5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 3. Week 2. Press/Dead

LRB Diet Day - 40

BW - 197

Hypers - 3 sets of 15

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95, 135X5
155, 180, 205X3

Klokovs -
BarX10
55X5
60X4
70X3
75X2
90X1
95X1
100XFAIL
70X5

Deadlift -
135X5
135X5 (RDL)
200, 230X3
255X8

BB Shrugs -
225X10
315X10
405X3, 3, 3, 3, 3
315X14
315X15

Chiro Crunches - 20, 30, 40, 45

Decided to do the Klokov's LRB/Strong-15 style again to see where my top strength is with the lift.  When I did this 3 sessions ago, I failed on 90.  Solid progress.

8 reps with 255 was getting pretty close to my limits.  Probably 1 more rep, 2 would have taken everything I had.

Added an extra set of 405 on shrugs, and then hit two back-off sets with 315.  So more of a volume day.  I raised the pins one notch, and it made getting into position significantly easier.

Also getting back on the wagon with the core work at the beginning and end of the workouts.

Diet Thoughts at the Half-Way Point

So I'm over a month into the LRB Diet, and I want to record some thoughts here for myself to look back at when I want to start diets in the future.  Some of these may change by the time I'm at the end of this dieting phase, and hopefully I write another one of these then.

The 2 things that seem to make the BIGGEST difference for me in terms of making and maintaining progress on this diet are:  1)  Training frequency and consistency, and 2)  Limiting alcohol consumption.  If I can get my scheduled 3-4 lifting sessions and 1-2 conditioning/steady-state sessions done in a week, and limit frequency and quantity of alcohol intake to 1-3 times a week while trying to order drinks that I drink slowly, then I seem to have significantly more elbow room in the type  of food I'm consuming.  That means that if I end up in a social situation for a meal where I have less control over the food available to me, I can get outside of the diet a little bit without seeing any consequences. 

For example, I got 3 lifting sessions and 2 steady-state sessions in over the last 6 days.  In that time, I kept pretty close to the diet, but on a couple of occasions had to eat meals out because I was away from home with no access to a microwave.  I also had drinks on 2-3 occasions, but managed to limit that to bourbon for the most part.  I tend to sip bourbon and rye, and usually won't have more than 1 in an hour.  The results are that the last two days I feel and look like I'm about as lean as I've been on this diet, and a couple of co-workers have commented about my evident weight-loss.

My schedule should be finally opening up a lot over the next 5 weeks.  My plan is to maximize that opportunity to power through until the big reunion of college friends happening on Columbus Day weekend.  Ideally, I should be able to hit the two points discussed above AND keep a tighter leash on the diet, all because I should be able to spend more time at home eating and preparing my meals.

The only slight hiccup is that I've allowed myself to run out of protein powder, and probably won't receive my shipments of new stuff until next week.  Hopefully this week I can keep the protein up with real food meals to compensate.  I expect eggs to be a big part of that plan.

Another thing I really need to get done this week is to finally buy a scale.  I've just been using the scale at the gym, and calling it good since I work out at the same time of day most sessions.  However, a few times I've had to use some other gym to get a workout in, and the scale there always seems to have a surprising result; usually  lighter than expected.  It's time to start tracking this at home in the AM so that I can have a more consistent result.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 3. Week 2. "Bench"

LRB Diet - Day 38

BW - 195

Pause Squats -
BarX12
95X5
135, 155, 185, 205X3

Press -
BarX10
75, 85, 95X8
85, 85X6
super-set with
Chin-Ups (V-grip) - BWX7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 7

Clearly I did not bench today.  I had to hit a commercial gym, and get in and out to make a social engagement, so I opted for the old "I can do this whole session in this one rack" workout.

Everything felt fine for the most part.  After the last two pressing sessions, it seems like I may have had a touch of a drop-off since I was alternating it with Incline at the beginning of Summer.  Not really sure what to make of it right now, and I think I need a few more sessions to see where it's really at.  The fact is, I've been doing a press movement every session for 8 weeks now including Dips, Bench, and Klokov.  That's a good variety of pressing planes, and to have my strict press drop off in that time is confuddling. I'm not gonna go back to the drawing board just yet, though.  I got good volume here and hopefully that will help stimulate some bounce back in the next couple of sessions.

7's on chins felt pretty good, but the more neutral grip usually results in a few more reps in my experience.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 3. Week 2. Squat

LRB Diet - Day 35

BW - 197

Saturday and Sunday - AM fasted cardio 20-35 minutes

Squats -
BarX10
95X8
135X5
160, 185X3
205X7

Pendlay Rows -
BarX15
110, 140X5
125X17

Stiff-Leg High-Pulls -
125, 135, 155, 165, 165X5
super-set with
Dips -
BW+25, 2 sets of 5
BW+35, 2 sets of 5
BW+25, 1 set of 5

Was under the gun to get in and out this session, so no core work today.

Squats felt just okay.  Not spectacularly good or bad.

125X17 with Pendlays is an all-around PR.

Super-set the high-pulls with dips to try and make up some time.  165 for 5 was definitely at the top end of my ability for the day.

Haven't loaded dips in a while, so this felt like a "re-acquaint myself" session.  I was also using an adjustable dip station, and never felt like I got the bars at a comfortable width.  The last set was supposed to be a back-off set for higher reps with just the 25 lb. plate, but I forgot during the set and stopped at 5.  's All good, and I'll remember to do something along those lines next time.

All in all, an 80% session.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 3. Week 1. Press/Dead

LRB Diet - Day 33

BW - 197

Hypers - 5 sets of 15; 30 second rests

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95, 135X5
155, 180, 205X3

Klokov Press -
BarX10
55, 60X5
70X20

Deadlift -
135X5
135X5 (RDL)
185, 215X5
240X10

BB Shrugs -
225X10
315X5
405X5 (add straps)
405X3, 3
405X5
365X5, 5
315X12

Full-bore, balls out session for me.  +10%.

I've shortened the rest on the hypers and lowered the reps a tad because I like the "pump" feeling I get in my low back.  It seems to help me keep my arch at the bottom of the pause squats to have my low back warmed up this way.

Going into my last set of pause squats, I thought about trying to rep it out a bit, but reminded myself that this is still kind of part of my warm-up, and that I still had a lot of lifting to do.  I'll put that idea on the back-burner until next cycle.  Not talking anything crazy; just going for 5 on the top set.

Continuing to PR on Klokov's in the higher rep range.  This was an all-out effort to get the 20.  Looking forward to what happens with this lift as the numbers continue to climb.  I assume that at some point the rep range on the top set will start to spiral down.

I'm renewing my focus on form with the deadlift a bit.  I'm trying to stay tight and almost motionless at the bottom of each rep so that the only  movement is taking a breath and/or taking the slack out of the bar before I start the next concentric.  This felt really great today.  I probably left a rep or two in the tank, and my low back didn't feel taxed at all after the top set.  It was actually my legs that seemed to be getting fatigued this way.  Front squats may return in my near future if that continues.

On to CNP shrugs!  OK, I made sure to note which level I stuck the pins in this time, because I'm positive it was lower than last time.  I was pulling these off just above my knee, and it was fucking hard to get up into position, yet kind of awesome at the same time.  I have zero illusions that pulling 405 from above the knee will help me pull 405 off the floor, but it was still a grind at the beginning of every set, and I'm sort of proud of them in context.  Rather than hit a high rep back-off set on 315 after the 405's the way I did last session, I decided to up overall volume by dropping to 365 for a couple sets and then hitting a modest back-off set.  I just wasn't ready to be done shrugging, but I was done with 405.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 3. Week 1. Bench

LRB Diet - Day 30

BW - 201 (I fucking knew that scale was wrong the other day)

Hypers - 5 sets of 15-20

Pause Squats -
BarX10
95, 135X5
155, 180, 205X3

Bench -
BarX10
105, 125X5
140X7
super-set with
Chins - BW; 5 sets of 5

Press -
BarX10
95X8
85X5, 5, 8
super-set with
Chins - BW; 5 sets of 5

Chiro Crunches - 3 really crappy sets

I really don't think I put on 12 pounds since Thursday afternoon.  Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that commercial gyms don't have light plates and scales.

Pause Squats are jumping to the Phase 2 %'s from the 531 Full-Body program.  From 60% up to 85% on the top set.  Also worth noting, I've been increasing the training max by only 5 lbs. per cycle on this movement.  205 was a little slow here, but I'm gonna hope that's at least partially due to the big weight increase.  We'll see how it feels again next session.

Bench felt a tad better.  I was hoping to just get 6, but I was able to press out 7 with one in the tank.  This is at least in line with my numbers from last cycle, and right now consistency feels awesome on bench as opposed to steady decline.

I'm adding in pressing on this day for the additional shoulder work mentioned in my last lifting post.  I was hoping to do 4 sets of 8 with 105, but the 95X8 warm-up was a grinder after the benching, so I dropped down to 85, and 5's felt about right under that weight.  On my last set, I got myself all amped up and ground out 8 reps with that.  Next week, I'll start with the 85 and see what that's like.

I superset all my pressing with sets of 5's on chins.  Chins continue to feel weak despite weight loss.  I tried to go for more than 5 on the final set, but no luck.  Hopefully reducing the reps per set like this, and going for more overall volume will see an uptick here.  I'll keep going for it on the final set, and when I can knock out 7 or 8, I'll up it to straight sets of 6 and repeat.

Got my core work back in at the top and bottom, but the crunches were miserable and I aborted them after 3 sets.  I think all the chins had taxed my abs a bit.  Don't know how I feel about that.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 3. Week 1. Hill Sprints

LRB Diet* - Day 36

BW - ???

Hill-Sprints -
Five, 5-10 minute sets on various hills
interspersed with 5-10 minute walks from hill to hill
last 1.5 sets were superset with regular push-ups; 80 reps total
last 0.5 set was finished with supersets of planche-position (or "reverse grip") push-ups; 10 reps total
1 hour 15 minutes total time; sore as hell for 2 days following

I was out of town at a wedding, and to prepare for the influx of copious calories from unpredictable sources, I followed *Paul Carter's Holiday Diet.  Three days of low-to-no carbs with regular training leading up to the day(s).  On the day of the feast, you train your ass-off in the morning and then go binge on carbs+.  Paul calls for weight training here, preferably squatting.  I had no access to a weight facility in this tiny Wisconsin resort town, BUT the town is hilly as hell so Hill-Sprints it was.  We drove up that day, and I stayed protein only until we got up there.  Then I basically walked all over town, and whenever I found a good hill, I'd run it for 5-10 minutes then walk around until I found another good one.  The last two hills, I started doing 10 reps sets of push-ups at the bottom of the hill before sprinting back up.  On my last hill, my shoulders were getting a little sore, so I reversed my hand placement and did planche-position push-ups on the last two runs.  Then I walked back to the hotel, downed a protein shake, slept for an hour and a half, woke-up and pounded another protein shake, then went to dinner with the wife and destroyed cheese fondue, sauerkraut, Roesti (cheese-stuffed hash browns), assorted dry sausages, apple pie, and local beer.

The next morning, I woke up and went for a 45 minute, brisk walk around various hiking trails around the town.  I fasted all AM, then had a little bit of chicken and cabbage at lunch followed by another protein shake.  At the wedding dinner, I expected a buffet or some other situation where the food wouldn't be that spectacular and I could pick and choose just the low carb items.  That plan was torpedoed by the best goddamn wedding food I have ever encountered.  Nonetheless I tried to skew hard towards fat and protein, but with all the alcohol being consumed, it probably didn't matter. 

Still, the next morning came around and I looked about as trim as I did going into the weekend, AND I looked a bit fuller in my muscles.  Particularly, my shoulders and traps seemed to have really benefited from the extra work I've started giving them combined with the week's diet.  I didn't have access to a scale, so I have no idea where my weight was these last three days, and will have to find out what ballpark I'm in when I hit the gym this afternoon.  All in all, I'm pretty happy with the results, even if it was more of a pain in the ass than I would prefer. 

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 3. Week 1. Squat

LRB Diet - Day 26

BW - ?189?

Squats -
BarX10
95X7
135, 150X5
170X3
195X8

BB Rows -
BarX15
95X8
135X8
115X15

High-Pulls -
115, 135, 145, 155, 155, 155X5

Dips - BWX8, 12, 16, 4, 6

I was pressed for time getting ready to go out of town for the weekend, and had to settle for going to the L@Fitness (formerly B@llys) near my home.  189 seemed like such a drastic drop-off from my last weigh-in that I'm suspicious of the scale.  However, when I set it down to Zero pounds, it counter-balanced correctly so who knows.

I need to be better about putting my head down and doing work when I'm in a strange gym; I always feel wound tight and get a little off my game wanting to get in and get out as fast as possible.  For this session that was manifested by skipping mobility warm-ups and all my core work.  I'll have to make up for all of that in spades next time I'm in the gym.

Nevertheless everything went pretty well.  Squats felt solid, and the results are in-line with steady progress after I reset my form.

I couldnt' really do Pendlays here because I didn't have access to bumper plates at this gym.  So BB Rows trying go keep my low-back parallel to the ground and using a brief dead hang at the bottom of each rep to try and simulate a dead-stop row as much as possible.  The results were predictably slightly off from previous sessions.

For the 2nd month of LRB Dieting, I'm adding in some additional shoulder/trap work inspired by a CNP article.  One of the reasons for choosing now to take my first ever stab at strict dieting, is because I'm going to a sort of weekend camping reunion of college friends at the end of September.  While I'm trying to trim up, I thought I'd also take a stab at building some "movie star" shoulders.  Kind of silly, but also fun.  So for this day, I'm adding in High-Pulls, a movement I've never done, but always wanted to try.  These are done incredibly NOT as a textbook version of the Olympic accessory, but more as an explosive, cheating upright row.  One cool bit of synergy here, is that it seemed to work out very well to use the weight from the back-off set of bent rows as the warm-up weight for the high-pulls.  I worked up to 155, where I was having to really use explosiveness and much face-scrunching to get the 5th rep, and knocked out 3 of those sets.  I used straps on this movement as well.  I really liked this movement, and my delts felt really sore the next day.

Dips were a bit wonky because this gym has a weird, trapezoidal dip apparatus.  Again, getting past this sort of thing is something I need to be able to do.  It's dumb to only be able to have good workouts in my regular gym.  Regardless, my target was to ladder up to, and back down from 16 reps.  I got that top set, but the back off sets were completely crap.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 2. Week 3.Incline Sprints

LRB Diet - Day 24

Incline Sprints - 20 minutes

Band Pull-aparts - 5 sets of 20
superset with
Band Biceps Curls - 5 sets of 20

Got some bad news about an old friend on this day, and just didn't feel the long walk out to the hill for hill-sprints.  Went to a stretch of side-walk that's on a steady incline a couple of blocks away and ran full-out sprints for 20 minutes.  Legs and feet are still sore 2 days later.  Followed up with some band work before I hit the shower.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 2. Week 3. Press/Dead

LRB Diet - Day 23

BW - 197

Pause Squats -
Bar, 95, 125, 145X5

Klokov's -
BarX10
60X5
65X3
75X15

Deadlift -
BarX5
BarX5 RDLs
205X5
235X3
260X8

BB Shrugs -
315X4
405X5, 3, 3, 5
315X20

So used to going straight from warm-ups to Squat, I keep forgetting to do hypers.

75X15 on Klokov's is a new projected 1RM.

260X8 matches my 1RM projection from last session for Deads.  I think I could have gotten the 10 I wanted to try for, but the 7th rep was off and I felt a slight strain in my back so I took one more rep and shut it down.  Everything feels OK now, though.

I'm going to try throwing a bit more shoulder and trap volume in through a trip I have planned at the end of September.  CNP inspired.  I can't vouch for how good my form was on the 405 sets, but 315X20 was to my ears and a personal best.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 2. Week 3. Timed Mile

LRB Diet - Day 21

Timed Mile - 8 minutes

My 2nd best time ever at this distance, and I just ran it because I wanted to get something in with a tight weekend schedule.  This was earlier in the morning, probably within an hour of a breakfast of egg whites and steel-cut oatmeal.  I lept out of the gate, then reigned myself in to conserve some energy, but once that pace was locked in, I didn't waver the rest of the run.  Everything just felt awesome for some reason.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 2. Week 3. Bench

LRB Diet - Day 20

BW - 198

Hypers - 5 sets of 15-20

Pause Squats -
Bar, 95, 125, 145X5

Bench -
BarX10
95, 120X5
135X3
150X4

Chins - BWX5, 5, 8, 5, 4

Bench still feels solid form-wise, and the projected 1RM for this session shows a slight uptick over the last few sessions.  However, I was pumped up and approached the top set like I was expecting to pull a new deadlift PR, and my goal for the set was 4-6 so only getting the minimum there still doesn't feel awesome.

Chins are also feeling weak.  That sucks.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 2. Week 3. Squat

LRB Diet - Day 12

BW - 198

Squats -
BarX10
135X5
165X5
185X3
210X7

Pendlays -
95X10
145X3
130X15

Dips - BWX7, 17, 9

Chiro Crunches - 5 sets of 35-45

I ate an extra meal consisting of grilled chicken, hummus, and salad today that is probably contributing to the weight being slightly higher in the gym than the last couple sessions.  I wanted to make sure I had plenty of energy as I was determined not to have another crappy squat session.

And wah-la!  210X7 is an all around PR since I started dropping all the way down in squats.  I might have gotten 1 or 2 more, but they would have been grinding.  Almost more importantly, my form felt more dialed in than it has in a long time on full squats.

130X15 is also an all around PR on Pendlays.  15 was as many as I was going to do with anything resembling acceptable form however.

17 dips at 198 is a rep PR and projects as a new 1RM.  So...I guess an all around PR there as well.  +10% session all the way (except I forgot to do hypers).

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 2. Week 2. Press/Dead

LRB Diet - Day 16

BW - 196.5

Hypers - 5 sets of 15; 30 second rests

Pause Squats -
BarX6
95, 125, 145X5

Klokov Press -
BarX10
55, 60X3
70X15

Deadlift -
135X5 RDL
135X5X2
190, 220X3
245X10

Plowed through the hypers to make-up time so that I could get to a show tonight.  Also skipped abs at the end.

Felt good walking into the gym today, and pause squats accordingly felt a lot stronger even holding a strict 3 second pause at the bottom.

After 10 reps of 70 on Klokov's I was literally seeing stars dance around.  I took a deep breath, pulled everything tight, and hit 5 more to obliterate my previous projected 1RM.  Shoulders are really feeling it, too.

Deadlifts felt good as well.  245X10 is a Rep PR, and my highest projected 1RM since May.  That's with a big grain of salt knowing that I failed to pull 295 for more than a hard single just 3 weeks ago.  It's nice to see my projected max staying above 300, but it's killing me to not be pulling actual weight above that number right now.  Gonna keep on with the plan though.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 2. Week 2. Bench

LRB Diet - Day 13

BW - 195 (7+ month low)

Pause Squats -
BarX8
95X5
125X5
145X5

Bench -
BarX15
95X3
110X3
125X3
145X5
super-set with
Chin-ups - BWX5, 7, 10, 5, 7

Chiro Crunches - 5 sets of 40

There's a big gap in my body weight log from last year.  Somewhere between April and late December, I went from 176 to 202.  So 195 is my lowest weight since late December last year.  My heaviest was 212 in mid-February of this year, and I was around 201 when I started the diet 2 weeks ago.

Pause Squats felt heavy.  I don't know why.  I was making sure to get a long pause at the bottom, but it seemed like more than that.  Weight loss maybe?

The weight loss is definitely hitting my bench.  That and pausing all reps on my chest.  I'm...I'm just trying to live with this, and assume that when I start to add some calories back in that the weights will start moving up again.  On the plus side, my form is feeling good.  I've been placing my feet farther apart, and leaving them flat on the ground.  It feels more stable, and I can get a little leg drive "push-off" after my pause without my butt coming off the bench.

Chins seem to be holding roughly steady.

5/3/1 Full-Body: Cycle 2. Week 2. Hills

LRB Diet - Day 10

Hill Sprints - 20 minutes; 15 sprint-up/walk-back; 5 sprint-up/jog back

I don't know if it was the jogging back, the lower carbs on the diet, or just a random bad day, but I was just gassed.  A real bummer because the relatively easy 37 minutes I did last week are what inspired me to start jogging back this week.  Just no power in the steep part of the hill during the last several sprints here.  Even when I tried to "turn it on," and give my all in the last run, it felt like my feet were sinking into mud.