The Story of The Bodybuilding Powerlifter

[MarkKO]

Training while fasting during prep. That has to be rough.

[Clearwater47]

Not sure if this will be of any help at all, but I saw this video yesterday with tips on training during Ramadan.

[MailmanMuscle]

Training while fasting during prep. That has to be rough.

It is, but work is more challenging. I take an emergency stash of water, plus beef jerky/trail mix with me in case I find myself past my limits or in danger of getting legitimately sick. But so far, so good. Training is generally okay because I eat and start rehydrating before I go.

Not sure if this will be of any help at all, but I saw this video yesterday with tips on training during Ramadan.

This is a good video - thank you! Faz has a good channel. I caught wind of him from Steve Shaw’s Massive Iron channel. Funny enough, I posted a video to my channel on the same topic on Tuesday. His recommendation of training before breaking the fast can work for some. If you can pull it off, then it makes sense. I’ve done it and haven’t suffered for it. But personally I prefer training between evening meals, since that’s closer to the time of day I normally train anyway.

Four days in, and today was better at work than yesterday. That’s not what I expected, because we’re having above average temperatures this week, and today was the warmest at almost 80 degrees. Speaking of work, I’ve started taking the stairs going to go down in the buildings I deliver to, rather than the elevator. I think it’s helping with my step count. My wake up weight over the last 2 days has been 183.2 and 182.8 lbs. I probably need to lose 10 more pounds - ideally of fat - in 7 weeks, and I think they’re going to be the most difficult to get off.

Thursday 3/14/24: 11,604 steps, 5.3 miles, 3 floors climbed

And catching up on yesterday…

Wednesday 3/13/24: 11,140 steps, 5.0 miles, 7 floors climbed

Lower #1, Planet Fitness

Smith Machine Squat - This was on a machine with a slightly slanted track, not a perfectly vertical track.

bar/10+ reps
90+/8
140+/5
190+/5
235+/5
270+/8 - wore a belt for this set

The last time I did these was 2/26, and I topped out with 270+/10. I’m not happy with that decline, but I’ve been expecting it. And I’m cutting myself some slack. Conditions were different in February.

Smith Machine Sumo Deadlift

90 lbs + bar/6 reps
180+/6
270+/5 - did one rep, realized my grip sucked, put on Versa Gripps, did four more
315+/10 - wore a belt for this set

Leg Extension

75 lbs/12 reps
135/20
60/12, left side - unilateral set was really 10 reps plus 2 partials

Prone Leg Cur

105 lbs/16 reps - 14 full ROM plus 2 partials

Calf Press on Leg Press Machine

For some reason, I didn’t write these down, and don’t feel like looking through clips to count it or see the weight. I did some reps and my calves got pumped.

Here’s a reel with a handful of clips from last night.

[MailmanMuscle]

It seems that I haven’t lost any weight his week, or at least not enough to be statistically significant. As of this morning, I was still 182.8 lbs, for a change in my weekly average of -0.2 lbs. That was little enough for my diet app to suggest a pretty drastic reduction in my macros - specifically carbs - next week. I saw those numbers and said to myself “this isn’t going to work”. It would have had me with some days as low as 55 grams of carbs, and possibly none over 100 grams (I tried to forget on purpose). I have demonstrated a lot more dietary discipline over the last 12 weeks than I actually expected from myself. But in spite of that, I don’t know that I could survive 8 more weeks with carbs at that level.

So here’s what I’m doing to try and overcome this stall: I’m going to increase my activity so that I can keep more food in my diet. If the app recommends a reduction in calorie, it has tiers of reduction - small/medium/large. The app said I should take a medium reduction. I chose small instead. But, I decided that I’m going to start training 5-6 days per week. These training sessions will be shorter than what I have been doing for the last several months. But even with 1/2 hour of “light weight training” and my daily steps, it will give me a more manageable daily allotment of carbs between 120-165 grams.

I don’t want to overcomplicate things any more than I normally do, so I’m going to start this by staying with my upper/lower split and reducing the workload per session. Here’s the template I came up with during some down time today.

Upper 1: dip, pull-up, lateral raise or upright row
Lower 1: squat, leg curl
Upper 2: Arnold press, shrug, biceps curl
Lower 2: good morning, maybe one squat set with the same weight that I use for good mornings, leg extension
Upper 3: Pec deck, rear delt (same machine as pec deck), row (any kind), triceps pressdown
Lower 3: leg press, adductor and abductor machines

Abs and calves will be alternated so they get hit every other session.

Let’s see how this goes. I got started today.

Friday 3/15/24: 15,634 steps, 7.0 miles, 7 floors climbed

Upper #1, Planet Fitness

I alternated sets of dips and pull-ups. I took normal rests after each work set, so these weren’t supersets.

Dip
-130 lbs assistance/10 reps
-85/10
-40/10
bodyweight/15 reps x 4 sets

Pull-up
-130 lbs assistance/10 reps wide overhand
-85/10 medium neutral
-40/5 overhand + 5 neutral
bodyweight/10 overhand - started using Versa Gripps here
BW/10 neutral
BW/10 overhand - barely got 9 and 10
BW/6 + 4 partials neutral - I may have moved upward 3 or 4 inches on that last partial.

Lateral Raise -standing with dumbbells; weights are per hand
10 lbs/12 reps
drop set: 20/13 + 15/7 + 10/8 - Several of these reps at the end of a round were partials to some degree or another.

Hanging Leg Raise - I did these on one of those dip stations with a back pad, not the one I did dips on.
bodyweight/15, 10, 10

Torso Rotation Machine
85 lbs/20 reps left, 20 reps right

I wasn’t supposed to do the torso rotations, but my wife wasn’t done yet, so while she did her last few sets of abs, I threw those in.

As I’m typing this, I’m wrapping up my nighttime meal with 15 grams of a dark chocolate bar and some PB Fit that I made into peanut butter with water. I’m still under my macro allotments. This is by far the happiest I have been all day.

[Clearwater47]

Chocolate and Peanut Butter fixes everything, lol. Smart man!

[MailmanMuscle]

Chocolate and Peanut Butter fixes everything, lol. Smart man!

I haven’t found an exception to this yet.

Today I’m exactly 8 weeks away from the stage. I woke up at 182.4 lbs, down another 0.4 lbs. NOTE: my scale seems to display decimals only in increments of 0.2. I have never seen an odd number after the decimal on this scale. Regardless, if fat is coming off, then I’ll take any amount.

Saturday 3/16/24: 14,875 steps, 6.7 miles, 16 floors climbed - I wonder if floors descended are counted in that.

Lower #1, Gold’s Gym

Standing Calf Raise
100 lbs/15 reps
140/10
160/10 + 10 pump I typically do calf raises with a slow cadence, so the “pump reps” were full ROM but done faster.

Lying Leg Curl
60 lbs/15 reps
110/10
150/12 - 11 plus 1 partial
130/17 - 14 plus 3 partials

This is the heaviest that I’ll be doing these through the show, at least on this particular machine. The one at Planet Fitness may be different.

Squat - high(er) bar squat
bar/10 reps
145/10
215/6
255/6 - started using belt here
285/8 - went low bar for this one, probably had 1-2 more reps in me

So… for the first time in months, I felt like I lived up to the moniker I gave myself in the title of this log. This week has been a mental grind as much as any of the physical challenges. The gym was mostly empty, the powerlifting area was totally empty, and my wife was doing something in another part of the gym. The squat rack was calling me. And it might sound weird, but over the last twenty years or so, the squat rack has been a place where I experience some of the most notable moments of mental clarity. More than with any other lift, I find that I’m able to focus singularly on the lift and block out everything else before I get under the bar. It’s almost therapeutic at times. I missed it. And considering how much weight I’ve lost, how little I’m eating, and not having my technique anywhere near dialed in, I’m happy with what I was able to move.

Seated Leg Press - This is a pin/stack machine with a good ROM that I’ve never used before. Feet were narrow and low on the pad.
150 lbs/10-15 reps
290/13

Practice afterwards in the posing room. I feel less awkward hitting most of the poses. I feel pretty comfortable with the quarter turns. My next posing clinic is April 6.

Tomorrow, I have to do something that the mailman hardly ever does: travel for work. I am one of two union reps at my station, and there’s a regional union training Sunday through Tuesday. It’s not far (less than an hour’s drive in normal traffic) but with sessions starting at 8 am on Monday and Tuesday, I don’t want to deal with Washington DC area rush hour traffic on either side of that. So I opted for the hotel. I’m going to have to take some of my own food. My room should have a fridge, and a microwave should be available, if not in my room. Planet Fitness is everywhere, so a place to train shouldn’t be a problem. I came back home from the Arnold lighter than when I left. Maybe this will be the same.

[MarkKO]

I think squats tap into our survival instinct more than any other lift. So it seems natural they would deliver significant clarity in occasion, given your subconscious is experiencing the application of that old saw, nothing concentrates the mind quite so wonderfully as the prospect of hanging.

[DCR]

So… for the first time in months, I felt like I lived up to the moniker I gave myself in the title of this log. This week has been a mental grind as much as any of the physical challenges. The gym was mostly empty, the powerlifting area was totally empty, and my wife was doing something in another part of the gym. The squat rack was calling me. And it might sound weird, but over the last twenty years or so, the squat rack has been a place where I experience some of the most notable moments of mental clarity. More than with any other lift, I find that I’m able to focus singularly on the lift and block out everything else before I get under the bar. It’s almost therapeutic at times. I missed it. And considering how much weight I’ve lost, how little I’m eating, and not having my technique anywhere near dialed in, I’m happy with what I was able to move.

Nodding knowingly, and somehow both grimly and with a smile.

[MailmanMuscle]

I think squats tap into our survival instinct more than any other lift. So it seems natural they would deliver significant clarity in occasion, given your subconscious is experiencing the application of that old saw, nothing concentrates the mind quite so wonderfully as the prospect of hanging.

This strikes me as an accurate explanation.

Nodding knowingly, and somehow both grimly and with a smile.

I figured there might be some people in here who could relate.

My wife and I had to get a document notarized. She’s off every other Monday, and I’m (scheduled to be) off every Monday, and today was one of her Mondays off. I’m still at this union training in the DC area, but we couldn’t put it off for two more weeks. So I left the training 2 hours early and drove back to Baltimore so we could make it to the UPS Store in time (they have a notary there until 5 or 5:30). So even though I woke up in, and am back at my hotel now, we ended up training at the Planet Fitness location 3 minutes from our house. Go figure.

Sunday 3/17/24: 5,832 steps, 2.2 miles, 12 floors climbed

Monday 3/18/24: 6,595 steps, 2.5 miles, 9 floors climbed

I have been walking the halls and staircases at the hotel on breaks to get some steps in. I’m hoping the floors climbed will help make up for having a lower total step count. I don’t want to be under 7,000 any day now, and preferably over 10K. On work days, I want to be over 14K.

Upper #2, Planet Fitness

Arnold Press - weights are per hand
20 lbs/14 reps
40/10
50/6
60/10 - max effort grind on rep 10

I haven’t done these since March 6, and I topped out at 9 reps with the 60’s doing them last in the workout. I thought I needed to push this as hard as I could to see if I could beat that doing them first again. It’s only a difference of one rep, and I don’t know if this means I’m weaker or not. But at least I can question it. If I matched or got less than 9 reps, then I would guess I’m weaker. Since I’m using strength as a proxy for muscle retention, that would be bad news.

Low Incline Dumbbell Press - bench on first setting above flat (2; 1 is flat, 7 is vertical); weights are per hand
rest-pause: 60/11.5 + 5

I thought I rested longer than I really did. It felt like a minute and a half sitting on the bench. Instant replay showed that I rested 40 seconds. I count any break under 45 seconds as a rest-pause. I assumed the Arnolds would serve as warm ups.

The curls and shrugs were done as alternating sets, with normal rest periods between each set.

Cable Shrug - short straight bar with cable set at the floor
57.5 lbs/15 reps
95/20 -full stack
95/13 left, 13 right - switched to a single handle for these unilateral sets

Cable Curl - same station, bar and setup as the shrugs
25 lbs/15 reps
42.5/15

Hanging Leg Raise - done on dip station with the back support
bodyweight/15, 15, 12

It turns out that there’s a Gold’s Gym 8 minutes from my hotel. I’ll pass it on my way home when the training ends tomorrow. I have never been to this location, but my membership will get me in. Maybe I should stop by and see what they have in there.

[platypus]

The squat rack was calling me. And it might sound weird, but over the last twenty years or so, the squat rack has been a place where I experience some of the most notable moments of mental clarity. More than with any other lift, I find that I’m able to focus singularly on the lift and block out everything else before I get under the bar. It’s almost therapeutic at times. I missed it. And considering how much weight I’ve lost, how little I’m eating, and not having my technique anywhere near dialed in, I’m happy with what I was able to move.

You reminded me of a quote from this Tom Platz interview:

I love the squat rack. For me, it’s like a different sport. I mean the squat rack, the squat performance, the execution of the squat is a different sport from powerlifting and from bodybuilding to me. To me it’s – I have these feelings and emotional ties to the squat rack. It’s just like the alter. I walk in front of the squat rack and I just want to genuflect. You know, I just, “Thank you, God, for letting me live.”

[DCR]

The squat rack was calling me. And it might sound weird, but over the last twenty years or so, the squat rack has been a place where I experience some of the most notable moments of mental clarity. More than with any other lift, I find that I’m able to focus singularly on the lift and block out everything else before I get under the bar. It’s almost therapeutic at times. I missed it. And considering how much weight I’ve lost, how little I’m eating, and not having my technique anywhere near dialed in, I’m happy with what I was able to move.

You reminded me of a quote from this Tom Platz interview:

I love the squat rack. For me, it’s like a different sport. I mean the squat rack, the squat performance, the execution of the squat is a different sport from powerlifting and from bodybuilding to me. To me it’s – I have these feelings and emotional ties to the squat rack. It’s just like the alter. I walk in front of the squat rack and I just want to genuflect. You know, I just, “Thank you, God, for letting me live.”

[MailmanMuscle]

The squat rack was calling me. And it might sound weird, but over the last twenty years or so, the squat rack has been a place where I experience some of the most notable moments of mental clarity. More than with any other lift, I find that I’m able to focus singularly on the lift and block out everything else before I get under the bar. It’s almost therapeutic at times. I missed it. And considering how much weight I’ve lost, how little I’m eating, and not having my technique anywhere near dialed in, I’m happy with what I was able to move.

You reminded me of a quote from this Tom Platz interview:

I love the squat rack. For me, it’s like a different sport. I mean the squat rack, the squat performance, the execution of the squat is a different sport from powerlifting and from bodybuilding to me. To me it’s – I have these feelings and emotional ties to the squat rack. It’s just like the alter. I walk in front of the squat rack and I just want to genuflect. You know, I just, “Thank you, God, for letting me live.”

Beautiful!

It turns out that there’s a Gold’s Gym 8 minutes from my hotel. I’ll pass it on my way home when the training ends tomorrow. I have never been to this location, but my membership will get me in. Maybe I should stop by and see what they have in there.

I did indeed stop at said Gold’s Gym. It was my first time setting foot inside this one, and the layout was odd. But they did have some cool stuff in there that my normal Gold’s doesn’t have, including not one, but two vertical leg presses. It also has a leg press with independent sleds for each leg which I would love to put to use some day. But yesterday, I stuck to the plan.

Tuesday 3/19/24: 4,813 steps, 1.8 miles, 8 floors climbed

Lower #2, Gold’s Gym

Good Morning - done what is supposed to be a squat machine; machine weight unknown
empty/10 reps
90+ lbs/8 reps
180+/6
230+/6
270+/6 - started using the belt here
300+/6
320+/10 - This set took over a minute due to slow negatives. I didn’t think I’d get this many reps.

Vertical Leg Press - I liked this one more than the version they removed from my normal Gold’s.
sled/5 reps
90 lbs + sled/10 reps
180+/6 - kept changing foot position to find the right spot
180+/6 - used foot position I found on the previous set - just right
230+/6
180+/10

Lying Leg Curl - This one has a much steeper angle than the one I normally use. I liked it.
75 lbs/6 reps
130/10
150/7 - 7th rep was a partial
150/6 - 6th rep was a partial

I hit a lower rep range on these than normal on purpose. I want to see if doing some heavier leg curls will help me with contracting them while doing back poses. That’s something I haven’t been able to nail just yet.

Donkey Calf Raise - It was right next to the leg curl.
80 lbs/10 reps
140/10
140/15

Wednesday 3/20/24: 16,990 steps, 7.6 miles, 18 floors climbed

I went back to work today, and as you can see, it was a pretty active one. I was too beat to train tonight. So I’m practicing some posing and ordering my trunks. It’s getting real.

[DCR]

It also has a leg press with independent sleds for each leg which I would love to put to use some day.

I would love to have access to one of these. I was able to use one once, and it was the most shocking, humbling gym experience. I found that it was nearly impossible for me to keep my legs even, with the damn empty sled. The thing takes imbalances and lack of coordination and shines the biggest of spotlights on them.

[MarkKO]

It also has a leg press with independent sleds for each leg which I would love to put to use some day.

I would love to have access to one of these. I was able to use one once, and it was the most shocking, humbling gym experience. I found that it was nearly impossible for me to keep my legs even, with the damn empty sled. The thing takes imbalances and lack of coordination and shines the biggest of spotlights on them.

Machines like that are gems.

[MailmanMuscle]

@DCR @MarkKO
I can see myself occasionally driving the 30-40 minutes back to that gym just to use some of the machines they have that my normal Gold’s doesn’t have. That leg press this is one of them. I have imbalances in my legs that I mentioned before, which I think I have identified the cause of. I can contract my left hamstring a lot harder than my right, even though I’m right side dominant. Plus my right leg has a lot more visible detail from the side. I think it’s from the thousands of reps I’ve done getting into and out of the seat in my mail truck. Looking at the motor patterns of each movement, it makes sense to me. I turn to the right and push off of my right leg to get out of the vehicle, and I support my weight on my left leg as I lower myself onto the seat. There’s not much I can do in 6-7 weeks to overcome an imbalance that has developed over years, and is still being reinforced on a daily basis. But at least I figured it out now, and can figure out a game plan to (hopefully) correct it over time.

Side note: I want to eat. I can already tell that it’s going to be just as difficult having dietary restraint coming out of the show as it is going in. It might be more difficult, because the prospect of being on stage serves as a deterrent to shoveling down everything I see. Once the show is over, I need to buy into a good reason not to get too fat, too fast.

Thursday 3/21/24: 16,965 steps, 7.6 miles, 11 floors climbed

My left hamstring felt odd throughout the day and evening. It’s not quite pain, but I don’t know what to call it. Maybe it was stressed from the workout on Tuesday followed by a long work day yesterday. Regardless, I had a row of some kind penciled in for today’s training, and decided not to do a variation that I would have to stand and brace myself for. Injury prevention at this stage feels more important than normal.

Upper #3, Planet Fitness

Seated Cable Row - neutral grip, medium width bar; looks like upside down handlebars on an old bicycle
70 lbs/15 reps
120/9
160/6
200/10 - started using Versa Gripps here; this is the set in the IG clip below
200/8 + a 9th cheat rep so I could get another negative

Pec Deck - I actually worked in with someone on this machine. It’s the first time I’ve done that since Covid hit.
75 lbs/15 reps
105/10
135/14 - final rep was a partial
135/13* - *that 13 was actually 8 reps + 4 partials + 1 really short partial so I could do a 4-5 second static hold in the stretch

Rear Delt - same machine, facing the other way
75 lbs/15 reps
130/17 - last 2 reps were partials

Cable Pressdown - I had to use a long straight bar that people normally do pulldowns with.
50 lbs/11 reps
70/9
rest-drop set: 100/6 + 85/6

Triceps Press Machine - like doing dips while sitting down
200 lbs/16 reps

Hammer Abs Machine - seated upright, crunching top and bottom at the same time
30 lbs/15 reps
60/10
60/11

[KarlM]

That vertical leg press is freaking cool. Full ROM about both the hips and knees for every rep. If I had a machine like that at my gym, I'd definitely work it in to my training.

[MailmanMuscle]

That vertical leg press is freaking cool. Full ROM about both the hips and knees for every rep. If I had a machine like that at my gym, I'd definitely work it in to my training.

It’s awesome. And on Friday, I discovered that the Gold’s I normally go to has a new one. So I’m not mad at them anymore for getting rid of the old one.

Speaking of Friday, I did a workout that I intended to log in here. But my logbook is downstairs, and I don’t feel like going back down there tonight. So I’ll plan to share that tomorrow. But there is something else from this week that somehow I forgot to share - an achievement that many aspire to, and in this modern era, many also accomplish. Some get there on purpose. Some stumble into it. Regardless, if it’s a false charge, then you have reached the pinnacle of gym bro success.

I WAS ACCUSED OF BEING A FAKE NATTY ON SOCIAL MEDIA!

I dont’t think I posted this in here. It’s a short/reel that I put on my YouTube and Instagram channels last week when I was 8 weeks out from the show (now I’m 6 weeks and 6 days out).



(Side note: I took some progress photos this morning at home. The last time I took some in the same spot at the same time was 2 weeks ago, and I’m a little freaked out by the changes I can see in such a short period of time. The lighting is also better than it is in the posing room. I weighed 178.8 this morning. I forget that every pound and ounce lost now is a larger percentage of my total mass than the pounds and ounces I was losing 12 weeks ago.)

Anyway, a troll in the comments of the video took exception to the “lifetime natural” caption. I don’t know if he thinks I’m joking about being flattered. He made my week. Also, the “what did I tell you?” comment is from my wife. A few days before this - maybe when we filmed that in the posing room - she predicted that I was going to start being accused of being on gear.

[MarkKO]

I saw something about that. It's about as sincere a compliment as you can get, really.

[DCR]

I saw something about that. It's about as sincere a compliment as you can get, really.

And none better. Mailman, you have scaled the summit of weight training in 2024 and I’m laughing but not even a little joking.

[Clearwater47]

Looking awesome! Congrats on getting accused of juicing.