Destroy:Erase:Improve -- PBs Training Journal

[Protobuilder]

Thanks for stopping by. It could be the cals although I've bumped my cals up the last 3 days or so due to my increased "GPP" (yardwork, building projects, etc., LoL). I'm at 158 give or take, and eating an average of 1900-2000/day. Damn I feel scrawny. But regardless of calories, I don't think I'd feel THAT gassed on lower body . . . I think it's gotta' be all that work I've been doing. Who'd of thought a little work would wear me out? LoL But damn, my thighs are fragged today.

 

[anotherbutters]

You were 164 less that 2 weeks ago and you're now 158? At 158 I'd stop cutting right now and start eating. Don't bother with volume phases or dual factor training, just add some weight to the bar every session.

 

[carlsuen]

yeah.. dude.. your not losing fat there.. those are precious muscle man.. eat up.. maybe stop any form of cardio if you're doing any.. and it's time to up those weights and quit fucking around and get seriously strong!!

 

[BiggT]

Thanks for stopping by. It could be the cals although I've bumped my cals up the last 3 days or so due to my increased "GPP" (yardwork, building projects, etc., LoL). I'm at 158 give or take, and eating an average of 1900-2000/day. Damn I feel scrawny. But regardless of calories, I don't think I'd feel THAT gassed on lower body . . . I think it's gotta' be all that work I've been doing. Who'd of thought a little work would wear me out? LoL But damn, my thighs are fragged today.

Doing yardwork, household projects, etc can certainly tap into energy, but that fact that you're barely eating 2000 calories a day magnifies the effects. I helped a friend move not too long ago, washer, dryer, dressers, the whole 9 yards, got done at 2 PM and went to the gym and squatted and pulled.

What I'm saying is the combination of cutting and the unexpected extra work probably combined for the bad session.

On the plus side, I really don't feel you're as genetically challenged as you've always thought. The reason being is you went from 175ish to 158 in a short time, and at 5' 11 thats a BIG drop, and you still managed progress in that time and some PR's. That says to me that you have a lot of untapped potential.

If you want to weigh 150's for now, then that is your goal, but you can't get discouraged about bad workouts, because a 6' tall guy eating 2000 cals a day can't expect to be smashing through weightroom workouts.

If your concern is bodyfat, look at it this way. Marathon runners are light and appear trim, but they always have surprisingly high bodyfat when tested. I think the key to low BF levels is to have as much calorically expensive muscle as possible. I think you'd be heavier, stronger, and leaner if you ate more lean beef/chicken/fish and all the veggies in the world and a lot of complex carbs. As a perfectly healthy 30 year old guy who trains hard, all you'll really have to do to stay lean is avoid simple sugars.

 

[Protobuilder]

Thanks bro. I could use some positive feedback about now. The combination of dieting to a new low (literally and figuratively) and transitioning to a new job is taking a toll. Not a lot of positive self-talk going on right now. LoL Anyway, I do NOT want to be in the 150s! I f’ing hate it, actually. But I also don’t want to start w/ high BF (e.g., 18-20%), then bulk to an even HIGHER BF%, and be fat throughout my 30s. I was trying to get low so I could have a cushion to work from . . .bulk to a max of maybe 16-18%, then cut it back down to 12-14 and repeat. I just underestimated exactly how friggin small I’d wind up (157.5 lbs w/ just under 13% BF right now). I can’t complain—strength has maintained or gone up while cutting, and I’m doing as much now as I did when I was at 200—but I also hate that my weights really haven’t gone up objectively since . . . oh, last fall? LoL That’s basically zero progress strength-wise, even though, yes, I have been cutting so my “relative” strength has improved but fuck. I looked back at my journal and over Christmas break, I did for example a set of 5x250 on deads . . . well, I’m just now back to doing 260 for a set of 5 and that’s 4 months. I took too long of a break after my SF5x5 run and found out that I lose lots of strength if I do that. So, lesson learned. And now I’ve had to scrape and fight to get BACK to my old PRs from just a few months ago. And surpassing them is . . .well, we’ll see what happens. I think I’m going to maintain for this week, consider 13% BF my “low” spot, and start bulking again. But goddamn I’m gonna’ hate if my F’ing waist pops back up to 36” (just under 32 right now) and my strength doesn’t go up much.

About the genetic thing, it just sucks that I have so little natural muscle and strength, and everything comes so goddamn slowly.

 

[BiggT]

It is going to come down to adding more muscle, nice, calorically expensive muscle. I imagine you look ridiculously lean by most people's standards. Most of the Joe Average Atkins dieters who are height/weight proportionate look very lean, yet most people from an exercise/athletic background would do a double take if they looked at a bodyfat % number. We're about the same height, I'm over 5'11, and if I've got on my Doc Martins and the urge strikes me I can easily say 6' ++, point is, I can tell you that at your height, you're a good 5 inches too tall for 158lbs even allowing you to carry any amount of appreciable muscle. So, don't get caught up in the game of starving yourself down just for a lower BF %, you'll dispose of muscle, thus leaving your body comp generally the same, just a smaller, lighter, less muscular version of yourself. You don't need to be stick thin to bulk up. You also don't have to bulk up on twinkies and beer. Just plenty of clean calories, peanut butter, extra virgin olive oils, lean meats, complex carbs, etc etc, I see no reason you cannot get to 185-195 with zero change in bodyfat right now considering the muscle you'd add.

 

[anotherbutters]

Great advice from BiggT.

PB, didn't you put on lots of weight really quickly last year? Was that you? I can't remember. Either way, for your next bulk, just take it nice and steady. No more than 1lb per week. Your lifts should go up nice and steadily and you shouldn't put on much fat if you go up slowly.

 

[Protobuilder]

You also don't have to bulk up on twinkies and beer.

You ruin everything. LoL

Thanks for the encouragement.

I see no reason you cannot get to 185-195 with zero change in bodyfat right now considering the muscle you'd add.

If I could see 185 w/ decent BF levels (I've seen it w/ high BF), I'd be stoked.

*edit -- Just saw AB's post above. Yep, I put on a good deal of weight last year in my "bulk gone bad." Lesson learned. I'd really like to bulk w/out gaining too much fat, but I don't know how realistic that is. I'll hope for the best but be cautious about bulking this time.

 

[anotherbutters]

Decide how much you want to gain per week, e.g. 3/4 lb (three quarters, not three or four, lol), then plan how much you should weigh each week for the next 10 weeks or so. Try to hit that weight some time during each week. It doesn't matter if you're under or over some weeks, so long as you stay roughly on track over the long term.

Then at the end of the 10 weeks, you can look at the difference you've made and decide whether to increase by the same amount next time. A plan over 10 weeks tends to even out the fluctuations.

In fact... see here

 

[Protobuilder]

Volume Week 1, Thurs. (workout 2)

Front Squats // Push Press

5x5x105 (80%) (easy) // 5x5x115 (80%) (easy, but have to remember to keep the core tight throughout b/c leaning back and relaxing the core due to fatigue = back trouble)

Deads

5x135, 185, 210 (80%) (VERY easy obviously)
12x135 (snatch-grip pulls; backoff)

Chins // Skulls

10xBW // 8x75
8xBW // 8x85
8xBW // 5x85

Squats

20x45
17x45 (lazy man's cardio. . . plus that workout was very easy so didn't quite feel "done" yet)

Alright, legs felt a lot better this time. I basically have done zero cardio for like 10-12 days now. LoL It was definitely a "deload." This is my first "planned" deload so I'm sticking to "the plan" and trusting it will work. Last time I deloaded, I lost a lot of strength, so I hesitate to work w/ such light weights but that's what "the plan" calls for . . . I"ll hit my old PRs in week3 I guess. We'll see if this bullshit works.