The bw is steadily decreasing. You must be doing something right.
@ChickenLittle Thanks for stopping in. I think I’m about 80% on point right now.
sips Friday beer
I’ve been using my Friday weigh-in as my yard-stick, since my weight usually swings up about 3-5 pounds over the weekend due to sub-optimal decision-making. This weekend I’m giving myself a bit less leeway, but I’m very pleased to be steadily dropping while still having some easy adjustments I can make if progress stalls.
Side story: I just left the bar I work at, which has a pretty good selection of meathead-friendly food. While I was outside talking to the other bouncer, who wants to get back into lifting, there was one of those yoostalift guys hanging outside. According to him we were in the presence of a 425 pound bencher and a 600 pound squatter who could only deadlift 405. I told him I’d give him $100 on the spot if he could squat a person who weighed about 180 to depth. Oddly enough, he passed up that very easy money.
If I was going to lie about athletic achievements, I would at least go to the trouble to make sure my lies where at least somewhat plausible.
Gotta love those yoostalifters.
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Monday 6/27/16
BW 277
BELTED Squats!!!
135x5
225x5
Lots of singles at 315
365x1
405x1
455x1
455x1
405x6
315x4
315x10
Leg Press
3 sets of 470x10
Kettlebell Swings - 88 pounder
4 sets of 25, resting while partner swings
Notes: Partner got 405x12 for top set. All of my squats were belted today. I ended up having some good sets and bad sets, but gained a great deal of confidence in my belted squat. My partner was immensely helpful today, and I think I will be able to hit some bigger numbers when I come back from next week’s deload.
Weekend got a little out-of-hand. This can happen rather easily during summer in Maine, but I felt like I put the extra calories to good use today with a whole lot of squatting.
Bahahahahaa! When I got to the second line, I thought, " must have been a good weekend."
Good partner can make a lot of difference. 405 x 6 is very good
@ChickenLittle You definitely pegged me. That wouldn’t be a problem if not for the previous two or three weekends of similar behavior. It is a bit disheartening to see the scale jump like that, but I know it is mostly water and glycogen and I’m still coming in a pound or two lighter each Friday. I think there is value in the replenishment of a cheat meal, but that value obviously diminishes quite a bit after the first meal. By the time I was done on Sunday I had abandoned any pretense of value or sensibility, instead opting for an orgy of unrestrained gluttony.
@hel320 I’m mildly embarrassed to admit that, with over 2.5 years under the bar, I have only used a belt for maybe 5 or 6 total sets across all exercises. Having a strong, dedicated partner has been generally outstanding, but he was very helpful to me yesterday in figuring out how to use the belt. Most of my sets were somewhat uncomfortable due to the belt, but a few of them felt like I had a rocket strapped to my ass. Those are the ones where I got it right and having a partner to help me figure out these rather basic aspects of barbell lifting was awesome.
I think 315x20 and 405x10 are both achievable in the near term with a belt, and that’s what I’m gunning for on my squat while I work on this belly reduction project.
Here’s to hoping you grow to love your belt as much as I love mine.
@kpsnap I think that is a reasonable wish, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to like this new phase of belted lifting.
Tuesday 6/28/16
BW 275
Bench Press
95x8
135x5
155x5
185x3
225x3
245x7 belted
225x10
205x12 belted
185x10
135x20
Kroc Rows
3 sets of 100x20
Cable Circuit
Facepulls
Pulldowns
Curls
3 rounds no rest
Notes: Partner got 250x8 on bench. I forgot to try my belt on my warm-up sets so I slapped it on to do my top set as a first-time belted bench set. I’m not sure if I got anything out of it. More practice is needed.
I love bouncing at this bar. It may just be the perfect side-job for me at this stage of my life. And yes, I had more free whiskey tonight, which is why I find myself at the keyboard at 2:30 am on a work night. I don’t really want my lifting log to turn into a journal, but this all ties in with my efforts under the bar, so logged these thoughts will be.
Ten reasons this job fucking rocks.
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Cash. It is in my hand each shift.
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Low expectations. I check ID’s. That’s my primary job requirement when things aren’t going to shit. I keep myself busy to help the bar run smoothly, but that still leaves a lot of time to do other things.
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Experience. I may not meet the future Mrs. slave at this joint, but holy crap am I getting better at flirting.
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Appearance. I’m still pretty fat, but I’m also a stout lad. I wear dark-colored business casual clothing to bounce, which make me the best-dressed guy in the bar most nights. I also cut my hippy hair and have a sort of Captain America-ish haircut right now. I’m getting a lot of womanly attention. This is not entirely new to me, but I’m coming off a decade where I just kind of let things go, so it has been quite a long time since I’ve enjoyed attention from women who have been out of my league for most of my adult life.
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Challenge. Difficult situations will arise. I like to be the one who has to deal with it.
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Confidence. It continues to build.
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Socializing. I’m meeting a lot of really fun people.
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Respect. I do my best to conduct myself well, even if I am being a bit devilish. I was initially worried that senior management at my day job would frown on me even taking a part-time job, let alone being a dive bar bouncer, but now the executive team at my day job asks about the events of my night job.
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Women. Maine women are fantastic. They are other things too, but we’ll just leave it at fantastic for now.
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Excitement. I’m working on a multi-level product cost roll shortly after I wake up. I love how knowing how to do that pays bills pretty well, but I was asked to stick my hand down a very attractive woman’s back pocket tonight. She was worried she had dander in there. She was right. There was dander in the pocket, and it got all over her iphone.
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Dander… You do have a colorful life.
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You might be right, for one night a week anyway. There are reasons why I don’t note the details of my day job in my log of lifting. I get paid about four times as much to do things like devise and implement methods to track our inventory of manufacturing remnants and then figure out how to best account for the favorable pick-up that takes place on a work order that makes use of them.
I do find those sort of problems interesting, and knowing how to solve them certainly puts me in a better overall position to grab more firm asses in the future. In the meantime, I am glad to be paid in cash to fulfill my bouncerly duties, up to and including checking the pockets on a squat booty for dander.
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Thursday 6/30/16
BW 272
Deadlift
135xBunch
225x5
315x3
405x3
455x1
495x1
545x1
495x4
405x11
Kettlebell Swings - 88 pounder
4 sets of 25
Notes: All sets belted today. 495x4 was pretty spotty, just didn’t feel right. 405x11 felt GOOD. I’ll get this whole belted lifting fad figured out soon. Partner got 495x10.
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It’s very impressive to me that you’ve now dialed yourself in to the point where you are consistently shedding BW while maintaining / increasing your strength all around. I remember shortly after you arrived on the site we had a chat about your goals and some discussion about the tug-of-war between trying to continue adding weight to the bar vs. your quest to shed pounds, and how it would be difficult to add strength while dropping weight…but it certainly appears that first focusing on building a lot of strength, and now dialing in the diet has worked out extremely well.
Carry on.
@ActivitiesGuy Thanks for stopping in bro. I’m not totally dialed in yet, but I’m a lot better than I was before. Strength is, and always has been, the key to this whole process for me. I’m quite pleased with how everything is playing out in 2016.
Get that five plate pull on video when it happens!
We’re ready to see it.
Saturday 7/2/16
BW 270
Press
95x5
115x5
135x3
155x1
175x1
185x1
205x1
210x0
135x10
135x10
135x8
Pull Ups
One set of 8
Six sets of 5
One set of 3
41 total reps
Cable Circuit
Curls
Facepulls
Pulldowns
3 rounds no rest
Notes: All press sets belted, and the belt keeps feeling better. Partner couldn’t quite get 205 over his head. 205 ties my all-time PR, set when I was about 25-30 pounds heavier. I was very pleased to hit this rep, along with a 305 bench PR last week. Any thoughts of lost strength from the weight drop are now banished from my brain.
I threw that last set of 3 pullups in simply to do more work than I did the previous week. Definitely getting stronger on these, which is not surprising since I’ve never really been able to do them at all.
Happy Independence Day, everyone!
270? Ah… but the weekend is young. Do I see a new PR in the near future?
Hey, been following your log for a while and doing some light reading as I go. I have tried recomping with some luck. I was about 195 and 18% when I tried and it worked for a short period. I’ve read a lot about how recomping isn’t possible, but today I was reading the text for the CSCS certification and it talks about recomping not being effective for those with low bodyfat (highly trained athletes).
So, I look at some of your lifts and feel like you are a highly trained athlete because your number are good. But, I also see your BW and think that the recomping would be possible and that you are proving it’s possible. It’s great to see.
Not sure my point is clear, but I wanted to encourage you to keep doing what you’re doing, that I’m enjoying watching your success!
@ChickenLittle Well some beer is in my future this weekend, but I’m just finishing up food prep as well. Having that done tends to keep me on the rails a little better. Hoping to see the 260’s next week, and that’s the only PR I’m really worried about now.
Okay I lied a bit. I think I may go for a 600 deadlift if I’m feeling it after my upcoming deload week. No guarantees though.
@The_Myth Thanks for the kind words. I got a real chuckle out of…
I might be competitive in the light heavyweight division of The World’s Strongest Dad Bod competition, but a highly trained athlete I am not. I just lucked out and happened to be a bit stronger than your average out-of-shape, mid 30’s IT guy who decides to “get in shape” when he’s finally pushing well past three hundo. This of course helps to make the whole lifting weights thing more fun, so I’ve stuck with it.
As far as the recomping goes, remember I’m still quite fat and you are not. I think the margins for success will narrow the leaner you are, but I can’t really speak to that either. Haven’t done it yet. But everyone can train hard and consistently if they find a way to fit it into their life. Make good food choices and get enough sleep. That’s really all I’m doing.
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Yes, but[quote=“twojarslave, post:719, topic:199995”]
I think I may go for a 600 deadlift
[/quote]
and I just got back from rocking a 215 dead lift, lol. I am coming back from an injury, but still…