any specific recommendations on a hormone stack? :-)

not yet, that's part of the process, to see if they offer anything real

So found 300 lbs difficult to hold this time for the Front Deadlift so had to drop some weight. Dropped it to 270 lbs but was able to do 10 reps though by the 3rd set when finishing the bar when putting it back got in disarray and nearly could not put it back on the rack.

Funny how one time no problems and another time problems. And the funnier thing in all this, 300 lbs for 5 reps = 350 lbs for 1 rep where as 270 lbs for 10 reps = 360 lbs for 1 rep. So while I had problems with the 300, in actuality I lifted more due to reps; GO FIGURE.

I actually liked the higher reps of 10 then the lower reps of 5. I can feel it more. Where the first of the reps were not as hard the later ones were; plus the earlier ones help me get into the rhythm. I will have to play with this some more.

All and all my working out is going good. While I always need to motivate myself to lift, the motivation is not as much. When it comes to legs I really had to motivate myself as I hated legs but with the Front Squats I look forward to them and enjoy them.

I'll just keep plodding along.

The rep/weight discrepancy could be down to how you approach your warm up Dereck. As you know, when training in lower rep ranges (1-5), your warm up sets should never really fatigue the muscles, or give a 'pump' sensation. The focus is on getting the range and path of motion 'just right', so that you get in a 'groove' and stay there with your working sets. Kinda like a golfer having a couple of practice swings on the tee before hitting the ball for real.
This means that the majority of the sets and reps you do, really feel easy and, in your mind, unproductive, but they all lead up to better poundage performance at the top of the workout.

I have to say that, especially as my goal is now completely geared towards hypertrophy, I am more in line with your thinking, and want to feel I have worked the muscles in every set I do. Not going all out in warm up of course, but I do not want to go to such lengths as to avoid the sensation of effort in it either.

OK, today was day 1 of the Pro-Hormone cycle. I postponed by a couple of weeks a) because I came down with shingles on my birthday (nice), and b) I wanted a dry run of the workouts, just to see how they felt. With that in mind, here is the revised plan.

Day 1: Chest and Bi's

Cable Bench press 4 set pyramid
Cable Flye 4 sets
Incline Nautilus Press 4 set pyramid.
Dumbell curls 4 set pyramid

Day 2: Back and Legs.

Seated Row 4 set pyramid
Posterior Cable flyes 4 sets
Wide grip Pulldown 4 set pyramid
Weighted Hypers 4 sets
Alternate Leg press 5 set (super slow or 21's)
Weighted Hip Pop-ups 4 sets.

Day 3: Shoulders and Tri's

Dumbell Press superset partial laterals 4 sets (pyramid of press, constant weight partials)
Front Raises x4
Shoulder width upright rows or shrugs 4 set pyramid
Flat bar pushdowns 4 set pyramid

Structure is now 3 days on, 1 day off, as a constant throughout the 4 week cycle

The starting point

As of yesterday (sat and sun were both rest days), my body stats 'cold' are as follows:

Weight: 277lbs
Neck: 18.5"
Chest: 54"
Waist: 42"
Upper Arms (flexed) L: 18.5" R: 19"
Hips: 46"
Thighs (Flexed) L: 26.5" R: 27"
Calves (flexed) L: 16.5" R: 17"

The Good

The fact that my left leg has caught up to within 1/2 an inch of my right is very gratifying. Both are significantly smaller than before my tendon rupture, but my left leg went to bone before I was allowed to begin rebuilding it, so I feel like quadzilla

Overall symetry is as good as the human condition allows, with half, or slightly less than half, inch differences left to right across the board.

I wont be falsely modest, my arms are impressive for a natural gym user, but I never knew I had reached 19" cold. I am chuffed to bits

The Bad

My weight, and my waistline are terrible, and i am still suffering for the enforced sedentary 6 months last year, compounded by the comfort eating I fell into at the time that was symptomatic of the depression, that I never knew I had till it went away (often the case with mental issues).

My diet is better than it was, (already dropped 23 lbs since start of June), but there is a long way to go.

I am not stressing it for this 4 weeks however, as things are already moving in the right direction, and by increasing my ratio of protein to carbs, and eating super clean for the next month, I expect to improve in this area by default while training, and eating, for lean muscle growth.

So thats it. Today's workout went well. Unsuprisingly, there is no improvement in performance after a matter of hours on the cycle, but It felt good to begin a new chapter in the gym.

19" ARMS? *faints, then goes to weep softly in the closet*

Tecnically, its a single 19" arm. The other is half an inch behind, but goes 19+ when pumped

Man Cord, you're a beast. Mind me asking how tall you are? I'm guessing 6'3"????

If I could only pull off some of those numbers.

I am 6ft exactly. I do not expect this to change during the experiment

Also, you are all being too kind - you should also rip into me for letting myself get a 42 inch waist!!

Okay I missed something, what is the experiment?