Progress on Mass

[Maxrip13]

Max thanks, that was great info, will definitely think on what you've said.

Congrats on the kid! Hope you get some sleep.

Thanks mate. I am looking forward to it.

Just did my 3rd and final session of grey man for the first week. I feel much better and I am already adjusting to the volume.
Sleep and calories are so important. I need to remember this more often.

I am hitting the required minimum volume on the main lifts and just halving the sets for the supplementary.
Even halved I am still doubling my usual volume. Not perfect, but it's my solution in the interim. I won't force progress until I can hit all required sets if I continue with mass.

Good Luck on whatever you decide to do. Grey man in particular is very smart when you start looking at the volume and the way the exercises alternate from week to week. I would recommend reigning in the supplementary exercises for the first run through..

[TBPenguin]

The best laid plans of mice...

I went into Grey Man a little beat down still, but things were getting better on it. Then in the third week life and a weird physical problem got in the way. Didn't really get to finish the block.

This week is supposed to be my bridge week. Right now I don't know if the following weeks will allow me to get in another block.

Over the past month lost some bodyfat so probably slipped a bit on calories. Overall it looks like I gained about a kg of lean since starting this which for me is pretty good. Wish I'd done a program like this long ago, after I'd been training for just a couple of years. But hey, it is fun and productive now, I'd recommend it.

Bark and Max, thanks for your encouragement through this.

[Barkadion]

The best laid plans of mice...

I went into Grey Man a little beat down still, but things were getting better on it. Then in the third week life and a weird physical problem got in the way. Didn't really get to finish the block.

This week is supposed to be my bridge week. Right now I don't know if the following weeks will allow me to get in another block.

Over the past month lost some bodyfat so probably slipped a bit on calories. Overall it looks like I gained about a kg of lean since starting this which for me is pretty good. Wish I'd done a program like this long ago, after I'd been training for just a couple of years. But hey, it is fun and productive now, I'd recommend it.

Bark and Max, thanks for your encouragement through this.

It was a lot of fun to follow your log with the Mass effort. Good on you mate! Cheers.

[TBPenguin]

After my gym re-opened, took a month to get used to heavy lifting. Then back into it. I am about to finish up a second block of the Mass Template. Having done so, I can see why KB says it is the standard, and part of the flagship approach in block training. Maybe it was just my condition compared to the other templates, but MT seems to put more on me than the others. My guess why is the squat frequency compared to the others, and the use of pullups, at least that is where the differences seem to show up.

The 8 rep and 6 rep weeks followed a pattern in both blocks. Monday had me thinking I should be doing something easier. Wednesday had me thinking that it was something I could get through. Friday had me thinking it wasn't so bad. The adaptation during the week was more pronounced than the effect when doing Operator.

Life will force me to take a break from Mass approaches in September. After a bridge week, I am thinking of doing a block of Zulu, using just the SWAT cluster, maybe even with minimum sets, with plenty of conditioning. If anybody has experience or advice or a better idea, let me know.

[TBPenguin]

Had a "scheduling opportunity" and decided to give Grey Man another try. The first week is noticeably harder than the first week for MT or Gladiator. Halfway through the second week I was questioning whether finishing was advisable, but got through it. The third week was a bit easier than MT and noticeably easier than Gladiator, but really the third week for all of them feels easier than what came before. Hard to tell if I gained anything in this block, but that is to be expected at this stage.

Now I have a three week opening again - am considering repeating Grey Man or doing MT, or even a block of strength work.

[TBPenguin]

Just completed Zulu HT. As this is intended for mass, seems it should be reported on here.

There's a lot of measurement error possible for 3 week cycles, especially when well past the stage of big gains. Still it appears to have been slightly more productive than Mass Gladiator and MT. It was more enjoyable than either of them, and on that basis alone I would choose it over them in the future.

I did not use a TM on the upper body lifts. I did have some troubles with the lighter, B days on WPUs, suspect that if trying to do 4x/week a TM for days 2 and 5 would be a good idea. I did use a TM on SQ and DL dues to some recent issues, had no trouble completing any day.

Now for a deload. I may use that time to test the TBDL a little, get an idea what to use in the OP block. I still need to decide which OP to run - will be PRO or DUP.

[TBPenguin]

I tried to do the hypertrophy option for Operator PRO. It became very clear within a week that this was overly optimistic on my part. So diverted, finished the block closer to Op DUP. Imaginary interview with the voice of reason (VOR).

VOR: don't you usually use a TM when running OP I/A?
Me: yes.
VOR: aren't these new OPs a little more challenging with the conditioning?
Me: maybe a little.
VOR: aren't these new OPs a little more challenging on the MS work?
Me: yes, definitely.
VOR: So did you use a TM?
Me: no
VOR: https://playphrase.me/#/search?q=double+dumbass

[Barkadion]

I tried to do the hypertrophy option for Operator PRO. It became very clear within a week that this was overly optimistic on my part. So diverted, finished the block closer to Op DUP. Imaginary interview with the voice of reason (VOR).

VOR: don't you usually use a TM when running OP I/A?
Me: yes.
VOR: aren't these new OPs a little more challenging with the conditioning?
Me: maybe a little.
VOR: aren't these new OPs a little more challenging on the MS work?
Me: yes, definitely.
VOR: So did you use a TM?
Me: no
VOR: https://playphrase.me/#/search?q=double+dumbass

Lol

What did you do for conditioning?

[TBPenguin]

I tried to follow the guidelines for the second block of I/CAT. I think the main problem was doing both SQ and TBDL on the same day 3 times a week. For me, trying PRO with the hypertrophy option and no TM was an example of not thinking.

[Barkadion]

I tried to follow the guidelines for the second block of I/CAT. I think the main problem was doing both SQ and TBDL on the same day 3 times a week. For me, trying PRO with the hypertrophy option and no TM was an example of not thinking.

I see. Personally, I decided to use conservative TM for any block while ago. Never regretted that..