DYELB: The Gainz Train

Health, fitness, and nutrition freaks, lets see those gainz.
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Big Brain Bradley wrote: Thu Dec 06, 2018 4:49 pm Squat shoes. I lift barefoot. am I doing it wrong?
I like squatting and deadlifting barefoot, but I use Cons since they have a flat sole and my gym doesn't allow you to be barefoot. Squat shoes have a flat, but angled sole where the heel sits higher than the toes. This is nice if you have poor ankle mobility. But if you have poor ankle mobility and rely on squat shoes to make depth, you're ignoring the problem instead of working on addressing it.

If you do have poor ankle mobility, but you're working on it and want squat shoes in the meantime, just pop a 2.5lb or 5lb plate under each heel wear your cons (driving shoes are probably nice and flat too), or go barefoot with the plate under there and save yourself $100+.
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All that said, Iron Tanks is running a buy one get one free sale on their Riot and Titan II gym shoes. They average $90 USD.. If anyone wants to go splits on shoes with me, we could each get some nice $45ish gym shoes. Flat sole, good for squats and deadlifts, high top for ankle support, nice padding for comfortability. I had a pair that they shipped me for free on accident and I loved them, but Ava chewed them up when she was a pup. Would definitely be down to grab another pair.

https://www.irontanksgymgear.com/collec ... collection

I'd be swooping up the Titan II in black, but the red and blue look cool too if you're into loud shoes.
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SAWCE wrote: Thu Dec 06, 2018 5:07 pm
Big Brain Bradley wrote: Thu Dec 06, 2018 4:49 pm Squat shoes. I lift barefoot. am I doing it wrong?
I like squatting and deadlifting barefoot, but I use Cons since they have a flat sole and my gym doesn't allow you to be barefoot. Squat shoes have a flat, but angled sole where the heel sits higher than the toes. This is nice if you have poor ankle mobility. But if you have poor ankle mobility and rely on squat shoes to make depth, you're ignoring the problem instead of working on addressing it.

If you do have poor ankle mobility, but you're working on it and want squat shoes in the meantime, just pop a 2.5lb or 5lb plate under each heel wear your cons (driving shoes are probably nice and flat too), or go barefoot with the plate under there and save yourself $100+.
ok, i'll continue to thug it barefoot. :like:
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coogles wrote: Fri Dec 07, 2018 2:11 pm :fuckyeah:Image

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Dat BLOOOO :jimp:
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yaasssss :fuckyeah:
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On week 5 of my program! Been nice regaining the consistency of working out following that string of injuries. :like:
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Got my new plan from my coach. Adding in some extra volumes for arms, shoulders, and legs since those are my weak points. Arms we're adding a triceps exercise at the end of my chest day, and a biceps exercise at the end of my back day. They'll still get trained completely by themselves on one day of the week. Shoulders we're adding in two more exercises that day, one of which will be superset with one of the older lifts I'd been doing. Legs we're splitting out into a quad day and a hamstring/glute day. Adding a little volume for each group to each day since I had been hitting them together as one day and limiting the volume a bit becuase of that.

Fucking pumped to start growing and to be focusing on what I see as my weak points.
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New quad workout was brutal.

Warmed up with two light supersets if extensions and laying hamstring curls..

Squats: 4sets, 10 reps, 275lbs
Hack squat w/narrow foot position: 4 sets, 10 reps, 190lbs on the sled
Smith machine front squats: hadn’t hit these before so just did the bar, 4 sets, 10 reps
Walking lunges: 4 sets, 15 reps each leg, bodyweight
Extensions w/hard contraction: 4 sets. Goal was 20 reps each, but I hit failure before that. Went 17, 15, 13, 13. 55lbs. I finished the 20 reps on each of them, but the res following my posted number were just swinging the weight up to burn them out after failing on being able to hold a contraction up top for a second or two.

Legs are jell-o doing cardio right now.
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That sounds brutal.


My update: one week later..

i repeated my last workout, squats at 300 felt good so time to add 5 lbs to the bar.

Bench felt better but missed last two reps at 202.5, dropped weight off the bar to get in a few more reps for the volume.

Deadlifted 300, did some pullups.... :notbad: way to start the morning. Hopefully I'll get in a workout saturday.
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Big Brain Bradley wrote: Thu Dec 13, 2018 10:01 am That sounds brutal.


My update: one week later..

i repeated my last workout, squats at 300 felt good so time to add 5 lbs to the bar.

Bench felt better but missed last two reps at 202.5, dropped weight off the bar to get in a few more reps for the volume.

Deadlifted 300, did some pullups.... :notbad: way to start the morning. Hopefully I'll get in a workout saturday.
:fuckyeah:
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Moved my rack deads to 375 on Monday night. Definitely felt significantly heavier than 365 the week before, but I also hadn't had a day off from the gym since Sunday 12/9, so fatigue is setting in. I'll keep the weight there next week despite getting all the reps on every set so that I can get more quality reps at the end of the last two sets where I could tell that they suffered on Monday. Trying to keep my ego in check and that progression doesn't have to be in the form of adding weight or reps or sets only, but also in the quality of the reps and sets I'm already doing.

Squats yesterday were similar. Still fatigued from no off days, but I moved up to 285 and got 10, 10, 8, 6.

I'm finally taking today off to recover. I was supposed to be off this past Sunday, but I'd been talking to Michelle and she asked if I could have my off day from the gym fall during the week so we have an actual weeknight together after work one day. Fair enough and easy for me to implement for her. Wednesday will be my planned off day each week, but I'll be able and open to flexing that to a Tuesday or Thursday as needed for our lives.
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Tweaked back this am :(

not in agony but its also not super happy.

I did press 120 lbs :doe: no, maybe i didn't hit all my reps but 120 lb ohp is better.
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Big Brain Bradley wrote:Tweaked back this am :(

not in agony but its also not super happy.

I did press 120 lbs :doe: no, maybe i didn't hit all my reps but 120 lb ohp is better.
:sad:

Back injuries are the worst. I'm super careful now as I never want to go down that road again.

I tried out a belt a couple of times since y'all suggested it. One of the YMCAs I go to here has them, used it on reps of squats and DL and loved it. I'll likely pick one up at some point.
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D Griff wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 2:36 pm
Big Brain Bradley wrote:Tweaked back this am :(

not in agony but its also not super happy.

I did press 120 lbs :doe: no, maybe i didn't hit all my reps but 120 lb ohp is better.
:sad:

Back injuries are the worst. I'm super careful now as I never want to go down that road again.

I tried out a belt a couple of times since y'all suggested it. One of the YMCAs I go to here has them, used it on reps of squats and DL and loved it. I'll likely pick one up at some point.
yea. its a pulled muscle, i felt it. It will heal.
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DL 300X3 last Saturday. It left a mark on the 50 yo bod. Stiff AF on Sunday. Basecamp has been reached. The ascent on 315 has begun.
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Desertbreh wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 3:14 pm DL 300X3 last Saturday. It left a mark on the 50 yo bod. Stiff AF on Sunday. Basecamp has been reached. The ascent on 315 has begun.
:dat:

:fuckyeah:

I got 10 more lbs before i get back to pre broken ankle levels of bro
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Went to a hormone clinic to see about them helping me with growth hormone. Was very open about everything I do, and they said they could help me, but they'd want me to bring my test dose down, and that they can only give me growth hormone peptides rather than actual growth hormone. May go that route, but going to talk to my coach first. I liked some of what she had to say, but of course her goal is going to be more for longevity rather than straight bulking like I want to do, which has it's pros for sure as far as my health is concerned...

Anyways. They measured my test, and I was above the cap of their chart, which goes up to 1600ng/dl, so at least I know the test I'm using is real :lol:
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SAWCE wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 4:24 pm Went to a hormone clinic to see about them helping me with growth hormone. Was very open about everything I do, and they said they could help me, but they'd want me to bring my test dose down, and that they can only give me growth hormone peptides rather than actual growth hormone. May go that route, but going to talk to my coach first. I liked some of what she had to say, but of course her goal is going to be more for longevity rather than straight bulking like I want to do, which has it's pros for sure as far as my health is concerned...

Anyways. They measured my test, and I was above the cap of their chart, which goes up to 1600ng/dl, so at least I know the test I'm using is real :lol:
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Big Brain Bradley wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 4:27 pm
SAWCE wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 4:24 pm Went to a hormone clinic to see about them helping me with growth hormone. Was very open about everything I do, and they said they could help me, but they'd want me to bring my test dose down, and that they can only give me growth hormone peptides rather than actual growth hormone. May go that route, but going to talk to my coach first. I liked some of what she had to say, but of course her goal is going to be more for longevity rather than straight bulking like I want to do, which has it's pros for sure as far as my health is concerned...

Anyways. They measured my test, and I was above the cap of their chart, which goes up to 1600ng/dl, so at least I know the test I'm using is real :lol:
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She did a double take :lolol:
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Starting to get back into the rythym. Worked out twice this week. NY resolutions are shit so why wait.

Progress:
wednesday hit squats for 310! nearly back to pre ankle break weights. Also did deadlifts for 310
Hit almost all my reps on bench at 205. felt real nice honestly.
Pullup game is strong, still making progress.

Today:
squats at 310. I could feel that i didn't have excellent recovery.
press...felt weak af from previous good bench session during warmup. So i did a true 1RM @ 125, then did drops sets for sets of 5, then last set for as many as possible. I got 9 at 95lbs.
Did power cleans at 120 for 5 sets of three, with pullups in between. Not as strong on the pullup game as wednesday, but i overal felt a little weak in the upper body especially.

finished out with 15 minutes of cardio, 2 sets of 6-7 minutes on the rower with some push ups in the middle. True, no bullshit pushups which in itself is an accomplishment.


That being said i need to move onto a different program where i have a 'light day' at least for upper body. I totally felt the lack of recovery today and it affected the ability to do the press workout. 531 is the logical answer but I have to be honest about my ability to not hit the number of workouts per week consistently. So I'm thinking of trying the texas method, which has the advantage of being simple as well.

I am wearing a 2x tshit without looking like a sausage stuffed in it. This is after a week of heavy not giving a shit what i ate, IE lots of carbs, sweets, holiday food. I have some real muscles. that said, i need to lose some mass. I will start with morning cardio a few times a week and go from there. So, maybe i should just stick with the starting strength 'workout' to maintain my strength while i try to lose some fat? We are doing a 'dry january' so no beers and booze for a month and i want to take advantage of it.

Thoughts?
brain go brrrrrr
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Big Brain Bradley wrote: Sat Dec 29, 2018 7:21 pm Starting to get back into the rythym. Worked out twice this week. NY resolutions are shit so why wait.

Progress:
wednesday hit squats for 310! nearly back to pre ankle break weights. Also did deadlifts for 310
Hit almost all my reps on bench at 205. felt real nice honestly.
Pullup game is strong, still making progress.

Today:
squats at 310. I could feel that i didn't have excellent recovery.
press...felt weak af from previous good bench session during warmup. So i did a true 1RM @ 125, then did drops sets for sets of 5, then last set for as many as possible. I got 9 at 95lbs.
Did power cleans at 120 for 5 sets of three, with pullups in between. Not as strong on the pullup game as wednesday, but i overal felt a little weak in the upper body especially.

finished out with 15 minutes of cardio, 2 sets of 6-7 minutes on the rower with some push ups in the middle. True, no bullshit pushups which in itself is an accomplishment.


That being said i need to move onto a different program where i have a 'light day' at least for upper body. I totally felt the lack of recovery today and it affected the ability to do the press workout. 531 is the logical answer but I have to be honest about my ability to not hit the number of workouts per week consistently. So I'm thinking of trying the texas method, which has the advantage of being simple as well.

I am wearing a 2x tshit without looking like a sausage stuffed in it. This is after a week of heavy not giving a shit what i ate, IE lots of carbs, sweets, holiday food. I have some real muscles. that said, i need to lose some mass. I will start with morning cardio a few times a week and go from there. So, maybe i should just stick with the starting strength 'workout' to maintain my strength while i try to lose some fat? We are doing a 'dry january' so no beers and booze for a month and i want to take advantage of it.

Thoughts?
Go with an advanced novice program where you take your middle training day and use it as a light day.
This way you are still moving up in weight on say Monday and Friday, but Wednesday is lighter for recovery. Full weekend between Friday and Monday should give adequate recovery time.
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Big Brain Bradley wrote: Sat Dec 29, 2018 7:21 pm Starting to get back into the rythym. Worked out twice this week. NY resolutions are shit so why wait.

Progress:
wednesday hit squats for 310! nearly back to pre ankle break weights. Also did deadlifts for 310
Hit almost all my reps on bench at 205. felt real nice honestly.
Pullup game is strong, still making progress.

Today:
squats at 310. I could feel that i didn't have excellent recovery.
press...felt weak af from previous good bench session during warmup. So i did a true 1RM @ 125, then did drops sets for sets of 5, then last set for as many as possible. I got 9 at 95lbs.
Did power cleans at 120 for 5 sets of three, with pullups in between. Not as strong on the pullup game as wednesday, but i overal felt a little weak in the upper body especially.

finished out with 15 minutes of cardio, 2 sets of 6-7 minutes on the rower with some push ups in the middle. True, no bullshit pushups which in itself is an accomplishment.


That being said i need to move onto a different program where i have a 'light day' at least for upper body. I totally felt the lack of recovery today and it affected the ability to do the press workout. 531 is the logical answer but I have to be honest about my ability to not hit the number of workouts per week consistently. So I'm thinking of trying the texas method, which has the advantage of being simple as well.

I am wearing a 2x tshit without looking like a sausage stuffed in it. This is after a week of heavy not giving a shit what i ate, IE lots of carbs, sweets, holiday food. I have some real muscles. that said, i need to lose some mass. I will start with morning cardio a few times a week and go from there. So, maybe i should just stick with the starting strength 'workout' to maintain my strength while i try to lose some fat? We are doing a 'dry january' so no beers and booze for a month and i want to take advantage of it.

Thoughts?
My thoughts are that you may have been dieting and lifting for too long to keep seeing strength gains while seeing body fat drop. There's lots of literature, and anecdotal evidence, that shows that you can't build mass (or strength) while dieting for a long period of time, and people who have been working out longer are more susceptible to this. Complete NOOBS can definitely build muscle while burning fat since their body isn't used to either of those stimuli, but yours has long since adapted to both diets and lifting weights.

I think you need to choose a goal, either losing fat or building muscle, and chase it for a good 6-12 months, and then switch gears for a bit to chase the other and provide a new stimulus.

If you go for fat loss, you don't need to stop lifting at all. If anything, I'd try to lift more often.. you just have to accept that chasing PRs isn't gonna happen. I was on a boat load of drugs, tracking every piece of food down to the gram, and hitting the gym twice a day for 16 weeks, and my squat went from 4 sets of 315 in the 6-10 rep range down to 275 for that same range. As a natural lifter, your drop will be even more substantial if you're actually dieting hard enough to lose a substantial amount of fat.

If you go for strength, just track your calories closer, find out how many you need to sustain your body weight, and hit that number +100-200 and have that excess come from lean protein and a few extra carbs around your workout. It'll be enough to maintain like we said, plus just a bit extra to fuel your workout and provide some material to recover from your workouts and maybe build new muscle with. It won't be so much that you gain much, if any, fat with it. If you're gaining more than half a pound a week, you're overdoing it.

Those are my thoughts. I know it sucks to hear, but you've been at this for a long time and I would hate to see you spin your wheels, especially if that leads to you getting frustrated and giving up on it all together.

Although if that happens, I'll cover shipping costs for you to send me your home gym set up :like:
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SAWCE wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 2:34 pm
Big Brain Bradley wrote: Sat Dec 29, 2018 7:21 pm Starting to get back into the rythym. Worked out twice this week. NY resolutions are shit so why wait.

Progress:
wednesday hit squats for 310! nearly back to pre ankle break weights. Also did deadlifts for 310
Hit almost all my reps on bench at 205. felt real nice honestly.
Pullup game is strong, still making progress.

Today:
squats at 310. I could feel that i didn't have excellent recovery.
press...felt weak af from previous good bench session during warmup. So i did a true 1RM @ 125, then did drops sets for sets of 5, then last set for as many as possible. I got 9 at 95lbs.
Did power cleans at 120 for 5 sets of three, with pullups in between. Not as strong on the pullup game as wednesday, but i overal felt a little weak in the upper body especially.

finished out with 15 minutes of cardio, 2 sets of 6-7 minutes on the rower with some push ups in the middle. True, no bullshit pushups which in itself is an accomplishment.


That being said i need to move onto a different program where i have a 'light day' at least for upper body. I totally felt the lack of recovery today and it affected the ability to do the press workout. 531 is the logical answer but I have to be honest about my ability to not hit the number of workouts per week consistently. So I'm thinking of trying the texas method, which has the advantage of being simple as well.

I am wearing a 2x tshit without looking like a sausage stuffed in it. This is after a week of heavy not giving a shit what i ate, IE lots of carbs, sweets, holiday food. I have some real muscles. that said, i need to lose some mass. I will start with morning cardio a few times a week and go from there. So, maybe i should just stick with the starting strength 'workout' to maintain my strength while i try to lose some fat? We are doing a 'dry january' so no beers and booze for a month and i want to take advantage of it.

Thoughts?
My thoughts are that you may have been dieting and lifting for too long to keep seeing strength gains while seeing body fat drop. There's lots of literature, and anecdotal evidence, that shows that you can't build mass (or strength) while dieting for a long period of time, and people who have been working out longer are more susceptible to this. Complete NOOBS can definitely build muscle while burning fat since their body isn't used to either of those stimuli, but yours has long since adapted to both diets and lifting weights.

I think you need to choose a goal, either losing fat or building muscle, and chase it for a good 6-12 months, and then switch gears for a bit to chase the other and provide a new stimulus.

If you go for fat loss, you don't need to stop lifting at all. If anything, I'd try to lift more often.. you just have to accept that chasing PRs isn't gonna happen. I was on a boat load of drugs, tracking every piece of food down to the gram, and hitting the gym twice a day for 16 weeks, and my squat went from 4 sets of 315 in the 6-10 rep range down to 275 for that same range. As a natural lifter, your drop will be even more substantial if you're actually dieting hard enough to lose a substantial amount of fat.

If you go for strength, just track your calories closer, find out how many you need to sustain your body weight, and hit that number +100-200 and have that excess come from lean protein and a few extra carbs around your workout. It'll be enough to maintain like we said, plus just a bit extra to fuel your workout and provide some material to recover from your workouts and maybe build new muscle with. It won't be so much that you gain much, if any, fat with it. If you're gaining more than half a pound a week, you're overdoing it.

Those are my thoughts. I know it sucks to hear, but you've been at this for a long time and I would hate to see you spin your wheels, especially if that leads to you getting frustrated and giving up on it all together.

Although if that happens, I'll cover shipping costs for you to send me your home gym set up :like:
Yea, the bolded. Thanks for the well thought out response.

I think I will get my squat back to 315 for that 6 plate life, even though I dont have 6 plates lol. Should happen this week. Pulled 315 the other day. This matched my PR's from before my ankle break.
I'll focus on losing some fat for a few months and keeping some strength. Then reset and go from there.
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Big Brain Bradley wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 2:05 pm
SAWCE wrote: Mon Dec 31, 2018 2:34 pm

My thoughts are that you may have been dieting and lifting for too long to keep seeing strength gains while seeing body fat drop. There's lots of literature, and anecdotal evidence, that shows that you can't build mass (or strength) while dieting for a long period of time, and people who have been working out longer are more susceptible to this. Complete NOOBS can definitely build muscle while burning fat since their body isn't used to either of those stimuli, but yours has long since adapted to both diets and lifting weights.

I think you need to choose a goal, either losing fat or building muscle, and chase it for a good 6-12 months, and then switch gears for a bit to chase the other and provide a new stimulus.

If you go for fat loss, you don't need to stop lifting at all. If anything, I'd try to lift more often.. you just have to accept that chasing PRs isn't gonna happen. I was on a boat load of drugs, tracking every piece of food down to the gram, and hitting the gym twice a day for 16 weeks, and my squat went from 4 sets of 315 in the 6-10 rep range down to 275 for that same range. As a natural lifter, your drop will be even more substantial if you're actually dieting hard enough to lose a substantial amount of fat.

If you go for strength, just track your calories closer, find out how many you need to sustain your body weight, and hit that number +100-200 and have that excess come from lean protein and a few extra carbs around your workout. It'll be enough to maintain like we said, plus just a bit extra to fuel your workout and provide some material to recover from your workouts and maybe build new muscle with. It won't be so much that you gain much, if any, fat with it. If you're gaining more than half a pound a week, you're overdoing it.

Those are my thoughts. I know it sucks to hear, but you've been at this for a long time and I would hate to see you spin your wheels, especially if that leads to you getting frustrated and giving up on it all together.

Although if that happens, I'll cover shipping costs for you to send me your home gym set up :like:
Yea, the bolded. Thanks for the well thought out response.

I think I will get my squat back to 315 for that 6 plate life, even though I dont have 6 plates lol. Should happen this week. Pulled 315 the other day. This matched my PR's from before my ankle break.
I'll focus on losing some fat for a few months and keeping some strength. Then reset and go from there.
Nice man!
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