Vanity Log: how much in a year?

[mrthingyx]

Welcome back! Briefly!

Feel free to carry on your skinny DYEL holiday gains

Tell me about it... All that weightloss? Whilst some subcutaneous fat is going, most is visceral.

And after a heavy slog in the garden today (spades, sand, hardcore and concrete were involved), I'm up at around 91kg. Indicating serious atrophy (or retained blood, rather) due to lack of gymgasming.

May is going to get hit like a train.

 

[mrthingyx]

YOLO's log...

Dayamn. It's almost a month since I was in the gym lifting properly. Clean weigh-in last night and I was at 90kg, dead. Based on my abnormal diet over the past three weeks, that's not necessarily good.

So, I've started CBL proper today, with it being the first day of prep phase. Yes, I did manage a couple of days before, but it's on for real this time. So we'll see how this goes...

I spent most of my ASIAPAC tour doing core work and stretching exercises for my hip adductors, which seem to be brutally tight at the moment.

I did manage to hit the gym once and did some low-weight volume work, and as a result of BSS with 80lbs of load, my groin is STILL in pieces.

So, today...

FRONT SQUATS WU(5)-5-5-5-5-3

50-70-70-80-80-90

Pattern work. Firat 70kg was rusty as, with the movement getting progressively better. 90kg was thrown in just to see if I could hold shape and take the load: the answer was a qualified yes. The weight is fine for my legs to drive up, but I need to concentrate on the pattern to keep the form consistent.

OVERHEAD SQUATS 5-5-4-4

50-60-60-60

More stability work. Legs were fatiguing by this point, but spent most of my time at the bottom of each squat trying to make sure my hips were as far forward as possible to get a nice vertical back.

I bailed on the DBSS because it would have been a hiding to nowhere with my groin in the shape it is at the moment.

Anyway, good to be back. Let the YOLO gains begin!

 

[mrthingyx]

Do you steward bars much?

I'm probably going to put on 1-2kg with training whilst my muscles re-perfuse, too, which is just even more disconcerting.

 

[mrthingyx]

Clean and jerk day tomorrow, so the answer will probably be a resounding "NO."

 

[mrthingyx]

So that would be "no," then!

Weighed in after dinner last night and completely underestimated the effects of uber carb depletion... 89.2kg. First time under 90kg in nearly a year!

So. Clean and Jerk day. Overslept due to residual jetlag, meaning I missed my floor session at Stags and Does, but figuring I wouldn't be lifting serious weight, this wasn't an issue.

POWER CLEANS 3x3

40-50-60

Pattern work. And it sucked. Quad and glute DOMS made this absolute agony, and make sure my glutes were working was just unpleasant.


HANG CLEANS 3x3

60-70-70

Moving slightly better, now. I was getting into a really deep catch to completely exacerbate any technical shortcomings and there were plenty!

- Bum tuck;
- Shoulder rounding
- Poor core control.

Onwards and upwards...


CLEANS 3x3

70-80-80

Still better, and was a case of awesome mixed with not awesome. The 80kg reps were actually some of the best, even though my legs had evaporated. For the first and last of the third set, I had a nice straight and almost vertical torso with no bum tuck... the middle rep was everything that could have gone wrong. Still went up, however, but was ugly.


POWER JERKS 3x3

60-70-80

Pretty slow, and the 80s were muscled up, but meh. More speed and better hip control for these.


Overall? First time in 6 weeks or so that I've done cleans and wow it's a perishable technique!

Legs are completely ruined, and I have no idea how I'm going to do this next week on day 8 of carb depletion (was feeling sick after the hang cleans and wanted to bail)...

 

[mrthingyx]

Dude, I wanted to curl up and die after today's session. Given I train 5 days a week, I will not be diverting any energy to HIIT knowing how miserable it makes even trained people on regular diets!

 

[mrthingyx]

Beach weights today! Nice mid-week deload...

Body seems to be adjusting already to the CBL routine and I didn't feel too emaciated this morning.

Narrow grip pull-uips SS w/ DB Bench 5*5 Rests started at 1min between sets, then had to move to 1:30 for the 4th and 5th

PU: BW+10kg
DB: 32.5-32.5-32.5-35-35

Ouch. A lot of chest has disappeared in the past few weeks! Epic chest pump, however.

Wide grip chins SS w/ BORs 5*5

Chins: BW
BOR: 70kg

Same for lats, it would seem. Still, my top was getting hella tight at this point.

Single arm DB military SS w/... 21s! 4*5

MP: 20-25-25-25
21s: BAR

HyperZOMGtrophic bonus: 21s in the squat rack. Yes.

The military press felt awesome, but again, lacking strength due to time off. The 21s were hilarious as they were just so painful - gun work is not my specialty.

Overall, legs were happy to have a day off: I did some snatch balance and overhead squat mobility work, but just to keep my legs moving.

Snatch day tomorrow...

 

[mrthingyx]

Yup... Eggs, olive and coconut oil, nuts.

Bottom line is Oly lifting requres glycogen... And without that it sucks.

 

[mrthingyx]

Snatch day!

Was actually looking forward to this because my legs didn't want to drop off for a change...

No blocks, so it meant the weights were light and the focus was on speed under the bar and a good catch position.

POWER SNATCH 5*3

40-50-50-60-60

Power was good. Speed... got a lot better. Hands were sore.

HANG SNATCH 4*3

50-50(1f1)-50(f1f)-50

Was running out of time and so had to cut the session short (had to get to a meeting), but speed under the bar was pretty good by the end of it. My had are also ruined, so an attempt at high pulls was not going to happen.

Happy to be back doing what I enjoy most. Behind b!tch-hissing when bro-curlzing.

 

[mrthingyx]

Seems to be coming back nicely, good work bru!

It was pretty rusty a the start, but I'm concentrating on shape and speed more than outright load: 60kg as a power snatch was silly easy, but it's after that where a decent, fast catch is required, and whilst my catch isn't bad, doing it quickly is omethingI haven't really worked on as i'm strong enough to et away with it.

It is also difficult to tell if carb depletion is impacting power (certainly recovery!) because I am re-working form and grooving patterns...

Squats tomorrow.

 

[mrthingyx]

Doubtful. If you read carefully, you'll notice I talk about the same things repeatedly... And never listen to myself.

I really should come to a bro-down, however...

 

[mrthingyx]

Bracketing, today - trying to find out where I am from a strength perspective to get the load and reps right.

FRONT SQUATS 5-5-3-3-3-3

70-80-90-90-90-70

90s felt good for the first set, but half way through second the shape started to go. I'll start here as a working set in future. Power in the legs was fine, but need to sort my upper back out (amusingly, this was caused by not getting my knees out wide enough). Curiously, shape from the cleans on Tuesday (at 80kg) was better than the last fronties today... but


OVERHEAD SQUATS 3-5-3-3

50-60-70-70

Forgot the 4-4-3-3 progression so punished myself in the second set. Power is coming back nicely, but the pattern still needs work.

No time for DBSS, sadly, but my adductors don't necessarily need another murdering in this first week.


Overall, pretty good. Instead of upping weight for next time, I'll use the markers set down here as a starting point for next week to make sure the pattern under load is good before going nuts. Happy to end the week here, as I was hoping not to be disappointed.

 

[mrthingyx]

First day back at Stags and Does for a floor lift and drop session.

Cleans, today! Still getting my eye in with regard to weight and working on leg speed in both drive and dip phase.

WARMUPS

Vertical jumps (lots)
Hip mobility
Shoulder rotation...

POWERCLEANS (FH) 4x5

40-60-80-100

Stuck 100kg just for lolz. No squat to catch, so decided to lower the weight for working sets.

HANG CLEANS 3x5

40-60-60

Shape was good even if the whole movement felt compromised (trying to wire into my head that "yes, have to dip to catch this bar!!!" feels counterintuitive). Need to drill the pattern lots, but really struggle with the amount of time I give these lifts. Need a gym at home.

FULL CLEAN 2x5

80-80

Started talking with the owner of the gym (nice guy, btw) and so ran out of time and all thrown off my mojo. Seems he doesn't like CrossFit either, but has to accommodate his clients' expectations and get them lifting as required.

Shape also started to go at the end of the second set so decided to knock it on the head. I'm clearly more geared towards multiple sets of 3 or 2, so will bear this in mind for future.

WEIGHT

Day 9 of CBL prep phase and - after an enormous barbecue last night - I weighed in at 87.2kg...

Will take a photo tomorrow or this evening to see if there's any visible difference. INB4 YOLO...

 

[mrthingyx]

Final night pre-carb splurge, so figured I'd take some memorial photos before I turn into either (a) a stick insect or (b) a blubbery mess...

Weight: 86.8kg
Abz: still none visible...
Separation: some on quads...

Back

Front

Legs
... upload failed. That big.

 

[mrthingyx]

Thanks, guys!

Looking handsome, tight, handsome.

I'm not sure how you've managed no ab separation at what is quite obviously pretty low bf.

You will feel awesome when you're full of glycogen. If I isolate my abs and then backload, the next day my abs are poppin'.

I do have the first two rows of abz and even oblique striations, but I didn't have access to the requisite anabolic lighting yesterday evening. If you can't see them in pics, they don't exist, however, right?

 

[mrthingyx]

Decided push jerks are a beach weight exercise (triceps and shoulders, right? ), so...

I also forgot my programme, so was going from memory...

PUSH JERK 5*3

60-80-90(2f)-90-100(f)-95(1f+2)

No chance of 100kg today. However, interesting how 95kg popped up without too much drama. Need to get my head through further to allow for better shoulder fixation. Working on getting a better second dip in the knees, too...

NG Chins w/ DB Bench 8-5-5-5

Chins: +14-16-18-18
Bench: 32.5-35-35-35(4f)

Bench is getting better, buit zonked out on the first set (x8? Why?). Guns were getting pumped...

WG Pulldown w/ BOR 4*5

WGPD: 17
BOR: 80kg

Not sure why I supersetted lats: they died in the fourth set (went numb). Tomorrow's DOMS is going to be horrific...


Push jerk felt awesome. With the top weight, I felt the form go (no risk as I didn't get under the weight), so this will be an area for focus in the coming weeks.

Looking forward to the binge tonight. This is going to be interesting...

 

[mrthingyx]

Oh, wow...

Jelly sweets, Ben & Jerries, non-alcoholic beer, wedges, tiger bread, malt loaf...

 

[mrthingyx]

Squat day... no training yesterday, so running off Wednesday's binge. Also, lack of sleep because my car broke down coming home from work last night.

FRONT SQUAT 5-4-3-3

70-90-90-90

Fatigued. First two sets were awesome. Third and fourth sets were not thrilling.


OVERHEAD SQUATS 4*3

60-70-70-90

Note to self - start with an easy lead in. Rounded out on the last 70kg but caught it because I hadn't got my pattern right. 80kg was hard. And pretty hard on my wrist, too, for some reason, which now feels sore.


DBSS 5-5-4-4-4

BW-12-14-18-18

Brain not working... was meant to be 5-4-3-3, but ... leg pump was epic, however, and groin feels a bit tight on the left leg, but nice to get some unpleasantness in the routine.

Was chatting to the physio who was training at the same time and he absolutely loves DBSS for rehab, stability, core, neuro and lower quadrant training. So there we go - it's official.


Overall, I just need more sleep. Happy the strength is coming back, but there's a long way to go.

 

[mrthingyx]

Squat day, on a quasi backload from last night. Slept in my Skins, and so was feeling very supple. Nice

FRONT SQUATS WU(5)-5-4-3-3-3

60-70-90-95-95-95

Shifting my feet about thrying to find that 'sweetspot'. Found it on the last set o), so my upper back was rounding whilst the lower shape felt good. Legs were torched.

OVERHEAD SQUATS 5-4-4-3-3

50-60-70-75-75

Managed 80kg for one at the start of the triples, but racked it for safety purposes (would have gotten nailed, otherwise). Still need to bring the volume up on these...


DBSS WU(5)-4-5-5-5-5 (dumbbells in each hand)... SS w/ WG CHINS 6-6-6-6

BW-18(!)-6-10-16-18
WGC: BW-+6-6-6

Oww... first set of 18s lit up an old twinge on my coccyx. Not good. So decided to build back up... to 18kg, and it was fine Massive quad pump by this point, and was knackered.

Chinups were great for ruining me completely.


Overall, I feel like I'm finally back into the groove I was prior to April, with everything working as it should.

Still adjusting to CBL, but sitting pretty at 87.9 post dinner last night. I'm not to ofar down on strength, but I can't blame CBL for that. Too much, anyway.

 

[mrthingyx]

Fronties look nice, tasty session man. Seems to be coming back nicely .

thanks, it was pretty bruising!

With the fronties, I'm playing with foot positiong to get the most out of the squat (too wide and glutes turn off, too narrow and I can't get low enough): I've wound up a bit wider than before which = even wider knees.

Impressive depth on those front squats.

Cheers - a good way to murder the adductors!