Nothing could be going any better at this point, so ... being the eternal cynic that I am, I am trying not to wonder what is around the corner.  For those that follow me, my prep last year was off to an incredible start and everything was going perfectly - better than expected, and then the shit hit the fan.

Now, I am not dwelling on the potential for something negative to happen, but I do know that I have to take it day by day and not worry about tomorrow.  I am doing a pretty good job of that, so far.  Not only is everything going very well with my prep, but everything is going very well outside of the gym, as well.  I haven't been this low-stress in a very long time.  Everything is just synced from business to family to ... everything.  I understand that this is a rarity so I am enjoying it while it lasts.

One of the things that has contributed the most to my low stress is I am training at roughly 2am every night.  For most, that sounds like "WTF???", but for me, it is awesome - it is solitude.  It is quiet, just me, and even the traffic is non-existent getting there.  Some people like the attention of the gym at peak hours and they enjoy mingling and being seen.  I am quite the opposite and right now, this change in training time has provided a focus that I haven't had in a long time.

Understand that I have worked all night for years.  It started when the kids were young because it was so much quieter at night to write, do client work and just focus on getting everything done that I need to get done without having to run kids to sports, pick them up front school, the kids' friends coming and going, the dogs barking, etc..  Now that 3 of the 4 kids are out of the house, I just find that this routine still works for me better than regular hours do.  So, switching my training to late at night has been quite easy to do and fits my normal routine perfectly.  I typically train from 2:30ish until about 5 or 5:30am after stretching, training and doing cardio.  It also frees up time when I do wake up to spend time with my family instead of running to the gym during normal hours.

The 2-day Skipload that I detailed in my last coach log ended up being quite successful.  It did take longer to baseline but workouts were better (much stronger and for my 2nd rotation, as well) and I am even noticing that because I am doing a 3rd rotation before Skiploading again (which I don't usually do), I am maintaining more strength than I thought I would and my workouts are still very productive.  I baselined at 205.4 about a week ago and (it took a week to baseline instead of 3 or 4 days and have dropped below baseline to 203.8 and still have 2 days that I will likely still drop before Skiploading late on Saturday night before bed and then all day Sunday.  Not only that but my condition is vastly improved - more than the scale weight would indicate.  In fact, I think I made more progress in detail and condition since the last Skipload than at any time this prep until this point.  Yes, I have lost more body weight in previous training rotations but I haven't made this much progress, visually, to this point.

Something that I am going to explain, thinking out loud:
I came into this prep thinking that doing this modified keto diet would continue to deplete me every training rotation more and more until I Skiploaded again.  I am wondering if I might be wrong about that.  What MIGHT be happening is that I get to the point where I am almost maximally depleted and then I am thinking that it stabilizes and I might actually be able to maintain a level of depletion and not continue to drop.  Obviously, if I were to add cardio or drop calories that would be different but right now I haven't made a diet or cardio change in weeks and I feel that it is very possible that this could be the case because I am currently in my 3rd training rotation and thought it would be very unproductive in the gym but the workouts have been every bit as good as the 2nd rotation - if not slightly better.

Though I FEEL flat and depleted, visually I don't have the look that I feel.  I am very vascular (and vascularity usually fades as fullness fades) and pumps are still as good as they were during the 2nd rotation.  Keep in mind that my volume is higher than it has ever been in any prep, ever, and this is still what I am seeing.  If not for the fact that Skiploading amps up the metabolism to keep you burning body fat efficiently, I would consider scrapping Skiploads based on the visual progress that I see because I don't see myself just continuing to get flatter and flatter.  I have a feeling that if I didn't load for 5-6 weeks I might be able to maintain close to this level of depletion without it getting worse.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), I can't gamble with doing that simply because I know that fat burning would slow to a crawl and I won't do that.  I like to learn but I can't waste time, either.

I am planning my Skipload to start late Saturday night and go all day Sunday.  I won't do a full 2-day load again (it sucked - eating that much just sucks) and hopefully, it will be enough so that I don't have to load that long again.  However, if I see that loading a shorter amount of time isn't as beneficial, I will be forced to load up to 2 days, again.

I am also going to start implementing the SCGS compound with my loads starting this weekend.  I haven't been using it because the loads have been so productive without it that I just didn't see a reason to add it back in.  However, I did notice that with this last load I get really watery and the SCGS compound absolutely minimizes extra water weight (subq) from the Skiploads.

I also am starting double cardio sessions next week for 2 weeks while I am not on the fat burner that I used for the last 4 weeks.   I plan to only do double sessions until the fat burner starts again in 2 weeks and go back to single sessions but that has yet to be determined based on how I respond.

Right now, I am ahead.  I have a lot of work to do but I am ahead of schedule at least right now.  This obviously plays into the fact that my stress is low as it relates to my prep phase right now.  It is a good feeling and especially in case something does happen that might sidetrack me for a few days - sickness, family issues, etc..  You just never know so being ahead affords you time if an obstacle presents itself.

Not only am I loading this weekend after a little over 2 weeks but we are checking out a boat show so that will be a fun way to spend a Saturday, as well.  Window shopping?  Kinda.  I just have a lot to learn as I have no clue about boats.  🙂