Think about how this was JUST as convenient as a “hungry man” frozen dinner and even MORE convenient than “fast food” since you didn’t have to drive, wait in line and wait for someone to make it. This is “no excuses nutrition” at work. Making the absolute best choices given the circumstances
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I can always eat on the ship, which Is honestly 100% as fast, but the food options are just awful health wise. Everything starches and then fried meats dripping with vegetable oil lol. Goal is just to beat that. To be fair, the microwave rice and chicken ain’t half bad. Tuna could use some work though.
Edit: a not small part of me did consider hitting up chipotle and ordering 14 burrito bowls to get me through the week. Still tempted, mainly because chipotle is my kryptonite lol
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Hear hear, brother!
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Uhg, I have always wished I could have a setup to do seal rows! Always looks like it would be such a worthwhile exercise.
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Work for today: 531 c2w2d1
Squat: 45x10, 135x5, 185x3, 225x5, 255x5, 285x5, 225x5, 225x5, 225x5, 225x5
Leg press: 6ppsx12, 6ppsx12, 6ppsx12
Superset:
Dips: 5, 10, 10, 10, 10
BPA: Gx10, Gx10, Gx10, Gx10, Gx10
One arm cable row: 50x10, 60x10, 60x10, 60x10
Kb Swing: 70x10, 70x15, 70x15
Conditioning: Tabata air bike
Notes:
- squats felt great, pleased with those. Solid form, solid bar speed, I honestly think I could get 10+ with 285.
- dips felt awful at first, had to figure out a good width on the bar, but it came back pretty quick.
- I can squeeze the hell out of my lat on these rows. Good less taxing movement, closest thing to a back isolation movement I really do
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Work for today: 531 c2w2d2
Press: 45x10, 95x5, 110x5, 125x5, 145x5, 110x5, 110x5, 110x5, 110x5, 110x5
Lat pulldown: 150x10, 150x10, 150x10, 150x9
Standing bench press: 90x10, 140x10, 140x10, 140x10, 140x11
Machine lat raise: 50x12, 50x12, 60x12, 60x12
1arm cable curl: 15x12, 15x12, 15x12
Back raise: 25x12, 25x12, 25x12
Push-ups: 25
Plank: 70 seconds
Conditioning: 1.1 mile run; 8:59 (first mile: 8:13)
Notes:
- shoulder bugging me from dips. I like the movement, but my shoulder will just click for a solid week after I do them. Idk what to do to make dips love me back, but the shoulders just do not want to play nice with these.
- didn’t bug me too much on press though. 145x5 is an easy weight for me, felt a little slower than usual with the achy shoulders but still moved just fine. Did all backoff sets beltless.
- standing bench is a weird machine we have, but I actually liked it a ton. Good “brute strength” exercise.
- not doing a ton for biceps, going super light weight with crazy exaggerated contraction. I generally feel curls more in my elbows than my biceps, trying to correct that.
- going to be placing a bigger emphasis on push-ups, planks, and running. Fitness test in a few months, and I’ve got a competition set up with my division….that I can’t afford too many of them to win lol, so I need to get my butt In gear. Doing 1 easy set of both at the end of my lifts, just trying to grain in a bunch of reps before I dedicate time to really pushing them as the PFA gets closer.
Edit: pic of what I mean by standing bench
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Funny story. I have a big container that I keep rice in, and it ran out of rice during my last round of meal preps. So, I went grocery shopping today, bought myself a 20lb bag of rice for like… $15 bucks? Went home, filled up my big container, had like 2/3 of the bag still left. So I rolled it up, clipped it shut, reached up to the top of my pantry…. And found my last 20lb bag of rice, also 2/3 full, also clipped shut.
I had to of bought that thing months ago.
Which, means 1) I have a years worth of rice in my house and 2) rice is the ultimate budget food. Throw some spices in, add sauces, you can flavor it all sorts of ways for various meal preps. But it’s a good solid carb, makes a great base for a ton of meal preps, and it is just so freaking cheap. Eating 600ish calories a day from rice just gets some cheap healthy calories in the books while letting me spend some more dough on good proteins (ie, beef, fish, and pork, rather than just chicken breast).
I’d also think you could lump potatoes into this group, but I’ve honestly never tried my hand at really meal prepping those. I can’t eyeball serving size as well with them, and potatoes don’t tend to last as well as rice does for me, which isn’t great when I’m prepping in bulk
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Pro tip when bulking, cook your rice in coconut milk. So. Good.
Rather cruel of you to tell me this on a cut….
Lol, saving this tip, will definitely have to try it! Just off the top of my head, I feel like that would go amazing with some curry chicken
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My timing is a little rude, and I am not sorry. It does go well with curry! Had some with a ginger steak stir fry last week. Amazing.
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+1 on rice for meal prep. Been doing it all January and you cant beat the price. As long as you aren’t Keto its a staple.
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Its the reason beans and rice are a dietary staple among some of the poorest nations. Along with being cheap, you take two incomplete proteins and combine them into a complete one.
Isn’t science fun?! Haha
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I’ve been a big fan of the monster mash this month, think I’ll keep it in as a staple. Rice, bone broth, grass fed ground beef, I throw in a lot of carrots and spinach. Quick as hell to make, good protein, good fats, good carbs, good micronutrient profile, and tastes pretty awesome if you season your meat and add some hot sauce. I feel like it’s the “backbone” of my nutrition lol. Eat a Tupperware full of that everyday and it lays the foundation for a good diet.
I actually didn’t know this about the rice and beans! That is a cool fact. My diet knowledge is very “practical application” focused. I know macros, I have a general idea of what is good and bad, but getting into micronutrients, complete vs incomplete nutrients, Nutrient timing, cholesterol, fat types, anything like that still just goes over my head. But, my blood pressure is great, healthy RHR, and achieving my goals so far without knowing it, so I’m happy with my “good enough” knowledge for now haha.
I did know that you can live off potatoes and butter, but that’s only because my grandma was Irish lol.
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Incidentally thats my current meal prep. One lb of bacon, a sack of beans, in the crock pot for 8 hours. Drop tomatoes in toward the end; mix with rice for prep.
Edit to add: offered some to my daughter yesterday, she said it looks like poop and wasn’t willing to try it!
Monster mash sounds better (meatier).
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I eat rice and meat almost every night!! Sometimes I do ground beef and potatoes though, add some spices and cabbage and a few other veggies and it’s delish! I get very excited about healthy, simples foods lol
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That’s a good spot to be in. It should be of absolutely no shock to anyone else that I am obsessive by nature, and when my health took a turn I went and read ALL the things about nutrition. But, of course, you can find studies that show anything and people that say anything and it’s easy to get in a tailspin over it. Your approach of “I’m getting the results I want with the method I’m using” is where I like to land.
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Work for today: 531 c2w2d3
Deadlift: 135x5, 225x5, 275x5, 315x5, 365x5, 275x5, 275x5, 275x5, 275x5, 275x5
Belt squat: bwx5, 90x5, 180x10, 180x10, 180x10, 180x10
Kroc row: 55x10, 95x25 (straps)
Superset:
GHD: 10, 10, 10,
Rope upright row: 35x15, 35x15, 35x15
Ab wheel: 15, 15
Conditioning: zone 2 cardio: 45 min elliptical
Notes:
- deads moved easy. No real news there.
- forgot my knee sleeves today. Oddly, doing bw squats hurts, but the moment I put some weight on it feels fine. I don’t know what to make of that, but I’m gonna say it’s my body telling me it likes lifting heavy things.
- GHD felt good
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Work For Today: 531 c2w3d1
Paused bench: 45x10, 135x5, 155x5, 180x5, 200x5, 155x5, 155x5, 155x5, 155x5, 155x5
Seal row: 45x10, 135x9, 135x9, 135x9, 135x10.5
Db inc bench: 70x12, 70x12, 70x9, 70x6
Lat pulldown: 145x11, 145x11, 145x12
EZ bar curl: 60x10, 60x10, 60x10
Rope pushdown: 35x15, 35x15, 35x12
Push-ups: 30
Plank: 90 seconds
Conditioning: 1.5 mile run: 11:47 (first mile: 8:08)
Notes:
- 200 felt oddly heavy. Moved easy, definitely had way more in me, but felt weird in my hands. I also did switch away from suicide grip, so maybe that’s it. Still not bad
- still digging the Seal row.
- was beating myself up on the DB incline press, swore I hit this for 4x12 last week. Turns out last week was 60lbs for 4x10… oh.
- it is comical the difference in how 30 push-ups feels fresh vs after a workout. I can normally crank out 50 in about the first 30 seconds. After a lift, 30 Is an effort, and the chest is pumped lol.
- spent like 20 minutes waiting for a treadmill to open, only 2 in the gym and guys were busy watching Netflix while walking 2mph…. Wanted to run, was frustrated by the time I got to the treadmill, decided to push it a little. Happy with 11:47. Not a true max, I think I’ve got like 11:20-11:30 in me right now, but I pushed this a bit. Want to break 10:30 on my 1.5 mile, haven’t done that since college. Still, for my 4th run back in like a year, im happy with these numbers
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Work for today: 531 c2w3d2
Squat: 45x10, 135x5, 185x5, 205x5, 240x5, 275x5, 205x5, 205x5, 205x5, 205x5, 205x5
Leg press: 6ppsx13, 6ppsx13, 6ppsx13
DB RDL: 75x10, 75x10, 75x10
GHR: 8, 10, 10
Face Pull: 30lbsx20, 30x20, 30x20, 30x20, 30x20
Conditioning: 45 min elliptical
Notes:
- alright, I know this is probably “wrong”, but I find that I like looking down when I squat. Not directly between my feet, but definitely going to hell with the whole “head up” deal. My squat has also never felt more solid. Oh well, I’m sticking with it.
- on more reflection, my squat is now basically 100% what Rippetoe suggests…. Grouchy bastard might be on to something lol.
- did RDLs with a mirror so I could look at myself from the side, was worried I was rounding my back. Very pleasantly surprised. My upper back rounds like absolute crazy from the very start of the lift, just my normal starting position, lower and mid back is rod straight and doesn’t deviate a degree as I lower the weight. I should do this with actual deadlifts too, never really thought to do it.
- adding facepulls on squats day, need to build the rear delts to make low bar shelf bigger.
(Late entry) January goal review:
- weight: dropped 7 lbs. goal achieved
- lift 4x per week: did not achieve. Averaged about 3.5 times per week, but managed to make a 531 plan that works with that. Goal not achieved, but made it work, and I’m actually gonna count that as a win given the workload.
- condition 4x per week: did hit this. Goal achieved
- count Macros daily: Failed. Massive failed. Made it like 12 days. Not trying this again. Got in my head almost immediately, and made meal prepping significantly more painful. I think I’ve got a good gauge on eyeballing my food intake at this point. Maybe if I’m ever going for a weight class I can do it short term, but macro counting and I don’t mix.
- read two books: failed. Read 1. Life got busy. Damn.
Overall, fairly happy with this. A lot of unexpected hurdles coming my way, pretty major life events that I feel would tend to derail most, so I’m glad to still be chugging along. End goals were met, and the lifts are feeling good. That being said,
February Goals:
- weight: 221
- 1.5 mile run: 11:20
- lift: 3x per week min
- run: 2x per week min
- push-ups and plank: 2x per week min
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No way dude, looking down is where it’s at!! Who are these weirdos who look up?!
Pack your neck and keep it in check!
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