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That is true Vag, he does present himself as failure prone often when in reality that isn't the case at all. I'd like to emphasize what raptor said in his post 'it wont be displayed In the gym, but on the field'. THAT'S an athletes response. He doesn't 'care' if he's 'beasting in the weight room as long as he's being a monster on his choice of field.

Honestly, it sounds like Entropy is inching closer towards my original point number 1. He's sounding like more of a power lifter than an athlete (not that power lifters aren't athletes but you see what im saying?). And let's face it, not many guys can do both simultaneously.

Well, this discussion is only happening because you're saying what you're doing isn't working. Maybe for you, both the cut and the bulk are happening over too short a time-frame for any practical use. A 150kg HBBS and 100kg clean would be very respectable numbers at 75kgs, by the way.

What i'm saying is not working is i don't know a way to get my squats going again. That's all. I don't expect to set PRs, just keeping 90% of my pre-cut maxes would be cool if i could figure THAT out. My basketball ability is coming along nicely, much better than i expected, so quickly. I'm not there yet but each time i play I improve, whether it's conditioning, passing, defense or ball handling. Shooting really sucks but I can usually get that going thru lots of practice which i haven't devoted yet. Conditioning is still very bad but like i said, i improved from 1/10 to 2/10 which is cool, just in one session. Maybe i can keep bumping it up 1pt each time i play?

I need really amazing conditioning cause my team has shit, unathletic, unskilled bigs (amazing guards though), so they'll rely on me heavily for workhorse minutes, even though ideally i'd play fewer minutes, as an elite SF who pick-and-pops my reliable mid range shots or driving against bigger slower bigs. It's really not ideal when the opposition will have lean, athletic, strong 6'8" guys, or big strong 120kg beasts in the post.  Also, i have to work so hard on defense cause the other bigs suck, and i end up anchoring the defense even though i'm not build for it, being so light and having to work so hard for position against much bigger and stronger guys. Plus our guards are very score happy (think iverson), so i get very few field goal attempts, which is frustrating, because i always have excellent fg%, i just commit myself off the ball to setting picks and getting boards instead of actively contributing to the offense. So if i'm squatting to much, it's because i know what demands there are on me, some of which are very unreasonable! it's not playing to my strengths at all but that's not my call. I need big strong thighs, buttocks and calves! It's not optional. Plus you guys are sprinters, your sport is more about raw performance rather than the multitude of physical demands of basketball. If i was a sprinter, i'd just accept i'd have sore dommed legs to be good in the gym, and accept the compromise, but i'm not getting that sort of leg fatigue from my sport, so i am hoping to do much better in the gym!

Incidentally i played ball again today, which means I trained thursday, lifted and played ball saturday, lifted sunday, and played ball monday. And i'm due to lift again tomorrow, tuesday. And possibly playing a full court game on weds, a friend has asked me, although i don't really know if it will eventuate cause last time we ended up driving back home half way there. I couldn't possibly be playing more ball right now. Btw have i mentioned i'm cutting? And i'm getting leaner as we go along!

Quote from: ChrisM on February 10, 2014, 07:30:13 am

Honestly, it sounds like Entropy is inching closer towards my original point number 1. He's sounding like more of a power lifter than an athlete (not that power lifters aren't athletes but you see what im saying?). And let's face it, not many guys can do both simultaneously.

This is 100% correct. We tend to move from a skinny basketball player to a fat powerlifter if you allow ourselves to think "squat strength is all that matters" and we only care about benchmarking that.

I agree with the general concept. With both of you. Totally.
What i can't understand is how entropy ( who is already in the middle of a 10-15kg cut) relates with that fat powerlifter mentality. Wanting to preserve a good percentage of your ( hard gained ) limit strength during a big cut is not a powerlifting obsession, it is basic training principle imho.

Oh trust me, ChrisM, I am repulsed by the sport of PL in all different ways, and I would go as far as saying they're not athletes. The only strength athletes are, you know, the ones in the olympics lol, throwing shit or lifting stuff. That's it. PL is a horrible vulgar sport. Those who can't play any real sport, start powerlifting instead. I have slightly more respect for competitive crossfit. I think that's enough. Having said that, even PLs, at least those in the lower weight classes absolutely have to be lean and ripped and have good ratios, at least the competitive ones. I'm not talking about the 5'7" guys who bulk to a very sloppy 230 and think they're hot shit. I mean the ones competing under say 180lb. Even so, my goals are the pole opposite of PLs. I want to be strong AND athletic, which is entirely foreign to that sport.

Like vag said, if you're cutting you want to maintain your lifts, which will maintain your muscle mass. And that's the extent of it. I am not sure where the advice to lay off squatting is coming from, but it's not the right answer.

So magically the ball i've been playing has seemed to cut away my abdominal bodyfat. I bet i could have dieted for weeks, even months before that bodyfat started burning away (it always goes last), but something about basketball just burns it away directly. Pretty awesome.It's weird but overnight i've started to look relatively lean. I'm not saying i'm lean, but a lot leaner all of a sudden. I hope it sticks and it's just a transient thing.

I've become convinced to try more RFD related training. I am going to try on friday/saturday.

What else. I just ejaculated for the first time since october, which seems like such a long time, i just wanted to see if my equipment still worked. Was pretty awesome for an orgasm but i couldn't get very hard. Which is starting to worry me. I'm convincing myself it's because i'm cutting so all systems are depressed. But in the past even in the middle of 6 weeks of 800 calorie a day RFL, I'd still have excellent mood. I don't really care, maybe it's stress, whatever. We'll see once i'm done cutting and down to 10% bodyfat, hopefully i'll be good then..
 
Also, regretting playing basketball outdoors yesterday. It seems to have a much more stressful impact on my joints, way more residual achiness and soreness which i haven't been getting from playing indoors. Also i didn't take caffeine which probably didn't help with recovery. It wasn't even planned, just friends called last minute. I was to rest monday, and then have an awesome squat session tuesday. Instead i ended up taking tuesday off as result, and i'll try training weds instead. Last time i play outdoor pickup ball with that crowd. It's a low quality, low return activity. Rather stick to playing high quality ball against better players.

october?!?! jesus.

Haven't stayed layed down for more than a week since I was 12.

My waist was low 37"s this morning, so it wasnt just imagined reduction of waist as per my last post. Only downside is, i've only got 2 holes left in my belt. Fucking motherfucking starting strength "gains" mindset made me order XL when I should have got an L. It's a nice belt otherwise, top of the range leather lever one. It's just not suited for anyone athletic once you get down under 35" waist I wish i could swap it with someone who has a L. That would be awesome..

I must say there is something very seductive about being 90kg/200lb and lean. It seems like such a beastly thing to be. Don't get me wrong, i loved being 75kg/165lb and lean too. But being a strong and powerful 200 is something else. Maybe i'm not too far from that. Perhaps by the end of this cut, i'll be close.