I just compared my six week progress pics and I’m pretty depressed. I can’t tell for sure but I don’t really see many gains in muscle mass.
Week 0
Week 6
I’ll never stop pushing, but these moments are so underwhelming and quite the opposite of rewarding.
You’ve definitely gained muscle. However 6 weeks isn’t something to obsess over considering muscle doesn’t gain at a rate where 6 weeks will see drastic changes
Dont get discouraged, building muscle takes a long ass time. Check again in a few months, until then just do as you are, focusing on diet and lifts. As you admitted before you CANNOT be scared to get a little fatter, this will inhibit your progress, being “fatter” also includes a fuller look that will be noticeable on a leaner frame like yours. Keep at it man, you got the drive. Gains will come, be patient
A me sembri migliorato. E poi tranquillizzati, 6 settimane non sono niente, cerca di guardare più in avanti… Ragiona in mesi, non in giorni 
Muscle gain does not happen with the same suddenness as a cut. Forget weeks and forget months. You have years of heavy lifting and big eating in front of you before you yourself notice a difference. Being that you see yourself every day, you’ll be the last to notice that difference. But seriously - years. It’s a lifelong struggle.
Pic is from this morning’s check in with Paul. I don’t know what happened but it looks like I have gained 2 lbs of muscle overnight. Wtf I was so pleasantly surprised when I saw this.
Anyhow, Friday’s session.
Hammer curl 12 kg x 17, 11, 12, 12
Cable preacher curl 25 kg x 15, 14, 13, 12
Rope pushdown 27 kg x 27, 22, 21
Pjr pullover 24 kg x 14, 12
Leg press 160 kg x 12, 180 kg x 13
Last training session before Christmas.
Bench 82 kg x 4, 72 kg x 7
Incline 52 kg x 15, 11, 10 = 36 reps
Lat pulldown 62 kg x 20, 12
Cable row 70 kg x 10, 10
Db ohp 26 kg x 6, 24 kg x 6, 22 kg x 6
Laterals 3 sets + partials
I wish all of you guys a merry Christmas!
Nice, how about a quick review after you’ve read it?
Just read it. I’m kinda disappointed because it’s only a five page long document and it doesn’t really look like it’s been put a whole lot of effort into it.
It gives a list of supplements and dosages to improve sleep, recovery, and whatnot. Then there’s a page about calculating calories and macro on training vs off days.
It briefly talks about meal frequency and how to spread out macros between meals. Then a list of foods and that’s it. Very meh if you ask me.
I’m reality there’s only so much you can write about a specific diet before it seems like you’re trying to just write a long text.
So there was no example diet of any kind or any explanations to why something is done the way it is? That would’ve been nice.
Overall you feel like you didn’t get your moneys worth?
Sadly, no. There is very very little text. Most of the data there is either small tables or lists.
Unfortunately no. I really don’t like to give bad publicity but this time I was very disappointed.
Chest, back, delts
Flat db press 34 kg x 11, 7
Incline Cable fly 17 kg x 11, 15 kg x 11
Lat pulldown 62 kg x 21, 14
Rack pulls 142 kg x 6, 10
Db ohp 26 kg x 8, 6
Rear delts 3 sets + partials
End of week seven update
Looking pretty bloated, Christmas day surely didn’t help, but at least I’m also bigger and stronger. One week left in my journey with Paul.
Arms and legs
Hammer curl 12 kg x 18, 12, 13, 10
Cable Preacher curl 25 kg x 17, 12, 12, 12
Rope pushdown 30 kg x 22, 18, 25 kg x 20
Pjr pullover 26 kg x 13, 11
Leg press 2 sets
My schedule was thrown off a bit this week due to holidays and I had to train at 3pm today (I usually train in the evening). I felt pretty taxed during and after the workout. I really pushed myself still. It’s 10pm and I’m still quite tired, more than I’m used to, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow since it’ll be rest day.
So here’s a thought about 5/3/1.
I’d like to hear @T3hPwnisher’s take on this as we talked about it in the past.
Since as of next week my mass season with Paul Carter will come to an end, I talked to him about my intentions of doing 5/3/1 for a year with boring but big.
He agreed that it’s a good idea for me to do it if I can stick with it for that long, but commented on the fact that he doesn’t think BBB would not be best for me. He said that he thinks at the moment high volume at low intensity on the big lifts is not what I need. He also added that most of my progress will come by focusing on beating rep pr’s on the basic lifts.
Do you think I’d be best served doing a different, simpler template like the triumvirate for the first months at least?
You shouldn’t do ANY one 5/3/1 program for a year, to include BBB. Jim recommends sticking with a program for 2-5 cycles before moving onto another one. This s a basic form of periodization, as each 5/3/1 program focuses on different physical qualities (size, strength, speed, conditioning, etc), and by rotating through them you bring them all up. If you just focus on one, eventually your weaknesses will limit your ability to make yourself stronger.
What Paul is saying gels with what Jim advocates as well. You’ll have a time to focus on PR sets with 5/3/1, as those are typically the “anchor” programs. These are the times when you go for PRs. Leaders are the programs that set you up for success on those programs. Going back to periodization as an example, leaders are like accumulation blocks and anchors are like intensification.
BBB might be a good kick start. Do it for 2-3 cycles, then do 5x5 FSL and go for PR sets and jokers for 1-2 cycles after that. Then, after that, try a different 5/3/1 program.
Interesting. I know these things are discussed in Forever book, which I don’t own at the moment but plan on getting the next months.
The thing is I know literally nothing about periodization (other than maybe the definition of the term) and this makes me a bit anxious because at first I thought that the basic 5/3/1 programming I had learned about was all there was to it and now I’m learning new stuff that I might mess up before even starting the program.
I understand that sticking with the same template for a year is not advised and I wasn’t suggesting that, however I think what Paul was saying is that, since I’m not that strong yet, if a big chunk of my volume is done at a low percentage, I’ll be moving around very little weight, maybe not enough to have a training effect at all?
To give some perspective, the most weight I’m able to do on the bench currently is 180 lbs x 4 reps at a bw of 160 lbs. I don’t know the standards but it sounds lame to me after almost three years of training. And that’s okay, because now I realize that so far I trained with the wrong principles in mind and chasing irrelevant goals. I’m here to change this from now on, but still as far as my base it is what it is.
So to sum up, I have filled my training with so much unnecessary stuff so far (I’m talking up to when I started training under Paul’s guidance of course) that now I want to find the simplest training methodology that will allow me the best possible progress. So that next time I ask myself why I’m not as big as I’d like, the answer won’t be as obvious as, “no shit, you struggle with 110 kg on the squat.”
Week 8
New year’s eve workout: Chest, back, delts
Bench 82 kg x 4, 74.5 kg x 7
Incline 52 kg x 15, 12, 11 = 38 reps (350 method)
Lat pulldown 65 kg x 16, 12
Cable row 75 kg x 9, 8
Db ohp 26 kg x 7, 24 kg x 8
Laterals 3 sets + partials
You seem like a smart enough dude that this won’t happen.
Edit to add this question: your most recent training block has been more hypertrophy oriented, correct?
Thank you.
Yes you are correct. We focused on adding mass for eight weeks by increasing reps and then weights once I got to the top of the rep ranges with that weight.
