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Hyde’s Strength Odyssey

04/29/20 - Bench
BW 235.0

Miniband Facepulls, Tri Extensions, Rows, Flyes, DB Hammercurls
x2-3 rounds each of 25

Bench
45x10,5
95,135x5
185x3
225,245,265,285x1
270 3x3
240 3x5
205x12 touch n go RPE 6.5

I don’t really have the gas or will on this diet for meaningful accessory work, but the important thing is bench felt better 2 weeks in a row. Time to rest until Bloods are drawn Saturday morning.
 
Man, i dont get the woes you have with hook. I aint trying to rub it in or anything but i have never once ripped my thumb like that pulling hook. There has to be an adjustment you can make in the way you place your thumb to help with that. Or something, shît, i dont know.
 
Mine do that after a while. I pull hook better when my hands are fresh. I'll wear straps through warmup sets then switch to hook. I'll tape when I feel its close to tearing. Hook sucks sometimes.
 
Do you hook your thumb with 2 fingers (index and middle finger on top)? I’ve recently switched to just index finger holding it all together and it feels stronger and no recent rips, even when pulling over 5. I’m sure now that I said that I will rip open like terminator on Monday lol.
 
jswain34 said:
Man, i dont get the woes you have with hook. I aint trying to rub it in or anything but i have never once ripped my thumb like that pulling hook. There has to be an adjustment you can make in the way you place your thumb to help with that. Or something, shît, i dont know.
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I have torn both plenty but way more often my right hand (which has weaker grip overall). I definitely think there’s something to be improved, not the least of which is just getting through some training for a while without retearing so I have time for calluses/toughening to happen. You need to come down so you can show me your setup. I do think you have larger hands than me also, but that’s not exactly something I can manipulate lol.

Sean1332 said:
Mine do that after a while. I pull hook better when my hands are fresh. I'll wear straps through warmup sets then switch to hook. I'll tape when I feel its close to tearing. Hook sucks sometimes.
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That’s a big thing: I think I need to get better at taping and strapping sooner than I have been. I just hate the idea of straps when I know I can hold it, but obviously I am overdoing my skin too soon. And I need to start doing light weight hook work for things like bb rows or static holds to condition my skin more frequently.

SkRaw85 said:
Do you hook your thumb with 2 fingers (index and middle finger on top)? I’ve recently switched to just index finger holding it all together and it feels stronger and no recent rips, even when pulling over 5. I’m sure now that I said that I will rip open like terminator on Monday lol.
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Lol hope not. I do both fingers but I just read an article on Kabuki and realized that more isn’t better - what works best is better. He also mentioned thumbnail should be coming out between fingers, not under them. So I have to experiment.
 
Wrapping up 40 days of this Jamie Lewis Apex Predator diet tomorrow, after bloodwork I’ll begin to add carbs back in. I was 234.2 today before a deuce (which is not a routine on this diet unfortunately) so I have dropped about 11lbs in 6 weeks including glycogen. No cardio of note was done. Diet has been 2-3 protein shakes/pudding daily after fasting however long I wanted, then a 1lb or more of beef in the evening cooked in butter, net carbs not to exceed 30g, except on carb refeed days weekly where fat & protein is lowered some and 400+g Cho is consumed. The nightly beef was either something fatty like ribeye or short ribs, or things like tbone or striploin with some extra pb or cheese on the side for calorie cycling. A couple times per week a shake would be swapped with a couple chicken sausages or wings for variety and extra cals and sodium. Towards the end I realized I could add ground flax to my protein puddings for some extra healthy fats and fiber with no net carbs, and if I did a cyclic keto diet again I would absolutely swap at least one protein powder meal for a smaller lean red meat or egg meal and use the trace carbs towards a nightly salad. I would also add some avocado.

3 shakes and a steak is easy, but it could have been improved with liberal flax and eating more meat and using the spare carbs for some avocado, almonds, and veggies. Calories in the daytime could be balanced by eating a bit less fatty steak in evenings.

It worked for natural composition changes, but lifting without carbs and in a deficit was really garbage (not that I would expect much else). Hoping this helped my insulin sensitivity, and that I am now primed to handle a surplus more effectively.
 
Great diet update, man. Congrats on those pounds. When not in competition mode, I think trading off some performance loss for better body composition is worth it. I appreciate Jamie's commentary on why we shouldn't be fat fukcs lol

Curious; do you have an idea whereabout your fiber intake has been?
 
Sean1332 said:
Great diet update, man. Congrats on those pounds. When not in competition mode, I think trading off some performance loss for better body composition is worth it. I appreciate Jamie's commentary on why we shouldn't be fat fukcs lol

Curious; do you have an idea whereabout your fiber intake has been?
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I was curious about fiber as well. On these sort of diets, are you allowed Metamucil or the equivalent?

Awesome updates man - just read through a couple of pages
 
Sean1332 said:
Great diet update, man. Congrats on those pounds. When not in competition mode, I think trading off some performance loss for better body composition is worth it. I appreciate Jamie's commentary on why we shouldn't be fat fukcs lol

Curious; do you have an idea whereabout your fiber intake has been?
Click to expand...

I was curious about fiber as well. On these sort of diets, are you allowed Metamucil or the equivalent?

Awesome updates man - just read through a couple of pages
 
Sean1332 said:
Great diet update, man. Congrats on those pounds. When not in competition mode, I think trading off some performance loss for better body composition is worth it. I appreciate Jamie's commentary on why we shouldn't be fat fukcs lol

Curious; do you have an idea whereabout your fiber intake has been?
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Thanks! They’re all going to go right back on, but my hope is less sloppily lol

Fiber was nonexistent. I tried to give Jamie’s method/guidelines due process, and he didn’t fiber or veggies. I started to add some flax towards the end as mentioned, but we are talking 4-10g fiber daily for most of it from certain protein powders. I think having some veggies with the steak every night and flax in every pudding/shake would have improved health some.

PrivateMDLabs has went to Quest Diagnostics for the more affordable options vs ordering the tests through Labcorp, so blood results from tomorrow’s draw will likely take a couple weeks now before we can get an inside look. I bet lipids aren’t as good as I’d hope, but we’ll see.

*EDIT: Jamie does say if you wanna try it with fiber like Psyllium husk, go for it, but he doesn’t. Based on what I read very recently dietary fiber shouldn’t have a marked affect on being able to remain in ketosis. I however do EXTREMELY poorly with psyllium, so my fiber needs to come from milder food sources.
 
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After a 6oz cup of strong coffee and half a tab of Bronkaid, so I am pretty happy with that for a baseline.
 
BennyMagoo79 said:
Maybe your lipids aren't so bad!?
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I hope not. No gear for a good while, losing a little fat, sugar/carbs only one day per week & no meals out/from a restaurant in the last 6 weeks, haven’t touched Mk677 since December.

Woman at the lab said the processing station isn’t far north and they work weekends - she expects I’ll see my results in a couple days
 
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If a man’s going to break his ketosis and move into a bulk, Hillbilly Eggs’d be a mighty fine way to do it

2 cups spinach wilted in avocado oil 🥬🥑
1 chopped, cooked sweet potato added
4 omega3 eggs scrambled in
1 can creamy chicken noodle w/ carrot 🥘
1 sv shredded cheddar to top

~45pro, 50cho, 50 fat

Skip the cheese and use non-stick spray instead of avocado oil to drop 20g fat out. But for myself: it’s time to eat to be strong.
 
05/02/20 - Squat
BW 234.2

Bird Dogs, Planks, Side Planks, Glute Bridges, Leg Swings, Air Squats

CAT Squat
45 2x5
135,185,235x3
285,335x2
+belt
370,390,410x2
in ~25 min:
285,295,305,315,325,335x5 beltless

Frontsquat
45,135,205x3
225,245,265x5

Overhead Log Carry
75x200+ ft

A bunch of back extensions carrying weights to and from the parking lot for my wife to train a medley:

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Man, it’s amazing what some carbs will do for performance! Strongest squats have felt since before the diet. Imagine that. Feeling ready to get back to the 5th Set work for prep.
 
Hyde said:
I have torn both plenty but way more often my right hand (which has weaker grip overall). I definitely think there’s something to be improved, not the least of which is just getting through some training for a while without retearing so I have time for calluses/toughening to happen. You need to come down so you can show me your setup. I do think you have larger hands than me also, but that’s not exactly something I can manipulate lol.
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I can teach you how I grip it and then you can teach me how to deadlift again. Deal? Lol.
 
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If you’re gonna run it hot, best be willing to spend some extra time under the hood.
#preventativemaintenance
 
05/03/20 - Day 1 of Cycle
BW 234.2

Compound/Dose/Weeks:

Test E 400mg 1-10
Mast E 200mg 3-10
DMZ 40mg 1-6
Mbol 75mg 1-4
M1A 60mg 9-11
Rad, Var, or Yk11 weeks 7-11 (TBD)

Shots will be Sun/Wed. 200mg test e pinned this morning. DMZ & Mechabol start tomorrow. Looking to peak for July 19th as of right now - time to get after it!
 
Hyde said:
05/03/20 - Day 1 of Cycle
BW 234.2

Compound/Dose/Weeks:

Test E 400mg 1-10
Mast E 200mg 3-10
DMZ 40mg 1-6
Mbol 75mg 1-4
M1A 60mg 9-11
Rad, Var, or Yk11 weeks 7-11 (TBD)

Shots will be Sun/Wed. 200mg test e pinned this morning. DMZ & Mechabol start tomorrow. Looking to peak for July 19th as of right now - time to get after it!
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Looks like a good time. Is that mechabol? I don’t think I know much about that one.
 
Matthersby said:
Looks like a good time. Is that mechabol? I don’t think I know much about that one.
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Yup. Methylclostebol. Very similar structure to Halodrol so it doesn’t aromatize to estrogen or 5AR reduce to DHT, but while Halodrol is a PH to Turinabol, Methylclostebol is essentially a weaker but decidedly less-androgenic methyltestosterone.

Basically, some quick low-side muscle bulk. Got some LGI I’ve been sitting on since ‘14 I bought for like $24 back then
 
05/04/20 - Day 2, 2nd Press
BW 238.2

Monster Miniband Pullaparts
3x30

ss w/ Lightband Pullthrus
2x25

One-Arm Monster Miniband Overhand Tri Extension
2x25/arm

Incline Bench
45x10
95,135,185,225x5
235x4
245x3
255x2
265x1
215x10 touch n go PR

Seated BTN Press
45 2x10
75,110x8
130 3x8 PR

BB Calf Raises
130 5x10

BB Skullcrushers
45x15
70x10
90 2x15 PR

One-Arm Monster Miniband Underhand Tri Extensions
2x25/arm

BB Rows
45,135,185,205,215x12

BB Shrugs
215,235x15

Began the Dymethabol combo today. Between the hormones and all the quality food I’ve been putting down the last couple days, I felt ready to really put the work in. Incline pressing was absolutely strong as ever. Doing the things I need to do to grow.

Adjustments.JPG


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Meal looks good Haven’t read back but have you ran dimethabold? Just wondering how you liked it.
 
Afi140 said:
Meal looks good Haven’t read back but have you ran dimethabold? Just wondering how you liked it.
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Lol nope forgot about that old Celtic ph. This was just me short-handing my use of Dymethazine and Methylclostebol together. That’s why I spelled it the way I did.
 
Been settling into the Vertical Diet as my base the last 2-3 days. Eating 4 meals per day plus a little random junk. It really seems like I will need to go to 5 solid meals per day as my base though. Probably add a Greek Yogurt/Whey meal for convenience & cost, plus calcium.

I have been taking a cap of Wrecking Crew before 3 meals per day and a 10-minute walk after them, and it seems like so far I am absolutely ripping through this food. Blood sugar must be staying low enough doing that that I am basically hungry again within 90 minutes.

Breakfast has been 4 eggs, a big handful of spinach wilted in avocado oil, a chopped sweet potato, shredded cheese, with an orange and a few baby carrots on the side.

Next 2 meals are each a 1/2 cup (measured uncooked) jasmine rice, 9oz 90/10 beef, half a bell pepper, about a cup of spinach, some chicken stock, and a few more carrots. One has a serving of almonds.

Dinner is salmon or sirloin along with veggies and/or salad and a carb like potatoes or pasta.
 
05/06/20 - Day 4, Wk1 Deadlift
BW 239.6

Bird Dogs, Planks, Side Planks, Glute Bridges

Deadlift, stiffbar, hookgrip
135x5
225x3
315,385x1
435x2, 2, 1
+straps
435 3x3

Blockpulls
420 3x3

Sumo Blockpulls
420 2x5

Trapbar Tempo “Legpress”
315 3x10

Tried hookgrip with 2 fingers and my thumb protruding between my middle and ring fingers, which seemed to work pretty well. Tried not to overload my skin and taped around 435, then cut the hook work and added straps when my skin gave me warning signs. Just gonna take some time and practice, but I will get there!

A7X got me through:

And All Things Will End

https://youtu.be/IBuZYYfEHIo
 
SkRaw85 said:
That is a quality gym! Will you be returning their to train in time?
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I only trained there 3 or 4 times a yr, it's about 45min from my place. He has been renovating, and sold off a fair bit of gear (I bought my stuff from him) so it will look different when th8ngs kick off again. But awesome gym, some of the strongest people in Bris tra8n there.
 
05/08/20 - Day 6, Wk1 Bench
BW 243.2

Band warmup

Bench
45,95,135x5
185x3
225,250x2
270 4x2, 1x6+1 assist

1-Board
255 2x5

Yoke Chins
10,9,8,8,7

ss w/ BB Pullovers
45,65x12
85 2x10

Seated DB Rear Delt Flyes
20 2x20

DB Hammercurls
+miniband
20 2x15

Bench feeling a lot stronger, probably because I have gained 10lbs in a week. Reverse dieting, out of keto, and into a cycle after being off 5 months, will do that I suppose! Belly is bloated from food but not feeling any fatter at all.
 
Warmed up very thoroughly for squats. 295 felt really heavy. Knees hurt per usual. Just got discouraged and shut it down. Will squat tomorrow. I think taking so much time off cycle has really caused my strength to backslide heavily.

Got my blood test results. That stupid-ass Predator keto diet only hurt my blood values. Yes fasting glucose improved a little by dropping some bodyfat, but I lost 7 points of HDL, gained 20 points of LDL, and Triglycerides DOUBLED from an excellent 53 up to 105! And BUN levels surged up from an already high 20 to 25 from all the protein, although Creatinine & eGFR more importantly remained at their usual 1.20 and 80, thankfully.

Testosterone, estrogen, LH, FSH were all good, and liver enzymes were lower than ever which was nice to see (but they were acceptable already). Blood values were normal like always, with hematocrit dropping down from 48.6 to 46.8, but all of that is pretty much just due to 3 more months off roids.

Would definitely never do that diet again. All of the red meat was genuinely bad for me. It also makes me think about switching some of my ground beef to ground turkey/chicken now. If chicken is allegedly 20x as inflammatory as beef, how come all my lipid values were substantially better only 8 weeks after Methyltren than after this beef diet natty??!
 
Hyde said:
Warmed up very thoroughly for squats. 295 felt really heavy. Knees hurt per usual. Just got discouraged and shut it down. Will squat tomorrow. I think taking so much time off cycle has really caused my strength to backslide heavily.

Got my blood test results. That stupid-ass Predator keto diet only hurt my blood values. Yes fasting glucose improved a little by dropping some bodyfat, but I lost 7 points of HDL, gained 20 points of LDL, and Triglycerides DOUBLED from an excellent 53 up to 105! And BUN levels surged up from an already high 20 to 25 from all the protein, although Creatinine & eGFR more importantly remained at their usual 1.20 and 80, thankfully.

Testosterone, estrogen, LH, FSH were all good, and liver enzymes were lower than ever which was nice to see (but they were acceptable already). Blood values were normal like always, with hematocrit dropping down from 48.6 to 46.8, but all of that is pretty much just due to 3 more months off roids.

Would definitely never do that diet again. All of the red meat was genuinely bad for me. It also makes me think about switching some of my ground beef to ground turkey/chicken now. If chicken is allegedly 20x as inflammatory as beef, how come all my lipid values were substantially better only 8 weeks after Methyltren than after this beef diet natty??!
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Wish I'd checked my bloods after keto last year. I fucking couldn't stand red meat for a good month after finishing that.
 
Smart moving listening to yourself and just pushing it back a day. Nothing harmed by that at this point.

Interesting on the bloods. One blip in trigs could be from a number of things. Your everyday mean value probably falls somewhere between those two with how extreme they are.
 
BennyMagoo79 said:
Wish I'd checked my bloods after keto last year. I fucking couldn't stand red meat for a good month after finishing that.
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I think keto can definitely be done healthy, if you minimize the animal-based fats and load up on olive, avocado, nuts, flax etc. But who wants to eat chicken breast swimming in olive oil 4 times per day?

jswain34 said:
Smart moving listening to yourself and just pushing it back a day. Nothing harmed by that at this point.

Interesting on the bloods. One blip in trigs could be from a number of things. Your everyday mean value probably falls somewhere between those two with how extreme they are.
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Thank you for the reaffirmation. I felt bad about it but it just wasn’t going to happen.

My trig values before last winter’s meet prep were usually 70s, which is dead between 53 & 106 so you may be on to something hopefully.
 
05/12/20 - Day 10, Wk1 Squat
BW 247.2

Jumping Jacks
x25

DeFranco Agile 8

Box Jumps (pretty low but they did the job)
2x3, 2x5

Squat
45,135x5
225,275,315x3
350x2
+belt & Cerberus 7mm sleeves
380x2
405 4x2, 1x8 RPE8

Frontsquat, softbelt
135,205,255x2
280 3x3

BB Good Mornings
135 5x10

Ab Wheel
1x10 shut these down, weird pain and not worth a hernia lol

This was the day I needed to have. Today was a pretty monumental breakthrough. Was up late reading 5/3/1 Forever trying to figure out what I would do if I decided not to prep for a meet. Wendler really hammers on the eventual need for daily mobility work - the same thing he said in OG 5/3/1, but I read it when I was 20 and flat ignored it because I just didn’t need it then. But 10 years of lifting has come and gone, and it’s the piece I am missing now!

My body was warmed, loose, and completely pain free after the Agile 8. I was even JUMPING with zero pain! And squats felt like someone had just taken the restrictor plate off my engine’s intake - I was absolutely blasting 405. I only stopped at 8 reps because I was out of breath and the bar felt like it was moving down my back and overloading my unwrapped wrists - I definitely had the bar speed & power to do 2 more. My lifetime best is 410x10, so I am in a terrific place to prep for a PR.
 
05/13/20 - Day 11, Wk1 2nd Press
BW 247.4

Jumping Jacks
Agile 8
Miniband Rear Delts, Pecs, Tris

Widegrip Bench
45,95,135x15
170 2x25 PR

BB Skullcrushers
45,70x12
90 2x18 PR

Monster Miniband One-Arm Tri Pressdown
2x25/arm overhand, then same underhand

Monster Miniband Pullaparts
3x30 w/ 45 sec rests

BB Rows
45,135,185x10
205,215,225x12

BB Shrugs
225,235,245x15

Had to do this one at 8pm last night: having no preWO made it more of a slog, but the power was there so I ain’t mad about it. A little hesitant to take overhead pressing out completely, but I am just going to stick to the 5th Set script for now. I have finite energy, and you don’t get to count your Strictpress in your total lol.
 
05/16/20 - Day 14, Wk 2 Deadlift
BW 250.6

Jumping Jacks

Agile 8

Box Jumps
2x5

Deadlift, Powerbar - alternating mixed grips for each weight
135 2x5
225 2x3
315 2x1
365,385,405,425,445 2x3 each

Blockpulls
+straps from here on
425 3x3

Sumo Blockpulls
425 2x5

Hi Handle Trapbar Tempo Legpress
330 3x10, 3 sec eccentrics

Tried this Friday night at the gym but my thumb skin was shredding at 225 on the Powerbar with hookgrip. Also determined that 2-finger hook is worthless for me - substantially weaker than my already volatile 3-finger setup. Just didn’t feel up for the session when 365 was slipping out of my hands, so I went home to sleep and came back to smash it Saturday morning.

I realized my bicep never tore from deadlifts, or had problems from it - it was strongman that took out my tendon for sure. And Louie Simmons tore his bicep decades ago, but still pulls same arm under in his mixed grip without issue to this day - just because it has been repaired doesn’t mean I need to coddle it. It holds for all of my pressing just fine. So I did a bunch of sets equally for both arms mixed grip and it was awesome to have zero grip fixations or worry - it was like riding a bike.
 
05/19/20 - Day 17, Wk2 Bench
BW 253.0

Jumping Jacks
Agile 8
Band Warmups
Med Ball Slams

Bench
45,95,135x5
185x3
225,250x2
275 4x2, 1x7+1 assist

1-Board
260 2x5

Yoke Chins
5x8

BB Pullovers
45x12
90 2x10

Pushed this session back to today - wife unexpectedly got her shift swapped last night last minute to celebrate our 1st Anniversary together. Had to delay a couple little accessories today til tomorrow due to work, but the bench felt super strong - my estimated 1RM today currently falls around 335, so I am building steam fast!

Masteron Enanthate has been added at 200mg weekly starting Sunday. First time ever using it but so far feeling great with it and seems to really balance estrogen powerfully - like taking an AI, except everything gets better instead of worse.
 
05/21/20 - Day 19, Wk2 Squat
BW 254.0

Jumping Jacks
Agile 8
DB Hammercurls
15x25, 20 2x25
DB Rear Delt Flyes
20 2x20
Pec Stretch, Jigsaw everything

Box Jumps
3x4

Squat
45x5
45,135,225,275,315x3
355x2
+belt, 7mm sleeves, & neoprene shorts
385x2
410 4x3, 1x9

Frontsquat
45x5
135,185,225x3
255x2
285 3x3

Right hip flexor started hurting during bench Tuesday & hasn’t really stopped even with mobility work - took the safe route and used my warm pants to work through it effectively. Bumped up the work sets from doubles to triples, added 5lbs, & hit another rep on the AMRAP.

Squat til you collapse!

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“Ink well has run dry - fill it with blood of the scribe”
 
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