I was tired, tired, tired by the end of the day yesterday. It represented the last of 5's for the current training cycle, and while I sometimes practice other lifts on variety/off days, today I'm doing nothing but a bit of walking. I treated myself to a homemade Irish Coffee last night after dinner and slept like a log.
My bodyweight this morning was a hefty, for me, 154 lbs. or 70 kg. I have, without a doubt, added a small amount of meat to my bones over the last 4 weeks, and I'm not complaining. It just means I'll have to be a little lower in bodyfat to make weight for my next meet and that's never a bad thing.
I don't think people realize that muscle growth, the much-vaunted "hypertrophy", can occur over a period of a few days of the right combination of exercise, eating, and rest. For me, the holidays were just such a time, and now that they're over, I'll be focusing on not getting to any more than 154 for the next 8 weeks, and perhaps starting to drop back a pound or two - 152 is about right for me to make 148-3/4 lbs. for a meet on fairly short notice since most of that can be accomplished easily with a quick dehydrate, followed by the weigh-in, followed by a nice, big, salty meal with a lot to drink.
Cycles of gaining as little as 2 pounds then dropping back to the same weight usually result in small amounts of muscle gained and fat lost if your exercise and rest are correct. One can decide to put on 20 lbs. while doing 20-rep squats - but why? A lifetime of small, easy to accomplish, positive changes in body composition is just what the doctor ordered to fight the effects of a sedentary lifestyle and aging.
Onward and Upward.
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