Disil's Log

[Disil]

Today is a rest day and also the last day of my bulk. Pizza, ice cream, a sandwich, a cherry/apple yoghurt, a ton of dried apricots, cottage cheese and asparagus/ham/mayo wraps complete a pretty decent bulk, certainly the best one yet in terms of sticking to my calorie goals/actually counting them, getting good workouts in and actually seeing some progress too and I also made a lot of improvements to how I go about eating and working out during a bulk which surprisingly enough was more difficult than I thought. Meal timing becomes much more important if you have to stuff your face with 3k calories and don't want to feel bloated when working out and saving a ton of money by buying and cooking smart is paramount to continuously bulking.

 

I'll take some pictures tomorrow morning so I can see how I progress from the end of the bulk to the end of the cut. It should only be fitting that the most successful bulk so far is followed by the most successful cut so that's exactly what I'm shooting for. Fridge is packed with all the good stuffs and I actually can't wait to eat my first tuna salad in a while tomorrow. Toe's at about 80% now and I'm pretty sure I'll be good to go regarding my run on Friday.

[PaulG]

Today is a rest day and also the last day of my bulk. Pizza, ice cream, a sandwich, a cherry/apple yoghurt, a ton of dried apricots, cottage cheese and asparagus/ham/mayo wraps complete a pretty decent bulk, certainly the best one yet in terms of sticking to my calorie goals/actually counting them, getting good workouts in and actually seeing some progress too and I also made a lot of improvements to how I go about eating and working out during a bulk which surprisingly enough was more difficult than I thought. Meal timing becomes much more important if you have to stuff your face with 3k calories and don't want to feel bloated when working out and saving a ton of money by buying and cooking smart is paramount to continuously bulking.

I'll take some pictures tomorrow morning so I can see how I progress from the end of the bulk to the end of the cut. It should only be fitting that the most successful bulk so far is followed by the most successful cut so that's exactly what I'm shooting for. Fridge is packed with all the good stuffs and I actually can't wait to eat my first tuna salad in a while tomorrow. Toe's at about 80% now and I'm pretty sure I'll be good to go regarding my run on Friday.

Congrats. And I hear you, I'll be happy when I'm paying my cutting grocery bill again... It's so much easier on the wallet.

How long are you planning to cut for?

[Disil]

The idea is to first get 2 weeks on a steep deficit and without any refeeds in and evaluate from there. Best case scenario is I continue for another 2 weeks the same way, but there might also be a refeed or a slightly less steep deficit needed at some point down the line. My TDEE is along the lines of 1950-2000 and I plan on alternating my bodyweight training with my 4.2m runs with rest days only if absolutely needed and the idea is to keep calories between 1200 and 1500, giving me deficits between 1000 and 1300 each day. This is pretty much exactly what I did before this bulk, but I only managed for 16 days and screwed up more than a little inbetween:

 

1528 1312 1213 1808 1220 1236 1150 3090 2022 1690 1549 2234 1443 1389 1140 1548

 

I feel a lot more motivated this time around though and the only issue could be my usual blood donation in about a week, but I'll manage. I really need to take advantage of this long bulk and the state it put my body in, I feel absolutely ready both physically and mentally to shed some serious fat this time.

[Disil]

Alright, pictures aren't too great but will have to do. I still look like a poor man's Quasimodo with those shoulders, although a lot seems to be simply bigger traps on the left side too. Anyway, stats for those pics are: 67.6kg/147lbs with my scale telling me I'm at 17.1% bodyfat which seems a little high:

[Disil]

Workout for today:

 

DDPYOGA Red Hot Core (12min core workout)

Plank: 40s, 40s

Headstand Push-Ups: 7, 7, 6

Handstand Practice: 10 min

DB Deadlifts (44lbs): 12, 12, 12

Diamond Push-Ups: 10, 10, 10

DB Shrugs (44lbs): 16, 16, 16

Bulgarian Split-Squats (+44lbs): 6, 6, 6

1 mile walk

Pull-Ups (false grip): 6, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 5  (34 total)

Bodyweight Dips: 9, 7, 8, 8

1 mile walk

 

 

I could almost hear my body yell at me: "Hey asshole, where are my carbs?!" I felt pretty empty when I arrived at the park and the fact that it had just stopped raining and was cold didn't help either. I somehow managed to get to 34 pull-ups, but for whatever reason completely fried my posterior deltoids in the process. Let's hope that with getting used to the cut and losing a few pounds of waterweight the next three days, the next workouts will go better again. The toe is only a minor nuisance at this point and I often forgot about it throughout the workout. Nutrition today was not entirely on point as I still have a lot of apples lying around and snacked on these, but managed a healthy 1500cal for the day.

[Disil]

Workout for today:

 

5.7m walk

 

4.2m run in 45:13

 

 

Totally crushed today. The walk was before I even had a breakfast and I really didn't expect the run to be anything at all, but I felt great despite the drizzling rain, the lack of carbs and the huge walk I did before in the day. I'll end up at 1432cal today, which is especially great considering all the exercise I did.

[Disil]

Workout for today:

 

Headstand Push-Ups: 7, 7, 5

Handstand Practice: 10 min

DB Deadlifts (44lbs): 12, 12, 12

Diamond Push-Ups: 10, 10, 10

DB Shrugs (44lbs): 16, 16, 16

Bulgarian Split-Squats (+44lbs): 6, 6, 6

1 mile walk

Pull-Ups (false grip): 7, 7, 6, 6, 5, 2  (35 total)

Bodyweight Dips: 9, 8

1 mile walk

DDPYOGA Red Hot Core (12min core workout)

Plank: 40s, 40s

 

Things are going great. It seems I finally had a breakthrough moment during handstand practice and it kind of has to do with the way my hips are positioned in relation to my torso. I used to have an overarched back in handstand, but when I shifted my hips to the point where it almost felt like my legs were at a 90° angle while still keeping my back straight, I didn't tip over, but actually could hold my position better. And not only that, repeating it with video, it almost looks as if the arch was all but gone that way. It's a very unnatural movement still and it's no surprise I had such a hard time getting there as can be seen by the complicated explanation, but even moreso by the fact that I still have problems actually doing it.

Pull-Ups seem to improve and I'm sure the 4.5lbs I lost in the first two days of my cut played their part in that, but it's still great to not stagnate forever in that regard. I somehow forgot to do my last set of dips, oh well..I'll survive.

 

I've decided to postpone my blood donation until after the cut, since the donation and the days after are usually pretty weak days and also because my diet in preparation really sucks for a cut (no dairy to increase the absorption of iron, which means no cottage cheese, no greek yoghurt, no "quark" and overall much less carbs than I have access to anyway on a cut). That should translate into more energy available, as I'll have at least one banana, one apple, 10ml of honey and 250g of quark in my "obstquark" every day, which comes down to 64g of carbs alone while still providing 31g of protein and only ~400 calories. My go-to cottage cheese + jam also provide an easy 26g of protein as well as 18.4g of carbs at only 240cal.

 

Calories for the day are at a good 1461. Too much snacking on dried apricots.

[Disil]

Workout for today:

 

2.9m run in 34:22

1.3m walk

 

Felt horrible. Was out of energy midway through and walked the rest of the distance. Not exactly sure why this sucked so much, not enough sleep, not enough carbs, too much leg-exercises, wrong timing...whatever, did something at least.

Calories are at a disappointing 1634, but hey, based on how I felt today I'm happy I didn't eat more than that. Still a decent number all things considered.

[Disil]

Workout for today:

 

DDPYOGA Red Hot Core (12min core workout)

Plank: 40s, 40s

Headstand Push-Ups: 7, 7, 7

Handstand Practice: 10 min

DB Deadlifts (44lbs): 12, 12, 12

Diamond Push-Ups: 10, 10, 10

DB Shrugs (44lbs): 16, 16, 16

Bulgarian Split-Squats (+44lbs): 6, 6, 6

1 mile run

Pull-Ups (false grip): 8, 7, 6, 6, 4, 5  (36 total)

Bodyweight Dips: 10, 9, 9, 7

1 mile walk

 

 

Today's workout is sponsored by carbs! Carbs are your friendly neighborhood macronutrient, responsible for you to lift all the things, all the time.

Fuck yes this was good! I had the vast majority of my calories before the workout and a ton of them were carbs (330g of carrots, some dried apricots, banana+apple "obstquark" with honey, feta+bellpepper omelette with chives, cottage cheese with jam, protein shake) and I still had only 1442cal. I'm so glad I decided to not donate blood on this cut and the difference in energy thanks to the carbs from all the fruit and dairy I'd otherwise have to eschew before a donation was certainly palpable. 5th day of my cut and feeling this awesome makes me very optimistic for the next ~2 weeks. It certainly feels like this is "it", this is the one cut where I'll finally see my lower abs...well that or I get to see what else is there, because I've never seen it before in my life.

[Disil]

Workout for today:

 

4.2m run in 41:31

 

 

Didn't feel good at all when I started and was caught by surprise when I passed a certain marker about 1 1/2m in and realized that I was faster than usual. In the end I ran at a pace of 6:04min/km, better than I have in a long time and close to my all time best. I'm down 5.8lbs in 6 days and I can't wait to see how my time looks like when I lost another 6-8 of useless fat and fuel myself with 3k calories again. I also ran a lot of errands today, walking a lot. Didn't track this, but certainly around 3-4 miles as well so tomorrow should have me at 6.5lbs at least which is sweet for 1 week if you consider all the water weight that was among it. 1481 calories is awesome for such an active day and I've got meals planned out for the next 4 days that have me even lower.

[PaulG]

Super awesome. Much strong! So lifts!

I only have one beady-eyed question: why are you still doing diamond push-ups? You could be doing... SO MUCH MORE.

[Disil]

I used to do close-grip push-ups or decline push-ups in their stead. I tried diamonds a while back and coudn't even do two or three. Turns out I did them wrong, which I realized once I saw Tanuki do some on video in her log which made me wanting to try them again with proper form. They still were pretty hard on my elbows and forearms in the beginning, so I did them half-way to ease in. As you can see in my progression, I started with 8-6-5, so the 10-10-10 is a rather recent achievement and still really challenging for the last two reps and still some discomfort in my forearm-/elbow area. Since my goal was to progress towards OAPs, they seemed like a good idea anyway and I pondered either going with decline diamonds or high incline OAPs next. What do you suggest?

[Disil]

Workout for today:

 

DDPYOGA Red Hot Core (12min core workout)

Plank: 60s, 40s

Headstand Push-Ups: 8, 7, 7

Handstand Practice: 10 min

DB Deadlifts (44lbs): 12, 12, 12

Diamond Push-Ups: 10, 10, 10

DB Shrugs (44lbs): 16, 16, 16

Bulgarian Split-Squats (+44lbs): 6, 6, 6

1 mile run

Pull-Ups (false grip): 9, 8, 7, 6, 6, 1  (37 total)

Bodyweight Dips: 10, 10, 10, 7

1 mile walk

 

 

Phantastic workout. No matter if it's the added volume, the loss in bodyweight or something else, but it feels good to see some progress. Totally destroyed it at the park and I can't believe I'm closing in on 40 pull-ups. Handstands are still improving, I get little ~5sec windows where I hold them completely free more frequently now and form is much improved after the recent discovery I wrote about in another post.

I'm at 1300cal on the dot for today which is especially great, considering I had it almost all in one sitting and still don't feel hungry at all and neither did I feel weak or depleted during my workout which was about 8 hours later. What did I eat you ask? Well let me show you :

 

400g of thinly sliced stir-fried chicken breast with gyros spice mix, 1 1/2 red onions, half a pound of "quark" and 2 wheat buns.

[PaulG]

I used to do close-grip push-ups or decline push-ups in their stead. I tried diamonds a while back and coudn't even do two or three. Turns out I did them wrong, which I realized once I saw Tanuki do some on video in her log which made me wanting to try them again with proper form. They still were pretty hard on my elbows and forearms in the beginning, so I did them half-way to ease in. As you can see in my progression, I started with 8-6-5, so the 10-10-10 is a rather recent achievement and still really challenging for the last two reps and still some discomfort in my forearm-/elbow area. Since my goal was to progress towards OAPs, they seemed like a good idea anyway and I pondered either going with decline diamonds or high incline OAPs next. What do you suggest?

For OAPs, either would work. But when I was at that level, I could only rep out OAPs on a wall, and I found it annoying: the wall limited my ROM, and failure meant a bumped head.

I'd try out decline diamonds with an eye on starting typewriter push-ups when possible.

[Disil]

But when I was at that level, I could only rep out OAPs on a wall, and I found it annoying: the wall limited my ROM, and failure meant a bumped head.

It's so awesome to have this feedback here! I was getting frustrated because I couldn't even do more than maybe one OAP on my windowsill which is at hip height, so hearing this is quite reassuring. I'm not sure which way I'll go next, these

looked interesting as well, sort of like assisted OAPs. Typewriters look like they may further aggravate my wrists with all the movement, which is also why I'm not too keen on simply progressing with decline diamonds either, but I'll see with which I'll feel most comfortable.

 

 

Workout for today:

 

4.2m run in 41:55

 

 

Was really fast in the beginning, but probably going a little too fast there, because my overall time was worse than 2 days ago. Still really great, in particular because it was quite warm today.

Calories were at an okay 1571. The 200ml of milk in my shake and 30g of dried apricots put me over more than I'd have liked, but I felt so depleted after my run that I really wanted something sugary afterwards. Still a decent 900ish deficit so all good.

[PaulG]

Nice. I hear you on typewriter push-ups. One thing you might try is elevating one hand on a stack of books so it can't give as much assistance, that should have a similar effect without you needing to strafe back and forth on your wrists.

Speaking of your wrists, what's up with them? Have you injured them in the past?

[Disil]

Well, I was at a point where I could do the simplest yoga poses like table or down dog or planks only with severe pain in my wrists. Basically everything where my hand and forearm were at a 90° angle. Even leaning with my hands flat on a surface like a table hurt. I was about to give up on the yoga when DDP recommended wrist wraps to me and thanks to those I could follow through with the yoga and slowly got better. I re-injured them countless times through everyday movements (heaving a large, heavy load of laundry into the dryer, flattening ground beef with my palms to freeze for later, tripping and catching my fall with my hands, opening a very tighly shut jar etc.) since then so I have become very wary in using them heavily. It's downright amazing to me that I'm even able to do handstands now, let alone headstand push-ups or diamonds, although I wouldn't trust to do any of this without the stabilizing effect of gloves - I tried once and it didn't feel good.

 

I was at a doc once, but he couldn't really help or didn't want to, whatever. I pretty much avoid doctors whenever I can because few of them (that I met) seemed to know what they were doing. Anyway, I'm feeling good where I'm at with my wrists right now and I feel that all this strength training only further helps them become stronger and more durable.

 

 

Oh, the idea with the books sounds pretty much what was shown in the video, did you watch it and what do you think of it?

[PaulG]

Oh! Just watched it, I missed it the first time.

Raising the surface under one hand will heighten the load on the other hand. The higher the surface, the tougher it is. And the further away from your body that hand is, the tougher it gets as well. So yep, the archer push-ups look like a good starting point, and you can modify them still further to make them easier/harder as you go.

[Disil]

Workout for today:

 

DDPYOGA Red Hot Core (12min core workout)

Headstand Push-Ups: 7, 7, 4

Handstand Practice: 5 min

DB Deadlifts (44lbs): 12, 12, 12

Decline Diamond Push-Ups (from about 40cm) : 8

Side to Side Push-Ups (L/R): 5/5, 5/5, 5/5

DB Shrugs (44lbs): 16, 16, 16

Bulgarian Split-Squats (+44lbs): 6, 6, 6

1 mile walk

Pull-Ups (false grip): 7, 5, 6

Bodyweight Dips: 9, 7, 6

1 mile walk

 

 

Starting with handstand practice that wasn't all that bad, but probably way too intense (duration of holds in particular), followed by my testing of different push-ups, my left shoulder, forearm and wrist were pretty strained and exhausted before really doing anything. So it turns out, I'm far away from doing anything resembling archer or typewriter push-ups since I can't even lift myself off the ground once. Decline diamonds were ok, but didn't feel all that great and my left side already wasn't liking any of this. I then found

and decided to try the side to side push-ups and they're exactly what I needed. Being able to do about 5 on each side for 3 reps seems like a good starting point with lots of potential.

I could barely stop yawning throughout the workout and just didn't "feel it" today. Despite everything written so far, I decided, for whatever stupid reason, to see how far I am in regards to muscle-ups, and while I got decent height (about sternum I'd say), it certainly didn't help getting my pull-ups in, but things were going downhill already. For the first time in 2 weeks I didn't manage to do an additional pull-up, dips sucked as well and I just went home after 3 sets of each no matter the numbers. I also forewent the planks as my left forearm still hurts even just from typing. I'll have a rest day tomorrow and my usual run the day after so the upper body will have 2 rest days and then it's back to previous form.

Calories for the day are at a great 1218. Today was also the first day I didn't lose, but actually gained a little weight, which only further motivates me to stick to steeper deficits and not exceed 1500 like I did yesterday.

[Disil]

Workout for today:

 

4.2m in 40:28 at 5:54min/km (!)

 

 

The weather was way too beautiful to not go for a run so I'll probably take that rest day tomorrow. As can be seen above, I repeated my best pace thus far and felt absolutely awesome today.

Calories for the day are 1419. Weight still isn't moving much, but I can't let that deter me. This run should do its part in changing that.

[Disil]

My left anterior deltod is still hurting, and my pecs are a little sore as well, so today's rest day is more than welcome. I might go for a walk later on. Calories for the day will be at 1390.

[Disil]

Workout for today:

 

DDPYOGA Red Hot Core (12min core workout)

Plank: 60s, 60s

Headstand Push-Ups: 8, 7, 7

Handstand Practice: 10 min

DB Deadlifts (44lbs): 12, 12, 12

Side-to-Side Push-Ups(L/R): 6/6, 6/6, 5/5

DB Shrugs (44lbs): 16, 16, 16

Bulgarian Split-Squats (+44lbs): 6, 6, 6

1 mile run

Pull-Ups (false grip): 8, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6  (39 total)

Bodyweight Dips: 9, 8, 9

1 mile run

 

With the way my left shoulder was still feeling I was seriously considering to postpone the workout and go for a run instead, but decided to at least try and in the worst case scenario simply skip all the push-related exercises. Damn am I glad I did work out. It certainly wasn't the greatest, but I feel totally spent and exactly the way I need. I still can hardly lift my left arm above shoulder height, but during the workout it felt close to 100% except for the last headstand push-ups and dips. Side-to-sides definitely are the culprit in regards to my delt being so sore, so it was only fitting that I did them in full force again today. Pull-Ups felt really difficult, but I still somehow managed to get 2 more than last time, making up for the +1 I skipped 2 days ago.

I obviously didn't expect anything from handstand practice, even thought about skipping it entirely. Good thing I didn't, as I had one of my best tries yet, here's the video. Still not all that clean, but so much better than where I was two weeks ago, let alone two months.

 

Calories are at 1497, which I'm particularly proud of, since I usually overeat a lot during WWE PPVs, but only did so slightly this time (always watching them a day later due to different time zones) and with raw bell peppers and carrots.

12 days into the cut I'm down 7.7lbs, food phantasies are starting, but given how resilient I was today despite the usual excuse of "it's a special event, you wanna watch the new episode of The Strain and WWE Night of Champions and you need proper snack food to accompany them" and how resilient I'm planning to be for this weekend, when an old buddy from school visits me on Friday and Sunday I'll be watching the highly anticipated UFC 178 (from Saturday), I see this cut lasting at least another two weeks. One huge motivator in this is that I am beginning to notice how my love handles are disappearing. I'm having a harder time grabbing handfuls off my sides with each passing day and it's safe to say that I've never been this lean since I was maybe 5 or 6 years old.

[Shortgorilla]

Jesus, how low do you plan on cutting?  I don't see any fat on you haha.  Nice hand stand.

[Disil]

Yeah, if my stomach looked all the time the way it does when I'm upside down, I'd happily stop cutting, but going by these pics and several markers (visible lower abs when flexed, visible bicep vein, no more love handles, potentially visible collar bone on top of shoulders, eventually visible sixpack when relaxed) I'd like to reach, I still have quite some ways to go. It's crazy if I think back to how I could see my upper abs properly a while back and thought "hey, I'm pretty close to a sixpack abs now" and that was like..15lbs ago and I'm still far away. Just as EE did at the end of last year with his cut, people underestimate that last "bit" a lot, I believe Waldo even wrote about it.

 

As far as how low goes, let me refer you to the start of my cut: "..the idea is to keep calories between 1200 and 1500, giving me deficits between 1000 and 1300 each day." So I actually was a little on the high side these last days, being closer to 1500 than 1200. As I've wrote elsewhere, it's all budgeting. I still eat huge meals and volume wise, I feel like eating maintenance and just drink a ton of water around meals.

[Disil]

Workout for today:

 

4.2m run in 39:37 at 5:47min/km (!)

 

 

Fucking destroyed it today. Basically perfect weather to run, felt great and the result showed. Calories are at 1484 which I'm really happy about since I almost slipped. I made the mistake of buying a pack of bisquits that were on sale with the intent of leaving them at my Mother's place until the cut is over, but I should've known better and it was a real struggle to not open them, talking myself into "just eating one, to try them and know if they're actually any good" which obviously would lead to me immediately devouring the whole thing. I didn't do any of that, brought them over to her and ended up eating 540g of carrots instead while watching the Strain. Feeling pretty great right now.