Last Chance at Stopping My Cowardice

Training Training Logs
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Hello All,
Long time reader, first time forum poster. I am not technically a beginner, I have been lifting and training for various sports for about 15 years (I am 30 now). I do not want to be a never-has-been in my physical training and abilities. I realize I have a solid stretch of peak physical performance over the next 5 years and the potential to carry on being in good shape until I end up dead under a hot, young 25 year old lady when I am 70.

Physical characteristics: 6’2" 225. Body fat: unknown but not good. (Pictures post tomorrow)
My goals: 1) I train in capoeira (hold back the laughter for now). I do it because everything I experience in that discipline is harder than anything I have ever tried before and it is completely outside my comfort zone. I like the challenge. I am fortunate to be training in a city that has some exceptional folks that I can train under.

So, my goal is to get as good as possible…period. I realize that means practicing as much as possible. The negative to practicing as much as possible is potential for injury. I bruised a rib a few months ago and had to take a week off. I pulled something in my mid-section a few weeks ago and I still feel sick whenever I stretch my core. I will have to dedicate time to rehabbing as fast as possible and also not being a pu55y might help. (Potential/desired areas of focus: Core strength is lacking, moving my body through space, i.e push ups, dips, pull ups, handstand pushups, flexibility)

         2) I currently look like a sack of potatoes, if a sack of potatoes was filled with sh1t. I want to alter my physique to be as functional as possible but also throw in some vanity when I can. Asking too much? I finished my PhD about 4 months ago. The 3 months leading up to my defense was spent sitting and eating crap. I gained 27 pounds (208lbs-235lbs...dear  lord) I have lost 10 pounds since by just not funneling crap down my throat.

It is difficult to gauge my fat content. I will have to get that done. My biggest problem is my midsection. I binge eat and carry a spare tire around with me at all times. (potential/desired areas of focus: fat loss, abdominal strength, get my glutes back, overall ability to crush human skulls.)

       I was hoping to post my activities and diet to get some input and support from the T-Nation community. I want to train 4 days a week in capoeira and lift 2-3 times a week. In a perfect world I would like to lift in the morning and do capoeira at night...not sure if that is pushing it but I would like that to be my routine.

Current supplements I use when I am training:
Whey Protein
Fish Oil
Multivitamin (every other day)
Vitamin D (Every other day)
BCAA’s (If I feel my recovery is slow)

Regulars in my diet:
Chicken, asparagus, green peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, kiwi, banana, cherries, sweet potatoes, boat house green goodness in the morning, 2% greek yogurt with 2 teaspoons of honey and a half cup of granola. I pretty much eat those things on a daily basis, usually only one or two fruit servings a day of one of the listed fruits.

Things I devour when I am being an a55hole:
ben and jerry’s ice cream, pizza, beer, whiskey, anything chocolate, chocolate chip cookies. That is a concise list of crap that I would say make up 100% of my love handles.

 I assume I should have some before, during and after pics to monitor progress and some benchmarks in basic lifts like dead lift, squat and bench. There are lists of things I have to do for capoeira that are mandatory for advancing. I can post those too just to give ideas about what is altering in my physical abilities.

 I realize this is a long post so I thought I would update on my physical activities and diet in the next post and give a day by day break down that might be more helpful. My first post will be tomorrow night. I will post everything I eat and everything I do that might be considered relevant physical activity (running, biking, stretching, capoeira, weight training) I wont post it, but just assume I get laid every few days...it might not be true, but give me the benefit of the doubt and we can consider it as me going the extra mile in my training but humbly taking no credit for it. Thank you in advance for all of the help and criticism.
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[quote]jfrasca wrote:
ben and jerry’s ice cream, pizza, beer, whiskey, anything chocolate, chocolate chip cookies. That is a concise list of crap that I would say make up 100% of my love handles.
[/quote]

Stop eating these. That will have the most profound effect on your weight and appearance but you already know that.

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Out of curiosity mostly, why do you take vitamins every other day? Is there a rationale behind that?

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Hey Jackie_Jacked,

I obviously agree about cutting out the junk food. I am getting better at it but the cravings kick in like a drug addict when it does happen. I have been trying to keep my blood sugar levels from dropping and spiking. I am more successful most days than others but the others are still a problem.

As for the vitamin every other day, I usually take vitamins the day after a hard workout. A lot of times the capoeira training goes to the point of complete exhaustion where I have a headache, dizziness and sometimes nausea. (I am in the worst shape of the group so I have to work a bit harder to keep up at this point.) I have viewed the multi I take as part of recovery from mineral depletion.

I think my overall work ethic has not been up to par for needing more than that. If my training goes as well as I would like then I would want to take it daily. Is that reasonable?

 I am skeptical of the bio-availability of most vitamins and minerals in vitamins. If I can get it through food all the better but I know decent supplements will be need. I do try and mix it up with nuts (not peanuts) as well to combat some of my potential mineral deficiencies. I will list them when I eat them.

I dont see much sun in the lab I work in so I have been taking Vit D every other day. I will have to be more scientific about this and list the IU for each so I can give you guys an idea of what I am doing…It would probably be beneficial for me to do a pubmed based metaanalysis of supplemental Vit D in athletes. Already, this first comment is hopefully helping me pull my head out of my a55. Thank you.

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As far as the junk food; I had to go camping for 3-4 days when I decided to kick the habit. That was the only thing that got me through it, being 20 miles away from anywhere that had junk food, and the fact I’d have had to have walked that distance to get it. After a few days it got a lot better.

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Vitamin D-wise, the recommendation I’ve seen most is 5000 IU/day. This is above most “official” recommended doses, but has been what I’ve seen recommended by the more sports-science authorities.

[quote]Dr. Mercola (who I don’t really trust) wrote:
To achieve the healthy blood levels in the graph below, most adults will need about FIVE THOUSAND units of vitamin D every day. Interestingly, the majority of people I see in my travels that are taking vitamin D are taking 1,000 units, and they believe they are taking “high” doses. Don’t fool yourself, as an adult, you likely need about 5,000 IUs a day.[/quote]

[quote]Chris Shugart wrote:
So the government says 200 to 400 IU for most of us, but even they admit that’s low. Those more in-the-know suggest anywhere from 1000 to even 5000 IU per day.
[/quote]

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[quote]jfrasca wrote:
Hey Jackie_Jacked,

I obviously agree about cutting out the junk food. I am getting better at it but the cravings kick in like a drug addict when it does happen. I have been trying to keep my blood sugar levels from dropping and spiking. I am more successful most days than others but the others are still a problem.

As for the vitamin every other day, I usually take vitamins the day after a hard workout. A lot of times the capoeira training goes to the point of complete exhaustion where I have a headache, dizziness and sometimes nausea. (I am in the worst shape of the group so I have to work a bit harder to keep up at this point.) I have viewed the multi I take as part of recovery from mineral depletion.

I think my overall work ethic has not been up to par for needing more than that. If my training goes as well as I would like then I would want to take it daily. Is that reasonable?

 I am skeptical of the bio-availability of most vitamins and minerals in vitamins. If I can get it through food all the better but I know decent supplements will be need. I do try and mix it up with nuts (not peanuts) as well to combat some of my potential mineral deficiencies. I will list them when I eat them.

I dont see much sun in the lab I work in so I have been taking Vit D every other day. I will have to be more scientific about this and list the IU for each so I can give you guys an idea of what I am doing…It would probably be beneficial for me to do a pubmed based metaanalysis of supplemental Vit D in athletes. Already, this first comment is hopefully helping me pull my head out of my a55. Thank you. [/quote]

Hi there!

If you have blood sugar issues, you really need to cut that stuff out of your diet and pronto. If you keep eating that way, weight gain will be the least of your concerns. I understand all about the cravings. I am hypoglycemic now from years of shoveling junk in my mouth under the premise that it was alright because it was right around my workout time. That stuff will catch up with you and it will make you very sick.

I’m not really sure what it is that you do other than it’s a form of dance so I cannot comment too much about that, sorry. :S

I understand what you mean about bio-availability of supplements. Nobody wants to waste their money, right? The one thing I find odd is that you seem to reason taking vitamins and minerals every other day as if you have to earn them and yet freely eat junk food. Do you see the sort of hypocrisy there?

Anyways, what are you currently now? I’m curious.

You know, I really think that you already know the answers to what you’re asking here. It sounds like you’ve just become really good at rationalizing things that work around your developed bad habits. You know what you need to do. I’m not saying that to be harsh but you seem like a smart guy that knows he’s not making some very good choices right now.

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1- stop eating shit food.

2- take your vitamins every day. If you’re worried about absorbtion, take it with a meal.

3- you never mentioned this, but you need to be on a good weight lifting program

4- stretch, foam roll, and all that kind of stuff

5- spend as much time practicing whatever the thing is you want to do as you can

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Hey Jackie_Jacked and Lorez,

 I think that things have worked poorly around my rationalizing of bad habits and that is why I am on here. I would like to use this as a way to have accountability. I realize that accountability to myself should be number one but I posted to give myself a push in the right direction. I think my rationalization is a major problem in my routine. sometimes backed up with false-ideas about what is right or wrong. 

 I am not sure what you meant by "what I am currently". Do you mean weight wise? I hover around 225.Was that the answer to your question? As for the capoeira, figure most of it is explosiveness and moving your body through space. The academy I am in focuses on straight kicks and acrobatics so stretching has been a big thing along with balance. A big part of it is moving my body through space. 

 Even if my presses have been decent it hasn't helped for my ability to do handstand pushups. I have tried to change that by using dumbbells instead of fixed bar and now I am working on my core. I was thinking that if something in the chain was weak then it would result in the instability I have while on my hands. 

 Already I realize the vitamin D thing every other day is pretty dumb and that there is a lot of literature and phenomenological evidence that I should be getting more, especially since I dont see the sun at work. Lorez, thank you for the T-Nation article with all of the summaries. Very helpful. I will definitely up that and put it in my posts.

Chris87, I will post my workouts as I do them so you can comment on that if you are willing.

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As far as accountability and keeping logs, there’s a section on this site for that. Go to Training Lab > Training Logs > Training Logs and create one there. Then post a link to it here.

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[quote]jfrasca wrote:
Hey Jackie_Jacked and Lorez,

 I think that things have worked poorly around my rationalizing of bad habits and that is why I am on here. I would like to use this as a way to have accountability. I realize that accountability to myself should be number one but I posted to give myself a push in the right direction. I think my rationalization is a major problem in my routine. sometimes backed up with false-ideas about what is right or wrong. 

 I am not sure what you meant by "what I am currently". Do you mean weight wise? I hover around 225.Was that the answer to your question? As for the capoeira, figure most of it is explosiveness and moving your body through space. The academy I am in focuses on straight kicks and acrobatics so stretching has been a big thing along with balance. A big part of it is moving my body through space. 

 Even if my presses have been decent it hasn't helped for my ability to do handstand pushups. I have tried to change that by using dumbbells instead of fixed bar and now I am working on my core. I was thinking that if something in the chain was weak then it would result in the instability I have while on my hands. 

 Already I realize the vitamin D thing every other day is pretty dumb and that there is a lot of literature and phenomenological evidence that I should be getting more, especially since I dont see the sun at work. Lorez, thank you for the T-Nation article with all of the summaries. Very helpful. I will definitely up that and put it in my posts.

Chris87, I will post my workouts as I do them so you can comment on that if you are willing.

[/quote]

Hi again. Yes, that’s what I was getting at. I can tell just by the title of your thread and the things that you posted in it. You know what you’re doing or not doing. The keeping a log idea is a great one.

Now, I don’t do handstand pushups, nor have I ever but I would reason that an overhead press (if you are talking press movements) would have more carry over than a db press. Maybe a push press if you’re seeking explosiveness? It’s too hard to gauge what you can work on without knowing the rest of your routine. Once again, a workout log. If you want accountability, that is the best way to do it too.

Sorry about the miscommunication, I was asking how many IU’s of things you were using now. Honestly though, I would more concentrate on getting my diet in order first but that’s just me. One step at a time.

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So here are my starting pics. Painful to take and painful to look at. I have to start somewhere so I am now all in.

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1929×2137 727 KB

More:

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2193×2329 773 KB

really gotta highlight those love handles

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2641×2389 1 MB

last one

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Day 1:
Pre Breakfast 8:30am : 2.4 grams fish oil, 1.4grams creatine, 2000IU D3, 1 vitamin shoppe ultimate male multi, 1 glass of green goodness (by boathouse).

Bike 1.5 miles to work

9am Breakfast: 1 cup of 2% greek yogurt, 1/4 cup granola, 1 teaspoon of honey

11:30am snack: protein shake

1pm: 1 chicken breast, 1/2 sweet potato, 1/2 cup cauliflower, 1/2 cup green peppers, 1/2 cup asparagus

330pm snack: 1 protein shake, 1.4 grams creatine, 1 handful of cherries, 4 dried dates

5pm Bike 1.5 miles home from work

6:30 capoeira. 30 minutes of stretching 1.5 hours of activity

9pm dinner: 1 chicken breast 1/2 cup cauliflower, 1/2 cup green peppers, 1/2 cup , 1/2 tomato wrap with 4 tablespoons of garlic hummus.

I also consume about 4 liters of water throughout the entire day.

I will record stats for lifting so that I will have baselines. I will report all of my exercises, weights, reps, sets etc after each workout. I plan to workout on days I do not have capoeira. I have capoeira Friday, and Saturday. Sunday will be the first lift I report on. I would like to do morning lifts and capoeira at night. My stamina sucks at the moment and I am unable to train in capoeira at night if I lift in the morning. I have to have enough strength to not fall on my head or be slow during sparing. I would like to work out in the mornings before work since capoeira is at around 6pm until around 9pm. My job starts at around 8-9am depending on the day and goes until 5 pm.

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Day 2:

Pre-Breakfast 7 am : 2.4 grams fish oil, 1.4grams creatine, 2000IU D3, 1 vitamin shoppe ultimate male multi, 1 glass of green goodness (by boathouse).

Ran 1.2 miles

Breakfast 8am : 1 cup of 2% greek yogurt, 1/4 cup granola, 1 teaspoon of honey

Snack 11 am: protein shake with a handful of almonds.

Lunch 1pm: 1 chicken breast, 1/2 sweet potato, 1/2 cup cauliflower, 1/2 cup green peppers, 1/2 cup asparagus

3:30 snack: protein shake, 4 dried dates, handful of almonds, 1.4grams creatine

5:30: apple with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter

6:30-830: Capoeira Training.

9pm: 1 chicken breast, 2 slices of american cheese, 1 tomato wrap

10pm: 2 miller lights (Friday night date…excuse the beer?)

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Day 3:

Breakfast 10am: 3 egg omelet. 1 piece of cheese. 1 handful of ham. 2 pieces of toast (Don’t think I needed the toast. Wont have it in the future).

Lunch 2pm: 1 chicken breast, 1/2 sweet potato, 1/2 cup cauliflower, 1/2 cup green peppers, 1/2 cup asparagus

5pm: Capoeira is canceled. Workout instead

Stretch for 15 minutes followed by 15 minutes of some capoeira handstand work.

Deadlift:
Warmup with bar then 135x8.
185x8
205x8
225x8
255x6
285x4
310x2

Superset: Dips and T-bar Rows:
Dips (body weight as many as I can do) 12-12-10-9
T-bar rows: 75x15, 85x12, 95x10, 95x9

Goblet Squats: (added overhead press at end)
65x12
75x10
75x10
75x8

First day lifting in awhile.Overall work capacity felt really low, especially after deadlifting.

Post workout: Protein Shake. Apple with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. 1.4 grams of creatine. 2 grams of fish oil

8:30pm dinner: 1 chicken breast, 1/2 sweet potato, 1/2 cup cauliflower, 1/2 cup green peppers, 1/2 cup asparagus

10pm: (Saturday night out) 3 rocks glasses of Rye Whiskey throughout night

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Day 4:

Breakfast 10am: 1 chicken breast, 1/2 sweet potato, 1/2 cup cauliflower, 1/2 cup green peppers, 1/2 cup asparagus. 1 kiwi (May notice this chicken meal comes up a lot. I have it pre-made for the week)
1.4 grams of creatine. 2 grams of fish oil, 2000IU of vit D and multi.

Lunch 2pm: protein shake, BCAA’s, 1.4 grams creatine. 1 apple with 2 tablespoons peanut butter

5pm: Gym
Stretch for 15 minutes

Front Squat:
Warm up with bar and 95 pounds
115x12
135x10
155x8
165x6

Full contact twist (corner bar twist) (done to failure)
45 on bar x 12 rotations
55 on bar x 10 rotations
55 on bar x 9 rotations
55 on bar x 8 rotations

Dumbbell press (done to failure)
65 x 12 30 second rest
65 x 10 30 second rest
65 x 9 30 second rest
65 x 8 30 second rest

Situps: (Did not keep track of counts! Really stupid but just didnt think to write it down)
bodyweight x (failure plus 1 (assisted by myself)
bodyweight x (failure plus 1 (assisted by myself)
bodyweight x (failure plus 1 (assisted by myself)

Workout ended early due to time constraint. Definitely not happy with overall amount accomplished in workout in terms of number of lifts and amount lifted. I am satisfied with overall effort in the workout, just needed more time to workout.

Dinner (within 1 hour of workout)
7pm dinner: 1 chicken breast. 1 tomato wrap with 2 tablespoons of garlic hummus

9pm:(Still hungry) 1 cup of 2% greek yogurt. 1/2 cup granola, 2 teaspoons of honey. 2 grams of fish oil.

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Day 5:

Breakfast 8am: 3 hard boiled eggs. 2.4 grams fish oil, 1.4grams creatine, 2000IU D3, 1 vitamin shoppe ultimate male multi, 1 glass of green goodness (by boathouse). 1 kiwi

bike 1.5 miles to work

11am: protein shake, 1 handful of almonds. 1 sugar free red bull

1:30pm: 1 chicken breast, 1/2 sweet potato, 1/2 cup cauliflower, 1/2 cup green peppers, 1/2 cup asparagus.

3:30: Protein shake. 1 handful of almonds. 1.4grams creatine. 1 handful of cherries

5pm: Asked to stay late at work…son of a…(out of work at 7pm and miss start of capoeira. Played instruments for capoeira at my place. Practicing instruments is part of it, just not the getting in shape part but still necessary)

9pm: 1 cup of yogurt.

I didnt eat anything awful but the three eggs in the morning were not enough to keep me from craving crap. The yogurt has actually been amazing for stopping cravings along with snacking between meals. I will not try and get away with just eggs again because it did not keep me from feeling cravings at 11am. I will have to consider today my day off since work got in the way of when I hoped to be at capoeira.
I think I am doing well but input is always good. I will keep posting since this has kept me motivated and feels like I have to have a little more accountability even if people aren’t reading it.