Ludicrous - nicely done
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Right now my maintenance is sitting around 3100kcal
I’m averaging 1800 a day
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I’m going to go into woo woo territory here and explain what goes through my mind during this process
The first one that springs to mind is watching these shitty old reality shows over the years where they put folk on a desert island and leave them to fend for themselves.
I’ve seen muscular guys go on that and over the course of the season, start to shred up due to the lack of food and starting to look more aesthetic as time goes on. They never seem to lose any muscle mass while living on a meagre diet of lentils and the odd piece of fish they managed to catch. The graft they put in trying to survive probably helps retain their muscle
Another one is the words ‘hunger’ and ‘hungry’
These words strike fear into people however in the right context they are actually positive affirmations.
‘Hungry for success’
‘Hunger to make gains’
This means that if I’m hungry during a fat loss phase then I’ve burned up the food and am now in the process of leaning out.
I’m succeeding in that respect.
Even in a bulk phase, it means I now have the opportunity to grow
Being hungry is good and is a golden opportunity to reach your physique goals
This was the golden nugget I picked up from the fasting community. Embracing hunger is the key. It means the magic is happening because at the end of the day, it’s nigh on impossible to starve in the Western world so it’s a situation that can be exploited to your advantage. The hungry wolf catches his prey and all that jazz
The only 2 variables that can be controlled in this game are what passes your lips and how hard you train. That’s why you need to double down on these
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Unfortunatly most people lack this mentality. If you cant embrace and look forward to the hunger whilst dieting then i would imagine the training suck isnt embraced either. Thats a recipe for no results.
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Yup.
Ultimately, the desire for change has to outweigh the desire for comfort. Once the scale is appropriately shifted, compliance is too easy. It gets to the point that OVERcompliance can become an issue, but there are worse problems to have.
But prior to that shift, compliance is effectively impossible. Sure, it can be “maintained” for short durations, but the trainee always wonders “when do I get back to normal?”
Normal is what you WERE. It’s not what you want to be anymore.
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I’ve lost the battle to comfort my whole life. Decided to raise the stakes. If I don’t lose weight, I will be in the open weight class in a BJJ tournament, which includes a 330lb beast who I train with sometimes. The thought of 4 matches with him sitting on me is very uncomfortable.
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I love competition for that drive! Strongman has done the same for me. The most significant change I ever made physically happened when I had 12 weeks to add 75lbs to my keg clean and press. I lived, ate and breathed keg clean and press for 12 weeks and became the biggest and strongest I had ever been.
But it’d double edged: once “the event” is over…as Dan John says “now what?” I once got stupidly lean to compete at 181 for a powerlifting meet, set national records in total and the deadlift, won best lifter, and treated myself to a fast food dinner to celebrate…for the next 2 years. Took a while to right that ship, haha.
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@dchris at his next bjj tournament
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A lot of wisdom in the past few posts, but this one should be on a poster.
Great words, @ChongLordUno
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Crossfit Open 2023’s second (of three) workouts was just announced. I’ll be doing this tomorrow evening at my affiliate:
23.2A:
Complete as many reps as possible in 15
minutes of:
5 burpee pull-ups
10 shuttle runs (1 rep = 50 ft)
*Add 5 burpee pull-ups after each round.
23.2B:
Immediately following 23.2A, athletes will
have 5 minutes to establish:
1-rep-max thruster (from the floor)
No idea what to expect. I’m pretty good at running, burpee-ing, and pull ups, so expect to do well there relatively speaking. I’m not efficient at thrusters. I don’t have any idea what a 1 rep max would look like for me. You’re not allowed to stop at the “front rack” position, and must pass below parallel on the squat portion. I’ll post my outcome at some point tomorrow night.
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This just sounds like torture
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Damn. I don’t like the tradeoff that will occur between leaving it all on the burpees/pullups/run, and having anything left for thrusters; or holding back a little.
Its going to suck either way.
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I would go through the WoD at constant pace, saving something, but that’s just me that I would try to “go through” the WoD with a good result without pursuing anything stellar. Rest 2.5 minutes and attempt the thruster around 80% of my true max. If I succeed do the second attempt before the end heavier. If not do a second attempt with a lower weight.
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Updating my results at the Crossfit open:
23.2A:
Complete as many reps as possible in 15 minutes of:
5 burpee pull-ups
10 shuttle runs (1 rep = 50 ft)
*Add 5 burpee pull-ups after each round.
Completed 5 rounds got 6 burpee pull us into the 6th. Pretty good, putting me much further up the leaderboard after the first workout (which was just okay for me). Beat all the young bucks at my CrossFit gym. Result was 131 total “reps” (shuttle runs + burpee pull ups). Then…
23.2B:
Immediately following 23.2A, athletes will have 5 minutes to establish:
1-rep-max thruster (from the floor)
Not as much my cup of tea. I started at 115 lbs, then did 135 lbs, then 155 lbs, then stalled at my attempt at 165 lbs. So, my best was 155 lbs. Not horrible, but I should be able to move more weight at my strength. I’m just not flexible enough to catch in a squat clean and drive it up with my legs. Also, I was pretty tired.
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Great performance!
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Weighed 225 this morning. I’m just past halfway through mass made simple and while my weight gain has sort of stagnated, I’m starting to lean up a bit. I can see my abs starting to show through which is pretty sweet. There are 6 more days of lifting to get up to 230lbs and hit the coveted 225x50 squat. I should be done with the program by early to mid March. After MMS I’m moving into the 531 rest-pause challenge, which I’m very excited for.
I have a feeling that the fat I’ve gained is going to fly off once I start dropping food back a bit. I have been super sweaty and warm, which is a standard occurrence when my metabolism is humming along. I foresee a 205-210lb weigh-in by mid May (8-10 weeks of restriction) without much effort.
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You’re clearing it, for as much as that’s worth. Once upon a time I might’ve been like “ehh”, but it really doesn’t matter come time to squat 20 of anything lol. If your knee is creasing it’s a win lol
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So I guess I should put in the numbers update, and the pic. Started the challenge at 201 I think, I will need to back and look, last weigh in which was about a week ago was 210, so no progress. I was doing ok workout wise, but haven’t worked out for the last 2 weeks. A little frustrated and embarressed, but my world right now is a flurry of emotions.
After seeing some of the comments here and responses to my message, I went to costco yesterday and got pre-cooked chicken skewers, some precooked red meat, some precooked veggie medley and avocados.
Planned out a day today and will eat the same thing every day while I am away from home just to hit protein goal first, then fat/macros goal.
I started swimming for my cardio because it’s difficult with my knee to do any other cardio, I could also possibly do the stepper, but by the time I am finished my knee will be like a balloon, and wanting to get back into surfing, I figured swimming would be the best option.
My question is though, do I need to put in more cardio? if I do say 30-40 minutes swimming? maybe like one of those vertical rope pulls that is all arms? could also be good for my shoulders and surfing strength.
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Do you like cardio?
How much do you do now?
What’s the goal of adding more (i.e. are you only looking to speed your weight loss)?
What’s your total week look like (outside the gym as well)?
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I enjoy cardio, but I am so unfit right now I don’t do it. I do get short of breath often (48 now, and with my injuries and bad health I want to a- speed weightloss to help eliminate stored toxins b- get physically ready to be able to surf again, cardio or at least sprint type cardio is essential for those)
Current week looks like swimming once a day 20-30 moinutes, then 1 weights workout 6 days a week. Using a 3 day split for weights/volume, 3 days of rehab knee/neck/shoulder in between.
Outside the gym is working in an office type environment. I go to jobsites but sit down a lot. Weekends I do no work, I try to get outisde as much as possible, to the beach mostly.