Brokeback Mountain: The Director’s Bulk

Hey Everyone!

I’ve lurked here for a while now, and finally decided to start a log. Today marked the start of a new training block for me, so this seems to be as good a time as any.

Without going into excessive detail, I’m an 18-year-old high school senior. My athletic experience has mostly come from wrestling, which I’ve done for the past four years. Last season, I was my team’s captain and put together a 9-1 record in my dual meet matches, before being injured. Next year, I’ll be wrestling on an NCWA club team at the University of Alabama, where I’ll be studying microbiology and business, having earned a five-year full-ride scholarship.

I spent the season at the 145 pound weight class, although fairly substantial water cutting was necessary to maintain that - right now, I’m about 170 pounds, and still fairly lean. I’m aiming to push my bodyweight and strength up for the next several months, and then transition to a cut/intensification block as the season gets closer.

In terms of programming, I’ll be using Pwn’s six month plan, although I likely won’t be able to finish it before wrestling season starts coming near again. I just finished up a brief linear progression block to get get myself re-aquatinted with the weight room after last season finished.

1RM’s aren’t going to be particularly important for quite a while now, but just as a point of reference:

Squat: 315
Bench: 190
Deadlift: 405
Press: 165 (and 155X3)
Power Clean: 185
Weighted Chin: +80

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5/3/1 BBBB W1D1: Squat

(I’m using 85% training maxes across the board, and going for PR sets)

5/3/1 Squat: 170x5, 205x5, 235x14 (PR)

SUPERSET
BBB Squat: 5X10 @ 170
WG Pull-Ups: 5X10
(Completed in 16:03)

GIANT SET
WG Pull Ups: 10, 9, 6, 5 —> 80 Total
Back Extensions: 4x20 @ BW
Facepulls: 3x20 @ 70

Pretty pleased with how my first PR set went, especially given the fact that most of my squatting recently has been sets of five or fewer reps. Lungs proved to be more of a limiting factor than legs, largely because breathing deeply in a lever belt fucking sucks. The time-capped supplemental work was definitely a bit of a gut check, but manageable. My approach to tasks like that is always to try and do the first few sets with less rest, to save time that I can fall back on later when everything starts going to shit.

A couple other things worth noting:

  • I’m aware that back extensions are on the “don’t do this” list of accessories for this program - for what it’s worth, I do them more or less daily. I had a spinal surgery a while back, and they seem to keep everything working well back there.
  • There’s a bunch of ideas I’m tossing around for conditioning/cardio - incline walking, hill sprints, kettlebells, crossfit WOD’s, etc. One constant will most likely be that I’ll be taking a long (~30 mile) bike ride once a week.

Everything should start getting more succinct now that most of the explanatory housekeeping stuff is out of the way. Either way, looking forwards to pressing tomorrow.

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5/3/1 BBBB W1D2: Press

5/3/1 Press: 90x5, 105x5, 120x11 (PR)

SUPERSET
Press: 5X10 @ 90
DB Row: 5X10 @ 60
(Completed in 15:11)

Hammer Curl: 3xRest-Pause - 26 Total @ 40
Seated Lateral: 3xRest-Pause - 33 Total @ 15
Rope Pushdown: 3xRest-Pause - 27 Total @ 85
Leg Raises (Between Rest-Paused Movements): 15, 13, 12, 10 —> 50 Total

Almost exactly an hour from the 5/3/1 work set to the last accessory, density was really high here. I feel like I get a lot out of rest-pausing my accessories like this - it keeps everything moving quickly without cutting into the difficulty of the work.

Pressing has been my strongest lift for a while now, especially compared to my benching. I get the sense that it’s largely because I’m much better, technique-wise, at the former. In turn, I think that’s because back during the early lockdowns, I trained a lot with kettlebells, which meant that most of my pressing ended up being overhead work.

5/3/1 BBBB W1D3: Incline Walking

3.30 Miles in 60:00 at 12% Incline

12% is as high as the treadmill at my house goes, so the most likely form of progression here will be trying to increase the distance I cover within an hour. 4 miles seems like a decent long-term goal. In terms of difficulty, I was able to nose-breathe for like 95% of this.

5/3/1 BBBB W1D4: Deadlift

5/3/1 Deadlift: 225x5, 260x5, 295x15 (PR)

SUPERSET
Deadlift: 5x10 @ 225 (Completed in 17:20)
WG Pull-Ups: 5X8

GIANT SET
WG Pull-Ups: 5X8
Leg Extensions: 4X12 @ 115
Band Pull-Aparts: 3X25 @ Light Band

The deadlift/pull-up timed supplementary work was difficult, but I was surprised at how well the PR set went.

Probably worth mentioning that I’ll be doing my 5/3/1 sets in a semi-sumo stance, since that’s what I’m strongest at. Supplementary work is all conventional. I use straps for the PR set and supplementary work, and a lever belt for pretty much everything involving a barbell. I squat in sleeves, and wear a pair of low-top converses.

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5/3/1 BBBB: W1D5

5/3/1 Bench: 115x5, 135x5, 145x16 (PR)

SUPERSET
Bench: 5x10 @ 115 (Completed in 11:50)
DB Rows: 5x10 @ 65

GIANT SET
Leg Raises: 16, 14, 12, 8 —> 50 Total (Between Rest-Paused Movements)
Hammer Curls: 3xRest-Pause - 29 Total @ 40
Seated Laterals: 3xRest-Pause - 38 Total @ 15
Pushdowns: 3xRest-Pause - 29 Total @ 85

As the time would suggest, supplemental work was easy today. Very happy with the PR set, too. I tend to do well at those sorts of sets - my bench and deadlift E1RM’s are 30 and 40 pounds heavier than I’ve ever actually lifted, respectively.

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Man, I am SO in for this log.

Great to see a younger dude getting after it, and that wrestling background is gonna help a ton. I wrestled 182 all through high school, was by far my best sport. Fiddled with it a bit in college but the time commitment wasn’t worth the squeeze for me. Just builds such a solid athletic base.

Your plan forward looks awesome. I’m gonna go ahead and tag @T3hPwnisher so he can see your progress with the mass builder plan he built up!

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@atlas13

Glad to have you along for the ride, dude! Definitely agree on having already built an athletic base. At some point, I might try mixing in some sprints of cleans with my conditioning work to try and build on it. The other big benefit I’ve noticed is the whole mentality that comes with it - finishing a takedown after you’ve been sprawled on and grinding out the last few reps of an AMRAP have a lot in common.

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Appreciate the tag and reminder! @creative_name definitely excited fo see how this unfolds for you.

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@T3hPwnisher

Glad to see that you’re here! I’ve been reading your log/blog for about a year now, and they’ve both proved incredibly helpful in managing my training, mindset, and - frankly - life in general. Reading about your return from ACL surgery gave me a framework of sorts for my own recovery. The amount of content and help that you’ve given people over the years is frankly incredible, especially since this isn’t your job or anything.

It’s awfully altruistic for a misanthropist, lol

I’ll be doing some ABC’s tonight : )

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out of curiosity, what weight are you intending to wrestle at this season? still planning for 145 or are you going to avoid cutting and go for whatever your natural weight is.

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Good question. There isn’t a 145 weight class in college (141 and 149 are the closet equivalents,) but I don’t think getting down there while still being able to compete would even be possible at this point, to say nothing of whether it would be my best option. I made that mistake my sophomore year of high school, when I cut down to the 113 class and wrestled like shit at that weight. And frankly, I don’t want to spend my time at college college worrying about my weight class for what basically amounts to a club team.

The most likely options are 174 (big cut), 184 (small/no cut), or 197 (I’d probably be undersized). I like the sound of 184 - I’d spend the next several months trying to push into the 190’s, and then cut as the season’s beginning. In the long term, I’d like to wrestle 197.

And there’s a disclaimer that’s sort of relevant here - I’m not really a fantastic wrestler. I was able to hold down a varsity spot in high school, put up a winning record, be a captain, and pin a few kids who would end up doing well in the postseason, but never accomplished anything massively noteworthy. I’m mostly wrestling in college just because I enjoy the sport, and the sense of community that comes with being on a team. My scholarship’s academic, not from wrestling.

Jesus Christ, That’s a lot of words to say “I don’t know.” Sorry, lol

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5/3/1 BBBB: W1D6: Conditioning Potpourri

Wake Up
Bike 6 Miles
~9 Hours lifeguard training
Bike 6 Miles

EMOM
5 Minutes - 1 Armor-Building Complex @ 35
5 Minutes - 2 Armor-Building Complexes @ 35
3 Minutes - 3 Armor-Building Complexes @ 35
5 Minutes - 2 Armor-Building Complexes @ 35
5 Minutes - 1 Armor-Building Complex @ 35

Total - 39 ABC’s (78 Cleans, 39 Presses, 107 Squats)

Break to change shoes and pity self

EMOM
6 Minutes - Hill Sprints + jog down

My house is on top of a hill. The sprint and jog combined take about 40-45 seconds.

This was absolutely horrible. I finished and lay down in grass. Nothing more needs to be said, other than that this really put into perspective how much room I have to improve.

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I have no right to complain if I don’t try to do something about it. I’m trying to model the behavior I wish other humans would take. It’s what disappoints me about our species: the wasted potential.

Really awesome to hear how you’ve been following along, and absolutely appreciate the kind words. Excited to see how this unfolds for you.

Those ABCs are a gift from Dan for sure…and you may want to return it, haha.

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5/3/1 BBBB: W1D5 - Easy Conditioning

~14 Total miles biking, ~8 hours lifeguard training

Run 2 miles. Every 1/2 mile, stop and preform

10 Kneeling Ab Wheel Rollouts
12 KB Swings @ 50

Just came up with this on the spot. Couldn’t do the long bike ride I was planning on, because of a thunderstorm. Forgot to start a timer for the metcon, so there’s no time to record. It wasn’t horribly difficult, but it wasn’t really meant to be in the first place, given that it was replacing somthing that amounted to active recovery. Week 2 begins tomorrow, with squats

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I enjoy having a functional endocrine system, but thanks for the offer.

One must question the logic of a person who induces vomiting to rid themselves of a “poison” probiotic, and then tells a teenager to use exogenous hormones.

@T3hPwnisher Here’s a solid example of the wasted human potential you were talking about earlier

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Jesus, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone just hop onto a thread and suggest steroids, much less offer a source. Glad you got a good enough head on ya to realize that’s an awful idea for an 18 year old.

Pretty intense with the off day cardio, but that’s certainly only doing good things for your round 3 ability on the mat!

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@atlas13

I figure that if I can’t get bigger and stronger at literally the best/easiest time in my life to do so, the underlying problem is something that no amount of steroids can fix.

I get the sense that the guy’s a troll, but he’s been doing this for three years now, which raises more questions than it answers.

My coaches always said that I had a pretty good gas tank - that, and the ability to put up a lot of points from the top position, were what led to most of my wins. Even when pushing this sort of cardio/conditioning pretty hard, I’ve never gotten to the point where it’s noticeably cutting into the rest of my training. I generally feel good to go a few hours later. I guess I have youth and base-building to thank for that.

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Hey dude im trying to help you! Have some respect

Lets not forget im the 220 varsity who has beat many state champs!

I know my shit and i started gear at 18 also I’m fine what are u worried about!

wasted human potential what a disrespectful thing to say to someone who is trying to help you!

A troll?(how disrespectful)Man

Ur lost man! I tried to help u but u choose to be disrespectful to someone who has been around longer than u! Experienced life has srs lifting stats!(600 squat 405 front squat 700 poundhex bar)

Wrestled in big tournaments,olympic athletes,professional mma fighters!

Ur lost man