Front squats have always felt way better to me than any form of back squat…
5 Likes
I’ve always been pretty quad dominant and typically really like them, and back squats haven’t felt good since I dislocated my lower spine.
3 Likes
SAME!!! Quad Queen isn’t just a fancy name. Lol.
2 Likes
Too bad I don’t have the quads to support my statement 
3/17
Couldn’t sleep last night. Probably dozed for only 2.5 hours. So, I decided to go for a long bike ride – 82 km. For “fun.” Took way longer than expected thanks to the strong winds that I seemed to fight no matter which way I rode 
Whatever keeps me from running…
This means I’ve ridden almost 230 km in the past week!
13 Likes
Last time I looked at this log you didn’t have a bike, now you’re doing 80km rides?! You’re a monster!
2 Likes
I used to do this when I was restless in my early days of getting clean/sober. I even got pulled over a few times at like 3:30-4:00 a.m. “just to see if everything was ok.”. It was a great way to clear my head, hit a good cadence, and just experience the world around me without the cacaphony of thoughts and noise.
So, hope all is well with you. You really seem to have taken to cycling. 
2 Likes
3/18
Seven miles of run-commuting.
3/19
Pull-ups 10,6,6
Push-ups 3x8
BPA 2x20
3/20
Four-mile tempoish run in the AM and hilly 10-mile bike ride in the PM.
3/21
Pull-ups 11,7,7
Push-ups 3x11
Deadlift 140x5, 160x5, 180x5, 160x3x5
Press 40x4, 45x5, 52.5x5, 40x2x16
Kneeling ab wheel 2x30
BPA 20,15
Easy five-mile run.
It’s been a rough several days. I think a period heavier than expected took a lot out of me. I felt awful on Sunday evening, slept for ten hours, and then barely slept on Monday night. Last night I couldn’t go to bed at 1 AM but then took more iron, which calmed me down and let me fall asleep. Nice to at least have that as a confirmation of sorts.
Anyway, super discouraging after a few weeks of mostly feeling noticeably better. So, I scheduled another doctor’s appointment where I will most definitely get a referral. Supposedly this one is the medical director and can listen to and monitor me before I see a hematologist, which might be a little while from now based on what I’ve been told. It’s okay; I’m not expecting to see a specialist before my trip anyway. But in the meantime I am going to increase my daily dose of iron so that hopefully this doesn’t happen next month. I imagine I lost any of the reserves I replenished since last month. 
11 Likes
Sorry to hear this, those heavier periods are awful, especially trying to dig yourself out of a iron and recovery hole. I hope this new doc helps and has great ideas.
1 Like
@Bagsy, I’m concerned that you’re still doing cardio at the level you are despite your body’s clear message that it is not thriving. I recall your posts a couple of years ago in @anna_5588 log, so I will leave it at that I’m concerned and let you provide your own excellent lecture.
I hope I haven’t overstepped.
4 Likes
You’re not overstepping; you’re right! Despite reducing my running mileage since a month ago, I realized that I got overzealous since feeling better after a few weeks and thus likely overdid it over the last 10 days or so, which likely contributed to these rough few days. So, I’m going be more conservative and err toward cycling over the next two weeks.
5 Likes
3/23
Pull-ups 10,8,7,7,6,5
Push-ups 12,10,10,10,9
Front squat 75x5, 90x5, 100x5, 90x3x5
Push press 52.5x5, 60x5, 67.5x5, 60x8
BPA 2x25
Then went for a long walk. Also cooking a lot of red meat right now.
Decided that I’m not going to run at all and not bike very much before my trip. I don’t know how much of a dent that will make, but I hope it helps. I don’t want to feel like this on vacation.
14 Likes
Okay, figured out that I was a little silly. It will be embarrassing to explain, but ultimately I had a rough week and couldn’t figure out why I thought I was dying. I was winded from walking, I had brain fog, and even my hands and feet started going numb at times.
I am pretty sure that I had a severe allergic reaction to one of the supplements I had been taken. I wasn’t overdosing on iron, but I think I couldn’t tolerate one of the other ingredients. Some of my symptoms this week manifested as a worse form of what I experienced for about a day last month. This time I had an episode, like, every day though. And it didn’t quite make sense given that I saw improvements in other areas (e.g., hair, skin, mood).
But as i thought iron was the issue, I increased my intake of that supplement because it has less iron, so I could top off what I was already getting from the other one I can tolerate but contains more iron.
I felt so miserable gasping for air that my friend took me to the ER on Sunday, but they found nothing… my oxygen was at 100%, my heart was fine, and my hemoglobin was fine.
So, I stopped taking that one supplement that has a couple of other ingredients… and after a couple of days I am almost completely better. Plus I checked my hemoglobin and ferritin – they increased a decent amount in a short time period! I no longer have an “absolute iron deficiency” nor am I on the cusp of anemia anymore. I will still have to supplement a bit of course, but I think I am only a few months away from reaching more ideal levels.
What a time… be careful with supplements. For a couple of days I was contemplating canceling my trip.
12 Likes
Oh, this sounds awful! I’m glad you’ve figured it out and are back on track to go!
1 Like
3/29
Deadlift 150x5, 170x5, 190x2
Press 45x5, 50x5, 55x5, 45x2x10
BPA 2x20
Bare minimum. Figured out that my body actually does not like either of the supplements I am taking right now after I took a little bit more of the other one on Wednesday. Still recovering from the same but slightly milder side effects that have robbed me of sleep over the past few days, which showed in this session. I’ve breached my “contract” from several days ago and have done a little bit of cardio over the past few days, but it doesn’t make me feel worse.
Tons of rambling in my log here lately as I try to figure things out. I haven’t found tons of anecdotes online from people who have had similar symptoms after supplementing, but it seems like it can happen to people after taking iron for “a while.” Whatever that means. I wrote to someone who was in a similar boat and found out that all iron does that to them. Kinda disappointing because I’ve been feeling a lot better otherwise. I’m starting to think I can maybe only handle a few weeks of iron at a time before my body rejects it like it is now.
I am somewhat curious if it’s a non-heme vs heme iron thing though. Heme iron allegedly elicits fewer side effects, though that seems to refer more to stomach issues than anything else. I hate feeling like my body is now a science experiment (I have enough of that in my life!), but doctors don’t really take iron deficiency without anemia very seriously.
I want to try out a new heme supplement I got a couple of days ago to see if I better tolerate it. Unfortunately, from my experience it takes 2-3 days for these weird side effects to wear off, and I want to feel 100% normal for a bit, so I think I am going to not risk it and instead take some time off from iron. Maybe I’ll take it with me on vacation in case I feel up for trying it. Anyway, I figure my levels can’t drop that quickly in a few weeks anyway.
Going to finish this cycle in a few days and then get at least one more random lifting session in before I leave.
12 Likes
I honestly think this is the answer (acknowledging that I truncated this to alter your meaning), you do incredible amounts of work. Lifting, cardio, your normal work, languages, etc. I’d guess that if you took a week off you’d start regressing to the mean, whatever that means for you.
1 Like
Yeah, I definitely need to more consistently implement deloads when I come back to real life. That hasn’t been good at all for me. Plus I haven’t taken a proper vacation in a year…
While I will definitely be walking tons and going on some hikes, I’m looking forward to switching off for a while, at least from work and training. And eating out way more often! May even try some spas or something because everything is so cheap over there. It will be good for me 
6 Likes
Already looking forward to the photos, hope you have a great time!
1 Like
3/30
Pull-ups 4x8
Push-ups 5x10
Did some assistance to make up for not doing any yesterday. Then went on a nice 50 km bike ride. Going on a walk with my friend and her dog soon to break in some new trail shoes that I bought. Feeling good today!
10 Likes
SO MUCH THIS!!! Less is more. Always.
I am so glad you’re feeling better!!
2 Likes