I make it with miso+ Greek yoghurt and mix in kimchi
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Oh that sounds like a good one!
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Loved so many things about this post (especially as part of team no carb), but this especially was it. We need periods of harmony disruption in order to grow. “Hormesis”. If we’re always content, we’re never growing. Growth requires some pain.
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You’re the perfect person to talk to about this! What are your favorite dinners, low carb snacks, etc?
I’m flying to see my parents in a week and will be bringing MD protein. Other than that, any good travel food ideas?
Hey thanks so much! In truth, I stopped snacking when I started eating this way: I became fat adapted and could now go a LONG time without food, which is a travel hack on itself. That said, some options are biltong, tuna packets, no sugar beef jerky/beef sticks, cheese and hard boiled eggs, depending on your travel situation (flying vs driving, access to a cooler, etc).
With jerky and beef sticks, also good to look at the ingredients and make sure there’s nothing in there that upsets your guts.
For dinners, can’t beat steak and eggs. But if I have to eat somewhere quick, I’ll slum a burger joint and just eat the patties. I tend to stay away from the cheeses, unless they have a non-American cheese option. Love my country, but we screwed up cheese, and most American “cheese” is just oil. McDonald’s quarter pounder patties are pure beef and cooked direct on the grill in their own fat vs with seed oils. Wendy’s is the same as well. If you ask for no salt, then you won’t get the salt they use that has dextrose mixed in, if that’s a concern.
But also, we can’t let perfect be the enemy of good. I’ll do Chiptole and get a burrito bowl, no rice no beans, double steak, cheese and sour cream. I actually prefer Q’doba, because they’ll just sell you the proteins for about $3.50 per 8oz serving. If I go to Panda express, I get a large ala carte teriyaki chicken. Sandwich shops tend to have a chicken breast/rotisserie chicken option that I’ll double up on and just eat with a knife and fork or get made into a bowl.
I was actually listening to this podcast this morning
And one of the things they talked about is how convenient keto is when traveling. Heck, I’m discovering CARNIVORE traveling and it’s still really simple: you open it up to keto and there’s even more options available as far as nuts/nut butters, avocados, bars, treats, snacks, etc go.
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Seasoned lifters should know that strength & conditioning is what ever you need it to be, whether its sport specific, recreational, or psychologically cathartic, or any combination of things. 
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Oh yeah! Such a cool aspect of it. I’m not fat adapted yet, but it’ll be neat to experience that effect.
How have I never heard of biltong and why isn’t it more of a thing? (For anyone swinging by: Biltong - Wikipedia)
I’ll be flying, so packing food won’t be easy outside of protein powder. But you’re right, the desire to snack will be minimal.
Oh good point! Some of those flavors definitely do contain sugar.
Speaking of jerky, Chris and I have a fun memory from last summer. We bought a couple packages while traveling through Breckenridge that were so spicy, the tiniest piece would make you tear up. It was funny though because it was delicious and the heat didn’t kick in right away… so every single time, we’d accidentally eat way more than our mouths could handle.
I remember one of us saying, “it’s just getting hotter” right after drinking a glass of water and eating a protein cookie to help absorb some of the heat. That did not work. The heat just moved around.
Was my hand that red from the heat or is that just a coincidence?
I like both of those ideas.
SAME. 
I was just talking about cheese this morning. It seems like whenever people don’t see results with a low carb approach there are usually two things to look at: cheese and nuts (or nut butter) intake. Go crazy on either and it’ll cause problems.
I had no idea. That’s wild!
This is excellent advice! For some reason I never even thought to do any of this.
Will definitely listen to that whole podcast!
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That’s a fantastic point. I’m probably pre-defensive because of all the super strong opinions in fitness. There needs to be more people who say do what works, rather than do things my way.
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100%. They are dense and not at all satiating. I heard the advice to treat cheese like a condiment or dessert and it was a good vector. You wouldn’t sit down and eat a bowl of ketchup: don’t have a block of cheese.
And putting my money where my mouth is: family went out for lunch and I got 5 burger patties at Culver’s
Hope the trip goes well!
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Today’s Workout…
was brought to me by The Glitch Mob. Electronic music from the early 2010s is the best for higher rep lifting days and cardio.
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Abs
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Leg Press 100, then 4 x failure
Mechanical Drop set: 4 x failure
- Super Light Arnold Press
- Overhead Press
Superset: 3 x failure
- Seated Cable Row
- Push-Up
Just for funsies:
- EZ Bar curl: 3 x failure
Getting Outside of Our Comfort Zones
Chris and I were asked to lead a marriage-faith related small group last night (one chapter of a book we’re going through) and we had a lot of fun. Chris knows I often overthink/worry about upcoming things, but our small group leaders – an awesome couple – are so encouraging that nothing about it felt intimidating. I was really just honored and excited to even be asked to help, and it went smoothly. Praise God!
Hope anyone popping in here has an awesome Easter weekend!
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Absolutely!! That’s a great visual.
Okay this advice is golden. My parents love Culver’s but I’ve never been. Burger patties sound awesome.
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Today’s Workout
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Abs
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RDL
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Walking Lunge
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Seated Ham Curl
Shoulder Super Set:
- Cable Rear Delt Flye
- Dumbbell Lateral Raise
I’ve been organizing sessions by emphasizing either upper body or lower body, but then tossing in a muscle group on the opposite side, like shoulder work or leg press if it’s a mostly-upper day.
This will seem ineffective to those who believe you must always follow a plan prescribed by someone with a certification. But muscles react to tension and stress. And if you challenge them sufficiently and consistently, you will get results.
Easter Sunday
Chris and I got to serve at church for the earliest service and then attend the second one. There was a huge turnout, and we were mostly in the auditorium helping people find seats. What’s crazy is how daunting that task used to seem to both of us: asking strangers if you can help them find a place to sit, then asking people who are worshipping if you can squeeze a family of five into the seats next to them because they’re at the end of a row. Somehow this has become like a game to us. It’s surprisingly fun.
And then we hiked, and did some unplanned rucking.
Anyone else watch the Road House movie? On Saturday night we watched the new one with Jake Jyllenhaal, and then after dinner on Sunday, we watched the Patrick Swayze version. There were far more abs in the new one but both were good!
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I enjoyed how Gyllenhaal and McGregor’s shirts kept disintegrating. It was a great film. McGregor did a great job playing Connor McGregor.
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HAHAHA!! TRUE. And McGregor as McGregor was pretty fun to watch. 
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Today’s Workout
I was at the bottom range of motion in the middle of a dip this morning, and something suddenly felt wrong. So instead of stopping right there, I pushed up to the top of the rep and felt a pinching pain radiate up my left trap and into my neck.
Now that my shoulder is healed it was time for another injury.
So today’s workout was cut short, but I was able to get in a heavier leg press session for sets of 5 before that happened.
- Leg Press
- T-Bar Row
- Banded External Rotation thingies
- Dips
I should’ve taken today off. I was not revved up and it might be because we had a practical shooting competition last night. So it’s possible my nervous system is still recovering from that. And I could be tensing up the traps when competing.
Tuesday’s workout was pretty good too, but didn’t have time to log it and forgot what I did.
Competing, Overthinking, and Believing
So first the good news: I’m getting better! A new glasses prescription helped with accuracy on the targets further away, and I’m slowly getting used to shooting with men who are spectacular competitors.
But there are two big things to work on:
- Mindset
- Speed
So the question is, why do we think we’ll perform better if we’re hard on ourselves?
Maybe those of us who struggle with negativity and self criticism think it’ll somehow prepare us for challenges. Or maybe if we have low expectations, we won’t feel such a huge let down if we fail. But then those low expectations become a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Trish Blackwell said something really powerful in the podcast I was listening to during my workout this morning:
“The more fun you have, the more accessible your goals will be.”
So if that’s true, maybe we should approach certain challenges as a form of playtime, which eliminates the need for a self-critic. Here’s the rest of that episode, “Stop Making Things Harder Than They Need to Be.”
I’m basically a professional athlete at making things harder than they need to be, but not in every environment. If I could package the joy and confidence I have in the gym and carry it with me to the range, I could do so much better.
More proof that performance is hugely mental: Before one of the rounds, I was certain that there was no way I could shoot and knock down the bowling pins. I had just watched my friend struggle with them, and he’s far more advanced. But my pastor said the exact words I needed to hear – effectively replacing my self doubt – and I hit every last one with ease.
As for speed, I have some sort of delicate bunny jog (example). Chris and the range officers say I bounce from one area to another instead of running with urgency. But I’m not sure how to move faster. Or maybe going slowly gives me a false sense of being able to find my green dot again.
Anyway the brain is amazing and our thoughts largely control our success.
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You can just ask someone for advice at the gym, and the more advanced they are, the more likely they’ll be to share it. So last week when I tweaked the crap out of my neck/trap area, I asked an Olympic lifter for a couple pointers. (Nobody does more mobility work than O-lifters.)
And he taught me some stuff that seems to have worked.
How to Fix a Tight, Angry Trap
He said tight lats will often pull down on your traps and make them susceptible to irritation, like what I described to him. So before jumping straight into self-myofascial release (SMR), he showed me three mobility and activation drills for the lats using a mini-band.
Then the SMR was incredible. It’s the only thing that I’ve ever been able to use on myself with immediate relief.
Basically you set up a barbell in a rack right around the height it’d be if you were going to squat with it. And then you use the bar to smash the tightest areas of your traps – one side at a time. You kinda have to grind your muscles into it. It feels insanely good.
So that little problem area is almost 100% better.
Workouts
Haven’t been logging stuff. My workouts make total sense when it comes to my priorities and physical irritations, but they’d seem super weird to others.
I’m using a bit more weight on hip thrusts, leg press, chest press, and lateral raises, but nothing that causes joint irritation. Just itty bitty adjustments that wouldn’t be considered heavy in the lifting microcosm, but would be by normal-people standards.
No dips.
Shoulder training is back on the table but I’m being cautious about increasing the weight. In fact, 15-pound lateral raises are about as heavy as I’ll go, and that burning tension feels delicious right now.
Competition Results
Turns out I did better than expected last week. I had just wanted to beat one single male and not come in last, but I was 8th out of 13, and that means I beat five male competitors. And the friend who’s far more advanced than me came in 7th place. So either he had a bad day, or I’m catching up! 
Here’s a peek at some of the classes and competition stuff. Weirdly enough, I did better in competition than the women’s class the next day with the same course. Also, one-handed, non-dominant hand shooting is super tough and I have plans to work on it.
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Nice job!! You should be super proud of yourself!! Way to show those boys your mad skills!!
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There’s all kinds of “brain hacks” you can use to facilitate bilateral transfer and use of the non dominant limb. Very fortunate that your hubby is a brain guy!
Bilateral transfer phenomenon: A functional magnetic resonance imaging pilot study of healthy subjects - PMC)%20or%20cross%2Dlimb%20transfer.
I’ve always been somewhat ambidextrous, and fascinated by it, but working in skilled labor has pushed me to develop a lot of both handedness.
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Oh my goodness thank you so much girlfriend! Hope you’re doing awesome! 
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Absolutely right! I’ve been working on one-handed dry-firing with my cardboard targets all weekend, and the weird thing is that the left hand (my non-dominant) is much steadier than the right.
The nervous system is strange! But the hand-off is easy once you figure out a pattern of doing it. Like, drop the thumb of your active hand, then allow your “support hand” to move in under the beavertail. I’ve worked on that handoff with arms extended and with them lowered in front of my torso.
The range officer I’ve been working with says to be ready because our next competition may contain a series of hand-offs between right and left hands. So I’ll have that mastered before the next competition. 
That is so freaking cool! I’m impressed by all that you’re able to do. Awesome link too.
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