Rack pull/Powershrug mechanical drop set (no rest between the following)
Rack pull:
8x250kgs
Power shrug
Fx200kgs
Rack pull
Fx200kgs
Shrug
Fx150kgs
Power shrug
Fx150kgs
Rack pull
Fx150kgs
Rear delt hang&swing (John Meadows’ brainchild)
22.5kgs>12.5kgs>6kgs
2 rounds
Back stretch
Notes:
Again, pretty self explanatory. The rows weren’t the prettiest in existence, but you can still call them rows without lying. I did not include bar weight in the rows, so 140 kilos is seven plates
Overall, a very intense session. Now, after two hours I feel like I can eat again and thus I’m having my post workout meal;
300g Chicken breast
200g Green beans
2000g Potatoes (yes, two kilos)
I like these bigger meals, only problem is that I’ve had to move from plates to oven trays.
I had practically trained for a year in a row without deloading, thus I wanted to get a good rest. That may have played a part in it as well, but even before I haven’t liked deloading in the regular sense
Nothing crazy really, just things I didn’t need this time, such as excessive amounts of cardio, apple cider vinegar (which is, by the way, a great tool), doing metabolic training six times a week and eliminating carbs altogether
I feel you, as you see above, in the training log, downing nearly 1.7K calories in a single meal is no problem.
Please do, I, at least, enjoy reading stuff like that
Pretty good, I just got into this calorie cycling thing and thus far it is feeling great. I feel that after this deload we’ll start to see how it really works for me.
But overall, it’s going great. Weight is up a bit but haven’t gained too much fat - and I’ll be getting rid of any I have in a while.
I see, looking back now do you think that cardio and metcon actually helped or do you think maybe you ended up being catabolic more often than warranted? Apple cider vinegar is awesome, I always take it before bed and sometimes before a meal. With the exception of workout nutrition, most of my carbs are from vegetables and I haven’t really landed on whether or not I want to blunt the relatively small insulin response that I imagine follows my meals which is why (I reckon) it’s not a tool I employ for each meal. Could you maybe enlighten me? Should the dieter take omega-3s, and apple cider vinegar with every meal that isn’t peri-workout?
I’d say both; it was what I had to do to get that lean but I’d avoid it at all cost now
I’d only have an insulin response while there is a need for it; peri workout (mostly during and after) and at nighttime. Apart from that you don’t really need insulin
I like to take omega-3s at night, but it’s really just up to what you prefer. Experiment with stuff and see what works for you
Yeah, took me a bit under half an hour to get down.
I love potatoes.
I will
Yes, I don’t see the point of getting fat even when gaining mass; staying lean is, in a sense, sports spesific training for bodybuilding.
Interesting. I don’t know how lean I’ll be able to get this time, I just want to get lean enough so that I’ll be comfortable with going into a mass phase and then cutting again around march/april next year.
Noted, and will. I like spreading Omega-3s out, since I live a life that affords me that possibility (i.e. I have the stuff at my desk at work and at home).
Love a long meal.
Indeed, year-long beach lean makes more sense than the old 90s/early 00s view of dirty bulking/cutting back and forth.
Yeah I did read that, it was a good read. Like all of your posts.
I have a cut-off point, I’m not going to get lighter than 75kg. I feel that anything lighter than that is too light for my height, even if I still have some fat. At that point, I’d just be better served by adding on some lean mass and then try again I believe. I might readjust my thinking when I weigh that though, but if I still carry fat around my abdomen then I’d say the skinny fat look isn’t going away until I earn some muscle. This is just a guessing game on my part though.
There is a point where you are decently lean and start seeing some real definition; it’s kind of addicting and for me at least, it makes me throw weight limits out if the window.
But it’s up to you, get a bit below (bf% wise) a point where you feel confident, so if you gain some fat alongside the muscle you won’t hate the way you look. Also employ minicuts during gaining to avoid gaining too much fat
It’s been a while since you had a post on your thoughts about stuff. Even though I’m too old to employ it I really enjoyed your stuff on extreme stretching. It’s definitely among the things that aren’t written about on T-nation otherwise.
Haha, I’m thinking this might happen to me as well. I mean, there is no rush for me to get on my mass phase but I’ll let a couple of variables factor into how long I keep at this. Mini-cuts definitely planned. I actually read about them the first time in your log!
Yeah, I write stuff when I feel like it; I don’t force it. That’s why it’s so inconsistent
Referring to the structural alterations, right? Yeah, most people don’t believe in that stuff. But I can tell for a fact that after I started doing that stuff my ribcage size and shoulder width has increased
Go with the flow, diets don’t have to, and rarely should, be set in stone
Nice! They’re definitely a great tool for offseason.
Indeed. The disbelief is understandable as it would only apply to young lifters anyway.
Yeah, we’ll see. I actually reviewed my calculations this morning and by their account (these are just guidelines of course), I should be lighter than 75 kg at the end of my scheduled diet anyway.
If I scroll enough I guess I could find the answer, how aggressive do you make your mini-cuts? Is this only to keep fat at bay or anabolic resistance as well?
Maybe a part of that disbelief comes from people not wanting to accept that they could’ve gotten a bigger structure
Calculations are a good tool to reflect upon, but only time will tell how things truly turn out.
You’d have to scroll quite a lot, I believe I discussed mini-cuts when my log had under a hundred posts in it.
But to answer you question, mini-cuts can be pretty agressive as they are so short that you won’t really experience the negative sides of dieting. Usually I’m in a 700-1000 Calorie deficit.
I started using them as a means of keeping bodyfat levels down, but I would even go as far as to say that the biggest benefit of minicuts is the improved insulin sensitivity. So yeah, I do use them to prevent anabolic resistance.
Man, I’m sore as hell. I should clarify; sore as hell from everywhere but chest, biceps, front delts and calves.
Luckily tomorrow will he a chest/bicep/calf/ab day.
But really, I don’t think I’ve had such bad back and shoulder doms in a long while. Also my quads are still a but tender. It’s odd in a sense.
Today at work I came to the realization that my head is just about to explode. I’ve never felt burned out from work but it’s different now. This isn’t sustainable, and I have to do something about it.
Also, I just have money just lying around on my bank account. I don’t see the point of that - I’ll have to figure out a way of making that money proliferate. Any suggestions are welcome, wether it was books to read on the subject or concrete ideas.
How many jobs are you holding down nowadays? And with regards to your money just lying in the bank, you should absolutely do something with it, otherwise, inflation will over time diminish its value. I suggest investing, I don’t recommend any books in particular.
This is a very crude and unworked metaphor, but just like there are progressions with training there are progressions with investing as well. So, investing in fonds is like your 5x5 program, investing in funds and stocks is maybe 5/3/1, and other derivatives such as minifutures is like DC.
Start with funds, and maybe stocks. Stocks will in general outperform funds in the long term (i.e. 10 year horizon), but generally demand a little bit more knowledge. I cannot direct you to a particular site to trade on, I use one that is for swedish customers only which can help you compose a portfolio of funds+stocks, I’d be suprised if this isn’t offered by say your bank or insurance company. Set up two accounts, one for your pension and one for general savings (that you can dip into).
Try to spread out your investments across different sectors (i.e. don’t put all of your money into technology or retail), and across different countries (own stock in some US companies, some European companies etc.), this is because you want to reduce the risk associated with holding investments in only one currency. So, for an example, the Swedish krona has recently diminished in value, effectively making investors that have only invested in Swedish companies lose money. I own a lot of stock in US companies, and as a result made a net profit on the Swedish krona going down in value.
I don’t trade stocks and funds for a living, it’s just to earn a little extra on the side. Have done well enough to pay for a vacation abroad as of yet. I do work in the financial sector, as a programmer, but that doesn’t really help at all because what I build is not accessible to private individuals such as ourselves and is geared toward larger financial institutions.
So we both program for work, just in a bit different manner.
Okay, that’s the last one
But seriously though, you’re just about a million leagues above me when it comes to computers then, I’d guess. When it comes to technology I’m practically an elderly person.
