In May of this year I will have a blog post titled "Realization." In that post I will have a picture of me at my leanest of all time. I said it. Its coming.
I'm a little disappointed it has taken me so long to address what I plan for 2013. But to be perfectly honest, I wasn't sure what I wanted. I've kind of been at a crossroads with training, and everything training related. And I've come to realize that law school is coming to a close and that involves a shitload of work and other serious things: bar applications (insane), finals, graduation, moving across country again, bar studying, taking the bar, etc. I'm not worried about the bar but at the same time it is something that must be respected. So generally, I'm breaking 2013 into to big chunks.
January to May Goals
1. Graduate w/ Latin Honors
2. Be the leanest of my life when I graduate
3. Be able to squat pain free and neutral when I graduate
May to December Goals
1. Pass the bar
2. Don't get fat
3. Powerlifting meet?
School is my number one priority over the next 12 weeks. It has to be. I've put too much time, effort, and money into this shit to slack now. I want to finish strong. So, workouts might take a back seat to school work this semester. They already have a number of times. I'm not bothered by that so long as I keep my diet in check.
The reason I put fat loss as my number two January to May goal is because I want to be lean when I graduate. I spoke of this extensively last year at this time as I prepared for 8 months in DC. We all have a certain vision of ourselves. Maybe it reflects what other people actually see, but maybe there is something else that only we see. This was my problem for a long time: I had a vision of myself that no one else saw. I wasn't in denial. I knew in reality I was a fat fuck, but I also knew I didn't feel comfortable as a fat fuck. It wasn't me. So I got un-fat.
Then I got fat(er) again in November and December. Not horrible, but I let myself slide with shitty eating and alcohol.
So here we are. I have no idea what I weigh (accidentally left my scale in NH), but from the mirror I'd guesstimate 236-238. I'm going to be 225 when I graduate. Or less. I have a little less than 12 weeks to accomplish this.
Nutritionally speaking, I'm actually not currently eating for "fat loss." I'm eating for health and nutrient timing for performance considerations. I might make a nutrition post in the future, but basically I'm making food choices based on some of the recommendations in the Perfect Health Diet and my own independent research. Coupled with this, I'm nutrient timing/fasting based on years of IF/Low-Carb/Backloading. I can't say I'm doing any one protocol, but I'm combining elements of everything I know to eat healthy and drop fat. Its working and I feel phenomenal.
For the record, I've been dropping fat for a good 6 weeks now. I just didn't feel like talking about it because it results in long ass posts.
Training wise, the emphasis is still on mobility and movement. It may not look like that from my posted workouts, but I am insanely in tune to body position for every movement I do. I get it. I know my limitations and what I need to improve. Could my training be even more movement focused? Yes, of course. But I have a training partner now so I've made some concessions. Whatever I do, however, the bottom line is this: nothing I do is going to inhibit the progress I've made.
I'm not getting sloppy with this shit. I'm getting better. I don't post half the random ab shit and movement type things I do in between sets, but I do them all the time. Split squats, planks, rotations, you name it. I'm constantly fucking around with that shit to assess.
May to December will get its own post sometime down the road. Its way down the road though. Essentially, I want to pass the bar, not fuck-up the body composition that I will have, and maybe do a powerlifting meet down the line. The meet is kind of whatever. If I'm doing shit consistently pain free with for I'm comfortable with, then fuck it, I'm loading.
I get where you are coming from on some of this. Right now, I have no life. I can spend 30 mins warming up, then 90 minutes lifting. This is what a full body barbell day looks like. When I posted my idea of an upper/lower split, it was partly to change things up, but mainly to free up time (especially when spring/summer comes).
ReplyDeleteAs far as training partners, I've never had one. I've went to the gym with friends a few times, but we've never come close to seeing eye to eye on things so I've always done my own thing. I have no idea what it's like to lift with someone who is as motivated as I am to do things "right" (blanket term, I don't necessarily mean IFAST right, or Rippetoe right, or anything like that.. )
And if your main goal is to get lean, you technically don't need to be squatting a barbell. Do what you want to do, but don't forget your long term goals. If you want to do a powerlifting meet, you better be doing a full power because push/pull meets are ghey.
In the end, you can side step some of the stuff you've been doing, but at least now you are more conscious with your lifting. Hopefully you don't "undo" anything you've worked hard to fix, but as long as you don't do stupid shit, you should be fine.
The other thing about the warmups is the environment fucking sucks. I do it at the bottom of stairway on concrete with a lacrosse ball and 12 inch extra firm rumble roller. The gym has zero foam rollers. The mats are literally falling apart, and I guesstimate 150+ sweaty college kids lay over each section a day. They are never cleaned. I don't want to pick up weird bacteria and/or STD's. So I don't really want to roll my ass on the concrete more than 2x a week.
ReplyDeleteThe main reason I'm keeping squats is because of the mobility stuff. It forces me to stay focused on improving movement. I really think the squat is key (for me). I'm definitely NOT going in the opposite direction. I guess my point was because of this situation, movement wise, I can't progress as quickly, but I'm definitely still moving forward.
Take Tuesday for example. I wasn't just endlessly heaving DB rows. I did 75 reps per side perfectly. With my hips neutral and ribs down, etc. I mean I started getting anterior core and lateral (on the opposite side of the row) fatigue towards the end. Doing stuff like that really hammers home the correct pelvis position for me, after years of doing it in anterior pelvic tilt.
So I understand what you are saying. Its all stuff I've thought about and worried myself. But I'm still constantly evaluating myself. Constantly. And I read all the mobility/movement guys almost daily to continually educate myself.