I tell ya, one year I’m gonna learn this damn lesson
Ive always liked Rippetoes categorizations for beginner/interm/advanced (for those that dont know a beginner is someone who can make gains from training session to training session (assuming full body training each time), an intermediate needs a week to recover, and an advanced trainee needs more than week. AKA you can train a beginner M/W/F and they can progress every time, an intermed lifter is on a weekly schedule, and an advanced lifter may be on a monthly or at the VERY far end an olympic games length cycle.
Although I acknowledge theres no hard definitions for those things. I do find his at least somewhat actionable, as opposed to “can lift 1/2/3/4 plates in the Big 4 lifts”, which has a certain amount of real-world-ness to it but tells you nothing about HOW the person should train.
Quick check in here. Lighting might be a tad different, but I’m not seeing any Major changes here
Im down 6 pounds and 1.5” on the waist, and that hasnt budged in 3 weeks so its officially time to “get serious”. I do think at this point Ive milked all the “free” gains there are to be had - aka the “slowly phase out the crap and most of the peanut butter” has been implemented and it aint working any more. Soft goat is to be 180 or under, and/or shave another 3” off the waist, stretch goal would be 175 and whatever that comes with off the waist.
The good news I see LOTS of areas where I can improve and ratchet up the efforts. Ive officially added in some cardio, so unfortunately thats a thing now I’ll see if I can find a way to make it “fun” like loaded carries and KB swing medleys or something
Two months in, dropped 14lbs. Have gone from 238>224. Historically, I start strong and then March and April nothing changes and May I try to push through but give up. I usually give up because of my birthday, which is last week of February. I’ll eat and drink too much during that week and then just not find motivation to push.
This year, in preparation, I switched to KB swings every non-BJJ Training day. I also took the day after my birthday off, to hike 5 miles and train bjj. Best I’ve felt going into March, since starting this challenge (when it first began).
Checking in, weighed in at 208.5 this morning, that’s 8.5lbs up, I’d love to claim that this has been some well earned clean gains hitting a reasonable(ish) 1lb per week, but it’s been more like a yo yo of not eating enough, then gaining via junk. On the plus side I’m working hard on my corpulence, definitely up for that award.
This was first thing the other morning hence the Memoji lol but the delt veins were popping…it looked better in person than in the picture but still. Progress is coming along that’s for sure
I do enjoy some mashed spuds as a regular part of some of our evening family meals. The mrs substituted spud for cauliflower. Add some cream and mashed, very similar and a nice substitute for fewer carbs. Not quite a hack but thought I’d share it here.
I’ve been feeling some pain around my forearm area, around the ulna/radius, when I do heavy barbell curls and skullcrushers. It’s something I can usually ignore, but I’m starting to get a bit concerned because it’s stalling my progress. Any advice on how to remedy this would be appreciated. I have pretty long arms, so I’m not sure if it’s just a lanky build or simply weak forearms.
I’m chasing numbers mostly. I don’t think I’m ego lifting or anything, as I try to keep my form strict and increase the weight slightly week by week. I’m on a variant of the Arnold split and do arms & shoulders twice a week.
What do those arm and shoulder days look like? Like exercise sequence, etc.
For me, personally, I wouldn’t do heavy curls or skull crushers ever if I didn’t have a specific reason. In your case, with that split and frequency, I’m guessing your goal is hypertrophy. You’re probably also doing chest and back twice a week and squatting at least once a week? That’s a ton to ask of your elbows.
At minimum, I’d:
Lighten the loads - use higher reps and shorter rests; get a big pump
Use friendlier implements (EZ bar, dumbbells, cables)
Do “easier” movements first (press downs before skull crushers, for instance)
I’d also consider reducing the frequency, but if you like what you’re doing you’re less likely to want to do that.
Once your elbows really get cranky, it’s hard to bounce back. An ounce of prevention is worth much more than a pound of cure in this case.
Update: Today was the last day of 5/3/1 for me. The last week ended in PRs for OHP, deadlift and bench press. The squat wasn’t a PR, but it was more weight than I have moved in a long time, so I’m happy with it. My goal was to improve on my lifts and I have done that. I will move to the kettlebell challenge next week and try to lose some of the pudge that I put on during 5/3/1.
I agree with TrainForPain, ditch the straight bar for awhile and try moves with DBs, EZ Bar or the V-Handle. Anything where your wrists, forearms and elbows have more freedom to move.
Use the same volume, aim to add weight the same way just do stuff that doesn’t hurt.
And if forearms are an issue, think about doing some EZ Bar or DB reverse curls, hammer curls or Zottman curls to target them.
Update. Down 11 pounds. I went on vacation. Prior to leaving for vacation I was 255. I gained about 8 to 9 pounds. I came back and sprained my ankle. That was 13 days ago. I am back down to 255 today. Plan to start Dan John’s Armor building formula once my ankle/foot stop hurting.
I’ll see if I can find a way to make it “fun” like loaded carries and KB swing medleys or something
