Gallowmere's Obsession, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Deadlift

[Obs]

I tried playing by the rules for as long as I could. As soon as I got fucked the first time by nonsense with my urology department, I realized that I could no longer afford, from a health standpoint, to do so anymore.

I didn’t care when it was about money. I kept playing. As soon as I got told I’d have to go for a month and a half without TRT because of a fuckup on their end, I decided to make sure it never happened again.

Got a kid with enlarged adnoids waiting for march to participate in a sleep study.

We never had waits like this before affordable care.

On the positive side, I love my chiropractor. I can afford that guy

[Gallowmere]

10s Realization Overhead Day

Overhead Press: 10x45/5x85/3x100/1x115/10+x125-11 completed (+2.5 TM)
Pullups: 4x-8/6/6/8
Klokov Press: 3x95-10/8/6
Snatch Grip Row: 3x135-14/12/8

[Gallowmere]

10s Realization Deadlift Day

Deadlift:
5x135/5x245/3x295/1x345/10+x370-11 completed (+2.5 TM)
Pause Squat: 5x45/3x135/1x225/4x245-5/4/3/3

Deload week incoming, then into the 8s block, then the cycle begins after that.

[Gallowmere]

Bench Deload Day

Bench Press: 10x45/5x150/5x175/4x200
Seated Cable Row: 2x175-15/15
DB Clean and Press: 2x50-5/6
CCLR: 2x-35/30
Pulldowns: 2x130-12/12

[Gallowmere]

Squat Deload Day

Back Squat: 10x135/5x225/5x275/5x315
GMs: 2x185-12/12
Adduction: 2x175-40/34
Abduction: 2x175-40/21

Definitely liking my adjustments to percentages for deloads. Low enough volume to shed fatigue, while still being heavy enough that I don’t just feel like I’m phoning it in.

[Gallowmere]

Overhead Deload Day

Overhead Press: 10x45/5x100/5x120/5x135
Pullups: 3x-8/6/6
Flat DB Press: 2x80s-10/6
DB Row: 2x80s-12/15

[Gallowmere]

Deadlift Deload Day

Deadlift:
10x135/5x225/5x315/4x395
Pause Squat: 5x45/3x135/1x225/2x245-4/3

Deload week is over. Gonna fast into dinner with the family tomorrow, then get ready to smash into my 8s block on Friday.

[Gallowmere]

8s Accumulation Bench Day

Bench Press: 10x45/5x135/4x8x165/10x165
Seated Cable Row: 3x175-12/12/12
Side Laterals: 4x20s-12/12/12/11
CCLR: 4x20-10/10/8/8
Pulldowns: 4x130-12/12/12/10

[Gallowmere]

8s Accumulation Squat Day

Back Squat: 10x135/5x225/4x8x280/13x280
GMs: 3x185-15/12/10
Adduction: 3x175-40/35/26
Abduction: 3x175-40/28/21

[tarmyg]

Gallow, do you do your own programming or follow something?

[Gallowmere]

Gallow, do you do your own programming or follow something?

I use Chad Wesley Smith’s Juggernaut Training method for programming my main lift. All of the accessory stuff is mine, and changes ever so often as I learn things, or find weaknesses in my mains.

[Gallowmere]

Settling in on my new diet. Had to drop a lot of shit that’s been fucking up my guts for a long time. Denial can be a motherfucker.

Third day in, zero bloat, and I think I’ve farted twice.

[Gallowmere]

8s Accumulation Overhead Day

Overhead Press: 10x45/5x95/4x8x110/11x110
Pullups: 5x-10/8/8/8/6
Incline DB Press: 3x65s-10/10/8
DB Row: 3x80s-15/13/12
Ab Wheel: 3x-12/11/7

[Obs]

Settling in on my new diet. Had to drop a lot of shit that’s been fucking up my guts for a long time. Denial can be a motherfucker.

Third day in, zero bloat, and I think I’ve farted twice.

Man I fought this for five years because I came from a redneck mentality that taught me the gluten intolerance thing was a fad. I hived out every day for years and had terrible gas and flatulence.

All I had to do was back off wheat a little.

[Gallowmere]

Man I fought this for five years because I came from a redneck mentality that taught me the gluten intolerance thing was a fad. I hived out every day for years and had terrible gas and flatulence.

All I had to do was back off wheat a little.

For me it’s proven to be oats (fucks up my breathing and plugs up my head), all dairy proteins other than yogurts (painful bloats and constant mustard gas farts), and all of the fucking veg I was eating.

Amusingly for the dairy, it’s not the lactose. I can drink goat or sheep milk by the quart with zero issues, yet even an extremely isolated whey makes my guts explode.

[Gallowmere]

8s Accumulation Deadlift Day

Deadlift:
10x135/5x225/4x8x320/14x320
Pause Squat: 5x45/3x135/1x225/4x275-3/2/2/2

[Gallowmere]

8s Intensification Bench Day

Bench Press: 10x45/3x150/3x170/2x8x185/10x185
WG CS Row: 3x185-7/7/7
Pinch Grip Side Laterals: 17x5s/5x10s
Pullup: 4x-8/8/7/6
Chest Press: 3x225-15/10/10

Too many shitlers in my way this morning to do my normal stuff, so I just bounced to what was available to put in work.

[tarmyg]

I use Chad Wesley Smith’s Juggernaut Training method for programming my main lift. All of the accessory stuff is mine, and changes ever so often as I learn things, or find weaknesses in my mains.

Are you paying for it? I was looking at his site but could not find anything.

[Gallowmere]

Are you paying for it? I was looking at his site but could not find anything.

It’s a book he wrote a few years back, then revised. I have The Juggernaut Method 2.0 on iBooks.

[Gallowmere]

Gonna go full retard today, since my birthday lined up with squat day. Will do my normal JTM squats, then finish with a “birthday set”. Current bodyweight (180 is close enough) for 34 reps.

[Gallowmere]

8s Intensification Squat Day

Back Squat: 10x135/5x225/3x255/3x290/2x8x310/11x310
Birthday Squats: 34x180
Adduction: 3x175-40/34/33
Abduction: 3x175-40/35/34

Fucking christ that burned.

[Gallowmere]

Decided to start tracking blood glucose so I have some hard numbers to judge a bulk by. I’ll know I’m getting too fat when I get into “normie” glucose uptake levels.

For now, my 2-hour postprandial is 85 (after a 450+g sweet potato and 150g of 90/10 ground sirloin), which is lower than most people’s fasted. Apparently my insulin sensitivity is just fine, to put it mildly.

[Obs]

Decided to start tracking blood glucose so I have some hard numbers to judge a bulk by. I’ll know I’m getting too fat when I get into “normie” glucose uptake levels.

For now, my 2-hour postprandial is 85 (after a 450+g sweet potato and 150g of 90/10 ground sirloin), which is lower than most people’s fasted. Apparently my insulin sensitivity is just fine, to put it mildly.

I have same issue.
I run novolog which has about a 4.5 hour duration.
I can eat huge amounts of carbs but at hour two I am gonna be going hypo.

[Proximal]

Haven’t been here much.

Impressed by your dedication.

Your transformation is amazing.

OK, just read the whole thing while watching football - not impressed, but f’n impressed. Your mind set is insane. What was the tipping point that solidified it?

[Gallowmere]

I have same issue.
I run novolog which has about a 4.5 hour duration.
I can eat huge amounts of carbs but at hour two I am gonna be going hypo.

I’ll definitely keep that in mind, for when I need to ass some extra tools to my kit.

[Gallowmere]

Haven’t been here much.

Impressed by your dedication.

Your transformation is amazing.

OK, just read the whole thing while watching football - not impressed, but f’n impressed. Your mind set is insane. What was the tipping point that solidified it?

Thank you.

As for the tipping point, I happened to stumble across this blog post one day: https://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/20...our-fault.html

Before that, I was a typical “muh genetics, big boned, blah blah blah” fat guy.

[Obs]

Thank you.

As for the tipping point, I happened to stumble across this blog post one day: https://chaosandpain.blogspot.com/20...our-fault.html

Before that, I was a typical “muh genetics, big boned, blah blah blah” fat guy.

I gotta agree with prox there by the way.
You work damn hard man.
Total dedication.

[Gallowmere]

8s Intensification Overhead Day

Overhead Press: 10x45/3x100/3x115/2x8x125/10x125
Pullups: 5x-8/10/8/8/7
Incline DB Press: 2x65s-12/10
Kroc Row: 2x90-15/12

Had to cut short due to a bit of work fuckery. No big deal though, as I’ll just do some HLR from the ladder on a roller or paver later today.

[Gallowmere]

I gotta agree with prox there by the way.
You work damn hard man.
Total dedication.

That means a lot, coming from someone with your obsession toward improvement.

Honestly though, I view it completely backward from most people. I’m not dedicated to getting better. I’m abstaining from the modern bullshit that makes people suck. I feel like my approach to life is the most “natural”, even if not the most “normal”, if that makes sense.

Modern normal is pathetic.

[Obs]

That means a lot, coming from someone with your obsession toward improvement.

Honestly though, I view it completely backward from most people. I’m not dedicated to getting better. I’m abstaining from the modern bullshit that makes people suck. I feel like my approach to life is the most “natural”, even if not the most “normal”, if that makes sense.

Modern normal is pathetic.

If someone tries to achieve anything other than being mediocre they are cut to pieces for it.
Mediocrity is celebrated now.

[Gallowmere]

If someone tries to achieve anything other than being mediocre they are cut to pieces for it.
Mediocrity is celebrated now.

Precisely. The part that makes it even more sad, is that being a useless piece of shit is almost preferred to being excellent. Why the fuck one would be even remotely okay with the shit end of the bell curve is beyond me.

[Proximal]

Complacency, making it through the day & not making waves. Flavors of the current times.

[Gallowmere]

Complacency, making it through the day & not making waves. Flavors of the current times.

That’s the definition of what I do with my work and public days. Doesn’t mean one has to suck physically.

[Obs]

Precisely. The part that makes it even more sad, is that being a useless piece of shit is almost preferred to being excellent. Why the fuck one would be even remotely okay with the shit end of the bell curve is beyond me.

Smoking weed, drinking, sleeping around, pleasure in the now, lack of any sort of discipline, and zero standards. That is cool today.

I hear all the time people say "IDGAF" like its a term of endearment. Its why everyone speaks like a valley girl and nen don't exist in society.

Precisely why I can't socialize well. I can't bring myself down to the level of debauchery expected to fit in.

The average used to admire the greats. Now they admire one another it seems.

"I would rather be myself than someone I am not" became an excuse.

I would rather strive to be who I want to be and am not yet.

[Gallowmere]

Finally unfucked my left shoulder entirely.

Years of shitty posture (you can see the lean in my fatty pic) caused me to have a nasty bit of scapular winging on that side. Not problematic in daily life, but under load it was putting the whole joint in a shit position, and I had a bunch of crackling and later on, pain from heavy bench and OHP.

After weeks of forcing that shoulder to stay pinned back, it’s finally started resting and moving properly, with the scap retracting along the back of the ribs.

[Obs]

Finally unfucked my left shoulder entirely.

Years of shitty posture (you can see the lean in my fatty pic) caused me to have a nasty bit of scapular winging on that side. Not problematic in daily life, but under load it was putting the whole joint in a shit position, and I had a bunch of crackling and later on, pain from heavy bench and OHP.

After weeks of forcing that shoulder to stay pinned back, it’s finally started resting and moving properly, with the scap retracting along the back of the ribs.

i had that issue in both and actually still do. I just hid some of it with mass.

I had it terrible when I first came to this board. After my first cycle and plenty of rowing it basically went away in a pokey outey aspect.

[Gallowmere]

i had that issue in both and actually still do. I just hid some of it with mass.

I had it terrible when I first came to this board. After my first cycle and plenty of rowing it basically went away in a pokey outey aspect.

If it were just aesthetic, I’d never have worried about it honestly. However, it’s definitely been a limiting factor for my bench and overhead work, so I finally got pissed enough to fix it.

Pulling alone wasn’t enough to fix it. It’s kinda like how people think less about nutrition and sleep than training. Even though I do about twice the pulling volume as pushing, I’m only in the gym for a couple of hours at a time. That was nowhere near enough to offset the other 22 hours of my shoulders being allowed to be in shit positions.

I’m pretty sure it was mostly caused by years of being in the truck that I drive for work. I’d usually sit cocked to the right, left hand on the steering wheel, and right hand running the control board in the distributor. Just had to start making sure I’m using my core to twist, instead of the shoulder slopping forward to reach the wheel.

[Obs]

If it were just aesthetic, I’d never have worried about it honestly. However, it’s definitely been a limiting factor for my bench and overhead work, so I finally got pissed enough to fix it.

Pulling alone wasn’t enough to fix it. It’s kinda like how people think less about nutrition and sleep than training. Even though I do about twice the pulling volume as pushing, I’m only in the gym for a couple of hours at a time. That was nowhere near enough to offset the other 22 hours of my shoulders being allowed to be in shit positions.

I’m pretty sure it was mostly caused by years of being in the truck that I drive for work. I’d usually sit cocked to the right, left hand on the steering wheel, and right hand running the control board in the distributor. Just had to start making sure I’m using my core to twist, instead of the shoulder slopping forward to reach the wheel.

It affects bench?
That would make sense because bench is my worst lift.

[Gallowmere]

It affects bench?
That would make sense because bench is my worst lift.

Yeap. If your scap is out of position, your shoulder is unstable. This in turn causes two problems: pain under heavy loading (I’d get it whenever over 80%), and the inability to apply maximal force to the bar.

[Obs]

Yeap. If your scap is out of position, your shoulder is unstable. This in turn causes two problems: pain under heavy loading (I’d get it whenever over 80%), and the inability to apply maximal force to the bar.

My dominant arm lags bad.
May need to study it further