From shit to fit (khazima's Log)

[Venom]

Subbed along, you're making great progress in here brother! Keep it up!

[Khazima]

Subbed along, you're making great progress in here brother! Keep it up!

Thanks man

[Khazima]

Back from camping, it was a great break and perfect timing after the meet. Feel refreshed and ready to go. We were going to stay until Christmas day and arrive in the afternoon but the whether was terrible so we ended out coming home a day early.

It's going to take me a day to catch up to all the threads in here!!

Got home and hit the gym basically straight away, heaviest leg session of the program so far and since i took about 2 weeks out to condition to 1 rep max's and today was 5 reps and a lot of volume, it near murdered me. On the menu was;

Squats 4x5
Deadlifts 4x5
Leg press 4x5
Romanian deadlifts 4x5

The lower back pump i had after squats was absolutely insane, so much so that i couldn't go anywhere near a 5rm on deadlifts, i was using a weight i can usually do for 20 reps easily and it was hard and painful. Squats went great though, hit the numbers i expected to but didn't surprise myself like i was hoping.

With the last set of leg press i dropped a plate and did a 10 rep set because i had to get out, my back just couldn't take anymore so instead of RDL i did hamstring curls for a set to failure and called it there. I was ready to cry from the lower back pump lol.

Awsome having an empty gym because it's Christmas eve though

Diet was all over the place on the trip but hey atleast i can guarentee it was a surplus! haha. Probably expecting to wake up around 70kg, so 3kg gain in about a month-5 weeks which is alot more than i wanted but i'm still pretty lean so i don't mind.

Unfortunately i lost my 135 day streak on myfitnesspal though back to day 1.

Heavy push day tomorrow, hopefully i can squeeze it in sometime since we're not doing much for Christmas this year.

Peptides are going well, the main thing i've noticed is improved well-being, i feel better in general and happy-go-lucky if that makes any sense. Sleep has been on point also.

[Khazima]

Merry Christmas all, typing on my new laptop families over and the feast is soon to be upon us.

Went for a Christmas day workout just before, I was expecting the gym to be completely empty but to my surprise there were quite a few people in and out during the hour I was there. Today was;

Bench 4 sets of 5
Overhead press 4x5
Incline bench 4x5
Close grip bench 4x5

I've decided to pause all my reps on bench since off the chest is the weakest part of my lift, this has caused my numbers to go down slightly but it'll definitely be worth it when off the chest is a strong point. Working towards that 100kg paused bench.

Woke up at 70.4kg this morning, wayyyyy heavier than I had planned by now but i'm still happy with how lean I currently am. I'm definitely going to need to keep the diet under control before i'm back to fat khaz. Today I'll probably end out sticking pretty close to my caloric goals since we're not doing multiple family do's or anything. Then from tomorrow on i'll be keeping it to 2800-3000 calories consistently.

Did some searching before to look for a local powerlifting meet and the only one is in February which doesn't really give me much time to get stronger so i'm hoping some more pop up towards the mid year once I've reached some of my goals and fill in the 73 or 76kg weight class comfortably.

Been pinning Mod GRF 1-29, GHRP-2, Ipamorelin and TB-500 consistently, sleeping really well, well-being is on point and I've definitely made some gains since getting back into a surplus, last time I was 70kg I wasn't even close to this lean.

[Khazima]

Just been hanging out all day today, last max effort heavy pull session of this mesocycle. Getting this diet back on track, definitely put on more weight than i'm comfortable with over the last 2-3 weeks. I was pretty strict with my calories on my cut and only gave my self a designated amount of leeway on refeed days so i think i experienced some loss of control over my eating once i relaxed into this bulk.

Not to worry though, it's headed back in the right direction now and at least my lifts feel good. Pull session today was;

Bent over rows 4 sets of 5 (ended out doing 4x6-7)
Weighted pull-ups 4x5
Barbell curl 4x5
Shrugs 4x5 (ended out doing 4x6-8)

Pretty good session, i can really feel the extra weight on me, i get tired and lethargic a lot easier, i'm sweating a lot more and out of breath quicker.

It's funny how when you start lifting to get big the way you perceive it is a healthy lifestyle when in facts health takes quite the backseat to strength and size goals.

Legs hypertrophy tomorrow. Starts with a superset of leg extensions and curls then squats which i haven't done anything of the sort... ever. Should be interesting and i always love to try new things. This whole program is fairly unorthodox to me but not completely new, as with most people i started off doing way too many exercises and sets with supersets and dropsets etc so incorporating that in a leg workout like i haven't done in so long should be interesting (and hard).

On a pretty good ramble here so i might just keep going, i wonder if i'm ever going to end out reading through this entire log. I'd imagine it'd be quite interesting to see what state of mind and thoughts i had years past if i read it in the future or even months past if i decide to read it now.

Ordered some bands online yesterday, found them quite cheap and i'm really looking forward to incorporating them into my programming, mostly for my bench and squats. Not sure if my gym has anywhere to put bands for deadlifts especially now they've screwed the safety bars on the squat rack into place.

Just had 450g roasted potatoes, got 500 cals left for the day and need to eat them within the next half an hour so i can pin my last dose around 1130 before bed. Fit in 3 pins so far today easily. I was worried about the pinning schedule but so far it's been easy enough to get 4 or even 5 pins in per day giving myself close to 3 hours between pins and waiting 20-30 mins after. It fits quite well with how i like to eat actually.

Alright, rambling done. If anyone reads this.. why?

[Khazima]

/>
Leg extensions superset with leg curls 4x30/15/15/15
Squats 4x12
Sumo deadlifts 120kg x 3/140kg x 5/ 150kg x 1/155kg x 1/160kg x 1
Front squats 4x3

Seated calf raise superset with calf raise on leg press 4x15-20


Looks like my 4 plate goal is a lot closer than expected, as well as my goal to get into the 1000lb club.

[Khazima]

Push hypertrophy today, session went well (as expected really) nothing spectacular.

Dumbbell bench 4 sets of 12 reps
Incline BB bench 4x12
Flat bench 4x12 (was supposed to be with a swiss bar but my gym doesn't have one)
Cable lateral raises 4x12 dropset last set
DB skullkrushers superset with single-arm overhead extensions 4x12

I've gotten to a point in the routine where i sort of want to go back to my own programming and focus more on strength and power but at the same time i want to stick this out and just keep getting bigger using high volume.

More than likely i'll stick it out for the next mesocycle and see how i like it then either continue or go back to my own programming.

[Khazima]

As of today decided to switch routines and try to get as big and as strong as possible with sport specific goals (powerlifting). I'm basically going to squat and bench 3x a week, deadlift twice and have accessories around those. It's essentially an 8 day split that looks like;

Bench/overhead press - Max effort (strength)

Squat focus then deadlift - Max effort (strength) alternating between squat and deadlift focus

Rest

Bench - Hypertrophy (whole upper body)

Squat - strength/hypertrophy on deadlift focus weeks and hypertrophy focus on squat focus weeks

Rest

Bench - Dynamic effort (power)
Squat/deadlift - Dynamic effort (power)

It's sort of a trial because i mainly want to get as big as possible right now with a goal of being 175-180 (at around 17-18% bf) from 152 (currently, at approx 14-15%) by the end of 2015.

Got my diet back under control, finally. Been steady at 69.3kg for the last 3 days and if the moons are in line i should be 69.4kg tomorrow.

So as i think i mentioned today was a max effort squat day (when the origional plan was to do back and biceps lol) and we worked up to some heavy doubles and triples near 90% of my 1 rep max. Then when i tried to move onto deadlifts my hips were still tight and a bit sore from maxing on sumos the other day. Did a few doubles of those and a few with conventional then decided to do some box squats.

Funnily enough my pants ripped on one of my first sets of squats so i had to put a shirt over the back of my shorts and look like a doofus for the rest of the session. Nevertheless the box squats went really well and worked up to some doubles at near 92-93% 1rm.

Probably going to go hit back tomorrow since i haven't done it yet then rest the next day, then back to the bench/squat/rest routine.

[Khazima]

Decided to bench today and get the heavy session done instead of resting since the first squat session was out of impulse (and a bit of peer pressure). So that's the first max effort microcycle done, rest tomorrow then leg/lower body hypertrophy session.

Did a bunch of stuff today and the whole workout looked a little like;

Paused bench - worked up to 5-6 sets of doubles at about 90% 1rm then did an AMRAP set (got 3) with the same weight.
Weighted (wide-grip) pull-ups - 3-4 sets of 5-7 reps.
Standing military press - few sets of doubles, a heavy single then a back off triple.
Bent-over rows and cable rows - 5-6 total sets of 6-10 reps.
Floor press - Worked up to 2 max effort doubles and did a few slightly lighter doubles.

The owner was at the gym today, who is also the person who organised the backyard meet and is a powerlifter himself. He and myself didn't get off to a great start at the gym as my spending was out of control and i never even left money in the bank for the direct debit at the gym but now we're on pretty good terms and have some good conversation.

I asked if i could buy chains and leave them here and he said there's already chains there and boy did i get excited lol i had to try them immediately. Unfortunately there's not enough and they're not long enough yet so they need to be tweaked and added to before they're of any real use but even fiddling around with them was fun and i can definitely see the power benefit.

Super keen for the bands to arrive and i can really mix my training up regularly with bands and chains.

So far i'm really enjoying this new style of training, for the strength days anyway because i can gear it towards what i want and do the amount of volume i feel is adequate. Since there's no real structure to the individual workouts it's a bit of an experiment to see what my capabilities with programming and discipline are. I guess i'll see in a month or twos time when i max again.

[RaginCajun]

experimenting is fun! the human body is a wonder!

[Khazima]

experimenting is fun! the human body is a wonder!

It really is man. Amazing to see what we can do with it and the way we can transform it.

[Khazima]

Rest day today, about time i took one i've been in the gym for about a week straight. I feel fine but in the back of my head all i can hear is 'you grow outside the gym'. Just been thrown around by switching programs a bit and lacking the discipline to stay home and rest. A job would help lol.

I thought of another new split but i think i'll stick with this one for 1.5-2 months then retest my max's and get a gauge for progression. Currently the plan is just Squat/bench/rest with alternating deadlift focus on squat strength days but to make things easier and more structured i was thinking of doing;

Monday - Bench (Strength)
Tuesday - Squat (Strength)
Wednesday - Bench (Power)
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Bench (Hypertrophy)
Saturday - Squat (Hypertrophy/power)
Sunday - Rest

Since my main goal is to get that 100kg bench, i just also want to squat 3x a week as well lol guess i can't have my cake and eat it too so the next best thing i've got is what i'm doing now. Just going to have to wait and see how it goes.

Weight is still steady at 69.6kg, didn't go up so i'll be upping the calories tomorrow if it's the same once again.

[Khazima]

Legs went pretty well today, caught the train out the better of the two close gyms near me for their platform and ab/adductor machine (need to strengthen my hips).

Decided to do the heavy deadlifts i missed on heavy squat day because my hip was feeling alright but by the time i got up to 3 plates i realized it wasn't really going to happen, i hit 3 plates for 5 easily the other day then today i struggled for 2 because of the hip pain. Did 2 doubles and 3-4 singles with 3 plates and chains on the bar then moved on to squats. Whole workout looked like;

Deadlifts - worked up to 2 heavy 2 doubles with chains then some singles
Squats - 4 sets 8-10
Deficit romanian deadlifts with chains - 4 sets of 6-8
Leg extensions super-set with leg curls 2 x 30
Abduction superset with adduction 3 x 15-20

I went super high reps on the leg extensions because on the last set of squats my left knee flared up pretty significantly, i stopped immediately and when i went for the next set as i unracked i felt some pain so i stopped and moved on.

Hopefully because i stopped so soon i should be fine for lower body/power in 3 days. I've got 50mg of TB-500 on its way so i'll probably do 4 weeks of 5mg and try to get this cleared up.

Upper hypertrophy tomorrow, time to get the delts poppin and the back swelled.

Happy new years everyone

PS. Cheerin about being a productive member

[Khazima]

Upper body hypertrophy went really well today, i was sweating so profusely though, it was disgusting. It's probably just due to the heat (even though the gym has air con) and having some excess BF now, as well as much shorter rest times.

The whole workout looked like;

Flat bench 5 x 6-8
Incline DB bench 4 x 8-10
Pull-ups 3 x 10
Bent-over rows 4 x 10-12
Cable fly super-set with lat pulldown 3 x 12-15
Cable lateral raises super-set with seated rear delt fly 4 x 12-15 dropset last set
Giant set: 4 x rope pushdowns 12-20, Rope hammer curl 12-20, facepulls 10-12
Machine preacher curl 3 x 12-15
Overhead DB tricep extension 3 x 12-15

33 total sets is a shitload of volume (for me) but it was feeling really good and it's not super taxing work (CNS-wise) so i just smashed it out and felt like i hit everything nicely. Could've used a little more volume on the back but i hit that again in 3 days on upper body power day as well as heavy on bench max effort day.

So far i'm absolutely loving this split i just pray that my joints can keep up with the frequency. The hypertrophy and power days aren't too demanding so it should be okay and i have plenty of time to recover for the next max effort days.

Hoping my TB-500 arrives on Monday so i can keep this knee in line. Shoulders are feeling okay but my left knee worries me. Hopefully the bands arrive then as well so i can get to work with those

[Khazima]

Ended out going to the gym today for lower body power since my gym partner got back from a NYE trip he did and wanted to go. So just cut the rest day out between hypertrophy/power days, which is fine since they're both relatively non taxing. Whole workout was;

Box squats probably about 8 sets of 2-4 reps with about 75% 1rm focusing on keeping tight and exploding off the box (bench in this case).
Conventional deadlifts for speed 4-5 sets with about 65% 1rm for 2-4 reps focusing on getting my hips through, form and getting the bar off the ground as quickly as possible.
Pause squats about 5 sets of 3 with about 60% 1rm pausing for about 3 seconds and exploding out of the hole as quickly as possible.

My hips felt terrible so there was no way i could do sumo, which was disappointing but i feel i can gain more out of doing my dynamic effort deadlifts conventional anyway. I'm hoping i can do sumo at least once a week on max effort days then do conventional on dynamic effort days at least until my hips can handle twice a week.

Ended out going to the shops after and noticed there were some relatively cheap, good bands at rebel sport so i convinced my mate to go halves with me, i think they have more tension than the ones i ordered so it'll be fun to implement them into tomorrows dynamic effort bench workout.

Woke up at 71.1kg this morning which i though strange since i didn't eat any more than usual yesterday and drank more water than usual.

[Khazima]

Finally got to go skydiving today and it was f*cking intense, so much fun.

Got home and went to the gym to do some upper body power work and play around with the bands. Set up the bench with the bands, some light weight and chains and did about 10 sets of 3-5 focusing on form and exploding out of the hole. Going back to normal weight felt so strange but i did that for 2 sets and it felt like someone was lifting the bar off once i got past my sticking point lol.

After that we played around with setting up the bands for deadlifts but we have to take 4-6 dumbbells and a few plates because the platform doesn't have hooks or anything for the bands. Ended out able to get a serious amount of tension at the lockout which is perfect for my gym partner and still beneficial to me somewhat.

We also set up the squat to see how much weight it'll take out the hole and it was about 20-25kg (about 50lb) deep in the hole.

After that i just did 4-5 sets of pendlay rows, some lat pulldowns and a couple sets of laterals.

Rest tomorrow then max effort deadlift focus, hoping my hip is fresh for the day cause i'm really looking forward to it.

[Khazima]

Almost forgot to log for the day, probably because it's a rest day today and i'm used to get my workout in then logging soon after while how i felt and any thoughts i had are still fresh in my mind.

Almost all of the orders i made around Christmas arrived today, I was especially excited to see a cheap pair of knee sleeves i ordered and they actually seem really good quality for $17 (for the pair) but unfortunately i compared both the mcdavids i have now and these no brand ones and i think i'll be sticking with the mcdavids until i order some slingshot knee sleeves, rehbands or SBD's.

All of my peptides also arrived, 10 vials of 5mg TB-500, 10 vials of 2mg cjc no dac (mod grf 1-29), 5 vials of 2mg Ipamorelin and 4, 5mg vials of GHRP-2. Got it all with a buy 1 get 1 free opportunity the day before Christmas day.

A shitload of clothes arrived as well, a few compression shirts, about 5 singlets, a few pair of shorts and some other bits and pieces. It was practically like Christmas all over again when i walked downstairs lol.

I put all my peptides in the freezer this time while they wait to be reconstituted because i think they lost potency over time using them previously.

Max effort deadlifts tomorrow, hoping my hip holds out since i've given it plenty of rest and it's feeling really good, should be able to hit them regularly within a few weeks due to loading up on TB-500 again.

[Khazima]

Max effort deadlifts went really well today, sumo wasn't really on the cards.. i got to about 90% 1rm and my hip just couldn't take it, just got 1 slow rep and switched back to conventional. I might try doing sumo every other week and see if that's manageable.

Worked up to some heavy triples focusing on getting my hips a bit lower to get more out of my quads.

[Khazima]

Heavy bench went tremendously today, hit the same weight i hit for about 8x2 for something like 6x3 this week and a single 2.5kg heavier than my meet max with a competition pause.


So all went really well, after that just did some pull-ups, rows, a little bit of close-grip and finished with some biceps.

This new split is looking perfect so far. Rest tomorrow then squat/hypertrophy.

On deadlift focus weeks i'm planning on doing a 5x5 for squats and progressing the weight every other week, then on the squat focus weeks i'll just stick with something like 4x8-10 or just front squatting.

[Khazima]

Today was a rest day, i went to bed late and was hoping to wake up late but i ended up having really shitty broken up sleep, felt a little groggy for a while after until i'd eaten and woken up properly. Hopefully i sleep better tonight.

Keen as fek for some lower body hypertrophy tomorrow, probably going to go through with the 5x5 then hit the ad/abductor machine followed by some supersets.

Did my measurements today and i've put .5 of an inch to an inch on most of my measurements over the last month, quads have gone up by .5, chest gone up by 1, arms gone up by .3-.4 and even my calves have gone up by half an inch lol i think a fair bit is due to gaining a lot of weight in general but nevertheless i'm making great progress, getting stronger in all my lifts etc and as motivated as always.

[fitnesstrainer]

You like 5x5 for hypertrophy? It's always just made me stronger. Works really well. I'll end up doing it like twice a year usually.

[Khazima]

You like 5x5 for hypertrophy? It's always just made me stronger. Works really well. I'll end up doing it like twice a year usually.

My primary goal is to get stronger so i'm going to do it on the weeks where my lower body max effort day is focused on deadlifts. I'll be doing higher rep ranges with all the accessories too.

[Khazima]

Well the 5x5 went well today started with 110kg to build up the work capacity, hoping to be doing it with 3 plates within 3-4 months. Followed that by some deficit SLDL, some leg curls and extensions then finish on the abductor machine and some calves.

Was feeling pretty burnt out straight after the 5x5, guess i forgot that 5 sets of 5 with relatively heavy weight is quite taxing LOL but i should've known.. nothing is ever easy when it comes to legs.

Upper body hypertrophy tomorrow, going to focus a lot on the pushing muscles then save a decent amount of back work for the dynamic upper body session.

Hopefully my second set of resistance bands are here in time for dynamic upper, they were supposed to be here on Monday so i contacted the seller and they're in limbo in the post atm so hopefully they appear on Monday, just in time.

I've also ordered a pair of barefoot vibrams which i'm excited for, i'm fine with my current new balance vibrams but i wanted some 5 finger ones plus mine are a little small. I bought them knowing they were small and wanted a tight fit but there's a band that runs across them over the knuckles on my toes that's too tight and causes discomfort especially wearing them for a while.

[Khazima]

So i had a really down night last night, just generally feeling down then i decided to take some progress pics with no lighting, no pump etc and i compared them to good pics and it made me feel like shit, plus a few other things and i was in the dumps lol so i decided to go to the gym and get the same pics i did 6 months ago today and was really pleased with the results.




Flat bench 1 x AMRAP then 3 x 8-12
Lat pulldown 2 x 15
Incline DB bench 4 x 10-12
Pull-ups 4 x 8-10
Cable flyes 4 x 12-15
Superset with cable lateral raises 4 x 10-12
Bent-over rows 3 x 10
DB lateral raise 4 x 15-20 (burnouts)
In between Rear delt flyes 4 x 12-15

Seated DB curl 2 x 10-12
Superset with tricep pushdown 2 x 12-15 (warm-up more or less)
Tricep pushdown (working sets) 4 x 10-12
Superset with machine preacher curl 4 x 10-12
Cable hammer curl 2 x 12-15

Around 45-50 sets total lol which is crazy to look back on but it's a day i do once every 9 days to stimulate the entire upper body with a slight neglect on back, which i do again a little more intense in 3 days for the upper body dynamic session.

Overall happy with the day and the workout, went to the beach beforehand which was nice and left me itching to get to the gym lol.

[Khazima]

Lower body power today, went really well. Most of it was technique work playing around with sumo some more and feet placement on squats.

I've found a happy medium with my sumo stance (finally) where it doesn't hurt my hip to much but it's not too close, and still feels significantly better than my conventional. Conventional i'm having a really hard time finding the right technique especially with starting hip position and engaging my quads and hips properly. Nevertheless super happy to be able to continue with sumo without pain.

Then with squats i found that widening my stance a decent amount eliminated most of the minor buttwink i have going on as well as allowed my to sit into the squat at depth whereas i usually have to go ATG to sit right into my squat, so i'll definitely be sticking with that as well.

The workout was really straight forward, the foundation of it was just accommodating resistance, technique/speed work;

Deadlifts with about 60kg band tension - About 10 sets of 2-4
Box squats with about 40kg band tension - 5-6 sets of 2-3
Wide(r) stance pause squats with 40kg band tension - 3-4 sets of 2-4

Overall happy with the workout and really enjoying using these power days to work on primarily technique, then explosiveness.

I noticed something that i might have to attribute to the peptides today, my skin almost looks like it did before i ever had acne, now my acne is quite mild and never been a massive issue but right now my skin looks incredibly smooth and refreshed as well as very little acne, it's only really occurred since switching sources about 2 weeks ago, but may just be the result of using them for 2ish months.

[energizer bunny]

Looking good Khazima!!......great log and great progress mate!.......

Congrats on turning light blue!

[Khazima]

Looking good Khazima!!......great log and great progress mate!.......

Congrats on turning light blue!

Thanks man i appreciate it

[Khazima]

Looking good Khazima!!......great log and great progress mate!.......

Congrats on turning light blue!

Thanks man i appreciate it

[Khazima]

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It was dynamic effort bench day, ended out only doing dynamic bench with bands and no pendlay rows because the gym was packed and the spot to do the rows was taken, then did some back hypertrophy and called it a day. The whole workout looked like;

Speed bench with bands - 8 sets of 4
Pull-ups - 4 x 8-10
Cable rows - 3 x 12-15
Dumbbell rows - 3 x 8-10
Lat pulldown 3 x 10-12

I don't know why but it just felt like a really good workout, could be because there was great vibes going on and just feeling alpha lol or because the benching felt really clean and i worked by back properly.

I'm tweaking my programming as i go and really liking it, two training blocks looks sort of like;

Block 1
Day 1 - Heavy Squat, heavy deadlift/variation, squat accessory
Day 2 - Heavy bench, Heavy OHP, Heavy back exercise
Day 3 - Rest
Day 4 - Squat hypertrophy
Day 5 - Upper body hypertrophy, focus on push muscles
Day 6 - Rest
Day 7 - Speed deadlifts, box squats and maybe pause squatrs (all with bands)
Day 8 - Speed bench with bands, extra back work
Day 9 - Rest

Block 2
Day 1 - Heavy deadlifts, heavy squat variation, deadlift accessory
Day 2 - Heavy bench, OHP, rows
Day 3 - Rest
Day 4 - Squat 5x5, lower hypertrophy
Day 5 - Upper body hypertrophy, focus on pushing muscles
Day 6 - Rest
Day 7 - Lower power
Day 8 - Bench power, extra back work
Day 9 - Rest

It's been really fun so far since i'm going into the gym and doing what i enjoy and what i know works for me, with no set amount of reps or sets for the day just a general goal for each session. I'll probably stick with this sort of layout for a while and see how i progress, testing my maxes in another 4-5 weeks doing a mock meet to see where i'm at then go from there.

[Khazima]

/>
The bands i'd ordered ages ago finally arrived which i'm cheering about, can't wait to use them on the next speed days. They're a little weaker than the other ones i have which is perfect since those have A LOT of tension at the top of lifts, especially on the deadlift.

Also ordered some rehband knee sleeves, prices over here are insane, $50 for one knee sleeve but hopefully they'll arrive in the morning since i got express shipping. Should be refreshing to use new sleeves since the pair i have at the moment aren't 'equal', i ordered one thinking i was ordering a pair, then when one arrived i used it for the worse leg anyway while waiting for the next one to come. Took about a week for the next one to come and by then the other one was broken in a bit so now one is a little looser than the other, so the tight one i use on the knee that gives me the most trouble.

Regardless they both stink and suck.. I'm over them and ready to upgrade lol.

Also waiting for a reply from a guy on ebay about a 4" 13mm Harris lever belt and Harris 2.5m knee wraps that are really cheap compared to their RRP and i txted him and arranged to buy them even cheaper. So that should be cool to play around with a lever belt and proper knee wraps. Chances are i'll stick with the belt i have now (13mm 4" double prong) but we'll see.

[Khazima]

Heavy skwats today and it went super well, hit 93% of my current 1rm for 5 reps which puts my projected max 6kg (13lb) over my current max. Pretty excited about that, especially since it was quite easy and i only stopped since my knee flared up. The first rep felt great then on the way down of the second rep i felt the pain that straight away signaled i'll need to take a break from squats so i pushed through it because i had a goal today and i was about to reach it.

I literally thought before the third rep 'F**k it i'll up my TB-500 and give it some rest, i'm getting these reps'. So that's what i did.

And ironically enough, my rehbands were waiting for me when i got home from the gym, i tried them on and they feel 10x better than my current sleeves. I can't say if it would have made a difference in my knee flaring up but i can bodyweight squat pain free with the new sleeves which is out of the question without them.

After that i planned on working up to a max effort block pull, but got to my conventional 1rm and just didn't have it in me to go higher. Sumo was out of the question for any more than 75-80% as well because my hips were too tight. After a heavy block pull i backed off and did some paused deadlifts and finished with some light sumos.

Keen as to squat again tbh, hopefully my knee will be ready for another (less damaging) round of squats in a couple days.

Max effort bench tomorrow, probably just going to up the weight slightly on the bench and go for some doubles, then work up to a heavy floor press or close grip press + some pull-ups/rows and a bit of OHP.

[Khazima]

Bench went well today, added 2.5kg to my bench and did doubles instead of triples, did about 6 sets and all went pretty easily. My shoulders were playing up a little today so just finished off with some OHP, a couple bench drills and some weighted pull-ups/bent over rows. I'm really liking how my bench is progressing so far as well as my squat, getting a little beat up though.

The plan is to do the next block of training then deload, so it'll be deadlift focus week and i'll go for an AMRAP then the same with bench, take a deload week and just do some pump/bodybuilding style workouts with a couple extra days rest then into the next block, depending on progress from this block i'll either continue or change something, but so far it looks like i'll be continuing as i'm progressing really fast, getting bigger relatively fast and just generally getting a lot stronger pretty quick.

[Khazima]

The plan was to squat today but as i sort of expected my knee hasn't done healing and i only got half way through my warm up sets before i felt it flare up so i stopped and just did what i was supposed to do tomorrow which is upper hypertrophy. It's unfortunate but it's to be expected with high frequency squatting and when i choose to ignore my body this is what i get. It's not too big of a deal and should be better with some rest and the aid of TB-500. So today's workout looked like;

Flat DB bench 4-5 x 8-12
Incline bench 3 x 8-10
Pull-ups 4 x 10
Cable flyes 4 x 12-15, 3 x dropset last set
+ Superset with cable lateral raises 4 x 10-12
Wide grip cable row 3 x 10-12
Alternating DB curl 2 ramp up sets then 1 to failure

Tri-set; 3 x
Tricep pushdown 10-12
Rope cable curl 10-12
Facepull 12-15

Then just finished with a few sets of calves and called it a day, was stupid pumped in the delt and chest region, really wanted to hit my chest hard today and took most of the sets for it to failure.

Will probably end out just doing some deadlifts tomorrow and some straight legs maybe some glutes. Planning to take a week off of squatting and let my knee heal as much as possible before hopefully starting a meet prep.

I want to hit a 180 deadlift (relatively-realistic) 150 squat (realistic) and a 100 bench (realistic) i think it's achievable if i peak well and am as rested as possible in time.

Some back pics i also posted in my thread in members pictures, really happy with how much wider i've gotten over the past few months.

[Khazima]

Almost forgot to post for the day, woke up really late and went to the gym later than usual. Ended out doing some deadlifts because my hips felt great so i worked up to a few heavy triples before doing some backoff sets to work on my technique. After that just did some back hypertrophy since it wasn't focused enough yesterday, whole workout was;

Deadlifts 5 x 3
Bent-over row 5 x 8-10
Wide grip pull-ups 4 x 10
Cable row 2 x 10-12

About half way through the deadlifts one of my calluses ripped right off which is annoying especially since i want to deload then have an intense training block with regular deadlifts up to this meet. As long as it doesn't get worse it shouldn't get a problem though so i'm not really worried, the main thing i'm worried about is my knee not getting better in time. I'm going to give this week off squatting and deadlifting + probably switch sources for my TB-500 because i'm not confident in my current sources which is unfortunate since i bought 50mg lol.

[GirlyGymRat]

I saw your beginning photos in other forum. You have made steady progress! Keep up the hard work!

[Khazima]

I saw your beginning photos in other forum. You have made steady progress! Keep up the hard work!

Thanks GGR

[Khazima]

Woke up so late today, didn't go to bed until about 4am then woke up around 5pm, such a waste of a day but luckily it was a rest day.

Going to hit some bench and push hypertrophy tomorrow to kick off the deload before an 8 week training block leading into the meet.

[Khazima]

Did some push hypertrophy and some power work with bands today, hit the flat bench for a few sets mainly working on my technique and some rep/speed work. Really happy with how my bench is coming along technique and efficiency wise, strength also feels great but the progression in that department will be truly tested soon enough. Whole workout was;

Flat bench 3x10-12 then 6 sets of 2-3 with bands (speed work)
Overhead press 3x8-10
Flat DB press 4 x 8-12
Low to high cable flyes 4x12-15
Superset with cable lateral raises 4x10-12

Didn't want to go too hard since i plan on hitting a similar workout in 3 or so days, pull hypertrophy tomorrow then a rest day/repeat. That'll be the story of the deload + plenty of technique work then hopefully my knees ready to get destroyed for another 8 weeks.

Probably going to cut one of the leg days out and stick with benching 3x a week max effort/rep/power then for legs it'll alternate between max effort/rep and max effort/power with deadlift focus on rep weeks.

Hopefully this will save my knees a little longer and allow me to squat pain free for the rest of the prep.

Sitting around 72kg atm (about 158lb) A LOT leaner than i was last time i was at this BW. I'm still able to flex and see abs just with an extra layer of fat lol, last time there were no abs in sight for a few weeks into the cut. I'll be competing at 74kg so i've got 2kg leeway until then, which i'll have to keep an eye on since i've been gaining weight quite quickly.

[Khazima]

Hit a high volume back workout today, really been enjoying these high volume workouts focusing on more specific muscle groups. Today's workout was;

Chin-ups 3 x 10-12
Bent-over row 5 x 10-12
Lat pulldown 3 x 10-12 (dropset last set)
Dumbbell row 4 x 8-10 (dropset last set)
Pull-ups 2 x 8

Seated DB curl 2 x 10-12
Rope cable curl 4 x 12-15 (dropset last 2)
Machine preacher curl 3 x 12-15 (dropset last set)

Was a great workout, feelings strong. Went for a swim straight after which was nice, changed my deload plan to help me groove into the working phase a bit easier. Going to hit some legs tomorrow then rest, hit some upperbody then rest again, then start the first microcycle. I'm really hoping my knee holds up but i don't have much faith in it, going to lower the frequency of squats and hope that helps. Might squat once a week, deadlift once with assistance work on both days. Going to continue benching 3 times since that's been working really well.

[bigrich4]

Hey khaz, your stuff looks good. Also looks like your gains are getting good. Where i could see so ething being awesome for your back though is getting those pullups in first with a higher number of those rather than the chins. Im no smal, guy, im 210-215 depending on the time of day.
I like to hit in the total reps of 50 pullups, some of the first reps/sets being weighted, then later when you are doing those chins, do them with your curling session, and they are so much easier.
Ive felt so good ever sense ive upped my pullups, and you being your size im sure you can just bang them out like nothing. Give it a try and see how your back feels and i bet anything you will feel like a beast. Ive been checking out your log and it looks good... i just love pullups so maybe im just weird lol. Youre doing great bro, and like i sad before . At your age you will grow up and be a monster if you want it