W2D3 Bench. Top set 185. Pretty easy stuff nothing crazy. Did Banded BOR instead of db rows. Hammer curls, tricep pushdowns, facepulls yada. Warmed up with eliptical. Not much to talk about on this one just felt good to start lifting again even though in the garage right now is hotter than hell.
W2D4 Squat. Top set 245. Had my wife video this crapfest. Hip shift is a real thing. I’ve got some major pc work I need to do mainly glutes. The deads were easy peasy trying to make sure and fire my hips through and use my glutes so pretty much 50 rep practice deads. Toughest part besides my sh!tty squats were the hanging leg raises. This is why I’m doing this. I need to get stronger in order to get bigger…plain and simple.
W3D1 Press. Top set 120. Nephew worked out with me. Good work. But God its hot. 50 chins, 50 bench and arm stuff. I did y raises for shoulder. I do pull aparts almost every day at work. Presses were decent actually. I don’t rest much between sets and they were all fairly easy. As things get heavier i should rest more but these hot afternoons make me hurry as quick as I can stand.
Do I go ahead and run the deload week 4 even though I was sick and had an artificial deload last week? Or you think it would be okay to go ahead and start month 2 of BBB Challenge?
W3D2 Deads. Top set 325. Deads were easy stuff. Nephew worked out with me again. He squatted in the power rack so for my 50 squats I used the powertec lever squat. Just so we wouldn’t have to keep unloading and reloading. We lift pretty quick just so we don’t sweat to death in the garage. Ab wheel SS with farmers carries for distance. Fun stuff. Need more carries. 106 Saturday…106…
W3D3 BBB Challenge Bench. Top set 195. Moved easy no pain. Doing the pull aparts all week seem to be helping. Trap bar rows ss with Presses. Good pump in lats and shoulders. Lying cable skull crushers ss low pulley Face Pulls ss Incline curls ss behind the back trap row. Arms and chest have gotten bigger for sure but legs have come down quite a bit. Quads aren’t as big as they were but the posterior chain has strengthened. So overall happy with the progress. This is boring stuff but it works.
W3D4 Squat. Top set 260. Easy this time. Flat shoes is a no brainer. Running shoes bad idea. I have crap ankle mobility anyway and running shoes exaggerate that. Deads went smooth and fast. Ab work all well and good. Its humid as hell.
I have some crazy hip shift or something going on. I dont notice it at all while squatting. My left leg is substantially longer than my right. It’s weird that my left gets deeper and it leads the lift out of the whole… these squats moved fine. Felt like I could do more easily. They look ugly as hell. I need work for sure. I even seem to twist on the left side in the bottom which puts the weight over my toes more…wth. I’ll see if I can figure out a way without YouTube to get the videos on here.
W4D1 BBB Challenge Press. Deload week. I feel fresh hate to deload bow but I’ll run with it. Next month I’m going to push the weight up st least 5lbs on upper body and 10lbs for lower body movements. First month was a lot easier than expected. The press is the only questionable lift at this point. May leave that one alone. @Alpha Powerbuilder program must have helped push the weights up more than I thought. Work capacity is still there but I’ve just been walking in the morning or late in the evening when it isn’t 100+ degrees.
Saw the doc for my physical today. He’s ordering up all kinds of labs so we will see what they say. He thought a saliva hormone/cortisol test wouldn’t be bad idea and was fairly inexpensive right now. I’m not totally sure how accurate that is versus the serum test. I doubt I do much about the hormones right now but more interested in the cortisol. I’ve had some issues with stress, sleep and fatigue for a long while. We will see where that leads.
W4D2 Deads Deload BBB Challenge. Deload yada. I was tired so kind of glad it was deload week. Ab roller though…man that thing still gets me.
Damn…forgot my labs were to be done fasted. I should have known better but in the morning I just do…my movement is voluntary and unconscious until 3 cups of black coffee that is so strong it would melt a spoon. So I’m going to have to think tomorrow when I wake up.
Haven’t spoke with the Doc yet, but here are some of the labs I’ve got back. Lipid panel was actually good. Weird stuff in my CBC…which is weird. BUN is high too.
CBC with Differential
WBC
L=4.0 H=10.8
low
3.0 x10^3
RBC
L=4.60 H=6.20
low
4.47 x10^6
HGB
L=14.0 H=18.0
low
13.2 g/dL
HCT
L=42.0 H=52.0
low
40.0 %
MCV
L=82.0 H=92.0
89.5 fL
MCH
L=27.0 H=31.0
29.5 pg
MCHC
L=32.0 H=36.0
33.0 g/dL
RDW
L=12.7 H=14.5
12.8 %
PLATELETS
L=140 H=440
213 x10^3
MPV
L=9.7 H=11.5
9.8 fL
%NEUT
L=45.0 H=85.0
59.7 %
%LYMPH
L=10.0 H=50.0
28.2 %
%MONO
L=0.0 H=10.0
9.1 %
%EOS
L=0.0 H=7.0
2.7 %
%BASO
L=0.0 H=3.0
0.3 %
IG%
L=0 H=0
0 %
NRBC%
L=0 H=0
0 %
RETIC%
L=0 H=1
0 %
IRF%
L=2 H=13
0 %
#NEUT
L=2.40 H=7.70
low
1.78 x10^3
#LYMPH
L=1.00 H=4.30
low
0.84 x10^3
#MONO
L=0.10 H=1.30
0.27 x10^3
#EOS
L=0.00 H=0.40
0.08 x10^3
#BASO
L=0.00 H=0.10
0.01 x10^3
IG
L=0.00 H=0.03
0 (10^3 U/L)
NRBC.
L=0.00 H=0.01
0.00 (10^3 U/L)
RETIC
L=0.02 H=0.09
0 (10^6 U/L)
RETIC-HE
L=0 H=28
0 pg
MANUAL DIFF
SEE BELOW
SEGS
L=45 H=85
57 %
BAND
L=0 H=5
0 %
LYMPH
L=10 H=50
32 %
ATYP LYMPH
L=0 H=2
1 %
MONO
L=0 H=10
9 %
EOS
L=0 H=7
1 %
BASO
L=0 H=3
0 %
META
L=0 H=0
0 %
MYELO
L=0 H=0
0 %
BLASTS
L=0 H=0
0 %
NRBC
L=0 H=0
0 %
RBC MORPH
NORMAL
PLTS
ADEQUATE
Lipid Panel
CHOLESTEROL
L=134 H=200
179 mg/dL
HDL
L=40 H=60
59 mg/dL
TRIGLYCERIDES
L=0 H=150
65 mg/dL
VLDL
L=0 H=30
13 mg/dL
LDL
L=0 H=160
107 mg/dL
CARDIAC RISK
L=0 H=5
3 UNIT
FREE T4
L=0.78 H=2.19
1.09 ng/dL
TSH
L=0.46 H=4.70
1.43 uIU/mL
Comprehensive Metabolic Panel
SODIUM
L=137 H=145
141 mmol/L
POTASSIUM
L=3.5 H=5.1
4.4 mmol/L
CHLORIDE
L=98 H=107
105 mmol/L
CO2
L=22 H=30
30 mmol/L
ANION GAP
L=5 H=14
7 mmol/L
GLUCOSE
L=74 H=106
100 mg/dL
BUN
L=9.0 H=20.0
high
23.0 mg/dL
CREATININE
L=0.7 H=1.3
1.0 mg/dL
AST/SGOT
L=15 H=46
29 U/L
ALT/SGPT
L=0 H=50
24 U/L
ALKALINE PHOS
L=38 H=126
67 U/L
TOTAL BILI
L=0.20 H=1.30
0.70 mg/dL
TOTAL PROTEIN
L=6.3 H=8.2
7.1 g/dL
ALBUMIN
L=3.5 H=5.0
4.4 g/dL
CALCIUM
L=8.4 H=10.2
9.5 mg/dL
W4D3 Bench. Deload BBB Challenge. Yep, also doing a saliva hormone/cortisol test today. Lots of spitting.
Month 1 done BBB Challenge. Deload squat sesh. Toughest part was the ab work. Like I said before I’m going to push the weight up a bit for next month. I’m finding this challenge really is about practice of the 4 main lifts. Which I desperately need for squats and press. I am no PL but like feeling like one for a minute. I’m getting good at DL. I feel like I could really push that weight. I do think on BBB supplementals however I would really like to push for 3 10 rep sets and 1 20 or 2 20s and 1 10. Just to keep work capacity up. At least on squats and deads. However this is stupid easy and it is working… so I may not change a thing.
W5D1 BBB Challenge OHP. 105 top set. OHP is a struggle. I’m almost positive its technique thats holding me back. Bench with fat grips x 50 at 135. Oh I did use the fat grips for OHP and that seems to help…not sure if thats cheating. Did neutral grip pull downs for 50 that fires up the lats. Curls, push downs and lying face pulls.
Need to slightly up cals again. I’ve been doing well with red meat and eggs. But weight isn’t moving up.
Update: Legs and Chest/Back have grown by more than an inch over the last month. Arms the same, but feel I have room there to do work on the upper body days. If I can just get my stubborn ass delts to grow. Waist has only gone up .25 inch but my weight is still at 204/205. I need to get some nighty night protein in before bed that may help that move up slightly. The boring stuff works!
W5D2 BBB Challenge DL. 295 for 5 top set. 145 x 50 squats. 3 x 10 and then 1 x 20 on the squats. I’m going to press every workout at the end if I have enough left. Just to try and bring that lift up. So I supersetted Presses and Ab roller for 5 sets. Man its bad on presses. I can lock out once I get the weight off my chest. I just can’t get the damn weight off my chest.
Diet: .5 cup oatmeal with a scoop of metabolic drive and pecans and a banana. 2 brisket tacos for lunch. 1 apple with .25 cup peanut butter. Dinner 2 salmon filets fresh green beans and then leftover roasted chicken. Still hungry going to get a md shake in before bed.
W5D3 BBB Challenge Bench. 175 for 5. Added 5 lbs from the presses. Did t bar rows with the spud d handles those worked perfect. Rope curls tri set, skull crushers with Swiss bar, and low pulley face pulls. Great pump in arms today. Feels good. Back has a good amount of blood too. But the best feeling was that last set of presses I felt my delts feel with blood and some good lactate build up. 5 more lbs will be just about be right for the 50 reps.
W5D4 BBB Challenge Squat. 230 for 5. Easy enough. I feel now that mayne this lift is coming along better than I thought. Of course we shall see as the weight goes up. 185 for deads x 50. Hanging leg raises x 50 SS with more Presses. I am pushing presses every day its not programmed. Just to see if more work helps. Only lifting 80% for 5s on it. Effing hot. Got to expand the chicken coop today too. Fun stuff.
W6D1 BBB Challenge OHP. 110 for 3 top set. Man my OHP is frustrating me. The three reps were okay but the last one was a little grindy. It shouldn’t be… Anyway. Did the 50 bps and 50 chins. Zottman curls and skull crushers for arms. Rear delt raises super set with swings to failure. Arms were three sets all to failure.
Still thinking about keeping presses on all days just to bring it up or doing BtN presses on those days or banded strict presses. Not sure…need to figure something out. OHP work was always been iffy for me. My shoulders have always given me crap but mainly on my bench work. I’ve seen it mentioned somewhere here before that doing some high incline pressing for sticking points that happen off the chest. Which the first half of the press is definitely where I get stuck. Definitely a work in progress. More work on OHP should help with the bench work too.
Need to eat a bit more too. Weight is stuck at 204. I ate a buttload of eggs this morning with sausage and home fries. Maybe eating that many eggs 4 days a week should be enough to get the weight up another lb or 3. Also, got a call back from the doctor saying my saliva testosterone/melatonin/cortisol test showed that my test levels were a little low but not bad. But my cortisol levels were high and melatonin levels were off. Which I figured that was the problem anyway. So he recommended rhodiola and ashwaganda. I already take ashwaganda and glycine. I have read a couple of Thibs article about this and Thibs recommends Tyrosine in the morning along with Rhodiola. He also recommends more carbs and glycine post workout and before bed. Z12 can help with sleep and cortisol levels. So going to add Tyrosine and Rhodiola in there.
Rest of eating yesterday after massive breakfast. Lunch 3 awesome tacos: brisket, pork and salmon. Dinner more…tacos…kind of. Taco salad with a good .5 lb of ground beef avocado etc… an apple with peanut butter for a snack. Success got to 205 up a pound.
W6D2 BBB Challenge Deads. Top set 315 for 3. Felt like i could easily have pulled 10. My deadlift has either shot through the roof or I greatly underestimated my 1 rm. I never pull maxes but maybe I should here soon. Just tightening up my squat and bench form has made those lifts so much better. The 50 reps at the prescribed percentages really help me practice. Now bringing the OHP up is a different story. Ab work yesterday was pretty awesome. My abs are more sore than anything. I did the 50 ab rollout but I did some banded OHP super setted with something I saw @Alpha do in one of his videos. Its a GHR halo but I don’t have a GHR so I tried it on my decline bench and it works.
Also got my Test/melatonin/cortisol/dhea tests back. Not good on the cortisol like I figured. It was through the roof through out the day. Melatonin was low too. Test he said us okay but on the results it was upper range which may be weighted for my age. He thinks the cortisol is the biggest reason for my fatigue.
W6D3 Bench. Feeling good 185 for 3. Easy. So…i broke the rules did a couple singles at 205. First time over 200 and it moved well. Didn’t push it just did it a few times to prove it was no fluke. Did banded OHP for the 50. That pumped the delts big time. All in all both presses are moving better. Did chest supported row on the Powertec machine…not sure if I like it. Then I did some arm work and rear delt raises superset with swings.
W6D4 BBB Challenge Squat. 245 for 3. Felt good. Easy enough trying to get used to the belt again. Deads at 185. Hanging leg raises. Solid day but nothing spectacular.