Stabillity, Mobility and Activation

colman1212

So basically my PT tonight decided that for the next 4 weeks we are going to work on mobility and activation. He said we won't be doing barbell squats or deadlifts for the next 4 weeks which kind of scared me a bit.
About 4 weeks ago I had gotten to 5% body fat @ 77kg with a 130kg squat and 190kg x 3 deadlift. That was pre lions tour. I measured in at 11% bodyfat tonight.
I've had a bit of a break the last couple of weeks so I was hoping to get stuck back into heavy weights, was kinda gutted when I heard I'd be doing mobillity stuff.

So tonight for example we did

A1 Split squats (4010 tempo) really focussed on staying upright and pushing through the hip flexors
A2 Glute Ham raise (4010 tempo) again focussing on form and tempo, staying strong through the back.
B1 Dumbell squat with heels on 2 plates (focussing on staying upright and pushing knees out)
B2 lying leg curl (4010 tempo)
C1 Leg press (focussing on really slow deep reps)
C2 calf raise (again focussing on tempos)

So my question is, How important is it to take a break from what you are doing, drop the weight and focus on muscle activation and tempos etc?

Hanley

colman1212 wrote: »

So basically my PT tonight decided that for the next 4 weeks we are going to work on mobility and activation. He said we won't be doing barbell squats or deadlifts for the next 4 weeks which kind of scared me a bit.
About 4 weeks ago I had gotten to 5% body fat @ 77kg with a 130kg squat and 190kg x 3 deadlift. That was pre lions tour. I measured in at 11% bodyfat tonight.
I've had a bit of a break the last couple of weeks so I was hoping to get stuck back into heavy weights, was kinda gutted when I heard I'd be doing mobillity stuff.

So tonight for example we did

A1 Split squats (4010 tempo) really focussed on staying upright and pushing through the hip flexors
A2 Glute Ham raise (4010 tempo) again focussing on form and tempo, staying strong through the back.
B1 Dumbell squat with heels on 2 plates (focussing on staying upright and pushing knees out)
B2 lying leg curl (4010 tempo)
C1 Leg press (focussing on really slow deep reps)
C2 calf raise (again focussing on tempos)

So my question is, How important is it to take a break from what you are doing, drop the weight and focus on muscle activation and tempos etc?

Sorry, did you say 5% bodyfat?

Hanley

Actual answer - very important to change things.

Oregano_State

I don't think the guy in the picture is as low as 5%, so unless you looked more shredded than that, your figure are a bit off.

That looks like a decent workout though. It's important to change focus every once in a while.

Mellor

colman1212 wrote: »

About 4 weeks ago I had gotten to 5% body fat @ 77kg with a 130kg squat and 190kg x 3 deadlift. That was pre lions tour. I measured in at 11% bodyfat tonight.

To get from 5% @ 77kg to 11% you need to put on over 5kilos of fat. I'd say the %s are off.

cc87

Either your PTs trying to milk you dry or those %s are wrong

colman1212

Yeah I was very lean, I can throw up a picture later and you guys can guess for yourselfs. In work at the moment. I had an incredibily strict diet for 4 months. I know one of the boys I train with went for a dexa scan. PT pinch test measured him at 8.5%, DEXA measured him at 8.8%. But who knows...

colman1212

Okay so heres a picture. I'd be interested to here what % body fat people estimate? I think this picture was about a week before i measured in at 5%. You reckon more like 10%?! I honestly have no idea, can only go off what the pt tells me.

COH

colman1212 wrote: »

Okay so heres a picture. I'd be interested to here what % body fat people estimate? I think this picture was about a week before i measured in at 5%. You reckon more like 10%?! I honestly have no idea, can only go off what the pt tells me.

Lean... but not 5% lean.

Mellor

colman1212 wrote: »

Okay so heres a picture. I'd be interested to here what % body fat people estimate? I think this picture was about a week before i measured in at 5%. You reckon more like 10%?! I honestly have no idea, can only go off what the pt tells me.

I won't estimate a % as I've no solid point of reference. But what was your weight like at 11%? There's no way you double your bf% without adding a lot of fat, even allowing for muscle loss.

Tbh that's prob better for you, it means les work to get back to where you were.

colman1212

So I'm pretty sure when I measured in at 5% (or whatever it is), I weighted like 76.5kg. That would have been on June 5th. My 11% was yesterday July 10th at 79.6kg. The thing is when you are on a calorie deficit and doing everything you can to get lean, and then you spend 4 weeks or so travelling around to lions games and on the beer 3 nights a week, you are going to blow out a bit.

I do understand what you are saying though and it is probable that the measurements are incorrect. I'll get a DEXA scan done in a few weeks.

I'm off the beer until December and eating clean so will see how it goes.
I'm sure I'll drop a percentage or 2 over the next couple of weeks just getting back to training 6 days a week and eating clean.

Transform

colman1212 wrote: »

So I'm pretty sure when I measured in at 5% (or whatever it is), I weighted like 76.5kg. That would have been on June 5th. My 11% was yesterday July 10th at 79.6kg. The thing is when you are on a calorie deficit and doing everything you can to get lean, and then you spend 4 weeks or so travelling around to lions games and on the beer 3 nights a week, you are going to blow out a bit.

I do understand what you are saying though and it is probable that the measurements are incorrect. I'll get a DEXA scan done in a few weeks.

I'm off the beer until December and eating clean so will see how it goes.
I'm sure I'll drop a percentage or 2 over the next couple of weeks just getting back to training 6 days a week and eating clean.

if you cant have a blow out every now and again that says more about your training than it does about your nutrition.

If you need to back off and work on mobility then do it as you cant drive your car with the handbrake on.

Re body fat -= who gives a sh1t! Every kid with a 6 pack thinks hes the man. I smell some poliquin induced neurosis going on. Focus on performance first

CM24

From personal experience, I do think it's possible to gain a lot of bodyfat in a short space of time when abruptly going from dieting to binging. For the last 2 Summers I'v gone on a hardcore diet for the months coming up to the beach holiday, then once I got there, stopped exercising, drank every night and only ate fast food. By the end of the 2 week holidays I had visibly gained fat. This wasn't just temporary bloat or water weight either. I grew love handles that were a real struggle to get off for weeks afterwards.

I believe this happens because, when you restrict calories severely for an extended period of time, your body starts to fight against the weight loss. Good hormones like testosterone and leptin go down whilst bad ones like cortisol rise. Your metabolism slows down to try and maintain weight. Then, when you suddenly start eating way above your maintenance level and doing no training, you've made it very easy for fat to get stored. This year I'm not dieting like a madman coming up to my holiday, I just think it leaves you in a prime position for fat gain once you get there, as your metabolism and hormones are still fighting against weight loss.

http://suppversity.blogspot.ie/2013/03/scientific-bb-contest-prep-coverage-six.html This is an extreme example of what I'm takling about. A study done on a natural bodybuilder. He messes up his hormones by cutting from 14% to 4% bodyfat, then ends up fatter than he started, after binging post-contest.

colman1212

Yeah that makes a lot of sense too in fairness.
I think when you get down to a much lower bodyfat then your body is used to, your hormones go all over the place for a while. Your body starts to go into starvation mode or something and all you think about is food. So did you get back on a defecit post holidays? I'm planning on doing structural rebalancing stuff for the next 3-4 weeks and then trying to put on muscle for 3 months.

CM24

Yea it definitely messes with your head. I'v read into it a lot. The participants in the Minnesota Starvation Experiment became obsessed with cooking magazines and half of them ended up becoming chefs after the experiment, despite having no interest beforehand. Also, I think the reason many people go on extreme diets is because they think they'll get all the chicks once they're ripped. Problem is, your libido just goes out the window after a prolonged diet to a low bodyfat percentage, and you just find yourself not even interested in girls anymore! That's what happened to me anyway! Also, you find yourself constantly cold and easily stressed.

I personally did go back on a diet after the holiday, but the fat that come on first, is the last to come off, so it took wayyy longer to get rid of those love handles than it took for me to get them. This year on my holiday I'm not going to crash diet, not going to binge and I'm gonna do some form of exercise every day once I'm there.

colman1212

CM24 wrote: »

Yea it definitely messes with your head. I'v read into it a lot. The participants in the Minnesota Starvation Experiment became obsessed with cooking magazines and half of them ended up becoming chefs after the experiment, despite having no interest beforehand. Also, I think the reason many people go on extreme diets is because they think they'll get all the chicks once they're ripped. Problem is, your libido just goes out the window after a prolonged diet to a low bodyfat percentage, and you just find yourself not even interested in girls anymore! That's what happened to me anyway! Also, you find yourself constantly cold and easily stressed.

I personally did go back on a diet after the holiday, but the fat that come on first, is the last to come off, so it took wayyy longer to get rid of those love handles than it took for me to get them. This year on my holiday I'm not going to crash diet, not going to binge and I'm gonna do some form of exercise every day once I'm there.

Yeah pretty much everything you said above happened to me when I got to my leanest. It only lasted for about 2 weeks though. When I put on a little bit of weight again, everything went back to normal :-) Interesting though. You often hear about all the mental stuff bodybuilders go through when getting ready for a competition.