Starting around at work so I decided to try some bodyweight calf raises. Obviously flat footed, so tried to keep tension in the calves throughout with varying degrees of success.
100 on both feet in one
100 per foot, alternating every 20 - my balance sucks
Definitely felt something, so it’ll be interesting to see how this pans out.
Feeling drained again. Granted, I didn’t sleep so well but still! Weight is around the same, sitting between 183.5 lbs and 185.7 lbs. Hunger has been back with a vengeance too, at least at times - mostly following my second and third meal.
Kind of confused because not much has changed. I guess it’s a (very) remote possibility that I’ve added just enough muscle to jack up my bmr just enough that 2400 cal/day isn’t as much to my body as it used to be. Or the acetyl l-carnitine is doing something, because this drained feeling started pretty soon after I started using it. I’m hesitant to attribute any of this to my refeed because I haven’t hadn’t craving for junk, just flashes of hunger that come periodically.
Appearance doesn’t seem much different, obliques might be a little sharper on average.
Jesus man, that’s harsh
Most likely it’s just about the fact that you’ve been dieting for a long time and you are under your bodyfat setpoint range, so your body fights back harder.
It’s also why it becomes harder and harder to lose fat and look sharper as the diet goes on (apart from the mental exhaustion, which could be a factor here too)
Bloody oath it is.
Makes sense. Thanks.
Supervising munchkin in the bath, so did some crappy posing. The only point of interest is that these were taken about half an hour after dinner instead of on waking.
@MarkKO, could be a myriad of things, but I’m guessing if you’re that hungry, your metabolism is humming along, but the thing that sticks out to me is the 2,400 cals. That’s pretty low for a hard-training 184lb male. I’m currently at 2500-2600 cals a day, sometimes as much as 2800 recently and I’m able to maintain a weight of 154-155. I’m sorry if I missed this, are you trying to get to a specific weight or conditioning level? Some additional questions that might help steer us in the right direction:
-How long have you been dieting?
-You’re at 2400 cals now, where did your deficit start?
-What’s your cardio schedule like?
-Current daily macro breakdown?
-Can you list what you eat for each meal throughout the day?
Some things that helped me curb hunger during preps:
-lots of veggies
-I usually drank a shaker cup full of water before every meal
-Raising fats
-diet sodas
But if you can post some of that info, maybe we can try to narrow it down. Playing with macro timing can really help.
DAT BACK!!!
I am also going to start training calves semi daily. For what ever reason 5 sets into a calf workout my feet hurt and every rep feels like I am pulling them apart. So daily shorter workouts was my solution.
What about 3 sets of cable pullovers after your rows?
Probably band assisted pull ups is what you are looking for (haven’t tried them out,I’m just throwing an idea)
Also looking good man
Your pics are an inspiration to all us fatties that one day dream of cutting 
Regarding the elbow issue with pull ups, is it just tendinitis or a previous injury? I had terrible golfers elbow from trying to work up to 30 strict wide grip pull ups. I did them almost daily and after a few weeks on top of squatting regularly, my elbows were trashed. I didn’t do a single pull up for almost 6 months, but I did lay pulldowns at a higher rep range in between every set of benching and high rep stretchers between sets of overhead presses. After I could bend my elbows again, I tried to do pull ups and cranked out3 sets 15 strict wide grip pulls ups easy.
TL;DR if pull ups trash out elbows, fuck em. Do something different but similar, work out your issues, and go from there.
exactly, neutral grip everything. Our bodies evolved over millions of years yada yada 
I’m trying to get my body to reset itself to my current composition before I start working on adding muscle. I figure because I was always fat, that’s what my body is accustomed to so I need to give it a while to get used to being leaner.
@robstein thanks for taking the time to clarify all that
@BOTSLAYER thanks, but still too narrow for my tastes although it’s slowly coming along
I was thinking along those lines myself
Thank you
Tendinitis. Very similar in origin to your story too
I know, but I actually enjoy doing them. I think I’ll keep them in just for that but not focus too much on progressing them and add pull-downs.
Woke at 184.4 lbs.
Note to self: add in some high rep lat pull-downs or cable pullovers after BB and DB rows, starting today.
More standing so
1x100 calf raises
5x20 single leg calf raises alternating foot to foot
Training at any other time than first thing in the morning makes a huge difference. Trained after work and felt great from the get go.
Today’s training
Lazy lifter plus shoulders
CGBP
TM is 225 lbs
Work up from bar in 22 lbs x 3-5 to 60%, 20 pull aparts between sets
3x159 lbs, under 6 RPE - leg drive timing was off
3x181 lbs, under 6 RPE - leg drive timing back to where it should be but the old knot under my right scap resurfaced and made staying tight really fucking uncomfortable
1x203 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x225 lbs, 9 RPE - rep PR. I think I’m going to informally aim to do that, increase the reps at TM every week.
2x247 lbs, 9-10 RPE - three would have gone happily if my right scap knot hadn’t been pissing me off
3x8x159 lbs, 6, 7 and 9 RPE - short rests, tris cooked
Right elbow/tricep area started complaining, so cuffs went on
Dips against doubled and double choked light band: 11, 8, 6 - these come out of NOWHERE, in the space of two reps locking out goes from OK to borderline impossible
DB rows
worked up in strict 10s in 20 lbs jumps from 40 lbs to 120 lbs (which felt very easy compared to how it used to), keeping the breaks almost non existent until I hit 100 lbs
Straps went on for 12x140 lbs strict-ish
Lat pull-downs
3x12x88 lbs with a controlled eccentric, 60-90 seconds rest between sets - these felt OK, but actually feeling and contracting my lats will take a bit of practice. Better back pump than usual though, so that’s promising.
Bis/tris giant set, 60 second rest
Seated strict DB curl, no lockout 3x15x20 lbs - definitely kept tension on my biceps
Sort of Columbu pushdowns 3x15x44 lbs - probably not doing them right, but got a decent tricep pump. Not a fan on the straight bar I used, definitely will go back to the U-bar next time
Here are the week’s highlights.
Yea, I still hate training in the morning. I tried to get in the habit of doing this. Performance just isn’t there.
I have been splitting a lot of my workouts AM/PM. Before work hitting the shoulders or back, then evening finishing with the hamstrings or whatever else is scheduled for the day. This does make my workouts much shorter (which I like), and I’m fortunate that I can do this pretty easily with the home gym.
