Current Events > How are your fitness goals coming along, CE? Part III

(+) Yeah! (+)

scorpion41 posted...

531 works for intermediate/advanced lifters as well. Ive been doing Wendlers 531 after discussing it with another user here a while back with solid results. In my experience the key is good auxiliary programming. If you dont do enough work after doing the 531 sets, you wont see much result at any level.

@scorpion41 what do your accessories look like?


---

Balrog0 posted...

@scorpion41 what do your accessories look like?

My chest day is like this:

-Bench Press: 531 method

-Incline Press: 555 or 333 or 531(goes along with what week Im in, minus percentages)
-Incline or Flat DB press: 5 sets of 10; superset with 10 dips every set
-Low cable flies: 5 sets of 10
-High cable flies or Pec Deck: 7 sets of 10-15 with 30 second rest; then 30-40 second hard stretch(FST method)

---

scorpion41 posted...

My chest day is like this:

-Bench Press: 531 method

-Incline Press: 555 or 333 or 531(goes along with what week Im in, minus percentages)
-Incline or Flat DB press: 5 sets of 10; superset with 10 dips every set
-Low cable flies: 5 sets of 10
-High cable flies or Pec Deck: 7 sets of 10-15 with 30 second rest; then 30-40 second hard stretch(FST method)

When do you do lat work? This is what I do currently but 531 for beginners is set up differently:



---

I do my rows and stuff on deadlift day. Each compound lift in Wendlers system gets its own day. There technically isnt a shoulder press day, but I workout 5 days a week so I adjusted. Arms get their own day, and I usually do CT Fletchers Armageddon workout.

---

Well worth it

i ate 3 bags of famous amos last night

that was dumb

I had some fried pickles that I probably shouldn't have but I'll still be in my calorie allotment today. Having salad for dinner

---

You guys are so much more committed than I am. I just eat whatever. That's probably why I never quite get to where I want. Not enough discipline.

scorpion41 posted...

Thats whats weird about me, my ability to rep a weight rarely translates to an accurate max. Like I could do an even 500 on bench a few years back, but could only push 455 2,maybe, 3 times. But, just guessing you should hit 405 comfortably if youre doing 365 5-6 times. You would just need to get over the mental aspect of it being 405. My max on bench is in that 440-450 range. Ill see better next week when I do my sets of 3.

And good job with the squats and deads. My lower body strength is slowly coming back. I had a high ankle sprain and a grade 1 LCL sprain back in September that kept me from squatting heavy until recently. I also have zero cartilage in the same knee from an ACL tear back in college. My right leg is fucked...

i think it's definitely the mental aspect to me, however, i am much better at repping than 1 rep maxes. It's crazy to me that you bench 365 for sets of 6 but bench 455. i just cant wrap my mind around it haha.

ever thought about just doing box squats or like belt squats? take some pressure of the knees?

---

I tried boxes in the past, but I just never was comfortable doing them. My knees are better now...Im using neoprene sleeves as opposed to my inzer wraps and I dont have anywhere near the complications I used to have. If I ever decide to do a true max wrapped again Ill break them out, but for now Im going raw.

And yeah its weird. Im strong, but I lack stamina on the main 3 lifts lol. But, Ill go all day with dumbbells.

---

How do you start lifting from nothing? Like, obviously I can lift 5, 10, etc pound weights, but if I wanna start working my way up, what weight should I buy for my first deadlift?
---

LumaRosalina posted...

How do you start lifting from nothing? Like, obviously I can lift 5, 10, etc pound weights, but if I wanna start working my way up, what weight should I buy for my first deadlift?

An Olympic bar and up to 150lbs of weight. Youll also need something to raise the bar off the floor somewhat since you probably wouldnt be starting with standard 45lb plates.

---

06/25/2020

Morning weight 246.7

Stomach 46

Waist 44 & 1/2

Finally hit the 246 number, i successfully troubleshot the problem in my diet and have been losing weight since that day. I should hit 244.9lbsby the beginning of july.

---

LumaRosalina posted...

How do you start lifting from nothing? Like, obviously I can lift 5, 10, etc pound weights, but if I wanna start working my way up, what weight should I buy for my first deadlift?

I see women in the gym using 30 to 60lb ez barbells for deads all the time. I do think scorpion has the right of it that an Olympic barbell is better because it will grow with you, but a single ez barbell should be significantly cheaper and can be used for quite a few different movements.

---

lincoln002 posted...

06/25/2020

Morning weight 246.7

Stomach 46

Waist 44 & 1/2

Finally hit the 246 number, i successfully troubleshot the problem in my diet and have been losing weight since that day. I should hit 244.9lbsby the beginning of july.

What did you change out of curiosity?

---

I'm losing 4 pounds per week on IF combined with my strength training and near daily cycling / mountain biking. I'm maintaining a pretty drastic deficit tho and only doing cheat meals once a month.

---

Jiek_Fafn posted...

What did you change out of curiosity?

I stopped consuming green tea with honey(I was taking in around 250 extra carb calories from this, I cut honey out, not green tea), I began to consume more fat and upped my fish oil intake to 4 grams a day, I began walking at least 3 miles per day instead of 1 mile per day.

---

lincoln002 posted...

I stopped consuming green tea with honey(I was taking in around 250 extra carb calories from this, I cut honey out, not green tea), I began to consume more fat and upped my fish oil intake to 4 grams a day, I began walking at least 3 miles per day instead of 1 mile per day.

isn't that like 4 tablespoons of honey? you must really like honey

going to mile TT tonight. gonna wear these new road racing shoes i got. wish my track spikes weren't at my parent's.

predicting 5:26

---

5/11: 26:52
5/14: 26:05
5/21: 25:35
5/24: 25:32
6/3: 25:17
6/9: 24:46
6/13: 24:36
6/22: 24:03
6/25: 23:50

Thought I was going to have to cut it short in the middle, but I was able to gut it out. Cooler weather is a blessing. 3 minutes down, 7 to go!

Ya'll runners are so badass. I love runner figures too, but most athletic people in my town are slender like that, so I'm going for a huge jacked look to set myself apart.

---

DespondentDeity posted...

Ya'll runners are so badass. I love runner figures too, but most athletic people in my town are slender like that, so I'm going for a huge jacked look to set myself apart.

I'd kind of prefer a more jacked look myself, but I love running and I haven't had much luck maintaining both. I'm still a noob myself, but I kinda like the feeling of having so much room to improve. We've got some pretty impressive people here. BreezyExcursion, Flockaveli, and a couple others who've only posted once or twice and whose names I've forgotten can run me into the ground and call it a warmup.

Shoulders are still sore from Tuesday so I couldnt go as heavy on standing presses. Focused mainly on volume

---

Im taking the good with the bad. It seems I lost and gained the same 5 pounds all through this quarantine. Im hearing coworkers say how theyve gained weight though so I feel good about that.

---

NotYou posted...

isn't that like 4 tablespoons of honey? you must really like honey

Somewhere around this yes. I was having about 3 green teas with 1 and a half tablespoons of honey. I do like honey, but I am a recovery coke addict(the cola, not the drug ) and my body absolutely loves sugar, under the guise that I was consuming healthy green tea and honey I went 2 weeks consuming an extra 300 calories of honey and not eating according to my body type. I weighed myself after my 3 mile walk today and I was 245.7 in the middle of the day. I'm assuming tomorrow I'll be at my goal at this rate.

---

NotYou posted...

I kinda like the feeling of having so much room to improve.

Same, I love this, I'm always so excited to set a pb on any of my movements. I feel so fucking strong lately since I started religiously squatting and deadlifting, and my body composition is changing so rapidly now. I'm also expanding my upper body routine day by day, and that's going well. Today, I asked to see the picture that Planet Fitness took when I joined in December and if I wasn't looking into my own eyes I would not believe it was me anymore. I looked twice as big, it honestly disturbed me, like look at the fuckin state of this fat bastard.

Total weight change is 88 pounds, ~325 to 237. In March when I added deadlift, I could do one rep of 205, now I do 250 in 4 sets of 10.

---

Wow 88lbs of weight lost, that is amazing. Whats your target weight?

---

DD Divine posted...

Im taking the good with the bad. It seems I lost and gained the same 5 pounds all through this quarantine. Im hearing coworkers say how theyve gained weight though so I feel good about that.

What kind of routine were you doing? Are you measuring the circumference of different areas along with weighing? Personally, I think weighing is pointless as a measure of my progress and I only do it once every week or so, so I can answer that question since it gets asked a lot irl and I post it here because it's easy for strangers who haven't seen my progress first hand to understand. My goal is to transform my body into the form that it's supposed to be, weight loss is part of that but it's the least important measure imo. Idk man it just bums me out to see people fretting over what the scale says.

Our worth is not tied to that number.

---

lincoln002 posted...

Wow 88lbs of weight lost, that is amazing. Whats your target weight?

I'm gonna see what 210 looks like both appearance and eating wise, and if it's not sustainable or not to my standard of attractiveness I'm gonna cut to 190. I'm 5'10" and I'm already pretty muscular, but I still have body fat to get rid of.

---

lincoln002 posted...

Somewhere around this yes. I was having about 3 green teas with 1 and a half tablespoons of honey. I do like honey, but I am a recovery coke addict(the cola, not the drug ) and my body absolutely loves sugar, under the guise that I was consuming healthy green tea and honey I went 2 weeks consuming an extra 300 calories of honey and not eating according to my body type. I weighed myself after my 3 mile walk today and I was 245.7 in the middle of the day. I'm assuming tomorrow I'll be at my goal at this rate.

Makes sense. I'm not a huge tea drinker myself, but I got some green tea a couple months back to try it out and I steeped it for quite a while and it tasted like I'd just mowed my lawn and thrown some grass in the blender. Still have a bunch of it left. I try to forget about it.

DespondentDeity posted...

Same, I love this, I'm always so excited to set a pb on any of my movements. I feel so fucking strong lately since I started religiously squatting and deadlifting, and my body composition is changing so rapidly now. I'm also expanding my upper body routine day by day, and that's going well. Today, I asked to see the picture that Planet Fitness took when I joined in December and if I wasn't looking into my own eyes I would not believe it was me anymore. I looked twice as big, it honestly disturbed me, like look at the fuckin state of this fat bastard.

Total weight change is 88 pounds, ~325 to 237. In March when I added deadlift, I could do one rep of 205, now I do 250 in 4 sets of 10.

That's awesome! And pretty impressive to me, I'm still only at 180 lbs. on my deadlifts!

DespondentDeity posted...

I'm gonna see what 210 looks like both appearance and eating wise, and if it's not sustainable or not to my standard of attractiveness I'm gonna cut to 190. I'm 5'10" and I'm already pretty muscular, but I still have body fat to get rid of.

You'd have effective dropped 100lbs by then, that is just beastly brother. I am so proud of you. I'm looking to do the same as you, I started out at 275lbs in December and have been slowly chipping away at my weight. End goal would be 190lbs, but current goal is 240lbs.

I wish you the best, you're an inspiration.

---

NotYou posted...

Makes sense. I'm not a huge tea drinker myself, but I got some green tea a couple months back to try it out and I steeped it for quite a while and it tasted like I'd just mowed my lawn and thrown some grass in the blender. Still have a bunch of it left. I try to forget about it.

I'm still drinking the green tea, it tastes bad but it's good for you, it improves mood and burns body fat.

---

NotYou posted...

That's awesome! And pretty impressive to me, I'm still only at 180 lbs. on my deadlifts!

Yeah, the day I surpassed my body weight, I got so high off that I had to sit down for a while and I couldn't stop laughing. If we keep grinding we might even get a little closer to @scorpion41 someday :)

lincoln002 posted...

You'd have effective dropped 100lbs by then, that is just beastly brother. I am so proud of you. I'm looking to do the same as you, I started out at 275lbs in December and have been slowly chipping away at my weight. End goal would be 190lbs, but current goal is 240lbs.

I wish you the best, you're an inspiration.

I really appreciate you saying that man, it means so much to me, especially since I don't think it would have been as easy without you ladies and guys in this topic. I think the main difference for me this time is that I'm 100% doing it for myself, I just couldn't bear to be ashamed of existing for one more day. I couldn't look people in the eye, I couldn't eat in public, or talk to cashiers or strangers at all. Now those are all things I look forward to cuz I feel like I'm actually me again, and when people see me they smile and say hello and ask a bunch of questions about me. It's just crazy how your perspective changes when you can stand to look at yourself, and how everyone else seems to know that you accept yourself and it brings them joy too and makes them want to be near you. Honestly, the physical changes are great, but the mental benefit is the most precious treasure.

Your progress is excellent too man, and it sounds like you're really motivated to make the lifestyle changes you need to in order to keep progressing. Things like the tea thing are huge, life-changing revelations, and I think we sometimes lose sight in the moment of how drastically that one small thing is going to just ball out of control into a huge transformation. I'm proud of you too.

I'm proud of all of us, we out here erasing these insecurities, and I don't know, I really feel supported by you all and I'm just so grateful.

---

NotYou posted...

5/11: 26:52
5/14: 26:05
5/21: 25:35
5/24: 25:32
6/3: 25:17
6/9: 24:46
6/13: 24:36
6/22: 24:03
6/25: 23:50

Thought I was going to have to cut it short in the middle, but I was able to gut it out. Cooler weather is a blessing. 3 minutes down, 7 to go!

You've been making some solid progress man, keep it up!

---

Everyone has their own story to tell on their journey for fitness. Every story is motivating. You guys are all great. I might be strong, but yall are stronger. I salute yall.

---

good topic traction today

got mine in

did some push-up lunge clapping things which have my hips on fire

wobbling around waiting to eat my meal in an hour or so

the not eating all day thing is much easier now

Mile: 5:19
splits 77 81 83 76

400m: 63

---

BreezyExcursion posted...

Mile: 5:19
splits 77 81 83 76

400m: 63

Nice! The split numbers are Greek to me, but that's better than you were expecting, right? How did the shoes work?

Can anyone recommend a good protein powder with very few ingredients that tastes good with milk?

---

I stic with ON double chocolate. Actually tastes really good with milk, and ON tends to mix better than most. I dunno about how clean it is, but I think it holds up in most quality control studies.

Top Proteins according to scorpion41:

1.) Syntha 6(BSN)- Next to Myofusion(Gaspari), this is the best tasting high end protein and mixes well.

2.) Muscltech- Theyre Walmart now, but still a solid high end product. Mixes relatively easy. Tastes pretty decent.

3.) Optimum Nutrition- mixes very easily and doesnt taste bad, but can taste watered down in water.


---

NotYou posted...

Nice! The split numbers are Greek to me, but that's better than you were expecting, right? How did the shoes work?

Yes, better than I was expecting. I estimate the shoes were worth 2-3 seconds overall, and the rest was probably from the speed workouts. Really pleased that I was able to close in 76.

I don't think I've made any enormous aerobic strength jumps since my mileage has now been stagnant at 30mpw for 3 months now. I can still make gains off the same mileage for quite a long time but it won't be as fast as if I increased it. (I don't think I will bother)

My next immediate target is sub-60 in the 400m. Shouldn't be too difficult since I ran the 63 after the mile today.


---

I'm an Optimum Nutrition guy. It's not full of a ton of filler and it's not overpriced. I do the extreme milk chocolate as it tastes better in water imo than the double chocolate. Both taste good in milk. Occasionally, I'll rotate some other flavor in for something different. Every one that I've tried has at least been okay.

---

The only ON flavor I don't like in water at all or in milk very much is the birthday cake one, but I will say one scoop of that and one scoop of strawberry is a high tier combo.

---

DespondentDeity posted...

What kind of routine were you doing? Are you measuring the circumference of different areas along with weighing? Personally, I think weighing is pointless as a measure of my progress and I only do it once every week or so, so I can answer that question since it gets asked a lot irl and I post it here because it's easy for strangers who haven't seen my progress first hand to understand. My goal is to transform my body into the form that it's supposed to be, weight loss is part of that but it's the least important measure imo. Idk man it just bums me out to see people fretting over what the scale says.

Our worth is not tied to that number.

thanks I appreciate hearing that. I focus way too much on that number that maybe I should start doing measurements. I just freak out at anything going up on the scale because Im so afraid of going back how I was. I finally feel good about my appearance that Im wearing clothes that actually look good as opposed to wearing bland stuff. Ill look in to doing measurements.

my routine has mostly been running 3-5 miles or hiking. Then doing body weight exercises every other day. I just bought some resistance bands to try out.

---

Back day yesterday:

-Started with deadlifts and went up to 500x2 but hamstring started flaring and moved to block pulls instead
-block pulls 500 3x5 with a lot of supersets of pullups and lat pulldowns

Press day today with close grip bench 315 3x3 and 135 dumbbells 3x5.

---

Not too sore today, which is great. I felt so lactic after the 400m that I thought I was going to have trouble walking. If I can do a 5 miler today and an 8 miler sunday I hit 30 miles even though i said i was gonna shoot for time instead of mileage

---

What's the consensus on compression clothing?

Barring the fact that they "reshape" your body kind of like a corset, I'm hearing they may actually have a benefit as far as workout recovery and cool downs.

---