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

[Gallowmere]

I'll be using this as a place to further document my obsession with self improvement, and overall progress.

A bit of a fast-forward from the very beginning, to where I was a year ago, to now.
Age 28, 231 lbs.:

This wasn't my worst (which was 265), but up to that point, I'd refused to let a camera anywhere near me. There were a three year maintenance of weight at 185-190 between that, and the following.

Age 32, 150 lbs.:

I got dangerously close to hitting 200 lbs. again around November of 2015, and decided that it was time to cut again. Unfortunately, I did it entirely via keto and no resistance training. As such, I ended up looking like and alien from the X-Files. I decided that this just wouldn't do.

October 2016, 180 lbs.:

Went on a fulk, gained way too much bodyfat, but lifts did decently.
Ended this period with a 180 lbs. bench, 265 lbs. squat, and 365 lbs. deadlift.

December 2016, 167 lbs:

A months of RFL C2 protocol landed me here. Lifts remained roughly the same. Considering the harsh deficit, the fact that I lost nothing was a plus.

Another bulk and cut later has landed me at my current place, 163, with a 225 bench, 320 squat, and 435 deadlift.


And this is where things take off from here. I'm currently in a maintenance state after my last hard cut, very slowly adding in kcals to reach a small surplus. Essentially, I am eating to fuel training at this point, and am not overly concerned with tipping up the scale. Current outlay is 2700 kcals with a roughly 40/40/20 p/c/f split, which varies slightly from day to day. I am as obsessed with tracking my food intake as I am my training, so anything that goes in my mouth is weighed to the tenth of a gram with a calibrated scale.

Given my ignited interest in strongman however, I realize that I am going to have to start putting on weight. However, since I have yet to take the trip to the dark side, I am going to have to do it slowly, in order to avoid getting fat as hell.

[Gallowmere]

Also, current back and leg shot, because image per post limits.

[cousinmuscles]

Congratulations man! The deadlift is my favorite exercise ever since I first went to a gym 14 years ago.

Did you do this all naturally?

[Gallowmere]

Congratulations man! The deadlift is my favorite exercise ever since I first went to a gym 14 years ago.

Did you do this all naturally?

Depends on how one defines natural, I guess. I do use EC when cutting, but that's it thus far.

[hammerheart]

Please shave that bodily hair it looks horrible plus change your underwear to something more fashionable, like trunks.

Deadlift has been my fav movement ever since.

[Gallowmere]

Please shave that bodily hair it looks horrible plus change your underwear to something more fashionable, like trunks.

Deadlift has been my fav movement ever since.

Shaving is a no go for me, for a couple of reasons.
A: I get ingrown hairs to the point where I look like I have full body herpes, no matter what I do.
B: my girlfriend would shit a brick. She wasn't even thrilled about me trimming it as short as it is in the recent picture.

The underwear are due to the fact that I lift in a singlet, and just snap progress pictures whenever before I lift in the mornings. I had never actually intended for them to leave my phone, but decided screw it.

[cousinmuscles]

Depends on how one defines natural, I guess. I do use EC when cutting, but that's it thus far.

Great job!

[tarmyg]

Great work!

[hammerheart]

my girlfriend would shit a brick. She wasn't even thrilled about me trimming it as short as it is in the recent picture.

I guess it's a thing.

[RaginCajun]

Great progress man, can really see your hard work!!!

it is amazing what we can learn and it looks like you learned a lot about your body in the past 5-6 years.

Keep it up the great work!

[Gallowmere]

Great progress man, can really see your hard work!!!

it is amazing what we can learn and it looks like you learned a lot about your body in the past 5-6 years.

Keep it up the great work!

Greatly appreciated.

It's been an interesting road, that's for sure. Really, the first few years was little more than accepting the reality of energy balance and making myself cast off all of the bullshit that my family had hammered into my brain my whole life. That old "big-boned, genetics, we're all just big" ball of nonsense that so many fat people have convinced themselves of.

Most of the fine tuning occurred in the last 13 months, as I realized that what peeled off 115 pounds of fat was not going to work when trying to build myself back up. It's been in that time that I've been playing with different macro ratios (keto bulking was a terrible idea), training templates, mobility work and conditioning variables.

I am a major data dork, and even track things that most people wouldn't consider, like using basal body temperature and orthostatic readings to gauge when to end my cuts. Is all of it extremely useful? Probably not, but I'll be the first to admit that I love "majoring in the minors".

[Capebuffalo]

Keep showing your dedication. You are doing great.

[Gallowmere]

My recovery days keep turning into grip training days, along with my usual recumbent cycling.

20 minutes cycle LISS.
4x10 pinch grip high pulls
8x6 drag and adjust
4x12 pinch grip shrugs

[Gallowmere]

Primary squat day.

Back Squat: 5x120/5x150/3x180/5x210/5x240/5x270/5x240/5x270/1x300
RG Pause Bench Press: 10x45/5x95/5x135/5x5x155
BB Hack Squat: 5x135/5x185/5x225/5x255/3x275
Push-ups: 3x20
BB Row: 10x45/5x95/5x135/5x5x165

Accidentally overloaded the reverse grip bench by 10, but figured fuck it and ran with it. Definitely an overall improvement over last week.

[BG]

Great job!!

[Gallowmere]

Primary overhead day.

Overhead Press: 5x55/5x70/3x85/5x100/5x110/5x125/5x110/5x125/2x140
Rack Pulls: 5x135/5x225/5x315/3x405/5x455/4x455/3x455/2x455
Weighted Chins: 3x10xbw/5x5x50
DB Clean and Press: 5x10x35
Ab Wheel: 4xF-19/14/9/8

Another improvement over last week. Gradually dropping the rack pulls lower and ditched straps. Slightly below the knee today.

[Gallowmere]

Theoretical recovery day, turned minor strongman training.

5x bouts of Hercules Hold training in the crossover: 1 minute holds, ascending weights, 150/160/170/180/190 per arm.

4x gym length DB carries, 85/85/90/90 per hand.

3x20x80 Face Pulls just to shove some blood into the shoulders.

[Gallowmere]

Primary bench day.

Bench Press: 5x85/5x105/3x125/5x145/5x165/4x185/5x165/3x185/1x205
Front Squat: 5x45/5x95/3x135/5x5x155
DB Row: 5x50/5x60/5x70/6x85/3x6x90
Ab Wheel: 3xF-17/14/13

Slightly improved over last week, but bench is definitely moving slow AF.

[hollowedzeus]

Never enjoyed bench. Causes my wrists to be very sore. Ive found more success in dumbell chest press

[Gallowmere]

Never enjoyed bench. Causes my wrists to be very sore. Ive found more success in dumbell chest press

I use wrist wraps for benching once I get above 80%, so it's less of an issue for me. I also use DB bench as an accessory on various days though.

[songdog]

Doing great bro!

[Gallowmere]

Primary deadlift day.

Sumo Deadlift: 5x160/5x200/3x240/5x280/5x320/4x360/5x320/3x360/1x400
Klokov Press: 5x55/5x70/3x80/5x5x100
DB Incline Bench: 10x45s/10x50s/10x55s/8x60s/4x65s
BB Strict Curl: 5x30/5x50/3x10x70
Landmine Row: 10x45/10x90/10x115/6x125

About the same as last week, though I pulled sumo instead of conventional.

Considering that my moving average weight has still been petering down slightly over the last couple of weeks, it might just be time to go ahead and add in some extra kcals on lifting days.

[Gallowmere]

Recovery/grip day.

25 minutes recumbent LISS.
4 sets 1 minute Hercules Holds.
3x10 pinch grip shrugs.
2x20 light T-bar rows.

Headed into a semi-deload starting tomorrow. Looking to shed some fatigue before next Saturday's competition. Given the training day kcal increase and volume reduction, I'll be in the best shape I possibly can to go against dudes outweighing me by nearly 40 lbs.

[Gallowmere]

Semi-deload squat day.

Back Squat: 5x120/5x150/3x180/5x195/5x225/3x5x255
BB Hack Squat: 5x135/5x225/3x5x255
PS Viking Press: 10xsled/5x90/5x180/
2x5x270/5x360/2x450
BB Row: 10x45/5x95/3x135/4x5x165

Looking to shed some fatigue prior to the comp next weekend. Attire for it has been acquired.

[hollowedzeus]

Your arm vascularity is awesome!

[Gallowmere]

Your arm vascularity is awesome!

Thank ya. I've always been pretty vascular, except when I was legitimately obese.

It's awesome, but also makes gauging my bodyfat absurdly difficult, when you pair it with how horrible my skin is, due to being a fatty for three decades. Calipers put me at 7-9% bodyfat, depending upon sites. Yeah, there isn't a universe in existence where I'm that lean.

So yeah, I get skewed results from every damned direction.

[Gallowmere]

Overhead semi-deload.

Overhead Press: 5x55/5x70/3x85/5x90/5x105/3x5x120
Pulldowns: 10x40/10x70/10x100
Pullups: 7xF-15/14/11/11/8/6/7
Dips: 3x15

Stuck to bodyweight accessories, just to get some bloodflow going and expedite the recovery process. Definitely wanting the shoulders feeling good for the log press on Saturday.

[Gallowmere]

10x 30 second cycling sprints.

Replacing one of my mid-week LISS sessions with sprints, as I reeeaaally need to get my short duration conditioning up. Not interested in getting smoked in loading medleys because of my CV system sucking ass.

[cousinmuscles]

Looking ripped bro, best of luck in your competition.

[Gallowmere]

Looking ripped bro, best of luck in your competition.

Thanks. I suspect that I am going to get my ass handed to me given the weight divisions. Given that it's my first comp, I'm mostly there for the experience, and to drag every last bit of performance out of myself that I can.

Lifting gives a sense of progression all it's own, but competing in something truly athletic will give me a better benchmark for overall improvement.

[Gallowmere]

Scale weight staying within about a half pound (162.3-162.8) but still trending downward. My gaining phases are always a pain in the ass to get going. The more kcals I add in, the less I can sit still (averaging 26k steps per day, largely from pacing) and the harder I end up training.
Added 350 on lifting days, putting me at 3050 on lifting days and 2700 on non.
Bench session in a couple of hours.
Photo from this morning is showing further vascularity in the abdominal area:

[Gallowmere]

Bench semi-deload day.

Bench Press: 5x85/5x105/3x125/5x135/5x155/3x5x175
T-bar Row: 12x45/12x90/3x8x135
Pushups: 3x25
DB Row: 3x15x75
Weighted Crunch: 4xFx45-28/24/23/16

[Gallowmere]

Deadlift semi-deload day.

Deadlift: 5x160/5x200/3x240/5x260/5x300/3x4x340
Single Leg Press: 10xsled/3x8x90
DB Incline Bench: 10x45s/10x50s/10x55s/9x60s/5x65s
BB Strict Curl: 10x30/5x50/3x10x70

[Gallowmere]

Recovery day.

30 minutes recumbent LISS.
3x20 cable shrugs
4x20 cable scap retractions

[Gallowmere]

Recovery day yesterday with just 30 minutes LeMond Cycle LISS.

Getting ready to head out for the two and a half hour drive to the comp now. This should be interesting.

[Gallowmere]

Learned a lot about my weaknesses from yesterday's competition.

Did well in axe-hold and car deadlift, complete shit in log press and Atlas Stones, and mediocre in keg load and carry.

My explosiveness is dogshit, and my conditioning is atrocious. Training outlay has been modified to rectify these deficiencies.

Later today will be bench day, utilizing Inverse Juggernaut.

[Obs]

Learned a lot about my weaknesses from yesterday's competition.

Did well in axe-hold and car deadlift, complete shit in log press and Atlas Stones, and mediocre in keg load and carry.

My explosiveness is dogshit, and my conditioning is atrocious. Training outlay has been modified to rectify these deficiencies.

Later today will be bench day, utilizing Inverse Juggernaut.

Do not be discouraged. I know a guy like you won't. Use the failure to create emotion that pushes you forward. You are impressive brother.

[Gallowmere]

Do not be discouraged. I know a guy like you won't. Use the failure to create emotion that pushes you forward. You are impressive brother.

I'm not discouraged in any way. In fact, a big reason why I wanted to compete so early was to be able to find flaws and chinks in my armor, that could have gone unnoticed in powerlifting for my entire life.

It was insanely fun, really educational, and gave me a lot of new goals moving forward.

It's also liberating in another way. Now that I don't have to worry about weight classes as strictly, I can go into a year plus long lean bulk, instead of having to be neurotic about water cuts and staying within a certain weight range by certain dates. At 5'10", 163 lbs. is nowhere near where I should be. I'm going to keep it slow to avoid a bunch of excess fat gain, but I am damned sure going to be eating enough to fuel training, and can worry a lot less about cutting protocols for now.

[Gallowmere]

Yesterday's bench accumulation/explosiveness session.

Bench Press: 10x45/5x95/10x5x120
T-bar Row: 10xbar/10x45/3x15x90/2x15x70
Dips: 3xF-24/13/8
CCLR: 5xF-26/15/11/9/10

Today's squat accumulation/explosiveness session.

Vertical Jumps: 3x12
Back Squat: 5x45/5x115/3x135/1x155/10x5x170
Single Leg Hamstring Curl: 3x15x112
Back Extensions: 3x15
Decline Sit-ups: 3x15

All reps performed with maximum force output and attention to technique. All sets split by strict 60 second rests.

[Gallowmere]

LeMond Bike Tempo training session.

6x30sec 120 RPM+10 pushups, 15 second walk between reps
4 min rest
6x30sec 120 RPM+20 weighted crunch (45 lbs.), 15 second walk between reps