MarkKO's Training Log

Training Training Logs
1462

Yes and no :smiley:

IMO the drop all the way down to 14 to 15ish is kind of consistent and rapid(ish). That being said of course progress “stalls”.

A lot of times every thing you see in the mirror will look the same but you are losing visceral fat or other stuff that is harder to see/evaluate.

It will seem progress has stalled but it has not. (I reached this place maybe 2 days ago but my waist has lost a cm since and my glute flub is thinner.)

Measure your waist to track progress. It lies less than weight.

Dont drop the cals yet. Give it another week+.

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1463

Marrko:

What @BOTSLAYER said. Stalls sometimes happen and you have a few options, the most sane of which is to stay the course.

Typically, you can cut calories and exercise to lose, or add calories and exercise. But what you have been doing has been successful and I wouldn’t screw the pooch yet.

If you continue to stay stuck, I would suggest cycling calories next - 2100 one day, 2500 the next, so that you average out to 2300. To drop to 2100, I would mainly cut carbs on that day and make sure it’s either an off day, or one of your easiest training days.

A more radical approach would be IF - less than 500 calories on a day or two, making sure they are off days or LISS cardio days.

But, I wouldn’t do either of those yet. I would suggest you make sure you are drinking lots of water to make sure you aren’t holding any.

Patience now would be my choice.

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1464

Thanks guys. That all makes sense. Definitely no way I was going to start extra stuff or drop calories again until I’d had time to figure out if the current drop I just made was ineffective - which I figured to take three weeks or so minimum.

Calorie cycling was one thing that crossed my mind, except for not liking that I’d limit my calories on days I’m recovering which doesn’t sit so well with me.

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1465

Slept like absolute garbage - courtesy of the fiancee deciding that bedtime was the ideal moment to have an in depth discussion about a subject that raises my hackles to say the least (although in all fairness it needed addressing - my only obiection was the time). To my credit kept calm and reasonable, but yeah, she went to sleep in a heartbeat (so I’m guessing she needed to talk about it) while I spent an hour or so calming down and then kept waking up periodically.

TL;DR I need to take note that poor sleep means I wake up feeling and looking soft and bloated. Pretty much each time it’s happened since I started leaning out I’ve noticed this. Add in a later than normal dinner and some frantic rehydration before bed and it only exacerbates this.

Yesterday’s training was awesome AF though. My left quad especially is complaining and my abs feel battered. Left foot is a bit tender from where I slipped doing calf raises but nothing terrible.

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1466

Still sore around the abs and also hamstrings.

Today’s training

Lazy lifter plus shoulders

Bench press

30 pull aparts between first here warmup sets

5x170 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x198 lbs, 6 RPE
5x220 lbs, 7-8 RPE - groove was a bit off until this set, but this one felt good
3x5x170 lbs, all under 6 RPE

Dips 50 total reps plus 22 lbs: 12, 12, 11, 10, 10

Feel decent, oddly easy until around five and then lockout is noticeably harder

Kroc rows 120 lbs 26 L+R for a one rep PR
Balance to 50 reps at 90 lbs: 24

Suspersetted hammer curls/Fat Gripz BB shrugs
Curls at 30 lbs: 14, 13, 10
Shrugs at 154 lbs: 25, 22, 11

Left off doing the 50 and 100 total reps because my grip was fried to the extent I could barely grip anything. Left off the stairmill because I ran out of time, I’ll pick it up tomorrow.

I think Tuesday may have taxed me more than I thought initially. Nothing terrible, but noticeable.

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1467

Woke up with my middle back feeling like a knuckle in need of cracking, and this persisted through training. Took my sweet time today because energy levels were not exactly high. Probably about 20-30 minutes over what I would normally spend.

Today’s training

Lazy lifter plus shoulders

Squat

Decided to use the standard stiff bar for a change. Played with a different grip - wrist on the bar, and it felt pretty good.

15 TRX fatman pull-ups between first three warmup sets

5x308 lbs, open belt, under 6 RPE
5x357 lbs, under 6 RPE
5x407 lbs, 6 RPE - these felt good and IMO look decent too. Still working on getting the reps out fast

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQByw2dBR7l/

Front squat FSL 5x8x209 lbs pretty much under 6 RPE across all sets

Last set:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQB1mNwhdU5/

Zercher hold RFESS 50 total reps/leg at 110 lbs: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Seated SSB good morning 100 total reps: 20xbar, 20x110 lbs, 20x154 lbs, 20x154 lbs, 20x154 lbs

These made a nice change. Middle back working hard, feeling less knuckle-y.

Decided to can hanging leg raises today because my left bicep/elbow was already a bit annoyed.

Supersetted calf raises/GHR sit-ups
Calves 100 total reps at 154 lbs: 35, 25, 25, 20
Sit-ups 50 total reps: 20, 15, 15

GHR sit-ups are a good substitute, they feel similar to STBs in my abs.

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1468

Here are my highlights for the week.

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1469

Mark, race to the highest front squat by the end of the year? You’ll probably kick my ass, but more motivation to drive my front squat up. Also are those romaleos 2 you have on? You picked a really, really good shoe.

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1470

damn, those are some nice speed reps with 407lbs…

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1471

Have you heard of the book “The Power of Concentration”?

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1472

I finally caught up with this thread, read it from my reply to planetcybertron.

MarkKO, I think I will need a few more sessions to catch up to you. You’re fast and you do sets of 20 squats. Where do I sign up for your bootcamp!

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1473

@brady888 I have not but I’ll look it up.

1474

I think it’s the bike sprints that help with the running, and the stairmill. The squats are just stubbornness and picking the right weight.

1475

Some of the advice is a bit archaic, but a couple of the lessons (I think 3 and 4?) talk about managing emotions and such.
If you have access to Libravox it is free.

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1476

Cool, thank you. I’ll have a look and see if I’ve got access.

1477

Libravox is just on the interwebs - LibriVox

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1478

@The_Myth to the rescue, appreciated. I’ll read read it during a quiet moment at work.

1479

Note on my whining about not seeing change: I was looking in the wrong place. Yes, my lower abs are still being shy but it seems like my serratus are starting to show a bit. Back up to around 203 lbs this morning but looking exactly the same as at 201 lbs.

Further note: it seems like once I hit the 201-202 lbs mark scale weight yoyos a lot more, possibly over a three to five day cycle with periodic drops below 201 lbs. As I said above, actual leanness seems to keep coming along. At a guess maybe my lower (relatively) bf levels mean my body is more sensitive to water and salt intake than previously. Or not.

Furthest note: while I’m not noticeably hungrier at 2300 cal/day, my energy levels seem to be lower. Nothing terrible, but certainly something I noticed this week.

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1480

[quote=“MarkKO, post:1468, topic:208986, full:true”]
Here are my highlights for the week.[/quote]

You have a good physique for the log pressups. Barrel chest and all.

I like how you push out your hips for the Friday Squats like in a KB dual hand snatch.

Good Mornings were funny. I thought you Zercher’ed it.

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1481

Water and salt are definitely a factor but also the body is starting to resist the changes more (bro theory).

Your body became accustomed to a certain lifestyle, at first the changes were awesome and beneficial but continued changes makes the body nervous and resistant to changes. (In caveman days you would have been starving to death, the body remembers this because it’s a jerk hahaha.)

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