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3/14/2023
Weigh-In: 279.4
Squat 265x5x3
SLDL 275x5
Pulldown (supine) 10,10,7
Leg Extension 130x10x3
BAD day today. I had a weirdly elevated heart rate going into this, and the squats absolutely exhausted me. Technique after the first set went into the trash. I had to take a 5 minute break between sets 2 and 3 and 3 was still breaking down. I figured I'd to some SLDLs for the lighter deadlift, worked up to 275 for 5 and kept it there. There was a pretty nasty snowstorm raging by that point and I didn't want to get trapped, so I hurried along to do some assistance and leave. Really shitty workout.
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3/16/2023
Strict Press 140x5x3
Pause Bench 185x5x3
Lying Triceps Extension 90x10,10,7
No weigh-in today. I forgot to before I ate breakfast since my brain was all foggy. I did weigh 282.4 yesterday. Anyway, the press was able to get a bit of a bump with it being the top of the exercise order. Tried pause bench for the first time as the lighter bench. It's funny how much that dead stop changes the difficulty. Bummer that I couldn't get another rep on the LTEs. Still very depressed today. I'm thinking I might try to just get 405x5 on my deadlift tomorrow and maybe not even do a squat, then just take it easier next week. Being this aggressive feels like it's caused issues. Lotta joint cracking going on, as well as other signs of fatigue.
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3/17/2023
Weigh-In: 281.6
Deadlift 405x5
Leg Press 315x20
I went into this feeling pretty achey in the legs and a little in the back. Still got that 405 up though, five times. Wanted to do something for the legs even though I decided not to do squats, so I did some knee-dominant leg pressing. I think next week I will just deload a bit since I've been so damned aggressive the past 3 weeks, so I don't go into the next round of cutting with leftover fatigue. Overall I guess the numbers are pretty good, about a 5% decrease from where I was at at the heavier weight.
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3/20/2023 MAINTENANCE WEEK 4/4
Weigh-In: 282
Bench 185x5x3
DE Press 115x3x10
Barbell Curl 80x10,10,9
Just light work on the compounds this week. Next week is gonna begin another 4 weeks of cutting.
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3/21/2023
Weigh-In: 281.6
Squat 205x5x3
Deadlift 325x1x10
More light work today. In the future I think the speed deadlifts are all gonna be done hook gripped, even if I can double overhand them just fine. It reinforces the technique for heavier weights better. There's a subtle difference to the feel of the setup with hook vs double overhand. Didn't bother with assistance stuff today, since it was back and legs that really needed this deload more than the other stuff.
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3/23/2023
Weigh-In: 281.6
Strict Press 115x5x3
DE Bench 185x3x10
Lying Triceps Extension 90x10,10,8
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3/24/2023 END OF MAINTENANCE
Weigh-In: 282
Deadlift 325x5
DE Squat 205x2x10
Last maintenance workout. Kept return weight gain under 2%, was more like 1%. Gained a good deal of my strength back on the big lifts. Though squat seems to have suffered more than the others, or pushing my deadlift aggressively just fucked with it. I really need to get a handle on that overlap between the two in the future. A couple of ideas to try, but I don't have the chance to yet.
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3/27/2023 CUTTING RESUMES
Weigh-In: 279.2
Bench 205x8, 165x12
Pulldown (V-Grip) 190x8, 150x12
Arnold Press 37.5x12, 30x15
DB Rear Delt Row 40x20,11,6 (37 total)
Incline Curl 17.5x20,10,5 (35 total)
DB Lateral Raise 17.5x15,10,10 (35 total)
Bench wasn't bad for the set of 8, probably had at least 2 reps left. The 12 was surprisingly a different story, but that might just be because with higher reps the slowdown is stretched across more of them.
V-grip pulldowns were...interesting. Ended up landing on a pretty hard weight at 190 for the first set. Don't know how good this is going to be for the lats but I will say this grip really gets you in the forearms.
Arnold presses were pretty good for the first set, a little harder for the second.
The rear delt rows felt like they went after the right spot. I did them unilaterally this time. Next week I'll try both at once with my chest propped up on an incline bench or something.
Incline curls also really got the biceps in a way I usually don't manage to. Pretty neat.
Lateral raises are tough to really call when form is too broken down to count reps. I do think I'm gonna shoot for 40 rep totals with these before moving weight up, since they are so hard to progress well.
After sunday in a deficit my weight is already down over 3 pounds, it'll be really cool if I can be below my last sticking point by the end of the week.
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3/28/2023
Weigh-In: 278
Squat 225x8, 175x12
Good Morning 135x8, 105x12
Leg Press 315x20
Seated Leg Curl 165x16,6,7 (29 total)
Seated Calf Raise 55x15,10,8 (33 total)
Lowest I got on the last cutting phase was 278.8, I'm past that in 3 days after maintenance. I'm pretty optimistic. Diet isn't really markedly different from what it was at the end of the last cutting phase either. The maintenance phase seems to have worked.
Squatting higher reps really, really sucks. 225x8 sucked. 175x12 REALLY sucked. Probably could've squeezed at least 2 more reps out of either set though. I just hate having to take breaths between reps toward the end. Also wondering if I might have my belt too tight sometimes. Good mornings I did using the same low bar position as the squat. They started light, I will probably up these by 10 for next week.
The rest of this is all stuff I did from the previous programming. Only changes were I dropped ab work, I made the leg curls rest-pause, and the leg presses are done with more knee-dominant technique than hip-dominant technique.
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3/30/2023
Weigh-In: 278
Strict Press 125x8, 100x12
Bent-Over Row 165x9, 135x12
DB Incline 65x12, 50x15
Pulldown (Neutral Grip) 175x12, 145x15
Cable Overhead Triceps Extension 42.5x15.3.4 (22 total)
Cable Upright Row 42.5x20,20,20 (60 total)
The presses were fine. I'm iffy on bent over rows. It's convenient to be able to do them in the same spot right after the pressing, but I worry these are gonna mess with my back going into tomorrow's deadlifting. I've been eyeballing a different chest supported row machine to the one I used previously, no one seems to use it. Might be a candidate.
Inclines were same old, same old. Using the wide neutral grip bar for the pulldowns was interesting. Ballparked a decent start weight.
Cable overhead triceps extensions...I don't know what the fuck happened here. I was able to grind out 15 reps on the first subset, 30 seconds later and I only was able to do 3. Rep 4 just would not come. Next subset I got 4, but shit again just would not budge after that. I don't know if it was some kind of awkwardness of the movement or what. I think I'll just do the classic pushdowns instead here. The upright rows were fine. They were obviously very light, though.
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