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Messages - entropy

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1
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: October 02, 2014, 10:57:36 pm »
Not yet because I think he was 155 or so? I can't remember. But everyone is different!

I was just thinking about what acole asked about lean muscle gains. It's funny cause it confirms a theory of mine that you dont need to gain a lot of muscle to gain a lot of strength. I think i gained maybe a little muscle and mainly a lot of fat in my last bulk. But being in that caloric surplus for that extended duration of time allowed me to have excellent recovery and get stronger from my gym work. So I think this is probably what people mean when the say 'steroids help recovery' - it's not so much that they give you better recovery. Rather they allow you to eat a lot of food which facilitates the strength gains but additionally steroids allow you to to manage and deal with large surpluses without gaining much bodyfat too.

2
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: October 02, 2014, 10:28:08 pm »
Skinfolds are kinda useless too so i haven't been taking them consistently since they vary so much day to day. But today i'm getting 6mm for abdominal and 5mm for suprailiac. They'll be artificially low today though and go up tomorrow post-carb-up. I didn't realise water balance affected skinfolds before I started taking measurements but they do which makes them less than ideal since water balance fluctuates day to day especially while dieting.

Idk what i gained or not in my last bulk, it was a mistake to be bulking anyhow, i should never be bulking above 75kg from what i'm (painfully) learning from my current cut..

3
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: October 02, 2014, 08:34:13 pm »
Day 13/21 of cutting

Bodyweight: 72.1kg/158.95lb (PR)

i should finish this cut at 71kg/156.5lb in 7 days time, maybe even getting just under 71kg is a possibility because there is an imminent whoosh looming. Today is carb reload day so this is my lightest day of the week.

It seems my fears are being borne out - I'm now hoping i'll be 10% @ 70kg/154.3lb rather than presumptuously taking it for granted i would be lower than 10% at 70kg.  I may even need to get into the 60s to get to 10%. Will get a clearer indication next week.

4
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Age vs Vertical
« on: September 27, 2014, 05:51:23 am »
Do you weigh yourself first and then measure your waist? I know there would be a strong tendency to pull the tape tighter to convince yourself you're not getting fatter when weight goes up. I wouldn't use waist circumference as my main measurement unless I had a really dependable technique or someone impartial was taking the measurement..

5
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: THE DREAM JOURNAL
« on: September 23, 2014, 10:30:06 pm »
Me and raptor were in LA and Kingfisher picked us up and drove us to his apartment where he lived with 2 children. When we got there he pulled down a blank chart and proceeded to write equations on it. I still remember one graph, it was a digraph representation of the netflix contest problem. He was making the point that the leafs were the movies but you couldn't go from movie -> user id, since information only flows one way (downwards) but it was a common misconception to go the other way. I was pretty impressed how well KF could explain the subtleties of causality for such a complex problem and still have the leg strength to deep pause squat 500lb. I think i was in crush. Raptor wore trackpants and was lusting for nutella the whole time.

6
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: September 17, 2014, 09:44:51 pm »
^ i didnt fill out my day's entry yesterday. i injured my back while squatting and it threw me off my game. im so sick of getting hurt. it's not muscular this time, it was my spine again. LHS.i've had this already weeks back. Watching the video it seems my legs run out of juice (it was the 5th rep of a heavy set) and then my hamstrings give up slack and that's when i heard the pop, my knees jerked forward. Im hurting myself at the easiest part of the lift, the last 1/4 just before lockout. Frustrated with lack of progress and injuries. I love cutting but it makes me weak and brittle and leads to injuries that wouldn't otehrwise happen.

7
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: September 16, 2014, 09:52:44 am »
Cutting summary
On this cutting cycle I'm aiming to get to <72kg/158lb starting from this morning's 80kg/175lb. I expect to lose a lot of water weight over the next few days as I get into ketosis. My diet will be a CKD with the first carb refeed after 10 days and then from there will do a refeed after 7 days. Planned total duration is around 21 days.

I mentioned earlier about tracking skifold (mm) measurements. I got my slimguide today so I can start measuring right away. This morning at my bloated bodyweight, I was getting measurements of 7mm around the LHS of my stomach. I dont know the technical/exact locations that are usually used - not really important to, just have to be consistent with whatever site i select, so i'll do some experimenting before picking one. As i mentioned in earlier posts i hold most of my fat in the buttocks, but that's not amenable to skinfold measurment  - and even if it was, it's not really ideal because what we want is a site we can depend on to give a clear indication of bodyfat level (increases or decreases). This gives a good justification:
Quote
Q:How does the Accu-Measure determine your total amount of body fat by measuring the suprailliac site?
A:Measuring the fat content at a particular site on your body to determine your total body fat is a matter of "sampling". Just as a doctor can do a complete blood profile with a small sample of blood or political pollsters can predict how the entire country will vote based on a representative sample of voters, it is possible to determine total body fat from measuring the fat content at a representative site on the body. After using underwater weighing as the criterion to determine the total body fat on thousands of men and women, experts were then able to use skinfold calipers to determine particular "sample" sites where fat content correlated highest and was most representative of total body fat; the suprailliac being one of the top sites. Keep in mind that areas of the body which have the most fat aren't necessarily the best sites to determine total body fat percentage. The best sites are those which reflect increases or decreases in proportion to increases or decreases in total body fat; thus making them a good "representative sample." (emphasis mine)

And I agree, the suprailliac is pretty easy to measure yourself and if they're right about it responding well to changes to total bodyfat levels then i might as well adopt it as the goto measurement. However, if i were selling a pair of calipers that had the novelty of only requiring one site to estimate - i might well stress how that particular site was ideal too. I'll find out myself i guess..

By the way i envision i'll be cutting down to 70kg before new years, it just remains to be seen when I start that last cut, i'm kinda dreading the prolonged dieting that lies ahead. It's no joke to drop 10kg of bodyweight!! Quite formidable right now but it's the right thing to do.

8
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / chasing athleticism
« on: September 15, 2014, 09:17:19 am »
Day #3 Food and Activity log (diet break of 7 days)
Bodyweight: ??
Fasted duration: n/a
Fast broken: n/a
Fast started: n/a
Total steps:  n/a

Training:
DUNKS 2x5
FBS 3x10
BS 6x105, 6x102.5
BP 6x50, 6x60
WCU 2x6xBW
CURLZ 10x30, 2x15x30

Activity log:
does nonstop eating count? lol.
Day's Eats:
everythang

9
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Age vs Vertical
« on: September 13, 2014, 05:40:40 am »
My advice for a recomp would be a)don't do it. but b)if you must, then make it a fat loss recomp. Which means you have a net weekly deficit (say 20-30%) with appropriate FL macros and the hope of maintaining lean mass and most importantly: regularly producing bodyweight losses on the scale. Don't aim to maintain bodyweight - because ostensibly the rate of fat loss >> rate of muscle gain. In this case of a FL recomp I would limit the surplus day to ONE day - the highest volume day of training. Make it high carbs, low fat, medium protein. You don't need a surplus for all training days, keep a deficit on the light day. Keep a deficit or maintenance on the heavy day. That's how I would setup an effective fat loss recomp.

A mass gain recomp is not something one should attempt unless you're lean (10% to single digit range) - and even then, if you really wanna gain mass, you probably just wanna do a legit bulk which will be more effective and efficient. Not like you can go set PRs 3x a week while eating a surplus on training days and deficit on rest days  - in theory you can, in practice it doesn't work so well since you're not really able to sustain that rate of progression without a steady, uninterrupted and consistent daily surplus including on rest days.

Honestly, in your place, instead of a recomp, i'd just try a simple daily deficit and keep training normally without bothering with waving calories through the week.  I bet you can do that for a month or two without running into problems w/ performance or muscle loss. Then get ripped and do a bulk and gains, lots of gains. Rinse and repeat.

10
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Age vs Vertical
« on: September 12, 2014, 10:25:16 am »
If you think 83 feels good wait til you try 73kg. You'll be flying :) So easy on the joints too, haha. #lightweightbrotherhood

11
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / chasing athleticism
« on: September 12, 2014, 01:27:19 am »
Day #14 Food and Activity log (of 21 days)
Bodyweight: 74.9kg/165.1lb
Fasted duration: 16hr (TBU)
Fast broken: 1653
Fast started:
Total steps: 11500 fasted

Wtf is up with the scale tho? Just messing with my head, now it goes up. Whatever.
Training:
BP 1x79.5, 5x75, 5x72.5, 6x70
WCU 5x90, 3x93.5

FBS 3x100
BS 1x112.5, 1x117.5, 6x107.5, 1x115B, 6x107.5B, 6x102.5, 6x100
CR 20x200 (LPR)
OHP 6x40, 3x8x40
BP 5x60, 2x8x50 (paused)

Activity log:
Fasted slow incline TM - 1hr, 2.5km/hr, 8inc
Day's Eats:
Carb refeed day. Feel like shit though so not super excited even tho i had been looking forward to today all week. I guess that means it's a good time to take a refeed anyways so I shall.
I was just finishing up with my upper body session when my sister called and asked if i was up for going to dinner at an indian restaurant tonight. so im like, why not, im in. And then i ate 3000 calories on top of the 2400 i had already logged FML. Ive never been this full in my life. It literally hurt to drive home when the roady got bumpy lol. I wish i had some fat /friends/loved ones/ who can EAT but alas i dont. Too many lightweights in my life .. i eat up eating more than my fair share :( I'm a fat fuck in a 165 pound body.. heaven have mercy! So for an accompaniment to  dessert i went with a strong coffee because i was planning of squatting later tonight. Um yeah, we'll see how that goes LOL. Carb reload failed.

12
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / chasing athleticism
« on: September 10, 2014, 11:09:01 pm »
Day 13# Food and Activity log (of 21 days)
Fasted duration: 24 hr
Fast broken: 2100
Fast started: 2120
Total steps: 7000 fasted
Bodyweight: 73.65kg/162.37lb (PR!)



I would have to check my logs but im pretty sure that's the lightest i've been since a teenager or something, so it might be a legit (global) PR as opposed to a local PR. But i'm lazy so i'll just call it a LPR til im sure i've got a PR. Yep -- checked -- lightest I got last year was 165. I have bettered that now, so PR. That's crazy. I am so close to the goal and still have another 9 days left in the cut. Which is good cause it means i can definitely get some decent results out of this cycle. By the way waist is as high as 32" if i try to get a high measurement, about 31" with it kinda taut and as low as 30" tight, so what does that mean? nothing, waist measurements are useless. But my skinfolds are def diminished today - thank you basketball for the water retention losses overnight! Feels good man.

Activity log:
Cleaned the car lol.
Day's Eats:


13
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism (template)
« on: September 10, 2014, 10:58:47 pm »
Day # Food and Activity log (of 21 days)
Bodyweight:
Fasted duration:
Fast broken:
Fast started:
Total steps:

Training:

Activity log:

Day's Eats:


14
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: chasing athleticism
« on: September 10, 2014, 02:47:25 am »
Day #12 Food and Activity log (of 21 days)
Fasted duration: 13hr
Fast broken: 1300
Fast started:
Total steps:
Training
FBS 3x100
BS 2x110, 2x117.5, 1x120B
OHP 3x55, 3x57.5, 3x54.5
ROW 2x8x60 (PR)

Squat notes:
I regret the recent incline treadmill. It made squatting a lot harder that it ought to be. In saying that, at my level of bodyfat, i really have no business doing fasted cardio like that anyway because i shud be saving it for later when it comes to burning stubborn bodyfat which is NOT an issue right now, i'm just dealing with ordinary, plain vanilla fat, not stubborn fat! So will make the correction for next week - tuesday will be a legit rest day to prepare for optimum performance on weds heavy squats.

I'm not 100% sure but i may have been able to do a third rep with 117.5kg - but -- i had to hold back in case it led to injury since i'm still healing my back. But the 120kg with the belt genuinely felt hard so idk, maybe it took a lot out of me just doing the double. So we'll never know.

Activity log:
20 min fasted slow incline TM walk (2.5km/hr @ 8 inc)
Basketball game
Day's Eats:


Day was going perfectly til postgame, went to hungry jacks. I ordered a triple cheeseburger with the cheese on the side but the guy at the counter was a noob and it took him 5 minutes to just punch it in. and of course when i checked it was the full works burger w/ cheese so whatever. but it meant i went over 1000kcal. And from there since i had the already messed up shrug mindset, i ate some extra M&ms and chips when i got home. And i didnt log (indian) scrambled eggs because have no idea of the macros lol. Anyway bad diet day, will make up for it tmr..
Basketball game notes:
I didn't attempt any FGs bc i saw much better opportunities for team mates. i had  3-4 assists and shud have had more but guys cudnt finish easy layups :( also plenty of boards. I played the full first half which is remarkable given my fitness concerns spread all over my logs the last 3 weeks lol. But something clicked today, my fitness was decent, i had the motor to play 3/4 of the game. My only regret i, i didn't do enough for us to win, we drew the game. I pulled down a defensive board with like 15 seconds left on the clock, threw an outlet pass to our guard who was 2/3 of the way down the court. And  i can't remember what happened next. he either fumbled it, or it was stolen or something. We should really practice those passed. I can do a lot better firing those long passes in but i have to be conservative because im not sure if my team mates can receive one at full stretch yet. so work in progress.  signs are good though.

15
Progress Journals & Experimental Routines / Re: Two Hands Two Feet
« on: September 09, 2014, 09:19:00 am »
Quote from: Coges on September 08, 2014, 09:15:18 pm
Things to focus on in the next 16 weeks which will take me right up to the new year.
- Initial fat loss (down to 10-12%)
- Core strength- Massive hole in my programming
- Upper body size - Summer is just around the corner and I'm shallow like that.
- Retaining and gaining strength on lower body lifts (albeit potentially more slowly than before)
- Squatting technique - I can see some good gains coming from solidifying my technique and working on proper bracing and breathing. 

Sounds like a good plan. A lot of people make the mistake of wanting to 'recomp' which means effectively the same thing as 'wheel spinning'. Gaining strength or mass requires eating enough food to gain weight and it's not possible to circumvent it with the mythical idea of staying at the same bodyweight but gaining muscle at the same rate as you're burning bodyfat. I'm glad you're not making that mistake though. Good luck, will be good to see where you are in 6-12 months time if you stick to the above plan.

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