Good workouts. Definitaly keep your weight up until you hit that 180 kg squat. Anytime I drop weight squat progress stalls and then moves up very slowly. I think a bigger belly helps a lot.
[quote]mikemike87 wrote:
Good workouts. Definitaly keep your weight up until you hit that 180 kg squat. Anytime I drop weight squat progress stalls and then moves up very slowly. I think a bigger belly helps a lot. [/quote]
Whatās up man!
Well I was mainly getting stressed because my belly looked bloated, and while I have no interest in becoming a male fitness model (mainly due to intense hatred of all humans, and a perma-scowl face) I do like to have a somewhat flat stomach.
Anyway, 5 days after stopping creatine my stomach has shrunken a fair bit and Iāve dropped back to 95kgs; looks like water retention was causing a lot of it.
Iām still going to try and drop some fat, but will take a less dramatic approach as I wonāt want to lose my hard-earned muscle. I learnt from my mini-cut earlier in the year (92kg to 88kg) that strength and muscle are hard to gain and easy to lose.
So yeah, I will just tighten up the diet a little and run / vest walk more.
Hereās a video.
A couple of things I have found helpful recently:
-Squeezing the bar like itās the throat of my worst enemy. This really helped my pressing last night.
-Rather than āpushing my head through the windowā on the press, I focused on ālowering my chin to my chestā as the bar passed my forehead. This kept the bar path more direct and more stable.
-I now do all my chins/pullups as sets of 3 - for 17 sets in total - between my squatting and pressing sets. Saves time, reduces fatigue, keeps lats activated. Plus I get 50 total instead of 30!
-No longer timing my rest periods.
-As per Wendler advice, doing my singles by āfeelā rather than programming, and aiming to NEVER fail a single.
[video]2525[/video]
Note to self: Weighted vest was designed by the devil. My ālow impactā stair walking was absolute hell on earth haha.
Photos taken on 25-11-12ā¦ will update in 6 weeks and see if I have leaned out at all. Yes, I dramatically lack chest size!
[photo]37825[/photo]
[photo]37827[/photo]
[photo]37828[/photo]
You look thick man and especially your upperback is buildt 
Good work so far and good luck getting leaner
BOOOOOOM!
theBird has landed.
tweet
^thanks Florelius. I think my upper back is all good and I am slowly losing my neck, yus!; just need to catch up the rest of my body and lose a bit of fat so I can be ripped like you 
haha.
531 Fullbody āFor Powerliftingā/Cycle 3/Week 3/Day 3
28-11-12
Squat (FBT)
3 x 122.5
3 x 137.5
1 x 155kg
Deadlift (5/3/x)
5 x 152.5
3 x 172.5
2 x 192.5kg
1 x 207.5
1 x 230kg (Yeah bitch! PR)
Bench (FBT)
2 x 90
2 x 90
2 x 90
2 x 90
2 x 90
2 x 90
2 x 90
2 x 90
2 x 90
2 x 90kg
Power Clean (first rep) and Push Press
5 x 60
4 x 65
3 x 70
2 x 75
1 x 80kg
Chins BW - Varying Grip
50 total; performed between squat and bench sets.
Hanging Leg Raise
20
NOTES:
-Fuuuuucking happy to get a clean, shudderless 230kg pull!
-Benching was hard; intended to to 15 sets but meh.
-Last rep of power clean plus push press was hideous. Shouldnāt have done it; knew I wasnāt up for it, but I didnāt want to gay out on the final rep of my workout.
-Song title to describe Post-workout feelings: Deftones - This place is Death
At this rate youāll have me beat to a 600lb pull! Better keep it up man!
[quote]csulli wrote:
At this rate youāll have me beat to a 600lb pull! Better keep it up man![/quote]
Cheers dude! Fingers crossed 
230kg pull somewhere in hereā¦
[video]2527[/video]
Got some traps on ya, brother. Thatās a serious pull.
^ Yeah, I hate my neck and want to bury it in a sea of muscle.
Random notes:
-Happy as to be on deload now. Definitely need a rest. Due to terrible scheduling, Iāve had 4-5 day deloads for the past few cycles and Iām looking forward to a full 7 day rest.
-I will continue with some fairly heavy benching during deload as I need to build this area as much as possible for end-of-year max testing.
-Thanks to some input on my deadlifting thread, I will be implementing the Agile 8 mobility routine. My hips are a wall of pain, and I need to loosen them up.
-Diet is strict carb cycling again:
Training Day: 210g Protein / 450g Carbs / 65g Fat
Rest Day: 210g Protein / 220g Carbs / 100g Fat
According to the calculators, this should keep me building muscle but gradually reduce fat over the next 10 weeks.
-Iād forgotten how awesome Slayer are to train to, and have recently discovered a band called Tombs. Great black/sludge metal.
Did the Agile 8 for the first time today. Man my legs felt awesome and loose afterwards! But fuck it was painful hahaā¦
Did the Agile 8 for the first time today. Man my legs felt awesome and loose afterwards! But fuck it was painful hahaā¦
imā gunna try that.
Your squat looks really good! Sure, steady, and quicker than before and it looks like yourāre going and inch or two deeper than before. That deadlift looks great too. A dude at my gym pulled 225 kg for a triple and each rep looked like a greater fight than what you pulled. Was that final pull 230? It looks like you have a lot more in you!
Iām no bench expert. Iāve only ever reached about 136 kg. but Iāve made progress before. My bench goes up when I can dip more and work triceps directly.
I canāt really see anything off about form. Leg drive, back arch, bar aligned w/ forearm and touching bottom of rib cage etc. looks good. Iām not positive on your hand placement and elbow tuck though. It looks a little wide to me but someone with a serious bench would have to tell you. My best sessions result in a tricep/shoulder pump/fatigue rather than pecs. I canāt feel pecs working or having been worked during and after my best bench sessions. Could be a sign for you to look for.
The traps are killer but not as much as the tattoos.
[quote]mikemike87 wrote:
Your squat looks really good! Sure, steady, and quicker than before and it looks like yourāre going and inch or two deeper than before. That deadlift looks great too. A dude at my gym pulled 225 kg for a triple and each rep looked like a greater fight than what you pulled. Was that final pull 230? It looks like you have a lot more in you!
Iām no bench expert. Iāve only ever reached about 136 kg. but Iāve made progress before. My bench goes up when I can dip more and work triceps directly.
I canāt really see anything off about form. Leg drive, back arch, bar aligned w/ forearm and touching bottom of rib cage etc. looks good. Iām not positive on your hand placement and elbow tuck though. It looks a little wide to me but someone with a serious bench would have to tell you. My best sessions result in a tricep/shoulder pump/fatigue rather than pecs. I canāt feel pecs working or having been worked during and after my best bench sessions. Could be a sign for you to look for.
The traps are killer but not as much as the tattoos.[/quote]
Thanks man! I am not testing my squat until December 30thā¦ so fingers crossed I hit my end of year goal at that time.
The final deadlift was indeed a 230kg pull. Iām not going for another max this year as I want to dedicate this last month to building my bench and preparing for a squat PR. Next year I am looking at taking Larry10ās advice from my Deadlift thread and working on some 5x5 deadlift progressions to build my base strength more. He pointed out that thereās no real building in my current approach, and I may reap big rewards from some short-term high volume pulling.
Iāve had comments regarding hip placement, and suggestions of lowering my hips for pulling so I will take those into consideration when I begin the high volume work. Iām happy with my current setup, but will try anything which may make me stronger!
Haha if I could bench 136kg I would be fuckin happy.
Funnily enough, I never feel much chest soreness ever. But yeah the bench setup is VERY MUCH a work in progress! I will see how this current width goes for a while, then play around with slightly narrower as necessary.
Cheers dude!
531 Fullbody āFor Powerliftingā/Cycle 4/Week 1/Day 1 (12th and final cycle of 5/3/1 for 2012)
04-12-12
Bodyweight Hipthrusters
10, 10, 10
Squat (FBT)
3 x 125
3 x 142.5
1 x 157.5kg
Bench (3/3/x)
3 x 75
3 x 85
5 x 95kg
1 x 110kg (pr)
0 x 115 (doh!)
2 x 100kg
Barbell Row
5 x 80
5 x 80
5 x 80kg
Dumbbell Press
12 x 12.5
10 x 15
8 x 17
8 x 20
8 x 23kg
Chins (varying grip)
50 total
Kettlebell Swing
20 x 40kg
Hanging Leg Raise
10
NOTES:
-I tried a new coffee today, and it paid off!
-Hips felt FUCKING AMAZING. No lower back pain, and the squats felt easier than they have all year. Like, seriously, they felt light. Thank you again Larry10 for the suggestion of Agile 8!
-Very happy with the bench PR. Now this is only a 5kg increase and I am still homo weakā¦ however, this was a mental block for me and I have failed it numerous times. The weight flew up and I know I am good for more. Perhaps my 120kg year goal may be doable!! I then failed 115 in epic fashion ahaā¦
-I tried doing the barbell rows in a reverse of my benching.
-Itās exciting to be on my 12th and final cycle of 5/3/1 for the year!
Congrats on the bench PR Panzer, great job
Isnt that a 20kg increase since january?