It's hemorrhoid-makin' time!

Fear not, I have not been so hobbled.

I am merely being "cheeky" about one of the all but inevitable side effects of Serious Squatting.

In my most recent post I noted that I am relieving myself of accelerated bulking, and am seeking to build on the plateau to which Mass Made Simple has brought me these past six weeks. The workout below is one I shall be using for the foreseeable future, with some tweaks, which I'll explain presently. Meanwhile, if you needed any proof that I am not giving up on bulking--I do still have until March 18!--be aware that after Mass tonight, I got a large fries and two 1/2 lb. burgers from Wendy's. (They were amazingly good. [As filling as they were, by the time I finished writing this post, I was hungry again. Oatmeal-apple-and-protein time!]) For the next week I shall be putting special effort into hydrating.

As for my workout today....

Saturday, 7 March 2014
235 lbs (?), 60+ min.

Warm-up

(I)
DBP: 2-3-5, 5-3-3 # 235, 225 lbs
CX: 8-6-4 # 115, 125, 135 lbs (CL/MP/FSQ)

(II)
PU: 10, 8, 6 # bdw*
*(I admit to cheating with a little body English. Naughty, naughty.)   
SQ: 10, 6, 3 # 225, 275, 315 lbs
(In a throwback to my old circuit-style of training, I alternated between pullup and squat sets, though next time I'll move pullups to part III.)

(III)
db-P: 10, 10, 6 # 65, 70, 75 lbs

+ + +

- Despite a twinge in my knee yesterday, I had a great workout today. KB motions generate very peculiar angles and stresses, so squatting did not aggravate the joint in the same way.

- Sure enough, I prefer the decline bench press. With the db presses at the end, here's to hoping that my pecs are actually sore for once! I made sure to lower the dumbbells closer to my sternum than my collarbone, so that the eccentric tension was more in my pectorals than my anterior deltoids.

- The complex felt great, though I would like to be clearer about my clean technique.

- I've neglected grip training for too long, so it was nice to feel my forearms "fried" a bit today due to the pullups.

- As mentioned, the sudden jump in weight on my squat left we with a certain "tingling" in my nether regions after I got home, but I will simply have to increase my fiber intake (Fruit! Kale! Oatmeal!) and focus on stabilizing my abdominals and lumbar better than ever as the weight goes up. What ruined me a few years ago when I attempted the "Squats and Milk" bulking routine, was the combination of internal stress and the amount of time I had to defecate and wipe my bum because of all the eating I was doing. There was just too much going on downstairs, and I hated feeling so full all the time, so I bailed on "SMR" about halfway through. This time bulking, however, a very high quality protein supplement allowed me to eat less food matter, which required less digestion, which produced less etc., and my bum has thanked me.

I did not even really "think" about my squat progression. I just threw the plates on, knowing that being able to do over 20 squats at over 200 lbs had equipped me to go significantly heavy for fewer reps. When I finished, another fellow gave me the thumbs up and remarked, "No belt? No knee wraps?" At that point we had a nice conversation, in which I mostly gave him some pointers and encouragement. If nothing else, I did my job by enlightening him to the much ignored good of goblet squats and overhead squats (on a Smith machine, if need be).

As mentioned above, I shall persist in this routine for a while, although next time I shall replace the complex with the deadlift, do dips instead of the DBP, and do front instead of back squats.** As such, this routine is so similar to my old Even Keel routine that I might as well call it that. (Welcome back, old friend!) I'm genuinely curious what I shall be able to "pull off" on the deadlift. It's been a while, and having neglected formal grip training for a season will, I suspect, be a limiting factor. Given the perhaps uniquely intense demands which deadlifts put on the CNS, I am considering a further guard against overzealous burnout by replacing the DL with a SDL on Even-Keel-B days if I feel overtaxed.

As for the progression on this Even-Keel-A workout, I will not increase weight until I can complete all the desired reps. (No duh, right?) I respond much better to quasi-bodybuilding high volume than to powerlifting intensity, so I will use reps rather than poundage as my index. For example, since I dropped down to 225 on my second set of DBP, next time I will try for as many reps as I can manage at 235, and only once I can do two legitimate sets of 2-3-5 at 235 will I add any weight (5 lbs) for the next workout. It follows that I will "reward" myself by adding 5 lbs to my complex and squat (the latter which I first envisioned as a 10-6-2 progression, but I couldn't resist that final, third squat).

My current goal for pullups is three sets of 10 "good" reps. I'm not interested in adding extrinsic weight until I can do three sets of at least 15 reps at bodyweight. As the rest of my body continues to grow due to the other exercises, this is no small challenge.

Lastly, my current goal for the dumbbell press is three sets of 10 at 65, 70, and 75 lbs, at which point I'll shoot for the same rep-scheme at 70, 70, and 75 lbs, until I eventually can do three sets of 10 at 75 lbs. After that, I shall start the cycle again scaled up by 5 lbs.

Say it with me now: Double Progression Is Your Best Friend--And All The Programming You Really Need.***

Well, that, plus confidence, patience, humility, and rest.

Stay tuned.

• ** Here's a summary of what I have in mind for the next several weeks: 

• EVEN KEEL "A" Warm-up & Stretch (I) DBP: 2-3-5, 2-3-5 # (II) CX: 8-6-4 # (III) [F]SQ: 10, 6, 2 # (IV) PU: # bdw db-P: 10, 10, 10 #

  EVEN KEEL "B" Warm-up & Stretch (I) Dips: # bdw (II) DL: 6, 4, 2 # (III) FSQ: 10, 6, 2 # (IV) Chin-ups: # bdw db-P: 10, 10, 10 #

• *** My "Double Progression" axiom is to be taken in a minimal sense. There is a vast array of progression methods, so I do not mean to say that double progression is all you would ever need (or want), only that, if you want to avoid complexities and overthinking, Double Progression is totally sufficient for making gains (all hail The "KISS" Principle). I am also aware that Jim "5/3/1" Wendler poo-poo's the triplet-style programming that I've shown above, and that Dan John highly praises the 5/3/1 program, so I really do want to get into it at some point. For now, though, I want to stick with a regimen that I know works for me, isn't as mentally distracting during Lent, and that I can do while (hypothetically) reading Wendler's book before diving into his program on the fly (which was my mistake with Mass Made Simple).