@QuadQueen what’s the verdict on these bad boys?
Looking at a healthy chicken salad recipe and trying to figure out the whole wrap situation lol.
1 Like
I know you asked the queen, but my perspective is to avoid these frankenfoods and the “net carb” “keto certified” stuff. Look into WHO certifies things keto: it’s just some interest group that is set up to make cash and sell their stamp to manufacturers that want to get in on the keto craze. Vinnie Tortorich’s “Dirty Keto” documentary talks about this pretty well, and he’s just been outspoken about it in general.
Look at the ingredient list: it reads like a science dissertation. Do yourself a favor and just find some legit corn (my SoCal is showing) tortillas with like 2-3 ingredients or, if you MUST, flour ones that are the same. The calories might be higher, but with you taking on a Vertical Diet approach, it far more aligns with your intent to keep the ingredients simple and pure and account for the increased carbs than to try to shave calories off by eating modified wheat starch protein fiber.
5 Likes
I’m going to go a step further and say that he should just use corn tortillas anyways because they are bomb and flour tortillas suck azz 
4 Likes
That’s not a step further at all: that’s exactly what I’m saying, haha.
4 Likes
This is EXACTLY what I was going to say. The ingredient list is much shorter and they’re pretty damn delicious!
If you’ve got to have a flour tortilla, the Siete Almond Flour ones aren’t too terrible, both taste and ingredient label-wise.
2 Likes
@T3hPwnisher @KonsuTheTraveller @QuadQueen Ahh, the consensus has confirmed my worst fears.
In all honesty, this post was really a “this is the only thing my Costco has, is it worth a trip to another grocery store or are these fine.” As I up my meal prep game, the one grocery store shopping trips are becoming more and more rare. Tragedy.
But corn does taste better, so that’s still a win.
3 Likes
24mar25: Cycle 3 week 2 day 2
Bench:
205x6 RPE 8
205x6 RPE 8
205x6 RPE 8
205x6 RPE 8
Barbell row:
185x8 RPE 7
185x8 RPE 8
185x8 RPE 8
Db incline:
70x9
70x9
70x10
Lat pulldown:
160x10
160x10
160x10
Overhead cable extension:
65x12
65x12
65x12
Db A Raise + 5 rear delt flys
15x12
15x12
15x12
EZ Curl
70x11
70x11
70x11
Cable extension:
100 reps, light weight, big pump
Conditioning:
31 min LISS run, 5.3 mph
Notes:
- god life has been busy these last few weeks. Today was chaos, barely managed to fit this in. Haven’t looked at macros or the scale in a few weeks, just been too busy, but all my meal preps have been healthy, and I’ve eaten very well (except for when I was traveling, but I’m not about to eat like I’m cutting while the Mrs and I are on a wedding planning trip. Priorities)
- Bench moved well, better than 195 last week
- Barbell rows felt strong. Prolly means I’m butchering form.
- Honestly everything feeling strong. I enjoy this training so much more than the pure hypertrophy block. Gels much more with my style.
- Some high rep extensions at the end just because I’m getting a hint of elbow pain. Not bad enough to “hurt,” but I feel a little discomfort that I’d rather take care of now before it becomes an issue.
- Run felt great. Never thought I’d be the type to enjoy going for a run, and I still loathe intervals or speed work, but a nice slow jog really is pretty nice. Nice sweat, little heart rate, gets the body feeling loose…. And I get to catch up on TV haha
- My wife’s got just about perfect leverages for the squat, which is awesome for her, and I am eternally jealous. She hit a solid set of 120 for 10 today, and definitely had more in the tank. That’s about BW for 10 reps, so she’s doing pretty damn well for starting lifting in January lol.
15 Likes
@freshyfresh tried it again today. Used THREE cups of chicken stock vice 1.5, cooked for 13 minutes. It actually worked well, no burn, but next time I’m going to cook a tad longer, maybe 15. The meats probably safe (will report back on that…) but it’s a little less brown than I would like. Still, step in the right direction
5 Likes
Sounds like you married well! Fitness has been a big part of our married life and it has paid off - working on 18 years and we haven’t killed each other (yet).
2 Likes
Definitely swinging above my league, she’s a keeper.
Work for today:
30 min incline treadmill walk
3.3mph, 5inc, 50lb pack
9 Likes
26mar25: cycle 3 week 2 day 3
Seated press:
150x6 RPE 8
150x6 RPE 8
150x6 RPE 8
150x6 RPE 8.5
Hi bar sleeveless:
245x5 RPE 7
245x5 RPE 7
245x5 RPE 7
245x5 RPE 7
4 paver sumo block pull
365x6 RPE 7
365x6 RPE 7
365x6 RPE 7
Superset:
Flared db bench: 60x9, 60x9, 60x9
Wide grip lat pulldown: 150x10, 150x10, 150x10
45degree back raise:
30x10, 30x10, 30x10
Db lat raise: 25x13, 25x13, 25x12, 25x12
Notes:
- eating big the next week. Weight loss challenge on among the Team Activated coaching community, I feel like I’ve got this in the bag, but wanna give myself all the free bloat I can lol. Just until Monday, but I’m gunning to win this damn thing lol.
- Press moved well, feeling decent there. Multiple sets at 150 doesn’t seem bad. Curious how it relates to standing, I suspect my standing is a tad higher.
- Coach advised I throw on a belt for hi bar, still no sleeves. Goal is to just target quads as much as possible. Still very submax, I could do more but trying to keep it quad focused. Hopefully it pays off.
- These block pulls almost make me want to try sumo. Maybe the bottom is a lot tougher, but damn these feel easy.
14 Likes
Definitely appreciate this thought process. You gonna do a full on water load before weigh in? I used to do stuff like that to mess with those weighing us in.
2 Likes
28mar25: cycle 3 week 2 day 4
CGBP:
180x6 RPE 7
180x6 RPE 7
180x6 RPE 7
180x8 RPE 8
Deadlift:
385x6 RPE 7
385x6 RPE 7
385x6 RPE 8
385x6 RPE 8.5
Rolling incline db ext:
35x12 2.5 RIR
35x12 2 RIR
35x12 1 RIR
35x8 2 RIR
Bent over db row:
55x10 RPE 8
55x10 RPE 8
55x10 RPE 8
Superset:
Cable pushdown: 50x15, 50x15, 50x15
Face pull: 50x15, 50x15, 50x15
Notes:
- insomnia hit my hard last night. Ended up just laying in bed from 9pm until after 0300. Running off maybe 2.5 hours sleep, really dragging today.
- CGBP flew, this honestly just felt insanely strong today.
- Deads felt both great and terrible. On the one hand, the weight felt light. Moved fast, no real issues. On the other, I was so tired that just doing 4 sets felt cruel and unusual lol. Sets weren’t “hard,” but f me if I wanted to do them.
- These db rows are supposed to target mid back strength in the deadlift. Really letting myself round on these, gets a nice back pump
- I need a nap
@T3hPwnisher haha, I’m not going that far. Actual bloat from food seems more in the spirit of things, and honestly we have friends coming into town to visit this weekend, so the timing is somewhat perfect. Gives me an excuse to eat a ton, and then motivation to clean my act up afterwards haha.
Though, we are floating around the idea of Dim Sum on Sunday, and all that sodium and carbs immediately before weigh in probably gets me a 5lb head start from the get go haha
15 Likes
Extra day
Ez curl: 70x11, 70x11, 70x11
Incline db curl: 20x12, 20x12, 20x12
Alt Hammer Curl: 30x12, 35x10, 35x10
11 Likes
31mar25: cycle 3 week 3 day 1
Squat:
325x6 RPE 8
325x6 RPE 8.5
325x6 RPE 9
325x6 RPE 9
RDL:
215x8 RPE 8
215x8 RPE 8
215x8 RPE 8
Db BSS
35x10 1 RIR
35x10 0 RIR
35x10 0 RIR
Superset:
Face pull: 50x12, 50x12, 50x12
Decline sit-up: 10, 10, 10
Conditioning:
Neighborhood walk with dog. 55lb ruck. 40ish minute
Notes:
- doing multiple heavy sets of squats is new to me, and I’m struggling a bit to figure out where this puts me strength wise. I hit 335x10 on deployment, but that was one all out set. These multiple sets feel tougher, but also none are to failure. I feel like I could probably still match that 335x10, but it’s kind hard to judge how much I could do pushing to real failure on squats.
- Still, squats felt good.
- Coach wants me to focus on pushing my hips back more on RDLs. Thought I already was, gave it my all today, until my toes were nearly lifting off the ground. Not sure if my hamstrings got anything more out of it, but my erectors were fried.
- Still fuck BSS
- The weather is nice, so the wife and I decided to start taking the dog on a nice long walk around the lake after we workout. This IS going to mean I need to do cardio in the mornings, but honestly I’ve been procrastinating that anyway, so maybe it’s a good forcing function. (On that note, if my log tomorrow doesn’t start with “AM cardio” please publicly shame me). This is not any sort of fast walk, one because the Mrs and I are talking the entire time, and also because we have a very good looking Bernese mountain dog in a very popular park, so we are stopping every 30 seconds to let someone or another pet the pupper haha.
Started the weight loss DOTS challenge today. Weighed in at 244.5, which means I successfully gained 12lbs in 5 days. This is also massive cheating, as I was literally 238 yesterday, but had a spread of Chinese last night for the sodium, then weighed in this morning pre-bowel movement (which incidentally came close to breaking my toilet.)
So, successful bloat for my starting point, going into a more aggressive cut than before for the next 2 months. Was going well before, but I can’t say no to some competition lol. Probably will be back to 238 in 1-3 days from the sodium reasoning out.
Also, switching away from vertical diet just a tad. I’d say “vertical-ish”. I like the diet, but want to have some more variety in the diet, both for enjoyment and because I just fundamentally believe in the value of it. Also, there are some foods that I just “believe” are good for me, even if I can’t entirely articulate why.
For example, before my lift today, I had 1/2 cup 2% Greek yogurt, 30g blackberries, 30g raspberries, and 20g of raw local honey, plus a healthy dose of sea salt on top.
First off, this is ridiculously delicious and I truly enjoy it more than 95% of the deserts I can get at a restaurant lol. Second, I just “believe” that I’m better off getting some of my carbs from fruits and honey than just shoveling more and more white rice.
Basically, still having 2x per day monster mash, along with daily orange and carrots, but I’ll add in some other meal (this week is healthy chicken salad) and some sort of pre-workout fuel. Not a huge deviation, but slight change from pure vertical diet.
Some other things just throwing out there
- I got dates on a whim, because I absolutely love them. Was very sad to look up the nutrition on them lol. Damn those things are nutritionally dense. Was hoping they were closer to berries when you can eat a ton of them for like 70 calories. Instead it’s like 2.5 dates for 120 calories. Still love them… just carefully
- I got some olives, and when questioned by my wife, I responded “idk, I think I really just acquired a taste for some olives as an appetizer when I was in Marseille,” and then had to stop and reconsider life choices in the grocery store, as I realized that was the most pretentious sentence I’ve ever uttered haha.
- I LOVE smoked salmon. My wife still teases me about when we went to a breakfast buffet at a hotel with her family, and I ate what her father later describes as “roughly a school of salmon”. I think I may try to find some way to introduce smoked salmon to the diet, but damn it’s pricey. Wonder if I could make it myself.
- While my weight loss has been good (ignoring the last 5 days, but it was strategic lol), it has been slow. BUT, holy shit, even today at peak bloat, I’m still significantly leaner than I have ever been at this weight. Definitely not lean (especially with the bloat), but it’s a noticeable change in physique now vs the last time I was at this weight
- Wife hit 95lbx6 on bench press today. Proud of her. Her squat and deadlift are coming along nicely, bench is solid. She isn’t loving press, I think there’s some mobility issues for her there, but working to open up her shoulders a bit to make the motion feel better. Small chance she makes a log here (I think she is resisting out of spite just because of how much she teases me about my “internet friends”)
12 Likes
325 x 6 RPE 8, by my calc would have you at a 1RM of 411
335 x 10 at RPE 10 - has an estimated max of 446.
My best guess is that your RPE for that forst set was a little lower than 8.
2 Likes
Yeah, I’m not the best gauge of RPE.
My coach gave a simple guide of
RPE 6: essentially a last warmup set
RPE 7: light working set
RPE 8: normal working set
RPE 9: had to struggle to hit the set, but could of done more
RPE 10: could not of finished the set if the bar weighed another pound.
Which is what I’m trying to go off of, but it’s rough math. I hit a 425 squat a few weeks before my 335x10, so 441 max seems about right.
I think my squat strength is about where it was at my best, and if it’s any lower, then that’s mainly a form thing from my 3 months off of barbell squats. Expecting some good PRs on this when I start pushing for em
4 Likes
Did I read you say that you had moved your feet in a little or moved the bar a little higher on your back recently. It will take a little time for the mind / body to really get the new movement down and let you use all those fast twitch muscle fibres
1 Like
Moved my stance in about 3 inches. Feels a lot tighter, but definitely takes away my “brute strength” factor. With the wider stance, I can be pretty ugly and still good morning it up. Closer stance, I gotta be a little more clean, but I’m also ABLE to stay tighter, so it’s a trade
2 Likes
Once again, I continue to think we are twins separated at birth.
Those evening walks are well worth whatever training sacrifices need to be made to get them in. Mrs and I are doing much the same these days.
2 Likes