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When is the last time you've done plyometric work? You look like a guy with a lot of untapped strength into power. You're like a mini-tractor that sucks when he's pushed at high RPM.

Training
FS 1x130
BS 1x147.5 (PR), 6x2x135 (PR)
JUMPZ 7xSVJ, 7xRVJ
BP 4x90

FS notes:
Didn't have any pop on that 130, which meant once again i wasn't explosive/athletic today.

BS notes:
RX was 4x4x135, but if I forced that i would have good morning'd the last 2 reps on on the first sets and definitely all of them by the 4th set and this would have made me useless for another week or so while my lower back recovered. So i made the decision to adapt the program to myself and did 6x2x135 instead. This meant I got the majority of the volume done, and stuck to the 6 sets thing i've been doing so far, which I really like. It does mean I was 3 reps short (inclusive of the 147.5kg rep). But i figure if you add in the fatigue from the FS set and the BS max that it evens out. I def could have forced another 2 sets but at the cost of lower back fatigue. So the upshot of this is that by wednesday I should be good to go for the next heavy day.

Ok i'm really hyped right now. I'm gonna do some jumps. So glad I did 135kg workout today and not yesterday or monday, it was the right decision. Yesterday i wasn't fully recovered. Monday i would have fallen behind on the RSR schedule. This way I maintain the schedule, made allowance for my recovery needs and feel good physically and mentally which is the best part.

JUMPZ notes:
I started off really badly. I couldn't land a single SVJ dunk. Which made me sad. But then I remembered to make rigid my core, and then I finally got one.  And then another. That made me happier. RVJ came next, had to rush thru them quickly cause it had started raining. I was dunking them pretty well once i made sure to speed up my approach.

Came home and weighed myself just to check what i was - and lo and behold the scale said 95kg!!!!!!!!! Lol. The last time i weighed myself i was around 92. Did i really gain 3kg of bodyfat in less than a week? I'm gonna say what every fat lifter says, "just bloated brah" but it is worrying me a little. I was ok being around 90kg, even up to 92kg but 95? That's not good. It means i'm 20kg overweight and with so little time left til the bball tournament, i'm quite concerned. But the good news is that i'm not far from finishing this program, just 2 more hard workouts left. And they're not volume ones so i dont need to eat much if at all. I won't start cutting til i'm done with the last session but it does mean i'll start watching my diet a lot sooner than i anticipated.

BP notes:
Thought to try a heavy day for a change, i hope it doesn't aggravate my chest injury again. But it felt good, strong. Next time i'll go for 5 reps to equal my previous PR!

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Good news is I can dunk more or less the same as I could before but now i am 20kg overweight. So my strength has def gone up with bodyweight. Bad news is this is cutting it very fine for getting in shape for the bball tournament. I dont think i'll get down to 75kg by then, but i can realistically aim to be sub 80kg maybe even close to 75kg if I eat clean for the next 145 days straight. I can do that, i have the discipline. I just wanna make sure i've done enough to get a double bodyweight fronty by then.

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update: The next morning my bodyweight is 93.6kg. Which is still too high but i can live with it for the moment. I am obviously fat but I don't think I look that fat. Maybe i've gained a decent amount of lean mass. Otoh could just be water more than muscle. and fat too. Will  know what's up when cutting.

small recommendation that you(r internet persona) will not hear: in working to get in shape for basketball, do not think primarily about your weight. think about your sport-specific fitness. if you can run up and down the court and play D and hit jumpers for extended periods, then you're in shape, whatever your weight. you'll probably lose weight in the process of getting in shape but it shouldn't be your primary goal.

obviously those things are true and being lighter is easier on your joints. i'm just recommending that you treat weight loss almost as a side benefit of getting in shape, rather than focusing on weight loss as an end goal. shift focus to conditioning (and may i add: sport-specific conditioning) and maybe do some light calorie restriction if you really want to, but don't actively try to lose 20kg this time around. just my two cents.

Quote from: entropy on November 25, 2013, 09:40:10 am

I totally agree with you. You can play at any bodyweight (PAES) lol. But in my experience the body takes a far greater beating playing at a high bodyweight. Joints, ankles and knees especially take a huge pounding. Knees start to ache, ankles start to break. Spine gets shaken up too. Risk of injuries goes way up. Last summer when i was a lightweight (@165lb) i was pretty much unfit and yet i could play a full court game without much loss of performance. Actually that's not fully true, i had to pick and choose whether to play good D or O but the point is i could just depend on my low bodyweight to make up for my lack of fitness. But that's not something I want for this summer. I need to be properly fit -- regardless of playign bodyweight. Ideally i'll have low bodyfat and superb fitness, regardless of my eventual bodyweight whether it is 75kg or 85kg -- which one it is remains to be seen.

Maybe you have never been really lean... but all those symptoms you mention (and more) come right back when you get really really lean.  Leaning down to under 5% makes me feel like I have a cold and everything starts to hurt.  You will REALLY miss the lack of fat when you land on your tailbone on the basketball court.   You might jump higher; but for a contact sport I would be cautious about cutting too much fat.  Especially preseason.  It will go away during season a bit anyway.   You have added appreciable muscle (hopefully) since the last time you cut to 75kg....  Trying to get your weight down close to there again might result in some levels of leanness that you just don't want.

Being under 5% to play basketball  that's insane. Personally I feel a million times better playing at ~180-5lbs ~10-12% bf as opposed to 210-215lbs ~18% bf, man that was a bad time.

Cycical keto, with a weekly carb refeed at first lasting 8 hours or so, becoming a every 5th day as I got leaner. Carb loads were dirty and out of this world (try hit 1000g cabrs in 8 hours, not pleasant). keto was burgers sausages bacon chicken cheese and eggs pretty much...wasn't so bad. Used quite a lot of LISS towards the end too, HIIT sporadically.

At the end of that cut which was 3 and a half months or so I did a one week liquid only PSMF...I lost like 14lbs this week, 8 or 9 apperently glycogen. Yeah I probably lost some muscle but it came back quick and I hit a 220kg deadlift pr a few weeks later when I couldn't get 190 while cutting.

I think I have pics/graphs on the first post of my log if not ill upload them cos they were kinda cool.

From low carb?

Training
FS 1x132.5
BS 1x152.5 (PR), 2x142.5 (PR), 3x1x142.5 
JUMPZ 8xSVJ, 8xRVJ, 10xRVJ (total jumps 26)

FS notes:
Felt real strong on front squats today. I really wish I could have gone for a PR today but I had to save myself for the challenging RSR worksets. The remarkable thing is that 132.5kg was done after a 125kg warmup which was nice and easy up from a double of 110kg. Which is to say, i was primed for a front squat PR today but alas I could not attempt one for fear of ruining my backsquats!

BS notes:
The good news is I got the 152.5kg PR more or less as a matter of course but perhaps it cost me the chance to get a bunch of doubles with 142.5kg as I planned. I wanted to get 4 doubles which would equal 8 reps just 1 rep short of the rx, and if you add in the heavy max single that would make 9 reps total as rx (3x3x142.5). I ended up doing a total of 6 reps, 3 short. I was totally spent by that last single so I didn't attempt any more. I could have done backoff sets but everything felt so heavy I just didn't feel like it, esp knowing I have to go out and jump later tonight.

The fact I did less volume than planned, and without any good mornings, I feel means i'll be able to attempt a heavy front squat on light day friday. Maybe even a PR set of 5 or 3, i will see how it goes, if my back feels nice and fresh i'll do so otherwise no drama stick to the light sets as RX.

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