NieKZ - Back at it (176KG)

[NieKZ]

I've made so many threads over the years with logs/journies, with many ups and downs.
So here is the latest: I'm back at 176KG. I'm back being miserable. I'm back to living in pain.

... And I'm back being motivated for building a better life that I can enjoy with my soon-to-be wife.

tl;dr of where I am at the moment
- Permanent ankle, hip & back pain
- Clothing fits less and less
- Sleep apnea picked has become worse and worse (already sleep with a CPAP, but it can only do so much)

SO.

Day 0
I bit the bullet and bought a power rack & equipment for restarting 5x5. My equipment is 2 weeks out, and I'll be using the time
in the meantime to start building other habits to enable me to get back into lifting 3x week once they do get here. (food logs, drinking water instead of sodas)

Feel free to follow if this interests you

[NieKZ]

Day 1:

Breakfast:
Futurelife cereal w/ milk
Cuppachino w/ sugar

Snack 1:
Yoghurt

Lunch:
Haddock w/ potatoes

Snack 2:
36g Crisps

Dinner:
Burger & fries
Soda

Snack 3:
Chinese Custard bun

Totals:
2,447cal 270c 99f 71p

Not terrible for the first day, but not great either. At the very least, im below my 2.5k calorie goal, but need to get some greens + veg in to lessen the bulk of the fatty foods im eating.
Also managed to get 1l of water down today. Going to aim for 1.5l tomorrow and see how it goes.

All in all, happy with today, and keen to head into tomorrow. Baby steps.

[NieKZ]

Day 2

Breakfast:
Cappachino w/ Sugar
2 Rusks (ran out of milk for cereal)

Snack:
Skipped - will see how badly this turned out

Lunch:
Noodles (made 1 pack initially, then ended up making more. I'm pinning this on skipping my morning snack, so will need to work on this)

Snack:
Crisps (36g)

Dinner:
Sushi - Deviated from the initial plan for dinner, which really threw things off for today

Totals:
3,599cal 437c 128f 147p

---

Okay so, today went terribly. All started with having less breakfast than usual and then skipping my morning snack. It seems like i definitely do better with small'ish ~400cal meal segments during the day rather than large ones,
so that will be something i aim for when planning week 2 (already bought stuff for this week). Not feeling great about today, but also not completely down in the dumps, just need to pick it up tomorrow and do better

Equipment update: Flooring mats arrived, so that has me excited at least

[NieKZ]

Day 3

Pretty terrible day over all. I have some stuff logged, but im guessing i was probably 1k above what was logged (social event).

1,985cal 164c 127f 56p

Also drank next to no water, which is probably why im feeling the way im feeling today

[NieKZ]

Day 3 - 6

Didn't log food intake, was away from tech over the weekend for the most part. I did not go overboard with snacks/food over the weekend,
which i feel pretty good about, if i had to guess my intake would have been close to maintenance on each day which is acceptable to me (rather than a binge fest).

Got notified that my barbell & plates are going to be delivered today, so pretty psyched for that (not that ill be able to use them since my rack hasn't arrived yet.

[NieKZ]

Update:
Weigh in: 177.8kg

Feels bad man. Probably fluctuation in weight, but still not great seeing an increase of 2kg after a week. Will check weight daily for the next week to see if its just up and down, or if I actually gained (hopefully not the latter).

Equipment update:
Bench, barbell & plates arrived. Bench feels stable (this was a big concern of mine, being a big dude), and barbell is rated higher than what was indicated on the listing (450kg rating on caps vs 300kg on listing), not that I would
be lifting that much anyways for the time being (or probably ever). Current plates I have are : 2x 1.25kg, 2x 2.5kg, 2x 5kg, 2x 10kg. Planning to start with just the bar and work my way up in 2.5kg increments. Hopefully this stays consistent for a while, and I will likely add 4x 20kg plates in a month or two to have some headroom.

Waiting on the power rack still, hopefully arriving later this week

[NieKZ]

Update:
Weigh in: 178.4kg

Definitely missing stuff when doing daily tracking, weights going up consistently, so im definitely off by around ~1000 calories (500 would put me at maintenance,
and my aim was to be at a 500 calory deficit, so i'm missing quite a bit every day). Will try to be more stringent in what I am logging, and will rather overcompensate
w.r.t calories logged vs trying to be spot on.

Equipment update:
Still waiting on my rack (sadly), so no lifting as of yet.

[NieKZ]

12 / 5 / 2021

Rack order arrived yesterday, spent about 8 hours assembling (wasted like 3 hours with crap tools, ended up going out and buying adjustable spanners instead)

Had my first workout today :
Squats @ 20kg - 3 x 5
Bench @ 20kg - 3 x 5
Deadlifts @ 20kg - 3 x 5 (I goofed, forgot I should have been doing only 1 set. I guess it doesn't matter too much since its still light)

tl;dr - following starting strength. Feel like i would be able to progress quickly to build a foundation, and then I can work on higher rep ranges later on. For now, strength is my main focus (and removing the back pain).

Feel good about the workout over all. I don't have 20kg plates yet, so I deadlifted off stuff I had laying in the garage, so likely higher than it should be, but its fairly close. Form in the squat needs a TON of work, I don't feel like
I go deep enough, but my gut is semi limiting me at this stage. For now, I'll go as deep as I can, and try improve over time as the movement becomes more second nature

[NieKZ]

12 / 7 / 2021

Workout 2, week 1

Squats @ 25kg - 3 x 5
Overhead Press @ 20kg - 3 x 5
Deadlifts @ 40kg - 1 x 5

Workout felt good. Flexibility is improving in squat. Can’t get my hands properly
into the low bar position just yet, but im stretching every day and trying to push
getting my hands in the right place (shoulder Flexibility is limiting me currently)

12 / 9 / 2021

Workout 3, week 1

Squats @ 30kg - 3 x 5
Bench @ 22.5kg - 3 x 5
Deadlifts @ 45kg - 1 x 5

Workouts getting better. Squats still fairly light, but I don’t want to push increasing
the weight too quick. I’d rather work on getting my form in check while it’s still light.
For deadlifts, getting all the way to the floor position is slightly difficult. Hopefully
this also improves over time

[NieKZ]

Check in after week 1:

Weight 177.8kg

I guess I should be happy about the weight being "slightly" lower? idk, feels less than I would have liked. Not sure, combination of not being consistent with diet + starting to work out again? probably just the former.

13 Dec '21
Workout 1, Week 2

Squat @ 35kg - 3 x 5
Overhead Press @ 22.5kg - 3 x 5
Deadlifts @ 50kg - 1 x 5

Haven't missed a lift yet, but struggled with my deadlift form this morning, rest of the workout went well. Had a weird experience. My squat felt like it was... easier? Last week I was always winded after
squats, and felt like they were hard to complete, but today the squats were the easiest in my routine.
I can already tell that I am going to struggle progressing on overhead press. It's already becoming harder (I can probably do another 10kg as I am right now, but likely not much more). Deadlifts went pretty bad today, my form went to downhill half way and I almost didn't complete the set. It wasn't too heavy, I'm honestly not quite sure what happend, lost concentration or w.e.

Over all, a good start to week 2. The biggest struggle I have at the moment is waiting for the next workout. Feels good to be a bit active again.

[NieKZ]

15 Dec '21
Workout 2, Week 2

Squat @ 40kg - 3 x 5
Bench @ 25kg - 3 x 5
Deadlifts @ 55kg - 1 x 5

Had quite a bit of forarm pain before starting today's session, but pushed through. Squats felt
off in terms of form. Bench felt way too light for me, so I guess thats a good thing for progression.
Deadlifts were heavy. Back was a bit tight after, but I think its more about my form than anything.

All in all, a good session today. Next one on friday, then weigh in the weekend