I held off with this Coaching Log entry because I will be gone next week on vacation. While you are choking down dry chicken breasts and working out, I will be riding the Smokies with my wife and about twenty other people for a week. The closest I am going to get to chicken breasts is my wife's .... oh, forget it. I will still be eating a lot but it will definitely be relaxed with plenty of grilled chicken quarters, burgers, grilled potatoes and I might even put some Ketchup on those potatoes. I know - living WILD.
This vacation is a reset for me as I am basically at the halfway point of my off season. The break will do me good considering I had started to become achy and tight the last couple of weeks. EG: rotators tight and achy, Lower back slightly irritated on the right side (not major but more than usual), knees creaking and even my left pec/shoulder is not rock solid as it just feels a little "off".
Volume is high right now and everything is getting sore as hell so the workouts are good but I am teetering on the edge a little bit and anticipate that when I get back from this trip not only my joints will feel so much better but my psyche will be better and I should be in #beastmode again to make #crazygainzzzz. Oh, how I love hashtags.
While we are on the road traveling east, I have plenty of time to work out any changes that I might want to my diet for the last half of the off season. At this point I have to consider staying the course and not worrying about body fat or possibly attempting to back off on calories and yet still maximize growth. Honestly, I am leaning heavily to the side of simply continuing to push as I have for the first part of the year. It has worked well and I still say that cutting back will likely limit gains and I have 6 months to lean down for shows starting January 1st which is plenty of time to slowly come down to shredded status. I see no real good reason to start cutting back early.
I will have blood results when I get back as I had to reschedule my appointment last week due to too many kid sports games on that day.
The only other thing to note is that I will continue with the same rep philosophy going into the last half of my off season that I changed to a few weeks ago. It isn't a huge change but I am staying in the rep ranges of 10-12 or 10-15 much more than in any time in the past. I don't get the same stimulation going heavier and dropping into the 6 to 8 rep range and it is ultimately safer staying in the higher rep ranges, too. I am ridiculously sore since making this change.
Hope you all have a good weekend. I know I will. :)
