Post: #26

I am not really opting for anything. I am doing only 3 because I am simply too tired to do 5 (did workout A today). Even an additional glass of squezzed orange juice did not help much.

Post: #27

End of the 3rd week. Today I did Day 1 exercises:

Squat
3 x 5 x 65 kg - Coach said that my knee lockout is a bit too sudden, i.e. maybe too fast. Too bad that he noticed that at the last set, otherwise I would correct it then and there. But ok, will do it more slowly next time.

Press
3 x 5 x 40 kg - That is it, there is no why I could add 2,5 kg next time. Luckily we have two 0,5 kg plates in the gym so the next time I will do 41 kg.

Deadlift
1 x 5 x 100 kg - First 100 kg! I will continue to add 5 kg each time as long as I can and then proceed to adding 2,5 kg.

Dips for triceps
3 x 5 x BW - Really hard because of previous exercise (DL) and a bit different than dips for chest.

I decided to make small changes to the program, which ironically will make it pretty much original as it was intended. I don't really like flys and dips combination instead of barbell bench press for Day 2, so I will put back bench press, but do it with dumbbells instead. They are much more secure than barbell and I will reap the strength benefits bench press provides.

Another change is adding assistance work to end of workouts, similar to what Irenicus has. So the dips for triceps are added to Day 1 and dumbbell curls for Day 2.

Post: #28

End of 4th week. This is the state of the lifts as of today:

Squat
3 x 5 x 72,5 kg

Press
3 x 5 x 41 kg

Deadlift
1 x 5 x 105 kg

Triceps dips
3 x 6 x BW

Dumbbell bench press
3 x 5 x 17,5 kg

Barbell row
3 x 5 x 45 kg

Dumbbell curls
3 x 10 x 15 kg

Regarding deadlift, 105 kg was manageable, but I felt my hands opening. I will do it with the hook grip in the future. Rippetoe recommends practicing hook grip at the 2nd warmup, so by the time you get to work sets, you will have the idea and feel how they are done.

Post: #29

State of lifts as of today:

Squat
3,5,5 reps of 77,5 kg - Didn't hit 3 x 5 and I started using belt. It is a thick all the way same width belt and it is almost easier to lift with it. But I don't agree I could put more weight on bar because of it. I read somewhere that it is much easier but actually it probably depends on person.

Press
3 x 5 x 42,5 kg - Son of a bitch that was hard! Will do the same weight next time and increase to 43,5 kg after that.

Deadlift
1 x 5 x 100 kg - Archer, but you lifted 10 kg less than last time, why? Yes, my post in the Lifters lounge clarifies this: Post #4072

Triceps dips
3 x 8 x BW

DB bench press
3 x 5 x 20 kg

Rows
3 x 5 x 50 kg

DB curls
3 x 10 x 15 kg - Same as last time.

Post: #30

Squat
2 x 5, 7 x 70 kg

Press
3 x 5 x 43,5 kg

Deadlift
1 x 5 x 100 kg

Triceps dips
3 x 9 x BW

DB bench press
3 x 5 x 22,5 kg

Rows
3 x 5 x 55 kg

DB curls
3 x 10 x 15 kg

Post: #31

Squat
72,5 kg - Still dealing with left hip issues that literally come on/off and that hinders progress. Doesn't matter, in the worst case of adding weight just once per week, I will be much over 100 kg till the end of year.

Press
43,5 kg - Same because I experimented with a bit wider grip and was tired on the Press day.

Deadlift
102,5 kg - Technique is really good now and deload functions as intended.

Chest dips
2 x 8 x BW - I had some issues with DB bench and so I substituted it with cably flys and chest dips, which ironically is pretty much same as I started this program.

Cable fly
3 x 12 x 5 kg - This has much better chest pump than DB fly or DB bench press. Combined with dips and pushups on rest days, it will be sufficient for chest grow.

DB Curls
15 kg - Dealing with minor wrist pain in the right hand because of work in the woods, so I couldn't increase the weight.

Post: #32

(06-08-2018 04:40 AM)sterling_archer Wrote:  Squat
72,5 kg - Still dealing with left hip issues that literally come on/off and that hinders progress. Doesn't matter, in the worst case of adding weight just once per week, I will be much over 100 kg till the end of year.

Nice to see you're staying dedicated and making progress man, good stuff.

I'm just wondering what kind of warmups or flexibility work you're doing before your compound lifts- if you're starting to feel any kinds of aches and pains it's always best to nip these things in the bud early on and learn about what you can do to minimize them before they become any worse.

I personally fucked up my shoulder for a good 6 months or so by not doing any additional shoulder warmup/assistance work and benching/shoulder pressing a lot, so I'm now spending a good 10 minutes before each workout warming up for whatever big lifts I have planned for the day.

Post: #33

Nice stuff, Archer. Glad you're enjoying the dips. They're a personal favorite of mine.

Post: #34

@thebassist
I do various exercises for the whole body, some even resemble yoga stances haha. Unfortunately I only recently learned good hip mobility exercises. I should have seen them before, maybe when I started this program. Anyway, the "damage" has been done already and now it's on me to milk as much as I can from these stretches and help ease the pain and gradually remove it. From what I read about various hip issues like poor flexor mobility and hip inpingement, you don't need surgery; but you are temporarily fucked up and you must do exercises to get rid of these problems. So I stretch each day and observe how pain goes.

@Fortis
I like the dips although I sometimes struggle to keep scapulas retracted and my chest pointing to the floor. I will introduce weight soon. Heard that weighted dips can mess you up, any truth to that?
Also, have you tried cable flys? I couldn't believe that just 5 kg could be so hard. No wonder highest cable weight in my gym is 15 kg, no need for additional machine plates.

Post: #35

Squat
75 kg - Hip issues are again on/off, depends on the moon phase I guess lol.

Press
45 kg - Barely. Don't think I will move further than that for some time.

Deadlift
105 kg

Dips
2 x 10 x BW - Introducing weight next time.

Cable crossover
4 kg - Coach wasn't satisfied with me doing cable fly and said I should do this instead. Weight dropped a bit and exercise is harder than cable fly.

Rows
60 kg - Forgot to mention them last week

Barbell curls
35,5 kg - Couldn't progress with DB curls because of high increments in weight and wrist pain so I started doing this. I am doing it for 4 x 10 reps.

Post: #36

Before starting working out in a gym I measured myself on 22nd of April. Now, two months later (21st of June) I measured myself again to see the difference. I will practice that measuring each 2 months instead of each month because I can see progress more easily.

On the left side of slash are measurements from April and on the right side measurements from today. On the right is the difference.

Bodyfat: 19% / 21% = +2%
Neck: 35,5 / 36 = +0,5 cm
Arm: 31 / 31,5 = +0,5 cm
Forearm: 27 / 27,5 = +0,5 cm
Shoulders: 105,5 / 110 = +4,5 cm
Chest: 90,5 / 93 = +2,5 cm
Waist: 85,5 / 88 = +2,5 cm
Hips: 86,5 / 89 = +2,5 cm
Thigh: 49 / 51 = +2 cm
Calf: 35,5 / 35,5 = 0 cm

Not too happy with raised BF level but I expected this. I mentioned this in Lifter's Lounge, but I used this US Navy calculator for calculating it.

Other measurements are not too noticeable in numbers, but are visually. I gained over 3,5 kg from the April measurement and look better, except waist and hips of course.

Post: #37

Squat
77,5 kg

Press
45 kg - Even though last time I barely managed to do it, today it was very easy to do so I will increase weight next time.

Deadlift
110 kg

Dips
5 kg

Cable crossover
5 kg

Rows
62,5 kg

Barbell curls
32,5 kg - Lowered the weight because now I am doing it strict, back on the wall.

Post: #38

Brief post about my situation with squats.

As you all know, sometime in the recent past (month and more ago) I got up to 77,5 kg on squat and couldn't get it to 80 kg. Somewhere around that time, from what I think was probably slightly bad form, I got the hip inpingement which prevented me from increasing the squat and made the whole thing worse. I wrote in the following weeks that pain goes on and off, and depending on the day, I could hit all reps or not.

I didn't write what I actually did to try to remedy all this since I thought about is as a private experiment which will hopefully be very brief and successful. First thing I did was to squat on Monday and Friday, so 2 days instead of 3. Did it help? Very little. Second thing I did was to put on Wednesday high rep leg press. Did it help? I got a bit stronger in the quads but squat didn't go up and the pain remained. I even tried squatting just 72,5 kg and didn't even hit all reps. Third thing was the last straw. Last week I did 3 times per week leg press instead of squat. Then I said enough of this bullshit.

This program, next program and many others are built around the squat and consider it a king of all exercises. Is that true or not, I don't want to debate, but what I wanted desperately is to squat like any other normal guys do. And then an idea hit me.
What if I try high bar position and ass to grass form, an Olympic style instead of powerlifting low bar style? I conducted extensive research regarding this stuff and bottom line was they are squats like any other, build wicked quads and while you cannot lift as much weight as in low bar squat, they are still kings as low bar squats are.

Today I tried them for first time. I dropped the work set weight from 72,5 kg (last weight used on low bar -.-) to 55 kg. This will help me perfect the movement because of easier weight and since I will probably progress each time 2,5 kg I will be back to 72,5 kg in no time. This was my reaction after doing all sets and reps.



No pain in the hips, knees do not cave in (and I will try to avoid that wherever I can) and I have huge pump in quads even though I used low weight. I can finally squat.

Post: #39

Box Squat
67,5 kg - more like a bench squat, as bench is only thing available.

Overhead Press
42,5 kg - Failed 46 kg for 3 sessions in a row so application automatically deloaded.

Deadlift
115 kg

Dips
10 kg - they are straight in order to hit triceps.

Bench
60 kg - I started doing bench, always observing necessary rules for it.

Rows
70 kg

Preacher curls
30 kg - Stopped with strict ones and started these ones. Most amazing pump ever.

Post: #40

Today is the 2nd month from when I did last measurements. Apparently, aside from little increase in arm girth nothing else increased. I was puzzled by that but the thing is I look better than two months before. My bodyweight is up but my waist and hips are same. I think this is recomposition, am I right?

Post: #41

I started in May, been lifting 3x a week. for about 3 and half months.

Currently at

150lb squat

75 ohp

165 dl

110 Bench press

I have put on about 15lb of weight use to be like 150 before now am 165. My shirts are fitting better, Squats have made my legs thicc. Not doing any arm exercises so they are relatively small. But i feel stronger. You mentioned about waist and hips measurements. I have gained weight there went from a 32 to 34. Since I go 3x I think the two extra days I can begin doing abs/planks and stuff. Starting in September.

Post: #42

(08-22-2018 02:15 AM)sterling_archer Wrote:  Today is the 2nd month from when I did last measurements. Apparently, aside from little increase in arm girth nothing else increased. I was puzzled by that but the thing is I look better than two months before. My bodyweight is up but my waist and hips are same. I think this is recomposition, am I right?

It's going to take a lot longer than you think for noticeable differences in measurements, especially if you are natty. It took me almost a year before I really started seeing results. No doubt you definitely look better, as you lean out into a recomp everything pops into focus. Good job mate, keep killing it.

Post: #43

Are you familiar with Leangains workout routine for muscle gain? Would you say that it is pretty low in volume as it really seems like that when I look at it?

Post: #44

I haven't updated this thread in a while. Here is a short post where I am currently.

Goals and nutrition
I gained 11 kg of mass since beginning of training in April and I stopped bulking two weeks ago. I estimate muscle gain to be 60% of that number. Two weeks ago I started cutting with the goal to lose about 8 kg, which would put me around 70 kg body weight and would probably make me much more aesthetic. After that fat loss, I will start again bulking. I lost over 1 kg of fat during these past two weeks.

Regarding nutrition I am on a leangains intermittent fasting. My fast ends at noon and feeding window lasts until 8 o'clock. I am doing calorie cycling with workout days being higher in calories than rest days, but both days are still under maintenance calorie levels which means easy fat loss. Cardio is walking and occasional cycling to the gym.

Workout routine
RPT routine made according to Berkhan and his clients. Three days per week, high intensity, low volume.

Monday
Deadlift - 3 x 4
OHP - 3 x 6
Barbell Row - 3 x 6
Face Pulls - 3 x 8

Wednesday
Bench Press - 3 x 6
Weighted Dips - 3 x 6
Barbell Curl - 3 x 8
Triceps Pushdown - 3 x 8

Friday
Squat - 3 x 6
Weighted Chin-ups - 3 x 4
Dumbbell Hammer Curl - 3 x 8
Standing Cable Crunch - 3 x 8

Clarification:
First number means number of sets. Second number indicates minimum goal of the first set. Second set is 90% of weight of the first one and third set is 80% of weight of the first one. All sets are AMRAP. What happens in reality is that for example on Deadlift I do lets say 6 reps (minimum goal is 4) and that when I drop the weight on the second set, I would do 7/8 reps and on third set 9. AMRAP sets and low volume is what preserves your strength and even slightly increases it on a cut, so this is perfect way to train during cutting.

Post: #45

What are the weights looking like for the first sets?

Post: #46

Sq: 95 kg (you know the story)
Dl: 140 kg
Bp: 75 kg
Ohp: 47.5 kg
Row: 80 kg
Chinup: 17.5 kg

These I consider most important so I didn't wrote others. Who cares how much I curl.
Anyway, numbers are not high, but I am progressing each time, even on a cut. I am still getting enough leg stimulation with just one squat per week or enough back stimulation with one chinup/deadlift/row per week. All in all, I think I made a good choice and I think I could achieve intermediate goals even on this program until the end of February.
Goals are 140/100/180 kg in sq/bp/dl.