Fine-Tuning the Machine & Tacking on the Vanity Plates

Training
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Training: Chest/shoulders GVT

Warmup: shoulder mobility stuff, bradford presses w/bar, incline pushups on the bench

BP @ 80: 10, 10, 10, 9, 7, 8, 7, 8, 6, 6

Brutal. Certainly got my numbers right on this lift. Only 89 reps, but I should be doing 100 by the end of this cycle. Sadly, I pinned myself on the 4th set. That 10th rep just wasn’t going up… FML. Oh well, there wasn’t that much weight on the bar and I’m not proud so I just sat up with it. Some nice older guy who was in great shape was just coming to my rescue from the leg press (across the gym.) There are some decent gym folks around.

DB Standing MP w/25’s: 10, 10, 10, 10, 7, 8, 8, 7, 6, 7

Lateral raises w/15’s: 3x10

Decline rolling med ball pushups: 3x10

^^^^^^ That is a new pushup variation for me. It was inspired by the fact that some guy was using the other 10kg med ball that I generally use for med ball pushups. I figured ‘I like rolling med ball pushups and I like decline pushups, so why not combine them?!’ They were a lot of fun. I laughed a lot while I was doing them because I nearly fell on my face a bunch of times. Fatigue was setting in and getting the timing right while you roll the ball between your hands can be tricky. Coincidentally, my boss was on a pec dec nearby and he came over to tell me that he had seen a few guys walk by shaking their heads in disbelief at my bizarro pushups. What can I say, I have never met a pushup that I didn’t love.

I’ll be back later to give a food recap: tonight is the Indian buffet w/my pregnant besty. Hope they’re ready for us!

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This is a great log. GVT, hot pictures and food talk. Awesome in every way.

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Great training, but be careful on the bench! And nice job with those crazy push-ups. :slight_smile: I’m sure there are people who think some of my exercises are bizarre, too. I’m sure they’re just jealous of your awesome strength and confidence!

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I could totally eat the Veggie diet: fruits and veggies, at least 4 servings of cheese and 4 servings of nuts/nutbutters. I dig it. Kinda like mine without the meat. And switch the whiskey for some wine.

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That is one hawt picture up there Veg. I’ve said it before, but there’s a fullness to your muscle bellies that’s just really pretty.

Yes on the cabbage action - I eat a ton of the purple stuff, usually raw in salads, but I also like to wok it with some olive oil and onions. I must have a taste for the bitter because I LOVE the whole cabbage family, brussel sprouts included.

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Thanks for reading everybody!

Lanels- Yes, I definitely pack on some mass with the GVT. And I really do enjoy all of the strange exercises that I do… even if people stare.

Arachne, N8tive, Cal, Kimba, Powerpuff- Thanks for the complements on the pix. I truly enjoy taking them. Probably a bit pathological, but fun.

Bre/TPD/whomever?!, Max- Point taken regarding sprints. (Bre) I assume that you mean rowing? I have been known to do the running variety, just not recently. Have certainly dabbled in HIIT from time to time. There is joy and satisfaction in the physical effort of sprinting. Maybe IF the weather gets better I will do some track work this spring.

MiM, Most Major, Frenchie, KImba, Nikki- Hope you enjoy the recounts of my culinary expeditions, scroll to the bottom for the info on the Indian place and the Italian takeout from last night. Since my bff is preggers we have decided that we will go to a new place every week. Food is her only joy for now and I like to eat so it should be interesting and delicious!

lil power- You are probably right about the 4 plate squat. And the PLing. Eventually.

Nikki- You’re right about the mesomorph status. Good place to be as far as I’m concerned. Lucky us.

Nadia- Thanks. Regarding the shore: I go all over. My most frequent haunts are Pt. Pleasant, Belmar, and Spring Lake because I can get there in under an hour (minus shore traffic.) But I also enjoy Seaside, LBI, and spent countless days in Cape May and Wildwood as a kid. My great-grandparents retired to Townbank. Their house was a block from the bay, not far from the Cape May-Lewes ferry. The bay isn’t great, but we thought it was our private beach when we were kids. Usually we only shared it with seagulls, horseshoe crabs, and flies. LOL about the Italian comment. I am not Italian, but I grew up with many especially because I am a former Catholic school girl too. I can swear in Italian and cook a lot of Italian stuff. Both of which I learned from my friend’s moms and grandmas.

alexus- Chocolate is often on my nightstand. This GVT program really leaves me hungry and I need the antioxidants. WIN-WIN!

So, about the food. Yesterday was my rest day and I worked, napped, and ate. Exactly how it should be…

Highlights from yesterday- Cabbage eating contest with MiM. I think I ate about 1.5 lbs for lunch along with nuts, supplements, cheese, berries. Last night was Italian take-out. Eggplant Florentina, sauteed broccoli and carrots in garlic and oil, 8 garlic knots. Ate chocolate with chili again in the middle of the night.

Today- Uneventful early. I only had tea and humapro before I lifted. Then oatmeal with organic Vermont maple syrup and cacao nibs, more humapro, went to acupuncture- bagel with cream cheese and black coffee after, more humapro… Then the Indian place. No buffet on Thurs night. Ordered a la carte: veggie appetizer sampler with fried indian goodness- fritters, potato cakes, samosas. daal and chana masala with naan and some rice. The best part was the dessert. Cannot remember the name. We were taken by the description. As is often the case with menus written by ESL folks it was charmingly awkward. It said something like ‘a creamy delicious with…’ Basically an apricot and date stew with rose petals and spices served with vanilla ice cream on the side. We have nicknamed it “THE creamy delicious” because there was no noun in the description. Was soooooooo tasty. Might have to stop in just for the creamy delicious sometime. Dangerous because that place is only 2 minutes from my office.

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humapro? I LOVE indian food - yum! discovered cacao powder in the supermarket after reading about it on T-Nation. no nibs, unfortunately :frowning: cacao powder turned out to be dutch processed, too, which isn’t as good apparently. still, good to wean myself away from milo (not sure if you guys have that).

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alexus- There are many Indians/Pakis here in my area so there’s no shortage of excellent S Asian restaurants. The cacao nibs are awesome. I put them in yougurt, oatmeal, smoothies, even eat them alone. They are sort of bitter. But, bitter is better than sugary when it comes to chocolate IMO.

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must. get. Cacao nibs!!!

That Indian place sounds delicious. Have some Thai food for me next!! :smiley:

Actually the Thai place up the road now delivers…

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[quote]mom-in-MD wrote:
must. get. Cacao nibs!!!

That Indian place sounds delicious. Have some Thai food for me next!! :smiley:

Actually the Thai place up the road now delivers…[/quote]

Funny you should mention Thai. Was telling my girl that we had to hit up this Thai-Malaysian place in P’ton next. We also are planning a W. Philly restaurant tour that includes Vietnamese, Ethiopian, etc.

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I was all energized last night. Maybe all the sugars in THE creamy delicious? Went down to the garage to play with my kb while my laundry was in the dryer.

Giant set x 3: 10 OH swings, 10 single-arm swings - each side, 10 high pulls

Heard the dryer bell go off just as I was coming upstairs. Perfect.

Today will be another recovery day. I have a murderous. nearly impossible schedule at the office this afternoon which involves 2 new patients in the same hour with several regular appointments. The next hour there are 6 tapings back-to-back, again a bunch of regular appointments. Uhhhh, one thing to be double-booked, but triple- and quadruple-? Sounds restful doesn’t it?!

Oh, and my acupuncturist made a funny comment yesterday about how she feels like she’s always “cleaning [me] up after my gym endeavors.” I told her that was absolutely correct and reminded her of how much she aids in my recovery. My lower back was really tight after doing all of that overhead pressing and she took care of that, no problem. She makes a valid point though. I probably push myself farther than I would if I didn’t have direct access to getting adjusted, using physical modalities, taping, bodywork, etc. BUT I DO. Lucky me :slight_smile:

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yes, lucky you!!

TGIF…at least you have the weekend off, right?

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Veg…I like your attitude a lot. The instincts, the dealings with retards. Nothing but good stuff in here. I’m about to do legs myself, and like you, I had to get my squat assessed and re-tooled, as I was working the BB’er style more as well, and ran into the same issues as you did. All of you ladies are boosters…

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I very much want some creamy delicious.

Also, I finally took your Pro-Enz recommendation and ordered some up last night. I’d love for it to help me with my low-level knee aches.

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That GVT looks intense!

I’m just getting into the whole bitter chocolate thing. I have a bar of 90% sitting in the cupboard that I break a piece off now and then. I’m starting to enjoy it a bit more now.

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Lunch at the diner. Wish my blackberry wasn’t acting so wonky because I’d love to take camera phone pix of some of the stuff on the salad bar. Just finishing my spinach and feta omelette with homefries and toast. Toast is too dry :frowning: Had kindney bean salad, chickpea salad, tabbouleh, broccolli salad, grape leaves. Everything I ate from the salad bar was covered in olive oil. Yum.

I cannot accurately describe the level of hunger that GVT induces in me. Maybe I’m a freak, but I’m talking “need to eat NOW” kind of hungry. A month of this should be very interesting!

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[quote]veggiestrong wrote:
I cannot accurately describe the level of hunger that GVT induces in me. Maybe I’m a freak, but I’m talking “need to eat NOW” kind of hungry. A month of this should be very interesting![/quote]

I feel like that most of the day :smiley: Rawr–starving!

It feels kind of good though and it makes devouring a massive meal of badness that much better.

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GVT has led me to some hunger cravings so bad, that I would seriously consider tearing someone’s arm off and beating them with it if they attempted to touch my food.

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yes, lucky you. i’m looking forward to being in the financial position one day when i can get some ART and other goodies. i agree that bitter is better than sweet when it comes to chocolate. i didn’t always feel that way, though. took me some time to come around. discovered that with my protein powder, actually. it tastes too sweet but if i add 1 tsp of the cacao powder the bitterness takes the edge off the sweetness. yum :slight_smile:

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Wow veggie! Looking stellar!!

And that is quite a lot of sets you’re working with - looks exciting! GVT sounds fun. I like reps, so i’ll def have to try this some time.

lol @ your acupuncturists comment. Its true you are lucky - both in that holistic health care is easily accessible to you and that you know A LOT about health stuff. HA! Good for you girlie! More knowledge = more power.