END WEEK #5
11 WEEKS OUT FROM SHOW
Week 5 presented an interesting lesson...
Weight: This morning upon rising, coming in at 190.0 even....dipped as low as 186.2 on Wednesday morning after cutting cals back to 3350 for 4 days+, finding out that overtraining + reduced cals did not go well even with (or rather -
especially with) steroids. From Wednesday afternoon thru rest of that night ate some "other cals" not normally in the diet, and bumped up overall intake to ~4500 that day, and awoke next morning at 190.8..back to ~3850cals daily and holding from here on out as I make smaller changes going forward, and work in a carb-rotation schedule..further modifications made that Wednesday include a conscious effort to utilize salt more than I already do (which I had thought was generous), and keeping track of water intake (currently ~2.5g daily, not including my 3 diet Mountain Dew Code Red's I drink daily).
Strength: Incredibly consistent and on, every single day..
Stamina: Inserted Ignite2 into the daily regimen on training days, and this category took off to another level after waning just a wee bit, during the 5th week.
Drive: See above - same applies here. I'm sure the reduced caloric load/no carb bump diet had affected the overall energy reserves, and I relied on Ignite2 a lil more to get me thru the training sessions..this seems to have corrected itself toward the last half of the week, as dietary changes were made and energy levels were more favorable.
Recovery: Still recovering insanely well, no issues whatsoever while I am putting my body thru tremendous paces.
Discussion:
I don't know why I'm surprised by what happened this week, but I am: reduction to a
mere (!!!) 3350cals on training days just was too drastic, and it did not take long for my body to let me know it. After maintaining my weight thruout the last couple weeks, lost 2lbs pretty rapidly, and was flatter than a pancake after couple days. So, the "cheat day" Wednesday certainly set me back on course, and provided a great lesson to me: do not try to cheat the AMv3 out of calories!!!
This was really not the right strategic approach anyway..at this stage, and as lean as I already am, I had no business trying to rush the process..also, it is the wrong product to try to use for that purpose. I could see going backward pretty rapidly, if you are not eating enough to feed the muscle.
So - with that, lesson learned, and new strategy mapped..to wit: don't overthink it, and K.I.S.S. (not what you're thinking guys, it means Keep It Simple Steve
) and thx to Mr. Porter for drilling that into my head, as well as couple of old friends around trhe boards...
Going forward, not gonna stray too far off this 3850cal mark while on AMv3 - will rely on carb-rotations as mentioned above, and small manipulations in the fat/protein portions on higher carb days..also, gone is Ignite2 for now; will bring this back in 3 weeks or so, using it now only if I really need a boost on a particular day. I have every intention of making this can last me all prep.
Fat burner will remain in play, at least for another 3 weeks.
And I think that covers it all for this week..
OVERALL RATING, WEEK 5: Still rocking and rolling over here...crushing the training...feeling, well, very alpha and in control of all things (even if it takes me a minute to figure out the diet part)..
I absolutely love this!
