[Matteo]

If upper/lower split let you continue progressive tension overload despite dieting, it will be better choice.

If fatigue gets too high you can also modify its frequency. On diet most important thing about training is that your training weights won’t go downhill.

I mean the diet is almost a wrap (2-4w max left) and strength didn’t drop at all but on a couple of exercises, I will see how it plays out later with more food.

Matteo Roda

[Matteo]

I think this is question of getting most from the least. How fast did you progress on FB routine?

Are you that advanced that you need more than one set to progress?

I’ve been on fb for 2 months now almost, I’ve progressed pretty decently all along from the first times I did 1 set per exercise but also now I’m getting progressions here and there (factor in that I’m also dieting and bw came down 7kgs since I started, it’s now the lowest it has been in 10 months)

Matteo Roda

[Matteo]

One thing I’ve done is actually cut my time down between warm up sets – so instead of resting between warm up sets – I take a quick breather then go into the next warming set – repeat this until feeling good for my first working where I’ll properly rest prior to going 110%

you’ll be surprised how much time is saved just from cutting down the resting on your warm up sets!

I’ve tried this before on the lighter stuff in the past, will try it also in the compound work whenever it doesn’t take away from my working set.

Matteo Roda

[Matteo]

Today weighed in @73.75kg once again haha, today is rest and I wanted to take a couple of minutes talking about the fact that since Monday, these past couple of days, have been the hardest so far in the diet, even compared to when I was eating less (ye the difference is 150ish calories still), I don’t know why but since I started dieting, now almost 7 weeks ago, I never had any type of food focus, whilst at the moment anytime I’m not studying or in the gym I’m thinking about the food I’d like to eat once the diet is done.
One other thing that I just realized I don’t say yet on my log is my expenditure:
– 10000 steps both TD and NTD
– 25-30’ cardio NTD (130-150bpm)
Steps have been like this since the beginning of the diet, cardio started at 15’ and I worked it up to this. Also bear in mind NTD is eod, which means a total of 75-120’ total throughout the week.

Matteo Roda

[Matteo]

Upper lower 🙂

Thanks a lot again!

Matteo Roda

[Matteo]

There isn’t an answer to this , they take what they take and then if you don’t have the time you do less work . You can’t have it all

Thanks a lot Jordan, when/if the time when I can’t stay in the gym for this much actually comes would you think it is more appropriate to take out some of the sets like Mikael suggested or to just switch to upper lower where the sessions would generally take less?

Matteo Roda

[Matteo]

Warmup sets should prepare you for the top sets and not fatigue you. Only you know what is enough for that.

To save some time you could do only one top set. That is enough if you train EOD

Thanks a lot Mikael, will try to take some of the stuff back to single sets.

Matteo Roda

[Matteo]

Today weighed in @73.75kg, it will be very interesting to see what -2.2kg compared to last time I did FB-1 will make me perform. I have low incline smith and chest supported tbar as the main push and pull movements, lower body I would have a 45° leg press, however I will do a single leg horizontal press–this because the 45° leg press I usually use isn’t in this gym and there is a horrible one, therefore I’m swapping it for Sunday’s leg movement since I’m going to be in the gym at home.
Full body 1:
– Low incline smith 100×6, 80×9–same reps in the first set, +1 on the second, wonderful.
– Dips 20×7, 15×7–same reps first set, -2 reps on the second one, but I controlled much more the eccentric and the changes of direction.
– Db shoulder press 32.5×7–extra 0.5kg on last time with same reps.
– Machine laterals 50×9 40×9+LP–much better tempo and control, same reps on 1st, -2 reps on second.
– Lat pulldown 80×10, 65×9–that’s +1 on the first set but -4 on the second one.
– Chest supported t-bar 70×7+drop set–same reps as last time, added an extra rep on the drop set.
– SA tricep oh extension 70x12rx12l–different cablestack so can’t really track it.
– Hammer bicep curl 27.5×7 + drop set to 14–had to do this because had no time, usually it would be 2 sets (the only lighter dbs available were 14s).
– Seated hamstring curl 85×13, 75×12–extra 5kg -4reps on the first set, -5kg +1rep on the second one.
– SL horizontal press 78x12lx12r
– Leg ext 65×13
– Toe press 109×17
(Last 3 exercises are from the FB-3 session as explained before)
Very pleased with how the first part of the session with, not as much with the lat pulldown and with the lower body stuff. I am missing a lot coming in the gym and smashing every fucking session with a shit ton of progress, but I need to be patient, in around 5 weeks I will be back in a surplus (ending the diet probably in 3weeks and will work my way up from there, which will probably mean another couple of weeks at maintenance/deficit) and performance will come back!

Matteo Roda

[Matteo]

Woke up @74.15 today, checked in because I was curious to see what an extra rest day did visually and the look was mint compared to Saturday morning lol.
Seeing the low weight I definitely don’t expect to make huge progress today in the gym, also considering I have bb squats as the main compound, maybe upper body will be able to grasp an extra rep here and there given the higher rep range–I am writing this first part in the morning on my way to class.
FB-4 went pretty good:
– SL toe press 77×12+, 69×11.
– Barbell back squat 125×8–took off 5kg from last time, but everything about this set was better, will get some help from my friends who powerlift to actually learn how to do a GOOOD squat (that way with the push up hopefully I can get a double at 200ish).
– Leg extension 95×10, 85×9–extra rep on the first set, same reps on the second one.
– Seated ham curl 90×12–very good +4 reps from last time probably also due to the belt which helps me with bracing.
– Banded hyperextension 45×11, 35×9–genuinely love this movement, progression on both sets (first one weight and reps, second one only weight).
– Adductor 95×8+1–helped myself to get an extra rep on the set, anyways a +5kg on last time (90×8).
– Cablestack chest press 60×15–same reps as last time, good.
– Shoulder press 20×16–tried changing the shoulder press to a plate loaded one but this is also dogshit, will change it.
– JM tricep machine press 25×13, 20×15–both sets had lengthened portals after “failure” because the resistance profile allows for them (super heavy in the short).
– SA machine laterals 50x10rx10l–added a rest because I would’ve had two sets but I was late on schedule.
– Lat pulldown 70×9, 55×14.5–extra 1 rep on both sets.
– Machine mid back row 85×11+drop set–drop set because I had no time for an extra set, anyways +2 reps, great again.
– Rear delt flyr 45×12+LPs–only rear delt flye I do (loving row atm), LPs (lengthened partials) because they feel good.
– Bicep curl (db) 16×17–had probably 19 reps on my left arm, stopped before because right only had 17, should I keep doing this or should I “rest pause” my right arm to keep up with left?
Liking this session every time more, lower body is set up very nicely, upper body setup will change (-> will like this sesh even more): will move the jm press as the first movement, second one will be a mid incline (~40°) on the smith (or free weight), and then a shoulder press on the smith (higher incline than the one on the other session–75°ish), then the rest will be the same.
Hopefully the good thing this extra rest day brought were not only to this session but to the other ones as well!

Matteo Roda

[Matteo]

Rest day but it’s the day I review my checkins from the day before, today I woke up at 73.65kg, a very big jump in weight from yesterday (-1kg) due to me not digesting yesterdays last meal (I probably had a bit too much sweeteners lol).
Very much feel like an extra day off has been useful, and in case I need it I will take it also in two weeks, much better than a refeed which only slows down the diet.
Macros for next week are slightly changed:
TD:
316C
43.6F
208P
2490kcal
NTD
144C
65.2F
206P
1986kcal
Slightly higher than these past few weeks to see how the body responds to this smaller deficit (+200ish cals on average). If the weight drop slows down too much I will be back on the old diet, if it keeps dropping will stay on this one apart from maybe the last week before staring to remove the deficit.

Matteo Roda

[Matteo]

Woke up this morning at 74.5kg, pretty close to lowest weight so far in this cleanup.
Trained full body 3 which didn’t go too well, the only press to not regress was the JM on the low incline smith and the second set of db press. Lat work took +5kg and lost one rep on the first set. Bb rows regressed and the form was also quite poor (was battered by that time).
Lower body performance was much poorer than last time, only the leg extension was maintained (and calves), everything else i lost MANY reps.
Off the back of this (also considering only the first session after the refeed was very good–the second one I did progress some lower body but upper was pretty much all slight regression) will be taking an extra rest day on Sunday, however will keep the calorie intake the one of training days (2300ish kcal).

Here the full session breakdown–fb 3:
– SA preacher curl 16×11+1–same as last week nice lol
– 30° db press 42×8, 35×9 –last time first set was 44×5+1 but 40s felt quite heavy so I stayed on 42, set 2 was 35×8
– High (~60°) incline smith press 80×5, 65×7 –one less rep on both sets
– Low incline JM smith press 65×7+eccentric –only progress today +1 rep
– Machine chest fly 65×7 – -1 rep
– Db laterals 14×10, 10×13
– SA lat pulldown 85×7-both arms, 70×8-both arena –last time did 80x9rx7l and no second set
– Bb row 100×6, 80×8 –the first set is intended to be slightly more erector focus than upper back focus but this time around it was tooo scrappy, last time was 100×9, 80×10
– Rope pushdown 65×9–last time 65×10
– Rear delt row (chest supported tbar) 30×11+some partials – +3 reps
– SL hamstring curl 25x13rx9l – last time did 25×16 both legs
– SL horizontal leg press 77x12rx8l –forgot to do the left leg first, anyways -5 reps on both sets
– Leg ext 60×14 –same as last time and slightly better executed
– Toe press 93×15+
…yes, todays performance was SHIT !

Matteo Roda

[Matteo]

Quality omega supp
Creatine
Whey
Glutamine
Vit d3 k2

My top 5

Thanks a lot!

Matteo Roda

[Matteo]

I think Omega Pharma pro, K2&D3, a decent multi vit + min/greens and Creatine should be staples for health.

If budget allows, I would add Love Heart and Cure-Coming to that.

Anything additional need for supps will come down to specific needs, such as joint health, sleep or stress management.

Thanks to you as well!
For sleep management what sort of supp combo would you suggest (at the moment I use ashwagandha + magnesium bysglicinate + zinc + melatonin). I would also buy Dream Sleep but it’s really expensive and i’d rather not spend that much and use a mix of more supplements which typically comes out cheaper.

Matteo Roda

[Matteo]

There are two approaches to this:

1. the universal approach, those are basically the supplements that I
recommend for ANYONE. Those include a Multi Vitamin, Omega 3, Creatine
and Whey Protein. You could chuck in cluster or malto dextrin for your
intra workout in order to get better performance but it’s not a must
have.

2. the specific approach, those are the supplements that are tailored to
your needs based off of your bloodwork. Here I still recommend the
above but beyond that you can specifically work on the markers that
aren’t in range yet with, for example, Vitamin D3/K2 which most people
are deficient in.

I hope I could help you.

Greetings
-Max

Thanks mate very smart approach, will defo use it from now on!

Matteo Roda

[Matteo]

Currently sat on 75.3kg in my 6th week of a cleanup, off the back of a refeed Saturday and Sunday, lowest weight reached was 74.45kg on September 27 (which should be at least matched by Friday the 4th).
At the moment I’m looking to keep dieting for another good 3-5 weeks to then slowly start pushing up, and start being in an actually productive surplus by 6-8 weeks time.
Started the diet at 80.1kg after a two week family vacation which I took as a deload, before that the weight was overing around 78kg and was being coached by Manuel Santalucia (parted ways with him mainly because I couldn’t afford it anymore and because I wanted to try a different style of training).

Refeed worked very very well, performance so far this week has been fantastic (as today’s log will report).
The current macros and calories are:
TD:
290C
42F
207P
~2367kcal
NTD:
110C
55F
207P
~1761kcal
Hunger levels are quite low compared to the calories, probably also thanks to me keeping a pretty ‘immaculate’ routine with sleep and everything else for the first time in a while.

I’m now following a full body split with 4 rotations, this was today’s session as a first log on this journal.

Full body 2:
– Single calf toe press x2 (66kg – 52kg) -the only part of the session which I don’t log reps
– Adductor 72.5×7
– Lying hamstring curl 65×7.5–.5 reps because I tried and failed
– Dumbbell RDL 60×9–the elastic band used to keep the extra weight in fell off, probably would’ve got a tenth rep
– 45 leg press 240×6 (+1 from last week), 180×16 (+7 from last week but the tempo was slightly off, will be adjusted next time)
– Leg extension 97×7
– Pin loaded chest press 57×13
– Pin loaded shoulder press 43×11
– Bodyweight dips 9 reps–first time in the session, used to be a bar pushdown, but I don’t want to waste time on isolation stuff if I can do compounds
– Cablestack lateral raise 14 x14r x15l, added a drop set as well
– Lat bias pulley 93 x6+1l x7r, 52 x13l x12r–if I do left second is considerably weaker
– Upper back pulldown 59×13 + drop set
– Cablestack curl 50x12ish–don’t actually remember how many
– Rear delt row (on machine) 15x12ish–again don’t remember

Matteo Roda