Week 15 - Mild Cut

Day 1 - 24/10/2011

Motivation Level: High
Energy Levels: Medium
Sleep: 4hrs.....

Recovery
Atrocious. Note: When you crave something, don’t sit and think leaving it until late. Just go and do it early and fucking get it over and done with.

On a side note, comment of the day reflects on not in training in general but still important. I was accused of “being on drugs” due to my constant positive energy. LULZ.

Routine - AM
Fasted (IF): 9.5hrs
Routine: Analogue stationary bike 20min (9min hill climb @ 3min intervals)
Duration: 20min

Notes - AM
It’s getting warmer and even though I am not sun burnt from the weekend of excess Vitamin D amongst many things I feel hotter than ever. This was a sweat party and it initiated halfway through this session for that matter. I felt a tad unfit due to the zero conditioning I usually do on Saturdays.

Routine - PM
Fasted (IF): 14hrs
Routine: Back
Duration: 90min

• 5min Treadmill LISS warm up
• Pull up (Body weight - wide grip): 20 10 11 10 10
• Cable close grip pull down: 6x60kg 6x60kg 6x80kg 7x100kg 7x100kg (PB-R)
• Cable row: 6x60kg 6x60kg 6x90kg 6x125kg 6x125kg (PB-RS)
• Partial deadlift/triple extension to Barbell shrug: 6x70kg 6x120kg 6x170kg 2x180kg 10x120kg
• Barbell row bent over under grip: 8xbar 10x60kg 10x60kg 6x80kg 6x100kg 2x110kg 15x60kg

Notes - PM
This session was surprising considering of the excess alcomaholz, lack of sleep over the weekend including the not so awesomesauce 4hrs last night, and despite feeling a little unfit from the weekend. The pull ups weren’t surprising though but I’m OK with 61 repetitions over 5 sets. Both cable close grip pull downs and cable rows felt easier and a tiny bit cleaner, although dirty (my approach, make the dirty and turn it into clean, then raise the bar, rinse and repeat), these felt great. The barbell shrugs were done on the platform today instead of the smith machine with the starting height at knee level, slightly lower compared to the squat rack which I normally use and the starting height there is about an inch above the knee level. Lost explosiveness at 180kg and didn’t want to waste the effort since I find the routine only effective (for me) when I can get the bar nice and fast, high enough for me to hold at the upper most state of this movement. Died on the arse o the barbell bent over rows (under grip), not sure how I managed 8x110kg last week but I couldn’t do this today. The repetitions on them were simply too dirty and much like shrugs, I saved my energy for the next set instead.

Nutrition
Total: 3,000 calories
Protein: 350g
Fat: 50g
Carbohydrates: 236g
Meals: 2

Notes
Interesting observation over the two days on the weekend, I find myself now at 75.5kg with a fair bit of water weight happening. No training or even physio exercises were done but IF was maintained. Excess red wine and food in general, all in all, flexible. I have decided that I can fit an extremely mild cut starting this week for two weeks, maybe even four. It just depends on how rapidly it goes. My plan at this stage is to work with a 71kg - 73kg range. I am currently on approximately 73.5kg - 75.5kg. I no longer work with single values but I find a weekly/fortnightly frequency is about right as it gives me a decent accurate range to work with.



Damage Control

• N/A

Notes
Absolutely fucking zero physio routine conducted on injured tricep tendon. Wrist and elbow band area tingly which is, by reading my notes over the past week or two, only pronounced early in the morning. No soreness on the weekend at all, not surprised considering I did skip barbell squats and leg presses on Day 5 last week due to an attempt to give my hip joint (left side) to recover quicker. Speaking of which, it is still sore and cannot notice any difference between today and last Friday. I might be skipping another game of OzTag this week with a high probability of a visit to the physiotherapy late this week if no significant improvement is seen by Day 3, Wednesday this week. Something is developing also with symptoms like sneezing and lots of sniffles which has only started appearing since returning from the coast.

Day 2 - 25/10/2011

Motivation Level: High
Energy Levels: High
Sleep: 6hrs

Recovery
An improvement of 2hrs. Let’s get back on track Christiano!

I’m aiming for 40 repetitions of body weight and also 4 repetitions of body weight plus 50kg dips tomorrow. Provided I don’t get “distracted” tonight, I’ll get a decent amount of sleep and finally get to scratch a couple of itchy mini milestones I’ve been wanting to scratch for the past few weeks.

Routine - AM
Fasted (IF): 9hrs 30mins
Routine: Analogue stationary bike 20min (9min hill climb @ 3min intervals)
Duration: 20min

Notes - AM
Feeling fitter today, dropped some water which is good.

Had a brief chat today with an athlete. She spoke about how her team qualified for the Olympics and also what she has planned from now until then. These athletes, just to be around them, watch them train and progress is absolutely inspirational.

Routine - PM
IF: 14hrs
Routine: Hang Cleans & Front Squats Practice
Duration: 80mins

• Set 1: Barbell hang clean -> Barbell push press 5x40kg Superset Barbell front squat 5xbar
• Set 2: Barbell hang clean -> Barbell push press 5x40kg Superset Barbell front squat 5xbar
• Set 3: Barbell hang clean -> Barbell push press 4x60kg Superset Barbell front squat 5x40kg
• Set 4: Barbell hang clean -> Barbell push press 4x60kg Superset Barbell front squat 5x40kg
• Set 5: Barbell hang clean -> Barbell push press 3x70kg Superset Barbell front squat 5x50kg
• Set 6: Barbell hang clean -> Barbell push press 3x70kg Superset Barbell front squat 5x50kg
• Set 7: Barbell hang clean -> Barbell push press 4x60kg Superset Barbell front squat 5x50kg
• Set 8: Barbell hang clean -> Barbell push press 4x60kg Superset Barbell front squat 5x50kg
• Set 9: Barbell hang clean -> Barbell push press 1x70kg (Wobbly, cut it short to 1 rep) Superset Barbell front squat 5x50kg
• Set 10: Barbell hang clean -> Barbell push press 4x60kg (Extra Hulk smash to failure mode) Superset Barbell front squat 5x50kg
• Set 11: Barbell roll out slow 10x SUPERSET Leg raise: 5x
• Set 12: Barbell roll out slow 10x SUPERSET Leg raise: 5x
• Set 13: Barbell roll out 1x with 30 second hold at full stretch

Notes - PM
The increased YouTube investimagation and research seems to be paying off. Even though my sleep hours still aren’t back to my normal amount, today’s session felt fantastic. Zero wrist tenderness caused and maybe one rough landing but it shouldn’t tenderise my collarbone like it used to. I am getting the hang of the full extension especially the violent shrugging section, my upper body briefly arches back nicely, it creates a good amount of explosiveness and the whipping of the elbows under the bars become more natural and fluid. There was an improvement with the 70kg where last week I could only manage one repetition. Although by the 9th set the push press got a little wobbly so I wasn’t about to push it any further since I’ve already achieved something today. Plus, fatigue was kicking in nice and quick, evident by the wobbliness. I didn’t go up in my usual weights with the front squats due to the hip joint issue which hurts even at body weight squats but the weights conducted today didn’t bother it and I’m certain that the mild tension/load on it has some benefits with recovery. The last three sets were merely core work as usual, felt like awesomesauce too.

Nutrition
Total: 2,000
Protein: 248g
Fat: 100g
Carbohydrates: 30g
Meals: 1

Notes
Slightly reduced intake, new template for non-tension days.

Damage Control

• N/A

Notes
Injured right tricep tendon daily loading maintained and endurance is back to normal. Wrists tenderness improved. Biceps mildly sore from back day yesterday while back is fucking crying in agony, awesomesauce. I had two crampage sessions last night in the mid back section. Lats are wonderfully tender while right now, traps feel like someone is constantly pinching them with their hands. Right elbow band area soreness is still evident. Hip joint is still no go and when attempting body weight squats it doesn’t feel so awesomesauce.

Day 3 - 26/10/2011

Motivation Level: High
Energy Levels: High
Sleep: 7hrs 30min

Recovery
The unpredictable Canberra weather has turned for the good turning cool and assisting my sleep (my body handles the cold better). Not far off from 8hrs overnight, I’m close to being back on track with sleep at an average of 7hrs to 9hrs sleep. Not fucking 4hrs.

Routine - AM
Fasted (IF): 11hrs
Routine: Analogue stationary bike 20min (9min hill climb @ 3min intervals)
Duration: 20min

Notes - AM
Purposely backed down on this a little as I am trying to make room for a couple of PBs I plan on breaking this morning. Other than that, it was still a nice brief ride providing a small shot of my endorphin fix.

Routine - PM
IF: 13hrs
Routine: Chest/Shoulders
Duration: 95min

• 5min Treadmill LISS warm up
• Dip: 38xBW 6xBW+25kg 4xBW+50kg 2xBW+50kg 8+BW+25kg (PB-R)
• Dumbbell flat bench press: 6x38kg 6x50kg 5x75kg 2x75kg 6x60kg
• Dumbbell incline (45 degrees) bench flye: 6x30kg 6x38kg 6x45kg 5x50kg 6x38kg
• Dumbbell isolated side lateral raise: 6x19kg 6x25kg 6x35kg 4x37.5kg 8x25kg
• Dumbbell reverse flye: 6x38kg 6x50kg 4x70kg 6x60kg 10x38kg

Notes - PM
Slow progress, BUT progress is there. I was really itching to scratch a 40 repetition dip at body weight but no go today. I did however break my 3 repetition PB at body weight plus 50kg (2x25kg plates) chained to my waist with 4 repetitions and was soooooooo close to the 5th one too. Dumbbell flat benches were slightly stronger too. There was a plan to test out barbell bench presses today but considering that my right tricep tendon is still healing as well as a right elbow band issue (on the stretch/lock position, not good for dips) which actually became a minor challenge during my dips, it was probably not a sensible idea. Incline dumbbell flyes were also stronger but I’m still 10kg away from reaching my equal PB. Isolated lateral raise were also stronger with 2 repetition short at equal PB in repetition and in weight. Body swing evident on 30kg+, my approach is getting dirty to clean and I’m slowly getting there. The reverse flyes were also slightly stronger as far as the overall routine is concerned. Flagged a routine today (see Damage control) and will be visiting a physiotherapist either late this week or most likely early next week.

Nutrition
Total: 3,000 calories
Protein: 350g
Fat: 50g
Carbohydrates: 236g
Meals: 2

Notes
The mild cut is going great and as expected the water weight gained from the weekend is pretty much gone. My goal is simply to cut down body fat levels just a little. Despite the little reduction on the daily average intake, IF combined with choices of food does not feel like I am restricted in any way, in fact, still the opposite.
Another day of IF, another day of attracting attention because of the food I take to work. “HOW MUCH do you eat” says the Director. I reply with “A LOT, but this is actually me cutting down...”, LULZ.

Damage Control

• Flagged - Dumbbell reverse flye @ 60kg and 70kg - tingle/pain when arms are at horizontal position

Notes
Loading on healing right tricep tendon maintained and endurance levels maintained if not slightly improved. Back, lats, and lats are still all sore. Hip joint is still sore with body weight squats and jogging generates some pain. Right elbow band area is back to it’s original soreness. The random tingling is gone but putting my right arm at the most locked position doesn’t feel so awesomesauce. Both the hip joint and elbow band (suspected) notes over the past week has now prompted me to visit the physiotherapist late this week or early next week.

Day 4 - 27/10/2011

Motivation Level: High
Energy Levels: High
Sleep: 6hrs 30min

Recovery
Not as bad as 4hrs but still slowly trying to reach for 8hrs.

Routine - AM
Fasted (IF): 9hrs 30mins
Routine: Analogue stationary bike 20min (9min hill climb @ 3min intervals)
Duration: 20min

Notes - AM
Just the usual pre-workout workout for this afternoon’s hang clean and jerk grind. Aiming to reach body weight hang clean and jerks today.

Routine - PM
IF: 14hrs
Routine: Clean and Jerk
Duration: 90mins

• Set 1: Barbell hang clean -> Barbell push press 3x40kg Superset Barbell front squat 5xbar
• Set 2: Barbell hang clean -> Barbell push press 3x40kg Superset Barbell front squat 5xbar
• Set 3: Barbell hang clean -> Barbell push press 3x70kg Superset Barbell front squat 5x50kg
• Set 4: Barbell hang clean -> Barbell push press 3x70kg Superset Barbell front squat 5x40kg
• Set 5: Barbell hang clean, front squat jerk: 3x40kg
• Set 6: Barbell hang clean, front squat jerk: 3x40kg
• Set 7: Barbell hang clean, front squat jerk: 3x40kg
• Set 8: Barbell hang clean, front squat jerk: 2x50kg (bar rolled on third during squat, dropped on side bicep, nice bruise now, LULZ)
• Set 9: Barbell hang clean, front squat jerk: 3x50kg
• Set 10: Barbell hang clean, front squat jerk: 3x50kg
• Set 11: Barbell clean, front squat, jerk: 3x50kg
• Set 12: Barbell roll out slow 10x (hold on final repetition) SUPERSET Leg raise: 5x
• Set 13: Barbell roll out slow 10x (hold on final repetition) SUPERSET Leg raise: 5x
• Set 14: Barbell roll out 1x with 35 second hold at full stretch

Notes - PM
Amazing development in today’s session. ABSOLUTELY FUCKING AMAZING! I feel more stoked today than breaking my 195kg deadlift PB when I was a lighter 72kg. I had some awesome assistance from Tim the athlete. “I’m happy you’re happy!” He says. “If you weren’t a guy I’d kiss and hug you right now!”. He has and once again played a big role in my development of cleans, squats, and jerks. I felt so stoked I could have kept grinding a few more hours in the gym, I didn’t want to leave and I could have kept grinding all day! Tim had guided me through majority of my session today. A big change, BIG change for me. I’m back to my starting weight, with the new things I’ve learnt, I couldn’t be happier. And for someone who’s been accused of taking drugs because I’m the type of guy who’s just constantly happy every moment every day, that’s an understatement. Tim was also impressed because with the end result, my form was finally correct and he noted “It’s looking really good, as if you’ve been doing it for a while”. My triple extension has good form, my catches/landings are now “confident”. My wrist tenderness and also potentially my right elbow band issue might have come from learning how to catch/land properly. I used way too much hands to catch earlier on. On the third set, Tim mentioned he could see a “gap” between the bar and my chest/shoulder. I was pretty much carrying the fucking weight instead of having the body catch it. And this lead to being inefficient when jerking the bar since I’m using more arms/shoulders for the take off pre-jerk instead of my body. And not to mention, the pressure on the arms/wrists. He demonstrated on a different platform on an empty bar sitting on a rack as to how/where the bar should be landing. He stepped under the bar arms out and showed me. He then demonstrated on the platform I was using, on squatting from this position instead of the arms crossed method I’ve been practicing with, by placing two straps on the bar as to where the bar would normally rest during a catch/squat. With the straps facing up, he advised I practice squatting with the bar positioned accordingly while gripping the straps with my hands, in a hammer grip fashion. I did this for a set and it actually felt good and this is where the magic started to happen. Every clean from here, zero hands, all body on catches/landings, 150% confident. It feels so good, the thump it generates when that landing occurs. I’m a little rough for now but soon I’ll grasp absorbing the weight. I’m also amazed because from here I squat the bar straight up after the clean, more so that for the first time my back felt more straight than before while my feet were positioned a lot closer than I would normally squat with. Naturally too, I stopped the hang cleans and moved to just plain clean with the bar starting from the ground. I might as well start now.

Some developments required at this stage: I need to work on my grip. If the bar is resting too far from my fingers, at the tips, when I jerk it I end up having three fingers around the bar, it’s not nice when I’ve got my arms locked holding this weight above my head. I tried to use a complete over grip and asked Tim about this but he suggested it wasn’t a good idea especially during heavier loads where the bar might just end up spinning and it’ll become unsafe. I will give a hook grip a try next week. The other thing is that on the take off for the jerk, I am tip toeing pre-take off. I didn’t do this intentionally and I was quite surprised I was but clearly, the value of having an elite athlete watch you and critique/note these things is just simply invaluable. He also advised the pre-take off should be as if I was starting to squat, chest out proud, arse out, feet planted, then jerk.

Next session I will give the jerk a miss but will grind away with cleans and squats. Stoked, fucking STOKED!

Nutrition
Total: 2,000
Protein: 248g
Fat: 100g
Carbohydrates: 30g
Meals: 1

Notes
Fantastic. Cycling 3,000 calories on heavy tension days (3 days) and 2,000 calories on non-tension/condition days (3 days, 7th day is flexible for social reasons and calories may vary from 3,000 up to an estimate of 6,000 calories). You could say I’m spot reducing but ideally I only want to eliminate some stubborn fat which is only located on my lower back and lower abs.

Damage Control

• N/A

Notes
Healing right tricep tendon loading not maintained as it’s not required for a chest day (yesterday). Pectorals are sore, entire back and especially trapezius are sore. Got an interesting DOMS on my left bicep, LULZ. Wrists are mildly tender, right elbow band area has improved but it’s still painful to lock the arm. Hip joint improved slightly and have been employing an exercise that I can casually do anywhere, thanks to awesome coach Emily. Physiotherapy visit due Day 2 on Tuesday next week for investimagation and analysis of the right elbow band issue, wrist tenderness, and hip joint area.

Day 5 - 28/10/2011

Motivation Level: High
Energy Levels: High
Sleep: 6hrs 30min

Recovery
This has got to be the most undisciplined week for this entire year of training in regards to rest/recovery. Just an observation, nothing negative.

Routine - AM
Fasted (IF): 12hrs
Routine: Analogue stationary bike 20min (9min hill climb @ 3min intervals)
Duration: 20min

Notes - AM
[Vietnamese accent]Belly goot![/Vietnamese accent]

Routine - PM
IF: 16hrs
Routine: Waist Down
Duration: 100min

• 5min treadmill LISS warm up
• Barbell deadlift (wide/sumo stance): 5x70kg 5x120kg 5x160kg 3x180kg 1x190kg
• Romanian Deadlift: 5x70kg 5x70kg 5x110kg 3x140kg 5x140kg
• Barbell front squat: 5xbar 12x40kg 10x40kg 7x40kg
• Leg press: 8xAIR (LULZ) 60x100kg 60x100kg
• Smith machine standing calf raise + triangle block: 8x70kg 10x70kg 10x120kg 10x170kg 15x120kg (PB-R)

Notes - PM
Top session primarily because despite the shit-fuck of a rest/discipline I’ve been having this week, today didn’t feel like a struggle at all as well as hip joint pain was not triggered thanks to Mr. Sensible. A quick motivational/mild LULZ moment though. I was chatting to a full time PT/part time S&C coach (cute lass, she’s really got a nice smile and I think her freckles are adorable...wait...I’m getting side-tracked here....) towards the end of my session who was working with a young group of rugby players. She mentioned how the rugby boys were impressed. As I walked in, the group enquired (about me) to the coach “What sport does he play?” and when it was revealed how simply work for IT (and another coach jokingly saying my sport is OzTag... LULZ) the response was something like “...No way. IT guys are supposed to be skinny.” Representing the NERDS motherfuckers! ^_^

Anyway, I experimented with a sumo wide stance on my deadlift and could not believe how easy 190kg felt. It felt like 205kg was achievable today but since I’ve been struggling with standard deadlift the past few weeks decided not to push it. I’ll stick with the sumo stance for a few more weeks before going back to the conventional deadlift, it actually forces me to make it cleaner, although not the cleanest it’s a hell of a lot cleaner when I pulled 195kg @ 72kg body weight off the ground using the regular conventional deadlift.

Romanian deadlifts were stronger today, much stronger than last week and now I can complete a full 5 repetition set of 140kg.

Today’s plans with squats was to stick to low weights with high rep. A few other athletes were doing these today and I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong but the bar slips easily off my shoulders even when my arms, crossed, are absolute parallel to the ground. But seeing some athletes, their arms drop a little but the bar doesn’t move. The excess sweat probably didn’t help though. And the bar is sitting so high up that I could feel the bar on my neck which slightly interferes with my mouth breathing. Also I did try a post clean position during my squats but my wrists are too tender from yesterday. I did receive a post reminder recently from another community/blog about the topic of wrists pain during Olympic work. With this and some other additional research I plan to follow up with very soon, I will learn more about this topic to help me develop the clean and jerk movement. Being my weakest point, I’d like to be able to rep out about 40 repetitions at light weight. Sticking to a lighter weight also ensured I didn’t trigger any hip joint pain that I’m still recovering from over the past two weeks. Next week I’ve got a physiotherapy appointment for this as well as my wrist, and elbow band weirdness.

I was extremely cautious with the leg press rep’ing out no weights on the machine during my first set. I also decided to experiment again with high repetitions and low weight except today I think 100kg is the most I can manage without causing serious issues with the hip joint. Looking back at my old log entries, the last time I experimented with this I was doing 40 repetitions of 200kg followed by 20 repetitions for the remaining sets. I’m fairly happy with the two 60 repetition sets today at 100kg. It was orgasmically delicious.

Standing calf raises also felt easy but still a challenge, with a repetition based PB.

Nutrition
Total: 3,000 calories
Protein: 350g
Fat: 50g
Carbohydrates: 236g
Meals: 2

Notes
The first week is nearly complete. Next week will give me a weight range of how this new “mild cut” template is going and should provide me with a rough idea of how long I’ll need to be on it for. Previous mild bulk template which ended last week contains an average of 3,260 calories per day (not including my flexible weekends which can vary from 2,400 and 6,000 calories) which approximately gave me 1kg gain every 4 weeks, based on my activity levels. This new one is approximately 2,600 calories a day. IF is maintained as always with a higher carbohydrate focus on high tension days and higher fat focus on condition days, high protein on all days regardless. So far so good.

Damage Control

• N/A

Notes
Everything waist up is sore and mostly at mild levels. Upper back still sings the loudest melody while chest is still fresh from Day 3. Legs are now feeling suspiciously dormant right now in the soreness department but I know I will wake up tomorrow (or Sunday) to a harmonious soreness tunes from various body parts both low and high. Loading on my healing right tricep tendon has been maintained and endurance/effort has undergone a minor improvement. Tingles are still evident, healing in progress. Wrists are tender whilst the right elbow band generates a sharp tingling pain when I force it in a lock position. This is mostly evident either in the morning or in the evening. My left delt/shoulder is also pretty sure, not sure why.

Weekend Outlook

Training
Shoulder conditioning and arm experimentation will continue as normal on Saturday with the remaining time will be considered as complete passive recovery periods. I won’t be mentioning lustful shit anymore in regards to late night HIIT/core workouts, and other things I love and enjoy. So if I’ve gone quiet about this, you know why. And no, no girl has put that control over me, never.

Nutrition
Flexible as usual. There was a possibility of being out tonight but declined. Tomorrow however will be pretty social as usual and alcomaholz will be involved. Dietary intake will vary as usual between 2,400 and 6,000 calories.

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