I love that rowing story! That’s a pretty awesome example about the power of the mind there, and how the environment can influence performance. Just like how we can set PRs in competition that we could never imagine hitting in training.
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26Jun25:
Agile:
30 second dead hang
Butterfly stretch
Pigeon stretch
30 second dead hang
Weighted squat hold
T spine over GHD
Powerful:
Hang clean grip high pull:
135x3, 140x3, 140x3, 140x3, 140x3, 140x3
Hang power clean:
140x1, 155x1, 165x1, 175x1, 175x1
Strong:
Deadlift: 175x5, 225x3, 315x3
360x6
360x6
360x6
360x6
Built:
Supported BSS: 70x12, 70x11
Cable adductor: 30x15, 30x15
Superset:
GHD: 10, 10.
Ab wheel: 12, 12
Conditioned: GPP work
3 rounds
100 yard 53lb kb farmers carry
10 35lb slant board goblet squat
75 jump rope
Notes:
- still do not have the mobility for Olympic. The 175 cleans were ugly. Honestly, I could probably do it better with a straight wrist. I can pull the bar damn near to my chin, it’s just that rotating the shoulders under bit. I end up leaning backwards to try to give myself more room for the shoulders, and then just catch in a super bad position. Sticking with pulls for now.
- Deads felt fine. Used straps just because the sweat had my chalk just turning into paste lol.
- This freak athlete GHD is a nightmare. In a somewhat good way? lol. Using the GHD doesn’t really feel like any GHd I’ve ever used. It’s almost like a hybrid of a GHD AND a Nordic. Ton more difficult than a regular GHD IMO. Also hurts like hell on the quads.
@quadqueen I’ve got a nutrition situation that may require some help. Been trying to cut weight for a bit now. Was just doing maintenance for a long time, then have down a real slow cut for about a month. Went from 241 to 237 in about 5 weeks.
I’ve been stuck at 237 for two weeks now. Scale absolutely will not budge. I’m tracking all my food, eating the same thing. Daily calories are at 1970, which doesn’t seem like it should be maintenance for a guy my size and activity level. But I’ll be damned if I can get this scale to move at the current calories.
I’m also lacking energy a decent amount. Just feeling tired, lethargic. I hit an afternoon slump HARD. Now, I do have some sleep issues from my past job, and some blood tests have my total test levels are around 240 ng/dl (which the navy assures me is in range…) so I’m sure those two factors don’t help my energy much.
Part of me is wondering if I’m having some insulin sensitivity issues. I think it may partially explain the energy slump, and I’m wondering if maybe that could somehow explain why my BMR seems so damn low. I mean, despite how well I can run and all at this size, or the fact that my nutrition is as clean as it normally is, I am still 5’10 237, so it’s definitely a risk for me. And if so one I want to nip in the bud ASAP.
I was thinking about shifting to a lower carb diet. I’ve never really tried lower carbs before, always tried to balance my macros. Not doing keto or anything, really my “lower carb” idea is more of a “no starches” idea, getting all my carbs from fruits, veggies, and maybe bit from dairy. (I like some Greek yogurt lol).
Am I on to something here? Or should i just stop being a baby and drop calories more?
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Haha, so my take on the yearly fitness test has always been “least amount of effort to get a good score.”
The test isn’t hard, and legitimately the only record we keep is pass or fail anyway, so doing well doesn’t really benefit you in any way. So I’ll max the strength out of pride, and then typically go hard enough on cardio I can still have some small amount of pride without gassing myself out.
That did not happen this time haha. Gassed for the rest of the day, lungs physically sore afterwards haha. Nothing like the panic of a career altering failure to get ya moving
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Obviously not QQ, but I’ve found that a tablespoon of ACV in water and a tablespoon of cinnamon 15-20 minutes before I eat any meal really helps. It feels home-remedy to me, but there’s probably some kind of science behind it, if that matters to you.
Regardless, YMMV.
Edit: Forgot to quote this part, too:
because I don’t usually eat many starches, and I still find the pre-meal ACV + cinnamon to make a difference.
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This seems oddly like you trying to poison me….
Haha I have both at home, maybe I’ll have to give that a try. Sounds just weird enough to work
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I’m also an ACV first thing in the morning guy, even on a practically 0 carb diet. Best to mix with water, as noted. The tough guy in us wants to just shoot it, but our esophagus and teeth will thank us not to.
I used to be a big user of cinnamon, but found it disrupted my guts. Can be something to watch for.
EDIT: Hey, this is topical. Not related to insulin sensitivity directly, but talks about how it kills sugar cravings.
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Okay, coming in late per usual, but here are my thoughts -
I’d say maybe give it another week where you’re at - that third week might be the charm. That being said, even after three weeks, I wouldn’t dip calories any lower, and actually might consider possibly increasing them a bit. Doing this, I’d also recommend being VERY intentional with your carb placement - keeping them primarily in the post workout meal when insulin sensitivity will be at its height and then throwing a small amount at dinner to hopefully help with sleep. Do you know what your macro distribution is right now? Maybe we can hack that a little bit.
The insulin sensitivity thing could definitely be at play and as @SvenG suggested, the ACV and/or cinnamon might be some things to try. If shooting it straight up isn’t your thing, you can even them to your meals - mix them right in (to the things they pair well with - you don’t have to do them together). They also make some pretty good canned (Life Cider is a good one) and/or bottled drinks and powders that are avenues to explore for the ACV piece. I’d also recommend reading Robb Wolf’s book Wired to Eat it guides you through a whole process to help pinpoint foods/carbs that might be more problematic than others. Great book by the smartest dude I know (sorry guys…).
And, work on that SLEEP!!! That is such a big piece of all of this. Really hone in on getting that regulated and you’ll be shocked at how much better this process goes and how much better you feel!
I know you have my number and email too, so if you’d like to talk this all through just let me know! It’s been a while since you’ve had the pleasure of my sarcasm and jokes. lol
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Just added this to my own list: appreciate you sharing that.
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Thanks for the reply! Let’s break this down
Music to my ears.
So right now I’ve been doing about 50g carbs from rice at lunch, pre lift around 3pm, then again at about 7 for dinner. Thinking just changing that up to some pre lift carbs, though your statement has me thinking maybe hold off to post lift.
227 protein, 58 fat, 142 carb
I’m honestly surprised I haven’t hear about this before, just with everyone recommending it. I must be late to the game lol. Bought some today.
Will buy tonight
Oh trust me, this is a work in progress. Navy is calling it “circadian scarring” from the shift work. It’s getting better, but it’s still a struggle, and I’m trying to avoid just relying on Ambien like the docs recommending
I will definitely reach out one on one if that’s better for you! I tend to like asking you on the forum just because I often read your advice to other people and think it’s useful, so whenever I have a question for ya I like to think maybe someone else was wondering it too lol.
You’re the best!
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Just a brief stop by catch up, but a few things first, well done on the rowing, smashed it!
Second no reference ranges or free T results there but your T levels look awful, I’d definitely investigate further
Third - if you get cinnamon make sure you get celyon not cassia, taking a table spoon of cassia per day might put you on the liver transplant list.
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Yeah, I agree lol.
Navy docs my only real option. They said for a guy my age (28), the levels were on the low end of normal range, which they said is expected given my sleep issues. Didn’t want to do anything about the test until the sleep was figured out. There is an Air Force doc I can go to, may swing by her for a second opinion
I didn’t even know there were multiple types of cinnamon lol
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28Jun25:
Agile:
Dead hang
PVC overhead
Cat cow
Dead hang
Hollywoods
Nunchuck PVC
Powerful:
50 jump ropes
A skips
B skips
Sprint starts: 5x10 yards
Strong:
Overhead press:
140x6
140x6
140x6
140x6
Built:
CGBP: 185x9, 185x7 (dammit)
Lat pulldown: 170x12, 170x10
Seated cable row: 140x12, 140x11, 120x12 no elbow bend
Superset:
DB preacher curl: 25x12, 25x9
Single arm cable pushdown: 25x12, 25x12
Conditioned:
400m intervals, 2 min rest
8.5 mph
9.0 mph
9.3 mph
9.6 mph
10.0 mph
Notes:
- press moved great the first 3 sets, then someone turned the gravity extra high on the 4th lol. Still got it, but a stepwise increase in RPE.
- CGBP did not want to move at all today. No reps felt good. I did go lighter carbs yesterday, so maybe my bodies pissed.
- On that note: no starches yesterday. All carbs came from oranges, berry’s, green veggies, avocado, or plain Greek yogurt. Still exact same calories. It’s a little interesting. I’ve never really tried a low fat diet, so I don’t have a good reference. I never felt full, but I also never felt hungry? For an example, lunch was 8oz ground beef, half an avocado, cup of spinach, and an orange. I went through that in about 4 minutes and thought “I could easily eat two more of those right now.” But I didn’t feel any hunger prior to my next meal. Normally when I do more rice, even though the calories are about the same, I feel it in my stomach and feel full (not like stuffed, just like I have food in me) after a meal. Also interesting, my waistline is about 1.5 inches smaller today than yesterday. Obviously I didn’t lose fat that quick, but I guess I don’t really have any bloat without the carbs.
- Huh, kinda got sidetracked from the lift. Back to business.
- Back work felt good, nothing to explain here.
- These db preacher curls I do an my incline bench. I like em, no cheating lol.
- These intervals were brutal with the humidity. First one was more of a warmup, then building speed from there.
- It’s interesting how much slower I run on a treadmill. I think it’s because I never “sprint” on a treadmill. It’s a run, a fast run, but still a run and not a real sprint. But it gassed me, which is the real goal here.
Random, but have any of y’all seen that crossfitter Jake Douglas? I came across him yesterday, dude seems like an absolute beast. I’m not going to do CrossFit, but honestly that’s about my dream physique right there lol.
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Had to look him up—beast indeed! I always thought Mat Fraser’s physique was the non-Arnold ideal, but this Douglas guy is pretty freakin’ impressive, too.
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@QuadQueen @T3hPwnisher @SvenG
I messed up.
Tried the whole apple cider vinegar thing today.
Wasn’t trying to be a tough guy. So decided to mix it 1-1 ratio with water. (As estimated from my glass.)
Here is my mistake. I forgot how much @SvenG recommended I take. I also don’t know why, but for some reason my head was telling me around 1/2 cup. So, I poured out about half a cup of ACV, then as much water, and chugged it in one long go.
My stomach is not freaking happy with me. At all.
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My dude, I’m sorry to hear that!
A 1/2 cup is a lot of ACV. That’d be like 8 servings for me—so yeah, A LOT.
Just to be clear, I do 1 tablespoon in 4 oz. of water, but maybe you should start with 8 oz. of water?
Regardless, I’m sorry for the trouble… Hope your stomach doesn’t talk back for too long.
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Dude, this falls so heavily into the category of “so dumb I deserved it” that it’s almost comical lol. The moment I stopped chugging it I legit thought “why the hell did I just do that?” Haha. Would of taken me about 7 seconds to just scroll back to what you actually TOLD me to do, but I just figured I’d wing it, and learned once again that winging it is a TERRIBLE IDEA.
And it’s not really that bad, but I do have ACV burps now, so that’s fun haha
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So, for the greatest insulin sensitivity, you’re going to want to put those carbs post workout rather than pre. Given your macro breakdown, I’d say maybe try 30-40 grams pre and then hit 60-75 grams post and call it good (with the exception of carbs from non-starchy veggies). Try to get those post workout carbs within 1-3 hours following the workout to take advantage of peak insulin sensitivity.
Okay, but like, don’t drink the whole bottle in a day… lol (sorry, it’s kind of funny…). Half a cup is a lot of acid for your poor gut. I’d highly recommend eating some bland carbs (think oats or rice) to help soak some of it up and also take some Tums of or other antacid. I’ll be praying for you and keep us posted.
I totally don’t mind, just know that if you want a faster and/or more detailed response, text, call or email is the way to go. My response time here varies - and I often leave out a lot of little details or get interrupted while trying to respond and then completely lose my train of thought (because I’m old… lol). Also, you miss out on all the jokes and most of the sarcasm. lol
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This just means a carb heavy dinner, which is easiest for me to do anyway. Will do!
Lol, I survived. It wasn’t that bad, just a weird burning sensation for a few hours. Did it today with 12 oz of ice water, actually tasted pretty good. Just a tad refreshing lol.
Well I can’t have that lol.
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I’m glad you survived the “vinegaring” without pickling your stomach. lol. I’m glad it went better today!
One other note of caution, the acid is tough on your teeth, so brush them after you drink your little mixture. Your dentist and your pearly whites will thank you!
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Oh that’s actually really good to know. I’ve got a weird genetic thing with my teeth, they are fragile as hell, so ill definitely be watching this
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