Oof, 8 days since my last post. That somewhat summarizes how things have felt.

The good is that I hit another pound down to make 26 down since Christmas, 14 to go (potentially slightly more, but 220 is the rough target). Only recent PR is 20 pounds on front squat.

The rest is - well, I've tried moving some programming things around but i think I'm at the point where my current scheme is just flat out not going to work on that hard of a cut as I'm averaging close to 10 pounds a month (234 now vs 260 at Christmas).

I want to avoid a novel, so quite simply I think I'm going to default to something thats 80% similar to my old instinctual "routine" and 20% using the stuff I learned following actual programs for the last 3 months for these last 14 pounds. Translation, which will probably sound vulgar , but after this week I'll default to my old chest day - leg day - back day routine.

That was mostly inspired by a common pattern in trying to make the 4 day programming pattern of main lift - different main lift variant - accessories work. To use this Monday/Tuesday as an example, I did bench/front squat and deadlift/strict press. Even with incredibly mercifully low front squat volume, I don't feel like I was recovering quickly enough to feel remotely decent on deadlifts. It made for an awful session, which felt like no matter how much I tried to repeat perfect form and stay in the zone, my body would default to "Ohhh man these legs are not recovered, let's spare him from utilizing them and make sure he's almost exclusively using his back and trick him out of his hinge so legs feel out of the equation." It wasn't pretty.

I will try keeping 4 days for a little longer though, roughly making the 4th a "fun" day to practice some of the variants I learned to love. Said I'd skip a novel and it's getting close, so I'll save the additional thoughts on the switch for another time. Hope that didn't sound too dismal - really, the bad workouts are tough but nothing can really beat the high of dropping that much weight. Cheers :)