Turning into a meathead- mid life crisis

[coachcalande]

Whopping 284 this am.

Thats quite a bloat up from carbs! Yesterday I ate meat, cheese, green veggies…

The refeed this week included bread, oatmeal, pot pie, fried onion rings, bananas….no pizza, ice cream or suds.

Its legs and arms day. Planning to repeat a workout similar to my last leg day. Smith pause squats, leg press, leg ext, leg curls.

[coachcalande]

Five sets smith machine pause squats 185-225-275-275-275. Awesome
Four sets at 12 plates on leg press. PR 10 reps!
Four sets each for leg ext, leg curls.

This is a very enjoyable and seemingly Effective leg routine .

Arms later today.

[coachcalande]

Pumped out 18 sets arms today in about 20 min Id guess.

Alt db twist curls
Hammer curls
Two variations of pushdowns, one with the rope.

This is how I built 20 plus inch arms. Just do the work.

[coachcalande]

283 this morning.

Meals :

Breakfast- eggs, whites, ground turkey/beef, cheese

Lunches- chicken thighs, beef/turkey, cheese

Dinner- probably chicken and a green veggie


Felt yuge yesterday and had a great couple of sessions.

[coachcalande]

280 this am. Took a couple of days to drop 4 lbs water and glycogen weight…should be at about 278-279 by Friday.

[coachcalande]

Todays lift:

In the morning I did supersets of chest/back

Bench pyramid 225-245-265-285-305-315
Supersets were with wide pulldowns in the 8-12 rep range

Inclines 4x5 with 245 which made me happy
Supersetted with narrow grip pds 8-12 reps

Flys supersetted with seated rows (5-7 reps heavy)

After work I trained shoulders and traps

Seated ohp 135-155-165-165-165
Upright rows 95-105-105-105
Shrugs x 4 sets 12-15 reps
Five sets side laterals

[coachcalande]

279 This am.

Bloat to 284 and a few days later 279…

Today I packed meals of eggs, whites, steak and chicken.

I melted cheese on my eggs.

Refeed “anything goes” is coming…if theres a more enjoyable way to ear for Powerbuilding I haven’t found it!

[coachcalande]

I nearly started my refeed last night . My kids ate all of the rice before I got to it ha ha.

This am my weight is back down to 278.

So this past week Ive already swung 284-278. I wonder if my strength also will swing? It just seems smart to train lighter wity a bit more volume in the late keto phase.

So I woke up at 1 am…not sure why but could be anticipated refeed. Just getting excited to feed like “Jaws.”

This am my intention is to do this:

Pause squats
Leg press
Front squats
Leg curls

Then do giant sets of bis, tris, calves after work.

I definitely am gaining muscle mass with my approach so that’s exciting.

[coachcalande]

Great leg workout

Pause squats on the smith
185-225-275-315-315

Leg press all four sets with 12 plates

Leg ext and leg curls


Ill get arms in later today.

Refeed carbs include oats and bread - we will see what else after work

[coachcalande]

Hit bis, tris and calves. Doesn’t take long supersetting those three things.

Kind of a boring refeed day yesterday mainly oats, bread, rice and a small bowl of vanilla ice cream

Now at 281.

I plan to smash down carbs today and then go back to zero carbs tomorrow.

This ams meals:

Four piece french toast with large ham and cheese omelette
Greek yogurt with protein powder, fruit

In the pm
2 turkey cheeseburgers on wheat, pizza for dinner.

Peanuts/popcorn

2 more turkey burgers…

[coachcalande]

284 this morning after my two day refeed. Last nights pepperoni pizza was delicious!

This way of eating seems to be like the best of both worlds…all of the tasty cheese and meats all week, low carb, managing weight and inflammation very well. Keeps my skin clear and its all very easy to prepare….then Friday and Saturday I do whatever I want in terms of protein, carbs, fats…protein servings tend to be alittle smaller but more frequent, ie 5-6 servings vs 4 large ones.

The thing is, as I just fully embrace this now …I can say that Im bigger and stronger but dont feel like a fat slop either. The acceptance of the bloating is necessary…

Its got me setting strength goals agin vs thinking maintenance or leaning out for athletic stuff…I like being a Powerbuilding dude. Just try to live as big and strong as my genetics allow.

This morning I have a goal to bench 325x3. I have recently done back to back sets of 315x3 so I know itll be close.

[coachcalande]

Nailed it! 325x3 on bench press

https://youtube.com/shorts/G2EjbOVpsi0

[coachcalande]

What a monster workout today.

HighLights

325x3 bench
275x3 incline
185x6 seated press

[coachcalande]

Today…what a great lift!

Eggs and bacon
Eggs chicken bacon omelette
Whey shake and peanut butter
Salmon and shrimp

[coachcalande]

What a great streak of gains. Felt terrific to hit those heavy sets yesterday.

I weighed in at 285 this am.

Yesterday I was back to low carb eating and it was enjoyable.

Today is a rest day.

Something I cant let go of is wanting more size and strength, even at 56, if I can make gains…then I should pursue it! As long as Im healthy then as a powerbuilder, thats my goal.

Today, more low carb high protein foods all day.

[coachcalande]

Tons of red meat and eggs today. More of the same tomorrow!

Legs and arms Tomorrow.

[coachcalande]

283 this am. Last night had a streak and an omelette with turkey and cheese. We are out of eggs already but fortunately I have a couple of cartons of liquid egg whites.


I love making egg white omelettes, its like the egg white replaces bread …and the omelette replaces sandwiches.

I’ll probably make one of those for breakfast with bacon too…then cheeseburgers for lunches today. Just keep pounding the protein down until Friday. Carb up again…might even have some candy on Easter.

[coachcalande]

Excellent leg day.

Smith squats nice and deep. (See YouTube)
335x3-2-1
315x3-3

Then PRd my leg press with 12 plates x10 reps, 8, 7,6

Leg ext and leg curls to wrap that up. Ill train arms and calves later. Eating burger and egg whites all day.

[coachcalande]

Had an excellent arm /calf workout last night though I kept the triceps work light in the 12-20 rep range.

I did about 10 sets of pushdowns, alternating with ez curls, hammer curls, twist curls. I also did a ton of calf raises.

Woke up today at 280 lbs.

Rest day.

[coachcalande]

Rough week without eggs…but ate more red meat and cheese…added mayo/mustard to some dry chicken breasts today…its all gains.

Looking forward to chest, back, shoulders tomorrow morning.

[HomeGymChains]

Nailed it! 325x3 on bench press

https://youtube.com/shorts/G2EjbOVpsi0

Very nice lifts!
Congratulations!!!

[coachcalande]

Very nice lifts!
Congratulations!!!

Thank you. Todays bench training will be more like old school pyramid 12-10-8-6-4-2 style.

Im doing well with a mix of heavy 3 rep days and other days where I hit most of my sets 5 reps-8 reps. Im not big into double digit rep sets but Ill hit 1-2 of them this am.

Part of this is that is this is day 5 with no carbs and I prefer the big push days to be after I load carbs. My joints probably can use the break too.

280 This am.

[coachcalande]

Training chest, back, shoulders. A bit more moderate poundage today.

Bench pyramid 225-245-265-285-305
Incline work at 225 for all four sets.

[coachcalande]

281 today and a scheduled refeed.

We are pretty much out of groceries sooo, we will see how creative I can be until I can get to the store.

I noticed during a drive home this week that my knee inflammation has returned. I was in quite a bit of pain after sitting in the car for about an hour.

Still…Im enjoying this strength gain run and I want to see where this surge takes me.

[coachcalande]

This is my current training:

Day 1- Torso

Bench press 4-5 sets 3-8 reps. At times Ill pyramid for a change up.
Incline bench on smith 4-5 sets 3-8 reps.
Flys 4 sets 8-15 reps.

I do these pulls between each set of chest training * I vary the order each lift
Chest supported rows 4-5 sets 5-10 reps
Wide grip pulldowns 4 sets 6-10 reps
Narrow grip pulldowns 6-10 reps

When chest/back is done, I train shoulders and traps.

Seated press 4-5 sets 5-8 reps
Upright rows 4 sets 6-10 reps
Side laterals 4-5 sets 8-15 reps
Shrugs 3-4 sets pyramid light to heavy 20-6.

Rest a day…

Then train limbs, legs/arms, calves

Squat variations such as smith, ssb or free weights ( at times deadlift instead 1-5 reps each set)
5 sets using light pause squats early on. Pyramid style 15-3 reps
Leg press 4 sets 5-10 reps
Leg extensions 4 sets 8-15 reps
Leg curls 4 sets 8-15 reps

In the evening Ill do arms and calves.
Ez curls and pushdowns 4-5 sets 15-5 reps
Alt db curls and skull crushers 4-5 sets 6-10 reps

Supersetted calf raises in between sets.

At times Ill do hammer curls or concentration curls. Id been doing rope overhead ext but my elbows reacted with pain.

Rest again…

[coachcalande]

Refeed meals

Greek yogurt, whey, pb, large pile of home fries

Two turkey cheeseburgers with pickles

Two turkey cheeseburgers with pickles

Frozen pizza and probably a protein shake at dinner

Had some nuts too.

[coachcalande]

285 this morning
Poor sleep and Im up early anxious to train legs/arms.

Im really enjoying this combination of eating and training. Embracing “Powerbuilding “ and actually being healthy enough to do the big three lifts heavy in the 3 rep range and even singles and doubles is really fun.

I think I know Im not going to break lifetime PRS but setting some “over 50” prs is still cool.

On occasion Ill chase the pump a bit and train 80s-90s style high intensity and high volume too.

Id been thinking alot about doing a bunch of rep work today but most likely will end up training heavy. The weekend days where I can really take my time…those are the best powerlifter mode days.

[coachcalande]

Todays first squat on the machine

365x1

https://youtube.com/shorts/oEBQirzZreU

Im going to try again and get a better view of depth.


Heres my second single
https://youtu.be/Pg-DpxuM774


Pause squats with 315 on the smith.
https://youtube.com/shorts/dTjxJvL2yek


Prd my leg press 12 plates x13, 10,8,6

[coachcalande]

Forgot to weigh in this Easter Sunday but Im in the neighborhood of 286 after the two refeed days.

Im ready for the next five days without carbs. My training has been fantastic lately with gains all over the place. I suspect Ill break a lifetime PR on overhead press tomorrow if I try it.

Last night I did 10 giant sets of bis, tris, calves…this is a real game changer for me as my calves have been ignored for years and I want to make an effort now…

Training should be epic this week.

[coachcalande]

283 today.

I deliberately lowered the fats in meals 2-3 yesterday and may experiment more with that approach.

I ate lean ground turkey and egg whites for those meals. As always, Im a big fan of cheese and it was hard to make turkey burgers and not melt cheese on top ha ha.

Dinner was ham, shrimp and cucumber. Just before bed I grabbed 3 oz sliced Turkey. Today Illmeat a bunch more eggs, whites, ground turkey and chicken thighs.

It’s definitely hard to want to worry about cals when I can see the PRS coming on my lifts. Ultimately I have no intentions to bulk as heavy as I have in the past…