My Latest Summer Cut - All welcome for a chat

[AlexSays]

We here for you Man. Not sure how much help internet people can people. But we support you either way!! Get the leg day in

Got leg day in! On fast so did some small sets of squats, RDLs and weighted lunges

Cheers man, you guys help more than you know. It actually makes me rethink when I know I have to come back to this log and report on my mistakes to you wonderful people, don't wanna let you down

[RandyMcFlab]

your so right, having a log does make you reconsider things knowing its going to be logged lol! nice one getting a leg day in, you doing them at home?

[AlexSays]

your so right, having a log does make you reconsider things knowing its going to be logged lol! nice one getting a leg day in, you doing them at home?

For leg day only at the mo I'm paying £5 for an hour slot at a local gym (none of them are doing regular membership models yet). Decided to devote it to my leg day each week because squats are really the only exercise that is severely limited by my equipment, need a power rack unless you want to clean and press your bar for every set (which I have been doing, never feels safe lol). Still having to keep legs and RDL light however because of back. Only squatting around 60kg and RDL is around 45kg. Finally lower back stability has caught up to my barbell OHP though so no longer limited on that, just gotta build it back up, fed up with pressing under 55kg.

Rest day today, weighed in at 77.3kg/170.4lb. Fast was ended this morning at 62 hours

Nutrition

1x chocolate weetabix and milk + pear + satsuma
2x chicken mayo and cheese sandwiches
2x white chocolate smarties buttons
Chicken Korma for dinner out of a jar though but still good

[Raigs]

Stinks about the gym. At least you can get in and get legs done.

Enjoy that korma. Indian food is always a nice treat

[AlexSays]

Woke up today at 77.3kg/170.4lb again looks like I'm still maintaining the fast weight loss, probably havent had enough carbs

In the office today but nutrition has basically been two shop sandwiches, a banana and 2 scoops of whey isolate.

Workout will be push when I get home, hopefully the damn rain let's up or will have to try and do it inside

[wilkinkc]

Glad to see you are still able to get in the gym for leg day. Hard to do proper squats without a rack setup for it. Tonight will be my first (safe) time doing squats with my barbell lol. Been lifting it up over my head onto my shoulders but have been keeping the weight down because of this lol.

[AlexSays]

Glad to see you are still able to get in the gym for leg day. Hard to do proper squats without a rack setup for it. Tonight will be my first (safe) time doing squats with my barbell lol. Been lifting it up over my head onto my shoulders but have been keeping the weight down because of this lol.

Yeah man glad I've got one nearby with a session by session option!

Today

It's finally happened, I got too cocky! My back is now thrown, trying to stave off a real spasm with painkillers, I'm hoping it goes away in a couple of days, if I have to start from square one with this again I think I might go clinically insane. To be honest I wasn't very careful with it today ARGHHHHHH Fuking hate this, feels so debilitating

Weighed in at 77.5kg/170.8lb so weight is still hovering.

Workout

Combined today's pull session into a full upper as was too tired to do my push day yesterday

Barbell OHP 49kg/108lb: 6, 6, 5
Wide grip pullups BW: 8, 6, 5
Incline press 30kg/66lb DBs: 10, 8, 8
DB rows 30kg/66lb DBs: 8, 8, 8
Lat raises 10kg/22lb plate: 8, 8, 8

Everything felt horrible today

RIP back

Nutrition

1x chicken breast and ketchup
2x chicken mayo and cheese sandwiches (another chicken breast, light mayo, light cheese)
1x satsuma
will have 2x Sandwiches for dinner

[brit-iron]

Oh man, I hate when that happens. I feel your frustration, been there more times than I care to remember.
Hope it's only a tweak, backs are funny things. Go easy!

[AlexSays]

Oh man, I hate when that happens. I feel your frustration, been there more times than I care to remember.
Hope it's only a tweak, backs are funny things. Go easy!

Thanks for the support! It actually nauseates me whenever it happens, it's a special kind of pain, like a kind of 'you will never be completely mobile again' kind of pain

Have let it rest this weekend and seems to have gone away but only a lifting session will be able to confirm this! If it is fine I have at least progressed from when a spasm would make me unable to use the muscle at all for like a month

May update later today but feeling very unmotivated, more drinking, only dipped significantly below maintenance once over the weekend (didn't binge, just hovered around maintenance or maybe 1-200 cals above) and all round feel crummy. Not even sure if I'll be working out today

This is where cuts become frustrating

[AlexSays]

Today

Didn't weigh, was drinking last night and barely made it up in time for work. Feeling a little demotivated as mentioned above. Have done my workout as the time you least want to do it is probably the time you most need to. Felt weak AF on bench

Workout

Bench press 79kg/174lb: 3, 3, 3
Wide grip BOR 57kg/126lb: 7, 7, 7
OHP 42kg/93lb: 8, 7, 6
Neutral grip pullup BW: 5, 5, 5
BB curls 27kg/60lb: 8, 8, 8
Narrow grip pressups BW + 10kg/22lb: 10, 10, 10

Nutrition

Handful of Cadburys chocolate orange buttons (so friggin good)
1 pear + 1 satsuma
50g Whey isolate
2x steak and mayo sandwiches
Will have korma and rice for dinner

[safcpaul]

Chin up alex and good job still getting your workout in. How do you add weight to your push ups. Put a plate on your back or wear a vest?

[AlexSays]

Chin up alex and good job still getting your workout in. How do you add weight to your push ups. Put a plate on your back or wear a vest?

If its just accessory I just dump a 10kg plate on my back. If I'm doing it as a real compound and I'm using more than one plate I put them in a rucksack

Pressups are so awesome

[AlexSays]

Weighed in at 77.2kg/170.2lb today so heading in the right direction still

Leg day at the real gym today. Fed up of these light weights, want to actually start squatting and RDL-ing some real weight. It's so frustrating, currently my bench working weight is 20% higher than my squat and DL which is just wrong. Gotta look out for my back though I guess if I ever want it to actually get better

[AlexSays]

Got in a fun legs workout at the gym today, actually enjoyed myself!

Squat 65kg/143lb: 6, 6, 6
RDL 50kg/110lb: 6, 7, 8
Hanging leg/body raises: 10, 8, 8
Sled push 50kg/110lb (added weight): 8 lengths in sets of 2 (the carpet isn't that long)

Haven't done sled push before but felt great on my hams, quads, calves, glutes and posterior chain in general, will continue to incorporate them. Need to build some all round functional strength in that area!

[Raigs]

Nice finisher on the sled pushes. It’s crazy how much damage it does. I really enjoy the pain.

Yes stay smart with the squats and dead’s to keep the back healthy. It’s hard to remember and stay on track but it will be better in the long run

[RandyMcFlab]

sounds like a pretty decent gym if you can do that there! I feel the same way about farmers carry, seems like a great functional strength exercise.

[AlexSays]

Yeah the gym is pretty good, suits my new home brewed workout ethic. Virtually no machines just power racks, benches, bars and heavy ass weights. Am enjoying it there!

Weighed in today at 76.9kg/169.5lb. Fat is slowly being munched away although definition seems to be reducing not increasing which is kindof annoying and likely in my head

Rest day today, here's to no booze tonight! :/

[AlexSays]

Later day edit

Did no workout today but gonna be jumping on lifting challenge over in the workout routine forum so decided to max on curls today for it (small muscle group, isn't going to affect recovery so ideal to do on a rest day)

44kg strict (97lb)

got 46.5kg (102lb) but my butt moved about an inch off the wall as did my back at one point . Videos are over in that forum

[Raigs]

Nice strict curl. That reminds me of watching Larry wheels strict curl 200 like it was nothing

[AlexSays]

Cheers mannn, lol I wish that was what my curl reminded me of XD

Realised I won't actually be able to work out tomorrow and will be away for a while without access to my kit! So did a last upper workout:

Workout

OHP 52kg/115lb: 5, 5, 5, 4
Incline press 30kg/66lb DBs: 6, 8, 10, 6
Lat raises 10kg/22lb plates: 8, 8, 8
DB rows 30kg/66lb DBs: 8, 8
Wide grip pullups BW: 5, 5, 5, 5

Bit of extra volume and increased my OHP today as felt fairly energised

[AlexSays]

76.7kg/169lb today so all going good weight-wise

Nutrition today has gone a little awry, started off fine with 50g whey and my two sandwiches for lunch. Then the hunger demon took hold and have had a bit of a binge on... shreddies?

Literally had 3 big bowls already, cereal is one of my weaknesses. May have to sacrifice dinner to stay on track and may still be a little over, no idea how they manage to make something which is basically plain wheat so calorie dense.

[RTB1]

76.7kg/169lb today so all going good weight-wise

Nutrition today has gone a little awry, started off fine with 50g whey and my two sandwiches for lunch. Then the hunger demon took hold and have had a bit of a binge on... shreddies?

Literally had 3 big bowls already, cereal is one of my weaknesses. May have to sacrifice dinner to stay on track and may still be a little over, no idea how they manage to make something which is basically plain wheat so calorie dense.

I'm guessing shreddies are like Shredded Wheat cereal here in the States. Some kinds come with powdered sugar on top. Haha man I could NOT keep something like that in the house. I'd scarf them sober; after a few drinks forget about it -- the box would be gone. The impressive thing about you is that you can and do "correct" these slip ups right away. A lot of people once they break containment they just keep going off the reservation (I'm one of them) so it's cool that you have the mental strength to make yourself suffer to get back on track. When you think about it, it really makes sense to not let a slip up derail yourself. What's in the past is in the past, don't let it affect the future. It has no bearing on your next meal / workout / etc. unless you allow it to.

[Raigs]

Yeah agreed. No way I could keep anything unhealthy in the house. It be gone in one day. The worst thing I have is dried mangoes.

Did you end up going over for the day with dinner or no dinner?

[AlexSays]

Can confirm i retained deficit on shreddie day! I think its easier to compensate if you eat a little more flexibly to begin with. If youre used to fitting in treats and macro enemy foods then when you do slip up it is more like accommodating an extra large meal by molding the rest of your day around it rather than a "dam" bursting on restricted foods

We actually have shredded wheat here too and I literally would DIE for some frosted wheats right now. Shreddies are a lil different. Kindof like wheat pillows but in more of a grid pattern, look up on Google images. They're pretty bland but weird what you "latch" onto in a cut haha. Unfortunately the shreddies were in the office so I was defenceless when I got hungry at my desk.

On this holiday there will be lots of eating out, fish and chips, holiday house snacks etc. Normally I get a bit "fuk it" when away and just fix it when I get back. This time, although I will not aim to be in a consistent or large deficit, I'm attempting to eat fairly smart and at least be in a small deficit some days and definitely no large surpluses (a couple hundred calories on a day or two won't bother me

[AlexSays]

Hi All,

Back to work today so naturally I'm wasting my time updating my log :P weighed in at 76.5kg/168.6lb today but weighed about an hour earlier than I normally do and for some reason I tend to drop almost an lb in that last hour? Hopefully have made some progress over the last week but ended up drinking a couple of times again so bloat is going to be all over the place.

Rest day today so no update on workouts etc and can't really be bothered to do nutrition, did a full body yesterday to get my eye back in and will do another tomorrow. However I have got some progress photos that I took on my holiday. Thought it was an interesting study on how different the same physique looks in different lights (these two photos were taken about 10 mins apart, no lifting for 4 days at this point).

[safcpaul]

Looking lean good job

[AlexSays]

Looking lean good job

Thanks broski

75.1kg/165.5lb today mofos. Getting a little light now. Am down 8.9kg which is around 19.6lb so definitely no longer feeling podge.

May be time to transfer to maintenance soon. The plan is to stay at maintenance for a while to get me used to increased food and hopefully slowly ease me out of protracted hunger. I won't go into a surplus for a bit to avoid losing control (a real danger).

The phrase 'I wanna cut down to around 10% and then go on a looooooong clean bulk' is so overused in this forum it literally makes my teeth grind because it is something 99% of people say and about 1% of people actually do.

I'm nowhere near 10% yet, maybe around 15 but definitely lean enough to start making some strength and mass gains again soon without becoming a cloud too quickly.

However unsure whether this is just the hunger in my head talking, I'm now entering the danger phase of the cut and when I've finished a bulk I always look back to this stage and just scream 'YOU IDIOT. ALL YOU NEEDED TO DO WAS LOSE 6-7 MORE LBS AND YOU COULDA BEEN SHREDDED'. But that's when I feel strong and swole, not when I feel skinny and weak. No point in having abs if you look like an 8th grade swimmer in clothes

gaaahh sorry for my conflicted monologue, this is literally my entire train of thought after around month 3 of a cut. The mind games my head starts to play become convoluted

[safcpaul]

Nice 'whoosh' there. You're definitely lean enough to go on a mass phase but if I was you, I would lose about 6 more lb and then enjoy a nice long lean bulk

[RandyMcFlab]

Nice work! id be tempted to just start the slow bulk now! your already pretty damn lean. Plus your strength is already good think what a slow bulk would do for you there.

But if losing control is a worry on a bulk maybe maintenance is good for a while to ease yourself into it.

[xsquid99]

Nice job man, you're definitely hovering right around 15%. You definitely wouldn't be shredded if you just lost another 7-8 lbs, you would probably need to go another 15-20 lbs to get down near 10%. But that being said if you lost another 6-8 lbs you would probably be down around 13%, which may be a slightly better spot to bulk from. Up to you, some people don't mind bulking from 15 up to about 20% (thats what I actually do), other people prefer not to go up that high, just kind of depends on what works for you.

Good progress though, enjoyed reading the thread.