The vegans’ nightmare!
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Different approaches to the same problem. Vegans and carnivores both reached the same conclusion: the current food environment is non-viable.
For me, plants were destroying my guts. Going animal only alleviated a LOT of issues I had, to the point that I discovered that a lot of what I considered to be "normal” was dysfunction. Spending time detoxing really went a long way.
It was honestly the Velocity Diet that helped me get there. It was a total reset button nutritionally, and from there I could rebuild.
This is why it’s so hard to find a good doctor. Family practitioners rarely have experience with athletes so they don’t understand us when we show up. The only time I feel like I get any good information is when I go see a specialist, but you can’t really develop a relationship with a specialist (well, hopefully you don’t need to). I need a specialist who knows all the parts of my body that I break, not just one. I’m at the point where I feel like I need the TV doctor from “House” for my lower back.
I feel like there’s enough of out there to keep a doctor busy if he/she chose to be a weekend warrior specialist. That would cover those of us here on T-Nation and the population that still plays softball, basketball, volleyball, rugby, and runs for distance.
The closest I’ve found is my physical therapist, but they can’t prescribe any meds or give injections (steroid/anti inflammatory things like cortisone). My PT is probably the most qualified person to order an MRI or other imaging for my issues, but she can’t do that, either.
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@Frank_C I actually see the inability to prescribe meds/injections as a feature, rather than a bug, haha. In my line of work, that tends to be one of the first solutions (we refer to it as “Vitamin M”: the 800mg of motrin RX). I had to fight SO hard to get my doctor to refer me to a physical therapist for my knee, and that was all I needed. I had to tell him that anti-inflams cause my bowels to bleed before he’d consider any alternatives.
Having that good relationship is key for sure. I’ve also learned that we have to be our own advocates and be willing to tell them where our lines in the sand are. During the pandemic, I had a doctor that wanted to run all sorts of labs on me and prescribe me all kinds of meds, and one time, during a phone consultation, while looking at my lab results, he asked “Are you African-American?” I told him at that point that there would be no further discussion on medication or treatment until he could actually identify me in a lineup. This was the same doctor that referred me to a nephrologist for elevated labs in my kidneys, which, at that appointment, the nephrologist entered the room, took one look at me, rolled his eyes hard enough that I thought he was going to detach a retina and said “Oh geez, we get one of you guys here like once every 3 months” and went on to explain how lifting weights paired with a high protein diet causes this to happen…which, again, you’d most likely figure out if you actually SAW me before prescribing stuff, haha.
It’s a jungle out there!
AM WORKOUT (0345 wake up via dog, snoozed until 0400, but honestly a terrible night of sleep with windstorms)
TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN Week 4, Workout 1
MAIN CLUSTER
Buffalo Bar Squat
4x8x330
Axle strict press from rack
2x8x158
7x158
5x158
SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER
(3) DB incline bench
2x12x70s
2x10x70s w/4 rep rest pause on final set
DB rows
4x12x125
GHRs
4x12x55
ASSISTANCE
GHR sit up
20
Notes:
- It’s absolutely bonkers weather right now. Wind gusts up to 50mph, tore the fascia off my neighbors house and heard it scrapping all night, made it hard to sleep. Still having really vivid dreams as well, so it’s honestly like a mixed blessing to not be able to sleep much.
- As much as sets of 8 suck, I continue to feel unjustifiably strong on the squat. I think my right knee was just holding me back for longer than I realized. It’s awesome feeling healthy again, and figuring out to use my grip shirt has gone a long way to make the low bar squat more viable. I feel really locked in.
- For rest periods, it was 2 minutes on the squat, 1-2-2 on the incline press, 1s on the rows and GHRs. For the press, I went 2-3-2, seeing if resting 3 minutes would let me get in all 8 reps on the third set. Since it didn’t, didn’t seem worth repeating. Next workout, I’ll rest pause to get all the reps if I need to, similar to what I did with the incline bench. I was running a little short on time due to some morning logistics.
- Elbows are feeling good enough. I have awareness of them, but no agony. I got through all 7 days doing 3x16 chins. I may only go 2x16/1x17 for this week. These past few goes, I’ve been focusing on moving my body by contracting the lats, rather than pulling with my hands, and it seems to help move through pain. I’m also noticing better body awareness on the rows as a result. My hips are doing decent as well.
- Weighed 83.2kg this morning. Teetering between these weights. Wonderful family meal last night: another go with sourdough crust pizza, topped with pancetta, bacon, leftover kalua pork, pineapple and black olives. We had it cafeteria style on a baking sheet. I had something like 5 or 6 slices, and then 5 cookies with some raw honey. It’s awesome to have sourdough in the house: the Valkyrie is experimenting will all sorts of recipes. In turn, I’ve been considering how to work a cyclical or targeting ketogenic diet approach. I also used a 10 minute rower workout post meal ala the 10 minute walk, and that felt pretty nice.
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Because there’s nothing relaxing or restorative about walking into a 50 mph headwind! I made a similar choice last night.
I guess the power goes with the person behind it. I fully trust my PT to determine if I need a little help from science instead of just old fashioned PT. There are times where inflammation hangs around so long that the usual tricks just don’t get rid of it, so a little pharmaceutical boost might help.
My best “doctor” experience was a physician’s assistant at my old primary doctor’s office. I could make appointments with her and it was awesome. She understood me. She knew I lifted weights and abused my body. She knew I wanted to pretend I was still an athlete. All of those things were considered when treating me. Unfortunately, she left the practice for awhile and our insurance changed so I had to move on. Now insurance has brought that group back into the network and she’s back at the same office, but none of the docs are accepting new patients. I broke my ankle back in 2013 - cracked talus. She ordered an MRI and sent me to a specialist because she was worried about the location of the fracture and it possibly not healing correctly due to blood supply. All turned out well, but having someone advocate for me was such a blessing instead of the usual scenario where you’re shopping around for yourself. It wastes so much time when you have to do that.
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@Frank_C Shame to lose such a good connection like that. I’ve got a similar relationship with my urologist: just someone that gets me.
Nutrition Recap
Breakfast was 14.5oz of airfried grassfed lamb alongside some beef bacon, 3 whole eggs and 5 whites.
Dinner was a fun experiment. 2 piedmontese grassfed beef burgers (80% lean) cooked in the sous vide from frozen, then seared in the cast iron with spray wagyu fat, topped with a slice of jarlsburg swiss, a fried egg, and a strip of bacon. For the buns, I took a Don Lee Farm’s chicken breast patty and sliced it in half lengthwise to create all animal buns. I used some chosen farms avocado mayo and a few pickle slices to round it out, alongside 2 whole eggs (put 1 of the 3 on the burger) and 5 whites.
Ended up making a second burger with a single grassfed costco patty and another Don Lee Farms chicken breast patty bun. Was a fun way to do a burger night.
Also, purchased some 1 gallon glass jars on Amazon to be able to store my collection of tallow and stock that I’ve accumulated from all my sous vide and other cooking experiments. I didn’t realize how big of a stock I’ve already built up.
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AM WORKOUT (0529 natural wake up, slept in)
TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN Week 4, Workout 2
“VIKING RAID”
15 minutes
- 100m row
- 150lb sandbag carry
- Add 100m to the row each round
Notes:
- Finished the 600m row when the timer ran out. Finished the carry still. I had some lapping issues on the 3rd round, which ate into my time. Right elbow was being a little pissy, so I was moving slower. In general, my time is getting worse each week, and I imagine it’s navigating around the pain that’s a part of that, as the first week I was able to rip the bag off the floor. But this is why I cycle low bar squats, rather than keep them year round.
- Forgot to hit record. Oops.
- This is still a solid conditioning hit. I was thinking about it on the ride to work as well. I’m doing a solid job of leaning into this mass gaining phase, even if I’m not chasing scale weight. I’m staying conditioned “enough” without going stupidly deep into it, and prioritizing sleep seems to be benefiting my physique and strength. I’m not as fat as I anticipated being at this point in the training block. It’s really been more of a recomp phase at this point.
- Which, on that note, I weighed in at 82.4, which is the lowest I’ve been on a Tuesday/post carb up weigh in for this training cycle. Wild considering I had over 1000 calories in burger patties alone for dinner last night. I think that’s been my favorite part of this experiment: discovering maintenance, and just how much wiggle room it has. Especially as I’m fasting through today on my way to 12lbs of corned beef I have in my sous vide.
- Tang Soo Do tonight. It’s “Wildcard/Cardio” week, and we’ll be attending a Saturday class as well, so lots of activity this week.
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Nutrition Recap
Fasted until dinner, then celebrated St Patrick’s day with over 12lbs of corned beef (2 flats and 1 point) from the Sous Vide, then seared in the instant pot in beef tallow and Amish butter. Had the brilliant idea to pour the drippings on top of the fat caps and then sear them with a blow torch vs in the instant pot. Helped myself to half a baked potato (skipped the skin, topped with butter and sour cream) to keep in the spirit, and had it alongside my 3 whole eggs and 5 whites. Also a little bit of a sourdough biscuit the Valkyrie made. Wonderful meal.
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