Waldo

A little bit of both. I mean the trip does give a time bound, but even without it I probably would be doing something very similar. I do have a lot of historical data though: This will be my 8th tracked bulk, I did another in 2015 that I didn't track (between #6 and #7). #5 had a lot of issues, including drastically changing the way I did a lot of measurements, which messed up the lbm calc, but really I didn't gain any muscle mass of note that round (gaining is a bit like losing in that you reverse whoosh, its like muscle is slowly built over time, and then inflated somewhat quickly, it just crossed over from one bulk to the next that time). 7-8 weeks allows for a relatively high frequency bulk-cut, so much so that its unlikely your spouse would notice the fat change. At my typical gain rate in that time I'll gain 1/2"-3/4" in the waist; a typical 2 week cut I lose 3/4" in the waist. The idea with those timings is to be reducing body fat level with each cycle, even if only 0.5% bf. It adds up. #3-#6 were basically continuous, just short cuts in-between, I was notably leaner by the end though; #3 started with me at 158.6 lbs lbm and 28.7 lbs fm, the short cut after #6 (basically a year later) finished with me at 174.0 lbs lbm and 26.1 lbs fm. I usually bulk at a target of 3K calories net. #3 included a ramp up period that was a little lower and it seemed to be some really clean gains. This time I'm keeping the calories lower (2800 net) to try to emulate it, see if I can't gain a little cleaner, even though I've not had issues with excessive fat gain.

I've been traveling for work again these last few days, to Washington DC. I was able to log my food and exercise, but its nowhere near as accurate as usual. I stayed in the area of maintenance (2513, 2465 net cals), backed off from surplus, since I didn't train at all. I intended to on Tue; get in some DB bench at least at the hotel, but it was a nice evening so I went on walkabout for about 2 hours, starting by the Lincoln memorial. I walked about 4 miles total. I did manage to mostly avoid alcohol, only getting a single beer each night with my dinner (hard to avoid that one when eating at the bar). Now that I'm home I'll do the regularly scheduled workouts remaining this week, then repeat this week next week. This is the 5 week in the 351 sequence.

I decided to go full go on tonight's workout with pulling exercises, see how the elbows respond. The curling test I did on Tue went good. I'm still modifying the forms to avoid all hands facing me pulling and staying unloaded, but that's fine, no impact to overall progress. Workout Log - 9.9.22 Overhead Press (Kneeling) 50 - 5 60 - 5 75 - 3 85 - 3 95 - 3 110 - 3 That 110 set was pretty easy. All this weight changing is definitely going to take some getting used to. Seated DB Overhead Press 50 - 10, 10 I'm strict about no arching form on these, that's what incline bench is for. 45 degree Incline DB Bench Press 50 - 10, 10, 10 I'm still working through these feeling awkward, it gets better notably though between the first and last set. Lots of form cues that I miss that first set. Pullup Chin over Bar - 5, 5 Chest to Bar - 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 Chin over Bar - 10, 10, 10 Wasn't sure how to deal with those early 531 sets that are super easy (these are done together, but not a true superset, I give it a minute), so I did 2 warmup chin over bar sets. The 3 sets of chin over bars at the end were notably rougher on the elbows/forearms than the chest to bar pulls. I'm going to add reps to the chest to bar sets, I wanted to see how the dropoff went over 5 sets. Chest to bar pulls have positive bar contact, usually right in the middle of my chest. It took me a while to master the form back in the day, pulling with an open elbow, but its like riding a bike to get back in that groove. Chest to bar pulls "feel" right (unlike db incline bench). DB Hammer Curl 35 - 10/10, 10/10 DB Wrist Curl + Finger Roll 35 - 10/10, 9/9 DB Reverse Wrist Curl 12 - 10/10, 10/10 Wrist Rotations Broom - 10/10, 10/10 DB forearm and bicep series should be rehab for the elbows. The hammer curls don't irritate the elbows at all. Broom is way easier on the left side than right, hits the soreness causing the elbow issue directly. I figured out that if I lead with my pinky fingers my left side doesn't crack each rep on the reverse wrist curls.

Raising cals this week has been very noticeable. The scale shot up a few pounds, into the 202 area the last few days. If I look at my weight chart for the year, I had a 5 lb avg, 7 lbs gross hi/low shift up when I raised cals for the longer 3 week diet break I did in Feb, before the gain stopped. That's where I am with this raise from the low point of the cut. The 2 week period at 2700 clearly was very close to maintenance, it took my body much longer than a typical diet break (where I definitely eat a surplus) to start producing leptin, and glycogen refill was only partial even after 2 weeks. I didn't feel like I was in a surplus, either working out or when eating, and recovery seemed if anything subpar. Measurements stalled out and reversed a little the 2nd week at 2700. That's not what happened this week, just 100 more cals, taking me soundly into surplus, has gone totally different. I have that surplus energy; hard to sit still. Feeling full, no interest in snacking outside of meal times. I'm waking up feeling much more physically refreshed. Despite the increased volume in workouts this week, I haven't been dragging at all by the end. Measurements this week showed the jump in weight. My waist gained 1/8". Took 3 weeks for the transient 1/8" to appear. Almost always raising cals causes it (and vice versa), stuff in the guts and whatnot. Actual measurable fat gain is still hopefully a ways away. My arms didn't gain anything this week. Makes sense, given I've basically done no exercises with high load in the biceps in the last 2 weeks due to the elbows. Shoulders and chest gained a little, every leg measurement increased, some strongly. Workout Log - 9.7.22 Run 2.9 miles in 35:49, 12:20/mi, 146 bpm avg, 170 bpm peak Lol, I was super slow. Didn't tryhard the run, but my hr was pretty high. Workout Log - 9.8.22 Heavy Bag - 15 min 10 minutes without gloves, 5 minutes with. Did not hit it very hard. When the golfers elbow is gone my bag is due a good ass kicking. Front Squat 80 - 5 100 - 5 120 - 3 140 - 3 160 - 3 180 - 3 160 - 5, 5 Mod from the typical 531 bbb here; Wendler (and many other coaches) don't like front squats higher than 5 reps as holding the bar becomes a problem. I did 5 reps at 160 instead of 10 at 140. Loaded Box Pistol +30 - 5/5, 5/5, 5/5 I feel these way more in the hams than any other form of pistol. First few reps are more touch n go, last couple I sit for a split second.

I'm still dealing with some pretty painful at times golfers elbow. A result of doing too many weighted chinups. There are other contributing factors, but that was the primary trigger. I've been making some modifications to my workouts to work around the elbows until things calm down. Definitely headed in the right direction. Workout Log - 9.5.22 Kicking and stretching - 10 min Free form workout, I didn't put up the heavy bag as its high stress on the elbows. Pistol Squat +15 medicine ball - 5/5 16" box - 6/6 +15 mb - 11/11 I didn't push too hard on the amrap medicine ball set. Deadlift 155 - 5 175 - 5 210 - 3 245 - 3 280 - 3 315 - 3 Used a belt for the last 2 sets, straps for the last set. All others were doh. I'm following the 351 format. Romanian Deadlift 195 x 3 x 10 First time doing multiple sets of these after deadlifts. The doms are legit. Workout Log - 9.6.22 Bench Press 85 - 5 110 - 5 130 - 3 150 - 3 170 - 3 195 - 3 DB Bench Press 50 x 5 x 10 Next week I might start at 60. I get a great chest pump from these though, really feel my pecs working like no other exercise. Ring Front Lever Tuck Hold - 15 sec Open Tuck Hold - 15, 15 sec One Leg Hold - 5+5, 5+5, 5+5 sec Tuck Row - 8, 8, 8, 8 The one leg holds are done one leg for 5 sec, pull up inverted, drop into a 5 sec hold on the other leg. I'm going to switch the tuck rows to my dip bars. The swing gets really annoying on rings above about 6-7 reps, it occurred to me earlier today that I could switch to the dip bars and not have to worry about that. Since I stopped doing dips on Fridays a couple months ago, I haven't had a use for the dip bars, so it'll be nice to start using them for something again. Hammer Curl - 35 - 10/10 Front Raise - 15 - 10 Lateral Raise - 8 - 10 Bent Over Raise - 12 - 10 External Rotation - 12 - 8/8 Curl was a test set, wanted to see how the elbows respond, hammer grip definitely irritates the least. Usually I'd do 2 sets of the shoulder series, but I was pretty fried, this is a good bit more volume than I'm used to.

Last challenge I reached the fat loss goals I had set for myself, ending a long, long physical cycle where fat loss was the goal; which I started circa spring 2019, finally got serious about in spring 2021. I can see my abs, somewhat. With the summer drawing to a close, there isn't much point in getting leaner. Last challenge my challenge was in many ways to figure out what to do, where to go from there. I want to get back to chasing muscle gains, something I haven't done in many years. I have some unfinished business, I never did reach the ultimate physical goal I had set for myself (abs at 205 lb), even though I convinced myself that I did back in 2016, and since then I've shrunk a bit (a lot, but I've reagained much of my muscle mass this year). Plus I'm getting to the age where its now or never (tho trt for old guys seems to be all the rage nowadays). Here is my upcoming diet plan: 9/5 - 11/6: calorie surplus (9 weeks) 11/7 - 11/20: cut (2 weeks) 11/21 - 11/27: diet break (1 week) 11/28 - 12/11: cut (2 weeks) 12/12 - 12/23: maintain and recover (1.5 weeks) 12/24: beach My plan for the surplus is to start at 2800 net calories, somewhere between 100 and 300 calories of surplus, and see what happens over time. I will not be eating all the things. I have a lot of old history gaining at 3000 calories, not so much at 2800. I picked back up really detailed muscle measurements a few months ago, that's key to keep track of how the surplus is going. I also am counting cals like a hawk, and with full calorie accounting I'm running a live resting TDEE calc, its still a little early to get great data, but it seems to be around 2500-2700 where I expect it. I started taking creatine a few weeks ago, I should be getting pretty close to full effect For workouts my plan is 5/3/1 + 5x10. I post pretty detailed workout logs. A goal last challenge was to modify my workout plan to one more appropriate for a calorie surplus. Last challenge really set me up for success, this challenge its time to cash in all my hard work and double down on it. Muscle gains are really, really hard. You cant have too much fat or its inefficient. Without workout volume you plateau. Surplus needs consistency. Most important though, its easy to get complacent or question yourself. 2 of the last 3 times I tried to gain muscle mass, I stopped caring about my diet and fell off the wagon mid bulk. Goals: Goal #1 - Stick to the Plan I'm counting calories with the accuracy to calculate resting TDEE. I am running the 531 plan as written, with only minor tweaks to accessories to work around sore spots. I weigh every day. I measure muscles once a week. That's it. The goal includes everything, everything I've built up to, all the planning I've done. This should be the fun part. Gym progress should notably pick up, I've been stalled out a while on many exercises. Watching measurements start to regularly gain will be nice, instead of hoping they didn't shrink too bad. But I need to stick to the plan and land the plane eventualy too. Once the Halloween candy is gone, its time to start cutting for the beach so I have time to get a bit leaner than I am now.

Back from the most recent challenge I'm going to get a thread going in the next challenge, but figured the log was due an update. I stopped cutting during the last challenge and have been at maintenance for the last 2 weeks. Well maintenance+, I think my maintenance is 2500-2600. Historically it was around 2700. I've been at 2700 calories, and counting cals like a hawk to be sure. This week I'm raising to 2800 cals and plan to leave it there a while. Weight had a low point around 196. I've been just over 200 the last couple days, scale average is stabilizing in the 199 area. Tape around the waist hasn't moved at all. I planned out both my diet schedule and strength workouts for the rest of the year last challenge. Diet Plan Today - 11/6: calorie surplus (9 weeks) 11/7 - 11/20: cut (2 weeks) 11/21 - 11/27: diet break (1 week) 11/28 - 12/11: cut (2 weeks) 12/12 - 12/23: maintain and recover (1.5 weeks) 12/24: beach Workout Plan Pretty much 5/3/1 with 5x10 add on accessories. Monday Heavy Bag Pistols Medicine Ball Pistol (1@amrap) Plyo Pistol (1@ amrap) Deadlift (5/3/1) RDL (3x10) Tuesday Bench (5/3/1) DB Bench (5x10) Ring Front Lever Isometric Hold (3x) Lever Rows (3x) Bicep Curl (3x10) DB Shoulder Raises and External Rotations (2x10) Thursday Heavy Bag Front Squat (5/3/1) Front Squat (2x5) DB Box Pistol (3x10) Friday Kneeling OHP (5/3/1) Seated DB OHP (2x10) 45 Incline DB Bench (3x10) Pullups (lots) Chest to Bar Weighted Pyramid DB Bicep Curl (2x10) Wrist Circuit DB Wrist/Finger Curls (2x10) DB Reverse Wrist Curls (2x10) Broomstick wrist rotations (2x10)

For a challenge wrap-up, I pretty much knocked it out of the park. My first goal, to count cals once raising to maintenance, went perfectly. This goal pushed me to try hard at first, get it going, now I want to count cals to hit that sweet spot where muscle is gained most efficient. My wife hasn't said anything, but she has to be confused; I stopped losing, which I had been doing for a really long time, and started counting cals, lol. I don't think I missed a single calorie. My 2nd goal, to adjust my workout plan for the increased cals, went if anything even more awesome than the first goal. I studied, I tweaked things, I decided on a plan to follow, tested my maxes for calcs. At the end of the challenge I have a finished plan ready to carry me to the end of the year; a variation on 5/3/1 BBB where the standard 5/3/1 sets are followed with 5x10 accessories or back off sets. My 3rd goal, to do cardio, went good. I didn't skip at all; keeping up the regular dog walking and wed/sat running or spinning. The only night I missed was when I was traveling for work; I wasn't feelin the elliptical at the hotel and didn't bring running shoes.

Thanks. Work travel has derailed me so many times, whether dieting or training program. Nice to get a pretty good win. Not hurting that it was in Massachusetts, with legal rec dispensaries, so I was able to grab a vape cartridge and almost completely avoid alcohol the whole trip. That's what usually gets me, a bar downstairs that's a stumble to the elevator away from my room. I have way too much history with that; I started my career in 100% travel status for the first 6 years (on-site engineer, I followed the construction), I kept an apartment that I returned to weekly/biweekly on the weekends to stay sane, but otherwise lived in hotels so spent much of my free time in hotel bars. Alcohol never got the best of me like it has so many others, but its why I ended up at 265 lbs not even 10 years after being around 155 lbs at graduation. Scale was back up to 199.2 yesterday. I think 199 is where my body wants to be with the raised cals. While traveling the last hints of low leptin effects disappeared, I felt out of place hunger once at the hotel the first day, haven't felt it since. I had a pretty good surplus on Wednesday, that's what did it. If anything I proved to myself pretty conclusively that I'm close enough to maintenance at 2700 cals net to not be refilling energy stores to full status, and that a powerful jolt well into surplus gets there quickly. During diet breaks usually the effects would be gone within 3-4 days of surplus, whereas it lingered much longer raising just to maintenance (though the effects were much weaker after a few days). Next week I think I'm going to raise cals to 2800, then just leave it there for a while to see how things go. It'll be a surplus, but a small one, no more than 200-300 cals, more likely 100-200. I'm going to try to chase the elusive super clean gains. I think the trick comes down to diet, keeping it pretty tight on cals and avoiding large outlier days. When I was traveling I was able to check off the two bucket list things I wanted to do/see, which were both basically the same place. I wanted to see the bay where the Arabella, flagship of the Winthrop fleet, landed in 1630 (the later ships in the fleet landed south in what is now Boston harbor), that's where the earliest known ancestor of mine set foot in N/A. It landed in the small harbor that is now Salem. And via a completely different branch my family was involved in the Witch trials, as both accused and accusers (most accused became accusers, its one of the things that sustained it). At the museum they had special packets for some decendents (unfortunately my link was not included), but they also had special mugs for descendants, and the owner directed me to a book that was a very deep look at the later Andover part of the witch trials which is where my family fit in. I learned that my 12x grandfather is considered an accuser, albeit breifly, after his wife, sister in law, daughters (3), and step-daughter were accused. One of the footnotes in the book about by 11x grandmother states "It is highly unlikely that any witchcraft suspect from 1692 had more varied connections to other suspects than Sarah Bridges had." Then it laid out all 15 different connections, and my genealogist brain completely exploded. Next on my bucket list is New York. My male line came to N/A in 1654, to New Amsterdam. Was a rather important person back toward the end of the Dutch colony, right hand man to Gov Stuvencent. Used to have Wall st property and Harlem property. There are still some traces of New Amsterdam left to see. I've never been to New York at all, but when I do go that's what I want to see first. New York is one of my sites (Boston, NY, DC), so I'll be traveling there regularly as well now that travel is picking up. Workout Log - 9.2.22 New safety straps arrived, wow, they are so much better than bars, allow for deeper bench rom, its way less distracting to hit them, and they don't damage the bar knurling. I was able to set my old bars high/low as flag grips, and it works! I was able to do a tuck rotation. Bench Press 45 x 10 135 x 5 185 x 3- 205 x 2- 225 x 1- 230 x 1- 235 x 1+ 240 x F, F I thought 240 was going to go up, couldn't get it out of the hole, felt strong going down though. Felt I was too low on the first attempt and too high on the 2nd. Ah well, either way, I got 235 up, which is a PR, I've never had more than 225 on the bar when benching. Front Squat 45 x 10 135 x 5 185 x 3- 205 x 1- 210 x 1- 215 x 1- 220 x 1+ 225 x 1+ 230 x F Whereas on the bench I felt sooo close, not so much squatting. 230 wasn't happening. Well above what I've been lifting lately (205 working weight), but at one time 225 was my working weight. All n all this week I was able to test my 1RM on the 4 barbell exercises I do and have been able to work out the calculations for the first 5/3/1 cycle; I'll get 3 full cycles before my end of year trip to the beach, and will retest my maxes at that time. For the most part 5/3/1 barbell exercises are going to be a short part of my workout, the 5x10 BBB block will be where I make a lot of hay converting surplus into muscle mass. The strength workout plan I've settled on: Monday Heavy Bag Pistols Medicine Ball Pistol (1@amrap) Plyo Pistol (1@ amrap) Deadlift (5/3/1) RDL (3x10) Tuesday Bench (5/3/1) DB Bench (5x10) Ring Front Lever Isometric Hold (3x) Lever Rows (3x) Bicep Curl (3x10) DB Shoulder Raises and External Rotations (2x10) Thursday Heavy Bag Front Squat (5/3/1) Front Squat (2x5) DB Box Pistol (3x10) Friday Kneeling OHP (5/3/1) Seated DB OHP (2x10) 45 Incline DB Bench (3x10) Pullups (lots) Chest to Bar Weighted Pyramid DB Bicep Curl (2x10) Wrist Circuit DB Wrist/Finger Curls (2x10) DB Reverse Wrist Curls (2x10) Broomstick wrist rotations (2x10)

Work travel went good. I counted cals the whole time. First day I was just under (-104 cals), day 2 I was way over (603 cals), then yesterday I was way under (-350 cals), pretty even overall. I managed to get in the gym the first night, they had DB's up to 50 lbs, did some volume work. Scale was light last night, 197.8. Never know what to expect when traveling. I had been trending down a bit before leaving, body is still figuring out what weight to be with the increased cals. Waist is still exactly the same. Measurements today were almost exactly the same as last week. I think I did hit maintenance pretty close. I need to travel for work again in exactly 2 weeks, very similar, which is going to mess with starting the 5/3/1 program. Since I'm going to be doing the 3-5-1 order, it'll line up with the 5 week, and I'll probably just repeat it. My golfers elbows have improved a lot, but aren't gone yet. The really sore deep forearm muscles are still sore. The overall general body soreness has improved a good bit too. I'm going to test my 1RM on front squats and bench press tonight. Workout Log - 8.30.22 Chillin at the Holiday Inn DB Bench Press 5 x 10 @ 50 lbs These went much better than the last time I did db benching. Lighter weight than I use at home, which let me focus on squeeze and form better. Parallel Bar Front Lever Tuck - 15 sec Open Tuck - 4 x 15 sec These were done on the "hold on for dear life" handrails on a treadmill. Much wider grip than typical, was a lot harder. Front Raises - 15 x 10, 10 Bent Over Raises - 15 x 10, 10 External Rotations - 15 x 10, 10 Had to use 15's as it was the lightest weight they had. I got pretty strong chest doms from this workout Wed-Thur.

I was lighter on the scale yesterday, 197.4, than I've been since I started taking creatine. Scale's rise has definitely stalled out for now. My body isn't giving me surplus cues yet. I've been close to 2700 calories on the nose the last few days. Counting cals has gone great. Lacrosse ball on the forearms has been revealing some super sore muscles deep in there. I've been doing that and stretching a few times a day. Its possible the golfers elbow is a continuation of the super sore forearms I got when filling my punching bag that never went away until my first long diet break. Overall I'm still sore seemingly head to toe. Significantly more recovery seems to be occurring now than was a couple weeks ago. I'm traveling for work starting tomorrow, first time in a while. Good week to do so, my body will appreciate a few days off, and maintaining should be fairly easy to do. Workout Log - 8.29.22 Heavy Bag - 15 min I was really light striking it. More of a speed and agility workout. Only a minute with gloves. I added a little more old clothes to the bag this weekend; should be over 90 lb now. It had settled a bit freeing up space. Overhead Press (Kneeling) 45 x 10 95 x 3 100 x 2 105 x 2 110 x 2 115 x 2 120 x 1 125 x 1 130 x 1 135 x 1 140 x F, F I couldn't get 135 up last Friday, but that was the first time doing barbell ohp in well over a year. I was going to find my 1RM on bench this workout, but I figured it'd be hard on the core to 1RM both front squats and ohp on Friday. Plus the new safety straps didn't arrive, 1RM hunting on the bench is guaranteed to put the bar on the safeties, whereas OHP is just reracked. I should have jumped 95 to 115. Deadlift 155 x 3 245 x 3 335 x 1 355 x 1 375 x 1 385 x 1 390 x F 390 wasn't coming off the floor. 385 was tough but I got it. Straps and belt for all but 155/245. Friday I'll find my 1RM on bench press and front squat. No pulling this week to give the elbows a break. Bench is likely to be the only one of the barbell exercises I'm going to PR on; I've never put more than 225 on the bar, I'm confident my 1RM is higher than that. Next week I'm going to start my variation of 5/3/1 BBB, though in 3-5-1 order. I'm going to be traveling for work again in 2 weeks, which will line up with the 5 week. Might be a gym I can hit some volume in though.

Scale was just under 200 last night, 199.8. Tape is still holding steady. The recovery wave is not going away, still going strong, sore everywhere. I've been working my forearms good with the lacrosse ball and stretching, elbows still hurt quite a bit. Calorie tracking has gone pretty awesome. I've taken up the habit of getting my chocolate fix from kisses; when aiming for a calorie goal I can pretty much nail any target due to kisses being 22 cals each, and since I'm not cutting I'm not feeling deprived where the snack attacks can derail days, but I do need to stop myself from being silly and hitting my target +/- 21 cals every day. Calorie counting isn't actually that accurate, a wider error bar +/- 100 or 150, but same average, is at worst no different, but might actually be a little better, day to day variation is a good thing. I posted a shot of my gym a while back in a home gym group and someone suggested I switch to strap safeties on my rack and let me know who (Titan) makes some that fit my exact rack. It really had never crossed my mind before that, and I wasn't sure why you'd want to. But with the new barbell, I decided to order some so I don't bang up the knurling. Plus it messes my set up when I bang the collar on the safety rail in the hole when benching, I didn't realize that straps fixed that too. My old rod safeties freed up, I realize I can probably run them through the bottom and top open holes in my rack and have a reasonably decent human flag hold, and the bars would be out of the way there so could stay in place and not interfere with other lifts. While shopping for strap safeties I came across a device for doing natural ham (nordic) curls that I could attach to my rack; I didn't order that but I suppose I will eventually. I could also be used for dragon flags it seems. Human flag, dragon flag, and NHC's, that's seriously getting the band back together. This upcoming week I have some work travel, first since 2019. Instead of my regular workouts this week I'm planning to test my 1RM's on barbell exercises and compress that into 2 workouts. Monday I'm going to do Bench and Deadlift, Friday I'm going to do Front Squat and Overhead Press. Overall I expect these to be rather light workouts. I haven't tested my 1RM ever really outside of deadlifting a long time ago. Definitely never in my home gym. But this is a good way to kick things off here; lay down a baseline in strength measurements.

Congrats man. New big plate PR's are the best, esp when you've been lifting a while.

Scale was 199.4 last night. Rise has definitely leveled off. I have pretty strong doms overall for a light week of workouts, and my elbows are quite sore today. I'm starting to think I'm going to be making modifications for a few more weeks before the elbow issue is resolved, even then long term prehab is in order, also for tennis elbow, which I don't have at the moment but have had. Eating at maintenance is both new and old as can be. It really does feel like that sweet spot, I can eat a fair amount, just judiciously; no dessert after dinner if I crush some cereal for a snack. It'd still be hard to do this intuitively still though, I think I'd need to count for a while to really find that groove. But after this I intend to gain for a bit, and I'll definitely be watching cals like a hawk for that. New project I have going to collect and sync all weight data I have with waist data. This was prompted by reading some of my old logs here; I do in fact have some waist measurements written down here for 2015, the one time I have nothing but scale data for, no other measurements, no workout logs. I've known I had 2017 waist data written down in MFP, and I wanted to get a rough LBM calculation from that time. I did find that I also had some 2020 waist data I was unaware of. What I found was that my last measurements in 2016 is probably right about my muscle mass peak, though the decline was marginal for a while. In 2016 I peaked around 183 lbs lbm; that's when I switched to long term maintaining and a seriously cut back workout plan. 2017 I was at 180 lbs lbm at the summer peak, by new years 2018 after 4 months off from the gym I had lost 8 lbs lbm and was down to the 172 area. Next record is in 2020. From early 2018 to early 2018 I barely lifted at all. A few times a month early then tailing off to nothing. But I lifted regularly starting in 2019, tailing off later in the year but picking up at the start of 2020. At the start of 2020 I was down to 165 lb lbm but was regaining it as I was losing weight when things fell apart. Peaked at 168 lbs lbm. Next measurements are at the start of this year 2022, down to 158 lbs lbm. I had taken a long break from almost all leg movements and overhead pressing and was cutting. I've been continuously gaining since the start of the year, in steps at each diet break. Up to 175 lbs lbm now. My shape though has been changing. My upper body is as big as its ever been, arms are just a bit off, shoulders are a little bit off. My legs though are a fair bit smaller. Something caused them to explode in size in 2015, when I joined the gym in 2016 my legs were notably bigger than when I last measured in 2014. I did a lot of leg workouts in 2015 as my shoulder was an issue, but didn't keep track of measurements. But now my legs have shrunk to where they were in 2014, before the big size jump. Leg size tracks LBM quite well in my measurements. Workout Log - 8.25.22 Stretching, Kicking, and Form - 20 min Didn't put up the bag, it can be rough on the body. Pistol Squat +15 mb - 8-/8- Front Squat 135 x 5, 5, 5, 5 Light work this week DB Box Pistol +30 x 3-/3-, 3-/3- Workout Log - 8.26.22 Seated DB OHP 40 x 8- 50 x 5- 60 x 5+ Reduced volume a set, though I'm going to move these to after barbell ohp going forward. DB 45 Incline Bench 50 x 9-, 10-, 10- Starting to get the hang of this exercise. Pullup BW - 5 Did one warmup set, bothered elbows enough the I nixed all bent elbow pulling for the night. Bar Front Lever Open Tuck - 15, 15, 15, 15, 15 I probably would have used my rings if they were set up, but it was good to give the straight bar variation a go. Subbed these for pullups, as they don't irritate elbows. Barbell OHP (Kneeling) 45 x 10 95 x 3- 115 x 2- 125 x 1- 135 x F Was testing to see what I could lift. 135 wouldn't go up. Surprised, its a weight I was at for a long time and I feel like the DB's have made me a lot stronger. I guess I'll see how long it takes to work up. I have to do them kneeling as I don't have the height in my basement to do them standing. The lifts felt really good though, strong, easy to control my elbows. I stopped doing them because I hurt a disc in my low back; stopped all spinal loading exercises. Deadlifts have gone good. I got a belt since I hurt my back, that makes a big difference on this exercise in particular. Went well enough that I'm going to add them back in and do all 531 barbell lifts per the plan, with a sub of front squat for back squat. Wrist Curl + Finger Roll 30 x 10/10, 10/10 Reverse Wrist Curl 12 x 10/10, 10/10 Wrist Rotations Broomstick - 10/10, 10/10 Forearm series thats rehab/prehab for tennis and golfers elbow.

New barbell arrived today, omg. If I go through and compare knurling between my various dbs, old bar, and ez bar, the only item in my collection worse than my old bar are a couple newer sets of hex dbs that were painted rather thick. I've refinished most of my steel hex, they have a lot better knurling than my old bar, stripped bare on the grips. EZ bar was in a tier above everything else and one of the things that made me really want a new bar. Compared to the new barbell, the ez bar knurling is crap; this Rogue bar is really amazing, its just glued to your hands. I haven't used a barbell this workout since before I hurt my back; I stopped doing back squats and overhead press (kneeling). There was never a need to go back since I got DB's, even though I think the main solution to my concern, being able to belt up for heavy sets, has been solved since last winter. New barbell is a golden opportunity to give it a go, and it went really well. Presses felt strong. I worked up from the bar to 95, 115, 125, then tried 135 and couldn't press it, doing doubles and singles after 95. I think I'm going to add the BB OHP to this workout, following the 531 plan then move to seated DB ohp and DB incline bench for volume sets (~5x10 total between them). I think the dumbell work has helped my shoulders to press better positioned, my form seemed exceptional on the barbell, it was very easy to control my elbows. Otherwise this week has been a deload, with less volume and load. Feels like the recovery wave peaked yesterday, now the golfers elbows are the really only notable issue aside for some more rest. Measurements today were a bit of a letdown. Scale is up, waist isn't, which means LBM is up. However I didn't really measure bigger anywhere vs last week, chest but that's it (and chest is a noisy measurement). Not that I'm expecting to be packing on the muscles, but I did start taking creatine, that combined with refilling muscle glycogen should make the muscles a bit bigger, especially since the scale is up. Nope. Body does still feel a bit like I'm cutting at times. Extraneous hunger popped up again today. It keeps getting weaker, but its there. Back over 200 last night, 200.4. Weight should plateau here soon, usually maintenance causes the scale to get real consistent.

Alright, game on. I've been doing a good job tracking thus far, making sure to capture everything. For several years now tracking has meant I'd get close enough that I can figure out the rest of the day, leaving a lot of incomplete days. It works for the purposes of weight loss, but is not itself useful data. Before that I went a long time capturing everything, for the purpose of calculating a live TDEE. Starting up accurate tracking again means I can restart that calculation. However the TDEE calculation is super noisy, it takes several months to start to get a good picture. But figuring that out is good motivation for continued tracking, and its certainly wise to track cals when gaining. I went back to look at my old calculations and figure I'm probably high on calories if I want to maintain right now. Judging by old data, 2500 net cals is probably the right number for pure maintenance. I've tried a slow reverse diet 2400-2500-2600-2700 coming out of the big cut in 2013 where I first got lean, which is the closest analogue to where I am now in my history, but I'm not sure the first couple weeks had any value; the scale stopped moving but my waist decreased a little more in size, I basically never accounted for the calories or weight gain associated refilling muscle glycogen, and it was offset by a little more fat loss. My measurable TDEE was as low at it ever was at that point (~2300), previously it had always calculated in the 2700 area. After that ramp up I spent a while that bulk at 2800 net cals before raising to 2900 net cals, where I gained size in the waist for the first time after a couple weeks. That bulk the 5 weeks spent at 2600-2700-2800-2800-2800 I gained 5 lbs without any measurable change in waist. I was trying to bring my TDEE back up to what it used to be and really focused on that aspect. After that not once did I ever try any real period of time at 2700-2800. In hindsight, that being what I thought my maintenance was and is returning back to, it blinded a super clean gaining period where I was running a small enough surplus to gain no fat at all. I'm definitely still feeling echoes of low leptin, I still getting random hunger outside of usual times and have been hungry at meal times, but the intensity of both has gone down a good bit. By this point in usual diet breaks it'd be further away, but I usually run a pretty good surplus in diet breaks. The small surplus I'm running now hasn't fully brought everything out of deficit yet, but close enough that no more measurable loss will occur. I think if I really wanted to track maintenance next week I'd drop my cals to 2600 (want to keep a safety buffer, don't want any days in deficit). I'm not sure there's any downside to staying at 2700 next week though. Excess calories at that small of a surplus are unlikely to go to body fat, especially when still in a huge recovery deficit. Unlike previous diet breaks, the recovery wave has been much smaller, no doubt in part because my body still doesn't think its fully out of deficit. Usually a few days after raising cals I get super sore and exhausted for a bit, I'm pretty sure that my diet break mass gains have been from that, there's a built up recovery deficit that's resolved once the cals are there but otherwise suppressed due to calorie deficit. This time though the smaller surplus has drawn out the process. 2 weeks should be enough time to get a good sense of what the scale is doing at this intake. I figured out my sore elbows are golfers elbow; in studying the recommended treatments my overall self assessment and recovery plan to this point, I pretty much nailed it. - Loaded chinups are clearly the source, its an overuse injury that occurs with palms in that position, facing shoulder. Concentration curls also fit the source pattern. Loaded pullups may also contribute a little as well as deadlifts, esp mixed grip. - Recommended recovery includes stretching, rolling, and exercise. - Suggested exercises include wrist curls w/finger roll, dumbbell wrist rotations, side dumbbell raises, bent over dumbbell raises, and shoulder external rotations. I specifically saw something that said people weak in side dumbbell raises tend to get golfers elbow; I do them with 8 lbs and its the right weight, my wife lols and does them easily with 15's. I just started doing most of those exercises in the last couple months; the only one I hadn't been doing is DB wrist rotations so I'll start that. I'm going to up the rolling and stretching though as well. I think in general my next challenge is going to have something to do with recovery and mobility. Depends on how long it takes the aches and pains to go away. Last night the gaining trend broke and the scale was at 198.6. 3217 calories intake yesterday, 548 cals exercise, 2669 net, 31 under goal. Workout Log - 8.25.22 Run 2.92 mi in 33:59, 11:38 pace, 140 bpm avg, 164 bpm max Heart rate wasn't as high as it has been. Didn't tryhard this run, deloading this week, fell back to the 11:3something pace my body likes to run.

Tracking has gone solid thus far, I'm caught up today already. Yesterday I was at 2782 net cals, 82 over my target, 3299 intake and 517 exercise. Scale was at 200.2, back over 200 for the first time in a bit. I checked the tape, the same place it ended, 32.5" around the waist. I wouldn't expect it to move outside of 1/8" until I've been in a surplus for a bit, though I do think there is an effect where your fat evens out a bit when you spend a while not in a deficit, those stubborn pockets do in fact shrink a little (to be redeposited elsewhere), and loose skin tightens up. I looked at a calendar and was able to map out the rest of the year: Today - 9/4: maintain and recover (2 weeks) 9/5 - 11/6: calorie surplus (9 weeks) 11/7 - 11/20: cut (2 weeks) 11/21 - 11/27: diet break (1 week) 11/28 - 12/11: cut (2 weeks) 12/12 - 12/23: maintain and recover (1.5 weeks) 12/24: beach I expect to lose any fat gained during the bulk during the first cut block, then to use the next to get a bit leaner, rock better abs on the beach than I currently have. All goes well and I should be about the same weight I am now while being about 2% bf leaner. Workout Log - 8.23.22 Barbell Bench Press 135 x 10 185 x 5-, 5-, 5- Deloading this week, just keeping the movement pattern DB Bench Press 60 x 5-, 7+, 9+ Yikes, set 1 was a disaster, set 2 I missed many form cues. Long ways from really being good at this exercise. Reduced the volume somewhat, probably would have only done 2 sets if they went well, but set 1 was such a flop I had to redeem myself. Ring Front Lever Tuck Hold - 15 Open Tuck Hold - 15 One Leg - 5+5, 5+5 Open Tuck Row - 4+, 4+ Tuck Row - 10+ Reduced volume across the board here. Want to keep in the one leg groove though. DB Front Raise - 12 x 10, 15 DB Side Raise - 8 x 10, 10 DB Bent Over Side Raise - 12 x 10, 12 DB External Rotation - 12 x 10/10, 6/6 This is a great place for the rotations. Morph it from being a deltoid isolation block to a general shoulder block. I skipped doing any curls as they seem to aggravate my sore elbows as much as anything else.

Is that an induction range? Has dial controls, odd for induction, but that sure looks like an induction cooktop.

First day of picking back up counting cals went good. Total for the day was 2763 net cals, 63 over my target, 3366 intake and 603 exercise. I was not sloppy with it, waiting until 1155 pm to write it all out, rather I added to it through the day as I ate. Scale is still staying under 200; 199.6 for the 2nd day in a row. Whereas yesterday I felt like I was still cutting through the day, I woke up this am with the signs of raised cals; extra sore and exhausted (physically). I expect this to increase further for the next couple days as full power recovery comes to life and starts churning through repairs. Hopefully 2 weeks of recovery is enough to clear up most/all of the tendon soreness I've been dealing with, that's the big one. New barbell is ordered, excited about that. It'll be my first (and likely only) bit of Rogue equipment. I got a black oxide (basically bare steel) Ohio bar. Hopefully its a decent upgrade over my exceptionally beat up "comes with the weights" bar, lol. This is one of those things that should go a long way to helping pick the right path here after losing the fat, a new barbell wants to be lifted, it is not a piece of art to be pondered. My gym motivation has been super strong, need to keep it that way.

Thanks! Day isn't done yet, but I've tracked calories thus far all day. Set my first target at 2700 net cal. That's probably into small surplus territory, but small enough that it'd take weeks to visible in any way. Refilling energy stores is going to require a surplus for a bit anyways; until that happens my body is still going to think its cutting. Still feeling the hormonal effects from dieting pretty good. Raised cals with ice cream last night, today's snack was a whole lot of breakfast cereal (vs some eggs whites and turkey sausage when cutting). Since I started the creatine its been a steady march up on the scale. It wouldn't surprise if I rise above 200 pretty quick. I have my personal reward for successfully losing the weight, a new barbell, in the cart, I just don't have my wallet on me at the moment to check out. Workout Log - 8.22.22 Starting a deload this week to go with the raised cals. My body has long needed a good quality recovery period. Heavy Bag - 20 minutes 15 minutes without gloves, 5 minutes with. Had to take a break, knocked the bag clear off the mount one kick. It had come loose in the swivel mechanism, so I had to retighten the bolts. I could really feel the creatine starting to have an effect, its different than normal raised cals, I felt super light on my feet. Pistol Squat +15 mb - 8-/8- 16" box - 1+f, 1- +15 mb - 8-/8- I fell on the 2nd rep of the plyo set. Glad I have a padded box, or that would have hurt. Decided to call it good after that. Deadlift 155 x 5 245 x 3 295 x 3-, 3- 265 x 3-, 3- Doh for all but the last rep at 295. 265 was done with a hook grip, the first time I tried it. Romanian Deadlift 155 x 10

This is exactly what I'm going to be doing here in a couple weeks, increasing volume up to a 5/3/1 BBB type plan as I switch calories from deficit to a surplus. You are going to try to do all those sets in a deficit?

Well the transition point is close, just a few hours away. I've been cutting now 3 weeks, I've dropped 1 1/8" on the tape around the waist and have lost about 5 lbs of fat. I've been on a mostly continuous weight loss journey since getting vaccinated a year and a half ago, dropping 40 lbs total, 45-50 lbs of fat loss I've been trying to lose weight since I bought my gym spring of '19; things got out of hand in the months leading up to and during the gov't shutdown of '19. It took 4 failed dieting attempts before it finally stuck on the 5th try. Losing fat is no longer my overall physical goal. After a short maintenance period for recovery (and also per my goal to learn what it even means to maintain, its been so long since I last tried to do that), I'm going to work on muscle building in a calorie surplus, getting back to the short undulation plan I started following before moving disrupted everything back in '14, that I started to do in '16 (I fell off the tracking things wagon in fall of '16, during a bulk). The basic gist of it is to ride a surplus to 3/4" (in the waist) of fat gain, then cut for 2 weeks to remove the excess fat, and return to the surplus (9-12 week full cycle). Can adjust the gain down to 1/2", cut to 3/4" (2 weeks at standard cuttin hard pace) to slowly get leaner over time, which is exactly what I did the last 3 bulk cycles, gain 1/2" in the waist then switch, all 3 took 7 weeks to reach that. 3/4" in the waist is slight enough that you can barely even tell yourself when you're reeeealllly paying attention. Though timing things with the holidays this year, it makes sense to bulk a bit longer and plan for a 2 cutting undulations with a week break, lining up the break with thanksgiving week. My first new overall goal after I smash the tub of black raspberry n dark chocolate waiting in the freezer will be back to my old, old goal that I never actually reached; I want to be happy with my abs while at >205 lb. I'm not happy with my abs right now at 197, I bet I could still drop another 5 lbs of fat before I'm really happy with them, but good enough for now. Which means I at least need to gain 10 lbs of muscle mass. I think the key to a successful transition here is goals. I really do want to hit my target, its not just something thrown out there haphazardly to have something to work toward, I really put a lot of study into that number. I think I overestimated by a good bit how lean I was in '16, when I convinced myself that I was at my long term goal. When I cut in '17 I realized this, but I had already drank the kool aid that I reached my long term goal, and was happy just drifting along maintaining it. After that cut in '17 I went a long time without any forward physical goals, just maintain, and maintaining always goes backwards (I did stay no more than 10 lbs away for a good while). But now I also know I need a plan for what happens when I do actually reach my my long term goal, even if I'm realistically 2 years from reaching it even if I do everything right (not sure how comparable 40-something me will be to 30-something me in muscle growth rate). Things went bad last time I thought I hit my ultimate goal, even if it took a few years to show, and even more to see it and realize the problem. Losing weight successfully was what made me realize what the problem was, I had no long term goals, but it took success to see it; I didn't see the light and have success. But it was a key part of the journey.

I spent a lot of time today studying my bulking history, doing some data analysis. Made a lot of corrections to the formulas I've been using to calculate LBM and fat mass from historic measurements (I've fairly drastically changed how I measure my waist a couple times). Muscle measurements really align well with LBM now. I learned quite a bit; I'd forgotten quite a bit about the details. Overall I've done 7 bulks, 71 total weeks in a calorie surplus. The duration decreased over time; the first was 17 weeks, the last 3 were 7 weeks each. My weight gain was fairly consistent, 0.83 lb/wk was that fastest one went, 0.63 lb/wk was the slowest. One of the 7 was pretty much a dud (not sure what happened there), I gained mostly fat. The first was crazy, I gained mostly muscle. The other 5 average around 60-40 muscle-fat, and I gained LBW at about 0.4 lb/wk . The most fat I gained in a single bulk is 3.9 lbs. Overall 52 lbs of weight gain, of which 34 lbs was muscle mass. I thought I gained fat faster than I did. The last two I gained just under 2 lbs of fat each over the course of just under 2 months. Its been a while though, the last one was in 2016, the time before that 2014. Anyways, today's measurements were better than expected, still keeping the muscle size. Creatine is likely beginning to help, I felt like I could flex better. Overall though I'm fairly shocked at how measurements have held up to the onslaught of deficits and how the gains during breaks persist. Waist dropped about 1/2" in the last week. Overall I've lost 5 lbs of fat mass this final undulation with no lean mass loss, in just under 3 weeks now (2 more days to go). Holy cow do I ever have strong pec doms from my workout on Wed. That extra bit to the rom, the form cues, wow what a difference that makes. Just that short little workout. I also have pretty strong elbow tendon soreness, so I decided to take it easy on intensity tonight's workout. Workout Log - 8.19.22 Seated DB Overhead Press 35 x 10 40 x 10, 10, 10 Focused on good form and really feeling the press in my shoulders 45 Incline DB Bench Press 40 x 10, 10, 10, 10 Likewise, focused on good form and really feeling it in my chest Wide Grip Chest to Bar Pullup 5, 6, 6, 5, 5, 5 I tried doing one earlier and I realized I could, and that I do in fact have enough space to do them in my basement. I stopped counting when the reps turned trash, need positive bar contact and no kip. I do need practice though with the timing, staying behind the bar with the swing. These are a lot gentler on the elbows than strapping up +35 for each set, and if anything harder (you have to pull explosively or with an open elbow to stay behind the bar). Rawr Concentration Curl 35 x 6/6, 6/6 These seemed to bother the elbows quite a bit. Its very similar to chinups from bicep to hand. If I remember I'll change the variant next week to see if that helps. I backed left a few reps in the tank each set. Wrist Curl - 35 x 10/10, 8/8 Reverse Wrist Curl - 12 x 10/10, 10/10 Shoulder External Rotations - 12 x 10/10, 10/10 The shoulder exercise I saw on a video about bulletproof shoulders, it seems like an exercise worth doing. Need to find a place for it, this isn't bad.

I forgot earlier, it was raining last night so I had to spin instead of run. I went for 30 min. I've been out of the saddle more and more as of late, usually a whole song. Workout Log - 8.18.22 Stretching and kicking form - 20 min I didn't want the extra strain from beating up the bag today. Took it easy on that front. Also did some agility and jumping work. Very free form workout. Pistol Squat +15 mb x 8-/8- Front Squat 135 x 5 185 x 3- 195 x 3- 205 x 3+ Structured like a 5/3/1 workout, the 3 rep week. This cuts back set volume by one from where I was at last week. Box Pistol Squat +30 x 5/5, 5/5, 5/5 These all left a rep or two in the tank. Trying to keep great form. Loaded via DB's on the shoulders. The box really takes balance out of the equation, I was able to focus better on the press. I think this might be the winner for adding volume this workout.

Weight bounced back a bit as expected, but not too extreme, 196.6. 2nd time in the 196's. I started creatine yesterday, I expect that to blunt the scale effects of any further fat loss in the next few days. Tape moved another 1/8", its now down 5/8" since last Friday! It sucks, but the flu sure helps while cutting. Though now that its effects are gone, hormonal effects from dieting have kicked in pretty good. I'm absolutely starving before every meal. Its crazy how fast it comes on once past 2 weeks into a persistent deficit. After raising cals, the plan for the first week will be to eat at maintenance (counting cals to confirm) and deload. I have so many various sore spots in joints and tendons, a good deload is long overdue, especially when calories are there to support full recovery. I've been thinking a lot about programming and I think its time to acquiesce to 5/3/1 for the 3 barbell exercises I do (bench, front squat, deadlift). But before I do I'm going to spend a week testing my 1RM on the barbell exercises (I might also on weighted pullups). My programming has always followed the same upper/lower split as 5/3/1 with a horizontal/vertical split in the upper body and a quad/ham dominant split in the legs. I've been doing that aspect so long I can barely even fathom anything else (though deadlifting day was an extra cardio day for a few years, only changing back once I lost the bulk of extra weight and bought the equipment to actually deadlift). I'm always going to diverge from any written program on horizontal upper body day because of my substituting front lever progressions for rowing progressions. About the only place of divergence is that static holds hit the opposite arm pairing (front lever hold = lats, triceps, rear delts). Switching to rowing changes that, but static holds greatly aid overall FL progress, esp because the core needs are so much higher for short static holds and that is a major choke point). I'm absolutely positive though that someone else has come up with what I'm going going to do pressing, switch to DB bench for the 5 sets of volume work after the 5/3/1 barbell sets. Vertical upper body I diverge from the program quite a bit given that I only use DB's for overhead pressing. My shoulders don't really love straight bar pressing overhead. Though ofc paired with lots of pullups. Lately I've been doing them all loaded, but once I'm done with cutting maybe I've give pyramids a go, push my single rep max to 30+ (currently around 20). Front Squat is a pretty straightforward and common substitution, the only issue is amrap sets over 5. For both leg days, the 5/3/1 barbell work will come after pistol sets, since balance is so important and fatigue plays such a large role in balance..