Author Topic: chasing athleticism  (Read 923892 times)

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entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #585 on: January 01, 2013, 06:42:08 am »
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I'd heard the dip is the upper body equivalent of the backsquat. I didn't know then what to make of such a claim having never tried the exercise. But now the day after dips, I find a great deal of residual soreness in my shoulders, triceps, forearms and especially lats. There might just be something to the claim after all. I plan to work up to 12 reps of BW dips before adding weight. May eventually replace the bb bench press since I have so many issues with that exercise.

I spent the afternoon reading through my log. I didn't realise how much being injured earlier in the year affected my training - and even body recomp because I had to put dieting on hold while healing. Being injured sucks, obviously, but i've been lucky for a while now with no injury concerns. Will work to keep it that way. A big part of staying injury free, I must admit, was not playing basketball.

I remember how badly I'd get beaten up from playing basketball - not just injuries which were are obvious, but the beating my joints would take from playing the game. I didn't realise then but it might have been because I was overweight. Even attempting a dunk would hurt my ankle, say, from the impact of landing with a heavy bodyweight. I don't have that problem now - even on concrete, it's kind on on knees and ankles.

So this leads to the question, suppose I finish my cut and lose another 5kg of bodyfat - and then if I were to play basketball, would it be even more easier on my joints? Would it mean much better recovery following games so that I can train normally in the gym afterwards? Perhaps. Worth finding out.
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

Raptor

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #586 on: January 01, 2013, 06:44:46 am »
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Losing fat should have a pretty important effect on those aspects, especially if it altered your posture.

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #587 on: January 01, 2013, 06:51:13 am »
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Losing fat should have a pretty important effect on those aspects, especially if it altered your posture.

Speaking of posture. I don't have back problems anymore either. Wonder if that chronic sciatica I had for several years was partially due to being a huge fatfuck. This really bothers me.
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

Raptor

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #588 on: January 01, 2013, 08:44:57 am »
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Why the heck it bothers you? :D

It's good you got rid of that. Sure it's kind of annoying not to know why but keep up the good work.

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #589 on: January 01, 2013, 09:59:36 pm »
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Why the heck it bothers you? :D

Just that I didn't know any better initially. Could have been luckier and found better sources for advice. I know everyone gets burned by poor training & nutrition advice but it set me waaaaaay back. I'm not even out of the hole I dug for myself yet, still have 6-8 weeks of cutting to go.

Quote
It's good you got rid of that. Sure it's kind of annoying not to know why but keep up the good work.

Oh for sure, best thing i've done in a long time. Will do.

Looking forward - I think I will take a page out of Mutombo's log and implement a no sugar-no-sweets regime for this year. I know that sounds a bit too extreme, but cutting out fast food which I did the latter half of 2012 really paid off big, and I think the binges of icecream/chocolate I have once every 2-3 months need to go. I don't have the stuff usually. But then I'll start eating icecream and just have it every night til the freezer is emptied.


Oh shit I forgot to mention something that has been on mind. I'm obviously very light for my height right now. And people keep telling me how sickly thin i have become ("you are anorexic bro .. gross i can see your veins"). And there is a real temptation there to go "fuck it man, i'm gonna gain some weight now, enough cutting". But i'm going to resist that trap. Because suppose I do gain some weight, so I get a bit fatter than I am now. Then what? Eventually i'll have to say ok time to cut, and then i'll hate to lose the new fat I gained in the bulk as well as dealing with the old fat I didn't remove in the first place. It's nothing more than spinning ones wheels. So I will stay the course now, get rid of ALL the bodyfat and THEN bulk. No matter how skeletal I become, i'll keep going. Like Lance said, the trip isn't the same as the stay, it's a temporary inconvenience for the cost of doing things the right way for the long term.
« Last Edit: January 01, 2013, 11:04:35 pm by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #590 on: January 02, 2013, 01:00:47 am »
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Training
FS 3x103

OHP 5x58, 4x58 (repeat next time), 5x52.5

FS 4Fx103, 4x98.5

FS notes (I):
the triple was a RM. I should know better not to front squat fasted but erred once again. The other thing was - the dips from monday destroyed my middle back so much so that I was struggling to stay upright. This is wild - how does an upper body exercise hit my back so hard? That's sick. I get that dips are a great compound exercise now - I just need to schedule better so it doesn't affect front squats.

OH and this explains why monday's 2nd front squat set looked so good - it's because I did dips on friday so maybe that helped strengthen my back so much so that it helped avoid upper back rounding? Promising signs. Dips might just be that magic exercise I needed the most in training. Now just need to juggle everything else to make them fit in nicely.

Will try FS later tonight once again when not fasted.

FS notes (II):
I think the 2nd session was easier but still I failed the 4th rep. So dunno, it wasn't a huge difference either. My back is toast So much so that i'm skipping weighted chins, backsquats and bss because I don't wanna get injured trying to train thru this.


At some point I want to switch focus away from front squats. Yes I love them but there can be such a thing as too much of a good thing. Would like to get to 5x105 and 1x120 before putting FS on maintenance.
« Last Edit: January 02, 2013, 07:43:15 am by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #591 on: January 02, 2013, 08:24:26 am »
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Tentative Program

Monday:
FS 2x5 (ramped down)
BS 1x6, 1x8
Squat assistance
DB BP 3x6 (weaker arm more sets)

Wednesday:
FS 2x5 (ramped down)
Squat Assistance
OHP 2x5
WCU (~20-25 heavy reps)
Friday:
FS 1RM
BS 1x5
BP 3RM
Squat assistance
DIPZ 3x6
Squat assistance: Alternate btw BSS (3x6) or single leg press -- and -- rows (t-bar, heavy db etc) or good mornings.

I am considering doing away with backsquat and just doing heavy good mornings. I figure GM+FS = Win -  but I might regret it later on that I didn't keep up with backsquat so dunno.

Once I FS 105x5 and 120x1 - I will take stop FS 3x a week and switch to 2x. Maybe even 1x if I can get away with maintaining my 5RM and 1RM. Number of sets will go down for maintenance as well. At that point FS focus will give way to BSS. If you are wondering, why not BS instead? Because I still have mad issues with backsquat assymetry and imbalance. That's why I am choosing instead to focus on the unilateral BSS exercise instead.
« Last Edit: January 03, 2013, 10:27:04 pm by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #592 on: January 03, 2013, 10:41:09 am »
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So all that new year resolution nonsense resulted in 1 day of strict compliance. On day 2 I ate a whole load of chocolate. And today I though to do even better and ate a whole large bar. I'm okay with this. I think the strict-all-in-or-nothing attitude isn't a good one. I can mess up today and pick things up tomorrow without missing a step. That's a good thing. If 90% of the time i'm compliant then over time I will get the results all the same. But the really remarkable thing is what made me write this post - that having eaten an entire large block of chocolate, I don't have a sugar rush, or feel any sort of low. It's a sign to me that my insulin sensitivity has improved leaps and bounds since my obese days - that if I were to do a bulk now, chances are i'd have better muscle:fat partitioning. I'm on the right track - sub 10% and my insulin sensitivity will be optimal and I will be able to do a great bulk.
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

LBSS

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #593 on: January 03, 2013, 01:27:48 pm »
+1
yes, it's best not to moralize foods.
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

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #594 on: January 03, 2013, 10:09:39 pm »
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I'm a little annoyed. The gym I was excitedly planning to join soon is proving to be a disappointment. They delayed their opening by a week. And after speaking to them yesterday it turns out all their website claims were a trick to get you to talk to salesman. Like saying "no contracts" in big letters everywhere on their website but the rates for non-contracts are 2x as much the annual ones!  I don't know if I even want to be in a gym for that long, I may end up training at home after the summer so that's a deal breaker to me. But even their rates for annual membership are too high for me.

I may end up going to that other gym I went to the other day which had a great setup and it's more in line with my budget (on a contract mind) although it's a bit of drive from home which I was hoping to avoid.


I hurt my back on wednesday overhead pressing. Stupid exercise. Will skip today's workout until back is ok. The last time I hurt my back was while doing ohp. That's the 2nd strike against barbell ohp. I don't think I will do them again.
« Last Edit: January 04, 2013, 02:51:59 am by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

Raptor

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #595 on: January 04, 2013, 04:27:11 am »
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Here the average fee for a monthly "complete" (come when you want, leave when you want, for an unlimited amount of times) gym membership is about 17 euros, so about 20$. I pay about 35$ for my gym, but it's close to home (5 minutes) so I'd rather pay more and have it close to home than otherwise.

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #596 on: January 04, 2013, 04:40:29 am »
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I have something like 15 gyms to choose from that are within 20 mins and there are more coming up. It's ridiculous. So in a way i'm spoilt for choice! I've got the option of 24/7 gyms but without barbells. One which has barbells and another one which should be close opening in around 3 months time. Several full featured gyms but ones that require a yearly contract. One which doesn't have a 24/7 but is very cheap for off peak.  Another one has a nice indoor basketball court etc but the other ones don't.

The other option I have is to spend the money I would on gym membership and buy extra gear - like dbs. But I hate my homegym now for some reason and like the idea of training in a nice a/c indoor gym esp in the summer. But for $600ish I could buy a bunch of dumbells. Maybe even a new, half decent barbell

I really like that last gym I used, and they're reasonably priced - $600 for the year. Nice equipment and good solid floor. Only that rack is a bit tight but I can probably get used to it
« Last Edit: January 04, 2013, 04:44:11 am by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

Raptor

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #597 on: January 04, 2013, 06:20:59 am »
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Here's the membership for a year is 440$, and with some discounts etc that they practice I guess it ends up to about 400.

The problem is that the average monthly salary is ~300 $. My monthly salary + meal tickets ends up at 456 $ currently.

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #598 on: January 04, 2013, 11:30:36 am »
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Damn! Gyms are way more expensive there. I wouldn't bother in that case. This stuff is a luxury not a necessity obviously. I think i'm leaning towards one or two - just have to go there and physically check them out and make a decision so I don't have to worry about this stuff anymore. If it works out in a few months I will ebay my homegym.

My back went from bad to worse thru the day. I binged on chocolate and icecream. That wont hurt healing. Hopefully it will be ok by monday. Note to self, no more barbell overhead pressing ever. DBs are so much safer. Inexplicably my shoulders have gotten like 10% bigger in the last few days.
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat

entropy

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Re: chasing athleticism
« Reply #599 on: January 04, 2013, 10:27:23 pm »
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Back feels gooooooood today. Have to decide whether to workout or rest a coupla more days and start back on monday.

also, oh shit I got fat. I feel fat and flabby. Feels bad man. I think I ate an entire tray of chocolates yesterdays, a bag of doritos, normal meals and 2 large bowls of icecream. What a pig.
« Last Edit: January 04, 2013, 10:36:23 pm by entropy »
Goals: Cutting to 6-8% bodyfat