AMS/FRL SHRED STACK - Need I Say More?

[supermanjow]

Ok guys. It's a week and two days since I've had the bottles first sitting on my shelf. It's high time things got started and boy are we off and running.

First off let me start by giving a huge shout out the AMS/FRL. You guys make great products and I relish the opportunity to do a cycle log or you whenever I get the chance. With that said, I've only done one other but I've used their products several times.

I love 5-Alpha Test. It's a favorite if mine from past cycles. I'm very interested in DecaSARM. Reading up on it, this should be a fun cycle. My dosing will be one pill five times a day alternating between each. This will give me a nice and round 30 days.

First impressions are big with a new product and that's one thing I love about the minty sublingual tabs. Huge fan of mints. Huge fan of steroids that work. It's a match made in heaven.

Given the name of this stack, this cycle's will be a bit of misnomer. I'm technically going through my strength/bulk phase already as I am looking to do my next comp next spring. As such, I've got until the first of the year to get as big as possible before having to cut down again. Although this is supposed to be a cutting stack, I'm hoping this will turn into a nice lean bulk.

My training split is a modified 531 scheme using HIT for my auxiliary exercises: 7 week rotation, 6 rep scheme PR weeks in a row followed by a deload week. Training is as follows:

Bench, Rows, Curls
Squats, Hams
Cardio
Overhead Press, Dips, Calves
Deadlifts, Pullups, Lunges
Cardio
REST

My 531 scheme goes like this: warm-up, rep scheme, PR set, first rep scheme set to failure. I'm in my third week so far and I'm really liking what I'm seeing and the numbers I'm putting up. I've only got 20-30 minutes to lift so this scheme lets me get in and get out without thinking too much. I've got the weights programmed into a spreadsheet on Google Drive. So I don't even have to think about that. I just do what it says.

As for diet, plenty of protein and try to hit 4000 cals a day.

 

[wicked442]

Im in. Kill it big guy!

 

[supermanjow]

From this morning:

531 Week 3 Day 2 SQUATS 425x6
http://youtu.be/3MVoRQb1SJw

 

[harbonah]

In for a good cut.

 

[supermanjow]

Progress Pic

Overhead Press
185x6
Deads
465x6
http://youtu.be/-ie1bz_i6QE

 

[wicked442]

Damn dude! What are you doing to that frog?! Haha. Strong lifts! How many 5alpha test are you taking? Are you stacking any other ph with the decasarm and 5alpha?

 

[supermanjow]

Damn dude! What are you doing to that frog?! Haha. Strong lifts! How many 5alpha test are you taking? Are you stacking any other ph with the decasarm and 5alpha?

Lol! The frog had it coming. No stacking. Just 3 5 alpha and 3 DecaSARM a day.

 

[harbonah]

Now that is an update lol

 

[supermanjow]

Lol! The frog had it coming. No stacking. Just 3 5 alpha and 3 DecaSARM a day.

I space them about three hours a part and alternate which one I'm taking. Like this:

7am - 5 alpha
10am - deca
1pm - 5 alpha
4pm - deca
7pm - 5 alpha

 

[supermanjow]

Now that is an update lol

Glad you liked it!

 

[supermanjow]

Ok, last Friday I tweaked my back on the last rep. I was pretty hurt up all weekend long but I still did my tree chopping on Saturday. On Sunday, my father-in-law was kind enough to get me a 45 minute massage while our girls shopped at the mall. It really seemed to help, because Monday morning I woke up with it feeling pretty good. Still had to support myself getting out of bed Monday and Tuesday, but yesterday I was able to do my usual get out of bed sit-up. So, this morning I decided to hit my lifts at my deload percentages (40%, 50%, 60%). I also practiced my new form on dead. Boy did it make a WORLD of difference. Not only was I able to do deads without any pain, but I was able to do them with ease and speed while my lower back still isn't 100%. I'd say my backs around 80-90%. So just a few more days of healing. Hopefully I'll be back at it on Monday.

 

[supermanjow]

Finally back at it full bore again today. I'm glad I took a deload/rest week last week though. Not only is my back at 100% again, but my chest strain is gone too.

I've been researching mobility and form a lot over the last week. I started doing some band work between sets today in the form of two types of band pull aparts. The first one mimics my bench form and involves scapular contractions. The second one is the classic pull apart with arms fully extended.

If you couldn't tell today was bench and row day. Max weights went up 5 (upper body) & 10 lbs (lower body) starting this week. This was week 1 so rep range is at 5. Another thing I've started doing is Jim Wendler's 10% warm-ups. Basically, start at a lesser weight and work up to your heavy sets by 10% increments. It creates a few more warm-up sets than I usually do, but my joints and ligaments are MUCH happier when I start getting into the thick of it. Here's what I did today:

BENCH
135x10, 165x3, 195x3, 225x5, 265x5, 300x10 (almost got 11), 155x18
BARBELL ROWS
135x10, 165x3, 195x3, 225x5, 265x5, 300x11

As I mentioned above, I've been researching form and mobility videos on YouTube. Well, one I've been watching over this weekend was Dave Tate's series "So You Think You Can Squat." I've noticed a few things that I've been doing wrong that will certainly help tomorrow when I hit squats. Like the guy in the vid, I'm pretty quad dominant. I'll really be practicing on my lighter sets and hopefully I'll have some good motor memory built in when I go for the big one. Here's the link to the video series: http://youtu.be/Wu5jL-6Z_Js

I'll be taking video tomorrow to see how things go.

 

[supermanjow]

I was practicing the setup tips from SO YOU THINK YOU CAN SQUAT tonight with just my body weight and I was able to sink another 2-3" without even trying. This could get interesting.

 

[supermanjow]

Well, no vid today. Dude that opens the fun was running late this morning. He's usually there at 445 and today he was there at 455. I really need those extra ten minutes on squat day. Regardless, I've got work to do. For now, I'm backing off on all poundages until my nervous system catches up. I'm planning on using 531 still, but I'm thinking of either dropping to 75-80% of my previous 1RM or just doing multiple sets with the first weight of the day and then singles with the higher weights. Either way, I'm planning on doing a back off set to failure. From what I experienced this morning, I've got three glaring weaknesses: upper back strength, keeping my lower back set, and hamstring strength.

For upper back, it's a lack of strength endurance combined with looking down at my feet which then gets my back rounding. Now it's not as exaggerated as the guy in the vid, but it's still a problem. I've gotta break myself of that. I'm also gonna start doing the seated good mornings they showed on the vid. I don't have a safety squat bar, but I think I manage at least initially with a straight bar.

I kept catching myself get lazy with my lower back set. It had nothing to do with strength. When I really focused on it I could keep it set and really get good depth without even trying. I even had one rep where I almost fell backwards. What I'm planning to do to address this is practice, but also I'm going to be doing box squats from now on. That should force me to do that because you can't sit back with the weight without setting your lower back and initiating the movement with your butt. I'll tell you one thing, my butt was feeling tired after today because I was using it my than usual.

I've neglected my hams for a while now. No more. I'm going to be doing glute ham raises twice a week: once with squats and again with deads.

I also discovered today that my back isn't 100%. I also discovered that my squats may have been a bigger contributor than my deads. Every time I let my lower back tuck instead of keeping it set, it would hurt. Every rep where it stayed set, no pain at all. I think my deads a couple weeks ago were the last straw, but I think that my squats have been the main impetus.

Hopefully these mitigative measures keep things moving forward and help me correct my issues. It's not the first time I've done this. Years ago I was a half squatter. And now I'm going to correct about 8 years worth of bad habits. It should be a lot better and as the next few months go by and I start shoring up my weaknesses, the weights will climb once again. Anyways, here's what I did today:

Squats - 135x10, 175x3, 215x3, 255x3, 290x5, 335x5, 380x1
Glute Ham Raises (lat pulldown) - BWx3xF + push up assisted reps to failure

 

[supermanjow]

Here's another great vid for everyone else and this is more applicable to raw squatters like myself:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=plpp&v=X_wwJhaN0vU

 

[scoooter]

The 1st squat vid was awesome !

I was getting nervous till I saw the spotter step in, not that you needed help, just thats a good safe practice when lifting those kinds of poundages.

From my prospective I can enjoy your success and admire the effort, however, for me that is simply a weight I could not move.

 

[supermanjow]

The 1st squat vid was awesome !

I was getting nervous till I saw the spotter step in, not that you needed help, just thats a good safe practice when lifting those kinds of poundages.

From my prospective I can enjoy your success and admire the effort, however, for me that is simply a weight I could not move.

I actually find spotters detrimental. I'd rather fall out from underneath a weight than to have a spotter give me a false sense of security and go after one last rep with less than optimal form. I find that that's when I get injured. With that said, never say never. You would be surprised what you can do with consistent progression.

With that said, this cycle ended up being a bit of a dud. My back still isn't completely healed, I got laid out by a bout of bronchitis, and I'm having problems at work which are causing me to have to drive from Longmont to Golden everyday for the next couple of weeks. This means my lifting is jacked. Once I get over the bronchitis though, I've devised a plan to have me in and out in 15 minutes. I'm going to do an off shoot of GVT.

My plan is to start at 50% of my 1RM and do 9 sets of 5 reps with only 30s rest or as a superset with another exercise and 30s of rest. Then, on the tenth set, I'm going to failure. The next week I add 5 lbs to the upper body exercises and 10lbs to the lower body. Hopefully, this will keep me progressing while giving my joints a break. It will also give me the much needed chance to work on my form.