Cal's Big Log 3D - Attack of the Giant Arse

Training
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[quote]Cal Jones wrote:
I’ve done the V-Diet and I really started craving salt after all those sweet shakes. One or two shakes a day is fine but I need something solid and savoury as well. Currently my cravings are manageable but I have a secret weapon - I’m using nicotine gum. I don’t smoke (I quit, hmm, 14 years ago) but I have to say, the time when I smoked was the only time I managed to slim down my lower body. Smoking is obviously bad for you (aside from coating your lungs with tar it’s also ageing for the face and, well, makes you stink) but nicotine itself is pretty interesting. Not only is it a mild stimulant and appetite suppresant but it also has anti-oestrogenic properties which is of interest to a pear-shaped woman like me. There is also some evidence to suggest it’s anti-inflammatory. One maybe not so good side effect is that it’s a vasoconstrictor - that’s to say, it tightens up the walls of the blood vessels, leading to higher blood pressure. For some that may be an issue, but I tend towards low blood pressure and feel the cold so it’s a good thing as far as I’m concerned.
Main thing is that my concentration gets shitty when I’m on low carb so chewing a bit of nicotine gum helps me get through my lesson plans (I’m a PE teacher and I’m currently planning next term’s lessons).

Betty - I did measure my waist this morning and it was just under 28" (it was 29.5" to begin with). Lost about the same from my belly and hips. Granted, when I took the first set of measurements, Flo was in town so I may have been slightly bloated. However, I have tightened up a little so I guess I should eat something, eh?[/quote]

Nice to see that things are progressing. Nicotine gum heh, crafty! Haha, ya know I have thought about this many times. I too am an ex-smoker (5 yrs in Feb) but I must admit that I am worried that it will cause me to start smoking again. Shit works though for sure.

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yeah, nicotine is pretty interesting. there was an article about it on this site in relation to fat loss, in particular, i think. when i did quit smoking for 3 months a huge part of that was my decision that nicotine was totally fine it was just the method of delivery that wasn’t. i started out chopping the gum into smaller pieces so i could have gum every time i would normally have a cigarette… but the gum is very different from smoking (takes a bit to get the nicotine out of the gum). then eventually the gum started upsetting my stomach so it was easy enough to quit it totally after about a month.

glad to hear that you are doing okay with the riot stuff.

hoping you get a MRI real soon. keeping my fingers crossed that the health system gets its arse into gear for you.

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Nicotine gum, interesting. One could also use the usual drug delivery system preferred by the EU continent :wink:
Congrats on tightening up! Hope your foot is ok too.

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very interesting with the nicotine gum. Good for you in sticking with it. Very difficult to eat one meal a day and only shakes. Strong work :slight_smile:

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Here’s one for Betty - my lunch today. A gigantic salad. And what’s that on the right? A potato! (With smoked salmon offcuts). My god, someone must have divided by zero! The world will end!
Cal ate a carb!

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Please tell me you put something like a drizzle of olive oil over the salad?

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God yes. Olive oil and balsamic vinegar - my staple. Butter on the potato, too.

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Haha, I’m just tweezing you Cal. But good to hear you are not turning into a rabbit.

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No danger of that.

Today was going to be a rest day as I was feeling pretty sore and tired, but I decided I ought to go for a walk (fasted cardio and all that). Then I decided I could make that walk even better by sticking my 20kg kettlebell in my backpack and slinging it on my back. Of course, this is a normal Eddie Bauer backpack, not a proper rucksack, and despite shoving towels in the bottom, the 'bell did not sit right, the straps dug into my shoulders and what should have been a pleasant walk became more of an ordeal. It also started raining as soon as I was about 20 yards up the road. FML.

I did about 2 miles but was glad to get back and get the blasted thing off my back. I don’t think that’s something I’ll be repeating anytime soon. My hip flexors felt pretty jammed up for the rest of the day, possibly because I was inclined forward due to the bloody 'bell digging into my spine. Twat.

I also found a bit of exercising tubing (the sort with handles) and realise it could substitue for a woody band if I slung it over my chin-up bar and put one foot through both handles. It doesn’t have quite enough resistance for me to do proper numbers with it but I can get four pull-ups (shoulder width grip, pronated) so I greased the groove. I don’t know how many I did total, but I did four reps every time I got up to make a cuppa or go to the loo. I might have done that 8 or 10 times.

Also popped out again at 6pm for a stroll, as the sun had come out and I had a physical need to get away from my PC for a bit. When I say stroll, I wasn’t walking fast - I went blackberry picking on Tooting Common. Lots of blackberry bushes up there and I filled up a tupperwear container. Ate almost as many as I picked, too. More carbs, but wild blackberries are packed with nutrients so no harm there.

Eats:

9.30am 2 scoops whey, 2g fish oils
2.30pm Big ass salad, baked potato with butter and smoked salmon offcuts, olive oil and vinegar on the salad (see photo in my previous post)
6-7pm Quite a few blackberries!
7.30pm 2 scoops whey, 2g fish oils

Mugs of tea with skimmed milk as per usual.

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sounds like a good day. Still not enough veggies :wink:

A weighted vest is on my wish list.

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MIM wants you to have powershits like she does.

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Your kettlebell in backpack walk sounds frustrating. The hips could definitely had taken a beating from being in anterior pelvic tilt from the pack.

I miss blackberry picking so much. I used to live in the northwest (Oregon) where they grew like a weed. We would build forts out of the brambles. I would live on blackberries until my mom forced me to come inside for dinner.

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Does blocking the toilet count as a power shit? If so, I’ve done that enough times to consider replacing it with one that has a bigger U bend.

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the coaster vid made me laugh out loud

the music vid posted by Puff made me cry (to damn close to home)

glad to know you’re safe amidst the animal crap Cal. Workouts look intense and diets really strict. Your willpower is inspiring :slight_smile:

plz to have some fresh blackberries!

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[quote]Cal Jones wrote:
Does blocking the toilet count as a power shit? If so, I’ve done that enough times to consider replacing it with one that has a bigger U bend.[/quote]

Uh yup. Powershits FTW! I urge everyone to pick up the book “What Your Poo Is Telling You”. It is under 10 bucks and worth every penny. Best investment I ever made. It has supplied me, and my students and colleagues, with hours of entertainment and useful facts.

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[quote]CBear84 wrote:
MIM wants you to have powershits like she does. [/quote]

y u mad?

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I’ve never seen so much shit talking on a log here before.

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mkay…guess I’m done lurking here.

(where’s the nekkid pillowfights forchristsake?)

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[quote]Edgy wrote:
mkay…guess I’m done lurking here.
(where’s the nekkid pillowfights forchristsake?)[/quote]

What? Tell me you don’t applaud a good one. Why should we be any different? lol

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And that’s quite enough shit talking.

Friday August 12th

7am Swim - 64 lengths or 1600m (approximately 1 mile)

All breaststroke. Holy crap, swimming is boring. But I wanted to do a mile. I guess that’s not bad for only the third swim I’ve done since resuming it after a 15 year hiatus. I’m slow, but apparently I have stamina.
Swimming tires me out like nothing else. I also have some lat and shoulder DOMS which I assume came from the pull-ups I did yesterday. Back aches too from the kettlebell backpack walk.

Despite all that, I really felt I needed to do some squats to cement that form. So…

2pm - Legs

Legs

Warm-up:

20 hypers
20 reverse hypers with V at top
20 clams (per leg)
20 single leg hip thrusters (foot on high bench) (per leg)
20 overhead split squats using a 5kg body bar (per leg)
20 bosu ball squat/sit up combo

Move to free weight room then:

10 step overs in the power rack (pin 7)
10 step overs (pin 9)

Box Squats

Bar x 20
30kg x 15
40kg x 10
45kg x 8
50kg x 5

No change here but I was impressed I could score the same numbers I did last week (after a weekend of carbs and debauchery) despite the diet and the long swim this morning.

Squats

Bar x 10
30kg x 10
40kg x 10

I did what I did last time - stick the safety pins to the lowest hole, lay a second barbell across and touch my hams/arse to that to ensure I got sufficient depth. I think I’m getting better, form-wise. I’ll need to video myself and see how it looks from the side.

Leg Extensions

30kg x 10
40kg x 10
50kg x 10
60kg x 10 (+2)

Cut out a couple of the intermediate sets and went straight for the 60kg. Got the 10 (just). I hope I didn’t frighten the moderately cute guy who was there with my grunting.

Doggy style leg curls

30kg x 10 (per leg)
32.5kg x 8 (per leg)

Same as last time

Leg Press

120kg x 10
140kg x 10
160kg x 10

Hip flexors are pretty much fried.

I did some handstand work and some stretching then called it a day.
I will be extremely surprised if I don’t sleep like a brick tonight.

Eats

8.30am: 2 scoops whey, 2g fish oils, blackberries (the ones I picked yesterday)
11.30am (snack): mixed berries (strawberries, golden raspberries, blueberries. No I didn’t pick these)
6pm: bacon-wrapped chicken breast, cauliflower, broccoli, pea shoots (with olive oil/balsamic vinegar)

I know there’s a massive gap between my mid-morning berries and dinner - basically because I had to wait for the berries to go down before hitting the gym, then I worked out, collected my laundry, put the chicken on and ate when it was done. I’ve flirted with IF before so I can go quite a few hours without eating and feel perfectly fine.