I would swap your lower body and pressing movements on the S clusters. Then, put the first S cluster with squats and bench and the second with press and deads.
Deads are already a hip hinge, so swing would be redundant. Bench is a horizontal pressing, so dip would be redundant. This way, you hip hinge 3 days a week, press horizontal 3 days per week and have knee flexion 3 days per week.
Okay, so if Iām understanding correctly;
S1
Pullups
Barbell curl
Kettlebell swing
S2
Weighted dips
Tricep extension
Weighted lunges
Is this what you meant? (edited like how I meant to put)
No.
Tricep extensions, chins and swings on the day you bench and squat.
Dips, curls and lunges on the day you press and dead
Oh, lol. Thatās how I put it before I edited the post. Then I second guessed myself. ha.
Chinups? Should I do those instead of normal pullups? Whatās the benefit? I am curious,.
Chins just refers to any manner of pulling yourself up and getting your chin over the bar. You see in my own training I use a ton of different grips.
Got it. I will probably stick to standard pullups then.
Dinner
1 pack protein oatmeal
a bit of root beer soda
2 pieces lasagna
1 granola bar
2 oz ground beef
I need to structure my life more (again,.)
Weekdays have a fixed wakeup time. Weekends, not so much. I need to find a way to get myself to wake up at 5:00 on the weekends, even though it feels like I donāt need to.
I need to make the time I go to bed fixed and constant. 8:30 everyday is good because I will be sleeping by 9:00.
Im going to start making my workout log printed out so its not just scribbled in my notebook. Would save room too. Will type it out on typewriter for this last week of operator, and then for Mass I will have the printed out schedules.
I want to start using my typewriter more. I can start typing out all my notes and make binders of them. That would be useful.
For Mass protocol, how much weight should I expect to gain per week/during the full 12 weeks? I was reading through mass protocol but I couldnāt find it (though it might be because my eyes are getting tired, Iām sure I read it in there somewhere). 1/2-1lb a week?
Donāt chase scale weight. This is a very common mistake among young trainees (although old as well). Chase performance. The training is going to be hard, and youāll need to eat to recover from it AND perform the next workout. Your bodyweight will do what it needs to do to get there.
When trainees try to achieve a certain fixed rate of growth each week, they end up overeating on the weeks that they didnāt need the excess food to recover and UNDEReating on the really hard weeks. The body doesnāt build tissue in a fixed, linear and predictable pattern, and when we try to force growth that way, we just prevent ourselves from making the most of our training.
Let training guide your nutrition, rather than the other way around.
That makes a lot of sense. So following the calorie and macro ratio described in Mass, which is stated to be a minimum, would it be the case the on very tough days, I would eat a bit more? Or no, just follow as is?
November 10th 2025: W12D1
Weāre at the last week on operator. I can taste the finishline (or, rather, checkpoint)
Next week will be rest and retest.
In my strength class, we have this week and the next week to get our testing in for our goals. Next week will be Bench Squat OHP and Deadlift testing, as well as the other exercises il be doing for Grey-man
This week, I should get my cardio knocked out. I think Friday I will do the cardio bike challenge, as a sort of finish-line push. Il have to do the mile run, too. I hope my time goes down even by a second. Il have to put in some solid effort. I have started running faster for my laps though, so that should help. Il sprint the last 1/2 lap or so.
Here are all of the goals I set
40 pushups in a row (yeah I can do that I did that a week or so ago)
Incline bench 135 x 3-5 (from 2 reps, im sure I can)
Flat bench endurance- 115 x 18 (from 15)
Mile time less than or equal to 7:20 (previous was 7:21)
Bench 185 x 3 (from 175 x 1)
Squat 225 x 3 (from 215 x 2)
10 pullups in a row (yeah I did that over a month ago)
150lb lat pulldown x 12 (from something)
40 situps in a minute (not sureā¦ I kinda guessed 30 last time because the person who was holding my feet down didnāt time me. what the hellā¦ your only job is to stnad on my feet and time me for a minute. stupidā¦
plank greater than or equal to 2:00 (did 1:59 the other day, I can do that)
50 Kcal bike 3:00 (first goal) I can probably manage this. Oh, look at that, my original time was 3:15 okay im sure il beat my starting point. Thats what gives the 50 points, not if you make the goal, just if you improve.
Time for breakfast.
Eat more if you arenāt recovering. Donāt fix problems you donāt have.
Iām kinda learning this now. Iāve always found cutting weight easier than gaining in this sense. When losing weight you kinda accept the fact youāre hungry and might have slightly less energy (even that cutting kcals donāt usually affect my energy levels negatively).
But when being in a surplus itās often hard to determine how much you should eat. Iāve been so fixed to move the scale that I usually end up overeating, since I donāt trust the process if the scale stays still (= the progress is so slow that itās hard to measure). But maybe I just should focus on eating healthy and getting gains in the gym. If weights on the bar go up, but my weight doesnāt, itās should be a good thing.
Sorry for the hijack, but this has been on my mind for some weeks now. And Iāve been thinking to go towards more flexible eating plan instead of fixed kcals and see how that works.
Im going to start following the programmed diet as layed out in Mass protocol.
The problem I have is with fats. I often go over the amount I should have, substantially.
Should I worry about this too much? Protein is the #1 priority, I know, but I know carbs are very important, and fat too.
Iām using a different tracker since nutritionix is still down. Its called cronometer, and so far its okay. It has a pay wall for some features, but for what I need it for its suitable.
Ehā¦
Fats and carbs are both energy sources. Protein is a building block for muscle. As long as you have adequate protein, you can use whatever you need for fuel. Fat is cool because it can be used for hormone production and other nifty things. Carbs do dandy things too, but itās worth appreciating that there are essential fatty acids and essential amino acids but no essential carbohydrates.
Iāve heard good things about Cronometer. Havenāt used it myself.
Todayās food
Breakfast:
3 eggs
1 cup milk
3 oz beef
8 raspberries
----Total: 603 Kcal, 38g fat, 14g carbs, 48g protein
Snacks (combined
1 ensure
1 protein bar
4 oz beef
1/2 cup buttered macaroni noodles
1/4 cup peas
----Total: 907 Kcal, 40g fat, 59g carbs, 61g protein
Lunch:
1 sandwich with turkey and provolone, with added banana pepper rings
1 juice box
----Total: 459 Kcal, 16g fat, 51g carbs, 27g protein
Dinner:
1 chicken leg quarter
3/4 cup filini noodles
1/4 cup steamed spinach
----Total: 643 Kcal, 37g fat, 29g carbs, 44g protein
Days total: 2612 Kcal, 130g fat, 153g ānetā carbs, 180g protein
Need 253 Kcal and 30g proteinā¦ Greek yogurt and some granola should do the trick.
Wow! this website is so much better than nutritionix. Screw that website, Im using cronometer! It tells you EVERYTHING. Macro AND micronutrients.
This is going to be such a valuable resource for me, I can look at my micronutrients and see if any are lacking and adjust accordingly. Wow.
Beef is definitely an overpowered meat. So many nutrients.
Yup. Ruminant animals are really nutrient dense. If you can bring yourself to develop a taste for it, beef liver even moreso.
I want to try that eventually, but Mom hasnāt bought it. Ever.
Snack:
3/4 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup granola
5 blackberries
----Total: 281 Kcal, 11g fat, 24g carbs, 25g protein
Days total: 2893 Kcal (28 over), 141g fat, 177g carbs, 205g protein
Didnāt make the goal of 210g protein, but its pretty close. It is still over 200, so Iām happy.
Workout from earlier:
OHP
45 x 6
65 x 4
75 x 1
85 x 2
85 x 2
85 x 2
Squat:
115 x 5
135 x 3
155 x 3
175 x 2
195 x 2
215 x 2
215 x 2
215 x 2
Pullups
BW x 5
10 x 3
20 x 2
30 x 2
30 x 2
30 x 2
Assistance
Trap bar shrug: 205 x 20
Front bar shrug: 205 x 20
Behind bar shrug: 205 x 16 +3 +1 (grip was failing before my traps)
10 side squats
Did pushups and pullups testing today, 50 pushups in a row, and 12 pullups in a row. I have to run a mile and do the 50 Kcal bike challenge this week still. Not looking forward to the 50 Kcal bike challenge, last time it sucked when I was done I felt like my head was going to explode my eyes were going to pop I felt like I was going to actually die or something. Mile should be fun though. Not too strenuous.
Im glad my calf cooperated with me. I felt it, but it wasnāt anything I should worry about. My knees, however, were hurting. My knees hurt again. Argh. They were just feeling good now.
Time to shower and go to bed. Im tired. I like being tired, it means I have done enough for the day. Tomorrow will be the science thing. Oh! I think the autoclave will be working. If its still not (it wont closeā¦), we will have to try and melt it down with a water bath. Again. Then we can pour, and transplant moss specimens to it. Very exciting for me. Im sure its very boring to everyone else.
Grey Man is a good program, I hope you like it as much as I have. Iām about to start my 3rd consecutive cycle and 5th overall this year. You can browse my log or ask questions if you want. Iāll tell you the main secret Iāve found is to just survive that week 1 with its sets of 8 and 12. If you can make it through that, the other 2 weeks are just prepping you for handling the heavier weights for the high volume week in the future.
This was something that took me TOO long to figure out, but once I did it was like waking up in the Matrix. And whatās funny is, it was something I figured out at the start of my training, but then, the more you ālearnā, the stupider you become.
Training drives the bus. When we gain, itās because the training is hard enough that we have to eat to recover AND fuel for the next session. When we lean out, itās because weāre only eating to recover, because the training isnāt as hard. The issue is when people try to work backwards: donāt train TOO hard, because you donāt want to screw up your gains. And then train REALLY hard so you can make the most of that calorie deficit. Nah: doesnāt work.
Thanks, yeah Iāl remember that.
November 11 
2025 W12D2
Today is a light cardio day, which means I donāt need to do much. Thats always nice
I think on Wednesday I will do the situp challenge, lat pulldown endurance, incline bench endurance (its one of the things I did to make up for not being able to do squats last time, same with pullups) and then run my mile. Im going to ask if I can mark down the time I got on the 50 Kcal bike challenge a little while ago (2:52), because I really donāt want to do that challenge againā¦ I hate it, and not in a good way, I think I pushed too hard last time because I felt like I was about to die. Friday I plan on doing bench endurance, 2 minute plank, and Incline bench strength. This way for next week I only have to focus on doing Bench, Squat, Deadlift, and OHP. I might postpone deadlift for another day though, since I actually donāt have to do that for that class. So yeah Il do that on Saturday. Thursday next week Bench OHP and Squat. Tuesday will be a rest day so Il just walk on the treadmill some.
Time for breakfast.