So today was my last day of my training cycle. Went decent, but figured I’d give a write-up of working with Stronghold, seeing as it’s a much different style of training then I’ve ever done (4x a week, low volume and frequency, RPE, etc). You can find his coaching at Mutant Strength and Conditioning.
Pros:
Coaching was on point, responded to all messages in a timely manner, elaborated on any questions I had, offered form critiques.
Price was very very competitive
Training style kept me feeling fresh for almost every session and allowed me to work around a busy schedule
‘Timed’ lifting as in doing as many sets as possible in X amount of time, was interesting, and I liked it a lot, especially for isolation work
Taught me a ton about RPE and how one can utilize ‘variations’ of the big lifts to help with weakpoints better than I knew previously
Worked around my limited gym equipment
Strength for DL and OHP consistently rose
Form for Squat and Bench improved substantially in regards to learning how to stay ‘tight’
Cons:
Personally hitting lifts 1x week seemed have my form feel a bit wonky sometimes, like it wasn’t second nature. While my ‘tightness’ improved a ton, actual movement execution kind of felt off
Lifting less frequently, while allowing me to feel fresh, seemed to make it take a long time for me to get warmed up every session
Lack of isolation work for me biceps and delts caused, as it has in the past, so wonky joint issues. Elbows and shoulders are pretty beat up from years of basketball, so I think I personally need a frequent amount of volume to those areas
I’m really not good at RPE, which i no fault of any coach lol. I’m just bad at being honest with myself.
Regardless, I DEFINITELY recommend his SH’s coaching services, he’s extremely intelligent and knows what he is doing.
So I’m taking a ‘deload’ aka I’m going out of town for 3 days lol. May lift the last day or so there. I’ve had some personal issues arise that have been a bit shitty, so it’ll be nice to see some of my friends for awhile.
Ya’ll be good while I’m gone. Maybe I’ll get lucky and come back to something that looks like the clusterfuck that goes on in Csulli’s thread lol
Lol Had something similar happen to me last week. After not going above 5 reps in 5-6 weeks I struggled to get 12 reps on the OHP with just the bar warming up.
[quote]Samplaysbaseball wrote:
Lol Had something similar happen to me last week. After not going above 5 reps in 5-6 weeks I struggled to get 12 reps on the OHP with just the bar warming up.[/quote]
Yeah brother, it’s a totally different energy challenge. Once the DOMS from this week wears off I think I’ll be good though. Thanks for following along, btw!
I know I haven’t posted, last 2 weeks have been a wash. First week I was out of town and basically ‘deloading’, and this week I’ve been trying to accustom myself to more reps + volume again.
DOMS from the high rep stuff the other day killed, enough where wobbling around town yesterday with a friend had me pulling my hamstring pretty bad just stepping off a curb. Today did light DL’s and Paused Squats because of that, but next week I think I’ll be ready to start a my ‘real’ training cycle.
Also, in other news, I’ve basically reversed dieted as best I could. Last 2 months or so I’ve basically lost ~1.5 inches of my navel measurements while staying in the 198-200 lbs range, while increase cals from an avg of 2700 to 3600. Idk why but I’m much better at reverse dieting than I am dieting.
[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Idk why but I’m much better at reverse dieting than I am dieting. [/quote]
And I’m the exact opposite, for whatever reason.[/quote]
Really? as in you feel you don’t retain leanness well when gaining?
So today I embarked on a new training cycle, PlainPat set me up to be a guinea pig for him. Should be fun.
Squats:
Back Squats: Lowered the initial attempts by 10% just because high reps kill. Like all these reps felt horrible, but on video the were good form and fast speed. So it’s just a matter of endurance and staying tight for 10 reps as opposed to my usual (for the last few months) 3-5
265x3x10
225x3x10
Front Squats: My God my Quads were soo sore already that these felt so horrible. Like the flex in my quads from unracking the bar literally hurt lol
185x2x10
Chins: Wide Neutral grip
BWx5x10
Abs: 3 sets of Band Pallof Presses and 2 sets of hanging knee raises
Rear Delt Flies: Super light, shoulders have been very achey for last few weeks, and doing these as a ‘cool down’ usually keeps that from happening
10’sx3x40
That was it. Really thinking my Squats will move up quick once I get my endurance back. Workout was tough though, can already feel the DOMS creeping in.
Also, in other news, I’ve basically reversed dieted as best I could. Last 2 months or so I’ve basically lost ~1.5 inches of my navel measurements while staying in the 198-200 lbs range, while increase cals from an avg of 2700 to 3600. Idk why but I’m much better at reverse dieting than I am dieting. [/quote]
That’s is very cool and good to notice for furniture reference
Also, in other news, I’ve basically reversed dieted as best I could. Last 2 months or so I’ve basically lost ~1.5 inches of my navel measurements while staying in the 198-200 lbs range, while increase cals from an avg of 2700 to 3600. Idk why but I’m much better at reverse dieting than I am dieting. [/quote]
That’s is very cool and good to notice for furniture reference
[/quote]
LOL’d at furniture
Yeah it wasn’t really intentional, just how I usually add in calories, I add them in as protein first, then replace that with carbs and/or fats, and just alternate doing that for awhile. It’s bro-science but I feel protein is the ‘least’ likely macro to go to fat, so I try and get my body accustomed to higher calories with that first, then move to the other ones. Probably makes no difference but it’s working lol
CG Incline: These are difficult lol. Usually paused the last 4-5 reps for each set
145x3x10
125x3x10
OHP: Tried seated OHP at first, but just could not figure it out lol
65x10
85x10
95x10
105x8
115x6 ← eff
Laterals:
5x10-12
Shrugs:
5x10-12
Good workout. Seated OHP, at least with my home set-up, is difficult to unrack and really puts some pressure on my lower back. So I just did standing for now.
Shrugs I kind of ‘lean’ forward so I can shrug up AND back, kind of like a yates row without bending my arms? Idk, hits my entire traps a bit better vs just my upper traps
Also, in other news, I’ve basically reversed dieted as best I could. Last 2 months or so I’ve basically lost ~1.5 inches of my navel measurements while staying in the 198-200 lbs range, while increase cals from an avg of 2700 to 3600. Idk why but I’m much better at reverse dieting than I am dieting. [/quote]
That’s is very cool and good to notice for furniture reference
[/quote]
LOL’d at furniture
Yeah it wasn’t really intentional, just how I usually add in calories, I add them in as protein first, then replace that with carbs and/or fats, and just alternate doing that for awhile. It’s bro-science but I feel protein is the ‘least’ likely macro to go to fat, so I try and get my body accustomed to higher calories with that first, then move to the other ones. Probably makes no difference but it’s working lol[/quote]
Yes laugh at my autocorrect. God I suck lol.
I like the approach and is backed by scientific study.
Also, in other news, I’ve basically reversed dieted as best I could. Last 2 months or so I’ve basically lost ~1.5 inches of my navel measurements while staying in the 198-200 lbs range, while increase cals from an avg of 2700 to 3600. Idk why but I’m much better at reverse dieting than I am dieting. [/quote]
That’s is very cool and good to notice for furniture reference
[/quote]
LOL’d at furniture
Yeah it wasn’t really intentional, just how I usually add in calories, I add them in as protein first, then replace that with carbs and/or fats, and just alternate doing that for awhile. It’s bro-science but I feel protein is the ‘least’ likely macro to go to fat, so I try and get my body accustomed to higher calories with that first, then move to the other ones. Probably makes no difference but it’s working lol[/quote]
Yes laugh at my autocorrect. God I suck lol.
I like the approach and is backed by scientific study. [/quote]
Really? Huh, I just figured it gave me some kind of method to my madness. Do others use that same strategy?
Also, in other news, I’ve basically reversed dieted as best I could. Last 2 months or so I’ve basically lost ~1.5 inches of my navel measurements while staying in the 198-200 lbs range, while increase cals from an avg of 2700 to 3600. Idk why but I’m much better at reverse dieting than I am dieting. [/quote]
That’s is very cool and good to notice for furniture reference
[/quote]
LOL’d at furniture
Yeah it wasn’t really intentional, just how I usually add in calories, I add them in as protein first, then replace that with carbs and/or fats, and just alternate doing that for awhile. It’s bro-science but I feel protein is the ‘least’ likely macro to go to fat, so I try and get my body accustomed to higher calories with that first, then move to the other ones. Probably makes no difference but it’s working lol[/quote]
Yes laugh at my autocorrect. God I suck lol.
I like the approach and is backed by scientific study. [/quote]
Really? Huh, I just figured it gave me some kind of method to my madness. Do others use that same strategy? [/quote]
I think most do carbs most and some pro or more fat and some pro depending on targeted macros. But there are some fun studies done on over eating pro that show how difficult it is to gain fat on just pro overeating.
Also, in other news, I’ve basically reversed dieted as best I could. Last 2 months or so I’ve basically lost ~1.5 inches of my navel measurements while staying in the 198-200 lbs range, while increase cals from an avg of 2700 to 3600. Idk why but I’m much better at reverse dieting than I am dieting. [/quote]
That’s is very cool and good to notice for furniture reference
[/quote]
LOL’d at furniture
Yeah it wasn’t really intentional, just how I usually add in calories, I add them in as protein first, then replace that with carbs and/or fats, and just alternate doing that for awhile. It’s bro-science but I feel protein is the ‘least’ likely macro to go to fat, so I try and get my body accustomed to higher calories with that first, then move to the other ones. Probably makes no difference but it’s working lol[/quote]
Yes laugh at my autocorrect. God I suck lol.
I like the approach and is backed by scientific study. [/quote]
Really? Huh, I just figured it gave me some kind of method to my madness. Do others use that same strategy? [/quote]
I think most do carbs most and some pro or more fat and some pro depending on targeted macros. But there are some fun studies done on over eating pro that show how difficult it is to gain fat on just pro overeating. [/quote]
Yeah i havent read any studies but I havent seen anyone get fat by eating too much chicken breast so my broscience approves
Semi-Sumo: I’ll explain how these went below
365x5x6
Paused HB Squats:
175x2x10
Chins, Abs, Face Pulls
Good workout. Switched to Semi-Sumo, for a few reasons. One being my hamstring in conventional is being reallllly iffy, and I don’t like it, so I’m not messing with it for now. I also like Semi-Sumo, and when I nail the form, it’s like I can’t keep the weight on the ground. I can’t really cheat it up, so form will have to be better as well.
Today I had some issues with pulling. First my legs were still a bit sore. Second, I ran out of athletic tape, so I couldn’t really hook grip. Opted for straps, but they always kind of inhibit my set-up. Thirdly, as the sets went on, I felt that my set-up was ‘off’. To find out, a screw on one end of my BB had gotten loose, and one of the sleeves was falling off. So I was basically doing a DL that was more and more off center as the sets went on. lol So going to go ahead and buy a new BB lol