MarkKO's Training Log

It means it’s a birthday or anniversary of joining T-Nation. I joined three years ago today.

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Starting to get really antsy to peak and compete. This is a good thing. I need to make sure I don’t do anything silly over the next cycle but I’m usually reasonably sensible in that respect. I’ll keep hitting a joker single after my squat and DL plus sets, and probably keep using my informal rule of three on my plus sets too (if by the third rep I’m not completely sure of hitting my target I stop - it only really applies to weeks two and three).

I’ll most probably have a crack at a 500 lbs squat in sleeves, or close to it, because those wrapped squats pissed me off. I need (OK, want) to know exactly how much those wraps gave me if they did at all. I swear it felt like they didn’t.

A part of that is also wanting to go into peaking with a fair idea of what I can do. I DON’T want to go in with my current expectations and two weeks in find out I was way too optimistic. I’d rather go in knowing if I’ve lost a lot of strength and work with that rather than be faced with that discovery as I go. The funny thing is I’m not overly concerned beyond being curious. I’m very happy with how much leaner I am and how much I’ve learned over this period. Of course I don’t WANT to be much (any) weaker, but if I am it’s something I can accept and something I’m confident I’ll reverse (and go beyond) as soon as I enter Phase III.

But yeah, curious. Especially about squats with my Slingshot wraps.

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Woke at 183.7 lbs again. Haven’t managed to string together more than three hours sleep since starting nights, which is isn’t ideal but I have managed more naps than usual which is probably why I’m not a complete zombie yet.

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Anchor, cycle 1, week four - deload

Had some PWO on top of my coffee just before training as I figured I’m pretty beat.

Today’s training

Lazy lifter plus shoulders

Press

8 pull-ups between first three warmup sets. Eighth rep still noticeably harder.

Warm-ups felt massively faster than I remember

5x143 lbs, 6-7 RPE
3x159 lbs, 7-8 RPE - got some unintentional leg drive
0x181 lbs - came off the shoulders into a wall
1x176 lbs, 9-10 RPE - I think closest I’ve ever been to a strict bodyweight press

https://www.instagram.com/p/BS-nUoSlHZI/

Bench press 25 total reps at 176 lbs: 12, 11, 5

Bench felt very neat and grooved

BB rows 50 total reps: somexbar, 10x132 lbs strict, 10x176 lbs strict, 10x220 lbs Yates, 10x264 lbs Yates, 15x132 lbs strict

https://www.instagram.com/p/BS-puObluhY/

Supersetted overhead DB tricep extensions/BB curls
Triceps 50 total reps at 50 lbs: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
Biceps 50 total reps at 60 lbs: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

60 second rests between sets. Jury is out on the DB tricep extensions.

Decided to have fun with conditioning as my young friend Tommy was there.

10 yard prowler sprints (length of the indoor track) taking turns every 10 yards starting at 264 lbs (six plates):
3x264 lbs, low handles
3x220 lbs, low handles
3x176 lbs, low handles
3x132 lbs, low handles - Tommy bowed out here. He is asthmatic though
3x88 lbs, alternating low and high handles
3x44 lbs, alternating low and high handles
3xframe, alternating low and high handles

This took about 10 minutes. No rest except for unloading plates or walking to the start from the end.

I tasted metal for a good 10 minutes after and thought I might hurl too. The PWO wore off shortly after this and I crashed hard.

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Oh, feeling a bit soft today - or rather looking a bit soft so feeling it. I think it’s the lack of quality sleep as scale weight hasn’t moved much. Could be some bloating. Not sure.

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Woke at 183 lbs. Some of that’s dehydration. Before bed this morning didn’t look puffy at all.

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wow i go on holiday and bloat up for 2 weeks and you get all ripped !! Nice work

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When are we going to see this shredded physique you’re working on? The baggy clothes are keeping it a secret!

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Soon. I was going to take some pictures just for comparison to the last lost anyway, probably mud next week. Possibly earlier, it depends. I don’t think there’s a ton of difference at the moment, although I’ll see what comes up when I use the exact same lighting.

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I’m probably super hard on myself but I barely notice a difference in my photos from 235lbs down to 222lbs. My abs are the same but my shoulders look smaller (not exactly what I’m going for). I think it’s b/c I carry my fat more if my sides and back.

The point is we’re probably more critical on ourselves and miss the minor changes.

One good thing my selfies do is tell me when my hip is jacked up and out of alignment. The line between my abs was crooked in my last one.

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Woke at 183.5 lbs. Barely slept, what I managed was in 60-90 minute blocks. Two shifts to go.

@Frank_C took a couple of quick snaps in my usual lighting. This is the result.

Relaxed

Posey

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Long live longevity.

He’s not analyzing it. He’s solving it like a rubik’s cube puzzle. Meaning he takes nothing (weight cut process) for granted. In other words, every step is a methodical implementation to rule out the mathematical stress of achieving a triple bdwt squat etc.

I use a top-down approach and start from ‘absolutes’ - “tend towards infinity” thinking. Meaning I assume my weight will not exceed a certain mark and commence my preparation from there.

His approach is much advised on if you want to achieve success. I’m all for the haphazard gains. Follow through for gradual set-point training and insert your level of conditioning to get at it (desired strength-to-weight ratio).

Correct me if I’m wrong, Mark (that was my journey) but I feel primed at a certain WC which has helped in consistency continuity. It’s like lazy lifter shoulders, reach there at all costs and tweak minimally.

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@darkcop I haven’t really spent enough time doing this to feel any particular way about a specific weight; I prefer being leaner, and I certainly feel better for it. However, I’m still at relatively low calories which has an impact on my energy levels and performance. When I have adjusted to this body composition and I’m effectively eating at maintenance, I’ll have a better idea about where my sweet spot is. Simply in relation to my height, I think it will sit between 90 kg/198 lbs and 100 kg/220 lbs at somewhere between 10 and 15% bodyfat.

In terms of an ideal being where I need to make minimal changes I absolutely agree though.

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Felt surprisingly good for having had poor/bugger all sleep. Decided to pause squat instead of front squatting because I really wanted to.

Today’s training

Lazy lifter plus shoulders

Beltless paused squat, standard bar (it was in the mono)

Worked up to 5x330 lbs at 6-7 RPE, pauses around two seconds

Then 3x374 lbs, 7-8 RPE with similar pauses

Finished with a barely paused single at 418 lbs at 9-10 RPE

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTDlIaDlZt5/

I’m pretty happy with that. I think I may squat technically better with no belt.

Felt like I wasn’t quite done so

20x308 lbs, 7-8 RPE

That was fun, and I was done with squats

Bodyweight lunges, 50 total reps per leg: 50

GHR 50 total reps: 15 at 4.5 holes showing, 20 and 15 at 3.5 holes showing

45 degree back raises 100 total reps: 50, 50

Supersetted ab wheel/RDFs
Ab wheel 50 total reps: 5 from feet, 25, 20 from knees
RDFs 50 total reps at 25 lbs: 20, 20, 15

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Looking good man! Pecs are POPPING in that side tri.

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Thanks! I think the angle helps a bit, but I’m still quite pleased.

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Get a shave, shit will pop!

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Made a couple of (final?) tweaks to peaking and my Full Body, Full Boring mash-up.

For peaking, nothing really significant, just putting in a couple of triples for squat where I had singles and realised that was kind of silly at those lighter loads.

For FBFB, I changed day three quite significantly so it no longer runs front squat 5s/bench 5s/DL 5/3/1 but DL 5/3/1/CGBP 5s/beltless squat 5s at 60/70/80. That two cycle period is getting further and further away from what FBFB actually looks like, but I’m very happy with how it looks. Something had been irking me about it and it was the over-focus on front squats and lack of CGBP. Moving DL to the start just makes more sense to me. The three FBFB days now run:

Monday
Squat 5/3/1
Press 5s
Strict BB row 5x10

Tuesday
Front squat 5s
Bench 5/3/1
Yates row 5x10

Thursday
DL 5/3/1
CGBP 5s
Beltless squat 5s @ 60/70/80

Lastly (for the moment) I played with a slight variation to my knee wrapping following an IG post of @Reed using long reach pliers to wrap someone’s knees. No huge change, still doing the sub-x I have found works so well, but starting from the bottom and not losing around a foot of wrap by tying off at the top. Got an easy seven revolutions out of my training red Slingshot wraps, which using my old top down with knot wrapping I would only have gotten with a fight. OK, so maybe my legs have shrunk too, but I’m going to be able to get eight or nine revolutions cranking now. Even using short pliers makes it so much easier, so I’ll run to Bunnings and grab me some long reach pliers on the weekend. Means I’ll probably have to hit a wrapped set next week :wink: very, VERY pleased at how the wrap felt compared to the EFS Normals even without squatting.

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I came here to say this:

“I’m retiring from my approach and beginning the rubik’s cube method.”

It’s quite bad, trying to tie in all the loose ends but I need it for levelling the mean pain threshold level of all that I do.

Intervals at 7-8
Metcon at 8-9
Boss fights at 9-10
Competitions are a 6-7
Dating is at 5-6
Magic is about 1333-4531

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Woke at 183.7 lbs. This run of poor sleep took a good run-up and hit me right between the eyes. Wrecked. It’s just past 1500 now. I’ll be back in bed within six hours because if I don’t get some sleep bad shit will happen to me. I already feel like I’ve been beaten with a stick. I’ll get in a minimum of 1800 calories but I’ll see how much over that I can manage towards 2400.

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