Learning and Lifting - A student's tale

[Cat in the rack]

As suspected I'm going to need to repeat a cycle for squats, today in the gym I felt stronger than last week, but alas couldn't make a second rep for 240 lbs. I did manage lunges for 3 reps at 165 lbs, and I also managed sets of 10 at 155 lbs for squats, so at least there's a plus side. Next week is 1+ rep week and I planned to repeat the same weight again seeing as I managed it for 1 rep, but now I'm thinking I might do 5+ reps for 220 lbs. Either way I'll be repeating the cycle by starting the next cycle with 230 lbs for 5+ reps, but this way might be better in terms of strength gains.

It's a shame that a week sick has derailed a whole cycle for squats, but such is life, I'll be focussed on proper rest from now on so as to avoid this happening again. Tomorrow is bench day, fingers crossed the sick week hasn't derailed all my lifts completely, though I did anticipate that squats would suffer most due to having been the lift longest before the start of the sick week, as well as OHP due to being the last lift before the sick week. If that is the case then I may be able to manage 160 lbs for 3+ reps, fingers crossed.

Last exam tomorrow, so there'll be a little revision today. I never understood panicked revision the day before an exam, if the difference between a pass and a fail is dependent on what you do on just the one day before then you obviously didn't work hard enough. I got an email about the job I'll be doing over summer and I have trial shifts now scheduled on Thursday and Friday, no rest for the wicked I guess. I may be able to do a few shifts after I move home for 12 days, though travel will be difficult, and then after July 3rd when I move back I should have plenty of shifts available to me assuming I don't completely suck during the trial shifts. I think I've said before that two people are quitting in July so they're short staffed.

That's about it for now, I'm gonna go make myself a cup of tea. You may have noticed the description of the lifts in pounds rather than kilos, gonna probably have to get used to it, I'm fairly certain the gym I'll be working at only has lb plates. Have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Exams are now over and summer is officially here, though I start work tomorrow so it's not much of a break, but still.

This morning I weighed in at 64.9kg, so it's increasing pretty fast. If I'm concerned it's gonna be consistent then I'll consider lowering calories, but I've figured a way to continue weighing in on the same scales during the 12 days I'm away so there's no need to rush to a decision.

Today's bench day was good but not ideal. I hit the weight for a mere 1 rep instead of 3 or more, darn sick week. Next week I'm going to retest my strength by going for a maximum weight for six reps, whatever the highest weight is that I can hit six reps is the weight I'll start the next mesocycle at. So say I hit a max of 225 lbs for 6 reps on squat, the next week I'll squat 225 lbs for 5+ reps. This should keep me at a weight that is both challenging and doable for the rest of the mesocycle. I did do fine on incline bench, and I did BBB sets of bench for 105 lbs, so that's good. Ended the workout with some jump rope, a mile of HIIT on the treadmill, some foam rolling, and some handstands. I feel so close to being able to hold a handstand away from the wall, and yet so far.

It's been 9 weeks of this 5/3/1 program, and I definitely like the progression system and focus on the 4 compound lifts, however, I've decided to make some changes, mostly to the assistance work that I chose. Here are the changes that I'll be making:

-The order of days, instead of the current order of squat, bench, deadlift then OHP; I'm gonna go deadlift, bench, squat then OHP.

-Two assistance exercises are going to be removed completely, lunges and incline bench. Lunges because I haven't felt much benefit or mind-muscle connection, and incline bench because with regular bench and OHP it feels largely superfluous.

-Currently there seems to be an almost once a week feel to each muscle group, day 1 I hit legs, day 2 I hit chest, etcetera. I'm going to rearrange the assistance work so I hit each group twice a week, with less intensity each time, but mostly more intensity overall.

-No more day in which I focus most of my abs work or arm work. Abs work will be done at lower intensity at the end of each workout, and arm work will take place in a more back/biceps and chest/triceps manner.

So to sum up, currently my system is: day 1, heavy squats, heavy lunges, high rep squats, with pull/chin-ups between sets; day 2, heavy bench, heavy incline, high rep bench, high rep incline; day 3, heavy deadlift, heavy bent over row, high rep bent over row, abs-focussed work; day 4, heavy OHP, high rep OHP, biceps/triceps-focussed work. This will change to: day 1, heavy deadlift, heavy bent over row, high rep squats, with pull/chin-ups between sets; day 2, heavy bench press, high rep OHP, heavy close-grip bench press; day 3, heavy squat, high rep bent over row, preacher curls, with pull/chin-ups between sets; day 4, heavy OHP, high rep bench press, weighted dips.

Rather than hitting each muscle group super hard once a week, I'll be hitting them twice a week. Instead of doing one exercise such as squats both heavy and high rep on one day, I'll hit it heavy on one day and high rep on another, likely improving performance in the latter. The only new exercise is close grip bench press, which takes the place of incline. Next week will serve both the purpose of retesting my strength and putting this planned new assistance work system to the test, this way I'll be able to make sure I haven't underestimated how long each day will take or how fatigued I'll be by the end of the workout.

Anyway, long post I know, but one last thing. On Friday I'll have a shift at the gym I'll be working at this summer, and it also gives me a chance to test it out. I can double check whether the plates are indeed in lbs as I suspect, and make sure they have all the equipment I need for my program. Though given all I need is somewhere to squat, bench, deadlift and OHP, as well as a place for pull-ups and dips, I imagine there shouldn't be a problem. Any gym that lacks a squat rack doesn't deserve to call itself a gym.

The rest of this week will be business as usual, tomorrow's my first day of work so expect an update on that, but other than that the only plan I have is to do a little cooking and start packing as I'll finally have some boxes. That's all for today, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Oh, and as it today's post wasn't long enough, I also posted a video of one of my handstand attempts which is here https://instagram.com/p/4CJb20OURj/

That's all, toodeloo

[Cat in the rack]

Woke up at 6 today, didn't sleep too well for some reason. Weighed in at 64.9kg again, had some bfast and left for my first shift which started at 9. It went great, had no trouble and the people there like me. There's not exactly much to complicate working behind a cafe, just had to make coffees and teas and etcetera. Plus I get free tea and coffee all I want, and can drink a flip-ton of water.

Not much else to say about today really. I'm gonna start packing today, now I've finally got some boxes, and I have some cooking to do later, easy day from here on out. Tomorrow I have a 10-2 shift and I'm gonna hit the gym straight after for a deadlift and bent over row day with some abs work, so that should be fun.

Anyway, nowhere near as long a post today, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Didn't sleep too brilliantly last night either, woke up at half 5 needing to pee but then got back to sleep til 7 fairly quickly.

First day trying out the new gym and it was just awesome. Only two concerns are that I may have weights-noise issues, though I didn't today, and that there are no cardio rowing machines, which I can live with. The weights are all kg, there are better bench press and cable equipment, the place is way better organised, there's less machine emphasis, if today is anything to go by it's not too crowded, I might be able to make a work-colleague gym-buddy, there's boxing equipment and area for jump rope, plus better foam rollers, and it's much easier to film sets. Just perfect for me.

The workout did not go perfectly however, I was unable to get even one rep for the 3+ rep weight on deadlifts, though thankfully next week is strength retesting so I don't need to work out a weight to go for next time. Bent over rows went fairly well, though a little too much momentum at the 70kg lift maybe, I may in fact consider doing those bench row things to counter-act this, though we'all see. Abs work went well, I'm getting better with keeping my legs straight in hanging leg raises. Finished off with a little jogging and jump rope and some foam rolling, after deadlifts and the 3-mile walk my calves are not happy.

Finished my postworkout meal though it won't be long before I start cooking dinner ("reheating dinner"). I'm hoping I'll be able to get to my work gym for shifts and workouts during next week when I'm living further away, as the alternative uses lbs, and I want to have an accurate strength retest in kg ideally. But if I'm unable to its not the end of the world.

Oh, almost forgot, I also weighed in at 64.9kg again this morning, which is a good sign that the recovery from illness weight gain is over and I should start to gradually gain weight now. We'll see how the scale changes between now and a weeks time. Tomorrow is an OHP and arms day, the last time I'll be doing one due to the assistance work changes I'm making next week.

That's all I can think to say for now, aside from the an attractive young lady checking me out not even subtly on the walk home, and an attractive young man asking me if I was a tennis player because of my large calves in the gym, meaning my ego is through the roof right now. Have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Yous is gonna get two posts today, lucky yous. I have a lot to do today and I may not have time to chill later and post everything that happened today, but I have 5 minutes now and I'm sure I'll get 5 minutes later.

I was disturbed around midnight last night by loud neighbours, but aside from that there was nothing off about my sleep last night. Weighed in at 64.5kg, so it's gone down yet again, which is just odd. Still, long term progress not short term fluctuations, I'm sure the overall trend will be an increase seeing as I'm eating 3,000ish calories a day. Looking forward to retesting my strength next week in preparation for the changes I've made to the routines assistance work, and I'm looking forward even more to summer bulk 2015.

Tomorrow is moving day, so today is gonna be largely packing. There's a bunch of stuff I still have to use before moving so I can't pack everything yet, but mostly it's cooking stuff, which I'll pack once I've finished cooking and washing up, which will be this evening. I'm quite used to moving house, I've done it over 20 times already and that is not an exaggeration, my last move was 9 months ago to here then 2 months before that to my mums house in Surrey, then 9 months before that to a house in Hastings, then 6 months before that to a house in camber, and so on etcetera you get the point. So yeah, I've gotten pretty good at it.

One of my friends realised he was lactose intolerant recently, and due to the small lactose content of his whey protein he decided to give everything he had left to me. I literally have a whole box packed with whey and supplements and whatnot. It's not ideal timing, but I'm not one to say no to free protein, he orders the same brand as me so I know there's no issue with it, expires in November, I've probably got quite a while before I need to buy more protein.

Gonna hit the gym for a final OHP and arms day, end with some cardio most likely, come back and eat, continue packing. I'll post postworkout (heh) to say how it went. No word from work about what shifts I can cover yet, but I'll surely talk about it in the first post here after I hear back from them.

That's it for now, toodles

[Cat in the rack]

Okay so the majority of packing is done, there's a few things in the kitchen but I'm gonna have to wash up breakfast stuff anyway so I'm leaving it until morning, there's some bathroom stuff but I need that until after I've gotten up tomorrow morning, and there's my bedding which obviously will stay put until I've gotten out of bed tomorrow. I have clothes and other stuff that I'll need for the next 12 days in a single box, I've got all my protein and other supposed in a single box, and I've got all my gym stuff in a gym bag, so I shouldn't have any problems between now and when I move into my new house on the 3rd. All is well, as I am limited to my iPad for entertainment this leaves me with YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, snapchat, and rewatching the first season of the flash, as you can imagine I'm bored out of my mind (just kidding).

Today's workout went really well though I didn't stick to what I had planned. I didn't feel like weighted dips so I decided to merge a typical OHP + arm day with the new format I have planned. I opened with heavy OHP like I used to but instead of going for a 52.5kg 3+ rep attempt, which even if I succeeded would have drained me seeing as I only managed 4 reps for 50kg last week, I did working sets of 6, first a 40kg and then a 45kg, but rather than likely max out at 47.5kg (I'm fairly certain I could have forced 6 reps at that weight) I did a third set of 6 with 45kg again, it was clean, and it's close enough to my max to encourage gains. I did 4 sets of 7 chin-ups between sets of OHP, I've gone for 8 a few times but never managed it for all 4 sets, so I was being conservative this time and it paid off.

Then rather than do 5 sets of 10 for OHP I went for what I'll be switching to, which is 10 sets of 10 for bench press (is that called German volume training?). I lowered the weight for when I typically do 5 sets of 10 which is at around 45kg and instead went for 40kg, and given that tenth set I'm glad I did. But during the 10x10 I felt like a machine, I took around 30 seconds every time (closer to 35 by the last set) and started a set every 2 minutes exactly, like clockwork, and honestly it felt brilliant, especially that mind muscle connection. This was followed by what I did on OHP + arms days which is preacher curls, the preacher curl station was taken so I had to settle for standing behind a bench set to incline. I was surprised to find I actually preferred it, the incline was steeper so I found it much harder, when I tried 14kg dumbbells I stopped at 6 reps. Initially I thought to lower the incline or reduce the weight so I could do 8 reps but then decided there's nothing wrong with doing things a little differently every now and then so did 3 sets of 6, ending with one very slow negative rep. Then I headed over to the dip station and did 3 bodyweight sets of 8, nothing too taxing. Ended with some jump rope as fast as I could go (each attempt did not last long typically) and did fairly well on the last couple of attempts, then some foam rolling, and then some handstand practice which I feel I'm improving on.

Anyway, I mostly included the 10x10 bench press to determine if time-wise it'll fit into my workout, and given that I threw chin-ups and curls into the mix and still finished on time that's a yes. Hopefully this means I've estimated well for the other workouts also. Looking forward to strength retesting next week, even if it will unfortunately have to be done in pounds which means there'll be a little measurement error. I figure if I gage the feel of the strength retest week in kg with the feel of 5+ reps the following week I should be able to tell if I've estimated my strength well enough.

I heard back from work, shifts will start in July, with the rota being decided next week. I'm not sure if he's going to contact me again before deciding my shifts, though I've told him Tues/Wed/Fri/Sat mornings are ideal for me. Is it lazy that I'm trying to set up shifts for the 4-6 hours before gym time so that I can sip my preworkout during the last 5 minutes of my shift and then get changed and head straight to the gym? It feels a little lazy, but I guess I can assure myself that it's not as lazy as skipping gym or work entirely. Though the main reason I gym is because it feels great and the main reason I'm getting a job is so I have something to do and get a free gym membership plus money. Swings and roundabouts I guess. Hopefully he does ask me again because I'd like to add Sunday mornings too seeing as that's when I plan to have a conditioning day. Did I mention the gym has boxing equipment? Because I love that.

That is about everything, expect a fairly late post tomorrow due to the move. I'm expecting to go to a party on Wednesday if I can make it so it'll be nice to see my school friends again, last I saw em was Easter (what was that, 2, 3 months ago? I forget when Jesus died for our sins, how selfish of me) so I'm looking forward to it. Anyway, have a good night

[Cat in the rack]

Okay, the week is nearly done whereas my packing is completely done, everything is sitting in the kitchen now and all I've left to do is clean my room, which I'm saving until the hour before I leave. I can feel yesterday's workout which is great, and now I'm just chilling.

Woke up at 6 this morning for some reason but slept well, so good enough I guess. Weighed in at 64.7kg, again a slight increase, now it's somewhat levelled out I look forward to seeing what I weigh in a weeks time, I guess I'm hoping for around 65kg ideally.

There's really just not much else to say today, that is all I've been doing. Nope, I got nothing. Looking forward to strength retest week, hopefully I'll see improvements from 9 weeks ago. Yep, that's it, have a good week

[Cat in the rack]

So either my scales don't work on a less solid floor or I've dropped 30 kilos. Looks like I'm gonna be waiting until I move to reweigh, which will have been nearly two weeks. Any weight over 65.5kg and I'll consider reducing calories, 65kg or under and I'll be surprised that I may have to increase calories. Today is a rest day, given the weather and the fact that I'm living in the middle of nowhere I won't be going anywhere or doing anything exciting.

Expect all this and more riveting updates over the next couple weeks, literally two weeks, though actually it's more like 12 days. So far I've eaten bfast and now I'm chilling, I anticipate a lot of chilling until I move again as most of my stuff is packed. That's all, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

I got my scales working again and I'm at 65.4kg, which is either a fluctuation, a return to normal, or I put on 2 lbs since Sunday like magic. I've gotten up and had bfast and now I have little to do.

Finally get to go back to the gym today, feels like too long even though it's been 3 days, I'm getting withdrawal symptoms man. Gonna hit some heavy 6 rep deadlifts, some heavy 6 rep bent over rows, some lighter 10 rep squats, with pull/chin-ups between sets. So it's heavy back with high rep legs today. I'll post later with how it went.

Sadly back in a gym with lbs instead of kilos and just generally not brilliant equipment, one squat rack, one bench station, two cable machines, a bunch of fixed resistance machines, and then cardio stuff. But it's enough for me to do what I need to do, it's rarely busy because it's such a small place so it shouldn't be a problem.

If I want to get to where I planned to get before being ill I'll need 6 reps for 130kg, so fingers crossed I suppose. Later y'all

[Cat in the rack]

Not a half bad workout today. Bent over rows up to 65kg, even though I messed up a little with the warm-up sets. Deadlifted 6 reps for 120kg but only 3 reps for 130kg, gonna start next week with 125kg. Then 5 sets of 10 squats with just 60kg, with pull-up/chin-up between sets. My sister was meant to pick me up but due to baby-tiredness was an hour late, which I didn't mind, gave me time to look around the gym, found a punching bag, did some hand stand practice, had a good time. I also found out that this gym does actually have kilo plates, they're just all kept at the smith machine, and I do not mind farmers walking across the gym to lift with kilos at other equipment.

Got to record some sets thanks to the emptiness of the gym, showed that I need to be a little more focussed on full ROM during high rep sets, didn't go beyond parallel on every rep for squats, but I did hit parallel in basically all of them, so at least I'm not a power-curtseyer. I rowed over a kilometre whilst singing thanks to being bored of waiting for a ride. And I did some head to just above floor handstand push-ups against the wall, did a little better at holding it away from the wall. Wasn't feeling on point with jump rope but no biggie.

Anyway, not much else to say, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

An interesting weigh in of 66kg today, which I think is either water retention due to sodium from going out to eat last night or just me returning to normal levels, time will tell. I've gotten up, eaten bfast, and in a few hours I'll be heading to the gym. In the mean time, just chilling. Damn, I'd probably get bored if I didn't have gym to look forward to. Gonna be a bench press + close grip bench + high rep OHP today, I'll finish with some abs work probably. That's it today. I also have to do some bulk cooking later, protein pancakes and sweet potato. The cooking equipments a lot better than what I have, though I will be ordering some new stuff, including a rice cooker.

Anyway, nothing else to say 'til later, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

The bench set up here is definitely not what I'm accustomed to, I think it was too low, my legs felt uncomfortable, my glutes were coming up too easily, it was not great, I couldn't get heavier than 65kg for 5/6 reps. Close-grip went to 55kg, then I did 10x10 for OHP at 25kg. Finished with some foam rolling, some boxing, some sprinting, some jump rope. Could have been worse, could have been better,

I've decided that in the long term I'd be better off working at even lighter in comparison to my 1RM, so I'm gonna cut the weights down starting next week, build back up. I'm thinking bench down to 60kg, squat down to 100kg depending on how I do tomorrow, deadlift down to 110kg, just build strength slowly rather than grinding through. It'll screw over my 6 week challenge, but in the grand scheme of things that doesn't matter.

Anyway, that's it for today, I did the cooking I planned, I'm gonna chill, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Weighed in again at 66kg this morning, so any gain beyond this and I'll assume that's what I can expect consistently. I still feel a little uncomfortable gaining weight, I was never health-hazard level fat, at my biggest I was around 185 lbs with an activity level of zero, but as a result putting on weight doesn't feel very good to me. When losing or maintaining weight I feel good, even if a little hungry, it just feels right. Still, I gotta get used to it, can't just stay at 140-145 lbs forever.

Rest day today, so not much going on today. Not even a week in and I'm already a little bored living here, but only another week or so left til moving day number two. I've decided to aim for a target weight of 165 lbs or 75kg, so depending on how this works out it should hopefully take 9 months total giving me time to "cut" before summer. Though I'd probably be more inclined to cut over summer instead of before, get lean for the start of the academic year, so we'll see how it goes.

Anyway, I'll keep y'all posted at all the exciting developments, peace

[Cat in the rack]

Had to go to the gym earlier than usual today, left around 8.30 so I only had an apple and a nakd bar for bfast, then hit the gym for heavy squats and high rep rows. Built up to 100kg but for only two reps, then did a set of 3 then 4 then 5, superset with 4x6 for pull-ups and 5x5 for chin-ups. Then 10x10 bent over rows for 40kg and preacher curls 3x8 with 14kg. Finished with some foam rolling, some running and some boxing. Pretty good though not as strong on squats as I'd have liked.

I've decided next week will be a deload and then I'll jump in to a new mesocycle the week after. This is partly because it's better to be safe than sorry, and partly because I need to rearrange due to moving day anyway. I'll stick to the existing deload schedule of the program after that, keep well rested.

Tomorrow is an OHP day with high rep bench press, if I can make it to the gym, might have to push it back to Sunday. I got a new phone at long last so I'll be able to film sets whilst listening to music, so that's neat.

Anyway, I got phone sorting stuff to do, so later

[Cat in the rack]

Pre-workout post, woke up earlier than 6 for some reason, so that happened. Yesterday I got a new phone, at long last, I can't use half the screen on the phone I've been using up until now. I've decided I'm gonna use the old broken phone as an ipod, seeing as it probably won't sell for much, plus now I can film in the gym on my new phone but still listen to music using the old phone. It's OHP day with high rep bench today, looking forward to it, one last workout before I deload.

I weighed in at 65.6kg today, a little down, but weights still generally going up. I definitely feel like I'm in a surplus, so here's hoping I don't need any more calories, though I may need more to account for the increase in activity level coming up.

Yesterday I also got the July rota at work, I got 99 hours total, pretty good. I've planned my training days around my shifts for July, there's a few where I had to completely shift days because of work, for instance there's a couple of 8.00-16.00 shifts. There's nothing too difficult that I can't move everything around it, especially seeing as it's summer and I don't have much planned. Thankfully I had a party with my friends from school who I haven't seen since Easter planned for the second weekend of July, which turns out to be the only weekend I don't have any shifts, so hooray.

Not much else to say today, I'll post later after the gym, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Post-workout post, left for the gym around 9, went pretty well. I did OHP up to two sets of 5 with 47.5kg, then bench press for 10 sets of 10 with 40kg, then 3 sets of 6 for dips weighted with 10kg. Ended with some jump rope which I'm doing really well with lately, some foam rolling, then some boxing drills, and did some rowing to finish. Since I got back from the gym I've eaten lunch, showered, planned the next 5 weeks of lifting, aaaaaand... nope, that's about it. I meant to shave in the shower but I forgot, so I guess I'll do it tomorrow. I swear that over the last few months my facial hair has grown a lot faster, not better, just faster, so I end up with shitty facial hair that makes me look like a 14 year old going through puberty after 2-3 days of not shaving. Ah well, I'm not doing anything tonight.

I was wearing my star labs cut-off to the gym today, from the flash TV series. When I got to the gym and went to get my card scanned at reception the receptionist said she loved my shirt and that it made her day, we chatted for a couple minutes before I went to work out. I love it when a little thing like that happens, always puts me in a great mood for the rest of the day. Anyway, because of that I decided to superset the last thing I did at the gym with leaving 10 minutes early to flirt with the receptionist, it's something I'd highly recommend. Says a lot that about a year ago I wouldn't have had the confidence to do that, clearly I've had a very productive 10 months since I started lifting.

I plan to make steak for dinner tonight, boy do I like steak, there's still a serving of cooked chicken in the fridge but I'm sure it'll last until tomorrow. Tomorrow's a planned rest day, then Monday I'll go to the gym for a deload day, some reduced weight lifts, some cardio, etcetera, you know the drill. It's less than a week until I move to my new house, I'm looking forward to it, being able to go to the gym freely without having to arrange transport, being able to use all my stuff because it isn't boxed up, having a room with a door (construction going on here), starting work. I've worked out that with 99 hours of shifts in July I'll make £643.50, for rent I'll be paying £450-500, then there's at most £50 for food and whatnot, leaving me around £100 a month assuming I have the same number of hours a month over summer. Plus on top of that I have around £2,500 in the bank saved up in order to pay rent over summer which is no longer necessary, and £1,000 coming in from inheritance. I don't have any plans yet that require a lot of money, but I'll keep a look out, I may make some plans, I'm feeling like with money and free time I should start trying some new things, if anyone has any recommendations I'm all ears.

That's it for today, I'm probably gonna do a little cleaning up around the house. I always feel like a bit of a burden when staying at a relatives house for a week or two so I try to help out as best I can, I'd help out with the baby if I could but there's not really a lot I can do. Anyway, peace

[Cat in the rack]

Not a lot going on today, I've gotten up, had bfast, gonna chill for a bit. Going out to lunch a bit later. Might do absolutely nothing for a bit. Yep, that's the agenda today. Weighed in at 65.3kg, so it's gone back down, weird, hopefully it generally goes up.

Anyway, really not much to say, later

[Cat in the rack]

Today I got up, weighed myself, took some creatine, made some bfast, ate some bfast and that is where we are now. Weighed in at 65.5kg, fairly good I guess. Gonna go shower and so on so forth in a bit. This may sound familiar, but not a whole lot going on, nothing interesting anyway.

As this is a deload week I won't be having caffeine, my last caffeine fix came from preworkout on Saturday and my next will come from preworkout on Monday. Yesterday I will admit to being pretty tired, I'm not one of those people who needs caffeine first thing in the morning, but I tend to drink a fair bit of tea, and if I feel really tired I usually have a coffee, yesterday would have definitely been one of those days. Still, it's good to take a break from things like that, plus it should mean the caffeine in my preworkout hits me harder on Monday, so there's that. One thing I will say, no caffeine plus being in this house with a baby equals you're gonna have a bad time. Just four more days until I move into my own house and I can't wait.

Anyway, not much else to say, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

This morning was much like yesterday, got up, weighed myself, made bfast. Weighed in at 65.5kg again, ideally I'd want to be at 66kg on July 1st, just for simplicity's sake. I'm gonna track weight month to month and adjust accordingly, keep it simple, maybe aim for 1-2kg a month. The last two months I was at 66kg so there's been no change in the long-term, but I'm sure it'll start from now.

Anyway, did a deload session in the gym today, squat, bench, deadlift, bent over row and OHP with reduced weight, some jump rope, some boxing, some jogging, some handstands, some single rep bodyweight exercises, all standard stuff. Getting better with the whole no caffeine thing, not to say I like it, I can't wait to have coffee again.

Nothing else to say, getting closer and closer to moving day, only 3 days now, can't wait. Nothing else to say, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Okay so I weighed in at 65.7kg this morning, as today is July 1st I'm gonna take note of that number unless there's a drastic change over the next couple of days. The bulk officially begins I suppose.

No gym today, just another day of little to do, but I have had some thoughts regarding my training. The first is that with the mad weight 5/3/1 sets I'm going to make a slight change, instead of going for a set of, say, 5+ where I just seemingly go for as many reps as I can, I'm going to do 3 sets, the first at 5 reps, then if that feels too easy the second at 6 reps, then if that feels too easy the third at 7 reps. This should keep some stronger consistency week to week which is always important. The second is the incorporation of lat pulldowns, now that I go to a gym with a lat pulldown machine I may add them to my assistance work. However I'm not even going to consider it until I've given the current assistance work 8 weeks.

Gym tomorrow, similar to yesterday though I'll probably put more of an emphasis on cardio. Then the next day is finally moving day, only gotta hang in there for two more days. Man is it boring here. I say that, being at my house won't be much less boring, but I'll have a job to keep me busy and I have a few plans over summer, some shopping, some studying, stuff like that.

Anyway, that's all, have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Weighed in at 66kg this morning, if tomorrow's is lower then I'll use 65.7, if it's equal or higher then I'll use 66, as the starting point of the bulk.

Left for the gym around 8, nice deload weights for the main lifts, some boxing, some sprinting, some jump rope, some foam rolling, all standard stuff. Got back, showered, had lunch, and here I am. Today I'm gonna do some washing, get everything ready for the move tomorrow, do some cooking, the usual. Not much else going on, I am so looking forward to moving. Saturday will be a final gym session of the deload week, Sunday will be my first shift at work, and Monday will be the first gym session of the first mesocycle with the assistance work as it is, fourth overall, with the weights all reduced so that I won't hit any PR weights until September/Octoberish. It'll probably feel weird not working so close to my limits, but in the long term it should lead to greater strength gains.

Nothing else to say now, tomorrow I'll update before moving and Saturday I'll update with how it went. Have a good one

[Cat in the rack]

Weighed in at 65.6kg today, so I'll be going with the weight from July 1st as a starting point, 65.7kg, if I'm around 66.2-66.7kg in two weeks time I'll know I'm on the right track, but I'm only taking note of monthly weigh-ins.

Moving in to my new house today and looking forward to it, everything non-essential is packed and I'm ready to go... in about 9 hours time. So yeah, I've still got most of the day to wait. Still, I've made sure anything I might forget is packed, I've cleaned all my clothes, I've done 3 days worth of bulk cooking for lunch so I don't have to worry about getting that done in the new house on moving day. I'll be eating dinner before moving most likely so I won't need to go through the hassle of cooking there today, you never know what's gonna keep you busy.

So things I'll need to get done after I move, maybe this weekend or next week: unpack (obviously), sort out bill payments, head to the university library to take back a few books and take out those on the second years reading list. I also plan to go clothes shopping at some point, my jeans have all been about one size too big for a while now. Gotta get copies made of all the keys, seeing as losing one of the original keys is a £200 fine I don't think any of us are gonna be carrying them around. I'll be going supermarket shopping as soon as all the boxes are in the house, get a weeks worth of food and whatnot.

That's it for today, just moving, I'll update tomorrow, later

[Cat in the rack]

Just a quick update as I have to do this on my phone due to the wifi not being set up until Monday.

Adding the weight of my trousers to weigh in due to not wanting to strip down and weigh myself every morning now the bathrooms communal, the starting weight is 66.2kg and today I weighed in at 66.7kg, likely just a fluctuation but we'll see soon enough.

Fully unpacked now, my rooms fairly spacious, nice wardrobe, nice bed, no reason to complain. Currently I'm in the process of transferring a bunch of downloads I did over the last two weeks, tedious but I gotta do it. Gonna head to the gym fairly soon for a deload session, business as usual there.

I think it's the effect of zero caffeine, but my sleep schedule has been completely fudged lately, I keep waking up around half 5. I suspected it might be someone in the house making noise around half 5, but it happened here in the new house so that can't be it. Hopefully I'll adjust and start waking up a little later soon.

Anyway, that's all, laters

[Cat in the rack]

Yesterday didn't go exactly as planned, instead of going to the gym for conditioning I stayed home and had a nap, given how rarely I nap I must've needed it. Weighed in at 66.7kg so I'm .5kg up from the start of the month, I'll wait until the 14th before considering any calorie/macro changes but I may need to reduce a little. Got up, had bfast, chilled until work.

Today was also not as planned, I decided to start the new mesocycle today, because if I started tomorrow I'd only be able to fit one conditioning day this month, now I might have as many as three, plus I just felt in a gym mood this morning, so ya know. Started work at 10, quiet day, first two hours just served one bottle of water and they let me leave half an hour early because it was empty. So I drank my preworkout at around half 1 and then got changed and headed up to the gym. Preworkout felt a lot more useful, probably due to the caffeine-free week I've had, I was even walking fast.

Warmed up, then did some heavy deadlifts built up to sets of 5, 6 and 7 with 110kg all with DOH grip, went pretty smooth but that's expected because I reduced all the weights so I can build more strength over summer. Then bent over rows, same deal, built up to sets of 5, 6 and 7 with 60kg, again went pretty smooth. After that I did one set of 5 pull-ups (just a strength test sort of, though I had 5 as a pre-planned number of reps) before high rep squats, did 5 sets of 10 with 60kg no problem. Between squat sets I did sets of 4 chin-ups, ten sets total. Finished with some foam rolling/flirting with the girl foam rolling next to me, and then called it a day. Came home, ate, showered, and here we are after some chilling.

I've decided I'm going to try taking up sunbathing this summer, I've never done it but it looks relaxing and gives me an excuse to go out shirtless. This weekend I'm gonna get some suncream, take out next years reading list from the library, and spend some time every day (when I'm not working) lying in a field reading. Kill three birds with one stone: try sunbathing, get some reading done, relax and maybe meditate.

Only plans I've got for the coming week are a party on Friday and work/gym during the days before. I'll keep you posted with my exciting life, have a good one