The weights felt heavier than usual this week. Still chasing that ultimate, satisfying lift. I know I'm going to have to go higher than today to get that 500lb double overhand (no straps) dream pull nice and smooth and keep building up my grip strength. 1 week at a time.
Didn't think I was going to go this high today, but it happened. Started my working sets at 405lbs and made it up to, probably a bodyweight PR/PB, 445lb squat. Finally hit the 200kg mark at around 190lbs (86kg) bodyweight. Made sure to get in my yeah buddies and light weight at the end 🦵
Was surprised with how heavy I went this week after last week's sesh. Sometimes you never know how it's gonna go until you get out there and lift that bar.
Yes that's right, it's my new favorite grip training exercise, the Barbell Row! No straps, just hands. Setup the bar then Grip it and Rip it.... Or something like that
For this week's squats, I worked up to 405lbs after destroying myself with Squats and Deads last week. No need to go to crazy as I would consider this a bit of a recovery week. After this set I dropped back to 355lbs for reps and 265lbs for long slow reps (not shown). The body needs to rest sometimes but 1 heavy rep reminds it of what it can do.
M 35 // 5ft 8in (~173cm) // 190lbs (~86kg) // ~19 Weeks out
Last Check in was at 27 Weeks out. Since then I decided to maintain my weight around 190lbs until last week when I began the slow cut (planning on trying to loose about 0.5-0.75lbs per week then reassess at 10 Weeks out). I think I will need to drop between 10-15lbs but really have no idea until I start getting closer and lower in weight. Planning on a Dexa scan in a couple weeks to get a better idea. I also decided just to compete in Bodybuilding and not Classic, although its still far enough out so I may change my mind again.
Macro Factor has me starting this cut at ~2800 calories/234g Protein/94g Fat/258g Carbs. I'm not super strict yet with the Macro's. As long as I get around 190-200g of protein I feel good then I just fill the rest of my calories with Fat and Carbs (I have been on the higher side of carbs some days, closer to +300g). I'll have to become more strict as it gets closer to the comp.
I did have an oops around my diet coming back from a Vacation in early April. I was expecting to gain weight but came back lighter than expected, ~187lbs due to inconsistent eating on vacation, and panic feed myself 2 weekends in a row. 16k calories in 3 days one weekend and about 10k calories in 2 days the next. Weight jumped up a bit to 197 on those weekends, but hitting right below maintenance calories for a bit helped me slowly tapered it off until I was ~190 again. (Maintenance had me around 3200 calories) Happy to know sticking to a plan pays off even if you mess up a bit.
Workouts have stayed the same with a Lower/Upper split Monday through Saturday with Sundays as an Active Rest day where I either Walk or do Elliptical for 60 minutes. Steps vary from 7k-10k a day on average. I did get some impingement in my right shoulder a few weeks ago so I have been taking upper body pushing exercises a bit lighter and not hitting shoulders as hard along with adding in some mobility warmups to keep my shoulders from internally rotating so much on upper body days.
I think my posing is getting slightly better. I have attended a few more posing classes and am getting more comfortable with the mandatory poses along with starting to come up with ideas for my routine. I threw in two fun ones at the end of my routine here. Still working on nailing it down and was thinking of trying it blindfolded next time or not facing the mirror so I can see how it might look without one and get a better feel for it.
Overall really excited and looking forward to stepping on stage in September.
This was probably one of my best deadlift sessions in months. Hit a new PR/PB weight for double Overhand and had my 495 pull look way stronger than 485. Spent about 40 minutes on the platform in total just pulling weight. Already looking forward to next week.
Worked up to some heavy singles for Squats today then headed back down the pyramid
Today I decided to see how many times I could double Overhand touch and go, I not being satisfied with the results, then continued on with another, hopefully, satisfying pull.