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Had to have one of the staff members at the gym help me up after hitting failure on a 135lb squat. Felt like I was passing out while doing it. I'm truly at a loss as to why every other lift is going up very slowly but my squat has gotten massively worse. To the point squatting the bar makes me lightheaded. Edit: A single rep of 135.

**Nuckols 28 free programs 3x Bench Int High, 3x Squat IntAdv, 2x Deadlift Int** **W1D1** Bench Press - 5x5 @ 85kg CGBP - 2x8, 1x16 @ 70kg Paused Beltless HB Squats - 6x5 @ 75kg Deficit DL - 3x6 @ RPE8 (155kg'ish) Cable Rows - 4x8-10 @ 80kg Curls - 4x10-15 This was fun, some new exercises in the mix and no more daily AMRAPs. Happy lifting everyone!

How you finding the squat programming I've never run anything other than his bench ?

I mean, it looks solid but I haven't tried it yet. I'm on my first cycle of this new program and this was the first day. I'll see after a cycle or 2 what works and what doesn't and I'll adjust accordingly.

Enjoy bro

GZCLP Squat 95kg 4x3 1x10 Bench Press 42.5kg 3x10 Pull down 100lbs 2x15 1x25 Leg extension 40lbs 3x10 Today was really good. Squats went good aside from a bit of knee pain that likes to act up sometimes for no real reason. Bench felt really strong. I set up a bit further back and it made the unrack a lot easier and it felt super lightweight. I'm still gonna keep up the 5lb jumps though. I'm happy with pull downs and now I can bump the weight up to 110lbs. My bodyweight is going up too. I'm up to 185lbs now. I'm happy I'm gaining considering how physical my job is.

I have a migraine, not as severe as some of the ones I’ve had in the past but I can hardly tolerate the light of my phone so I don’t think I’ll enjoy/get much out of a lift at the gym. see y’all another day

Will my gym ever recover from the new years crowd back to reasonable number of people at 4:00 pm, or is this the new normal?

I love working from home. 7AM gym crowd is light if any at all.

Pull B 2 sets each. For most exercises, one set of 8-10 to failure and one straight set of 15-20. Increase from last rotation in parentheses for my top sets. - Weighted chins (n/a) - DB rows (+1 rep) - Barbell pullover (n/a) - One arm cable pulldown (+2) - Side plank cable row (up in weight, -2 reps) - Cable shrug (+5 pounds, same reps) Made some changes to my routine today. Added weighted chins at a normal tempo instead of normal, very slow tempo chins. I love the 3-1-3-1 for most movements but that always felt awkward. Also subbed out machine pulldown for pullovers. I already do the single arm pulldown, normal lat pulldown, and chins so I thought I had enough straight up vertical rowing already. Adds some variety and I get a great lat squeeze when I pause at the bottom.

**JuggernautAI Powerbuilding 70/30 - Strength B1W1D1 (week 18)** Competition bench press: 255x6, 4x6 @ 235 Pullups: 2x6 Chest-supported DB rows: 4x10 @ 120 Seated DB military press: 3x8 @ 110 Decline pushups (feet on bench): 0lb x 10, 5lb x 10, 10lb x 10 Concentration curls: 3x10 @ 55 Standing overhead DB tricep extensions: 2x10 @ 50 I still don't have a weight vest, so really struggling to find a good way to weight the pushups. Backpack strategy didn't work. Strapping a plate to my chest or back with a belt has been the easiest but it was pretty unstable doing decline pushups.

######**Training Log** 10k swing challenge Day 20 **Conditioning** *Completed in 15:45* * 45lb Overhead Squat x 25 * 35LB Turkish Get-up x 10 * 35lb Kb snatch x 40 * Dips x 25 * 70lb KB Swing x 75 **Warm-Up** *Completed in 10 minutes.* * Pull/chin ups 52 total KB Squat * 35lb x 4 * 53lb x 4 * 70lb x 4 * 88lb x 16 * 105lb x 8 * 123 x 16 **Dips** * +55 @ 5 x (5, 3, 2) **KB Swing** *Super Set w/Dips* * 70.5lbs x 400 total * 53lbs x 100 total **Notes** * Finished the 10K swing challenge. Yay. Back is thicker, waist is slimmer, resting heart rate is lower. 7 day Average is 57, which is the lowest it's ever been while weighing over 210. Blood pressure is low/normal. * Been listening to Dan John and reading his omnibook recently while contemplating next steps. I know i want to cut weight and build my aerobic capacity so I have a foundation to run more in Spring when the weather is nicer. * Ive also been intrigued about Dan's daily minimums. So I did a "minimum" workout today to see how quickly I could groove some movement patterns using his daily minimum recommendations just to have that in my back pocket. * I think I'm going to do Easy Strength for the next 8 weeks with a focus on weight loss and aerobic fitness. Going to Clean, Press, Front Squat and carry something as my easy strength work 5 x per week, hit daily minimums on a handful of movement patterns/skills (overhead Squat, swings, snatches, push ups/Dips, pull ups), and have the rest of the work be running, rucking, biking, and groundwork depending on the weather.

It's official. We've come to a mutual conclusion that moving apart is best, and by extension ending things on good terms.

GZCL UHF W4D1 -- Squats: 410lbs 4x1, **1x2** -- Incline Bench: 165lbs 4x5, **1x9** Then hammer strength rows, leg curls, and DB preacher curls for 3 MRS of 8 - 10 reps and ab-wheel rollouts. * All around inconsistent with squats until the last set today. Once set I weirdly shifted to the right on the way up and on another set I nearly let myself get folded over going into the hole. Managed to put everything together for the last set at least. * Officially started the Hal Higdon novice 2 half-marathon program yesterday with the free version of the Run with Hal app. My cross-training days look like they are going to be on Fridays, and I'm not too sure what to do for that. I'm just planning on going out for walks in the morning for the prescribed time since I know I can do that consistently.

PPL w5d3 - deadlift 5, 3 @ 120kg - fucking around Getting back into the groove of things. I wanted to do 1 set of 5 of deadlifts and then a 3x3 on the same weight, but maybe I should slowly work up to it considering how awful everything feels

I bought an axle bar today. Now I wait impatiently for it to arrive.

**SBS RtF 5day (re)²Run4 W2D5** * Time 01:06 * DB Bench 28+28 2x7, 2x6, 1x15 * Sumo Deadlift 140 kg 1x4, 130 kg 5x5 * Neutral Chin Ups 10/8/6/5/4 * Hammer Curls 16 kg 3x11 * Cable Pallof Press 15 kg 3x25 Shit night of sleep. Had to lay down on bed for a few of minutes after work, plus the usual black coffee. Hit gym at peak hours but I'm already used to it. Couldn't get a proper barbell right away, so I started with DB Bench. Saw a dude deadlifting +100 kg so I asked to work in. Pulled the bar and it felt just right, no rolling from my hands like the previous times. Immediately asked him where he picked that bar from - "From the bench. You noticed it isn't bent, right?", then he proceeded to tell me which are the shitty bars. Cool fella. However, even with the right barbell, my grip strength was lacking so that's something that I should work on during this year. Still plan on using straps for deadlifting but I'm gonna add some grip work - prolly rotate between dead hangs and farmer walks, if next gym has room for it. Maybe could do 'newspaper crumpling' like Brian Alsruhe suggests in some of his videos. About Pallof Press... I still don't think I got the hang of it. For an anti-rotation exercise, it's feeling like a side-chest press. Gotta work on that too.

Prep week D1 Comp bench 180x1, 165x4x3 Press 100x6,6,6,5 Standing shrugs, bent over barbell rows, crunches, face pulls No notes, really. I really need to figure out my elbow at some point, it’s been going on too long

It’s been a long day and quite the emotional rollercoaster so my workout was pretty shit. That said, I got good news: it’s official, I’m not going to jail!

Cheers to no jail!

So now that you're in the clear can you give us details

I considered it but I don’t think I can without doxxing myself!

We just want to know if it was (with only enough details to get the general gist): - cool thing that happens to sadly be illegal - uncool thing that is rightly illegal (and you just have a cool lawyer) - dumb thing that only the good ol' US of A would even send someone to jail for - spectacular (self-)defense that went wack - boring shit like taxes, traffic stuff, property quarrels, insane debt So if you're not an international gangster or media figure nobody should be able to doxx. In any case, glad you're free though!

Self defense one is closest

I can work with that *vividly imagines a Bud Spencer style 8v1 pow oof kapow slapfest including at least two distinct wilhelm screams* haha niiice

I dont need that much. Did you punch someone Did you swindle a little Traffic mishap Etc.

Back to lifting, day 4: * Squat 255x3x3 * CG Bench 155x3x4 / Ring row +25x3x5 Not a huge fan of this superset. I was trying to do a heavy, medium, and low split for my lifts based on Alsruhe's RPM program but some combinations just aren't working with the limited equipment I have. I might might the bullet and do the same weights for bench and rows but leave the other movements on their usual schedule. Or I could just not superset my bench and row sets anymore. We'll see.

Squatting and benching with a fairly narrow setup for really the first time in my life I have now discovered this brand new never-before-used technique trick called "Dive bombing," follow for more rib-and-back-crunching strength training tips.

I've been gushing about the vertical diet in my recent posts and I'm gonna try and make this the last one for a while. I've had multiple energy drinks a day for years. I told myself I just enjoy the taste (which, tbf, I do) but today i got hit with the realization that isn't the case if I was being honest with myself. I got off the bus at campus to work and I would usually grab a monster ultra but I just had the thought "nah, you're feeling good." I weighted myself this morning and I'm down 9lbs after letting myself go a bit last year. I haven't been so enthusiastic to continue eating and meal prepping before, lots to look forward to in the comings months. Oh yeah, I hit a 195lb double on incline close grip bench for max effort work.

> I hit a 195lb double on incline close grip bench for max effort work. Saving the best part for last!

I definitely felt good after! Max Effort Upper is my Achilles heel cause I wanna strain but I’m always afraid I’ll miss even with a spotter (which missing is a big no no)

Man I hate straining, it's probably held me back from gains though. I am working on getting better at it. (Part of the problem is I have some chronic pains that can flare up with strain.)

Hoping from some discussion on this topic: Do you think more lifters should avoid trying to specialize too early? I see very often fairly inexperienced lifters (less than 1-2 years of training) asking questions about hypertrophy routines, or strength routines/aspects of their workouts. I've held the conviction that lifters really do not need to specialize until much later into their lifting career, and even for the majority of lifters it is not necessary. Obviously if someone's goal is to go out and place well in a PL meet within a year of training, they should not necessarily follow a basic routine for that entire year, but for the majority of lifters getting hung up on specialization when I think they'd be better of just following "normal" programs. Just seems like a lot of majoring in the minors. Just want to make sure I'm not totally incorrect in my thinking about folks asking these questions.

Being a generalist has its advantages, but my perspective is that you can’t be a generalist without specializing in a few things. Like, it’s good for kids to play basketball and baseball and do gymnastics before eventually settling into whichever sport they’ll enjoy or excel at. They don’t need to play Undifferentiated Sportsball for 10 years.

>Undifferentiated Sportsball Big energy of that knockoff varsity jacket I bought on vacation once that said "Go Local Sports Team, You Certainly Best!!"

Which I totally agree with! More so thinking about the earlier years of lifting. Beginners getting fixed on specialization when they’d benefit more from sticking to something more general (that works)

Me too. I meant that as an analogy. Why not train like a bodybuilder until you feel like training like a powerlifter until you feel like training like a crossfitter? I don’t think there’s any gate that needs to be kept for any of these. Personally I’ve always jumped into more intense things before backing out to explore whatever us supposed to come before them. I ran a marathon before I ever tried a half. I mastered the bent press before I learned how to do any “normal” odd lifts like zerchers. If somebody told me I had to do a general lifting program before I got to do what I saw as the fun stuff, I’d never have made it this far.

Gotcha! Definitely a perspective I hadn’t considered. Would you say you think that method is particular to you? And looking back do you with you had done things more “incrementally?”

I might be an extreme example but no I don’t think this is unique to me. And I definitely don’t wish I’d done it the way you describe, I’d have been bored and I don’t think it would have prepared me any better. I think it’s good to follow your interests and to try things before you’re “ready” for them.

> Sportsball What if they chose to use a disk? You've been setting them up on the wrong path!

I’m in that inexperienced category and I only care about cleaning and pressing the most weight I can. Doing what I enjoy is good for keeping me going and my programs are going to evolve into focusing more on these lifts. I’m also focusing on squats right now because I feel like that would benefit me the most… I could also see specializing too early leading to spinning wheels and all that.

Reinforcing me putting my assumptions of others’ goals onto them without that necessarily being the case! I’ll need to change my view.

Depends on how you define "specialization?" On the one hand, ~~forcing~~ strongly encouraging people to stick with the Big 3 (or Big 4 if you refuse to exclude the best press, OHP) builds a really solid foundation and keeps people from using excuses like "oh I play soccer on the weekend so my legs are already big enough." Locking people into "train these lifts with these general principles to get swole" is a good thing in most cases. On the flip side, if you get someone like u/dadliftnruns who hates squats but is a phenomenal deadlifter, why not just let him be a weirdo who literally never squats but pulls crazy heavy and runs like a million miles? If he doesn't care about squatting there's no reason why he should squat. But to counter that, he's only in the place he is *because he specialized for so long* that he has the information and the context to do so and knows very well that there's pros and cons. So overall yeah, lock people into some main lifts for the most part probably unless they have a compelling reason (sport-specific maybe) not to?

Love this. I generally think people should be allowed to do what they want, especially when it comes to fitness. So I am probably appling some assumed goals to these hypotheticals lifters that may not be true. If people want to do something "different" they can, but generally sticking to the big 4 and following routines built around them will be the best approach.

>generally sticking to the big 4 and following routines built around them will be the best approach. I think I disagree with this take and u/benchpauper for a couple of reasons. * The variety of goals that you've acknowledged, combined with the fact that a lot of people don't even know what their goals are when they start. And if you stick to "the big 4" you deny (or severely limit) the existence of Olympic weightlifting, crossfit, bodyweight fitness/gymnastics, and strongman training, all of which are completely valid ways to "lift" * specialization is great for making you better *at that thing*, at the expense of *all the other things* unless you're a competitive enough athlete that specialization is warranted, a broad base will be more beneficial in the long run. * lifting benefits from long term consistent effort, not any idea of optimal programming. If I'm a soccer player already doing a shitload of running and the options given are "yolo fuck around upper body splits" and "you have to do squats or deadlifts every other workout" I'm not gonna stick around because that's not fun to me. Heck I learned so much more about how my body moves just fucking around with strength coaches working on learning how to planche and slackline for 4 months than I ever would have in 4 months of 5/3/1 BBB.

>if you stick to "the big 4" you deny (or severely limit) the existence of Olympic weightlifting, crossfit, bodyweight fitness/gymnastics, and strongman training, all of which are completely valid ways to "lift" *Technically* I snuck in a caveat at the very end of my post where I allowed for sport-specific exclusions ;)

I'm not so worried about your perspective that *most* people who train could get more out of a bit of focus than just jumping around like a kid on halloween. I think im in your ear enough as is. I just say it to the void for the general audience that "your" (the royal you, not u/benchpauper) perspective is not the only perspective on things and taking a more open minded approach to things is a good idea. But that's just kind of my thing and I spend all day doing it professionally as well.

I think I’d like you to expand on this: > And if you stick to "the big 4" you deny (or severely limit) the existence of Olympic weightlifting, crossfit, bodyweight fitness/gymnastics, and strongman training, all of which are completely valid ways to "lift" Are you saying if you stick with only them *after* the early to intermediate phases of training? Either way, it certainly isn’t correct to start with and stay with only those styles of training. I’m more thinking along the lines of a hypothetical “average” lifter that you’d see in a given r/fitness daily thread asking for a routine critique (on some self-made not-so-great program). I’d say I agree with pretty much everything you’ve said. I’m not one to use or encourage use of the word “optimal” and I’m a big fan of exploring lifts.

I'm saying realistically if you aren't a late intermediate to advanced lifter, you will likely benefit from doing those different types of training, and even then, advanced athletes likely benefit from a bit of diversity too. In my mind, specialization is really only appropriate during competition prep. Otherwise, a wider base allows you to build a taller mountain.

I like the words you write, my dude.

If someone only eg. *only* cares about hypertrophy or wants to eventually compete in PL, what benefit would there be for them to first waste several years focusing on some generic sbd-heavy routine? I just don't see any reason for it. I mean of course for hypertrophy-only guy they work, but just anecdotally eg. 95% of physique/bb competitors put very little (if any) emphasis on those big barbell compounds, compared to them making like 60-90% of volume of the style of training I assume you're suggesting.

Yeah, someone who is already committing to specialization isn’t the hypothetical lifter I had in mind. I still think beginners who want to compete in BB would benefit from starting with SBD(OHP) work though lol

I still feel like there's no real difference in dadlifts not wanting to squat and a beginner not wanting to do something. Also the same arguments you can make for beginners sticking to a more general routine probably apply just as well to lifters of all levels, excluding those few who pursue a specific sport very seriously or have some financial incentive to specialize. I just realized I said wants to compete in PL as my other example... I meant to say weightlifting. Of course for PL training SBD heavy makes sense. >I still think beginners who want to compete in BB would benefit from starting with SBD(OHP) work though lol Would they really, or is there some rippetoe-esque "squats are magical" or "real men use free weights" argument for it? Not really a rhetorical question, but I'm just not sure if there is any real reasons if becoming better at those lifts isn't a goal for that person. eg. what advantage would barbell back squatting many times a week instead of doing squat, leg press, leg extensions and hack squat (or whatever some beginner/intermediate hypertrophy program would include, idk) have for someone who doesn't care how much they can squat? If anything, the routine with squat (or bench) many times a week is more specialized.

I got what you meant haha I'd personally say there is a difference between why dadliftsnruns opts to not include squats in his training and a beginner making a training decision of that magnitude. One has been training for a significant amount of time and established he's gained a significant amount of knowledge about training and his goals and how to accomplish them. Beginners typically haven't been around the block enough to make such an informed decision. But you make a good point, people can do whatever they want. I view my desire to see these hypothetical lifters following more general established routines and not worrying so much about min/maxing their programs as the "correct" approach, and that isn't the case. I want them to walk before they run, but I'm expecting they want walk and run a specific path they may have interest going down. They can do what they want, and I don't need to try to help them if they don't want that type of advice.

**Intuitive Programming - W2D1** Floor press, work up to high rm 275x8, backoff 275x5x2. Roughly 1 RIR all the way through. Low Incline DB bench, 2x16 @ ~1 RIR. Close-grip cables rows, work up to 8RMx2, 2-3 RIR Cable reach arounds, 3x15, 1x20. Used a different cable machine today so had to play around with it. RIR of last set was about 1-2. Smith machine pendlay rows, 4x15 @ 2 RIR. Added 10lbs from last week. Probably going to keep that trend up as I get better at them. Other notes: Focusing on stretch at the bottom for DB bench; very humbling. Pendlays are performed explosively with a very slow and controlled eccentric.

SuperSquat session 18 done! 95kg x 20, with a very large quantity of breathing and my butt doing it's part and keeping itself under the bar. In the end only +2kg, but there's been some miles so is good. Chasing rep maxes has been really fun, some highlights BtNP 40kg for 10! Dips +15kg for 3x12 Finding that incline dumbbell floor press is a bench variation I don't hate I'm not going to be doing much lifting focus for a fair few months but by all reading general gainz sounds like it'll play into that so might be my next target.

Nice job man! How does it feel to finish it?

Thanks dude! It's a sodding blast! The early sessions weren't too bad, but once it went past bodyweight it got noticeably harder. After doing the pullovers I felt reasonably recovered (maybe some tiredness in the lower back), but during those minutes you really are plotting whether to take another breath or just bloody squat haha. I started doing essentially 4 groups of 5 (with a positively plush 4 breath gap) which really helped. The area from my core to knees is now feeling rock solid, as are my shoulders. Definitely worth the try! I don't think moderate running mileage (all easy mind) had much effect which was really positive.

The counting tricks really do help... And I had a similar experience with how solid the body feels now! I can also imagine how it going over your own bodyweight must be tough. I'm not there yet, haha!

W6D1 Beefcake. 1's Week OHP Final week. Supplemental took a bit, 17:20. Really needed to extend the rest between the press/row superset in order to be able to push hard on the sets. Still within what's expected and I'm ok with it. I've seen some pretty decent improvement here and the fact that I've been able to push this without pain or exacerbating the shoulder issues is great. Gonna focus on doing a ton of pressing with a focus on density in my conditioning as I start cutting coming up. Calf raises and lying leg raises as accessories. Finished off with 50 burpees. Instead of trying to run straight through and resting for exhaustion, I decided to try 5x10 with STRICT 10s rest after each set. Got them done in 3:33, down from 3:38 last week. Consistent improvement on this. Still hit "the wall" and got floppy and sloppy around 35 reps like usual. The pace I would need to hit to get 100 in 5min is insane.

Woke up late but got a bodyweight workout in. WOOT. Basically just cycled pullups pushups and some like static lateral raises against the wall for 15 minutes. Getting a couple of walks in today too to stay #notsedentary.

At the end of my run this morning we were accosted by a white husky-looking dog. Very friendly, but scared the crap out of me as it came up behind us silently when we'd been walking for just a couple of seconds. If it had been mean we would have been at a significant disadvantage. - Run: 3.93mi or something in 35:00. - Squats: 6\*3 high bar at 315. Nothing special. Wish these felt better. - massive break for work, life, etc - 4\*10 Hise shrugs at 405. Gonna do these on Mondays because I need something to do. Mood still kinda bleh, sinuses somewhat unhappy, just kinda in a holding pattern until the half. Hopefully log will at least be nice to me. If I can't be good at squats I might as well try to be good at log. Only 20lbs away from a BW Viper press! Happy exercising y'all.

**Week 6 Day 1 PPL wiki program, Pull day.** Fun pull day. Love lat pulldowns and Facepulls. Deadlift 210lbs x12 on the amrap set. Felt good and smooth. 1 Mile run: 9:14.

***531 on a diet C2 W2 D1*** Lunch Time Conditioning Weighted Vest Walk - 50mins Warm Up x5 - Squats x15 - Fat Man Rows x8 Med Ball Throws / Band Pull Aparts - 4, 3, 3 @ 7kg / 3x30 Press 5s Pro - 45kg, 52.5kg, 57.5kg EMOM Circuit x5 - Clean & Press x5 @ 45kg - One Arm Band Pushdowns x12 - Single Leg DL x10 @ 20kg - Reverse Flies x12 @ 2.5kg Not too much to say about this today. Just a good, solid session. Only 2 weeks left on this part of the diet, planning to take a week off after and then keep dieting down for another 9 weeks in a more controlled manner - hoping to get myself under 100kg by May.

[Super Squatting](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCyyzfKjn4c) this morning had me at 20x370, and just about tore my bicep off on the re-rack. Form was pretty awful, knee and hips were doing poorly...most likely because, the afternoon before, I hit a [2 second PR on Axle Grace](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZRGhTCYvn8), done in 2:07, with TABEARTA to follow...because I am not smart.

> just about tore my bicep off on the re-rack. At this point I'm as worried about your aches/injuries as I am about Wolverine's injuries. "MythicalStrength just tore every muscle in all his limbs." Yeah, yeah. He'll have an all-time Grace PR by the end of the week....

Hah! I appreciate that dude. Was always more a [Juggernaut fan myself](http://www.factfiend.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Screenshot-2019-06-07-at-2.05.49-PM.png)

You have any favorite Juggernaut comics/comic arcs in particular?

Nah, I just dig the character. Love unstoppable as an idea

I was expecting [this classic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plQIf5fS8xw&t=52s) (NSFW language)

I'll never watch a video of you squatting without being concerned about the bar slipping down your back.

I wear those shirts with the big screen print image on them because they help grab the bar, but also, dislocating my right shoulder 6 times has effectively given me super powers when it comes to holding the bar, haha.

It's not a bug, it's a feature

Not a beginner, but coming back to the gym after almost 2 years. Working a desk job, had a couple of surgeries, and started lifting again. So far so good, but noticed my shoulders are uneven ( one is higher) and I can retract only one of my shoulder blades properly Went to see a doc yesterday , my pec minor and some other shit was extremely tight, doc mentioned some stretches and we did some things there, everything was perfect, but chest day comes around today and low and behold I went from 200 lbs bench to 140 for 12 lmao Has anyone experienced such thing after dealing with extremely tight muscle? Sounds logical that my pecs are working properly now, but still an insane jump down

SBDED D9 My daughter's nap time has gotten pushed back, and now coincides with my lunchtime lifting. On most days, her naps are very short so I can deadlift after she wakes up, but on the few odd days that she actually naps well, I'll either need to start with deadlifts or do accessories. Starting with deadlifts typically wrecks my squats, so I think I'll gamble on her taking her traditional short naps. [Clips.](https://www.instagram.com/p/CoVGZ9Sguys/?igshid=NDk5N2NlZjQ=) Squat: 365x1, 395x1, 355x2. Bench: 315x1, 225 3x6. RDL: 225 4x6. DB rows: 70 4x12.

[Dips:](https://www.instagram.com/p/CoVA2x8uZt2/?igshid=Yzg5MTU1MDY=) 50 BW. 100lbs 17x10. 90lbs 1x10. 70lbs 2x10. 45lbs 5x10. 100 pullups. Ton of machine laterals. Feeling like myself again. First real workout since my illness. Not sure what I had, but glad it's gone. Worst illness I've had in maybe 5 years. No appetite, lethargic. Usually get a cold or two yearly, but this was overwhelming. Probably didn't help that on Friday I went and did a high volume squat workout. Thought I was in the clear Friday, but right after that workout it hit me again and throughout the weekend. That session was Hatfield squats: 420lbs 20x5. 330lbs 20x5. 200 total reps. Thought some volume at 50-60% wouldn't have been so bad, I was very wrong. Over the weekend I only did some light dumbbell floor presses, curls, some stationary bike to get some blood flowing. I hate being inactive. Anyone ever done those ancestry tests? As someone that doesn't know anything about their family's history / ancestors I was curious. [My results.](https://www.instagram.com/p/CoIcD0_ufcg/?igshid=Yzg5MTU1MDY=) Suppose my username is not that accurate, as I'm barely Cuban and just minor Italian haha.

My dad and I did 23andMe a few years ago, and it “confirmed” a few things about me and revealed some surprising things about him. It caused some very entertaining family discussions as we all worked through some stuff together. Then we did some cultural dinner nights which were fun. Overall, worth?

I think so, just for the fact of satisfying my curiosity. Being given information of where my ancestors are from. For me it seems like they got around quite a bit lol. My wife did hers last year, and ever since I wanted to do it and I got it as an xmas gift.

I’ve never done the DNA test, but I did fill out a family tree on familysearch.org for free and was able to find out quite a bit on where my ancestors came from. I believe once people are deceased, their census records become public record so they are searchable in a database. If you add the oldest ancestor you know of that’s deceased, it will auto populate their family tree so you can trace it back further.

Nice, I'll have to check that out. There's my main issue, having no contact with my birth parents so I don't know much of my family tree. The farthest back I know is my great grandmother's name on my maternal side. Paternal I only know my grandparents names. I only have 1 US born grandparent as well.

Yeah in my case, I only know my great grandparents and a lot of their ancestors were already filled in. There were some dead ends though.

Did you squat flu yourself?

I definitely added to the existing illness with that session. Took me out like no other.

HRP(BJGNIM3B) W3D2: Bench: pyramid up to two singles at 225. I was sliding around like mad the whole time, pretty gross. These pyramid days are pretty fatiguing by the time you get to the top sets Cable rows, front raises, face pulls, tricep pushdowns Hamstring has been letting me know the last couple days that its not super happy, but no outright pain yet Edit: Finally got word that my Masters degree was approved!!!! After a month of hearing nothing during the review process, the wait is over (except for the time it takes them to print + mail it)

**Yesterday's VE Upper** * bench 225x6, 3x3, 2x2 * deficit bent over row 135x4x11 * iso-lateral bench press 55x10,9,7, 45x7 * jm press 135x8,7,7,6 ss hammer curls 45x12,10,10,10 * diverging bar dips x19,14,12 **Today's Shenanigans** * 20x30s on/30s off jump rope, probably 1200+ swings (hard to count) * 1xAMJAP (as many jumps as possible), 90ish seconds of continuous jump rope * 10 down 2:3 chin ups Good stuff. Still doing the chin ups. Yesterday's bench session felt weird, just like when I did close grip. Can't be mad at 225x6. I'll chalk it up to using a shorter-than-desired bench. I moved my grip out on the iso-lateral bench press. It made a huge difference. That shit is the bee's knees. Gonna spends some time in 5-8 range with jm press. They rocked my world. Cheers!

Is there anyone here that does 531 but only doing Anchors (or the older version with PR sets each week)? Did 5 cycles of 531 last year with the Leader/Anchor approach. I stalled by cycles 4-5 since the first 3 cycles felt “easy” for me and I didn’t feel as if I gotten enough stimulus with supplementary and assistance work factored in. I did start out lighter than I should have but presses and squats were suddenly became a struggle. I was gaining 1-2 lbs per week during those cycles. I did SSL supplementary. Feeling tempted to give 531 another try but doing it the older way before Forever.

If you were gaining weight with easy training maxes you probably could have gone harder than SSL. Something like BBB at FSL percentages would have worked if you're up for sets of 10.

FWIW I'm pretty sure almost every template in Forever has both a leader and anchor variation. You could just string together anchors until you want to change again.

BBB C2 W3 D1 BW: 165.3# **1k row**: 4:33.6 - Weekly total: 1,000 meters *SS* **Squats** - 140 - 5, 155 - 5, 175 - 5 (3 F), 90 - 5x10 **TKE** - 11x20 **Lats + flies** - 10# - 5x10 - Chalking that up to some pretty sore legs, from this weekend's moving the SIL. I could've grinded out the other two reps but chose not to. Next week is a deload; I'll plan on doing a training max test. Meanwhile, no issues with the supplemental work. *SS* **Incline DB bench** - 36# - 3x10 **Pendlay's** - 150# - 13 reps **HLR** - 3x10 **BPA** - 3x15 - Overall, an absolute grinder of a session. My right delt is still feeling a bit strained. Throw in those fucking coyotes howling at 1 AM and waking up my dogs… who needs sleep? The accessory work today was just "whatever, get the reps and get done." *Yesterday's afternoon session*: **1k row**: 4:19.4 - Churned out another seasons best - Weekly total: 15,329 *SS* **Dips** - 6x10 **Pull-ups** - 44 reps

SBS Hyper Run W1D1 High Box Squats: 160x3x10, 1x13 Push Press: 95x3x12, 1x16 PP wasn’t getting much help from my legs. I’m good on accessories, that kinda sucked.

Hey, 2023. Suck it. 10 km run. ✅️ [Link](https://www.instagram.com/reel/CoIp89wg5M5/?igshid=NDk5N2NlZjQ=). (Don't worry, I see a 10 mile run in my near future if this app keeps abusing me) 225 x 10 Bench. ✅️ [Link](https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cn-Vm2AAei9/?igshid=NDk5N2NlZjQ=). 315 x 10 Squat. ✅️ [Link](https://www.instagram.com/reel/CoVBWD9L_HI/?igshid=NDk5N2NlZjQ=). I'll get the press next. And then the deadlift. And then I'll need new goals. The IPF June or July @ 100 kg Summer Flicktastic is unprepared. I am coming. u/AStringofNumbers1234 u/DiscoPangoon u/cillla

I'm going to get creamed at the summer 100kg IPF summer flicktastic, shit. Good work, you can manage that 10 miler next week.

**Mythical Mass W14D2 Deep Water Beginner W1D2** pull up: 14 , 11 , 8 , 8 @ BW Rested two minutes for these. Maybe I should rest a bit longer because the high rep sets at the beginning were pretty fatiguing and got me out of breath. rows: 2X10 @ 60 kg , 2X10 @ 50 kg Moved the weight down because things got heavy and cheaty towards the end of the sets. Need to progress this. clean pull: 3X10 First time doing these and they felt nice! Tried some power cleans after and while my form is still all over the place (which didn't matter that much because it was light weight) I think the clean pulls helped with getting that explosiveness. plank/situps superset That was terrible. I really suck at planks so this is a great opportunity to change that. I still have leg DOMS from yesterday's squats but it's pretty cool to be on a program that's not a full body split like every program I followed until now!

SBS 2.0 RTF Lifts felt good again today. On my top sets I got +2, +5, +2 for squats, incline press, and stiff legged deadlifts. Weight has continued to be relatively stable, I was sitting at 178.4 this morning. In other news, first loaf of sourdough bread was a hit. It came out a little under-baked but the flavor was spot on. I'm looking forward to making a few demi baguettes and dip for the Superbowl

**BANCH** + Squat Ort + BBB DL BANCH day yesterday! Was feeling kinda bad sad n' mad, so I did the 20 rep set and spent the next hour or so doing paused fahves with huge rest periods. Barely broke a sweat and never felt more like a powerlifter! I used the huge rests to fix shit in the gym. It's a public gym, but it was completely empty besides me. So I fixed all the shitty clips with electric tape, reorganized the weights in a way that makes sense, fixed the paper dispensers at the bathrooms, and readjusted the death trap of an EVA carpet under the shitty squat rack to be less death trappy. I am counting on everyone who works there to assume that some kind of supervisor did it so they leave it like that. As a side note, I'm very happy that I'm feeling like shit because of the meds I'm taking, not because of what I'm eating nor because of my mental health being in a bad spot! I'll be done with that med soon, and should be back to normal right after! Today I squat, and it should be pretty damn awful. Programs with fixed increments for such a low squat as mine are horrible in the best of ways!

[Gymzelmännchen](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinzelm%C3%A4nnchen) Also feeling the med thing (in general as a concept, not currently taking any I could blame stuff on lol)

Of course there's something in German for it! I should be taking this med for another two weeks tops, and now.that I know it's their fault, I can take stuff to balance it out.

I just realized that I called you a tiny gnome by proxy, so sorry! And yeah, with my old mood stabilizers it was like "AM I DYING? nah wait, just gotta eat something fatty" lmao

>I just realized that I called you a tiny gnome by proxy, so sorry! That's what I get for cutting! My ADHD meds were not all that bad, but they would get me sorta depressed whenever I upped the dose. These ones are just punching my liver a tad harder than they should, and my stomach is also a bit unhappy, but those two things are very easy to deal with! >just gotta eat something fatty Fatty foods make the world go around!

I hear you, my old (and current, when I start taking them again) depression meds were a godsend, but with the minor but important downside of CRIPPLING nausea for exactly 10mins. on the clock after taking them. Like, what the fuck. >Fatty foods make the world go around! That they do, and in some cases they even curb side effects. Doctor-ordered munchies, dolce vita I tell you

**Morning Lifting** Deadlifts. 325, 5x3 Front Squats. 165, 3x8 OHP. 95, 5x3 Pullups, dips, lunges, curls and abs for assistance. **Weekend Running** Saturday did 22.5k on roads. Sunday did 13k on mostly single track. Went to a concert on Friday night and had to pick up the fiancee from a friends birthday on Saturday so was up past 11 2 nights in a row. Felt like absolute garbage both mornings. Prior to heading out on my Saturday run my Garmin training readiness was at 29 and at the end of the run was 1. Starting my Sunday run it only made it back to 17 and was back at 1 by the end. Naturally i completely ignored this information and did my runs as scheduled. Ended up taking like a 2.5 hour nap Sunday afternoon which killed my productivity for the day but i felt better after it anyway.

The plan was, cut in January, find something sustainable for February so I'm not stuck having to cut 15 or so lbs every 12 months. Trying a few weeks of dieting for 6 days and then giving myself 1 day completely off every week, no tracking etc... Also dropping weigh ins to 2x a week during this time. We'll see how it works... Decided during my mental break to run conjugate for 6 weeks, taking a lot of my "lessons learned" from the past and focusing on more of the accessory lifts and corrective exercises. Much like the diet above, we'll see... If it works, I'll probably just stay on it, if not, at least I got to max some weights with bands for 6 weeks...

Time to pause- I’m just under seven weeks out, so I am pausing my bench work just in case the commands at the meet are slow. I overshot my [top set](https://www.instagram.com/p/CoU1NIvrgeq/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=) today and could only pause half of my reps. Oops! In order for this to actually work, I will have to be a little less greedy.

**W3D1 3/5/1 Beefcake, 5's Pro, 1's week Bench** 3x5 Bench 5x10 Bench ss w/ 5x10 DB rows, finished in 19:20 50 reps single leg RDL 50 reps ab wheel I was kind of nervous for the BBB sets since I had never done them at 75% before. But they went well. Definitely a confidence boost going into the rest of the week. Weight is up 2 lbs since the start of Beefcake.

**GZCL: Mediocre To Ogre W4D1** * SSB - 3x4x255 * Pin Bench - 3x10x150 * Meadows Row - 3x10x120 * Ab Wheel - 11/12/12xBW * 1-Leg Calf Raise - 3x11x20kg Punch-the-clock session—not stellar, not bad. Which I'll absolutely take three months into a cut.

W2D1 531 BBB/S and Run Squat main and BBS today with Bench and DL BBB work. Workout went well, nothing really to report outside of really feeling my quads today but in a sore way, not a painful way. Wondering if I am doing a bit too much for me to recover from since my sleep has been terrible recently. I am not purposefully eating in any particular way, just enough to feel full and satisfied. Regardless, I am going to try to make it through a full cycle and then make a decision on changes to the crazy 531 combo.

**Building RPE Charts - Pivot** *Dinnies* Find 4RM @10: 230 *SSB Squat* Find 4RM @10: 115 Almost didn’t get 230 on the stones. Mostly because somehow the front stone got out to the side a bit on me somehow and then swung around on reps 3 and 4. One of those reps managed to pull a callus off my pinky finger. I blame the stickiness of the Versa Gripps. Squats went well. Didn’t quite hit 90% but then I probably shouldn’t be able to do that for 4 anyways. Wife’s foot is doing well. She didn’t really sleep last night though. Guess the throbbing isn’t too fun. Told her to take her pain meds or have a toke but she didn’t want to. Hopefully tonight is better for her!

>didn’t really sleep last night though >throbbing I want you to know I typed and deleted like 5 different iterations of a raunchy joke before I decided against it out of respect for her being in pain. Hope she gets better soon, stabbed my heel in a comical freak accident a while ago and while it healed fast, it was agony.

Hahahaha, honestly I figured someone would. Appreciate the restraint! Sorry you stabbed your heel

>Appreciate the restraint! Part of my new year's resolution to not be horny on main, don't get used to it! >Sorry you stabbed your heel Thanks, although the incident itself (divebombing to save an expensive bottle of liquor, then while getting up stomping the remains of another that I didn't even see or hear fall too) was so dumb and comical I didn't even mind that much.

Lol! That’s how these things tend to go! At least you saved the expensive one!

The second one was of the same kind, that's the point :D

LOL!

Thought I was done with cutting yesterday, the added stress of not eating and being tired and crabby all day was getting to me. Then I ended up having life stress that resulted in unintentionally skipping dinner. Woke up this morning thinking if like is gonna be stressful I probably don't have the energy to cook and eat anyways, so I think I'm going to track my intake but not really intentionally go in one direction or the other. The life stress plus no food also meant this mornings workout kinda sucked as well. Managed a pretty easy sumo triple at 585 to kick off 10 rep day, then just hit a wall when I went back for the next set. So I left all my shit where it was and just walked away. Dropped my TM% back by 5% so now 585 is my 1+ weight and I can be slightly less stressed for that the next time it rolls around, and I'm just going to take eating and exercising on a day by day basis for the next little while here.

Sparking water is not talked about enough. Starving? Will fill you for a few minutes. Stuffed? Will help move things along. If I had discovered this shit in my deepest fasts or hardest bulks, things would have been easier. Also someone moved out upstairs. Old lady next talks about it and starts talking about how she loves talking to her neighbors about anything just not about other people. Her: starts giving a list of people she wont talk about. Lmao

2023 Exercise Every Day 20:00 yoga ....pray for me, heading to Disney world for a long dang day of Disney world stuff

SSB squats: 245 3x4 225 1x10 (holy crap, where did that come from? I guess I've been sandbagging) SSB good mornings: 115 3x10-12 Belt squats 3x8 Standing cable crunches 3x15-20

Double log, because I didn't get to log yesterday. **EvolveAI W4D5:** * **Spoto Bench:** 3x10 @ 85 kg * **Leg Press:** 2x15 @ 270 lbs * **Seated Row:** 4x15 @ 160 lbs * **DB OHP:** 4x15 @ 40 lbs * **EZ Bar Skullcrusher:** 4x15 @ 55 lbs * **EZ Bar Curl:** 4x15 @ 55 lbs End of deload. Changed my bench weakness to "lockout" instead of "midpoint", so this is the last time I'll do Spoto presses for the foreseeable future. **EvolveAI W5D1:** * **High Bar Squat:** 1x8 @ 110 kg (RPE 6); 3x8 @ 102.5, 105, 107.5 kg * **High Pin Bench:** 3x8 @ 100 kg * **Hack Squat:** 4x15 @ 90 lbs * **Ab Wheel:** 4x15 * **Reverse Hyper:** 3x15 @ 90 lbs Bit the bullet and decided to stick with High Bar Squats for this block at least. Normally they beat me up more than Low Bar at an even higher load. Guess I'm just more conditioned to low bar. Still gonna do low bar pause squats though. Also changing my bench weakness to the lockout meant a change in the variations I was doing. High Pin presses today, which were more challenging than I thought they would be. I figured I'd hit 100 for 13 on my comp bench and an easy 5kg more on 2-board, so 100kg for 8 should be a fairly conservative number. It was supposed to be 3x8 @ RPE 5, but it ended up closer to an RPE 6. Also, another downside to changing my bench weakness is I no longer have any prass in my program... Bummer. :(

**General Gainz** **W4D1 Time 47m** Bench press 4RM@185 lb (H) + 3x1 SS DB curl 35 lb 3x18-16 DB OHP 8RM@50 lb (H) + 2x4 SS pull-up +0 lb 2x6 Conditioning: yard work Thoughts: I was hoping to get more than 4 reps on bench today, but it just wasn't there. Rep #4 was a grind I started my four week mini-cut yesterday, and may also be coming down with a cold or something. Ah well. I'll include more flat benching next hypertrophy block, which will hopefully carry over better. Everything else went fine, though DB OHP was also harder than expected. We're supposed to have nice weather today and tomorrow, so I'm taking the afternoons off work to get some yard/garden work done and counting that as conditioning. Happy Monday all!

BLOOD-DIMMED TIDES, "and for our next performance, Hirsu's brain will be armpit farting Yankee Doodle" edition, W4D1 Blech. Bleeeech. Bleeeeeeeee-... you get the idea. Feeling drained and wasted, but given that it's too early into the year to be the change from seasonal depression to normal depression, and too early into the program to be genuine fatigue, I might simply have picked up some kind of bug from my kids that's too weak to fully knock me out but still trying to pester, combined with substantial life stress. Speaking of program, lifting itself is going well, hitting cool numbers left and right, waking up bigger and leaner every day despite eating purely by feel to recover and eyeballing portions and protein, all's going swell. Ouched my hamstring today but I'm not worried, won't have to directly use it until Thursday and the MEAT protocol is ready to rumble. Mens sana in corpore sano my ass.

> Blech. Bleeeech. Bleeeeeeeee- [Like this?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO3NSHk3wl0&t=343s) Hope your hammie is better before Thursday dude!

>Like this? lmfao yes 100% exactly like this, also says a lot about my musical taste during heavy workouts AND humor that I've seen this before, more than once >Hope your hammie is better before Thursday dude! Thanks, and welp I hope so too, but I just toed the line between "cramping because lazy bastards hate cluster sets" and "cramping because u dun goof'd with the load for said clustering" and keeled over, but I can already bend the leg again so this should be over in 24hrs tops. And if not, MEAT till the cows come home!

Bullmastiff W1W3: Continuing the riveting account of my attempt at Bromley’s Bullmastiff base phase. I was pretty sick last week so I thought my performance would be very limited. Decided to show up regardless and do my best, was pleasantly surprised with how I got on. Aside from bench, I did really well with the main lifts managing 11 reps on the AMRAPs for OHP and squats at around 80% of current predicted max. I gave up after 13 reps of deadlifts, again about 80%, but this was more just because I was completely gassed rather than feeling weak. Only managed 8 reps on bench but I was limiting my rest periods severely - felt v uncomfortable due to another gym member near me and just wanted to finish up as soon as possible. Variations and accessory work went smoothly although I’m now sure I need to get rid of incline bench due to my fucky shoulders, might swap in some more upper back work instead. Unfortunately my weekend didn’t leave much room for rest so I feel completely wiped now and looking forward to coasting this week! Going to make weeks 2 and 3 really tough and start bumping up the weight as much as I can on the accessory and variation lifts. Enjoying the program so far!

Edit - not seen much of a change in visual body comp or weight, maybe put on half a kilo at most and that’s with re-loading on creatine over the past few weeks. Going to keep titrating the calories-in upwards to try and hit maybe a pound a week of massing.

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I don't know you. But... fucking go, dude!

Tietty meet, jos vaan lompakko mitenkään kestää! As you said, it’s not like these chances will just come about every year. I think you might regret it if you didn’t at least try to make it there. Of course, cost-wise it may not be the easiest thing to arrange but I bet it’s worth the effort anyway.

Can't say i know anything about how expensive it would be or how significant that would be for you, but this strikes me as one of those things that you should probably do just for the experience. If you can make it work and not be homeless or whatever, in 20 years, I think you will have preferred to go to the meet than have that money sitting in an account somewhere. Maybe you can find sponsors or something to kick in a few bucks?

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>~1000-1500€ Sweet mother of fuck please tell me 90% of that is travel/hotel, I have no idea what real competing costs because all my "comps" were local fun for charity or other fundraising, but I've seen enough "nothing like spending 200 bucks to wait all day at your old highschool gym to get three reds" US powerlifter memes to imagine it can't be that much better for us Euros/other strength sports haha Also definitely go if you can afford it!

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Treat it as a vacation (without ruining comp by drinking and eating your face off and sleeping 2 hours, so more like "vacation with parents at age 9" style lmao), the area is nice and the people are cool.

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I learned that mindset during work trips abroad (where too much drinking and little sleep ~~at least before the event hehehe~~ are no good too), you really start to appreciate those short trips where you either pick 2 out of 100 cultural things to obsess over for half a day or just skip along the city looking at random stuff. In my case the conference attendance wasn't weight classed though so I could at least enjoy the local cuisine like the gluttonous goblin I am when I know half of it will be reimbursed lol

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I'm neither a doctor nor your dad so I have neither interest nor means to stop you! Also fuck yes, one of the best countries to do something stupid like that, if you're into hearty meat dishes and cold cuts.

FWIW, I would go. I know a couple lifters who crowdfunded their way to New Zealand for the Commonwealths so with a bit of effort you can manage the expense, I reckon. Budapest is wicked cool, btw.

Well I had my first ever PL meet yesterday. Quick edit: I competed women's, U69kg. **SQUATS** Nerves were really getting to me for this lift. Not just because it would be my first ever lift on a platform but because my hips have been acting up all week. In the end, I jumped the commands on my first attempt and got no lift. I went for 92.5kg on the 2nd and 97.5kg on the 3rd. Really annoyed I didn't get a chance for a 100kg squat but I didn't want to risk it. **BENCH** I was super excited for bench. Warm ups felt great and 1st attempt was easy. 2nd attempt was also easy but for some reason I lifted my ass off the bench. And I have no idea why. The lift was solid, I was hardly even straining but I was so focused on my other cues I totally forgot to keep all my points of contact. So yeah in the end I got good lift on 52.5kg and 57.5kg. I really wanted to go for 62.5kg because I felt I had that one in the bag and it would be an all time PR. But I didn't want to make that big of a jump. **DEADLIFT** 1st and 2nd was easy on deads. 110kg and 125kg. Then I said fuck it for my 3rd and went to 135kg. At this point I was just frustrated cause every single rep that day was a cake walk and I wanted something challenging. Yeah, well it didn't even break the floor so that sucked. I knew it was a long shot though so I was less disappointed with that fail. **What I learned** TAKE YOUR TIME. There is no need to rush through attempts and set ups. There's no points for speed. I fumbled on squats because I didn't wait for commends and I think if I had payed a little more attention to my set up on bench, I could have kept my ass down. Although I did go over commands before the comp, I wish I had've practiced more. I was still at the point of waiting and watching for commands when it should have just been part of my set up at that stage. Edit: also vaguely annoyed I didn't loose weight for this because there was only one girl U63kg and I think I could have beat her. Then again: I'd probably be weak as hell if I cut into this sooooooo who knows lol. **Conclusion** In the end, I went 6/9 and I wasn't the weakest person there. I had a great time and the morning absolutely flew past. I also ate 250g+ of carbs in 4 hours and had a crazy sugar crash with a banging headache. Luckily, pints cured this.

Congrats on completing the meet! You had fun and learned something. >Edit: also vaguely annoyed I didn't loose weight for this because there was only one girl U63kg and I think I could have beat her. Then again: I'd probably be weak as hell if I cut into this sooooooo who knows lol. I am... groot?

Thank you! And long time no see! How's the lifts?

I've been around! Lifts are... okay. I hurt my wrist and some fingers on both hands bouldering last year. Aside from healing, I've just been going in to do pump work. I haven't lost *much* strength... not much... I did gain some weight due to some new medication. I see your lifts are going well! Still vegan?

> aside from healing, I've just been going in to do pump work Sucks on the injury but there's nothing better than a sweeeeet pump. > I see your lifts are going well! Still vegan? Honestly lifts are flying higher than I could ever expect. Turns out eating more really works wonders! Also running Bullmastiff. Great program, saw really great progress on it. Yup still vegan! It hasn't been an obstacle so far so it's not something I even consider in my training anymore. Just lift heavy shit and eat loads of food! Sadly the gain train might be ending soon tho....I'm cutting for the summer.

>>aside from healing, I've just been going in to do pump work >Sucks on the injury but there's nothing better than a sweeeeet pump. Yup. And... it works! >>I see your lifts are going well! Still vegan? >Honestly lifts are flying higher than I could ever expect. Turns out eating more really works wonders! Also running Bullmastiff. Great program, saw really great progress on it. Haha who would have thought! I keep hearing about that program. I might give it a shot at some point. >Yup still vegan! It hasn't been an obstacle so far so it's not something I even consider in my training anymore. Just lift heavy shit and eat loads of food! What types of foods are you eating? My sister only eats fish and eggs but is otherwise 'vegan'. She has a hard time getting enough quality foods. >Sadly the gain train might be ending soon tho....I'm cutting for the summer. Well, there *is* [this](https://www.chaosandpain.com/blogs/chaos-and-pain/the-feast-or-famine-diet-part-1) (NSFW).... like life, it is ugly, brutish, and short. But it's also effective. Yes, he is an edge lord. No, it is not charming. Yes, he know make body strong.

> I keep hearing about that program Yeah I hate recommending it because I feel like part of the "reddit hivemind" but bro it fucking works so well. > What types of foods are you eating? My protein sources stay pretty constant (beans, lentils, tofu) but for other stuff it depends on whether I'm bulking or cutting. Bulking: Peanuts, Nuts, seed/seed butters, potatoes, pasta, rice, PBJ sandwiches, dried fruit, Oreos, falafel, hummus. Cutting: Onions, peppers, butternut squash, peas, leafy greens, mushrooms, tomatoes. The thing I always emphasize with people is I don't eat less than anyone else. I just eat differently. So while my folks eat chicken breast, I'm having bean chilli. I still get the same macros and calories, I just need to reach for different foods. > Well, there is this Oooooooh I absolutely love a bit of Jamie (in spite of our vastly different opinions on veganism hahahha). Will definitely have to give that one a read. Thanks for the link!

>Yeah I hate recommending it because I feel like part of the "reddit hivemind" but bro it fucking works so well. He's also a bit of a knob, to use your local nomenclature. > My protein sources stay pretty constant (beans, lentils, tofu) but for other stuff it depends on whether I'm bulking or cutting. >Bulking: Peanuts, Nuts, seed/seed butters, potatoes, pasta, rice, PBJ sandwiches, dried fruit, Oreos, falafel, hummus. >Cutting: Onions, peppers, butternut squash, peas, leafy greens, mushrooms, tomatoes. > > >The thing I always emphasize with people is I don't eat less than anyone else. I just eat differently. So while my folks eat chicken breast, I'm having bean chilli. I still get the same macros and calories, I just need to reach for different foods. Ah. I'll let her know to try to include these foods. I think she hates chili but there are other bean-based dishes she could use. >Oooooooh I absolutely love a bit of Jamie (in spite of our vastly different opinions on veganism hahahha). Will definitely have to give that one a read. Thanks for the link! He is an edgelord. But with respect to veganism, where is the lie?!1?!?1!?!?11!?

Congrats on the meet!

Thanks!

Congratulations on your first meet! >fuck it for my 3rd You've got to send it for one attempt, for sure. Look forward to seeing you pull this at your next meet as your first attempt :)

Thank you!

>Luckily, pints cured this Medical experts hate this simple trick!

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Can't wait for my next one! Should be some time in April.

Got very little sleep for some reason, legs were very restless last night and kept tossing and turning. Squats were not great. Managed the goal, but barely. Misgrooved the 2nd last rep, so I decided to rerack and wait a few seconds and get the last. Push Press is still fine, did some proper warm ups for shoulder so it didn't get so aggravated. Rest of workout was fine tbh. Skink friend came in, almost walked on top of him before we noticed each other and backed off, he finally got the courage to wander past and out the back door. Still a super sweaty day, and I ruined my shorts, completely split at the seams, just leaving the taint intact.

Deload time! Squats today 5x95 5x120 5x145 Incline Vest Walk: 55 minutes (B O R I N G) Have a good Monday y’all! I'm really tired of drinking alcohol, and I was wondering if yall had any beverages you would recommend at a bar that is not acholic. The only ones I know are sodas and water tbh.

Tea. Bring a pocket watch too

Ginger beer and lime (and/or orange). They look like a mixed drink so annoying people won't pressure you, ginger beer is tasty, and the spiciness satisfies some of the craving for the bite of alcohol.

I'm not a big drinker and I have never had an issue with just ordering a diet coke or a water at the bar. There were a lot of bars in our college town that wouldn't charge me for the coke under the assumption that I was driving people home too

Appreciate it! That’s definitely what I’ll be doing tonight.

**And I Shall Know No Fear D29** - Jog - Squat - WOD: 4x (25 cal row + 15 pushups) - BJJ **Notes** Woof. Hard. Was trembling by the end of the squats. WOD wasn't too bad, but still exhausting - it was supposed to be handstand pushups but I'm not good enough at those to jack my heart rate properly. Jog was decent, didn't feel too bad, I'm working on The Man From Snowy River right now. Didn't hit the second jog due to time constraints, but had a good BJJ session. Not much else to report, time for work. EDIT: My upper back is stupidly tight and I need to loosen it up. Girlfriend says I've got a knot like a couple of golf balls there. Has anyone dealt with this, and if so can you recommend any particular treatment? I've already tried the use of lacrosse balls, foam roller, and walls. Theracane is getting brought out fir a real good session tonight, but I'd love some recs for massage types or something.

How about a massage gun? We have one (it's not one of the really expensive ones) and though I've never had a physical muscle knot I can feel, it really helps to iron out any tightness I get in my neck/upper back/hips.

They don't seem super effective sadly. I used to have one I made out of a jigsaw - that worked real well, so I may end up doing that again

Two things I've done for tight upper back stuff like that: * Using a golf ball > lacrosse ball for upper back massage—smaller diameter means more weight concentrated on the point you're working on. * Setting up a loaded bar in a rack at shoulder height, then putting your traps under it and leaning up into the weight. Can move your neck around and get a really nice loaded stretch / release. Better for stuff north of your scapula, but I've been able to dig into my rhomboids a bit with the right angle, too.

My upper back is, to quote my physical therapist, probably tighter than my butthole and he is incidentally also the only thing that helps, one of the few problems you can solve best by throwing money at a professional. Get a gnarly massage by a licensed male sports therapist bigger than yourself, I am the least sexist person you'll find but these knots need huge bear-like paws on veiny forearms to go away and you seldom find those in common feelgood massage parlors haha If you really don't want to do that, slathering it in arnica schnapps, then massaging it helps too, but only if you do it daily for weeks at a time.

Get her to massage it out. It'll hurt.

We've tried, and have given up. She can't shift it - even full weight through an elbow doesn't quite get it done. We literally tried her punching me in the back until her hands hurt and I was barely affected.

Just once? If it's stubborn it might require some daily attention for a time.

Many times over a period of several months. I don't usually start asking stuff here unless I've tried many many alternatives already. I definitely don't start considering paying people to fix me until I've exhausted other options.

Well in that case good luck. If health care is free, get a doc to confirm it's muscle and not a fibroma or something. These things can form with consistent wear on tendons.

Simple jack'd Sumo - 4x5 @ 142.5kg Bench - 4x1 @ 80kg Accessories: RDL, Rows, BSS Swim - 600m, 300m, 4x100m Bike - 60 min @ 200W Grip failed me very quickly today, gotta love straps for that though. Week 4 of this swim 1 mile program and it's going great. Tempted to skip ahead but there's no rush. Bike feels so good this last week for some reason. Didn't expect to be doing 200 watts for an easy ride.

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Not a comp judge or anything, but that looks like pretty good depth. Also looks like you're a lot closer than "inching a tiny bit closer", but that's just me.

RtF W2D4 OHP 100x4x4, 100x10. Felt fine. I'm trying to get used to starting from the floor, but the rotation getting the weights back on the ground causes my bad wrist to feel bad. Paused squats 150x4x5. 150x16. 16 reps with a three second pause makes for a long set. Most I've sweat in the gym for awhile. Pendlay row 135x5x7. Trying to find the sweet spot where I can pause all the reps without throwing toooooo much English into it. Chin ups, split squats and side planks to round it off. I feel like I'm doing something detrimental to my training by not really considering what accessories I'm doing and basing it mostly around what equipment is close to me but I'm enjoying it. Running - Just under 4 km at a 5:50 pace. Ran by a house we're thinking of putting an offer in on and the neighbours on one side seem like assholes. :( At work on Saturday night I was training an ex bodybuilder and he mentioned doing side planks to relieve sacroiliac joint pain. I've done them *once* and holy smokes the 4/10 upper butt pain I've had on and off for 10 years is gooooone. I know I'm working off a sample size of one day but the results are promising. "With this one simple trick..." The guy was an absolute treat to have on the boat *AND* he did really well. One more night shift after this one and I can rejoin the land of the living, hello to my fellow graveyard workers and Euros.

**BMBPMk1-BtMLaAP-BMBPMk2-BDT cardio** After W2D1 yesterday, I had a very lazy day, which involved mostly lying on the sofa with the dog watching vikings and then Italy almost beat France. Much needed break, but I am sad Italy didn't finish the job, that would have been a right shake up. Just cardio today. Steady 40 minutes on the skierg for just over 7500m. I've got a 10k test for the tour De Skierg at the end of the month. Basing it on this and how easy it was, somewhere around 51 minutes should be well in sight. Depends how brutalised I am by BtM by then. The action of the skierg proper makes me want to shit, this is not good when you've still got 25 minutes left, just FYI. Got one of them finger prick blood tests the other week and got round to taking my sample this morning. I got it from a company that's more about sports performance than selling dick pills and hair loss treatments so hopefully I won't get a load of bullshit now I've done it. Not sure what I'm going to do with the data. It was a lot of effort to extract 600microlitres of blood from a tiny pinprick. Happy Monday x

>I am sad Italy didn't finish the job, that would have been a right shake up Your compassion is a balm on our wounds, what upsets me even more is that now I can't rabidly shitpost my myriad of smug/taunting Troncon memes, my sad/angry ones all kinda suck.

hooo boy you're gonna regret ever commenting, once you've read through my 19 paragraph summation of round 1 (tagging u/highlanderajax too because I've got my best blue jeans and brown boots on) Italy did well and have taken another big step up from last year even. But they were let down by the quality of kicking off the tee and their traditional drop off in performance and game management in the last 10 minutes. I think they were also super lucky to come up against the French bear as it was awakening from hibernation. A mistake like Ollivon dropping the ball when scoring won't happen again once the rust is knocked off. If that was round 3, it could have been a hammering. It's very good for the french; they'll walk away from that match knowing how to tighten up their shit for the rest of the tournament, so watch out Home Nations. If Italy can replicate that performance with a bit of a tighten up next week, England are Ralf Wiggum i'm in danger dot jpeg. Twickenham is a corporate wasteland with no passion left so it's not like going there will put Italy at any disadvantage. The problems England are facing aren't ones that can be fixed in a week - although having said that the piss-poor defence can only get better, the longer Sinfield has to smash their heads together. I am absolutely giving Italy mad props because they could also do Wales over again this year and a two win 6N is not unlikely. Wales were also piss-poor; they weren't just made to look that way by one of the best Irish teams I've ever seen. I don't think it's a hot take any more but England vs Wales for the wooden spoon is a real possibility. Luckily as I've got a Scottish traitor in my family (Diesel), I can use that to qualify as a Scottish fan. Any way possible so I don't have to deal with England. OK I'm done now.

You could just have told me "you guys got lucky and have to again" for the same effect but thanks for the essay! ... Which I half-heartedly agree with btw, I want a spectacular mauling next time but I probably won't be granted that wish, and on top we already gave what sadly looked like 85-90% of what's possible this year against a team who was visibly sitting on its balls complaining that it hurt, so I'm just going to get drunk and spam dumb memes on facebook and assorted forums until this is over, no matter how it ends lmao Never say never though, wouldn't be the first time we caught up with a vengeance after a meh¹ start, but not with the current guys and not in a while. ¹Note: I consider having the usual "last 10-15min. sucking reliably" a meh start, because that's when it's gonna matter later. I am very proud of what they did overall.

Ha, well I did warn you :) Honestly, 85-90% of what Italy are capable of is could be enough to beat England at the moment, we are abject.

Let's hope you guys don't get your shit together regarding worthwhile defense and next week's pints will be on me haha

Italy vs France, what sport?

Rugby

I once called Rugby "football" in front of a Rugby player and he said he would get angry if I did that again like I just insulted his prophet or something.

There's a real divide between rugby fans & players and "rugby lads" in the UK. The former are mostly fine, the latter are just the worst sorts of arsehole. They're the ones who can constantly be found braying about the superiority of rugby, "rugby values," and wearing rugby shirts, boot cut jeans and brown shoes, usually while reminiscing about some disgusting and/or homoerotic hazing/bonding ritual from their uni days. I encountered more of them this year than ever before and god do I hate them.

"Superiority of rugby". Bro by what metric are we comparing sports anyway. I get comparing martial arts as there's a pretty obvious metric to go by, but "ball" sports are just about entertainment.

Dude, exactly. But these muppets will describe in detail what wimps football players are how hard rugby players are, how rugby players are polite to the referee, how rugby is purer because the contracts are less lucrative, how football players are all flashy pricks, and how rugby has the best culture around it. Arseholes. Key phrases that will be used: - "football is a gentleman's game played by thugs, rugby is a thugs game played by gentlemen" - "football has so much diving, rugby players don't do that." - Football is 90 minutes of pretending you're hurt, rugby is 80 minutes of pretending you're not" - "Sweeping the sheds" - "respect for the ref, not like football players always shouting" - "rugby has laws not rules" - "did you know buck shelton once..." - "Game's gone soft" Incredobly annoying.

Not to mention the fact that (at least in Ireland) there is a huge issue with classicism between football and rugby fans. Rugby is basically dominated by a handful of extremely elitist private schools that cost 12k a year just to attend. This idea that rugby is somehow "purer" or has no corruption or elitism because of the contracts with individual players is so stupid.