No and maybe. I took things slow for a while. I suspect a nerve issue as there was no pain, but the strength loss was severe (bench lost 200 lbs exactly).
It’s not super easy still for most people. I was afraid of legal consequences and I thought I might get ripped off. It’s easy though once you get over that.
Yeah, but it’s pretty recreational now. If I was going to compete it would be push / pull (bench and deadlift) only. You can compete in all three lifts, bench only, deadlift only, or bench and deadlift. Some feds I think still have a strict curl competition.
Well shoot, I feel like I plateaued… I’m the strongest I’ve ever been (when off gear, and I didn’t lose a whole lot of strength after cycle) but progress has stalled
Get a workout plan that you like, but it needs to challenge you and be progressive. I like the idea behind Wendler’s 5-3-1. You can do some variations with sets and reps, but keep a de-load week in your plan.
Start eating clean. No sugar or processed foods. Do this to keep your body composition where you can see muscle separation. Get your belly fat down.
Develop good sleep habits, getting no less than 7 hours sleep, but 8 hours is better.
Start phasing out alcohol. Alcohol disrupts sleep, among other negatives.
The use of AAS is your choice, but get all of the above in order before involving AAS.
Minimize stress in your life. Stress releases cortisol, which is one your biggest enemies.
Thanks dude. The booze definitely a major problem, I have dropped that completely.
Mentally I just can’t get that drive or “attack the weights” feeling I had in my 20s.
To be fair, the first two cycles were completely negated by taking years off from lifting, going completely for endurance, destroying hormones, drinking excessively. The last cycle got me out of my slump and back in the gym, it’s the only one that has an effect in where I stand strength wise. The 6 reps is after 6 sets of incline dumbbell and 3 sets of bench so it’s probably stronger but I was trying to be conservative.
Thanks
The last two sets are to failure. Generally every exercise I work up in weight and finish the last set of that exercise to failure, if I’m feeling good then last 2 to failure.
No Deload per say but sometimes I’m forced into a shorter workout
My bench is disproportionately stronger than squat or dead, I rarely train them because of my hips.
I hit 315 on bench but had to work hard for 315 on squat, with like no training 365 on dead (for 2-4). My hips suck, I generally train high rep leg press, split squats, lunges, rdls
Generally speaking your workout strategy produces more cortisol than is conducive to building strength and size. Your workouts cause a greater recovery time than is optimal. If you are not recovered, your body cannot adapt sufficiently for the next stimulation (workout).
I don’t believe you understand what a progressive strategy means, as I state it. Have you looked into Wendler’s 5-3-1? His program works on increasing percentages each week for 3 weeks and de-load the 4th week. The next cycle start 5 or 10lbs more the next 1st week. The additional 5 or 10lbs is “progressive”.
Being 6’4” is probably why you struggle with squats. To put it bluntly, you don’t know how to squat (efficiently).
I was 6’0” tall with relatively long femurs. I thought narrow stance squats would best put size on my quads. For nearly 20 years I did not know how to squat. When I turned 40 I widened my stance and my squat weight took off. It became more of a single movement instead of raising my hips to get the weight started and finishing off with a good morning.
Trigonometrically, I can demonstrate this. Your femurs are the hypotenuse of a triangle. The longer your legs, the wider you need your stance to make the adjacent length shorter. It would definitely be easier if I watched you squat. I could give you some correction suggestions.
Tall people do activate quads easier doing leg presses, than most all can doing squats.
Until you learn how to squat, you will need to rely on the leg press as your mass builder. I did exactly that the first 20 years that I competed in bodybuilding. I always did every set for 10 reps.
Underated post, Hank. I also think when someone asks for cycle advice they should state their goal, i.e. whether it’s aesthetics, strength, making a weight class, endurance (cycling, climbing) etc. Although I find it practical, some people just don’t care for putting more plates on the bar, or hitting a certain number.
It’s possible to be in the gym everyday doing nothing beneficial. You are still technically a gym rat. Just like a guy who has worked a job for 20 years, but he’s been nothing but a F’up the whole time.