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Nice work dude! Squat is really coming along. How are you getting on diet wise?Originally Posted by Lion Heart
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Cheers! I feel so happy after hitting a PR on squats. God bless TM.
Diet wise, I'm following macros outlined by Jordan more or less down to the last gram. He's still adding carbs/fats every week until my weight starts moving upwards. I've got such a fast metabolism that I'll probably need to be consuming 4000+ calories before I gain any weight lol.
Macros right now are
High days: 220/545/81
Low days: 240/405/86
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You win! I'm on:
High: 225/519/103
Low: 247/329/108
I thought I had it bad! How do you warmup for the worksets on TM, do you do the Bar x 2 x 5, 5, 3, 2 classic thing or just improvise? I miss those days, with auto-regulation you never kinda know what you're top set will be, so you warmup and ramp up in the rep range of the day. It's pretty damn tiring sometimes, definitely requires dem sweet carbz.
Having returned to an omnivore diet (this bug seemed to reset things for me, for that I'm thankful!), I'm actually finding it harder to eat as much carbs. I throw in some ice cream (fucking McFlurries) here and there, but it's not necessarily amazing. What do you do to reach 545c on high days?
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Worryingly I actually find it really easy to reach my macro targets. Ever since I started TM my appetite has been ravenous, especially after my volume session.
For warmups I just play it by ear on the day. For squats today I think I did something like bar x 5, 60 x 5, 100 x 3, 120 x 2, 140 x 2 then done my workset weight. My warmups actually felt really shite funny enough and then when I done my workset squats finally felt really good. Also, I don't know if it's just me but when I do my warmup squats everything at 100kg and beyond feels heavy but then I squat 152.5kg for a 2x3. Mind boggled.
My high carb day was today and I ate something like:
Lean beef - 633g with Carrots, onion and stock for the beef stew
Oats - 250g
Sweet potato - 764g
Whey - 30g
4 mini bagels with Nutella - 53g
Peanut butter - 23g
White potato - 270g
Basically oats in the morning with whey then 3 more meals with beef stew and white/sweet potato and a couple of bagels with Nutella in between meals. Oh and I had some more oats after my workout tonight. Nothing complicated really.
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Texas Method #24
Volume Day
Weights in kg (lbs)
Blue = PR
Red = Fail
Squat
5 x 137.5 (303)
5 x 137.5 (303)
5 x 137.5 (303)
5 x 137.5 (303)
5 x 137.5 (303)
Bench
4+1 x 82 (180)
5 x 80 (176)
5 x 80 (176)
5 x 80 (176)
5 x 80 (176)
5 x 80 (176)
"Yates" Rows
12 x 80 (176)
9 x 90 (198)
10 x 85 (187)
Curls
14 x 40 (88)
7 x 42.5 (94)
9 x 40 (88)
9 x 38.5 (85)
Comments
BW = 81.6 (179lbs)
Good session.
Volume squats at 137.5kg were pretty brutal.
Messed up bench by loading the bar with 82kg by mistake. Then done one more set than I should have by mistake. Lol.
Member
Volume day indeed - sure that Nutella helped. Breakfast of Champions!
Member
Texas Method #25
Recovery Day
Weights in kg (lbs)
Blue = PR
Red = Fail
Squat
30 x 100 (220) split up into 3 sets with hardly any rest in between. ****.
Press
5 x 50 (110)
5 x 50 (110)
5 x 50 (110)
Chinups
20 x BW
9 x BW
8 x BW
Comments
BW = 81.9kg
It was meant to be a recovery day but I got peer pressured into seeing how many reps I could do with 100kg in squats. I felt like I was going to be sick after the set. Absolutely brutal. I done 3 sets to get the 30 reps. First set I got like 17? Then got the rest of the reps on the last two sets. Didn't rest very long in between. Looks like I won't be squatting on Friday. Oops.
Member
Jim Wendler would be proud, looks like you invented a new BBB challenge!
Member
Texas Method #26
Intensity Day
Weights in kg (lbs)
Blue = PR
Red = Fail
Bench Press
5 x 88 (194)
Deadlift
2+1 x 167.5 (369) grip failed so had to take a minute and try again for the third rep. Damn.
GPP
Hanging leg raises (10 mins)
loads x BW
1 arm dumbbell rows (8 mins)
loads
Dumbbell lateral raises (8 mins)
loads
Comments
BW = 82.2kg (181lbs)
Good sesh. Didn't squat as still recovering from Wednesday high rep extravaganza. Bench felt really easy. I should have got the triple on deadlift in one go but grip slipped on the third rep. Damn.
Member
Getting there dude!
So what attracted to you to TM? I mean, yeah it's a damn simple and effective program provided you have the necessary facilities at your disposal, but maybe a bit too simple, if that's a thing. I've ran a variation of the in the past based on something Hanley put together, V/R/I day, I got quite a bit of weekly LP out of it on the Squat and Deadlift (in particular). Surprisingly, the Deadlift really responded to not much volume or frequency. I literally only Deadlifted 1x a week for no more than 3-4 reps (much like what you are doing, although I split it up into WK1: 1x3, WK2: 2x2, WK3: 3x1) and supplemented with RDL's on VD. I did plateau though on Bench and Press, I had a hard time developing them with the lower frequency and volume. I definitely think you can significantly develop the Deadlift in what you are doing for a while, maybe a supplementary Deadlift with more hamstring focus than rows on VD could be an asset for you?
One of my "dreams" is to design a Bodybuilder friendly split based on TM or auto-regulation concepts and sell it to guys who run Chest/Back/Tris style routines. I think the simplicity of strength training (for the most part) is daunting to a lot of guys who've grown in the gym with lots of lower intensity volume, many exercises and focus on isolating individual muscles rather than working the body as a whole. OTOH, we're pretty simple people, I know I am, anything more than heavy compounds seems to mess my mind up - but then, it's totally necessary to develop weak points at this stage of the game, and different, specific exercises are a must for this.
I used to think there was some arbitrary strength level that one had to reach (and in a certain amount of time too) before you could customise your own training for your individual goals (I blame the internet). It is true in a manner of speaking, but that doesn't mean that everybody can just run LP until 3/4/5, or that everything will develop evenly. I've read a lot of Zatsiorsky and Bompa's works and I've asked Jordan a lot of questions about specifics to what goes through his mind when programming.
I've concluded that rather than just aiming for some strength level (a lot of guys will never bench 3 plates... I'm not sure if I will, but I'll fucking give it a shot!) or putting things on a time frame before you think about specific goals and addressing weak points, that a person should have an understanding of themselves. Specifically, things like:
- Knowing how your recovery works pertaining to specific lifts (case in point: I cannot Squat effectively the day after I Deadlift, but I can Deadlift effectively after I Squat, that's true for many guys, presumably why also that the Squat is traditionally the first lift in a Meet!).
- Realising your sticking points in lifts (be it getting out of the bottom of the Squat, getting the bar off the chest on Bench or locking out, or grip on Deadlift).
I think we must have a reason for everything we do in the weight room, recovery and efficiency of training is so damn precious, mental clarity too (not being able to PR every session or weekly is soul destroying at first once you're done with LP, It knocked me for six, until Jordan explained the idea that strength and PR's tend to come in waves and that it's really just about putting the work in and waiting for them to come). I've totally spoke philosophically for so long.
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