It has been a very long time - at least a couple of years - since I have even attempted regular squats.  I call them "regular squats" because I have been forced to use a smith machine for a very long time due to my back injuries.  Keep in mind that I am not one of "those guys" that bullshits and makes excuses for why he can't squat.  I LOVE to squat and wish I could do it all the time.  My back simply cannot take it (usually) and even when I came back to regular squats a couple years ago, it was short-lived because I popped my back coming out of the hole.  It ended up not being one of my worst injuries but it was still bad enough to make me re-evaluate doing them.  What it comes down to most of the time is that the gamble isn't worth the potential consequence. 

I have never once injured my back in the smith machine because there is very little room for variance during the ROM.  I am able to get quite deep in the smith so hitting my quads is easy and I use this exercise as much as I can but my hips, glutes and other stabilizers have missed out on the work because of not being able to squat out of the rack.  

I didn't get too terribly heavy but heavy enough that my quads and glutes were getting hit pretty hard and the reps were smooth/fluid.  I felt good about the control and my glutes are sore as hell today.  This is actually the 2nd time I have done them, though.  I did them last week at the end of my leg session with light weights to kind of just see how they would feel and they felt so good I decided to put them in this week closer to the front of the workout sequence and they felt great.  My back felt great and even the day after, no stiffness - and I did not use my belt, either.   The plan is to keep them in the rotation as much as possible and see if my back can hold up.

Weight is back to baseline today on Friday so it is very possible that it will drop below 206 after 1.5 day load last weekend.  I plan to go to a 2 day load this weekend if I get below baseline but... I will admit that I am not looking forward to it.  I don't like all of the food and all of the eating for that long.  I don't stuff myself but I still have to be sure I am getting enough food or I will waste my time.  I don't like the distention during the load for that long.  I like my waist being small like it is during the week.  I guess I secretly hope that I don't get below baseline by tomorrow morning so that I can just load for 1 day or at most, start the load at bedtime on Saturday and do all day Sunday.

If I wasn 't growing and having things progress so well right now I would just cut the load to Sunday only or even to 9 or 10 hours on Sunday but I just cannot pass on the growth I am getting right now.  

Changes I saw this this week:

Legs are fuller/larger and they are stronger, along with more detail.  They don't look anywhere near as flat yet I am still doing the same amount of cardio (10 sessions a week) and on restricted calories but the detail is obvious just from a week or two ago.

Scale weight is about the same though I do anticipate that I will drop below 206 tomorrow morning.  Even if I don't. I am slightly leaner while fuller with more detail in my legs.  

My upper body strength is up, as well.  Bench is as high as it is in the off season at roughly 20 more pounds of scale weight.  Not only that but the reps are smooth and controlled.  Most of you reading this know what it is like to add weight to the bar and then you might get the reps but they feel like they are all over the place or it just FEELS heavy.  That is not what is going on.  The weight feels great, reps are fluid, joints don't hurt, etc..  This is usually how I would feel mid-cycle with a scale weight at least 20 pounds heavier, if not more, yet I am still maintaining TRT dosing.  I hate to sound like a broken record but this is absolutely all related to the Supercompensation Glycogen Storage Compound.  I have this odd feeling that I am accidentally putting together a program where you can get lean and burn body fat during the week and then build muscle in about a 24-48 hour period on the weekend with the use of the SCGC mentioned above and the ONLY other thing I am using is TRT dosing for testosterone scripted by my Doctor.  He will also script GH for me but I haven't done that yet because I am buying a house and it is not terribly cheap.  I can only imagine the results after adding the scripted gh to the plan.

Plan for this next week?  Not sure yet but I will figure it out this weekend.  Right now I am on a week-by-week basis because I did not at all expect to be growing right now, so, on the one hand I like growing but on the other I want to keep getting leaner.  I am likely to just stay with the plan and get slightly leaner week to week but allow myself to grow as long as my body wants to grow.  I will stick with the plan to load for 2 days if I do get below baseline because I am too curious what will happen next week after a 2 week load.  Hell, I might do the 2 week load even if I ONLY baseline and don't drop below.  The reason is because visually I am leaner than last week right now AT baseline so if I can grow again next week even if the scale weight is the same right now, I am good with that.

I will be detailing all of this in the TRT Bodybuilding: Longevity 2 DVD.  Count on it.