Yep, I was just leering at a video of RoG squatting over in GD the other day myself.

My wife told me just the other day how much she gets turned on when watching me deadlift/lift heavy. But we met on fitness singles . com so maybe she's an anomaly.

My girlfriend is the same way. We met at a bar.

You're repeating things I said and/or agreed with...

1.  It'd pretty much be impossible to "work hard" without a solid mind/muscle connection.  
2.  Yes, I dismissed eating breakfast because I'm not going to try something again just because someone else says it.  I tried it, it makes no positive difference.
3.  I know.  That's kind of the point of this thread; reaffirming my sanity because of how hard doing both is.

Anywho, it's been about 2 weeks on this new super low rep split.  Diet is still floating 2k-2500.  I see/feel a difference.  We'll see how long it lasts, but maybe my body needed something different to shock it.  This low rep stuff is brand new to me.  Mentally it does so much putting up more weight than normal.

You guys have to realize that I'm not dismissing the things being said; I'm playing devils advocate and/or "been there tried that".  I didn't necessarily start this thread looking for advice, I made it to make sure I'm not completely insane

Edit - Whoever said carbs are good.... They're awesome.  I had a piece of cake last night for wife's bday.  I did OHP afterwards and felt like I could throw the bar through the fucking ceiling

Lets start with this.

Your wrong. You can work hard without a mind muscle connection but you will not see the same results.

Again, you maybe doing everything right but that statement leads me to believe that you dont understand what the mind/muscle connection is.

Without it you can workout for years and just see mediocre results.

I dont think I can explain it properly. Not that its very complex, i just dont think Im the best person to explain it.

My 2 cents is that you're eating too much.

I'm 5'11, and at the beginning of last summer I was up to 265. I cut all the way down to 162 by April of this year, doing a clean version of keto and mild weight lifting 4 times a week, and 20-25min of HIIT cardio 2-3 times a week. I started lifting heavier and more often in April, and am up to 170 now, and my body composition is much better than it was in April.

You need to be meticulous and account for everything. There is a BBC show called Secret Eaters where people claim to eat X number of calories a day, but when followed around in secret by cameras, they are really eating 2 or 3X. It's on YouTube -- it may be worth watching a few episodes to see if any of their habits seem familiar.

Don't take this as judgmental -- just take it for what it is -- the numbers simply do not add up. I got really meticulous (borderline obsessed? haha) with it and logged very accurately, and everything tracked as expected. My roommate at the time tried getting in shape at the same time, and failed. We both used MFP, and his diary never lined up with what he actually ate.

What is your goal here? To get stronger, or to get lean? If you want to get lean, based on my research and experience, I'd suggest a keto diet that is as close to paleo as you can get. Diet is super important, in both quantity and quality. As others have said, you aren't going to outwork a bad diet.