Cheers footflap i was hoping you would reply 🙂 i’ll take a look tonight.

@Molgrips I used to train powerlifting pretty seriously (until I broke my elbow on the bike a few years back and I still keep doing the compound moves but now only once a week) but grip on the dead lift used to let me down after a while, usually when the weight got over 170kg.

The mixed grip is key, but use a hook grip (so both palms the same way) for the lighter weights, then shift to a mixed grip (so palms in opposite directions) when you get heavier. If you aren’t looking to compete at lifting, then if your grip fails just use straps for the heavier lifts. However, persist using hook then mixed grip as you work up and your grip will get better. Also don’t mix your mixed grip, one way will feel more natural so stick with that one. I got taught by a “proper” powerlifter to grip the bar really hard whatever exercise you are doing and think about the grip, even if you are just warming up. That really works for me in helping shift more weight in all exercises.

Don’t use the Smith machine for bench, squat or any compound lifts. As mentioned before you can’t use the smaller assistance muscles and it’s just an injury waiting to happen.

I will try the “Stall bar leg raises” tomorrow but it looks a bit advanced for a amateur!!

hanging knee raises are a good intro/ warm up/ preogression exercise.

I will try the “Stall bar leg raises” tomorrow but it looks a bit advanced for a amateur!!

Gymnastic Bodies leg lift progression (from Mana):

1. Tuck-up 5x15reps
2. Straddle Up 5x15r
3. V-Ups 5×15
4. 1/2 tuck hanging leg lift 5×5
5. 1/2 hanging leg lift 5×5
6. Negative hanging leg lift 5x5x10secs
7. Hanging leg lift 5×5
8. Undergrip hanging leg lift 5×5

Google each exercise…

NB The list goes on for a long time until you get to

25. Mana

I’m on step 6….

If you pass out shortly after lifting and find yourself lying face first in a pile of weights – that was probably close to 1RM as well…

🙂

Yeah, hit my limit at present with 147.5kg. Just can’t get past it – three workouts and even adding 1kg is too much, though I suspect it’s psychological. Could be the recent calorie deficit, too – never as good as a surplus but I wanna see a bit of what I’ve worked hard to achieve.

Supple Leopard is good so far – just finished the intro and he mentions my favourite book of old – the Go Rin No Sho! Very influential book in my youth. The rest of what he’s written so far seems to confirm what I’ve been working for over some years now but it’s good to confirm you’re doing it right sometimes. I’m sure there’s a lot to learn from it, too.

Deadlift grip tips from T-Nation…

https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-dont-use-a-mixed-grip-when-deadlifting

I can’t do the mixed grip due to an old injury in the left bicep and for some reason can’t supinate my right hand without issues with my body twisting. Which is quite weird…

molgrips: are you losing weight as you set out to?

When lifting weights surely the appropriate term should be losing fat…

/pedant

I thought that may be a link to the hook grip and was right. Yes some swear by it but for me it felt like it was pulling my thumb out of its socket. Didn’t like it. YMMV 🙂

molgrips: are you losing weight as you set out to?

Yes, but thanks to a somewhat infamous (on STW) diet plan rather than the lifting 🙂 The lifting may be helping me maintain strength and muscle whilst calorie restricting. Also I think that a lifting session helps build strength but doesn’t take much out of me in overall calorie terms, which means I’m not getting ravenous and hence the diet is going much better.

Trying to do high intensity workouts on the bike just drives my appetite, so I think this is working well.

I do think I have more muscle and less fat than I had when I last weighed this much though.

I thought that may be a link to the hook grip and was right. Yes some swear by it but for me it felt like it was pulling my thumb out of its socket. Didn’t like it. YMMV

I haven’t had call to use anything other than the standard grip so far mostly because it’s not the my grip that’s making me fail. I have experimented with the mixed grip but like I wrote, I can’t risk it with higher weight. Chalk is must, though. I use the liquid stuff, too – much cleaner.

I only use hook grip for Snatch (up to BW) and that hurts enough! Wouldn’t want to try 2xBW, think my thumb would explode….

I have no desire to be as good as I could be in the gym – bike is priority.

Actually, Molgrips, the reason I bumped this thread earlier was to ask if the weights workout was adding anything to your cycling but failed to do so other than in a roundabout fashion by telling you of my own results in that area.

So what do you reckon – given you anything extra or just not translatable to the bike for you…?

Sorry Teasel – didn’t see this post. Answer – hard to tell. I’ve posted good times on my local test segments and my form is overall prety good lately, but that’s because I’m also doing more longer rides than recently. So too difficult to tell really, but maybe. I feel good on the bike and I have pop and endurance despite the diet.

Anyway. So I’ve been dieting quite firmly and I’ve lost 3kg as a result, which is good. I took a break from Stronglifts and didn’t lift for a couple of weeks then went back to do deadlifting as I said. This wasn’t too bad, but the diet must be starting to bite. I went for a run night before last which was a nightmare, no energy at all. And without eating much carbs I’m not recovering quickly.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the Stronglifts guy is right, deadlifting 5×5 is too hard work to do much of, so I thought I’d try going back to the prescribed workout. My scheduled weight was 90kg and I totally failed cos my legs were still wasted after the terrible run. Just about managed 82.5 which was what you saw me do easily in the video.

So the question is, can one lift and gain strength whilst eating a low carb diet? I’ve read that lifting helps reduce muscle loss from a calorie deficient diet, but would I be better off doing something other than 5×5 whilst calorie deficient?

You’re not calorie deficient Molly, you have a shit tonne of fat.

You know what I meant.

The calorie deficit would have a bigger impact on endurance, no?

I think you just had an off day and your over analysing it.

Don’t be tempted to revert back to recovery cans of coke.

The calorie deficit would have a bigger impact on endurance, no?

Don’t think so. On endurance rides I can burn fat, but the lifting is using up ATP and I think you need carbs to resynthesise ATP no?

Don’t be tempted to revert back to recovery cans of coke.

Well high GI post-exercise carbs for recovery has a pretty solid scientific basis I think. If you use up muscle glycogen stores, then you need to replace them and psot workout is the best time to do it.

FWIW – Whilst leaning out I have found that whilst I can still gain strength (on 3 rep sets) it’s at a slower rate. This is probably down to continued CNS adaptation but with a slower rate of myofibril hypertrophy.

Whilst leaning out

Wondered what you meant for a minute 🙂 How are you approaching this?

So you still have carbs after a ride? Even if you don’t I’m almost certain you’ve not restricted carbs so much that you don’t have enough within your liver and muscles at any one point to get you through a workout.

Edit: I was about to give you some ‘tough love’

So the question is, can one lift and gain strength whilst eating a low carb diet? I’ve read that lifting helps reduce muscle loss from a calorie deficient diet, but would I be better off doing something other than 5×5 whilst calorie deficient?

I am by no means an expert so take this with a pinch… I’m trying to lose a tad of body fat just to see what my body looks like with around 15%. I’ve cut down to less than 100g of carbs but don’t really count them. I focus more on eating around 1.75g of protein and 0.9g of fat per kilo of body weight. I’ve cut back the weight on the bar by 5% and dropped to 3×5 on everything bar DLs which are and always have been 1×5 (after warm up sets, of course) so basically I’m attempting to keep bar intensity the same to avoid muscle loss. To my surprise I sneaked an extra kilo on the presses and row without undue problem so I reckon it’s possible to keep adding. This guy explains it much better than I can…

Weight Training for Fat Loss Part 1

My results are a loss of that band of fat around the middle – an inch in 2 weeks. A loss of weight by 2 kilos which is noticeable in the belt hole being one smaller and the trousers fitting looser on the thighs and arse. I haven’t noticed any energy deficit when doing 10 minute hill sprints twice a week so carbs must be just enough. The deficit is only around 300kcal below maintenance but sometimes I like to see how low I can go before I almost pass out. Mind over matter kind of approach – probably foolish.

These calculators are useful for a general type of figure to aim for…

http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html

http://www.scientificpsychic.com/health/cron1.html

Below the calc on the second link is an interesting bit on a woman eating only 1000 calories.

Don’t ask me about the rest of the site as I haven’t explored but it’s got a rather weird name that kinda puts me off of doing so.

Just to add – I’ve been eating mostly whole food – chicken, broccoli, cauliflower, cheese, greek yogurt, blueberries etc. but have also consumed a fair bit of pizza (a particular brand and type fits my dietary requirements so is all good now and again) as well as having the odd ice cream and micro bottle or three of Peroni. The fat is still falling away – don’t know why, it just is. I guess moderation is key and not depriving yourself as that’s wholly unsustainable in reality.

Even if you don’t I’m almost certain you’ve not restricted carbs so much that you don’t have enough within your liver and muscles at any one point to get you through a workout.

Yeah, it’s not clear. My run was an utter debacle. There may be other reasons for it, but running is always really hard when dieting.

I’m not restricting carbohydrate to an extreme level, but the question is how much glycogen stores am I using up by doing the riding/running/lifting? I’m pretty sure my stores are not full.

I guess moderation is key and not depriving yourself as that’s wholly unsustainable in reality.

Yes – there is a sweet spot. Too much and you don’t lose weight, too little and you can’t work out.

I was thinking more about the psychological aspect i.e. if you like to have a beer or cake or whatever then have it.

Admittedly it pays to adjust ones taste to foods that are beneficial like good cuts of meat, veg, pulses etc. but I reckon there’s a lot to be said for the feel good factor of eating a little of what you like even if it’s considered junk food or on the ‘bad list’ because it’s alcohol and it’s empty calories or something. I also think the body is quite happy as long as it’s getting its basic minimum of fat and protein and will accept carbs from any source as long as you don’t over do it or break any other target you might be aiming for.

Yes. I had a salad for lunch, but then afterwards I had two custard cremes. Don’t tell TheSouthernYeti though he’ll laugh at me then pity me 🙂

😆

😐

Losing about a kilo a week at the moment. I think most of it is fat from the thighs and belly and a bit off the arse but unsure as to how much muscle mass is disappearing*. I have a feeling that fasted workouts weren’t working for me, particularly as I sometimes don’t lift until 2pm. Was trying the 8 hour feed window before with just a few hundred calories more but fat loss was slow. The change has been with eating when I feel hungry but only consuming enough to get in about 30 – 40 grams of protein – I reckon it’s keeping my metabolism going so burning all the time.

A kilo a week – a bit too much, isn’t it?

Sod’s Law’ll say I have something nasty cooking away out of view again only I won’t spot it this time because of the intentional fat losing experiment.

*Intensity (weight on bar) has been kept as close as possible to the weight when I was bulking/building strength to try to avoid significant loss.

I lost that when I was iDieting the first time around, and it stayed off – took some pretty persistent metabolic abuse to put even half of it back on (we had a baby…)

Any idea what your fat percentage is? What height/weight?

I hovered in the 86s all last week, didn’t lose, but have already lost a little this week so hopefully I can refocus. Planning to do lots of gentle biking since I am home, and a couple of gym sessions.

Must make sure I eat enough carbs, but not too many. Two years ago I got stuck at 91 whilst eating not much and doing shorter high intensity rides (due to work). At least this time I seem to be stuck 5kg lighter 🙂

I should start measuring my gut. Cycling jerseys are starting to get loose around the waist.

Body fat is around 22%. The calculator that I linked to earlier in the thread suggests I have around 60kg of lean mass.

I’m now 77kg at 173cm

Main thing is I’m happy and strong and heading towards my goal with relative ease. That’s always a good thing. I would never have thought I’d be like this about 3 years ago at 46 – I was aching and groaning on getting to my feet thinking it was old age kicking in. How wrong I was…

Edit : And it turns out I can still have the odd pizza and beer or cake or whatever as long as it’s taken into consideration. IIFYM… 🙂

A kilo a week – a bit too much, isn’t it?

a kilo a week is fine.

Inexplicably managed to lose two kgs on holiday. I only did two rides and one run, and I ate shitloads of biscuits.

I was 84kg when I got home after an entire day of eating shite on the motorways. That’s a weight I only dipped below twice in the last 15 years or so!