Dr Gainslove or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the carb

[Simon Rest]

I've got short fingers as well. It's doable, but hurts once the weight gets up there. I managed to hookgrip 3 plates. I stopped because I was deadlifting at the end of a 2 hour session and I couldn't concentrate enough to do it.



I wonder if it'd just be easier to spend a dedicated 3-4 weeks dropping some fat, while keeping intensity up on lifts. You might end up losing some strength, but I think most can be preserved.

Ha, Cheers.

1- I can't actually get my middle finger over my thumb.

2- permabulk, Just gotta stay in the 120s.... I just can't give up the strength gains. I think. I may be addicted.

[DV]

I've decided that my efforts at recomp are starting to hold back my strength gains, particularly when I know I'm going to have some wine. I generally drop food intake to try and preserve calories, and it's not great. I am going to aim for a minimum food consumption, and try to limit alcohol, but not stress if I go over my calorie limit. I'll start by eating 2 burgers tomorrow

I have battled the diet/bodycomp thing long and hard, and I came to realize:

1. You can actually preserve a surprising amount of strength (i.e. not lose much if any) as long as you are above 12-14% (e.g. no abs). At least I have been able to. It's not easy, mentally, though.

2. There really are no shortcuts, and trying to find a "balanced" way of dropping the lbs is inherently flawed as you are, by definition, trying NOT to be in balance, but a deficit. Flexible dieting is great, but in order to create this deficit and keep performance high as well as not going nuts, there is no way around plenty of veg, complex carbs, low fat meats etc for 90-95% of your calories.

3. I have found that having one (1) cheat meal outside the house per week, not taking anything back home, and trying to be high carb/low fat can help with the mental side without throwing the entire process.

So I would agree that if you ever do want to cut down then it's a matter of deciding to spend a period of time focusing on that, knowing you will be limited in what you can eat and drink. And then appreciate it all the more when you start getting back towards "normal".

Also: Good to see some heavy squatting this soon after a back deal. Gives me hope!

[Gerhard]

^ This guy knows the score.

Me, I'm not really gaining any strength, but I'm still stronger (SBD KG recent performance consistency: 160/96/205) than 90% of gym goers hanging around 12% bodyfat. But yeah, I lost strength, not loads, but enough to set things back when I cut down from 91kg to my current 82kg'ish. How much do you currently weigh? Rough BF% estimate?

I've been working on little plans based on shit I've learned from Jordan to get the ball rolling on dieting strategies for friends - with more flexibility than Jordan's methods (although they are quite flexible, he's not a fan of cheating, etc, and I think a lot of people need that element to adhere in the longer term). It's not rocket science, but having different perspectives can sometimes be a good thing right?

I'm good at losing weight... Not so good at gaining it though!

[Simon Rest]

Cheers for the input guys. I can tell that there are minor changes in body composition, but they are so minor that they'd be invisible to an outsider. Also, it's soooo sloooow. It's taken me 6 months to life a couple of percent body fat. Then again, I've added 20kg to my lower body lifts and 10kg to my upper body lifts in that time, and realistically that's why I'm here. If I just wanted to get lean if go back to intermittent fasting and not lifting.

I guess my comments were more in relation to not sabotaging my strength gains by trying not to eat as much.

[Simon Rest]

Also: Good to see some heavy squatting this soon after a back deal. Gives me hope!

Direct heat, anti inflammatory creams and pills, stretching and rolling all helped

^ How much do you currently weigh? Rough BF% estimate?

Sitting around 115 at 20-25%. Hard to tell because far loss isn't even on me. My legs and arms got leaner faster than my torso. Recently I'm getting better definition around my shoulders and upper chest. It's like a receding tide...

[DV]

It's taken me 6 months to life a couple of percent body fat. Then again, I've added 20kg to my lower body lifts and 10kg to my upper body lifts in that time, and realistically that's why I'm here. If I just wanted to get lean if go back to intermittent fasting and not lifting.

I guess my comments were more in relation to not sabotaging my strength gains by trying not to eat as much.

That's not bad progress at all. I just meant to give an input as trying to follow an approach as you seemed to be getting into just lead me to spinning my wheels.

I'd take 20/10kg increases every 6 months any day tbh.

Are you training for a sport, general health, doing a lifting competition or anything like that?

[Simon Rest]

Thanks, I'm quietly pleased with progress this year. I only added 20kg to my squat and 15 to my Deadlift all last year.

I started training for general health and I went from about 125kg @ 40% bf down to 107kg at 25-30%bf, and have been building from there.

I participate in powerlifting (compete is to flattering a term for my results) but just socially

[Gerhard]

Thanks, I'm quietly pleased with progress this year. I only added 20kg to my squat and 15 to my Deadlift all last year.

I started training for general health and I went from about 125kg @ 40% bf down to 107kg at 25-30%bf, and have been building from there.

I participate in powerlifting (compete is to flattering a term for my results) but just socially

That's a big change dude, almost 20kg of weight loss well done! You probably had less fat on you than you thought you did at 125kg. And even less when you cut down to 107kg. Have you ever had a DXA scan?

[Simon Rest]

That's a big change dude, almost 20kg of weight loss well done! You probably had less fat on you than you thought you did at 125kg. And even less when you cut down to 107kg. Have you ever had a DXA scan?

Learning to not eat helps. Ha, I ran lp without eating. Not surprising: I stalled really badly.

Never had a dexa because I don't really care about the numbers. I weigh myself maybe one a month or less. Im looking better. Clothes fit well. The wife keeps telling me I'm "getting tighter". My Tongan rugby friend at the gym tells me I'm getting cut. That'll do.

[Gerhard]

Learning to not eat helps. Ha, I ran lp without eating. Not surprising: I stalled really badly.

Never had a dexa because I don't really care about the numbers. I weigh myself maybe one a month or less. Im looking better. Clothes fit well. The wife keeps telling me I'm "getting tighter". My Tongan rugby friend at the gym tells me I'm getting cut. That'll do.

That's a big boost too. I know a lot of people, even loved ones can inadvertently be dismissive of progress. You know, like saying the wrong things like "don't lose anymore weight, and you are getting too thin". In this respect, your wife is telling you the right things, namely that she approves of the changes!

Tongans can be beastly bastards. I've only known one personally - Fayin, ironically he was also a rugby player (prop, as if you had to guess!?) and built like a brick shithouse (6'2, a tad under 300lbs). The guy rarely hit the weightroom, but when he did, he made it look like child's play.

Speaking of Tongans, Remember King Haku? The stories about this guy are unreal, but quite believable (Fay was like the nicest guy ever, completely docile, but I've heard he had to be quelled by the rest of his team when some drunk guy made fun of his tattoo - a big deal with a lot of the islanders, as it's part of their identity):