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Messages - entropy

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61
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Age vs Vertical
« on: August 13, 2014, 10:55:52 pm »
In the first case, the 85kg 15% guy became 20%bf with 18kg of fat, so he is 90kg. So his added weight was 100% fat?
In the second case, an 75kg-10% guy bulked 10kg and MAYBE 5kg of them was not fat?

You got it. In my experience you can gain a lot of strength in that bulk from higher bodyfat 85 to 90 but very little muscle mass to show for it. Your muscles will fill up though and look a lot bigger, from carbs and fats and having a decent pump from using a higher volume regularly. Plus getting stronger, psychologically feeling good about yourself - it's very easy to believe you've put on serious mass. But cutting down you'll  find there isn't really much changed except your fattiness. Maybe you put on half a kilo of actual muscle if you're lucky. The whole thing comes down to being anabolic for that long, makes recovery go well and you can get stronger easier than if you were trying to cut bodyweight or maintain it.

This comes back to another thing i was thinking about. Suppose i'm 10% bf or less. And i wanna get stronger without putting on much bodyweightt. If  I eat a decent amount of carbs  around training so the majority of my caloric surplus is coming from carbs, I won't really get much fatter because (body will burn carbs preferentially than ever store them as bodyfat - it will store dietary fat instead lol so keep that real low which is hard on a dutty bulk!). Though I haven't tried it, it makes a lot of sense that carbs would allow you to circumvent the usual fatfucking that happens when you eat a lot while trying to push strength up significantly. The catch is, if you're doing this at a higher bodyfat, with poor insulin sensititivity your fat storage sky rockets.  Doing it lean with low bodyfat means excellent insulin sensitivity - now you can use those carbs without the excessive fat storage.

But all of this hinges on being able to be disciplined about your eating and training, something you can't take for granted.

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Also, i did not cut from 90 to 85, i cut from 92 to 82 and that does make a huge difference.

It makes no differnce because unless you're starting from that baseline 7-9kg of bodyfat, that number will just go up with any bulk and if you're starting from   say 16kg and go up to 20kg then forget athletic gains (the only exception is if you are a chris hickson and end up pulling 800 as a 260lb and somehow make up for the huge gains in bw with huge really huge gains of strength).

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Also, you are not 15%, you cut from ~95 to ~75, you log that you have a six-pack and visible veins in your abs.
For god's shake, get your numbers stairght!!!

I may be closer to 10% bodyfat when i cut to 75kg than i am around 77-78kg atm, which cud be anywhere from 12% to 15%. I'd be safe and say 15% unless proven otherwise but eiiither way i'm cutting to 75kg and less eventually regardless of unreliable estimates. It's looking more and more likely i need to get to 72kg to be at my athletic bodyfat level of ~7kg.

62
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Age vs Vertical
« on: August 13, 2014, 07:01:50 am »
So for athleticism, the thing is - go to a lower than "optimal" bodyfat (say 7-8%) and then bulk up and you'll end up an athletic 10-11%.

That's a bit abstract and most people will misunderstand what it really means. Lets make it more concrete by talking real numbers of fat mass and lean mass.  Consider 3 people at 10% bodyfat. At 70kg you have 7kg of bodyfat. At 80kg you have 8kg of bodyfat. At 90kg you have 9kg of bodyfat. These 3 guys have pretty much the same amount of bodyfat, going up 1kg when you order them. So what this means is you have very little room to manouvre when it comes to how much bodyfat you can carry while remaining close to your baseline athletic amount (7-9kg).

Starting a bulk at 85kg means now your bodyfat goes up from ~13kg (~15%) to  18kg (~20%). Now you have 10kg more bodyfat than your athletic bodfat amount shud be. Oops. Good luck cutting 10kg off, which wins you not much.

In contrast suppose you cut to 75kg and now have a bodyfat of 7.5kg. You bulk up 10kg, maybe gain 5kg of lean mass (not muscle either, just lean mass which is water etc). So now you have a total fat weight of 12.5kg - which is not a lot but it's manageable, you can cut that down to the baseline of 7-9kg without toooo much trouble. The net effect is you're a muscular 80-82kg (vag's goal) now. Hopefully kinda strong as well.

63
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Age vs Vertical
« on: August 13, 2014, 05:28:34 am »
Plus, it depends what vag means by being on the heavier side.

If he means being at 85 kg with 9% bodyfat, then I'm 100% with him.
If he means being at 85 kg with 18% bodyfat, then why the heck would you want to be there? Just so you say "I'm heavier and harder to push around and a Mark Rippetoe prototype MAN"?

Yeah. Consider this, vag started from 90kg. Has cut to 85kg (i know he's currently low 80s but that's not important for this argument). Is he now athletic at 85kg? Is he lean? Nope. So suppose he bulks from 85kg up to 90kg - he gains some strength and he thinks some muscle. But since he started above 15% now he's would being in the 20%s again. So he cuts back to 85kg and is he suddenly 10%? Nope. So that's the problem with cutting down to a bodyweight that isn't quite lean - it means any bulks will go inefficiently from there and you're effectively just spinning wheels.

But consider vag instead cuts to a legit 10% - maybe for him that means having a bodyweight of 75kg. He bulks up to 85kg. Now he's not lean anymore but, he's definitely holding MORE muscle mass at 85kg than he was cutting from 90kg (even if he'd bulked to 90kg from having cut to 85kg first).

64
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Age vs Vertical
« on: August 13, 2014, 05:05:08 am »
I kinda grappled with these issues lately and have decided it's much better long term to get to and be that featherweight 72kg who is carrying the minimal amount of adipose than always being some fat 80-100kg dude who isn't athletic nor strong and will never be either starting a bulk from there.

The wardrobe issue is a fair one but you can just wear a belt for a while til your bodyweight has stabilised at an athletic bodyweight some time later and you're able to commit to a new wardrobe. I sure as hell am not buying clothes while cutting down to 72kg, nor while bulking up from there until im at a reasonable bodyweight (maybe 75-80kg?). Idk.

Besides, wouldn't you rather be crossing over fools and doing windmills at 72kg than being some unathletic 80kg forward? Im done playing basketball as a shitty unathletic dude, wanna be good even if it means being super lightweight. I'd rather be a guard who is tall and strong for his bodyweight than a weak forward for his bw. Can't really compete with a build forward who has 20-30kg on me anyway, so why fight it just being slow and unfit.. it doesn't make sense. Plus will interesting for gains of muscle mass and strenght to end bulks at 77kg rather than start them at 87kg lol.

65
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: August 12, 2014, 06:11:40 am »
That's true, I guess I'm just doubting the gains versus potential injury. That's like doing plyos with weight. And I don't see why the body won't adjust back quickly after you remove the weight since most of your day you'll be normal weight then for a small period you'll be heavier. Idk, Im probably over thinking :)

The whole time i was thinking of myself actually while you're probably thinking of someone more generic? That's funny. But consider it from my POV. I'm tall but very light, what would i have to loose from using a weighted vest of 20-30kg when i weigh 70kg/155lb?   That means a top end weight of 100kg/220lb - something i've done naturally (dunked in january with a 96kg morning bw naked, and close to 100kg with clothes and food in the PM). So that's where im coming from. And it's not like i'd suddenly put on 20kg one day, i'd build up to it, 2kg or so a week over a period of 6 months or so.

I don't like a weight vest for quad dominant people. If you're quad dominant and you add a weight vest, you're going to be even MORE quad dominant in my experience. Due to that additional weight, you're going to push off using your strongest muscles even more => even more knee bend and quad overload.

i'm not talking about anyone else but for myself. im not quad dominant at all. now what? lol.

66
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: August 12, 2014, 01:04:19 am »
The idea is to grow muscle and acquire strength, though, not to temporarily  increase performance which happens when you do the exercise. The latter isn't much use but the former will stick around.  You can use that new muscle and strength all the time. 

67
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / chasing athleticism -- W3D1
« on: August 12, 2014, 12:05:51 am »
Yeah i dont mean for using it as a potetentiating tool. By the way i wouldnt do what you did, go from weighted to unweighted, that's supposed to be dangerous for tendons. I would train it as a proper 'lift', add weight, program it, etc. And when i've reached my goal (say 5x100kg smooth/powerful dunks) i'd maintain that and just hit that set 1x a week to keep the gains. The idea is to build muscle/strength not to potentiate..

BW: 77.95kg/171.85lb

Training
FBS 2x100
FS 1x112.5, 0Fx119.5
BP 2x80, 0Fx88.5, 3x78.5, 3x77.5, 5x75

Squat notes:
Haven't recovered well from saturday dunk sesh. Regretting that now. Only positive was I managed to avoid re-injuring my back by avoiding heavy backsquats. I thought i got owned by the FS max single but i actually got it up to half-squat depth pretty quickly and easily, just didn't lock it out, though during the rep i felt completely defeated from fried hips. Will give squats another crack next session, decided to end it there to avoid burning out and ruining my chances of a successful 2nd squat session later in the week.

Feeling quite weak. Hopefully that was my last training sesh done fasted/carb depleted/fatigued.  Next training sesh will coincide with a carb reload, which might even mean a poor session actually but subsequent sessions shud be good considering i'll be eating at maintenance calories for bodyweight. 2 days of rest to come and final training sesh of the week on friday, hopefully at a bodyweight ≤ 77kg.

68
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: August 11, 2014, 11:27:13 pm »
Nope vag, i dont feel as i am even close to as fast and powerful like you said in that feb video. It's true that in jan at 96kg bodyweight i was very slow and lumbering, having neither movement efficiency or basic athleticism from being so heavy.   But at 90kg in feb i was quick, explosive and had movement efficiency despite my bodyweight (by the way my lifts were mediocre by then!). Now at 78kg things are a lot easier of course but i still havent got movement efficiency. so will be interesting to see when i can get all the ducks in a row - here are things i can improve on, off the top of my head:

1. low bodyfat (currently still 15% - need to be 10% or less)
2. no movement efficiency (havent been practicing dunking regularly, first time in many months)
3. shoes are size 14 (2 sizes too big, waiting for my eastbay shipment of 12s)
4. weak as fuck (cutting for several months will do that,  need to get my lifts back to a minimum casual/repeatable 130kg/140kg fs/bs warmup)
5. am carb depleted (from keto diet) as well as fasted (daily fastiing of 24hrs in place) - maybe perform better well fed, carbed up

So that's why i'm not too fussed about my current form on the jumping. I can experiment with dipping more etc later on, right not that's not a priority when there are a lot of other things probably more important to focus on first!

Also Raptor, That's not really gonna do all that much tho. Lots of skinny/light guys who never become big powerful leapers by dunking all day as lightweights.  I think you have to treat it as a strength exercise. Put on a weighted vest. Add a kilo or two a week, eat like you're serious about getting strong and see what happens. Do sets of 5-6 with  SVJ and drop step RVJs and focus on being explosive/powerful.

I would love to try this out btw. I imagine when i finish my cut at a lean 72kg/158lb and use a weighted vest to work my way up to dunking at a total weight of 100kg/220lb i'll be a beast at bodyweight dunking. Has anyone actually done this experiment? I'm considering dropping the money on 20-30kg worth of a weighted vest lol.

Chris, i'll have another video up when i reach my next milestone of 77kg/169lb  bodyweight in a coupla days (hopefully before saturday when i finish this cut cycle).

69
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: August 11, 2014, 02:08:07 am »
death to the tall. seriously, though, getting up pretty good there, man. looking smooth.
Looks v good indeed. A fair bit quicker than what I remember from your last video.
Well done.
No surprise, but you are looking a hell of a lot faster and smoother at this lower BW. Nice!
2 handers with ease.
Thanks guys. If the last vid was the one where i was outdoors while weighing 96kg then yup. If it was the one from feb when i was around 90kg, then nope, i was a lot smoother/faster there, maybe from movement efficiency from dunking semi regularly. Right now this is the first time i've put on my bbball shoes since like march or something so movement efficiency is not quite there yet. The only reason im looking kinda smooth (compared to when 96kg) is because i'm almost 20kg lighter lol.

Hopefully with another 5-6kg bodyweight drop, practice and movement efficiency and some baseline strength (130kg fs and 140kg bs) i'll improve considerably.

Why don't you try some deeper plants and see what happens?

you mean how much chest dip? i just dont need much right now, the lighter i get, the less dip i need. am not thinking about my form at all while approaching  the rim

70
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: August 10, 2014, 11:27:41 pm »
loats of dunks done saturday. now have sore hip flexors and glutes.. interesting. similar soreness from what i get from backsquats..

5 mo days to go.. almost there, but im waking up during the night hungry which is not good. kinda my fault though, i had 3 eggs instead of a cup of chicken last night, not enuf pro. have to prepare better cause i need the protein now more than ever

71
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Two Hands Two Feet
« on: August 10, 2014, 11:25:19 pm »
Nice pulls bro. Get that up to 5x180 and then 5x200  and you'll be a beast!

72
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: August 08, 2014, 08:42:18 am »
It used to be alright but the cost of shipping kills it.

Missed out on that, this is my first atttempt with them

Really just depends on the training environment. For instance, when I first started aths training last summer I only had long tights. Being around 35degC average when I was training, long tights were just way too hot and I got a pair of compression shorts pretty soon after joining. If you're only training indoors or in a cool climate then full length are probably better than shorts, but they're so cheap on Eastbay it doesn't hurt to throw a short pair in as well.

thanks that helps. i went with 2 pairs of longs and one top. I figure im only going to use the top for basketball which i'll play 1x a week so that shud be enuf. With pants i'll prob be using one for lifting/running/etc and one for games, so that shud be enough for now. in future/summer i might try shorts too but dont need them for now.

My worst buy was a pair of t-macs for the same reason a few years back. Needed a pair urgently and they were cheap. They were also bricks and I'm surprised I could even get off the floor in them.

lol, paragraph to come will be fitting. i ordered a different pair of shoes, NIKE AIR VISI PRO IV. actually i bought the pair from local sports store first, they cost $100.  I went to 4 stores total. Then saw them on eastbay for $55. so im gonna try return them tmr, that's almost 2x as much, and i can get all the tights stuff for free pretty much. had an epiphany that im probably best suited just wearing 12s instead of finding the elusive 12.5 (non existent in australia pretty much, half sizes end at 11.5). it's ridiculous how much better i move in a pair of 13s (i own but never wear) compared to  the 14s i always use. my footwork is so much better, i can actually play the post bc it feels so much more natural backing up. now im imagining how good it will be to play in 12s. have to wear thin socks but thats cool.

man that makes me want to get some hyperdunks. they look awesome.

they sure do. i'd love to get a pair but i'd like to try them out for size first. let us know how you find them if you get a pair. also are you get lows? 

73
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: August 08, 2014, 12:01:39 am »
Ok WA it is.
If they've got them try the outlet stores. Otherwise Foot Locker is ridiculously expensive.

i'll see. it's usually a waste of time to go shops, they never have half sizes, and the range is so limited anyways, ive bought on some bad impulse decisions just because it was teh best available choice. Like my current pair of bball shoes are size 14. Im not a 14. But that's all i cud find at the time and i needed a pair :/

74
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: August 07, 2014, 11:58:47 pm »
Shipping to Australia with Eastbay sucks huh. You need the 20% off deals just to make it feasible! My advice is get medium size tights instead of large. Unless you already have a pair of the large Eastbay ones and know what they're like, they're not that compressive. I recently got two small pairs and they fit fine for me with a 30'' waist even though it recommends 26-28'' (and I have bigger than average legs). You want them to be tight after all, nothing worse than loose tights.

Good tip, thanks for that. I'll get Ms. I have never worn tights before, kinda excited to try them out. I cuda got my eastbay order sent to my coz place in LA but i didn't think of it then, oh well. It's extortive how much they charge for shipping...

btw acole how do you compare compression shorts vs um full length tights? any point getting shorts at all when you can get the full ones?

75
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: August 07, 2014, 11:48:54 pm »
I tried on nike frees in 12s while i was in teh states and they were really tight. 13s were loose. Go figure. Im guessing that rules out the hyperdunks for me. But i've had this idea that maybe i shud be wearing 12s with really thin socks, that might work. May try your suggestion of going to my local footlocker and seeing. WA btw.

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