#992
Post
by MarkKO » Fri Feb 10, 2023 7:47 pm
Well, that brings the accumulation part of this cycle to a close. I was going to train yesterday but walked in, heard the BS religious garbage music the wannabe priest who I also suspect is a budding white supremacist who trains at the gym plays every time here's there, in the dark; and promptly walked out. I was not in the mood to be around that shit.
Disclaimer: if you are religious I would suggest not reading any further, just FYI. I respect your right to believe what you like and don't want to needlessly upset you.
Some context, I've seen this guy around the gym periodically. Keeps to himself, always wears the exact same jumper even in the heat and seems to train a little before I do so there's some crossover. Overheard him talking about possibly being called to the ministry so figured he's insane but that's his business and made a mental note to avoid talking to him just in case he tried to convert me. If he's the first one in the gym he trains in the dark, and even though he wears headphones plays very obviously proselytising music on the stereo, which is annoying but there you go. I generally take it as read that most devoutly religious people have zero self awareness so it doesn't surprise me. I was talking to my mate who I train with there a few weeks back and this all came into the conversation and he mentioned this dude said to him in passing how a band he likes couldn't come to Aus because of their political views and then mentioned how he lurks on 'national socialist' forums and I'm pretty sure there's another term for national socialists. It also turns out one reason he's still training at the gym is that he thinks it might let him connect with people to bring into the church. Again, mentally ill and with zero self awareness at best.
So I may be barking up the wrong tree but there's quite a lot there that points towards a conclusion that not only is this dude insane but a racist piece of shit.
I'm not a confrontational person unless I have to handle business, and unless I can actually see this fuckwit obviously being what I'm pretty sure he is I can't do much but I don't really like being around shit, so I try to avoid him.
Anyway, that's my story.
I figured I'd train today instead but I'm tired AF and since peak starts next week there doesn't seem to much point to go for one session just to say I've gone.
This last block has been not all that I wanted it to be, but given how it kicked off I'm not complaining. All I have to do now is string a reasonable peak together and I cam get down to the business of shedding some fluff and building back up. I'm in a reasonably good position to post a better total, and quite possibly hit 1543 lbs if I can keep everything together and do what I need to on the day.
I'm going to look at doing quite a short, aggressive cut so that I can still have a reasonable maintenance adjustment period before building back up. Provisionally I'm looking at taking 12 weeks or so to drop as close to 198 lbs as I can reasonably get, which would be drop rate of just under two pounds a week. That isn't nothing.
My thinking is that previously I've always had long, slow diets. Often they've lasted well over six months. Works well, isn't overly onerous; BUT means I lose a lot of time and training isn't really going to be as productive. This time I want to try short and aggressive. I know it means I'll risk losing more muscle; but I think because I'll be training as close to normally as possible I should be able to mitigate that.
Then I take around three months to adjust my set point; maybe six, but that would be OK. Because experience dictates I can train very productively while technically maintaining, with a super slow rate of growth. This is what I ended up doing last time around.
What I'm looking at is after the meet at 220 lbs, take three months to drop fat then three to six months to adjust and then have a run at another meet at 220 again in about a year, where if I manage everything right I should be able to pick up just about where I left off and just be down the bottom of the 220s rather than the top. Then over the coming two years or so work back to the top of the weight class and hopefully not need to really cut down again.
