lifter plus shoulders
Front squat 5s week
Bench press 5s week with pull aparts between warmup sets
Stiff bar DL 5/3/1 with PR set
Friday
Lazy lifter plus shoulders
DB bench 50 total reps supersetted with pull-ups 25-50 reps
Kroc rows 1xAMRAP
Curls 100 total reps supersetted with triceps 100 total reps
Stationary bike sprints
I think that covers all my bases: TMs are low, so intensity is kept in check; PR sets should keep them gainz coming, and make sure I don’t get bored; enough volume for my bench to keep going up but not so much for the other lifts that it’ll be too taxing; and enough back work to maybe give my back a bit of a growth kick.
Yes, I know, I’m straying from the true path as laid out in the book. So sue me. I have good reasons for doing it, and I think it isn’t stupid.
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I’m sure we will see your post in Jim’s section saying “5/3/1 sucks and doesn’t work, I even made all these changes”. Jk, looks solid. That’s the beauty of 5/3/1, the principles.
Once you understand it, its a great tool to create your own program around. Looks like some nice back work in there now, should spur on some growth!
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That’s the plan. What I’m especially happy about now is that I’m excited to do each phase. It helps.
Applause.
But I think Mark is in the UK (?) so maybe things are different over there…
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He won’t like that, he ain’t a pom!
EDIT: Think that might be my first post in this log - hello! Enjoying following along.
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I don’t know.
In my American’s mind, the world has two countries:
The United States, and Not-The-United-States.
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