Author Topic: chasing athleticism  (Read 923642 times)

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entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #570 on: December 24, 2012, 12:04:54 am »
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sick, you're 6'3 i'm 5'8 and i weigh 10 lb more than you... that's how fat i am...  i dunno if i should cut or maintain and go for more strength (maybe hit 385 full squat) before cutting.  i guess cutting doesn't mean i can't still gain strength.

ha yeah its freaky. if i were you, i'd put weight gain on hold, try to maintain or slightly reduce your bodyweight (so say a 10% deficit). And keep pushing your lifts up til you reach your desired milestone. Whether it's 330, 350 or 385, whichever one can get to without stalling hard. Then start the cut for real. Going from a bulk straight into a cut is a mind-fuck because you get so used to easy PRs and then they become just that much harder and rarer on a cut so it's hard to deal with psychologically unless you've been accustomed to training under maintenance or a slight deficit first.

So diet wise go to caloric maintenance -> slight deficit -> moderate deficit. Training try to push your lifts up for as long as you can, then go to maintenance when PRs vanish and it becomes a struggle to make new ground without risking form and injury.
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #571 on: December 24, 2012, 01:58:49 am »
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Training
FS 5x101 (PR), 5x97
BS 3x90, 2x100, 5x102.5, 6x100, 6x97.5
BSS 2x6x50 (PR), 6x50 (R leg), 7x50 (R leg, PR)

BP 6x76, 6x74.5, 6x72.5, 5x70 (WG), 5x67.5, 5x65

BW: 76.8kg/169.31lb (PR)

FS notes:
I tried this new thing - front squats are exhausting on upper back, obviously. But what I was finding is when sets go on for ages, you get really fatigued just from standing there with a bar. So I tried to get thru the set quicker. It worked, was easier. But I found my form was breaking down a bit from having to rush thru the reps. So i think there is a sweet spot where you do it just quick enough, but not too quick so that form is good and excess fatigue does not occur. Good discovery.

BS notes:
In warmups with 90kg: SHIT secret unlocked! Basically at the bottom of the bs - i shud let my hips psuh me down, kinda liek what happens in front squats. I wasn't doing this til now, but having done it ive noticed it gives me that extra depth which I was missing in BS. LBSS might be happier now with my depth i think.

I wanted 6 reps of 102.5 but got 5. Would have got an ugly 6th (form on 5th was breaking down) so didn't bother. Next time 102.5x6 and hopefully 105x5 as well? Maybe we'll see.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdl7cj_f70w" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdl7cj_f70w</a>


BSS notes:
I tried using my lifting shoes for these - big mistake, was very unstable and wobbly on the bench leg. L leg is beasting, finding all the weights easy, even with brief rests following R leg worksets. For weak R leg I did 2x volume of L leg again. Not sure if I wanna keep up this R skewed training but like i've said before, R leg doesn't mind, it's L which gets the doms .. which makes no sense but that's what we have yup. Oh wait, maybe it does make sense! L leg is more of a n00b, R leg is intermediate. So R leg is chilling and recovering ezy because it's on that newbie flex. That makes sense right? Whatever.


Was in two minds whether to do concentric heavy front squats or BSS. Decided to stick with BSS on this high volume day. I can do the concentrics on the higher CNS intensity days. Either way, i'm confident i'll get that 120 front squat PR by friday week.
« Last Edit: December 24, 2012, 09:49:40 am by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

vag

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #572 on: December 24, 2012, 08:28:01 am »
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I envy you , in the good way! That approach was always my ideal scenario. Pick a workout scheme ( FS + cutting in your case ) , stick with it for a long time, then go to the court after a long time and enjoy the benefits. I know it's not even right , you ( we ) should keep up with jumping to maintain efficiency/mobility needed for ME jumps, its better injury-wise too.
But that feeling , hitting the court after months and being a totally different (better ) athlete, priceless. Hope it makes sense!
Keep up keeping up!  :highfive:
Target training paces (min/km), calculated from 5K PR 22:49 :
Easy run : 5:48
Tempo run : 4:50
VO2-max run :4:21
Speed form run : 4:02

---

it's the biggest trick in the run game.. go slow to go fast. it doesn't make sense until it smacks you in the face and you're like ....... wtf?

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #573 on: December 24, 2012, 09:23:11 pm »
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I envy you , in the good way! That approach was always my ideal scenario. Pick a workout scheme ( FS + cutting in your case ) , stick with it for a long time, then go to the court after a long time and enjoy the benefits.  I know it's not even right , you ( we ) should keep up with jumping to maintain efficiency/mobility needed for ME jumps, its better injury-wise too.
But that feeling , hitting the court after months and being a totally different (better ) athlete, priceless. Hope it makes sense!
Keep up keeping up!  :highfive:

Thanks vag! That makes perfect sense. The reason I haven't kept up jumping is because i've been juggling enough things already in training and playing basketball and jumping wasn't a priority in the end. If i got a bit of extra recovery ability i'd put it towards building strength/muscle or improving conditioning to aid fat loss! Those just happened to be the main goal. But I do wish i could do more things in training I'm just terribly limited by the cut to stick to a few things only.

I used to love playing ball but I had to give it up because I couldn't improve my lifts and cut and do everything else too.

The other thing is, when i was in middle of the long cut, my legs were tired from all the squatting and conditioning (daily cardio + 3x hiit/SS)  I was doing. If I went down to the basketball court, i was sure i'd find i was jumping poorly. Which makes me feel bad because as you might know the feeling, there is nothing worse than doing a max effort jump and being well below expectation. That feel sucks. So mentally I wasn't interested in failure and decided it was just better to avoid failure by avoiding jumping altogether lol.

I bet if I had kept up the jumping i'd be jumping higher now though. You're definitely right about that. I'd have bigger/stronger calves as well.  Guess it was just a trade off. Thankfully it hasn't hurt my VJ though which gives me hope that I have a lot of potential left in me when i've all the ducks in a row. Thinking when I finish cutting, push up my lifts a bit more, start doing plyos and eat more food i'll be jumping a lot higher maybe. we'll see.
« Last Edit: December 24, 2012, 09:26:48 pm by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #574 on: December 24, 2012, 10:59:37 pm »
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I've got doms on doms today. Doms in glutes, lower back, shoulders etc.  Glad I decided to bp in the end because I can never bp well the day after front squats anyways. And it would have ruined front squats on weds so that was the right call.

Still keeping a deficit even while eating holiday food which i'm pleased about. I took a page out of KF of fasting prior leaving space for higher cal meals. I'm finding having a lot of self control with portions and not binging as well. 7 days compliant, have no doubt i'll set a PR in days compliant.

Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

Kingfish

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #575 on: December 25, 2012, 12:01:06 am »
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdl7cj_f70w" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdl7cj_f70w</a>


Nice to see tall people squat full with good form.  :headbang:

Get out of that twig weight and lift more volumes.  Good things happen the stronger you get - you also have more tissues to absorb the impacts of landing as you squat more weight.
« Last Edit: December 25, 2012, 02:58:01 am by Kingfish »
5'10" | 210lbs | 39 yrs
reach - 7'8" (92") |paused full squat - 545x1| standing VJ - 40"|

absolute unit

Daily Squats Day 1 - Aug 30, 2011 and still going.

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #576 on: December 25, 2012, 03:50:32 am »
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdl7cj_f70w" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdl7cj_f70w</a>


Nice to see tall people squat full with good form.  :headbang:

Thank you!  :highfive:

Quote
Get out of that twig weight and lift more volumes.  Good things happen the stronger you get - you also have more tissues to absorb the impacts of landing as you squat more weight.

Will do as soon as I can. I can't wait to do more volume and gain some mass both.
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #577 on: December 25, 2012, 03:39:10 pm »
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Absolutely destroyed my diet on xmas day lol. Maybe I'll get some nice PRs tomorrow? Lets see.

My idiot friends convinced me to drink a 750mL double strength dare espresso iced coffee at 3:30am just before going home to sleep. Now i'm completely wired and the last thing I wanna do is go to bed. It's out of revenge because apparently I introduced them to dare a few years back and they've been hopelessly addicted since so they wanted to get back at me for putting them onto the stuff. I was hooked myself for a while and swore off the stuff but man it's like liquid crack. So smooth, so good.

Exciting news. Might be joining a new gym with plenty of equipment. I saw they have dbs that go over 80kg and a few squat racks etc. Should be good for training in the summer when it's too hot to workout outside in my home gym.

The only catch is I need them to waive the high initial membership nonsense fees. Supposing I can manage that, then I shud be training there for at least the next 2-3 months.

One key motivation is I want to try out dbs for unilateral work, esp for upper body since my weak side doesn't want to catch up with the strong one on bench press etc. I notice my left pec is much stronger/bigger than my right one. That should be fixable with dbs.

They also have the usual array of machines. Which I want to try out. Maybe i'll get a lot of mileage out of the leg press? Perhaps the single leg press for building quad mass on the weak side.. worth a try..

and i can finally do some beach work and build my guns better than just with weighted chins .. hopefully dbs help there

I'm also finally gonna be able to do conditioning on a bike which should be low impact enough on joints while allowing me to implement a proper tabata. Should get me real fit very quickly. Maybe even try the c2 rower for conditioning..

What else is exciting .. i guess i'll be able to find out how badly my issues with flooring/bent bar at home affects my form on the main lifts when I train with better equipment. Although they don't seem to have any power racks and having instead to use their squat racks with fixed safeties might not suit my proportions? will have to see. I don't mind continuing to bs/fs at home though. if only they had bumpers I cud just drop them.. but that's not gonna happen in an ordinary gym..

But all of this will give me a new fresh stimulus to training since things have been getting a bit stale :)

« Last Edit: December 26, 2012, 02:42:41 am by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism - whooooooooosh
« Reply #578 on: December 26, 2012, 02:54:20 am »
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Body Comp



BW: 75.5kg / 166.449lb (PR)

Uh yea wtf!! How is that for the last so many weeks (5-6?) i've been stuck very frustratingly at around 77kg and then just b00m - it disappears? It makes no sense, esp with the sheer amount of food I ate last night lol.

Somehow yesterdays xmas day excesses have triggered a massive downward scale movement. Whoosh? I've read about this happening, quite bizarrely that a free meal triggers the whoosh / delayed long term fat loss effect or something. Let's see if it sticks over the next coupla days. I'd be more convinced if I had lost an inch from my waist overnight but that's not happened .. anyway this is so close to my goal it's ridiculous. I'll do a final end of year progress summary with before and after details - hopefully having gotten sub 75kg (provided the whoosh is real and today's bodyweight drop persists).

Any takers on bodyfat estimates? I know pics are not very reliable but ball park is fine. My guess is around 13-15%.


Training
OHP 2x5x57.5, 8x50

FS 5x102 (PR), 5x98
BS 5x102.5, 6x97.5

OHP notes:
That's ~76% of my BW for sets of 5 across! I'm now to make 1/2 kg jumps for a while.

FS notes:
I kinda know a way to make my form better but I didn't get a chance to try it on the top set. Next time. Plan was to do the first 3 reps rapid fire. Take my time on the last 2? I want better form even for a PR.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2q260wHvjA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2q260wHvjA</a>

BS notes:
These sets were very difficult. The first 5x102.5 was a true 5RM today. I had to grind out that last rep with every ounce of my being at the risk of being injured if I failed. Not good.
« Last Edit: January 07, 2013, 05:17:39 am by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #579 on: December 28, 2012, 04:59:05 am »
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Training
FS 1x90, 1x100, 1x07.5, 1x112.5, 1x115
BS 5x60, 3x90, 2x100, 3x107.5 (depth was high tho), 5x100 (ok depth i think)
BP 1x70, 1x75, 4x80, 5x75
DIPZ 3x5xBW (new exercise, very shaky on these)
BCU 10, 8, 6, 5, 4
Single DB bp 8x20, 6x24, 2x6x22R
Single leg press 3x8xwhatever the plates were on
foam roller on quads

BW: 76kg / 167.551lb

I think that's the lot, unless i'm forgetting some exercises. I was scheduled to do weighted chinups but i didn't take my chains with me so just did bw ones.. will probably do weighted next workout. oh and I didn't do BSS - didn't wanna stack it in front of everyone on my first day at the new gym. Did single leg leg press instead. Probably the same shit anyways.


FS notes:
Well it looks like my form problems are in fact to do with my home gym setup.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJAtTP63fYk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJAtTP63fYk</a>

BS notes:
BS form improved greatly from change of scenery.

Upper body notes:
So my flat bb bench liked the new bar. But all this training i've done at home has put a definite strength imbalance there and it wasn't reasonable to expect everything to be perfect so soon.  I used the dbs to work on my weak side, doing a few more sets. Will give it a bit of time and hopefully I can bring up R side and then i'll get my bench press nice and symmetrical. Oh and dips. I was shaky on these, new exercise and all. Lets see what this does for my upper body.


So I will prob get another 2 sessions in this gym before going on to gym B. The barbells were very nice. Expensive ones. Was sick using a decent one for a change.  In another note, my waist did finally catch up to the scale - i've lost a full 1/2" making my waist 32.5" which is cool.
« Last Edit: December 28, 2012, 10:27:13 am by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

LBSS

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #580 on: December 28, 2012, 10:50:16 am »
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nice to go away and come back to find people have been killing shit. you're right about the BS depth, nice job.

bf% guess is tough without a back shot, but i'd say about 12-13%. abs wouldn't be coming in at 15% unless you carry all your fat on your back.
Muscles are nonsensical they have nothing to do with this bullshit.

- Avishek

https://www.savannahstate.edu/cost/nrotc/documents/Inform2010-thearmstrongworkout_Enclosure15_5-2-10.pdf

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entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #581 on: December 29, 2012, 12:09:00 am »
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nice to go away and come back to find people have been killing shit. you're right about the BS depth, nice job.

bf% guess is tough without a back shot, but i'd say about 12-13%. abs wouldn't be coming in at 15% unless you carry all your fat on your back.

Thank you. I've had abs for a while now even when I was heavier than now. So I think it's the latter - my body has cleverly stored fat in places I can't easily see. This might also go some way in explaining why even at my heaviest I never looked "that fat" - like when people say they carry "it" well.


Doms in lats and upper back. I only did unweighted chinups (for lats) which should be really easy for me?? Shrug. Unless the dips & 1 hand db presses contributed too. No idea.

update. doms in lower back and abs also.
« Last Edit: December 29, 2012, 10:54:46 pm by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #582 on: December 29, 2012, 11:03:57 pm »
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Waist under 32.5" now. I need to find the motivation to finish this neverending cut. How long will take me to lose the remaining 2.5"? Could I do it by mid Feb? Is that realistic. Am aiming for 9% bodyfat which should be a ~30" waist and perhaps the ridiculously low BW of 72kg/159lb.

So I think I need to man up and just go 100% laser focused strict mode and get this thing over and done with. Come January I will string together 2 instances of 15 days of solid uninterrupted compliance to diet, while adding in conditioning, then i'm sure I can get to 73kg by 1st Feb.

Conditioning newbie gains are still there to be taken advantage of - and they'll burn a fair bit of bodyfat once I do them regularly. I've not done conditioning regularly for ages. Maybe averaging 1-2 a month now. More recently i've been doing fasted TM on rest days which is working well not bothering knees, so that stays too. I've noticed that fasting on training days is a bad idea. But i've been doing it ok on rest days. So will keep doing that too.

I've got access to a gym now so I can train better with a variety of different exercises which weren't available to me before. DBs are gonna feature heavily in upper body training. As will machines for conditioning (think rowing and cycling). I will also explore dips which I have never been equipped to do at home. Various rowing movements like T-bar rows and machines will help with back strength. As far as corrective training goes - I am going to address L-R strength imbalances by employing unilateral training via BSS, single leg legpress and 1arm db work. Also more heavy weighted core work. More focus on lower back using GMs. Heavy DB rows for upper back as well.

Just for fun assistance exercises - calf raises, misc curls, adductor (bands & machine), neck work.

With new exercises you can progress them while cutting because of newbie gains so i will take advantage of those. Especially if they additionally help fix imbalances or bring up weak muscles and attack sticking points on the main lifts.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2012, 04:24:12 am by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #583 on: December 31, 2012, 06:15:49 am »
+1
Training
FS 4x102.5 (PR), 5x97.5
BS 5x102.5, 6x97.5, 5x95, 6x90
BP 2x70, 1x75, 77.5x3, 72.5x6, 70x5
Single DBBP 6x20R, 5x22.5R, 3x25R
DIPZ 3x8xBW

FS notes:
I wanted 5x102.5 but my upper back rounded on the 4th and I knew if anything the 5th would be even uglier. Decided to rack it after all. Woulda been nice to get the 5x102.5 PR on teh last workout of the year - but you know what 4x102.5 is still a 4 rep PR so whatevers. Next time will get it fo sho.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7fj6-9alDU" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7fj6-9alDU</a>
^was happier with my form on the 2nd set of front squats.

BS notes:
Shithouse backsquats. Only decent set was the last one.


Another day, another gym. The one i went to last time was closed which sucked or so I thought but turns out today's one was even better. Very neat, nice equipment, kickass air/conditioning, not very busy, not many bros. It was one of the best i've been to in this city. I'm so lucky it was open today and being under that icy cold a/c because it was 40° C at home and so ridiculously hot that there was no sense in trying to get thru it here. The squatting setup was almost perfect. The floor was solid (not squishy like the previous gym). The only defect was there was very little clearance between the barbell sleeves and the rack. You have to be super careful not to catch the pins with the bottom of plates.

Workout done under long time fasted conditions because i've got a party later tonight. Workout was much more difficult than it would be otherwise. So that's it, the last workout of the year.

2012 Summary
I did well this year, lost a whole load of body weight, was around 90kg at the start of 2012 and I ended up 75.5kg at my lightest a few days ago.  My best backsquat was 130 without a belt and my best front squat was 117.5kg. I'm due to FS 120kg any day now. Post cutting, I'll do a lot better on lifts in 2013. In the process I went from not being able to dunk, to landing my first dunks and finally in Dec, being able to dunk with ease.

My waist reached a PR milestone of 32.25" this morning - which means i'm not far from being under 32" now. That gives me motivation going into the new year - want bad to stop being a fatfuck and finally be lean and athletic. The main reason I didn't end up 8% bodyfat is because I started out a LOT fatter than I initially thought. I may well have started cutting from upper 20s.


End of year progress pic.

Will finish the job and get down to 8-10% by Mid-Feb.

Thanks for reading. Happy new year everyone. Hope you achieve your goals!. Til next year :) 
« Last Edit: December 31, 2012, 10:13:59 am by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

LBSS

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #584 on: December 31, 2012, 10:52:09 am »
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abzzzzzzzzz
Muscles are nonsensical they have nothing to do with this bullshit.

- Avishek

https://www.savannahstate.edu/cost/nrotc/documents/Inform2010-thearmstrongworkout_Enclosure15_5-2-10.pdf

black lives matter