@Chris_Colucci Thanks - I really appreciate you taking the time to give such a detailed response.
Damn it. In truth you’ve kind of corroborated what I already know. Still, can’t blame me for seeing whether there was an alternative route I hadn’t considered, can you?
Believe me, I have given this some thought, but I concluded that, after a year of basically training to stay lean, I really need to have a period on focusing on strength/size otherwise my training is just going to stagnate. It is very close to a catch 22 situation and is going to be dictated by me getting my head right and accepting that there may need to be some flex in the 10% benchmark I’m currently so fixated by.
Time to commit to the strength - guess the bonus is eating more is never a bad thing.
Ha, no worries. I more-than-half figured I was probably saying out loud most of what you were thinking. Sometimes it helps to see it written plainly like that though.
Yep. That kind of very broad periodization is pretty much the basis of rotating “off-season” and “in-season/pre-contest” that bodybuilders and athletes have used forever.
So maybe re-frame it not so much as taking a break from dieting (even though it technically is), but using a short-term goal-focused period that plays into better overall progress in the long-term.
This is really frustrating as I feel as though my bench is my deficient lift of the 3 I’m targeting in this programme. I’m convinced that it is all to do with my old shoulder injury and the fact that my right side is so trap dominant. I find it a real struggle to retract and depress my scapula. This has been the big focus in all of my training over the past 7-8 months and, whilst I am seeing some improvements, as ever, it isn’t improving fast enough for me to be satisfied.
NG Lat Pull Down - 3 sets: 77kg 12 12 12
45 Degree DB Bench - 3 sets: 32kg 12 12 11
After a weekend away in Baku eating (lots) of the local food, weight today was up to 100.45kg. Set myself a goal of getting that back to 97kg by 5 July when I go away to Salalah with my wife for our first anniversary.
Trap Bar Deadlift (not including the bar) - 5 sets: (Warm up 40kg 5 80kg 5 120kg 3 145kg 2) 145kg 5 5 5 5 150kg 5
Bench - 5 sets: (Warm up 60kg 6 100kg 3 105kg 2) 105kg 5 5 4 4 4
During warm up also did some single arm cable low row to activate my lats - 34kg 3 sets of 10 reps
Hammie curls - 3 sets: 55kg 10 59kg 10 10
Lat Pull Down NG - 3 sets: 61kg 10 68kg 10 10
Last night my wife surprised me with a (week early) first anniversary dinner. She cooked a beef tenderloin with a peppercorn and thyme crust; spinach, roast tomatoes and roast garlic and balsamic vinegar roast onions. Served with a bottle of red we enjoyed in Stellenbosch during our honeymoon. Pudding was a whiskey soaked date sticky toffee pudding. It was glorious. She’d deliberately chosen to do the main to try and let me have the calories to enjoy the pudding. I tried very hard to live in the moment and not agonise about the calories, but it was a challenge. I guess tomorrow’s weigh in will tell me how badly it affected me.
Trap Bar Deadlift (not including the bar) - 5 sets: (Warm up 80kg 5 120kg 2 160kg 1) 160kg 5 5 5 5 5 - Felt good
Hammie Curls - 3 sets: 55kg 12 12 12
PG Lat Pull Downs - 3 sets: 72kg 12 12 12 - Could feel that my right shoulder (the injured one) was not fully extending at the top, so I’ll back the weight off next session and make sure that I nail form
Bench - 5 sets: (Warm up 60kg 6 100kg 3 105kg 1) 105kg 5 5 5 5 5 On the last rep of the 5th set, I had fingertip support from the spotter to get it over the sticking point.
During warm up also did three sets of single arm cable low row to activate my lats - 34kg 3 sets of 12 reps
NG Lat Pull down - 3 sets: 72kg 12 12 12
45 degree Incline DB Bench - 3 sets: 34kg 11 10 8