Nordic Blood: Climbing And Lifting / Lifting And Climbing

Training Logs
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1

Welcome to my log you magnificent beast!

Age: 25 (2 months away from turning 26)
Height: 186 cm

Current lifts:

  • 3@140kg DL
  • 3@75kg BP
  • 8@90kg Back Squat (6@70kg Front Squat). Yeap, my squats suck. More on that later.
  • 4@47.5kg Military Press

Finishing up my 3rd week on Athlete Lean, Athlete Strong Athlete Lean, Athlete Strong

2018 in review:
Half-assing everything up until the 22nd of April, after which I had just come out of the stomach flu. Before the flu hit, I was a chunky 96kg, after it I was still a chunky (dehydrated) 86kg. Since then (i.e. the 22nd of April) I have:

  • Dieted for 6 weeks, came down to ~80kg, this was Velocity diet-esque but I did not have access to Metabolic Drive and used a whey protein powder instead of casein.
  • Went abroad for a week, just ate whatever, but still mindful of not taking in too many carbs
  • Dieted another 3 weeks, this time on solid foods
  • Went off the diet for 2 weeks, back up to 84 (didn’t gain any noticeable amounts of fat), was super active but came off the diet way too hard.
  • Now 3 weeks deep into another diet that I’m expecting to run for 10 weeks total.

This was my fat chunky ass at the start,

IMG_20180422_173120
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IMG_20180422_1846283456Ă—4608 3.77 MB
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IMG_20180422_1730163456Ă—4608 3.65 MB

Measurements:

  • Weight: 86 kg
  • Shoulders: 123 cm
  • (Lower) Waist: 96 cm
  • Chest: 107 cm
  • Arm: 33 cm
  • Neck: 37 cm
  • Calf: 38 cm
  • Thigh: 60 cm

This is my skinny fat ass a week ago,

IMG_20180729_090949
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IMG_20180729_0909033456Ă—4608 3.54 MB
IMG_20180729_090923
IMG_20180729_0909233456Ă—4608 3.59 MB

Measurements:

  • Weight: 79.8 kg
  • Shoulders: 116.5 cm
  • (Lower) Waist: 81 cm
  • Chest: 94 cm
  • Arm: 32.5 cm
  • Neck: 37 cm
  • Calf: 36 cm
  • Thigh: 57 cm

Goals: In the title. At my height, I think I should weigh at least 90 kilos and while a 2xBW DL is a nice goal, carrying that for 30 meters seems even better. The front lever is there because it’s a skill that I’ve wanted to be able to do for a long time and I have poor leverages for it so I’d have to exhibit extra strength to be able to do it.

Current plan:

  • Finish Athlete Lean, Athlete Strong
  • 6 weeks to super hero (diet ends, hopefully. Might string it along for 4 more weeks if I’m still carrying a pouch of abdominal fat)
  • 12 weeks Built for Battle (love strength circuits).

I’ll post today’s activities and meals at the end of today. Once again, welcome and thanks for stopping by!

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2

Nice weight loss man! In for your log

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3

Really nice job with the weight loss thus far man, that’s a huge difference

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Thank you both!

5

Saturday, 4th of August 2018

Morning Weight: 79.8 kg (+0.2 since yesterday, possibly just water retention from yesterdays increased sodium intake).

Woke up pretty well-rested, but a bit groggy. Only woke up once during the night which is unusual (as in, I usually wake up several times a night) but nice. Might be because my neighbours were having a party and subsequently I got to sleep later than usual and slept deeper as a consequence.

A lot of DOMS in my back from yesterday’s deadlifts (nice!).

Morning walk

Took 3g C-vitamin, 5g creatine, one HMB pill and a Hot-Rox Extreme Pill (chiefly, for the caffeine this time). Went on a 40-minute walk in my Vibrams so the pace was pretty bad (11:45/km). My Achilles tendons are still shot from my first week on Athlete Lean, Athlete Strong were I went too hard on the sprinting work-out so I’m on the elliptical tomorrow and probably doing bike sprints instead of normal sprints on Wednesday. Hoping they’ll heal up soon. The point in walking in my Vibrams was to provide them the encouragement to heal.

Back in-doors I made my pre-workout, 15g maltodextrin, 16g whey, 6g sea salt. Downed it, did my warm-up (The Simple 7 Warm-Up) and went to the gym (bike ride, 2 minutes).

AM Workout: Athlete Lean, Athlete Strong

This is a strength-circuit workout. Athlete Lean, Athlete Strong
Nutrition: 30g maltodextrin, 40g BCAAs. 6g sea salt.

This was a sub-par workout. At the start of the 4th circuit I felt significantly weaker than on the previous sets so I made some necessary adjustments:

Deadlift:

  1. 5@120,
  2. 5@120,
  3. 5@120 (belt),
  4. 5@100. At the start of this circuit, my back said “no” after my first pull at 120 so I dumped some weight and tossed the belt.
  5. 5@100
  6. 5@100

Dips: 4 circuits for 8 reps @10, Last two circuits, 8 reps @ bw. Really, the last two circuits weren’t great this workout

Power Clean From Hang: 4 circuits for 5 reps @ 50kg, 2 circuits for 5 reps @ 40kg.

Pull-ups:

  1. 5 reps with 10kg, 3 at bodyweight
  2. 4 reps with 10kg, 4 at bodyweight

Remaining circuits: bodyweight alone.

Was done in 35 minutes. Post-workout: 50g pasta, 320g ground beef. 65g spinach drenched in sherry vinegar.

Notes: I don’t time my rest between exercises, the program calls for 30 seconds, I take between 7-10 deep breaths between exercises. I do time the rest between circuits though (2 minutes).

Rest of the day

Lunch: 10g Omega-3, 90g ground beef. 230g vegetable mix. Teaspoon of psyllium husk, 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar. 10 000 IU D-vitamin.
Dinner: 90g ground beef, 370g vegetable mix.

Went to visit my parents, an 18-minute and a 16-minute inline skating session going there and back, respectively.

(Planned) nighttime snack: 100g quark. Ordinarily I would consume more fat towards the end of the day. See below for reason (excuses).

Total: >1951 calories. 180p/122c/78f. Note, probably more calories really, the beef was measured cooked (:scream:) . Overall, a weird day but I’m trying to clear out my fridge to make room for new cooking tomorrow. This lack of discipline is unusual. Tomorrow will also be slightly weird but the future will hold much more template-esque nutrition.

6

One thing you may want to try (if your bad sleep isn’t cause by sleep apnea/similar) is gelatine.

Now I don’t suggest consuming straight gelatine but you can make it into a jello and consume that at night.

I believe gelatine packets have instructions on them (at least mine has, it’s from Dr. Oetker, cheapest brand here). By following them you can turn any drink to jello.

You probably want to use a zero calorie drink to do this instead of some sugary juice. I’ve been using those sodastream thingys with sparkling water.

I’d suggest using about 5-10 grams of gelatine.

Oh, and one more thing, even though a low calorie jello that helps you sleep well sounds amazing, you probably don’t want to go abroad with the amount you make, after a certain point it becomes pretty disgusting.

7

Nothing like that, just wake up. Been this way the last two years or so.

Available here too! Could, and will, try. Might hit up the store still, we’ll see. I’ll get back to you once I have tried it though! Is this a result of the protein content, and the particular type of protein that it is or just the fullness feeling I reckon it would provide?

Noted, thanks for the warning!

8

Gelatine has a lot of glycine (an amino acid) which aids with sleep quality. Personally I take about 10 grams of gelatine (about two heaping teaspoons) every night in a jello form, seems to be working for me at least.

You have to chill the jello for a couple of hours in a fridge, so putting it in there a night before is a good idea. You probably want to cover it with some cling foil to avoid getting that refrigerator taste in there

9

I bought some gelatine before your reply, tried it, it was okay. Used too much water and obviously didn’t let it sit for as long as you (or the packaging) suggested. I’m not sure you are saving that much money by going the gelatine route though if the glycine is what one wants, it’s not that expensive: https://www.mmsports.se/Kosttillskott/Aminosyror/Enskilda-Aminosyror/Body-Science-Glycine.html For instance, the gelatin here was 65g and cost just shy of 20 SEK. Glycine costs 3.5 times that for 3.8 times the amount (250g) and then it’s all glycine (and cheaper per gram). 0.276 SEK per gram compared to 0.307 SEK per gram for gelatine.

Not sure if mmsports delivers to Finland though.

10

Glycine isn’t the only positive thing about gelatine though, it also helps with joint health, skin, hair and nails

Of course if those things aren’t something you care about you could just get straight glycine.

11

Who doesn’t care about joint health? :upside_down_face:

12

Teenagers that are way too into the “hardcore” lifting life, I’d guess :smiley:

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13

Yeah maybe, I’d rather be hard-core for as many decades as possible than burning out after a few years though! I’ve had enough injuries and pain as is.

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14

Certainly. A dude that is consistent for years on end will always beat the guy who broke himself by training. I don’t like the expression “train smart, not hard” as I feel it implies that you couldn’t do both. But saying “train smart, don’t be stupid” seems like a no-brainer. Go figure

What injuries have you had?

I’ve been quite lucky - I did a lot of stupid stuff when I was younger but I haven’t had any real injuries, just a couple of minor tweaks

15

Most notably, my hip flexor behaved as if I suffered from femoroacetabular impingement from the time I was 18 to up until recently. I had a lot of misfortune with the physiotherapists that I say, but I have recently found one that is extremely competent. Turns out, I wasn’t activating my core or my glutes properly at all during squats and that my hip flexors were taking on all the load.

Beyond that, not much. It alone ruined squats and deadlifts for a really long time. However, I was unlucky enough to have a guy walk into my barbell as I was doing deadlifts at around the time this whole hip impingement thing started. Came home looking all kinds of crooked (as in, I rotated with the bar but my back kind of set in that position). My family is a bit weird when it comes to health care (and for no good reason) so my dad resets my back against the wall (which he really has no training for, as in he’s not a physician or anything). This probably explains why I today have a mildly rotated pelvis.

16

Sunday, 5th of August 2018.

Morning Weight: 80.6 (I’ve seen this trend before weight wise, it goes up a bit and then just crashes down) Overall, this is higher than I started my week with, so yeah, fat loss has stalled. Will adjust by eating less, as I don’t have much time to do more activity-wise this week in particular.

Some other neighbours had a party this time (good on them). 7h sleep, woke up twice maybe.

Morning walk

Took 3g C-vitamin & 5g creatine. Went on a 30-minute leisurely walk. No fancy footwear.

AM Workout: Athlete Lean, Athlete Strong

Active recovery day.

Nutrition:
Pre: 16g whey, 15g maltodextrin
Intra: 20g BCAA, 15g maltodextrin
Post-workout/Breakfast: 240g reindeer, 30g oatmeal, 50g blueberries, 300g cauliflower.

Evening

Went for an easy 50-minute bouldering session because I was bored. Tore up two callouses, so I’m going to regret it doing deadlifts tomorrow.

Nutrition:

I’ll just summate the day, takes too much time to write it all out when I’m going off-script.
229p/85c/84f. 2025 calories

17

Weekly Summary

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IMG_20180805_0733303456Ă—4608 3.21 MB
IMG_20180805_073405
IMG_20180805_0734053456Ă—4608 3.91 MB

Current Measurements:

  • Weight: 80.6
  • (Lower) Waist: 81cm
  • Chest: 94cm
  • Arm: 32.5cm
  • Neck: 37cm
  • Shoulders: 117cm
  • Calf: 36.5cm
  • Thigh: 57cm

Last Week’s Measurements:

  • Weight: 79.9
  • (Lower) Waist: 81cm
  • Chest: 97cm
  • Arm: 32.5cm
  • Neck: 37cm
  • Shoulders: 116.5cm
  • Calf: 36cm
  • Thigh: 57cm

Fat loss has stalled so I will cut 400 calories from my daily intake.

Meal Plan

Workout nutrition:

Pre:

  • 16g whey
  • 15g maltodextrin

Intra:

  • 40g BCAA
  • 30g maltodextrin

Post:

  • 30g oats
  • 50g blueberries
  • 1 scoop whey (29.7g)
  • (1 hour after) 1 scoop casein (29.7g)

Day A: 2111 calories (258p/110c/63f):

Lunch:

  • 12.5g brazil nuts (not a lot, but hoping that some of the selenium will bind with whatever mercury, if any, that is in the fish)
  • 400g plaice (this is a fish)
  • 300g vegetable mix.

Dinner:

  • 12.5g Brazil nuts
  • 140g salmon
  • 300g vegetable mix
  • 10 000 IE D-vitamin
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Nighttime snack:

  • 40g olives
  • 100g 0.2% quark
  • 1 tablespoon psyllium husk
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 10g gelatin
  • 5g glycine

Day B: 2096 calories (230p/111c/73f):

Lunch:

  • 25g brazil nuts
  • 250g cod
  • 300g vegetable mix.

Dinner:

  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 25g Brazil nuts
  • 140g salmon
  • 300g vegetable mix
  • 10 000 IE D-vitamin

Nighttime snack:

  • 40g olives
  • 100g 0.2% quark
  • 1 tablespoon psyllium husk
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 10g gelatin
  • 5g glycine

Workweek layout

Monday: Day A + workout nutrition - gelatine mix
Tuesday: Day B + workout nutrition
Wednesday: Day A + workout nutrition
Thursday: Day B + workout nutrition
Friday: Day B + workout nutrition

Weekend undecided.

Notes:

Normally I don’t eat this much fish, I’m just making a blitz through my freezer.

18

Hip flexor pain is awful. Even when it’s nothing serious it really can hinder performance and be just all around annoying.

I had issues with activating glutes as well, which led into me tweaking my lower back. Luckily it has recovered completely.

Having your dad reset your back against a wall sounds very nordic in a sense, at least here I’m Finland a lot of folks have that “oh hell we don’t need a doctor” - mentality. Usually it would’ve been better with a doctor.

19

Indeed. I tried to power through it but in the end, I couldn’t lift my leg. Then I had a long hiatus from lifting and the like. Started working out again, issues came back. Repeat.

Do you do activation work before your sessions now? My physio had me do bodyweight squats with TRX bands wrapped above and below my knees, it worked like a charm. Still have some issues inside my hip joint though, we are looking at that in about two weeks time.

It’s super nordic I think. Scandinavians, when they hear the story, are like “yeah, that makes sense” and people that I’ve told the story to that are from other places are like “You, and your dad, are morons”.

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I do it afterwards and on rest days. For some reason it makes me really sleepy so I don’t want to do it beforehand

Mine had me do glute bridge variations, some kind of bent-knee superman stuff and a couple of stretches. Feels great really.

Cultural differences like this are pretty funny, although I got to admit that most of the time it would be better to seek out a professional