[quote]LastStand wrote:
I’m in Edmonton freezing my butt of right now. I was really enjoying the unseasonably warm winter we were having up until this week. I can’t do any of my preferred winter activities this year so I was perfectly fine with a mild, snow-less winter. [/quote]
YEAHH I am in edmonton too and this is friggen insane!! It`s painful just to run from the front door of my building to the cab!
I miss last week. Last week was nice. I didn`t even need a scarf 
MiM: It’s a deep tissue massage Definitely not supposed to be relaxing. Keeps me functioning when I push myself, though.
Spock & LS: Yeah, last week was definitely better. We all knew this kind of weather would be coming though. It’s a part of prairie winters 
Workout:
Warmups:
5 minutes on the elliptical
knee rehab
Agile 8
A1) Rack pulls: 95x8x5
A2) Band rows: purple x20x5
A3) BW squats x8x5
B1) Triceratops: 40x7x5
B2) Curlz: 20x6x5
C1) BSS: BWx10x2
D1) Palloff press: 20x6x2
D2) SL RDLs: 20x6x2
First day of back off week! Was going to do more ab work and SL RDLs but I was feeling shaky and decided to pull the plug before anything super goofy started up. Could be my body getting used to the serious low carbing. Even after supper I still feel a little shaky. Kinda want to take a nap I also didn’t get enough sleep last night so that might have something to do with it too. facepalm
Pixie and Spock…
Your avatars are essentially in the same pose…
Ha! It appears they do have a similar pose
So, on the diet front, I’m having a great experience so far. 3 days in and I’m down 5#. That’s the fastest I’ve ever dropped water weight before. My pants are already fitting looser. I’ll be interested to see what 10 days brings for totals in terms of weight loss and inches lost. I’m already looking forward to my first carb meal I haven’t found it hard to eat seriously low carb yet. I can handle 10 days.
Workout:
Warmup:
5 minutes on the elliptical
knee rehab
Simple 6
A1) 2 board bench: 65x5, 75x5x5
A2) quad bench stretch x30 seconds per leg
B1) Assisted pullups: (-80)x8, (-70)x5, (-65)x2x2, (-75)x6, (-80)x8
B2) more quad and hamstring stretching
C1) Palloff press: 20x6x3 (3 second hold)
C2) SL RDLs: 20x6x3
My knee was acting up during warmups so instead of doing accessory glute work I decided to do a LOT of quad stretches. I guess I was pushing it too hard by having my deep tissue massage on Monday, following it up with rack pulls and a full workout yesterday and hitting a workout today. No time for it to recover plus my quads being a little tight equaled a VERY unhappy knee. Thankfully, by the end of my workout it was starting to feel a little better. I used the travel roller and lax ball as soon as I got home and followed it up with ice. Hope it helps.
what happens when your knee ‘acts up,’?
[quote]mom-in-MD wrote:
what happens when your knee ‘acts up,’?[/quote]
When I say that, I mean I feel sharp pain in my knee when doing certain activities. Standing up, shooting pain at the top part of my knee. That’s even when I transfer the majority of my weight to my right leg while standing. It has a constant dull ache to it when it’s unhappy with me. Bend over to pick something up, pain. Stairs, yup. My knee lets me know when it’s reached it’s limit. Stretching out my quads has helped a lot. The thing is, once I aggravate it, I’m back to square one until it calms down again. Recovery time is a lot faster now and I have my complete ROM I fought for, pain free, again today. I’m just learning how far and hard I can push it before the muscles are too tired to work properly.
Fawking Glute Activation… continues to be a mystery shrouded in well another mystery.
I’ve been working on a “tension wave” basically tensing and checking all muscles including glutes before any lift even something as simple as db lateral raises… not sure if its actually ACTIVATING the damn things.
Like, what does it FEEL LIKE when the glutes are FIRING?!?!
I dunno! LOL.
Do you have crunchiness in your knee??
sounds like what I have going on. Only my cartilage is badly worn so any bending of the knee hurts and I have no ROM…repeptive stuff hurts like a bitch…the stairs in my house are the debil now.
No crunchiness. It pops once in a while when the muscles attached to it get tight.
[quote]PixieThrower wrote:
MiM: Yeah, I know what you mean about the carb mentality. This is a complete shift for me and I’m excited/interested to see what happens. Took my weight and measurements today and I’ll see what happens over the next 10 days on the prep stage. Prep stage is low carb (30-40g max) and fairly low cal as well. I expect to shed water like crazy but we’ll see.
Spock: Sent you a PM :)[/quote]
Looks like I’m late cuz you just announced major LBs shed but I WAS going to say hellyeah you will drop megawater (and stuff) thats really low carb almost atkins induction level (I’m an atkins fan actually)
Ah no, not the knee again. I have to make sure I keep my quads stretched out enough, as I can feel the knee wanting to seize up after lifting. I started wearing knee warmers too (courtsey of mom, although I do get funny stares at them)
Mmmm deep hurty messages, sound yummy right now. Love those.
Knee was mostly tired, I wasn’t stretching enough and the back to back workouts after a massage were not smart. That’s all there is to it
My rehband knee sleeves came in They look pretty damn sexy. I know I’ll get funny looks wearing them in the gym but they’ll keep my knees warm and provide a little support, so yay!
Today involved some light rehab to keep the knees moving. I think I was getting too aggressive with the ROM on my single leg squats and I’m going to pull it back a lot. I lost sight of what they were supposed to be doing (working the VMO) and started pushing to see how far I could go. More stretching tonight. I’ll do my squat workout tomorrow
Let me know how the knee sleeves feel. I’ve considered getting them for a long time.
And you are crazy on these single leg squats. I could never! But literally, I don’t think I physically do them. Sounds soooo painful!
Dani: Wore my knee sleeves for squats today and I loved them. Kept my knees warm and provided support. I bought them one size smaller as was recommended by the website I went to and they fit perfectly. I got my Rehbands from jackalsgym.com for a decent price. Got the 5mm (grey) ones. I will definitely be wearing them for comps. As for the single leg squats, I’m doing a VERY small ROM from now on. Like, start to sit back and crack the knee then straighten back up. Higher reps, though.
Workout:
Warmups:
5 minutes on the elliptical
knee rehab
Agile 8
Simple 6
A1) Bench squats: 45x10, 65x9x5
B1) OHP: 45x6x5
B2) SL RDLs: 20x6x5 (3 seconds down/up)
C1) DB Bench: 30x9x3
C2) DB single arm OHP: 20x5x3
C3) BSS: BWx10x2
Stretching and steam room to finish off the day. And so ends my backoff week. Squats are starting to feel solid and natural. I plan to do 3 sets of 10 at 65# then a couple triples without the bench just to test the waters and see how everything feels. I have at least another month before I contemplate upping the weight. Lots of time to play! DB bench is feeling solid so I’ll keep upping the reps. Once I get to 12 reps per set I’ll switch to the 35s and see what happens
My knees are feeling good today but I’m still going to ice them. Want them to stay happy!
Day 9 of the prep stage and I’m down 7# Pretty damn awesome. My pants are a lot looser too Yay!
Workout:
Warmup:
5 minutes on the elliptical
knee rehab
Agile 8
A1) Rack pulls: 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 145x4x3
A2) Band rows: purple x20x6
A3) BW squat x8x6
B1) Tricep pullovers: 40x7x5
B2) Curls: 20x6x5
C1) BSS: BWx10x2
D1) Palloff press: 20x7x3
D2) SL RDLs: 20x7x3
Stretching and steam room.
I’m getting excited to back load carbs I already have my first night planned out. Rack pulls feel tight and fast. My grip is starting to fail me a bit but I’ll deal with that when it becomes a major issue. For now I just reset between each rep. Need to bring chalk to the gym (shhhhhhh!).
Oh my goodness. I am sooooo dopey today. Day 10. Very poor sleep last night which I shall attribute to bottoming out on carbs. I tried going to sleep at 8pm and I don’t think I stayed asleep for more than 2 hours at a time. I think I tossed and turned til 9, dozed til 10, then finally slept til 12. Had to get up and do something to tire my brain back out, slept til 3, then woke up at 5 and dozed til my alarm went off at 5:30.
I want carbs!!!
When are you adding back carbs? No sleep sucks! 7lbs though are awesome!
[quote]Patch2 wrote:
When are you adding back carbs? No sleep sucks! 7lbs though are awesome![/quote]
Just had my first carb back load tonight and IT. WAS. EPIC!! An M&M cookie from Safeway topped with a mini chocolate extreme blizzard. Oh man And I got to have sticky rice with my stir fry supper!!! Had a little protein powder before I went on my carb rampage and honestly, I’m full now.
I went and had my body composition tested. Weighed in at 142.5# and I’m sitting at 23% body fat. A lot better than I thought it would be. I’m going to keep up the carb back loading at least until season starts (May long weekend) and I might go test again depending on what I see when I look in the mirror. Sub 20% would be soooo cool. Especially if I’m getting stronger at the same time!
Okay, enough giddiness. Let’s get to the stuff that allowed me to go on a sugar overload tonight
12/01/25 Workout
Warmups:
5 minutes on the elliptical
Agile 8
A1) 2 board bench: 65x5x2, 75x5, 85x5, 90x4x2, 75x8
A2) BW squat x10x7
The 90x4 was a little hard. Definitely had to grind that last rep out. It went up, though!
B1) Palloff press: 20x7x3 (3 second hold)
B2) BSS: BWx10x2
C1) Assisted pullups: (-80)x8, (-70)x5, (-65)x2x3, (-75)x5, (-80)x8
C2) kb swings: 25x8x7
Stretching and steam room.
The assisted pullups felt easier than last week, considering the volume and weight I was doing with bench. I guess those extra couple pounds I dropped from last week to this week really do make a difference on exercises like this.
I am seriously happy with the progress I made in the prep stage and can’t wait to see what I can do in the back load stage. My knees feel solid, my energy is still good (minus the one day there where I was dumb) and this way of eating feels easy for me to maintain. A lot of it is doing prep work the night before so I can get up, pack my food and go the next day. 30 minutes of prep goes a long way to making my day easier
Okay, I feel the sugar high! Damn, I’m going to sleep well tonight.
Your carb overload sounds delightful!
Way to grind out the BP. I think those are the reps that make all the difference mentally. I know for me they’re the ones that make the next ones possible.
You do a lot of the fun stuff I like doing
The carbs were all kinds of awesome. I gained a pound of bloat but Kiefer said to expect some of the weight to come back (dur!). I’ll give the backloading at least two weeks before making a final verdict. I might have to tweak the amount of carbs I intake and how much sodium comes with those carbs. That’s always been a huge factor for how much water I hold on to.
I’m hoping being able to get that last rep in makes a difference. My 2 board max is 110# right now. I want that at 135 before season starts. Might be a lofty goal but having that extra pushing power will help me with my stones.
I’m really enjoying my workouts right now. Doing assisted pullups are fun just because I have that nebulous goal of being able to do one without any assistance. I like the ladder that I’m using to do it as it allows me to feel a little bit more of my own weight but I’m still getting in the volume necessary to help the muscles grow.