Turning into a meathead- mid life crisis

[coachcalande]

Todays 4045 calories…

1 cup egg whites, 4 whole eggs, cheddar, oatmeal, black coffee
1 pound chicken breast, 3 slices American, 4 slices oatmeal bread
4 oz almonds/peanut mix
Whey shake, 2 scoops
Three chicken thighs, potato, broccoli

423 g program, 228 g carbs, 163 g fat

Hate to say it, that’s been typical throughout this massive PR run. I might try 500 G protein and reduce the fat…just for fun.

[coachcalande]

I’ll post my work here later

Here is my opening set of a 7 PR day!
https://youtu.be/dHpP1PmVMvg

First set lat pulldowns PR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b4DIrt9O8Q

Second set bench PR
https://youtu.be/JMH-iRNSFzw

Seated Rows
https://youtu.be/4dP38OSYMv8

[coachcalande]

Todays torso work

Bench
245x17*
265x13*
285x7
305x4
325x2
255x10
Lat pulldowns
198x15*
208x10
218x8
218x6
218x6
218x6

Incline
235x12*
245x7
255x5
235x7
235x7
235x6

Rows
250x14*
270x9
290x6
290x6
290x6
290x6

Upright rows
95x14*
105x8
115x6

slr
18x16,14,13

Out of time

Six PR morning!

[coachcalande]

Yesterdays meals.

4:30 4 eggs, cup of egg whites, oatmeal and cheddar, black coffee
*work out at 5am
7:30 6 oz chicken breast, American cheese on potato bread
10ish 2 oz mixed nuts, mainly almonds and peanuts
11:30 6 oz chicken breast, American cheese on potato bread
2:20 2 oz mixed nuts
3:30 whey shake, 2 scoops, water and milk and coffee
6:00 10 oz tuna, ranch, bbq sauce, cheddar, two baked potatoes *I was starving

[coachcalande]

Had perfect lighting at work- proved that even a fat guy can look swole and jacked with the right lighting. I seriously contemplated taking a selfie.

[coachcalande]

Can’t stop thinking about tomorrow’s squat pyramid..

235x?
265x?
295x?
325x?
355x?
385x?

Seriously, every set is 100 pounds more than what I was using In December.


This was 12/23/21
Squats pyramid
135x15
165x13
195x11
225x9
255x7
285x6
315x5

[coachcalande]

Todays eats:

Oatmeal, 4 eggs, 1 cup egg whites, cheddar, black coffee ( said no to bacon)
Chicken breast and American on potato bread
2 oz mixed nuts
Chicken breast and American on potato bread (said no to pizza)
2 oz mixed nuts, banana , whey shake, 1/3 cup milk maybe
5 tacos (eating to squat big!) (said no to ice cream and chips too)

Lots of party foods in the house today.

[coachcalande]

https://youtu.be/wN9aLnpItc8


Smashing records!

[coachcalande]

This am, in a battle, I grinded for 20 reps, hard earned with 235! So proud of myself.

Machine squats, six consecutive PRS!
235x20*
265x12*
300x8*
330x5*
355x4* tough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZHf...ature=youtu.be

380x1*

Front squats
185x4
185x4
185x4

Out of time. I’m planning on arm workout after work. Legs are tired!

[coachcalande]

Cheat curls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYTlAo5H5hE

135x8*
135x4
135x4

Gain of three reps total

Ez curls
118x8,7,6

Alt db curls
48x11*,9,9,7

Pushdowns (weak)
110x11,11,11
113x9,9,9

Skull crushers
160x22*
170x10
180x9
190x6

[coachcalande]

My son benched 225 this am.


Todays meals:

Eggs, whites, oatmeal, cheddar, coffee
Half lb ground chicken and cheese on potato bread
Half lb ground chicken and cheese on potato bread
Whey shake, mixed nuts
Ground beef/ rice

[coachcalande]

I was up at 4 am on a Saturday, eager to train.

Put whey in my coffee.
Later had eggs and rice.

My lift was amazing. 38 sets, 10 PRs!

Bench
Ramp warmup
305x1
355x1*
370x1*
305x6,5,4,4

Incline
215x16tie
225x13
235x8
245x6
255x5

Flyes
48x12*
48x10,10,10

Lat pulldowns
208x13*
218x10*
223x7
223x6
223x8(long rest)

Narrow pulldowns
188x13*
198x9
208x6,7,6

Rows
260x13*
280x9
300x6
300x6

Upright row
105x13*
115x11*
125x6 tie
135x5*

Slr
18x25*
18x17,14,14,13

Time for tuna.

[coachcalande]

Super Bowl Sunday

Coffee and whey
Eggs, whites, cheddar, oatmeal
Tuna, toast, ranch bbq, cheddar
Eggs, bananas
*snacks for the game?
- Italian style meatballs
- deviled eggs
- pizza
- fried mozzarella

Rest - I am beat from yesterday and tomorrow is legs/arms.

[coachcalande]

63 PRs at the halfway point of FEB.
What does tomorrows anticipated squat pyramid look like?
245x?
275x?
305x?
335x?
365x?
385-390?

[coachcalande]

Today my son pulled 325x3, 335x1

Good progress

[coachcalande]

Did a 25 min arm blast this morning. A couple of PRs there.
After work, for whatever reason I was drawn to just practice squatting deep with free weights. I just cannot sit on my calves the way some people can. This is evident in my pause squats especially, BUT I am improving slowly.

I did about 10 sets total.

Taking Filmbuff constructive criticism to heart and just practicing depth with free weight squats after working hard on depth and flexibility on the smith. I think it’s a big improvement. Grabbing a lot of video tonight. Not training to failure, just practice with a variety of weights/ poundages.

I’m noticing flexibility issues in my shoulders, particularly the side that injury is on. Hard to get under the bar.

As it goes so far it’s been work with 135,235, 305, 355, 385 and several doubles and singles with 400.

Here’s one of 400 and the second rep is better than the first. https://youtu.be/EtXoV4kWo9k

Here’s another. https://youtu.be/By0Upuqztag

This is the first set with 355x5, again the second rep looks better than the first. https://youtu.be/xGE3CCLretI

Pause squats 355x3, THESE ARE GREAT. https://youtu.be/upXWPUyBpdU

[coachcalande]

Feeling and looking fat for sure. On the other hand I feel like I am growing and gaining strength to the point of renewed interest in that 1500 lb total.

I may use free wts On bench tomorrow, probably….

In any case, I am planning on a very short recovery with maybe back to back skipped lifts …I can’t remember the last time that happened.q

Today;

Eggs, oatmeal, cheddar
Two chicken and cheese sandwiches
Half bag of mixed nuts
Whey shake
1 lb ground turkey, potato, onion

Been extremely sore and stiff from those pause squats.

[coachcalande]

Today I decided to earn my “man card” by bench presses with free weights.

Warmup 135x5
Warmup 235x5
285x6 to get the feel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1s4ThRnALY

305x4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnCJEkKlJzA

325x3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vieqLILTq0U

345x1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoJN_1Bwkd8

255x10

Alternating sets of pulldowns in the 10-15 rep range

Definitely had 1 RIR in each min.

Did 5 sets of
Incline with 215 and narrow pulldowns in between, wasnt chasing PRs and just getting some pushes and pulls - last one before a short break!

[coachcalande]

10 eggs breakfast, oatmeal with PB

Lunches are two full chicken breast
2 slices cheese
2 oz mixed nuts
Maybe an apple
Whey shake after work
Pork chops for dinner most likely

[coachcalande]

Squats
135x5
235x4
305x6
365x4(no wraps, n belt)

https://youtu.be/5UnC704GvHo

Nw for the heavy stuff…

400x4
https://youtu.be/nGnsXLcqU10

Another set 400x4
https://youtu.be/LnI2Jw5XA68

Another 400x4
https://youtu.be/MDp6i5W-G9I

One more…

https://youtu.be/lEGEHyYnbV0 (Complete with Ronnie Coleman Impression) 400x3


Had enough time for three sets of smith front squats 3x5 185.

Arms tonight , maybe with my son.

[coachcalande]

Trained arms at the school.

5 sets straight bar curls with 95
5 sets pushdowns in between, higher reps
3 sets db preachers
3 sets alternating db curls
6 sets rope pushdowns

Now a couple of days rest…

[coachcalande]

I had three full days of rest.

Chased the pump and feel today.

Bench pyramid 20-5
incline pyramid 15-5
flyes 4x8-12
rows, pulldowns, narrow pd 5x8-15 each
upright row pyramid, side laterals,5x8-15
75 min

[coachcalande]

Sitting here feeling the SORENESS from yesterdays lift. My chest is blasted.

I really need to continue to balance big power days with higher volume, fast paced bodybuilding training. I enjoy both and Im not going to get a lot stronger so staying healthy is everything. High volume (100-120 reps per muscle) feels great and it’s enjoyable without taxing the joints as the huge majority of sets are performed at around 8 reps. I might hit a couple of 4-5 rep sets and a couple at 15-20, but I’d bet 8 is about the avg.

Pyramid training just makes sense hitting 15-20, 12-15, 8-12, 6-10, 4-8..gives me a great warmup, time under tension, pump and quality contractions….burns calories…and can handle at least decent weight toward the top sets. It’s also purely auto regulated, I can add more, stay or back off all based on how it’s going, how I feel, how I’m performing.

Then after warming up well on compounds, I can use the same weight for multiple sets on isos like flyes and lateral raises and db curls.

[coachcalande]

No
Eggs
In the house so I cooked up 6
Hamburger patties and three chicken thighs, rice too

Ate big all day just thinking about dominating 400
Pound squats tomorrow and then wrecking my arms after that!

Eventually went to the grocery store- not a chicken breast in the whole
Store!
But six dozen eggs and three quarts
Of egg whites and a bunch of ground turkey, tuna and beef….potatoes and oats, fruit and nuts…all
Gains

[coachcalande]

Todays goal was to AMRAP 400 lb squat with better depth than prior PR sets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LXv7o4S-W8
400x5
400x3
400x3
400x3
400x3

Front squats on smith
145
165
175
175

Leg ext 125, 150, 175,200
Leg curls 125,150,160, 160

Alternating sets of ez curls and pushdowns x8 sets.

[coachcalande]

I’m planning (and have begun already starting today) to manipulate macros a bit to reduce the number of times I spike my insulin in a day.

Today:
Eggs, egg whites, rice
Whey shake, banana, mixed nuts
Two ground beef Patties, cheese ( no carbs)
Two ground beef patties , cheese (no carbs)
Chicken pot pie dinner. 4 eggs.

*3 insulin spikes vs 5. (Or at least if insulin spikes, it’s not in the presence of glucose that’s not needed?)* research on all this now…

Just a little experiment.

[coachcalande]

I figure I avoided about 600 cals in just bread yesterday. I also skipped the shredded cheese at breakfast. I do not want to reduce protein but I’m willing to mindfully pay attention to both carbs and fats a bit more and start dropping “useless” or excess calories to try and tighten up some as Im raising my volume and rep ranges again. My research is that both protein and carbs have ability to spike insulin (storage hormone) and eating 5-6 times a day is of course spiking insulin 5-6 times. I’m hoping that I can “time” it better with maybe pre and post workout carbs and maybe evening carbs. In any case I’m looking at simple ways to drop a few calories in bread and maybe cheeses and dressings.

I’ll do this ONLY to a point where I feel a loss in training enthusiasm, recovery and or strength loss. I’d rather carry the weight than lose the strength and passion for training.

Yesterdays squats and leg training has given me a nice feel in my thighs today. It was weird (surprising)to pyramid my leg extensions to 200 lbs after not even doing them the last two workouts …I did lighten up my front squats for a change to get a few additional reps.

Some other thoughts- on biceps, I really like 1-2 higher rep sets to warm up, then repeated sets to failure in the 6-8 rep range while triceps, for me, feel best at 12-15 reps.

My son did 315x5 on squats.

Already dropped 100-200 cals out of todays foods just by skipping the shredded cheddar on my eggs.

[coachcalande]

Here we go…

Breakfast
4 eggs, 1 cup egg whites, oatmeal

Mid morning
Two cans tuna, fist portion of vegetable medley

Early afternoon- 4 eggs, cup of whites, 2 slices cheese

Late afternoon whey shake

Dinner will be thighs….and a carb choice

[coachcalande]

1000 cals/meal x 5= 5000 cals
900 cals/meal x5= 4500 cals
800 cals/meal x5 = 4000 cals
700 cals/meal x 5 = 3500 cals
600 cals/meal x5= 3000 cals
500 cals / meal x 5 = 2500 cals
400 cals/ meal x 5 = 2000 cals
300 cals/ meal x 5= 1500 cals

* how many calories in my two scoop whey shake with water?

[coachcalande]

Quick reference guide - calories

4 eggs = 320 cals
1 cup egg whites= 125 cals
1 cup oatmeal = 158 cals
1 slice cheese= 115 cals
8 oz chicken breast = 543 cals
8 oz ground beef = 753 cals
8 oz ground turkey= 462 cals
1 chicken thigh= 206 cals
1 large can tuna = 395 cals
1 cup rice= 170 cals
1 banana= 105 cals
Mixed nuts= 219 cals per quarter cup
1 slice bread = 80 cals
Whey protein = 400 cals (2 scoops)
Broccoli 1 cup= 31 cals

These are common food choices