[quote]trivium wrote:
[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:
@ryan
You make good points. I have no timetable for leanness, and I’ve been dieting since May. As dumb as this sounds, I’m going to continue cutting through my meet in December so long as I’m gaining strength. At that point I plan on reversing for a couple months and doing a longer accumulation phase. Annnnd I’ll be right back to cutting. I’m very happy with my progress, but I’m obsessed with getting truly lean. I feel too good about the way I look right now to stop while I’m still making good progress in strength and aesthetics.
@trivium
Really it’s both of the things you said. I bulked without regard to weight classes for years all the way up to 218, but I was fat and injury prone. I then realistically assessed my genetics, I.e. I looked at my relatives and parents and combined that data with my own feelings at different weights, and I came to the conclusion that I feel best around 200. And you can damn well hold a lot of muscle at a lean 200 at 5’10". On top of that, I really have no chance of competing at 220, so it all kind of fell into place.[/quote]
Just out of curiosity, what did you do about the injuries?
Not that I am as strong as you were when you were 218, but in the past year I have injured my right ACL, had a minor tear in my low back, messed up something small in my left shoulder, and now I feel that I may have reinjured my back. I was up to 220 at one point (pretty puffy/soft) when I hit my last set of PRs.
I have been going over form like a mofo, but I think it may have something to do with me trying to do too much in training sessions. They are at least two hours long (unless I start having pain) with an AMRAP set that I fail more often than I would like to admit.
What did you end up doing to minimze injuries, while still driving your numbers up?[/quote]
I’m not sure the length of the session is a big deal if a lot of that is rest.
I would say get your mobility in order. The best thing I did for myself was start reading everything I could about injuries that were similar to my own, their rehab, and how to go about preventing them in the future. Not to sound like a broken record, but Kelly Starrett’s stuff is great.
But it’s important to understand that you are your own therapist. You need to try on a lot of shoes, so to speak, and keep the ones that fit. My current mobility routine is the product of lots of trial and error, and everything I keep in it is meant to address my specific issues. Nothing is erroneous or wasted time. This requires self awareness on your part and a scientific approach.
The second and probably more important thing I did was get my diet in order. You will heal better and especially feel better when you are lean. More fat means more inflammation, and you don’t want to start that downward spiral. You’ve probably maxed out the benefit of the all out bulk at this point, so now it’s time to start figuring out your baseline calories, what foods agree with you, etc. the sooner you get that figured, the better. From there you can be precise in how you diet in different training phases.
I wouldn’t advocate attempting an accumulation mesocycle while cutting like I am now, but this is the bed I’ve made by letting myself get so fat in the first place.
