dcDogz very normal log

[Meetketchup]

For those following...

When in an extended growing phase there are two things to look for when it's time to stop. First is body composition and second is loss of appetite from all the food. It's the bodies way of staying "Ok, I'm reaching my limit." Going beyond this point usually leads to fat gain.

So, what do we do? In DC's case we want to continue the growing phase, so we're hitting an aggressive 3 week or so minicut to improve body composition and get appetite back. He's given the option of reducing training volume by a set when needed. Dropping dosages to maintenance level. Goal is to keep intensity up. No muscle should be lost in such a short period. Then when come back to new maintenance for a bit and grow again.

This is an effective way to go about. Some have other protocols. Do what works for you. Hope this helps some of you.

 

[dcdogz]

For those following...

When in an extended growing phase there are two things to look for when it's time to stop. First is body composition and second is loss of appetite from all the food. It's the bodies way of staying "Ok, I'm reaching my limit." Going beyond this point usually leads to fat gain.

So, what do we do? In DC's case we want to continue the growing phase, so we're hitting an aggressive 3 week or so minicut to improve body composition and get appetite back. He's given the option of reducing training volume by a set when needed. Dropping dosages to maintenance level. Goal is to keep intensity up. No muscle should be lost in such a short period. Then when come back to new maintenance for a bit and grow again.

This is an effective way to go about. Some have other protocols. Do what works for you. Hope this helps some of you.

weight 199.0!

Ham day wasnt too bad today! Pull day is the one that's a bitch! if i lose a set will probably be there first somewhere. But i guess we've been hammering back hard so that makes sense.

Will see how I progress but surprisingly have gotten a few more reps here and there.

Interested to see how I handle quad day one week later. That's a pretty rough day too.

abductors
160 x 15 down 1
160 x 14 same

seated leg curls
200 x 14 down 2
200 x 14 same

smith squats
315 x 10 down 5 lbs
315 x 11 same
315 x 11 down 1 rep

sldls barbell smith
205 x 12 up 70 lbs
205 x 10 up 70 lbs
205 x 12 up 20 lbs
seems strange but this is closer to the double 85lbs db weight i was doing
felt pretty good. wont be moving from here at all for a minute.

lying curls
140 x 15 down 1 rep
140 x 12 down 2 reps

wide and high leg press
500 x 20 same
500 x 16 up 1 rep

db reverse lunges
55 x 15 x 2 same

leg press calves
245 x 4 x 20

ab machine

285 x 4 x 20

bjj 1 hour

man i was worried i was gonna suck today, especially smith squats was super dreading those, but werent too bad.
I probably coulda gotten closer to my older numbers but i didnt want to get too greedy.

sleep has been really bad, waking up non stop @ 1230, 130 230 330 for the past 3 days.

not sure if its a hunger thing or what, im a little hungry but not terribly so. hopefully body adjusts quickly cuz that super sucks!

bicep no change really. feels sometimes better other times little strained. one day im just gonna wake up and be fine i know that.

man never ending thirst! cant stop chugging fluids!

 

[dcdogz]

oops forgot meals, mostly the same but might go over fat grams a tad.
gonna have to rely on salmon a little for maybe 1 meal.
I greatly underestimated how much chicken breast i was gonna need for the week.
will be boiling up some chicken breasts this evening.

 

[dcdogz]

hmm
weight 198
feel like waterloss slowing down finally. my physique is way improved, i do feel a little flat sorta but this morning gym mirror was hitting pretty hard imo.

im hydrating insanely, i feel like i cant stop being thirsty. must be body trying to recover water loss freaking out even tho its fine.

this morning bjj i was super hungry! lol but honestly hasnt been too bad. keeping my meal timings rougly the same has helped. body just getting food in at roughly the same times has been helping, even if serving size is lower.

bicep felt horrible this morning, was being really careful throughout all lifts, after bjj tho it feels better sorta?
i switched bpc supplier since my domestic arrived and i feel like its working better then the Chinese one i was using.

Dealing With Bicep Tendonitis: A Multi-Step Approach | The Art of Manliness

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from powerlifter, strongman, and Starting Strength coach Matt Reynolds, owner of Barbell Logic Online Coaching. If you’ve lifted weights for any significant amount of time, the odds are that you have struggled with bicep tendonitis. Maybe you didn’t know it...

www.artofmanliness.com

this is exactly what it is. this article says from squatting but no chance, it was def the lat pulldown machine lol.
theres no bjj for me tomorrow so have a date with stairmaster 35 minutes, im gonna try a different lat pulldown machine and see if i can keep tension on the lats with no forearm pain. if not then ill just lower the weight since its really only that one specific machine.
wide grip lat pulldowns doesnt hurt at all.

its mostly on the heavier weight where it gets stressed so i can probably mange with some lighter weight if the other machines suck.

lat cable raises
27.5 x 15 down 5lbs
27.5 x 12 same
27.5 x 12 same

incline chest machine
needed to warm up my shoulder a lot but ended up fatiguing my muscles a bit too much as well
245 x 10 down 15lbs
245 x 9 down 5 bls
225 x 10 same

db flat press
85 x 12 down 5lbs
85 x 12 down 5 lbs
85 x 13 down 5 lbs

pec deck fly

160 x 13 down 2 reps
160 x 12 down 1 rep
150 x 13 same

machine dips
285 x 14 down 2 reps
285 x 14 down 1 rep
285 x 14 same

upright row
95 x 12
95 x 12

seated db lat raises
30 x 12 down 3 reps
30 x 12 same
30 x 12 same

overhead triceps press
71.5 x 16 up 3 reps
71.5 x 14 same
71.5 x 14 up 2 reps

meals the same just less salmon and more chicken breast!

 

[Meetketchup]

hmm
weight 198
feel like waterloss slowing down finally. my physique is way improved, i do feel a little flat sorta but this morning gym mirror was hitting pretty hard imo.

im hydrating insanely, i feel like i cant stop being thirsty. must be body trying to recover water loss freaking out even tho its fine.

Yup. the thirst is from losing glycogen and the less glycogen stored, the less water in your body. Hydrate up!! Weight drop will slow with each passing week.

Now you see why a few weeks of this will instantly bring your appetite back with a vengeance. Feeling flat is normal doesn't hinder anything except short term appearance.

If pulldowns are too much for the bicep, remove it for now and switch to more of a modified high row if necessary or just play with the grips. Some version of pronated will probably suffice.

 

[dcdogz]

Yup. the thirst is from losing glycogen and the less glycogen stored, the less water in your body. Hydrate up!! Weight drop will slow with each passing week.

Now you see why a few weeks of this will instantly bring your appetite back with a vengeance. Feeling flat is normal doesn't hinder anything except short term appearance.

If pulldowns are too much for the bicep, remove it for now and switch to more of a modified high row if necessary or just play with the grips. Some version of pronated will probably suffice.

gotcha on the pulldowns. tomorrow ill spend a little time and find something that works while I rehab it.

ya the thirst is crazy! i feel like i just walked through the sahara everyday lol.
im waking up middle of the night to pee, and I have to take a sip of water as well.

 

[dcdogz]

btw this is my first time cutting/being in a deficit with out the use of glp1s.

hoping i make it! but doing all i can!

I feel like im over the first hump i think, second road block coming which is the weekend. its easier during the week when im busy (insanely busy leave the house aroudn 4 am and i dont get home until 8/9pm), but im coming up with a foolproof meal plan for Saturday to ensure satiety and a good quad day the following day!

 

[dcdogz]

weight 196.5

nooo my muscles im peeing them in the toilet!

i totally get it now! why some dudes get totally addicted to gear and just want to blast blast blast and stay big (bloated strong).

loving the improved back tho, and front delt caps pic attached

when i woke up bicep doing so so. after all the lifting and cardio feels better honestly, soothing.
thats good imo.

switched lat machine pulldown to high row machine and focused on lat activation so i dont lose sooo much volume,
felt pretty good actually!

found a lat pulldown machine thats a little more strict on the descent, and felt zero stress on the bicep, might give it a try next time and pick one that lets me move as much weight as possible with no bicep strain, need to get a little blood flow but no aggravation so this bitch can heal and it feels like i am on the right track.

rope pullovers

77 x 15 same
77 x 14 up 1
71.5 x 12 down 1

high row machine lat focus
185 x 10
185 x 11
185 x 11

t bar row
125 x 11 same
115 x 10 down 2 reps
115 x 12 same

seated row
90 x 12 same
90 x 12 same
80 x 12 same

wg lat pulldown
147 x 10 down 2
143 x 12 same

dual rear cable delts
27.5 x 12 same
27.5 x 12 same
22 x 12 same

single arm bicep curl
left 27.5 x 15 x 3
right 16 x 12 x 3

straight arm curl
40 x 16
40 x 15
30 x 25
30 x 25
40 x 12
did a teeny bit extra because it felt pretty good on my bicep with the light weight.
its wierd how bicep curls dont really hurt.


ab machine
285 x 20 x 4

stair master 35 min (literally hell)

food for today, mostly the same.

 

[Meetketchup]

loving the improved back tho, and front delt caps pic attached

All of those weeks of blasting back and shoulders back and forth with all the intensifiers did the job for first growth phase. The whole back came up, rhomboids, mid/lower traps and lats. You deserve those gains for how consistent you've been. Looking forward for phase II.

 

[Bamm-bamm]

@dcdogz back is looking very solid!!

 

[Astro95]

Barely catching up. Great job.

Question for both of you. What has been your body compositions average during this growth phase? What was bf at starting point and at what point have y’all pulled back then pushed back forward? Looking just for ball park coach eye numbers per se. Just curious as to what’s an effective threshold for quality growth. Thanks guys.

 

[Meetketchup]

Barely catching up. Great job.

Question for both of you. What has been your body compositions average during this growth phase? What was bf at starting point and at what point have y’all pulled back then pushed back forward? Looking just for ball park coach eye numbers per se. Just curious as to what’s an effective threshold for quality growth. Thanks guys.

We started working together in August at 189lbs. Starting at 2,600 calories and slowly increased since to 4,200 calories. He dropped to 184lbs 6 weeks in and then went from 184 to 204lbs to as of last week. We started the aggressive minicut last week so 2 or so weeks left and growth again. His body composition has held very well, increasing calories only when needed and doing cardio throughout. His ridiculous adherence to hitting macros and getting in workouts was a HUGE part.

 

[Astro95]

We started working together in August at 189lbs. Starting at 2,600 calories and slowly increased since to 4,200 calories. He dropped to 184lbs 6 weeks in and then went from 184 to 204lbs to as of last week. We started the aggressive minicut last week so 2 or so weeks left and growth again. His body composition has held very well, increasing calories only when needed and doing cardio throughout. His ridiculous adherence to hitting macros and getting in workouts was a HUGE part.

Unreal consistency I agree. Good stuff.

 

[dcdogz]

weight 194.4!
holy waterloss batman!

checkins completed man i look so dry and about a week ago is kinda hard for me to see where I put on size, was like I was wearing a jacket over everything.

now with all this water gone, its very apparent to me.

although me and my son were talking about my little minicut and I told him I had lost about 10lbs since sunday, he touched my bicep oh yea i can tell dad, what happaned to your muscles? lol

damnnn! cold blooded! i guess he liked the big full look, but im tottally digging the dryness/leanness im seeing.

gonna walk around the house without a shirt for hte next couple of weeks before the coat gets put back on! lol

rest day meals trying to load up at night so I can hit quads good tomorrow!

meal prepping like crazy this weekend, i ran out of all protein completely this week!

12 lbs of chicken breast and 4 lbs of lean ground beef coming up.

Im not running out again!

when you remove all that protein from carbs its pretty crazy how much meat i am eating right now, versus before.
its was seriously little handfuls of meat just a week ago, now its like whoa! huge bowls of chicken I fucking love it lol.

 

[dcdogz]

Weight 198
Salted and hydrated a ton yesterday just felt like super dehydrated.

Had a really good quad day! Saving some cals for a higher carb dinner paid off.

This was my first quad day completely depleted.


Adductors
21. 160 x 15 down 1
21. 160 x 15 down 1

Lying Curls
26. 150 x 15 same
26. 140 x 14 down 1

Quad extension
21. 240 x 18 same
21. 240 x 16 same
21. 240 x 14 same

Leg press
30. 545 x 15 same
30. 545 x 12 same
30. 545 x 10 up.10lbs

Hack Squats
30. 325 x 15 same
30. 325 x 15 same
30. 325 x 12 same

Smith split squats
25. 205 x 15 same
25. 205 x 12 same

Calf raises
170 x 4 x 20

Decline leg raises
X 20
X 18
X17
X16

Meals same as Friday just no salmon
Chicken and lean ground beef this week

Carbing my son up a tad this weekend since freestyle greco starts in a couple weeks.

Hes enjoying his chips and donuts and stuff haha

He couldn't believe i showed up with some of those no nos during folkstyle.

Was like I was Santa on Christmas morning lmao

 

[dcdogz]

196.5

pretty good push day. little by little bicep getting there.
for us early gymmers this time change is dumb. now this week getting up @ 4 is like 3, and getting up @ 3 is like 2.
kinda sucks for a bit.

cable lat raises

27.5 x 15 same
27.5 x 13 u p 1
27.5 x 13 up 1

incline chest machine

245 x12 up 2
245 x 11 up 2
225 x 11 up 1

db flat press
85 x 15
85 x 13
85 x 11

pec deck chest fly

160 x 15 up 2
160 x 13 up 1
150 x 11 donw 2

machine dips
285x 15 up 1
285 x 14 same
285 x 15 up 1

upright row
115 x 10 same
95 x 10 same

seated db lat raises
30 x 14 up 2
30 x 12 same
27.5 x 13 down 2.5 lbs

over head triceps

71.5 x 15 down 1
71.5 x 15 same
71.5 x 13 same

4 x ab roller
20
18
18
18

cardio
35 min stairs

 

[dcdogz]

195.6

pretty good pull day

im totally running outta energy tho lol.
everything feels so heavy.
holding on as much as i can.

rope pullvoers
77 x 14 down 1
77 x 14 same
71.5 x 13 up 1

high row machine
185 x 10
185 x 10
185 x 10

tbar row
125 x 12 up 1
115 x 11 up 1
115 x 11 down 1

seated row
90 x 10 down 2
90 x 10 down 2
80 x 12 same

wg lat pulldown
147 x 10 down 2
143 x 12 same

rear delt cable
27.5 x 14
27.5 x 12
27.5 x 12

single arm cable curl
27.5 x 3 x 15 left
11 x 4 x 20 right

straight arm curl
40 x 20
40 x 20
40 x 15
40 x 15

decline leg raises
x20
x18
x16
x 14

35 min stairs


tried increasing my preworkout carbs a little to see if it would help workout at all
that shit didnt work lol, ill throw it in post tomorrow and see if it helps at all, and if not just tossing them before bed

 

[Meetketchup]

If you need to drop a set on some exercises to keep intensity up that is fine. Go by how you feel and listen to your body.

 

[dcdogz]

If you need to drop a set on some exercises to keep intensity up that is fine. Go by how you feel and listen to your body.

yea im trying no to, but imma have to lol

 

[Meetketchup]

yea im trying no to, but imma have to lol

You're not building muscle for the next week and a half so it's better to play it safe.

 

[dcdogz]

You're not building muscle for the next week and a half so it's better to play it safe.

gotcha, will do. especially with this bicep forearm shit.
probably drop a set and just add more warm up stuff to it which seems to be helping.

 

[dcdogz]

good ham day!

abductors

160 x15 same
160 x 14 same

seated leg curls
200 x 14
200 x 13 down 1

smith squats

315 x 10
315 x 10 down 1
315 x 10 down 1

sldls bb
standing on 45 lb plate
205 x 9
205 x 9
205 x 10

lying urls
140 c 14 down 1
140 x 12 same

leg press wide high
500 x 15 down 5
500 x 15 down 1

db reverse lunges
55 x 15 same
55 x 15 same

leg press calves
245 x 20 x 4

am machine

285 x 4 x 20

bjj 1 hour

forgot to eat the rice cake this morning lol
ended up not being terrible, my tummy was growling at bjj but i was fine, had some eaas when i woke up.
kinda enjoy eating a bigger post vs a fumes pre.

it accidentally ended up like this, but might try it again tomorrow.

bicep no change sorta. its not worse so thats all im going for right now.
friday pull day, gonna drop volume somewhere and see how i wake up saturday. my biggest gains in healing seem to be from friday - monday.

 

[dcdogz]

oh and hunger is super stupid today.

forgot weight 194.4.

 

[Doug 64]

weight 199.0!

Ham day wasnt too bad today! Pull day is the one that's a bitch! if i lose a set will probably be there first somewhere. But i guess we've been hammering back hard so that makes sense.

Will see how I progress but surprisingly have gotten a few more reps here and there.

Interested to see how I handle quad day one week later. That's a pretty rough day too.

abductors
160 x 15 down 1
160 x 14 same

seated leg curls
200 x 14 down 2
200 x 14 same

smith squats
315 x 10 down 5 lbs
315 x 11 same
315 x 11 down 1 rep

sldls barbell smith
205 x 12 up 70 lbs
205 x 10 up 70 lbs
205 x 12 up 20 lbs
seems strange but this is closer to the double 85lbs db weight i was doing
felt pretty good. wont be moving from here at all for a minute.

lying curls
140 x 15 down 1 rep
140 x 12 down 2 reps

wide and high leg press
500 x 20 same
500 x 16 up 1 rep

db reverse lunges
55 x 15 x 2 same

leg press calves
245 x 4 x 20

ab machine

285 x 4 x 20

bjj 1 hour

man i was worried i was gonna suck today, especially smith squats was super dreading those, but werent too bad.
I probably coulda gotten closer to my older numbers but i didnt want to get too greedy.

sleep has been really bad, waking up non stop @ 1230, 130 230 330 for the past 3 days.

not sure if its a hunger thing or what, im a little hungry but not terribly so. hopefully body adjusts quickly cuz that super sucks!

bicep no change really. feels sometimes better other times little strained. one day im just gonna wake up and be fine i know that.

man never ending thirst! cant stop chugging fluids!

The Legs B hammie focus workout beats my ass every time bro. Coach has SLDL followed by squats as the 3rd and fourth movements... FUGGGGGGG

 

[dcdogz]

The Legs B hammie focus workout beats my ass every time bro. Coach has SLDL followed by squats as the 3rd and fourth movements... FUGGGGGGG

yikes lol. thats just coaches way of showing that he loves you.

 

[dcdogz]

also to think way back in aug i started sldls with 20lb dbs and it was stressing my lower back out hard.

over here with 205 on the smith for reps.

with a 3mm bulging disc no less.

im overly cautious with these, and will drop reps or weight willy nilly if I have to, but didnt think id ever be at the BB again ever with these.

 

[Doug 64]

also to think way back in aug i started sldls with 20lb dbs and it was stressing my lower back out hard.

over here with 205 on the smith for reps.

with a 3mm bulging disc no less.

im overly cautious with these, and will drop reps or weight willy nilly if I have to, but didnt think id ever be at the BB again ever with these.

The SLDL give me the liw back pump from hell bro! I am forced to stretch for a couple of minutes when I'm done... or I'm done LOL

 

[dcdogz]

The SLDL give me the liw back pump from hell bro! I am forced to stretch for a couple of minutes when I'm done... or I'm done LOL

The very first time I did them my hamstrings yelled at me nasty. that stretch is something fierce.

 

[Meetketchup]

The SLDL give me the liw back pump from hell bro! I am forced to stretch for a couple of minutes when I'm done... or I'm done LOL

Sounds like it's a form issue.

 

[Doug 64]

Sounds like it's a form issue.

It may well be. I keep back flat and head up with no knee bend. I've watched a few videos... im gonna shoot one mb tomorrow if the gym don't break my chops. I'll send it asap