Hooooly shit the past week’s been crazy. Lift first.
DEAD
8x135
8x225
8x315
8x325
1x335
ABS
12-15 x 3 sets
GLUTE THRUST
8x1pps
12x1pps
8x1.5pps
First time doing, still got a good pump
Ok, here’s what happened.
Last Sunday, I was bored, tired, and needed some calories. So I eat a half loaf of sourdough bread. No fiber in it, just dry starch. Day or two later I realize I’m constipated. Constipation becomes an impaction, and the impaction gives me a hemorrhoid. Jesus christ, those things are NOT benign. It’s basically been sapping the energy out of me for the entire week, and giving me wicked runs that blow bloody mucus out of my ass. I’m talking about difficulty walking, difficulty sitting, difficulty thinking, and bee-lining to a john for some bloody painful sharts every 10 minutes. I would’ve preferred to spare my rectum and just wear my dip belt around my neck with 3 plates hanging off it 24/7. Anyway, by the grace of Preparation H I was able to lift today.
So I am NOT upset about being 30 pounds down on my “8RM” for tugs today. What changed over the past week is that I refactored my diet. I want to mention it here for anyone who feels like they’re the odd one out because they can’t stomach Burger King and pop-tarts like a true permabulker: EXPAND your diet. Take all that energy you were putting into selecting meat, and instead, be a connoisseur of your greens and starches. Get whole grains, get legumes, get leafy shit and sprouty shit and bulbous, rooty shit, and fats that aren’t attached to a steak. Then when it comes time to choose meat, just grab some chicken and bounce.
Holy shit.
So over the past 3 weeks, I’ve had:
A hemorrhoid (internal and external)
A fecal impaction (bad constipation + unstoppable liquid seepage)
A head cold
I came back strong today, really proud of how well today’s lift went.
My maladies are finally coming around, in a few key ways:
Don’t have to wake up for bloody diarrhea runs in the middle of the night anymore
More brown than red in the little stool that I do pass
Incoming sharts don’t make me feel like a parasite is chewing me from the inside
Some key actions were:
No white anything for carbs
Mandatory greens with any starches
Less, less, less meat
No dairy
Daily probiotic cap
Took one day off to eat prunes and ex-lax and wait for the Second Coming
I guess these kinds of problems are way more common for people older than me (I’m 24), but holy shit I will be damned if all I take away from the past few weeks is “eat fiber and drink more water”. I am grateful on grateful for a function of my body that, to today, I always just took for granted. I’ve had pain, I’ve had strain, but this episode cut to the core. Hoping to see a GI doctor next month.
Bowels are coming around. They look like IBS symptoms: My gut felt way better (almost normal) just by eating low-FODMAP foods, e.g., oats, rice, potatoes, meat, certain veggies. Stool is like a thick yogurt instead of a thin runny flow. I still get runs though. When I have to go, I still -have-to-go-.
Just tired, man. But my max strength is doing OK for being off-cycle this long. Work capacity is obviously down. Going to fix a bowl of oats and watch a movie.
PULL-DOWN
Dropsets, just get to 20.
20 reps: 120, 100
20 reps: 100, 80
20 reps: 100, 80, 60, 50
DB ROW
14x40
8x40
Good work capacity given the circumstances. 7x45 is a new rep PR, all time I’d say. Appetite is properly up and stool is arguably normal. On top of the low-FODMAP dieting, I started conservatively with Prep H supps about twice per day.
This hemorrhoid thing was hell and back. I don’t know what other people experience but I had a horrible time. The one word I keep coming back to is “grateful”. If you’re able to eat and shit on a predictable basis, be grateful.
Today marks six weeks off of any SARM. The size and max strength melt off, but there’s a rep range where I keep a certain base strength, around 5-8 reps.
Low strength but man, I have some work capacity. Hell, maybe this IBS diet is actually helping my gains. Low-FODMAP carbs like oats, rice and potatoes that digest efficiently and pass without fuss.
Late update. Today was off, yesterday was arms. Bunch of arm pump work on bis and tris. Favorite had to be cable curl and tricep pushdown; so easy to get long dropsets on those.
Hem’s calming down. Prep H supps are helping at 4x/day. Meanwhile stools are proper turds, and I’m seeing a clear delineation between farts and poops (less BMs that are just sharts). Oh yeah, and strength is on the way up. May even get 8x405 by September. This is all still natty, haven’t touched RAD since July 8. Good times.
Diet’s coming… OK. I’m stable, I guess. There are still some tweaks on my food I want to work out for dependable gut stability. For example, if I finish a bowl of brown rice, I’ll get runs that have me squirting out brown rice water with little undigested rice grains in there. So oats, meat, eggs, super-dark chocolate, and potatoes are really my backbone. Maybe white rice. Of course the comeback gains are making their entrance, which is OK.
notes:
I was not feeling heavy today. That’s the nice thing about 8RMs though, is you have a forgiveness factor where not feeling 100% doesn’t mean you’re dead on arrival. 6x405 without aid actually stacks up pretty nicely against 5x475 at the absolute peak of this year’s earlier RAD cycle. Esp. given this month’s events.
Next week I’ll do less weight, more volume, weird to say but I can’t wait to pump up on all that posterior work. No trying to match my ego with any working weight, just get a few hundred reps. Looking forward to doing so much active posterior work that staying upright during a squat becomes its own challenge.
So my 7RM here is 40 lbs below my lifetime best. But I hurt myself doing 7x+130, where here I did 25 total reps with +90.
Don’t know if I used to pause for PRs, but from here out I pause at the bottom. It’s a good weight-limiting factor that also helps me improve my power output.
OA DB FP
repsx30
repsx20
Less strict than a flye but more lever length than a press. Focused on avoiding the front delt and feeling constant chest tension with my off-hand.
OA DB OHP
9x60
12x50
16x40 (cheated but still good pump)
20x30
CBL RAISE / TRI PUSHDOWN
Just reps. Highlight was 50 repsx70 on TRI PUSHDOWN.
Bowels look like they’re in the clear really. More gas and sharts than I’d like so I’ll throw on some Metamucil and report back. But I can eat, lift, and work all right long’s I avoid the irritating foods.