2018! New Year, New Thread! PART 3: Still trying to achieve Super Saiyan!

[wowter]

Good session nonetheless man. Cutting will 'cut' into your energy levels sooner or later.

[sooby]

How do you find BB wheel outs vs Ab roller? Is there significant resistance if more weight is on the bar?

havent used an ab roller in a long time and am only using a barbell because I don't have one, will probably get one though


the barbell is kind of annoying though, i feel like the plates don't roll properly so it feels like it is putting extra pressure on my shoulders. Not sure about the resistance, I think there are other ways to progress like progressively longer range of motion, pauses, reps, etc which MAY be better. Definitely a difficult exercise with the resistance but I think i'd rather just focus on better quality reps and ROM.

[sooby]

Good session nonetheless man. Cutting will 'cut' into your energy levels sooner or later.

yeah, sorta feeling it right now haha, just trying to push on for 5 more weeks

[sooby]

C2W1D2 - Lower A
Weight - 176 lbs

Squats - 270 lbs x 3/3/3/3/3
Lowered down the reps from 5 to 3 and holy fuk they still felt heavy as hell. Everything just felt like a huge grinder. Not to mention I've been getting a bit of elbow pain on my right arm, I think it is due to the squats so i've been putting a sleeve over it to hopefully keep it warm and what not. Didn't expect it to be so difficult.

RDL - 180 lbs x 8/8/8
Yeah, these are getting hard too. I might just go up to 185 and do a deload on these, try to focus on better ROM

Back Extensions - 35 lbs x 11/11
Leg Extensions - 120 lbs x 13/13
Leg Curls - 130 lbs x 13/13
Lateral Raises - 5 lbs x 18/18/18/18

Additional NOTES: Tough session, but managed to complete mostly what I needed. Skipped ab wheel to be honest, ordering an actual ab wheel as I want to focus more on ROM and less resistance, plus I don't think a barbell is ideal for this. Still, so far so good.

[sooby]

just a little up date i guess

elbow has been bothering me a little bit, possibly some very mild tendonitis but I don't think it is going to hinder me from anything. Been compressing it and putting heat on it and that seems to work fairly well. Possibly due to some of the grinder squats i've been doing. Been making sure to use an elbow sleeve when doing bench squats to mitigate anything here.

also my work is having a competition to see who can lose the largest percentage of weight. 20 bucks to participate and winner wins the whole pool. Hopefully enough people will join so I can win it . Meh, not really looking to win it honestly, weight is hard to lose right now. I mean if I do i'd probably donate the money anyways. I'm sitting around 174-175ish and looking to get down to 168-170. This is not even 5% of my weight lost.

[sooby]

C2W2D3 - Upper B
Weight - 175 lbs


Bench Press - 140 lbs x 8/8, 150 lbs x 6, 175 lbs x 4/4, 185 lbs x 6
Honestly am so beside myself with bench press. It just doesn't feel good anymore, not because I'm cutting but I just feel like the form an bar path is completely off. Maybe it is all in my head and a mental thing IDK. But it feels really bad. I'm losing weight slowly, I just have no idea why my bench just takes a huge dumpster dive every time I cut. Honestly tired of spinning my wheels here. Tired of cutting, having my bench press drop to abysmally laughable numbers and then having to bulk again just to reach baseline before I have to cut again. Yeah form is probably somewhat of an issue but I still don't understand by BP drops so much. I think I need to make some major changes after I cut. I might just even completely replace bench press with incline as my main lift for a few cycles and see how that goes.

DB Incline Press - 50s x 13/10

Pendlay Rows - 145 lbs x 5/5/5
Pull-Ups - 10 lbs x 5/5/5/5
Face Pulls - 40 lbs x 15/15/15/15
Machine Preacher Curls - 57.5 lbs x 13/13/13/5
Tricep Pressdown - 70 lbs x 13/13/13/5


Additional NOTES: Very frustrating day, literally it was a huge struggle finding a barbell so I had to do most of my accessories first. Entered the gym around 9:15 and didn't get a barbell till like 10 pm. And there were plenty of people wandering around looking for a barbell so I had to jump on it quickly. Fuk man it was so frustrating as my gym has never been like this. Plus people were using it for like an hour or so for multiple exercises from what i've noticed. At one point i saw all the benches empty and literally everybody on the power racks with their bars. Makes me want to find another gym but it's hard to find a 24 hour gym that is close by, and hopefully with good equipment and not too busy.

[sooby]

C2W2D4 - Lower B
Weight - 173 lbs

Deadlifts - 255 lbs x 5, 295 lbs x 5, 315 lbs x 5
Accidentally did 295 lbs x 5 instead of 285 lol. I was like wtf why is this so heavy. 315 moved kinda well although it was pretty heavy. Still happy with these. Going to go up by 5 lb increments this time though

Squats - 190 lbs x 8/8/8
Deciding to do reps of 8 this time, reps of 10 honestly just getting too brutal on this cut. 8 reps still fairly difficult though.

Ab Wheel - BW x 8/8/8
Bought an ab wheel, these were honestly kinda tough!

Back Extensions - 35 lbs x 11/11
Leg Extensions - 120 lbs x 13/13
Leg Curls - 130 lbs x 13/13
Lateral Raises - 5 lbs x 18/18/18/18

Additional NOTES: Tiring session but felt pretty good. Just trying to take it one day at a time these next 5 weeks. Also visited the PT to have him work on my calves and hamstrings. My depth on squats definitely felt a bit better. Also worked a little bit on my bench, giving me some cues and what not.

[sooby]

C2W3D1 - Upper A
Weight - 173 lbs/172.6 lbs

Bench Press - 165 lbs x 6/6/6, 190 lbs x 3/3/3/3
These didn't feel too bad and they moved fairly well, I guess

Pendlay Rows - 145 lbs x 5/5/5

Overhead Press - 120 lbs x 5/3/5
Fuked up on the 2nd last set, my wrist wrap on my right wrist fell off midset and just kinda got distracted and lost focus

Pull-Ups - 10 lbs x 5/5/5/5
Face Pulls - 40 lbs x 15/15/15/15
Tricep Pressdowns - 70 lbs x 14/14/14/8
Machine Preacher Curl - 57.5 lbs x 14/14/14/5
Lateral Raises - 5 lbs x 19/19/19/19



Additional NOTES:

Was a fairly good but weird session. I did this session a bit early because I was supposed to meet a friend to go play basketball. So I completed all my compound movements and had to leave. I played 1 half court game of basketball up to 11 and 2 full court games up to 21. Keep in mind I haven't played ball seriously in like 8 years. So i SUCKED horrible but did at least score 3 or 4 points. BUT FUK MAN 2 minutes in to each of those games I was already huffing and puffing. I know that my cardio is bad but i didn't think it was that bad where a few jogs down the court back and forth would tire the fuk out of me. It was very embarassing. It was fun but it kind of made me sad how #1: How laughably bad I am at ball, #2: How laughably bad my cardio is. The two probably go hand in hand tho, part of the reason that I'm bad is that I have no cardio. But this has motivated me to at least TRY to play ball once every week to get my cardio/conditioning up. Or perhaps do other stuff to get it up as well. But honestly though, if anybody has cardio problems, play a full-court game of basketball lol, the constant running/jogging down the court, the shuffling/movement of feet on defense, boxing out on rebounds, trying to get yourself open on passes, etc all make it a crazy tiring sport.


Because of this, I did all my isolation movements the next day. However, my entire groin/front hips was sore as fuk for some reason and my jaw (somebody did elbow me in the jaw lol). It's kinda hard to walk and is a bit painful. Hopefully I can do squats tommorrow. Definitely was not gonna do it today tho lol.

[wowter]

#cardioforchitcrew checking in

[TnTNZ]

Man I gotta find some kind of conditioning work I don't hate as well

[sooby]

#cardioforchitcrew checking in

yeah, honestly it's not something i'm proud of

Man I gotta find some kind of conditioning work I don't hate as well

true, true, i may even just buy a skipping rope and do hiit or straight liss lol. Skipping rope is so versatile and portable.

[sooby]

C2W3D2 - Lower A
Weight - Didn't weigh in


Squats - 240 lbs x 5/5/5/5/5
Was sort of iffy going into this, groin and hips still hurting from the basketball game but figured that I would give it a shot. Thankfully it didn't really affect my squatting at all and ironically it started feeling better after squats. I guess sometimes no matter what you just gotta go in there and lift and chit takes care of it self lol. These are still fairly difficult despite the deload, but not the grinders from last week and the week before. I would say anywhere from a 7-8.5 RPE. Took shorter breaks as well too. Instead of the usual 5-6 i took around 3-4.

Romanian Deadlifts - 135 lbs x 8/8/8
Ab Wheel - BW x 8
Back Extensions - 35 lbs x 12/12
Leg Extensions - 120 lbs x 14/14
Leg curls - 130 lbs x 14/14


Additional NOTES: Nice session overall, felt pretty good about it. Grew a pair and squatted anyways despite the general soreness around the hips and groin. Felt good after.

[TnTNZ]

Was sort of iffy going into this, groin and hips still hurting from the basketball game but figured that I would give it a shot. Thankfully it didn't really affect my squatting at all and ironically it started feeling better after squats. I guess sometimes no matter what you just gotta go in there and lift and chit takes care of it self lol.

The number of times I've had this. Go into a session with a minor niggle from a previous session, "I hope this doesn't aggravate it"... turns out it feels like it fixes it.

[sooby]

C2W3D3 - Upper B
Weight - 174 lbs

Bench Press - 135 lbs x 8/8, 145 lbs x 6, 155 lbs x 4, 190 lbs x 3, 200 lbs x 2, 175 lbs x 8
Bench has felt better than previous sessions, which is a positive. Did 175 lbs for 8, maybe an RPE 9-ish.

DB Incline Press - 50 lbs x 14/14
Pendlay Rows - 145 lbs x 5/5/5
Pull-Ups - 10 lbs x 5/5/5/5
Face Pulls - 40 lbs x 15/15/15/15
Machine Preacher Curl - 57.5 lbs x 14/14/10/5
Tricep Pressdown - 70 lbs x 14/14/14/12

Additional NOTES: Good overall session, no complaints here.

[sooby]

C2W3D4 - Lower B
Weight - 172 lbs - Lowest weight thus far

Deadlifts - 260 lbs x 5, 290 lbs x 5, 320 lbs x 2
Meh, this was bad. 290 lbs felt heavy as chit. So when I went to 320 it felt even more heavy. It also didn't really feel right so I didn't push the issue. I just wasn't in the game mentally for some reason that day. I was also using a different bar than usual and the bar didn't feel right either. Will attempt again next week, should be able to get it TBH.

Squats - 195 lbs x 5/5/5
Was supposed to do 8 reps but even these didn't feel right either. These felt heavy as chit.

Ab Wheel - BW x 8/8/8
Back Extensions - 35 lbs x 12/12
Leg Extensions - 120 lbs x 14/14
Leg Curls - 130 lbs x 14/14
Lateral Raises - 5 lbs x 19/19/19/19


Additional NOTES: Just felt like an off-day TBH. I'll chalk it up to many things including being on a cut, heading late to the gym, only having around 6-6 and a half hours of sleep the past few days, chitty bar, etc. Excuses I know but I feel that I need to make a few changes to my scheduling.


Instead of going to the gym at around 9:15 at night, I will attempt to go a bit earlier, perhaps around 5:45, for multiple reasons

- Gym is less packed probably, so I can probably find a bar a lot easier
- This will be right after I eat dinner so I will have the most energy in my system around this time
- I can take my time rather than worrying about trying to finish the workout in a timely manner
- I can manage my time better at home after the workout, rather than making my workout the last thing I do during the day, thus being able to get to sleep on time (goal is to get 7 hours of sleep everyday)

[sooby]

C2W4D1 - Upper A
Weight - 171.6 lbs (lowest on this cut)

Overhead Press - 127.5 lbs x 6
Honestly I'll take this lol. In an ideal world I would have liked 7 reps but I didn't really expect to get any stronger on this.

Bench Press - 165 lbs x 3/3/3, 200 lbs x 2/2
I think my bench press is feeling more comfortable, but I've gotten weak as fuk on it on this cut

Pendlay Rows - 150 lbs x 5/5/5
Pull-Ups - 10 lbs x 5/5/5/5
Face Pulls - 50 lbs x 15/15/15/15
Tricep Pressdown - 70 lbs x 15/15/15/9
Machine Preacher Curl - 57.5 lbs x 15/15/15/5

Additional NOTES: A very good session overall, the reduced volume on the compounds was very welcome at this point lol. 4 more weeks of this cut. I will probably end up around 167 based on how fast i've been cutting, so around 4-5 lbs in 4 weeks.

[sooby]

C2W4D2 - Lower A
Weight - Forgot again lol

Squats - 245 lbs x 5, 245.2 lbs x 5/5/5/5
Did 245 lbs at first but then I decided I really only want to go up by 2.5 lb increments on this cut to avoid stalling and just burning myself out. These felt pretty good actually.

RDL - 140 lbs x 8/8/8
Ab Wheel - BW x 8/8/8
Back Extensions - 35 lbs x 13/13
Leg Curls - 130 lbs x 15/15
Leg Extension - 120 lbs x 15/15
Lateral Raises - 5 lbs x 20/20/20/20


Additional NOTES: Good session overall, felt really good. I think I like these early afternoon workouts.

[sooby]

C2W4D3 - Upper B
Weight - 172.8 lbs

Bench Press - 190 lbs x 6
Definitely could have gotten a 7th rep here but didn't want to push it. Was really pleased with this overall.

Pendlay Rows - 150 lbs x 5/5/5
These felt easy as hell, nice!

Pull-Ups - 10 lbs x 5/5/5/5
DB Incline Press - 50 lbs x 15/15
Face Pulls - 50 lbs x 15/15/15/15
Tricep Pressdown - 70 lbs x 15/15/15/10
Machine Preacher Curl - 57.5 lbs x 15/15/15/6

Additional NOTES: I went to the gym a bit earlier today, around 6:15. Definitely a lot less packed tho still kinda busy. But as long as I get a bar quickly I'm fine with it. Around 7pm is where it starts to get busier but i'm pretty much done my compounds by then. The dumbbell area and cables is kinda busy tho. I just feel like I have a lot more energy because I went after eating dinner and that I'm not pressed for time at the gym so I can get some sleep. Wanted to go a bit earlier then that even. But yeah, this is definitely a positive change overall. Everything moved well and things moved explosively.

[WolfRose7]

Great Session!. Your bench is miles ahead of mine now!

[sooby]

Great Session!. Your bench is miles ahead of mine now!

bench weak as fuk right now but thanks!

[sooby]

C2W4D4 - Lower B
Weight - 170.6 lbs (lowest so far)

Deadlifts - 255 lbs x 5, 285 lbs x 5, 320 lbs x 5
Damn these were pretty tiring. My form remained pretty good throughout but it is definitely the start of where my form would start to break down so I'll probably dial it down a bit. Just try to get more tonnage in.

Squats - 195 lbs x 8/8/8
Man even 8 reps is tiring, after a set of heavy DLs

Ab Wheel - BW x 8/8/8
Back Extensions - 35 lbs x 13/13
Leg Curls - 130 lbs x 15/13
Leg Extensions - 120 lbs x 15/15
Lateral Raises - 5 lbs x 20/20/20/20

Additional NOTES: Went a little bit later than I wanted to but still the gym wasn't as packed and I felt good overall. The deadlifts tired me out quite a bit and I was pretty much done after squats lol. So this was a fairly tough workout overall. A little over 3 weeks to go, honestly can't wait to get off this fukn cut lol. Working hard trying to maintain my rate of weight loss but it's tough. Definitely starting to feel a little weary but 320 lbs x 5 deadlifts is still pretty alright. The accessories especially become very tiring.

[sooby]

C3W1D1 - Upper A
Weight - 171 lbs

Bench Press - 157.5 lbs x 5/5/5/5/5
Easy work

Pendlay Rows - 155 lbs x 5/5/5
Easier work

Overhead Press - 97.5 lbs x 8/8/7/7/5
Not quite easy work but still easy work

Pull-Ups - 15 lbs x 5/5/5/5
Face Pulls - 50 lbs x 15/15/15/15
Tricep Pressdown - 75 lbs x 12/12/12/12
Machine Preacher Curl - 60 lbs x 12/12/12/4

Additional NOTES: Very good session overall, everything moved nicely

[sooby]

Have actually been doing some thinking. I have 3 weeks left till the end of my cut and honestly my lifts aren't at there best for sure. Once I finish the cut I plan to run pretty much a bastardized version of Texas Method with aggressive progression and a large emphasis on the compound movements (with minimal accessories) and lower volume than typical. Also somewhat of an experiment to see how I respond to it. It will look something like this although I may make some changes before then. I will likely run this until I stall on three of the four main lifts (Bench/Squat/OHP/Deadlift). I figure before I run Kizen Training I want to regain as much strength as possible and really get a sense what my strength is when I am eating a respectable amount of calories and not on a cut. Feeling like a novice all over again. Progression at the bottom. I see myself running this for 2 months before I stall on the compounds, perhaps 3 months at most. I included Incline Bench because i am going to run that on Kizen just incase you guys are wondering.


Upper A

Bench Press 5x5 @ 85% 5RM
Incline Bench Press 1x8
Pendlay Rows 5x5
Pull-Ups 4x7
Face Pulls 2x15

Lower A

Squats 5x5 @ 85% 5RM
RDL 3x8
Ab Wheel 3x8
Back Extensions 2x10

Upper B

Bench Press 1x5
Overhead Press 3x5
Pendlay Rows 5x5
Pull-Ups 4x7
Face Pulls 2x15

Lower B

Squats 1x5 (5RM)
Deadlift 1x5 (5RM)
Ab Wheel 3x8
Back Extensions 2x10-13
Bicep Curls 2x7-10
Lateral Raises 2x17-20

Bench Press: Increase 5 lbs every week
Squat: Increase 10 lbs every week
Deadlift: Increase 10 lbs every week
OHP: Increase 2.5 lbs every week
Rows: Increase 5 lbs every week
Incline: Increase 5 lbs every week.
Use 95% of 5 rep max initially, work up to tested 5 rep maxes within 3 weeks

As for numbers I hope to get around these amounts before stalling. Then go from there on Kizen.

205-210x5 on the bench
290-300x5 on the squat
340-350x5 on deadlift
130-135x5 on OHP
185-190x5 on Rows
175-180x8 on Incline

[sooby]

C3W1D2 - Lower A
Weight - 171.8 lbs

Squats - 245 lbs x 5/5/5/5/5
Fuk these felt heavy as chit, heavier than last week despite only moving up by 2.5 lbs. Didn't think I would be able to complete it but manage to do it. It got better as I was doing them but the last set was pretty damn difficult.

RDL - 145 lbs x 8/8/8
Ab Wheel - BW x 9/9/9
Back Extensions - 40 lbs x 10/10
Leg Curls - 60 lbs x 6/6
Lateral Raises - 7.5 lbs x 16/16/16/16
Leg Extension - 120 lbs x 12/12


Additional NOTES: Tough session, managed to complete it though. Hopefully I can continue with progressing on these squats lol.

[sooby]

C3W1D3 - Upper B
Weight - 171.8 lbs

Bench Press - 135 lbs x 8/8, 145 lbs x 6/6, 180 lbs x 7
Felt pretty good, no complaints here whatsoever

DB Incline - 55s x 12/12
Pendlay Row - 155 lbs x 5/5/5/5/5
Pull-Ups - 15 lbs x 5/5/5/5
Face Pulls - 50 lbs x 15/15/15/15
Tricep Pressdown - 75 lbs x 12/12/12/12
Incline DB Curl - 22.5 lbs x 6/6/6/6 (per arm)


Additional NOTES: Nice workout overall.

[sooby]

C3W1D4 - Lower B
Weight - 171 lbs

Deadlifts - 260 lbs x 5, 290 lbs x 5, 310 lbs x 1
Meh, I did 1 rep of 310 and it did not feel good at all. Form didn't feel right, Just wasn't good.

Squats - 200 lbs x 8/8/8
But these went well, can't complain about these

Back Extension - 40 lbs x 10/10
Leg Curls - 140 lbs x 12/12
Leg Extension - 130 lbs x 12/12

Additional NOTES: Meh deadlift session. Well good news is i'm only cutting for 2 more weeks.

[wowter]

Nice work man. Hang in there for those 2 weeks.

[ardee2124]

Which Kizen program are you doing?

[sooby]

Nice work man. Hang in there for those 2 weeks.

thanks!

Which Kizen program are you doing?

not running a Kizen program but i'll do his offseason program once I do a bit of novice progression

[sooby]

C3W2D1 - Upper A
Weight - 169.4 lbs (lowest weight, finally broke 170!)

Bench Press - 157.5 lbs x 6/6/6/6, 175 lbs x 3
Felt alright, I guess.

Overhead Press - 100 lbs x 6/6/6/6
Not too difficult

Pull-Ups - 15 lbs x 5/5/5/5
Pendlay Rows - 160 lbs x 5/5/5
Face Pulls - 50 lbs x 15/15/15/15
Machine Preacher Curl - 60 lbs x 13/13/13/4
Tricep Pressdown - 75 lbs x 13/13/13/5

Additional NOTES: Fairly good session.