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Weights up, scales down…

What are you using for a PWO ?
 
Rocket3015 said:
What are you using for a PWO ?
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I don’t use any PWO, I just have a cup of coffee maybe 2 depending on the morning. I do take 1-2 caps of SNS yohimbine along with it.

I do plan on getting a tub of muscle addiction PWO at some point. All the pre work tried in the past just never sat very well with me.
 
akboom87 said:
I don’t use any PWO, I just have a cup of coffee maybe 2 depending on the morning. I do take 1-2 caps of SNS yohimbine along with it.

I do plan on getting a tub of muscle addiction PWO at some point. All the pre work tried in the past just never sat very well with me.
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Since you only do coffee, I'd recommend starting at 1/2 scoop of Muscle Addiction if you do get it. And remember it has alpha-y already in it. So you may want to adjust your yohimbine use.
 
Mad respect to those guys that just slam a cup of coffee preWO. Next level super dad mode imo. I've never been able to do that lol. If I'm doing a 430-5am session I mix electrolytes in a full shaker with my preWO and honestly by the time I'm showered and at work coffee is off the table for the day lol
 
Sometimes I feel like I need a preworkout but typically unless just wrecked for some reason I can get just as intense or focused without. Heck even without my headphones. I just get into a state of being that pulls me into the session and then it is full steam ahead. That being said, I like the feeling from the pre, and the additional motivation of when you aren't super excited about the gym that day but already took a preworkout you are going to go get that session in 99% of the time.

I will say that although I started using the Pump Addict at 1.5 and 2 scoops, I have gone down to 1 scoop for evening sessions without any noticeable fall off on performance or pump. Then again, I get great pumps 95% of the time regardless.
 
I like to use a few different PWO's for different reasons, I like the Laser Focus I get from SNS Focus and Muscle Addition Pump Addict is just that !!
 
Dustin07 said:
Mad respect to those guys that just slam a cup of coffee preWO. Next level super dad mode imo. I've never been able to do that lol. If I'm doing a 430-5am session I mix electrolytes in a full shaker with my preWO and honestly by the time I'm showered and at work coffee is off the table for the day lol
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Being on testosterone truly makes a world of difference in baseline of energy & ability to focus and get a pump. And when on elevated levels of androgens all those things climb as well.

Before I cruised I used preWO every session for over 12 years. And then I was realizing preWOs were often actually starting to impede my training on blasts. I can get so pumped just from being on AAS, using pump agents can be counterproductive after a point, and heart rate from all the flavor of the year stim variants would wear me out faster.

Now I just drink coffee or take caffeine tabs. I also use B complex, Ubiquinol, Huperzine, and sometimes (but not all together) Ephedrine, Pseudoephedrine, Eria Jarensis, PQQ, Carnitine, Noopept, Choline, and some old Chaos & Pain Orchilean “orchid extract”. And deep in a blast, certain androgens make great occasional preWOs - Anadrol, Dbol, Tren No Ester, Trest, Mtren.

Whenever Focus XT comes back around I’ll get some of that, but majority of preWOs aren’t actually that helpful at increasing my performance and just seem to work against me.
 
I think being able to workout at an optimal time for you is also a huge factor. Late morning to mid afternoon is ideal for me and during that time I would definitely only be using coffee 90% of the time.
 
well I screwed up I thought I had one more week before a deload. I was wrong next week is deload week. Honestly I think that is going to be perfect though this week was a pretty hard grind and I definitely don’t feel I could make beneficial progress next week. So I will de load and start building my next 4 week mesocycle. Will post todays work out here later on has been a super busy day!
 
Gym time 5 am

I won’t list my warm up weights before each lift.
warmups1. 30 rep max for 12 reps
warmups 2. 20 rep max for 8 reps
Warmups 3. 10 rep max for 4 reps

reps taken to 0 RIR

Leg extension- 110# X 14 reps X 11 reps

cable pull through- 70# X 10 reps X 10 reps

lying leg curl- 120# X 8 reps

calf machine plate raise- 80# X 12 reps X 13 reps

Cable shrug- 80# X 14 reps X 12 reps


Barbell wrist curl- 65# X 18 reps X 14 reps X 12 reps

felt good but body is definitely feeling tired. Probably also I’ve been working a bridge re construction project the last 2 weeks so add in 10 hrs a day walking standing in the sun.

next week de load then to the next 4 week mesocycle. Not sure if I’m going to do chest and arms again or do back and arms. Going to pull it up on the computer this week and start looking at it.
 
It's folks like you that "Make The Time" who succeed!! Nice Work !!
 
Honestly, at your point in the journey, I am not really sure you need to worry about specializing body parts just yet unless you think you have a really weak body part that needs addressed. You should be at a point where you can just focus on growing everything and do so pretty well. You can probably do that for another year or two taking advantage of your training age without specifying too much. That will become more of a need further down the road when you are stronger and need more recovery to keep improving. Right now I think you should take advantage of full body focus mesos and ride that train for as long as your body can recover from it. Get a nice solid thick base of muscle then look and see what you need to specialize on if anything. No additional benefit to specializing before it is needed, but it can leave the other muscles lagging or not growing at a time when everything could be if done before it is needed.
 
MrKleen73 said:
Honestly, at your point in the journey, I am not really sure you need to worry about specializing body parts just yet unless you think you have a really weak body part that needs addressed. You should be at a point where you can just focus on growing everything and do so pretty well. You can probably do that for another year or two taking advantage of your training age without specifying too much. That will become more of a need further down the road when you are stronger and need more recovery to keep improving. Right now I think you should take advantage of full body focus mesos and ride that train for as long as your body can recover from it. Get a nice solid thick base of muscle then look and see what you need to specialize on if anything. No additional benefit to specializing before it is needed, but it can leave the other muscles lagging or not growing at a time when everything could be if done before it is needed.
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I would say you are right on the money here!
 
MrKleen73 said:
Honestly, at your point in the journey, I am not really sure you need to worry about specializing body parts just yet unless you think you have a really weak body part that needs addressed. You should be at a point where you can just focus on growing everything and do so pretty well. You can probably do that for another year or two taking advantage of your training age without specifying too much. That will become more of a need further down the road when you are stronger and need more recovery to keep improving. Right now I think you should take advantage of full body focus mesos and ride that train for as long as your body can recover from it. Get a nice solid thick base of muscle then look and see what you need to specialize on if anything. No additional benefit to specializing before it is needed, but it can leave the other muscles lagging or not growing at a time when everything could be if done before it is needed.
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Thats a good point and I was wondering about that specifically. I haven’t looked into the full body workout meso yet. Going to look in that direction now.
Appreciate the advice man!
Still thinking 4 days week split for full body, or should I be running a 3 days a week?

only reason I ask is if I was to jump to 3 days I would pick up LISS back into my routine on the other 2 days. Just ideas, wanting to build my next mesocycle this weekend so looking for input!
 
Pretty laid back day food intake pretty low, just wasn’t overly hungry. Did get on the treadmill for 30 minutes and also went for a nice walk at the park this afternoon.

wanted to add I started a log on my current stack going to try and add the link to it Invalid Link Removed
 
I have really been enjoying walking lately !
 
akboom87 said:
Thats a good point and I was wondering about that specifically. I haven’t looked into the full body workout meso yet. Going to look in that direction now.
Appreciate the advice man!
Still thinking 4 days week split for full body, or should I be running a 3 days a week?

only reason I ask is if I was to jump to 3 days I would pick up LISS back into my routine on the other 2 days. Just ideas, wanting to build my next mesocycle this weekend so looking for input!
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I think that really depends on what your goals are more than anything. The more training sessions a week the more growth stimulus. The less but more cardio is obviously a more catabolic situation but could bring fat down a little faster. So really it comes down to do you want your focus to be more anabolic IE... more time spent training for hypertrophy, or more catabolic focusing more heavily on fat loss. Both will get you to the end result, one will take a little longer to get leaner but you will likely have more muscle at the finish line. The other will get you leaner faster but with less overall growth. Looking at the presets a 4 day full body focus would be like Mon/Thursday would be upper, and Tues/Friday would be lower. In a 5 day you get 3 days on upper, one push, one pull and one both. The 6 days is Push, Pull, Legs, Push, Pull, Legs. If focusing on weight training then I would opt for 5 days if you can do it. Especially if you are doing any 24 or 36 hour fast during the week. You will need less actual cardio to create a good deficit. So outside of some heart health work, cardio won't need to be a main focus which I think is probably better for overall gains. Just some long walks throughout the week is plenty. I would still do 1-2 30 minute cardio sessions for heart health.
akboom87 said:
Pretty laid back day food intake pretty low, just wasn’t overly hungry. Did get on the treadmill for 30 minutes and also went for a nice walk at the park this afternoon.

wanted to add I started a log on my current stack going to try and add the link to it Invalid Link Removed
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Already there!
Rocket3015 said:
I have really been enjoying walking lately !
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Yeah the walks are therapeutic for me.
 
MrKleen73 said:
I think that really depends on what your goals are more than anything. The more training sessions a week the more growth stimulus. The less but more cardio is obviously a more catabolic situation but could bring fat down a little faster. So really it comes down to do you want your focus to be more anabolic IE... more time spent training for hypertrophy, or more catabolic focusing more heavily on fat loss. Both will get you to the end result, one will take a little longer to get leaner but you will likely have more muscle at the finish line. The other will get you leaner faster but with less overall growth. Looking at the presets a 4 day full body focus would be like Mon/Thursday would be upper, and Tues/Friday would be lower. In a 5 day you get 3 days on upper, one push, one pull and one both. The 6 days is Push, Pull, Legs, Push, Pull, Legs. If focusing on weight training then I would opt for 5 days if you can do it. Especially if you are doing any 24 or 36 hour fast during the week. You will need less actual cardio to create a good deficit. So outside of some heart health work, cardio won't need to be a main focus which I think is probably better for overall gains. Just some long walks throughout the week is plenty. I would still do 1-2 30 minute cardio sessions for heart health.
Already there!

Yeah the walks are therapeutic for me.
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I will PM you later on today with some questions setting up the next meso.
 
Dustin07 said:
age old question for gym rats right there...
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It really all comes down to your level of patience. At least with fasting you have some room to play with being on a surplus training days and creating a deficit on the other days. It makes a difference.
 
De load week, funny because I didn’t think I was putting enough volume or work in. Not going to lie this weekend just felt kind of beat up and not quite as good as normal. So this morning was great, light workload light volume felt good and pretty quick.

after lots of food Sunday definitely bloated and heavy in the evening, still feeling ehh today. Will be fasting all day might even just carry over make 36 hr fast. Either way going to fast a fair amount this week earlier. Then back to normal meals Saturday/Sunday.
Gym time 5 am

I won’t list my warm up weights before each lift.
warmups1. 30 rep max for 12 reps
warmups 2. 20 rep max for 8 reps
Warmups 3. 10 rep max for 4 reps

Reps in reserve 8
wide grip bench- 130# x 8 reps X 6 reps

incline DB bench- 40# X 6 reps X 6 reps

lat pulldown- 100#x 6 reps X 6 reps


Ez bar skull crusher- 50# X 6 reps X 6 reps (neck curls in between 10# X 10 reps X 10 reps X 10 reps

Cable rope Tricep pushdown- 25# X 6 reps X 6 reps

cable ez bar curls- 25# X 10 reps X 8 reps

barbell shrugs- 130# X 7 reps X 7 reps
 
Dustin07 said:
get used to it 😅😅

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Well I should clarify it’s manageable, in the past I would just keep hammering away. So with the app and built in de loads and tells you the rep target and everything I will be curious to see how much more I can achieve.
 
I am excited for you that you found such a great resource so early in your journey, this could save you a lot of wasted time and effort learning the appropriate way to train, track, and push progression.
 
akboom87 said:
Well I should clarify it’s manageable, in the past I would just keep hammering away. So with the app and built in de loads and tells you the rep target and everything I will be curious to see how much more I can achieve.
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Kleen and I were talking about how we tend to hammer away to a detriment the other day lol.
But I do like the "strike while the iron is hot" mentality. I prefer to crush absolutely everything for as long as I can knowing that when I hit my wall it's OK to take a break and come back stronger.
 
Still out working in BFE, hopefully the last day today and back to normal. I did complete my 36 hr fast, weighing in at 238.2. The wife must have been feeling very nice she got up this morning and made me a breakfast sandwich to take with, I ate that when I got to site at around the 36-37 hr mark. Going to fast again all day, depending on how late today goes might just hold over until morning.
 
Is this your first weight under 240? I don't remember seeing it this low before unless I forgot something.
 
Congratulations on the new low! I thought that was the case. You are killing it man!
 
Hyde said:
Keep trusting the process! Consistent, thoughtful effort for longer than you want it to take will lead you to your goal. I’m proud of you man.
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Thanks man! Have learned a lot around here and always solid advice, appreciate the acknowledgement a lot!
MrKleen73 said:
Congratulations on the new low! I thought that was the case. You are killing it man!
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thanks man you have helped a lot along the way and always giving solid advice. I appreciate it!
Dustin07 said:
wooosh
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For sure man you called it!
 
Great Accomplishment !!
 
Today I was a little slow getting out of bed lol. Pretty happy too weighed in still 238.5 had a 36 hr fast and then a 12 hr fast. Looking pretty flat today but that will change when I get carbs back and more sodium. Was pretty excited to get to the gym this morning even though was a little tough getting out of bed. The alpha gel + PA XT has been mind blowing on my quality of sleep.


Gym time 5:30 am

I won’t list my warm up weights before each lift.
warmups1. 30 rep max for 12 reps
warmups 2. 20 rep max for 8 reps
Warmups 3. 10 rep max for 4 reps
Reps in reserve 8 de load week

started with good morning- empty bar X 12 reps 65# X 10 reps

squat- 160# X 8 reps X 6 reps - 8 RIR

Reverse DB lunge- 15# X 8 reps X 8 reps - 8 RIR

lying leg curl- 95# X 8 reps X 8 reps - 8 RIR

calf machine- 80# X 9 reps X 8 reps - 8 RIR

lap around the track carrying 45#plates/ lap with 35# plates/ lap with 25# plates




this was all the RP app had programmed for me today.
 
akboom87 said:
Today I was a little slow getting out of bed lol. Pretty happy too weighed in still 238.5 had a 36 hr fast and then a 12 hr fast. Looking pretty flat today but that will change when I get carbs back and more sodium. Was pretty excited to get to the gym this morning even though was a little tough getting out of bed. The alpha gel + PA XT has been mind blowing on my quality of sleep.


Gym time 5:30 am

I won’t list my warm up weights before each lift.
warmups1. 30 rep max for 12 reps
warmups 2. 20 rep max for 8 reps
Warmups 3. 10 rep max for 4 reps
Reps in reserve 8 de load week

started with good morning- empty bar X 12 reps 65# X 10 reps

squat- 160# X 8 reps X 6 reps - 8 RIR

Reverse DB lunge- 15# X 8 reps X 8 reps - 8 RIR

lying leg curl- 95# X 8 reps X 8 reps - 8 RIR

calf machine- 80# X 9 reps X 8 reps - 8 RIR

lap around the track carrying 45#plates/ lap with 35# plates/ lap with 25# plates




this was all the RP app had programmed for me today.
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It had you doing 8RIR? I can't even imagine how to guess that. Watching the videos he implies the deload will be basically half the sets, and about 10-15% less load to a 3-4RIR set. Which is what I did the first week I was deloading since the app did not show me the deload because it was a week earlier than the app expected.
 
MrKleen73 said:
It had you doing 8RIR? I can't even imagine how to guess that. Watching the videos he implies the deload will be basically half the sets, and about 10-15% less load to a 3-4RIR set. Which is what I did the first week I was deloading since the app did not show me the deload because it was a week earlier than the app expected.
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Yeah I thought the same thing pretty hard to gauge. I’m guessing the algorithms take the reps at 1 RIR and do the math and spit the rep target out for estimate at 8 RIR ?

either way it wasn’t anything great but got me there and got me moving. Hit it again tomorrow and make up day Saturday. Then Monday time to hop on the new plan!
I am pretty excited about next week, moving to 5 days a week full body and really like the lay out I have set up. Well I mean the app set the layout I just picked the exercises!
 
akboom87 said:
This was the description when I clicked on it to double check
Invalid Link Removed
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Interesting that the video tells a different story. I guess it is good I am active resting this week since last week may not have truly been a deload with me going to a 3-4RIR even at a little less than half the volume. Perhaps I watched a different deload video and not one related to the programming in the app, or I just misunderstood what I read or thought I heard.
 
unless I'm misunderstanding something it seems like an 8RIR is equivalent to infinity. Like, if you have a 405lb 1rm squat, today you are squatting 95lbs. Personally, I like a deload to mean I'm not touching a barbell AT ALL, however I also really respect the idea of repetitions for practice and neurological response at ultra light weight.

I just... in my experience... have found that a week away from the barbell, not touching it at all, leaves me far more recovered than trying to "deload" everything I normally did. cause the deload ends up being an continuation of my training at lighter weight rather than a rest/recovery period. FOR ME. your mileage may vary....
 
Dustin07 said:
unless I'm misunderstanding something it seems like an 8RIR is equivalent to infinity. Like, if you have a 405lb 1rm squat, today you are squatting 95lbs. Personally, I like a deload to mean I'm not touching a barbell AT ALL, however I also really respect the idea of repetitions for practice and neurological response at ultra light weight.

I just... in my experience... have found that a week away from the barbell, not touching it at all, leaves me far more recovered than trying to "deload" everything I normally did. cause the deload ends up being an continuation of my training at lighter weight rather than a rest/recovery period. FOR ME. your mileage may vary....
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Well lucky for me I don’t have enough experience under my belt to say one way or the other lol!

guess we will see how the next 4 week meso goes. I do remember a pod cast not sure think it was a RP one where they talked about down the road after several meso cycles that a week de load and then a week break completely from the gym.

time will tell, right now I’m just following the laid out plan.

also was watching some old Randy Savage clips today, guy had some of the wildest speeches during interviews. “To hot to handle and to cold to hold man” classic
 
Dustin07 said:
unless I'm misunderstanding something it seems like an 8RIR is equivalent to infinity. Like, if you have a 405lb 1rm squat, today you are squatting 95lbs. Personally, I like a deload to mean I'm not touching a barbell AT ALL, however I also really respect the idea of repetitions for practice and neurological response at ultra light weight.

I just... in my experience... have found that a week away from the barbell, not touching it at all, leaves me far more recovered than trying to "deload" everything I normally did. cause the deload ends up being an continuation of my training at lighter weight rather than a rest/recovery period. FOR ME. your mileage may vary....
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Context is everything. How the program is supposed to run, how the lifter responds to different things, their psychology, and most importantly the context of the word deload.

I have made tremendous progress on a program that deloads every 3rd week - 33% of the training! If I took a week off to play golf and go to Mexico the way you talk about a deload, where do you think I would have gotten? Nowhere, I’m sure we’d agree. So I think you can follow where I’m going with this: all that “deload” meant in the context of that program was that the comp lift for the day was whittled down to 5 easy singles, maybe 60-70% for a touch of practice. All of the secondary strength movement and accessories were to basically remain standard.
 
Hyde said:
I have made tremendous progress on a program that deloads every 3rd week - 33% of the training! If I took a week off to play golf and go to Mexico the way you talk about a deload, where do you think I would have gotten?
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Every 3rd week would be a phenomenal way to extend/preserve energy and minimize fatigue, just thinking about it in my head sounds awesome. When my deloads arrive they aren't just about physical fatigue but also mental exhaustion and I think excusing myself from the barbell allows the mind to get mentally ready and reset as well. We all have so much going on in our lives aside from lifting that even if you have 8hrs of perfect sleep, the mind can still get massive fatigue if the other 16 hours are at 110mph (which is my life. usually by the time we are cooking dinner it's 7pm, in bed by 8:30, up at 4:30am.

But that applies to all aspects of life... a vacation is a deload too, from daily business dealings etc and I love walking into the office with fresh ideas after a few days as away.

Resolve10 said:
I’m a very “relaxed” lifter though and my psychological arousal during training can be pretty low so lifting like this does not tend to tax me very much and I have very infrequent deloads as well.
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I'm not. Not yet at least. I think some aspects of that are improving, and some day I think I'd like to be in that type of zone, but the entire process is incredibly mental for me and the habits drive the results. I'm so mental about it that on those days where discipline, rather than hunger gets me to the gym, it's the ritual of pulling on the knee sleeves, lacing up the lifters, etc that begins to tell my mind it's "go time". walking to the rack with my headphones on and gym bag or belt in my hand is exactly like when I was rolling up to the starting gate back in my racing days and once I get into the rack it's always competition day for me, even if it's at 50% with bands. I definitely tax my mind when I lift...

BUT... I love it. it's my outlet and my opportunity to go completely ham on something after a day of politics and niceness.
 
Dustin07 said:
Every 3rd week would be a phenomenal way to extend/preserve energy and minimize fatigue, just thinking about it in my head sounds awesome.
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You’re still not understanding me then - the way that program ran, it was necessary for optimal progress. You didn’t feel awesome all the time at all - by the third week, you are looking forward to the break on the main lift. And you still have hundreds of pounds to lift after that little reprieve. Even if bench was just 225 for 5x1, I’ve still got heavy 3x5 2-board after along with full accessories.

The point is to keep the wheels on and generate the most overall progress, not “take it easy” for the sake of it.
 
Hyde said:
You’re still not understanding me then - the way that program ran, it was necessary for optimal progress. You didn’t feel awesome all the time at all - by the third week, you are looking forward to the break on the main lift. And you still have hundreds of pounds to lift after that little reprieve. Even if bench was just 225 for 5x1, I’ve still got heavy 3x5 2-board after along with full accessories.
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🤔 that does sound intense, I'd love to see that program laid out. was it one of the common ones I could find online or custom written at the time?
 
Dustin07 said:
unless I'm misunderstanding something it seems like an 8RIR is equivalent to infinity. Like, if you have a 405lb 1rm squat, today you are squatting 95lbs. Personally, I like a deload to mean I'm not touching a barbell AT ALL, however I also really respect the idea of repetitions for practice and neurological response at ultra light weight.

I just... in my experience... have found that a week away from the barbell, not touching it at all, leaves me far more recovered than trying to "deload" everything I normally did. cause the deload ends up being an continuation of my training at lighter weight rather than a rest/recovery period. FOR ME. your mileage may vary....
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That is the point with this hypertrophy program, you do not detrain so much as doing the minimal effective volume for the muscle so there is no muscle loss but enough resources in reserve to increase healing and recovery so your body can get back to optimal training where it is not approaching MRV, or Maximum Recoverable Volume. That way when you start yyour new meso you have plenty of energy to and resources to accumulate long enough to finish your meso slightly overreaching your MRV then deload so the body can catch up, fortify muscle and grow. You tend to push until you break then need what is called an "active recovery" which normally lasts a week or two, and not a deload. An active recovery is the next step down from deload, and provides far more recovery but if you don't allow yourself to get that beat up in the first place you can indeed manage it with a normal deload. Never really lose traction or progress, and spend less time away from the bar.
Resolve10 said:
This is a very important point to remember.

I was going to say I feel many people on here wouldn’t even know my deload weeks were deloads if I wrote out my training and didn’t specifically note them, but they alleviate some fatigue build up so they do what they need to. I pretty much never take an entire week off and my last deload two weeks ago I built up roughly 75-80% for a double on my squats, but that’s 6-8 rir for me for a double. I’m a very “relaxed” lifter though and my psychological arousal during training can be pretty low so lifting like this does not tend to tax me very much and I have very infrequent deloads as well. That won’t work for everyone, but I’ve tested a lot of stuff and found specifics for my own use cases.

Fwiw 8 rir is probably hard to “gauge”, but at 8 reps it’s probably just anywhere from 50-60% 1 rm and just kind of translated to the 8 reps at 8 rir for the sake of how the program is written and structured. Don’t want to get off into too much of a tangent, but how training is written can and probably should differ when working with individuals as I know I’ll have to write in different ways for different people because it’s more about getting someone to train with the right purpose and intention and their interpretations may differ based on previous experiences, biases, etc.
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Yeah, this is one of the cool things about that RP App, it responds and plans your load, based on your feedback and performance. So deload recommendations and what not are a little individualized. It will even tell you if it detects you have probably gone past your MRV and need to deload early and make suggestions based on that.
Dustin07 said:
Every 3rd week would be a phenomenal way to extend/preserve energy and minimize fatigue, just thinking about it in my head sounds awesome. When my deloads arrive they aren't just about physical fatigue but also mental exhaustion and I think excusing myself from the barbell allows the mind to get mentally ready and reset as well. We all have so much going on in our lives aside from lifting that even if you have 8hrs of perfect sleep, the mind can still get massive fatigue if the other 16 hours are at 110mph (which is my life. usually by the time we are cooking dinner it's 7pm, in bed by 8:30, up at 4:30am.

But that applies to all aspects of life... a vacation is a deload too, from daily business dealings etc and I love walking into the office with fresh ideas after a few days as away.



I'm not. Not yet at least. I think some aspects of that are improving, and some day I think I'd like to be in that type of zone, but the entire process is incredibly mental for me and the habits drive the results. I'm so mental about it that on those days where discipline, rather than hunger gets me to the gym, it's the ritual of pulling on the knee sleeves, lacing up the lifters, etc that begins to tell my mind it's "go time". walking to the rack with my headphones on and gym bag or belt in my hand is exactly like when I was rolling up to the starting gate back in my racing days and once I get into the rack it's always competition day for me, even if it's at 50% with bands. I definitely tax my mind when I lift...

BUT... I love it. it's my outlet and my opportunity to go completely ham on something after a day of politics and niceness.
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Yep, that is exactly how I used to train, and I loved it. Now I am 3 shoulder surgeries deep now at 50 from that type of training mindset. It really begins to wear on you as your recovery ability dwindles with age and lower GH levels. Every time under the bar being balls out is just not sustainable like it was in my teens, 20's and early 30's.

I am not saying to stop and you have obviously been making good progress but possibly you could have already benched 315 if you were deloading and governing effort and progressing methodically. Training perpetually near max effort or failure might get you there for short periods like a Powerlifting Peaking block but you still have to take a deload week the week prior to the meet to hit that maximal performance. Try to think of it like this. Did you have the same glaring intensity every time you got on a bike compared to what you had when competing? I imagine probably not. Doing what you're doing now is like taking all the risks you would to win a competition, but may, and most likely should not do all the time during normal training if you don't want to slow your progress by always being close to the limit and running on fumes.
Hyde said:
You’re still not understanding me then - the way that program ran, it was necessary for optimal progress. You didn’t feel awesome all the time at all - by the third week, you are looking forward to the break on the main lift. And you still have hundreds of pounds to lift after that little reprieve. Even if bench was just 225 for 5x1, I’ve still got heavy 3x5 2-board after along with full accessories.

The point is to keep the wheels on and generate the most overall progress, not “take it easy” for the sake of it.
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Yeah that cuts out a lot of the volume, and then exercise selection on the rest helps alleviate some of the neural drive required to complete the workout. Leaving extra resources for actual recovery.
 
Still holding 238.5. All the road time this week in the truck has got my hip all sorts of out of whack. After the gym today I laid out and did a lot of stretching and that helped 100% feels better. Working loads light pretty easy but still keeps things moving, I’m excited to get back to work next week on the new meso.


Gym time 5:00 AM

I won’t list my warm up weights before each lift.
warmups1. 30 rep max for 12 reps
warmups 2. 20 rep max for 8 reps
Warmups 3. 10 rep max for 4 reps
Reps in reserve 8 de load week

DB flat bench- 25# X 8 reps X 8 reps - 8 RIR

Incline bench press- 50# X 8 reps X 8 reps - 8 RIR

Assisted pull ups- 120# X 6reps X 6reps - 8 RIR

cable over head Tricep extension - 15# X 10 reps X 10reps - 8 RIR

cable Tricep push down- 15# X 10 reps X 10 reps - 8 RIR

ez bar curl- 30# X 10 reps X 10 reps- 8 RIR

DB lat raise- 5# X 10 reps X 10 reps - 8 RIR

neck curls- 10# X 10 reps X 10 X 10

neck band side pulls- 10x10x10

leaning DB shrugs-50# X 8 X 8 X 8
 
Your plan had all of those neck things in it too or did you add those on?
 
Gonna get a bulldog neck on this program!

Dustin07 said:
that does sound intense, I'd love to see that program laid out. was it one of the common ones I could find online or custom written at the time?
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10/20/Life - I’ll try to take a picture of a base off-season template later in the book and message it to you so you can get a better idea.
 
akboom87 said:
No I added those I forgot to mention that in there and the leaning shrugs I added. My neck seemed way to small so I been adding some neck work every week.
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Maybe it isn't your neck being small but having a HUGE head! I kid i kid!
 
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