Legs and cutting

case_sensitive

Hi all,

I've been training on and off for about 8 years, but got back to a proper regime about 2 months ago (circuit training, 4 gym sessions, a few 10km runs and about 80km on a bike per week), so I'm above average natural fitness.
Couple of questions:

I did a full fitness assessment as part of the TCD medical trial (anyone else do this?), and I'm 11% lard; I'd like to get down to 7/8% or so, but I loves my food. What sort of stuff do you cut out/add during the cutting period pre-competition? How can I lower it significantly without being miserable? :-/
Is there any value doing the boxer routine my mate suggested? (long sleeve shirt, bin bag, sweater, then train/skip/run/row for 2 hours drinking very little water). I assume you'd lose water weight, but just put it back on the next day as you consumed fluids normally.

What sort of a squat should I be aiming for? In parallel I can do just short of 2x bodyweight (130kg), or about 90Kg ATG. Comparing with others is pointless, but for building up, is there any target I should be aiming for? Or is more always more? :->
Oh, last night I learned how to do a deadlift properly for the first time in years, I was wondering why my back was hurting after 12 * 40kg, when I was reading about people with similar ability at other exercises talking about 140kg+ Doh. Lesson learned: there's always someone who knows more than you, find them, get them to show you how to do it right!

g'em

case_sensitive wrote:

I did a full fitness assessment as part of the TCD medical trial (anyone else do this?),

what's this now? sounds interesting...

And out of curiosity, was in someone in the TCD gym who showed you how to deadlift?

case_sensitive

There's a MSc student doing a medical research paper (An Observational Study of Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Irish Collegiate Students), needs 200 subjects for the study. Takes body measurements (hip to waist ratio, height, weight, body fat), blood samples (cholesterol, and other stuff), blood pressure, does food diary thing, and a cycling test on an (sp?) cycloergometer (bike with weights), measures heart rate at various levels of exercise intensity, resulting in a V02 Max figure amongst other things. Out of interest, mine's 68.8 mg/kg/min, which seems to be pretty decent.

Her name is Suzie and her email address is clarkeso@tcd.ie, was still looking for bodies last week, don't have to be Trinity students, just students. And I suppose you could just lie if you're under 30..

Degsy

g'em wrote:

what's this now? sounds interesting...

And out of curiosity, was in someone in the TCD gym who showed you how to deadlift?

I'm gonna be using that gym myself soon,i didnt see any serious lifters when i went in there but they had an impressive amount of weights

case_sensitive

Yeah, and I was shown by a guy in the gym, just a random punter I've seen around the place for a few years, seems to know what he's doing. I'd have asked Peter, but he seems to spend a lot of time upstairs these days, and the other staff in there are totally clueless.

tribulus

as a matter of interest - whats the trinity gym like in terms of weights, i.e any cages/decent racks heavy db's etc??? also is it open to non TCD people or....dare i say it....a UCD student!!!

case_sensitive

There aren't a huge number of serious lifters, powerlifters scare away the eye-candy, but there are 5 or 6 big guys who know what they're about, and then a few sporty guys who hold their own. The selection of free weights is very good, though the rack of weights starting at 25kg and going up to 60kg doesn't get used much for the reason you pointed out. Only one proper bench (other than the smith) now, the old two were replaced. There's a squat rack and 5 Olympic bars though, which is odd for a 'fitness theatre', normally they cater to 'dumbellinas' in places like that.
Considering it's thrown in free with the fees, it's not too shabby, I've paid for worse.

g'em

Degsy wrote:

I'm gonna be using that gym myself soon,i didnt see any serious lifters when i went in there but they had an impressive amount of weights

there's plenty of serious lifters, just at fairly random times of the day. The further away from peak time it is, the more likely it is the lifters will be there- generally mid-morning and mid-afternoon.

case-sensitive ta muchly for that, will drop her a mail.

case-sensitive wrote:

normally they cater to 'dumbellinas' in places like that.

There's a serious case of make-up-itis going around the gym right now...

g'em

case_sensitive wrote:

Is there any value doing the boxer routine my mate suggested? (long sleeve shirt, bin bag, sweater, then train/skip/run/row for 2 hours drinking very little water). I assume you'd lose water weight, but just put it back on the next day as you consumed fluids normally.

sorry, totally forgot, very quickly on this- dehydration just isn't a good plan, as you say, teh weight loss will be water and replaced as soon as you drink. Plus dehydration during your routine will prevent you from performing your best.