vegansludge

That article is perfect. Also I didn't realize how behind in logging on here until today - I'm behind two whole weeks almost! Good thing I'll be getting a new laptop soon.

It's funny that I used to think doing all the raises would help bring my shoulders out and and increase my OHP strength - what's increasing it is doing more of presses, chins, and rows. Don't really need much else. I've been stalled on my OHP forever but even with just one cycle under my belt, I can already tell the lift has gotten quite a bit stronger. Can't wait to see where I'm at after running this for 4-5 months.

I'm really stoked to get my shoes back - and in the right size! I'm going to check out LiftingLarge before my shift today - still need to look into knee wraps and deadlifts socks and probably some Liquid Grip since there's a no chalk rule at my gym. Thanks for the heads up and tip! Hope your Easter went well, mate. OHP is the bane of my existence so I understand. My quads have been killing me all morning from the squats I did two days ago. If anyone ever says that the BBB doesn't look like enough "work," I think they should be slapped. And it's a good thing I've only got 4 hours of tattooing under my belt - definitely not enough time to toughen up.

I'm really looking forward to making serious progress with 5/3/1, especially with running BBB and increasing my intake (I've actually been working on an article I'm pretty proud of regarding this that I should be putting up on my blog but will end up getting posted here, too). My mentality is if you can't perform the lift properly at the weight you're using, you're wasting your time. Strength > aesthetics. The chins I've been doing have been rack-chins (youtube it) and I'm probably going to be adding weight to them this coming week to keep building them up. My goal is unassisted by June, sounds like a ways of a way off but my upper-body is extremely weak in comparison to my lower-body despite the fact that I feel stronger there every day. Good luck with the shoe hunting and I hope you have a good time at the show - every time I've seen Pelican they've been incredible. Saw them with Black Cobra and Struck By Lightning last time and it was easily one of the best shoes I've been to in years. Checked out that site you linked and have been playing around with it for about 15 minutes - pretty rad.

04.01.12 5/3/1: Cycle One, Week Four, Day One Boring But Big NUTRITION 50/160/210 SESSION Warm-up: Cycling 10 minutes, 2.37 miles; light leg extensions; body weight squats 10x4 Squats 45x16; 50x5 60x5; 75x5; 95x5 75x10x5 My squat form has been all over the place recently but this day felt/looked really good probably because I did so many hip flexors and circles during warm-up and in between sets, meaning I should be doing this every damn day. Hanging leg raises 10x5 Leg curl 70x10x2; 60x10x3 Dumbbell side bend 45x20x2; 45x10 Weighted sit-ups 25x20 04.02.12 5/3/1: Cycle One, Week Four, Day Two Boring But Big NUTRITION 55/170/200 SESSION ONE Cycling: 45 minutes; 10 miles I wasn't going to 'log' this because it wasn't for conditioning or cardio purposes but solely for the fact that I love cycling but I suppose it's worth noting that I did, in fact, actually get the chance to get a ride in that lasted longer than 15 minutes. SESSION TWO Warm-up: Elliptical; assisted dips 5x2; rack chins Dumbbell bench press 15x5; 20x5 Barbell bench press 45x5; 55x5; 65x5 55x10x3; 50x10x2 Tweaked my form a little bit by 'shrugging' my shoulders up to alleviate any discomfort and, man, this did serious wonders for staying tight throughout the lift. Pair that with the fact that bench feels stronger every week and I'm expecting to see some serious progress with this upcoming cycle. One-arm dumbbell rows 25x10x4; 25x20 Super-setted these with hammer curls even though I know Wendler would slap me. Hammer curls 15x10x2; 10x10x2 Pull-ups Various grips/assist weights in sets of either 10 or 5 done between BBB bench for a total of 50 reps

Funny you say that because ... I totally forgot that this week and have been doing 5x10 for all my BBB sets (aside from deads which were 5x8). So much for deloading, though, there are worse things I could have done. Let me know how the shoes work out for you - as soon as I get my account credited I'm ordering those Adidas again but in the proper-size. Hopefully they come before the third week of this next cycle so I can break them in good and well with some heavy sets. I'm also hoping to catch up on actually (b)logging tomorrow morning since I'll have free reign of my old lady's laptop. I'm almost too wiped to do it tonight, though, we'll see what I can manage.

Excellent work on the squats, mate! I'm looking forward to seeing how the BBB challenge treats you. Today marked the beginning of my first deload week and it felt weird to go so light on squats but doing the 5x10 sets after actually made leaving the gym without going for reps a lot easier.

I ordered mine directly from Adidas. I'm actually going to send them back tomorrow to exchange them for a half-size smaller since today was a legitimate squat day and they felt too loose for me to be comfortable in - pain in the ass for such a small change but for $100 bucks I want to make sure they're the right size. Hopefully that also helps for sizing.

I woke up and saw that Wendler had posted a new article titled "Losing Weight and Getting Stronger." This is exactly what I needed to read this morning after waking up and feeling "heavy."

My biggest thing with the BBB challenge is not going for reps on the last set. I think i'm still at a point where my numbers are low enough that I'd benefit from running the original template and pushing for reps and then, once I can start throwing in more assistance work/focus on smaller weaknesses, I'll be doing the challenge or switching to the programmable assistance template. For the shoes, they fit true to size, I think. I own one other pair of Adidas Sambas (to skate in) and just went by that and they fit almost exactly the same. There is a lot out of room in the toes, though, and I don't mean size-wise - as in the part above the foot gives me a lot of room but I also have really flat skinny feet.

03.29.12 5/3/1: Cycle One, Week Three, Day Five Programmable Assistance Template NUTRITION 45/163/230 VIGNETTE This whole "not having a laptop of my own" business might be the best and worst thing that's happened for my productivity. On the one hand, I'm behind in doing proper logs, updating my blog, as well as reading my favorite sites, logs, and blogs. On the other hand, I've managed to plow through a few books and graphic novels, outline some articles of my own, and have kept my apartment much cleaner than usual. I suppose I'll take the bad with the good. Kind of like the following OHP session that was full of the wrong lifts/weights because I, inadvertently, left my notebook at home and tried to go by memory, which, after working a full-shift, is rather faulty but also produced a pretty solid PR. I suppose I should also note that my Adidas Powerlift Trainers arrived earlier in the day so I had to try them out, hence the little bit of squatting included after my main lift. Call me a pessimist but I wasn't expecting to feel much of a difference just because of a pair of shoes. However, to say that I was pleasantly surprised would be an extreme understatement - ankles felt more secure, my knees tracked much more easily, and depth was insane. Can't wait for week three of cycle two already. SESSION Warm-up: 10 minutes cycling, lots of shoulder dislocations, stretching, and some sets of cable shrugs and wide-grip lateral pulldowns because the rack was being used. Barbell shoulder press 45x8x2 45x5x2 50x5 55x3 60x9 Neither the 15s or 20s were open so I gave myself a few extra warm-up sets/reps with the bar. Thought it was going to thrash my last set but I guess the switch to a false-grip gave me the mental/form boost I needed to go full-on beast. Barbell squat 95x5 115x5 135x5 I wanted so badly to go heavier but I practiced restraint. The time will come. Close-grip barbell bench 45x10 55x10 65x10 I'd much rather do these than incline. And so would my shoulders. ]Face pulls 80x15 80x10 70x10 Tricep pushdowns with v-bar attachment 60x10 70x10 80x10 Super-setted these with the hammer curls. Should have done dips but the assistance machine was in use and my upper-body is so beta. Hammer curls 15x10 10x10x2 Rack chins 5x10 These were done between sets of OHP and CGBP.

4 extra reps solid, mate. Good work, especially having the yawns all day. Hammer curls are the only curls that I've ever felt to be mildly beneficial - I'd almost rather run than do curls. And I hate running.

Thanks, mate! Things are going the way they should be now that I'm back on a strength program - can't believe there was a time when my deads and squats were the same numbers. This first deload week will be interesting but hopefully running BBB while make it seem less, well, boring.

03.26.12 5/3/1: Cycle One, Week Two, Day Five Programmable Assistance Template NUTRITION 54/179/223 SESSION Warm-up: Jumping role, shoulder dislocations, dips. Barbell bench press 45x5 55x5 60x5 65x3 70x9 No, your eyes do not deceive you. I loaded the wrong plates for my last set - it was supposed to be 75. I didn't realize this until the fifth rep at which point I became pretty pissed off. I put the 75 up once but still find this to be an epic fail on my part. Barbell incline bench press 45x10 55x10 65x10 I much prefer close-grip to these, namely because it's harder for me to keep my form on lock for some reason. Kroc rows 35x15x2 I wanted higher reps but I'll get them next time. These feel stronger every time I do them. Tricep pushdowns with v-bar attachment 60x10 70x10 80x10 Close-grip EZ-bar curls 30x12x3 Walking 20 minutes, 1.21 miles, 7% incline 03.28.12 5/3/1: Cycle One, Week Three, Day Four Programmable Assistance Template NUTRITION 53/123/223 SESSION Warm-up: Walking, light leg curls, hip flexors/circles Barbell deadlift 115x5 135x5 145x5 165x3 185x11 (PfuckingR) Heavy rows and face pulls are doing wonders for my lock-out; grip is improving from the farmer's walks and rows as well. Front barbell squat 65x10 70x10 75x10 ATG and it felt awesome. Seated leg curl 60x10x3 Barbell good mornings 45x10x3 These felt really solid and form was great. I expect them to progress slowly and I'm totally okay with that. Back raises 10x3 Farmers walks 100 feet with 45lbs in each hand x 4 Hill walking 20 minutes, 20lbs in each hand for 10 minutes, 4.5% incline

Regardless of what the Leangains protocol states about dietary fats being stored more easily as fat, higher carbs on workout days make sense for the sole reason that carbohydrates work more efficiently as fuel for workouts than fats and carbohydrates are protein-sparing whereas dietary fats are not. The bottom line is that a calorie is a calorie but your fat gain/loss will not be determined by a single day's intake/macronutrient breakdown (hence the cycling) so don't try and over-think it if you're going to keep following the diet - what matters is your long-term deficit/surplus in order to see the body composition changes you want. In regards to your last question about monitoring weight, two weeks is a minimum amount of time to start seeing changes and I'd even suggest three weeks just to be sure - also make sure you're weighing yourself under the same circumstances each time as, like I said, many factors can affect your weigh-in (water, food, GI tract, etc).

My bench is actually coming along pretty nicely thanks to the heavy dumbbell rows - I just need to find something like that for my OHP to get the ball rolling since it'll take me a while to even get to a consistent number. My gym is 24 hours - if it wasn't, I'd be pretty screwed. My shifts at work are short for the most part but they're odd hours - from 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., midnight, or 1:00 a.m.

Definitely going to drop weight on my squats a bit and I'm almost 100% sure I'm going to run BBB for my first 2-3 cycles before moving on to the loadable assistance (unless this week really wins me over). I've never lifted in a caloric surplus before and BBB seems like I'll get the most bang for my buck in terms of growth and strength gains. I mean, for all intents and purposes, while it wouldn't be "starting from scratch," running 5/3/1 with the BBB template and eating to grow is a reboot from the last six months were all I've really done is spin my wheels with too low of calories and a billion different exercises. I need to keep it simple and keep things in perspective. I always check your log first, mate, even before I update mine. I'm always pretty stoked to see when you've put up a lengthier blog or an article/quotes - there's always some useful and entertaining information in there, most definitely. A shout-out from Wendler? Damn. What'd he say?

Higher fats on rest days because you're eating less and fats provide more satiety and, therefore, you won't feel the urge (so to speak) to eat more than whatever your deficit calories are. Additionally, if more of your calories are coming from fats, you're using them for energy throughout the day so they're not being "stored," though, if you're in a deficit, you're not really storing anything. For all intents and purposes, Leangains sounds great and there are tons of people who have "followed" it and gotten great results but what I learned from using it is this: it's a lot of unnecessary work to cycle your carbs/fats as well as your calories unless it really affects your mood/lifts/satiety. Losing fat and maintaining muscle is simple: eat at a caloric deficit, make sure you get at least 1-1.5g of protein per your weight in pounds and enough carbohydrates so that your workouts don't suffer, lift HEAVY but remember that, when you're in a deficit, you're not going to be performing your best because you're losing mass; if you want to do a recomp, find your maintenance through trial and error, lift HEAVY but realize you won't be seeing as good of gains as if you were in a caloric surplus. Also, one week is not enough time to determine if you're actually losing/gaining/maintaining your current weight - regardless of whatever diet you're following, it takes your body a few weeks to adjust to your intake and there are tons of factors that could shift it within a week (sodium, water, fiber, etc).

Strong OHP, mate. Hope you get some much deserved sleep so you can blast through those deads tomorrow. I have a late-night/early morning bench session tonight (been setting my work-outs up so that I do them when I come off night shift as well so that puts me in the gym around 11:30-midnight).

03.26.12 5/3/1: Cycle One, Week Three, Day One Loadable Assistance Template NUTRITION 50/135/240 Rough estimation. I had Chipotle for my post-work out meal. VIGNETTE Working nights has been killing my attempts to eat more. I eat as much and as close to my 5:00 p.m. clock-in time as possible and then, for the next 6.5 to 7 hours, I'm on my feet and moving around (and carrying things) without any food until I clock out. Couple this with the fact that I've gone back to training after work because the gym is less crowded and I go about 8.5-9 hours without a substantial meal. Since hunger has been through the roof, eating right after training isn't the issue and neither is eating again within the hour following. It's trying to eat after that or large amounts of food at once that I've found problematic - I'm either too full or exhausted to do much of anything other than eating a tablespoon of peanut butter. Of course, these are all excuses - I shouldn't be complaining about needing to eat more food when there are people who are doing bodybuilding contest prep and only getting 1,200 calories a day and there's no way my maintenance is only 2,000 these days. It's simply a matter of getting enough sleep, staying hydrated throughout the day, eating twice before work, once in between my shift and the gym, and then twice again when I get home. It's not brain surgery - it just requires more effort on my part and I need to man the fuck up about it. SESSION Warm-up: Cycle, hip flexors, hip circles, stretching, foam rolling, light leg extensions. Barbell squat 80x5; 100x5 120x5; 140x3; 155x10 (PR) Seriously considering resetting my max to lower on the next cycle and working my way back up to this kind of weight. Depth was dodgy even at 140 and my hips have no been happy with how wide my stance is recently. Stiff-legged deadlifts 70x10; 80x10; 90x10 These felt way too light but that's the point, I suppose. Back raises 40x10x3 Using the bar for good mornings is not going to be an issue - these felt great. Leg curls 70x10x3 Hanging leg raises 10x5 Wanted to get a little bit of abdominal work in but nothing major.

OHP is the Triumvirate with the added face pulls - supposed to be just three lifts but threw them in because chins were feeling weak. The dumbbell stuff is because the bar's 45 and my lower sets are 35/40. Still no word on fixing my computer but I'll be using my old lady's when she's not pounding out grad school work until I can get everything sorted out.

When I read this on my iPhone yesterday, I immediately thought about you - should have known you'd mention it. Looking forward to seeing the numbers you put up next week - just started my first 5/3/1 week and squats were a bitch for some reason.

TRIUMVIRATE TEMPLATE TEST 03.22.12 Cycle One, Week Three, Day Three NUTRITION 58/140/200 SESSION Foam rolling: 10 minutes Hill sprints: 11 minutes - 30 seconds on, 45 off Hill walking: 10 minutes - 10% incline, 4mph Jumping rope: 10 minutes 03.22.12 Cycle One, Week Three, Day Four NUTRITION 58/160/210 SESSION Warm-up: Foam rolling, stretching, light leg curls. Deadlifts 75x5 105x5 135x3 155x3 175x10 The first pull at 155 felt so fucking heavy that, for an instant, I thought I was only going to get my required reps in at 175. I took an extended rest between sets to prowl around the gym, nodding my head to some Nails, and then proceeded to beast through the last set. Felt awesome. Hanging leg raises 10x5 Front squat 70x10x2 65x10x2 60x10 03.23.12 Cycle One, Week Three, Day Five NUTRITION 55/163/215 SESSION Warm-up: Elliptical, jumping rope, chin-ups. Dumbbell OHP 15x5x2 These should have been 20s but someone else was using them to do curls. Barbell OHP 45x3 50x3 55x11 (PR) For the first two sets I used a false-grip, which ended up feeling much more natural than I anticipated. Should have stuck with it for the 55 as "thumbs over" felt less stable than the previous sets. Overall, though, these went better than I expected since I wasn't feeling it at all. Chin-ups 10x5 First two were assisted with different weights/grips; last three were all rack chins. Dips 10x5 Various assisted weights in between sets of chins and face pulls. Face pulls 70x10 70x15x2 70x10 I was going to do rows but the dumbbells I wanted were in use. These will do.

My laptop bit the dust so I have to post from my phone - expect a pretty hefty update sometime tomorrow.

I have no idea why my gym doesn't have GHR frame - we only have the one for back raises. Well, that's not true - I know we don't have one because I lift at a commercial gym dominated by people who are into cardio/curls. I already decided once my contract goes up, I'm finding a gym that's geared toward strength training, if not powerlifting specifically. Plus, I've always trained solo and I'd be interested to see how finding someone or a group of people to train with would be. The things that really hold my squats/deads back are my hip flexors, Osgood-Schlatter, and my weak core so that's why I'm bumping up the mobility and flexibility work, getting knee sleeves/squat shoes - it's ridiculous to think that I'm just now realizing that taking care of these things, instead of ignoring or "pushing through" them, is going to make stronger. I guess everyone starts somewhere. I've never pulled sumo before and I wonder how that'd change my deads - it's my lower back that's the weakest as my upper back's been coming along pretty nicely the last few months from the rows and chins. While injuries and mistakes suck, I think how you handle them and rebound from them really says a lot about a person's character and I commend you for having the diligence, patience, and willingness to grow and learn from it instead of giving up or making the situation worse. Your progress has been phenomenal and I know that you know slow and steady is the best way to improve - your squat/dead numbers in another six months to a year are going to be insane. I don't know if i'll ever give up counting macros - I've found tracking them to be really interesting, mostly because I think it's really cool to see how different breakdowns affect different things (like long-term vs. short-term energy, holding water weight, losing weight, etc.) and makes me more attentive to what kind of foods "work" for me without being obsessive over food (don't measure my food, don't care about hitting exact numbers, don't care if I go over one day). I suppose it's the equivalent of a hobby for nutrition nerds. Haha. Damn. Now I want pizza. Maybe I'll do that after conditioning today.