Ragee's Log - First BP Run

[Ragee]

Hi all,

Per the title, I am on my first BP RUN. Today was the first day of Famine. Already seriously craving some steak!

Here's a little background on me:

Sex: Male
Age: 25
Height: 5'7''
Weight: 160
BF: 10-12%
Somatotype: Endo
Training: 3 months (consistent), 2 years (inconsistent)
I've been following Rippetoe's 5x5 program for the past three months.
Diet(thus far): Leangains-inspired IF, lots of cottage cheese/full-fat dairy
Goals: Mostly strength, muscular density, power/speed, and low BF%. Help my upper body strength catch up to my lower body.

Progress to date:
Started a fast cut from late July to early September, dropping from ~175 (>20% BF) to 150 (15-16% BF).
Upped calories and started IFing from early Sept to now, 150 (15-16% BF) to 160 (10-12% BF).

Lifts have gone up more or less consistently, whether weight or reps (Maxes unknown).
Squat: 180, 5x5
DB Bench: 90, 3x5, 80, 2x5 <-Sucks. I'm aware.
DL: 185 5x5
Dips: BW+15, 2x8
DB Military Press: 35
DB Bench Bent-Over Rows: 50, 5x5 (each arm, so 100 total, I guess)
Chins: BW+5, 2x8

Ideas/Observations:
I think I may need to incorporate higher rep ranges for my upper body as I'm having more difficulty gaining strength consistently in chins, MP, and BP. It's troubling, because my rows and dips go up consistently.

The triceps part of the movement seems fine, but the initial movement seems to be harder, so maybe I should be hitting my upper back/chest in accessory?

Looking Forward:
Being endo, I'm fairly predisposed to fat gain (and diabetes et al.), so getting down in BF% is f**king hard, even with consistent, honest intake control. I hope famine will help my definition.

[matter2003]

Ideas/Observations:
I think I may need to incorporate higher rep ranges for my upper body as I'm having more difficulty gaining strength consistently in chins, MP, and BP. It's troubling, because my rows and dips go up consistently.

The triceps part of the movement seems fine, but the initial movement seems to be harder, so maybe I should be hitting my upper back/chest in accessory?

Looking Forward:
Being endo, I'm fairly predisposed to fat gain (and diabetes et al.), so getting down in BF% is f**king hard, even with consistent, honest intake control. I hope famine will help my definition.

Welcome to the BP family!!

I would personally disagree with the higher rep ranges to gain strength. Strength is a factor of increased muscle, which is a factor of increased weight being lifted----its the only way the body knows how to do it.

The reason behind this is gravity. When you lift heavier weights, the body believes that gravity has increased and to combat this increased gravity, the body produces more muscle to make you stronger. If you were to lift 1,000 lbs in outer space as many reps as you want, it would have ZERO effect because there is no gravity.

If you want to get stronger, I would focus on lifting heavier weights for fewer reps...

[Street-dreams]

Ideas/Observations:
I think I may need to incorporate higher rep ranges for my upper body as I'm having more difficulty gaining strength consistently in chins, MP, and BP. It's troubling, because my rows and dips go up consistently.

The triceps part of the movement seems fine, but the initial movement seems to be harder, so maybe I should be hitting my upper back/chest in accessory?

Looking Forward:
Being endo, I'm fairly predisposed to fat gain (and diabetes et al.), so getting down in BF% is f**king hard, even with consistent, honest intake control. I hope famine will help my definition.

Welcome to the BP family!!

I would personally disagree with the higher rep ranges to gain strength. Strength is a factor of increased muscle, which is a factor of increased weight being lifted----its the only way the body knows how to do it.

The reason behind this is gravity. When you lift heavier weights, the body believes that gravity has increased and to combat this increased gravity, the body produces more muscle to make you stronger. If you were to lift 1,000 lbs in outer space as many reps as you want, it would have ZERO effect because there is no gravity.

If you want to get stronger, I would focus on lifting heavier weights for fewer reps...

I second this post.

[Ragee]

Welcome to the BP family!!

I would personally disagree with the higher rep ranges to gain strength. Strength is a factor of increased muscle, which is a factor of increased weight being lifted----its the only way the body knows how to do it.

The reason behind this is gravity. When you lift heavier weights, the body believes that gravity has increased and to combat this increased gravity, the body produces more muscle to make you stronger. If you were to lift 1,000 lbs in outer space as many reps as you want, it would have ZERO effect because there is no gravity.

If you want to get stronger, I would focus on lifting heavier weights for fewer reps...

Thanks for the welcome!

Well, naturally, lower rep ranges are good for myofibrillar hypertrophy, but, considering my relative lack of focus on sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, I may be able to increase my strength by simply having more intracellular energy substrate readily available for use. Of course, there should be a limit to how much improvement one could get before it became simply size training. How's that sound?

Essentially, I'm suggesting more fuel immediately available (to some limit) will make it easier to power heavier lifts.

If this isn't good reasoning, what do you suggest to break this plateau? I wouldn't think I'm far along enough in my weightlifting career to necessitate complex periodizations (ala the various loading patterns).

Perhaps move to heavier 3x5's?

I appreciate the knowledge and experience of the veteran BPer's here!

[Street-dreams]

you could move to 5x5

https:// www .joeskopec.com/five .html

remove the spaces obviously but there is a good idea to make some gains outside of the blueprint loading patterns if you feel you are not ready.

Personally I dont see how doing the Blue print would be anything other than tremendous for you even at your current experience level.

Overall getting bigger/leaner (aka recomping) is a process over a long period of time.. and the sooner you started seeing BP gains the quicker this would go.( the stronger and leaner you get the easier it is to do both imho)

[Ragee]

you could move to 5x5

https:// www .joeskopec.com/five .html

remove the spaces obviously but there is a good idea to make some gains outside of the blueprint loading patterns if you feel you are not ready.

Personally I dont see how doing the Blue print would be anything other than tremendous for you even at your current experience level.

Overall getting bigger/leaner (aka recomping) is a process over a long period of time.. and the sooner you started seeing BP gains the quicker this would go.( the stronger and leaner you get the easier it is to do both imho)

Hey, thanks for the insight. I've been following a 5x5 program for the past few months already. I feel like I can still make linear progression (as I keep making gains in lower body movements), but that perhaps my ability to fuel upper body contractions is somewhat limited.

I'm shying away from the loading patterns because a 5% increase over 2 - 4 weeks would represent a very small amount of actual strength gains <5 lbs. I'm considering alternating strength and size workouts, keeping the same movements to see if progression increases, but I don't know. Still just trying the make it through famine.

===

Famine Day 2

Hunger was more manageable today. Ate more fruit and less grains, as well as spread out my calories, 200 every 2-3 hours. Oh, and drank more water, that helped.

Planning on working out tomorrow (famine workout 1) to hopefully retain my strength through this week. No visible fat loss, yet.

[matter2003]

Hey, thanks for the insight. I've been following a 5x5 program for the past few months already. I feel like I can still make linear progression (as I keep making gains in lower body movements), but that perhaps my ability to fuel upper body contractions is somewhat limited.

I'm shying away from the loading patterns because a 5% increase over 2 - 4 weeks would represent a very small amount of actual strength gains <5 lbs. I'm considering alternating strength and size workouts, keeping the same movements to see if progression increases, but I don't know. Still just trying the make it through famine.

===

Famine Day 2

Hunger was more manageable today. Ate more fruit and less grains, as well as spread out my calories, 200 every 2-3 hours. Oh, and drank more water, that helped.

Planning on working out tomorrow (famine workout 1) to hopefully retain my strength through this week. No visible fat loss, yet.

If you are having issues with fueling upper body movements, you are going to want to make sure you have "The Formula" for every workout in feast and cruise. It provides energy to the muscles throughout the workout and really helps as far as being able to continue and extend workouts...

[JlCh]

Wait, you do 90 lbs dumbells for bench and 180 lbs for squat, but think your lower body is stronger than upper body?

Anywho, if you're running the 3.0 template you'll see low and high range reps. Good luck on your run over all and nice to have you around.

[Ragee]

If you are having issues with fueling upper body movements, you are going to want to make sure you have "The Formula" for every workout in feast and cruise. It provides energy to the muscles throughout the workout and really helps as far as being able to continue and extend workouts...

It's not the endurance of my workout that is the issue. I can easily do dips after my bench press and still be making progress in weight and reps (with below parallel form even). I've had my bench press form checked by trainers and there's no complaints. I seem to be gaining strength in my triceps faster than my chest and back. I'm supposing this may be due to a lack of intracellular substrate (glycogen, fatty acids, ATP, creatine, etc in the cytoplasm) in those muscles to support heavier lifts.

I've tried increased rest periods and both fasted and Formula-fueled workouts with little noticeable improvement. I found the Formula helped recovery, but didn't add anything noticeable in terms of energy. Perhaps I'm simply overtrained at this point and this deload/Famine week will help reset the anabolic response.

Wait, you do 90 lbs dumbells for bench and 180 lbs for squat, but think your lower body is stronger than upper body?

Anywho, if you're running the 3.0 template you'll see low and high range reps. Good luck on your run over all and nice to have you around.

45 in each hand, 90 total. That said, I have seen folks on this forum with 1RMs of 200+ bench press and 180 squat, so it would seem my lower body strength is outstripping my upper body strength. Last year, I did alot of bicycling, including 100 mile marathons. I believe the endurance built up in my legs has allowed me to quickly move up my squat and deadlift, relative to my bench.

Thanks for the well wishes! I'm intending to stick to the BP as closely as possible. The EDT portions might be difficult, given my busy gym, but I'll see how it goes and adapt as needed.

[Ragee]

Famine Day 3

Today had more fruit, apples specifically. Interestingly, a problem I thought I had behind me came back out, namely facial flushing and elevated body temperature. This was a problem for me before when I had been on SAD (standard american diet, i.e. high carb) that went away when I moved to low carb eating. More interestingly, Monday, I experienced none of these symptoms, but did so yesterday and today, when I ate fruit. I think this may be related to the hyperinsulinemia caused by fructose consumption. Essentially, I suspect I am carbohydrate intolerant, particularly to fructose, even if fructose doesn't impact blood glucose in a traditional way. Being an endomorph, it should make sense, of course.

That said, energy levels were more or less okay today, but I will be reining in how much fruit I eat going forward. Only a couple more days til steak heaven! Famine sucks.

If you're interested, today I ate a slice of whole grain bread and an apple every 2 - 3 hours, plus a bag of broccolli, keeping my calories to about 1300 for the day. Protein is <40g for the day.

Fat loss is starting to become visible. The horizontal line dividing my top and second-to-top abs is becoming more apparently visible and my flexing my quads is popping out some muscles as well. My body likes to lose fat from the abs, then put some back over them overnight while continuing to lose from the legs. Pretty weird, but fits with the endo/metabolic syndrome fat pattern I have.

Wasn't able to hit the gym today, may or may not be able to tomorrow. I have exams tomorrow and Friday that take precedence. However, I did get my bike fixed, so I'll be riding around instead of driving from here on out. Should blast that fat perfectly.

[JlCh]

Ah, gotcha. As for people benching more than their squats, they need to boost their squats or should start contemplating walking on their hands instead of legs. I've seen the logs as well though, and I even have a smaller bench:squat ratio than I'd like, but hopefully you get what I mean. But chances are if people are squatting less than their bench, they've been lifting upper body and not lower body much in their lifting career. I much rather have a 500+ lbs squat than a 300+ lbs bench any day.

I'd say don't fret over the ratio and just hit the weights as hard as you can and both will come up in due time.

For bench technique, I find if I pull shoulder blades together and have a slight arch in my lower back (ass on seat) it pulls the lifts to target chest more. For the dips, I have a hard time getting it to target my chest more than tri's but if you can make your body a little more parallel with the ground you should feel it more. Not sure how to explain that, hopefully you'll understand what I mean :p.

Edit: This is all my personal opinion with what I find works for "ME". It's about all I can give, so my advice could potentially be all wrong. Just figured I'd toss that out there.

[Ragee]

Ah, gotcha. As for people benching more than their squats, they need to boost their squats or should start contemplating walking on their hands instead of legs. I've seen the logs as well though, and I even have a smaller bench:squat ratio than I'd like, but hopefully you get what I mean. But chances are if people are squatting less than their bench, they've been lifting upper body and not lower body much in their lifting career. I much rather have a 500+ lbs squat than a 300+ lbs bench any day.

I'd say don't fret over the ratio and just hit the weights as hard as you can and both will come up in due time.

For bench technique, I find if I pull shoulder blades together and have a slight arch in my lower back (ass on seat) it pulls the lifts to target chest more. For the dips, I have a hard time getting it to target my chest more than tri's but if you can make your body a little more parallel with the ground you should feel it more. Not sure how to explain that, hopefully you'll understand what I mean :p.

Edit: This is all my personal opinion with what I find works for "ME". It's about all I can give, so my advice could potentially be all wrong. Just figured I'd toss that out there.

Once again, appreciate the help! My bench press form is as you say, arched back/pinched shoulders. However, I did try dips today as you said, leaning forward slightly as I dipped.

=====
Famine Day 4

Woke up feeling great today. I've been taking GABA to help me sleep (and its GH boost) for the past few weeks. I notice that if I miss a night with GABA, I have to take it again for a few days before I get decently restful sleep and my mood improves, which I think is what happened today.

Other than that, stayed away from the fruit and my blood sugar seemed to stay more level, keeping to bread and veggies.

I was able to get in a short workout this morning, and my strength has remained intact. There was more visible fat loss too. It's actually having me look forward to my next famine week. lol That or I may run a RFL cycle after Christmas before my next semester starts up again, depending on how much I lean out before the end of the year. I'm finding the leaner I get, the better insulin sensitivity I have (still crappy though) and the better I feel overall (mentally and physically).

That said, I can't wait for tomorrow to end and to pick up a nice 1.5lb chuck steak and tear into it raw! I'll probably workout fasted on Saturday, then start my refeed over Saturday night and Sunday.

[matter2003]

Once again, appreciate the help! My bench press form is as you say, arched back/pinched shoulders. However, I did try dips today as you said, leaning forward slightly as I dipped.

=====
Famine Day 4

Woke up feeling great today. I've been taking GABA to help me sleep (and its GH boost) for the past few weeks. I notice that if I miss a night with GABA, I have to take it again for a few days before I get decently restful sleep and my mood improves, which I think is what happened today.

Other than that, stayed away from the fruit and my blood sugar seemed to stay more level, keeping to bread and veggies.

I was able to get in a short workout this morning, and my strength has remained intact. There was more visible fat loss too. It's actually having me look forward to my next famine week. lol That or I may run a RFL cycle after Christmas before my next semester starts up again, depending on how much I lean out before the end of the year. I'm finding the leaner I get, the better insulin sensitivity I have (still crappy though) and the better I feel overall (mentally and physically).

That said, I can't wait for tomorrow to end and to pick up a nice 1.5lb chuck steak and tear into it raw! I'll probably workout fasted on Saturday, then start my refeed over Saturday night and Sunday.

After famine you are going to want to take 3 days off to do nothing but eat and sleep(or at least 2), so I would recommend not working out Saturday...it would likely slow down progress in feast...

[JlCh]

Np, hopefully the tip helped some.

Also, there's a 72 hour refeed after the 5 days of famine before your first feast workout.