I'm on a mission from Arnold. in Whey and Sonic Screwdrivers.

I’m apparently five weeks into my bulk. I didn’t even know it had been five weeks until I looked over my sheet. Good to check your sheet now and then. This is my deadlift progression:

In my head, I’m in cycle two. Which. I am. But, cycle two makes it sound like a small unit of time.

Which it is.

But it’s the protracted nature of wave periodization that makes it decidedly Not For Beginners, and Not For The Noncommited.

I still handwave Oh, I’m not a bro. I downplay Oh, I’m not a powerlifter.

Cuz. I’m neither. I’m just a guy.

A guy who is going to math the shite out of this.

Do you have any fucking idea what the shift from cut to bulk is after dropping forty pounds? I went from slogging daily. Accepting depressive moods. Accepting shitty sleep. Accepting hunger. Accepting missed lifts. Accepting my weiner functioning below established parameters.

Guys.

Ladies.

Food is feels like fucking steroids.

One of the things you pick up in the Lifting Community™ is, well. Have you tried dialing in your sleep and food?

Oh, I’ve bulked before. Did that two years ago, and food definitely helped dissipate fatigue.

But the shift from cut to bulk is night and day. Consider my last deadlift set today.

It’s not a PR. But. It’s more than how it looked. It’s how it felt.

It felt light.

How the bar feels isn’t everything. But wisely starting two cycles back? Working back up through weights I’ve hit before? I’m not just grinding through the last set to mark it in my log.

I’m controlling the weight. I’m mastering the weight. I’m taking that weight over my knee and making it call me Master Gandalf.

Cuz nO dAdDy sHiTe. ; )

But yeah.

I may be selling myself short in terms of long-term projections. Obviously I’m gunning for four plates. My best pull this year was 375 lbs. Which, I almost got on a lark, using similar progression to what I’m using now. I only need a mere 30 lbs to get 405 lbs.

It’s the strength of my basework that makes me optimistic. Top end sets require a touch of technique precision. But if the basework is almost easy like this for the next few cycles?

Much like our economic system, I believe in Trickle Up Gainz. If the lower and middle class of weight is solid, the upper class only benefits.

I’m not stopping at 405. That’s a stone’s throw away from 200 kg, or 444 lbs. Which is close to 455 lbs. Which is close to 495 lbs. Which is a pebble away from 500 lbs.

Top end strength is weird, trust me.

I wanted to jump the weight today. I did. But I didn’t.

That’s the patience I’ll need.

Look, I haven’t been in the mood to write. Life is mundane and routine, except for maybe making a lifetime friend off Fetlife that might beat the story of Wifenado. Ex-Wifenado? Exnaydo? Whatever. Routine is good, of course. I’m generally in good spirits after deadlifting. Difficult to pick myself up. But I can surely indeedily-do pick up inanimate objects.

So, here’s your proof that I have a case of the not-deadz. Ha. Ironic ending.