I think that is a wise decision.
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Daily log:
Weight:
84.5kgs/187lbs
Came down; as expected, but I’d say it came down more than expected.
Nutrition:
2430 Calories
250g Protein
200g Carbs
70g Fat
Training:
Off day:
50 Side twists
Physio stuff
Stretching
Nothing too crazy going on. Life is good.
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Now you’re logging your weights your only one step away before posting before and after bulk pictures. I’m excited to see how it goes for you mate.
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Thanks man, so am I
That’s one huge step, but we’ll see. Given that the plan is to gain for 2.5-3 years I have a lot of time to think about it.
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Daily log:
Weight:
84.5kgs/187lbs
Nutrition:
2540 Calories
275g Protein
225g Carbs
60g Fat
Training:
Chest/Back/Delts/Small muscles
1a Paused bench
3x8,7,8x105kgs (40)
1b Weighted chin up
5x6x30kgs (30)
2 Seal/Rear delt row
4x12-13x27.5kgs (50)
Back stretch
3 Smith machine reverse grip incline bench
Chest stretch
14,3x10x62.5kgs (40)
EDT: (10 minutes, 15RM weight for both, fill sets w/rest pause)
Side laterals
7x15x12.5kgs
Seated face pull
7x15x40kgs
End of EDT
Delt stretch
4a One legged calf raise
4x10x1kgs/side
4b BTB Wrist curl
4x15x57.5kgs
Forearm stretch
5a Neck curl and extension
2x15x10kgs/side
5b External rotation w/plate
2x12x5kgs/side
Side twists and physio stuff
Notes:
Failed to reach my paused bench rep goal by one rep, God damn it. It’s weird how much harder it is to grind through a sticking point with pause bench compared to tng, I got pinned down with the last two sets.
Chins went pretty well if we think about the fact that I haven’t done anything apart from fat grips pull ups for the last three or four months when it comes to vertical pulling.
Smith machine was in use so I had to do rows and incline separately instead of as a pairing, used 30-45s rests with both of them and terminated the set if I felt like I couldn’t contract the target muscle anymore.
Smith was in use again when I was doing calf work and I didn’t have time to wait so I just did some unilateral calf raises there.
Overall, a pretty solid session.
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Daily log:
Weight:
84.9kgs/188lbs
Woke up with terrible side delt doms, I’m loving it.
Nutrition:
3010 Calories
250g Protein
300g Carbs
90g Fat
Ate pretty much half if that in a single sitting minutes ago, still hungry.
Training:
Lower body; Danteism is stealing the girl’s weights again edition
1a 1&1/3 Front squat with heel elevation
5x8x50kgs (40)
1b Band assisted GHR
5x8
2 Good mornings
12,3x15x107.5kgs (40)
3 Single leg leg press
3x15x40kgs/side (50)
Glute&Hamstring stretches
4a Leg extension
3xFx30kgs, last set strip set
Quad stretch
4b Hanging leg raises
3xF
side twists and physio stuff
Notes:
Trying to get the hang of the front squats. Basically it was just going atg, coming a third of the way up and going down again before going all the way up (not locking knees though; no resting at top around these parts of town) it was actually surprisingly hard to keep the lower back from participating here as the quads got more and more exhausted.
We’ll also see what my legs think about only squatting “heavy” once every sixteen days.
Did good mornings without pins today, felt decent. First set was a bit off so I called it at twelve reps, the last three were a lot better. This was the only movement where I actually rested, had about 45-60 seconds between sets. On everything else I was just going back and forth between sets or legs without rest apart from drinking.
Single leg leg press is hard as shit, it wasn’t even about trying to keep the tension on a specific muscle (although I managed to only feel it in my glutes, and that’s a win in my book) it was just hard as shit.
Apparently I did the wrong exercise last time, as leg extension wasn’t meant to come in before today. Oh well. The decline sit up bench was being in use so I figured I’ll just do leg raises instead, I’m not too anal about that.
I’m enjoying these shorter leg session, there’s really little fluff here but I feel that I’m still getting a lot done.
Tomorrow I’ll go to the physio again, for the last time, wonder what we’ll do.
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Today we took a closer look at my legs and lower back/abs.
Apparently my externally rotated feet are caused by tightness in calves, not by structural issues like I was told when I was seven. It should also be fixable, which is really cool.
Also got some good feedback on foot positioning, walking and so on
After that we did some drills for back overall and abs, felt pretty good. According to her she has never seen someone with such levels of coordination and muscular control (she was pretty amazed by the fact that I learned how to only contract my lowest low back fibers and fire my glutes more proficiently in just a bit over a week.
Overall I really like going to this physio. She knew a tin more than I do but she didn’t act like it; I could tell her what I though could be causing a specific issue and she would tell me where I was right or wrong and explain it in detail.
Also all the drills, stretches and palpation techniques really made me relax. I was almost sad today when I had to break the relaxation to go and train. For me it’s really rare to ever get to a state where there is no pressure or stress on me, I try to do it by having just an hot every night eating a big meal and doing something I enjoy but it never gets even close to this.
Also, the office had sick lighting and a huge mirror. If I ever become a physical therapist I’m gonna get me something like it. Hitting poses when she wasn’t looking was a bit hard though.
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By the way, self-grown potatoes taste absolutely amazing. I’ve never tasted a potato as good as this, jeez.
BRB, going back to the potato plant.
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Daily log:
Weight:
86.4kgs/191.5lbs
Okay, maybe I had a tad too big of a nighttime snack yesterday
Nutrition:
2930 Calories
300g Protein
275g Carbs
70g Fat
I want to note that I’m not forcefeeding protein or anything like that, I just happen to like high protein foods. If I just eat according to instinct and hunger I usually end up between 450-500 grams of protein
Training:
Arms/Delts: Oh shut I ran out of time - edition
1a Floor press
2x8x100kgs, 3x8x92.5kgs (40)
1b DB Zottmann Curl
3x15,2x12x15kgs (60)
2a Standing cable skullcrusher
17,12,13,12x40kgs (50)
2b Standing cable curl
2x15,2x12x40kgs (60)
Bicep stretch
3a BTN Smith press
30, 15+5+5+5rp, 3 breaths x42.5kgs
3b Bent over rear laterals
25, 15+5+5rp, 3 breaths x12.5kgs
Delt stretch
And out of time
Notes:
Had to lower the weight on floor press after the first two sets. I was getting the reps in but it felt grindy in all the wrong ways - think of it like every rep a max effort grinder.
Some nutjob bolted the Scott bench to the gym’s floor, so I couldn’t do my cable curls with it - resorted to standard cable curls instead. I’m gonna take some tools with me next time and get the bench moving freely again.
Lastly I realized I had around five minutes left before I had to leave so I just did two sets of BTN Press and rear laterals for high reps to work the delts. Got a sweet pump by doing so. Had no time to do the accessories, but in two days I’ll hit those muscles again.
All things considered, it wasn’t a bad session.
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Daily log:
Weight:
85.7kgs/190lbs
Nutrition:
2410 Calories
250g Protein
150g Carbs
90g Fat
A pretty fat-heavy day, but it’s fine as it is a rest day
Training:
Side twists
Physio stuff
Currently there are about a million different things I’d like to test out and run regarding training but I’m googling to stick to the plan for now. Besides, after the next three days are done I’ll get to do rest-pause sets, yay!
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Daily log:
Weight:
85.1kgs/188lbs
Nutrition:
3480 Calories
300g Protein
300g Carbs
120g Fat
Only are three times today, one of which was a giant burger, (never turning down free food) so those macros are probably a bit under reality
Training:
Chest/Back/Small muscles; in a hurry again edition
1a Low incline bench
4x8,13x87.5kgs (40)
1b Pendlay row
4x8,10x95kgs (40)
2a Feet up DB Bench
10,8,2x9x35kgs (40)
2b BTN Lat pulldown
3x12,15x85kgs (50)
Chest&Back stretches
3 Side delt burns
2 minutes straight with 9kgs
EDT: 10 minutes, 15 and 8RM weights
Head-supported rear laterals
8x15x15kgs
Lying Cable upright row
8x8x70kgs
end of EDT, shoulder stretch
4 3-way forearms
1 double dropset followed by a set to failure on reverse cable curls
Forearm stretch
5 Smith machine calf raise
5x15-12x30-105kgs with no rest followed by a dropset from 105kgs to 30kgs in 15 kilo drops
Calf stretch
Notes:
Got in after a long day with only two meals down, and the gym was closing rather soon. So after my main work I just did basically one really hard set for both forearms and calves, skipped the neck and external rotators again. (Those are the first ones to go if I’m in a hurry, which I have been in far too much lately)
Apart from that it was a good session. Only thing being the DB Bench. This was a classic example of how bigger weights may not mean ore stimulus; last time I got even a cramping feeling in my pecs with every rep and I had a skin-tearing pump. This time it was just, well, exercising. I wasn’t feeling it nearly as well. Probably has a lot to do with my nutrition and the time of the day that I trained at. But yeah, a decent session. It was nice to just do one really hard set of calves and forearms, as I still have that die-hard HIT fan inside me. (That may have come out wrong)
After gym I tested out Destiny 2 with my gf (it’s free for the weekend). Pretty cool game, didn’t really get far enough yet to form a complete opinion on it.
My battery is dying, gotta go.
Daily log:
Weight:
86.7kgs/192lbs
Woke up with a super sore throat today. My girlfriend has been sick for almost a week now so I probably got it from her.
Gonna stop guestimating my nutrition and just keep it simple; protein and fat in the morning, protein and carbs in the evening. (Training will be the thing separating morning from evening, be it 10AM or 6PM.
Training:
Lower body:
1a Quad Squat (same as the legs session before the latest one)
4x10,8x80kgs (40)
1b Leg curl
5x12xStack+5kilos
2 Hip thrust (only balls of feet on ground)
12,10,10,9x102.5kgs (40)
3 Heel elevated leg press
3x40x135kgs (75)
4a Back extensions
3xF
4b Stability ball crunch
3xF
Physio stuff + twists
Notes:
A really good session. Got 15 kilos and a total of eight reps more on the squat which was really nice, as I didn’t even have to sacrifice form or tension to achieve it. On the last set however I could feel it shifting from my quads to my hamstrings and low back so I called it a bit early.
Didn’t remember if I went deep last time on leg press but seeing how much more reps and weight I used now I probably did. However, I got a great pump going from a bit shallower reps so it doesn’t matter in my book.
This was a fast session, after warmups it was only 37 minutes (not counting the physio stuff and twists)
Hopefully I’m not sick tomorrow, gotta build me some arms.
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Daily log:
Weight:
86.4kgs/191lbs
Woke up today with a super sore throat, so I went on and cut the volume and density down significantly for today’s session. I’m also taking pain meds every three hours. Life is suffering when speaking, breathing and swallowing is like drinking shards of glass
Training:
Arms/Delts/Small muscles
1a Feet up CGB
3x6x87.5kgs
1b Hammer curl
3x12x17.5kgs
2a Kneeling cable tricep extension
2x15x50kgs
2b Incline dumbbell curl
20,15x15kgs
3a Lateral raise
3x20x12.5kgs
3b Arnold press
2x9x22.5kgs
4a Seated calf raise
2x10x80kgs
4b 3-way wrist curl
2 sets to failure
4c DB external rotation
2x10x5kg/side
Nothing too crazy, but certainly enough in this situation.
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Hope that throat feels better soon man
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Thanks man, I feel that it isn’t really that bigbif a deal at the moment, but it is really painful and annoying. Definitely don’t want it to go worse.
Daily log:
Weight:
87.7kgs/195lbs
Woke up bloated to hell and back today. Didn’t get much sleep at all as I was choking on my own saliva at least five times an hour.
At the moment I just have a blocked nose and a general feeling of sickness, the throat is all good. Hoping to be healthy again tomorrow.
Training:
Rest day;
Not gonna do anything at all, just rest.
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Easy to say, but when you’re sick better let the body heal up, before training. I’m terrible myself, I think it’ll do the body good to just do some light training and get the blood flowing and the body heat up… but no, usually not.
Yeah, it would ne smart to just take a break until I’m all good again, but resting is hard man. I remember when I was 16-17 I would do all these crazy sessions withrest pauses and forced reps even when I had fever. In hindsight I’m surprised I never got sicker from that.
If I’m sick tomorrow I’ll either do a reduced volume session if it’s not bad or I’ll push it back another day if I’m feeling horrible.
I’m trying to work on being a bit smarter than I used to be
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Daily log: Yesterday edition
Weight:
86.1kgs/191.5lbs
Woke up vascular as hell, which was interesting. Didn’t feel too bad (I’d say a 3/10 in terms of how sick I felt) in the morning so I decided to do a full session with a bit longer rests than usually. Also, I woke up far too late (luckily I had the morning off) so instead of getting to eat my ground beef and then 2.5 hours later a shake before the gym I just had the shake, some nuts and vegetables, waited an hour and hit the gym.
Training:
Chest/Back/Delts/Small muscles
1a Bench press (40)
4x8x110kgs
Rest-Pause (15 breaths) 10+5+5x110kgs
1b Weighted pull ups w/fat grips (30)
4x5x25kgs
RP: 5+3+3x25kgs
2 Controlled bent over row
13,12,11,15x100kgs (50) (straps on the last one)
Back stretch
3 High incline DB Bench
3x10,12x30kgs
Chest stretch
EDT: (10minutes)
Seated face pulls
7x20x40kgs
Side laterals
7x20x12.5kgs
End of EDT, delt stretch
4a Smith machine calf raise
4x10x90kgs
4b 3-Way wrist curl
4xFx70kgs
Calf and forearm stretches
5a External rotation w/DB
3x12x5kgs/side
5b Neck curl + extension
3x20x7.5kgs
Notes:
A pretty great session.
I’ve done two eight-day cycles now, so it’s time to introduce intensity techniques; first is rest:paisintthe last set of primary movements.
Bench was good, even though I was a bit under the weather it didn’t feel too heavy.
Pull ups, on the other hand, they were hard. I’ve noticed that my pull ups for anything more than a single really take a hit when I’m sick or training too early in the day. Maxing out doesn’t get hurt nearly as easily though. On paper doing a 5x5(plus then some) with a weight I’ve hit a volume PR of 5x6 doesn’t look bad, but this was a lot harder than the 5x6 earlier.
Also, here we see an example of how I’m using the rep goal system in this program; my rep goal was 30, but I only got 25 with my “actual” sets. But, if we count the mini-sets from rest-pause, that number jumps up to 31. So what I’m going to do is not to automatically stay at this weight or move to the next, but instead see how I feel next time; if I feel good, I’ll make the smallest jump possible (1.25kgs) if I don’t feel good I’ll stay at this weight and try to beat the reps.
The adjustable bench was in use so I couldn’t zigzag my inclines and rowsw, no big deal.
On rows you see how my sets got shorter and shorter as they went on. That’s because I stopped them as soon as I could feel my upper traps coming into the play. I have to do that because my traps are hungry. If they get to work for even a short while it’ll be damn hard to keep them from doing the work on everything for the rest of the workout. (And as I had to do delts after this that wasn’t an option)
On the last set I threw on straps. Although it isn’t a problem for me to grip hundred kilos for rows, it’s always one less thing to worry about. Interestingly, this was the set where I felt my back the least even though I did the highest amount of reps here. I suspect it’s because just gripping something hard helps you activate your muscles, and with straps you don’t have to do that.
By the way, weighted hanging feels amazing on the lower back
On DB inclines I got two more total reps with bigger dumbbells than last time while getting a great pump, I’d say that’s a success.
Got about 33% more reps than last time witht he same weights during the edt, so I’m going to increase them next time.
Lately I’ve done pretty much only 3-way wrist curls for forearms, they feel great.
And that’s all for the training segment.
In about two hours I’ll be doing front squats for a rest-pause set, I’m already regretting this idea.
Altering your bodyfat setpoint
I wrote about altering your skeletal structure a long time ago, and I think it’s time to poke the beehive again.
Now, before I begin;
I’ve noticed that this forum doesn’t really have a whole lot of guys who are mainly interested in bodybuilding, the majority of guys and girls here are more into performance based things. And that’s cool. Personally I think you should have the ability to perform at a high level even if you only care about aesthetics. Now I’m really into bodybuilding, I enjoy learning about new ways to gain size and keep the fat levels down, I like to optimize everything I can. In bodybuilding, the single biggest thing (given that you are not severely lacking in other aspects) is how lean you can get. And the lower your bodyfat setpoint is, the easier it is to get absolutely peeled. For some (most) of you this probably isn’t all taht interesting, but frankly, I enjoy wwriting about this stuff. And even if only one person got interested it’s a win in my book.
Now, what exactly is bodyfat set point?
Bodyfat setpoint is the bodyfat range your body works best at - in terms of metabolism and hormones. So it is a rather big thing. When you try to go under it, your body will fight you. You’ll crave food, you’ll be tired, your metabolism will slow down, and so on. when you go over it, your body will try to slow you down, but it’s not nearly as bad as if you were trying to diet down. This is because your body is programmed to survive. Even if getting fatter means your hormones and metabolism won’t work optimally, it’ll let you do it, because more stored energy means a higher possibility of surviving in times where food is not available.
Now, as I said it’s a range rather than an accurate point. Your bf setpoint may be, say 12-15% and that’s what you function the best at.
Now, bodyfat settling point is another term we should be aware of. In short, this means the range in which your body stays given your lifestyle; it is affected by your setpoint but not determined by it. I’d say that usually the settling point is a tad higher than the set point, because frankly, people like food and it’s easily accessible.If your setpoin is 12-15% but you enjoy splurging out and eating in general your settling point may be around 15-18%, for example. In this case you would benefit from losing some fat mass and getting in your setpoint range. Some people are too neurotic about food and may be keeping themselves far too low, say 6-9% (still using the same setpoint) while feeling horrible, and they would benefit from gaining a bit.
Now, how do you get your bf setpoint to adjust upwards? (which is something you most likely do not want to do)
It’s pretty simple; put your body into a state where the only option it has is to create new fat cells. There are two times when there is a high likelihood of this happening:
Option one: After a hard diet if you add calories too fast. This is why a lot of people gain all their fat (and then some) back after dieting; they do not maintain the lifestyle but instead let themselves go and just jump right back into the way they were eating before.
Fun fact; if you have a certain number of fat cells (say, a thousand) and they all weight a certain amount (let’s say 25 grams for a total of 25000 grams or 25 kilos) and you diet down the amount of fat cells does not change, only their size is reduced. Then, if you go back into eating in a huge surplus and you manage to create new fat cells (say you create 200 more) you will gain weight very easily until all of the cells you now have are the size your original fat cells were when you begun dieting. so now you have 1000 old and 200 new fat cells that will store fat really easily until they all weight 25 grams, which totals 30000 grams or 30 kilos; a whole 5 kilos more. And in addition to this, you have also upped your bf setpoint, which means a harder time losing that weight again.
The second option for how you can up your setpoint is to be fat for a long time. Your body will create new fat cells as storing more into the old ones becomes too inefficient and at the same time, it’ll bring your bf setpoint up just so your hormones and metabolism would work at some level.
Sounds pretty nasty, eh?
So how do we avoid it?
Well, for most people just not getting fat fast and not staying fat will work just fine.
But if you want to bring it down, it’s another story.
You see, in adulthood theamount of fat cells you have doesn’t really go down, ever. (Unless you get a liposuction) The cells only shrink in size. Kids and teenagers can lose fat cells to some extent. There have been some studies that have shown that fat cells die when they are really small for a long amount of time; so whne you are really lean and keep yourself that way. The problem here is that your hormones probably wont work all that well in a state like that.
So, this is simething I’ve been doing for a couple of years now, and I have to admit that it wasn’t completely my own idea, so I’m not taking all of the credit here. This is a very slow way, that may or may not work. But you really won’t lose anything, unless being lean year round is a negative thing in your sport (which it really can be)
Let’s work in steps, shall we. All of the percentages are there just to give you an idea. In reality all I want you to think is “10% is a bit leaner than 12%”, not to obsess over the numbers.
Say, your bodyfat set point is, once again 12-15% and your settling point is 15-18%.
Step one is to bring your settling point closer to your setpoint. If you cannot do that, forget all this. This is a small step which you can achieve just by being a bit more precise with your nutrition. You’ll probably also feel and perform better after you’ve done this.
Step two is to get to the low end, or even a bit under your setpoint range. The place where you can feel your body starting to fight against you. In this case it could be about 10% or so. You do this with a mini diet/medium length diet depending on your bf%. Shouldn’t be more than six weeks.
Step three is to slowly gain weight until you are at the higher end of your setpoint. However, you do not want to go overboard. In this example you should only go to 13-14%
Now, you should repeat these two steps but every time you diet go for a bit leaner look. Not much, just a little. And every time you go back up, try to keep it a bit tighter. With time, you’ll gain muscle and you’ll be leaner at the same or even bigger bodyweight. How long should these phases be? Depends on how easily you gain and lose fat. For some people the diet has to be 6 weeks, some can get away with 2. Some people can gain for 14 weeks, others have to dial it back after week 5. You can do a lot with food choices, and in my opinion you should make such choices that you do not gain any more than the necessary amount of fat because gaining too fast defeats the purpose of all this.
Now, these two steps should be enough for anyone who isn’t an aspiring bodybuilding competitor. But those who are, I’d suggest doing a longer cut every 2-3 years. I just finished mine a while ago and now I’ll be gaining for 2-3 years. Now, this is not a contest prep. Keep that in mind. You do not want to go so low that you start to lose muscle and create widespread metabolic damage. But every time you do this longer cut, you want to go a bit further down the rabbit hole. This way you’ll get to practice the competition prep and the way your body works.
When you come out of the long cut you want to do it slowly. Personally I think I came out a tad too quick, really I should still be transitioning. With all this the thing we area achieving is that we are staying at the low end of the setpoint or even a bit under it at all times. This way your body should try to ever so slowly adjust to this new setpoint range, as you give it no reason to stay or go up. Now apart from the long diet you should never feel horrible. With the minicuts all you want to do is to feel a bit of resistance, to know you are under the range.
Combine this with the metabolic coaxing I wrote about a long ass time ago and with time you could reach a point where you are eating 4-5K calories while staying at around 7-9%bf. BUt understand that all this takes a lot of commitment. And time, we are not talking about weeks or even months here; this thing will take a decade. It’s not even sure to say that this could work, but if it does, it’s kind of a big deal.
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