Ruckin's first cycle log: test cyp only [IV gear]

[ruckin]

I decided to make today's workout a low volume recovery workout. Felt like i needed it. I used the same weights I've used recently but about half the volume... Except on the clean, I just wanted to get a 225 power clean so I went for it and got it no problem.

Power clean: 225x1x1
Press: 135x4x2
squat: 315x3x3
Bench: 245x4x2
Chins: 254x3x1 (I wanted to do 3 sets of 3 but I literally ran out of time before my gym closed)

Also I pinned my left glute right before the workout. It went well, I had a little more blood than normal come out after but it seems fine. Holding that needle steady when pinning glutes is not easy. I think I now like pinning quads more than glutes. I can't believe I was so scared of using my quads before.

I don't have anything else to add...

I hope everyone had a nice father's day.

 

[HuckingFuge]

nice job getting 225lb power clean.

 

[ruckin]

Got my package today

Practical programming which I'm gonna start reading right now, and straps to use for my shrugs and rack pulls. I guess I'll add in a couple sets of static barbell holds at the end of each workout now to make up for the grip work I'll be losing by strapping up for those deadlift accessories.

So I'm gonna head to my gym in a little bit to do some conditioning work. Not sure what yet. I have access to an indoor track so I could do sprints around that, or I could do bike sprints (I love bike sprints. Well they suck to do, but the translate so well to on-field performance for me, so I always like to have them as part of my conditioning program).

 

[Docd187123]

Read up! Seeing that makes me want to get my copy out and read a few chapters lol.

 

[ruckin]

So I drove all the way to my gym through severe whether, just to find out that it closed early due to the severe whether...

So I guess my workout will be postponed to tomorrow.

Instead I'll tell all of you gentlemen, and ladies if there are any of you, about my conditioning workout last night that I wasn't going to bother posting. I ended up going with stationary bike sprints, doing 15 second sprints followed by 45 seconds of slow peddling for a total of 18 cycles. I orignally planned to do 15 cycles, but by the 14th one, I decided to push through an extra few.

I don't know how I got through those last couple. That was a crazy hard workout, I was dying by the 10th one. I'm very happy with myself for getting through 18 though. 19 will be the goal for next time.

 

[Docd187123]

So I drove all the way to my gym through severe whether, just to find out that it closed early due to the severe whether...

So I guess my workout will be postponed to tomorrow.

Instead I'll tell all of you gentlemen, and ladies if there are any of you, about my conditioning workout last night that I wasn't going to bother posting. I ended up going with stationary bike sprints, doing 15 second sprints followed by 45 seconds of slow peddling for a total of 18 cycles. I orignally planned to do 15 cycles, but by the 14th one, I decided to push through an extra few.

I don't know how I got through those last couple. That was a crazy hard workout, I was dying by the 10th one. I'm very happy with myself for getting through 18 though. 19 will be the goal for next time.

Testosterone is how you got through them lol. Well also a wee bit of will power also. Nice job pushing through. Intervals are murder.

 

[ruckin]

Testosterone is how you got through them lol. Well also a wee bit of will power also. Nice job pushing through. Intervals are murder.

Yeah I guess you're right lol. I just wasn't expecting to be able to do that much. To put it into perspective, I pride myself on being very fit every rugby season, and at my peak, the most I've ever been able to get through on that conditioning workout was 18 or 19 sprints... which is what I just got yesterday.. over 2 months out from the fall season.. not even having been focusing on fitness and conditioning for a while... It's just really exciting to see such amazing progress already.

Fuck I miss rugby so much lol. I can't wait another 9 weeks.

 

[Docd187123]

Yeah I guess you're right lol. I just wasn't expecting to be able to do that much. To put it into perspective, I pride myself on being very fit every rugby season, and at my peak, the most I've ever been able to get through on that conditioning workout was 18 or 19 sprints... which is what I just got yesterday.. over 2 months out from the fall season.. not even having been focusing on fitness and conditioning for a while... It's just really exciting to see such amazing progress already.

Fuck I miss rugby so much lol. I can't wait another 9 weeks.

You're getting a lot stronger especially now with the cycle. This coming season should be a very fun one for you. If the season is only 9wks out you should think about how you want to be deloading and peaking in time for the opener and season itself. Practical programming will help with that as well as how to keep your size and strength while not hindering your athletic performance.

 

[ruckin]

You're getting a lot stronger especially now with the cycle. This coming season should be a very fun one for you. If the season is only 9wks out you should think about how you want to be deloading and peaking in time for the opener and season itself. Practical programming will help with that as well as how to keep your size and strength while not hindering your athletic performance.

Yeah I'm so glad I picked up a copy of PPST when I just did. Such a great book, and I've never read the 3rd edition so there will be even more new info that I didn't get the first couple times when I read an earlier edition. As of right now I'm planning to just deload for the week prior to the season's start. I'm basically a novice lifter again at this point though, so correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think that "peaking" with perfect timing is as important as it would be if I were a late intermediate or advanced lifter. I feel like I should be able to be pretty well recovered within a couple days after every single workout, know what I mean? But still I'll be deloading right before the season starts just to be safe.

Also, it's important for me to consider that I'm going to want my performance to be at its absolute best not necessarily when the season starts, but preferably more towards playoff time in November and even possibly early December. My team is consistently very good, and I genuinely expect us to be the best we've ever been this season. That to me means national championship caliber, which means we'd be playing very late into the fall.

 

[Docd187123]

Yeah I'm so glad I picked up a copy of PPST when I just did. Such a great book, and I've never read the 3rd edition so there will be even more new info that I didn't get the first couple times when I read an earlier edition. As of right now I'm planning to just deload for the week prior to the season's start. I'm basically a novice lifter again at this point though, so correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think that "peaking" with perfect timing is as important as it would be if I were a late intermediate or advanced lifter. I feel like I should be able to be pretty well recovered within a couple days after every single workout, know what I mean? But still I'll be deloading right before the season starts just to be safe.

Also, it's important for me to consider that I'm going to want my performance to be at its absolute best not necessarily when the season starts, but preferably more towards playoff time in November and even possibly early December. My team is consistently very good, and I genuinely expect us to be the best we've ever been this season. That to me means national championship caliber, which means we'd be playing very late into the fall.

I thought you were more intermediate but if you've been able to make daily progress yea you'd be closer to beginner. For a beginner 1 or 2 reduced volume and maybe intensity sessions would be enough to reduce your fatigue but for an intermediate it could a week or more. It also depends on how much volume you're doing in the gym which it looks like you do more than a typical beginner in Rippetoe's model.

Yes you would want to be fresh into the playoffs too but at this point you can't program for that or anticipate for it really. You don't know what your on field conditions will be like for this particular season. Maybe you play more minutes than you're used to maybe less. Maybe you have very quick games or very slow games with lots of rest in between plays (I'm not too familiar with rugby and how it's played). Hopefully you don't get injured but there will always be soreness somewhere that you may need to compensate for elsewhere. Point is, you being at your best for playoffs is a future concern and one that should be flexible enough to allow you to optimize training for whatever state you're in towards the end of the season. Right now the only thing for sure is the season opens in 9wks and you want to come out swinging lol

 

[Seven]

This monday will be 5 weeks since my cycle started so I have to start figuring out when and where I'm gonna get bloods. I live in a no bloods state so it's going to be a pain in the butt.

Have ya been able to figure it out yet? Its retarded you can have bloods done in your state. You'll be the one paying for them what difference does it make.

 

[ruckin]

Have ya been able to figure it out yet? Its retarded you can have bloods done in your state. You'll be the one paying for them what difference does it make.

Yeah it's stupid as fuck. Me bitching about the dumbass laws isn't gonna change anything though so I try to avoid complaining about it. No I haven't set it up yet, I'm planning to try to time it 48 hrs after pinning so I'll have to get blood drawn on either a Tuesday or Friday. So I'll have to get off work for a day to do it. I'm shooting for next week hopefully.

 

[ruckin]

Today's pre workout:



Extra large pizza with Canadian bacon, real bacon, pepperoni, sausage and beef. I only ate 10 of the 12 slices but damn, it's 7 hours later now and I'm still full. Anyway it was an effective pre workout for sure

Another awesome workout was had today:

Power cleans: 185x1x5
Press: 140x8,8,8,13 (no typo)
Front Squat: 225x8x4
Deadlift: 405x1x14 in 8 min
Paused Incline bench: 200x10x2
Chins: 259x5x4

I was NOT expecting that kind of strength on my paused presses. Jeez, I mean I realized the weight was feeling kinda light once I started my working sets, but no way did I think I would be getting 13 reps on the last set. I'll have to add 10 lbs instead of 5 next time I do them.

Deadlifts felt amazing too. I was aiming for 10 reps in 8 minutes and I ended up with 14 easy. Those singles with 405 were moving so fast, I'll have to up the weight to maybe 425 next time.

I'm planning to do some conditioning tomorrow. Definitely some running since I did bike work already this week. Also I'm pretty excited to go for 225 for 8 singles on the power clean on friday.

 

[Seven]

Today's pre workout:

View attachment 26264

Extra large pizza with Canadian bacon, real bacon, pepperoni, sausage and beef. I only ate 10 of the 12 slices but damn, it's 7 hours later now and I'm still full. Anyway it was an effective pre workout for sure

Another awesome workout was had today:

Power cleans: 185x1x5
Press: 140x8,8,8,13 (no typo)
Front Squat: 225x8x4
Deadlift: 405x1x14 in 8 min
Paused Incline bench: 200x10x2
Chins: 259x5x4

I was NOT expecting that kind of strength on my paused presses. Jeez, I mean I realized the weight was feeling kinda light once I started my working sets, but no way did I think I would be getting 13 reps on the last set. I'll have to add 10 lbs instead of 5 next time I do them.

Deadlifts felt amazing too. I was aiming for 10 reps in 8 minutes and I ended up with 14 easy. Those singles with 405 were moving so fast, I'll have to up the weight to maybe 425 next time.

I'm planning to do some conditioning tomorrow. Definitely some running since I did bike work already this week. Also I'm pretty excited to go for 225 for 8 singles on the power clean on friday.

Wow that pizza looks/looked awesome!! You only ate 10, c'mon ruck finish that shit!!

No maybe about it you will up the weight to 425.

 

[ruckin]

Wow that pizza looks/looked awesome!! You only ate 10, c'mon ruck finish that shit!!

No maybe about it you will up the weight to 425.

Lol I could have finished it no problem, but I was pretty full so I knew I wouldn't have enjoyed the last 2 slices. If I'm gonna force food down I'd rather force down something boring like oats. And now I get to enjoy those last 2 slices as my appetizer before lunch today!

425 at least yeah. I said maybe but I'm actually thinking about 430 or even 435 lol. I feel like a 600 lb deadlift is possible by the end of this cycle now, especially after that workout yesterday.

 

[ruckin]

I'm so close to 250. Weight this morning was 249.7, but I only pissed and didn't poop first so I have to round that down to 249. I'm definitely feeling beat up today from all of those deads yesterday. Not looking forward to running later. I have all weekend off from work though so that'll be really nice to relax for a few days.

Edit: and now that I think about it, I'm leaning towards bumping my deadlift weight up to 435 for next time. Fuck it.

 

[ruckin]

I'm gonna make this update short and sweet because I'm in a bit of a hurry. Headed to a concert with my best friend. My workout today was fantastic again:

power clean: 225x1x8
Bench: 250x8,8,8,10
Squat: 315x8,8,8,10
Barbell rows: 205x8x4
Paused incline: 205x10,7
Power Shrugs: 455x12x3 (straps)
Barbell holds: 405x15 sec x2
Weighted planks: 85x30 sec x2
Curls: 40sx10x3 superset w/
Side raises: 40sx12x3

Everything went great except for my incline bench. I noticed that I've been getting a little sloppy on there lately so I cleaned my form up a little bit and it cost me a couple of reps. Not a big deal though. I'm SO FUCKING HAPPY ABOUT MY SQUAT! 315 for 10 on my forth set!!! I'm ecstatic about that

 

[ruckin]

Power cleans: 185x1x5
Press: 150x8,8,8,10
Squat: 325x8x4
Rack pulls: 425x10x1, 455x10,12 (straps)
Barbell holds: 405x17 sec x2
Paused Incline bench: 205x5x2
Chins: 262x5,5,5,6

Solid workout tonight. Everything went very well. I bumped my press weight up 10 lbs and still got a couple extra reps. I used 10 lbs more on my squat also and still got all my reps. Today was my first time using straps on rack pulls and I was able to use a lot more weight. 455x12 on my last set and it felt pretty easy. Gonna have to bump that weight up a good amount for next time.

Also, as you can see I weighed 262 in the gym tonight, that's the highest I've ever been in the gym. I haven't weighed myself in the morning in a few days so I'll be sure to do that tomorrow. I'd be surprised if I'm not over 250 after I shit n piss.

 

[ruckin]

I weighed in at 252.3 this morning I'm very happy with that. Only 8 more to hit 260!

I'm gonna head to my gym to do some light cardio when I get off work later for my rest day today. Can't wait to do cleans, bench and squats tomorrow!

 

[ruckin]

power clean: 230x1x8
Bench: 255x8,8,8,9
Squat: 330x8x4
Barbell rows: 210x8x4
Paused incline bench: 205x10,9
Power Shrugs: 455x12x3 (straps)
Barbell holds: 405x19 sec x2 (normal bar, alt grip)
Weighted planks: 90x30 sec x2
Curls: 40sx10,10,12

Very good workout tonight. I wasn't as "into it" as I would have liked, but I still got the job done so I'm happy. Added 5 lbs to my clean, bench, squat, and row. Also I added 2 reps to my paused incline bench. Still getting stronger on everything every time I lift

Today was also my first time using 365 as a warm up on my squat, so that was cool.