[ExploringReality]

Decided this would be a good idea since the guys that have their own are killing it.

Medium term goals:
·60kg ohp
·100kg bench press
·140 kg squat
·180kg deadlift
·17 pullups
·15% bf
Current stats:
·31x7 ohp
·41x14 bench press
·73.5x5 squat
·80x7 deadlift
·2 chinups
·20%bf
Plan:
I'm following the Greyskull LP with plugins oriented to meet my goals. The workouts are:
Monday
Ohp/benchpress 3x5+
Dumbell curl 2x12/max chinups & lat pulldown 2x8
Dumbbel shrug 2x12/neck curl & neck extensions 3x20
Squat 3x5+
Wednesday
Ohp/benchpress 3x5+
Dumbell curl 2x12/max chinups & lat pulldown 2x8
Dumbbel shrug 2x12/neck curl & neck extensions 3x20
Deadlift 1x5+
Friday
Ohp/benchpress 3x5+
Dumbell curl 2x12/max chinups & lat pulldown 2x8
Dumbbel shrug 2x12/neck curl & neck extensions 3x20
Squat 3x5+

/ means that I alternate the lifts, and + means as many reps as possible

The diet is 2000kcal a day with around 220 gr of protein, enough fat for the testosterone and the rest carbs. Also I do cardio for 20 mins on lifting days and for 40mins on rest days.

Any opinions will be welcomed. Let's see how I progress

[ExploringReality]

Today was a good day. I achieved 32x6 ohp and 75x5 squat, the deload is getting closer and closer to both lifts, I don-t know if I will be able to hit 77x5 squats, but 33x5 ohp should be doable. I will found out next friday.

[General Stalin]

If you have mex-effort lift goals it would benefit you to test your current 1RM's just to see where you're at to get a feel for how long of a road you have. You medium-term goals may be long-term goals or even short-term goals based on how close you already are. If you are new to weight training then I recommend training for a couple months with the compounds lifts just to get technically sound.

[ExploringReality]

(08-21-2017 10:26 AM)General Stalin Wrote:  

If you have mex-effort lift goals it would benefit you to test your current 1RM's just to see where you're at to get a feel for how long of a road you have. You medium-term goals may be long-term goals or even short-term goals based on how close you already are. If you are new to weight training then I recommend training for a couple months with the compounds lifts just to get technically sound.

Hey General Stalin, thanks for the reply.
It probably is a long road ahead of me, as my lifts frankly suck and I put a lot of effort daily (indicating that I'm not far away from what my 1RM would be). I've been going to the gym for 4 months or so, but the first 3 I just did what the trainers told me to Which was a brosplit. Now I'm doing the Greyskull LP which is a strength routine for newbies, the progress is 1kg for upperbody and 2 kg for legs each workout, which is slow, but increases the time you can keep up without deloading. I'm not really on a hurry as I'm already seeing progress on my pecs, arms and legs. That, along with fatloss should get me fairly nice by winter, then I plan on bulking

I will increase my weight more quickly on deadlifts and the bench though, 2kgs and 5kgs each until I get closer to a deload (sub 10 reps for the bench).

[ExploringReality]

A great day. I was able to hit 43.5x14 on the bench so I decided to try luck with 45kg, which I did for 8 reps. Will try 46 next monday. As for the deadlift I did 85kgx6 reps, happy with it.

I have a problem though, I had a little bit of discomfort on my left shoulder after benching. Any tips?

[General Stalin]

Make sure you properly stretch your muscles and joints before performing heavy movements.

B Martyn has a good video showing a few decent warmups for bench. The first movement he does is great for shoulder mobility.

[ExploringReality]

(08-23-2017 12:17 PM)General Stalin Wrote:  

Make sure you properly stretch your muscles and joints before performing heavy movements.

B Martyn has a good video showing a few decent warmups for bench. The first movement he does is great for shoulder mobility.

thanks a ton, I will implement this in my next workout

[ExploringReality]

Bittersweet. I did ohp 33x6, but I failed on my second set of squats doing 77x3. Well, time to deload it. Those stretches that General Stalin provided are crazy, I didn't know I had my shoulder mobility this bad!

[ExploringReality]

I forgot my microplates so I had to make the jump to 47.5 bench instead of the 46 planned. I still got 12 reps, so I'm really happy with it. I will try 50kgs next friday. As for the squats I had to deload 10% due to my failure last week, and was able to hit 12 reps for 70kg. That was exhausting! Really happy with today's numbers, even though I was not able to hit 3 chinups, but I can feel how I my chin is getting closer to the bar on that 3rd rep.

[ExploringReality]

Very very happy, I was able to ohp 34x6 reps, even though the last one was terrible! The deload is coming next week, very very probably. As for the deadlift I was able to pull 90kgs from the floor for 6 reps. I went for the 7th but my body just said "No way". Hyped as fuck!

[ExploringReality]

I forgot to add that my bodyfat is 19% currently, and I-m switching to a 2500kcal diet. 2 days in and I already feel better throughout the day. I'm shooting to be 15% by 2018.

[ExploringReality]

I was feeling kind of sick today, the squats were hard as fuck on my stomach, I probably ate something in a bad state yesterday or something. Anyhow I pushed through: bench 50x10, squats 72.5x8. My shoulders have win way more mobility, and they don't hurt during the bench now, so thanks General Stalin!

[ExploringReality]

Today was shit and hard as fuck, probably due to the bad recovery I had this weekend. Friday I went hard at night with some friends, saturday too, and sunday it was my dad-s birthday, plus I stayed up until 4am in order to watch the Twin Peaks finale. Anyhow, I did ohp 35x5 and 73.5x7 squats with a very bad form, so I-m repeating that weight next time.

[ExploringReality]

Oh what a humbling experience. I just changed cities and went to a new gym, one with a squat rack. This means I was now able to do standing ohp and real squats and not smith-machines ones. The ohp didn't went too bad, I was able to hit 30.5kg for 5 reps, failing the sixt one that I tried to. 5~ kg difference from doing it seated, not much of a loss for my ego. Then the squats came.

Being not totally crazy I decided to first use just the 14kg bar. Yes, the weight was super easy, but my form was complete shit, I was moving everywhere. I warmed up until 54kg and decided to work with that. By my 3rd work set my form was goodish and I was able to hit 12 reps, so I will go for 59kgs next friday. I'm guessing a 15kgs loss from the smith machine to actual squatting. Well, my ego is a little bit hurt, but it will pass and I will hit 77kgs soon enough.

[Jetset]

(09-18-2017 10:43 AM)ExploringReality Wrote:  

I'm guessing a 15kgs loss from the smith machine to actual squatting. Well, my ego is a little bit hurt, but it will pass and I will hit 77kgs soon enough.

Yeah, I remember moving to a gym with a power rack for the use of the pool through the winter. Hurt my ego, but also my obliques.

You recover from it quickly, though.

[ExploringReality]

Not all that shined was gold, to use an old spaniard proverb. They don't allow deadlifts, rack pulls are ok though, so I will be doing those. Any of you have any experience with these? I tried to pull 95kg as it was my previous deadlift PR and I found it fairly easy, so I guess you can load it a bit more? Also I will have to find something to work my hamstrings and glutes a little bit more since I won't be using that leg drive you get with the first part of the deadlift.
Also, I'm guessing the bar from my old gym was not really a 20kg one, as I could only do 50kgs on the bench for 5 reps, which is way less than the 10 reps I was able to do with "50kgs" on my old gym. This would also explain the loss on the ohp.
So the numbers are: 50x5 bench, 95x5 rackpull.

[Jetset]

(09-21-2017 10:57 AM)ExploringReality Wrote:  

Also I will have to find something to work my hamstrings and glutes a little bit more since I won't be using that leg drive you get with the first part of the deadlift.

Romanian Deadlift? Minimizes the involvement of quads and knees.

http://weighttraining.guide/exercises/ro...-deadlift/

[General Stalin]

(09-21-2017 10:57 AM)ExploringReality Wrote:  

Not all that shined was gold, to use an old spaniard proverb. They don't allow deadlifts, rack pulls are ok though, so I will be doing those. Any of you have any experience with these? I tried to pull 95kg as it was my previous deadlift PR and I found it fairly easy, so I guess you can load it a bit more? Also I will have to find something to work my hamstrings and glutes a little bit more since I won't be using that leg drive you get with the first part of the deadlift.
Also, I'm guessing the bar from my old gym was not really a 20kg one, as I could only do 50kgs on the bench for 5 reps, which is way less than the 10 reps I was able to do with "50kgs" on my old gym. This would also explain the loss on the ohp.
So the numbers are: 50x5 bench, 95x5 rackpull.

The gym doesn't allow you to do deadlifts? Like, if you load up a bar, put it on the floor, and pick it up they will yell at you? The fuck....

Anyway yes you can overload the hell out of rack pulls, especially if you pull above the knee. Last week I did above-the-knee rack pulls 5 sets of 7 reps with my 1RM weight.

If your gym legit won't allow you to deadlift off the floor, then you can sort of get around by setting the pins of the power rack REALLY low (just off the floor) so it's the same as doing a deadlift off a really short blocks.

Romanian deadlifts are good for hams and glutes. For isolation movements you can also do leg curls and reverse back hypers (if the gym has those machines)

[ExploringReality]

(09-21-2017 11:06 AM)Jetset Wrote:  

(09-21-2017 10:57 AM)ExploringReality Wrote:  

Also I will have to find something to work my hamstrings and glutes a little bit more since I won't be using that leg drive you get with the first part of the deadlift.

Romanian Deadlift? Minimizes the involvement of quads and knees.

http://weighttraining.guide/exercises/ro...-deadlift/

(09-21-2017 11:22 AM)General Stalin Wrote:  

(09-21-2017 10:57 AM)ExploringReality Wrote:  

Not all that shined was gold, to use an old spaniard proverb. They don't allow deadlifts, rack pulls are ok though, so I will be doing those. Any of you have any experience with these? I tried to pull 95kg as it was my previous deadlift PR and I found it fairly easy, so I guess you can load it a bit more? Also I will have to find something to work my hamstrings and glutes a little bit more since I won't be using that leg drive you get with the first part of the deadlift.
Also, I'm guessing the bar from my old gym was not really a 20kg one, as I could only do 50kgs on the bench for 5 reps, which is way less than the 10 reps I was able to do with "50kgs" on my old gym. This would also explain the loss on the ohp.
So the numbers are: 50x5 bench, 95x5 rackpull.

The gym doesn't allow you to do deadlifts? Like, if you load up a bar, put it on the floor, and pick it up they will yell at you? The fuck....

Anyway yes you can overload the hell out of rack pulls, especially if you pull above the knee. Last week I did above-the-knee rack pulls 5 sets of 7 reps with my 1RM weight.

If your gym legit won't allow you to deadlift off the floor, then you can sort of get around by setting the pins of the power rack REALLY low (just off the floor) so it's the same as doing a deadlift off a really short blocks.

Romanian deadlifts are good for hams and glutes. For isolation movements you can also do leg curls and reverse back hypers (if the gym has those machines)

Thanks for the input! Yes, that's what I did, still the bar was just at the middle of my shinbone. I'm not sure if they have leg curls, but I sure hope they do, as RDL won't be allowed either I guess. It's kind of ridiculous since they have all the floor covered and I don't think anyone would be able to load the bar as heavy as to damage it, but that's the policy.

[ExploringReality]

Another day closer to where I want to be. Ohp 30.5x6, I will try to get to 8 reps before moving up to 33kgs since they don-t have microplates. Squat 59x7, I was feeling a little discomfort on the stomach, which probably points out to weak abs or to poor breathing technique, I will do some investigation about this. All in all a good dya.

[ExploringReality]

Bench 52x5, will get to 8 reps before putting more weight on. Squats 65x6, happy with it. I love having a chest, I think I will become an attentionwhore in the future.

[ExploringReality]

Ohp 30.5x7, rackpull 100x3. I got cocky and didnt get the 5 reps, we will see next week.

[ExploringReality]

Yesterday's workout sucked. I failed 53bench at the 3rd rep, and I hit 66.5 squats for 5 but I can feel I won't get to 70kgs. This is probably due to not eating enough, since I sleep well and train hard enough. So it is time to decide to keep on cutting or to go for the strength and muscle gains.
Overall, I think that cutting first would be the best option, I don't have more than 6 weeks at most to hit my desired weight, and I will be much more comfortable on my skin and much more comfortable building muscle from that frame. These week will suck, but it will be worthwhile. Any tips on how to retain the strength that I have gained? Do I just keep training like before? Do I have to deload again and again or do I hit the same weights all the time?

[ExploringReality]

Last monday I decided to start the Rapid Fat Loss, after I read the thread about it in this very forum. I was at a crossroad where I had to choose between gaining weight and strength (with little visual improvement due to my high bf%) or to keep on losing fat without gaining strength. This would take much more time than I wanted to, so I decided to go for the apparently hellish RFL.
It is working. I started on monday with 85.6, and by thursday I was 83.8 where I'm currently stalling even though I'm following it to the letter. No problem since I know this is frequent, and I would say I'm leaner, I will have a big woosh in due time. Today I had my refeed (which was harder to do than the actual diet) and that's it, everything is fine diet-wise. As for the gym I was unable to increase weight nor reps, except for the rack-pull, which I hit for 4 reps at the same weight of 100kgs.
My plan is to continue the diet until the 10th of November, when I will weight at least 80kgs, if not less. Then 2 weeks of maintenance and RFL again until the 24th of December (right for Christmash) or before if I hit 15%bf or less. I will start the new year with a glorious bulk, and I can't wait for it.

[ExploringReality]

FML! I was eating just 100grs of protein the whole of the last week because I misunderstood the scope doses , so that's exactly half of what I should have eat. No wonder I lost strength on the ohp and the bench. I'm seriously pissed off. On a happier note, the stall went away and I was at 83.2 on monday. Today I was at 85 because yesterday it was my brother's birthday and I celebrated it, but I'm excited about how where I will be these following days.