The Maximus Pact

[Shadowblaze]

GOMAD is a terrible diet for 99% of lifters. Your buddy gained 15lbs of scale weight in 2 weeks - how much of that do you think is muscle? How fast do you think protein accretion can occur? You can’t gain that amount of tissue on any amount of anabolics in that time, just waterweight (and in this case, significant bodyfat too).

Yes he will be getting stronger, but the takeaway here is you need a surplus of quality nutrition - everything beyond that will become fat. So why not do what you know worked so well for you - TLAD (two liters a day)?? And to your point about a slow introduction, you would probably make progress adding just one/day. Then when that slows down as you grow and adapt, you bump the calories again later if needed.

Diet, like training, is to be a progressive adaptation process. You don’t eat 8k calories to become an open weight pro strongman; you only eat it BECAUSE you became an open pro strongman over time.

That makes a ton of sense thanks! Your advice is truly next level. I’ll start with 1L a day and maybe move up to 2.

 

[Shadowblaze]

I’m 3 days out until 315 and my entire upper body is super sore for some reason, probably partly because of rugby aswell.

I’m going to go to the gym today for upper body but it will be short and light and I probably won’t record it as a workout. I may go to rugby tmrw again and will be taking the day off the gym. Same for Friday.

 

[Smont]

I would rest up. I don't remember who says this, might be Dave Tate, but Sore muscles are great for bodybuilding and terrible for powerlifting. Sore muscles don't push at max capacity. If your going for a pr, take a few days till the soreness passes

 

[Shadowblaze]

I would rest up. I don't remember who says this, might be Dave Tate, but Sore muscles are great for bodybuilding and terrible for powerlifting. Sore muscles don't push at max capacity. If your going for a pr, take a few days till the soreness passes

Yeah that’s exactly what I did, I went to the gym today but only did my main 4 compound exercises very light. 185lbs on bench, 135lbs on barbell rows, bodyweight pull ups and some bodyweight dips. (None until failure btw)

The reason why I went to the gym at all is because I notice if I get too inactive in anything i do I get a bit weaker or my body can’t perform that task as well. I notice that at most with sprinting, if I take a week of you would think I’m well recovered and sprint faster but it’s the opposite, if I don’t continue at least doing some light sprinting then I keep all my speed without getting sore or impeding my recovery.

 

[Shadowblaze]

Today and tomorrow are recovery days. I’m not gonna go to the gym, instead I will just use the massage gun, roll my sore muscles out with a tennis ball and do some light stretching.

 

[Shadowblaze]

What’s a good way to progress on the ab wheel? I can do 10 slow reps while on my knees but when I go fully on my feet I can’t do one. What I’m doing right now is doing the eccentric on my feet and then doing the concentric on my knees. I think I’ll keep doing this until I can get full reps on my feet but if anyone knows any tips lmk.

 

[Shadowblaze]

@Hyde

I started reading that book, I learned a lot about self belief. I think that one reason why I’m afraid and don’t believe in myself is I don’t have a goal to work towards, so I’m going to make goals.

Once I have a clear goal to work towards and I can picture myself after achieving these goals I believe I can learn self belief.

So i want to set some goals:

1. Bench 315
This is the closest goal I have, it may only be 2 days away.

2. Learn how to tackle properly
This is the big one, I’ve always been afraid of this and it’s hurt my rugby performance. I’m bigger and stronger than literally everyone else on the field but my mind holds me back.

3. Picture the best version of myself and take 1 step every day towards that

I will try to post my progress on these goals every day even if it’s baby steps.

Thanks for the book suggestion!

 

[Hyde]

If you can’t do sets of 20 on the Ab Wheel, you don’t need to do them standing yet. When you can do multiple quality sets of 20, you’ll be ready to stand for sure.

@Hyde

I started reading that book, I learned a lot about self belief. I think that one reason why I’m afraid and don’t believe in myself is I don’t have a goal to work towards, so I’m going to make goals.

Once I have a clear goal to work towards and I can picture myself after achieving these goals I believe I can learn self belief.

So i want to set some goals:

1. Bench 315
This is the closest goal I have, it may only be 2 days away.

2. Learn how to tackle properly
This is the big one, I’ve always been afraid of this and it’s hurt my rugby performance. I’m bigger and stronger than literally everyone else on the field but my mind holds me back.

3. Picture the best version of myself and take 1 step every day towards that

I will try to post my progress on these goals every day even if it’s baby steps.

Thanks for the book suggestion!

It’s a good practical book. Remember, that self-belief is not coming from rah-rah bs, but rather visualizing and then executing steps or phases that will allow progression to the actual final goal.

Ie, if you want to do a perfect tackle, begin working on and visualizing that in different phases. How you will run, how you will set your arms, what it will feel like and how you drive through the impact.

You can literally practice in your mind, and it is extremely useful to rehearse beforehand so when you do the thing, your body already knows what to expect. It’s already been done, to the mind.

 

[Dustin07]

You can literally practice in your mind, and it is extremely useful to rehearse beforehand so when you do the thing, your body already knows what to expect. It’s already been done, to the mind.

so an interesting spin on this is they had done a study with people who had never played a specific sport before ( I think tennis maybe was the sport at hand) and people who had watched many hours of the sport took it it far faster than those who hadn't even with the same entry level training etc. This is akin to the visualization, tbh. if you keep seeing it over and over in your head, or on tv, you really do gain from that.

 

[Hyde]

so an interesting spin on this is they had done a study with people who had never played a specific sport before ( I think tennis maybe was the sport at hand) and people who had watched many hours of the sport took it it far faster than those who hadn't even with the same entry level training etc. This is akin to the visualization, tbh. if you keep seeing it over and over in your head, or on tv, you really do gain from that.

They established this in the free throw visualization study. Visualization without training made a dramatic difference over those who had not done either. The more detailed you can see it, the more it helps too.

 

[Dustin07]

They established this in the free throw visualization study. Visualization without training made a dramatic difference over those who had not done either. The more detailed you can see it, the more it helps too.

sounds silly but it helps me with golf a lot too. when I think about where I'm going to put the ball through impact, I have a far better shot than when I look at the fairway, take a swing, and it lands in someones living room 300 yards to the right aim small, miss small

 

[Hyde]

sounds silly but it helps me with golf a lot too. when I think about where I'm going to put the ball through impact, I have a far better shot than when I look at the fairway, take a swing, and it lands in someones living room 300 yards to the right aim small, miss small

No it’s not crazy at all; it’s heavily used in every major athletic endeavor. The book I recommended is primarily geared for martial arts. Because physical performance begins in the mind.

 

[Shadowblaze]

sounds silly but it helps me with golf a lot too. when I think about where I'm going to put the ball through impact, I have a far better shot than when I look at the fairway, take a swing, and it lands in someones living room 300 yards to the right aim small, miss small

I’ll be testing this tmrw, I’m going mini golfing for my birthday like I said I’m taking baby steps

 

[Shadowblaze]

Hey so it’s been a few days. I don’t train on sundays so that’s why I didn’t post yesterday. It’s a long weekend here so that’s really nice.

It was my birthday on Saturday, I bet one of my buddies I could hit 315 on my birthday so I tried it. While I was warming up my last set was 290 and it moved like it was 315 haha, I didn’t think I would get it but all my friends convinced me to try 315 anyway. And I actually hit it! It’s a pretty crazy achievement at 170lbs bodyweight and at my age.

My birthday was great aswell, tons of fun.

Also if you guys can please follow my fitness IG that would be great. I probably post better physique photos on there.

 

[Hyde]

Glad you were able to achieve a goal that meant so much to you on your birthday with your friends! It’s great when you are having fun lifting.

 

[Shadowblaze]

Day 37:

It was a good lift today but I was crazy busy today.

I’m gonna buy MCT oil tomorrow and start drinking that and putting it in my food to help me gain weight. I still can’t digest fat well.

 

[Shadowblaze]

Man some days I feel so overwhelmed it’s like I can hardly breathe. I can’t wait for school to be over. I gave myself a pretty chill week and I’m locking back in starting Wednesday, tmrw and Thursday I’ll be at rugby.

 

[Dustin07]

I listen to so many podcasts its hard for me to remember which was which but it was probably a guest on either Joe Rogan or Hubberman that was discussing breath work used in strength training showing superior results in output and PRs as well. Breath work is another area of interest that I've seen show really promise...

 

[Dustin07]

Hey so it’s been a few days. I don’t train on sundays so that’s why I didn’t post yesterday. It’s a long weekend here so that’s really nice.

It was my birthday on Saturday, I bet one of my buddies I could hit 315 on my birthday so I tried it. While I was warming up my last set was 290 and it moved like it was 315 haha, I didn’t think I would get it but all my friends convinced me to try 315 anyway. And I actually hit it! It’s a pretty crazy achievement at 170lbs bodyweight and at my age.

My birthday was great aswell, tons of fun.

Also if you guys can please follow my fitness IG that would be great. I probably post better physique photos on there.View attachment 254671

congrats on the PR!

 

[Shadowblaze]

I listen to so many podcasts its hard for me to remember which was which but it was probably a guest on either Joe Rogan or Hubberman that was discussing breath work used in strength training showing superior results in output and PRs as well. Breath work is another area of interest that I've seen show really promise...

I’ll try to find it and impliment it. Thanks.

 

[Shadowblaze]

congrats on the PR!

Thanks bro! Really happy I could get it, none of my friends and myself thought I had it after my last warm up rep moved so slow. But somehow I pulled it off!

 

[Shadowblaze]

Man take a look at this. It’s 32 Celsius and the wildfire smoke is so strong I can’t see the high rises next to my campus. There are over 100 wildfires in my province right now.

I’m heading to the gym rn, I changed my training a bit to a power building PHAT training program. It’s still Upper / lower.

 

[Shadowblaze]

To top it all off

 

[Shadowblaze]

Have any of you ever been so tired or fatigued you feel physical aches? That was me today, I was gonna start a new powerlifting type program but completely changed it because I was so tired I couldn’t push a single set hard. I was sweating so hard since it’s 32 degrees Celsius and I’m just so tired because of the heat and terrible air quality, literally the worst in the world.

Next week it will hopefully get better but today wasn’t a good lift. I was gonna try to hit 275x6 on bench but only did 3 reps.

 

[Dustin07]

Man take a look at this. It’s 32 Celsius and the wildfire smoke is so strong I can’t see the high rises next to my campus. There are over 100 wildfires in my province right now.

I’m heading to the gym rn, I changed my training a bit to a power building PHAT training program. It’s still Upper / lower.

View attachment 254747


View attachment 254746

To top it all off

View attachment 254748

welcome to the communist coast, young Padawan. Right about the time you were born the entire west coast moved away from thoroughly managing forests to a "let it burn" policy which has helped feed climate alarmists for the past 20+ years. My step daughters are your age and they've been convinced the world is burning all the sudden due to pollution with zero understanding of how things were in the 90s when our PNW states (and province) utlized methods to contain and slash burn excess fuel on the ground. We used to have monsterous firebreaks right through the middle of the forests that have all been allowed to grow over and walking the woods while hunting you'd see how the forest was literally raked up into giant piles for controlled slash burns. around 2005-2008 we started seeing the reprecussions of going away from forest management as the "fire season" slowly became a thing. WA-OR-CA-BC are all extremely similiar in social and climate policies. you and I basically live in the same place, except no French here lol.

 

[Shadowblaze]

Day 39:

I had a good workout today but have been pretty tired recently. We have our first rugby game of the season tomorrow, I won’t be able to play but I’ll come and watch.

I am starting a new more minimalist power building style training program. I was gonna do my regular back squats but have been having some stomach issues and didn’t wanna aggravate anything so I went and sued the cambered bar for the first time and went lighter and slower.

But I hammered the other movements like back extensions really hard. I finally hit 100s on lunges.

Btw whenever you guys see the length of my workouts in the app and it says something like 5 hours that’s not actually how long I am working out lol, I always forget to press end workout in the app and then it just counts the time until I remember to log my workout in here and press end.

 

[Shadowblaze]

Day 40:

Today was a really good day, I saw all my boys and watched the first rugby game of our season. I didn’t play but all the players on the team were super supportive of me and told me I can play whenever I’m feeling better.

It was my hypertrophy upper day today. My numbers are worse because I’m doing very slow eccentrics. It was a pretty good lift.

My physique is looking good too, a lot of the guys on the team were commenting about it.

I’ve been thinking of getting my first tattoo, it’s gonna be a really small tattoo. It’s pretty simple but it has a deep meaning to me, it’s just a circle with a dot on the outside.
-I was watching a Christian show and a scene really stuck out for me, a man who felt like an outsider his entire life was upset about the way he has always been treated and bullied since a kid. The part that stuck out to me was when that man was talking with Jesus and broke down and confessed that he never understood why he was so different, he drew a circle in the ground and said that it represents the earth and everyone in it and then a dot outside of it that represents him. He said that he is an outsider and nobody is like him. That really stuck with me. I’ve always grown up really different and I want to be able to look at myself and see that I am this way because God intended me to be this way and that he never looks at me and wishes he saw someone else. So that is why I want to get that tattoo, it’s gonna be a small one on my left wrist most likely.

Here is what it looks like (ChatGPT created the image):

 

[Shadowblaze]

I don’t know what to say. I have to give you guys some context to the whole story.

There is a gym near my house that I have been going to for 6 years now. I live shortly outside of Vancouver, in a little subdistrict that is considered a heritage town, it’s a fishing village (well at least it was, not as much anymore) Japanese immigrants moved here during WW2 and afterwards to build lives and we have a heavily Japanese culture in our little village. When the Japanese settlers moved here they would often work as fishermen to support their families. They came together and built a boxing and weightlifting gym here, they all took it super seriously and all of them were crazy strong, they had a rule that you couldn’t work out there if you didn’t bench 315. It created a really tight knit community over time, very few people had access to the gym (it only costs $70 a year to work out there, they don’t make a profit off of it they just keep it for the heritage.) I’m one of the lucky ones who got the chance to work out there, almost everyone who works out there has been working out there for 40+ years, the old timers always tell me their stories of how they used to bench 500lbs naturally haha.

They later built a community center around that gym and made that gym part of it. I started working at that community center gym after high school as a fitness attendant and still do but only on the weekends since I’m in school full time.

I met this guy there called Shane, his dad has been going to the gym for something like 50 years and he has been going for a long time aswell. We grew pretty close and I would always see him there, he became like a brother to me. He was the funniest guy I have ever met.

He always battled addiction and mental health issues, he was a recovered heroin addict and works for our provinces drug addiction program. He was a very selfless man always looking to help others. He had a very abusive ex wife and they split up about half a year ago. He has always struggled with an addiction to anabolics aswell and took them for most of his life.

Knowing that he had mental health issues I always checked up on him as much as I could. I tried to make it a daily thing, he was always so appreciative of it. He would always call me his brother.

I haven’t talked to him in about 2 weeks.

I came in for my shift today and found that his dad hung up his obituary poster in the gym, I dropped what I was holding and just stared at the poster for half an hour during my shift. It doesn’t feel real, I don’t even know how he passed away. I just can’t believe that it’s even real to begin with, why did it have to be him. I have spent most of this evening just crying, I haven’t told anyone aside from my closest friend, not even my parents. I’m going to his funeral this Saturday.

I hope you are looking down on me and are proud, I love you brother. I would give anything to go to the gym with you one more time. I will miss you forever. If I can ever be half the man you were I know I’ll have done well for myself.

 

[Shadowblaze]

Day 41:

It was a good day today, I looked through my old texts with Shane and it brought me some comfort. I can’t even think of the fact I will never get a text from him again. I miss him so much, the gym won’t be the same without him.

It was my hypertrophy leg day today. I’m not sure how I like splitting up my training split this much so I’ll probably go back to my old one when I graduate school. All the movements are paused with a slow eccentric so that’s why I’m not moving as much weight.

 

[Dustin07]

I'd like to say you are at a particular age where these challenges are new/novel and will pass with time but the reality is, they sorta don't and it's a big part of life. Over time people tend to fall one way or the other, despair vs gratitude. I find the loss of your buddy very relatable. I had reconnected with an old friend in 2019 when I briefly owned another gym. he walked in one day, not knowing it was my gym, and we lifted together daily for the rest of the year that I owned it. Having him there made the gym manageable for me because the culture of that gym that I bought was very dark, it was a cesspool and I needed to get out of it asap. (I sold it to one of the members who fit in better with that culture). about 1/2 into the COVID era I received notice that he had a heart attack and died, leaving his 5yr old behind. He was only about 36-38 I believe as he was about 2 years younger than me. I'm really sorry about the loss of your friend. I'm at a stage now where I feel grateful every day that I'm able to get up on my own, breathe on my own, live and love on my own, you know? Stay grateful, stay hungry

 

[Shadowblaze]

I'd like to say you are at a particular age where these challenges are new/novel and will pass with time but the reality is, they sorta don't and it's a big part of life. Over time people tend to fall one way or the other, despair vs gratitude. I find the loss of your buddy very relatable. I had reconnected with an old friend in 2019 when I briefly owned another gym. he walked in one day, not knowing it was my gym, and we lifted together daily for the rest of the year that I owned it. Having him there made the gym manageable for me because the culture of that gym that I bought was very dark, it was a cesspool and I needed to get out of it asap. (I sold it to one of the members who fit in better with that culture). about 1/2 into the COVID era I received notice that he had a heart attack and died, leaving his 5yr old behind. He was only about 36-38 I believe as he was about 2 years younger than me. I'm really sorry about the loss of your friend. I'm at a stage now where I feel grateful every day that I'm able to get up on my own, breathe on my own, live and love on my own, you know? Stay grateful, stay hungry

Thanks, I’m going to try to make him proud. I’ve deleted all social media and have just been trying to focus on myself. Sorry for your loss aswell.

I’m going to his funeral on Saturday.

 

[Shadowblaze]

I haven’t been very locked in these past 2 weeks with the gym. And probably won’t be for the next week again, I got the funeral on Saturday and have to take care of insurance stuff on Friday after school and then I got church Friday night.

Today I’m not going to the gym either, I got rugby.

 

[Shadowblaze]

I made 2 great tackles yesterday though so that’s counting towards my goal to tackle properly.

 

[Shadowblaze]

Day 41:

It was better today. I talked to my teacher about the loss of my friend and he told me a story about how he went through the same twice.

It was a good lift but I had to get in and out quick so I hardly rested between sets. Which is why my performance on the 2nd sets were so poor. I hit 275 for 5 again, which is nice that my bench is back up again to where it was.

Physique is also looking INSANE, at least today it was crazy.

Rest in peace to Charlie Kirk. God bless his family.

 

[Hyde]

Best friend shot himself when I was 25. Had no idea he had battled depression for years, he hid it that well. And I had a young member of my wife’s family OD on heroin a few years back.

People who are depressed or addicted have a lot of gravity pulling on them, that goes beyond normal logic. Either their brain chemistry is off, or their addictions push them to throw their body chemistry off. Suicide or overdose, you have to realize it’s not like they wanted things to ultimately go that way - but it can’t be anyone else’s “fault” either. Everyone around them in grief asks if they could have did more somehow, what if, but ultimately it just is what it is.

You must let yourself mourn the loss of a good person in your life, and hope they’re at peace now forevermore. I’m sorry for your loss, brother.

 

[Shadowblaze]

Best friend shot himself when I was 25. Had no idea he had battled depression for years, he hid it that well. And I had a young member of my wife’s family OD on heroin a few years back.

People who are depressed or addicted have a lot of gravity pulling on them, that goes beyond normal logic. Either their brain chemistry is off, or their addictions push them to throw their body chemistry off. Suicide or overdose, you have to realize it’s not like they wanted things to ultimately go that way - but it can’t be anyone else’s “fault” either. Everyone around them in grief asks if they could have did more somehow, what if, but ultimately it just is what it is.

You must let yourself mourn the loss of a good person in your life, and hope they’re at peace now forevermore. I’m sorry for your loss, brother.

Thanks bro, sorry for your loss aswell.

I hope the funeral gives me some closure. It’s gonna be weird not having him in my life. I can’t describe it but that part of my life feels emptier.

I’ve deleted almost all social media and have been completely off my phone, rarely ever text anyone anymore and just read books, go to the gym and watch shows. I’m gonna dial in with everything starting when I graduate after next week.

 

[Hyde]

Thanks bro, sorry for your loss aswell.

I hope the funeral gives me some closure. It’s gonna be weird not having him in my life. I can’t describe it but that part of my life feels emptier.

I’ve deleted almost all social media and have been completely off my phone, rarely ever text anyone anymore and just read books, go to the gym and watch shows. I’m gonna dial in with everything starting when I graduate after next week.

Mainstream social media is overrated.

 

[Shadowblaze]

Mainstream social media is overrated.

Yeah, it really wastes your time. I don’t use instagram anymore. I only use Snapchat and only for my friends. I’ve disappeared on almost everything.

 

[Shadowblaze]

Day 42:

Today I’m taking it light and I won’t squat or train legs heavy for the next month. That’s because:

-I pulled my calf at rugby last night, it’s super minor and will get better soon but today it leg day and didn’t wanna stress it.

- I bruised one of my quads at rugby on Tuesday, I fell foreward onto somebody and my quad got bruised.

- most importantly, I’m off my treatment for my autoimmune. So my disease will get worse for the next month I’m off of it. I had to stop taking it because I have my last round of vaccinations in 2 weeks and you’re not allowed to get vaccinated on immunosuppressants.

So today I just rode the bike. I did 6 rounds of 15 second intense reps at max resistance and 160rpm, then I lowered the resistance and did it for another 20 minutes.

 

[Shadowblaze]

Probably not gonna lift tomorrow, I have the funeral.

 

[Hyde]

Probably worth noting that just like the rest of leg training, you don’t have to squat heavy. You’re allowed to do light squats! And it will make returning to squatting for progress much easier if you periodically practice that motor pattern. Just think about it as movement and skill work, using a plate or something you’re comfortable with. So whenever you do do any light leg training, consider spending 5 minutes with the bar on your back. If nothing else, empty to maintain some mobility - it’s a natural movement pattern.

 

[Shadowblaze]

Probably worth noting that just like the rest of leg training, you don’t have to squat heavy. You’re allowed to do light squats! And it will make returning to squatting for progress much easier if you periodically practice that motor pattern. Just think about it as movement and skill work, using a plate or something you’re comfortable with. So whenever you do do any light leg training, consider spending 5 minutes with the bar on your back. If nothing else, empty to maintain some mobility - it’s a natural movement pattern.

Thanks, I’ll do some elevated heel back squats in the meantime but with a slow eccentric and pause. The elevated heels are going to take a bit of pressure off my spine.

 

[Shadowblaze]

Man I don’t think I’ve ever had a worse moment in my life than seeing him in that casket. I just wrapped up my shift at the gym, I put some flower and his memorial cards in there.

I really want to become a man who will make him proud.

 

[Smont]

I don’t know what to say. I have to give you guys some context to the whole story.

There is a gym near my house that I have been going to for 6 years now. I live shortly outside of Vancouver, in a little subdistrict that is considered a heritage town, it’s a fishing village (well at least it was, not as much anymore) Japanese immigrants moved here during WW2 and afterwards to build lives and we have a heavily Japanese culture in our little village. When the Japanese settlers moved here they would often work as fishermen to support their families. They came together and built a boxing and weightlifting gym here, they all took it super seriously and all of them were crazy strong, they had a rule that you couldn’t work out there if you didn’t bench 315. It created a really tight knit community over time, very few people had access to the gym (it only costs $70 a year to work out there, they don’t make a profit off of it they just keep it for the heritage.) I’m one of the lucky ones who got the chance to work out there, almost everyone who works out there has been working out there for 40+ years, the old timers always tell me their stories of how they used to bench 500lbs naturally haha.

They later built a community center around that gym and made that gym part of it. I started working at that community center gym after high school as a fitness attendant and still do but only on the weekends since I’m in school full time.

I met this guy there called Shane, his dad has been going to the gym for something like 50 years and he has been going for a long time aswell. We grew pretty close and I would always see him there, he became like a brother to me. He was the funniest guy I have ever met.

He always battled addiction and mental health issues, he was a recovered heroin addict and works for our provinces drug addiction program. He was a very selfless man always looking to help others. He had a very abusive ex wife and they split up about half a year ago. He has always struggled with an addiction to anabolics aswell and took them for most of his life.

Knowing that he had mental health issues I always checked up on him as much as I could. I tried to make it a daily thing, he was always so appreciative of it. He would always call me his brother.

I haven’t talked to him in about 2 weeks.

I came in for my shift today and found that his dad hung up his obituary poster in the gym, I dropped what I was holding and just stared at the poster for half an hour during my shift. It doesn’t feel real, I don’t even know how he passed away. I just can’t believe that it’s even real to begin with, why did it have to be him. I have spent most of this evening just crying, I haven’t told anyone aside from my closest friend, not even my parents. I’m going to his funeral this Saturday.

I hope you are looking down on me and are proud, I love you brother. I would give anything to go to the gym with you one more time. I will miss you forever. If I can ever be half the man you were I know I’ll have done well for myself.

View attachment 254897View attachment 254898

Sorry for your loss, I'm coming up on 1 year since my brother juice decided to say goodbye. He shot himself and left some notes. His dresser was covered with bottles of pain meds and anti-depressent drugs. He was in a lot of pain, physical and mental and I didn't realize how bad it was until it was too late. Id be lieing if I said it didn't **** me up in the head. I don't think I've ever been so sad for so long. It doesn't go away

 

[Shadowblaze]

Sorry for your loss, I'm coming up on 1 year since my brother juice decided to say goodbye. He shot himself and left some notes. His dresser was covered with bottles of pain meds and anti-depressent drugs. He was in a lot of pain, physical and mental and I didn't realize how bad it was until it was too late. Id be lieing if I said it didn't **** me up in the head. I don't think I've ever been so sad for so long. It doesn't go away

I’m sorry to hear that bro, if you need anything we got you bro don’t hesitate to reach out. Luckily my buddy didn’t pass away of a suicide, I can’t imagine how hard that would be.

 

[Shadowblaze]

Day 43:

Today was a great lift. I weighed in at 173lbs evening weight so that’s a great sign.

My bench fluctuates a lot usually, it’s weird. All my other lifts go up pretty steadily, but bench press has so many more variables, whether it’s my wrist wraps, back arch, etc. there’s always been some fluctuation, but it trends upwards over time still.

Other than that my physique is looking great.

 

[Shadowblaze]

Day 44:

Today was a great day, great weather and I had my fall protection, boom lift and scissor lift training for school. It was so much fun, they let you operate it with your buddies so we went on the lift turned the settings to max speed vertically and kept going up and down, the instructors were so chill about it too lmao. We went 40 feet in the air aswell, and drove the lifts around but for that we were really careful since that could be more dangerous. With those lifts you can tilt the basket that holds you completely upside down, obviously we didn’t do that but we did tilt it back and it was super funny. We obviously didn’t do anything that was actually dangerous though, we were careful steering it, only when we raised it vertically did we go fast and the instructors said it’s completely safe.

It was a pretty good lift aswell, I hit a light leg day since I’m off my treatment

 

[Dustin07]

quadrasaurus getting veiny!

 

[Hyde]

I distinctly remember horsing around during lift training as well, over a decade ago now! Good times.

 

[Shadowblaze]

I distinctly remember horsing around during lift training as well, over a decade ago now! Good times.

Yeah it was easily the funniest and favourite experience of my university time