Fitness, Weight Loss & Strength 2018

[drahkon]

After about a month of keto I decided to stop. I already achieved my goal (reduce my cravings for junk food). I wanted to continue being on the diet but somehow, with the amount of sports I do these days, I just can't eat enough to keep my calorie intake high enough. During keto my appetite is always low.
I've lost 5kg (so 3kg if you take away the water weight you lose) in 3 weeks and I didn't want to do that...I'm now 62kg at 170cm. I don't want to weigh any less.

It's easier for me to monitor a high calorie intake if I eat carbs (i.e. pasta, rice, etc). I might just do low carb days when I'm not doing sports and see how that'll turn out.

In other news: workout is going fine.I can increase the weight for squats and deadlifts quite easily still (at 45kg for both). Bench press might be difficult next time at 40kg.
Haven't been able to do 5x5 Pendlay Rows with 35kg twice now. If I fail again I think I have to reduce the weight.
Shoulder press will be at 32.5kg next...gonna be tough

I like this workout. It's "simple" (i.e. not a lot of different exercises) but exhausting. Will probably switch things up and return to 1x5 deadlifts at a certain point, though.

Edited March 18, 2018 by drahkon

[Raining_again]

I got a 90kg squat, and attempted 100kg (which got half way up)

Lots of rows, GMs, RDLs in my future. 

Did some snatches this evening, its nice to be able to still do them.  Rhomboids are smoked though....  Which partners well with the back work I suppose.  My squat failings are in my back, rather than my legs, i fail halfway up (which apparently is unusual in a lifter) which is usually indicative of a weaker core/back.  Which is not wrong as i've had injuries (prolapsed discs x4) on top of arthritis and let my back go to hell.

[Raining_again]

@drahkon, yeah keto is difficult to keep to for gaining, and intense sports (which is why i'm not doing it now!) because hunger is so low, and fat is so filling.  Good for you, keep checking in and let us know how you are getting on =)

[drahkon]

1 hour ago, Raining_again said:

@drahkon, yeah keto is difficult to keep to for gaining, and intense sports (which is why i'm not doing it now!) because hunger is so low, and fat is so filling. 

Exactly. I can see how keto is amazing for losing fat but it's not something I want to do right now. Getting stronger is now my main goal and I have to eat a lot more than I'm eating these days.
Oh man, tomorrow I'll have my first pasta after one month without any. YES

Edited March 18, 2018 by drahkon

[MindFreak]

3 hours ago, Raining_again said:

I got a 90kg squat, and attempted 100kg (which got half way up)

Lots of rows, GMs, RDLs in my future. 

Did some snatches this evening, its nice to be able to still do them.  Rhomboids are smoked though....  Which partners well with the back work I suppose.  My squat failings are in my back, rather than my legs, i fail halfway up (which apparently is unusual in a lifter) which is usually indicative of a weaker core/back.  Which is not wrong as i've had injuries (prolapsed discs x4) on top of arthritis and let my back go to hell.

Hmm. I've never seen anyone fail at other points? You don't fail when going down, and you can usually go a little way up before the strain is too much and you fail. It's always the point where it's almost there that I, and the people I see, fail. 

Or most people don't fail going down.

Looks crazy!

Edited March 18, 2018 by MindFreak

[Iun]

Argh! This always happens: I get to a good level of fitness and then I get injured! I finally started to run sub 19-minutes for 5k on a regular basis, then yesterday after a minute of playing football i land awkwardly on my left knee...

[drahkon]

10 hours ago, MindFreak said:

Looks crazy!

Fuck man...looks like too much weight and no bracing...

[drahkon]

Feels like I'm beginning to stall again with Pendlay Rows and Shoulder Presses. I did manage to do 5x5 35kg Rows today, though. First time ever. Shoulder press I'm stuck at 30kg-32.5kg yet again.

Would a 6th set with reduced weight (2.5kg less than what I'm supposed to lift) and AMRAP be useful or should I just stick with 5x5 (or less reps, depending on how it goes) and reduce weight accordingly until I manage to do all 5 sets?

Edited March 20, 2018 by drahkon

[MindFreak]

27 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Feels like I'm beginning to stall again with Pendlay Rows and Shoulder Presses. I did manage to do 5x5 35kg Rows today, though. First time ever. Shoulder press I'm stuck at 30kg-32.5kg yet again.

Would a 6th set with reduced weight (2.5kg less than what I'm supposed to lift) and AMRAP be useful or should I just stick with 5x5 (or less reps, depending on how it goes) and reduce weight accordingly until I manage to do all 5 sets?

Stick with the five reps and go with a little less weight - I don't know how Stronglift goes about it but you can, if you fail at the last rep or something, go with the same weight until you fail and then lower it for the rest of the sets. So if you fail rep 5 at your 3rd set, do the 4th and 5th sets with 2.5 kg less. It's all about the total volume that you lift and 15 reps with 30 kg + 10 reps with 27.5 > 25 reps with 27.5 kg.

[drahkon]

1 hour ago, MindFreak said:

Stick with the five reps and go with a little less weight - I don't know how Stronglift goes about it but you can, if you fail at the last rep or something, go with the same weight until you fail and then lower it for the rest of the sets. So if you fail rep 5 at your 3rd set, do the 4th and 5th sets with 2.5 kg less. It's all about the total volume that you lift and 15 reps with 30 kg + 10 reps with 27.5 > 25 reps with 27.5 kg.

Just read up about what Stronglift recommends. Always keep the weight but after failure rest for longer and try again. So all 5 sets have to be at the same weight. However, if you don't manage to do 5x5 for three workouts you should deload 10%.

[Daft]

Someone came over to me in the gym the other day to shake my hand. They said they'd started coming to the gym recently and saw me around often and wanted to look like me...in a non-creepy way. Honestly, it was weird but the sentiment was incredibly generous (too generous). And I thought back to when I started going to the gym and think I wanted to look like people there. Weird circularity there.

 

[drahkon]

22 hours ago, drahkon said:

Shoulder press I'm stuck at 30kg-32.5kg yet again.

Managed to do 32.5kg 5x5 today. I think I've never gotten past 35kg, mostly because I got injured/lost motivation in the past.

This time I'm more careful playing football and my motivation is as high as it can be. Let's see how it turns out

[Raining_again]

On 3/21/2018 at 8:12 AM, drahkon said:

Managed to do 32.5kg 5x5 today. I think I've never gotten past 35kg, mostly because I got injured/lost motivation in the past.

This time I'm more careful playing football and my motivation is as high as it can be. Let's see how it turns out

get itttttttttttt!

I used my belt for the first time over the weekend.  Feels good to have that support and being able to brace against it certainly pushes up the weight i can lift.  

w/ bonus kitty

Edited April 3, 2018 by Raining_again

[drahkon]

21 hours ago, Raining_again said:

get itttttttttttt!

Tried it last Saturday but couldn't do it 5, 4, 5, 3, 4 reps. But it's a start.

Sadly I won't be able to go to the gym until next Sunday. Might have to deload a little. We'll see.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Got back from 10 days in Italy on Saturday night/Sunday morning and have just done my first cardio since the holiday. Went ok actually. I definitely feel like I've gained weight on the trip, though! Now for that demoralising bit where you have to work for aaaaages to get back to where you were before!

[drahkon]

18 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

Got back from 10 days in Italy on Saturday night/Sunday morning and have just done my first cardio since the holiday. Went ok actually. I definitely feel like I've gained weight on the trip, though! Now for that demoralising bit where you have to work for aaaaages to get back to where you were before!

I'm in a similar situation. Haven't been able to go to the gym last week because of no free time and now I'm sick. I hope I can go tomorrow morning...will definitely have to deload and see how much weight I can lift.

[Daft]

I'm going to take 12 days off the week after next. I've not had time off the gym for longer than a week for over half a decade. So...I think it'll do me some good.

[Fierce_LiNk]

2 hours ago, drahkon said:

I'm in a similar situation. Haven't been able to go to the gym last week because of no free time and now I'm sick. I hope I can go tomorrow morning...will definitely have to deload and see how much weight I can lift.

Go with how your body feels. I'm expecting a slight hit on my numbers, so we'll see what happens when I train later.  

22 minutes ago, Daft said:

I'm going to take 12 days off the week after next. I've not had time off the gym for longer than a week for over half a decade. So...I think it'll do me some good.

Sounds like a good idea! Enjoy your time off.

I had a few months off when we moved from our flat into the house. It was expected, but it was also quite nice to use that time for other things. It's quite a big commitment to be consistent with exercise and it does take up a chunk of your week. I remember feeling like there was all of this free time!

[Daft]

I basically go a lunch when I'm at work, so it's thankfully not a big time drain for me. But I remember taking a few months off waaaay back and it did me a world of good. Guess I've just been scared to loose my good habits.

[Fierce_LiNk]

5 minutes ago, Daft said:

I basically go a lunch when I'm at work, so it's thankfully not a big time drain for me. But I remember taking a few months off waaaay back and it did me a world of good. Guess I've just been scared to loose my good habits.

That's handy! I try to do it straight away when I get home, but some days I'm just mentally knackered and wanna just play a game or something. I'd say that you've more than earned the time off, so enjoy it.

[Daft]

If I couldn't do it at lunchtime I definitely would have taken a break by now. As it is, it's a relief to get away from my desk and out of work for a bit ha!

[nightwolf]

On 3/19/2018 at 7:21 AM, drahkon said:

Fuck man...looks like too much weight and no bracing...

Why the heck does he have it so high on his neck? Even for high bar that's just...oh god.

Been constant at the gym, but upped my game recently. Onto 60kg deadlifts and introduced squatting and benching. Its fun, if a little tough. 

[drahkon]

1 hour ago, nightwolf said:

Why the heck does he have it so high on his neck? Even for high bar that's just...oh god.

Yeah...everything in that video hurts

[drahkon]

Well, that went better than expected.

Managed to actually increase the load for squats - 55kg 5x5
Had to decrease the weight for Bench Press by 5, though. I noticed during warmup that it would probably be a good idea to de-load - 40kg 5x5
But I did set a new PB for Pendlay Row - 40kg 5x5; it was very tough. Had to increase the rest time to 2:30min after each set, but I did it

Now I am fucking hungry. I reeeeaaaally have to increase my calorie intake but it's so difficult for me. I'm sated quite quickly. Well...I just have to force down the pasta and meat

[nightwolf]

Nice! Good job on the bench pressing! 

I've been really struggling with that I must admit, I want weight loss, so my brain automatically is saying "eat less", but you shouldn't really be doing that when lifting as fatigue etc etc. ARGH.