My dedication and strength in this life.

[Preston]

What’s up motherfuckers - 298.2; see ya 300’s.

[Preston]

I was listening to Mark Bell the other day and on the podcast I was listening to he was talking about the mind muscle connection. This isn’t anything new to me, but the way that he was explaining it was completely new. I’ve never gotten a complete connection while lifting between the muscle that I’m working and literally being able to think of that muscle that I’m focusing on. I feel like this might be something that a lot of people struggle with and why you see certain individuals who are very lopsided with certain muscle groups where you can see the lack of connection while lifting specifically in peaks of biceps and the head of your triceps all of the normal areas that typically take years to bring up, which I feel the most amount of growth comes from the mind muscle connection.

I say all of this because the other day I had the best bicep workout I’ve ever had in my entire life. I was actually able to get a pump in my non-dominant left bicep and was able to create that mind muscle connection throughout the entire contraction and release. I’ve never had this kind of blood flow my muscles before specifically in a non-dominant muscle. I’ve always just lifted the lift and was focused more on the numbers then I was actually being focused on the muscles that I was supposed to be working on and I feel this is something that I’ve cut myself short on and have a lot of work and ground to cover when it comes to lifting. This is all a learning experience.

Today was leg day and I practiced the exact same mind muscle connection and had the best pump in my hamstrings quads and calves that I’ve ever had in any workout I’ve ever done for legs. This is definitely something new and something good and I feel it will be extremely beneficial to further muscle growth and actually making the work out worthwhile.

P.S. I did all of this with speech to text on my iPhone on the drive home so sorry if this is severely fucked up and doesn’t make any sense grammar wise. I did not proofread what Siri thinks I said.

[Preston]

296.3 even after a trip to Arizona to pick up my wife and daughter. Ended up going to a gym called Mountanside Fitness and overall it was a very nice gym with good equipment and some new equipment I’ve never used. Ended up eating sushi (nigiri) a few times, adjusted macros accordingly. Mainly sashimi so not much rice.

[Bean]

I know I would have come back heavier... I would have been smashing carne asada tacos and burritos the whole time. Good job with the weight brother

[Preston]

I know I would have come back heavier... I would have been smashing carne asada tacos and burritos the whole time. Good job with the weight brother

Bruh that’s usually my whole life story on every vacation. I’m too far invested to fuck this up. Lol literally and figuratively.

[Bean]

Bruh that’s usually my whole life story on every vacation. I’m too far invested to fuck this up. Lol literally and figuratively.

Im headed to Cancun this weekend and I have already decided I am going to eat and drink like an asshole...ill kick back into clean eating when I get back. But I will lift every day Im down there. Always do and it helps me feel better about being a glutinous pig for a few days

[Preston]

Im headed to Cancun this weekend and I have already decided I am going to eat and drink like an asshole...ill kick back into clean eating when I get back. But I will lift every day Im down there. Always do and it helps me feel better about being a glutinous pig for a few days

Careful bro. Tourists spots aren’t safe havens anymore.

[Bean]

Careful bro. Tourists spots aren’t safe havens anymore.

I am hard to kidnap( they would probably look at me and choose someone else) and if I get poisoned while drinking a tasty drink in the pool with beautiful senoritas next to me... oh well, it has been a fun ride.

[Cellardweller]

I’m too far invested to fuck this up. Lol literally and figuratively.

This is strength. Stick to your guns. I’ve been slacking in the diet department. Time to turn this around. Summer isn’t an excuse.

[Preston]

I’ve been adding more and more fibrous greens to my diet and my body has seriously thanked me. I feel a lot better in the digestion department for sure. Weight is still dropping each day, around a constant 1.5-2.0lb a week. I did train legs the other day and it took me three total days to recover from that session. I’ve added creatine back to my regimen and that has helped a lot with not feeling like I’m broken for 3-4 days after a training session.

[Altered Beast]

Where have you been hiding???

[Preston]

Where have you been hiding???

I've been slammed with some family stuff on my wife's side (grandparent not doing the best, somewhat of a "patriarch of the family" if you will). Training is going GREAT! Ever since listening to that podcast on mind-muscle connection its completely changed my workouts and has greatly increased the effectiveness of my training. I've been really focused on not fucking up my shoulder that way I don't ruin all this work. I can visually "see" changes in my muscles which is awesome. I guess muscle memory is a real thing? lol

[Altered Beast]

I've been slammed with some family stuff on my wife's side (grandparent not doing the best, somewhat of a "patriarch of the family" if you will). Training is going GREAT! Ever since listening to that podcast on mind-muscle connection its completely changed my workouts and has greatly increased the effectiveness of my training. I've been really focused on not fucking up my shoulder that way I don't ruin all this work. I can visually "see" changes in my muscles which is awesome. I guess muscle memory is a real thing? lol

Sorry to hear about the grandpa! Glad to hear you're doing well otherwise.

Yes I've learned myself that I have to control the rep and squeezing the muscle each rep is absolutely key! Mind muscle connection for sure.

[Preston]

Weight drop per 6-7 days is slowing down but I honestly (and I know a lot will throw shade at this) feel this is due to building lean muscle mass. I'll see a loss of ~2lbs and will hover around that for a few days and then lost .5-.8 and will keep bouncing up and down. Now I'm sticking around a number for a few days (3-4) and then on the fifth day finally dropping underneath that number. I'd like to think in a perfect world this is fat loss and I'm gaining muscle (because that's what I see) but I know unless other things are at play this is very hard to achieve.

Either way I feel good - and I've adjusted my workouts to "work" better for the family. I've shifted my days to :

S - hour cardio session + accessory work
M - Back
T - Shoulders
W - Off
T - Arms
F - Legs
S - Chest

This spread seems to help CNS recovery (for me) as well as significantly reduce the time it takes for me to train. I'll get in 25 minutes of cardio (130 heart rate solid for 25 minutes) and will hop into my workout which doesn't take me more than 45 minutes. In and out in around 75 minutes....I'll take it. Prior workouts were taking as long as 2-1/2 hours simply because I was training a compound movement with accessory movements and was performing 2 warm-up sets and then 3-4 working sets at 8-12 reps. It took forever to finish. The workouts were great, but ever since the mind-muscle connection light bulb I haven't needed to lift as much to achieve the same hypertrophy results.

Wrote all this ^ and didn't even post a weigh in. lol smfh

295.00

[Bean]

Looking solid brother

[spartan300]

Weight drop per 6-7 days is slowing down but I honestly (and I know a lot will throw shade at this) feel this is due to building lean muscle mass. I'll see a loss of ~2lbs and will hover around that for a few days and then lost .5-.8 and will keep bouncing up and down. Now I'm sticking around a number for a few days (3-4) and then on the fifth day finally dropping underneath that number. I'd like to think in a perfect world this is fat loss and I'm gaining muscle (because that's what I see) but I know unless other things are at play this is very hard to achieve.

Either way I feel good - and I've adjusted my workouts to "work" better for the family. I've shifted my days to :

S - hour cardio session + accessory work
M - Back
T - Shoulders
W - Off
T - Arms
F - Legs
S - Chest

This spread seems to help CNS recovery (for me) as well as significantly reduce the time it takes for me to train. I'll get in 25 minutes of cardio (130 heart rate solid for 25 minutes) and will hop into my workout which doesn't take me more than 45 minutes. In and out in around 75 minutes....I'll take it. Prior workouts were taking as long as 2-1/2 hours simply because I was training a compound movement with accessory movements and was performing 2 warm-up sets and then 3-4 working sets at 8-12 reps. It took forever to finish. The workouts were great, but ever since the mind-muscle connection light bulb I haven't needed to lift as much to achieve the same hypertrophy results.

Wrote all this ^ and didn't even post a weigh in. lol smfh

295.00

Love the split!

[Preston]

Been out due to a death in the family, did my best to eat clean and due to the circumstances I’m seeing some excess water weight (thanks carbs, ya dick). I figure 2/3 days and I’ll be back to 295 and cruising I will say I saw more veins NOT being so strict with my diet.

Will grind hard until next Thursday then it’s back out to AZ to pick up the girls and come home....for a while if I have anything to say about it.

[Preston]

Been out due to a death in the family, did my best to eat clean and due to the circumstances I’m seeing some excess water weight (thanks carbs, ya dick). I figure 2/3 days and I’ll be back to 295 and cruising I will say I saw more veins NOT being so strict with my diet.

Will grind hard until next Thursday then it’s back out to AZ to pick up the girls and come home....for a while if I have anything to say about it.

Well good news is I got home finally and my scale says I’m down 2lbs so 293. Now I’m thoroughly confused lol

I’m going with the 293.

[Bean]

if your scale says 293..go with it because "your" scale never lies. Just those other scales that want to act like fucksticks and put higher numbers up when I step on them.

[Altered Beast]

Well good news is I got home finally and my scale says I’m down 2lbs so 293. Now I’m thoroughly confused lol

I’m going with the 293.

We have tile/rock in our master bath and since they're not normally shaped, you have to put the scale in the exact right spot or it's +/- 5 pounds, LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!