I'm a wuss

[Toby]

This forum's gone remarkably quiet over the last few months, so I thought I'd start a topic on my recent observations. As some of you know, I've been cutting. I'm down almost 30lb over the last (I guess) 6mths. I'm still trying to cut, so it'll be interesting to see how my strength goes when I stop cutting and try to maintain, but at the moment my strength is way down. Examples:

Benchpress. I've done this for years, so I'm pretty familiar with the ol' bench. I used to finish my PTP cycles on 115kg == 253lb and manage 3 reps, sometimes 4, once or twice 5. I could also do 125kg == 275lb for my 1RM. At the moment I'm sure I could still do 1 rep on 115kg, but I'm finishing my PTP on 110 == 242lb and it's not easy. I manage 3 reps. 5 used to be easy.

Squat. I used to do up to 350 on squat cycles. Now I'm finishing at 330 and the last few days my form sucks. I'm probably going to get an injury if I don't cut more weight on it. I've done 360 or maybe 365 on squat before, but no way now.

Deadlift. This one ****es me off the most. My deadlift was going up and up, but now I'm struggling. This morning was only 142.5kg == 315ish and my back popped out on one of the reps. I almost strained it. I strained it on the last cycle at 147.5kg == 325ish when I wanted to finish the cycle at 340. After that I didn't finish the cycle - I had to do light rehab weights of 220-275 for the rest of the cycle. That's what made me reduce this current cycle to a 330 finish. I hope I make it :(.

Weighted pullups. This one is good. This cycle I'm finishing on 33lb for 5 reps. I've been increasing each couple of cycles but I haven't reached a failure point yet. I used to pretty much fail at 22lb before I started cutting. Maybe I should try for a 1RM.

Anyway, I'm not surprised that I've lost so much strength but I'm also not happy. It's an interesting experiment but I'll have to see in the medium term if I want to be lighter with less strength or heavier and stronger.

[rubthebuddha]

i'd suggest lighter with as much strength as you can muster. think of what toby's ticker would prefer more -- a burly beefcake that the heart strains to support, or a lean beefcake that the heart has a simple time supporting.

[fa_jing]

I think it would be really hard to maintain strength cutting so much weight.

Your pullups are going up because it's BW-related.

[rubthebuddha]

that explains why i can't do sets of 25 handstand pushups anymore. :o :( :mad:

[IronFist]

Losing weight = you get weaker on everything...

... except maybe BW stuff.

[Vash]

Originally posted by rubthebuddha
that explains why i can't do sets of 25 handstand pushups anymore. :o :( :mad:

I can only do about 2 sets of 5 if I'm up against a wall.

[rubthebuddha]

i can do around 3x10, but i've gained about 20 pounds (mostly muscle, mostly ;)) since then, didn't do them at all for a couple years, and i don't do them more than once per week these days. and yes, i use a **** wall. :p

[fa_jing]

That's excellent OH pressing ability, rtb. Have you tried full-range HSPU?



:eek: for all of the acronyms I just used

[Toby]

Originally posted by rubthebuddha
think of what toby's ticker would prefer more ...My resting HR a few months ago was as low as 38. That was before I'd cut much if any, so I'm pretty sure my heart's taking things easy ;).

Originally posted by fa_jing
I think it would be really hard to maintain strength cutting so much weight.Bloody oath. But it's an experiment. I wanted to get < 10% b.f. After that I'll try to up strength again. I'm not too concerned with losing strength since I'm pretty sure I could gain it again. It's still not fun though.

Originally posted by fa_jing
Your pullups are going up because it's BW-related.Yep. I lost 30ish lb so I can pullup 15lb more. Hang on, something doesn't add up there ... :( :p.

This morning I pulled 145kg == 320lb x 5 easily. I'd changed my form and was starting lower with a more vertical back over the last few months. More of a leg emphasis. I guess the Olympics rubbed off on me. Anyway, this morning I went back to my lifting-with-the-back almost-straight-legs old style and the 320 was easy. Maybe I can go up a bit on the deadlift next cycle again. I feel pretty weak most of the time though since I'm treading a fine line between cutting and not eating enough. I almost clicked on the creatine link with my bi-monthly protein order last week. Wonder if it would've made a difference.

[rubthebuddha]

Have you tried full-range HSPU? not yet. i haven't gotten off my ass to make a set of parallettes, and i'm not gonna buy 'em either. once i move to houston, i'll look into it, cause just during last night's first set, i started to get annoyed at the limited ROM. considering how many other presses start at shoulder level, i really need to get that extra range.

other suggestions other than parallettes for doing full-range?

for reference, i weigh about 190.

[Toby]

Oh yeah - one more con of cutting: last night I went to training. I don't usually go on Tuesdays, but Monday was a public holiday with no class. Tuesdays is for everyone but beginners and we do a 15min warmup first. Warmups were dropped from all other classes a while back because they cut into class time too much. This is good for people like me who train a lot outside class anyway and just want class stuff in class time but bad for people who don't train outside class. Anyway, as part of the warmup I did situps on the hard floor. At home I do Jandas on carpet or a rug. On the hard floor, my newfound bony spine hurt a fair bit. No more padding! Youch - told you I'm a wuss :D.


Originally posted by rubthebuddha
for reference, i weigh about 190. :eek: I'm lighter than rub.

[IronFist]

Holy crap, your resting heart rate is 38?!

Mine's like 60.

Must be all that cardio I do :D

60's not that bad, is it?

After a set of squats it's like 120.

[Toby]

60's pretty average AFAIK. Mine's low. I also struggle to get mine high when doing HIIT, even when I feel like puking. I haven't hit 180 for a looong time.

[fa_jing]

Nice work on the deadlift, Tobers. You weigh less than me too.

RTB - maybe try stacking some books or using a pair of footstools? Don't really need paralletes for this one.

[fa_jing]

Oh, and deadlift is purported to be a very different mechanic from that of the oly lifts.

Another thing is that you may want to switch things up and try something else other than PTP.

[Toby]

PTP's just so **** convenient. I did 325 x 5 without great difficulty this morning. My back was a bit round though and it's pretty tired now. This used to be an easy lift :(.

Oh, one more thing - I'm happy with my grip. I used to switch to alternating grip around 320 but now it's good to at least 330 double pronated. After that I switch to alternating so I can concentrate more on the lift than not dropping the weight.

330 x 5 tomorrow. The mental side of things is the hardest, because I've got self-doubt before a lift. I used to know my limits but now that it's going downhill it's hard to say what I can and can't lift. One thing's for sure - I would never be able to lift 365 x 1 again at the moment.

[IronFist]

Originally posted by Toby
330 x 5 tomorrow. The mental side of things is the hardest, because I've got self-doubt before a lift.

You work out at your home, right? Loud music overcomes self-doubt.