If everything stays on track, I will max out the week of December 12th. I will have a pretty good idea in October based on my workout schedule to know if I'm on track or not.

Sweet! Don't overlook doing some isoholds with it before your max date. Taking it off the rack, walking it back, and holding it is really beneficial - mostly mentally. Just set spotter arms high and walk it back like you'd do a squat but hold it there for 5-10 seconds.

I did this here recently and will do so again in the next couple of weeks when going for next PR.

That is a good idea. My last training block is going to be a lot of lower rep work so I can focus on really locking in my form for a heavy single.

Yep. I just did it after my last heavy working set and did it twice with only like a 2-3 min rest, as compared to 4-5 for working sets.

You got this!

CC09LawAg said:

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Knocked out a set of 15 at 267.5 on squats - if I can get through that the rest of the lifts will be a breeze. Still on track for 495 squat/deadlift this year.

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WOW!

Id be tickled with a 500 lb deadlift, 405 squat. I may hit it within the next year.

I would love for my deadlift to take off and start outpacing my squat - but I think I'm destined to be one of those people whose squat is more than his deadlift.

When I mull around my 2025 goals, I think I'm going to really focus on the lower body lifts and try to make only minimal bench gains. I really think my deadlift would benefit from some extra supplemental work, and right now I'm kind of trying to be a jack of all trades.

CC09LawAg said:

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I would love for my deadlift to take off and start outpacing my squat - but I think I'm destined to be one of those people whose squat is more than his deadlift.

When I mull around my 2025 goals, I think I'm going to really focus on the lower body lifts and try to make only minimal bench gains. I really think my deadlift would benefit from some extra supplemental work, and right now I'm kind of trying to be a jack of all trades.

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Im the opposite. My deadlift is 100lbs over my squat, and will likely stay that way for quite some time.

Why minimize bench?

Do you have an ultimate end goal?

My deadlift is 200 lbs above my squat.

By minimize bench, I mean just do vanilla 5x5 sets and save my 5x10 and 10x5 sets for squat and deadlift. Recovery is going to start becoming an issue for me, I think, at my age and doing it naturally. Wendler had a good quote in his book, "If you're going to train like an *******, you better recover like a champion".

I'm very happy with where my bench is right now - if I'm around 315 by the end of the year, in a perfect world I can add maybe 50 or 60 pounds a year. With focusing on my squat and deadlift, I think I easily have 100+ on each of those next year.

Right now, I think my goal is a 1500 total. I definitely want 6 plates on my squat and deadlift, at a minimum. Eventually I'd like to maintain that level of strength at a body weight about 15-20 pounds less than where I am now.

ETA: Also, my accessory lifts are pretty evenly spread out right now - I would probably focus some more on my back/grip/core to help with my deadlift.

My left quad is ultra tight today after squats yesterday. Don't like that.

CC09LawAg said:

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By minimize bench, I mean just do vanilla 5x5 sets and save my 5x10 and 10x5 sets for squat and deadlift. Recovery is going to start becoming an issue for me, I think, at my age and doing it naturally. Wendler had a good quote in his book, "If you're going to train like an *******, you better recover like a champion".

I'm very happy with where my bench is right now - if I'm around 315 by the end of the year, in a perfect world I can add maybe 50 or 60 pounds a year. With focusing on my squat and deadlift, I think I easily have 100+ on each of those next year.

Right now, I think my goal is a 1500 total. I definitely want 6 plates on my squat and deadlift, at a minimum. Eventually I'd like to maintain that level of strength at a body weight about 15-20 pounds less than where I am now.

ETA: Also, my accessory lifts are pretty evenly spread out right now - I would probably focus some more on my back/grip/core to help with my deadlift.

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Oh gotcha. And wow, you are really going for it!

For me. a 500 DL, 405 Squat, 315 Bench (and between 185-225 press), is the goal. After that, its time to mix in some other styles of training.

I keep telling myself I will change it up and start focusing on other goals - but the programming is working and I'm making good progress so I am going to keep pushing it until it doesn't work, then reassess.

Partially because I am not sure how to program a bodybuilding/hypertrophy focused workout, so I don't want to waste 5 or 6 months wandering in the wilderness and not making any progress. And I think it'll be harder in my garage gym with less access to machines.

May switch to strongman style workouts when the time comes. Haven't put too much thought into it. I'm gonna keep adding plates till I start to plateau and go from there.

CC09LawAg said:

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I keep telling myself I will change it up and start focusing on other goals - but the programming is working and I'm making good progress so I am going to keep pushing it until it doesn't work, then reassess.

Partially because I am not sure how to program a bodybuilding/hypertrophy focused workout, so I don't want to waste 5 or 6 months wandering in the wilderness and not making any progress. And I think it'll be harder in my garage gym with less access to machines.

May switch to strongman style workouts when the time comes. Haven't put too much thought into it. I'm gonna keep adding plates till I start to plateau and go from there.

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Yeah...I hear ya. That's kind of where I am. As long as I'm making some progress, I'll keep at it, but Im really not expecting much past those goals.

I REALLY need to get on a cut and drop about 20 pounds of body fat. I know thats going to very much effect my totals. I've leveled off the weight gain now....Going to see where I get by May of next year. That would be two full years of strength training. I'll transition from there.

But man...you have some big time goals you are going for!

Sounds like we are about at the same place - I've got a good solid level I can maintain on my weight, but anytime I try to lose I feel like it just craters my workouts so I keep putting it off. I keep telling myself I'll get it off one day, but I like eating too much!

Talk to me about calorie deficits - I'm still trying to lose fat and operate at roughly a 1,000 calorie deficit daily. I weight train 7 days a week (different groups daily).

Within the next 8-10 weeks, I'm going to start inching toward a neutral calorie intake/expenditure.


What immediate effects will that have on my resistance training?

texag06ish said:

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Talk to me about calorie deficits - I'm still trying to lose fat and operate at roughly a 1,000 calorie deficit daily. I weight train 7 days a week (different groups daily).

Within the next 8-10 weeks, I'm going to start inching toward a neutral calorie intake/expenditure.


What immediate effects will that have on my resistance training?

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That is a BIG deficit (assuming you aren't obese). You losing weight?

Just getting that back to neutral, I think you are going to feel better at the gym.

CC09LawAg said:

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Sounds like we are about at the same place - I've got a good solid level I can maintain on my weight, but anytime I try to lose I feel like it just craters my workouts so I keep putting it off. I keep telling myself I'll get it off one day, but I like eating too much!

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You are a good step stronger than me!

But, Im happy with my progress.

I hadn't really TRIED to do this but I've basically gone from 207 back in late February to today weighing in at 194. I have tried to be more mindful of some things I eat (not a jar of peanut butter a week, less snacking even if its "healthier options"). We also finished our garage gym nook and have been incline walking 2-3 times per week. I will be very curious to see where my lifts are at here in mid-summer after the next couple of 5/3/1 cycles.

Currently "overweight" at 202. Started this journey on 8.16.23 at 324. I've had a few DEXA and body scans so I can confidently say I'm losing about 85% fat and 15% muscle mass for every pound lost. It's been a while since I did a scan and I plan on doing one again soon to make sure that's still trending.

Goal is to get to 185 which will put me around 14% body fat and then I'll work my calories up to try and support building muscle mass.

texag06ish said:

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Currently "overweight" at 202. Started this journey on 8.16.23 at 324. I've had a few DEXA and body scans so I can confidently say I'm losing about 85% fat and 15% muscle mass for every pound lost. It's been a while since I did a scan and I plan on doing one again soon to make sure that's still trending.

Goal is to get to 185 which will put me around 14% body fat and then I'll work my calories up to try and support building muscle mass.

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Ah, I remember you posting before. This is incredible work.

Yeah, you might as well keep on going to get the rest of the way there. You likely don't need to get ALL the way down to 185 and will likely need to go the other way to ensure muscle retention. (In the beginning, you drop fat real easy...as you get lower and lower in body fat, your body starts burning more and more muscle...at least in my experience).

But, obviously, this is just something to monitor and keep an eye on. You are doing all the right things.

Not sure what kind of program you're running, but I know if I was running a 1000 calorie deficit there is no way I could complete my workouts. I would have zero energy.

When you do decide to get them to maintenance level, I think you'll be surprised how much harder you can push your workouts. It makes a big difference.

Honestly, I have gotten to where I pretty much eat as much as I want - but the majority of what I eat is meat/dairy. Then add in butter and fat for cooking, 1-2 tbsp of honey a day, and a few servings of carbs a day, and I stay within a 3 pound range pretty consistently while continuing to make strength gains so I am happy.

When I have tried to cut back I've noticed an immediate effect on my lifting, so I'm not worrying about losing any weight right now.

I've been working with a nutritionist on my diet. I target at 40% protein, 30% fat, 30% carb split on 2300 daily calories. Nearly 75% of my carbs are eaten before, during and immediately after working out. Then I just take in protein in 30g increments as much as possible.

In terms of working out, I average 4-5 days of legit cardio (2 outdoor 5k's a week and 2-3 days of 30 min treadmill work). I log weekly lawn mowing as "other" cardio on my Apple Watch but TBH, mowing the lawn doesn't have much an effect on my heart rate anymore. My resistance training by day of the week is chest, legs, shoulders/back, legs, tri's/bi's, legs, shoulders/back.


I've been calculating my deficit using 6 week average weight loss ((3500*average weekly weight loss)/7)).

Nice work, you're killing it!

Are you happy with your strength gains so far? I've never done a 7 day lifting split, the most I have done is 4 days per week. How many hours a week are you spending working out between your cardio and weights?

You've been at it less than a year so you're probably still in your new gains phase. Depending on what your goals are, when you switch to maintenance calories, I would look into a lifting program that fits those goals. I have come to realize that "less is more" when it comes to strength training - I used to try to do a million different exercises for all my body and would generally plateau because I didn't have much of a plan.

I would keep doing what you're doing because it's obviously working. But when you get to maintenance calories, if at a certain point you plateau on strength gains, the first thing I would look at is changing your programming before thinking about changing your calories for gainz.

I've been happy with my strength gains so far. I started out barely able to bench the bar and my 1 rep max is currently 185. I'm chasing 225 by my 1 year gym anniversary but it's starting to look out of reach. For legs, I did a bunch of machine work up until about 3 months ago. I can squat about 160 right now and I when I started, I was struggling with 95lbs. I'm slowly inching toward unassisted dips and pull ups. Everything else outside of the compound lifts is progressing nicely as well.

I'm in the gym from about 530-730am daily. It's manageable and doesn't really interfere with my work or family/kiddo obligations. In other words, it's sustainable.

It's been a process but I'm happy with it all.


Thank you for the compliments.

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to take a get another DEXA scan and see how things are looking.

I hit a sticking point around that same level on my bench - the thing that got me over the hump was working on my foot placement, arching my back, and my leg drive.

I never used to do much setup on my bench, but now that I focus on trying to get my back as stable as possible, it's made a big difference. I was stuck around 185 for years and once I figured out leg drive, it all started to click.

GREAT to hear! That's exactly where I'm at right now. Focused on my form and getting over the hump.

texag06ish said:

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I've been happy with my strength gains so far. I started out barely able to bench the bar and my 1 rep max is currently 185. I'm chasing 225 by my 1 year gym anniversary but it's starting to look out of reach. For legs, I did a bunch of machine work up until about 3 months ago. I can squat about 160 right now and I when I started, I was struggling with 95lbs. I'm slowly inching toward unassisted dips and pull ups. Everything else outside of the compound lifts is progressing nicely as well.

I'm in the gym from about 530-730am daily. It's manageable and doesn't really interfere with my work or family/kiddo obligations. In other words, it's sustainable.

It's been a process but I'm happy with it all.


Thank you for the compliments.

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You should be very proud! But, as CC09 said, once you hit this goal, you really need to think about changing up your programming to align with where you want to head. 7 days a week lifting schedule is pretty intense. Especially if you are going heavy.

While CC09 is right about foot placement, arch back and all that...as you start shedding weight below 200 pounds WHILE also eating at that kind of a deficit, bench gets real tough. Just kind of the nature of it. But rock on if you can get it! 225 is the universal "gym bro" weight.

My lifting buddy says he's already ordered the "congrats on being an official gym bro" cake for when I finally hit 225.

texag06ish said:

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My lifting buddy says he's already ordered the "congrats on being an official gym" cake for when I finally hit 225.

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LOL! As it should be.

Question on stalling on 531 for those who've run it for awhile. My son and I have been running it since January. At what point do you consider yourself stalled and reset? For example, on week 1 you hit 3 of 5 on your last set. But week 2 you hit 3 and and in week 3 you hit 1. Do you just keep going until you can't get that 1 rep on the third week, regardless of whatever happens in week 1 and 2?

I've got a copy of the book, and I didn't see that clearly defined, but maybe I missed it.

In general, I think your AMRAP sets you should be hitting well over the 5/3/1 rep. (My vague guidelines are around 7-10 reps on 5's week, 5-6 reps on 3's week, and 3 or so on 1's week. That is just kind of what I have come to understand from talking with other guys in the gym that run the program.

Sounds like you may need to take your training max down.

What template are y'all running? FSL? SSL? BBB?

I am probably not the best source for this, but I generally found myself hitting only 1 or 2 more reps than prescribed on the AMRAP set. On the flip side, I also never failed on any of the supplemental work, whether it was FSL, BBB, etc. My thought process was I'd rather have the total volume higher than try to hammer out 8 reps on my AMRAP, but I know Wendler is real big on bar speed and all that.

I am doing 5s pro now with a 3/5/1 setup and I find that more suitable for me. It's my first time doing it and I'm running it with an 85% TM and I haven't failed a set for 5 yet. As on older lifter with life responsibilities, I find that my AMRAP can vary pretty wildly based on my energy level for that day. So I like just knowing I need to get the 5 reps.

BW down from 220 to 215, still got back to 635 top pull and 2x585, 3x545, 6x495, and 9x405 pause below knees+slow eccentric reps.

All it takes during a cut is clinical amounts of caffeine and self-loathing, plus eating half your day's calories on your way to the gym.

Good job!

Back before they closed James Coney Island, my go to squat day lunch was 6 chili cheese dogs, chili cheese fries, and a sweet tea. Nothing better than 400g of carbs and some insulin resistance on your way to squat a lot of weight