Adarq.org

Bodyweight: 75kg
Activity: 8000+ units

Rest day. Gna try to walk my way to some decent FL tho.

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Found out something disappointing, my basketball season effectively ends this week Cos we didnt make finals (in either team), no more games after tue and thurs. That means I have 2 weeks off before the easter weekend comp. I can deal with one week break (will just practice) but 2 is much. Hopefully can sort something out for that 2nd week. It annoys me that I played a shitload of basketball this summer of pointless games but when I really need to get match time experience, I run out of season lol. Typical.

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Thinking of taking up drinking coffee or tea or something, i'm going to make some long term changes to the way I see food & drink. If can learn to enjoy a cup of tea much more instead of say a chocolate bar, i can keep the fat from piling back on once i come off cutting.

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Got some no sugar hot chocolate powder. It tasted better with whey than just hot water, but with whey i have to be careful not to curdle from the heat otherwise it tastes off. So will experiment and get the formula right. Also tried plain cocao with whey in cold milk and it wouldnt even mix but im not sure that was that nice but i will see if its an acquired taste

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Bodyweight: 74.5kg(PR)
Activity: 8810 (2359)

Wow scale really lagging on that weight loss tho. But i know one of these days it will drop overnight smh. Anyways, training today. Volume on squats, back xtn and bench then finish with cardio. I checked out a sweet gym today, im hoping to start next wk. They got everything I need and i can use my Nike Romaloes there which i havent touched since i put them away a few years ago cos my home gym floor would ruin the sole. But now im sold on solid paused squats done perfectly, this will help.

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BS 3x115(LPR; p1), 2x3x112.5(PR), 1x3x111, 2x3x110
BP 1x89.5(LPR), 8x72.5(LPR), 7x80
Back Xtn 8x55(PR; 35 deg w/ plates only), 2x12x55(PR; 35 deg, plates & vest), 12x30(PR; 0 deg, vest & plate)
CND - 1km @ 10km/hr

Notes:
In hindsight i wish i had done some more squat volume but i must confess each set of triples was like a 3RM, so i was pretty torched for squatting by the end and didn't wanna court injury, esp in the dark without having a reflection to check my form.

BP my warmup with 50kg felt real nice and then 70kg warmup was a struggle but i somehow did the slowest hardest lockout on the 89.5kg lolz. might be a PR (relative bw ratio?) but who cares about such light weight so im not even gna bother looking it up. Have to keep grinding.

Back xtn, i dropped 3 plates on the first set, decided to vest up for the next 2 sets. I was sliding down the bench tho on the 35 deg, so i think that's one downside compared to the 45 deg where your feet are locked firmly in place by the foot rest. SO ya, i thought to try 0 degree, which is the most challenging but it also has the benefit that you wont slide (being horizontal). SO i think i will prob use 45 deg and 0 deg from here on, though i havent done 45s in a while now.

And cardio was a casualty from that lifting sesh, i forced myself not to skip but a couple of minutes in and i knew there was no way iwas getting 3km (~15 mins) and not only that but even 10 minutes seemed too much so i did 1km (~6mins) and said that'll do for now. Making it a habit never to skip cardio, it's basically low level plyos and so beneficial for athleticism, i wish i never neglected it but i bought into all the bs against it. Never again.

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Nutrition:
Make a last second decision to go harder in the gym but allow myself a mini-refeed and extend the diet out to 14 days. Additionally i wont do that 7 day cut cycle i was gna do after the short (7 day) diet break. Think doing that would be counterproductive esp since i have that big bball weekend comp mid April and im running out of time to get myself in peak form. I will prob benefit from going into the comp without cutting for the first time in recent memory. Will post more on this though!!

This is what I ate extra on top of my usual daily intake:
30g carb from gatorade
30g of whey
1 cup rice, 1 cup rajma beans
2 tortillas (mission lowfat ones - 72g carb total)
1 slice light swiss cheese
1 teaspoon light sour cream

Done, that was pretty satisfying. I considered having a bedtime snack of PB&J sandwiches with the shake but decided against it cos i know i prob wont be satisfied with 2 slices and i was already around 190g of carb for the day so that's enough really. Now I shud look forward to some rebound gains .. woohoo.

Why not?
Were you in the wrong positions to receive it or were you not demanding it?

It was like I was a step behind on each play. When I cut, it wasnt noticed but i made the right plays when I had the ball. A few times where I would have got assists the player didnt finish. I find I feed off energy from playing well offensively on the other end too. Maybe it was just luck but there werent many rebounds b/c i wasnt in the right place for them. I think the game was just anomalous.

I get the lifting though. I try and avoid eating on an empty stomach. The only thing worse then eating on an empty stomach is lifting after you've eaten too much and don't have the time to digest.

I'm def making life harder for me training wise by doing fasting on training days. Dont see that a long term issue tho, this is just while cutting but it affects my performance. A meal 3 hrs before seems to be my sweet spot. And best is when i eat the first meal earlier in the day and then lift later in the afternoon, that's not something ive experienced in a while.

Bodyweight: 74.95kg (PR; finally broke the 75kg milestone)
Activity: 8200 (2325)

It seems playing basketball does make me shed water weight but now im thinking it's prob cos basketball serves to deplete glycogen reserves for me. I thought straight up 20-24hr fasts with zero carb meals for 2 days and 2 nights would do the trick but my body doesn't seem to burn carbs like that for no reason, good to know. ALso means if i wanna PED my basketball, i shud be well fed in carbs pre/peri game. Which i knew from experience but this is additional proof. So 7 days to go, ima do this perfectly and hopefully get lean enough that i dont have to do more dieting..

Bodyweight: 76kg
Activity: ~3k + unknown units while balling (they made me take off my band during games)

Training today. I might play a game tonight but it's against a good team with no sub, and im not sure it's a good idea .. so lemme think..

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BS 1x120kg(paused), 5x90(paused)
OHP 2x57, 3x2x57.5, 2x57, 1Fx57
Game

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done. prob played one of my best games yet .. i was getting mad assists .. felt great. havent i told yall im a big point guard? bout time the world came around to the idea

lean 75kg at 6'4.. what is this.. bone and skin?

you need some more muscle mass buddy. it also helps you burn calories faster. good luck.

pretty much nailed it. the extra fat i have above 75kg just fills me out to look more human but otherwise im the same person underneath lol. if i accept this state of affairs it means i have to figure out a way to burn more calories with less muscle mass, otherwise my maintenance requirements are low, eg like 1700-1900kcal a day. Maybe cardio always has to be a feature of my training to make up for the shitty genetics whether im trying to gain mass or not

Sorry coges, i never got around to replying to your post. But here is an outline of what im tryna do:

To be a lean 85kg first be a lean 80kg. To be a lean 80kg first be a lean 75kg. To be a lean 75kg first be a ...?  Somewhere along the way i'll find myself a lean 'something kg' to stop cutting. Then maintain bf% a while to create a new bf% setpoint. Finally start working up patiently towards a lean 85kg. The initial cutting process may go on for a while, possibly needing to weigh as low as 70.0kg (carb depleted) but once it's done im not forever-cutting anymore.

The milestones i'm looking for in order are:

1) lean upper body & upper back (not there yet)
2) lean abdominals  (neither)
3) lean lower back  (not even close)
4) lean lower body (far away)

I haven't even reached the first step yet :/ From experience I could get to around 2.5ish by cutting to <72.5kg - but that was with creatine but at that point i had no fat on my upper back by the jiggle test. I never reached 3 and 4 but that's where I wanna be, lean lower back gets me 'lean enough' though for my purposes, not sure I would keep going to 4 tbh.

BW: 79.1kg (yikes)
Activity: 6000

Haha, another 10 day cut, lets go. This time im jumping straight into PSMF macros from the get go. I wont dwell on how my diet break went (real shit) but hopefully I can learn from this one and do it better next time. The key lesson is I can't go from straight up dieting to straight up maintenance - i will try ramping up from a deficit to maintenance over 7 days next time i come off a cut, i think that will suit me better psychologically. Im still starting from a better place on this cycle (79kg) than I did in the previous one (81kg) so I guess it's not exactly wheel spinning but it feels like that nevertheless.

I've restarted the weight vest experiment. Maintaining 80+kg bw at the moment (+5kg). Feels like nothing but I guess that's a good thing. As I get lighter, i'll add blocks to the vest and maintain 80+kg. I feel that's what I should be aiming for long term so it's a good idea to avoid getting too comfortable in the mid 70kgs which is where im heading in the short term.