8 Week Check-In

8 Weeks of leangains, and I'm feeling great.  I did a PR deadlift today 258x4 (compared to 263x1 when I started.)  Body fat is lower, definitely.  It's nothing crazy transformational so far, but I still have 4 weeks left, so we'll see what happens.  Here are the photos:

Before

8 Weeks

Tightening up the Diet

So I was reading about how many people doing leangains overestimate their calorie needs, and one person was suggesting to go as low as calories as you can without sacrificing strength gains.  So, I decided to cut calories again and try this out for the final 5-6 weeks of my 12 week trial.

Now, I'm down to an average of 2000 calories per day with macros like this:
Training day:
fat 37g
carbs 330g
protein 190g

Rest day:
fat 62g
carbs 95g
protein 190g

RPT training has been kicking my ass, so I expect to see some more strength gains over the next few weeks.  If all goes as planned, I think I might hit my goals by the end:
1) Low body fat %
2) Intermediate strength standards

Then, I'll have a little break from all this, before I start bulking on more muscle, yeah!

Injuries and New Plan

Well, on week 5 I blew out my lower back on deadlifts.  I rested for a few days, then came back to strain my shoulders/neck with press on Week 6.  More rest, and now I'm back on Day 7, but I've decided to change my workout schedule.  I think I was just doing too much volume.  So, I'm going to cut back a few lifts and then I might work my way back up again.

So, here's my plan for the next few weeks.  I will follow the typical RPT training protocol for leangains.  I''m going to pretty much stick to the plan here.  (With a few variations.)

Monday
1. Deadlift

• Warm-up sets
• Top Set 4-6reps (max effort)
  3-5 mins rest
• Set 2 (-10-15%) 6-8 (not max effort)
  2-3 mins rest
• Set 3 (-10-15%) 8-10
  5 mins rest

2. Weighted Chin-Ups

• Warm-up sets
• Top Set 6-8reps
  3-5 mins rest
• Set 2 (-10-15%) 8-10

Cooldown 5-10mins cardio, stretch.

Wednesday
1. Bench

• Warm-up sets
• Top Set 4-6reps
  3-5 mins rest
• Set 2 (-10-15%) 6-8
  2-3 mins rest
• Set 3 (-10-15%)8-10
  5 mins rest

2. Dips (2 sets, 3 mins rest.  5+ reps - not going to failure)

Cooldown 5-10mins cardio, stretch.

Friday
1. Squat

• Warm-up sets
• Top Set 4-6reps
  3-5 mins rest
• Set 2 (-10-15%) 6-8
  2-3 mins rest
• Set 3 (-10-15%)8-10

 Cooldown 5-10mins cardio, stretch.


We'll see how it goes.  I might want to substitute overhead press for bench, and I'd like to do some cleans somewhere just to increase explosive power.  But, with 6 weeks left on this initial leangains trial, maybe I'll just stick to the basics.