I'm a wuss
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.
"If trolling is an art then I am your yoda.if spelling counts, go elsewhere.........." - BL
"I don't do much cardio." - Ironfist
"Grip training is everything. I say this with CoC in hand." - abobo