GPP/Hypertrophy week 6
BW: 204.8
Still not back to my lowest pre-refeed week weight but my waist is down a bit so that’s a win? I probably still have a bit of extra water weight since I haven’t slashed my carbs super low yet and I actually gained weight for a few days last week when I started taking my creatine again.
Wednesday, 02/21/2018:
Comp Squat:
1x360 @9
6x315 @8
6x315 @8.5
6x315 @8.5
E1RM: 399 (up 6.5)
360 felt easier than 355 last week. When I was doing triples with this weight on TM, the first rep felt like @10 so maybe it’s not really a 9. I also took it real slow, giving priority to keeping tight and the tradeoff on bounce was worth it because at this point I need to learn to control the heavy weight before I can worry about that. Sets of 6 felt harder than last week but reviewing the video, I still think it’s @8. I didn’t watch the third video until I was already uploading the first and much to my surprise, the set looks just as good as the first or better, so it was probably still @8. I definitely wasn’t @8 in the videos I was posting a few weeks ago when I was deep in my cut before refeeding. It just felt hard. I’m glad I only have one more session like this left and I feel much better and more motivated now than I did then.
Comp Bench:
1x215 @9
6x185 @8
6x185 @8
6x180 @8.5
E1RM: 234(up 6)
Finally hit 185 @8 for the first time on this program.
Pendlay Row Myoreps:
150x12,4,4,4,4,4
The girl didn’t come to complain about the noise until after I was done the second last set this time (I didn’t even know the whiny one was in the building). A very pointless argument ensued about how it is an explosive exercise and the gym’s website advertises itself as friendly to powerlifting and weightlifing yet has no bumper plates. I shouldn’t expect people to understand that. She probably thinks I’m just ego lifting since I don’t want to lower the weight to something “controllable” and I probably seem very stubborn for even wanting to do the exercise that is specified since most people just wander around the gym going “gee, what do I feel like doing today? Maybe I’ll smash shoulders” Anyway, maybe I’m an asshole but I don’t give the slightest fuck about who is inconvenienced by my noise because I am there to train and improve and if someone needs a more tranquil environment they should take up yoga instead.
LISS: Elliptical 30 mins @+/-140
Friday, 02/23/2018:
Comp Press:
1x142.5 @9
6x125 @9
6x122.5 @8.5
6x122.5 @9
E1RM: 154.5(down .5)
Was sure I had 6x125@8 in me, while I was on my way to the gym at least 
Squat no Belt:
8x230
8x245
8x255
8x255
8x255
8x255
E1RM: N/A
Closing in on a 12,000 poundage session. Should be less sore for deadlifts on Sunday than I was last week.
Close grip Bench Myoreps:
150x12,4,4,4,4,2
Achieved my arbitrary goal of 30 reps to progress to the next weight but it was super hard. I think I started too heavy on this one. Had to rest a while before I even warmed up with the bar because I was just boned from the squats.
Chins: 24 in 3 mins
Chins: 30 in 3 mins
This is the first time I’ve felt just completely wiped out after a workout in a while. Only 4 more sessions like this to go before it’s time to focus on the GainzZz.
Sunday, 02/25/2018:
Comp Deadlift:
1x410 @9.5?
6x355 @8.5
6x345 @8
6x345 @8
E1RM: 444 (down 1, panic!)
Still have no idea how to tell the RPE of a single. I don’t know if I’m horrible at executing them or just rating them. It doesn’t help that when I’m doing reps the first one still seems harder than the next two or three. The single was pretty slow but I’m fairly happy with my lower back for such a relatively heavy weight and the bar path seemed ok too. It also looks like I got my hips right into the correct pulling position without overshooting, but I did roll the bar forward a tad while I was doing so.
Incline bench TnG:
8x115 @6
8x125 @7
8x140 @8
8x140 @8.5
8x140 @8 Took a 5 min rest instead of 4 before this one
8x140 @8.5
E1RM: 189 (up 6.5)
Meant to do 120, 130, 140 but some dweeb had the 2.5 lb plates. I say dweeb because I haven’t forgiven him for the time he left the plates on the bench press bar several months ago.
Leg press myoreps:
360x14,5,5,5,5,5
Getting harder but still not heavy enough that I can’t complete 5 sets of the same reps.
HIIT: Elliptical 20/100 x 4
Had to rush home for my protein. Not because I’m concerned about an anabolic window but it was a long time since I last ate and I need to keep my meals on track so I don’t have to skip the last one or stay up too late. I can’t wait for my chicken curry. It’s so good it tastes like cheating but I could eat it 4x in a day and still be within my macros.
Monday, 02/26/2018:
Chins: 12 in 1 minute
Chins: 32 in 3 minutes
Abs: 8 mins, 6x5 rollouts, 2x 30s forearm plank, 4x 30s side plank
Lat Pulldown: 100lbs 6 min EMOM 12,12,12,10,10,10,10
I think I will up the weight whenever I get more than 75 reps.
HIIT: Elliptical 20s on 100s off x4
OMG my legs can’t handle any more
GPP/Hypertrophy week 7
BW: 202
Wednesday, 02/28/2018:
Comp Squat:
1x365 @9
6x320 @8.5
6x310 @8.5
6x300 @8
E1RM: 400 (up 1)
I forgot my phone at home so I couldn’t film anything. 320 felt like overdoing it, I wish I had a recording to verify. I may just be being a baby again but it felt like my form wasn’t great either. Form definitely wasn’t great on the second set. I fell forward onto my knees a couple times and my left one let me know about it. I used to have a lot of problems with my knee before I stopped squatting so stupidly and for quite a while after. It hasn’t hurt like this in a long time. It hurt like a mutha to sit down into my car but now it doesn’t hurt to just bend it for the hell of it so that’s good.
Comp Bench:
1x205 @7
1x220 @9
6x187.5 @8.75
6x185 @8.5
6x180 @8
E1RM: 233(down 1)
I usually shy away from singles @7 because I’m afraid of fatiguing myself for the top one, or even worse: having to call it @8 so I can’t go heavier :o I decided to try it today though to see if it helps wake me up for the top one. Didn’t go too bad. Of course I still have no idea how to choose my backoff sets based on the single yet so I tried to go for a modest PR.
Neutral(ish) grip cable row myoreps:
140x6 @too heavy
120x12,5,5,5,5,5,4
I’m tired of getting in trouble for noise when I’m trying to take deep breaths in between sets of rows. These are weird. The 12 reps were hard but it was pretty easy to do 5 after at first. It’s hard to do these explosively like a barbell row and when they slow down it’s really easy to cheat by moving towards it. Feels like the ROM isn’t long enough too. I guess I should have done a straight bar with a wider grip so the bar can hit my chest.
LISS: Elliptical 30 mins @+/-140
Chins: AMRAP @8ish 10,10,8,7,6 (last ones were more like @10, boo!)
Friday, 03/02/2018:
Comp Press:
1x145 @9
6x125 @9
6x125 @8.5
6x122.5 @9
E1RM: 156 (up 1.5)
Rested way too long looking for the only set of 2.5s to drop the weight after overshooting the first set but eventually had to repeat the same weight and did better due to the rest. Someone took them to the stupid women’s only gym.
Comp Deadlift:
1x415 @9.5?
6x350 @8
6x350 @8
6x350 @8.5
E1RM: 444 (no change)
Moved the deadlift up to make the third workout low priority because I’mma try to do it tomorrow. I want to start my next program on Tuesday and have 2 whole days off first. After overshooting for a couple weeks I tried to drop the ego (for the sets of 6 only) and choose a weight I could complete for 3 sets. Mission accomplished, but it was super hard to bring myself to do it again without getting to drop the weight and it took me forever.
Close grip Bench Myoreps:
150x12,4,4,4,3
Same weight as last time but fewer reps. I knew I was sort of maxed out on this for now.
HIIT: Elliptical 20s on 100s off x6
Wanna get my GPP for the week done by tomorrow too.
Saturday, 03/03/2018:
Squat no Belt:
8x225
6x240
1x260
The knee pain got to me on rep 5 of the second set and I stopped at 6. I thought it was gone, at least it didn’t bug me during deadlifts yesterday. I thought I would try to complete the volume at my target weight in sets of 4 but I only got one rep. This sucks. It hurts to even do assisted bodyweight squats. I worked up to 4 plates (in total, not per side) on the leg press and that was no good either. No I’m worried that my Tuesday squat session, the first of my long awaited gainzZz period will be in jeopardy.
Incline bench TnG:
8x115 @6
8x120 @7
8x125 @8
8x125 @8
8x125 @8
8x125 @8
This one hurt my shoulders. I never get shoulder pain while pressing but I never try to do two strength workouts back to back either. I just kept the weight low and got through it.
Lat Pulldown: 105lbs EMOM 12,12,12,10,10,10,10
Abs: 8 mins, 8x5 rollouts, 8x 15s side plank, 1x 30s forearm plank
HIIT: Elliptical 20s on 100s off x4
Well that’s it for this program and just a couple more days on this diet. I might start a new log ‘o gainzZz for my next program(s). I’l’ make a post soon about the results, more so body composition wise than lifts.
So here are the final stats from the start to finish of this log, 18 weeks total:
Bodyweight: 220>>>198.8 (huge surprise drop on the last day - not an adult male anymore!)
Neck: 16>>>16
Arm: 14.5>>>14
Leg: 28>>>25.5
Waist: 39>>>35
According to the Navy I’ve gone from 23-16% bf. I think having gone from 27-20% is a little more realistic if I can trust their estimated change in bf more than their absolute values. Well of course they way underestimated my bf. They never even took into account my once massive fat legs (still fat now but not as massive).
As for lifts, I’m not going to get into exact numbers because they fluctuate from week to week but squat and deadlift are down a few pounds, mostly due to fixing depth on the squat and not training deads consistently because of injuries. Presses are pretty much right where I started and considering I’m down 20 lbs that’s still quite a bit relatively stronger! I’m sure I would have lost tons of strength on all lifts if it wasn’t for the intelligent RPE based programming with appropriate volume!
But I have a theory for why I wasn’t able to make those gains. The moment of revelation was when I finally got back down to 36" in the waist which was what it was when I started my 14 weeks of TM and I was at pretty much the same weight I was last time. That means one of two things. Either I lost all the muscle I gained on TM or I barely gained any in the first place. I’m going to go with the latter because I think my diet and training were pretty on point throughout this cut and I didn’t lose much actual muscle tissue (besides water obv.) at all. So if all I gained on TM was fat while making great strength gains then that means my puny muscles must have become pretty highly trained relatively…enough so that they can’t get much stronger at their current size, at least not in a calorie deficit. So if I want to get really strong it’s clear that my main goal for quite a while needs to be muscle building. I’m sure BBM templates will help with that as opposed to TM (fuck you TM!).
Basically I realised I was fatter than I though so even though I’ve lost tons of fat I’m not done leaning out at all. I’m done for now though because I’ve been dieting for long enough, I’m hungry to make some gainzZz, and I don’t want to have to reduce my calories down to 2000 EVER, as I would probably have to do eventually if I just kept pushing on to lose the last 10-15 lbs I would need to in order to lean out to my satisfaction. I was on working my way up to the 12 week strength program after this but now I know I don’t have enough time until I need to cut again. So the plan is HLM then GPP/Hypertrophy again (focusing on gainzZz this time) then another 8 week cut (I NEVER want to have to cut for more than 8 weeks ever again) to lose another 10-12 lbs. I have to keep an eye on my nutrition and my waistline to make sure I will actually end up leaner than I am now after that.
TL/DR: It’s time for this fat-ass to make some gainzZz! Considering how little muscle it turns out I had, what a terrible muscle building program TM is and how stupidly (low volume and low frequency) I finished off my LP I think I should still have some noobie muscle gains left in me!
Grats on finishing the cut! Losing ~1lbs/week for 18 weeks straight sounds rough. Cool you maintained strength and got relatively stronger.
