[EasyEJL]

took somnidren + zmk at just about 11 last nite. it was the last dose out of that first jar. I wish I could recall when I received it, as that would tell me how long it lasted. i'm going to start the second jar tonite, and as an experiment if MST doesn't mind i'm going to not take any breaks (I did take a 4-5 day break in the middle of this jar) but I also am only taking about 3/4 dose. Was 198 on the scale, had to take an immediate bm, was 196 after and still feeling like i'll go again after a cup of coffee. I've been upping my protein intake, particularly the later in the evening intake. Most of the time prior to now i more or less had nothing after 7 or so, and now i'm taking in 50g of protein between then and 9. plus last nite was cheat meal as well, half a chilis burger and half a house salad, plus half a cold stone creamery icecream so both heavy cals to some extent, but also dense too. still only hit around 2700-2800 cals for the day

[EasyEJL]

I needed to add that the combo of everything i'm taking including the somnidren has me thinking of compressing my workout routine even more. i'm thinking that after christmas i'll clip one of the rest days out, and have it be a 4 day rotation with 3 workout days, and see how that goes. I may even go as 6 on 1 off to get 2 of these in a week. Going to play with it a little. New years day my gym is closed anyhow, so if I do a rotation starting wed and another sat with no rest inbetween, that would be the scheduled rest day. My only slightly iffy thing on that is taking megatrn almost daily. I may just take it on chest and leg days, and leave it out for shoulders. Still pondering

[EasyEJL]

Took zmk around 945, took 3/4 scoop somnidren around 10:30. fell asleep fast, woke around 1 to pee, then woke up to the alarm at 6:30. I had an interesting dream, but already have forgotten it. felt very well rested.

3 megatrn today, opened the caps into my mouth and swallowed. noticeable difference that way

Squats 115x6, 115x6 (about to pop a blood vessel), 115x5
Leg press 250+skid x 8, 250+skid x 6
Hack squats 50x20

Front latpulldown 170x5.5, 150x5, 140x5 - played with form, I reach max lat contraction at bar reaching chin (anything lower is more bicep centric) so these are all to that
Seated cable rows 150x10 150x9
Dumbbell rows 40x17 - gave up on the higher weights, trying to reach 20

decided to skip calf raises, do some cardio, did 20 min at heart rate from 140-160 as intervals.

nice workout, felt good. going to try and work harder on the squats / leg presses. The issue with squats is the way it makes the muscle right at the top of the knee feel. it seems that is what is "giving up" on me, not so much the upper portion of the quads.

[ncangey0513]

looks great, man!

[EasyEJL]

took zmk + somnidren at around 10 last nite, asleep by 10:30. Worst nite of sleep yet on the combo, I woke up about every hour and a half. fell right asleep each time, and woke up well rested. today was first shot at hitting chest again with no days off. Worked out pretty well I thought

Bench press 135x7, 135x5, 115x5
Incline press 110x3, 105x6, 105x5
Vertical bench press 80x12
db bench press 60x2, 50x4, 40x5

Barbell curls 60x8, 60x7, 60x5
Dumbbell curls 25x12,25x10
EZ-barbell curls 45x10, 25x20

db bench press 40x10, 40x8
db squeeze press 25x10, 25x7
machine preacher curls 80x7, 65x12, 50x21, 30x 26
machine decline press 80x9, 80x6, 65x12, 50x20
pec dec machine 80x5, 65x8, 50x18, 30x22

since I did abs yesterday, I skipped them today, did 30 minutes cardio on precor crossramp as hiit, heart rate from 140-180. Given that the the last chest/bis workout was only 3 days ago, I think the numbers are quite promising and this new scheduling will work. Also today was no mega-trn or anything (just 1-t), but I did use Primal N20 preworkout. I'm going to stick with it like this thru next week, see how it goes.

[EasyEJL]

took somnidren + zmk at 9:45, asleep around 10:30, but only that long because my wife was reading. woke up repeatedly again, maybe it is time to take 5 days off the somnidren, keep taking the zmk, and add melatonin instead.

took a ragnarok sample of the new punch flavor preworkout. MST definitely has some trick up their sleeve as far as flavor systems go...

So for some reason I walk in to the gym thinking I did 135 on squats last time on 12/27, and I wasn't feeling so hot today (still sore) so I thought I was lowering it a little... like usual, did 20 just with bar, and really didn't feel good about it, so I figured i'd do 95 first, then see how it felt.

Squats 95x7, 125x7, 125x5 - not all quite ass to heels, but all below thighs parallel
Leg press 250+skid x 9, 250+skid x 7
Hack squats 70x20 - amazing to me that I managed to squeak out 20 given the squats + presses

Front latpulldown 180x5, 170x5, 160x5 - I guess I need to forget what I did last time more often.
Seated cable rows 120x9.5 120x8 - I was already hurting from the pulldowns, decided to go lighter
Dumbbell rows 35x18 - really really hurting now, biceps too

Then did 20 min bike at around 150-160hr, and 20 on elliptical at 160-170hr.

Doing the squats to below parallel but not quite ass to heels feels way better.

Question for anyone reading - is soreness right over the knee (like an inch over the top of the kneecap) on the quads during squats normal or is that related to my arthritis.

a good workout, my tshirt was soaked to the point of being translucent so my chest tattoos were visible.

[ncangey0513]

like that punch sample, eh? it's my new favorite flavor!

[Millennium 1]

Hey Easy, it sounds like you might have the beginnings of tendonitis in your knee. I get it every now and then when I overtrain and it is always about an inch above the knee cap. A little rest or ice might help it. As to ground squats will feel worse due to the extra strain on the tendon.

You may want to take a few nights off of the S-GH but the problem might be stemming from you PH. I know when I get into a PH cycle my liver starts to detoxify more intensly at night (around 1:00am to 3:00am) and it starts to interrupt my sleep patterns. In my opinion the melatonin will just throw your sleep patterns off because even using it for 2-3 nights can down regulate the pineal glands production of melatonin. I feel melatonin is the most used and abused product in our industry due to the extremely fast negative feedback on the pineal gland. If you can avoid its use it would serve your sleep better in the long run.

Happy New Year!

[EasyEJL]

Hmm makes sense, i'll try with just the zmk tonite then, and a couple more nights, then start the somnidren back up friday night, that will be 5 days off it.

I guess as far as the squats go, does it make sense that it doesnt' feel that way doing leg presses?

[Millennium 1]

Originally Posted by EasyEJL

I guess as far as the squats go, does it make sense that it doesnt' feel that way doing leg presses?

Yeah, my tendonitis never really hurt doing leg presses. Mainly just squatting and leg extensions. I noticed that squatting wasn't as bad on the knee when I used powerlifting form (bar really low on the traps) because it was keeping my knees further back from my toes. When I used more of a bodybuilding squat (bar higher on the traps) it forced my knees further forward aggravating the tendonitis more.

[EasyEJL]

I wonder if I should sub something else in place of the squats then. I'll have to look around at videos of form of different squat types, see what else I can try

[EasyEJL]

zmk last nite at around 10, asleep by 11. Nothing else with it. slept ok, woke maybe 2x during the nite, didn't notice times. scale said 195

Bench press 140x6, 140x6, 140x5
Incline press 115x9, 115x5
decline machine press 75x12, 75x12
pec dec machine 50x12, 50x12
Vertical bench press 80x16

Barbell curls 60x7, 60x7, 60x6
Dumbbell curls 25x10,25x10
machine preacher curls 50x24

then 24 minutes of HIIT, hr from 140-180. Was a good workout, but I can feel the difference from not taking somnidren GH. I'm liking the Xyience NO stuff too. So it looks like i'm settled on just taking the 1-t for now, and maybe week 7 or 8 add something in.

Cant wait for friday nite to take the somnidren again. i'm going to need it, this doing 2 SAIS rotations in one week is hard.