Cardio? You mean running to the squat rack?

[El Exorcisto]

So I've called off my current challenge after cutting a bunch of weight and finally hitting a bit of a wall. I'm giving my metabolism a break and getting back to the business of getting swole and strong as fuck.

 

Today was deadlift day:

 

5/3/1 week deadlift working up to a triple at 300, my lower back was feeling a bit wonky so I held off on going for any joker sets today.

 

Reverse light band front squats: 5@ 135, 5@ 185, and 10@ 135

     I was just trying these out and they felt really awesome on the quads and upper back. I think I'm going to start doing them

     for deadlift assistance weekly with one warmup set and a burnout set to near-failure.

 

Fat-grip barbell static holds: 3@ 145

     I didn't time them, but I know I held for a lot longer than last week at 135.

 

Band hyperextensions with a light band: 1 failure set to 25. My erectors feel like they're a pair of 4x4's strapped to my back. I

     do love me a good pump.

 

Now it's time to go eat something!

[El Exorcisto]

Led with the Simple 6. Since I started doing it my shoulders have felt incredible.

 

5/3/1 week clean and press up to 5 @ 133 and they felt really great

Banded dips, 10 each with light, monster mini, and mini bands. I'm just going to use minis next week.

T-bar row strip set, 8 @ 145, 120, 95, and 70 with no rest. I'll take the last set to failure next week. I dont feel much in my lats but I'll

     let tomorrow morning be the judge of whether they felt enough to matter.

Straight bar curls, 2x10 and 1x8 (failed) @ 55

Standing two-hand DB triceps extensions, 25 and 13 @ 30.

     I'm going to do these one handed next week. I'm feeling a much bigger pump in my right triceps than my left.

[Flex Luthor]

I laughed out loud at the title of this log. Good luck. Put in work son.

[ORazor]

Go buy some smaller shirts, and then you can practice hulking out of them. That way, when you are super beefy in a couple months, it won't catch you off guard. There's nothing worse than an inexperienced hulker. Form is everything.

[El Exorcisto]

Holy shit, dude! I hadn't even thought about needing to work on my Hulkamania skillz.

[Waldo]

Why do you think broz are always flexing in the mirror?  That shit ain't easy, it takes a lot of practice to perfect.

[El Exorcisto]

Like you don't throw up a front double biceps every time you get out of the shower, Waldo...

 

On a less bro-esque note I just rigged up a high pulley in my power rack. Now my wife can do real lat pull-downs instead of an ugly band setup and I can swap out standing extensions for push-downs.

[ORazor]

Look at you, being all husbandy.

[El Exorcisto]

She wants to get on the physique stage in a year. I'll be damned if I'll do anything to prevent my somewhat squishy wife from getting cut up and sexy as fuck.

[El Exorcisto]

I started greasing the groove on my chins yesterday afternoon. I'm doing three per set and got 30 in. My arms are kind of tore up today, I'll feel out if they really need a break or not.

 

I'm not feeling a thing in my lats this morning so I think I'll do a couple sets of heavy t-bar rows before doing the failure strip set next week.

[El Exorcisto]

7 sets of 3 chins and dips today done roughly hourly. My arms and shoulders aren't happy about it but it got done. I'll give them a break an dget back at it on Sunday.

[momoxstarx]

Awesome title! You might've called off your challenge, but this could be as well a different kind of non-challenge.

Love the attitude, keep it up!

posted from my awesome G2 using Tapatalk... probably goofing off at work or on the throne.

[El Exorcisto]

5 week box squats up to 8 @ 220

Reverse band box squats, 6 @ 220 and 10 @ 185 with light bands

14" step-ups holding 25 lb plates 3x5 no rest

 

I haven't felt like this is since I was doing heavy ass farmer's walks. The RB squats were supposed to be 5x10 ala the BBB template but at my heavy work set but that just isn't happening. They are way more grueling than just loading up to 50% and knocking out sets of 10. After the second set it felt like my legs were about to explode and my lungs felt like I was gargling napalm. I crashed down onto the box and caught my breath for an easy 15 minutes after I racked the bar... fuck I'm weak. Just to finish off my quads I decided on a near-failure set of step-ups so I switched every 5 reps and kept going til I almost tipped over. I liked them, but I'll pobably load up 60 or so on my dumbbells next week. I'm going to hurt very, very badly tomorrow.

[El Exorcisto]

I finally found my tape and figured some baselines going into this bulk were in order.

 

Neck: 15 1/4

Shoulders: 47

Chest: 40 1/2

R Arm: 13

R Forearm: 11 1/2

Waist: 38 1/2

Hips: 36 1/2

R Thigh 23 1/4

R Calf 16

 

While I was cutting my hips stayed the same, my forearms and shoulders went up 1/2", and everything else dropped to varying degrees.

[Flex Luthor]

Weak is a relative term my friend. Improvement is what counts.

[El Exorcisto]

*Pointing to signature*

[El Exorcisto]

5 week bench press up to 8 @ 145

Reverse band bench press, 5x10 @ 145 with light bands

Superset with a bunch of chins and pull-ups with mini and monster-mini bands

Fat hammer curls 10, 8, 8 @ 30

 

My left arm is a lot more pumped than my right, so I'm hoping my right/left imbalance is going to start taking care of itself. The benching went uneventfully and the reverse band work felt really good. I'm having a hard time getting my chest involved in my bench so I'm really only feeling it in my triceps and front delts. The fat hammer curls were a good finisher to get my arms blown up and full of blood.

[ORazor]

Broseph,

 

I was expecting pictures of those ridiculous means you always mentioned in my channels.  EAT MOAR AND POST PICTURES!

 

Regards,

O

[El Exorcisto]

Epic meal time is on hold for a little while. I'm downregulated at the moment so I need to work back up to what I was eating before lest I pack on the fat along with dem gainz.

[Waldo]

Wow, you've got some big ol calves relative to your arms.

How do you measure your shoulders? Do you measure that by yourself?

Use caution with lots of GTG chins. Bicep tendonitis is a thing and it really sucks, and tends to linger for a while. If you get a pain near your elbows and/or shoulders that peaks just after your set, dial back on the overall volume and stop the day's bicep/pulling work.

[El Exorcisto]

I do all my own measurements. I have a retracting tape instead of just a tailor's tape so it helps but my shoulders are a pain in the ass. I end up taking three and getting an average.

 

I've always had a pair of calves like easter hams. They are pretty lean, too with a 5mm skinfold on the inside of my right gactroc and a split about 3/4" deep.

 

I've had proximal biceps tendonitis before I got on top of my shoulder mobility so I know all about it. I'm only doing GTG chins on my days off that I'm not training, so the volume isn't going to be that high.

[El Exorcisto]

And there's the biceps tendonitis now... I'm thinking that much volume of bench and chin-ups was too much of a good thing all at once. I think I'll swap my rows on press day for the chins on bench day since overhead work never bothers my shoulders. I'll drop the 5x10 reverse band work too in favor of some neutral-position DB bench and some pushdowns.

[El Exorcisto]

I just realized I've never thrown progress pics up on here...

 

Start of the trip, 186 pounds of cookie dough, March 2013:

 

Start of the first cut, 202 pounds, November 2013:

 

A few days into the bulk, January 2014:

 

I'm figuring after another three months of eating I'll do a six week cut and try to get down to ab country. Regardless that's the time table I have to stick to so I can be eating properly to have 3 months of training for my first Strongman comp in August.

[ORazor]

I don't know anything about this stuff, but I don't think that you are all that far from ab country.  It looks like at this point your overall body shape is pretty good compared to the first picture.  Great work on the biceps.

 

By the way, you look seriously strong.  Like the kind of strong that fights bears on the side of mountains, not the kind that puts on fake tans and prances around in their underwear.  I while I think you could do the later if you focused on it, I think this will increasingly become a better and better look for you.

[El Exorcisto]

I'm training for Strongman and powerlifting. Being blocky and lean is where I want to eventually land.