I was spending around 1,000 a month when I was eating my meal plan from my coach. Daily steak wasn’t cheap lol i also shop at Publix which doesn’t help. And I bought rice cups instead of bags of rice which added a lot.
You’re right, shit ain’t cheap but investing in the only thing you’re guaranteed to have till you die (your body) ain’t so bad.
It’s the same 800-1200 per month I was spending on happy hour, fast food lunch and breakfast, eating out at restaurants, the bar, and recreational drugs.
20/11/2021
Rest day today,
Weighed in at 78.6kg, so I guess 2500 seems like it is my maintenance.
On a side note, holy crap my triceps are extremely sore today (probably from eccentrics yesterday), I hope they recover by Monday 4AM otherwise it will be another sad bench session.
21/11/2021 - Sunday
Rest day
Weighed in at 78.6kg again, 2500 calories may indeed be maintenance.
The average weight for 15 to 21 Nov was:
(79.0 + 77.9 + 78.5 + 78.5 + 78.6 + 78.6 + 78.6)/7 = 78.6kg
Stil have pretty bad tricep DOMS, really hope this shit recovers in the next 16 hours…
Your body will adapt. DOMS won’t bother you for long. Do the workout tomorrow regardless of how your triceps feel. The next time around it won’t be so bad.
Eat lots of healthy food today.
Chest/Tris
November 22 - Monday
Interesting workout, I feel like I have indeed hit a hard plateau.
General Stuff:
Weight: 78.3kg, my weight has been rotating between 78.3 and 78.6kg, time to up the calories to 2600 and see what happens.
Sleep: 4h41m, always happens on Mondays…
Workout:
2x5, 1x4 - first 2 sets 150 lb bench with 4m rest, first set RPE 9, second might be 9.5 or 10 (but I guess if it was RPE 10 I wouldnt be able get the third set for 4 reps0). Last set fucked me up, 1x4, definitely RPE 10, but I feel somewhere just maybe I could have gotten the 5th rep if I had a small spotter. I am still trying to progress but god damn I’ve hit a plateau, I am also not going to RPE10 on the first set, but I guess its catching up to me in the 2nd or 3rd set.
1x8, 1x6, 1x5 - Incline DB Bench with 60 lbs. I always find that if I go to max on the bench I always suffer here
3x8 - Chest flye machine with 170 lbs, nice stretch but its not really a “strength” movement compared to the first two exercises.
3x12 - Assisted dip machine with 15 lbs, I can almost do dips without using assist.
3x12 - Tricep extension machine with 90 lbs, slow negative, pause at the bottom.
Overall, I guess reasonable workout, I’m definitely struggling to progress though and maybe I’m trying to progress too fast for either:
Still chasing the 2 plates, it is definitely a struggle but still being positive, even if I can progress 5 lb a month on bench (compared to 5 lbs a week) I can still get to 225 in 1.5 years which is decent I guess.
I think a lot of people vastly overspend on their nutrition IMO. By no means do I think that it isn’t important or worthwhile to spend extra money on quality food/supps, but i’ve found myself in more than one period where money was tight and have always done fine.
-Buy big containers of protein powder, they have a better price per unit most times
-Don’t even think about buying pre-made protein shakes in a bottle because they’re usually ~2x as much as otherwise
-Pre workout shouldn’t be more than $50 for a month, most should be ~$40 for 30 servings
-Dont buy into most of the BS supplements out there. Your daily vitamin/supp regimen shouldn’t emulate what you’d see in a nursing home.
IMO, the only necessary vitamins/supplements are:
Circumin (I actually advise Biotest’s Circumin) $20/mo
Protein Powder $30/mo for one shake daily
Pre Workout powder (if you partake) $40/mo if you use it every day
Vitamin D Complex $30/mo
And food shouldn’t be breaking the bank. Between my wife, daughter (5yrs) and I, we get by at about $200/week in groceries. I also live just north of LA.
IMO, if you’re natty, food and supps shouldn’t be costing anywhere near that much. Rice, chicken and veggies aren’t that expensive But if you’re cool with spending what you are - more power to you 
Just some perspective on this. I’d be happy for my 5 rep max bench to go up 25 lbs in a year. The point being, don’t get so down about it. If I pick a rep scheme to progress on, I get 4-6 weeks of progression before I stall out and reset, and the first 3-4 weeks of that progression are weights I know I can get.
That $1,000 a month was real food, not any supplements or vitamins or pre workout.
I mean steak everyday sounds nice but shii… I only do red meat about once a week considering the price of everything lately
Steak everyday is horrible. I used to think I could eat it everyday. I was wrong lol I’m about to hop back on the gain train and I won’t be using daily steak 
Thanks man yeah, just need to keep putting in the work and staying consistent, I’m sure I’ll hit those 2 plates one day or another with this effort.
Well my thing is that I don’t cook and I order a meal prep service, which is like $18/meal. I find its still worth it. If I was cooking I’d be spending 600/month but with a lot more pain. At the end of the day I guess I look at it as I’m investing in something I really care about, compared to a vacation or Rolexes etc.
The only things I spend money on really is food/supplements/cars/headphones/gym-clothes, nothing else really. No vacations, roleys, LV etc
Are you using a progressive overload approach? The one thing I took from DoggCrapp training (other than the fact I didn’t feel I was ready for it) was tracking progressive overload (sets x reps x weight lifted for all exercises).
If not progressive overload, perhaps Rest-Pause?
Pick a total number of reps you want to hit with x weight and just keep performing sets until you get there. if you want say 30 reps of something, your first set might have 15 reps, second set could have like 8 reps, third maybe 4 reps, and a last set for maybe 3 reps… The point being, you’re still lifting cumulatively more weight, or just adding in one more rep. This has worked well for many people throughout the years.
Also, you were low on sleep and your triceps were still recovering. Don’t get negative about this shit - you’re still in control of how you feel. If you choose to feel weak, you’re going to perform weak.
Yeah, that’ll do any budget in real quickly.
I guess I am tracking it on a week by week basis.
I’ve reduced one rep down instead of 3x6 I am trying 3x5 for bench, I find I am really struggling with 3x6.
I was trying to get 3x5 with 150 lbs today, almost had it, but on the last set failed by 1 rep.
Your idea seems interesting, so you are saying the target would be 3x5x150 = 2250 no matter what?
I guess I got 2x5 + 1x4 x 150 = 2100, so missed by 150. Maybe I can add in a 4th set if I fail sometime in the future.
I also drink pre workout (100mg caffeine) before any workout because I go straight at 4:30 like 20 mins after waking up
Maybe also the bench volume might be too low to be meaningful.
3x5 is like 15 reps a week only, I am possibly a hardgainer so I wonder if the low volume approach would work out for me.
i do hope you guys can see I am really trying hard now. A lot of times ppl thought I don’t put in the work, I always put in the work as much as I can, its just been really damn hard to make meaningful progress to actually justify the efforts.
Legitimately my social life has gone to trash chasing after this.
No restaurants, events, snacks, even the schedule of waking up at 4 kind of ruins the social life.
The thing is that I am willing to give all that up without a doubt, but I kind of just want to have something to show for it.
for something as small as missing by 1 rep (this happens all the time for anyone who is serious about their training), you can always do what is known as a forced rep where you rack the weight, give yourself 10-15 seconds to recharge, then get that last rep in. This can be done for literally any exercise, just dont abuse that short rest period
As far as going by total weight lifted, I would love to say its’ my idea, but it isnt. This is a slightly perverted version of progressive overload, but still works all the same (just dont be the guy that bench presses the bar by itself for 50 reps to reach your weight goal). The reason why this is beneficial is because it gives you insight into your setsxreps scheme payoff… If you’re at 5x5 and you’re still lifting the same total weight or more of your 4x8 or 3x10 amount - then you’re doing fine. But if dropping sets and reps reduces your overall weight lifted by a significant amount, then you should consider changing up your setsxreps plan.
I still recommend doing something more in tune with the rest-pause method where you pre-designate your total reps and just try to get to that number in as few sets as possible.
DoggCrapp training is a lot like this, but I couldn’t do it a justice without referencing the article written by Nate Green How to Build 50 Pounds of Muscle in 12 Months - Bigger Stronger Leaner - COMMUNITY - T NATION
That sounds like a great plan, I am trying to work my way around how it would work for 150 lbs if you wouldn’t mind (the rest-pause method).
Goal is 15 reps in 3 sets
Set 1 - 150 lbs for 5 reps, with 1 rep left in the tank
Set 2 - 150 lbs for 5 reps, possibly 0 reps left in the tank
Set 3 - 150 lbs for 4 reps, cant get 5th. Rack the weight and then after 15-30 seconds push for the last 5th rep.
Total still 15 in technically “3 sets of 5”
How would progression for this work in the next week then? Would you try 155 for 3x5 or try 150 again but get 3x5 without the rest pause?
Thanks a lot