Adam's road to bigger leaner stronger and beyond

never kept a training log like this before, but am interested to try it, here goes
U. S. Kentucky, 43, smoker(ya i know, save it) 5'5", @200lbs right now
btw, as a side note, i gave up dringking a couple of years ago, and strength training has been a god send for a healthy hobby i can do relatively cheaply year round, any who...
Started my fitness journey about a year ago, planet fatness treadmill with coworkers style, shin splints and all... F that, did their machine circuit for a bit, bought a meal plan from V shred, dropped nearly 30 lbs in the process.
found a book called i hate cardio (light bulb moment) bought mike matthews book bigger leaner stronger and the year one challenge, started learning macros, calorie counts and delving into the vast internet myriad of bad science laden websites, but i am very thankful for legion and mike Matthews, his science based natty proponent style kept me away from a lot of the bullshit that would have likely made me give up long ago. found SS and rippetoe through one of his articles or podcasts and was hooked ever since, love this site, the guy and the company, never switched over to the SS NLP method, because the year one challenge was working well, strength was going up, and was warned about program hopping. now i know ur bored..
went from not touching a barbell in over 25 years to where i am now, im happy about it, but want to keep making progress as i am hitting the intermediate stage.
Spent the first few months of BLS at planet fatness, which im sure hindered my progress, but hey, it's my story, not Disney... finally joined an athletic club (big box corporate gym) with a squat rack or two, a dead lift platform, cross fit area, and of course the rest (huge gym really) but it's convenient, not too expensive and there is spandex eye candy which doesn't hinder my motivation.
long story longer, finished the year one challenge from BLS, and started to slowly toy with meal planning/prepping along the way, i had just gotten one BBL S (beyond bigger leaner strong) mesocycle in before covid hit, i managed to find a friend with a garage and kept hitting chest, dead, legs every other day or so, recently back into the gym full time, trying to get BBLS going again.
1RM's are @ bench 210lbs, dead lift 350, squat @320, press @160... more on the next installment

Fun story about smoking. At least I like it. Max Aita was talking about his time training with the Bulgarian weightlifting team. After they trained for a while they would take a break before they went to the next lift. Max said people think it has to do with recovery or testosterone or growth hormone release or some other high tech training related reason but the real reason is because the lifters were taking a smoke break. Just like we take a break every now and then at our jobs, that's what they were doing.

There is also stories of Russian weightlifter, David Rigert, handing his cigarette to someone while he went out for his attempt.

Speaking of the Bulgarians, Max said training without drugs made no sense to them. They couldn't understand why you'd want train without anabolics.

Maybe it's just me but I appreciate these candid stories rather than the usual same old interchangeable, canned stories about macros and percentages.

real is way more interresting than canned pr ;) im a kentucky farm boy, i got it honest working in tobacco during the day, smoking at night to deal with the cravings, been smoking for about 30 years, it's not good for you, in college i used to have to take a break from the treadmill to go smoke, same with my tennis partner

update from 6-25-20 well week ending i guess as i'll reel it back to the beginning of the week
mesocycle 4 of mike matthews beyond bigger leaner stronger, it's a google sheet i input reps weight in on my phone in the gym the blank spots are workouts missed/skipped/not performed yet

Chest day is pretty typical i guess, progress made, but it's slow, i love DB's, but need to get better at form on leg drive and breathing, breathing being probably one of my weakpoints everywhere on my form. New personal best though ;) two plates on my bench is close ;)

Back day was awesome but brutal, tried breathing at the top of the deadlift for the first time, i can definitely get more reps, but it was a little touch and go instead of full stop at the bottom.
New personal best though, but i was RANSACKED after this workout, i haven't done calf excercises in a while just to keep volume down

I've been on the fence, eating like i wanna lose weight, lifting like i wanna be eddie hall or something... it's tearing me apart and this week settled it for me. ill post a mealplan in a different whatever this is

Shoulder day, pretty light day, new personal best on that too though ;)

Arm day, this is the one i skip the most of any if i'm feeling jacked up or just too busy, Had a serious case of vertigo that day so i laid off.

Leg day, yesterday, still a bit of lingering vertigo so i didn't push the third reps, might have gotten them, might have wound up on the floor...
Three plates on my squat is eminent..
All in all considering my diet, and foot hurt so bad i was sure it was broken the week before, ill take personal bests on all four primary lifts ;) thanks mike and rip

well i can't see those attached thumbnails for shit...Attachment 7356