For those of you that are forgetful or haven't read this from the beginning: 5/3/1 (boring but big) worked great for my squat and bench, but sucked for my dead, and westside dynamic/max effort training worked well for my squat and dead, but not my bench. So, I decided to fuse the two, doing 5/3/1 as my max effort work, cutting a lot of the bullshit assistance work (I only do 4 movements for lower body and 6 for upper), and doing a shitload of sets of ten. ALSO, I changed my diet, eating paleo + milk, cheese, and breaded meats on workout days, and strict keto on non-workout days.
And my final assessment? This program and diet are awesome. Here's why.
Body fat: When I started, I would estimate my body fat was around 18%. Over the past 6 weeks, and especially since I really locked my diet in, I have noticed a significant change in my body comp. My abs are more visible than they have been in 6 months. I guessed that I was around 15% now, and then got my body fat measured and was exactly 15.3%. So, assuming my initial guess was pretty accurate, that's a change of about 2-3% body fat in the past 4-6 weeks.
Ridiculous abs I will have you... one day....
Size (hypertrophy): Furthermore, I haven't lost any weight since starting this program - I've stayed between 198 and 200 pretty consistently. The fact that my body fat has gone down however tells me that I have definitely put on some muscle. I think the majority has been in my legs, which look noticeably bigger, and my lats. My lats have always been a weakness of mine, and I think all the extra pulling I have been doing is finally making them grow.
Work capacity: VERY improved. When I first started, squatting for sets of ten was NASTY, but now I feel like I'm owning the lighter weight for higher reps. I'm extremely grad that I began shortening the rest to 90 seconds, and I'm planning (in a few months) to reduce it even further. I think that that, in conjunction with my diet, is the reason for my fat loss as well. So not only do I feel better, but I look better too.
Strength: Obviously, this is the area I'm most concerned with, and it's also the area that I have made the most gains in. My squat has SKYROCKETED in the last six weeks: I've gone from 215 for 8 to 250 for 12, and 275 for 1 to 275 for 5. Those are some crazy gains. Furthermore, my overhead press has increased significantly as well: In the last 4 weeks, it has gone from 120 for 6 to 135 for 5. Again, solid gains. My bench hasn't really improved very much, but for anyone who has been following this blog, you know that that's more of a technical issue than a programming issue - and I just recently have managed to fix my technique (I think), so hopefully we will see some big bench gains soon. And although I don't deadlift heavy regularly, all my speed work has felt great lately, and based on how much stronger my legs are at squatting, I'm going to guess my deadlift has improved as well. HOWEVER, I'll be doing a meet after my next 3 week cycle, so hopefully I'll get a real measurement of where the dead is at then.
My exact emotion after I break a PR. Getting stronger is fucking awesome.
So there you have it. I spent the last year trying different stuff that didn't work too great, then fused all the good stuff together and clipped as much of the bad as I could, and finally I have a program and diet that is helping me lose fat, gain muscle, feel great, and MOST FUCKING IMPORTANTLY, get stronger. I'm going to keep tweaking it, but I'm definitely going to keep at this program as long as I'm still making gains Let us hope it keeps up: I will be writing another report after my next 6 week cycle.
Here's to progress.
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