Things have been going really well from both a diet and training standpoint. I’ve been weighing myself daily and while I wasn’t sure I wanted to at the beginning, I’m glad I’ve been doing it. I’ve graphed the data and put in a trendline, which shows I’m up about 2.5 lbs in the past 5 weeks. This is right about the pace I wanted (1-2 lbs/months). If I had just taken random weights, I may have over reacted in either direction, because my weight fluctuates daily and depending on the day, it may look like I’m up 4 lbs or that I haven’t gained anything. I’m now up to 3150 calories and will stay here for a bit longer, as long as the trend is still going up. Once I end up 5-7 days below the trendline, I’ll add in a bit more food.
Training is also going really well and my strength is starting to go up again, likely because of the increased calories. I’m still doing the upper/lower split and it’s not bad. On one hand, I miss going in, hitting a single body part hard, and feeling like it’s done at the end of the workout. On the other hand, workouts are quicker, because I can superset opposing muscle groups and it’s much more flexible, because if something comes up one day, I can get a quick workout in, knowing I’ll get the same muscle groups in a couple days. 5/3/1 for my squats/deadlifts is also going well. I started super low: 90% of 90% of my 1RM.
5/3/1 has been working nicely for my squat and deadlift. I’m scheduled to finally get over 300 this month on squats and I’ll be back over 400 on deadlifts in two months. I’ve still got some ways to go before I’m back to my strongest, BUT, what I keep reminding myself is I’m 205 right now and usually when I’ve been in this strength range on 5/3/1 in the past, I weighed around 220. I may not be moving as much weight yet, but it’s coming, and at a lower bodyweight.
My calories are now up to 3350. They haven’t been this high in years. I remember putting on bad weight at 3200 cals a couple years ago and thinking I was getting old, especially when I had dieted on 3000 cals when I was in my 20s. I think the combo of moving a bit more during the day and being back to wearing my vest and belt at work (extra weight) has increased my NEAT. One thing I do, though is lower them a bit on my days off, because I move a lot less. I’m closer to 3000 on those days. I’m going to see how things go over the next week or two and then adjust my calories from there.
One thing I do need to figure out soon is a new-ish split. I’ve been doing U/L/U/L/Arms for the past couple of months and have been really enjoying it. My work schedule is going to change next week, though, to a 4 on - 3 off schedule. I always train on my working days, so that will be U/L/U/L (or L/U/L/U). It then leaves my three days off and I don’t like to have 3 days away from training, so I need to figure something here. I have a bowflex, bands, sandbags, light dumbbells (10s, 20s), and a TRX, so I enough to get a workout in. The easy answer would be to just train my first day off and keep the same rotation that I have been, but my first day off is always a family day, so I won’t be training that day. That leaves the second and third day. I think I’ll have to be a little flexible at first to see which day works best. Any suggestions from anyone that may pop in here would be welcome!
I’ve stuck with 5/3/1 and things are still progressing fairly well. My deadlift’s back over 400 on my 1+ days and squat’s set for 350 this cycle, so both getting into what I would consider ok numbers for me. My bench is still only 220 this cycle and I won’t feel good about it until it’s back over 250, so still some work to go there.
As for training, that’s going to have to adjust a bit as well. I’ve been moved to a 4 on 4 off schedule. With that, I’ll have inconsistent access to a gym on my four days off, just some minor equipment at home. My plan is to do the 4 5/3/1 workouts on the four days I can make it to the gym and some light conditioning/bodyweight work on 2 of my off days.
My weight is up to 214 lbs, so 9 lbs since my last check in. About 2 lbs/month, so a decent rate of gain. I’d like to stick around this weight for a bit. It’s getting a little too close to summer to look at putting on too much more, because it always comes with a bit of fat. If anything, maybe around June I might look to drop about 5 lbs for the summer. It’ll all depend on how my training’s going.