Williemon's path

I have been training solid after a layoff for 5 years now. It has been 6 years now but I had another 1 year layoff due to injury.
 
Im 43 now, 5'2" 138 lbs and have always (for the most part) been very active and weight trained since high school. I think my best time was when I was about 25. I weighed 143, 11% BF and benched 245lb  for a single and could curl 95lb for 5 to 8 reps using a straight bar.
 
After I got married, I tended to gain weight, but did not increase my lifts. After 10 years I had gained up to 180 but was still lifting though not real heavy. Then I got real lazy, ate way too much junk, stopped lifting, and at 205lb decided that this was not the life for me. I now had a child and much wanted to be a fit father.
 
In late 2003 I decided to loose the weight. I cut back my eating, started walking everyday. By may of 04, I was 150lbs.  I eased up on my restrictions and started weight training lightly. Over the next year I gained up to 170 and decided that was a bad idea. I dropped back to 165 and held a bit. 
 
About that time I tore my bicep tendon at the elbow. It was not related to weight training though. I had surgery and had to lay off training for about 9 months.  I only gained 3 pounds during that time, but my waist grew by about an inch. Once the arm was healed, I started training again with reps of 30 for 2 to 3 sets for about 6 months. Then I started going heavier. I never got below 10 reps on my sets and tried to stay real strict and stopped short of failure. I started doing HIIT on my bicycle.
Went to a 4 day split on my training. Took 4 days to complete a full body and then rested untill the next monday with about 8 total sets on large groups, and 4 total on small.
 
This brings me up to now. Im in my 5th week of the HST  training program. Gains are slow and may have stopped. Hard to tell. Im eating clean now. Up untill several months ago, I was not eating clean. Eating clean has caused a noticable drop in belly fat. I have been able to see vascularity in my delts, arms, chest for a while. Now I can see some vascularity in my low obliques and they are starting to stand out some as well. Still dont see the abs. When I flex them, I think they are there, but theres still too much looseness and flab there to allow them to show.
 
My issue now is do I continue to cut, or ease up and look at doing a clean bulk for a bit. At 138 and an estimated 15%, im afraid that if I continue a cutting process, I will end up being a sickly looking 125lbs.
 
The goals as I know them: I want to be   symmetrical for my height. I want to have the size that is talked about as being symmetrical for my height and frame size based upon ideas that the greeks had and Steeve Reeves had a formula for this as well. I read about this on another website.
 
I have read the thread by Dan about how to cut and how to bulk but I have not yet fully digested all the information.  So much to know.
 
Heres some stats on my progression so far. The only ref. point I have with measurments is after I lost the first initial weight and at the time that I injured my bicep.
Height 5'2"  legs a little short for my torso
BF est. 15% via wrist, waist, hip, forearm measure plugged into an online calculator.
Date                weight             neck           chest       waist       bicep     forearm      thigh     calf     wrist
11/2003              205                                                   46+
11/2004              150 (had bf measured via caliper at free health screening to be 16%)
10/2006              165               15                 40           42           14           12                                    6.5
 7/2008               150                                    39           38           14.5        11.5         22.5
11/2008              142              14.5               39           36           14.5        12            
3/2009                138              14                  38           36           14           12            21         14       6.5
4/2009                138              14                  38           35.5        14           12            21         14       6.5
5/18/09               137              14.5               38           35           14           12            22         14       6.5
 
After the 10 rep max set on HST
Bench: 160x10
Squat   160x10
SLDL    160x10
DB Curl  23x10
DB overhead press 33x10
 
As far as food and nutrition goes, I had not been eating real clean in the past, but in the past 2 months I have ate very clean. So far my avg. macros are as such:
1600 calories     
protien  163g     41%
carb       144g    34%
fat          46g      25%

Sample diet is as follows:

Breakfast: 1/2 scoop creatine in water (body fortress with dextrose) 2 whole wheat toast with peanut butter or 1 egg fried with grits and whole wheat toast.
                  Sometimes I will cook 5 oz of chicken breast with onion , peppers and tomato.

Morning snack: 3oz chicken breast, 1/4 cup new potato, 1/4 cup brocilie


lunch: same as morning snack or 1 can tuna with the veggies.

afternoon snack: same as morning snack

late afternoon snack: (optional) may be same as morning snack, or may be a protien shake in water, or may be almonds or a banana.

Dinner: 4 to 5 oz chicken breast, salmon, steak, pork chop, roast, ground beef. I will have brocillie or green beans or squash and will also have a little pasta or rice or potato.

After workout snack: Strawberry and banana protien shake with 1/2 scoop creatine (body fortress that has dextrose right now.)

I cook a lot with olive oil if oil is used. I pan fry eggs and chicken with it. Saute beans and other veggies with it as well.


I guess thats about it for now. We shall see how it goes.

Great to see you wanting to get back into it!! =D

Welcome to the site and i hope that you find what you need here and get some great motivation.  I know i do! 

Good Luck!

My Beast Journal
http://www.discussbodyb...ubs-Journal-m432294.aspx

---have new one now. goal is eventually to turn that one into a beast journal as well.

Just a bump since I added some new stuff in the  post. Any advice??

Had a pretty good work out on friday. I finished the 5th week on the HST workout. That was the first week of 5s. I am zig zagging on the weight. Friday, I was at the weight that I maxed for 10 reps. It went well. I placed strict form and intensity on my lifts. I can see however, that some lifts will need some weight adjustment. SLDL for instance, feeling quite heavy, whereas dumbell rows for the back are a little light.

I added an update to my measurements in my first post saturday morning. Looks like Im making progress.

My current weights for some lifts are as follows:

Squat, SLDL and bench are all 160lb for 5 reps.
DB press for delts is at 30lbs.
shrug is 170
EZBB curl is 50

These are not max though. On the HST, I still have 3 more workout days before I reach my 5 rep max.

Shrug is a strange exercise for me. I feel the pull in the traps, but not the entire trap.  Just the part right at my neck. Seems like I need to feel it more over my shoulder as well and in my upper back. I may try to lean forward a little, and pull my shoulders up and back, not as a rotation, but in one straight line motion.

Looking forward to Monday.

Monday workout was ok but I did not have the focus. I was also videoing some lifts to check my form. Found SLDL not a problem. Thought Id have to not bump the weight, but it was ok.
'

I need to make sure I warm up the smaller muscles better. I cant do the lateral raise with the calculated weight. Need to back down. DB press was just about right. Maybe a pound or 2 heavy.

Looking forward to tonights workout. Been eating totally clean. avg of 1600 cal and added HIIT at noon on workout days. Taking pre and post protien at both workout times.

Shrug is a strange exercise for me. I feel the pull in the traps, but not the entire trap. Just the part right at my neck. Seems like I need to feel it more over my shoulder as well and in my upper back. I may try to lean forward a little, and pull my shoulders up and back, not as a rotation, but in one straight line motion.

The weight is too high... Shrugs are really, really easy to cheat on. It is easy to pile the weight on, and think you are doing the exercise correctly, however you need to have a straight and full range of motion. Shrug your shoulders right now, as you are sitting here reading my post, if you can not shrug them as completely as you can right now... with a loaded bar, the weight is too high.

just my 2 cents...

I believe you are right on that. I wondered the same thing though, but it seems that the ego just wants to add weight. That goes with a few other lifts as well.

Anyway, I have been through 2 more workouts now. Wed. and Fri. workouts. That was the final 2 in my 2nd week of 5s using the HST program. I realized for sure on Friday that a lot of my lifts were using weight that is just too high. Bench press and cable fly dips (thats what I call them, targets low pec using a decline press form) are spot on, if not just a hair too heavy. Total concentration on the lifts is great. Form is good but on the 5th rep, I start to balk just a little.

Other lifts, squat, SLDL lateral raise, DB press, shrug all too heavy. Once I get to the 3rd rep, my form starts to slip a little and I lose focus and just dont feel the tension in the muscle. At this point, its more like im feeling it in the joints. Afterwards, I really dont feel like I did anything, but I know I did because my joints know it. For this reason, I was concerned about doing 5 rep sets, but it may be my own fault for using too much weight. I felt like I got more out of the 15s and the 10s.

Squats are still an issue. I tend to do a partial squat not fully parallel due to knee issues. Anyway, last night I tried to go closer to parallel and also with the weight I was using (most likely too much) I felt my right knee tweak so I just stopped all leg work. This morning I dont feel any discomfort unless I try to squat down and then there is a mild discomfort in that knee. Nothing new. Its happened so many times before. I give it a week to rest and Im good again for several months but I dont push too hard either. I do need to get on top of the issue though. It must be too much weight and bad form.

My weight in some lifts for wed were:
squat 180 (borderline too high for partials)
bench 180 (good)
SLDL 180 (boarderline too high)
DB shoulder press (40 too high)

Friday lifts were:
squat 190 (too heavy, stopped short due to knee tweak)
SLDL did not do.
Bench 190 (slight boarder line heavy)
DB row 50 (good)
shrug 200 (too heavy)

I had about 1800 cal on wed, 16 to 1700 on thursday. Not sure on fridays yet.
1600 avg cal is too low. I am down to 135 now from 137 a week or so ago. Too much lost in too short a time. I may need 1800 to 2000 cal on avg to slowly loose fat and maintain muscle. Still eating clean although I had a small splurg on friday. I had 1.5 slice of pizza, and a spoonfull of good cake with sugar frosting! Yea, I know, not in the plan, but with that slice and bite comes a new desire to eat super clean once again.

Its hard for me to eat even 1600 clean cal per day. It is all lean meat and veggies and fruit. I have to eat so much phisically. I never knew that before. It got to the point that I did not even want to eat, but I had to, but still lost weight.

I need some good for me, calorie and nutrition dense foods. That way the quantity is not so high.

current stats:
5/24/09               135              14.5               38           35           14           12            22         14       6.5


Later!

Had a good workout last night. Started the 7th week of HST. Im just staying with the 5 rep per set using my 5 rep max if possible. Like I mentioned the other day, I overestimated the weight I could use with strict form on several lifts so Im adjusting as needed.

I was able to start out with squats. I did 3 warm ups, full range with just bodyweight and 10 reps. Then did a set with the bar for 10. Then did a set of 5 with a total of 90lbs full range and strict. Did a set of 3 with 100lbs. Then moved up to 140 lbs and did a strict full range set of 5. Squats felt good. No issues.

I adjusted SLDL to 150 I think and did 2 work sets of 5.

As it is now, I need to be mindful of my right shoulder and right elbow/forearm. I do feel some strain in those areas.

I also adjusted the weight lighter on shrugs and concentrated on the full contraction. That felt better.

I did not do any bicep isolation.

My ab work was with the overhead cable, on my knees and holding onto the cable as I curled my abs and head down  into my knees.

Is that the better ab exercise? Looking for better ab workouts if any.

I broke down and ate a NV trailmix bar. Not the best for me, but not the worst.

Later.

Had a good workout for Wed. Not much change from the last one. I should be working out tonight but I got sinus issues. Im also feeling quite a bit drained. May be overtraining. Im really thinking about taking a couple of weeks off. I wanted to wait though untill mid may. I will be on vacation then and was going to use that week and the week prior to not train for a decondition process.  If I stop now, I will not finish my HST program, but I may just revamp the HST to a bit lighter work and ease out.

LOOKING VERY GOOD wish i had that determination i might try  really hard over summer :D

Ive had a very off training weekend. I guess I needed it. My sinus issues were getting the best of me. I ate some junk foods and sugared myself up some. Now, back to being on a clean diet.

I am going to eat to maintain at the moment and take a few days or maybe even a week off. I have a vacation comming up soon for a good week so I dont need to over do the off time. I still need some off time though. I need to kill the HST workout at the moment.

When I get back into the training, I will go with the 3 day full body type outlined in the sticky in the training forum. More later.

Just got the test results. Total cholesterol at 270. HDL is quite high. LDL is high too though. That makes it not so bad, but still not great. Going to have to try and lower the bad some.  Im really going to have to pay attention to the diet though.

Based upon some advice I got in the critque me area, I need to work my lats and traps better. Strict barbell rows and instead of shrugs I will let my deadlifts work them for me.

Been easing up on the training. Need to recover a bit. Holding at between 135 and 138. Doing full body 2 times a week. Going for 10 good quality strict reps. left side of my back in the middle gets strains often. Dealing with one now. I think its more of a spasm and knotting up mostly.

Im a little bummed. Measures sat morning are the same as last time. I have given some thought to some other suppliments. H-dol comes to mind, but you know what that means. I need to break through this limitation though. Any advice about H-dol?

Did full body tonight. Stayed light getting 10 reps strict with high intensity. All felt good. Working the back hard with BB rows and doing atg squat. Been including dead lift as well.
I really felt good in all lifts.

I need to ditch the idea of the h-drol or havoc or such. Im just not with that. I have really come a long way all natural and really will feel a loss of something if I were to go that route. Id have to say though, if a doc said that my T was low, then I would allow for them to prescribe me something, but that would be the only way.  I have learned some about those other products and even though Id like a quick boost, I really have always wanted to do this natural so Id be throwing away my own values. I do want to gain what I can with good natural food and supps though. Id like to eek out the best that I can get as far as supps go. I really have not focused enough on squats and deads and good clean eating to say if it is not working. I just have to say my goal may not be had this year, but next for sure.

The question is, just what do I need to do to get there?

Took about 12 to 15 days off due to vacation and a planned stratigic decondition. My diet is still in check. Keeping pretty much at 1800 cal or so. I need to get back on fitday and replug values and make sure where im at now. Holding 136 to 137 lbs. My waist is a 35. My chest measured 39 instead of 38 this time. I will need to recheck to make sure it was not an error.

Trained first time last night. I went with a full body program that I had for the HST. I chose 10 rep sets but most were not to failure. I did mostly a few warmups and 1 work set. I chose 3 work sets of bent over rows for back. Did a rack deadlift mainly since the squats I had done really worked my hams and glutes good. I mostly did the DL for the benifit to the traps and upper back.  Felt good. Had a protien shake afterward and a small food meal about 30 min later. It was 10:30pm by that time. Hit the sack about 11;30.

williemon


Been easing up on the training. Need to recover a bit. Holding at between 135 and 138. Doing full body 2 times a week. Going for 10 good quality strict reps. left side of my back in the middle gets strains often. Dealing with one now. I think its more of a spasm and knotting up mostly.

Im a little bummed. Measures sat morning are the same as last time. I have given some thought to some other suppliments. H-dol comes to mind, but you know what that means. I need to break through this limitation though. Any advice about H-dol?

H-Drol is more for weight loss while you build muscle. M-drol is for muscle gains without the cut. Read as much as you can on each before you decide. Also get you PCT in order for after you cycle on either.

Team Keine Ausreden = No Excuses
mein scheinehund ist daheim
48 yrs young
6'5" 270 Lbs

I have pretty much almost decided to not take anything such as that. 1Androl-rx caught my eye for a while there. Said it was safe and easy on the liver, but still it is a shutdown product and I would need to run a pct after. Did not really like that idea. Im reading now about anabolic extremes products. They have 3 particular herbal products that will boost T, free T, lower estrogin and cortisol. Safe, no support needed and no pct as it does not cause a shutdown. Im reading about those products trying to decide if I want to try them.
 
At the moment, Im focused on good clean food and a good full body routine. I so want to give a suppliment stack a try aside from my already protien, creatine, MV, and fish oil. Just to get that edge that I had 20 years ago. If I knew then what I know now, man, I would have been one big, cut, short dude.

Had a good workout last night. I did deadlifts instead of squat. Incline bench (slight) instead of flat. Chins, BB rows, DB overhead press, lateral raise, shrug, tricep extensions, bicep curl, cable crunch for abs. Forgot to do any calf work. . Just 1 to 2 work sets of each except for dead lift and rows. Did 3 work sets of those. Felt pretty good.

I weighed myself this morning. I have lost 2 pounds this week. Im now 135. Not that I really tried to drop any pounds, but I guess thats how it goes. I never thought Id be saying "drats" to losing a couple of pounds. Its not an issue if it is 2 pounds of water and fat, but that may mean that I did not gain any muscle either. Anyway, when I was at a fat 205, I longed for the day that I might see 150. Now seeing 135 is scareing me. Anyway, maybe its all good though. Time will tell. I can cench the belt about 1/2 notch tighter so thats good.

I read a thing about max-ot. I have seen it mentioned a lot. Decided to finally read about it. Looks good. Thinking about trying that.

Anyone with any thoughts? The site I was reading also talked about diet with macros of 50P 38C and only 10F. The 10% fat threw me. Since imat around 14% and want to go down to 9% before I think about doing a bulk, I wonder if I should wait on the max-ot?

Ive kept a log of my workouts but have not posted yet. Im getting some good results with the 3 day full body and watching my macros and eating clean. Not as fast as I wanted though.  My waist size is now down to 34" and hips are at 37. Based upon the online calculator Im at 13 to 13.5% BF at around 136 to 137 lbs. More later.

July 8 now. I have been keeping a log of my workouts. Been trying to vary something each workout. Need to post it up here. Im taking some days off now just to collect myself. Last week, I went all out to do a very low carb week. I do believe I went into ketosis. I started on monday, and by wed. I had a very dry mouth, odd breath, had went through the crap feeling of very low energy and now had better energy, just not a burst. I was only eating 1 slice of wheat toast with my peanut butter and eggs in the morning. The rest of my meals were meat (chicken, salmon, scalops) and veggies. I only had fruit in my  PWO shake that provided about 10 g carb. kept that up untill friday afternoon. Then I stopped the low carb and started to refeed.

During my low carb, I lost from 137/138lbs down to 133lbs. I did a full body measure friday morning before breakfast and all measurements were the exact same as they were on june 22.  Arms, chest, waist, hips, all the same as they were on the 22nd. That is whats so odd, I lost weight, but measures were the same all over. I guess it was the glycogyn and water in my muscles that was depleted. Muscles felt hard, not as rocks, but not overly soft either. I have noticed a more pronounced hardness since I started adding carbs again, but no change in measurements as of yet. I might check again just to see if I have gained any muscle size.

Since I feel I have reached a plateau, Im about ready to embark on a clean bulk for the rest of the summer. I will hold about 1800 to 2000 cal as I have done, but change my macros to lean toward less fat/protien and add more carb. Do that for about a week, then bump calories up by 200 for a week, see how it goes, then maybe bump up another 200 the next week. I will shoot for 1lb gain per week while watching my waistline and hips. I hope they go down or stay at 34/37. it may start to creep up in size, but I think if it hits 1" larger I will start cutting again. Maybe im being too strict but comming from a 40+ waist and big hips, and knowing how my body adds fat right there so fast in the past, its a scary thought to let it grow again. Plus, I would need to buy new pants. 

I think I want to shoot for going up to 150 lbs on my 5'2" frame with no gain, or less than 1" gain in waist and hips then I will be doing well. If I did not gain in waist and hips, or very little, I would continue the clean bulk even further. Dont know if its possible though for me. That would be around a 15 lb gain with no added or very little added body fat. I will try though. If it does not work, I will go through a series of bulks and cuts through may of 2010. Maybe thats not right either. I will ask and find out.

My next routine may be an HST routine again, or I will shoot for my own flavor and work in the 8 to 12 rep range. What I dont like is the use of 5 rep sets in the HST program. Im not sure why, maybe its in my mind, but I dont feel I get the best possible hypertrophy from that amount of low rep sets. Plus, it does make my joints hurt and I am scared of pulling a tendon or tearing something. To the contrary, it does seem that when I have torn something, or tweaked myself, it has not been during low rep work, but during the mid rep work.

Im not sure how I will setup for, if I will do full body, or break up into a push/pull 2 day split, or an upper/lower 2 day split or what. Full body is a brutal workout. Maybe it should be. I read so much about a full body being a great way to go. I like it myself, however, I often wonder if I get enough sets for my muscles to stress them enough. I guess I control the amount of stress they see per set. If I give all out intensity, they may not need any more than 1 to 2 work sets.

Here is my workouts for the past 3 weeks. 3 day full body routine mon, wed, fri. I tried to keep the workout to 60 min. I would rest little between sets and I would superset like squat, then pullup then squat again and pullup again.



  Day                  1                2             3           4              5                   6             7               8          9

  Squat           110x10x1       -      130x6x2   130x6x3       -            130x10x1   150x8x2      -      150x8x2
                                                                     130x8x1
                                                                     130x7x1
                                                       
DL                        -        100x10x2       -            -          100x10x2              -              -            -           -
  
SLDL                    -                -              -            -                -                       -             -        165x5x1   - 
 
rack DL                 -                -       215x5x2   200x8x3     200x8x3    200x9x3  210x10x2   220x10x2  -

bench           130x10x1           -              -           -                 -                       -             -            -              -
 
Inc BP                   -      110x10x1   130x7x2   130x7x2      110x10x2  130x8x1  130x8x1     130x9x1 130x9x1                                                                          
                                     110x8x1     130x5x1    110x9x1       130x7x1  130x7x1    130x7x1
 
Decline cable fly  -                  -                -           -                    -                   -        38x8x1       32x10x1 32x10x2
                                                                                                                               38x6x1      32x9x1
OHDB press         -            20x10x2         -      26x8x1         26x9x1          26x9x2   26x9x1      26x9x2       -
                                                                        26x7x1       26x8x1          26x7x1   26x8x1      26x7x1
                                                                         26x7x1
OHBB press         -                   -              70x5x2      -               -                    -                  -           -              -

Pull Ups      137x10x1ast 137x8x2     137x7x2  137x8x1      137x9x2    137x9x3 137x10x1   137x9x3   157x8x1
                                                                                              137x7x1                     137x8x1
                                                                           137x7x1                                           
BB Row          80x9x3         80x9x2      100x6x3  100x7x1      80x9x3     100x8x2  80x8x3     105x7x1   105x7x2
                                           80x7x1                     100x6x2                       100x7x1                  105x5x1
 
Lateral raise      -             10x10x1       15x8x1   15x8x1       8x10x1     8x9x2        8x10x1     5x10x1    8x10x2
                                         15x7x1        15x6x1     10x10x1                                      8x8x1      8x10x1
 
Tricep pressdown   -          35x10x1         -                 -                  -             -           35x8x2          -              -
                                          35x8x1

inc DB Curl           -            20x10x1           -                 -               20x10x2     -                -         20x10x1       -
                                          20x9x1
 

Attachment(s)

program.txt (4.05 KB) - downloaded 26 times

I have had two workouts this week since my rest week.  I started on a sun and will workout sun, tues, thur.  I actually started it on friday, did sun as well. Missed tues and will hit it tonight. Im just working my own flavor right now. I did 1 work set of 5 to 7 for most lifts on fri. Did about 3 to 4 total sets for back. Sun. workout was lighter, hitting 8 to 9 reps and still 1 work set. I have added more carbs to the diet and less fats. I feel like I am getting hungry more.

later

Im still eating the carbs and I have added a little more fat to the diet. Not so strict at the moment. I am in the midst of a big construction project at home that is taking a lot of time and energy. I have missed a workout or two due to being spent and the late hours working on the project. I should be finished by mid week and will just hit a few workouts to maintain. I feel good though. strength and stamina are good. I feel good getting the carbs and fats. Better than when I cut the carbs. Since my carbs are not full of sugar I have a constant flow of energy. Not high energy though, just steady. Im still feeding every 3 to 4 hrs. and try to make the feeds complete with protien, fiber carb, starchy carb, and good fats.

Ive just been eating what I feel is needed at this point wich is probably around 1800 to 2000 cal per day. I have maintained around 137 since I stopped the week of low carb that took me to 133 to 134. I still want to slow clean bulk but I need to get past this project and then I can concentrate on the bulk process. I may do cycles of bulk and cut for a year, or I might slow clean bulk for a full 7 to 8 months and take 2 months to cut and hit maintanance in may or june 2010 hopefully at 150 and 10% or less BF.

Going to start an HST program on sunday. I have my 15s and 10s max determined and will go for it starting sunday. I will pull the 5s from my past months training logs where I have done sets of 5 to 8.

I will also start my clean bulk. Im currently getting around 1800 cal right now. Some days less, some more. Macros favor protein with carbs being slightly less and closely followed by fats. I will switch up to use less protein. I will try about a 25P 20F and 55C and get 2000 cal for a week and see how it goes. If I see progress, I will hold there. As progress slows, I will bump up 200 cal.

My current stats are

BW 135
waist 34.5
hips 37
thigh 21.5
calf 13.5
chest 38
neck 14.5
arm 13uf 14f
forearm 11.5uf 12f
calculated bf betweem 13.5 and 17% (I can just see hint of two top abs)

Did first hst wo on sunday. Im in week 1 of the 15s. I forgot how killer even the light 15s can be if you concentrate and go all out intensity.

Eating 2000 cal now up from 1800. Feels like I will yak trying to eat that much clean food. I will adapt though. Just have to tough it out.

I will post the workouts soon.

here is a poundage schedule for my HST cycle. I just finished workout 2 for week 1.

Notice the exercises that I alternate.

I am concerned that I may be a little redundant on some lifts. In my mind, I have a reason why I have chosen them, however they may not be needed.

Im on 2kcal since monday, up from 1800. Went to <30 P, <30 F, > 40 C.  I hit mid 20s for P and F tues and wed. So far, no weight gained, but feel fine. The meats I tried to eat before to get >30P really build and sit like a brick after the noontime hr. so this lower protein higher carb diet feels better to me.

Attached Image(s)

week 1 workout 3 went without hitch. All lifts solid. One issue, during pullups (before doing any chest work) my left pec became very tight. Seems to be related to cronic left shoulder tightness and muscle spasms suffered over the past several years. Been worse and almost constant this past year. Massage in pec helps as does massage in left posterior shoulder, trap, lat area. I almost know its related to shoulder issues, but not sure just what is the issue.

DId only 1 set for  bench and cable fly. Added 2 sets dumbell pullovers for the lat as well. Did 20lbs for 15 reps.

15 rep sets are draining.

I took in a true 2000 to 2100 cal this entire week. Macros were around 28 protein, 28 fat, and 44 carb. some days less protein and fat and more carbs, but only change about 3% points.

During 2000 cal. test, I held same weight untill the last day. Lost 1lb. Measurments all the same except waist may have tightened 1/2  inch. will up to 2300 from sat on to next fri and see how goes. I do however want to adjust macros to get same protein (around 130 - 140g) but more carb (getting 200g now, want 360g) and less fats (getting 80g now, want 35g) Not sure how to do that but will find out.

Good job man!
Your looking good!