Nice, welcome to the forums! It’s really cool to hear that.
If you have any questions about DC training ask away, I’ll try and answer them to the best of my ability. I got to check out the log of your later today.
I’ve got a Q or two listed up on Dante’s forums in the newbie section, once they are answered there I’ll post it up later tonight with my (hopefully) completed log!
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Sounds great! I’ll make sure to check your log out once you get it running
Daily log:
Weight:
85.5kgs/189lbs
It’s coming down a bit. I’ll continue with my current macros for the remaining four days of this deload and then I’ll up them - if my body wants to stay in the 85-86kg range I’ll let it do so. Really the only thing happening is a bit of bloat around my midsection in addition to looking fuller. I’d say that around my shoulder girdle/upper back I actually look leaner than before.
Nutrition:
1600 Calories
210g Protein
80g Carbs
50g Fat
Substituted my peri-workout stuff for a solid meal as it is a rest day. On the diet I would just have a protein shake here and thus I had considerably less carbs on rest days but as I’m having a deload now I need some food for it to be effective. (Really I should have like 1K more but maybe the extra calories from a few days ago give me a but of leeway)
Tomorrow we’ll celebrate midsummer, so it’ll be a day with grilling and such, probably going to be around 2.5-3K calories. (not 5K this time, I promise)
Training:
Just stretched for 45 minutes
I’m still not feeling quite the buzz for hard training, so I think it’s a good idea to have this kind of longer deload. I’ve accumulated over a year of fatigue and it’s good to give the body a break at times. Tweaking my back was kind of a clear sign of that, it feels good as new now, by the way.
Tomorrow, Chest/Back/Shoulders/Small muscles, oh yeah. I really enjoy this new split.
Good on you mate, sometimes it takes more willpower and self control to back off than it does to go hard 24/7.
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Definitely, backing off is something I’ve always struggled with when it comes to bodybuilding (or life in general really). I’ll try to get better with it on this upcoming bulk, so if you see me blasting out for half a year while complaining about tweaky joints and not getting any sleep, just call me out on skipping the deload.
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Well I called you out about 3 or 4 weeks ago but you kept going hardcore 
unfortunately the body gets easier to damage as we age. That’s why my number 1 training goal is injury prevention. I refuse to be the not-so-old guy complaining about a bad back or knees when it gets cold but “that’s ok, because I squatted 4 plates once!”
Definitely not my style.
It’s good to hear you are recovering well though mate, keep it up.
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Yeah, that was pretty dumb from my side. I wonder, had I listened to you, would I have been saved from tweaking my back?
Maybe.
I’ve never been so much of a health comes first guy. I try to do enough prehab stuff so I don’t get injured but if you offered me a deal of being a world-class natural bodybuilder for a few years and in exchange I’d have to suffer from joint pain and aches from age 27 I’d take it in a whim. Like, at the moment I wouldn’t care if I shaved off 10 years of my life if that means I can do something really noteworthy in my sport. It probably seems stupid (and I can see myself thinking this is stupid later on) but for me, at this place and time, it doesn’t matter.
Now that being said, I’m not making unhealthy decisions because of that, if I have to choose between a healthy and an unhealthy way to do something, I’ll opt for the healthier one if it isn’t way worse in terms of getting the thing done. And overall, I’m a healthy guy. So no need to worry, I’m not trying to kill myself.
Thanks man, maybe keeping it down would be the way to go for now though 
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Daily log; yesterday edition
Weight:
84.3kgs/186lbs
Good to see it dropping, especially on a day like yesterday was nutrition-wise
Nutrition:
Around 3-3.5K Calories
Training:
Deload: Chest/Back/Shoulders/Small muscles
1a Low incline bench
3x6
1b Pendlay row
3x6
2a DB Bench
2x8
2b BTN Lat pulldown
2x8
3a Lying cable upright row
3x10
3b Head-supported rear laterals
3x10
4a Smith machine calf raise
2x12
4b BTB Wrist curl
2x12
5a Neck curl+Extension
2x15 for both
5b DB External rotation
2x12
Notes:
Another good deload session, volume and intensity were significantly lower than they will be when I get back to regular training, but I still went through the motions and I had some load on there.
Pendlay rows felt good, they didn’t bother my lower back at all, so that’s a win. Next up we’ll see what back squats will do.
Just caught up Dante 
What happened to the weight loss. You were down to 81 kg and the other day it was almost 87
Doing some great workouts as usual
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My one relaxed day of eating turned into three and well, I have a great appetite. Gained some weight from that which doesn’t seem to be going anywhere really. I’d say it’s muscle glycogen and bloat, both of which are holding on a bit harder because of the lack of hard training at the moment. (Not that I would have a need to get rid of either one of those)
Thanks man! Happy cake day, by the way!
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Daily log:
Weight:
85.5kgs/189lbs
Nutrition:
~2.5K Calories
Spent the day at my father’s house and just ate what was offered, mostly leftovers from yesterday
Training:
Deload: Lower body
1a Heel-elevated back squat
3x6
1b Leg curl
3x8
2 Hip thrust
2x10
3 Narrow stance leg press
2x15
4a Back extension
2x20
4b Exercise ball crunch
2x15
Notes:
The squat becomes exponentially harder with everything I do that makes it more quad dominant, but that’s what I feel I need to do. I’m squatting with a very high bar position (staying very upright), heel elevation, narrow stance and I go deep. That’s pretty hard for me. Even compared to a slightly lower bar postion, no heel elevation and a tad wider stance (still going deep and keeping it mostly on quads) this is hard. But it also feels natural and like a movement that would grow your quads really well.
Didn’t feel bad in my back at all. When I get to hard training I’ll probably use this variation but I’ll throw a set or two with no heel elevation into the warmups just to make sure I stay proficient with that.
Our gym will get a new horizontal leg press in a couple of days, hopefully it’s a good one. If it is I’ll make sure it gets it’s place in the program.
Apart from that, nothing to report, tomorrow will be the last deload session and after that, one rest day and it’s on.
I’ll lay out my plans for the first 8-10 or so weeks probably tomorrow or the day after.
Oh, by the way. It was on the news that this year sports biology was harder to get into than ever before. There was a record number of people who applied and less spots than there have been up until now. Makes me feel a bit better about missing advancing to selection phase two by that one question.
Still no word from the physical therapy training, the results will come in during next week.
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Daily log:
Weight:
86kgs/190lbs
Nutrition:
1600 Calories
210g Protein
80g Carbs
50g Fat
Training:
Deload: Arms/Delts/Small muscles
1a Very close grip bench w/feet up
3x6
1b Hammer curl
3x10
2a Kneeling cable tricep extension
2x12
2b Incline DB Curl
2x15
3a DB Overhead press
3x10
3b Side laterals
3x10
4a Seated calf raise
2x12
4b Cable wrist curl
2x15
5a Sides of the neck
2x15/side
5b External rotation w/cable
2x15/side
Notes:
The CGB felt pretty odd, but it also felt like if I got strong on it it would give me some pretty nice tricep and chest gains. Man, did I feel my chest working there. (Which wasn’t really the goal but it’s a nice bonus)
Only concern I have is wether or not the movement safe to perform with heavy weights. The grip puts your wrists into a kind of compromised position and I can see that being harmful in the long run. I’ll test it out and if it feels bad I’ll drop it.
Tricep extensions are like three times better when done kneeling rather than standing up. They feel amazing.
Also, I’m not sure how well I’ll be able to do my overhead presses after hitting triceps hard, we’ll see about that next week.
Overall this was a nice ending to the deload. Tomorrow I’ll rest and then I’ll get after it. I’ll lay out my plan tomorrow.
Physique-wise I feel that I look maybe a tad bigger overall than I did before the deload. Watery, of course, but bigger. Probably just muscle glycogen tricking me. But one thing is for certain; I’ve put on like three and a half pounds of muscle in my upper traps alone during the deload. I don’t understand why, but they look just about as huge as they did when I solely did cheat rows, deadlifts and shrugs for back. Now I really like having big traps in the aesthetic sense, but they have a couple of downsides for me. Firstly, they make it really hard to go to failure on felt movements while keeping the tension on the delts, they are really good with hogging all the activation. Secondly, I get borderline paralyzing trap cramps when my traps get too big. (Not just upper trap cramps, the whole trap is killing me) had a slight one yesterday, boy did that not feel great.
It may be that the added neck training has a part in this. Well, if they seem to get inhumaly big I can always start a YouTube channel about growing traps… or I can become a circus performer as a part of the freak show.
Guess that’s all, gotta sleep now, I have to wake up super early tomorrow.
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What exercise is this?
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4:45 onwards
Neck training is something you should consider doing, it can be done anywhere with minimal to no equipment and it’ll probably help you with martial arts and sports. I’m pretty sure that if you just put “neck training routine” on YouTube you’ll get plenty of good hits
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Daily log: Plans for the next few weeks edition
Weight:
85.8kgs/189.5lbs
Nutrition:
1880 Calories
250g Protein
110g Carbs
50g Fat
Kind of a in between day of what I’ve been doing up to now and what will begin tomorrow
Training:
No
So, starting tomorrow my training split will look like this:
1: Chest, Back, Delts, Small muscles
2: Quads, Hams, Glutes, midsection
3: Arms, Delts, Small muscles
4: Rest
Repeat
Small muscles include Calves, Forearms, Neck and external rotators
I’ll be using traditional straight sets for the small muscles, for delts I’ll be testing EDT and for others I’ll use the rep goal system by Stewe Shaw + intensity techniques as the weeks go on. In short, with rep goal system you pick a goal for your total reps and an amount of sets you want to reach that goal in. Once you do that you can increase the weight.
I’ll be using three different variations of each session, I won’t lay all of them out here as that would take hell of a lot of time, but I’ll log them as I do them.
Basically I have variations 1A, 1B and 2 for each session. I cycle them like this:
1A
2
1B
2
Repeat
1A and 1B are rather close to each other in terms of exercise selection, while 2 is a bit further away.
For example, my primary chest movements will be: 1A: Bench press, 1B Paused Bench press, 2: Incline press. Same goes for pretty much all exercises, in 1- sessions I do an exercise or it’s close variation, and in 2 sessions I do a variation from a bit further away.
I’ll be using extreme stretches in every session, as I’ve seen a lot of benefits from them.
Now, every 16 days (so after I’ve done both sessions 1A and B once and 2 twice) I add in an intensity technique. It’ll look like this:
(Numbers as in the number of an 8 day cycle, each week is adding to the previous, not replacing)
1: (Tomorrow onwards)
Straight sets with constant tension. Stop set when you have to lock out for a longer time to get more reps
2: Straight sets, locking out for more reps allowed
3-4: Last set of primary movements is done as a rest-pause
5-6 Last set of secondary movements is done as a drop set
If I’m not shot by this time I’ll add in more
When I begin to get considerably into overreaching I’ll drop the volume down considerably and do 1-2 weeks of hit style training with a 4/5 day split just to milk out everything I can. After that I’ll have a deload.
I feel that’s everything important about my training, it’ll all be clear once I get to logging it. But if you have questions feel free to ask.
Nutrition wise I’ll be doing this on training days:
Meals 1&2: 200g Ground beef, Veggies
Peri-Workout protocol
Meals 3&4: 150-175g Chicken, 75g Rice/Pasta
On rest days I’ll replace the peri-workout protocol by a whey+olive oil shake or a protein/carb meal
I do not remember the exact macros right now but it’ll be around 2100-2200 Calories. I’ll adjust my meal plan according to how my weight behaves.
And that’s that for today
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I don’t know if it’s @Irishman92’s log or what but for the last couple of days I’ve really been wanting to get back into the military. I had so much fun there.
Guess I’ve got to pop on my army green shirt (3,99€ on sale ) for today’s session.
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I’m keen as! Green shirts for the win!
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Army clothes were the best, I’ve never looked as jacked as I did in those.
During guard duty we had this game with one of my friends (who was a regular dude, about 5’8", a kind looking fellow) where he would go and check the visitors during nights (as some guys came back drunk or just mad for some other reason) while I stayed in and observed. If there seemed to be a problem I would bust out of our booth and practically yell “do we have a goddamn problem here?”
Now why that was so funny is because in winter guard gear I’m about 6’5"-6’6", and when we add a huge coat on top of that (with a gadget belt holding the waist tight) it created a pretty intimidating look.
Needless to say, we did not have a problem
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Daily log:
Weight:
85.1kg/187.5lbs
Nutrition:
2215 Calories
250g Protein
175g Carbs
55g Fat
This is the base and the starting point for the mass phase. As you see, I’m still (hopefully) under maintenance calories. I’ll up them if I keep losing weight for the next couple of days.
Training: (with weights listed for once)
Chest/Back/Delts/Small muscles
Sets x reps x weight (rep goal)
1a Bench
4x8,12x107.5kgs(40)
1b Weighted pull ups w/fat grips
4x6,8x22.5kgs(30)
2a High incline DB Press
2x10,9,11x27.5kgs(40)
Chest stretch
2b Controlled bent over row
3x10,12x97.5kgs(50)
Back stretch
EDT: (actually 12 minutes)
A Cable face pull
15x8x62kgs
B Side-ish laterals
15x8x10kgs
end of edt
Side felt burns
1:30 straight with 10kgs
A Smith machine calf raise
4x12x75kgs
calf stretch
B Behind-The back wrist curl
forearm stretch
4x12x55kgs
A Neck Curl+Extension
3x15x5kgs/side
B External rotation w/DB
3x15x4kgs/side
Notes:
Man was that heavy. That’s the problem with being very adaptive - I lose huge amounts of strength on deloads due to being detrained. (But it comes back fast)
I’m trying out logging the weights as well as sets and reps etc. for a while. Please don’t laugh at my weights.
Now, to the session.
I chose the weights according to my rep goals, and thus I got to them with pretty much every exercise.
On last set of bench I locked it out once, thus I got extra reps there. Before deload I used more weight than this for pause bench, oh yeah.
I kept surprising amounts of strength with the weighted pullups, which was nice. I thought I would have to start at 17.5-20kgs. This was probably because I wasn’t doing that intense work in the first place here.
After bench and pull ups my training was pretty much just flexing the muscles instead and of doing the exercises in the traditional sense, and that’s pretty much what bodybuilding should be about for things you struggle with. The harder it is for me to target a muscle, the less weight I used.
I was surprised about how damn weak I’m at high incline DB press. It was about 50° and the 27.5kgs were enough, jesus.
On bent over rows I forgot my rep goal and went a tad too heavy, whoops.
Now EDT is supposed to be done for with your 10RM starting with 6 reps and you should he down to 2-3 in 5-6 sets. Because it’s delts we were talking I took my 12RM for very controlled reps and used it for 8 rep sets at the beginning… and the end. Even with no rest I did not see any drop in performance at all and after a total of 30 sets (15 both) I thought to myself “fuck this”
Did 1:30 minutes of side felt burns afterwards to make sure I hit them hard enough. I’ll probably start doing them before the wet for pre-fatigue.
After the side felt burns I just did some work for calves, forearms, neck and external rotators. Went really light here to make sure I keep tension on the muscle. (Especially on neck and rotators)
Would you like for me to keep logging the weights during this program? I feel that you could get more out of my log if I did that. I won’t put pounds in there because I’ll probably get lost in the translation sooner or later as I’m too lazy to calculate all of those weights, and everybody speaks kilos here anyways.
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