Due to personal and professional commitments, I have decided not to compete until Fall 2018.  Because I am taking such a long off-season, Tucker and I will be working together to shift my focus towards more bodybuilding hypertrophy work, with a diligent focus on my diet.  I need a goal and my body needs some time away from the competition lifts.  I am still diligently focusing on my weak points, but this is a new challenge and so far I am having a lot of fun – which is important!

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I am nearing the end of this diet.  I have set a deadline of May 1, 2018.  Whatever I can accomplish by that point will be my end point.  I am approaching this as if it is a meet prep.  It would be the only way I could get into the right frame of mind to tolerate it.  I am hungry and I am quite low energy for the most part, but it is what is necessary to do what I want to do.  If I want to be competitive in the 220# weight class, I need to be WAY more muscular.  The best way to do that is to strip the fat and then build back up slowly.  Tucker has been incredible during this process and the results speak for themselves.  I am down to 219lbs as of Saturday and BY FAR the leanest I have ever been in my entire life.  Everyone is noticing and to be honest, that feels fantastic.  We all have insecurities and my body fat has always been mine – hello “former fat kid syndrome.” I feel healthy and my conditioning is to the point I am ready for the next set early than I should be on my powerlifting days.  I feel that this has allowed my recovery capacity to stay high even while in a caloric deficit.  I am learning A LOT about my body and how it responds to both diet and training.  My leverages have changed, but that will be something I address as time goes on with technical adjustments.

Training this weekend went really well.  I have shuffled my training split so I am doing my power lifts on the weekend.  I have shifted away from single top sets to more moderate sets of 5 on the bench.  This is more so because mentally I could feel myself getting weaker and I didn’t like it.  If I keep the weights moderate and focus on moving them well, I can avoid that shot to the ego.  I find the bench press is always the most affected by weight loss.  On the squat, I shifted towards CAT work.  As discussed in my last log post, I am doing this to increase the volume of squatting, but keeping the weights lighter and focusing on increasing the density of my training – more work in less time.  The deadlift training is going to remain the same because it is going really well.  I can actually feel how much stronger my back is getting.  The bodybuilding work is DEFINITELY paying off there.

I also wanted to add here that I am doing quite a bit of cardio – 30 minutes on training days and 45minutes on non-training days.  This was just increased to 45 and 60 as we are getting to the tail end of the weight loss.  This is going to sound weird, but I actually enjoy it.  It is no longer a chore to roll out of bed and go to the commercial gym.  I look forward to it… I’ve changed lol.  Usually this is either elliptical for intervals, or slightly uphill walking with a kettlebell at a steady state.  I recently found a machine that is a step-mill and an elliptical in one, so that is my new go to, so I can mix things up.  Now that the time has been increased, I may opt for some of the cardio post workout.  As long as it gets done.

Bench

1. Incline – up to 275x5x4sets RPE 7-8
2. Weighted Pushups – 8x6sets
3. Swiss Bar Scrape the Rack Press – 3×10-12
4. Rope Pressdowns, Overhead Rope Pressdowns, Bench Dips – 4x12ea
5. 5 rounds for time – 12 calorie air bike, 100ft single arm farmer walk +5minutes steady state

Squat/ DL

1. SSB CAT Squat – 5x6sets (done in 11 minutes)
2. Deadlift – up to 525×5
3. Goblet Bulgarians – 4x12ea
4. 30 minute EMOM – 12 KB Swings, 12 calorie Row, 50ft DBall Carry

Warm-up

1. Daily hip rehab sequence
   1. 5 minutes cardio
   2. Supine Alternating hip lift x20
   3. Deadbug hip reset x6/side
      • These two movements are aimed to centre the pelvis laterally and anterior/posterior
   4. McGill Big 3 – 5x10sec each movement
   5. Single Leg Glute Bridge – 3x10sec iso hold per side
   6. Iso Deadbug – 30sec/ side
   7. Single Leg RDL Iso hold – 30sec/side
2. Squat/ DL Day
   1. Goblet Squats – 4×15
   2. SLRDL to Sprinter Pose to Hip Airplane – 10reps each/leg
   3. Tactical Frog to internal rotations – 2x10ea
   4. Cossack Squats – a lot
3. Bench Day
   1. Shoulder Rom – Lots
   2. Pushups – Lots
   3. 5 way band pull apart – 2x15ea