That sounds very strange though, wouldn’t your muscles still be misfiring as before if you don’t do the activation work beforehand? Have you tried which portion it is that makes you sleepy? That is, try doing your glute bridges before, but not any of the other stuff, and so on.
Indeed, healthcare here is free-ish anyway so it makes no sense to behave this way.
Not really, we have to remember that I have a lot of experience activating muscles in the form of posing; I’m able to do my activation exercises I’m the correct manner even when I’m really exhausted and the effect of doing them does carry over to training wether they’re done before or after training.
Also, just after a couple of times doing those exercises I was already able to activate my glutes to a far greater degree in actual training
I have no idea of wether it is a single exercise or just the thought of doing those exercises.
People don’t want free stuff, that’s a fact. If something is cheap or free there has to be something wrong with it; that’s the common mindset
Weight: 80.4kg (-0.2kg)
Slept great, woke up twice even though I consumed both gelatine and some glycine before bed (10g and 5g respectively). And Z12. But whatever, when I was asleep I was getting some quality Zs. Will try to go without this tonight and see if I notice any difference. It does add 55 kcal to the daily total. Out of Z12 as well.
Morning walk, 30 minutes. 3g C-vitamin, Hot Rox Extreme, 5g Creatine, HMB before walking out the door.
Workout (standard workout nutrition - see weekly plan):
A. Box jump 1x5bw
B. Jump squat 4x3. 1 set 30kg, the other two 40kg
C. Trapbar Deadlift 3xcluster(5)@120. 120s rest (i.e. 5 reps per cluster)
D1. Back Squat 3x8@80.
D2. Box jump 3x60s, 45sec rest then D1.
E. Trapbar Carry 4x60s@80 30s rest
I’d say this was an average workout. I was running a bit late for work so I wasn’t mentally “there” during my carries. My torn callouses weren’t much of an issue as I had the good sense to tape up my fingers before the workout.
My first rep for the trap bar deadlift was at 140, so 3 20kg plates on each side + bar, and the pull felt decidedly bad as the outmost plates on each side were only partially in contact with the bar. After replacing the outmost plate on each side with 10kg instead I was pulling 120, and even they came off the bar a couple of times during my sets which maybe puts into perspective just how bad/unsafe the first rep felt. Wonder what happened to Biotest’s Dead-Squat bar https://biotest-t-nation.com/t/dead-squat-bar-no-longer-for-sale/7487 ?
To compensate for the low weight I used the lower handles on the trap bar. Thoughts: My lower back is most assuredly my weakest link at the moment. I’ve thought about adding some extra work to address my weaknesses but I’m not convinced this is a good idea during a diet phase (The Vital Whole Human - T NATION)
Back squats… could have gone heavier, maybe 10 kg, but I got good quality reps. Hit depth on each and every single one (used safety pins as my guide here) and didn’t do any compensatory actions on a single rep. And I just exploded on the concentric every time. Awesome.
10-minute bike ride to work, the way back home was another 15 minutes.
Rating: 7/10. Not feeling remotely satiated after a meal, but chewing gum still helps with this (two pieces after lunch, another two at 15:00). Drinking heaps of water. Saw some naan-bread a coworker had brought in, daydreamed about swiping it, so, yeah, capital H-hungry (not normally someone who’d steal food).
More sensible daydreaming (although I don’t actively encourage the thoughts): nacho chips, chicken wings, and burgers.
However, the meals that I’ve had have tasted great. If you recall from my weekly plan I’m having a stupid amount of fish this week and I cooked it in a lime/lemon-juice blend together with chives, lemon balm, ginger, coriander, thyme, and basil.
Kept with my meal plan, only addition was two spoons of apple cider vinegar before dinner and 10,000 IE D-vitamin as my dinner is the fattiest meal of today (normally I’ve tried to make my pre-bed snack the fattiest meal of the day to get the body to use fat as the primary fuel source but I didn’t succeed with that this week). I’ll update my weekly plan to reflect this so I don’t have to mention it each entry. Will also take in a tablespoon of psyllium husk pre-bed.
Might go out for a walk later tonight when I’m in more of a post-absorptive state. Mostly for the fresh air. I have a desk job (that I love). Try standing as much as possible at work but I’m still sedentary.
Update: went for the walk
I assure you that if you get better sleep with 55 Calories it’s worth it by far
Eating a lot of fat in the morning would be the way for there hasn’t been any new data coming out in the last few years, but as you train in the morning that isn’t really possible
When you put it like that, then yes… 
I wonder where I picked up this line of thinking then. Maybe here? Tip: Eat Fat Before Going to Bed
I do see the logic there but especially when dieting I feel that we should have carbs before bed
That’s because for most people, having them helps with falling asleep; of course you may not be one of them. Another reason is that while in a deficit the chances of storing carbs as fat is minimal. Storing carbs as fat is hard even in a surplus, nd when you’re in a deficit and don’t have so much muscle glycogen it’s far more likely for your carbs to be used to restore that.
I feel this is especially imprtant for people who train in the morning, as it gives you the opportunity to have some glycogen left from the previous day and thus you’re not training in such depleted state
By the way, last night I didn’t take gelatine (forgot to make it) and I slept horribly. Just plain horribly. Part of it may be psychological but still I was feeling it
This should be high GI carbs, right? I’ll experiment with pre-bed carbs next week. I try to not change a meal plan once it is in place with the exception of small amendments (like adding a bowl of gelatine).
I didn’t have any gelatine last night either and I did not sleep as soundly. Will report back after tonight where I use it again. However, I didn’t take in any zinc/magnesium last night either so that is also part of the equation. I really got my sodium intake dialed in for today though. I’ll be posting my daily log entry sometime during the day and updating that as the day progresses as I don’t want to spend my entire evening writing it all up. Better to do in short stints and while I’m at a computer anyway.
Yeah, although I’ve done just well with rye oats
It’s smart to either keep the diet as it is or to adjust just a bit so you can see what works and what doesn’t. Personally I don’t adjust my diet apart from lowering calories every once in a while while cutting.
Zink and magnesium definitely played a role in it as well.
Weight: 70.1 (-1.3 kg) I think this was the result of some dehydration. Slept under the covers instead of just a bed linen - the European “heat-wave” seems to be coming to an end and as such, I was unexpectedly cold. Probably lost some water as a consequence.
Got between 6-7 hours of sleep, neighbours partying again (I live in a student dense area). Woke up 3 times during the night. Not optimal. Not too bad.
No morning walk - got up late as a result of the aforementioned party (fell asleep late and adjusted my alarm accordingly). 3g C-vitamin, 5g creatine, Hot Rox and warm-up before my pre-workout. Remembered sea salt (6g in my pre-workout, 8g in my intra-workout). Over 12g sodium ingested before the end of the day!
A. 10kg Medicine Ball Backward Throw Against Wall 4x8, [0]
B. 10kg Medicine Ball Push Press Throw 4x8 [1]
C1. Push Press 3xcluster [2]
C2. Pull-ups 3xAMRAP@10kg (10,7,7) [3]
10kg 2x60s:
Overhead Carry(Kettlebell) 4x60s (30s rest) [4]
Rowing Ergometer 1x1500m
[0] this made my left upper trap lock-up hard.
[1] super-setted with A, strapped for time
[2] 1 set at 55, which sucked form wise. The reps were grindy and I led the rep with my left arm. the other two at 50 - got 4 reps each set. This was a performance decrease from last week
[3] this was a performance improvement from last week
[4] 1 set @ 16kg, 1 set @ 12kg unbroken, 2 sets @ 12kg broken about 45 seconds in. Couldn’t find a matching set of lighter kettlebells to use instead so.
Hunger: some brain fog and a little faint before lunch. Otherwise okay. Didn’t even need gum in the afternoon.
Notes: I noticed I had missed adding the 15g maltodextrin into my daily summary when calculating my caloric intake. Not ideal, but not a huge deal, obviously although it does tick up the daily caloric intake a wee-bit. Will Have updated weekly plan post to reflect this. Noticed this as I was sketching a meal plan for next week that will be more standard with respect to what I’ve eaten in the past while on diet. This week is exceptionally fish-y.
Went for a long walk after work for the fresh air, this was nice. If I ever need to, if fat loss stalls and there is nothing else left to do, I can just toss on my weight vest for these.
Had my gelatin jello + glycine blend (have also added this to my weekly plan) together with Superfood which made it infinitely more enjoyable and will give my immune system a fighting chance (a lot of my coworkers from abroad are over visiting the office).
Had my ZMA, my pre-bed snack, and am winding down for an early night.
Tried taking a few running steps today, my Achilles is still shot so tomorrow is a bike workout. Hoping that they will heal before the start of my next program, 6 weeks to superhero, so I can run after the medicine ball - and also since I’ll be replacing prowler work with normal sprints (treadmill sprints 
) see: Superhero Complex Support Thread - #70 by Christian_Thibaudeau
Oh, had 125g kale with dinner as it was about to expire and it felt unnecessary to throw out.
Weight: 77.9kg (-1.2kg, down 2.5 kg in two days -_-')
Was unreasonably wired last night. Fell asleep at 3:30 AM or later. After 1 AM I gave up on the idea of getting my workout in before work so I set my alarm to 7:30, but no, I woke up at 4:40, then 5:30, then 6:30 (and couldn’t fall back asleep at that time). My circadian rhythm is strong I guess.
My gym bag is packed with everything I need to get my workout in over lunch but I haven’t decided yet whether or not I will hit this workout. I feel like if I go out with the intended intensity that might kilter my immune system. I’d rather miss today’s workout than 4 workouts.
Took in 11g C-vitamin this morning, and 2 scoops Superfood. Brought along zinc lozenges in the gym bag, hoping that will help support my immune system somewhat.
Looked lean this morning, seeing some new structures in my abdomen and my ribs are becoming increasingly pronounced. My love handles and the fat 2 cm below the belly button are stubborn though and do not look visually different.
Push it back a day if it’s an important session, if it isn’t, just skip it. With such bad sleep it most likely won’t be a really productive session anyway.
Nice
That’ll most likely be the last thing to go, it’s pretty common for men
It’s getting skipped. The way I feel, in my body, has not improved as the day progresses.
It’s funny to have a visible vein another 5 cm below x)
So as stated, no workout today. Only biking to and from the office and an afternoon walk. Nutrition: 1930 calories (213p/67c/81f)
Weight: 76.6 (-1.2kg since yesterday, -3.7 kg in three days)
Sleep: ~8h, but I slept through the entire night I think. Still, more hours would have been better in light of the 3h the night before. I honestly still had a rough time falling asleep, I have to be wary of my caffeine intake. I run all screens with a red light to not negatively impact my melatonin production too much but I should probably cut out “late-night” online activity just to be sure.
Glad that my scale weight is moving again but this is too much, a bit worrying in truth. I’ve been trying to understand what possible explanations there are for this.
The first thing that comes to mind is that I somehow made a mistake while measuring my meals last week, back when my fat loss had stalled. By my notes, I was taking in roughly 2400 calories a day that week and ended up gaining weight by the end of the week. Last week I was having ground beef and chicken as my staples, so let’s say that my diet-brain absentmindedly measured up 200g cooked ground beef - which is probably 260g uncooked. That would mean I was taking in ~2500 calories a day and stalled making my calorie reduction more aggressive but not hugely so, so the plausibility that this alone would be the reason is about 1/10 (only realised by writing it out).
Another possible culprit would be my torn callouses, these have to heal, that would up-regulate my metabolic rate somewhat. But I’ve had torn callouses in the past intra-diet, so that too doesn’t seem all that feasible.
I think what I will have to do is to check how much weight I lose over the course of a night as well, as in, measure what I weigh before bed and compare that to when I wake up to understand how much water weight I’m losing.
But yeah, probably lost some lean body mass (although I never had much to start with anyway so shouldn’t be too tough to get back later on).
At the start of the diet, I calculated some goal weights for the end of every week and I hit the target weight for this week yesterday morning. Now I’m below the target weight for next week.
Mirror analysis: look dry, some additional lines coming in around the oblique area today compared to yesterday. Compared to yesterday evening my pecs are flatter, especially around the inserts at the middle of the chest. This could just be dehydration of course, or that my summer tan is slowly fading away.
Forgot to mention my hunger rating yesterday, it was completely unnoticeable against the backdrop of undersleeping.
A. Medicine Ball Chest Throw Against Wall 4x8 10kg
B1. Bench Press 3xcluster@80, 75, 80[0]
B2. Barbell Dead-start Row 3xcluster@80, 75, 80
C. 2x45s, 2x30s. 30s rest [1]
D. 4 sets 60s overhead carries 30s rest. 2 sets @ 50kg, 2 sets @ 40 kg [2]
E. 1x1500 ergometer [3]
[0]: First set, 3 reps, drop weight for the second set, felt strong, went back up and got my 4-reps on the last set. All-time PR. Coincidentally, I found a log entry from Jan where I was ~95kg and I was benching 60!
[1]: Week 2 on the program and week 4 both specify AMRAPs for this complex, and I didn’t have great success with that on week 2, I either went way to hard on the first set and couldn’t get many reps at all on subsequent exercises or I started pacing on the first exercises. Today I went after the clock instead. On my second set of push-ups I noticed that I was pacing myself to be able to continue for the “entire” 45s, so I went for 30s per exercise instead and just came at it with a brutal intensity. Either way, this was more work than the previous week as it was one more set.
[2]: The program specifies bear hug carries using either a dumbbell or a sandbag, I don’t have access to a sandbag and after the complex my forearms were far too sweaty for a bear hug carry using the dumbbell (I do these as a Zercher carry, not sure if that’s the correct way). Tried a set of Zercher carries with a barbell at 80kg but it was very slippery still over my forearms. Went with overhead barbell carries instead.
[3]: 7 seconds faster than last time!
Take it easy man, you’re probably just losing water weight. It’s highly likely that you were consuming too little sodium before and you carried water due to that
Now that you’ve upped your salt intake to the level your body actually needs it can let go of the water.
Also, whenever you cut carbs from your diet you’ll lose water weight, as water binds to carbs.
Yeah, as I said, it’s just water.
Don’t worry about losing lean mass either, as you aren’t a highly advanced trainee and you’re consuming a lot of protein the chance of losing muscle is miniscule. And even if you did lose some muscle memory will help you get it back fast once you enter a surplus
Thanks for the reply man, definitely trying to take it easy and not have a knee jerk reaction. Wonder why I didn’t factor in the sodium. Seems so obvious.
Just blame it on the diet brain, it can be pretty damn hard to think straight while dieting
I felt as if this was worth addressing, not a huge worry for me. I have too little muscle mass to have developed an affinity for the little that I have. I haven’t had to work for it (yet). Looking forward to being in a mass phase though.
It is indeed pretty damn hard to think straight while dieting. I’ve noticed that instead of just using rudimentary arithmetic while measuring, for instance, my 15g malto + 16 whey in my pre-workout I’ll just reset the scale. x)
Updated daily post with workout info.
Tell me about it… I’m the one who prepares peri-workout supplements for both me and my girlfriend, and at times that may mean putting together a total of six different shakes.
God have mercy on me if I try to do them all at once while I’m deep into a diet, it’s impossible
Oh wow, I’m suddenly happy with how easy I have it!