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At least you can see how much the core strength matters in the squat, and in the jump as well as a consequence. And it tells you that you need to improve it (it tells me that as well).

Fully agree! That's the silver lining here, i can be a fair bit stronger a squatter, esp out of the hole with more weight once i've beefed up my core strength. The downside is right now this 'discovery' is costing me valuable progress/PRs, which sucks. But it's okay, i'll find a balance. I tried to be conservative with ab wheel and only did 2x8 but seems even that was too much to start with, should have done 1x5 or something instead. I'll do some today, and hopefully come monday with a much stronger, recovered core i'll be back on track for FS 1x140kg (PR) so I can put this absolute strength gain chapter behind me and start on relative strength gain.

Ok. Well you're still doing a good job with your lifting so don't be too hard on yourself!

Ha thanks. I'm planning on maintaining my absolute strength (140kg FS + 90kg BW = 230kg). So if I drop 5kg bodyweight, the bar weight should be 5kg heavier so i'm still the same absolute strength. That's my goal. If everything goes to plan, by the end of the cut, i'll still have the same absolute strength (230kg), and my relative strength will be that magic 2xbw number instead of the 1.5 it is atm.

Because legs have to support that extra bodyweight. Athletically/relatively speaking it's worse, but for the purposes of getting stronger, it's better to be a 200kg fatty squatting 200kg than a lean 100kg one, because the 200kg fatty's legs are moving 200kg bw + 200kg bw.

Put another way, if I squat 140kg @ 90kg, then drop 3kg of bodyfat, i can now squat 143kg @ 87kg by maintaining the same load on my legs. But if i'm only squatting 140kg @ 87kg, then i've gotten weaker than I was at 90kg.

With what numbers do you come up using this?

http://home.fuse.net/clymer/bmi/#bodyfat

19%. But I put zero faith in these things, I am a special snowflake, all these measures and estimates (including skinfolds, dexa etc) don't WORK for me.

Thanks for the advice on calfs, my esteemed sprinter friends Will keep that in mind. I'm itching to start sprinting again, i probably miss it more than anything else, even basketball which I don't really enjoy right now. More and more i'm attracted to solitary sports like weightlifting and sprinting, at least that way you don't have to be constantly disappointed and let down by other ppl, it's frustrating when you try your best to spark some interest and people just habitually don't come thru despite their assurances.

I just wanted to make a note in the thread that good news and bad news  -- i'm not as fat as I thought. i can pinch my waist and grab a small-to-medium amount of fat today. Which suggests to me i'm probably over-estimating my bodyfat because i'm usually bloated or whatever. Not say i'm not fat, but I might not be in the 15kg overfat range I thought I would be. Actually I dont know where my bodyfat is right now, it may be mid 20s or more, but I feel as though it could be as low as high teens. Anyway this is neitehr here or there, just a passing observation. It's actually depressing to me because i want a double FS more than anything else, and if i'm lean at 80kg (say) then I need another 10kg on my FS than I initially planned. Still, even if i get a 150kg FS @ lean 80kg that's better than what I started off with, 120kg FS @ not-very-lean 75kg.

Training
FS 1x127.5, 1x132.5, 0Fx137
BS 3x120, 2Fx127.5, 2x127.5, 2x130, 2x125, 6x115, 6x112.5
OHP 6x50, 5x60, 8x55 (PR), 9x52.5 (PR)

Salient notes:
Abs were destroyed from monday's ab wheel .. even sneezing hurted them yesterday, today wasn't any better, oh well, i'm a dickhead for being careless. I think i should leave that accessory stuff for fridays. Doing it on monday was a mistake when I have a whole week of training ahead.This didn't bode well for squatting, as you'll see.

FS notes:
lulz, even warmups felt wrongly heavy, PR wasn't in the realm of doability. Will get it friday when my core is refreshed

BS notes:
Giving up on the idea of reps and sets now, it's bullshit, you can't plan this stuff, it's too chaotic to expect the body to act in some orderly fashion. jettisoned repsxsets as of today, now it will be freestyle from here! My guide will be keeping myself from doing dirty sets, if the next rep will be dirty, i'll end the set there and then. If I have more juice in me, i'll do more reps than I might have originally intended. I'll avoid sets that result in slow grindy lifts, except for the ocassional PR. Lets see where this new approach takes me.

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Scooby looking lean! Hows your mobility scoob? Do you foam roll and stretch regularly? I still think you should do some swings just prior to jumping, i got an easy 2" from that when I tried it. I did banded plate swings, not sure if the band is all that important. Anyway just something to try.

Ow lord my abs are sore today. Hope i'm good to squat tmr. I have to make the most of being heavy right now and do a lot of bodyweight exercises while they're hard. Doing ab wheel rollouts when i'm a lightweight is fucking pointless but right now they're not too bad, hitting the spot pretttttty good. maybe i should get a weighted vest and maintain my bodyweight for certain exercises..

bodyweight update: 194.8 (!), is that the first time i'm under 195 in the last few weeks? I haven't really been weighing myself regularly when I lost my pc, i lost access to my custom software i made to keep a track of my training and bodycomp. i'm back on my system so i'll start tracking everything regularly again. Saying that, also waist was 36.5" today, so i'm still fat but it's ok, once squat goals are achieved i'll fix that.

also, calves are sore today for the first time in ages. jumping i did last night, cool. I guess this is telling me i should keep regular jumps in my training, at least once a week from here on. calve raises might be useful too.. maybe i have really weak calves...? worth experimenting with by adding in some weight training for them.

One thing I can't wait for is to finish my squatting block and begin sprinting. I feel as though as training at my current bodyweight to run quickly will do wonders for my athleticism, maybe indirectly thru increasing leg stiffness? i dont do any running right now cause they'll make my legs too sore to squat but .. ive heard hill sprints avoid that, not that i know of any places to dhills around here, will try to ask around if there are any. well i have hills around home but they're concrete not grass.