Okay, I'm about halfway to the deadline to achieve as many of my personal fitness goals as possible. Right now I'm hitting some setbacks that have me rethinking what I really want and exactly how much I want it. Keeping it simple I have two goals that I want to achieve at this point.
1. I want to deadlift 405lb raw (meaning no straps and belts)
2. I want to drop to 11% body fat
As far as deadlifting is concerned I still want to build up and go for it on the last week of training. Right now I'm sitting a bit stale at 370lb. I find that the spine can only take so much compression before a person needs to let it decompress and get away from big bilateral movements such as deadlifts. Not to mention I need more mobility work in the hips and ankles to keep progressing. I am addressing this issue by cutting the total TUT (time under tension) instead of dropping bilateral movements out of my program. So far it seems to be working fine. Also every other day I do a circuit without external weight. In this circuit I am pushing to increase mobility in certain joints and stability in others (like knees).With this change comes a change in the dominant energy system training. Where I was very alactic and lactic a few weeks ago, I am now really high lactic and aerobic. The side effect of the change in energy system dominance is a quick drop in bodyweight.
Dropping bodyweight bring me to the real issue with the second goal (11% body fat). I started the program at 205lb and I am now on my way to 195lb (approx 198-196 currently). I REALLY do not like the small look on me. I am also 1 - 2% away from the 11%. I give it this leeway because at this low level of bodyfat it really becomes "touch and go" situation. If I lower my activities too much I gain fat. Also if I stray away from the diet too much I gain fat. I seem to fluctuate between 13.3% to 12.3% weekly. The weight however continues to dip. I feel better near 215-220lb. So, reluctantly, I will stop focusing on this portion of my goals. I will still keep it clean for the most part and keep activities going but this goal is changing to a low bodyfat percentage I can maintain while getting back into "big boy" shape.
So that's where I am at. Pics of the body change will definitely be posted and hopefully video footage of the deadlift at 405lb.
Now things that I learned so far that hopefully can help you with your goals as well:
- I get ample water without adding extra bottles of water as long as I keep the salad intake up. I'm sure other foods have good water in them as well. So I do not need to actually drink 6-8 liters this way.
- Bodyfat reduction responds best to good old fashion aerobic training and reduction in carbs. I hate it but it is a must. I find separating aerobics from strength training is best and doing it 5-6 times a week keeps me in lean condition without emphasis on reducing calories.
- I definitely need to stay away from starchy carbs. They just ruin the day for me. I learned to accept this very expensive 72% pure dark chocolate as my cheat instead. I can nearly eat the stuff daily. It is too expensive for me to do that though.
- Alcohol is best served clear and hard. Every once in a while I will drink beer but Vodka on the rocks is my choice. No fruit juice or soda added.
- Protein shakes and green supplements are a lifesaver. With a regular work day I will get two solid meals in me if I am lucky. The great bonus of this is the ability to just drink the low carb calories down. No debating just drink it. It keeps me on track when I am looking for a extra large pizza.
- Recovery is always important. My body was not responding well to the first week of increased aerobics until I really started doing active recovery work. In my case lots of "foam rolling" and icing. Not surprisingly much of the strength training is very much active recovery. The calories are a bit lower than I want (hence the loss of weight) and when I increase them I know my body will begin recovering faster again.
Halfway there.
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