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ok, this week has been hectic and frustrating so far. i wanted to do my 5th leg workout monday and wont be able to until tomorrow. ideally ill be maxing out bench on friday. i also havent slept well the past few nights due to waking up in the middle of the night.

OK sleep well, then MAX OUT!

Hope you are well. Had a chance to try to belt yet??

RobRegish wrote:OK sleep well, then MAX OUT!

Hope you are well. Had a chance to try to belt yet??

havent used the belt yet, i was actually going to finish without it, max out with the bar, then max out with the belt, then stick with the belt from there for at least the heavier weights.

i worked until complete exhaustion today and skipped my pwo shake for whole food because i thought i was going to throw up if i had anymore liquid. wasnt a bad workout but during squats my back gave out on 265 and 280. everything else went pretty well considering i was tired and may have a cold.

squat- 95x5, 150x10, 230x8, 245x6, 265x3 and a negative, 280 negative

deadlift- 275x37 in about 15 min
leg sled- 450x42 in about 15 min

static ab hold 1 for as long as i could hold

only 1 static hold because my lower back was hurting me during it and my sides felt like they were going to split. overall a surprisingly good workout.

OK now rest up b/c I think you have maxes coming up. Try and string together at least 2 nights of good sleep/no sickness.

Damn sickness is killing alot of you guys. I wish I could help with this...

didnt max out this weekend because i didnt sleep well friday or saturday. im aiming to do bench then squat tomorrow. im also lining up supps for my cut in a few weeks as i start my next run.

well, kind of a disappointing day. i struggled a bit on bench and did not hit a new max but i did hit a new max on squat and my back held up great.

bench- 110x10, 140x5, 165x3, 185x1, 210x1, 230 negative

i struggled with 210 and dont know if i could have done 220 like i did last time. i feel like my chest has reached a point of overtraining, probably due to the EDT block reps. the past 3 weeks my chest has really struggled to keep up.

squat- 95x5, 150x8, 225x5, 255x1, 285x1, 315x1

i stopped at 315 because it was very difficult but my spotter said i went below parallel, so i was very happy with that. my back also held up great, and i think its because i wasnt doing so many reps and never had to hold the weight up to catch my breath or prepare for the next rep.

t-bar rows- 45x10, 90x5, 135x5

i did these pretty quickly just to see how many reps i could get of 135. i hit 5 which is what i got last time i tried it but i also only rested about 2 min between sets.

i wanted to deadlift as well, especially since my back still felt relatively fresh but i dont have time today. moving forward to the maintenance phase i think it would be a good idea for me to take some time off of bench, maybe for a week or the entire phase before starting my next run with a cut. what do you think rob?

First, congrats on the new PR SQ. We'll work on the bench bit..

I like the week off, not the dieting part so much. I do remember your prior comments and respect your goals though, so I'm on board. Just don't want you to lose any of that nice new LBM you've developed.

I'd suggest an extended cruise. Maybe a full month just to make sure. Then, we can formulate our game plan for the cut.

Great work man. How has the belt worked out? Getting used to it yet??

havent used the belt yet because ive been trying to sleep in as much as i can to catch up on rest. if i dont go early/in the morning the gym is too crowded for me to grab 2 benches to stand on, however staying with lower reps doesnt seem to be a problem for my back. the belt will be nice when im home though. i guess i can wait until after thanksgiving or till christmas break to start my diet as well.

also for the week off, i was thinking just for my chest. you think i should do a week off all together?

I do. I think everyone needs a break from time to time.

Learned this the hard way so please heed my advice. Take that one week to relax and formulate a plan. Then, work on getting more familiar with the belt. If gym crowd/getting benches is really an issue, consider cinderblocks or if they have them, those stackable aerobic steps the cardio people use.

They won't miss them. You're more important anyway

chest and shoulders today. again, chest felt weak so i stopped benching on my 3rd set. shoulders also felt weird, like not in the right groove or something.

bench- 110x10, 135x5, 175x5, 175x5, 175x2
db shoulder press- 32.5x8, 50x5, 50x5, 50x5, 50x5, 50x4

overhead cable pushdowns with v-bar
50x10, 80x3 and 3 negatives

Damn, can you put a finer point on that?

Weak as in fatigued or absolute strength lacking? Need a bit more to help you out...

it feels like the weight is heavier than it should be, like ive reached a point similar to overtraining. its kind of like what happened to me before i started using the blueprint except i havent started going backwards yet, ive just plateaued i guess.

right after doing my famine phase, my chest was kind of explosive and just felt more powerful, and now im struggling to put up weight i was bouncing around before. even during my warmup with 135 it was more challenging than it should have been. and i was also struggling with 50 lb dbs for shoulder press which i was putting up no problem over the summer.

i think my chest/arms cant handle the volume from the EDT blocks since its smaller and proportionally very weak compared to my legs and back. my first run didnt have EDT blocks and it seemed like my chest was stronger every week.

OK BIG clue there so thank you for expounding on that.

Let's try this. Next run, I'll offer up the following 2 options:

1.) Drop the EDT block work altogether and JUST focus on the big BB lifts

2.) Consider cutting the EDT blocks in HALF. Meaning instead of performing 2 EDT blocks on upper body day of 6 sets apiece, perform just one for 3 sets.

On lower body day, just 3 EDT sets vs. 6 and instead of say, Leg Sled and Romanian deadlifts, work in an isolation movement in that EDT block as follows:

Hip Belt Squats
Lying or standing hamstring curls

That'll lower the overall stress from said movements and may be just enough to stimulate hypertrophy gains without "taking away" from your recovery and contributing to the over-training thing we suspect is going on now.

You're pretty in tune with inserting extra rest days where necessary so now worries there.

Hope that helps Matt. Small adjustments like this sometime yield BIG things. Hopefully, I've given you some ideas that'll help. Please let me know your thoughts. If necessary, we'll get on the phone again to formulate another plan...