I guess I would need to know more about what your goals are to make any real comments. Your food choices, being non and minimally processed, are solid though. I do feel that veggies and fiber are important for gut health, so I would suggest adding more of those in. I know there are folks on here that treat veggies like the spawn of Satan, and I’m not going to fight with anyone about it, but that’s my feedback.
My advice for nutrition in and arounds is generally as follows:
*Carbs are best placed post workout and pre-workout depending on workout time/intensity.
*Intra workout carbs aren’t something everyone needs and here it really depends on workout timing, goals, and workout length.
*Carbs outside of the around and in workout time frame may be appropriate depending on goals.
I’ve seen the best outcomes, most consistent and cleanest with a lot of beef and eggs honestly. 1 to 2 pounds of beef a day… 10 to 12 eggs… magic. I no longer use any powders and few supps
I use the creatine phosphate system … 3 to 7 reps
As for peri-workout stuff… gotta give it a go but I’d control for as many peripheral factors as possible to see if it’s actually working
Slept great last night. In fact I’ve had two good nights of sleep in a row, which is actually unheard of for me. Last night was particularly restful though.
Likely another rest day today. Parking lot is solid ice and the road out of my neighborhood will be no different (and it’s up hill to boot).
We are looking at melting temps by noon, so if I can get a lift in and still have my son fed and down for a nap close to his usual time I’ll try and go.
@QuadQueen & @marine77, I’m going to get back to both of you today with some thoughts, comments & questions. Appreciate both of you chiming in.
Before Breakfast
2 big cups of coffee
Watched Dave Mill’s Deadly Weapons for about 30 minutes. Studying the Fireman’s carry and looking at a few nasty pins. Going to introduce him to Sumo Wrestling later.
Breakfast
6 oz bottom round steak
1 serving cottage cheese
Training Session
Took a Thermo tab and drank a packet of C4 with a pint of water on the way to the gym.
Incline press
Went up one more notch from last week. This angle seemed like a sweet spot. Dropped the work sets by 10 pounds to accommodate for the angle change.
45x2x10, 95x5
115/125/135x3
145x1
155x5x4
Warm up sets felt great.
Work sets were getting tough to set up for and I didn’t feel as tight as I did warming up.
Incline press, 2-3s bottom pause
115x8
120x6
These were tough with no RIR.
High incline DB press
45x8
50x6
Both sets were so-so. Moved to a better bench for set 2 where I don’t feel like my ass is going to slip out from under me and had a stronger set.
Scott fly
20x9 or 10
Felt pretty pointless.
Bent over barbell row, elbows flared
45x10
55x10
65x10
Actually felt pretty pointless too.
Time: 1 hour 3 minutes
Notes:
Finally have identified a weakness in my pressing. When pulling my scapula back and down to set up, although it feels like I am pulling down and back, I am not engaging my lats properly and position is caving on heavier weights.
Only way I can think of solving this issue is being hyper-aware in my set ups and continuing to improve on Bent over rows, as I’ve been making the same mistake there. This weeks row were much better and I think that is why my warm up sets today felt so good; carryover from proper rows on Wednesday. I’ll digress.
Post Training
5g creatine
1 Thermo tab
1 orange
Meal 2
1 pork chop
2 servings of rice
a little sautéed onion & pepper
Snack
5 cups of 2% milk
5g creatine
Dinner
10 oz worth of chicken thigh meat & skin
1.5# red potatoes roasted in lard
Watching Sumo Wrestling with little gremlin for probably an hour.
1 scoop of pre-workout from a friend right before warm ups
Training Session
Zercher squat
45x10, 955
115/135/155 triples
175x1
185x5x5
Really high RPE today.
Rep quality diminished from last week.
Zercher squat, bottom pause
135x3
95x3, feeling pretty wasted
95x6
95x6
Last two sets felt better with the last set of 95 being the best tracking work set of the day. Good pumping action. Started letting the bar hang a little lower and the mechanics sorted out.
Zercher squat, Bulgarian from bottom
55x3x6
Left leg was tracking strong but the right side was off for some reason. Noticed I was leaning toward the right when squatting with the right leg, and the kickstand leg (left side) was unstable too.
Notes
Pretty brutal session.
Was going to slightly bump the accessory volume up but given the accumulative fatigue setting in, I’ll probably stick with my initial decision to keep the accessory volume at half.
Post Training
5g creatine
5 cups 2% milk
Post Training 2
5g creatine
5 cups 2% milk
Dinner
2 oranges while cooking
3 chicken thighs, probably around 10 oz of meat & skin
2 servings of rice
Will probably take a hot soak in some epsom salt tonight.
Good advice man. I usually train at a good clip too but have found myself extending rest times with this program. I’m also thinking of extending each cycle to M/W/F or an every other day schematic.
Honestly, I appreciate you guys following my log. I’m definitely willing to engage in meaningful discussion with anyone who wants to keep up with what I’m doing.
My philosophy on nutrition revolves around whole foods with an emphasis on meat, eggs & dairy. All whole foods are welcome, barring any allergies or obvious issues. I like the Vertical Diet, for example. At the end of the day I avoid anything baked or hyper palatable and rarely deviate.
On the topic of goals, I would like to increase some of my Big 4 here and put on some muscle. Pretty vague, but lift heavy and eat extra food, right?
I want to continue training my son to wrestle and to be able to wrestle long into my years, cause he’s only just getting started.
I really love lifting and wrestling and training. I hate being weak. Youth sports rooted in me a hatred for physical weakness. I wrestled varsity at a young age with little experience and had state champions literally dragging me across the mat like a mop. I didn’t have one match in at least my first 4 years that I didn’t have cotton stuffed up one or both nostrils. Worse things happen to people in life though, so I’ll digress.
Anyways, I’ve got some psoriasis, heavy bags under the eyes, poor sleep most of the time, a crappy right shoulder with a kink in my neck, and sometimes when I eat I get extremely tired and my eyes get kind of puffy. I sure would like to alleviate some of these things.
I am thinking of adding 30-40g of carbs from dextrose and 30-40g of protein from whey hydrolysate post-workout, something to this effect.
I have also considered glycine PWO; I’ve seen CT mention that it can help bring down the sympathetic nervous system after training.
I worry about crashing with having that same mixture pre workout. I’ve used the old Anaconda Protocol, Plazma, Plazma RTD, SWF… can’t say any of them really enhanced my training anyways.
Any thoughts on dextrose/whey after training?
Like what, for example? What would a checklist look like for you?
Beef is King for sure. I recently stopped eating eggs though. I’ve eaten 6-20 eggs a day for well over a decade, but I’ve suspected the supermarket eggs for a while now of having some adverse effects on my skin and possibly gut. I eat goose and duck eggs when I can though.
Are you eating any carbohydrates, or just beef & eggs? I’ve tried the carnivore diet many times over the past 7-8 years when I first heard of it, but I never got into that sweet spot that people rave about.
I may try adding in a few more veggies. I do feel better, for example, when I add veggies to rice. My threshold for fiber seems to be fairly low though.
Any thoughts on mixing fats & carbs in a meal? Some people swear as if this is a cardinal sin. I hear about the Randle Cycle for example, and I know Berardi wrote a lot on this topic.
What do you consider high or low carb?
I know I tried to throw a lot together here, hopefully it’s coherent and any questions I asked are clear.
No direct carbs. Most people bail before becoming fully fat adapted which could take longer than they think.
As for “eating big” … bulking is simply unnecessary. Muscle can actually grow in a deficit but is likely optimal at a slight surplus…like 200 or 300 calories. Even Aragon is onboard with this and it makes a lot of sense.
As for the Big 4 I think there are far better HYPERTROPHY options out there. If you just want to get better at those exercises, then of course train them.
The peri workout nutrition is just something you’ll have to experiment with. I honestly never saw any benenfit to it BUT maybe I wasn’t doing it optimally.
I’d bet you $100 if you reallllly wanna get rid of the psoriasis an extreme elimination of all veges, grains, fruits, dairy etc… would work. It’s an inflammatory response to foods.
I’m speaking only about your skin issue, not performance or anything else.
I may try again at some point this year. I’ve heard Bart Kay (whether he’s credible or not idk) advise that people ease into it slowly for the sake of the gut microbiome, as adverse effects can take up to 6 months to rear their ugly head, as far as that is concerned (the microbiome).
By eating big I didn’t necessarily mean eating a huge surplus, I just meant it colloquially, glad you called me on it so I could clarify and be more specific. 200-300 is actually spot on for me, about 10% above so-called maintenance. However, I agree can it can be quite a bit less, even into a deficit.
I’m not sure who Aragon is. Could you explain this to me?
Let’s get into this, for the sake of the nerd in me.
What are some better exercises in your opinion, and why?
Maybe there can be a marginal increase in hypertrophy with different exercises. But, as mentioned with peri-workout nutrition, there are peripheral factors and values to consider.
Yeah, I have but haven’t notice any benefit either. I think a post-workout shake for the sake of getting some easily digestible nutrients may be logical though. Maybe a pre-workout shake for the same reason? I haven’t found it to actually enhance the workout directly though.
Any recommendations? I use Thermo tabs before and after my workout, that’s about it. Seen Stan Efferding do this and thought it was a simple and cheap enough tactic to employ.
So carnivore.
I’ve dropped eggs for now, as much as I love them and believe in the net good in their consumption, I think the bulk/CAFO eggs might contribute to the skin issue.
I may take you up on that bet. How long do you recommend? Ease into it or cold turkey? Beef, pork, chicken, butter look good enough? Cottage cheese? Literally nothing else?
The Big 4 require a good level of skill, are multi-joint, PRE, not the most stable, etc… therefore MUR - motor unit recruitment - is diminished in the target muscle. They’re good BUT not optimal for hypertrophy.
Think a chest supported T=Bar vs Barbell row, Hack Squat vs Free squat
I’d go cold turkey… the switch will be much faster. I look for return on investment, so to speak. Beef and eggs are simply hard to beat in that regard.
My personal experience has been really solid being fat adapted. I say go all in or don’t. See what your results are.
Try eliminating dairy and if you’re doing any gluten, that too. If that doesn’t work - take the eggs out too. That may do the trick.
As long as the carbs are good carbs and the fats healthy fats, having them together is fine for most people. Heavily processed, high sugar carbs and unhealthy fats are most problematic.
This really depends on the person. I’m not going to throw out hard percentages.