Home gym chronicles, Part II; mind over fatter

[Soldier]

I've managed to pry some solid strength out my body as of late. Here's my current stats, which will serve as my starting stats for this cut-

Bodyweight- 233
Bench press- 315
Squat- 365
Deadlift- 500
Total- 1180

My eventual goal is to cut to around 200lb, which would put me in the low teens for bodyfat %, while maintaining the majority of my strength. I'll give up a little strength if I need to, but within the next 2 years I'd like to have numbers like this-

Bodyweight- 200
Bench press- 345
Squat- 405
Deadlift- 600
Total- 1350

These numbers are ambitious. Too ambitious for a natural trainee, which I don't plan to be. I'm just coming of a 4 week run of Dragon Nutrition Pro-SD, a superdrol clone. I'm currently in week 2 of a 4 week PCT, then I'll give my body a little time to return to it's natural state before starting a stack of Dragon nutrition Pro-Halo and Pro-tren. I'm excited about this stack. It should be very good for cutting.

I'm going to be using carb backloading for my nutritional plan, consuming carbs only after weight training. Cardio sessions won't be followed by carbs. I've run this plan in the past with success. My calories will be 2300 per day while I'm doing PCT and not on cycle. I'll adjust this down quite a bit once I'm back on.

My training is instinctual. I'd rather get a PR then worry about meeting any volume or intensity goals, but I do use all of these concepts to plan my training. I usually train almost every day, alternating upper body and lower body days. I'm going to be using low volume, high intensity training to maintain strength, while also doing things like running and sled pulls for cardio. I'll be using higher volume, lower intensity training on days where I don't feel like going heavy but also don't get the chance to do cardio.

I guess that's about it for now. Let's get to it!

[BendtheBar]

Get to it!

[Soldier]

No training today. Also, I'm eating carbs tonight and not counting calories. This is all leading up to my PT test in the morning, which will consist of 2:00 of pushups, 2:00 of situps and a 2 mile run.

I'll report back tomorrow on how things go.

Also, my platoon Sgt officially submitted me for Air assault. I still need to get a 270 PT score to qualify, but I'll have that soon so it's all good.

The cut begins tomorrow.

[SecondsOut]

sounds tight! subbed. def wouldn't have the will power for the no post-cardio carbs though haha

[Soldier]

I've gone weeks without carbs, so no biggie. It wears you down though. I even had symptoms of depression just because of cutting out carbs.

I'm so excited to get this PT test out of the way and start training for AIR ASSAULT. This badge is mine.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by Soldier

I've gone weeks without carbs, so no biggie. It wears you down though. I even had symptoms of depression just because of cutting out carbs.

I'm so excited to get this PT test out of the way and start training for AIR ASSAULT. This badge is mine.

Nice! Well done.

[Soldier]

Well, it's not mine yet. It will be though.

BUT, I have work to do first. PT test went as expected. I maxed my pushups with 78, did the same as usual with 60 situps, and absolutely sucked with a run time of 15:36. To most this is good, and my total score was 251, perfectly acceptable. NOT TO ME. Not even close. Unfortunately my pushups are better than ever, but my run is worse than ever.

I have a ton of work to do to get my run back down and my situps up, but I'll get it done.

Squats in a few minutes.

[SecondsOut]

decent numbers. at least you got that out of the way. now you have to study for a test, right?

[Soldier]

Not exactly. I still need to improve my score. I need to score 90 points in each event to qualify for Air assault, and my performance today wasn't even close. I'll need to add 18 situps and cut over 1:00 from my run to get what I need, but I'll get it in the next couple months. I wasn't planning to get it done today, to be honest. I knew I wasn't ready to put up the right numbers.

Then, after I qualify for Air assault, I'll need recomendations from a couple higher-ups, then I'll actually go to air assault school, which is 10 days of tons of classroom learning, ruck marching, obstacle courses, written tests, and repeling out of helicopters, all culminating in a 12 mile ruck march with a 35lb ruck that must be completed in 3 hours.

Hence my desire to be physically prepared, lol.

I decided to go full body tonight. Simple, quick, effective.

Squats-
45x10
135x5
225x4
275x3
315x3
335x5 HUGE PR!

Close grip bench, just outside the smooth-
45x10
135x5
185x5
225x5
225x5

Chest is really sore from my 78 pushups this morning (it was to complete failure. I couldn't have possibly completed another rep.) I decided to do the close grip to get more triceps in there, and like I've said before, I believe that if I can get my closer grip benching up then it will help my normal, super-wide grip bench.

Squats feel AMAZING. I've worked hard to figure out my form, and it's paying off. With my current setup I can get a little rebound out of the bottom without having to go below parallel, and my posterior chain is still very involved even though I'm using a closer stance. In my last squat session I got a PR of 335x2, so to go out today (after running 2 miles this morning) and get the same weight 5 times feels just freaking awesome. In the next couple weeks I may try to get a new max for squats. If I can do 335x5 then I out to be able to get more than 365 for 1.

I'm going to be doing multiple full-body sessions per week, very low volume with just a few really heavy sets. The idea is to give my body a reason to keep muscle and also maintain as much strength as possible while I cut. The lower volume will also keep my soreness down so I can give much more effort and energy to my run and my situps.

I'm optimistic about the next couple months. It's going to be tough, for sure, but I can't wait to see how much I can improve.

[SecondsOut]

Air Assault sounds intense but awesome. i'm sure you'll cut a lot more than 1:00 off that run time easily.

damn, strong squats after that run today, bro. i know you must've been psyched. i'm curious to see how the full-body/maximum # of lifting days works out for you. sounds pretty decent.