Hi guys, this is my first post, I hope I get it right! Anyhow I've been massing for 12 weeks now and just finished the second mesocycle that lasted a little bit longer (6 weeks) but I feel really beat up at this point, joints a little bit achy and tired af, though performance kept improving. Given that I have an exam on 19th September I figured I better be doing some light stuff in the gym the week prior so that I could improve my energy and focus at home.
I'm now wondering wether I should do a minicut or keep massing, and I was looking for some feedback from you guys, as you can see I tend to put quite a bit of fat in my lower abs, even when I was 88 kgs a few months back I couldn't completely see them.
As far as training goes I run an upper/lower/rest/upper/rest/lower split increasing sets throughout the mesocycle, what I've focused on is:
- training side delts 4x week using different exercises & rep ranges
- trying to improve weights on every working mostly in the 5-12 rep range
this week I pushed a bit the weights and I was able to hit some PR: BB bench press 104 kg x 10, 30° BB bench press 94 kg x 8, Sumo deadlift 174 kg x 8, DB seated OHP 30 kg x 13
- the only real issue is that I've had a lot of knee pain over the last few weeks, my squat PR is 120 kg x 6, so you can already see I'm pretty weak at it, but not because I don't train it, it's the lift I like the most but I just had a lot of knee issues, so I'll have to put it aside next meso and use some other variation, if you had a similar experience and would like to suggest something that would be great. Just wanna say that I tried horizontal and 45° leg press and they both give me trouble even if its less than the squat.
Thanks in advance!
Some random selfie taken after an upper body workout
Up
Another couple of pictures taken after an upper body session, the pump was visible :)
Any feedback on weak areas to work on is appreciated!
Hi guys, just finished my deload week, these are a few pictures from this morning after a week at mantainance (3000 kcal) at an average of 93,3 kgs (1,84 cm). I'm going into the last phase of this massing phase, then I'll transition into a minicut of 4-6 weeks before going back to massing up to the pre-summer cut.
I'm trying to bring up everything as this is the second time I do a massing phase (last one goes back to 3 years ago, just a lot of struggle in the middle...), so hopefully I can improve everywhere.
Let me know your thoughts, thanks! (btw sorry for the shitty posing I'm really bad at this ahah)
New macros:
Training days: 3440 kcal - 525C 60F 200P
Rest days: 2920 kcal - 350C 80F 200P
your calories are different every week (dropping) so its hard to say work out the average calories for the entire past month to give a clearer view as you may have decreased your surplus and increased output
Hi guys, this is my third mesocycle massing, these are my average calories and weight change over the last 6 weeks (this included):
week 1: 3417 kcal / 91,44 kg / +0,88 kg
week 2: 3185 kcal / 92,07 kg / +0,63 kg
week 3: 3267 kcal / 92 kg / -0,03 kg week 4: 3283 kcal / 91,67 kg / +0,19 kg week 5: 3158 kcal / 92,70 kg / +0,47 kg (deload between week 3 and 4) week 6: 3091 kcal / 92,46 kg / -0,24 kg
So over the last 6 weeks i gained 1,9 kg, which is 0,3 kg/week, 1,2 kg/month.
If we look at the last 4 though I gained 0,39 kg, so less than 0,1kg/week.
I'm guessing my metabolism went up a bit, and maybe the fact that i'm doing more volume (and taking short rest this month) might influence energy expenditure, I wonder what would you do in my case, increase calories? if so at what weekly average? thanks
good to hear that you didn't feel any pain during your session💪 Personally, I prefer having some kind of metabolite work all the time, rather than one entire meso of this kind of training and then back to none. This way, my training doesn't feel that "monotonous" and I always have something to look forward to at the end of the workout; not that I don't look forward to the regular stuff but after beginning with 3-4 compound exercises in the 4-15 rep range I really enjoy having a break from that and having some crazy fun with metabolite technique work (I hope you know what I mean)
But actually I never tried it myself so I might not be the best person to ask
Hi guys, so deload week is over (finally) I was really hungry for some high volume session again, given the small issues i've been experiencing both in elbows and knees I decided to give a shot (it's actually the second time I do this) to a metabolite mesocycle, I'm following the structure of one of Dr.Israetel hypertrophy templates, going to train 4 days (unless I get a really messy class schedule at college) in upper/lower/upper/lower.
So everything here is with 60-90" of rest, lighter loads, actually very light on some new variation I decided to introduce (like smith machine).
This was today's workout:
- Low incline smith machine bench press x 60 kg x 15,12,10,8
- Cable fly x 25 kg x 15,15,12,12 Supserset with flat db bench press x 20 kg x 4 x 8
- Push ups x 15,15,12,12
- Narrow grip cable row x 60 kg x 2 x 15
- Underhand lat pulldown x 70 kg x 2 x 15
- Lateral db raise x 10 kg x 2 x 15
- Single arm cable curl x 20 kg x 20,15
Felt pretty good and everything was pretty much pain-free, which is big news as of late, so hopefully this month will allow me to get back in good shape to hit some heavy weight again.
Tomorrow session will be a lower body day with quad emphasis, I figured I can squat 80-90 kg pain free, putting it as a second exercise with short rest will certainly allow me to do it w/o any pain, I love squats too much to get them out of the program :)
Curious to know your thoughts on an entire metabolite mesocycle, I know not many people do it, but I heard both Schoenfeld and Israetel suggest it might be a good way to periodize things and exploit phase potentiation, what do you guys think?
Following, yes deffo keep massing and in regards to squat knee pain ive had a similar experience where my knees would hurt after and the next day, turned out to be due to excessive forward knee travel, maybe try recording some sets
wow that's good news! this is the reason why I'm a stronger believer in external input when it comes to decision making, we're just not good judges of ourselves
Absolutely. I reckon there a good..... 6 - 8 lbs of gaining left in the tank. :)
thanks guys, I'll plan the next mesocycle and post it very soon so maybe I can get your feedback :)
I'd VERY much agree with Niclas!!
Looking good mate! Definetly take the deload. I also try to periodize training to have deloads when I've got exams, holidays etc.
I would go with massing for 1 to 2 more mesocycles bc bodyfat levels are not too high
Excited to follow :)