Tuesday through Thursday probably saw my back do a lot more work than I would have thought it willing to do. I see this as no bad thing if it’s a one-off occurrence. I guess it sort of validates what I’ve been doing.
Yesterday also put me in a really good place mentally, not that I was anywhere bad before. I’m now really looking forward to the next six weeks gearing up (sorry, phrasing) for meet day.
Practical notes:
until I’ve had a couple of sessions in wraps I’m going to scale down my thinking for squats and set my sights on 500 lbs. Whatever I can move over that is gravy. I’ll firm up attempts a couple of weeks out
bench I see no reason to change my thinking. Somewhere between 264 and 281 lbs is realistic for a third.
I’ll persist with sumo for DL for another week or two, although I’ll throw on my wrestling shoes because the DL slippers aren’t great for sumo. If my suspicions are correct, a DL bar will make a significant positive difference to my ability to hold position which would mean 545-561 lbs should be a real possibility. That’ll leave me conventional as a backup.
Do you pull conventional or sumo in competition? Also I was wondering what weight you started your weight loss at? I’m being a bit lazy and don’t want to search all your posts haha.
@caesium I started at around 102.5 kg, now I sit mostly between 83.5-84 kg
I’ve pulled both in competition, but mostly conventional. I’m not married to either style.
@FlatsFarmer thanks. I’m honestly surprised by how much the briefs help my DL. I think I’ll need to get more of a feel to maximise what they do for my squat. I think my raw sumo stance and groove fits perfectly into the briefs’ groove, whereas my raw squat stance fits well enough into the briefs’ groove, but my raw groove is a bit different in that I don’t sit back much while the briefs want that. I’ll need to figure out whether I need to accommodate the briefs in that respect or bully them into submission as right now they’re tools to drive my raw squat.
Somewhat surprisingly my quads are quite sore today, so they obviously still work when I’m in briefs.
Geez, that’s quite the weight loss. Good for you. Have you ever tried recomps while maintaining a weight? Does bulking/cutting seem to be most effective for you as someone who has competitive goals in strength not just aesthetics?
Had my BIA this morning. I went in wanting nothing more than minimal further muscle loss and no increase in bodyfat.
What I got was a 1.5 lbs increase in muscle mass and a 1.7% drop in bodyfat to 11.4%. Bodyweight (breakfast, shorts, shirt) was 186.1 lbs which tallies with waking weight.
While I’m skeptical about the muscle gain numbers, everything moved in the right direction so I’m very, very happy. It also means I can stick at 2400 cal/day for another six weeks which is what I wanted. I figure the more gradually I increase my calories the better my body will adjust to being leaner.
Quick check on what my maintenance windows should be:
@lil.greggy this is the first time I’ve ever done something like this so I couldn’t say for sure. I think if you’re properly fat like I was but with relatively respectable strength and muscle mass you’re better off biting the bullet and cutting down. If you’re fat and weak you might be better off recomping.
My logic is that if you’re carrying enough muscle and can move enough weight your body is going to be relatively cooperative in shedding fat given the right stimuli (lower calories with appropriate macro split and timing, training volume at reasonably high intensity). If you’re just fat and weak, your body is going to be far less cooperative because there isn’t much muscle there to use energy and you’re simply not able to move much weight to create a need to use energy in the muscle. Make sense?
-Losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time, when already lean? Training equiped to compete RAW?
BAD BOYS BREAK THE RULES!
Great, great work!
It’s cool to see the Sumo come back so strong, you looked better than ever. It will be interesting to see if deadlifting with your feet wide and getting the hips/glutes driving will influence your squat. Like the opposite of the box squat/sumo deadlift connection.
Also, the whole “overload” thing is interesting to watch. If big weights make you strong, why not lift big weights?
Wow I went to sleep for two weeks and had a whole lot of reading to catch up on in your thread mark. Good to see you still progressing and looks like your enjoying your new plan. Good work
Back to normality today. Feeling good. Pressed for time, had around an hour to get everything done and got it all done in an hour and 10 minutes
Today’s training
Lazy lifter plus shoulders
CGBP
TM is 220 lbs
Work up from bar in 3-5 in 22 lbs to 60%. 20 pull aparts between sets
Leg drive took a while to dial in, not as snappy as I like until first working set. Head down does help tightness
3x154 lbs, under 6 RPE
3x176 lbs, 6 RPE
1x198 lbs, under 6 RPE - everything fell into place
7x220 lbs, 10 RPE, rep PR - got greedy and tried for eight. Very pleased
2x242 lbs, 9 RPE
1x253 lbs, 9 RPE - CGBP PR
Left it there
3x8x154 lbs, under 6 RPE first two and 7-8 RPE last set which felt the tightest of the day
Dips against doubled and doubled choked light band
10, 8, 7 with short rests
Triceps absolutely fried
DB rows
Worked up in 10s in 20 lbs jumps, taking as short breaks as possible
10x40 lbs
10x60 lbs
10x80 lbs - best weight for MMC in my lats and rhomboids
10x100 lbs
10x120 lbs - to my surprise and gratification I can squeeze the shit out of these now
Straps on
11x140 lbs - my mid and upper back has increased in strength a buttload very rapidly
My upper and middle back is TRASHED. In a good way, I expect I may get a decent growth spurt out of hitting it (unintentionally in that I didn’t set out on Monday) hard four days in a row.
I also realised I missed three lifts this week. I then realised it was because I was feeling good and strong and hitting PRs and got greedy. Not ideal, but the only ‘good’ reason to miss.
