Tuesday’s food:
9:00 - 1/2 Spike Energy; 4 eggs cooked in 2Tbsp coconut oil, 2 slices grain toast, 1 slice pepperjack cheese; apple
2:30 - Indigo-3G
3:00 - 1 scoop Plazma, 5g creatine
3:30 training - 1 scoop Plazma
6:30 - Weird chicken and onion thing (chicken breast, sliced red onions, balsamic vinegar); roasted potatoes; sauteed kale with garlic
9:00 - 2 scoops Mag-10
Tuesday’s training:
Program calls for an intensity deload week, just in time for the holiday. -20ish% off all weights. Serves dual purpose to focus on technique - neat way to get a little extra out of deloads.
A) Ab medley 100 total reps
B) Flat bench press 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 5
C) Floor flye 3x10-12
D1) Lateral raise 3x10-12
D2) Overhead extension 3x8-10
D3) Close-grip barbell curl 3x10-15
E) Front squat 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 5
F) Static lunge 3x8-10
For sure … … … though I may or may not have a basic rack-bench-bar home setup. 
But one of the perks of a basic “split” like I’m working with is that there’s some wiggle room with the days and I could do back-to-back sessions if/when needed, so it’s not a major issue.
With something like a 4 or 5-day split, that gets tougher because shifting one workout a day means something else has to get bumped out.
Wednesday’s morning weight: 208.9
Tuesday’s food:
9:00 - 3 eggs cooked in 1Tbsp turkey drippings; 1 not-small scoop mashed potatoes; big handful green beans with shallots (still have an unacceptable amount of Thanksgiving leftovers in the fridge. Mostly sides and, like, one drumstick); Nursed one Spike Energy until around 12:00
1:30 - 2 scoops Metabolic Drive in water, 1/2 tsp cinnamon; 1 orange
4:00 - Indigo-3G
6:00 - Couple of sausages, much peppers and onions, some garlic cloves; 2 slices fresh bread from the little Italian bakery up the street; 2 glasses red wine
9:00 - 2 scoops Mag-10, 5g creatine
Carbier than usual for a non-training day. Chalking it up to the excuse we rarely want to use: “I just felt like it.” Weight’s still in an okay place with a month to go before buckling down, so no worries.
FWIW, the Holter monitor results were nothing major. Doc said I had “more than a few” PVC’s (premature ventricular contractions - basically just extra heart beats/flutters), but nothing he was too concerned with. Have a stress test and echo scheduled in a few weeks to get a better idea of what’s what.
That’s good to hear! Hopefully “nothing major” remains the theme.
Good to hear
Did I miss something? What’s gotten you concerned about your heart?
Just pre-emptive maintenance stuff. At my regular yearly physical a month or two ago, my doc saw a hiccup in the EKG that wasn’t present at my physical the year prior. I ended up going back to him for a follow-up EKG and it showed PVC (premature ventricular contractions), so he sent me to the cardiologist.
They’re telling me PVCs are relatively common, only problematic in like 1 out of 10,000 cases, and almost always require no special attention, but I’m not looking to roll the dice on it by ducking my head in the sand. After finally getting married, my wife would be so pissed if I don’t make it a year.
PVCs can be caused/aggravated by general stress, caffeine, and alcohol, so I’ve been trying to reel back a bit on all those fronts. Neither doc suggested changing my training or doing more aerobic work, kinda interestingly.
It’s something to do with the electrical charge in the heart causing an extra contraction, so I get an extra beat every so often, but I don’t feel anything and never noticed it either at rest or when training.
My blood pressure is fine (113/70) and my resting heart rate is decent (57), both checked at the cardiologist’s office the other week. So it’s just a matter of double and triple-checking that this is no biggie.
Nice work. I hope all is well with your cardiac stuff. That bread and veggie/sausage picture looks damn good
It’s weird when a random physical highlights something you’d never considered, eh? I had some bloodwork a while back just for the sake of it and it turns out my thyroid is totally screwy. Doesn’t seem to be causing any problems, and the upside is I can now get bloodwork whenever I want (it’s notoriously hard to get doctors to agree to it on the NHS), not that I ever do.
It’s good that the doctors aren’t worrying about your PVC fetish too much.
On reflection, I’m a little disappointed in myself that I couldn’t think of more jokes about how the doctors warned you about your PVC.
I’m really disturbed, but oddly curious how you came up with that image.
Just pulled it out of the history folder on my internet browser. Got loads of pictures like that…
I had a similar problem but I solved it by doing multiplication tables in my head. I find half a Xanax washed down with 3 fingers of Suntory Toki will also work but I usually save that for special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, and days of the week ending in “y”.
Long-time member of the PVC club here.
(The arrhythmia, not the outfit)
I have found that the best way to keep them at bay is to stay in as good cardio shape as possible.
And yes, unfortunately alcohol and caffeine don’t help. I say this as I finish my espresso martini.
These are some doctor’s orders I can get behind.
I really do need to be more consistent with some kind of cardio on a most-days-of-the-week basis. I guess that’ll be a secondary benefit of the challenge - boring heart health.
I almost feel like it’d be an easier thing to manage if I could tell when I was getting a “flare up” so I could trace back some more specific triggers, but I don’t feel a thing. Meh, we’ll see what’s what after the stress echo next week.
Joke’s on us. It’s a selfie. We’ve always been asking him for a pic, little did we know…
No worries. At least you didn’t go for the low hanging fruit of “Bet that’s not the first premature problem you’ve dealt with.”
Tuesday’s morning weight: 210.5
Monday’s food:
9:00 - 1/4 cup steel cut oats, 1 scoop Metabolic Drive, 1 banana, 1Tbsp peanut butter, 1/2tsp cinnamon
2:30 - Indigo-3G
3:00 - 1 scoop Plazma, 5g creatine
3:30 training - 1 scoop Plazma
6:00 - 2 chicken breasts, 2Tbsp bbq sauce; handful of diced roasted potatoes, 1Tbsp sour cream; 2 handfuls chopped spinach/kale mix
8:00 - Pint of Ben & Jerry’s Coconut Seven Layer Bar
9:30 - 2 scoops Mag-10
Monday’s training:
A) Ab medley 100 total reps
B) Flat bench press 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 5
C) Pec-deck 3x12-15
D1) Lateral raise 3x10-12
D2) Rope pressdown 3x10-12
E) Front squat 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 5
F) Leg press 2x20-30
G) Poundstone curl 1x100 (3 rests)
Felt like bro’ing out with Poundstone curls - empty Olympic barbell curl, shoot for 100 reps - so I saved it for the end of the day. Such pump, much fun. Earned the Ben and Jerry’s. Totally.
What are you doing for your AB medley?
