Waldo Challenge 9.0

[Waldo]

I figured out that multiquote thing.  Man does that make life easy.  The whole light switch, multitab cut n' paste method I used to do is so much work compared to that thing.

 

Anyhoo.  Lots of stuff today.  First:

 

Workout Log - 4/21

P90X Yoga X

 

I made a video of the single leg squat flow workout I mentioned previously.

 

http://youtu.be/8xALsnKj10c

 

My left leg still needs a ton of work, but its fairly smooth on the right leg.  Bringing the left up to speed will be the focus of informal outdoor workouts for the time being.  There is a lot that can be done from that general framework. Could do doubles/triples instead of singles, could go around the clock instead of front to back.

 

Today was also picture day.

 

Full Size:

http://i726.photobucket.com/albums/ww269/Waldo56/Self/CutCollagewk2big_zps92813bed.jpg:original

Small little changes from last week.  I think the love handles shrunk a little, and the outer ab wall is a little more defined.  Also got a haircut and got in some quality tanning time.

 

Measurement wise, tape is moving faster than the scale (which means LBM gain (rebound)).  Not much though, still down 2.5 lbs LBM since the end of my bulk (up 0.5 from a week ago).  Almost every measurement has seem some decline, except the arms (thank god).  By the modified Y formula, I'm at 12.4% BF, down from 12.7% last week.  I'm up 5lbs from my last cut at the area of my current waist measurements, up 1.6 lbs from my weight at these measurements on the way up while bulking.

[Waldo]

Forgot to mention that my left calf is actually a little sore from the work trying to move my little toe.

[Georges]

Cutting and losing weight are fundamentally the same thing.  I actually made a post about it the other day on my eventually to be unveiled blog/site.  Physically they are the same, psychologically they are very different.

...and that's why we're all impatiently waiting for the blog...  

 

something for both me at the kid(s?).  Want to make him a climbing wall as part of it, plus a climbing rope/rope swing.

That's some Awesome Parenting right there.

[Waldo]

...and that's why we're all impatiently waiting for the blog...

Well my plan was/is:

 

- Get domain, host, etc.., the nuts and bolts, and accounts for it across the whole social media spectrum

- Throw together a quick theme that has all the functionality I need so that I can get all the general funcitonality working (menu, what goes where, etc...)

- Create all the basic static pages

- Write a couple blog posts and a couple articles, enough content that I can populate every page with something

- Go through and rework it to actually make it look good

- Unveil

 

I have one static page to go, one more article to write that I haven't started (something I'm passionate about, should fly off the fingers), and I need to finish 2 that I'm currently working on.  Need to add another blog post or two (and delete one that I think is crap).  I'm in the midst of writing what I consider my core article series, so the going is a little slow.  It actually freaked me out the other day, someone posted a thread that almost used the exact same title I'm using for that series, but I checked the traffic; zero, so its just a coincidence.

 

Then I need to work on how it looks.

 

I'm not that far away from having something presentable.

 

[empeg9000]

Big giant pile of awesome going on Waldo between the workouts, the cut, and the website. Nice going. 

[KB Girl]

Forgot to mention that my left calf is actually a little sore from the work trying to move my little toe.

 

Thanks for the video! Hope I'll someday be able to follow along with that.

Also curious about the blog. If you need anything proofread, let me know.

[Wolverine]

I cannot freaking wait to try that pistol squat mix.  Damn.  CANNOT WAIT.

 

Progress photos are looking good, Waldbro.  Wait until you see mine... slim to keg in one day or less!  

[aj_rock]

Well my plan was/is:

 

- Get domain, host, etc.., the nuts and bolts, and accounts for it across the whole social media spectrum

- Throw together a quick theme that has all the functionality I need so that I can get all the general funcitonality working (menu, what goes where, etc...)

- Create all the basic static pages

- Write a couple blog posts and a couple articles, enough content that I can populate every page with something

- Go through and rework it to actually make it look good

- Unveil

 

I have one static page to go, one more article to write that I haven't started (something I'm passionate about, should fly off the fingers), and I need to finish 2 that I'm currently working on.  Need to add another blog post or two (and delete one that I think is crap).  I'm in the midst of writing what I consider my core article series, so the going is a little slow.  It actually freaked me out the other day, someone posted a thread that almost used the exact same title I'm using for that series, but I checked the traffic; zero, so its just a coincidence.

 

Then I need to work on how it looks.

 

I'm not that far away from having something presentable.

 

I volunteer as proof-readerrrrrrrr

[TeaKwonDo]

Damn, AJ beat me to it. Welcome to the blogosphere, Waldo! It's addicting as hell, if you haven't discovered already.

 

(And if you're taking more volunteers as Tribute, I can supply plenty of anecdotal data on female BW training.)

 

That vid looks like my next goal for leg training. Have you ever tried Warrior squats with your hands behind your back? They're ruthless.

[Waldo]

Big giant pile of awesome going on Waldo between the workouts, the cut, and the website. Nice going. 

 

Thanks!

 

I cannot freaking wait to try that pistol squat mix.  Damn.  CANNOT WAIT.

 

Progress photos are looking good, Waldbro.  Wait until you see mine... slim to keg in one day or less!  

 

Something to work on for a while.  Work like that is what I envision myself doing as I transition away from strength and mass gains, to more maintaining and refining, in the future.  I dig some of the stuff that Mike Fitch does, I see him as a guy that it into that stage.  Obviously this is still a long way off, but I always want to be one step ahead, planning for the future.

 

Oh the poofyness will go away fast.  It isn't like its fat.

 

 

 

Thanks for the video! Hope I'll someday be able to follow along with that.

Also curious about the blog. If you need anything proofread, let me know.

 

 

I volunteer as proof-readerrrrrrrr

 

Thanks for the proofreading volunteering.  Hopefully I won't need any.  If there is one skill I think I've developed well over the years, outside of the basics of engineering and comfort with numbers, it is self editing.  Lord knows my coworkers are all useless in that regard.

 

Damn, AJ beat me to it. Welcome to the blogosphere, Waldo! It's addicting as hell, if you haven't discovered already.

 

(And if you're taking more volunteers as Tribute, I can supply plenty of anecdotal data on female BW training.)

 

That vid looks like my next goal for leg training. Have you ever tried Warrior squats with your hands behind your back? They're ruthless.

 

Well this isn't my first go-round with blogging.  In the past I had a numbers related football blog.  Got to be a grind and I really didn't have a vision with it, too bad actually, because I did my best work on that front shortly after I stopped updating it.  I made a message board post that is probably one of the most viewed pieces of writing on numerical analysis of draft prospects ever made.  I've seen it plagiarized a bunch and copied even more.  Plus I really did discover a profound pattern within game records, going back all of the NFL's history, that has an absolutely uncanny ability to predict that teams will participate in and win championships (BTW, if you are reading this AJ, remember I explained it to you long ago when I first joined, well the Ravens have been very much expected to visit the Super Bowl now for a few years via that stat, Waldo-1, everyone else-0).  To the best of my knowledge, no one has yet independently found the pattern.  I might actually return to football blogging at some point because I feel my work with numbers is unique and can really stand on its own.

 

I have not tried warrior squats hands behind the back.  I haven't really done much with them to this point, a few reps here and there, that's about it.  Have to give that variation a try.  I'm always on the lookout for another hard leg exercise.

[Waldo]

Workout Log - 4/22

Leg Day A

 

Lunge Matrix x5

Kick Circuit x5

BW RDL - 10 reps

BW Squat - 10 reps

 

BW Pistol - 5e++/5e++ reps

BW Full ROM Skater Squat - 4x-/4e++, 4x-/4e++, 4y-/4e++ reps (toes up reps on left (+ form) by set - 0, 2, 1)

 

Run to 125M sprinting hill (.64 mi) - 7:05.15

Sprint 1 - 17.68 sec

Sprint 2 - 15.31 sec

Sprint 3 - 17.15 sec

Run home - 7:54.50

 

- Reps went down, quality went up on the skater squats

 

- Only did 3 sprints today.  Time was short and my legs were really dead after the 3rd.

 

- Spent a lot of time today working on moving my little toe on the left, and using my toes in general.  I really only use my big toe on the left.  My other toes aren't much better than the little one.

[Chaze]

I can't fricken wait for your website! Whatever article that you are passionate about and is going to just fly off of your fingers has got to be pure gold. 

[Waldo]

I can't fricken wait for your website! Whatever article that you are passionate about and is going to just fly off of your fingers has got to be pure gold. 

 

I've posted the general idea here before, had a thread about it way back when.  Basically how to not suck at calorie counting.  There is scant little info on this out there, and for the most part it comes from people with no more than a basic math background. 

 

This is one place where I am uniquely qualified, given that one hat I wear as an engineer is as a professional construction estimator, on top of that I'm really, really good at it (my two strongest skills as an engineer are a downright freakish understanding of airspace geometry and my ability to estimate large projects and/or complicated changes with a high degree of precision).  Plus generally speaking I have more of a systems mathematics background. 

 

Calorie counting is no different, it is by and large just a big estimate.  With a basis of a few simple rules I think a lot of people can get much, much better at it, trust themselves more when doing it, and waste less time doing it.

[Waldo]

So I am reconsidering doing an open ended cut all the way to what I consider my body fat floor (as low as I'd go for noncompetitive reasons), about 8% is my guess as to where that is.

 

This isn't to say I don't want to get there, but...

 

After really looking over the rest of the year time-wise, and applying what I want my future bulking-cutting schedule to look like (8 weeks bulking-2 week maintain-4 week cut-2 week maintain-repeat), and not wanting to be either bulking or cutting at Christmas, I realize that I need to finish up this cut by mid June.  Which would give a schedule of:

 

June 17- June 30 - Maintain

July 1 - Aug 25 - Bulk

Aug 26 - Sept 8 - Maintain

Sept 9 - Oct 6 - Cut

Oct 7 - Oct 20 - Maintain

Oct 21 - Dec 15 - Bulk

Dec 16 - Dec 29 - Maintain

 

But I can also give myself 2 weeks of float, if I end this cut at Memorial day, I'll have a longer maintain period in December, but the bonus to that I see is that it walks back the Sept 9-Oct 6 cut 2 weeks, which would put less of the cut during football season.

 

So we'll see, ending this cut somewhere in early June seems like the best timing-wise.

 

In the past I wanted to be at the end of a cut at Christmas, but I don't see that as all that important anymore, I don't really gain much fat during bulks.

 

Another option that I can do is to end this cut at the start of June, and do a 6 week cut instead of 4 week at the end of summer.

 

I dunno, still thinking about this.  I guess it really depends on what my current BF% is.  Every 1% off is 2 weeks of cutting.  I'm still doing nothing more than educated guessing.  Though the last time I cut the visual changes started rapidly accelerating as I dipped below a 32.8" waist, which is about where I'm at right now.  The internal vertical line of my abs starts coming in at around a 32.5" waist, I should be there within a little over a week.

 

Though one of my goals has been to really document this cut down to my floor well so that I have a good visual and measurement key to evaluate how lean I am in the future. I'm going to tie waist measurements to the progress photos I'm taking this challenge to have a highly personal body fat key, getting to my floor would provide me with a zero point.

[Vector]

That's a great flow. Have you used the Foot Drills at all? They help a lot of l/r imbalances for some folks. I usually suggest them for knee pain, but it could be worth a try.

 

http://www.coachr.org/the_foot_drills.htm

[aj_rock]

 (BTW, if you are reading this AJ, remember I explained it to you long ago when I first joined, well the Ravens have been very much expected to visit the Super Bowl now for a few years via that stat, Waldo-1, everyone else-0).

Can confirm, Waldo is apparently a psychic wizard. o_O

 

Might need your help doing my football lottery picks next season...

[Brutus]

Waldo,

 

I'm currently in the beginning stages of ConvictConditioning and have been reading your thoughts on other threads regarding the book. The bridges for reps are really strange and I was wondering if you had any good info on a bridge progression. I was thinking about continuing on the CC progression, but going for time rather than reps. Any input you have is greatly appreciated.

[Waldo]

Waldo,

 

I'm currently in the beginning stages of ConvictConditioning and have been reading your thoughts on other threads regarding the book. The bridges for reps are really strange and I was wondering if you had any good info on a bridge progression. I was thinking about continuing on the CC progression, but going for time rather than reps. Any input you have is greatly appreciated.

 

That works. 

 

Bridges, while useful, aren't something I do a lot of.  There are better exercises for the posterior chain and lower back.  Doing wheel during my weekly yoga is good enough for me.  Though I hold a 30 sec straight bridge as part of my upper body warmup.

 

Were I to bridge, I think I actually would do reps, however instead of going for the higher bridges, I'd do single leg hip thrusts.

 

But between glute ham raises and the back lever, my posterior chain gets plenty of work.

 

The direction Wade went with that is just plain weird.  Nobody does wheel (full bridge) for reps, it is way to awkward too get in and out, and there is a potential for ballistic stretching (bad).  Even straight bridges for reps doesn't make a lot of sense (the way the exercise works, almost all the load is in the extreme of the ROM, when in hip hyperextension, the slightest kink in the waist makes it really easy, why rep in that area?).  Basic bridges for reps, yes, but that isn't a lower back exercise as much as its a glute exercise.  Elevating the feet and shoulders to increase the ROM (making it a hip thrust) and switching to single leg makes it an extremely good glute exercise.

[Waldo]

Workout Log - 4/23

Upper Body Dynamic

 

Standard Warmup, Mobility, and Cooldown

 

Headstand Pushup - 7x+, 7x+, 7y+ reps

 

False Grip Pullup - 5e++ reps

False Grip Pullup (+20lb) - 5e++ reps

False Grip Pullup (+40lb) - 5x++, 5x+, 5y+ reps

 

RTO Ring Support - 15e++ sec

Ring Dip - 5x+ reps

L-Sit Ring Dip - 5y-, 4y- reps

Jump Ring Musle-Up - 1x- reps

 

- Was pretty bummed about the headstand pushups until I went back through my log.  Not as bad as I thought.  Total volume is as high as it has been for a long time.  Man is it ever a slow climb to 10,10,10, where I'm going to start progressing toward full ROM.

 

- Per Wolverines suggestion I concentrated on going lower, videotaped a set for a looksee, big improvement in that area.  Reps dropped because of it, but that's fine.

 

- Tried a jumping muscle up from a tuck.  I think I like the negatives better.

[Waldo]

That's a great flow. Have you used the Foot Drills at all? They help a lot of l/r imbalances for some folks. I usually suggest them for knee pain, but it could be worth a try.

 

http://www.coachr.org/the_foot_drills.htm

 

Thanks for that link.  Going to give them a try.

[KB Girl]

Are you working towards a muscle up?

[Waldo]

Are you working towards a muscle up?

 

Yes.

 

Been working on it a long time.  Though not so much on the ring muscle ups.  They are supposed to be easier, but I just don't have the comfort level with rings.  I really want to get a bar muscle up.  I can do them one arm at a time, but that form sucks.  Working at it from a lot of different angles.  I'm hoping this cut will be just enough to get my explosive pullup elevation high enough to make the transition.  I can pull the bar to my lower chest now.  I'm close, but not there yet.

[Church]

The obvious solution is to train pull ups with some Armor

That's why I bought mine. But then I discovered that 40 extra pounds makes it HARD to do pull ups. I bet you'll be smarter than I am though, and start with the vest NOT at max weight. Lol

[UberTumbleweed]

I love those foot drills!  I have a pretty strong L-R imbalance, with my left being the much weaker side.  I feel like those are really helping my feet and knees.  The weird thing is, when I turn my foot to do the exercises, my left hand automatically turns in or out to match the foot position.  There's definitely something going on with that side that the foot drills have exposed.  After a month of doing the drills, my left hand turns less during them and I feel more stable when running at higher speeds.

[Wolverine]

I'm gonna have to stop reading your thread.  I'm hella jelly of your progress... ESPECIALLY on the HSPUs...