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Pretty cool. I think it's a good way to increase GPP, and it's nice that the supersets don't interfere with each other. Only cardio would interfere with the second of the supersetted exercises I guess, but you get better at that. I was thinking I wanted to try something like that in my training to cut workout times. How long do your workouts typically last?

25 February 2016

Bodyweight@session : ~89kg
Soreness : none
Injuries/aches : none

T0DDDAY'S GPP

Workout #15 ( Week #6 )

SUPERSET 1 - SQUAT ++ OHP:
6@82,5kg ++ 8@42,5kg
6@82,5kg ++ 8@42,5kg
6@82,5kg ++ 8@42,5kg
6@72,5kg ++ 8@42,5kg
-Terrible again. Bad form, quads jurting, feeling annoyed and angry , bleh.
I took off 10kg at las set just to see what would happen. It kinda worked, felt better.

SUPERSET 2 - BSS ++ PULLUPS:
8 each leg @ 40kg ++ 10
8 each leg @ 40kg ++ 6 + 4
8 each leg @ 40kg ++ 6 + 4
8 each leg @ 40kg ++ 6 + 4
-Nice. BSS eccentrics feeling it a bit but ok.
Pullups were strong but doing 10 at the first set came with a price, couldn't go over 6 straight at all the others. Still great.

SUPERSET 3 - RDL ++ LEG RAISE:
20@55kg ++ 20
15@75kg ++ 20
10@95kg ++ 20
5@115kg ++ 20
-Switched to straight(er) legs for raises. Got all reps but was sooo much harder.
RDL steady, no reason to up loads currently, this feels a perfect combination of weight and volume, i keep working on glute-drive.

Soooo, looked back at my log. It is almost a month now that I complain about dead legs and very hard squats. Squat load was 77,5kg at the time, yet although i complained at almost every workout since, i somehow added 10kg on my working load in two weeks while doing that program 3 times a week AND playing full court basketball once a week. I think it is safe to say i kinda burned-out myself. Just can't get how i kept adding weight while having tired and hurting legs. Anyway!
I am not quitting this program. I like it. I just have to take a step back , either you see it as a reset or as a deload. I am dropping my squat load to 75kg next time and keeping it there for a few workouts to see what happens. Maybe drop the BSS load to 30kg too. Will try to keep up with SMR and stretch too, i am not good at that but i will try.

How have you de-loaded in the past? Do you drop the intensity, volume, density, etc? Did it work okay?

Just saying that every time i've de-loaded by lowering the weight, i've lost strength when I come back in and it takes some time to get it back (CNS). I have found de-loading to be more effective if i just cut all the sets in half, and rest a tiny bit longer between sets.

Another way i've found is very effective for me is to take an extra rest day or two. I don't mean skip workouts! I mean push the workouts back by a day. So if you lift mon-wed-fri, after lifting on mon-wed do sat-tue- and then push back again, fri-mon-wed-fri. You'll be back on schedule like that. This may not be feasible depending on your non-gym schedule though.

BUT if lowering the weights has worked for you in the past for just a week, go for it! Usually if de-loads don't work for me, I do a reset where i just lower the weights on all lifts by 10% and i slowly work back up to where i was and hopefully surpass my PR's after that. But i'll never do a de-load week where i lower weights by 20% or whatever just for that week. I always regret it.

it does matter, but it depends. some people do better on low-carb than others.

Obviously a given quantity of fat has much more calories than the same quantity of carbs.
What I meant was, for a given total caloric input, would focusing on low carbs or fat have meaning? The calories won't change, they will be substituted.
I guess I was really looking for the recommended analogies. E.g. that 50g fat per da you mentioned.
I read some more though. I think I got my answer. I gotta lower my fat. I am hovering around 100g when it should be 75g for 2300 kcals (TDEE) / 55-60g for 1800kal (typical cutting day ).

I'm on it.

Finally.  I agree w Dreyth.  DONT DELOAD.  Cut volume, increase rest.  Increase weights.  Ill try and write you an example of how when i have more time.

Too late. I did my first de-loading workout with cutting weights. It didn't quite work. I mean everything was easier, yes, legs had a chance to take it easy, but it kinda cancelled the workout essence, HR wouldn't go up, max was 130 or sth. Didn't occur to me that the weights played a role in this, silly, it is called intensity, lol.
Anyway, hope you get the time to give a deload example before next workout. Keep in mind that i decided to deload because my legs are really stressed. Both Eccentric and concentic on squats makes my quads hurt, it is real pain there, similar to a very light quad sprain. Form brakes down bad too. Even at the first set that i am not tired, it is not the daily ongoing fatigue from previous sets, fatigue is there before the workout. Currently my 80kg squat is slower and much uglier than my 105-110kg squat earlier this year. It is not a proper squat to be honest, it is a bad form squat with much forward lean, if i saw someone doing the squats i do i'd shake my head and wonder why he uses a load he cant handle.

Anyway, here is Saturday's workout

27 February 2016

Bodyweight@session : ~88,5kg
Soreness : none
Injuries/aches : none

T0DDDAY'S GPP

Workout #16 ( Week #6 )

SUPERSET 1 - SQUAT ++ OHP:
6@65kg ++ 8@35kg
6@65kg ++ 8@35kg
6@65kg ++ 8@35kg
6@65kg ++ 8@35kg

SUPERSET 2 - BSS ++ PULLUPS:
8 each leg @ 30kg ++ 8 + 2
8 each leg @ 30kg ++ 6 + 4
8 each leg @ 30kg ++ 6 + 4
8 each leg @ 30kg ++ 6 + 4
-Nice. BSS eccentrics feeling it a bit but ok.
Pullups were strong but doing 10 at the first set came with a price, couldn't go over 6 straight at all the others. Still great.

SUPERSET 3 - RDL ++ LEG RAISE:
20@40kg ++ 20
15@60kg ++ 20
10@80kg ++ 20
5@100kg ++ 20

So as stated i went down too much. -20kg  , -7.5kg OHP , -10kg BSS , -15kg RDL. I did break a good sweat again but as mentioned i was not reaching high HR, max was 130 , so minus 30-40bpm here too. It was refresing though.
Now i don't know if i should build up from here, stay here, or go back to my limit-strength weights, do as much reps as i can even if they are two or three and build up from there.

The de-load version of your previous workout could be:

SUPERSET 1 - SQUAT ++ OHP:
6@85kg ++ 8@42.5kg
6@85kg ++ 8@42.5kg

SUPERSET 2 - BSS ++ PULLUPS:
8 each leg @ 40kg ++ 8 + 2
8 each leg @ 40kg ++ 6 + 4

SUPERSET 3 - RDL ++ LEG RAISE:
10@95kg ++ 20
5@115kg ++ 20

In other words, just slash the sets in half. If you really need it, you could also extend your rest periods by a minute. For the RDLs, I included the two of your heavier sets. For me, this keeps my strength higher than the other option since it doesn't allow the weights to feel heavier next workout. And if the weights feel heavier... it means the CNS isn't as tuned for it (loss of neural strength due to whatever).

I've experimented before with cutting reps in half versus cutting sets in half for my de-loads. I like cutting the sets in half better and keeping the reps the same because I feel I actually get a training effect that way. I am at least doing one set to near exhaustion and stimulating some kind of muscle growth/strength gain.

Think of it this way. Say you are capable of 4x10@100kg for some lift. What would keep your strength better:
- A year of doing 2x10@100kg, never more
- A year of doing 4x5@100kg, never more
I would say the first option would. So that's what I choose for the de-load.