Can I ask what changed or inspired you to lose so much weight and aim for such a serious physique? I know you’ve lost a ton of weight and had probably the most extreme body recomp on this forum
I asked people around here when I had troubles but, I still have to figure out if my problem were the numbers themselves or my lifestyle choices. I’m not looking forward to going off as it’ll take quite some time to start back up.
Appreciate the tag but I can’t say anything specific to you other than what I’d maybe consider myself and that’d be to find out what total T might be for a person my age (the [241-827] is, AFAIK, for “men” not accounting for age). Also, what is your free T? I wonder if that cannot be computed given you have your SHBG. There are calculators online that’ll let you know if you have everything you need.
Also, are those the only bloods that were taken? Because, maybe something else is going on that’d also show in your bloodwork.
Not medical advice, I am not a Dr. I don’t have your Free T, so I used a calculator that needed TT, SHBG and Albumin, I just use a middle number for Albumin, and it had your Free T at 9.9 ng/dL. My Free T when starting was 10.1 ng/dL.
You are kinda in a gray area. For me, the gym and how my body looked were pretty important to me. I hopped on. It has been worth it, but it was a smaller impact than I had thought. I didn’t really get much improvement in mental sides (which are probably more due to ADHD and depression, than low T). I didn’t gain a ton of muscle (I was fairly developed, just fat before). Where the TRT has helped is holding muscle with lower fat. I have moved to blasting and cruising, and handling it all on my own now (was with a clinic). I do believe for many, that TRT is a path towards blasting and cruising.
It’s been about 2 months on the same PPL split, and as I’ve been losing weight - i’m noticing I don’t like a few things about certain body parts’ muscle development. As such, I will be altering my training a little, but still keeping it mostly under the same umbrella of ‘powerbuilding’.
I do not feel that my back has any substantial thickness, I will remedy this by splitting my Pull session into a width session, and a thickness session - still with many of the same exercises. Thickness and Width will each be trained once per week.
I do not see many of my assistance exercises increasing in weight or intensity. While this is to be expected with powerbuilding, I believe I can improve more with the Rest-Pause method for non-powerlifts.
I am progressing consistently with deadlifts, but squats are suffering/stagnant as a result. I will be performing deadlifts once every 2 weeks, and doing heavy squats on the off-deadlift week. Powerlifts will remain 5x5
Progression model:
All assistance lifts were ranging from 30-36 reps total (3x10, 4x8, 3x12). I will keep weights the same to start, but will perform 30 reps under Rest-Pause protocol. When I am able to perform either 20 reps continuous or more than 35 reps total, I will increase weight and begin at 25 reps. The goal is to increase at least one rep per respective training session. New Program Template: Push:
Warmup: DeFranco Agile 8
Incline BB Bench - 5x5
High Inc. DB Press - 30 reps
DB Lateral Raise - 30 reps
Reverse DB Flye, Incline Bench - 30 reps
Overhead Triceps Extension - 30 reps
Cable Flyes - 30 reps
45 degree Cable Pushdown - 30 reps
Bodyweight Dips - 3 Set AMRAP Pull Thickness:
Warmup: DeFranco Agile 8
Deadlift - 5x5
Zercher Shrug - 30 reps
Chest Supported Row - 30 reps
Medium Grip Cable Row - 30 reps
DB Crossover Curls - 30 reps
Cheat Curls - 30 reps Pull Width:
Warmup: DeFranco Agile 8
Rack Pulls - 5x5
Trap Bar Shrug - 30 reps
Medium Grip Lat Pulldown - 30 reps
PJR Pullover - 30 reps
Incline Hammer Curl - 30 reps
Face Pulls - 30 reps
Reverse Grip EX Curl - 30 reps Legs:
Warmup: DeFranco Agile 8
Back Squat - 5x5
Hip Thrust - 30 reps
Hack Squat, Quad Dominant - 30 reps
Unilateral Quad Ext. - 30 reps
Unilateral Hamstring Curl - 30 reps
Unilateral Calve Press - 30 reps
If anyone has a suggestion, I am willing to entertain it. This program is very similar to what was previously run, only with some slight modifications and a new method for Progressive Overload.
Remember you are in a deficit. If you are able to maintain your numbers, that’s awesome. This is also why you might have a hard time “fixing” your back during this phase.
I recall @T3hPwnisher saying his deadlift goes up when he loses weight and squats regressing.
Going to take a short break from posting. Not tracking macros for the time being, will be going on a short pause for the strict diet but still be eating intuitively. Still going to be tracking my workouts but won’t be posting. Will be taking progress pictures still and weighing myself, just not going to sacrifice the time with family.
I normally spend my down time at work keeping my log updated. Will be back posting as usual when work commences beginning of January.
Late Merry Christmas, happy late Hanukkah everyone! Will be back to killin it in a week or so
Hey man, hope your holidays are good. Just wanted to throw in my .02
I suggest giving step loading a try. Instead of increasing weight every week, I would increase your sets by 1 every week for a 3 week mesocycle. Once you hit the 4th week, you can reset at the base rep/set scheme but with a little bit more weight. Ie.
I like this progressive overloading scheme because you’re not always in your head if you fail to increase weight. it increases your work capacity. You’re not slamming your body with a ton of weight meaning you stay healthy longer. I’d suggest to work this in somehow and see how it goes.
I believe this. It’s not out of the ordinary for higher intensity deadlift sessions to drive progress. Squats on the other hand, there’s just not enough volume/working sets. Squatting once a week, with 5 working sets wont do it for you, especially with being at the stage you’re at.
I’d try to include a second squatting session on your push day AND do your heavy 5x5 every 2nd week when you don’t deadlift. That’ll be 10 working sets on deadlift week, and 15 on non deadlift week. If you step load it like I’ve mentioned above, I’m sure you’ll see great progress.
I’ve been considering changing up my programming a bit more to get away from the straight 5x5, so I’m happy you came to give some advice.
For squats and deadlifts, I find myself struggling to complete more than 5 reps at heavy weight because I get very light-headed. I can pull say 365x8 without reaching muscle fatigue, but my heart is racing out of my chest and I’m more light-headed doing that than if I’d pulled something like 455x5…
I typed out like 4 or 5 different responses from here and realized I was just avoiding the inevitable - that I need to push to a higher rep range and probably get some VO2 work in to help avoid these problems.
I’ll give your recommendations a go and get them pre-programmed into my training. Thank you for the advice, it is much needed!
There isn’t really anything wrong with 5x5 at all! For “heavier” compound movements you probably don’t even need to get higher than that rep wise.
If you were interested in doing higher rep sets like 8-12 or anything beyond that, there’s nothing wrong with dropping intensity.
This isn’t necessarily true. Our main goal of training is to push ourselves so we get adaptations in return, ie. muscle growth, being able to move a weight more efficiently (getting stronger). And we essentially do this by progressive overload. We either do more reps over time, add weight overtime, add sets overtime. Essentially getting more work done this week than last.
And frankly the easiest way to get more work done is increasing your frequency and volume. If 2 5x5 sessions are too much, you can do 2 sessions of 5x4 sets or even 5x3 sets and you’re still getting more volume in.
I would check out Alex Bromley on YouTube, he gives tons of information on strength building. Not just here do this, but why you’re doing it.
Hopefully some of this is of any help. I’m decent at building strength but don’t know much about building muscle haha!
Ps. I’m in the same boat as you, 8 reps is my upper limit of compound movements at any weight