Yes, there is a lot going on for all of us right now and anxiety is high due to not knowing how long this current situation will last. However, I am enjoying my progress right now and an floored that it is going so well given the current situation.
This last week's progress was too good -- so much so that I took a couple of days off to reevaluate my time line and to just "think."
I have solid deadlines as far as a timeframe for getting into incredible condition. I am not going to elaborate so make of that what you will. The problem is that I anticipate this timeline changing from the middle of July to roughly the middle of August or even September. For this reason, my progress right now being so good could end up being detrimental in the long run. In short, it won't help me to hit my goal 2 months prior to the end of my timeline.
I lost far too much weight over the last 12 days but sometimes what happens is the body dips into overdrive and in my case, I dropped almost 7 pounds in 12 days. Admittedly, part of that was water but at the same time, a few other positive things happened. My strength is at an all-time high during this cutting phase, my calories are at an all-time high at this body weight and my visual condition quite literally was getting better by the day -- each day. At the same time, this type of weight loss means that I was going flat, as well, and when I say flat, I was going really flat.
I decided to Skipload and take 2 complete days off from the gym. My training has been going 100% for the last 9 weeks and even though everything feels great, I am attempting to be proactive here and not put myself in a position where I am pushing too hard with so much time left. After all, I am focused on the destination as far as results are concerned but in doing this, I have to adjust the journey, as well, to not get ahead of myself.
The Skipload only put about 3 pounds on me and that is small considering the weight that I used to gain from loading. This was an all-day Skipload and only the 2nd one I have done in the last 9 weeks, relying more on high-carb days than Skiploads right now. Why? Simply put, the high-carb days were working until they ended up not providing enough calories over the last couple of weeks. This is precisely what I planned to do during this particular cut phase and it is working beautifully.
Working out is day to day, as I don't know what will happen with restrictions around my ability to train in a gym. I am trying not to look too far down the pike and just take it day by day. After these couple of days off, I will be back at it pounding away and pushing towards my goal.
I will likely come off of this Skipload and be around 216 by next weekend. The progress continues to be great as far as conditioning and my strength is very high (for me). I still have done zero cardio. I have no idea when or if I will need to use cardio or not.
My training provides a brief reprieve from the stresses of what is going on right now with restrictions and the health of my friends and family. I even had to take one of my cats to the emergency pet hospital a couple of days ago because he had a urinary blockage of some kind and they said they have seen a lot of this over the last month or so. He is ok and responding well to the meds but we all have our stresses right now. My best advice is the advice that I am currently following: if you can train, at all, use that time to decompress and to forget about what is going on for an hour or two every day. You then have control of something during a situation where we have very little control of other things.
Hang in there and I hope all of you remain healthy. This too shall pass.
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