adpowah's training logs

I ended up hitting 405x4, the 5th rep got to the knees but it wasn't going to happen with any sort of grace so I let it go. This was a neat week in that all of my former maxes were used for my amraps but all of the numbers were a few reps short of previous projections. Anyways I am back to serious on recovery and I will see how the rest of the training block goes.
 
Mid-point check in:

Well the gains a starting to slow down but so has the weight gain. I hit 200lbs this week and frankly I'm about as fat as I can handle so I am going to begin planning an RFL cycle and try and get back down to 190 to start bulking again. I will probably start a separate thread on that since dieting is by far my weakest expertise in my fitness game.

Further my sciatic is really bothering me regularly so I need to figure that out, I am guessing its a psoas based issue that I need to work through but we will see. Until that gets ironed out I will only be deadlifitng once a week doing the AMRAP but keeping my squats. I had to drop my squat weight due to this sciatic issue too so I am definitely a little disappointed in my lower development for this cycle but that's life.
 
So I "finished" up my 3rd cycle of DUP, I only got 5 weeks into and I got sick again. I had a hard time keeping up with the bulking that I was successful with in the previous cycle. Primarily physiologically I was just getting too heavy.

DUP_3.jpg


Everything here was so-so. My weight gain kind of slowed and lifting at this intensity wasn't sustainable. I had some pretty bad sciatic issues which really inhibited my Deadlifts after the first three weeks. I have some stretches to get that handled now so I just need to get back to it. Bench was kind of the surprise out of this cycle with my best being 250 for a triple.

Squats were about flat doing a 325 x 6 and ending with a 310 (I think I just did 315 out of convenience) for 8.

Deadlifts I only got two amraps in one at 395x6 and then 405x4. I think the big take away here is that 5x3 @70%+ isn't sustainable for hypertrophy. I think I am going to do a 5x10 @50% starting next cycle and start the amraps at 75-77%. I was getting a little worried that all the high rep stuff wouldn't translate into a single pull and while I still feel that way I need to stay healthy more.

Bench will probably stay the same type of progression, there appears to be no issues.

Anyways my goals for a 405/275/500 are seeming a little unrealistic for July especially since I am going to do RFL for the month of May. Maybe in June I can come back and put some strength back on but it's unlikely. Overall I am projecting more like a 390/260/450. Anyways, working on the diet grind for now and back to strength training in June.
 
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May! Diet month! :eek:

So I started it out pretty easy, I got sick and couldn't train so I took my SD. I thought I ate at maintenance but when I weighed in on Tuesday I was 195.4 which is about 6lbs down from a week or two ago since I was breaking 200 on a pretty regular basis. Not sure what happened there but oh well. I lifted on Monday and just did some 2x15s@50% to get myself back into the gym. I am pretty sore in the legs but the chest is fully recovered. Today I will do 2x10@ about 50lbs heavier than the 15s and then on Friday do a 2/3x5 at about 75%. From there I will just do a 2/3x5@75% adding 5lbs per workout. When I stall from the lack of calories I will just cluster to get the reps. When it starts taking too long I will just drop the weight a bit.

Anyways today was my first weigh in on RFL and I am at 194.9, so .5lbs down. My goal is 10 days on, 1 off, 10 on, 3-4 working back to normal eating. If I can get into the low 180s I will be pretty happy. Then about a week of maintenance and then back to bulking in June to recapture the strength for my July test.
 
Start of RFL
5/4: No RFL but lifted S/B/D 185/135/225 x 2 x 15
5/5 (Day 1): 195.4
5/6 (Day 2): 194.9, lifted S/B/D 225/185/275 x 2 x 10
5/7 (Day 3): 193.5
5/8-10 (Day 4-6): 193.7, not sure why the body decided to hang at this weight for a few days but it did. I was having some constipation issues, probably linked to the diet change and then while I was sick I was using some Dayquil/Nyquil which always causes me issues. Anyways ate some prunes a couple times and it fixed the issue. Also didn't lift 5/8 8(
5/11 (Day 7): 192
5/12 (Day 8): 191.3, first week over with relatively minor cheats, today I will be going to the movies and will probably have some nachos and maybe share a beer with my wife. Anyways progression has been good and I don't see any reason I can't continue, cravings have been minor to non-existent. Lifted S/B/D 275/205/315 x 2 x 5 (also did a 255 with slingshot for a single on bench). I am a little light on the deadlift due to some sciatic issues which appear to be stemming from the bench. Anyways I will probably put my 5s at 345 by 5/15.
5/13 (Day 9): 191.3, lifted S/B 230/190 for 20 reps. Squat went fine as a 2x10, Bench was broke into 3 sets in total. I've really taken a hit here but it looks worse than it is. I noticed bench was contributing to the sciatic issue so now I am benching legs up which I am much weaker at without leg drive. For deads I didn't feel like doing reps so I worked up to 385 and it went smoothly so I attempted 435 three times off of blocks, sadly it was total fail city. Oh well.
5/14 (Day 10): 191.0, I had expected a bit of movement with such a good workout the night before. I did have a pretty salty dinner though so maybe it was just water retention. So for the first 10 days I achieved about half my goal of 10lbs getting just over 4 but since I started lower than expected I am pretty much on target. Tomorrow is cheat day, but I think I will be pretty tame about it. Further I will add in a small amount of HIIT in the workout to hopefully further increase my metabolism for the next 10 days.
5/15 (Day 11-Break): 191.0 So today was cheat day or break day however you want to put it. In the 24 hours I probably did 2500-3000 calories. I hit a pretty hard work: squat 280 for 10 reps over 3 sets, bench 205 for 10 reps over 3 sets and deads 315 for singles alternating sumo/conventional. 315 is my sumo 1rm so it was a pretty challenging workout. My back was super sore from Wednesday's 435 attempts but I knew I had the calories. I attempted 255 with the slighshot on bench again and something didn't work out because I just couldn't press it off my chest. Maybe I misgrooved or whatever, anyways I did the roll of shame down the stomach. For cardio I did some thrusters and then some eliptical.
5/16 (Day 12): 192.5 I wasn't surprised by the weight gain, a lot is just having more food that previously in my system. I am sure in a day or two I will have a big BM and lose a good pound (regularity has definitely been an issue, so I've added daily prunes). I am going to reduce my calories a little further per day for this 10 days. So I am cutting my portions down by a third to improve the results. I've decided 195 will be my cap weight so once I hit that I will diet back down to lower 180s and cycle through that for a about a year. Anyways, back to the diet grind.
5/17 (Day 13): 191.5 nothing to say here, stuck to the protocols but forgot to take my supps. Getting back to being strict on the diet wasn't a cake walk, I had a lot of cravings.
5/18 (Day 14): 190.6 definitely looking trimmer than ever. Too bad the strength loss is so drastic. Anyways sqauts went 275x3, 285x3,2,2. Bench went 185x5, 205 in the slingshot 2x5. Deadlift I worked sumo up to a new 1rm of 345 which was neat. Then I pulled it conventional a few times. Also I ate two cookies, oops. :( By the end of the night I was really hungry so I had another meal, some ground turkey, broccoli and an egg.
5/19 (Day 15): 189.6 honestly this was a pretty big surprise considering the two cookies and the added meal at the end of the night. :)
5/20 (Day 16): 189.3 little to no cravings, I kind of expected more here but whatevs. The lifting went well squat went 285x3,3,4 and the first set was beltless. Bench went 195x5,5,5 and deadlifts I worked up to 315x5 and then a bunch of romanians, paused and holds at some lower weights. My workout partner hit a big pr on deadlifts doing 315x3, last year he maxed at 295 so he was pretty stoked. I did some shoulders, biceps and triceps for about 30 reps clustered with 30lb dumbells. I also did some higher intensity rowing to start the day and some elliptical to conclude.
5/21 (Day 17): 189.3 this is a little disappointing due to the good workout and how well I stuck to my protocols. Due to circumstances I will end this on the 19th day at which point I will start working my way back into more calories. I'll save my closing thoughts until then. Definitely facing some diet motivation fatigue, I've eaten about 600cals outside of protocols today. 8(
5/22 (Day 18): 189.3 I really fell off the wagon here, ate some nachos last night, thought I would get back on it today and ate a light and appropriate breakfast but then had Chipotle for lunch. Anyways I am going to push myself pretty hard at the gym and start tapering back to a normal diet at this point. I will restart my DUP cycle on Monday.
 
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Jason Blaha's 'Bulgarian Lite' is quite a good training regime to pair with RFL, in my opinion. High load, high frequency, low volume. Izzy at PTW previusly recommended a 5x5 routine, but that seems far too volume intensive to me.
 
Thanks for the suggestion, I can't really get in more than 3 work outs a week, so I am not sure I can increase my frequency any. Izzy is a stud but I couldn't complete a 5x5 at a meaningful weight in all three lifts, I was pretty tired just doing what I did. I am going to increase the weight workout to workout to keep the intensity up. I will prolly have to cluster sometime in week 3.
 
Post diet review: I lost about 6lbs over 18 days, so about 1/3 of a pound a day. My strength came back pretty quick once I was done, unfortunately I got sick almost immediately afterwards so I haven't gotten back to hitting the gym with normal intensities.

Looking back I had quite a few cheat days or times I didn't stick to my protocols. It's been about 10 days since the end of the diet, I am at a high 191 daily. So I put back on about 2lbs+, it's not bad considering the circumstances but I need to do a bit better next time.

Things to try/adjust:
  • Potentially use chicken/eggs rather than beef, I worry my overall fat might be too high on a daily basis.
  • Move my cheat meals to every 4ish days. 10 days didn't seem to happen so I think I will just plan accordingly and keep trying to extend the amount time on the protocols over time.
  • Consider just working to a daily (good form) 1rm and then do some small volume work (3x3@75% of the daily 1rm). I think this might help with the bizarre ups and downs in strength.
  • Find something to support regularity. I used prunes which were ok but they have more carbs than I am wanting. With the RFL there were a lot of days I remained the same weight (which can be discouraging) and I think my regularity contributed to that.
  • Find a few more good hunger suppressors, black coffee and gum worked good but I need to add a few more.

In the meantime: With the recent sicknesses I really just need to get my consistency back. Once I get there I will get back to bulking/cutting. Until then, I will be eating higher fat/protein (4-500cals) around non-workout meals and higher carb in pre and post workout meals (closer to 1k cals). I figure this will give me the carbs will give me the performance to get some of my gains back from being sick. Once I am back to my previous strength then I will plan a diet or bulk.
 
I'm assuming you're a category 2 dieter, per Lyle's RFL book.

- Put the cheat meals 3 days and 2 days apart. For me it's Wednesday and Saturday/Sun.
- Celery is the best RFL satiety and regularity help I've come across.
- Gym wise, I would stick to a lower volume with higher intensities. I would also remove the accessory work for the most part. In terms of applications, I would think something like 8-12 singles at 85-90% then one back-off set of 5-6 reps at say 80%.
- Beef is very difficult to include in RFL if it isn't a particularly lean cut. Even lean mince still has 5gms of fat per 100gms. If you want to get 45gms of protein from that, then you just took in 10gms of fat and that's your limit for the day. Chicken, canned tuna, WPI-WPC-casein mixes are excellent, as is prawns (I guess you would call this shrimp?), most fish (not salmon though). Lean pork can be good as well but you need to pay a lot of attention to the source - same as beef.
- Celery again.
- Stay away from dairy, even though it is satiating it has too many carbs to make the diet work ideally.
-Eggs are my preferred fat source. Great lipid profile, have taste, don't need things with them other than some salt and pepper to be edible.

Remember that at a strict RFL looks something like 200-350gms of protein (bodyweight and activity dependent), some fish oils, plenty of vegetables and that is it. Use caffeine and pre/intra WO carbs to get you through the gym three times a week and you're done.

The diet won't work for many people, not because of discipline but because of making it work within the context of your lifestyle. Students should never do this diet unless they're significantly obese. It's probably best suited for someone with a sedentary job and no dependents. Make sure your significant other/friends/family are aware that you're off the fun times for 2-3 weeks.
 
@Jester Thanks those are great suggestions that I will implement next run (mid-July).

Getting back to strength training has been interesting. I had some sickness bookend my diet so I was feeling pretty weak. Getting back to the gym I was just aiming for some consistency and I will start my next cycle on Monday the 8th. So this week I just kind of played around, did what sounded fun and whatnot. Overall I just focused on working up to some heavy-ish singles, doing some rowing and making sure the body got used to some activity. Funny enough I unceremoniously broke 1k on the big 3, which was pretty cool since I had missed it by a little last year.

We started out doing some pullups and got ourselves a little tired just messing around. Then we went to deadlifts, I had intended to just hit 385 for a single being that I had done 365 on Monday. For convenience's sake I ended up doing 405. The sciatic issue has really died down but I am continuing to rehab and prehab it so I am still a little weak here.

Next we went to bench, I had hit 225 for a single on Monday and it felt pretty easy so today I hit it for an easy triple but felt I still had some steam in the tank. I loaded 245 and it went ok, I definitely couldn't have gotten a second rep, and maybe could have gotten 250 but I wasn't interested in trying it. However 245 is the most I have ever done without the slighshot, so that was cool.

At this point we were kind of done but I wanted to squat a little. On Monday I had hit 335 fairly easily, today I wanted to hit 345 of 350. In training I had worked up to 345 for a few reps and it was last years max so I thought it should be pretty easy. Well once I got to 315 I was still feeling strong and the bar speed was great, so I decided to try for 365. I felt I stayed in form really well but the bar speed wasn't great. My training partner thought I should try for 405 but I didn't see it happening (he's always very optimistic). Anyways its the first time I had handled over 345 and it went really well so that was nice.

So adding up my numbers S/B/D 365/245/405 I hit 1,015 without too much pre-training preparation which was pretty neat to break the 1k barrier on a random mid-week workout. Anyways I am pretty sore from the pullups today but feeling good. I will prolly screw around on Friday with some lighter weights and start training in earnest on Monday for my end of July test which I am hoping for a S/B/D 405/260/455 totaling just over 1,100. Anyways, thanks for reading.
 
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Awesome squat result. Bear in mind that RFL is just about the worst thing you can do prior to any form of strength testing or performance, so I'd comfortably add in another 20/10/20lbs if you had done these in 2-3weeks time.
 
Tomorrow I go for my year end max.

Body Weight/Injuries
I am feeling pretty healthy and I have been eating plenty (a bit of a dreamers bulk for the last two weeks). I am guessing I am going to weigh in at about 195 which is about 6lbs up from my lowest on RFL about 2 months ago. A good portion of that is just food weight as I weighed in at 191 earlier this week when I had just not eaten a lot the day before. My body is feeling pretty healthy, so while I feel a lost progress due to the SI issues I don't feel they will get in the way of any of the lifts tomorrow (barring catastrophic issues).

Preparation
I attempted a peaking program but cut it short due to circumstances. Originally it was planned to be a 1 lift per day for two weeks, then 5 full days of rest. The weight progression would be a 4x3@90% of the opener followed by a 4x3@70%, then the next week it would be a 2x3@93% and a 2x3@70%. Well the week before I had ended up going pretty heavy and had overreached and had to take Friday as a deload. So I didn't get into this peaking feeling 100%. I decided that two weeks of peaking was probably more than I needed so I just completed week 1 and then started resting. Last week I did Deadlifts on Monday @395lbs (I was feeling recovered by Thur/Fri), Bench on Wednesday @235 (feeling recovered by Fri/Sat) and Squat on Friday @335 (feeling pretty recovered today, Tuesday). Today I am going to go into the gym and just mess around, I won't go over 135/45/135 for the big three and just work the motion and get some blood flow.

Openers
I will just follow the standard progression of powerlifting starting with Squat, then bench and conclude with Deadlift. I had been working towards a 500lb deadlift and if I thought I might attain it I would probably try it first. Being that will not happen I will just be going for a solid total.
Squat: I will open with 385, 405 and then decide if I want to do a 3rd attempt. If I miss 405 I may try 395 or call it good.
Bench: I will start with 250, 260 and then 275. For me bench has been a bit of a darkhorse. I definitely prioritize deadlift and squat but it has made some solid improvements. I feel 260 is very realistic, 275 may be little hoping for a miracle. My best amraps were a 215 for 8 and a 210 for 9. So we will see how I can translate rep work into a max attempt.
Deadlift: Starting with 435, a fairly meager increase from my previous max but I haven't built a ton of confidence back up since I had my SI joint setbacks. From there I will attempt 455 and then decide if I want to try a 3rd attempt. My cycle best amrap was 385 for 5 which isn't great considering the previous cycle I had a 395 for 6. Anyways I am pretty confident at the 435 even though I had attempted it in May without success which I am chalking up to being on RFL (coincidentally I also failed at a 255 bench with my slingshot on during that period too).

Anyways that's the plan, below is my program since early June. Any feedback or suggestions are appreciated.
DUP_4.jpg
 
Here are the results, definitively below my expectations but that's how it goes.

Squat: Hmm, depth was borderline. I hit 365 previous to this and it was a little saddening to realize 405 wasn't in the cards today.


Bench: Realistically I think all of my benches need to be paused from here on out, it looks too much like I am cheating it imo. Anyways 260 went well, 275 got a few inches off my chest but I couldn't lock it out. Pretty satisfied with 260.


Deadlift: Fail city. I was a bit concerned when I pulled 405 and it felt heavy. I tried 435 the first time and the weight started drifting and I dropped it. The second attempt I came in much more determined, got it to my knees and it fell right into that groove between the knee and shin and I couldn't get it out. Super saddening.


Anyways I am going to send my conventional deadlift on a vacation. Let my SI and Psoas really heal up while I rehab them. I will be moving to sumo for the next cycle and I am going to go back to HST at least for 3-4 cycles. Lose some weight, look a little better, etc. I will post my HST program for feedback in the next day or two.
 
A few thoughts;

Squat;

I think you should watch this;



Your break looks like it is at the knees, whereas your bar position would suit someone breaking at the hips. I think that would help you get lower to meet depth.


Bench;

Definitely pause from here on out, you would get the red light for that. Having said that, great use of leg drive, which incorporates well into the (future) paused benches.


Deadlift;

Great break, and to be fair you had that. The reason you lost it is you leaned back too soon before it had passed your knees. To my eyes, it was still moving vertically when you leaned back, which meant the bar tried to pass through your knee - can't happen - you stalled and went Dave Castro, though thankfully you don't try to make it last for 24s before putting it down.
 
Thanks for the feedback @Jester I'll definitely check out the video. My squat definitely needs to continue to evolve.
Totally agree regarding the lean back, it started really manifesting itself around the same time as the SI issues. I'll have to explore what's going on there in the future. Thanks again.

Edit: Yeah bench read lights across the board for sure.
Edit2: I had planned on deadlifting barefoot but forgot. 8( More sadness.
Edit3: lol, found the Castro video by coincidence. You're so hurtful. :( (4:44 mark)

 
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So I am moving back to HST, at least through January. Here's my current program.

Re_HST_1.jpg

I'm on the 2nd to last workout at the 15s. Squats (been going high bar with slightly elevated heals) and sumo deadlifts are taxing but the everyother workout has been going great. I do the Incline and Bent over rows as a circuit. The 30s have been going well (this is where I complete 1x30 for each of the exercises without putting the barbell down). Shoulders have also been recuperating well. I was thinking of dieting for the later but I've decided not to do that.
 
adpowah said:
Thanks for the feedback @Jester I'll definitely check out the video. My squat definitely needs to continue to evolve.
Totally agree regarding the lean back, it started really manifesting itself around the same time as the SI issues. I'll have to explore what's going on there in the future. Thanks again.

Edit: Yeah bench read lights across the board for sure.
Edit2: I had planned on deadlifting barefoot but forgot. 8( More sadness.
Edit3: lol, found the Castro video by coincidence. You're so hurtful. :( (4:44 mark)

Click to expand...


Yeh but you know you went Castro ... Castro doesn't know he went Castro ... BIG difference.

Have you tried the Bulgarian Manual from Nuckols and Isuf?

That sh1t is the $hit ...
 
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