Let me know what you think of the belt - I'm stuck between ordering a L and XL - I feel like I'm right in the middle and would prefer the L for a more snug fit but I'd hate to gain 5-10 pounds and it not fit.

Will do. I tried to border on a bit too big so I had some room to grow as I put on what I hope is muscle mass.

LOVE the belt, it's obviously very high quality leather. Looking forward to using it for years. They also ship from Longview so it arrived quickly for me in DFW. The large fit me, I got it snug but not too tight, for a 196lb 6' 2" male that meant I was on the 3rd from the tightest notch with 6 notches to "grow into."

In other news, failed at overhead press on the very last rep this morning. First failure I've had. Gonna get all 5 sets next time. I'm also still working to get the technique down. Trying to follow Mark Rippetoe's advice on that one.



I know I don't have it down yet because I'm feeling some compression in my spine when I lift it over my head. Anyone else ever feel that happen and how did you combat it?

fav13andac1)c said:

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Reached 400 lbs SBD today.

135 lb squat
105 lb bench press
160 lb deadlift

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Hit 500 lbs SBD this morning!

175 lb squat
125 lb bench press
205 lb deadlift

Weight on squat is definitely feeling heavier than it was a few weeks ago, but it's like the perceived effort stays the same every lift. At the time, 150 felt just as difficult as 175 does now. Hope that makes sense. But 135 is my warmup weight now and feels easy! Ha.

I am awful at OHP but some things that have helped me:

-Embrace the 1.25 pound plates. I started going up in 2.5 pound increments instead of 5 when I was plateauing on 5x5.

-Suicide grip helps me stack the bar over my elbows better

-Play around with the width of your grip and notice the difference it makes in where your elbows align under your wrists throughout the pressing motion

-Record yourself from the side so you can watch your bar path and make sure it isn't getting too far out in front of you and is stacked over your body

Great advice. I'll give those a shot. Thanks.

Week 14 progress. Still going strong, one day at a time.

Inspiring stuff! Way to go!

Wow! Impressive work!

Yup. Looks like you are one of those guys who can look at weights and get bigger and stronger.

Good for you! (Im jealous).

He's on that new supplement called Osmosis. Just looks at a dumbbell and gets bigger

Honestly I think the most important thing I've been doing is diet.

What did you change on your diet? Definitely see you have leaned out a lot.

So I had a pretty good split going and I went hard for about 3 months without taking a deload. This past week I got sick, generally felt out of whack, etc. I think I had overtrained, because I've been on my anchor program for about a week which is less volume and I feel so much better - more energy, better mood, everything. I didn't even realize how dragged I felt until I had been snapped out of it.

My program had me doing 3 days a week on a 4 day split, so every other week I was either squatting twice a week w/ 1 deadlift day or deadlifting twice a week with one squat day and then same for bench/OHP. It seemed like the squats are what really sent me into a tailspin and usually require the most recovery for me.

I really liked the split and am hoping maybe just throwing in a deload week would have helped, but it got me to thinking I should probably try to throttle down the next block and see if I can still make progress with a little less CNS overload.

I'm pretty happy with my bench and OHP, so I'm thinking I will keep one of those days but then switch out the other day for dumbbell work to have less overall weight/volume. I plan to keep the deadlifting the same, but for squats I am thinking instead of doing all low bar to mix in some high bar, heel elevated squats to 1.) get some more focused quad work in and 2.) decrease the weight and decrease my overall volume. I'm hoping this takes a little bit off of the overall fatigue.

And then this time, I would train 2 months, do a deload, and then decide if I wanted to do another month or finish off the training block with an anchor program. I think I have the most potential for gain with my lower body lifts so I'm OK focusing on them more heavily for a training block or two.

TLDR; Would dropping extra barbell work on bench/OHP and subbing in dumbbells and then taking probably about 10-15% off the overall volume with squats by switching out 2nd squat day low bar for high bar/heel elevated squats lead to a substantial decrease in my overall fatigue?

I know I need to tone it down a little from my last block and maybe a deload week would've helped, but I don't want to get into a habit of two steps forward, one step back and want to make sure I'm programming for the long term.

Using cardio equipment like the good Lord intended - as a chair

Honestly- maximizing protein and eliminating basically all junk food and sugar. No empty calories.

I rarely shop the "middle aisles" of the grocery store anymore.

Now, I do treat myself to one cheat meal per week but that's it. Just one meal. It keeps me sane.

Hydration and sleep have also played critical roles.

Anyone have experience with a personal trainer?

I'm talking with a guy who's a dietician and personal trainer. He would coach me online and then workout with me once every two weeks and adjust my workouts accordingly and put me on a diet plan to follow.

It's not cheap - but I'm thinking it may be worth it for 6 months or so.

Bro, Im sure others will chime in here, but I would suggest you taking a look at the "Strength" side of things.

Ie, Squat, Bench, Deadlift, OHP. You are a sturdy dude and you may see some pretty awesome numbers and gains.

Starting Strength, Garage Gym Warrior, GreySkull all may be good choices here.

As for online coaching, depends on where you found them. You really don't need a coach to tell you to do bicep curls. You may need a coach there in the beginning to teach you about the finer points of squats or deadlifts.

I think personal trainers are great if you:

1) need someone to hold you accountable (I would argue this is 90% of folks if not more)
2) don't have the knowledge/skill to build a program
3) need someone to help you with form - this could be beginner or competitive
4) don't want to spend the time "learning" how to program
5) have an insurmountable plateau in your program

If you've gotten this far and feel like it's not a dedication problem anymore but simply a lack of experience or knowledge, there are plenty of resources to get you into the next phase/level that are cheaper and better. Hell, I still get tips and advice from YouTube (very select people) and I have been doing this for more than 20 years.

Your money to spend but if you've made it this far and don't feel like you're lacking anywhere, I would probably avoid it.

This to me depends on your long term goals.

There's so much information available online that should easily get you through the first year or two of lifting.

But if you have lofty goals, like heavy totals, a shredded BF%, or learning the Olympic lifts, or you really want to push the envelope in some other way, then maybe.

Or if you think spending the $$ will be added motivation to be more disciplined and diligent, that is cool too.

Personally, I don't see the value in it, but I have also invested dozens of hours into studying it all at this point. I could see how if you didn't have the free time or didn't want to make learning about it all your hobby that a trainer would bring value.

Just my 2 cents. And obviously, there's a TON of "trainers" out there, so if I ever did pursue that path I would definitely look to someone with some skins on the wall.

Quote:

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And obviously, there's a TON of "trainers" out there, so if I ever did pursue that path I would definitely look to someone with some skins on the wall.

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Not saying this is how I feel about every trainer, but it's certainly for the majority of them

Thanks all

The number of "routines" I see that are some kind of circuit training I would've thrown together in middle school are frightening.

It's like yeah, doing literally anything will work for the person who is just getting off the couch, but then they wonder why they aren't making any more progress after 6 months.

The amount of programs I have seen from online coaches - aka some instagram influencer that is early 20s and likely on gear - that is hilariously bad blows my mind.

But this younger generation just looks at someone and goes "that dude/chick is shredded/yoked, they know what they're doing" and couldn't care less about actual knowledge or their use of gear.

CC09LawAg said:

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It's like yeah, doing literally anything will work for the person who is just getting off the couch, but then they wonder why they aren't making any more progress after 6 months.

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This is actually what I'm trying to get out in front of

CC09LawAg said:

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This to me depends on your long term goals.

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This is the question you need to ask yourself.

What do you want your body to be able to do - now and 10, 20, 30 years from now?

What are you looking for? Strength, hypertrophy, bodybuilding, powerlifting, general well being?

Depending on that, I think there are enough of us here with different styles and goals that we could recommend tried and true beginner to beginner/intermediate programs that are free or the cost of a $20 book.

You know what's funny, I think I'm so new to this that I'm not even 100% sure what my goals are.

My goal is to work out today and continue to get 1% better each day. That's kind of my mindset right now.

That said, long term, I think hypertrophy and just maintaining an overall "fit" looking body is my goal. I know that's broad but hopefully that makes sense.

I don't want to get huge, but I want people to look at me and think "oh that guy works out".

I will sound like a broken record, but my #1 recommendation to anyone getting into it is Stronglifts 5x5.

It's as simple as can be, it works for a year or so, and teaches you the big 3 compound lifts.

By the time you start to plateau, you will have gained confidence and understanding of progressive overload, banged out a ton of reps to learn proper form on the big 3 lifts, and will realize that when it comes to strength training, simple is oftentimes better and keeps you from getting bit from the training ADD bug where you jump from exercise to exercise and don't make progress.

From there, you have a good, solid foundation of strength where you can branch out and start to try different ways of doing things. It gives you time to make progress and requires very little thinking - so instead of stressing over your current workouts, you can use that time to think about the future and what type of exercises you might enjoy doing.

I've been a big fan of "number go up" games since the OG COD MW2 days, so SL 5x5 has activated that part of my brain to motivate me to keep coming back. In combination with enough protein and sleep, the body is just an unlockable achievement once I get enough XP weight on the bar.

This is what I was getting at as well texasaggie2015.

Getting stronger is never a waste of time. Learning to squat, deadlift, bench, and OHP properly is never a waste of time. Jacking around with some ill-thought out "bro split" (not that it can't work), where you just spin your wheels for months making no progress, can be a waste of time.

What do y'all suggest is the best way to get down to 12% BF (I'm in the 18% range) without losing strength? I'm ok not gaining strength for a while, but I don't want to lose. Minor calorie deficit and Zone 2 walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes 3-5X per week?

I did drug free bodybuilding 15 years ago, but when leaning out did lose a lot of strength (did lose the fat too quick). I was also 28 so that made it easier as well (although testosterone is near 1000 since I'm on clomiphene).

Man that is a tough one. Up until recently, my bench and squat were almost always better the more I weighed. In fact, I could tell if I was below 245 by how those workouts went in a given week. That hasn't been the case here recently and I have returned to PR on both and am under 245. I was probably 18-20 over 245 and am now probably 15-16 - pretty sure I have added muscle mass.

I personally wouldn't get into much of a deficit, at least at first. Maybe increase walking/light cardio but keep your intake the same and make sure you're hitting your protein goals. You'll start dropping BF that way but it won't be drastic.

I'm not really sure how being on Clomid is going to impact this but imagine it would limit the strength loss?

Yea, I have noticed being on clomid and ultimately having high testosterone has made it easier to gain strength without adding too much fat. So hopefully I can get to the 12% range. While my wife says I look great to her as is, I did get it out of her that being leaner would notch it up just a bit (as long as I don't lose strength, she likes that!). So my motivation is to look good but to look good for her!

I am currently 217 lbs, and did get down to 207 and noticed strength starting to struggle at 207. But I do think I got to 207 too quick before.

I haven't been able to figure out getting passed the 12-15% range.