SATIL log

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

Damn. YT channel and blog have been dead for months. Well, that's fair, just had a kid. I can still come here

Anyway, left elbow has been bothering me. Going to do the SMART thing and just skip my upper body workout tomorrow. Seems to hurt most under compression (i.e. at the top of bench or dips with elbows locked). I would hit heavy dips tomorrow but I'm gonna wait till next Tuesday. Hopefully that will do it. If not maybe next Thursday. Just 1 or 2 workouts. I think I might take that time to do some CARDIO. I hit 190 Waist is like 30.5". Definitely softer. Need to transition into cutting so that when I hit the light switch I can progress from the word go. I like that plan. Just hope the bike doesn't aggravate my elbow.

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

Got on the bike for the first time basically since last summer. Bad news, crazy out of shape. HR was ~140-150 at 11MPH. I'm usually good for 120-130 at that pace. I was gassed. Good news is it seems to be working well. Combined with a more disciplined diet day I went from like 189 yesterday to 186 flat this morning. Flat is the word though... I haven't hit upper since Thursday and I'm melting

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

This little ride has me thinking ahead to this cut. Last cut was pretty successful, but there is always room for improvement. When I hit a new low weight, I'd "celebrate" and pretty much cancel it out. When I stalled I would panic (though that got better towards the end). This cut I want to really work on the mental side now that I have a protocol. I want to play around with refeeds a bit as well. I think I did a diet break every 8 weeks for a whole week... I might go every 4 weeks for 4 days or so. That should be enough.

Baby girl has regressed a bit on sleep which is killing me a little bit... that's another wrinkle. But I want to try and balance it all.

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

Like I said in the RGT thread, thinking about bushing barbell squats. There's a leverage squat machine at my gym... gave it a try today. They claim the base weight is 40lbs but it felt way heavier. Only managed 330 for 3x5... tried to do 360, no fukking dice. No biggie, load is load and I really felt it more in my legs than my posterior chain. A little awkward but not bad. Also thinking about bushing sumo deads, dropping the weight and sticking with conventionals. I want more hamstring activation and less glute activation, butt is getting too big

Also was considering moving to a 6 day split.... but I don't really want to up volume. I just want shorter workouts. I think I will stick with a 5 day split, but do full body push/pull workouts and then 1 upper body workout. Don't really want or need more volume, at least as I'm gearing up to go into this cut in May. And I do need some time for cardio

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

Another good end to a training block. Excited to start the next one.

Weight has been holding in the 187s for like 2 weeks. shyt seems to be dialed in. Wifey goes back to work next week which will free up some nights for me. Time to wind up the cardio wheel and get that in motion. I still want to try to get under 170, but I really do feel like I made good gains in my legs, chest and abs, so hopefully I'll be able to get shredded without going that far. I mean like I've been saying I put 60lbs on my squat since my last cut so I had to put a good lb or 2 on my legs. So to look how I did last year at 176 I'd only have to get down to like 178, allegedly. Wifey took over sleep duties with the baby as well- just easier for both of us- so I'll have access to full recovery capacity. Should be fun.

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

Been weird, on this deload some days I had a pump I haven't done anything at all in the gym, closest I got was supervising wifey's workouts

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

So key to record form... I think I need to start making videos again just to make sure I stay on my shyt. I get into bad habits

Going back to BB squats. Maybe I need to move to a 2 week deload. I miss the barbell

Things are looking positive for this cut. I have some nights free again so I can start riding. Just going to jump out the gate at full speed... if I can do 3 hours a week I'll be happy. Well let me take that back. Going to try and start ramping up now... one night this week, 2 nights next week, 2-3 the week after and then the cut will begin. But I'm gonna try and start the cut with the pedal to the metal.

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

I hope the gym gawds are kind.... been recording some footage and I'm looking good already. Much leaner than I was when I started last year.... lower weight and much stronger, especially in my legs... and I made an effort to hone in form and progress everywhere. I should see improvements in my arms, abs, chest and legs. If I can just stay injury free, get enough sleep and stay on point with diet and cardio it will be a breeze. I want to get down under 170 but I'm hoping and feeling like I won't need to go that far to get scary

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

Man I don't know what I was thinking with that machine shyt. Leg day yesterday, got back under the barbell for squats. 365 for 3,4,4. Went up easy and felt damn good. Legs still tingly I am starting to feel like heavy leg day is getting easier than volume leg day. That volume is fukking killing me. 300+ for 8-10 I'm at 310... going to try that this weekend and see how I like it, otherwise I might do squats for heavy leg push and my unilateral leg press for volume. Also switched back to conventional deads for heavy deads... sumos have my glutes looking

Other than that shyt's moving at a regular pace. Don't know if it's age or what but I feel the same with 4 or 8 hours of sleep. But I will keep taking what I can get. I think I will try for a ride tonight. Been a little undisciplined with my diet. Tried to do some "dry runs" and I was good until like 7-8 PM. Gotta be more vigilant about closing that feeding window.

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

Also switching my pre and post workout meals at work.... I would do my lunch before and then a shake + bag of chips or something after. But with the lunch I have to put it in the bowl, heat it up, and then wash the bowl before I leave. I can do the shake + snack in the car on the way so that frees me up a little bit. Everyone's at lunch when I get back so it all works out.

Thinking about seeing where my flat BB bench is before I start the cut. I am certain I've made gains... I'll have to look back at where I started on heavy dips but I feel like I've put on an easy 20-25lbs on top of whatever body weight I've gained. Chest is visibly better and I think triceps are too, I feel like gains were made. But bench is very technical and I feel like I lost all that. I want to see one way or another though.

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

Man recording form is so key. Little things here and there add up fast. On incline bench I gotta keep my butt down. Seated rows I gotta lock my knees (and realistically lower the weight). On a lot of exercises I go too fast. But I know my squat and deadlift forms are on point. Something to keep in mind I guess. Gonna try and throw a video together like Tuesday night.

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

Weekend was productive but painful. Too much fukking drinking. Went to a friend's house Friday night, engagement party Saturday night, oyster roast Sunday afternoon. Didn't even bother weighing in, I could see how soft I was.

Like I said though, still productive. Upper body workout went fine, lower body less so but still pretty good. I am liking the single leg press. Expect a video soon

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

Wow so this is the last week before the cut starts. I kind of don't feel ready but I'm gonna dive in head first anyway. Weighed in at 187.2 this morning after a pretty high calorie weekend (BBQ Saturday, brewery Sunday). Feeling about as good as I ever have since the baby was born.

Laying out the protocol in my head now. Key strategic points:

• Keep snacks out of the house. Been doing that so far, strictly eating cooked food. I don't even have peanut butter in the house because I just scoop that all day. Needless extra calories.
• Stay strict with the feeding windows. No snacks has helped with this a lot. Sometimes when I'm out I will grab a candy bar and I can still fit them in with my pre-workout, so I can keep my sweet tooth satisfied. But since I have been cooking all my meals at home it's easier to stay on point with this.
• Bi-weekly refeeds. I don't want to be the fuddy duddy avoiding food at all the parties and I don't think I have to be. Last year I did something like 8 weeks on, 1 week off... I think 1-2 days every 2 weeks will keep me sane and basically amount to the same thing.
• Cardio 2-3x/week. Hoping all of the above will make me only need 2 cardio sessions a week. But the schedule has lined up now to where I have time. 2-3 60-90 minute sessions

I know what I have to do.... just a matter of doing it. The hardest part

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

This block was good for validating my process. I tried to shorten my workouts by doing more frequent full body stuff.... no dice. Felt like shyt. Supersetting squats and bench = Also tried to switch my pre-workout meal (typical meat + carbs + veggies lunch) with my post workout meal (shake + chips/candy). No dice. I think the ideal pre-workout meal for me has a good amount of fat and minimal sugar... basically the opposite of my post workout meal. On top of all that I was taking Benadryl for my allergies which had me sleepy and groggy as fukk. Just not a good block performance wise but a good block to learn from.

fukk it though. Next week is a deload week and then we get into the cut. I think I will take the week to taper up and get a jump start on cardio. Also gonna start fixing the diet. I think I have been eating too much sugar lately. Gonna switch to veggies and low GI shyt for snacks and to fill me up. Great thing is, at least for now, I have time in the evenings and wifey sleeps with the baby all night, so sleep wise I have an open lane. It's just my cardio and diet that is shytty.

I am optimistic though. I will post some pics of where I started last year vs this year. I'm a good 5-6lb ahead at starting weight, with more muscle so I'm leaner. Weighed in at 186.2 this morning which is very low. I have been tightening up on calories and feeding window but the food I'm eating is garbage. Eating a bag of Chex mix right now

Oh yea, I have a training video done. Gonna try and vlog through this cut a bit. If I can do something weekly I'll be happy. Definitely not going to record full weeks of training, just highlights, along with weigh ins and of course DATA. Should be fun

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

Last few days have been rough with the damn allergies. Called out of work yesterday cause I was feeling like shyt over the weekend. Wind up spending the whole day working on my car

Weight was down to 186.2 this morning... whatever I'm fighting is sucking me dry. Not looking crisp at all, very flat and soft. Been carbing up pretty aggressively and the weight is not moving, It's deload week so today I went in for a lil pump workout. Hit some dips/pulldowns/upright rows. Felt good, got a little pump. Hopefully between this carb up and getting back on my water game (I water over the weekends, it's a problem) I can start this damn cut in a good place. Would be shytty to start off on the wrong foot.

Truthfully though prob no big deal, 1 bad weekend is not going to undo a year's worth of good gains. I think I still look better now than I did before my last cut. But I was looking flat out freaky before this flare up hit.

Got a video in the cue waiting to be narrated. Might try and do that tonight. I wanna vlog this cut as well. Have some good ideas on how to keep things engaging for viewers and easy for me. The name is going to be hilarious as well