This so much this. I’ve gained about 10 lbs over the last couple of month and it all sits on my stomach. Damnit.
I am 54, but think I can gain like a 25 year old, so I’m not gaining quality that’s for sure.
You just stay lean or lean’ish for the rest of your life man, the older you get the more trouble you’ll be asking for if you’re fat.
When you’re done strongman, go this ninja warrior way, be athletic and agile. You can say thank you when you grow old.
No more gain weight comments from me. Just continue enjoying your youthful hormones as long as possible. You’ll handle their gradual decline well.
I still want to be you the next time I’m 30.
@mortdk I’m too broken to be a ninja warrior, haha. I imagine once I’m done with lifting I might gravitate back to martial arts. I’d be fine to do the little to no contact kata stuff at that point. I’ve got nothing to prove, and I still miss that world.
@biker Always appreciated man. I’ve been witnessing firsthand among my peer group the effects of aging. At this point, if I just maintain, I tend to stay ahead of the game, haha.
DEEP WATER INTERMEIDATE BRIDGE WORKOUT 8 (WEEK 2, WORKOUT 4)
AM WORKOUT
Axle bench press 271
3x10
Axle close grip bench 231
3x10
Swiss bar incline press 200
2x10
1x8
Dips
1x31
1x26
1x22
Notes: 3:20 between sets. It’s pretty amazing how well my bench has responded to this program, as it’s very much NOT the “Deep Water” part of Deep Water. I’m up 45lbs on the bench with no real sign of slowing down. I’m definitely stealing this when time comes to break from the program.
Woke up at 201.6.
That might be even better 
speaking of bench improvements is that 3 sets of 10: flat+cg+incline+3 x max dips? once a week?
Yup, once a week.
DEEP WATER INTERMEDIATE BRIDGE WORKOUT 9 (WEEK 3, WORKOUT 1)
AM WORKOUT
Buffalo bar squat 290lbs
1x12
8x11
Axle deadlift 256
3x10
SUPERSET w/
Reverse hyper 290
5x10
Notes: 3:50 between sets for the first 7 sets of squats. For sets 8 and 9, it was resting until recovered. I totally didn’t want to do this workout. I spent 3 hours yesterday driving through a blizzard and missed a bunch of meals, came in dehydrated, just not feeling it. Only thing that got me through was knowing that today marks 3 years since my ACL reconstruction and I felt like I had something to prove. I ended up failing on the final rep of the final set, but I felt like unloading the bar, re-racking it, reloading it and hitting the final squat was just as much a test of my abilities.
Words really can’t described how much this workout sucks.
Woke up at 200.8.
Incline treadmill walking w/45lb weightvest
20 minutes
Incline 3
Notes: Started at 3.1 mph, and went up .1 every 5 minutes. Just wanted to get in something active. Helped my wife put on her snow tires this afternoon, and I was just feeling fried after that, so something a little low intensity sounded right.
No weigh in this morning.
Tires on the rim? Or do you guys keep an extra set of wheels with the snow tires mounted?
@mr.v3lv3t The Mrs ended up ordering a set of 4 wheels with the tires mounted, so thankfully it was just taking off the lug nuts, taking off the old wheels and putting new ones on.
DEEP WATER INTERMEDIATE BRIDGE WORKOUT 10 (WEEK 3, WORKOUT 2)
Axle push press 161
1x12
8x11
superset w/
Band pull aparts
1x12
8x11
DB lateral raise
10x35
2x10x30
Axle curls
1x50
Notes: 3:50 between sets. Probably my best day of push presses. Legs were absolutely shot from the squats, could barely bend them at the start, which meant I got a lot of my hips into it. No re-racks. Right elbow is still a little tender from my time with the tire iron yesterday, so I cut the weight off the curls and just did some reps to get blood flowing.
Woke up at 203.4. Been a long time since I was this heavy.
That’s definitely the way to do it. It would not have surprised me at all though, to learn that you mounted new tires to the rim without the aid of a hydraulic machine, just because haha.
How few sets is this ending at: 1 set of 100
@mr.v3lv3t Hah, that does sound like me. The idea to just hold the car up while my wife changed the tires also crossed my mind.
@mortdk With the way the program runs, it gets down to 8 sets, which breaks down to 4x13 and 4x12. I am REALLY not looking forward to that, haha.
You probably could just hold the car up. Not so sure about a woman changing a tire.
I thought about it, but she expressed the same issues. Trying to place the tire on by herself would be troublesome.
Would you go as far to recommend deep water? I’ve had a look at it and the way your progressing, and I’ve always enjoyed getting into the hurt locker so seeing you say it’s making you want to quit is like a big bright red button saying “don’t touch” to me
Highly recommend. Very effective and significant gut check. Good opportunity to “survive” training.
Taking the PR set on 5/3/1 to a whole new level!
You guys gotta stop. It’s like someone daring you to meet the super hot chick no one can talk to…so enticing and yet when you meet her you realize she is psychotic and you should have stayed away
Except I went ahead and spoke to her, and now I’m marrying her
Literally
Maybe everything else is so fatigued that your body had decided that progression is impossible on those higher volume movements, only survival is plausible. All rebuilding processes have dedicated themselves to the only semi-same portion of your training.