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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.

I get what you're saying. It's just i've seen so many people on the internets who are very overweight and afraid of cutting who fool themselves into thinking they can get fat loss  thru training alone without actually doing the hard work on the food side of the equation. But I know what you are describing is true to a certain extent. Anytime you add in conditioning when you haven't been doing it, say thru playing ball, then you'll lose SOME bodyfat from the addition of that extra activity and/or the special role of conditioning. And since I have been doing zero conditioning that's going to be even more true for me. So i accept that and agree. But I also know that if i'm 10-20kg overweight (say from 10% bodyfat) then i def will have to do a lot of dieting to get down to my desired level of leanness.

But i'll do something different this time and i'll take your advice for a change and TOTALLY allow my body comp changes to come from playing ball and in training for ball. I think if I can get down to around 15% bodyfat without actively obsessively dieting then i'll spare myself and everyone around here a lot of annoyance of being that dieting guy. Lets give it a shot. See where it takes me.

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.   

I think i'd never get that low bodyfat without using a lot of drugs. I just dont have that sort of metabolism. Plus i'm old now, 30 years old. 5% now is nuts. I'm just after 10% or so. And if you're thinking how is this guy 6'3" talking about getting down to 75kg again and not being some ridiculous low bodyfat level, it's because we saw last time that i wasn't THAT lean at 165lb. I hadn't even started to getting rid of stubborn bodyfat around my chest and  lower back. I didn't have a full six pac. This time around it might be different cause i've gained some mass (hopefully) but you never know until you actually get there and see.

Btw last time i was cutting, i actually achieved my best vertical jump at around 83kg. My lifts then were very low in comparison to what they are now. As in what was a 1RM then is an easy warmup now. So hopefully around 85kg i'll actually be pretty lean and athletic. I have gained some mass in my legs, they aren't as stick like as before. But i know from experience everyone thinks they're big and strong after a bulk, and it takes the cold reality of a cut to see the truth once all is said and done.

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.

Yep! Same here. Btw awesome work with the cut, very impressive results brother.

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Anyway i'll take LBSS advice. Let me wrap up RSR next week and then we're going head first into bball training mode!!!

Training
FS 1x130
BS 6x2x120
BP 3x92.5 (PR)

FS notes:
I wasn't super tempted to go for a PR today. I am weary of injury for what would have been a meaningless PR today. On another day the PR would be worth more, say once i've wrapped up RSR.

BS notes:
Just the rx.

BP notes:
I can't understand how i've been easing off bp big time due to injury, and then i can go in and do a heavy PR set just like that.

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5 weeks down, just 1 left! Only one hard workout left, monday's. Then testing a new max on friday.

Fared pretty poorly the next day. Soreness all over, legs, hips, buttocks, lower back, upper body. Ugh. I took it as a sign and smashed a lot of protein, starting with 2 shakes. Drank over a litre of milk. Ate eggs, bread, ham. Loads of chicken. Pasta. Went out for a birthday dinner at a thai restaurant -- ate loads again, green curry chicken and phad thai represent. I haven't been this full in a long time. I also did a fair bit of restorative work, stretchin and rollin. Feels pretty good at the end of the day. Lets see how it goes tomorrow.

Just for fun i'll go weigh my self and see how it compares to the morning bodyweight.

Morning bw: 94.25kg
Night bw: 97.5 kg
delta: 3.25kg (7 pounds for my imperial brothers)

Looking good^^^

You're still SO slow in your plants and moves and everything... you should start doing some more plyos and sprints and stuff like that when you think you've had enough with strength training.

Just cycle these things out.

But that beard....epic sir, epic.

I'm going to have to agree with Raptor and LBSS, just imagine how much higher you'll be jumping with a proper run up and low BF though!

Ah, still badass.

You probably won't be able to stabilize the plant properly if you try to run up faster to the plant spot, or you will decelerate and plant at your "normal" speed.

IMO you need to do high volume 2-leg bounds, hurdles and sprints in order to get better at controlling your body first at higher speeds, then you can try faster plants.

one thing t0ddday told me about when we trained together a couple months back was "earning" the steps. so for high jumpers, they're only allowed to take a run-up out to the number of steps where they get diminishing returns. if you don't jump any higher from two steps than one, you only get two. when your two-step jump is better than your one-step jump, you get three, and so on. that's what i've been doing on the court recently, even adjusting by day: some days i'm good out to three and others not. but it allows you to practice being as explosive and fast as possible out to the distance where your body and brain can handle it. worth a shot.

Interesting. What's the deal if my running jump is at least 4+ greater than my three step jump or drop step jump?