MC simply preparing for the inevitable divorce imo

That's foul.

I'm too lazy to dig it up, but isn't like the 1 thing Lyle/Martin/Alan agree upon that the body's utilization of excess calories depends heavily on current bodyfat levels? So if you're 25% fat your body is going to have a strong preference for storing excess calories as fat. If you're 10% your body still wants to store excess calories as fat, but the preference isn't as strong. Maybe I'm hallucinating this as I desperately search for motivation to finish my diet, but I think once you become competent at it, gradually bulking and cutting between 10% and 15% bodyfat is a solid long term plan.

Anyway I'm with KC. Get strong, always look for ways to do more in the gym and be more active outside of the gym, but don't get fat.

I think former fatties have to be a little more careful with the excess cals.

Prolly.

Also I'm not sure how much this is backed up by science or if it is just standard broscience advice, but the physiological response to weightloss lags a lot. So after a cut if you spend a couple months at your target leanness before transitioning to a small surplus you will do better to minimize fat gain than if you just flip the switch and go from deficit to surplus immediately.

The only place I've seen that tries to link BF% with calorie partitioning is Lyle's "initial body fat and composition changes" (or whatever the hell it's called, you'll get to it from a google search). But I think the effect is very very very minor, and most of the reasoning for 10-15% is that's where you look good and are comfortable. But a lot of people look decent at 15-20% and are more comfortable.

They definitely do. My BF% is in the 20s and you can see my abs with no pump or favorite lighting. Having a tan was the difference. I'm not saying my abs really stick out or look like something you'd see in a men's magazine, but you can see that they are there at least. (pics available upon request)

Yeah, when my cut ends, I'll probably do the shrog move. Spend a couple weeks at maintenance, then add 100 cals per day every week or so. Hang out. Etc.

Nah, I married way up and haven't come close to powering up to her level. As my old man says, the best decision I ever made and ever will make was to marry her.


Noted, I definitely will need to tantantan next year.

DFII/kc/saw --

Interesting discussion, thanks for the info. I had to run a bit more of a deficit than I "should" have given what ifcalc told me, so I'm going to ramp up slowly as others have suggested. Probably going to keep my average calories to the 2500-2700 level over the next 4-6 weeks (ifcalc puts maintenance at 2900ish) and see what happens, and then follow the Shrog plan after that.

I was gonna bring up the reverse dieting plan as well. I can't recall Lyle grounding it in any solid science (doubt there's much research in this area), but iirc both him and Alan recommend that approach.

Weight this morning: 189.0; had about 25 g of carbs in addition to my preworkout bcaas and felt a little better. Only lol with my partner was when I was kind of pushing him to get his ass in gear because of the loco challenge, he finished with about 15 seconds left before I had to go and then started putting his own plates back on the rack instead of sliding a quarter on the bar for me. Annoying.

8/23
Bench 3x10x185, 8x185
Incline Bench 5x135, 5x160, 5x180
DB Bench 7, 6x90
DB Incline Flye 2x15x30
DB Pullovers 2x12x45
Cable Front Raise 12x17.5, 12x12.5
Cable Lateral Raise 2x12x10
Chins 6x+25, 6x+30, 6x+35
Facepulls 3x12x42.5
1 Arm Cable Pulldown 2x12x45
DB Shrugs 2x12x90
EZ Curl 2x10, 1x8x65
DB Hammer 3x10x25

Almost got the loco challenge but didn't quite have enough in the tank; pretty confident 3 minutes rest instead of 2 would have been tough but doable. I think it wiped me out a bit more than I thought, because incline was pretty hard, and stepping up from 85 to 90 on DB bench was harder than I thought. Pullovers gave me a good stretch, and I was pretty stoked to get to the point on chins where I could start with a 25 plate -- 35 plate start is next. I cut out the 1 arm DB rows because it was just too much, but I'll keep doing them on press day because I like the exercise.

Additional post workout nude with ****ty lighting for "pump":

There's not a whole lot of science to consider. I think most of the benefits are tied around finding your new maintenance in the most cautious way possible. There's really not a good consensus in the community imo about the metabolic damage/adaptation/repair aspect of the topic.

ETA: also minimizing drastic water weight shifts - which scares the **** out of most people

MC,
hawt. All that stands between you and a career as a nude model is a tan.


saw,
I dunno, finding your new maintenance shouldn't be hard. You've already adjusted if the cut has been long, and starting to eat again won't affect your needed cal levels much. Maybe I'm extrapolating from my own situation but I've never noticed a significant difference in caloric needs (i.e. maintenance going significantly up) going from a diet to a surplus. I trust Aragon more than most other guys and he basically trolls metabolic damage relentlessly on FB.

Yea I'm more trying to provide my analysis for the overall rationale behind reverse dieting, not necessarily agreeing/disagreeing on its usefulness. I'm still a little undecided about my own opinion of it. Part of me is very Lyle on it and part of me thinks that for some people, metabolism may be extremely adaptive.

ETA: I'd note also that I was linked to a log on bb.com that shows some pretty interesting reverse dieting effects. Who knows.

Weight this morning: 189.4; not bad for getting pretty drunk on Friday night and eating a ton of dessert, plus a ton of pulled pork and mac and cheese at my fantasy draft. I've also discovered that protein powder and greek yogurt is surprisingly tasty.

8/26
DL 5x235, 3x265, 4x295
FS 5x110, 5x125, 5x145
BSS 2x10x15
Pullthroughs 2x12x70
Hypers 3x15x+45
Pullups 2x9, 1x7xbw
Hammer Machine Row 3x12x110
Cable Crunch 4x15x50
Pallofs 3x12x35

DL was very meh, tried the mini-reset and mini-breathe method and it felt like I couldn't get quite as tight -- need to practice I guess. I don't think the cable station I was doing the crunches on is tall enough; I can't get enough range of motion to make it worthwhile. Semi-legit to do it kneeling do you think, or just scrap it?

Now that I'm bulking, I'm thinking of switching up the programming to something more strength based -- maybe a 2-3 month GSLP cycle with a little bit of assistance added after the main lifts, and then transition into TM sometime towards the end of the year? Something like:

M -- Squat, Bench or Press, Weighted chins, some assistance
W -- DL, FS, Bench or Press, some back thing, some assistance
Fri -- Squat, Bench or Press, Weighted pullups, some assistance

Thoughts?

MC,

loco just posted a standing cable crunch in his log (well, last page) that doesn't require a ton of motion. Or you can do it the Rob Riches way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1nvxfWlWgM.

TM sounds like a good fit for you imo, and some GSLP to start might not be silly either. Wouldn't push the reset thing too long though, 1 or 2 max.

That's the cable crunch I was trying to do, I guess I just need to rewatch Candito and try to get the motion down.

Maybe a 2 month GSLP followed by a transition into TM would be the way to go -- I just feel like my lower body weights are still too jellydick to credibly move to TM just yet.

Yeah, you should have some linear gainz in you. Also you can do TM for upper body while you do GSLP for lower body since you have a fairly big discrepancy.

looking hawt in the pump pic. need tan obv.

brown skin is good for 2 things: making muscles pop, and scaring white women when you walk past them at night.

True, but I may have some linear gains (albeit the microloading kind) in me in the upper body stuff too, since I've dropped a fair bit from when I was fatas****.

I'll see how I feel, but I'm liking the idea of two months of GSLP starting Monday, with TM to start in November.

Thanks man.

Pretty sure I'd get skin cancer long before I got brown, just need to do some shirtless biking next spring or something for LISS. Cardio sucks though, I probably won't do it.

Yeah no need to separate the progressions yet, but you prob need to switch the upper body lifts over to TM before the lower body ones.

PM me for tanning tips, I'm equally pale and have it all figured out. It involves skin grafts and might be slightly uncomfortable, but how else will we ever be able to wear a pink thong in front of screaming male fans on stage?

Sexay. Jelly about dem wide shoulders/chesticles for dat V taper.

Thanks buddy. For something even gayer, my father-in-law noted that I'd lost too much weight and needed to gain some weight back in my butt by the weekend since we're having a Labor Day bash with our gay neighbors. Slightly creepy.

In other news, thoughts on the utility of these squat mobility exercises from Candito? Thinking of doing them after squats once I switch to GSLP:

Just got back from the chiro, she said everything looks much improved (even t-spine mobility) and that we're going to have one appointment in about 5 weeks and then I should be good to go. I haven't had any pain or ROM issues with my arm for a while, and now it's just a matter of continuing to concentrate on that side a bit more until I get any latent strength imbalances worked out. Feels pretty good to have gotten this taken care of so quickly.

:chathumb: