First Rodeo

[the_last_s0n]

Had a sweet workout today, thought I'd share:

Bench- 135x10, 185x5, 225x5, 245x5, 275x5, 295x5, 315x2
Crazy bench (kettlebells on bands off ends of bars)- Embarrassingly difficult time with this. All sorts of wonky.
Dumbbell row: 140x8 per arm for two sets

For reference, my previous 5 rep PR was 275, and my current 1 rep is 320.

Talked to a coach about the back issue... He has a similar injury and experiences the same problem on cycle. Recommended rolling out my psoads, which seemed to help quite a bit. In his experience, it's the p plex that causes this extreme pump. I have a week left to go before I'm out, so hopefully that's the case.

 

[the_last_s0n]

Just got a pump in my forearms from typing a sentence. Wow.

 

[the_last_s0n]

Bullets:

-Weight is holding at 215-220.
-Strength is continuing to rise significantly. Hit 315x4 on bench yesterday, doubling my rep PR from last week.
-Sex drive was low, thinking that was due to the extra nandrolone in my system from the NPP. Now, about a week after my final kick start dose, I feel like I could put a hole through a goddamn armored tank.
-Size is continuing to increase. Ripped the ass out of my last pair of jeans yesterday at work. I was already a difficult to fit size, being so short and broad, but now I may seriously need to look at tailored clothing.
-I don't feel like I'm putting on, or losing, any fat. Abs are more visible, but I think that's more a function of increased muscle size allowing them to show through. Still holding on to my belly.
-Cardio capability feels like it dropped through the floor. Walking short distances winds me more than I like. Also, the pumps I would get in my back and calves while walking were uncomfortable to say the least. Last dose of the P Plex was today, so I'm looking forward to seeing if that changes.
-After a visit to my chiropractor (who deals more in functional mobility than strictly spinal health), we found out that I don't have a disc injury but rather the fascia around some superficial nerves has grown thick and tangled enough that it's putting pressure on those nerves. It's doing a lot better now that I've started to break that tissue up, and it's very relieving to know that there's no spinal damage there. Maybe that could be useful to someone else who might be experiencing something similar to me.
-Also, pictures. Easiest to see changes in the shoulders and traps in those pics:

View attachment 546872--->View attachment 546873

 

[the_last_s0n]

Tonight's pin rounded out week 5, and it was a pretty darn good workout, too. Today was raw squatting (belt, no wraps). Hit the following:

Squat-
5x55 lb (squat bar is 55 lb)
5x165
3x275
3x325
3x385
3x430
5x430

Pause Squat with safety bar and band between knees (5 reps of 5 second pauses at parallel)-

205
245

Rehab work for back

On the last set I got a disapproving head shake from my coach because "I should have done two more reps," ha ha. Previous rep PR from about 6 weeks ago was 385x3, and my one rep without wraps has been stuck at 400 for some time.

I had a lot of trouble getting my workout shirt off after my upper body got pumped up from the heavy squatting. It's like a goddamn raccoon trap.

 

[the_last_s0n]

Been a little while since an update- Things are continuing to go pretty damn well. Hit PRs in all three big lifts two weeks ago:

Squat: 465x3 with no wraps
Bench: 315x5
Sumo deads: 455 for a single

This last week was a planned deload week, since I was traveling for the holiday.

About a week ago, I was noticing a ramping level of water retention, so I upped to dose of proviron from 25mg ED to 50mg. This seems to have eliminated the water retention. This, in combination with increasing muscle and apparently static fat levels, have been making a difference in how lean I appear to be. My top four abs are now almost as visible as they were when I was sub 10% BF @ 155 lb a couple years ago, despite the fact that I'm still probably hovering around 15% BF currently.

Weight is holding steady, but since strength and size seem to be increasing significantly still, I'm going to continue with my current eating for the most part. I'm going to start adding a protein shake first thing in the morning, though I don't anticipate that will make any sort of significant difference.

I have stretch marks starting to turn deep purple all the way down my biceps, which I'm taking as a further sign of continued growth. The cramps that I was experiencing earlier have stopped being an issue, so it looks like that did end up being a side from the P Plex, also possibly due to the NPP.

This marks the end of week 8 out of 12 for the main portion of this cycle. I'm very excited about the progress I've made these past couple of months, but I'm also getting excited to try out the Anavar (var) and start cutting.

 

[TLG]

Awesome strength increases man, especially your squat. Chuck up a pic of your legs bro, have a feeling they will be like treetrunks

 

[infection]

Hey bro, just curious, but if you're a powerlifter, why would you go zero carbs and with anavar?

It's just a counter intuitive idea for a powerlifter to cut out carbs...

 

[the_last_s0n]

Hey bro, just curious, but if you're a powerlifter, why would you go zero carbs and with anavar?

It's just a counter intuitive idea for a powerlifter to cut out carbs...

Nah, it's not counter intuitive at all. Two reasons:

1. It's a weight class based sport. As long as you can keep getting strong, it's an advantage to be lean. My teammates and I regularly use no carb/refeed days in order to cut weight for competitions. Keeping your walking weight lean prevents you from having to cut a lot of water weight before weigh-ins, which can have a hugely detrimental effect on performance. I'm planning on staying in range of 181 or 198.
2. I'm a young single dude, and I would like to be a sexy beast so I can find an Australian wife.

Var is also a favorite oral in powerlifting. Strength gains are high, gains are large and lean, and sides are low.

I took some new progress pictures today, but I'm too lazy to upload them right now.

Workout today:

Bench with the football bar:

5x85
5x125
3x175
3x215
3x255
3x275
3x295

3 sets of crazy bench
3x10 dead stop barball rows w/ 225lb
3 supersets of various biceps and triceps

 

[jSalud]

Nice progress man. Upload this pics! Curious to see how it is going

 

[the_last_s0n]

Wed. training:

Safety bar squat to a 14" box
5x115
5x155
5x205
5x245
5x295
3x335
3x355

Leg Press 4 sets of 10 @445
Sledge hammer GPP work

Thurs:

9 sets of 3 reps speed bench. 185 lb on the bar, with 200lbs of chains. Changed grip width every 3 sets.
Prettyboy superset (shrugs, biceps, side delts)

Sat:

Many, many (lost count, probably 15-20) of band resisted deadlifts. Worked up to 225 bar weight, with quadroupled up mini bands (something like 75-100lbs per side)
Reverse hyper 3x8
Band pull-throughs 3x10
Forward facing sled drags 4x200ft

Picture time!

From back in June, compared to now. Sorry about the instagrams.
View attachment 547262

View attachment 547263

Quads:
View attachment 547264

An attempt to show off my stretch marks. I've literally been watching them grow on a daily basis:
View attachment 547265

And finally, some measurements. Old numbers were measured in June.

Quads: 26" to 28"
Biceps: 16.5" to 18"

 

[the_last_s0n]

Started a short cycle of max effort reverse grip bench today, and will probably only do it for one more week. It's AWKWARD.

Reverse grip bench:
45x10
135x5
185x5 (really shaky and crappy)
185x5 (better form)
225x5
245x5
255x5

Dead stop rows (really focused on contracting and strict form): 1 set of 135x10, 3 sets of 185x10

Rolling thunder (secret gym form of tricep extensions):

10x65
10x95
5x115
10x95

Sled tricep extensions and sled chest flies: 2 sets each, 30 yards per set.

I also did yoga on Sunday as part of a new effort to really work on my mobility, which has gone to shit over the last year, especially with my shoulders. I was the only one in the room who weighed over a buck-forty. It was a good challenge, though, and definitely something I need to work on.

 

[the_last_s0n]

Workout yesterday:

box squat with safety squat bar
65 x 10
155 x 5
245 x 3
295 x 3
335 x 3
355 x 3
385 x 3

Ukranian deadlift
2 sets of 20 reps with 100 lbs

some odd sets of lat pull down for fun.

Had a new set of bicep stretch marks after lifting that definitely were not present yesterday morning.

 

[the_last_s0n]

Thursday:

Speed bench- 9 sets with 185 bar weight, 200 lbs in chains. Varied grip width
Trap bar shrugs- 235 lbs for 3 sets of 20 reps, pauses on every fifth
Hammer curls- three sets of 8 w/ 45 lb dumbbells
Grip work with Rolling Thunder handle

Saturday:

Speed Squats- 225 bar weight, 100 lbs of chains for doubles to a box. Lost count of sets.
Speed deads- about 200 lbs of band tension, 225-275 bar weight for singles. Lost count of sets.
Ridiculous upper back circuit- 4 rounds of inverted rows, lat pullovers (not sure of the real name) on the t bar, pull ups, and kettlebell/chain upright rows. All aimed at 20 reps per set.

Still having a hard time cramming my daily calorie requirement into the few hours after lifting, but I'm still holding weight. Three weeks remaining before I switch gears.

 

[the_last_s0n]

Monday:

ME Bench-
135 x 8
185 x 8
225 x 8
255 x 8
275 x 8
315 x 6 (new PR, almost got seven!)

Superset of tricep hammers, Tate presses, and Cannelli's (all tricep/rotator cuff work)-
3 sets, 10 reps per exercise

Dips-
20 x bodyweight
6 x unknown extra weight

Lateral Shoulder Raises-
3 sets of 10

Wednesday:

Box squat with SSB-
10 x 155
5 x 205
5 x 205
5 x 245
5 x 295
5 x 335
5 x 355
5 x 335 +100lb of chains

Naughty girl squats-
4 sets of 10, red super-mini band

Terminal knee extensions-
A lot

So, strength still feels like it's going up. Starting to see more acne, doesn't seem like the face wash I have is doing the trick. Weight is sitting at the same spot.

 

[the_last_s0n]

Tweaked my left trap pretty well on Monday with my 315 set, so I skipped speed bench on Thursday.

Thursday:

Clean and press
5 sets of 8-10, working up to 185

Inverted kettlebell shoulder press
35 lb bells, 3 sets of 8

straight bar curls
45 lbs for 3 sets of 15

Saturday:

sumo deadlift
worked up to six singles at 405 lb

Reverse band bench pulldown
2 sets of five 5 second holds

Hook grip deadlift static holds
315 lb, off a 12 rack. Held for ~20 seconds.

Sled GPP work

Hook grip is incredibly painful, and definitely tore up my thumbs quite a bit. I'm going to start doing these static holds twice a week to build up my pain threshold on it with the hopes that I'll be able to start competing and training with a hook grip on deadlift. I have really short and broad hands, so it'll be a challenge.

This rounds out week 10. No real changes to speak of... I actually lost a couple pounds last week, so I'm going to be putting a good amount of olive oil in all of my protein shakes for these last couple of weeks and really try to lay the food on.

Also, once I switch over to the Anavar (var) and cutting in January, I'm considering upping the test dose from 200 mg a week to 400 mg for another 8 weeks. I would essentially be running the test for 20 weeks. Any thoughts on that, or would it be kind of a waste? Probably am not going to put on a lot of new muscle during this period, but I want to make sure I don't lose any while cutting.

 

[the_last_s0n]

Monday:

Reverse Grip Bench:
8x135
8x185
8x205
8x225

Tricep stuff
Tried doing rows with the reverse hyper... Wasn't a huge fan of that situation

Wednesday:

Safety bar squat to a parallel box
10x155
3x205
3x245
3x295
3x335
3x385
3x385
3x425

Leg press
4x10x400

Naughty squats

Thursday:

Speed bench with red bands

3 sets of 3x135 bar weight
6 sets of 3x155 bar weight

Dumbbell rows
3x10x120 per side

Incline bench
3x15x135

Side delt flies (one of my pretty-boy lifts)

----

I was so PUMPED about that 425 squat! The safety bar wrecked me on the last two reps, though. Lost upper back tightness and rounded but ground them out. I'm paying for it today, especially in the quads. Sore as all get out! One more workout to round out week eleven.

Also, thank god I'm bulking during the holidays! That makes life easy.

 

[the_last_s0n]

Alright, week 12 of the cycle is now complete! The bulking phase is over! My last pin was Wednesday, and ironically, it's the one that made me bleed the most after. It was just about spritzing out, but none went into the syringe when I aspirated.

Workouts have been about the same. Haven't pushed any strength boundaries as I've been road tripping a lot, which ends up being pretty exhaustive for me. Diet has been piss poor due to the holiday, but I don't think I've put on fat. Just feel bloaty.

I've decided, with some input from teammates, to keep my test dosage at 400mg per week throughout the cutting phase in order (to further help preserve strength, moreso than size). I will begin the cut diet the day after new year's. I'm treating myself to a night of drunkenness for the holiday, as I will be discontinuing ALL alcohol consumption for the duration of the cut.

Final bulk pics to be added soon.

 

[fitnessgeek]

Do you have an update?
I was wondering how your cutting cycle was going?