Adopting IF Log

[Fiji]

Time for a change I think. Been meaning to try a more formal method of IF for a while so sounds like a good time to have a look at my training at the same time.

Currently:

Been on a 'dirty' version of the anabolic diet for nearly three years now, since I was ill with UC in 2007. Sub-30g carbs Sun-Thurs and two cheat days Fri-Sat. Despite having cheat days rather than carb ups, I've been a steady weight the whole time while slowly gaining strength. Not really been tracking macros, just eating when I feel like it. My routine for the past 18 months has been a two day split done three days a week (i.e. each session 3x a fortnight), all 5x5, increasing weight if I can manage 3 sets of 5:

A:
ATG Squat
Deadlift
Dumbbell Shoulder Press
Weighted Chinups

B:
Squat
Bench
Weighted Pullups
Close Grip Bench

Since we're coming out of winter I fancy shedding some fat (guess about 13% at the minute) and a bit of a change of routine will spike my enthusiasm a bit. Don't want to change too much yet, so I'll start a 8/16 fasting split and tweak my routine slightly to try the reverse pyramid training Martin recommends on leangains. Going to stay low carb since I'm very happy eating that way, and have Fri as a carb up. Perhaps most importantly I'm going to start tracking calories/macros again as I think this is vital when trying to lose weight. Looks like I'm eating about 2200cals on WO days and 1800cals on non-WO (excluding carb days) so I'm keeping food choices and amounts exactly the same, just moving them all into the eating window. Means I'm going to have to start taking food to work again (normally have big breakfast and big evening meal as I prefer hot food and cooking at home) but not a massive deal. So all I'm really changing is meal timing and rep range. Seems sensible to start with minimum change and I can tweak when I've got more hard data to work with. So:

Workouts: Sun late morning, Tues night, Thurs night

Meal timing: Sun (1-9pm) - 20g leucine before/during session, three meals PWO
Tue/Thurs (2-10pm) - 1 or 2 meals Pre WO, 1 big meal PWO
Fri (2-10pm) - Carb up, no macro tracking
Other days (2-10pm) - 2 or 3 meals, biggest in the evening (since I can cook then)

Workout A:
Deadlifts RP 5,6,7
Chinups RP 5,6,7
Cable Rows 3x6
Close Grip Chinups 3x6
Rotator cuff work

Workout B:
ATG Squat RP 5,6,7
Bench RP 5,6,7
Stiff Legged Deadlifts 3x6
Shoulder Press 3x6
Close Grip Bench 3x6

Rests will be ~3mins for big lifts, down to ~1min for assistance work.

That's the plan, see how it goes and make small changes accordingly as time passes.

Today:

First couple of sessions will be getting into the swing of things. Coming back from a back injury from before Christmas so squats and especially deadlifts will be light until I can gauge how my back's responding.

Deadlifts - 127.5kg x 5, 115kg x 6, 102.5kg x 7 - back definitely felt a bit dodgy on the heavy set, try more warm ups next time
Chindowns (?) - 75 x 10, 70 x 11, 65 x 10 - far too easy, probably try bodyweight chinups next time
Cable Rows - (60 x 6) x 3
Close Grip Chinups - (bodyweight x 6) x 3
Rotator cuff work - always have trouble with my shoulder when I bench so trying to strengthen a bit to see if it helps

Total workout time was about 45mins so not too bad. When the gym's a bit busier might take longer so I might drop close grip chinups if that's the case.

Macros for the day (P/F/C): 158/168/13 - 2200 cals

[Fiji]

Macros for the day (P/F/C): 160/120/18 - 1800 cals

No problems moving breakfast to 2pm. Did start to feel really cold at about 12pm, which is very unusual for me (and probably unrelated), but no big hunger urges.

[hodi]

Be following this dude, could be what I'm after in the near future! Good luck!

[Fiji]

Macros for the day (P/F/C): 173/156/22 - 2206 cals

Think I was probably eating more before so maybe my guess of averaging 2000 cals a day is a little low. Going to stick with it for now though. Writing down macros, I noticed my old protein intake was a little low, so have thrown in a tub of low fat cottage cheese a day to get it up a bit. So diet is basically the same as before except for slightly more protein, and less fat. Hopefully this isn't too far away from my old diet so any changes I notice should be from adopting the fasting window.

Bought myself some scales. Always just go by the mirror, but might be interesting to track my weight too.

Weight: 85.9kg

Still no hunger this morning, but I did get a bit of a weird rush after my first meal, felt a bit like a mild sugar rush/warm feeling, despite my meal having virtually no carbs. Second day running near the end of my fast, I yawned and suddenly had a nasty urine type taste in my mouth. Bit weird. I assume this is 'keto-breath' rather than my kidneys failing or something, but odd that I've never noticed it before. Maybe having food on the stomach has masked it in the past.

[Fiji]

Squat - 100kg x 9, 90kg x 10, 80kg x 11 - lost a lot of strength here over Christmas, hopefully come back quickly

Bench - 80kg x 5, 75kg x 6, 70kg x 7 - shoulder twinge-ing on first set, not too bad though

Stiff Legged Deadlifts - 90kg x 8, 80kg x 9, 70kg x 10 - forgot I was supposed to do 3x6 and did reverse pyramid instead, oops

DB Shoulder Press - 32kg x 6, 32kg x 6, 32kg x 4

Close Grip Bench - 67.5kg x6, 67.5kg x 4, 62.5 x 5

Session was about 50 mins. Might drop something when I'm lifting heavy and need longer rests, that or move to three different sessions.

Quite like the reverse pyramid scheme, might use it on all lifts rather than 3x6 for the assistance exercises. Nice to do some hamstring work for the first time in a long while. Might sleep downstairs tonight, I remember the DOMs I used to get, lol. Back was fine, must just be deadlifts that aggravate it.

[Fiji]

Macros for the day (P/F/C): 159/118/23 - 1809 cals

Weight: 85.9kg

Got another 'sugar' rush about an hour after breaking my fast. Didn't get a lunch break today so my first meal was just a double cream and whey shake, guess it was something to do with the whey spiking insulin?

[Fiji]

Deadlifts - 130kg x 5, 117.5kg x 6, 105kg x 7 - was going to skip these since back's still dodgy, but when I got to the gym someone had left the bar out, loaded exactly for a warm up. Took that as a sign and went for it. Felt good too, no problems.
Chindowns (?) - 85 x 7, 80 x 8, 75 x 8
Cable Rows - (65 x 6) x 3
Close Grip Chinups - 5kg x 6, 5kg x 5, 5kg x 5
Rotator cuff work

Total workout time 45mins.

Weight: 85.3kg

Macros for the day (P/F/C): 161/159/34 - 2203 cals

Still taking 20g leucine before/during workouts. Will probably drop for non-fasted workouts once I've been going for a while, just want to keep as much constant as I can at the minute.

[joewills]

are you not overthinking this a little?

[Fiji]

Macros for the day (P/F/C): 159/117/31 - 1814 cals

Weight: 86.4kg

Rather predictably, went a bit nuts on my carb up yesterday. Still, going a bit overboard for 8 hours is an improvement over going overboard for 36 like I used to.

[Fiji]

Squat - 110kg x 6, 100kg x 7, 90kg x 8

Bench - 82.5kg x 5, 77.5kg x 6, 72.5kg x 7

Stiff Legged Deadlifts - (92.5kg x 6) x 3 - tweaked back slightly on these, guess it was tired after the squats

DB Shoulder Press - 32kg x 6, 32kg x 6, 32kg x 3 - probably switch to barbell press, been stuck on 32kg for ages but the step up to 34kg is always too much

Close Grip Bench - 67.5kg x 5, 62.5kg x 6, 62.5 x 5

Session time: 60 mins - bit too long, might drop SL deads

Weight: 85.7kg - dropping back down after carb up

Macros for the day (P/F/C): 163/157/32 - 2208 cals