The Biggest Smont ever! 🤔 Lets find out

[CroLifter]

I feel you, i worked a demanding physical job also in the sun during summer and couldnt progress for my life. On cycle I could but it was still subpar when I look back. Basically on cycle i didnt even get to my biggesr weight where i was naturally. I was stronger on cycle in some departments like the bench press and overhead press but man I remember that spring/summer when I was 20 I just grew and grew, and got fat. So cut down from 242 to 225 and was surprised to see the amount of mass I carried. I trained for 4 years beforehand. After that I got a physical job and just regressed for 2 years when I said fuk it and hopped on.



I would stay away from orals and tren with the sun and heat and dehydration, that is stress on the kidneys and when they go they go. You know yourself best, but I personally couldnt force myself to bulk significantly while being drained every day. It IS doable during winter and I could make some progress here and there during winter months, but summer heat and hard labor outside = i am done, i dont want anything, i dont want to live. And I am not the one to shy away from labor obviously the house and the yard need a servant but its not the same as being a wage worker working the worst hours when the heat is unbearable.

 

[gphagan1]

Ok gentlemen, I need some help with direction from you guys. Had a 3 day run of mayhem, I probably worked 40-45hrs in the past 3 days and maybe 10 total hours of sleep. Calories were hard to get in but I managed 2900-3100 each day. Today is my last 16hr day putting me around 56-60 hours in 4 days on low sleep. With summer approaching il be working a lot, outside most days sweating through 3 shirts a day. You know my normal summer routine lol

I just stepped on the scale and I'm down 8lbs, piss is brown like I was drinking all night too so definitely dehydrated. My appetite is shot, probably from stress and lack of sleep.

I honestly don't think getting up to 230 is in the cards till fall.

Now here's my dilemma. I found a strength comp in August and my gym is also going to host one in August. When I get rehydrated, eat normal and whatever else il be 200, that'll take like a day or two. and lean, I'm still pretty lean. I fire up the cycle and il gain 5-10 more. Do I try to fight nature and compete at 220 in August or do I just get as strong as possible around 208-215 and cut back to 198 to compete.

I got about 10 more ideas I have but il start with this.

Any thoughts?

Of course your strength will go up quicker on a bulk, but your true dilemma is how many calories you regularly burn during the Summer. So to gain I’m sure you would probably have to be 4000+. So I guess the major determining factor is do you think you could eat that much during the Summer consistently. It’s almost a catch 22, because 198 would be easier for you, but 220 would probably be better numbers.

 

[CroLifter]

But then again wouldnt he have a better chance of placing better in the 198? Coming from a higher bodyweight?

In the 220 class he will be competing against monsters who cut down to that class no?

 

[jfigliuolo]

I got no advise... good to see you check in. I get a little concerned when we don't hear from you for a few days.

 

[gphagan1]

But then again wouldnt he have a better chance of placing better in the 198? Coming from a higher bodyweight?

In the 220 class he will be competing against monsters who cut down to that class no?

Yep, that’s a good point.

 

[Hyde]

Ok gentlemen, I need some help with direction from you guys. Had a 3 day run of mayhem, I probably worked 40-45hrs in the past 3 days and maybe 10 total hours of sleep. Calories were hard to get in but I managed 2900-3100 each day. Today is my last 16hr day putting me around 56-60 hours in 4 days on low sleep. With summer approaching il be working a lot, outside most days sweating through 3 shirts a day. You know my normal summer routine lol

I just stepped on the scale and I'm down 8lbs, piss is brown like I was drinking all night too so definitely dehydrated. My appetite is shot, probably from stress and lack of sleep.

I honestly don't think getting up to 230 is in the cards till fall.

Now here's my dilemma. I found a strength comp in August and my gym is also going to host one in August. When I get rehydrated, eat normal and whatever else il be 200, that'll take like a day or two. and lean, I'm still pretty lean. I fire up the cycle and il gain 5-10 more. Do I try to fight nature and compete at 220 in August or do I just get as strong as possible around 208-215 and cut back to 198 to compete.

I got about 10 more ideas I have but il start with this.

Any thoughts?

I think you should do the contest if you want, enter 220, and just let your bodyweight do whatever you can manage reasonably. If you come in at 203, that’s totally fine - this is probably how most people should compete, just entering however they land without cutting or getting fat for the sake of the scale.

Don’t let Great be the enemy of Good!

The last meet I did, my class (242 untested) was absolutely stacked. The weakest guy did like 1,584. The best did 2,000 - far & above the 275 & 308s even. That 242 guy also only weighed like 230, just didn’t bother cutting because he was the strongest guy in the whole meet. And we all had a blast.

Just lift, take your gear, eat what you can manage and enjoy the contest however you come in!

Remember when @Hyde was bulking for his bench bench back around NYE of 2023 (i think it was '23?? 24 maybe?) and he was eating like it WAS his job... IDK how you struggle at 200 lol but I know how huge an impact 20lbs has on my strength...

I'm burnt out on constantly having to cut after a cycle, personally. But if it doesn't bother you then the full bulk could be a shitload of fun (the strength side, not the eating as a second job side).

My wife and I were talking about that tonight actually. Took my son to McDonald’s tonight for a happy meal. This is a college town, and 3 large college girls were eating near us. A couple had brought Subway sandwiches in but also had some fries and icecream. One gal had a footlong sub, a large fry, a McFlurry, a large icecream cone, and before she left she got ANOTHER large cone.

Truly fat people show the truth - you need to take things to a ridiculous place at some points to get the calories to push the scale at some junctures. And that’s usually not going to happen with healthy foods.

But then again wouldnt he have a better chance of placing better in the 198? Coming from a higher bodyweight?

In the 220 class he will be competing against monsters who cut down to that class no?

As a competitor, I will tell you no, not at all - who wins is entirely just about who shows up that particular day in whatever classes. We all know the heavier we get the stronger we’ll be, all things being equal - but then we forget strength varies WILDLY with genetics and training. So you will see 198s who outlift 308s & Superheavies at local meets all the time. Not on average, but almost every local meet there will be “that guy” who is just something special.

I used to work a physical job in my early twenties btw, and I was the same way - summer kills appetite and energy to lift even.

 

[Smont]

I got no advise... good to see you check in. I get a little concerned when we don't hear from you for a few days.

I haven't really had much to log and I had some family stuff I been dealing with, kinda stressful stuff. Working a lot too. I'm also trying to reconstruct my garden and get it ready for this year. I ripped out all my old garden beds and pretty much leveled the entire area and I'm starting from scratch this year. That's been taking up a little bit of my free time and I also haven't been putting into consideration on burning a bunch of extra calories doing that . I know it looks like a mess right now, but I had to give myself a clean slate to work with. Between this weekend and next weekend I got to have it finished hopefully and start planting my early season vegetables.

My lawn took a beating this winter too, so I got a lot of work to do on that. And the fence that separates my yard from the neighbors got destroyed and I got to put a new one of those up

 

[Smont]

Of course your strength will go up quicker on a bulk, but your true dilemma is how many calories you regularly burn during the Summer. So to gain I’m sure you would probably have to be 4000+. So I guess the major determining factor is do you think you could eat that much during the Summer consistently. It’s almost a catch 22, because 198 would be easier for you, but 220 would probably be better numbers.

I don't think I can keep up with the calories. Not without eating lots of garbage. Staying well hydrated get tuff too.

Last summer I looked amazing and my strength was really good around.....205 ish , I was deadlifting 2x week up until I jumped off the porch and fuxed my back up chasing the dog. I was on test, EQ, HGH, epiandro and SLU PP 332 all summer.

Looking back, I don't think there was any way I could have ate enough to gain 15 more pounds that summer lol.

 

[gphagan1]

I don't think I can keep up with the calories. Not without eating lots of garbage. Staying well hydrated get tuff too.

Last summer I looked amazing and my strength was really good around.....205 ish , I was deadlifting 2x week up until I jumped off the porch and fuxed my back up chasing the dog. I was on test, EQ, HGH, epiandro and SLU PP 332 all summer.View attachment 260079 Looking back, I don't think there was any way I could have ate enough to gain 15 more pounds that summer lol.

Yeah I thought that would be tough for you in the Summer. Honestly I think 200 to 205 is probably your best weight. It seems to be where your body tends to settle in maintenance, and you always look in great shape in that range.

 

[Smont]

Yeah I thought that would be tough for you in the Summer. Honestly I think 200 to 205 is probably your best weight. It seems to be where your body tends to settle in maintenance, and you always look in great shape in that range.

Ya, 198-208lbs seems to be my set point. I typically will accidentally fall in that range without trying too hard. I also have had a really bad aching right knee lately. The pain in my knee comes and goes but it's been pretty aggravating lately, it's making leg training suck, I can RDL and leg press pretty pain free still tho. This morning I did a high volume pull workout with 8 sets of farmers walks mixed into the workout and just walking under load aggravated it pretty Good (bad).

Well, I think I'm going to continue on lifting heavy on a few lifts and with more volume/hypertrophy work and just try to eat as much as I can comfortably each day and probably do what hyde said.

 

[Dustin07]

My wife and I were talking about that tonight actually. Took my son to McDonald’s tonight for a happy meal. This is a college town, and 3 large college girls were eating near us. A couple had brought Subway sandwiches in but also had some fries and icecream. One gal had a footlong sub, a large fry, a McFlurry, a large icecream cone, and before she left she got ANOTHER large cone.

Truly fat people show the truth - you need to take things to a ridiculous place at some points to get the calories to push the scale at some junctures. And that’s usually not going to happen with healthy foods.

Man I feel bad saying this but a few weeks ago I was grabbing a fork in the office cafeteria/kitchen for my chicken on greens and our accounting lady was cooking up her plate of left over fried chicken. I didn't say anything about it but it was a huge pile. my wife and I eat a lot of chicken and I think she had what I eat in a week as a gymrat, on her plate, fried. smelled delicious but I honestly felt a wild wave of emotions. Some anger, that she could make such a shitty choice, some sadness, that she couldn't do better. Some douchiness as I looked down on her from my thrown of fiber and lean protein, and then some embarrased humility for thinking about it at all. She later posted on social that she finally flew without a seatbelt extender for the first time in years recently. Morbidly obese people don't even need "diets", just eating actual food and vegetables would probably cut 100lbs off her this year.

dude this was a pile of fried chicken enough to feed probably 5 or 6 people at a bbq.

I haven't really had much to log and I had some family stuff I been dealing with, kinda stressful stuff. Working a lot too. I'm also trying to reconstruct my garden and get it ready for this year. I ripped out all my old garden beds and pretty much leveled the entire area and I'm starting from scratch this year. That's been taking up a little bit of my free time and I also haven't been putting into consideration on burning a bunch of extra calories doing that . I know it looks like a mess right now, but I had to give myself a clean slate to work with. Between this weekend and next weekend I got to have it finished hopefully and start planting my early season vegetables.View attachment 260077View attachment 260078

My lawn took a beating this winter too, so I got a lot of work to do on that. And the fence that separates my yard from the neighbors got destroyed and I got to put a new one of those up

DUDE you have a lot more land in that neighborhood than I had imagined! I kept thinking you were super effecient maxing out a subdivided in town lot but you can build a ton there.

I need to get an updated picture because everything here has been cleaned up drastically, fenced in, more wood chips, etc but I've been working on this pretty much every weekend since October. the greenhouse was one of the cheapo import ones, so I put all the effort into building a foundation for it, putting ground contact lumber down on bricks, etc, filled the raised beds with horse manure back in feb, then my wife has been layering it. I think we have 4 or 6 more barrels now than what you see here. I'll try to get an updated pic later.

no way I could get all this done for this grow season if I was just starting though

 

[Dustin07]

earlier pics as it was going

 

[CroLifter]

When it comes to ingesting massive amounts of food to grow, I agree with Dave Crossland's line of thought, boiled chicken breast and rice. I think eating anything just to hit caloric need is detrimental both long term and short term. One bulk I did where i ate high fat to hit the calories was the worst i ever did. Fat was piling on. Long term obviously health when combined with gear x3 takes a hit.

I rather eat my boild rice until nausea sets in and go again in 2 hours. The results are much better, the fullness is beyond anything and lipids on 500mg test and 200mg mast were very good.


I am not saying one shouldnt do what he has to do for a few weeks but long term this is better approach. In my experience going high fat just to hit calories results only in more bodyfat.

In hindsight i would have adjusted my lifestyle rather than trying to run through a brick wall with gear and massive amounts of food (well would have still taken gear but perhaps 2-3 years later after i have hit certain lift numbers naturally).

 

[Smont]

When it comes to ingesting massive amounts of food to grow, I agree with Dave Crossland's line of thought, boiled chicken breast and rice. I think eating anything just to hit caloric need is detrimental both long term and short term. One bulk I did where i ate high fat to hit the calories was the worst i ever did. Fat was piling on. Long term obviously health when combined with gear x3 takes a hit.

I rather eat my boild rice until nausea sets in and go again in 2 hours. The results are much better, the fullness is beyond anything and lipids on 500mg test and 200mg mast were very good.


I am not saying one shouldnt do what he has to do for a few weeks but long term this is better approach. In my experience going high fat just to hit calories results only in more bodyfat.

In hindsight i would have adjusted my lifestyle rather than trying to run through a brick wall with gear and massive amounts of food (well would have still taken gear but perhaps 2-3 years later after i have hit certain lift numbers naturally).

I absolutely agree that clean eating is better, significantly, for health, and for body composition, but not always for performance, I do a lot of athletic ****, I'm not a bodybuilder, I just try to be athletic and look more like a bodybuilder. That's the thing tho, 2 important factors, the most important being that this is way more about strength then how I look. I haven't lost my abs in like 2 years because of the look. Wanting quality gains. This was about gaining weight and strength. The "look", not as important. And I don't get fat easily. My metabolism is stupid lol. Dave crossland is also a endomorph type, he gets fat easily. My maintenance calories at 200lbs is like 3200-3400 right now, by the time summer hits and I'm up and down ladders all day, in the garden 2 hrs a day, training ppl at the gym and training myself afterwards, my calories need to be over 4000. The year I did go up to the 220's I was over 4000 a day. And I had less muscle back then too. Now I'm also not saying I planned to eat 4000 calories in junk. I always try to make 3/4 of my food good nutritious foods. Lots of meat eggs, Greek yogurt, rice, potato fruits and vegetables. The junk is to pick up the slack. A average day for me right now is around 220 protein, 400 carbs and 90 fat. 3200ish.

Even when I'm cutting, I eat junk in the early stages because 3000 calorie is ALWAYS a deficit for me. And 3000 cal from chicken and rice is still a lot of food.

 

[Smont]

Man I feel bad saying this but a few weeks ago I was grabbing a fork in the office cafeteria/kitchen for my chicken on greens and our accounting lady was cooking up her plate of left over fried chicken. I didn't say anything about it but it was a huge pile. my wife and I eat a lot of chicken and I think she had what I eat in a week as a gymrat, on her plate, fried. smelled delicious but I honestly felt a wild wave of emotions. Some anger, that she could make such a shitty choice, some sadness, that she couldn't do better. Some douchiness as I looked down on her from my thrown of fiber and lean protein, and then some embarrased humility for thinking about it at all. She later posted on social that she finally flew without a seatbelt extender for the first time in years recently. Morbidly obese people don't even need "diets", just eating actual food and vegetables would probably cut 100lbs off her this year.

dude this was a pile of fried chicken enough to feed probably 5 or 6 people at a bbq.


DUDE you have a lot more land in that neighborhood than I had imagined! I kept thinking you were super effecient maxing out a subdivided in town lot but you can build a ton there.

I need to get an updated picture because everything here has been cleaned up drastically, fenced in, more wood chips, etc but I've been working on this pretty much every weekend since October. the greenhouse was one of the cheapo import ones, so I put all the effort into building a foundation for it, putting ground contact lumber down on bricks, etc, filled the raised beds with horse manure back in feb, then my wife has been layering it. I think we have 4 or 6 more barrels now than what you see here. I'll try to get an updated pic later.

no way I could get all this done for this grow season if I was just starting though

View attachment 260082

Nice dude, that's a awesome set up.

Ya I live in a busy small city but I have a huge piece of land in the middle of a triangle of busy streets. Without a aerial view of the property or actually being in my yard, you would never know it's back there. I can walk through my back yard and end up 2 streets over.

I got a lot of work to do, my yard is in shambles right now and I got old fences to replace

 

[Smont]

But then again wouldnt he have a better chance of placing better in the 198? Coming from a higher bodyweight?

In the 220 class he will be competing against monsters who cut down to that class no?

It's hit or miss, at 198 I was the biggest guy last time, there was a young guy same size but a little taller, not as dense as me. The guys at 220 were actually all pudgy and I out benched 90% of them last time. I was second place @ 198 with 370lbs (lost by 5lbs ) and only 1 person at 220 beat me and he missed 405. I think I can get 405 at 220. 2 weeks ago I hit 315x3 and 325 was smooth. At 200lbs, not on cycle.

 

[Dustin07]

My metabolism is stupid lol

agreed, lol. but you are also in a super active job field which probably helps stay lean and challenges the bulk... I mean I'm likely more mesomorphic myself combined with desk job so...

Nice dude, that's a awesome set up.

Ya I live in a busy small city but I have a huge piece of land in the middle of a triangle of busy streets. Without a aerial view of the property or actually being in my yard, you would never know it's back there. I can walk through my back yard and end up 2 streets over.

I got a lot of work to do, my yard is in shambles right now and I got old fences to replace

now thats a slice of paradise! I'm telling you man that greenhouse I bought we ended up going home depot instead of amazon or vevor because they were all the same but free shipping and I think I saved like another $100. But with your skills you could probably build one with parts off marketplace for like $200. I grabbed an automatic vent opener off amazon for $20 filled with wax that extends when it gets hot and opens the window, and a solar powered 10" exhaust fan I'm installing this weekend. it's been dropping to like 36-38F here at night so still pretty cold out, but when the sun hits the greenhouse its spiked between 100 and 108F for a brief hour during the days.

 

[Hyde]

It's hit or miss, at 198 I was the biggest guy last time, there was a young guy same size but a little taller, not as dense as me. The guys at 220 were actually all pudgy and I out benched 90% of them last time. I was second place @ 198 with 370lbs (lost by 5lbs ) and only 1 person at 220 beat me and he missed 405. I think I can get 405 at 220. 2 weeks ago I hit 315x3 and 325 was smooth. At 200lbs, not on cycle.

Yeah 220 is probably the most common men’s weightclass in local powerlifting in America. Since 5’10” is the national average, and powerlifting is about moving weight & not so much diet for most, guys often end up 200-220 at 20%+ bodyfat.

Sounds like you should try to PR your bench regardless of bodyweight to me. Just shoot to get strong enough to do 375+, regardless of what you get up to. Just try to get enough in to recover and train decently.

 

[Smont]

While I got everyone's attention. Has anyone used the injectable glutathione to reconstitute BPC or tb500, I really wanna try to get some arthritis inflammation down, the glutathione seems to help with inflammation from arthritis a good bit on top of other things, I'm out of BAC and I wanna use the combo to help my knee. I would normally have a ton on hand and just try it and if it denature the peptides I can just Chuck it. But I only have 2 combo bottles of it at 5+5mg. I can't waste one.


Other things I'm thinking of trying, if anyone has experience let me know. (Not for inflammation obviously)

J-147 and n acytal selank

Although selank has a big effect on inflammation too

 

[Jimbabwe]

I wouldn't risk it and would just get more BAC because of how fragile those peptides are.

 

[CroLifter]

405 (180kg) bench is just crazy to me, its not that i havent seen it done plenty of times irl but just seems so out of reach. 150kg i would be ecstatic.
I do incline primarily as i can fail safely and always train alone, 10 days into the acclimatization phase of the cycle which is 270 test (weird but its due to dosing) and 2 iu gh and already throwing my off cycle weights around (its all muscle memory obviously and also 300mg gets my test 4-5x as its 350-400 off cycle so its a crazy bump for me and i feel incredible).

But i became so paranoid about tearing a pec having watched so many videos with guys tearing even with 225 and it makes me nervous. My ohp has been always comparatively stronger having hit 80kg x5 and 90kg x 2 at my strongest but couldnt even bench 120kg. I have a larg gap in between pectorals and think its holding me back as i simply lack the muscle.


So seeing you have almost 100lb bench strength increase in mind i would be very concerned about possible injury.

 

[Hyde]

405 (180kg) bench is just crazy to me, its not that i havent seen it done plenty of times irl but just seems so out of reach. 150kg i would be ecstatic.
I do incline primarily as i can fail safely and always train alone, 10 days into the acclimatization phase of the cycle which is 270 test (weird but its due to dosing) and 2 iu gh and already throwing my off cycle weights around (its all muscle memory obviously and also 300mg gets my test 4-5x as its 350-400 off cycle so its a crazy bump for me and i feel incredible).

But i became so paranoid about tearing a pec having watched so many videos with guys tearing even with 225 and it makes me nervous. My ohp has been always comparatively stronger having hit 80kg x5 and 90kg x 2 at my strongest but couldnt even bench 120kg. I have a larg gap in between pectorals and think its holding me back as i simply lack the muscle.


So seeing you have almost 100lb bench strength increase in mind i would be very concerned about possible injury.

180 is actually only 396lbs. To bench 405lbs, you must do 184kg.

Don’t sleep on flies, or light Widegrip benchpress for sets of 8-12 reps (leave a few reps in the tank too). About 2 fingers wider than your normal benchpress grip. 2-3 sets of these added over time for some extra pec work will bring up your raw bench strength, especially starting power.

 

[Smont]

I wouldn't risk it and would just get more BAC because of how fragile those peptides are.

I agree, if someone hasn't tried it already I'm definitely not going to lol. I was looking to see if it's already been done. Sometimes I'll have like a million bottles on hand though because I would get a bunch for free/ my rep pay, so I wouldn't mind risking it if I had like 10 of them kicking around

 

[Smont]

405 (180kg) bench is just crazy to me, its not that i havent seen it done plenty of times irl but just seems so out of reach. 150kg i would be ecstatic.
I do incline primarily as i can fail safely and always train alone, 10 days into the acclimatization phase of the cycle which is 270 test (weird but its due to dosing) and 2 iu gh and already throwing my off cycle weights around (its all muscle memory obviously and also 300mg gets my test 4-5x as its 350-400 off cycle so its a crazy bump for me and i feel incredible).

But i became so paranoid about tearing a pec having watched so many videos with guys tearing even with 225 and it makes me nervous. My ohp has been always comparatively stronger having hit 80kg x5 and 90kg x 2 at my strongest but couldnt even bench 120kg. I have a larg gap in between pectorals and think its holding me back as i simply lack the muscle.


So seeing you have almost 100lb bench strength increase in mind i would be very concerned about possible injury.

It's not really a 100lb increase. In the past I've done 335x3, 345x2, 370x1. I've done 375 (170kg) in the gym.

325 isint my current max but it's the heaviest I've gone in years. I can probably hit 335lb (152kg) right now. Going on cycle will usually give me a quick 20lb jump and then I'd be grinding away the last couple months.

The rest of my lifts don't line up with my bench. My squat is only low 400s, my deadlift around 510 (231kg) my bench press is just really good because I'm kind of built to bench press. I'm not very tall I'm like 5 ft 10 on the best day ever lol, I have a big wide chest and back and average length arms so it makes for good pressing leverages. I did a standing overhead press with 235 (106.5kg) about a month ago. My presses are always far more impressive than my squats and deadlifts

 

[Smont]

180 is actually only 396lbs. To bench 405lbs, you must do 184kg.

Don’t sleep on flies, or light Widegrip benchpress for sets of 8-12 reps (leave a few reps in the tank too). About 2 fingers wider than your normal benchpress grip. 2-3 sets of these added over time for some extra pec work will bring up your raw bench strength, especially starting power.

Il give the light wide grip press a go. I'm big on flys too. Flys are always 2nd or 3rd in any of my chest or push routines. I've been doing tons of pushups lately too. I never write them down, but during the strength and conditioning classes of doing with the youth boxers I bet you I'm doing 150 to 200 push-ups twice a week throughout their class. When we're doing circuits there's usually a group of three or four guys waiting for their turn to rotate into the circuits and I'm regularly dropping everybody for 10 and do them with them so that nobody's standing around doing nothing

 

[Hyde]

Il give the light wide grip press a go. I'm big on flys too. Flys are always 2nd or 3rd in any of my chest or push routines. I've been doing tons of pushups lately too. I never write them down, but during the strength and conditioning classes of doing with the youth boxers I bet you I'm doing 150 to 200 push-ups twice a week throughout their class. When we're doing circuits there's usually a group of three or four guys waiting for their turn to rotate into the circuits and I'm regularly dropping everybody for 10 and do them with them so that nobody's standing around doing nothing

That advice was specifically for Cro, since he feels pecs are a weakness for his flat bench based on lack of hypertrophy, and he’s already developed his incline press.

Not to say anyone ever needs less pec muscle, but since you probably possess enough proportionally already you’d probably be better served with Spoto Presses if you need more starting/bottom end bench strength. Even for the same 8-12 reps, in more of a hypertrophy builder spot. It’s more specific to bench strength (and lat control) and a bit less of a pec developer.

 

[sammpedd88]

180 is actually only 396lbs. To bench 405lbs, you must do 184kg.

Don’t sleep on flies, or light Widegrip benchpress for sets of 8-12 reps (leave a few reps in the tank too). About 2 fingers wider than your normal benchpress grip. 2-3 sets of these added over time for some extra pec work will bring up your raw bench strength, especially starting power.

I second that on the wide grip bench, especially Swede Burns style.

 

[Smont]

That advice was specifically for Cro, since he feels pecs are a weakness for his flat bench based on lack of hypertrophy, and he’s already developed his incline press.

Not to say anyone ever needs less pec muscle, but since you probably possess enough proportionally already you’d probably be better served with Spoto Presses if you need more starting/bottom end bench strength. Even for the same 8-12 reps, in more of a hypertrophy builder spot. It’s more specific to bench strength (and lat control) and a bit less of a pec developer.

I still want bigger tits tho

 

[Hyde]

I still want bigger tits tho

If you have some time until the comp, I’d run the widegrips for a while then switch to Spotos as you get closer.

This all assuming you are also doing regular benching as well on its own day. Then you have 2x frequency a week at least.

 

[CroLifter]

That advice was specifically for Cro, since he feels pecs are a weakness for his flat bench based on lack of hypertrophy, and he’s already developed his incline press.

Not to say anyone ever needs less pec muscle, but since you probably possess enough proportionally already you’d probably be better served with Spoto Presses if you need more starting/bottom end bench strength. Even for the same 8-12 reps, in more of a hypertrophy builder spot. It’s more specific to bench strength (and lat control) and a bit less of a pec developer.

I ll do these on my light days, widening the grip just by a bit as described. I am actually pushing my incline right now and not worrying about the flat and find the incline coupled with 45 degree lying overhead triceps extensions basically all I need for the pressing chain. I ll sometimes do few sets of machine presses but incline and extensions are my meat and potatoes. I abandoned dips for now as I started doing them with 25kg (55 lbs?) For sets of 10 , which doesnt sound like a lot but I have been getting some weird feels in the sternum and the shoulder so better not overdo those.

In general I feel like i held myself back in the past on cycle by doing too much as my strength and endurance explodes on any dose of test and it hindered my progress. This time around I will be keeping the sets the same as when off and only increase carefully as I genuinely feel recovery permits it.

For example i did some manual labor in the sun earlier today and had to cut back the volume but still had a great workout because i listened to the body.

In fact just did those wide grip inclines today 180 for sets of 10, RPE 8. Incline feels much better on the shoulders too.

 

[sammpedd88]

I ll do these on my light days, widening the grip just by a bit as described. I am actually pushing my incline right now and not worrying about the flat and find the incline coupled with 45 degree lying overhead triceps extensions basically all I need for the pressing chain. I ll sometimes do few sets of machine presses but incline and extensions are my meat and potatoes. I abandoned dips for now as I started doing them with 25kg (55 lbs?) For sets of 10 , which doesnt sound like a lot but I have been getting some weird feels in the sternum and the shoulder so better not overdo those.

In general I feel like i held myself back in the past on cycle by doing too much as my strength and endurance explodes on any dose of test and it hindered my progress. This time around I will be keeping the sets the same as when off and only increase carefully as I genuinely feel recovery permits it.

For example i did some manual labor in the sun earlier today and had to cut back the volume but still had a great workout because i listened to the body.

In fact just did those wide grip inclines today 180 for sets of 10, RPE 8. Incline feels much better on the shoulders too.

If you start feeling some strain in your shoulders going wide on flat bench, use something like the red shoulder saver pad from EliteFTS or a bench block. It will give you the equivalent of a 1 or 1.5 inch board press. Good for taking some strain off the shoulders but still being able to get the benefit of the wide grip presses.

 

[Smont]

I did chest today (was supposed to be push day but I was in a rush)

20° incline bench 45, 135, 185, 205x10,10,10,10
35° CGB 155x15,15,15,15
Standing cable chest press 120,140, 180x10,10
150 pushups

Felt good but I wanted to do a lot more

 

[Smont]

Spoto bench is a 2 in pause 2 in above the chest Or 1-2in I guess. Is there anything else specific to spoto or am I good with that, I do these occasionally but I never knew if there was something more I was supposed to do other than the pause 2 inches above the chest, is there a specific rep range or rest periods or is that not as important

 

[Hyde]

Spoto bench is a 2 in pause 2 in above the chest Or 1-2in I guess. Is there anything else specific to spoto or am I good with that, I do these occasionally but I never knew if there was something more I was supposed to do other than the pause 2 inches above the chest, is there a specific rep range or rest periods or is that not as important

Not that important. Somewhere between 3-12 reps has all worked well for me depending if I’m focusing more on strength or volume with them.

Get the pause pretty close to chest, 1-2” tops. The point is just to not be able to rest any muscles at the bottom - they force you to learn to stay tight throughout the ENTIRE lift. You can’t get sloppy & relax your muscles at the bottom if you must stop and hold the weight before reversal.

 

[CroLifter]

I did chest today (was supposed to be push day but I was in a rush)

20° incline bench 45, 135, 185, 205x10,10,10,10
35° CGB 155x15,15,15,15
Standing cable chest press 120,140, 180x10,10
150 pushups

Felt good but I wanted to do a lot more

My incline is about 35-40 degree but its fixed so i always just stick to it.

That 35° close grip is presumably to hit the front delts better? The narrower I go the more I feel the front delts.

 

[Jimbabwe]

My incline is about 35-40 degree but its fixed so i always just stick to it.

That 35° close grip is presumably to hit the front delts better? The narrower I go the more I feel the front delts.

A narrow grip on the incline with a tucked elbow position is one of the best ways to really focus on developing the upper pec since it does shoulder extension as well as the adduction.

 

[Smont]

My incline is about 35-40 degree but its fixed so i always just stick to it.

That 35° close grip is presumably to hit the front delts better? The narrower I go the more I feel the front delts.

I feel it in my upper/middle chest area, it's probably more tricep tho and I get a good tricep pump from it. I normally do these on my push day as my last chest exercise before I switch to a triceps and side delts.

Do you have your elbows flared out or do they stay In and go straight up and down by your sides. I keep my elbows in on this one.

 

[Smont]

A narrow grip on the incline with a tucked elbow position is one of the best ways to really focus on developing the upper pec since it does shoulder extension as well as the adduction.

Ya I keep my elbows tucked and tight

 

[Jimbabwe]

Ya I keep my elbows tucked and tight

Just try to touch the bar very low to your chest (almost maybe upper abdomen), and it should really hit the upper pec hard.

That's how my coach has me doing all my incline pressing these days to try to bring up my chest since it's a real genetic weak point for me.

 

[Segansational]

Spoto bench is a 2 in pause 2 in above the chest Or 1-2in I guess. Is there anything else specific to spoto or am I good with that, I do these occasionally but I never knew if there was something more I was supposed to do other than the pause 2 inches above the chest, is there a specific rep range or rest periods or is that not as important

Is this a pause both on the eccentric and concentric portion of the lift? Itching to get back into some heavier benching, so could use some good exercises to help build up the pressing power.

 

[Smont]

Is this a pause both on the eccentric and concentric portion of the lift? Itching to get back into some heavier benching, so could use some good exercises to help build up the pressing power.

I bring the bar down and stop, hold it for a second or to and press. I don't lock out on reps but I also don't pause at the top.


Completely different, but sometimes just for fun I do various isometric holds on the rep.

I'll go halfway down and pause for 2 seconds, then I'll go down to about an inch off the chest and pause for 1 to 2 seconds, touch my chest and go back to an inch or two and pause for 2 seconds, back to the middle and so on. It's very robotical looking. Even though you can't handle heavyweight like that, I think being in control of weights to that degree creates a different type of strength, like that grab you by your neck and slam you into a wall kind of strength , super set with a single arm barbell snatch so you can make sure their feet are dangling in the air when you slam them into the wall . Functional Fitness Training

 

[Smont]

Is this a pause both on the eccentric and concentric portion of the lift? Itching to get back into some heavier benching, so could use some good exercises to help build up the pressing power.

I like doing dead stop seated shoulder presses/slight angle, more then 45°. so you might even consider it a high incline press of sorts. But I'll set the safeties so the bar is about the height of my mouth or nose even. 3-5 reps, as explosive as possible on the way up and very slow and controlled on the way down. After my last heavy set I'll cut the weight by about 1/3 and rep it out full range of motion

 

[Smont]

Happy 420, I'm a 41 year old teenager so yeah, I'm going to celebrate that one on my couch with my cats , actually I don't smoke in my house or anywhere near my pets because I am way too worried about bad stuff happening to them from my second hand weed smoke lol

Some of my gear came today also, plus I got a couple leftovers, I got a couple (5) extra bottles of testosterone to play around with, 100 d-bol 50mg tablets, 30 winni leftover, I got a bottle of EQ, some leftover tren ace and a full bottle of tren E. 30 units of GH and three or four bottles of igf-1 lr3 that I'm going to alternate with my GH as a little experiment, in about 3 weeks, I should have another 360 more units of GH to play with at that time.

Plus I have a gigantic stash of ma products that can be used as well.

I've also been experimenting with a few things these past few weeks and haven't told anybody yet. At least I don't think I've mentioned too much about any of those things, I do tend to be a little forgetful that would repeat myself... Haha

Anyone interested in some cycle/stack discussion?

 

[Smont]

I'm also meal prepping more like I use too again too. My refrigerator, and freezer both has about 20 combined different items pre-cooked so I can mix and match whatever I want and keep it interesting. It's geared a little more towards my girl style of eating but I threw in the chocolate fairlife milk and I'm going to pre-cook a bunch of breakfast meats and I also will still be cooking extra meals for myself. I'm actually making one right now

 

[Smont]

So last week I missed legs because of my knee on Thursday, and Saturday morning I only did chest during my push workout.

So yesterday I hit shoulders and triceps, my knee felt ok, so I decided to throw 2 plates on the leg press and I did 10 sets of 20. Basically I superset my first 10 sets of shoulders with the leg press.

Shoulder/high incline pin press up to 275x3 drop set to 185x5 standing and another drop to 135x10
DB shoulder press 50's x15x 5 sets
Couple sets of 20 behind the neck with 85lbs
Side laterals with 30's, cable side laterals, front DB raises, overhead dumbbell extensions and cable press Downs for triceps.

There was a ton of volume in this workout and it lasted about 2 hours.

Everything feels good today but my rating is a little tired still. I think it's permanent at this point but I'm gonna run some healing peptides with my GH starting this coming weekend

 

[Smont]

200lbs on the dot this morning

 

[Smont]

In a rush again last night, I may need to completely separate my workouts from the gym and train somewhere else some days. I can't make it through a exercise without someone asking me to show them something or critique form and it's getting hard to not rush and to workouts on the fly.

10 x 8 pull ups, 4x20 cable pullover 7 sets of cable curls.

Doesn't get more half assed than that lol.


New training schedule in the works

 

[CroLifter]

Sorry I didnt quite understand..are you also training people in that gym?

Because otherwise it would be weird if multiple random people approached for form critique and stuff.


I find that if i am in a hurry, or short on recovery and need to drop the volume, i will leave the rows in and ditch pullups/pulldowns. Cable rows in particular are very effective for me. Even though i am stronger on pulldowns/chinups and I really love close grip neutral grip chinups, i feel i get more overall out of rows for balancing the physique and helping my pressing movements. Shoulder health. I personally feel they are more important exercise out of the 2 (even though like i said i love chinups and they are indispensable for growing a strong back and overall becoming jacked).

 

[Smont]

Sorry I didnt quite understand..are you also training people in that gym?

Because otherwise it would be weird if multiple random people approached for form critique and stuff.


I find that if i am in a hurry, or short on recovery and need to drop the volume, i will leave the rows in and ditch pullups/pulldowns. Cable rows in particular are very effective for me. Even though i am stronger on pulldowns/chinups and I really love close grip neutral grip chinups, i feel i get more overall out of rows for balancing the physique and helping my pressing movements. Shoulder health. I personally feel they are more important exercise out of the 2 (even though like i said i love chinups and they are indispensable for growing a strong back and overall becoming jacked).

(My volume is already too low), it's about 1/3 of my normal training volume at the moment. It's not that I'm actually short on time, it's that my time is being interrupted a lot, can't get in the groove and keep loosing my pump.

Ya I work at the gym. They comp my membership and throw me a couple hundred bucks to be the strength and conditioning coach for a group of youth boxers, most of them are teenagers, and I also do strength training with 2 pro fighters, one is a actual client and the other is my buddy (over 30 pro fights) I lift and occasionally spar with him when he's getting ready to fight. I'm not on his level tho lol, I'm more like a human punching bag for him

 

[CroLifter]

i remember sparring with a guy who was my weight but head shorter (bjj). We were a good "couple" as everybody else was lighter than us and it was tough. It was 50:50 usually but the strength he had was insane he wasnpretty much the only guy i couldnt "muscle" whereas he could throw me around easily (we were both 240-245 lbs). We were 21 and he had a huge intimidating beard

Btw managed to get my hands on some primobolan, likely the last reserves as the lab didnt even advertise it nor masteron for the last 6 months or so.

So am gonna practice what I preach and run what i described above, a test cycle with primo as an anabolic ancillary. Should be enough for 3 years for what I am planning to do with it. So far only test @ 280 a week and 2 iu gh is insane after being off everything for 5 months, i kid you not my incline for example went from 7 to 12 reps in 2 weeks at the same weight. The power of test when you have low test
Even 2 iu gh is volumizing me like crazy. In the beginning i thought its little weaker compared to 20mg mk 677 a day but now i like it so much more. Fat loss is noticeable in the mid section after 2 weeks, no hunger, no nipple discharge, no occasional anxiety spikes like on mk. I am gonna stay at 2 iu i dont feel the need at all to go higher.