Learning and Lifting - A student's tale

[alexis88]

ENjoyed reading your journal!! Keep it up you are inspiring hope the phobia improves 

[Cat in the rack]

ENjoyed reading your journal!! Keep it up you are inspiring hope the phobia improves 

Thanks man, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

So a few changes today, for one I had a preworkout snack, an apple and a nakd bar, about an hour before. Then I had preworkout without added BCAAs, as they make it frothy and don't mix very well. I felt a little odd in the gym today, like my body was refusing to sweat for some reason, but I powered through. Built up to a set of 2 with 110kg for squats, then thought fuck it and did another set. Built up to a set of 4 with 75kg for lunges. Then I did 5 sets of 10 with 67.5kg for squats. Between sets I did 5 sets of low rep pull-ups (4) and 5 sets of low rep chin-ups (5), tomorrow will be higher rep pull-ups (6) and low rep chin-ups (5). Overall I'd say it went pretty well.

Today I have a little MCQ revision planned, gonna go see the new Poltergeist movie, go out to dinner, then stop at tesco on the way back to do some shopping. I also might be getting a summer job working behind a bar in the gym I'll be going to, so that'd be pretty neat, I could do with the extra income and I'm gonna have plenty of free time anyway. Plus any job I get elsewhere will require about a 45 minute walk into town whereas this is about 15 minutes away, so that's convenient.

Anyway, gonna chill for a bit, call about the summer job (the guy didn't answer half an hour ago) and leave to see the movie in about 2 hours. Have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Follow up post, I got through to the guy and I'll be meeting him tomorrow. Thank you nepotism for aiding me in my hour of need. It sounded like they're looking for as much work over summer as they can get, and I might be able to work behind the bar and behind reception. Admittedly I don't need more than about 8 hours a week to afford to live at the house over summer, but anything more than that is just a nice addition to my savings. I plan to do a fair bit of studying over summer in preparation for the second year, but even with studying and training I have plenty of free time, I could probably work 40 hours a week and not have it really dig into my free time. The only thing I need to be wary of is training and meal timing, if I have work in the morning I can bring a snack and preworkout and then train after work, if I have work in the afternoon/evening I can train in the morning, go home to eat, then come back for work. If I have work through most of the day then I'm not sure what I'd do, maybe eat before work, bring a snack and preworkout, then train after work; maybe train before work which would be really early, then go home to eat and come back.

Anyway, I'll probably go meet with him before training, seeing as any time after training would be around 2 in the afternoon, if I get there around 9 I should be able to get home around 10, have a snack, leave to train at 11 and be eating breakfast even later than usual. That's all, have a good afternoon

[Cat in the rack]

I expected today to be a bit of a mixed bag, thought I'd spend ages at the job interview, get back late and feel shitty in the gym, struggle to get a new PR and not get a lot done. A fair bit happened today so I'll just go through it chronologically.

I woke up at around 8, weighed in at 66.4kg, though I can't take this at face value seeing as yesterday I ate later and bigger than usual. My weight tomorrow should be a better assessment of whether I'm building muscle or if I need to eat more, if I'm not at least 66.3kg on Monday then I might increase calories, then again if I'm still gaining in strength I might give it a little more time. We'll have to wait and see. I had a coffee, a preworkout snack of apple and a nakd bar, some water, and headed to the interview.

Turns out it was a 2.5 mile walk, which was killer on my feet in converse. I have a slight "deformity" (I don't know a better word for it) in my right foot that makes long walks in poorly cushioned shoes pretty bad, got a little swelling in my little toe but that's about it. Got there around 10, it only lasted 5-10 minutes, I'll probably be doing training for the job before July, and start on July 6th. Got to take a look briefly at the gym I'll be using from July onwards, I assume there was a squat rack or two, saw incline and regular bench press as well as tons of free benches, plenty of dumbbells and barbells, cable machines, etcetera. I didn't think to look for areas for deadlifting, but I assume there's gotta be a patch of floor, plus it's not a very busy gym. The walk back it was raining, but when I'm in a good mood I love walking in the rain so it was great, even with the foot.

I got back at around 11, because of the rain and the cold I put on my gym clothes and hoodie, made a cup of tea to up my core body temperature. Got around to having preworkout around half 11, left for the gym, warmed up, didn't get a rack until 12.20 because it was so busy, but again, good mood so I didn't mind waiting. Surprisingly my converse were dry before I left, so I brought them for lifting even though it was a horizontal pressing day. I feel like my playlist on shuffle was making some great choices, though that may have just been because I was in such a good mood. Anyway, I built up to a 72.5kg bench press for 1 rep, but on the second set I went for 2 with success, my 1RM was 70kg just 3 weeks ago so I'm pretty glad to see my strength going up. Then I built up to 2 sets of 57.5kg on incline, which surprisingly got to 5 reps even though it's for 1+ reps. Then I did 5 BBB sets for bench press at 45kg and incline at 35kg. It was too packed to do pull-ups/chin-ups between sets but I did them yesterday so no big whoop. Decided not to do cardio afterwards given the 5 miles of walking I'd already done, plus it was around half 1 and I wanted to get some food in me. Got back, showered, made bfast for around 2, and now I'm watching a little 24 and letting it digest.

As for the job, it's primarily 4 or 6 hour shifts at £6.50 an hour, so fairly decent. The guy told me typical shifts are for weekdays 10-4 and 4-8, and for weekends 10-2 and 2-8. I'm pretty sure I can work my training around any of those, for 10-4 I can have some porridge before I leave, a snack at around 2, and then train after work. For 4-8 I can just train hours before work. For 10-2 I can probably have just a snack at 12 and train after work, and for 2-8 I can just train hours before work. I know the gym has a staff kitchen, but I doubt it'll be enough for me to make my monstrous breakfast every day, so I'll stick to eating that at home. It'll only be a 10 or so minute walk from my house over summer, so it's no problem. The work itself seems fairly straightforward, behind reception would just be dealing with members and whatnot, behind the bar would be serving teas and coffees and sandwiches. I'm looking forward to it, I'll probably prefer morning shifts but I'll take as many shifts as I can get, save up some money and be able to afford pretty things.

Fairly long post I know. Tomorrow's a rest day where I only have revision planned, so that one should be shorter. Have as good a day as I did

[Cat in the rack]

Got up at around 8 today, thinking about it I should probably start moving that time closer to 7 in case I have early shifts at the new job that I can't wait to start, but I digress. The earliest I have an exam is 9.30 so I don't have to be too concerned there, but I'll still set an alarm of course, wanna get there early in case there was a room mix up or something. Already had a coffee and some water but aside from that I've just been chilling and looking through all my social media stuff. Speaking of which, I've been aiming to add one picture to instagram every day, no more no less, and that's been going well, it's definitely better than snapchat as you can post pictures you took earlier and whatnot.

With all the stuff that's been going on lately I've fallen a little behind study-wise, but not too much so. I've got one module left to make MCQs for from the notes I made, which shouldn't take too long, I'll easily have it done before the weekend's up. Gonna start that in a couple of minutes. Aside from that my day is pretty empty, I'll probably have a snack in a little while, or maybe I'll wait until breakfast in the afternoon. It's strange, whenever I mention that I eat breakfast at around 1 or 2 I get an odd look, especially when I tell them that I got up at 7 or 8. Anyway, there are 5 topics for the cognitive module, if I do two now, then do my TV show binge system, I should have it all done by mid-afternoon ish, so I'm gonna make a start.

EDIT: almost forgot to add, weighed in at 66.2kg this morning, back to normal pretty much. Assuming that I'm not putting on weight I think I'll stick to these calories and see how much strength I can gain, but at the first sign that strength gains have stopped I'll up calories again. There's no need to eat more if I'm hitting all my goals, as strength is a primary focus of mine.

Nothing else to add, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

I typed out the whole thing and then the bitch crashed on me, so here are the bullet points:

-got up at 8, gonna start getting up earlier in preparation for work.

-weigh in at 66kg, pretty sure I'm at maintenance calories as I've been the same weight for a month, gonna increase calories at the start of the next mesocycle.

-started a six week challenge which can be found here http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/66022-catintherack-first-six-week-challenge/

-gonna start gymming later in preparation for work, a post morning shift workout would start at 2 so I'm gonna edge closer to then, today I'm gonna have a snack at 10 and train at 12, at some point I'll shift it an hour.

-gym today is deadlifts, bent over rows and abs, I'll probably post a workout update later.

-I didn't get a chance to look at he unit of measurement used at the gym I'll be switching to, if it's in lbs that'll be a mild inconvenience.

That's about it, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Pretty decent training session today, did 3 reps for deadlifts at 135kg and 3 reps for bent over rows at 70kg for 2 sets and then 5 BBB sets at 45kg. Had to cut the abs work short due to time today but I got in most of it, then did 10-15 minutes of jump rope which went well and some foam rolling. Came home, showered, and just finished eating bfast.

I tried to film a set of deadlifts but the camera fell over, so that's neat. But I wanted to really focus on form, keeping the back straight, and I think I nailed it. The little footage I caught of the deadlift set my head was tilted upright too much, I don't think this is typical, I reckon filming the set made me too worried about form and so I was trying to keep an eye on my reflection.

Tomorrow's OHP plus arm-focussed assistance exercises, looking forward to that. Anyway, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

You know the drill, today's workout had a max set of OHP for 3 reps at 52.5kg, though it wasn't the quickest lift. Then I did 5 BBB sets with 30kg and 5-6 sets of chin-ups varying from 5-9 reps. This was followed by 2 sets of 8 10kg weighted dips, 3 sets of 8 28.25 cable pulldowns, and 4 sets of 8 preacher curls with 14kg dumbbells. No hiccups there, ended with some jump rope and treadmill. Came home, ate a monster breakfast, now I'm chilling for a bit with a green tea before I do some work. Now begins a deload week, gonna do two reduced weight lifting days, one conditioning day, and one punch bag day. I'll also not be taking preworkout, just some BCAAs.

I took a months follow-up photo today, which I'll post at some point soon, not much difference really given I was eating at maintenance calories, but some improvements I think. I've also planned a big myprotein order, 6 flavours of whey, 3 flavours of preworkout, a kilo of creatine and a kilo of BCAAs, which I'll put through once I've nearly run out of one of them, it'll probably be the BCAAs. I'm also gonna order some gym clothes from dommerch, I feel too ordinary in plain gym shirts, which I'll do at some point over the summer,

On June 8th I'll be starting a new mesocycle, a six week challenge, and a caloric increase. I'm also gonna do the BBB sets a little differently, in order to find my heaviest sets of 10 I can manage I'll start at where I'm planning and then up the weight by 2.5kg or 5kg each set, going up to 6 sets max, giving me a possible 15-30kg increase from this week depending on the exercise.

Anyway, that's about it, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

First rest day after the second mesocycle and all I can think is that I'd rather be in the gym, but ya know, central nervous system, fatigue, muscle recovery, yadda yadda yadda. So instead I'm at home, it's around 9 and I got up around 8, gonna eat bfast around 12. I reckon it's gonna be a little difficult moving bfast to as late as 4, even with a snack at 12, I'll probably just increase the size of the snack, probably add another piece of fruit, I do like fruit preworkout. Still, if I'm not eating until 12 on rest days I'm sure I can manage eating just a snack at 12 on training days, besides, once I start working out any hunger tends to dissipate, so it'll make adjusting to it a little easier.

As this week is for deloading I won't be taking preworkout, instead just some BCAAs. I may also try to drink less caffeine thinking about it, give my body a rest for, stimulants, today I've had a coffee so as long as I keep to just that today I should be fine, just drink green tea and water the rest of the day. Screw it, that may as well be a goal this deload, from here on out no high caffeine drinks, that coffee will be my last this week, I guess I can have one cup of regular tea a day. I have decaf and green tea so it shouldn't be too hard.

My grandparents were generous yesterday and decided to transfer me £100, plus my mum still gives me £50 a month for some reason, I'm assuming she'll stop once I start my job, so yesterday I got an extra £150. Those of you who saw my attempt to film a set of deadlifts will recall that the camera (my phone) fell down after rep 1, so I decided in the spirit of being given money to order a tripod for my phone, it was only a fiver, but being given money made me think that maybe I should order it. While I was at it I also decided to order a 'star labs' mug, because the other day I dropped one of my mugs and it broke, and having only 2 mugs left is a hassle washing-up wise. I decided to order a video game too, canis canem edit (or Bully), because I saw some footage from it the other day and it made me remember how much fun I had playing it years ago. Then I thought about gym clothes, and how I'm sick of wearing plain green, white or black running shirts in the gym, especially the green one which looks like a lollypop lady uniform. I mentioned I was thinking of ordering some dommerch tanks for the gym, but given the cost and the international shipping, I figured it wasn't worth it in case they turned out to be poorly fitting, so I decided against that. My initial plan was to order tanks with superhero logos on, but as it turns out they're not very common, almost as if there isn't a massive nerd market in the tank top industry.

So instead I went with plain old t-shirts, which I may or may not convert into tanks depending on how they feel while lifting. Ordered 4, one for each of my lifting days. I wanted an Arrow one, but he doesn't have a logo on his chest like most heroes and there were no cool-looking green arrow shirts, so I scrapped that. But I did order a Flash shirt, which for obvious reasons will be worn on leg day, and maybe cardio-heavy conditioning days. I also ordered a star labs shirt, which doesn't really have an obvious day to focus on, but I'll wear it on shoulder and arm day, and maybe also cardio-heavy conditioning days. Then I went with two that are just sort of obligatory, batman and superman. Batman I'll wear on bench day, because batman is awesome and bench day is my favourite day. Superman I'll wear on back and abs day, because I'm picturing doing deadlifts with the superman logo on my chest and I think it looks pretty cool.

So most of those shirts will arrive tomorrow, I'll probably try them out in the gym during my deload, see if I should convert them to tanks or not. Only came to around £30 for the lot so it's not too much of a risk. But regardless, if I do I'll start with one of the tshirts rather than cutting all four of them up straight away. I'll also wait until after they've been through the wash once, because clothes always tend to feel different after they've been washed. I'm expecting a call about the job I've got planned for summer, I'll mention it in a battle log when I get the call, should be sorting out some training shifts soon hopefully.

As mentioned, I took a photo on May 1st and also on June 1st, the two of which can be found here https://instagram.com/p/3ax6OquUVn/

Eating at maintanence calories so next to zero difference, though I think my "abs" look a little better, maybe a little leaner, not really sure though. I'm gonna make pictures on the 1st of every month a thing if I can, though I'll be moving this month and again next month, so the lighting and whatnot will be different, shouldn't be a problem so long as there's something at the same height I can place the camera on. Hopefully in a months time with the caloric increase I'll look a little different, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Anyway, pretty long post it turns out, I promise tomorrow's will be more brief, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Today I was up before half 7, gonna move back to waking up around half 6 gradually. I'm also making some eating changes, gonna eat porridge in the morning, a preworkout snack around 12 and my final meal postworkout consisting of sweet potato, nut butter, eggs, meat and veg at around 5. I figure having my biggest meal last makes more sense anyway, but this is mostly because of my planned schedule when I start work.

I think I caught something recently, yesterday I had a headache all day, today less so but my nose is a little blocked. I had reduced weight deload squat and bench press with some cardio conditioning planned today, but I'm not feeling particularly strong today, I'll see how I feel later but I might just do some light cardio conditioning. Hey, if i were to get sick at least it's not on a 1+ rep week.

So far today I've had a cup of tea, done a little work, had some porridge, and now I'm just chilling. I got a call and turns out a distant relative I don't know died recently and left me £1,000, so, I mean, not woot, but whatever the correct word is. Today I'm also expecting my new gym shirts to arrive, hopefully they get here long enough before gym time so that I can try one out. I'm also expecting a mug to arrive today, less thrilling but still neat.

I'm gonna make a cup of green tea, do a little more work, chill a bit more, then go to the gym, peace

[Cat in the rack]

To summarise everything between last time I posted and now, I've been too unwell to do literally anything. I've been in and out of sleep constantly, had trouble eating, and pretty much no chance of going to the gym. I don't feel my worst right now and I have to go to tesco, so I'm gonna do that now. I think the worst part is that exams are coming up in less than a week and I've been unable to study today or yesterday, plus I doubt I'll be recording very well during this deload week that so far has had no real deload aside from not going to the gym. Hopefully some fresh air on the walk to the supermarket will help, I might pick something up to make me feel better while I'm there.

Anyway, that's it, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

I feel better today but I'm still not able to eat much unfortunately so I won't be going to the gym. I'm gonna get some revision done seeing as I've pretty much lost the last 2 days. I also need to clean my room seeing as we have room inspections in a few days before we move out and my bathrooms a mess.

That's it, still irritated by being unable to do anything, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Okay I am back. I can eat again, which means I can lift again. This week was supposed to be a deload week, but I guess now it's just been a week off. Still, better than nothing I guess. It's possible I'll go back into the gym tomorrow with poor strength, but hopefully I'll do just fine. Heading into a calorie surplus, with protein porridge for bfast, protein pancakes with nut butter and sweet potato for postworkout, and meat + veg + rice for dinner. Today I don't think I'll go to the gym, if my recovery is hindered I don't want to wind up too fatigued tomorrow to lift, better if I make sure I'm fully rested so I don't make any mistakes. I'll be sure tomorrow to warm up fully, no cutting corners. I'll be hitting squats for 5+ reps at 105kg with BBB sets anywhere from 70-80kg, we'll see how heavy I can push it.

Exams are starting this coming week so expect much briefer posts here, I'll likely stick to important details and leave the rest out. Anyway, that's all, have a good one

[HellBound]

'I can eat again, which means I can lift again.' I'm admiring the dedication!

 

Good luck with recovery, you're making great progress.

[Cat in the rack]

'I can eat again, which means I can lift again.' I'm admiring the dedication!

 

Good luck with recovery, you're making great progress.

Haha thanks man

[Cat in the rack]

I woke up pretty late today, around 10, but I did wake up a couple times last night. Weighed in at 63.7kg, weirdly low, which I'm guessing was a bad sign. Was looking forward to lifting though, had some porridge, and left for the gym around half 12. Warmed up at started lifting after 1. I was really hoping for a good session, but alas I knew it wouldn't be. The warm up sets felt really heavy, I couldn't do more than 2 reps at 95kg, only managed a single at 100kg, so I did a few sets of each. Then I pulled up the safeties and did some sets of 5 partial reps at 100kg, didn't want to lower the weight. I left out the assistance work, pull-ups and chin-ups we're going up too slow, just did some light cardio and came home. I've showered and had a postworkout meal of protein pancakes and sweet potato fries with cashew butter, delicious.

I really hope today was a fluke and I'll be back up to form tomorrow, 5 reps at 67.5kg for bench should go up easy, I reckon on top form I could do 7 maybe even 8. Next squat day I'll go for 5 reps at 105kg followed by 3+ reps at 110kg, if today was just a bad day then it'll be fine. I'm sure this can't continue all week, and given time my strength will return to normal, just hoping it will be tomorrow instead of in a week.

Anyway, gonna be studying hard, first exam on Wednesday, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Body weight is creeping back up, I was 64.something kilos this morning, hopefully this is a good sign, now I'm eating in a consistent calorie surplus things should return to normal. Benching day wasn't great, managed the 67.5kg weight but for only 3 reps, for reference I managed 70kg for 3 reps 2 weeks ago and 67.5kg for 4 reps 5 weeks ago. So far this week my 100kg squats are down to 1 rep from 4 during week 2 and my 67.5kg bench is down from 4 reps to 3. It's not a great boost knowing that I'm currently performing at around the same if not worse level than when I started this program because of one bad week, but fingers crossed this wears off.

Still, there's no use sitting here whining about its life's not fair etcetera, need to have a game plan. I'll continue as normal for the rest of this week, hopefully by the end of the week my strength will be back to normal. If I'm still weaker at the end of the week I'll approach the first squat day of wave 2 with some caution, see how the weight feels, if I feel I can handle the 110kg for 3 reps them great, and I'll assume things are back to normal. If I feel I can't handle the weight for 3 reps I'll cut back the weight to maybe 90kg for 5 reps, and do the same for all exercises for the rest of the wave. Hopefully if it comes to that, my strength should be back to normal the following wave, which I'll make a 5+ rep wave with the same weights as the last cycle, then the wave after that 5+ reps for the weights I aimed for this cycle. So worst comes to worst I should start the next mesocycle where I wanted to start this mesocycle, meaning I'll be three weeks behind, all because of one bad week.

Anyway, that's the plan, I'll keep y'all posted, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

So today is exam day number one and I am as prepared as I will be. It's the only essay-based exam, so it's the only one I've got to worry about, but there's no use in worrying about it, so I won't. Most people do 3 hours straight studying in anticipation, I'm just gonna take a quick review of my summary notes and chill so I'm on my top game when I walk in to that hall. The exam is most of the mark for this module, and one question is half the exam, so that one question will be fun. Given I got 85% on the coursework which is 25% of the mark, and I need 40% overall to pass, that means I need about 25% in this exam. If I can't even blag my way through the exam and get 25% I don't deserve to pass, I could probably get 25% on subjects I don't even do. Some people have life mottos about pushing yourself or whatever, mines probably 'fuck worrying'. Saying that, my other one is 'good enough isn't good enough', however in this case there is only two categories of pass and fail, and any variance within the pass category is irrelevant (its first year so passing is all that really counts), so it would seem good enough actually is good enough.

Anyway, I'm about to have a breakfast and postworkout meal combined, and then the exam is in a few hours. Tomorrow at the gym I'll be doing deadlifts, bent over rows and OHP, this is mostly so I can fit the gym around my exams, but also because I'm not gonna be getting any PRs anyway, so there's not much to lose, I'll probably throw in some arm assistance work at the end. This means I'll be squatting again Saturday, which may be a little sooner, but it's the only way to get the gym to not fall on an exam day. Fingers crossed I'm back to normal strength by then, if tomorrow's workout goes well I'll be much more optimistic about it.

I'll let y'all know how everything goes, peace

[Cat in the rack]

Follow up today:

Exam went okay, I'm sure I did well enough to pass so happy days.

Had a change of mind about the gym, tomorrow will be just the usual back and abs work, then OHP day will be shifted back to Saturday. Given my reduced strength it's probably better I don't push myself too hard and get plenty of recovery. Fingers crossed next week everything's back to normal.

Gonna be studying for the stats exam on Friday, until then no other plans, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Today so far has been pretty good, got up at 8, had some breakfast, did some revision. I think I'm finally getting my strength back, seeing as, even though I really had to push, I nailed all my lifts today. Deadlifts I went up to a set of 5 with 125kg, bent over rows 2 sets of 5 with 67.5kg and 7 sets of 10 with weights from 40-52.5kg, though the 52.5kg sets went a little sloppy so I'll stick with 50kg next time. Then was abs work, 4 sets of 8 hanging leg raises. Only 1 set of 8 cable twists with max weight of 26.25, and 3 sets of 16 reverse crunches. Finished with 15 minutes or so of cardio and then some foam rolling. Overall pretty darn good, I think next week I'll be back to my normal lifting self.

Gotta study for my stats exam tomorrow, stats is fairly straightforward so I'm not worried, it should go well. I also got emailed about the work I'll be doing over summer, he's gonna get back to me with some days to do trial shifts and if I'm not a total fuckup I should get plenty of shifts from July onwards. I'm gonna get back to studying now, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Today is a rest day as I have an exam at half 12, once I'm done here I'm gonna go get a little studying done and then chill. Weigh-ins since being ill have been at around 64.3kg and this morning it was as low as 64kg, meaning I'm more than 4 lbs lighter than just under two weeks ago, which isn't ideal. Hopefully it's just a delayed reaction, and I'll start putting weight back on any day now, though I may have to up the calories yet again. We'll see where I stand on the 21st (the day I move). I won't have access to scales in the morning from the 22nd of June to the 4th of July, so I should make a decision about whether to add calories on the 21st. It'll be weird if 2,400 calories were maintanence and now at 2,650 calories I lose weight, but whatevs, life is weird. If I do have to up the calories I'll probably just double the rice I have with dinner, putting me at around 2,900 calories, but it shouldn't come to that.

Anyway, tomorrow is an OHP and arm assistance work day, only a gain in strength from two weeks ago will allow me to manage the weight, as I only got 3 reps for 50kg last time, and I need 5+ reps this time, then again I also got 3 reps for 52.5kg, so who knows. Either way, fingers crossed it goes well. Also I posted some pretty uninteresting gym footage to Instagram, the angle sucks because I'm still waiting on a tripod.

I'll likely be posting here tomorrow about the exam and gym session, so, stay tuned, I guess, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

So today's workout was okay, not great, but okay. OHP was the last workout I did before getting sick so I'm not surprised to see it suffer a little. Got only 4 reps for OHP with 50kg, which is technically an improvement as I only got 3 reps a few weeks ago, but still not ideal. I did manage 10 reps with 30kg, but only for 3 sets, so again not ideal. Got to 8 reps for chin-ups, so no loss there, forgot my dipping belt so I just did 2 sets of 8 dips at bodyweight. Then I did some preacher curls for sets of 8 with 14kg and some sets of tricep pull-downs. Finished with some jump rope, some sprints, some foam rolling and some handstands. Tomorrows a conditioning day but I don't know what I'll be doing, I may do some deload lifts just to keep me prepared for next week which I imagine will be a grinder. I won't be starting my lifting days until Tuesday, giving me plenty of rest.

Just had some pancakes with peanut butter and sweet potato, now I'm sipping on some tea and chilling. Gonna do some studying shortly, got two exams next week and then I'm done. I'm also gonna look up the reading list for the modules next academic year, give me a head start when the lectures start.

Anyway, aside from studying there's not much on the agenda. I cooked up some rice and pancakes and sweet potato, so I've got enough so I don't have to cook for another two days. Decided to up my calories now rather than later, if I'm not in a surplus it's gonna make recovering after that sick week a bitch, and if it's too much I can always cut back. So now I'm at between 2,900 and 3,000 calories a day, around 160g protein, 360g carbs and 80g fat, here's hoping this time next month I'm a kilo heavier, though given the recent drop in weight I may put that straight back on as well, we'll see.

That's about it, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Okay I woke up today at around 6.30, made some breakfast and some coffee before doing some studying. Went to the gym at around 11.30 and did some deload lifts at 2 sets of 5 each: bench press for 40kg, squat for 60kg, OHP for 30kg, bent over row for 40kg and deadlift for 70kg. I'm thinking I might try a slightly wider grip on bench press, feels a little better. I've also rewritten my lifts chart for pounds instead of kilos, seeing as I think that's the unit of measurement my new gym will use. Tomorrows a rest day and also my next exam,

Next week I'm hoping I'll be back to normal strength again, gonna try for the 3+ rep weights I had planned, if I'm as strong as I was prior to my sick week then I can definitely manage 2+ reps, so any strength gain should get me to 3 reps minimum, fingers crossed I guess. If I can't manage this or next week then I'll repeat the cycle with the 5+ rep weights I had intended this week.

Weighed in at 64.5kg this morning, so a .5kg increase from yesterday, finally putting weight back on. Depending on how quickly it goes up I won't track it week to week until after it hits 65 or 66kg, as clearly whatever I lost during he sick week will be the first to come back, could be water weight or whatnot. Once it's levelled out and started gradually increasing I'll be aiming for a kilo a month, so anything over .6kg every two weeks and I'll think about cutting calories. I'm looking to keep this bulk going for possibly a year, so slow and steady is the key.

Anyway, that's about it, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Today's a damn rest day, who needs rest? Not me, if a week off sick is anything to go by. But in all seriousness, I'm gonna try and make sure I get more regular rest, too much intensity over too long may be partly responsible for my 3 instances of sickness in the last year or so. Stronglifts was great but I never stopped to have a deload week, so really when changing from that to 5/3/1 I probably should have taken a deload week first. Anyway, I'm on a program with deloads every six weeks now, so I should be okay from now on on that front. I've converted all my lifts to pounds, seeing as after one more week that's what I'll have to use. It's a shame that I switch gyms on a 1+ rep week, there's bound to be slight deviations in weights used, but I've decided to be conservative about it, go under instead of over, so really it's something of a benefit given the sick week. For example I would be going for 115kg for 1+ rep on squat, which is just over 253 lbs, so by going for 250 lbs i should be able to manage it even if the plates are slightly heavier. It sounds almost paranoid but it's true that gym plates can vary by as much as a pound or even two depending on where you go (ie a 45 lb plate might be 45.7 lbs or something).

Anyway, exam today so I'll be studying a little this morning for it, it doesn't start til half 3 so I got plenty of time. I found out next year's exams are all essay based, so I'm gonna have to work on my essay skills a little. I've also looked at the reading list for next year, and unless I have two modules in semester 1 and six in semester 2 there's a slight error in that information, so I'm gonna just take out books for all of the modules. Call me crazy but I like to study just a little bit during breaks, be prepared and whatnot. Not that I can really do much to prepare seeing as I have the reading list and nothing else. Still, better than nothing.

Weighed in at 64.3kg today, so more than a week ago but less than yesterday, I was kind of expecting the weight I lost during sick week to shoot back on but it's surprisingly absent still despite eating a bucket of rice with dinner (not literally of course, but 450 calories is a lot of rice). My metabolism has always been annoyingly adaptive to my calorie level but I'm sure at 2900-3000 calories I gotta start putting on weight, or at the very least I'll have a lot more energy. I got a week before I move and have no access to a set of scales in the morning, so I'll be taking a weigh in on Sunday and we'll see where I'm at, hopefully the trend is weight gain, then if after I move two weeks later I've gained too much or too little I'll think about making changes, though I think a full month is needed for that.

Not much else, I'm probably gonna get a rice cooker so I don't have to cook batches of rice every couple of days and reheat it, it's only a slight hassle but it's one I can do without. One good thing about rest days is no pre/post workout meals, I can just combine them into one mega meal, so today for breakfast, whenever that is, I'll be having protein pancakes with peanut butter, some sweet potato fries, some protein porridge, a nakd bar and an apple. A good 2000 or so calories, I'll probably have it sooner rather than later, don't want to feel stuffed during my exam, plus when I get back after the exam I'll pretty much have to start cooking straight away, today's a "meal prep" day so I'll be cooking 3 days worth of rice, sweet potato and pancakes.

That's about it, surprisingly long post, tomorrow's back in the gym for 3+ rep week and it's probably gonna be a grinder so expect updates about that, then the day after that bench day plus my final exam. Hopefully it's gonna be a good week, have a good one