Anna's Training Log Part 2 (Part 2)

Training Training Logs
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@EmilyQ since you’re a therapist, I’d really appreciate your advice/expertise on something

My brother decided to temporarily go no contact with mum in January. Dad is getting kind of desperate trying to get him to stop and is trying to recruit me to talk to my brother.
My brother apparently wants an apology letter of some sort.

I’m not really sure how to approach this bc

  1. I don’t talk to my brother about sensitive issues like that so there really isn’t a natural way to bring it up. I actually don’t really talk to him at all tbh
  2. I think he’s somewhat justified and really does need more time to cool down and process, preferably with a licensed therapist. 7 months is not a long time to process years of getting pressured, yelled at and sometimes hit for basically being himself/a “typical” boy. It’s just hard for parents to understand partially bc of culture, partially bc they believe “doing it out of love” is justification.

At the same time, I do want to help my parents

Do you have any advice?

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So I’ve had this crop up a couple of times (Americanized child of more traditional parents) and I typically focus on the love that underlies the problem behaviors (“it’s clear that she loves you, she just isn’t able to do it very well by the standards you’ve been exposed to”), and then support the child in communicating what they need to but with the understanding that the parents probably won’t understand and will probably give an unsatisfying response. Therapy is a great place to start. Apologies are going to be hard to get out of someone like your mom as you describe her.

I’m really sorry to read this!

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Okay, thanks!

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Week 1: Day 3 (yestserday)

40min kickboxing workout video

  • got HR up and went by really quick

Week 1: Day 4

15x(2min rope pull machine+ 12 pushups), done every 3 min
some ab work

  • same as above. Cardio is fun
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You must not be doing it right, haha!

Seriously, though, nice work.

How’s school?

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haha

School is actually going quite well. We’re out for summer so I’m working on summer paper. It’s on managerial practices in OSS. Advisor and I finally figured out the measurement instrument so now I’m writing code to collect the data.
The code seems to work on a small sample so fingers crossed it doesnt break with a full sample.

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I think you’ve mentioned that before, and I maybe just forgot?

In any case, sounds like a nice break from classes and a good opportunity to get some research done!

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Week 1: Day 5

Deadlift: 1x3-245, 255, 265
Pendlay Rows: 3x5-135lbs
Ovh Press: 1x8-65lbs, 1x5-75lbs, 1x2-85lbs
Lat pulldowns: 3x10-70lbs

  • easy day to finish up, deadlift felt really good- the form work is really paying off, rest of it was fine
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Week 1: Dat 6

40min cardio workout video

  • was fun and quick
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Week 2: Day 1

Squat: 1x1-195lbs, 1x4-185lbs (misgrooved last rep), 3x5-175lbs
Good mornings: 2x8, 1x6-135lbs
tricep pushdowns: 3x15-32.5lbs
leg extension: 2x10, 1x8-100lbs

  • solid workout- squats felt smooth and relatively light, was pissed about misgrooving, rest of it was fine
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Week 2: day 2 (yesterday)

AM
Paused deadlift: 2x5-225lbs, 2x5-235lbs
Paused squat: 2x5-165lbs, 1x5-155lbs
Cable row: 1x7,6,5-100lbs
Abductor machine: 3x12-135lbs

PM (fueled by cheese)

Front squats: 3x8-115lbs, 2x8-125lbs, 1x6-135lbs
Btn press: 1x12-20kg, 2x8-55lbs
Adductor machine: 3x15-55lbs

  • lifts went fine- legs sore but managed to get through everything and feeling more confident with deadlift form

I’m really frustrated with my body comp. About 3 weeks ago, I randomly put on about 1lb and it hasn’t come down. this past week, I’ve been holding another .5lbs consistently and I’ve been spiking into the 105s. I also look softer
(Pic from may at around 103lbs)

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(Pic from this morning at 105.2)

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I don’t think this is water weight bc it’s not dropping

I increased my calories by 100 starting mid March, so the weight gain isn’t necessarily unexpected. It’s the sudden increase+ softness that bothers me

I’m so jealous of people who can “reverse diet” and gain weight without much body comp change

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You look better in the second pic, IMO. Still very lean, but not to the point of amenorrhea. Just lean and healthy.

It’s a win.

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The first pic was taken the week I hit big rep PRs.

My gym performance hasn’t been good recently. It’s the combo of worse body comp + bad performance.

It really sucks that I can’t maintain leanness like @Dani_Shugart

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You look great to me. You look fit and healthy. If I put on my Male Gaze glasses, it appears as though you’re rocking a hot bod.

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I’m not saying that I look bad, it’s that I’ve regressed in both body composition and performance.

Regression in BOTH fronts is the issue.

If I’d gained some fat but lifts improve dramatically, I’d be fine.

Also, I have no excuse. I’m under far less stress and my calories were increased somewhat back in late april

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You say, “regressed.” I say, “experiencing natural ebb and flow.”

And that applies to just about everything in life, BTW—I think you’re just blessed to be young enough to not have experienced that just yet!

Keep up the good work!

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Oh sweet girl, you look seriously amazing. Also, the female body fluctuates dramatically all the time.

And remember, pictures are pretty deceiving. If a woman happens to be looking lean, it might be because her photo was taken in the morning during ovulatory or follicular phase. If she’s a little softer or thicker, she’s likely in her luteal or menstrual phase.

I just delete my unflattering pictures. Poof! Gone. Now I’m lean again. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

This is common. I don’t know if it’s a cortisol thing or an estrogen-dominance thing, or what. But there was a combination of performing worse, trying harder, and gaining weight that I have experienced on a handful of occasions.

The thing that helped was eliminating cardio and metcon for a while, and backing off in the gym, which often automatically down-regulated my appetite and made me lose water weight.

Dr. Jade Teta has this idea of toggles that helped as well. There are four but the two you want to pay attention to are: 1) eat more, move more and 2) eat less, move less.

He recommends spending time in one for a period of time, then switching to the other. So if you’re eating more and moving more (the athlete’s toggle), but performing worse, that could be a sign your body’s ready to switch to the moving less toggle.

Eh, some people don’t agree with his approach, but he was the one expert who taught me that doing less can lead to more (sustainable) leanness.

Bottom line: The scale doesn’t tell the whole story. Pictures don’t tell the whole story. Fluctuations are normal. You are hot.

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Anna, I have to squint to tell the difference between both photos. You look great, keep on anna-ing…lol

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Thank you, that’s a huge compliment coming from you!

Interesting!

I’ll bring this up with my coach and see what he thinks

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yeah, I have a bad habit of getting caught up in the minutiae.

I was thinking about this comment and I realised that my mindset is eerily similar to the reluctance of certain leaders to allow strategic retreats

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