Braided?
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Behave yourself mate
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i don’t want to know your browser history…
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Not long enough for braids. Corn Rows maybe…
Could at least lose another pound or two if you got it waxed. Just saying 
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I’m growing it to the point where is starts meshing with my beard
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@cyclonengineer wins that exchange based on accuracy alone
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Does anyone experience issues with insomnia during cutting/leaning out phases? It never really clicked for me until I started reading stuff, and noticed patterns. @T3hPwnisher is the only person that’s suggested something to me that actually worked. But was just wondering if it happens to others. I think I’ve asked this question before, just to a different audience at the time.
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I get this every time and being low in food and sleep means I’m not good to be around during that phase.
How long have you been cutting? Maybe you need to reduce your volume a little or if you’ve been cutting for a while, give yourself a little diet break. I’d try maintenance for a week or so, maybe even a slight surplus.
I believe that some people give themselves unnecessary cortisol build-up because they go for the super long grinders desperate to hold on to that strength on the big compounds. I know we’re meant to train hard in a cut to “give your body that signal to retain muscle”, and I am not saying people shouldn’t. I’m saying to take the reps you know are 100% there, and leave the ones that are 50/50 on whether they hit failure. Losing a rep or three isn’t a disaster, and is very rarely related to actual muscle loss anyway - it all comes right back after a few high-carb days or when muscle memory comes into play.
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I can’t sleep at all. Point in fact, I’ve been up since 2 (I took the dogs for a walk to punish them for me waking up - take that!). I don’t have any advice, just sharing some company with your misery.
@cdep89 might be onto something and I think @FlatsFarmer is pretty smart here, as he seems to be on every topic. I tend to get it worse based on how much “bodybuilder” volume I do (lots of drops sets, etc.); at least I think I do - I haven’t necessarily found a magic formula.
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Nearly two months give or take.
Recently I did do a bump up from 1700 to 2000. Was getting a bit intense dipping into 1400-1500 territory. Can give maintenance a try for a handful of days and see how that goes first. I do well pushing the last meal either right before or a couple of hours before bed.
I did have to rearrange training due to that. The last meet I went to, I kinda screwed my self on that aspect, granted I wasn’t nearly as far along in the diet phase as I am now.
I don’t tend to favor training to failure much at all for anything, but I also may be reading that part what you meant wrong. I guess like, just pushing to that point? If that’s what you mean?
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I feel that. It’s currently 5:30, and I went to bed at 10:30-11 give or take. If I go to bed around 9-10 I’ll wake up, let myself be up and tend to go back to bed. I used to be kinda bothered by that, but there’s a decent amount of stuff that suggests it’s not entirely detrimental when that happens. Most times I sleep through, but I’ve always slept for long-ish periods of time. I don’t have kids, and have a rather flexible work schedule, so I understand others here have a lot more stressors from work/family dynamics.
I’m amazed at my moms ability to just sleep on command almost. She can take a nap, wake up, take ANOTHER nap, wake up, and still go straight to bed at night. She doesn’t need to wind down either. She just lays down, mumbles a little bit, and goes straight into a cycle.
Took dogs for walk= punish them? Equation seems off. More like:
Dogs+Walk=Happy Dogs, but it’s algebra maths stuff. So like…
Disturbed You(Happy Dogs)+Walk=Punish
Gotta get rid of the multiplication, so we divide… on both sides…cancels out the left side.
Happy Dogs + Walk= Punish/Disturbed You.
There we go. Math checks out. Lol
That makes sense. I feel like it’s the same for me in terms of any typical powerlifting/strength training I do. I think overall volume across the weeks would make sense as well. Frequency is kinda more forgiving in that aspect depending on what I do.
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I really don’t like being associated with whoever that hangry, mean person is in the mirror lol.
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The math was absolutely hilarious - thanks for that!
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I like the thinking of bulking and cutting in ratios which you obviously reverse depending on what your goal is and how aggressive you want to be. You’ve been cutting for 8 weeks, you could literally give yourself a break for a full 2-weeks, enjoy the recovery, enjoy the food (within reason), and STILL be in 4:1 cutting ratio. It can reignite the cutting fire, reinvigorate your entire body, and potentially resensitize you to fat loss. Maybe you feel 2 weeks is way too much, but that’s absolutely fine, see if you feel much better after a few days or one week. People sometimes worry that things like that are moving away from the long-term goal but there are a ton of benefits to giving yourself a quick break - especially if you’re already feeling like you need to bump your calories up.
Yeah I’m not talking failure as such. You should always take the reps if they are there, but a deep calorie deficit is not the time to be overly chasing progression or grinding away at your joints on a bad rep you should have just left alone. Just be smart about it.
Ahh yes. I’m following. Can agree. For the most part I usually take whatever weight/percentage I can do easily on the absolute worst day, and use that as the max-ish load for the day/week.
To paint a picture, I’m on my last session of the Super Squats program. I think….I’m guilty of Super Squats blasphemy in that I ran it while trying to lean out/cut. On a funny note, I’m prepared for Pwnisher to verbally send me to the shadow realm, on a more practical note, and with you having said what you said, it’s more than likely time to ease up. I do think that’s me being weird with programs sometimes. Idk if I’m lazy or just way too attached to strength training.
Yeah. Am willing to admit that I tend to have that worry.
I appreciate you saying that because reading “2 weeks”, I’m like….suspicious. But I don’t ever give myself enough time to adjust. Having accepted the “can’t be at the exact same level of strength all the time” reality, I don’t see the harm in approaching new (for me), diet/eating tactics.
People do mini-cuts all the time so they can bulk for longer without getting too fat. Frame it like a “mini-bulk” so you can cut for longer without burning out. Diet breaks are common after the 8-week mark (1 week may be enough, the longer you cut and the bigger the deficit, the longer you may need). It doesn’t mean you’re lazy, contrasting your goals or failing in some way. Many elite coaches would say that this is the way it should be done.
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Insomnia? no, at least not for me - but I’m borderline narcoleptic.
Sleep quality suffers a LOT for me though, like a lot more than usual - which is saying something for me. Some carbs before bed (or a glass of milk) can help for some, but I found no difference.
YES!!! I have had a few times in my life where I went too deep into cuts for too long and had too few carbs and was a zombie most of the time. My sleep became really messed up.
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Ahh that’s understandable. Haven’t experienced narcoleptic territory, but I am on the more “low energy” end of the spectrum. I think that’s just me though. A lot of my mental and emotional energy grabs from everything else more often than not
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