Disil's Log

[Disil]

I pushed my Sunday workout back one day, hoping I'd feel better by then, but unfortunately, things didn't change for a while. In fact I spent most of Monday with a bit of stomach pain, probably a side effect from the medication, and only Tuesday afternoon there was starting to be a noticeable improvement in how I felt. Also I only got 6 hours of sleep per night for the last 3 days, but I hope this will be better now that I can breathe normally again and don't suffer a piercing headache any longer.

 

Workout for Monday

 

Bench Press (60Kg): 8, 8, 8 (I didn't dare increase the weight and this still felt way too heavy)
Seated Cable Rows (67Kg): 8, 7, 7 (ugh, another 4 reps down)
Machine Shoulder Press (25Kg): 12, 11, 11, 7 (...)
Lat Pulldown (70Kg): 12, 9 (-)
Rope Pushdown (25Kg): 12, 9*, 11* (Wtf. My previous best the last time I pushed this weight was 12, 8, 8, 7 on August 2016 right before I injured my shoulder so woo progress...lmao)
Cable Face Pulls (30Kg*): 14, 12 (-)
Triceps Machine (85Kg): 15, 11 (-1)
Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 8, 8, 8 (-)
DB-Concentration Curls (10Kg): 15, 12 (-)

Lateral DB Raises (8Kg): 15, 15, 15 (Nice)

Rack-Pulls (92.5Kg*): 5 (lol, can't believe this was a PR. Up)

 

I'm happy that I went at all.

 

Weight: 71.9Kg
Calories: 2700

Estimated Surplus: 0?

 

I've been having a hard time eating enough these last few days, but that should be over once I'm fully recovered from this cold.

[Disil]

Did pretty much the exact same workout on Wednesday. Felt a little better, but not much. 3x6x63.5Kg felt ok. Not much else to write, I just hope I'll manage to sleep more/better these next couple of days.

 

[Disil]

For whatever reason, perhaps another night of subpar sleep at less than 6 hours, the Wednesday workout left me with very sore pecs (mostly side/lower which is weird) and lats. I debated not going today, but then I would be forced to go Sat/Mon/Wed again which sucks. Also I've had plenty of good workouts in the past despite being pretty sore and this one qualifies.

 

Workout for Friday

 

Bench Press (57.5Kg): 10, 10, 10 (Heavier than I'd have liked, but at least I made it)
Seated Cable Rows (67Kg): 9, 9, 8 (-)
Machine Shoulder Press (25Kg): 12, 12, 10 (I've modified my technique further, decreasing ROM at the bottom part a bit after a friend at the gym point it out to me. This makes everything a lot more difficult, but I also feel it a lot more in my shoulders, particularly the side delts which is great)
Lat Pulldown (70Kg): 10, 9 (-2, Lats dead)
Rope Pushdown (25Kg): 12, 12*, 10 (+1)
Cable Face Pulls (30Kg): 15*, 14 (+2)
Triceps Machine (85Kg): 15, 12 (Previous best)
Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 8, 8, 8 (-)
DB-Concentration Curls (10Kg): 15, 12 (-)

Lateral DB Raises (10Kg*): 12, 12, 12 (Great start)

Rack-Pulls (95Kg*): 5 (Up)

 

Pretty good. Sunday should be even better, provided I get enough sleep.

 

Weight: 72.7Kg
Calories: 2957

Estimated Surplus: 257

[Disil]

8+8+9 hours of sleep during the last 3 nights, no stress (except for the bitter cold outside) and mostly recovered from the sinusitis, this is the first time I felt good and was looking forward to workout in a long time.

 

Workout for Sunday

 

Bench Press (60Kg): 8, 8, 8 (It took a lot to not increase in weight, but I am glad that I did. This way I was able to truly confirm that this weight can still feel light if I am recovered and well. Today 60Kg felt much lighter than before with the first set being around an RPE 8 which sounds about right, given I managed 10 reps at RPE 10 three weeks ago. Up)
Seated Cable Rows (67Kg): 9, 9, 9 (Back to my previous best)
Machine Shoulder Press (25Kg): 12, 12, 12 (Back to my previous best. Up)
Lat Pulldown (70Kg): 12, 12* (+2. Up)
Rope Pushdown (25Kg): 12, 11, 11 (-1, +1)
Cable Face Pulls (30Kg): 15, 15* (+1. Up)
Triceps Machine (85Kg): 15, 13* (+1)
Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 8, 8, 8 (-)
DB-Concentration Curls (10Kg): 15, 14 (+2)

Lateral DB Raises (10Kg): 15*, 15, 15 (+9, wtf. Not going up though, the jump to 12 would probably be too much too soon)

Rack-Pulls (97.5Kg*): 5 (Damn, starting to feel heavy af. Up to 100 next time, oh boy)

 

Great stuff.

 

Weight: 73.3Kg
Calories: 2937

Estimated Surplus: 237

[Disil]

Expecting work to be busy, it turned out even worse with two colleagues out sick. I've also been working out Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun and now Tue, so I'm really looking forward to two rest days in a row. Other than that I had 10 hours of sleep, soreness under control, lots of food and still a good 2-3 weeks until I should need another deload.

 

Workout for Tuesday

 

Bench Press (65Kg): 6, 6, 6 (This felt pretty good with a bit left in the tank. I'm a lot more relaxed now regarding progress here. I'll just keep working on form, trying to prevent bouncing and focussing on getting stronger without sacrificing technique)
Seated Cable Rows (67Kg): 10, 10*, 9 (+2)
Machine Shoulder Press (27.5Kg): 12, 12, 12 (After changing the height of my seat in the right direction in accordance with the other changes mentioned previously, these go quite smoothly now and I can go back up to 30Kg next)
Lat Pulldown (72.5Kg): 11*, 9 (Good start)
Rope Pushdown (25Kg): 12, 12*, 12* (+2. Up)
Cable Face Pulls (30.635Kg*): 14, 11 (Good start as well)
Triceps Machine (85Kg): 15, 12 (-1)
Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 8, 8, 8 (-)
DB-Concentration Curls (10Kg): Skipped these due to time

Lateral DB Raises (10Kg): 15, 15, 15 (-)

Rack-Pulls (100Kg*): 5 (These felt heavy alright. There certainly was some form breakdown for the last rep, but I just wanted it, no matter what. Sure going to stay here and work on that)

 

Terrific. Let's build on that.

 

Weight: 73.1Kg
Calories: 2961

Estimated Surplus: 261

[Disil]

Very busy, I had 3 great workouts Fri/Sun/Tue, this is the last one:

 

Tuesday Workout:

 

Bench Press (65Kg): 6, 6, 6 (I tried a bit with grip width, but it just made things more difficult. I then tested how 70kg felt and got one good and one ugly rep)
Seated Cable Rows (68.25Kg*): 9, 9, 9* (+2)
Machine Shoulder Press (30Kg): 12, 12, 12* (+1)
Lat Pulldown (75Kg*): 10, 10 (Still a bit left in the tank)
Rope Pushdown (26.25Kg*): 11, 10, 10 (Good start)
Cable Face Pulls (31.25Kg*): 14, 12 (Good start as well)
Triceps Machine (87.5Kg): 13, 12 (And as above)
Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 8, 8, 9 (-)

Lateral DB Raises (10Kg): 15, 15, 15 (-)

DB-Concentration Curls (10Kg): 15, 14 (-)

 

Phantastic stuff, yet again. 

 

Weight: 73.4Kg
Calories: 3163

Estimated Surplus: 363

 

 

The day after, I went to the dentist again since I was still having pain where I got a filling and I ended up leaving there with 2 teeth less (one being a wisdom teeth) and a hole in my jaw that was stitched back together, meaning anti-biotics, no training for at least 2 weeks and a whole lot of fun. Of course this was bound to happen, given things were going well in my training for a change.

I try to view the positives. Friday would have been the end of week 4 of this cycle and I probably would've needed to deload soon anyway. I also had that cold during the first of those 4 weeks so yeah, the physical recovery neck-down is much appreciated. This will enable me to heal up all the little stuff, forearms, elbows, wrists even, shoulders and what have you and with luck, I will not lose that much strength. This will be the first longer time off since the gastritis last year September, but this time I'm able to get all my macros and micros in, run a tiny surplus and thus preserve muscle and facilitate recovery as best I can. All in all, this could almost be good for my training, eh.

[Disil]

After 8 long and painful days I finally got back into the gym on Thursday. While I was told to rest one more week, I carefully inquired whether it might be possible to very slowly do some super light strength training and was given permission, provided I listen to my body's signals and stop when I feel dizzy, throbbing in my jaw or pain. None of these occured and I really forced myself to do less than I felt capable of, but I was so happy of just being able to do anything. 2 days later I went again, still not at working weights, but a bit closer in most and very close in other exercises. I felt basically 100% fine, but still did not want to push too much. I figure this will leave me quite sore and after 2 days of rest, I should be able to mostly resume my training on Tuesday as it was before the surgery.

 

Weight thankfully has not increased by much and if all goes according to plan, I only lost around a week (given I'd have had to deload anyway), which would be pretty great. But we're not there yet.

[Disil]

On 18.3.2018 at 1:21 AM, Disil said:

 I figure this will leave me quite sore and after 2 days of rest, I should be able to mostly resume my training on Tuesday as it was before the surgery.

Surprisingly, soreness was rather mild and I felt almost fully recovered again on Monday. Since I was itching to get back to PR weights, I was happy to prepone this by a day.

 

Monday Workout:

 

Bench Press (57.5Kg): 10, 10, 10 (Got through this pretty well, despite not having done 10s in quie a while)
Seated Cable Rows (68.25Kg): 9, 9, 9 (-)
Machine Shoulder Press (30Kg): 12, 12, 12 (-)
Lat Pulldown (75Kg): 9, 9 (-2)
Rope Pushdown (26.25Kg): 11, 11*, 10 (+1)
Cable Face Pulls (31.25Kg): 15, 13* (+2)
Triceps Machine (87.5Kg): 13, 10 (-2)
Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 8, 8, 8 (-1)

Lateral DB Raises (10Kg): 15, 15, 15 (-)

DB-Concentration Curls (10Kg): 15 (-)

 

I was able to more or less confirm the pre-tooth-business numbers, which means that if you account for 1 week that I'd have had to deload anyway, I only lost like 3 days because of the surgery, which is absolutely amazing. I'm psyched for the next few months now!

 

Weight: 73.3Kg
Calories: 2991

Estimated Surplus: 341

[Disil]

Thursday Workout:

 

Bench Press (60Kg): 8, 8, 8 (Despite really wanting to see PRs across the board, I reminded myself that I used to be quite weakened only a week ago and didn't quite push to the max this session, clocking in at RPE 8-9 which is just about right. I am going to try linear periodization for the bench, at least for the 8 and 6 rep schemes, which means I will decrease by 1 rep and increase by 2.5Kg each week until the 4th week where I will do a light workout, before going back to 8 reps, but at 2.5Kg higher. For the 10 rep day, I wil just increase in the smallest increment possible and if not possible, increase in reps first)
Seated Cable Rows (68.25Kg): 10*, 9, 9 (+1)
Machine Shoulder Press (32,5Kg): 12*, 10, 8 (Great start. Some elbow pain towards the end )
Lat Pulldown (75Kg): 10, 10 (+2 again back to previous best)
Rope Pushdown (26.25Kg): 12*, 11, 8 (+1, -2 duh :<)
Cable Face Pulls (31.25Kg): 15, 14* (+1)
Triceps Machine (87.5Kg): 15*, 11* (+3!)
Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 8, 8, 9 (Back to previous best)

Lateral DB Raises (10Kg): 15, 15, 15 (-)

DB-Concentration Curls (10Kg): 15, 14 (-)

 

Excellent.

 

Weight: 73.6Kg
Calories: 3109

Estimated Surplus: 309

[Disil]

Saturday Workout:

 

Bench Press (62.5Kg): 6, 6, 6 (Around RPE 9 which is about what I expected)
Seated Cable Rows (68.25Kg): 10, 10*, 9 (+1)
Machine Shoulder Press (32,5Kg): 12, 10, 9* (+1 and virtually no elbow pain)
Lat Pulldown (75Kg): 10, 10 (-)
Rope Pushdown (26.25Kg): 12, 11, 9* (+1)
Cable Face Pulls (31.25Kg): 15, 15* (+1. Up)
Triceps Machine (87.5Kg): 15, 11 (-)
Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 8, 8, 8 (-1)

Lateral DB Raises (10Kg): 15, 15, 15 (-)

DB-Concentration Curls (10Kg): 15, 12 (-2)

 

Quite good.

 

Weight: 73.9Kg
Calories: 3749

Estimated Surplus: 849

 

Whooops. Had brunch with a friend, some ice cream later on, didn't mind and never ate beyond satiety so yeah.

[Disil]

Tuesday Workout:

 

Bench Press (58.5Kg): 10, 10, 10 (RPE 9/9.5/10. Meh)
Seated Cable Rows (68.25Kg): 10, 10, 10* (+1. Up)
Machine Shoulder Press (32,5Kg): 12, 10, 8 (-1)
Lat Pulldown (75Kg): 10, 11* (+1)
Rope Pushdown (26.25Kg): 12, 12*, 10* (+2)
Cable Face Pulls (31.875Kg*): 13, 12 (Great start)
Triceps Machine (87.5Kg): 15, 10 (-1)
Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 8, 8, 8 (-)

Lateral DB Raises (10Kg): 15, 15, 15 (-)

DB-Concentration Curls (10Kg): 15, 15 (previous best)

 

Pretty happy, especially given the annoying headache I had all throughout.

 

Weight: 73.6Kg
Calories: ?

Estimated Surplus: ?

 

Just couldn't be bothered to track today.

[Disil]

Thursday Workout:

 

Bench Press (62.5Kg): 7, 7, 7 (RPE 8.5/9/9.5 nice)
Seated Cable Rows (69.5Kg*): 9, 8, 8 (Great start)
Machine Shoulder Press (32,5Kg): 12, 10, 9, 8 (Added the 4th set back in)
Lat Pulldown (75Kg): 11*, 11 (+1)
Rope Pushdown (26.25Kg): 12, 11, 9 (-2 again, probably due to the +set shoulder press)
Cable Face Pulls (31.875Kg*): 13, 14* (+2)
Triceps Machine (87.5Kg): 15, 12* (+1 from previous best)
Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 8, 8, 9 (previous best)

Lateral DB Raises (10Kg): 15, 15, 15 (-)

DB-Concentration Curls (10Kg): 15, 15 (-)

 

Good stuff.

 

Weight: 73.8Kg
Calories: 3551

Estimated Surplus: 701

 

Shouldn't have bought that chocolate cake. Oh well.

[Disil]

I would have liked to work out Saturday, but the holidays are quite busy and I decided to not force it and instead just go on Sunday when everything has calmed down a bit. Of course, come Sunday, I felt sluggish and tired and really not that much like working out, but eh, it's not like I wasn't gonna go.

 

Sunday Workout:

 

Bench Press (65Kg): 5, 5, 5 (RPE 9 or a bit less across the board, slowly inching closer to my previous best (8x62.5Kg/6x66Kg) in the hopes of finally progressing further)
Seated Cable Rows (69.5Kg): 9, 9*, 9* (+2)
Machine Shoulder Press (32,5Kg): 12, 11*, 10*, 9* (+3, wow)
Lat Pulldown (75Kg): 12*, 12* (+2. Up)
Rope Pushdown (26.25Kg): 12, 11, 8 (-1 more, -3 in total, but this was certainly due to the two exercises before)
Cable Face Pulls (31.875Kg): 15*, 15* (+3, damn. Up)
Triceps Machine (87.5Kg): 15, 12 (-)
Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 9*, 9, 8 (+1)

Lateral DB Raises (10Kg): 15, 15, 15 (-)

DB-Concentration Curls (10Kg): 15, 15 (-)

 

Despite not quite feeling it, I still had a great workout which I hope is a testament to me just doing things right at the moment.

 

Weight: 73.8Kg
Calories: 3310

Estimated Surplus: 435

 

Had a 100kcal deficit the day before so everything's fine.

[Disil]

Work was brutal and will be for the forseeable future since a few major changes are about to happen and none for the better. I went into this one on ~5 hours of sleep and 10 hours of work, but at least I managed a 90 minute "nap" beforehand and felt pretty good.

 

Tuesday Workout:

 

Bench Press (60Kg): 10, 10*, 10* (Damn, nice. Exactly 2 months ago I attempted 10s with 60Kg for the last time and only barely managed 10/9/9. This was RPE 9-9.5 so yay)
Seated Cable Rows (69.5Kg): 10*, 9, 9 (+1)
Machine Shoulder Press (32,5Kg): 12, 11, 8, 8 (-3 again, probably due to the bench, dunno)
Lat Pulldown (77.5Kg*): 8, 8 (It was a start)
Rope Pushdown (26.25Kg): 12, 12, 11* (+4, +1 from my previous best)
Cable Face Pulls (32.5Kg): 14, 12 (Great start)
Triceps Machine (87.5Kg): 15, 10 (-2 :/)
Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 9, 9, 9* (+1)

Lateral DB Raises (10Kg): 15, 15, 15 (-)

DB-Concentration Curls (10Kg): 15, 15 (-)

 

Excellent stuff.

 

Weight: 74.5Kg
Calories: 3060

Estimated Surplus: 360

 

Dropped to 73.8Kg the day after so yeah, still not gaining too quickly I reckon, averaging around 1Kg per month.

[Disil]

After very little sleep Tue -> Wed, I was forced to take another rest day on Thursday due to incredible soreness in my pecs, shoulders, lats. Instead I opted for a 9+ hours of sleep that night to get a great workout in on Friday. Which I did.

 

Friday Workout:

 

Bench Press (65Kg): 6, 6, 6 (RPE 9 for 1+2, 10 for 3, pretty decent actually given how 3x5 at this weight felt on Monday)
Seated Cable Rows (69.5Kg): 10, 9, 9 (-)
Machine Shoulder Press (32,5Kg): 12, 12, 11, 9 (+1 from previous best, yay)
Lat Pulldown (77.5Kg): 9*, 8 (+1)
Rope Pushdown (26.25Kg): 12, 12, 9 (-2 :/)
Cable Face Pulls (32.5Kg): 15, 15 (+4, this just seems to go up and up and up, wow)
Triceps Machine (87.5Kg): 15, 13* (+1 from previous best)
Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 9, 9, 8 (-1)

Lateral DB Raises (10Kg): 15, 15, 15 (-)

DB-Concentration Curls (10Kg): 15, 15 (-)

 

Excellent stuff, again.

 

Weight: 74.1Kg
Calories: ?

Estimated Surplus: ?

 

A colleague brought some food and well, I just didn't bother counting. Sizable surplus for sure but oh well.

[Disil]

So I've been thinking about exercise selection for a while now. I have been using mostly the same movements for almost a year now, in some cases even longer. That's not a problem really, but in my case it also means I have been not using a lot of movements as well since what I have done was rather limited in scope. Now I'm not a fan of dumbbells for compounds any more than in the past, but there are still quite a lot of exercises (and angles) that I have been missing out on. Pondering how to remedy that, I ended up with the plan of still keeping the same training split of Upper/Rest/U/R/U/R/R -> repeat, but transitioning into Upper A/R/Upper B/R/Upper A/R/R/Upper B/R/Upper A/R/Upper B/R/R -> repeat. Upper A would be pretty much what I am doing right now while Upper B would be the same muscle groups, directions, mostly the same volume and rep schemes, but different exercises and attempts to hit muscles from different angles or with more wholistic alternatives (i. E. a Pull Up instead of the Lat Pulldown). So I went and did a very tame dry run on my rest day on Saturday:

 

Overhead Press: 2x8x20Kg, 1x5x30Kg

Pull-Up: 4, 3

Incline Bench Press: 8x20Kg, 8x30kg, 5x40Kg

Chest-supported Row: 2x8x65Kg

V-Bar Push Down: 2x12x18,75Kg

Reverse Pec Deck: 2x15x15Kg

Seated Machine Curl: 2x8x25Kg

Cable Curl: 2x12x15Kg

Diamond Push-Up: 5, 5

 

For the side delts I think will still keep lateral raises with dumbbells as that's what's been working best for me. I'll probably substitute one of the other curls with one of these here so I have one variant with constant tension on both days. Now I just need to find a good way to introduce this Day B without getting too sore.

 

I hope that my idea pans out and that I actually don't get any weaker with the Day A stuff, but rather stronger, despite only doing it half as often in the future. Just like with that one study where the participants doing Squats + Leg Press got stronger in the Squat than those doing just Squats (volume equated).

[Disil]

Sunday Workout:

 

Bench Press (67.5Kg*): 4, 4, 4 (Finally a PR. These felt uncomfortable on my elbows, but still only RPE 9 to 9.5. Awesome)
Seated Cable Rows (69.5Kg): 10, 10*, 9 (+1)
Machine Shoulder Press (32,5Kg): 12, 12, 11, 9 (-)
Lat Pulldown (77.5Kg): 9, 8 (-)
Rope Pushdown (26.25Kg): 12, 12, 12* (+1 from previous best. Up)
Cable Face Pulls (33.125Kg): 14, 14 (Incredible stuff)
Triceps Machine (87.5Kg): 15, 13 (-)
Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 9, 9, 9 (-)

Lateral DB Raises (10Kg): 15, 15, 15 (-)

DB-Concentration Curls (10Kg): 15, 15 (-)

 

Great.

 

Weight: 74.7Kg
Calories: 3160

Estimated Surplus: 310

[Disil]

Sadly, Sunday left me brutally sore and combined with my new tasks at work and all the + hours and having to be there earlier, I only slept very little Sunday and Wednesday night which impacted recovery a lot. I needed 2 rest days again because of all of that which sucks, but what can you do.

 

Wednesday Workout:

 

Bench Press (61Kg): 10*, 9*, 9* (3x10 just wasn't in the cards today)
Seated Cable Rows (69.5Kg): 10, 10, 10* (+1. Up)
Machine Shoulder Press (32,5Kg): 12, 11, 11, 2 (Elbow pain. Sucks. :/)
Lat Pulldown (77.5Kg): 9, 9* (+1)
Rope Pushdown (26.875Kg*): 12, 11, 9 (Great start)
Cable Face Pulls (33.125Kg): 15,* 15* (+2, up ..again. Really crazy how this just keeps going up)
Triceps Machine (87.5Kg): 15, 11 into dropset (-2..doing that dropset wasn't the best idea, pushdowns are are much better fit)
Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 9, 9, 8 (-1)

Lateral DB Raises (10Kg): 15, 15, 15 (-)

Cable Curl (20/25Kg): 12, 15 (Decided to retire the concentration curls since I just feel them in the crook of my arm and not much in the biceps. I'm now giving these here a go, I certainly feel like I'm getting much more feedback in my biceps here) 

 

Not bad I guess. Certainly didn't feel 100%.

 

Weight: 74.6Kg
Calories: 2770

Estimated Surplus: 70

[Disil]

Despite severe soreness in my pecs I decided to go, not wanting to take another 2 rest days in a row.

 

Friday Workout:

 

Bench Press (62.5Kg): 8, 8, 8 (Pretty happy with this. RPE 9.5/10, but still, good form on most of these)
Seated Cable Rows (70.75Kg*): 9, 8, 9 (Good start)
Machine Shoulder Press (32,5Kg): 12, 11, 11, 8 (Just not getting anywhere with these)
Lat Pulldown (77.5Kg): 9, 10* (+1)
Rope Pushdown (26.875Kg*): 12, 11, 10* (+1)
Cable Face Pulls (33.75Kg*): 13, 12 (Good start)
Triceps Machine (87.5Kg): 15, 13 (back to my previous best)

Cable Curl (30Kg): 12, 12 (Pretty heavy already. Up) 

Lateral DB Raises (10Kg): 15, 15, 15 (-)

Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 8, 8, 7 (Shouldn't have done the cable curls first, ugh)

 

Excellent.

 

Weight: 74.8Kg
Calories: 3202

Estimated Surplus: 302

[Disil]

Sunday Workout:

 

Bench Press (65Kg): 6, 6, 6 (Eh, I was really hoping for easier reps, but this was quite heavy still. 67.5 for 5 next week will be interesting)
Seated Cable Rows (70.75Kg): 9, 9*, 9 (+1)
Machine Shoulder Press (32,5Kg): 12, 12, 12*, 12* (Wtf ok. +4 from previous best. Up)
Lat Pulldown (77.5Kg): 10*, 10 (+1. Up)
Rope Pushdown (26.875Kg): 12, 12*, 11* (+2)
Cable Face Pulls (33.75Kg): 14*, 13* (+2, damn)
Triceps Machine (87.5Kg): 15, 14* (+1)

Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 9, 9, 9 (Back on track)

Lateral DB Raises (10Kg): 15, 15, 15 (These are really becoming painful on my joints. I might go back down and instead do slow negatives instead)

Cable Curl (31.25Kg*): 12, 12 (Ouf, barely. Up) 

 

Good stuff. This theoretically would be my last workout of this cycle, but I really feel like I can go another couple of weeks right now so I will push back the deload a bit instead. It's certainly plausible that have been deloading too frequently / too early into a cycle in the past.

 

Weight: 75.2Kg
Calories: 3107

Estimated Surplus: 207

[Disil]

Tuesday Workout:

 

Bench Press (61Kg): 10, 10*, 9 (Only +1 sadly)
Seated Cable Rows (70.75Kg): 10*, 10*, 10* (+3, holy shit. Up)
Machine Shoulder Press (35Kg*): 12, 11, 10, 8 (Great start)
Lat Pulldown (80Kg*): 8, 8 (Good start)

Triceps Machine (90Kg*): 12, 12 (Barely made it. Up)
Cable Face Pulls (33.75Kg): 15*, 15* (+3 more, just incredible. Up)

Rope Pushdown (23.75Kg): 15*, 13*, 13* into Dropset (Good start)

Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 10*, 9, 9 (+1)

Lateral DB Raises (8Kg): 15, 15, 15 (Holy shit the pump and the agony with slow negatives. Also, yay, my joints don't hurt as much now)

Cable Curl (32.5Kg*): 10, 11 (I was just done, no idea how I made it through those two sets) 

 

I decided to switch the triceps (dip-ish) machine and rope pulldowns in place and rep-range as it just made more sense this way around. It also enables me to do dropsets with the rope which I hope will help with my lacking triceps.

 

Weight: 75.0Kg
Calories: 3199

Estimated Surplus: 449

[Disil]

Friday Workout:

 

Bench Press (65Kg): 7*, 7*, 7* (Damn. I was quite a bit scared of today, but these went smoothly, at the exact same RPEs of Sundays 3x6x65Kg, RPE 9/9.5/10)
Seated Cable Rows (72Kg*): 8, 8, 8 (Ugh, heavy as all hell. I might go back down to 70.75 again)
Machine Shoulder Press (35Kg): 12, 12*, 12*, 9* (+4, wtf)
Lat Pulldown (80Kg*): 8, 9* (+1)

Triceps Machine (92.5Kg*): 12, 11 (Great start)
Cable Face Pulls (34.375Kg*): 13, 13 (Good start, heavy)

Rope Pushdown (23.75Kg): 15, 14*, then 11 at 21.75Kg with slow negative (similar to the lateral raises, after two very hard sets I decided to drop down in weight and instead do a more controlleg eccentric. Overall, this is a technique I should have and will use more, since it enables me to progress and promote hypertrophy without having to go so high in weight, taking better care of my joint and overall using more of the muscles that I actually want to target)

Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 10*, 9, 9 (no progress, but unreal bicep pump just from these which certainly wasn't the case in the past)

Lateral DB Raises (8Kg): 15, 15, 15 (-)

Cable Curl (32.5Kg): 12*, 12* (These just feel awkward and my shoulders are always too worn out at this point. I'll just drop these entirely and resume the seated incline curls instead) 

 

That moment when your last workout was one of the best in a while and the current one beats that by a long shot. Incredible stuff. What makes this even more ridiculous is the fact that I forgot my elbow sleeve at home and not only did I barely have any pain, but got the above results.

 

Weight: 75.2Kg
Calories: 3253

Estimated Surplus: 503

 

Unfortunately, all those great workouts these last weeks have coincided with a fair bit of weight and fat gain. Now that it's getting much warmer and less and less clothes fit (or even have me feel in the least bit comfortable), I need to take action.

 

The plan will be to do a cut as perfect as possible, meaning: Pretty small deficit / a truckload of nutrients / a ton of sleep / quality training with an emphasis on good form and injury prevention. Diet breaks every so often (rather more frequent than less), while cutting for a total of 12 or so weeks. Starting Sunday.

[Disil]

Sunday Workout:

 

Bench Press (67.5Kg): 5*, 5*, 5* (Unfortunately this was all RPE 10 or close to it, but eh, I'll take it)
Seated Cable Rows (70.75Kg): 10, 10, 9 (Yup, this feels better. Lost a rep, but form looked better. Not feeling too great today anyway)
Machine Shoulder Press (35Kg): 12, 12, 12, 10* (+1)
Lat Pulldown (80Kg): 8, 7 (-2)

Triceps Machine (92.5Kg): 12, 11 (-)
Cable Face Pulls (34.375Kg*): 13, 13 (-)

Rope Pushdown (21.25Kg): 15, 14, 13 (The slow negative feels so much better, totally worth losing the reps and some weight)

Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 10, 10*, 10* (+2, no clue where that progress came from)

Lateral DB Raises (8Kg): 15, 15, 15 (-)

 

Well, they can't all be winners. This marks the end of week 5 of this cycle so I'm sure that's part of the reason.

 

Weight: 75.6Kg
Calories: 2242

Estimated Deficit: 508

Total Deficit: 508

[Disil]

Wednesday Workout:

 

Bench Press (61Kg): 10, 9, 10 (No progress)
Seated Cable Rows (70.75Kg): 9, 10, 9 (-1)
Machine Shoulder Press (35Kg): 12, 11, 10, 10 (-3)
Lat Pulldown (80Kg): 9, 8 (-)

Triceps Machine (92.5Kg): 12, 10 (-1)
Cable Face Pulls (34.375Kg): 15*, 14* (+3)

Rope Pushdown (21.25Kg): 15, 15, 14 (+2)

Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 10, 10, 7 (-3)

Lateral DB Raises (8Kg): 15, 15, 12 (-3)

 

The cut can't really be why this sucked. I figure it's more a combination of work crushing me and this being my 6th week of training without deloading. Two more workouts until my deload which I'm a bit scared of since I'm also cutting, but not that steep and well, I just can't do much about this timing right now, just have to accept it and make the best of it.

 

Weight: 74.2Kg
Calories: 2211

Estimated Deficit: 489

Total Deficit: 2297

[Disil]

I was very surprised to find that there was barely any soreness after that last one and so I unexpectedly was ready to train again 48 hours later.

 

Friday Workout:

 

Bench Press (67.5Kg): 6*, 5, 6* (Damn. 3x6 just wasn't happening, the last set was with a spotter and a 3 second grind. Thankfully a great spotter who did not help regardless and let me finish the rep on my own. I do not believe diet made a difference here. I went into this well fed and attribute any lack of performance to both the stress at work as well as the fact that this is week 6 since my last deload and the second to last workout before the next deload)
Seated Cable Rows (70.75Kg): 10, 10, 9 (-)
Machine Shoulder Press (35Kg): 12, 12, 10, 8 (-1)
Lat Pulldown (80Kg): 9, 8 (-)

Triceps Machine (92.5Kg): 12, 10 (-1)
Cable Face Pulls (34.375Kg): 15, 15* (+1. Up)

Rope Pushdown (21.25Kg): 15, 13, 11 (-4, slow and controlled af tho)

Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 10, 10, 9, 7* (-1 from previous best, added 4th set)

Lateral DB Raises (8Kg): 15, 15, 15 (-)

 

I really hope the changes at work in May and June and some much needed time off after that will help me reduce stress levels again. Also, deload. Sunday will by my last workout and I will go all out of course, anticipating the recovery and fatigue reduction that is coming up. I thought about going to maintenance for that week, but it really shouldn't matter so I'll just go with it while cutting.

 

Weight: 74.0Kg
Calories: 2576

Estimated Deficit: 124

Total Deficit after 6 days of cutting: 2935