- Icariian 500 (not sure where to place this one. During cycle or PCT? Suggestions wanted, please).
Supplementary (in case of lethargy. I get lethargic on supplements I shouldn't get lethargy from, but I suspect its usually a case of zealous over-training due to some strange, inherent sense of log obligations).
half bucket (left) of Anadraulic State GT, given to me by Rob “Gurgle Metal” METROBA.
Plan:
6 caps Natadrol and 6 caps Prime a day (3 caps Icariian 500?). Prime will run out mid-way of the Natadrol run and I’ll transition into the TestoPro at that point, at 6 caps.
I’ve recently caught a bug for Olympic Lifting, though I am still bodybuilding as well. Aesthetics will always be a primary element of concern, however, currently, one of my goals are to maximize shoulder stability, core strength, driving power from a front squat, and forearm/grip strength. Basically, the main points associated with successful Olympic Lifting.
I found a special interest in Olympic Lifting when I realized what it was doing for my traps and forearms. Traps are one of my favorite muscles and the competitor in me really enjoys the performance factor involved in such a technical movement as the O-Snatch. Furthermore, my training partner is an MMA fighter, therefore, my interest in O-lifts and power movements in general “had” an applicable real world relevance. Power translates to his MMA performance. However, he got a hernia and an ACL tear, but my interest still stuck, at least for the time being.
My starting weight is 213.5lbs, but I don't expect my weight to fluctuate too much. PRIME is suppose to be a strength & power supp. I've ran it multiple, multiple times, so I know what to keep a feel for and expect. I've never done Natadrol, so we'll see how this goes.
This is a great video, even if you could careless about O-Lifts, it’s just interesting video about the China’s Men’s National Team.
My first day was actually a bit of a wreck, performance wise. If you thought dead lifts had hit & miss days, the Olympic Snatch, being as technical as it is, where even neurological factors can physically influence your performance in a positive or negative manner, can really have polarizing good & bad days. Today was a bad day. For the record, I will have more “bodybuilding” like days where more of you can relate. I may be the only one interested in my Olympic Lifts performances. Side note, all O-lifts are mind boggling exhausting when doing reps.
Olympic Snatch
95lbs x 5 reps
115lbs x 5 reps
135lbs x 1 rep
135lbs x 1 reps
135lbs x (fail)
- I could tell by the first set that it was going to be a long day and it was.
Hang Snatch
95lbs x 5 reps
115lbs x 1 rep
115lbs x 1 rep
115lbs x (fail)
Off The Ground, Upright Rows, Super Wide Grip (aka Snatch Grip)
135lbs x 5 reps
155lbs x 5 reps
155lbs x 5 reps
Hang Cleans
135lbs x 5 reps
155lbs x 5 reps
155lbs x 5 reps
I perform all the hang movements without resetting, meaning, I don’t place the bar down and the stress on your forearms/grip is out-effing-rageous. With raw deads, you at least get a brief relief at the bottom.
Lastly, I don’t perform these lifts in an optimal fashion to develop power. I perform them with relatively short rests and that’s a no-no for optimal, power performance, “normally,” I do too many reps in the earlier sets and finally, I do too many redundant power movements on the same day. Again, I do this primarily for trap and upper back development and I need higher reps to accomplish this. However, today, my reps were incredibly low, because it was an uncharacteristically bad day. It happens.
Not a workout day today. Brief report is that my appetite has noticeably increased. I’ve done 5-6 cycles of PRIME and PRIME never increased my appetite, so I’m assuming it must be the Natadrol. To me, that’s a good and bad thing. The last thing I needed was an increase in appetite. I’m a meso-endo, but I think it’d be more accurately described as an endo-meso, cause my fat@$$ side has more influence in the force. If this appetite increase continues, this will be an inadvertent bulk or if I’m disciplined, a good recomp.
Odd exercise no one here is going to try, of the day: Snatch Dead Lifts. Basically, it’s a dead lift performed with a snatch grip (extremely wide). It places a little more taxation on the upper back/traps and less on the lumbar. However, due to the staring stance being even lower and the lack of stability with having the weight so far up the body, it’s almost impossible to handle your regular Deads weight. It’s a nice supplement to Romanian Deads, because Sntach deads stress particular areas in the ROM of the dead lift that Romanian’s don’t. The stress of the Snatch Dead moves the stress from the Rhomboids/Teres muscles heavily targeted by Romanians to the trap peaks/upper back.
Bodybuilding Back Day. We can put my O-lifts mumbo jumbo to rest today.
Hammer Strength, Behind The Neck Pull Downs
180lbs x 10 reps
200lbs x 8 reps
220lbs x 6 reps
220lbs x 5 reps
Wide Grip, Front Side, Lat Pull Downs
150lbs x 10 reps
170lbs x 8 reps
190lbs x 7 reps
190lbs x 6 reps
Wide, Parallel Bars Pull Ups
BW x 10 reps
BW x 8 reps
BW x 7 reps
Close , Reverse Grip, Lat Pull Downs
150lbs x 10 reps
170lbs x 8 reps
190lbs x 7 reps
This is only day 3, so I’m not expecting any notable gains for another few days. Nothing special intra-work yet. I’ll certainly share it when the wheels hit the road.
No DOMS today from yesterday’s workout. Granted, it wasn’t an “A+” workout, “B” maybe, I would normally feel “SOMETHING” in my upper lats, rhomboids/teres region and nothing. I feel its safe to assume that the enhanced recovery has kicked in.
Intra Workout Strength: N/A (for now)
Post workout recovery: B+
I’m a Certified Strength & Condition Coach, so I have keys to a performance facility, which I sometimes take advantage of late at night and O-lift there all by myself. It’s also nice because we use Olympic, bumper weights there. However, my primary gym is L.A. Fitness, and my goal is to be able to perform the O-Snatch with 135 easyt enough to do my O-Lifts at L.A. Fitness.
With Olympic weights, they’re all the same size circumference wise, from 10lbs up through 45’s, so with O-Lifts, you always have the same starting position, due to the weights all being the same size. However, at L.A. Fitness, the quarters are significantly smaller in circumference to the 45’s, so it throws my Snatch off. The timing of when to explode the hips becomes delayed using 25’s, as oppose to 45’s, so I’m trying to get powerful enough to make 45’s my repetition range. Hang’s and everything else doesn’t change from Olympic Weights to L.A. Fitness weights.
Side note, Olympic Weight 45’s are slightly larger in circumference then steel 45 plates, so dead lifting numbers tend to increase a touch using Olympic weights, because you don’t have to drop as low. I’m a stop & pause dead lifter, but if I weren’t, the added bounce would increase numbers as well.
My gym has a very nice selection of bumper plates, as well as a raised and designated DL pad. I am slowly working my DLs back up, as the cut for my competition wore my dry! My DLs went all the way down to last night's lift of 405 x 2 for drop and full pause reps.
My gym has a very nice selection of bumper plates, as well as a raised and designated DL pad. I am slowly working my DLs back up, as the cut for my competition wore my dry! My DLs went all the way down to last night's lift of 405 x 2 for drop and full pause reps.
405 x 5 (raw grip/no belt) was my recent best, but whenever I start to touch the 365+ range, my slip disc starts to give me problems again. This time around, I progressed super slow to and I can be problem free as if I never had a slip disc until I start pushing in the 365+ range. That could be part of the shift in obsession, from Deads to O-Lifts. Because I'm a lover of the dead lift, but i think I've quasi come to accept the fact that my suspect lumbar will forever be a limiting factor. I've re-aggravated my lumbar I think 5 times total now, each time when I re-attack dead lifts.
I haven't given up the heavy deads. I'm going to give it another go, slowly again, but I've armed myself with a sick Inzer belt. I've been one of those, anti belt, anti-wraps guys for awhile, but I think I need to accept my limitations of my lumbar, so I'm belting again.
This is my new belt, it's 13mm thick and it feels like compressed beef jerky. Very cow hide'ish. It can almost make you hungry.
In for feedback on natadrol. I'm probably starting two bottles soon as well. I've dabble with oly lifts. Primarily oly full squats and the overhead squat. I think overhead squat is great for shoulder stability as well.
In for feedback on natadrol. I'm probably starting two bottles soon as well. I've dabble with oly lifts. Primarily oly full squats and the overhead squat. I think overhead squat is great for shoulder stability as well.
I open my leg days with over-head squats. It's surprising how little amount of weight it takes on that movement to get you drenched in sweat.
It's amazing for shoulder stability and the core taxation puts England to shame. Overhead and Front squats are my two, current staple openers. Both are absolutely relevant, performance beneficiary-wise to me.
405 x 5 (raw grip/no belt) was my recent best, but whenever I start to touch the 365+ range, my slip disc starts to give me problems again. This time around, I progressed super slow to and I can be problem free as if I never had a slip disc until I start pushing in the 365+ range. That could be part of the shift in obsession, from Deads to O-Lifts. Because I'm a lover of the dead lift, but i think I've quasi come to accept the fact that my suspect lumbar will forever be a limiting factor. I've re-aggravated my lumbar I think 5 times total now, each time when I re-attack dead lifts.
I haven't given up the heavy deads. I'm going to give it another go, slowly again, but I've armed myself with a sick Inzer belt. I've been one of those, anti belt, anti-wraps guys for awhile, but I think I need to accept my limitations of my lumbar, so I'm belting again.
This is my new belt, it's 13mm thick and it feels like compressed beef jerky. Very cow hide'ish. It can almost make you hungry.
Nice latch belt! I am using an old leather prong belt from the paleolithic era, which serves me well.
My recent best before going into full-on competition diet mode was 435 x 2, so my strength was obviously significantly reduced. This was partly a deliberate move, however, as I altered my workout strategies to compensate for the complete lack of joint lubrication during contest prep!
Nice latch belt! I am using an old leather prong belt from the paleolithic era, which serves me well.
LOL!
Originally Posted by Mulletsoldier
My recent best before going into full-on competition diet mode was 435 x 2, so my strength was obviously significantly reduced. This was partly a deliberate move, however, as I altered my workout strategies to compensate for the complete lack of joint lubrication during contest prep!
That's pretty impressive. I may have attempted 425 for a single while on high carbs, quasi-recently. Prior to my slip disc, my best was 495 x 2, but I don't ever expect to see those numbers again.
I had a short stint with my post-marital cut that didn't last more then 5 weeks and I recall performing deads on low/no carbs and 365 was unreasonably difficulty. I actually had a brief pass-out while doing 405's while on low/no carbs.
Kudos on sticking to such a disciplined venture as competing as a (relatively) newly wed. Being a diet & aesthetics nazi was much, much easier when I was single. I still care about aesthetics of course, but there has certainly been a shift in priorities since marriage life.
Alright Im just going to say this to make myself feel better 545 no belt and 585 with a belt. That being said Im a midget and have a super short ROM plus I am a little heavier. Oh and yall are by far more aesthetically pleasing lol.
And thanks it is a good sig. Figured I would keep it basic instead of promoting my logs like usual.
Alright Im just going to say this to make myself feel better 545 no belt and 585 with a belt. That being said Im a midget and have a super short ROM plus I am a little heavier. Oh and yall are by far more aesthetically pleasing lol.
And thanks it is a good sig. Figured I would keep it basic instead of promoting my logs like usual.
LOL, midget. Still, that's a ton of weight. I've actually never seen that much weight pushed in person.
Volc, you dropping into a front squat for your snatch-catch?
I drop into hams to calves on my Cleans (bar in front squat position) if that's what you mean. I only slightly break parallel on my Snatch (bar overhead).
My wrist flexibility isn't good enough to hold the bar in catch position with a full grasp. I can only hold it there with three fingers.
I had a short stint with my post-marital cut that didn't last more then 5 weeks and I recall performing deads on low/no carbs and 365 was unreasonably difficulty. I actually had a brief pass-out while doing 405's while on low/no carbs.
Kudos on sticking to such a disciplined venture as competing as a (relatively) newly wed. Being a diet & aesthetics nazi was much, much easier when I was single. I still care about aesthetics of course, but there has certainly been a shift in priorities since marriage life.
It is difficult, and it was actually compounded as I went through surgery to correct a neurological deficit that was causing me some issues! The DLs on a cut feel like you are being punished for something.
