[B]

Down to about 85.5kg (from about 93).

The low volume has let me kept nearly all muscle and strength or even progress it slightly. Never could do this in the past. never.

I think 2-3 more fat kilos gone and I would be in the same condition when I started my pushup phase in October 2022.

After ending a cut It should be normal to gain an initial 1-2kg for replenished glycogen and more food mass in the guts, am I right? So that maybe could get me to about 84 Kgs in same condition when I started. Would be 4 – 5 kg total muscle mass added. I am unsure if I had to get up 12 – 13kg to do this. But I never gained this amount of muscle in the past in that timeframe.

I would like to keep this most minimalistic volume and see if I can make good gains with more calories. If I can maintain my strength and muscle this volume should work to gain some new muscle?

But for the next “push” up I just want the things to be really slow. I don’t want to add more than 1 kg per month because I would be at a very good physique for my point of view and enjoy this physique and definition. So I would try to progress on my lifts and keep the weight gain very low and maintain a good body composition.

I always like to hear your opinions because you guys made this possible.

[B]

So some reporting back:

I dropped from 93 to about 87-88kg. It is a huge improvement physique wise so far although I am nit lean lean yet.

But during this cut I put more focus on how my body reacts. I can get progress if I have my volume a bit down. For example if I two two exercises with 3 total sets that directly hit chest (Spot Press and Dips on Monday and Dumbell press and pushups/banded on Thursday) I can make progress. It is harder to make if volume is higher.

Same on deadlifts. One set once a week lets me get noticeable progress. Two sets exhaust me. For the lats I couln’t figure out an exact number so far. But 1 to 2 sets two times a week gives progress too.

So the volume that leads to progress seems to be really low (for me). Which is great.

That fat loss reveals that there should be a substantial gain in muscle mass. I think at least 4kg could have been added during the bulk which was not optimal structured. So I started at a lean <80 and can get to about 83-84kg in same condition I think.

[B]

I am 37 now. I also get a son next month and figured out, that it seems to be normal for men to have reducing test levels while awaiting a child.

I also didn’t had that much good sleep before test samples but one night of bad sleep shouldn’t affect T? More nights could lead to a drop of 10 – 15% I researched.

Directly before the cut I didn’t take measurements.

But besides the supplements, I think sleep is a big thing I can work on in general.

[B]

Thank you guys.

I know the results are not completely awful. But it hampers my “well being” a bit. This drive to get everything out of my way is gone a bit.

I am also not very lean and just lost about 8lbs. So does the dip in test occur that fast?

I upped my D3 and I already take about 500mgs of Mag. Maybe I need more to get the value up.

Can I trust the D3-calculators that show me how much I need to take to get to a certain level?

Omega 3 I take 3 caps. But I also eat fish sometimes. But about 1gram was seen to be enough to get the “optimal” O-3-Index. At least according to my research.

What about boron? I was also seen to increase the free T about 30% in a week.

[B]

Hello,

that would be possible but I need to stand.

Yesterday I tried behind the neck press. Is it normal that it hits the lateral delts harder then normal presses? Really good feeling.

[B]

Hey,
thanks for answering.

Yes i want to get it a bit thicker. I Like this kind of look more than a very this waist. I don’t think it is possible but especially my upper parts of obliques are non existent where the lower parts were quite solid.

[B]

Hello everyone,

the scar there is nothing you can do – just let it heel and hope it don’t come back.

The stability was more of a torso / core thing. You can press more, when seated and you can get the pushing muscles be the limit.

And I believed shoulder press is also for lateral delts a big factor. And lateral (and posterior) delts will contribute good to the look that I want to get.

I already prioritize armes and lateral delts (these three muscles are placed before the others). Maybe a standing press wouldn’t run into “core-issues” then.

[B]

Would be reasonable. One DL one ISO and so on.

[B]

Maybe there is a Problem with recruiting the VMO? Saw this with Order muscles (Not at myself) and Theo were neural issues?

[B]

Process focus is the absolute must buddy, and it doesn’t need to be perfection ,don’t even celebrate that , as then that undermines anything less than perfection . All we need is consistency with the process . You will find as you start to tick off goals , your consistency will increase as your goals increase in difficulty. Just let it all play out and try to enjoy the process .

It’s defo easier for me to say the above as I had that process play out to reach big goals when young , so it showed me what happens when you apply yourself , which I carried into adult life

But please take this from me , if you just focus on the day to day, working hard and being proud of that work and then seeing it like a game , thinking , ok let’s challenge myself here and see what I can do and then learning from it . In that there is then no failure there, there is just , ok I managed that and I think that’s cool, so next time if I can beat that , that’s going to be awesome . Repeat repeat repeat . How that compares to anyone else is irrelevant , this is your game and your process 🙂

Don’t sell yourself short on how far you can push yourself , I promise you it’s fucking far

Thanks! That woke something that fell asleep and reminded me when I was younger playing waterpolo and the slowest in the team and worked my ass of until I was one of the fastest and other situations where I was with the back Against the wall and pulled myself out. Don’t know how or why I got out of touch with this.

[B]

„“

Thanks! That woke something that fell asleep and reminded me when I was younger playing waterpolo and the slowest in the team and worked my ass of until I was one of the fastest and other situations where I was with the back Against the wall and pulled myself out. Don’t know how or why I got out of touch with this.

[B]

So I take you words for sure and try to focus more on the actual day when I start tomorrow into the new cutting phase. Just get the deficit, the workout, the macros, the steps to increase output and so on.

The only thing I am not quite certain is the “need to make everything perfect to reach this goal” because I don’t think, that this would ne the genetic ceiling for me. But I totally get your point and am thankful that you hammer this down to me. Which brings me to:

So I take you words for sure and try to focus more on the actual day when I start tomorrow into the new cutting phase. Just get the deficit, the workout, the macros, the steps to increase output and so on.

[B]

Yea I know. My question was more towards that I think you can make good gains with two times a week, but the more volume could not fully compensate the lesser frequency in most cases. Because you only have two “first” sets. But that was just out of curiosity. If I can just make time for two sessions I just have them.

[B]

A)

Tricep Push Down 2 sets ( 8 – 10 / 10 – 12)

Preacher Curls 2 sets ( 8 – 10 / 10 – 12)

Laterals ( 8 – 10 / 10 – 12)

(Spoto) Bench Press 2 sets ( 5 – 8 / 8 – 10)

//Shoulder Press 2 sets ( 5 – 8 / 8 – 10)

Press Up 2 sets ( 8 – 10 / 10 – 12)

Lat (unilateral) 2 sets ( 5 – 8 / 8 – 10)

—

Sumo Deadlifts 2 sets ( 5 – 6 )

Belt-Squat 2 sets ( 5 – 8 / 8 – 10)

B)

Tricep Overhead 2 sets ( 8 – 10 / 10 – 12)

Cable Curls 2 sets ( 8 – 10 / 10 – 12)

Lateral (machine) 2 sets ( 8 – 10 / 10 – 12)

Dumbbells Bench 2 sets ( 8 – 10 / 10 – 12)

//Seated Overhead Press 2 sets ( 5 – 8 / 8 – 10)

JM-Press 2 sets ( 8 – 10 / 10 – 12)

Lat row (unilateral) 2 sets ( 5 – 8 / 8 – 10)

—

Squats 1 sets ( 5 – 6 )

Sumo Deadlifts 1 sets ( 5 – 8 / 8 – 10)

Leg extensions or so 2 sets ( 8 – 10 / 10 – 12)

After a week off due to illness I will hit it again tomorrow and hopefully get a good streak of workouts in. The whole layout seems to work solid.

I just made some minor changes to specific needs (after surgery):

– put lateral delts after arms and before PUSH, to get more lateral delt focus (shouldn’t affect the other pressing I guess)

– changed hip thrusts out and sumo deadlifts in so I get more bang for my buck (nothing builds my upper back better than holding a heavy barbell and hams, glutes get some love too.

– shoulder press could be swapped in again because my wound is mostly healed but seating on it it do not really trust yet. Maybe unilateral dumbbell standing press when I hold myself against the rack with the other arm? Should be very stable.

– Push volume with 4 sets every 3 to 4 sleeps seemed to be a bit better than six. Maybe 2 x chests, 1 x shoulder 1 x triceps because it all stresses everything and there is no need to divide so strictly. But again I made the experience that a deep dip seems to be a perfect shoulder builder.

[B]

That is true and a good advice. To get to this point I must du more right than wrong on a daily basis. But wouldn’t you agree to get total unrealistic goals out of your head?

Maybe I am too much goal focused. And that was always the case in most circumstances of life.

I am convinced that I can get to this level with my actual FB routine done twice a week.