[quote]JR249 wrote:
Are you setting a particular fat loss goal, or just wanting to cut up a bit?
I wandered into it just wanting to trim up, as I am not competing for anything, so I didn’t set a fixed BF% or fat loss amount per se - just look more toned and get rid of some lower abdominal fat.
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Im not competing either. Just looking for something that will work or me in the long term. I prefer to stay on the “toned” side of things. Im liking the idea of “dieting” during the week, and then have a bit more freedom on the weekend to eat more “normally”.
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Nice work lately Bird! I feel you on the motivation thing. My team has gone from losing in the championship last session to being 0-3 right now! Losing consistently is never fun 
[quote]MightyMouse17 wrote:
Nice work lately Bird! I feel you on the motivation thing. My team has gone from losing in the championship last session to being 0-3 right now! Losing consistently is never fun :([/quote]
Losing is never fun, but it’s worse when the coaches don’t want to try to turn things around.
Hopefully your team can turn things around.
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Monday, 7th July 2014.
TRAINING
PM
Pull-up/push-up & Conditioning
- Agile 8 etc.
- 10 supersets of 3 reps of pull-up with an additional 10 kg, with 11 push-ups.
- 3 sets of 15 band pull-aparts.
- 12 minute run.
- 5 x 350 m run with about 90 seconds break b/w each run.
- some mobility drills on the track to cool down.
notes: Decent session. I think its time to increase the reps with pull-ups. Next week I will try 4 reps for the first 5 sets.
NUTRITION
So about a week ago I was complimenting trying out the anabolic diet, but after a few days of low carbs I have decided its probably not for me. Not at this time of my training life anyway. Maybe once soccer season is over I will experiment with it again. Im going to keep a closer eye on my diet and mix a few ideas from IF, carb cycling and the anabolic diet to come up wit my own set of protocols. Watch out for my book: “bird seed delights”. 
11:00am: Quest protein bar.
1:30pm: 4 boiled eggs (minus 1 yolk) and greek salad (with no dressing)
3:30pm: BCAAs and 3 grams of creatine
5:00pm: 200 grams of grilled chicken breast and 1 cup of rice (pre-workout meal).
6:00pm: BCAAs (intra-workout)
7:30pm: thai pumpkin soup, spinach and fetta pie and 130 grams of roast lamb. 10 mL of fish oil.
(as usual my fish oil and 2 morning coffee’s are not counted in my calculations)
TOTAL MACRO’S: P: 180 C: 80 F: 92
TOTAL CALORIES: 1,980.
notes: Feels like I ate a lot more than 1,980 calories. Had heaps of energy for my workout. Will probably try keep a similar diet for the weekdays and plan a re-feed on the weekend.
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Tuesday, 8th July 2014.
TRAINING
PM
Lower Max Effort
- Agile 8.
- Front squats; worked up to 5 x 5, with 75 kg.
- BSS; 3 sets of 10 with 22.5 kg dB.
- Supersetted 4 sets of; hamstring curls (8 x 45 kg), with 10 rep hanging leg raises.
notes: Decent session. I know 75 kg is “lightweight” numbers, but it felt heavy for me. I want to eventually be front squatting my bodyweight. I was meant to attend team training this afternoon, but I have almost given up on the whole situation, and didn’t feel like wasting my time as another pointless training session.
NUTRITION
12:00pm: Quest protein bar.
1:30pm: 4 boiled eggs(minus 1 yolk), and greek salad with no dressing, 1500mg of vit. C.
3:00pm: BCAAs and 3 grams of creatine.
4:40pm: 130 grams of grilled chicken breast, 1 cup of rice, 1 scoop of MD, 6 cherries.
6:00pm: BCAAs (intra-workout).
8:00pm: 160 grams of steak, 3 beef sausages, tomato and cucumber salad dressed with olive oil.
TOTAL MACRO’S: P: 185 C: 78 F: 98
TOTAL CALORIES: 2,027.
notes: Once again I felt like I have consumed more calories than I have. I suppose that is the beauty of IF, which is that with some hunger in the mornings means that you can eat like a king in the evening.
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Wednesday, 11th July 2014.
TRAINING
PM
Solo Skill & Conditioning
- Agile 8 etc.
- Juggling and ball to wall passing.
- 4 sets of cone dribbling, 3 sets of cone doggies, 10 repeats of Z-assembled cone dribbles, 3 x suicides(full out sprinting from goal line to 6 yard line and back, then to 18 yard line and back, and then to half way).
- Warmed down with some juggling.
NUTRITION
10:30am: Quest protein bar.
12:30pm: Feta and spinach pie(homemade with no pastry), 2 beef sausages, and greek salad with no dressing, 2000 mg of vit. C.
3:00pm: BCAAs and half a finibar (pre-workout).
4:30pm: 130 grams of porterhouse steak, celery with 2 tablespoons of PB, and 1 scoop of Metabolic Drive (post-workout).
7:30pm: Grilled tuna steak, half a avocado, spinach and pumpkin salad dressed with olive oil. 2 tablespoons of fish oil.
TOTAL MACRO’S; P: 190 C: 95 F: 115
TOTAL CALORIES; 2,150.
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Thursday, 10th July 2014.
TRAINING
PM
Max Effort Upper
- Agile 8 etc.
- Bench press; 5 x 5. First 3 working sets was with 100 kg, and then down to 90 kg, as I wasn’t happy with bar speed.
- dB MP; 10 x 17.5 kg, (8 x 15 kg) x 3.
- Supersetted 3 sets of seated rows (10 x 55 kg), lateral raises (10 x 7.5 kg).
- Supersetted 3 sets of dB curls (10 x 15 kg), with face-pulls (12 x 35 kg).
- Abs.
notes: Decent session, although I need to keep an eye on bar speed. No point pressing big numbers if bar speed is not up to par. I was meant to attend team training this evening but with no game this weekend I would only expect a handful of players and hence another mediocre session.
In other news, I am planning on incorporating “deck squatting” into my warm-up (see video), in the attempt to improve my “functional movement” and mobility. I managed to get up a couple of times in my first few attempts, although heaps of practice needed.
NUTRITION
12:00pm: Quest protein bar. 1.5 grams of vit. C.
1:30pm: Spinach and fetta pie, 2 beef sausages and greek salad.
3:00pm: 1.5 scoops of Metabolic Drive, 2 celery sticks with natty PB.
5:00pm: BCAAs (pre-workout).
7:00pm: 300 grams of grilled chicken, half an avocado, cabbage salad with olive oil, and an ounce of walnuts.
TOTAL MACROS: P: 175 C: 60 F: 115.
TOTAL CALORIES: 2,070.
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Friday, 11th July 2014.
TRAINING
Rest Day
- Did a quick run through of Agile 8 and went for a 20 minute walk in the evening.
NUTRITION
Today was a little challenging to keep control of macros as I went out for breakfast with the girlfriend in the morning, and had a piece of salmon for lunch which is so caloric dense. Fat intake was a little on the high end.
8:00am: Scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms and a tomato.
11:30am: Quest protein bar.
1:30pm: BCAAs and creatine.
3:00pm: Grilled salmon and 10 olives.
7:00pm: Chille con carne(no beans) and cabbage salad dressed in olive oil.
TOTAL MACRO’S: P: 185 C: 40 F:150
TOTAL CALORIES: 2,250
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Finally the World Cup s over and I can get some sleep and get back into some decent training and eating. I will start to log my training more consistently as well.
Saturday I did Upper Rep, which included 4 sets of 8 x 60 kg for barbell rows. Sunday morning I did a Solo Skill & Conditioning session, which included 4 repeats of 350 meter sprints.
Tonight I will be attending team training, although Im seriously considering quitting this season and concentrating on something else. There are about 10 games left in the season, and I am happy to be a part of the next 4 games but after that I will re-consider. Im thinking of starting BJJ and concentrating more on strength work.
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Once you get the hang of deck squats, try deck pistols as described in the video you posted. They’re actually a bit easier than normal pistols and do wonders for balance & stability in the ankles - our BJJ trainer used to have us do 10 each side as fast as possible. That was humiliating 
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[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
Once you get the hang of deck squats, try deck pistols as described in the video you posted. They’re actually a bit easier than normal pistols and do wonders for balance & stability in the ankles - our BJJ trainer used to have us do 10 each side as fast as possible. That was humiliating ;)[/quote]
Thanks for the tip mate.
Its going to take me awhile to get a hand of the deck squats. My ankle flexibility(especially my left) is just awful.
Do you still practice BJJ?
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Thursday, 17th July 2014.
TRAINING
Only had the opportunity to get to the gym once this week so I did a whole body routine. Been a bit slack with my training and nutrition lately, but after a few days off I am feeling energised again.
Max Effort Lower & Upper
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Agile 8 etc.
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Barbell military press; 5 x 5, with 55 kg. (supersetted with 10 kg dB goblet squats for hip mobility).
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Reverse barbell lunges; 5 x 5, with 70 kg. (supersetted with 5 reps of bodyweight dips).
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Seated rows; 3 sets of 12 with 50 kg.
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I then went to team training where we played some small sided possession games. Once again the intensity was poor and players were missing with poor excuses. We are playing away this week against the top team. Cant wait for this season to be over.
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World cup is all done. What are your main goals now?
[quote]Ironwarrior25 wrote:
World cup is all done. What are your main goals now?[/quote]
To tell you the truth I am just trying to get to the end of this disastrous season. We have about 10 games left. I have considered pulling out of the team, although I don’t want to be a “quitter”.
After that I am going to re-asses, but Im seriously considering trying out BJJ.
I also have the vague goals of 5 rep bodyweight front squat, 5 rep bodyweight bench press, and I want to improve my weighted pull-up numbers. Once the warmer weather returns I will probably spend more time on my road bike, but I would also like to keep working on my running fitness, especially the 100m and 400m. I know that sounds like a lot of different goals/directions, but that is what I have in mind at the moment. As the season ends I think I will narrow my goals down and work on those.
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[quote]theBird wrote:
Do you still practice BJJ?
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To be honest - not regularly, no, for a number of reasons. This month is pretty stressful so I’m focusing on weights + sleep anyway, but there are a number of reasons I’ve recently gravitated away from BJJ and towards Muay Thai…
- Our BJJ trainer LIVES for competitions. I’m not that interested in combat tournaments, I do it for fun and self defense.
- sport BJJ is not the greatest thing on earth for self defense, especially if your trainer thinks white belts shouldn’t practise takedowns and pull guard instead.
I feel like I’m still trying to find my niche in the MA world… Essentially, I want something that will prepare me for bad nights in the city and allow me to continue lifting. I have very sensitive ankles and at times, BJJ + three weight room visits per week was too much for them.
Friday, 18th july 2014.
TRAINING
AM
Solo skill and conditioning
- standard session. Dribbling, juggling and practicing moves. Finushed off with 3 x 300 m runs and 5x 10m hill sprints.
Pull up/Push up superset
- 10 supersets of 3 pull ups with an additional 10 kg, with 11 push ups. 1 minute between each set rest, in which I did some hip mobility drills.
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Saturday, 19th July 2014.
TRAINING
PM
- Did some mobility drills and then spent 30 minutes practicing skills with the ball. Tomorrow’s game is against the top team, so I’m hoping the coach goes into “damage control” and plays a defensive team/formation.
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[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
I feel like I’m still trying to find my niche in the MA world… Essentially, I want something that will prepare me for bad nights in the city and allow me to continue lifting. I have very sensitive ankles and at times, BJJ + three weight room visits per week was too much for them.[/quote]
I have the same thoughts/ideology as you do, and I would prefer to practice Muay Thai over bjj, but unfortunately there is no Muay Thai dojo in my town. I did not think that bjj would be hard on your ankles??
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[quote]theBird wrote:
I did not think that bjj would be hard on your ankles??[/quote]
Neither did I and I’m not sure why it is the case… I think the actual technique part of training is fine, but rolling (which I love) can do damage if you’re unlucky. I also need to point out that if you’re lucky enough to train Gracie Jiu Jitsu or another form that focuses on self defense, it’s a different matter. My trainer, however, is an MMA fighter with a focus on grappling - and what works for a 105lbs woman (her) in the ring and on the mats is not what works for a 12 stone man (me atm) in a mugging attempt.
[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
Neither did I and I’m not sure why it is the case… I think the actual technique part of training is fine, but rolling (which I love) can do damage if you’re unlucky. I also need to point out that if you’re lucky enough to train Gracie Jiu Jitsu or another form that focuses on self defense, it’s a different matter. My trainer, however, is an MMA fighter with a focus on grappling - and what works for a 105lbs woman (her) in the ring and on the mats is not what works for a 12 stone man (me atm) in a mugging attempt.
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Thanks for the info. Im not too sure what type of BJJ it is that is practised in my town. I have spent one session just observing the session and the teacher did mention self defence often during the session. Do you think karate or tae kwon doe would be more beneficial with self defence? The reason I like the idea of BJJ, is the physical component of the grappling. I like to sweat.
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