Learning and Lifting - A student's tale

[Cat in the rack]

Thanks man, glad to know somebody's keeping an eye on me. To be honest I just really enjoy going to the gym (I'd do it every day if I could) and when it comes to food I'm not really bothered, so the whole thing comes fairly easy to me. Plus I want to know that if push comes to shove I could be batman, not that I intend to dress up and go fight crime at night, as awesome a job as that would be. Have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Today's workout could have gone better and could have gone worse. I didn't manage the 100kg squats, after 2 sets I had to cut back 10% and settle for 90kg, so I've got another 8 days before I attempt a 100kg squat again. I managed the bench press and bent over rows for 65kg, so I'm back to the weight of my prior PBs for those, it was a little difficult but I don't think form faltered so I'm looking forward to trying for 67.5kg in 4 days. Managed 3 sets of 25 push-ups, so that's a plus, though I still have yet to outdo 5 pull-ups, and was thinking of trying OHEH for a set of 2 as apparently that's a great way to up total reps.

 

Aside from that not a whole lot going on, going out later to dinner for mother's day, only have a little work to do. I've done most of what I had scheduled today and it's not even noon, so I guess it's gonna be another lazy Saturday.

 

I decided on 3,300 calories for my bulk, which may or may not change depending on how much weight I put on. Though that does mean I'm currently drinking 2 pints of milk a day. Hopefully by the end of Easter I'll have put on enough weight and increased the strength on my major lifts enough to start a cut, which is looking to be around 2,400 calories, again which may or may not change depending on how much weight I lose.

 

I was also thinking of converting to a muscle group split when I come back after half term, perhaps push:pull:legs or upper:lower, I'm undecided at the moment.

 

Anyhoo, have a great day everyone, I have laundry to get from the laundrette

[Rookiebeotch]

Here's an option that I used for increasing pullups.

 

I did something similar to the PLP program for pullups about a year ago. I was doing my normal heavy workouts in the evening (including weighted pull ups) and the PLP type pullups in the morning. I started at 10 reps total, completing them in as few sets as possible. I added one rep every morning. Eventually, I figured to warm up to big sets by doing 1 rep, 1 breath, 2 reps, 2 breaths, 3 reps, 3 breaths, and so on until I reached failure. I stopped added reps once I hit 75, and at that time my largest sets would be 15 reps. My lats were always sore, but it allowed me to easier isolate the contraction for other lifts. My lats also got way bigger in two months. My weighted pullups moved up to a max of 5x5x+50lbs.

 

Eventually I moved and didn't have a pull up bar for half a year. Ive been thinking of trying this again. I currently do only 64-96 bodyweight reps a week, and in my hiatus from pullups I've lost some ability to isolate lat contraction.

[Cat in the rack]

Interesting idea, I might give the 1 breath 1 rep 2 breaths 2 reps thing a go, though I'm gonna wait until some time in April as I'm planning on taking a week break from training to recover, depending on how far I can advance my current lifts

[Cat in the rack]

Today's a fairly relaxed Sunday, I've got a little reading and a little cooking to do later, but for now I'm just kicking back and taking it easy. I have no gym or lectures to do so I decided to switch off the alarm and have a lie-in, turns out my lie-ins last until 8am now, not the typical wild student lifeste I know. Still, I have my weeks shopping done; I have all my work planned for the week, and life is swell, have a good one everybody

[Cat in the rack]

Made some changes to my routine starting today. Instead of training pre-breakfast I'm gonna train pre-dinner, seeing as IF is more of a cutting technique. I didn't have much work to do this morning so I've not had to do much. Looking forward to the gym later, trying for a new deadlift PB, plus it'll be the first time doing chin-ups in a while, oh how I've missed them.

Anyway, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

So I reached one of my goals this month, a nice 120kg deadlift for 5 reps. I did cut my finger open on one of the ramping sets when I was sliding a plate off, but I got through that workout just fine, it only took about 20 minutes for it to stop bleeding.

 

Still, one goal down, nine goals to go. I added a bodyweight goal also, I want to weigh in at around 75kg by July, that way I'll have the whole summer to cut. I know it's strange to cut during summer, most people finish their bulk in time to cut before "beach season". However I hate the beach, so that pressure isn't really there, I'd rather finish my cut in time for the start of the second academic year. Plus by starting my cut at the start of summer, I can return to uni looking at my best, and it adds a nice deadline, I have about 3 months to bulk up and 3 months to cut. I don't know if the cut will take 3 months or less or more, but 3 months is the time I'm giving myself.

 

Anyway, next workout I'm going for a new bench and row PB, might give 3 sets of 28 push-ups a go, plus it gives me another chance to fail to make 6 pull-ups. Still, I'm hopeful, besides, when I get around to my cut and start to lose weight that should give my pull-ups a little boost if I can cling on to my muscle mass for dear life and shed some fat. Have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Okay, so today I'll be going for a new PB on both bench press and bent over row, it'll be the first time I've tried for it in some time so I hope I manage it, and heck, I hope I manage with 70kg the workout after that; also going for a squat at 95kg which is nothing new, my best for all 5 sets of 5 is 97.5, but I couldn't make it through for 100kg so I pulled it back a little to 90; and then there's the pull-ups and push-ups, I'm not anticipating getting to 6 for pull-ups but I'll give it a go, and I'm gonna give 3 sets of 28 push-ups a try, see if I can't reach my month's goal.

 

Stepped on the scales this morning to find I weighed 69.7kg, any change more than 0.3kg and I wait until the next day to see if it's consistent before adding it to my signature, though I know that day-to-day changes are unimportant which is why I only have weights at the start of each month recorded. January I was 67.4kg, February 68.0kg, and March 68.8kg, as I started bulking properly only this month it's a good thing that I seem to be gaining weight faster. My aim is to get to 75kg by July, which will give me the whole summer to cut, and the more time I have to cut the more careful I can be to hang on to muscle.

 

Got in some meditation yesterday to about 125 breaths lasting 12 minutes, later in the week I reckon I'll go to 150. I prefer to keep track of it in terms of breaths rather than time, that way I don't need to time it or set an alarm or whatnot.

 

In other news I had a big ol punch bag arrive today, took me about half an hour to fill the base as I had to do it 1 pint at a time, that was fun. Only problem is I don't have any gloves, so I can't really use it yet. I figure I need to get some conditioning in for MMA so that I can hit things really hard without hurting myself, plus it'll be good to practice techniques.

 

Anyway, I have an assignment to work on and note summaries to write and books to read, toodles

[Cat in the rack]

I've revised my bulking/cutting schedule to be a little shorter, but the principle's still the same. I'm going to aim to reach 72kg, just under 160lbs, by the end of April, and get my lifts up. If, by the end of April my bench and row is above bodyweight (so 72.5kg+), my squat is at least 1.5 times bodyweight (around 107.5kg), my deadlift is near but not necessarily at 2 times bodyweight (145kg) and my overhead press is above .75 times bodyweight (55kg+) then I will proceed to cut. I have a 5+ week plan, starting with a deload week, then cutting calories and increasing cardio gradually over the four following weeks and adding some abs work in the fifth week. It's more of a rough outline, but assuming it works I'll keep it up until I reach a low enough bodyfat that I think 'dayum' when I look in the mirror, then up calories and reduce cardio slightly. I know that 6 weeks isn't necessarily long enough to reach the outcome I'm looking for, despite what I'm sure many an article titled 'shredded in 6 weeks' or something similar will tell you, so if after 6 weeks on the cutting plan I'm not where I'm aiming to get I'll continue until I am, and if I stop dropping weight then I'll know I need to make some changes. Also, if I drop too much weight I'll know to take it a little slower, so the plan would stay the same, I'd just spread it out over longer than 6 weeks before reaching the lowest amount of calories, which is around 2,000. I know 2,000 doesn't sound very low, but that's before subtracting calories for 3-4 weight training sessions ending in 20 minutes of HIIT a week, 3+ miles of walking a day, 2 2-hour sessions of MMA a week, plus my pre-gym warm-up which is now 15-20 minutes of beating the shit out of a punching bag.

 

Anyway, I'm hoping this works out well. The last time I started a cut I caught food poisoning about 2 weeks in, threw me off completely and I ended up ditching it. Still, this time I'm gonna be extra careful not to eat anything food poisoning-y. I'm gonna be pretty happy to chuck rice out of my diet, I'm not a big rice fan.

 

In other news, I've nearly finished my statistics assignment due in Monday, woot. Plus I'm about half way through the book I need to read for my conceptual and historical issues assignment, double woot. Plus plus I've got just over a week left of lectures, triple woot. Plus plus plus, tomorrow I get to try for a new PB of 125kg on deadlifts, 50kg on overhead press (my month's goal), and new rep MAX's for chin-ups and dips, quadruple woot. Plus plus plus plus, this weekend I'm gonna go out and get an iPad, my phone's been broken-ish for some time now, so it'll be good to have something else to do all the shit I use my phone for with difficulty, pentuple (?) woot.

 

Anyhoo, it's 10.45 now and that's the time I make brunch and get back to work, so I'm gonna go do that, toodles

[Cat in the rack]

Posting my DBL a little later than usual, had too much work this morning so I didn't get a chance. Still, just sent in my statistics assignment, so that's finally over. I have a small amount of work to do now so I'll hit the gym in about an hour so it's just before lunch, looking forward to going for a deadlift and OHP new max weight, last time I tried a 50kg OHP I couldn't manage it so I cut it back to 45kg. Also going for a max set of 12 dips, might even do more than that. Decided to opt for the whole lea ping thing with all bodyweight exercises, plus I swirched push-ups to decline push ups (feet raised up), I do want to do a set of 40 push ups at some point, but beyond 30 push ups is just endurance, so I made it more challenging. Once I can hold a handstand away from the wall I'll give handstand push ups a go.

The punching bag makes for a great warm up, even without gloves as they haven't arrived yet, I just have to keep my punches somewhat light and focus on elbows and legs more. I also ordered a jump rope, just so I can hit all the training montage cliches.

Good day to all, and to all a good night

[Cat in the rack]

After finding my recent 97.5kg squats and 50kg overhead presses just manageable I've decided my next 2 gym sessions will be deloads with 50% weight, plus I struggled on the chin ups and dips. My deadlift wouldn't shift with 125kg so it's been cut back 10%, sad times, still, progress is never immediate and I've got plenty of time before my cut starts to get it up higher.

Other than that not much go on, still waiting on those gloves to arrive so I can beat the life out of my punching bag, aside from that all is well. Have a good day

[Cat in the rack]

Alright, so my deload starts today, makes workouts feel useless but I know that they're not, plus I'm sure I'll nail 70kg bench and row after the deload. Gloves arrived today so now I can properly beat the punching bag, plus I got a jump rope which should be good for a warm up once I get the hang of it.

Not much else going on so I'll leave this post at good day, good day

Oh, and the scale read 70.1kg this morning, so hopefully it stays high tomorrow morning.

[Cat in the rack]

First battle log off my new iPad, happy birthday to me. This is so much easier than using my broken phone or slow as balls laptop for all my usual stuff. Plus streaming is so much better, caught up with Arrow and watched the latest episode of impractical jokers, life is good.

Last week of lectures starts today, then I got a four week break and four more weeks of lectures before exams, good luck to me. I'm about two thirds way through the book I need to review, I've noticed a lot of male specific language in it, and as my lecturer for that course is a massive feminist (he's written like four or five books about it) I'm pretty sure it can't hurt to make a mention of it.

Anyway, got a reload session in the gym later, then another one tomorrow, then two days after that it's PR attempts on squats, bench press, rows and pull-ups. Looking forward to that intense day.

I'm gonna go cook a chicken casserole. And continue setting up my iPad, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Oh, and cherry on top of the cake that is my life in general (that reminds me, it's been a while since I've eaten any cherries, I should buy some), the scale read 70.1kg this morning, I've reached my weight goal for the month with a week to spare and at a reasonable rate so as to not be too predominantly fat, I'll update my signature next time I'm on a computer (can't do it on tablet for whatever reason).

[Cat in the rack]

Today is the last day of my deload, woohoo, no more baby weight for me. I'm gonna start pushing myself a little harder on pull-ups if I don't manage six on Thursday, because what I'm doing clearly ain't working. I figure I'm gonna give more sets but with fewer reps a go, really focus on form. Scale read 70.4kg this morning which was a surprise as it only started reading 70.1kg about 3 or 4 days ago, though with the deload I imagine the lower intensity might leave me with more leftover calories than typically.

I re-rewrote my morning schedule last night, as I had kickboxing practice planned for 7am with the punching bag, but realised that my flat mates would he unappreciative of the noise, some of them don't rise up til gone noon, and regardless of what I think of people getting up that late, I'm not gonna be the dick that wakes people up before they want to. Anyway, I followed my new schedule fairly well this morning, so well in fact that I've done all scheduled work that I could've done between now and Thursday.

Reckon I'll hit the gym around noon, the rugby team have the weights section reserved til 11.30 and then again from 2 til 4. I wouldn't mind them so much if they used most of the equipment, but at any given time 3 of the 6 racks/platforms are free, and they seldom touch any dumbbells below 30kg. Still, such is life, I just wish they'd reserve the free weights any time other than late morning, plenty of people, myself included, like to get up, have breakfast, get a couple hours work done and then hit the gym before lunch. Seeing as it's best to let food digest before major exercise (*salute*) the only options for hitting the gym in the morning are to go before breakfast or get up super early. Still, during my cut I'll be having a smoothie for breakfast, so it may be easier to go in the morning then.

I'm looking forward to my first workout after my deload on Thursday, not only am I trying for (a second time) a 100kg squat PR, but I'm also for the first time attempting 70kg bench and row PRs, plus it's pull-up time again, and I'm reintroducing post-workout abs work to my routine, possibly a superset of 2 exercises each time, one weighted and one body weight (ie, oblique twists and leg raises, or reach through planks and reverse crunches). I've missed abs work since I got rid of it, I liked the feeling it gave me.

Anyway, that's all I gots today, have a dee-dum-diddly-lightful day

[Cat in the rack]

Another day, another step on the scale. Weighed in at 70.1kg, meaning I've levelled out at just above my target weight with a week to spare, I'm sure I'll reach my target of 72kg by the end of April. Assuming I don't stall tomorrow I'll also reach my goal for squats bench press and bent over rows, meaning all non-bodyweight lifts will be reached for the month.

Anyway, lectures to attend, notes to write, books to read, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

I'm making slight changes to my program starting next week so that I can get more of a martial arts focus in my training, simply, it looks like this:

Monday: 45 mins-1 hour punch bag practice

Tuesday: Squats, bench press, bent over row, pull-ups/chin-ups

Wednesday: Punch bag practice

Thursday: Squats, OHP, deadlift, dips/push-ups

Friday: Punch bag practice

Saturday: Squats, bench press, bent over row, pull-ups/chin-ups

Sunday: Rest

I decided to put gym sessions on tues/thurs/sat because I know most of the world follows a mon/wed/fri split, and I've seen the impossibility that is getting a bench on a Monday, also I have MMA striking sessions on Thursdays, so I figure gym beforehand is perfect. Sunday is a rest day though I do have MMA grappling sessions, though this mostly feels like cardio, what with the half hour warm up from hell and no actual matches til the last half an hour.

The bench/row workout occurring twice and deadlift once a week is more like the original stronglifts 5x5 routine so I figure this chance can't hurt, but the reason for it is more so I can focus on getting punch bag training in on non-gym days.

Aside from that, I celebrated my birthday yesterday with a flat party, since I got serious about my diet I've limited myself to one alcoholic drink a night tops, so I had one jonnie walker black label. Plus on Friday I'm going out to dinner with family, so that should be fun.

Tomorrow I hope I'll be talking about: how great MMA was, how awesome I wrecked my squats, bench press and rows with new PRs reaching my monthly goal, and perhaps a new max on my pull-ups, though I have low expectations unfortunately in the short term. Anyway, work to do, notes to write, toodles

[Cat in the rack]

Man, gym followed by MMA, I am so sore today, feels like I got hit by a bus. Still, new squat PR of 100kg for 5x5, and bench press PR of 70kg for 5x5, two of my months goals ticked off. Bent over row I couldn't manage for 70kg with proper form sadly, so I lowered it to 60kg and I'll probably go for 65kg on Tuesday. If my legs feel as they do now regularly then I'll probably change Thursdays squat intensity, maybe do a deloaded weight or maybe a higher rep range for lower weight, I'll see how I progress and if I hit any stalls. I'm also definitely changing my rest day from Sunday to Friday, I should have figured that when I was planning my week, seeing as with Wednesday and Friday boxing that'd be 3 days straight with it plus a gym session right in the middle.

So, Monday Wednesday and Sunday I'll practice boxing, Tuesday Thursday and Saturday will be gym sessions, with MMA boxing on Thursday after the gym and MMA grappling on Sunday. This should give me plenty of time to recover from everything, if not I'll adjust.

Good news is I've reached half of my months goals with 2 workouts to go. Tomorrow I'll be doing OHP (goal already reached), deadlifts (goal reached, but I stalled so my working weight is currently under the goal amount), good ol squats (goal reached yesterday, hell yeah), decline push-ups (gonna go for the goal as I haven't gone for maximum reps with it yet, feeling optimistic) plus some abs work. Then on Tuesday I'll be doing squats (again), bench press (goal reached yesterday, hell yeah), bent over rows (sadly stalled just prior to goal weight), pull ups (I may make it to 6, but anything higher is doubtful) plus some abs work.

Been giving a new pull-up system a go, do one low rep set (2 or 3), then one max rep set whilst keeping form, then five more low rep sets. Gonna try this out and see if it pans out, fingers crossed.

Lectures are over for Easter, so I've got 4 weeks free now, with 2 assignments due and a heck of a lot of studying to do. Good day everybody

[Cat in the rack]

Okay, so now that I'm squatting at the 100kg point I'm thinking it's about time to lower the intensity a little, as I doubt I'll be able to squat that heavy 3 times a week for 5 sets of 5 without issue. I'm gonna take it light on the squats today and maybe do higher rep sets, and starting next week I'm gonna change it up. I'm thinking of either making Wednesday a lighter squat day or making it 3 sets of 5 squats every workout instead, I'll see what I decide on soon enough. Gonna be doing deadlifts and OHP also today; so I'm looking forward to that.

Last night I went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday, ordered the meatiest thing on the menu, half a chicken, a rump steak, a bacon steak, and sausages, with a side of salad. Yum, and filling, and probably putting me just a few hundred calories over my typical amount, but ya know, bulking, cheat meal, whatever you wanna call it, ain't gonna hurt to have a little extra meat one day.

Aside from that, it's been a good day so far, gonna start taking the abs stuff a little harder now, gotta get a strong set of em before I start my cut, after all, if I don't end up with at least reasonable looking abs then it won't give me as strong a sense of accomplishment.

Have a good one

[Rookiebeotch]

Happy Birthday!

[Cat in the rack]

Thanks man

[Cat in the rack]

So to cover yesterday's workout, I got out 3 sets of 5 squats at 102.5kg, I figure next week I'll try for 5x5 every workout starting with 102.5 Monday and see how it goes, though I didn't struggle as much as I thought I would with the weight. Overhead press was a bitch, I got the first two sets for 52.5kg then did 10% reduced weight to 47.5 for the last 3, I'll either go for 47.5 or 50 next time. And deadlifts were no problem at 115kg, next time will be 120kg, my prior PB before the recent deload, then the week after I'll try for 125 which I couldn't manage last time. Then I nailed decline push-ups, ramped up by 2 each set, so a set of 2, 4, 6, etc, all the way to 16, for a total of 8 sets, next time I might ramp up in 3s, see if I can make 18 or even 21. Plus the abs work went off well, hanging leg raises followed by oblique twists, 3 sets of each.

Today I'm gonna practice my kickboxing stuff on the punching bag at home, try and get the technique for hooks down with the footwork. Aside from that I got the book I need to review that I'm gonna try to finish today, and then I'm gonna take the rest of the day easy so that I can start the first week of half term working hard.

So that's my day, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Okay, post coming a little later today, had a lot to do, planning my revision for the week and cooking a ton of chicken and butternut squash. Typically I've been cooking stews in batches for lunch/dinner, but I'm a little sick of the same frozen veg at every meal. So I'm gonna try something different, batch cooking meat and rice to be portioned and stored together in the freezer, and then cooking a ton of different veg to be frozen, so that at each meal I can pick out a box of meat/rice, defrost it, then put it on a plate, add a selection of veg, and reheat.

Currently I'm defrosting lunch, a pork stew I cooked a couple days ago, and later I'm gonna smack around the punching bag for an hour. Sadly MMA won't be meeting over Easter, so I've got a month off from it. Still, I've got gym 3 days a week, first of the week being tomorrow, looking forward to the 102.5kg squat and 72.5kg bench press attempts, plus pull-ups, which I really want to get to 6 reps on by months end.

Other than that, no new news, have a nice day

[Cat in the rack]

Last workout of the month coming up today, unfortunately due to stalling I'm only gonna be doing 65 for bent over rows so I can't meet it's months goal, but I'm gonna be hitting bench at 72.5 if I can handle it and squats at 102.5. Pull-ups I'm gonna test my max but I doubt it's gonna be more than 6, I question whether I'll even make 6, but it's worth a shot. If I do 14 dips on Thursday I'll count it as having achieved it this month, same goes for chin-ups though I find anything double digits unlikely. Weighed in at 70.4 this morning, if it reads anything similar tomorrow morning I'll go ahead and put that down as my weight at the start of April. This puts me about half a kilo above target, though still a reasonable weight, meaning I've gained 1.6kg this month.

On Thursday I'm gonna go shopping, and for the first time in a long time I'm not gonna buy bags of frozen veg. I'm going fresh, was thinking asparagus, carrots, broccoli, maybe some avocado, I'll see what's on offer.

Gave the punching bag about 50 minutes of pounding, I've noticed it moves a lot more when I hit it with my left hand, which is strange as I'm right handed, might just be an angle thing. Still, the focus was more on footwork, still struggling to get it right with a right hook, but I'm fine with cross, jab and left hook. It's a shame I can't really practice knees or uppercuts, as the punch bag is upright with nothing to hit from that angle. Perhaps I'll invest in a smaller hanging bag like a speed bag in the future.

Aside from that not a whole lot going on, toodeloo

[Cat in the rack]

As may be apparent from my signature, I'm starting my cut now, about three weeks early. Ideally I would continue bulking for a little longer, however, I have next to no money for this month due to it being half term, my activity level outside of the gym has plummeted to zero, and with my previous plan my cut would've ended dangerously close to exam time, and I don't want to be in a calorie deficit at exam time. Still, during the bulk I busted through some plateaus, with squat up by 12.5kg and still going, bench by 5kg, row by 2.5kg, OHP by 5kg and deadlift by 20kg.

I have also lowered the intensity to 3x5 instead of 5x5 as recommended, this isn't a part of the cut, just coincidentally around the same time. I've probably stuck with 5x5 longer than I should have, with the three compound moves at the start of my workouts going past an hour, so I decided it was time. During my cut I have low weight goals for my lifts, assuming I manage to maintain strength during the cut I doubt it's possible to up my lifts by very much. I wanna focus on the bodyweight exercises a little, get my pull-ups up especially, I figure when losing weight that's the best time to increase bodyweight exercises.

The plan is now to cut in preparation for a more proper bulk which will start before exams, this way I'll be in a calorie surplus at exam time and I'll have all of summer to improve. It's a shame this first bulk didn't go so well, but I figure it's not worth risking a calorie deficit at exam time, and with my zero outside-gym activity level I feel kind of sluggish in a surplus all the time. I might do some before and after pictures, just to see how it goes. I figure the 1st of April is a good time for that, that way I can keep track of monthly progress exactly.

Anyway, today is gonna be practicing my taking rest. Yesterday's workout didn't go so well, I burnt out a little trying 72.5kg bench press but hitting my limit at 3 reps, it really hindered my performance for the rest of the workout. Though this does man both bench and row will be at the same weight again (67.5kg) for Saturday. Looking forward to deadlifts tomorrow, working at my PB from a few weeks ago at 120kg. OHP at 50kg should be interesting, given I failed to manage 52.5kg before.

Have a good one