How much do you weigh right now?
175ish
Squat 117,122,127 kg x 5
Deadlift 137,147,157 kg x 5
Bench 72 kg x 12,12,9
Incline db press 26 kg x 9,7, 24 kg x 9
Dips x 12, 10, 10
V bar pushdown 3 sets
Db skullcrusher 2 sets
One more day to go and my mini cut will be over. These 21 days flew by, and I’m satisfied with the results. I will do a finally weigh in, but I lost around 4.5 kg / 10 lbs during this period. Not too shabby for 3 weeks. I feel like training has be at the right level of intensity, and despite having been REALLY hungry at times, I never felt like I was going to jump in a tub filled with carbs and dive in. Or other weird stuff that goes through my mind when dieting for a long time.
On Wednesday it’ll be my best friend’s birthday and, on top of eating out, I’ll indulge in some of the many foods I’ve been missing lately. Mostly junk, I’m talking about. Then I’ll go back to dieting until Sunday. I’ll do this because I have another birthday party on Saturday and if I diet the remaining days of this week, I can virtually pig out as much as I want on those two days and have no consequence.
As of next Monday, my new mass gain period will begin. I want to implement a slightly different approach than I’ve been using and be more precise with my weight gain. I did that for a while last year but then I got bored and stopped tracking. This time I want to do it until summer at least, and I want to get there having gained around 3 kg / 6.5 lb over three months, this time with minimal fat gain.
Last week I had a moment where, for maybe the first time ever since I started training, I looked at my body in the mirror and went, “damn, I look good.” It was so satisfying. It’s like these almost four years of effort are finally coming together in terms of looking like I lift on a normal, everyday situation.
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You don’t need me to tell you you’ve worked hard for that man. Well earned.
Did I miss a post about what your training will look like going forward?
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I’m going to stick with the routine I’m using right now. Will focus on hitting more reps and more weight on the exercises I’m already doing. I want to keep it simple enough and let recovery dictate how hard I’m going to push it on a session to session basis.
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Keep up the good work in here! Your chest is definitely a strong point. Traps too. And your age 14 to 19 transformation is huge.
Just imagine what you’ll look like when you’ve doubled the weights of your lifts.
Edit: Also, I’m always envious of you guys who can look good while weighing this little. At 180lbs I look and feel downright anorexic. Though I’m also 6’2 and a stereotypical “endomorph.” How tall are you?
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Thank you man! I appreciate the compliments.
I’m 5’11’'.
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No problem. You earned it.
If I do have one piece of constructive criticism, it’s that at this early stage you should be able to push the strength increases a lot more.
Press
42 kg / 92 lb x 13 → 52 kg / 114 lb x 10Deadlift
112 kg / 246 lb x 12 → 154 kg / 338 lb x 11
(also deadlifted 182 kg / 400 lb x 1)Bench
74 kg / 162 lb x 12 → 89 kg / 195 lb x 5
(also benched 92 kg / 202 lb x 3)Squat
104 kg / 228 lb x 10 → 122 kg / 268 lb x 11
(also squatted 142 kg / 300 lb x 3)
Progress is progress, but I 100% believe you were capable of much bigger strength increases than this. In fact, it’s not uncommon for beginners to get to your end of 2019 lifts after one year of lifting provided they eat properly. This is coming from experience, since me and many of my friends from high school lacrosse and shot put were at this level of strength after one year (I was weaker on the Deadlift but stronger on the overhead press). And this was without any sort of training plan.
I do NOT say this to talk down your progress. Instead, I say this because you are definitely capable of more, especially since you’re still relatively new to this. Obviously people are different, and some will gain size and strength faster than others. But just ask yourself is this is truly the fastest YOU could be gaining strength for reps.
Edit: Your progress on the Deadlift was good, though. That’s the kind of progress I’m talking about.
Fair observation, and I think I said it myself that I wasn’t particularly impressed by my progress, save for the Deadlift.
A few critical points during the past year that might have been the cause for this:
- I was set back strength wise by a 6 week cut I did this summer
- When I first started BBB, I used weights that were too heavy and I got destroyed within two weeks. I had to reset my TM’s and set it back by 2-3 cycles
- I did 4 cycles of BBB, where the goal wasn’t to push more weight for more reps but instead to work up to heavier weights for 5x10. My main work was done using 5’s PRO, so I really wasn’t pushing for pr’s the whole time.
- I had to learn to bench properly and it took me almost 6 months to get to the point where the movement feels completely comfortable and stable
- Press progress was repeatedly set back due to my wrist inflammation caused by the press itself (I want to address this more in-depth later).
Mind you these aren’t justifications, but rather I’m trying to work out what I did wrong. I suspect that if I had chased rep pr’s the whole year and hadn’t fucked up my TM with BBB, I would probably be stronger now.
But you also have to factor in my goal. I want to build muscle and then be lean and look great. So there’s more to it than just rep pr’s on those four exercises.
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Fair observation, and I think I said it myself that I wasn’t particularly impressed by my progress, save for the Deadlift.
I only skimmed the most recent posts, so if you said this, then fair enough.
Mind you these aren’t justifications, but rather I’m trying to work out what I did wrong
Once again, fair enough. It’s impossible to know all the different factors that go on in someone’s training. Some years are gonna great (adding 100 pounds to your bench), while some are gonna be meh (strained your shoulder for 6 months so you could only maintain your max).
But you also have to factor in my goal. I want to build muscle
I’m sure you know that strength plays a key role in building muscle. In fact, for beginners, it’s easily the biggest factor. Obviously not talking about singles and doubles. I mean 5 rep maxes, 10 rep maxes and 20 rep maxes. Excluding anomalies (like powerlifters purposely keeping calories low to be in a weight class), a guy who benches 315 x 10, barbell rows 315 x 10, and squats 405 x 20 will be huge.
So there’s more to it than just rep pr’s on those four exercises.
I just used those 4 lifts since those were what were listed. Since I’m assuming you’re training for bodybuilding/physique purposes, your rep pr’s for stuff like lat pulldowns, Rows, hammer curls, and DB overhead preses all matter. You’d want to get strong as fuck on all bodyparts so they all grow.
Absolutely agreed. What I was trying to say is that, during the period I focused on bringing up my strength on the 5x10, I didn’t work on pr sets (which are a slightly different skill in my opinion, a different kind of struggling etc.), so whatever strength I gained in that rep range didn’t realize to its fullest. Is that a thing?
This is the reason I decided to quit 5/3/1 after a year of it. I felt like I was burning myself out on the squat and Deadlift (and press sometimes) and had nothing left for the rest, which was arguably as important when it came to reaching my goal. I am also happy with my leg size. It doesn’t mean I don’t want them to grow, but rather that they are proportional and slightly bigger than my upper body, so I have other priorities at the moment.
This is why my current training program has the squat and Deadlift on the same day, and the remaining three days are dedicated to hitting the different muscles in my upper body. I can do more exercises thanks to this, and I’m pushing for more weight and reps on all of them.
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Is that a thing?
Probably. Like I said, during high school we had no real program, so I’d end up doing stuff like 10 sets of 5 or 20 sets of 3. I became good at that, but couldn’t do 10 reps with a much lighter weight.
I can do more exercises thanks to this, and I’m pushing for more weight and reps on all of them.
Awesome to hear, dude. Keep progressing and eventually post a 2020 to 2024 transformation pic. Looking forward to it.
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You can bet I will do. Gonna be jacked haha
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Db ohp 24 kg x 9, 8, 7
Cable lateral raises 10 kg x 13,10,10
Plate front raise superset with lateral raise on Incline bench 2 rounds
Dumbbell curl 14 kg x 10, 12 kg x 10, 9
Rope pushdown 35 kg x 15, 30 kg x 15, 12
Incline curl superset with db skullcrusher 2 sets
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Squat 112,122,132 kg x 5
Deadlift 142,152,162 kg x 5
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Nice. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if you get to a 405lbs Squat and 500lbs Deadlift this year.
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Those would be such good numbers man!
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Bench 77 kg x 10, 72 kg x 9,9
Incline db press 26 kg x 9, 8, 6
Dips x 10, 9, 9
Rope pushdown 35 kg x 15, 30 kg x 12, 25 kg x 15
Db skullcrusher 10 kg x 10,10,8
Bb row 72 kg x 11, 10, 11
Neutral-Grip pulldown 65 kg x 12, 70 kg x 8, 65 kg x 12
Cable lat row 45 kg x 10, 40 kg x 11
Face pull superset with Rope pulldown 2 sets
Cross body Hammer curl 14 kg x 8, 12 kg x 10, 10 kg x 10
Spider curl 8 kg x 10, 6 kg x 10, 10
Bottom line of this session: my left wrist is fucked, and I can’t feel my biceps working.