Adarq.org

sounds like your experiment with nipping the eat-everything-in-sight monster in the bud did not go very well. sounds pretty classic, actually. you'd been doing great and you still are, don't worry about it too much.

RE: bad training performance over the last few weeks

I fell into this perfectionist trap where I was setting up a long fast before training, then not eating a full meal but just a small snack briefly before training. I know from past experience that this kills my squat but it's so tempting to optimise calorie intake around training to maximise fat loss that I lost sight of what's equally important as bodycomp and that's performance.

Today i'm breaking this habit. I've had a decent meal after fasting only ~15hrs (compared to 17-18 last week), and i've had plenty of water throughout the day. I'll have a 2nd preworkout carb meal later just before training while training later during the day like I used to before I got distracted by fasting. I know that as long as I stick to my macro and calorie goals i'll get the fat loss so the extra leangains IF nonsense is just an unnecessary performance handicap. I can still do the long fasting nonsense on rest days when it doesn't affect performance but strictly speaking it's not essential even then

The other thing i'm changing is my training itself. Each set I do must count for something, if it's not important, it's not worth doing. I have to make sure every rep has a purpose within the overall framework of physical performance. Enough volume is better than too much or too little, and I have to watch intensity and keep my CNS in check while cutting. I'll adopt Pavel's refrain about leaving a workout feeling fresher than when you began it. Avoiding failure, no grinding, keeping a rep or two in the tank. All that good stuff. Saving the CNS tasking workout for just one day (friday), and perhaps just one set, and keep the rest of the week low on CNS fatigue.

And I think i will go back to full body workouts too. I think the combo of daily treadmill work, high bar squatting and front squatting alot so often took a toll on my knees, but now that i'm not using daily TM or hbbs it should be ok to squat 3x a week while keeping my knees happy. I'll keep a close watch on this and make changes I need them. I do love the bodypart split approach but i'm going to save that for another time, it's better suited for when bulking rather than when cutting, probably.

Plan for squatting over the coming weeks
- fs & and lbbs mon, wed, fri initially, then fs only mon and fri, and bs mainly weds only.
- bs - start with a heavy triple top set, avoiding failure and grinding, adding 5kg each time, then 2.5kg. After topset ramp down and get a nice deep six reper, followed by a lighter 6+ and an 8+. Aiming for total reps of ~20-25.
- fs - work in the 4s and 3s, adding 1-1.5kg each session, ramping down the weights thru the sets, no more than 20 reps, aim for 16 hoping to get 4x4.

goals, for oct i'd say getting 115x3 on bs would be great progress, 107.5x3 more realistic, but lets see what happens. for the higher rep sets, i guess 100x6 and 90x10 would be a good start. If i get that, i can hope to get to 125x3, 110x6 and 100x8 by year end? Dunno we'll see how it pans out. As for FS, well I wanted 130x1 but since i've stalled out pretty hard, maybe i'll be lucky to get even 120-125, but we'll see what happens. For this month, i guess 120x1 would be a great achievement.

Never seen this before. I think it's just my scale being funny. It probably can't differentiate weights around 80kg accurately and it's appearing to round to 80.

Testi it ( if you haven't done it already ). Weigh yourself and if it says 80 drink 500ml of water and weigh again. If it says 80,5 it means it works fine.

BP 2x81, 4x80, 3x79.5, 3x77.5, 6x75, 6x72.5, 6x70
WGBP 5x72.5, 4x70, 5x65, 5x60

Have lost ground on BP too. It's clear I shud go back to 3x full body workouts, that's what works best for me.

Food log

Meal 1:
3 eggs, 2 slice wholemeal toast, 400mL lowfat milk, 1.5 scoop whey, strawberries and banana (total cal ~700)


Meal 2:
Have run out of will power now when it comes to dieting. I just ate to satiety the following

3x masala dosa (loads of carbs, low fat, ~ 500g of potato..)
400mL lowfat milk, 1.5 scoop whey
5 snack size mars bars (~500 kcal)
1 bowl icecream  (~200 cal)

Hope my fat ass gets some PRs tomorrow, i'm itching to squat. The upside of waiting 2-3 days between squatting makes me look fwd to squatting rather than seeing it as a chore

I'm ashamed to admit I couldn't finish the last week of my diet properly, I just can't string together 2 days of compliance anymore. I doubt i'll hit my goal of <80kg either

Bodyweight: 80.6kg / 177.69lb (PR)



The thing that kills me if I saw this progress yesterday I would never have broken my diet lol. The whole reason I lost motivation was out of frustration at the lack of progress on the scale. Anyway i'll start from scratch today, lets finish this thing.

yup, make sure you're looking at the real data before you get frustrated.. your mind will easily play tricks on you to get you to stuff your face.

regardless, sticking to your diet more often than not is still effective.. sometimes you need to just give in and cheat.. if for some reason a day of cheating leads to 6 days of motivation, then it served an effective purpose.

i'd cheat 1-2x/week when leaning out.. but that's 5-6 days of staying focused.. everything depended on my 'stomach shrinking' though.. as i stuck with it, i'd need less food to satisfy me, even with the cheats, so it just adds up throughout the week and you get that good fat loss..

i honestly loved the fasted or non-fasted long walks to help with the fat loss.. sucks that it's making you feel achy etc.. cycling your legs a bit more, on occasion or for some significant duration, really helps to loosen up those quads.

pc man

Training
FS 3Fx102.5, 1Fx102, 2x97.5, 3x95, 4x92.5, 4x92
BS 2x90, 3x95, 5x90, 6x85, 8x80 (PR), 10x75 (PR)
Sprint 5x30m (best attempt was inside 1m away from finish line at 4 seconds)
SVJx5 (best attempt hit the rim at my wrist, that might be a new PR? dunno - doesn't matter)

FS notes:
I wanted that 4x102.5 but it wasn't to be. It's defied me the last 3 attempts but one day i'll get it. Actually, next time go for 4x102. I might have a better chance of getting that than 102.5.

Form was great. YES YES. Did not hurt my knees once, i've got this shit mastered now. I'll upload a vid after coming back from sprints but things are going well for me now. No there are no PRs but they will come eventually - be patient - for now just know I have progressed in technique and depth and if I keep working hard PRs will come.

BS notes:
High rep sets are a revelation. Im using a high bar placement but without fwd knee travel of HBBS squats. So basically it's a hybrid of sitting back and high bar placement. Net result is no squat mornings, and no knee discomfort. It's the holy grail. And I go plenty deep to stimulate glutes and hams while giving adductors plenty of work as well.

For the first time I am on top of squatting. I am not going to bother with any half deadlifts (so called RDLs) or full deadlifts (so called back-snap-shit-uppers). Just plain old PC dominant backsquats and glute dominant front squats. I still don't know how to make my quads big and strong - but for now i'm nudging them along ever so gently.

brb sprinting

Sprinting & Jumping notes:
Keep in mind my running and jumping was done straight after ~40-50 reps of squatting but ..

I started off rusty but my last sprint felt great, i was quick off the ground and finished strong. Came close to hitting my 30m in under 4s goal but not yet. Maybe once i'm closer to 10% i'll crack it. Yes i will and then i'll be athletic!

Jumping, i haven't jumped in like 2 months? Feels like ages. Anyway i was surprised that even after not having jumped for so long, I could easily hit the rim at the wrist off a SVJ. That was cool. When i'm a legit under 80kg - then i'll go to the gym and test my leap properly. I'm loath to jump maximally on concrete because it bothers my ankle every time so I didn't try any max attempt RVJs or any RVJs for that matter. That makes a 30" SVJ? Cool but I want more.

So good training today. I saved the best for last, made a judgement call not to do conditioning (HIIT or SSA) today. I'll do it on teh weekend that way I wont beat up my CNS/joints too much today.