M, 6'1", DOB: 1978, Training Since: April 2014, Diet/Programming: Dr. GainzZz

[anticausal]

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Day 1 - Comp Squat, Supp Bench

Training Week

Day 1 (Sun) | GPP (Mon) | Day 2 (Tue) | Rest (Wed) | Day 3 (Thu) | GPP (Fri) | Rest (Sat)

Facts

Morning BW: 182.8 (+1.4 lb over last week)
Sleep: 12:30am-10:00am, woke 2 times, ~8.5 hours actual
Garage Gym Conditions: 83 deg F, 58% Humidity
Pre-workout Meal: @ t - 1h45m

519 kCal - 75g (C), 11g (F), 48g (P), 24g (Fib)

• Strawberry Cheesecake Quest Bar
• 1/4 Cup 1% Milk
• 68g Instant Oats
• 20g Whey Protein Isolate
• 2 cups coffee (16 oz, each)
• 10g BCAAs

Day's Macros: 262/260 (C), 74/74 (F), 249/250 (P), 52/55 (Fib)

Feelz

Aches and Pains: 6/10
DOMS: 3/10
Lower Body Fatigue: 7/10
Upper Body Fatigue: 5/10
Confidence: 5/10
Stress: 5/10

Training

Comp Squat - Rx: x5@6, x5@7, 5x2@7 back off sets

• 205x5@6
• 235x5@7
• 230x5@7
• 230x5@7.5

TnG Bench - Rx: x5@6, x5@7, 5x2@7 back off sets

• 150x5@6
• 160x5@7
• 160x5@7
• 155x5@7

Press 2.0 - Rx: x7@7, x7@8, x7@9, no back off sets

• 95x7@7
• 100x7@8
• 105x7@9

Notes

Legs sore, body still feeling broken. The low stress programming is right on time (in fact, maybe just a tad late) and very welcomed!

[anticausal]

Monday, July 27, 2015

GPP Day 1 of 2

Day 1 (Sun) | GPP (Mon) | Day 2 (Tue) | Rest (Wed) | Day 3 (Thu) | GPP (Fri) | Rest (Sat)

Morning BW: 183.4 lb (+0.4 lb over last week)
Time since last workout: 17 hours
Time until next workout: 30 hours

• Pseudo Wingates: 8 intervals (16 min @ 20:140)
• Weighted Chins (12 min AMRAP): (BW+23.25)x2x13,1x4 = 30
• Hanging Leg/Knee Raises (10 min AMRAP): 10x10 = 100 in 9:30

Notes

Added 1.25 lb to vest, and BW was at +0.4 lb over last week. 30 is 4 less reps than last week. Still feeling really fatigued, and the 1.25 lb / week increases are getting harder to manage.

Probably could have done one last set within the 10 min on the knee/leg raises, but I was pretty exhausted and not feeling ambitious.

[anticausal]

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Day 2 - Comp Bench, Supp Squat, Supp Bench

Training Week

Day 1 (Sun) | GPP (Mon) | Day 2 (Tue) | Rest (Wed) | Day 3 (Thu) | GPP (Fri) | Rest (Sat)

Facts

Morning BW: 184.6 (+1.4 lb over last week)
Sleep: 12:30am-9:30am, woke 2 times, ~8 hours actual
Garage Gym Conditions: 81 deg F, 70% Humidity
Pre-workout Meal: @ t - 1h15m

538 kCal - 75g (C), 11g (F), 49g (P), 23g (Fib)

• Banana Nut Muffin Quest Bar
• 1/3 Cup 1% Milk
• 68g Instant Oats
• 20g Whey Protein Isolate
• 10g BCAAs

Day's Macros: 260/260 (C), 74/74 (F), 249/250 (P), 51/55 (Fib)

Feelz

Aches and Pains: 2/10
DOMS: 0/10
Lower Body Fatigue: 2/10
Upper Body Fatigue: 2/10
Confidence: N/A (Low stress week)
Stress: 4/10

Training

Comp Bench - Rx: x5@6, x5@7, 5x2@7 back off sets

• 135x5@6
• 155x5@7.5
• 152.5x5@7
• 150x5@7

Squat w/ Belt - Rx: x5@6, x5@7, 5x2@7 back off sets

• 215x5@6 (last warmup, no belt)
• 240x5@7
• 235x5@7
• 230x5@7

Incline Bench Press - Rx: x7@7, x7@8, x7@9, no back off sets

• 115x7@7
• 125x7@8
• 135x7@9

Notes

Low stress week continues. Starting to feel much less fatigued, but still not really near 100% yet.

I seem to be retaining a bunch of water for whatever reason. Up 1.2 lb since yesterday, and 3 lb since Saturday.

[anticausal]

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Day 3 - Comp Deadlift, Supp Bench, Supp Squat

Training Week

Day 1 (Sun) | GPP (Mon) | Day 2 (Tue) | Rest (Wed) | Day 3 (Thu) | GPP (Fri) | Rest (Sat)

Facts

Morning BW: 185.0 (+2 lb over last week)
Sleep: 12:30am-9:30am, woke 2 times, ~8 hours actual
Garage Gym Conditions: 81 deg F, 73% Humidity
Pre-workout Meal: @ t - 1h45m

536 kCal - 78g (C), 11g (F), 49g (P), 24g (Fib)

• Lemon Cream Pie Quest Bar
• 1/3 Cup 1% Milk
• 70g Instant Oats
• 20g Whey Protein Isolate
• No Caffeine (Cutting this out during low-stress week)
• 10g BCAAs

Day's Macros: 260/260 (C), 74/74 (F), 251/250 (P), 55/55 (Fib)

Feelz (Note: All perception is before workout, not during or after)

Aches and Pains: 2/10
DOMS: 0/10
Lower Body Fatigue: 2/10
Upper Body Fatigue: 2/10
Confidence: N/A (low stress week)
Stress: 4/10

Training

Comp Deadlift - Rx: x5@6, x5@7, 5x2@7 back off sets

• 285x5@6
• 315x5@7.5
• 305x5@7
• 305x5@7

Press 2.0 - Rx: x5@6, x5@7, 5x2@7 back off sets

• 85x5@6
• 100x5@7
• 100x5@7
• 95x5@7

2 sec Paused Squat - Rx: x7@7, x7@8, x7@9, no back off sets

• 175x7@7
• 195x7@8
• 205x7@9

Notes

Wow, I could really feel that I'm still not recovered from the DL session two weeks ago. Strange thing was that the second set at 305 was an easier RPE 7 than the first. It seems like I was still getting warmed up. This is the puzzling thing about judging RPE 7s. 8s I get. 9s I get. But I often feel like a set is a true 7 before I may be fully warmed up. Do you keep going and risk an 8, or do you stop before you may be fully warmed up? I don't really know.

First time I've done highish rep squats in a long time. The last set at 205 felt pretty gnarly.

[anticausal]

Friday, July 31, 2015

GPP Day 2 of 2

Day 1 (Sun) | GPP (Mon) | Day 2 (Tue) | Rest (Wed) | Day 3 (Thu) | GPP (Fri) | Rest (Sat)

Morning BW: 184.4 lb (+2.4 lb over last week)
Time since last workout: 26 hours
Time until next workout: 45 hours

• Pseudo Wingates: 8 intervals (16 min @ 20:140)
• Chins (12 min AMRAP): BWx5x1, BWx3x3,BWx2x11,BWx1x7 = 38 in 10:00, 43 in 12:10
• Hanging Leg/Knee Raises (10 min AMRAP): 10x10 = 100 in 9:30

Notes

7 less chins than last week!!! The set of 5 was the last set. I had 38 in 10:00, but I was spent! I rested until 11:40, then did a last set of 5 to get as much in before the 12:00 mark. Could the 2.4 lb BW increase cause that much of a drop? Did the low stress week detrain me? Am I still overly fatigued? I'm guessing it's probably a combination of the first and third possibility.

Edit: Forgot that I also didn't take caffeine before the conditioning. That probably had more to do with the drop than anything else.

[anticausal]

Weekly Roundup

Weight



Mean: +1.7 lb
Week over Week: +1.4 lb

Macros

Targets: 250 (P), 260 (C), 74 (F), 55 (Fib)



Changes for Next Week

None, macros hold at 250(P)/260(C)/74(F).

This is starting to drive me up the wall. I know this isn't "low carb", but it feels worse than when I was losing weight on 175 g. It seems to be just enough carbs to make me HUNGRY AS FUCK ALL THE FUCKING TIME! At 175g I didn't seem to have the energy to be this hungry. It's like a carb teaser. God dammit, I want more food!

It never even crossed my mind to cheat on the 6+ months of cutting weight. But going in the other direction, I really feel like saying fuck it and just eating whatever the hell I want.

[anticausal]

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Day 1 - Comp Squat, Supp Bench

Training Week

Day 1 (Sun) | GPP (Mon) | Day 2 (Tue) | Rest (Wed) | Day 3 (Thu) | GPP (Fri) | Rest (Sat)

Facts

Morning BW: 183.4 (+0.6 lb over last week)
Sleep: 1:30am-10:00am, woke 1 time, ~7 hours actual
Garage Gym Conditions: 84 deg F, 42% Humidity (this was nice)
Pre-workout Meal: @ t - 1h45m

519 kCal - 77g (C), 11g (F), 47g (P), 23g (Fib)

• Banana Nut Muffin Quest Bar
• 1/3 Cup 1% Milk
• 70g Instant Oats
• 17g Whey Protein Isolate
• 2 cups coffee (16 oz, each)
• 200 mg caffeine pills
• Forgot pre workout 10g BCAAs

Day's Macros: 263/260 (C), 74/74 (F), 250/250 (P), 49/55 (Fib)

Feelz

Aches and Pains: 3/10
DOMS: 0/10
Lower Body Fatigue: 4/10
Upper Body Fatigue: 2/10
Confidence: 5/10
Stress: 4/10

Training

Comp Squat - Rx: x5@6, x5@7, x5x4@7 back off sets

• 215x5@6
• 235x5x4@7,7,7,7
• 230x5@7.5

TnG Bench - Rx: x5@6, x5@7, x5x4@7 back off sets

• 150x5@6
• 160x5x5@7,7,7,7,7

Press 2.0 - Rx: x7@7, x7@8, x7@9, x7x2@9 back off sets

• 95x7@7
• 100x7@8
• 105x7@9
• 105x7@9.5
• 100x7@9

Notes

Lots and lots of volume programmed this week. This first session felt pretty good. I always seem to feel much better with high volume than with high intensity low volume. High volume also seems to mitigate hunger somehow, which is nice. On low volume I become a ravenous beast.

Squat kept getting easier with each set at 235 until the 4th set, where I got pretty winded, so I dropped down just a tad to 230 for the final set.

Been dealing with an inflamed supraspinatus tendon (I think) that hurts when I bench. I got it doing dips over a month ago, and it hurts more the closer the bench grip gets (so no CG BP for the last few weeks). It's been improving slowly, but it's really annoying. It hurt with each TnG set, so I kept the weight lower than what a 7 normally would be. But it did seem to hurt a little less after each set, which was encouraging.

[anticausal]

Monday, August 3, 2015

GPP Day 1 of 2

Day 1 (Sun) | GPP (Mon) | Day 2 (Tue) | Rest (Wed) | Day 3 (Thu) | GPP (Fri) | Rest (Sat)

Morning BW: 182.8 lb (-0.6 lb over last week)
Time since last workout: 17 hours
Time until next workout: 30 hours

• Pseudo Wingates: 8 intervals (16 min @ 20:140)
• Weighted Chins (12 min AMRAP): (BW+24.5)x2x11,x1x5 = 27
• Hanging Leg/Knee Raises (10 min AMRAP): 10x10 = 100 in 9:45

Notes

Everything in my body was begging me not to do this conditioning session.

Added 1.25 lb to vest, and BW was at -0.6 lb over last week. Got 27 reps, which is 3 less than last week. I checked my logs back to when I weighed 208 (~current weight + vest) and I was getting around 32 reps in 10:00 (early January). So, normalizing for BW, my chin strength has not improved much. Well, it might be slightly more complicated than that. Back then I did not hit chest to bar, while for the past couple of months 100% of all reps have been chest to bar.

[anticausal]

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Day 2 - Comp Bench, Supp Squat, Supp Bench

Training Week

Day 1 (Sun) | GPP (Mon) | Day 2 (Tue) | Rest (Wed) | Day 3 (Thu) | GPP (Fri) | Rest (Sat)

Facts

Morning BW: 182.8 (-1.8 lb since last week)
Sleep: 12:30am-9:30am, woke 2 times, ~8 hours actual
Garage Gym Conditions: 81 deg F, 77% Humidity
Pre-workout Meal: @ t - 1h15m

528 kCal - 76g (C), 10g (F), 49g (P), 24g (Fib)

• Strawberry Cheescake Quest Bar
• 1/3 Cup 1% Milk
• 68g Instant Oats
• 20g Whey Protein Isolate
• 10g BCAAs

Day's Macros: 261/260 (C), 74/74 (F), 249/250 (P), 52/55 (Fib)

Feelz

Aches and Pains: 5/10
DOMS: 2/10
Lower Body Fatigue: 3/10
Upper Body Fatigue: 4/10
Confidence: 6/10
Stress: 5/10

Training

Comp Bench - Rx: x5@6, x5@7, x5x4@7 back off sets

• 155x5@6.5
• 160x5x5@7.5,7,7,7,7

Squat w/ Belt - Rx: x5@6, x5@7, x5x4@7 back off sets

• 215x5@6 (last warmup, no belt)
• 240x5@7
• 240x5@7.5
• 235x5@7
• 235x5@7.5
• 230x5@7

Incline Bench Press - Rx: x7@7, x7@8, x7@9, x7x2@9 back off sets

• 115x7@7
• 125x7@8
• 135x4@9
• 125x7@9.5
• 120x6@9.5
• 120x5@9

Notes

Squat felt lighter than it did Sunday, but fatigue was setting in more forcefully with each set. Overall a good feeling session.

Shoulder feeling better on bench than it did Sunday night. I think the high volume is helping with the tendon pain.

Incline bench was just a confusing mess. I was able to get up to 135x7@9 easily last week, but this week the fatigue was just hitting me out of the blue. The last set was not programmed--I just added it to get in the missed volume on the sets that were short reps.

[anticausal]

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Day 3 - Comp Deadlift, Supp Bench, Supp Squat

Training Week

Day 1 (Sun) | GPP (Mon) | Day 2 (Tue) | Rest (Wed) | Day 3 (Thu) | GPP (Fri) | Rest (Sat)

Facts

Morning BW: 182.6 (-2.4 lb since last week)
Sleep: 12:30am-9:30am, woke 2 times, ~8 hours actual
Garage Gym Conditions: 72 deg F, 76% Humidity
Pre-workout Meal: @ t - 1h30m

536 kCal - 78g (C), 11g (F), 49g (P), 24g (Fib)

• Lemon Cream Pie Quest Bar
• 1/3 Cup 1% Milk
• 70g Instant Oats
• 20g Whey Protein Isolate
• 300mg caffeine pills
• 10g BCAAs

Day's Macros: 260/260 (C), 74/74 (F), 250/250 (P), 55/55 (Fib)

Feelz (Note: All perception is before workout, not during or after)

Aches and Pains: 3/10
DOMS: 5/10
Lower Body Fatigue: 5/10
Upper Body Fatigue: 7/10
Confidence: 5/10
Stress: 5/10

Training

Comp Deadlift - Rx: x5@6, x5@7, x5x4@7 back off sets

• 285x5@6
• 315x5x5@7,7,7,7,7

Press 2.0 - Rx: x5@6, x5@7, x5x4@7 back off sets

• 85x5@6
• 100x5@7.5
• 95x5x4@7,7,7,7.5

2 sec Paused Squat - Rx: x7@7, x7@8, x7@9, x7x2@9 off sets

• 185x7@7
• 195x7@8
• 205x7@9
• 200x7@9
• 195x7@9

Notes

Deadlifts got easier from sets 1 through 3, then started to get harder for the 4th and 5th sets. All were solid 7s.

Upper body strength continues to be absolute shit.

Paused squats were brutal. Lower back felt fried after DL and press. After these fucking squats, I was sprawled out on the floor for a good 5 minutes. Not quite tweaked, but lower back is absolutely scorched.

The week ends with a tonnage record for squats. Previous high was 20,756 lb at 196 lb average weight per rep back in April (that's for both squat and supplemental squat). And that was back when I was on a 4 day week. This week was 20,760 lb at 219 lb average weight per rep.

But all this volume has got me thinking. I'm still not really gaining weight, so what's the point? I feel like I'm doing all this work for nothing. Nothing's going to grow. I dunno, I'll continue to trust Jordan on this, but the snails pace at which we're raising the calories is starting to bug me. On the one hand, I need the guidance because I know I'd probably be indulging in a ridiculous dream bulk by now if I was working on my own. But on the other hand, I didn't expect the diet reversal to go this slow.