Disil's Log

[Disil]

I did everything I could to ensure that my last session before the deload is banger, especially since the 3x4x70Kg bench had me half afraid half excited going in.

 

Sunday Workout:

 

Bench Press (70Kg*): 4, 4, 5 (I usually don't do stuff like this, but since the 4th of the third felt RPE 9ish, I went for another, knowing I would deload the next week anyway. Super happy with this.)
Seated Cable Rows (70.75Kg): 10, 10, 8 (-1 felt my lower back go out a little and didn't want to risk anything, but most reps and negatives were nice and clean)
Machine Shoulder Press (35Kg): 12, 12, 10, 10 (-)
Lat Pulldown (80Kg): 8, 9 (-)

Triceps Machine (92.5Kg): 12, 10 (-1)
Cable Face Pulls (35Kg*): 11, 12 (Talk about challenging. Guess I'm finally there)

Rope Pushdown (21.25Kg): 15, 15, 13 into Dropset (-)

Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 10, 10, 10, 9* (+2)

Lateral DB Raises (8Kg): 15, 12, 11 (Just nothing left here)

 

Awesome. I'm more than ripe for a deload.

 

Weight: 74.1Kg
Calories: 2292

Estimated Deficit: 408

Total Deficit after 8 days of cutting: 4163

[Disil]

So the deload week came and went. 2 workouts at 80 and then 90%, the first with reduced sets and no isolation movements, no third workout. Overall this went pretty will I think, despite the deload+deficit combo that I usually would want to avoid.

 

Tuesday Workout:

 

Bench Press (65Kg): 6, 6, 6 (Felt a little heavier than I would've liked, but that's to be expected following the deload)
Seated Cable Rows (70.75Kg): 9, 9, 8 (-2)
Machine Shoulder Press (35Kg): 12, 12, 10, 10 (-)
Lat Pulldown (80Kg): 8, 8 (-1)

Triceps Machine (92.5Kg): 12, 11 (-)
Cable Face Pulls (35Kg): 13*, 12 (+2)

Rope Pushdown (21.25Kg): 15, 12, 10 (-4)

Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 10, 9, 8 (-3)

Lateral DB Raises (8Kg): 15, 15 (-)

Seated Incline DB-Curls (8Kg): 10, 10 (vastly overhauled my form here. I did them wrong forever and I'm curious how this will go)

 

Well, I've lost a couple reps here and there, but I'll be getting those back soon I'm sure. 

 

Weight: 74.2Kg
Calories: 2348

Estimated Deficit: 352

Total Deficit after 17 days of cutting: 8327

 

Weight loss is super slow and I'm wondering if the numbers are right. I'm barely where I should be given the 8327kcal deficit, but that does not account for water weight and stomach content lost. I might reduce intake a bit further if this holds up.

[Disil]

Friday Workout:

 

Bench Press (62.5Kg): 8, 8, 8 (Quite heavy, not sure if I have missed a rep in the 2nd set and maybe did 9 reps, sure felt like it)
Seated Cable Rows (70.75Kg): 9, 9, 8 (-)
Machine Shoulder Press (35Kg): 12, 12, 10, 9 (-1)
Lat Pulldown (80Kg): 9, 7 (-)

Triceps Machine (92.5Kg): 12, 10 (-1)
Cable Face Pulls (35Kg): 13, 13* (+1)

Rope Pushdown (21.25Kg): 15, 13, 10 into Dropset (-)

Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 10, 10, 9 (-)

Lateral DB Raises (8Kg): 15, 15, 15 (-)

Seated Incline DB-Curls (8Kg): 12, 10 (-)

 

Pretty good I guess.

 

Weight: 74.5Kg
Calories: ?

 

So I'm on a 3-day fuckup right now for various reasons. Around 3k-3.5k each day. Let's hope I manage to get a handle on things starting tomorrow.

[Disil]

Sunday Workout:

 

Bench Press (61Kg): 10, 9, 7 (Meh)
Seated Cable Rows (70.75Kg): 10, 8, then 8 at 67Kg (I had to admit to myself that my technique has gotten worse and worse with more and more momentum and less and less actual lat-activation. I will drop down to 67Kg and keep form clean)
Machine Shoulder Press (35Kg): 12, 12, 10, 10 (-)
Lat Pulldown (80Kg): 8, 8 (-)

Triceps Machine (92.5Kg): 12, 10 (-1)
Cable Face Pulls (35Kg): 13, 13 (-)

Rope Pushdown (21.25Kg): 15, 13, 11 into Dropset (-)

Standing DB-Curls (14Kg): 10, 10 (-)

Lateral DB Raises (8Kg): 15, 15 (-)

Seated Incline DB-Curls (8Kg): 12, 12 (-)

 

Pretty crappy for various reasons.

 

Weight: 74.2Kg
Calories: 2121

Deficit: 529

Total Deficit after ~22 days of cutting: 9140

 

Since my weight has not improved in almost two weeks and adherence is just so much harder at these slight deficits (stupid, I know), I will resume more severe cutting as of right now. We're not talking about a PSMF, but simply a larger deficit between 800 and 1200 probably. I won't change much training-wise, just reduce some of the excessive sets here and there (4th shoulder press, 3rd pushdown, curl and lateral) and train my ass off to keep that muscle.

[Disil]

No real news. I'm keeping the weights up and try to hold on to the reps as best I can, but work is just killing me right now.

 

Weight: 73.5Kg
Calories: 2057

Deficit: 593

Total Deficit after ~27 days of cutting: 13519

[Disil]

Pretty much the same as above. Allergies + unreal work stress + sleep deficit + calorie deficit = not a good time. I'm still trying everything to hold on to my strength.

 

Weight: 71.8Kg
Calories: 2057

Deficit: 593

Total Deficit after ~39 days of cutting: 23943

[Disil]

So I've had a not so ideal "diet break" over 18 days where I re-gained a bunch of weight. After that I re-entered my dieting phase, but unfortunately I lost a bit of strength on the way, mostly due to very subpar sleep + high stress which are both much better now. I also have stopped taking any caffeine/green tea caps before my workouts because they impacted my sleep (usually training at 9-10pm that should not be surprising) so I don't know how much that did to my performance as well.

 

Anyhow:

 

Weight: 70.2Kg
Calories: 1625

Deficit: 725

Total Deficit after ~23 days of cutting: 17008

 

The idea is to keep going until around 65Kg and then build back up from there with a pretty small surplus, focusing mostly on increasing work capacity/overall volume and stay away from training to failure for a while.

[Disil]

Welp. I only went a total of 29 days, then I pinched a nerve in my back and couldn't move for 2 days, figuring I wouldn't be able to work out for at least a week and stopped the cut there. Things improved quickly and so I decided that this was just a brief 9 day diet break and that I will resume cutting again, but with a few changes:

 

I dropped down in weight for most exercises by 5-10%. I will slowly increase volume throughout the next few months by first increasing sets and then increasing reps, going from what should be around MEV (minimum effective volume) to MRV (maximum recoverable volume). Example: Bench Press went from 3x8x60Kg to 3x8x55Kg, but will go up from 3x8 to 5x10-12. I will do this for almost all exercises in some form or fashion. Typically I will increase by any one set per workout, so for example today, I will add 1 set of Diamond Push Ups to my push workout and everything else remains the same. Tomorrow I will add one set of Face Pulls to my Pull workout, while the rest stays as is, except for Pull Ups. These I will treat as a giant set of X where the goal is to just +1 every time regardless of sets. So last time I did 7/6/5 (=18), Wednesday the goal is 19, no matter if it's 7/6/6, 8/6/5 or 7/6/5/1. I did this years ago when I started, going up from something like 20-ish to 50-ish and it worked quite well.

The idea is to first up the sets, still maintaining a manageable level of effort (RPE 7.5-9) and then also upping the reps to maximum effort (RPE 9-10) with very high volume, facilitating hypertrophy. All the while I will cut at a very modest deficit (300-500) to promote enough recovery and hopefully some body recomposition. Afterwards will follow a deload and then either another cycle like just described, but starting with increased weights compared to before or a strength phase (low volume, high RPE).

 

Weight: 70.9Kg
Calories: 1955

Deficit: 595

Total Deficit after ~2 days of cutting: 1306

 

Weight is currently sitting at 70.9Kg, but stomach content and glycogen stores are both still high/full (hit 69.2Kg the day before ending the cut). Also, I'm on Tuesday of my 2nd week off and very much recovering nicely.