This made me smile. Good name.
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Thank you. I wanted something to show it’s not evil unless you make it evil. You could EASILY over rest this and take 2 mins to 5x5 feel tired and claim success. But if you want it this is just as twisted. The time off between exercises actually makes you fresher. Although the very act of moving from exercise to exercise is time consuming.
It’s a good one and one I will work on doing better at.
100 Burpees in 4:30. This is the wife’s pace. She is quick apparently…
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So a week off - I went to a music festival. I had expected to return a touch heavier. But I have lost weight. The diet of cider, brandy and tinned meat worked…
All joking to one side I did drink a lot. But not excessively. I took my kids with me. So I could not get hammered. I ate “as well as could be expected”. Some dietary protein. But not loads. Tins of beans and mince. 1/2 a roast chicken on Friday. But I’m 995 sure the weight loss is down to the walking and dancing done each day. And the fact that over the weekend I spent about 10h with a kid on my shoulders.
Over all I think my physical condition really helped me enjoy the festival. At no point was I to tired to do anything. From dancing with the kids on the shoulders to being able to boss the walk to and from the car park. People were genuinely in awe of the amount of stuff I could fit into the bergen. I estimate it weighed in at 30kg. Which is heavy - but I did a mile walk with 60kg and a 5 mile walk with 20. So a 1.5 mile walk with 30 was simple enough. Even after 5 days in a feild.
In short - being strong helped again.
Plan on wards for the rest of summer - the local gym has a meal prep service. and at £3 a meal it is not overly expensive. 400 calories each meal - plus a moderate breakfast (say 1000 calories). This should fuel weight loss.
My next issue will be the target weight to restart a bulk. I know people hate the “whats my body fat %” questions. But there is a legitimate question they can help with: Target weight to restart a bulk. I’m 102kg. If I’m about 20% body fat then I need to look to lose another 10kg ish. If I’m 30% ish body fat - then I need to drop about 20kg. Totally different situation. I might post a photo on here to see what people think. Personally I think cut to sub 95 kg. Maybe even see sub 90kg.
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Gone a little quiet mate. You all good?
yeah just a quiet week after a big weekend. And I started a new job last week and it is full on. Also tryinng to decide what to do with “things”. I want to get smaller (leaner) but I stalled out big time on this. So I need to get paid to procure the meal prep service.
In Other good news - 60-90 mins of touch rugby today. Which was good. Got my heart rate up.
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Really struggling right now. No idea why.
To try and shift this lack of mojo I have signed up for a trial at a cross fit gym. There is one local. I know they split opinion. But I think this is where I need to be. I need a group enrionment. It will get me in good shape and I’ll drop the fat (if I eat right).
Let us see. I start tomorrow. I will commit to 4 months.
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Hey Big Carl, what have you been eating that’s wrong?
HAHAH - I am a pig. And when I feel low I eat some much crap. I’ve not had a soild meal in DAYS. I’m surviving off of sandwiches and cake.
I drowned! Life really did get on top of me, and still is in many regards, but just trying to push through and do the stuff that makes me better, mentally and physically.
Trained for the first time in an incredibly long time about an hour ago, was awful, contemplated not posting back here until things were slightly less embarrassing, but I like to be transparent.
Thanks for checking in, haven’t looked at the millions of journal entries I’ve missed are so how’s life with you? What have I missed?
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I swapped almost all strength training for conditioning. And got pretty “fit”. I took a leaf from Pwn’s play book and just took a moderate weight and hammered it for reps. As in LOADS. I was doing some pretty cool stuff. Cross fit ish. In fact did a few cross fit work outs. Got a grace time of sub 3 mins. Which was great. And lost 12kg. Althought I’m not sure how much of that is still lost. I’ve really not be paying attention to food either for the last few weeks.
However I’m off the wagon for now. I’m not a great place. My head space is messed up. New job - odd hours and really struggling for sleep. I need to get back on it. I think a read of Brawn again would help. There is a way for me to make this work. I just have to find it.
It is good to see you back. Funnily enough I’ve been thinking about you a bit. I’ll drop in to your log later. When I get time. See what you are upto.
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Not much was the answer for too long! Too much of this:
So I can empathise!
Currently where I’m at.
Fantastic work, you let go of strongman or just blending the two? (Seems like pwn manager to blend the two wel) Any plans to compete?
So a long time out. Been really struggling. I’m a shitty mess right now.
But one positive step. Back in the gym. In a globogym type environment. So I took up a squat rack for a while.
80kg squat
Super set with
20kg(per hand) dumbbell clean and jerk.
10 sets of 10.
Took a while. But it is done.
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Good to see you back logging man. Hows it going?
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Great to see you back logging. Remember just try to do something everyday. It doesn’t have to be a big session but just do something.
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Thank gents. Yeah - things have been “tough”. No real reason. Its just part of my illness. Sometimes my head space just drops off. Ironically I’m feeling as social as I ever have been. I just have 0 energy for the gym and or exercise.
I’m going to re read Brawn this weekend. I want to move more to body building type of programme. And keep dropping weight. I’m upset with how much fitness I have lost. But I know it comes back quickly. I just want to be leaner now. I have gym time allocated tomorrow. Which is another good sign. Until recently I’ve not even been thinking “where will I fit in gym time”. At least now its on my radar. Even if its wildly ineffective and haphazard when I get there - I do get there!!!
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So I took a brief re read of Brawn. I’m in an odd place right now. Head space had gone. Its coming back. But the drive and determination to do what I once did is not there right now. I once did 20 squats with 150kg as a drop set. I once did Grace in 2:50. I’m not able to work that hard. I had been desperate to run DW or DC training. But there is no hope of that right now.
The metal toughness to push that hard has deserted me. For now. It will return. But much like physical strength mental strength can be developed. So much like a weight training programme I will “start low and add slow”.
I will start with a simple ABA BAB 3 times a week full body.
A:
Squat
Bench Press
Pull ups
B
Deadlift (it says normal or stiff leg I’ll have to see - I’ve decided straight leg)
Seated press
Dip
I’m lifting the weights and reps from the “mini cycle” on page 72 onwards. However to get a touch more volume I will be doing an extra set (this cycle say 1 set) but I will be dropping the weight by 5%. All % are of my 10 rep max:
2x10 - 80% 10rm
2x10 - 85%
2x10 - 90%
2x10 - 92.5%
2x10 - 95%
2x10 - 97.5%
2x10 - 100%
After this 1 set of max out.
Food will be easy wins. No crap. I’ve slipped back into eating shit. 4-6 eggs and toast each AM. Meal prep only for the rest of the day. No excuses. No prep - no eating.
A new 8 weeks starts here. If this goes well I can add in some conditioning as the weeks go on. Lets just start with this and see where I go.
The next big question is “what are my 10 rep maxes for the above exercises”. Well I have taken the liberty of “guessing within reason”. Which means looking at where I want to end up as much as anything else. And if / when I start things are too hard I’ll drop the weight. And if they are too easy I will remember to suck it up.
Bench: 10rm is about 90kg
Squat: 10rm is about 160kg
Pull ups: Ha 10 reps…
Dead lift: 150kg
Seated press: 65kg
Dips: no extra weight.
There will be extra arm work and I will be doing some bent over rows on B day for “junk volume”. It easy to add when doing the stiff leg dead lifts.
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Good to see you back. Won’t be long before you’re back up to the levels you were at before.
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Thanks to everyone dropping in to give support.
Today was day 1.
Squat - 110kg 2x10. This was much lighter than planned. Planned was 128 (160-32). But I did do squats yesterday. So I’m not too fussed. This is also more likely to be about 80% my 10rep max. 10 reps with 160kg is strong. I’m not there right now.
Pull ups 3x3
Bench 75kg 2x10.
Hammer crls - 1 big set of 40 with 10kg each hand.
I liked this work out short and sweet. Lots of room to grow. I’m already feeling better.
Also doing ABA BAB this will take 6 weeks to run 16 work outs not 8. Silly me.
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This looks like a solid plan. Simple enough that is reduces the excuses and effective enough to get you back on track.
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