Nordic Blood: Climbing And Lifting / Lifting And Climbing

Tuesday, 28th of August 2018

Weight: 75.7 kg (-1.1kg)
Sleep 7h. Was super wired last night, had to take some melatonin to go to sleep.

Mirror: Looking good. It seems as if whenever I hit ~75kg on the scale I tend to be quite all right, with what is looking back at me when I step in front of the mirror.

Woke up without any real fire again today. Wasn’t even keen on working out but by the weightlifting gods, I wasn’t going to skip a workout. Added some citrulline malate and beta-alanine to my pre-workout and had a HOT ROX for the caffeine mostly. Gave me a little bit of an extra “go”.

Did my warm-up at the gym: noice!

Workout

4 circuits:
Top-half deadlift 5 reps at 150kg during first circuit. 170kg the remaining three circuits [0]
Deadlift 6 reps at 110kg
Power clean from hang, 3 reps at 50kg [1]
Jump good morning kettlebell 10 reps at 32
Broad jump series 8-10 reps

4 circuits:
Top-half bench press 90kg [2]
Bench Press 6@65,3@65,3@65,4@65 [3]
Speed bench press 5@45kg
Medicine ball chest throw Unknown weight 10 reps
Plyo pushup 6-8 reps

Haven’t posted this before. Workout duration: 1h 16m

[0]: Had to exercise in another part of the gym so this was basically at the same height as before. I rewatched the videos included with the program and I have a feeling I should start these from a slightly lower position but the rack I used today didn’t have enough granularity for me to be able to set the bar at the appropriate height in relation to my knees.
[1]: With a catch this time.
[2]: Slightly narrower grip to see if my shoulder pain decreases. It did
[3]: Also slightly narrower grip. Less shoulder pain than before. It goes away completely when I remember to shrug my traps. As you can see, I missed a lot of reps.

Closing remarks: ran out of energy around the start of the second circuit of the benchpress circuit. Became kind of absent at that point. With regards to my shoulder pain, I actually ran into my physio yesterday and made a new appointment. My last appointment was back when I was sick so I had to cancel that and he’d forgotten to reschedule it.

Climbing tonight, fun! I think I’ll try to remember to shoot some pics of the wall (to share with you) because the gym has built an entirely new climbing hall that we get access to sometime in November.

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I am thinking about going to the gym tomorrow morning to work on my (power) snatch and my (power) clean. I’ve been omitting the catch phase entirely, so it could use some work. As an added bonus I might treat myself to some abdominal work (hanging leg raises/crunches).
My idea is that I’ll change nothing diet wise, but have a dose of HMB before the workout.

The gym opens at 6 AM, so I figured I’d be there then, work on my technique for an hour tops (plenty of rest between sets / rewatching tutorial videos). Toss in ab work when I feel like it.

Afterward, I’d go home, have my eggs as planned, shower, and go to work.

Or, should I add a minor amount of carbs/BCAAs? Maybe, 10g carbs, 20g BCAAs?

If you’re not going to eat before going then by all means do add a tad bit of carbs and aminos

Also, for focus and drive, consider trying Acetyl-L-Carnitine. It works for me and I’d guess your neurotransmitter profile is pretty similar to mine based on the way your personality is and such.

You’ll want to take it a bit before training, tossing it in your pre workout whey/maltodextrine shake should work well.

Will do!

ALCAR seems interesting (L-Carnitine benefits, dosage, and side effects) but it was also somewhat expensive. However, seeing as this wouldn’t be something I consume daily the price would be fine. With that said, I’ll wait to see if the problem persists and if it does then I’m definitely trying it. I’ve been a bit too happy to buy supplements, and have quite the stock. Don’t need most of the stuff though so I’m trying to go through the stockpile that I have and not add to it that much.

Maybe ALCAR would work for improved focus and drive if, indeed our neurological profiles are similar enough,

L-Carnitine, in the form of ALCAR, is anecdotally reported as a stimulant, but effects are less than of other known stimulants (such as caffeine). It is currently not known why these effects occur

Noted for if I decide to try it!

Speaking of neuro-stuff. I’m completely unable to determine my neurotype, I have traits from all three, with a pretty decent balance between a Type 2 and a Type 3. Haven’t come across anyone else on the forum that struggles with this all that much.

Climbing tonight went fine. Forgot to snap pictures. Didn’t spend a huge amount of time on the wall so the added in bar to my dinner (and banana and grapes) probably weren’t justified.

Hunger levels today are still very high.

Your choices in terms of training and the all-or nothing kind of personality seems like a type 1 to me, but you certainly do have traits from other types as well. It’s hard to say from an outsiders perspective really

What type do you yourself identify the most with?

And harder still to gather from someone’s log and participation on an online forum.

Went over the Type 1 text again, there were a few things that didn’t catch my eye before that did now. CT has a post on his site, Understanding Neurotyping: Which Superhero are You? which is more current than the series of T-nation but even with that resource I still think it’s a bit of a toss-up.

I mean, I believe myself to be fairly introspective and honest with myself but who knows.

Maybe I’ll go through it all and write down the results here if anything just to just really interact with the material.

Wednesday, 29th of August 2018

Weight: 75.1 (-0.7kg)
Sleep: 7-8h. Again, super-wired last night, woke up numerous times. Didn’t wake up feeling quite rested.

I forewent today’s impromptu skill-work (i.e. it’s not part of the program) since I woke up feeling rather raw in my throat. A feeling that started at the end of yesterday’s climbing session. Went for a morning walk instead. Felt a little faint after about two-thirds of the way, much like I’ve been feeling after squats and deadlifts this week (I’ve forgotten to mention it - doubt that it matters though).

I’ll see if I can get some skill-work done this weekend if not, there is always next week.

Found the time to tally up my responses to the previously mentioned article on CT’s site (Understanding Neurotyping: Which Superhero are You?) before work today. I didn’t feel comfortable posting all of the items from that article, as it almost feels as if I’d be hijacking the content.

The items that are not included here are essentially the ones to which my answer is “no, I don’t identify with this”, although of course the severity of the “no” gets lost this way.

This is a bit of a shame of course, but I didn’t think to quantify that side of my response up-front.

Anyway, the tally seems to favor type 2B which is interesting because with regards to the articles on T-nation I’ve always felt the one for Type 2 really misses the mark in relation to who I view myself as being: Double Your Natural Gains: Neuro Type 2

I guess eventually I’ll have to invest in some online coaching if I want a definitive answer to this question.


Here are my answers:
Type 1A (6-7/17)

Always want to be the leader, the center of attention

No, but, I usually end up in a leadership role. I slip into it very naturally when that position is void. Primarily from impatiently watching everyone in a group collectively try to avoid the responsibility.

Don’t deal well with authority

Indeed. Hierarchical power structures rub me the wrong way. I can navigate them, but blegh.

Tend to burn the candle from both ends (very intense, but burn out easily)

I have burnt out in the past, so I’d have to answer this one with a resounding “yes”. I’ve gotten better at it though, not making that mistake a third time.

Hate rules

More like, I hate inefficient rules and beuracracy. I write rules for a living basically as a software developer and I don’t hate that.

Want to do things their own way

Can’t answer this with a yes/no, so that’s why I highlight it

Impatient

Both. I can patiently troubleshoot technology for hours on end, be patient with tardy friends etc. But for instance, with the leadership thing: that’s just me being impatient

Very “goal driven”

Probably

Act on impulse and emotions

Yes

Type 1B (lot’s of overlap with 1A. For instance, goal driven. Unique points: 3/15)

Lots of imagination

Fairly creative, used to work as a graphic designer for a few years.

Is not affected by what others think of them, but still has consideration for them

Absolutely

Very good under pressure

I tend to perform well under pressure, but I usually need a lot of rest afterwards. I rarely, if ever, choke under pressure.

About 10 Type 1 traits

Type 2A (4/15)

Excellent at creating personas, changing their personality depending on the situation

Absolutely, huge chameleon.

Need to create a reciprocity with the person they are talking to

Otherwise, why are we talking?

Tend to mimick the most influencial person for them

Again, chameleon. I usually do this at first when feeling someone out for the first time. As I get to know them I go back to being “me”

Hate to feel left out, even in an activity they didn’t want to do in the first place

Yeah, this rubs me the wrong way.

Procrastinate and do better work when they are last minute

Usually, although I refer to my last comment from my Type 1B analysis: “I tend to perform well under pressure, but I usually need a lot of rest afterwards. I rarely, if ever, choke under pressure.” So I try to avoid postponing things nowadays.

Type 2B (10/18)

Great at reading people

I’ve been asked if I’m a wizard sometimes.

More introverted but still need to have the approval and respect of others

Yes. I can talk to strangers wherever, and have fun with friends but eventually I need a hiatus from being social.

Easily fall in love

Not anymore, but historically it’s worthwhile to bring this one to light

Love to dress well and look good

Absolutely, although I’ve dressed down somewhat in the most recent months. But I maintain a pretty classy wardrobe. Co-workers are joking about getting me a monocle and pocket watch to go with my aesthetic.

Like displays of emotions, grand gestures

Yes, I like to do these things. Not sure how I react when someone else does it to me. I’d probably find it awkward.

Give everything to each relationship, friendship, marriage, couple, family

Too much so in fact, to the extent that it factored into me burning out.

People pleasers

Yes, see above.

Want to avoid disappointing others at all cost

Not in general, some people I could disappoint all day every day and it wouldn’t phase me. Disappointing certain other people would bum me out for a day, two, a week tops. And then there are a very select few amount of individuals where changing whatever it is that I did that made them disappointed would become my primary focus until amended.

Are the best at listening to others and helping them

Indeed.

Sacrifice themselves or their well-being for the good of others

Historically, yes. Trying to work on putting myself first nowadays.

About 14 Type 2 traits

Type 3 (9/17)

Highest level of anxiety

I have a lot of stress hormones running about every day. The fight-or-flight instinct can kick in whenever, even during something enjoyable such as just hanging out in the sun.

Need to follow a plan, a structure

I like to have a plan in some aspects of life (training, diet), but I’m pragmatic about making changes on the fly when need be. Generally I believe planning to be a fool’s errand when it comes to more complex aspects in life. I like to set goals instead, and then continually re-assess whether or not I’m going to reach them

Don’t deal well with unexpected changes of plan

Well, yes I do because I am:

Pragmatic

Hehe

Great observers and « information gatherers »

Yes

Intellectualize their decision making

Yes

Are secretive about themselves

Not anymore

Extreme focus and concentration

In some regards.

Very patient

Same. So, both patient and impatient.

9 Type 3 traits.

Definitely a 1B, even more so after reading the article you mentioned

Do you find that you train in a similar way to what is recommended for that type?

Even more neurotyping self-analysis stuff. Now I need to digest it all and maybe afterwards I can find “answers”.

Type 1

Type 1 (The Vital Whole Human - T NATION)

All Type 1 lifters need intensity. They’re neutrally driven. For them, performance is more important than getting a pump or mind-muscle connection. Methods where the nervous system is the most active will lead to the most improvements. In fact, they often find isolation or pump work boring and annoying.

I love performance, being better than last time is a huge driving force for me. Pump, never had it, mind-muscle connection is rare for me. I don’t find isolation or pump work boring, but I don’t find it exciting.

Furthermore, people with a higher acetylcholine level are good at multitasking. They can easily switch their attention from one task to the another without any loss in efficiency. Signs of high acetylcholine levels are a great memory and the ability to pay attention to more than one thing at a time and do more than one project at a time.

Nope, definitely not me.

People with low acetylcholine levels often forget things (losing their keys for example) and might have recollection problems.

I’m lose my keys, forget if I’ve locked the door, make random mistakes in my daily routine all the time. Have tremendous recollection problems nowadays, nothing sticks. Used to have a good memory.

When they’re doing something they almost forget the rest of the world exists

Absolutely, when I get into a state of flow (rare).

They can have a hard time making a decision when there’s more than one option.

Never. I don’t struggle with decision-making, even complex decision-making.

Type 1 deep-dive (The Vital Whole Human - T NATION)

Type 1: Novelty seeker

I don’t see myself as a novelty seeker. No-one would call me an adrenaline junkie.

Type 1 lifters need a lot of variation in their training. They’re your typical “I can’t follow a program” guys.

I like to think I exhibit more discipline than this. Might just be a learned trait though.

Cybernetic periodization (freedom within a structure) is a great approach for them. This refers to pre-planning the first big lift of the workout but selecting the assistance work based on the performance of the main lift.

This sounds nice.

For this type, a day off is less effective than a small restorative workout. Taking two days off in a row will negatively affect their trainability – it’ll take them 30-40 minutes just to get in the zone. Their motor control, as well as motivation to train, will be off.

I’d say 6 days scheduled training per week is my sweet-spot. 7 days scheduled is stretching it, even though I’d like to stay active on the 7th day.


Type 2

Type 2 (low GABA) (The Vital Whole Human - T NATION)

They are people pleasers but they wait for others to give them respect, admiration, and positive feedback. If they don’t get it, they close up on themselves. In a group where they aren’t automatically the center of attention they tend to withdraw or become invisible, which also gives them a lot of anxiety.

I’m fine with withdrawing into the background, but I don’t suffer any anxiety from it. I can relax in that state. I rarely feel as if I have something to prove in a social setting, I care more about whether or not the group as a whole is having a good time.

Type 2 (high GABA) (The Vital Whole Human - T NATION)

They’re also people pleasers and depend on the admiration and respect of others to build their self-worth, but they actively try to get that respect.

I will not actively try to gain anyone’s respect.

They’re more proactive and are great at mingling in groups.

I’m very capable at this, but it might just be an aquired skill.

They instinctively mimic the attitude of the person they’re talking too.

Yes

They’re great at one-on-one conversations.

Yes

But they aren’t as comfortable when talking to several people because they don’t know how to adjust their behavior.

This is not a problem for me.

They always want to avoid conflicts and will almost always agree with the person they’re talking to.

I don’t seek conflict out but I’ll take a conflict if it’s necessary. I am prone to disagree with others, but I do so diplomatically.

Type 2 deep-dive (The Vital Whole Human - T NATION

For isolation work, the most de-motivating thing for a Type 2 is not feeling it in the right muscle. Don’t hesitate to change an exercise if you’re not feeling it.

I struggle to have a mind-muscle connection, period. I suck at loaded stretching too with the exception of a few select exercises.

With the big lifts, one of the biggest de-motivators is not being able to perform an exercise properly

Yes.

The danger with this neuro type is that they can easily become stimulus addicts: they’re the ones who always seek to do more, both to get a higher noradrenalin spike and to gain the respect of others. They’re at risk of killing their gains by taking more pride in how much they’re doing rather than in how much they’re progressing.

I’m very much walking the wire on this one. I try to be smart and just trust whatever program I’m following but I could definitely see myself piling things on if it wasn’t for the education of T-nation.

So they put a lot of pressure on themselves in the gym, especially if it’s crowded, which can produce excess cortisol

I’ll go into overdrive to be the strongest person around in the gym, huge ego-boost.


Type 3 (The Vital Whole Human - T NATION)

Type 3’s can be held back by the fear of injury and they tend to be more sensitive to pain

I’m a huge pansy. I started working on backflips this summer, it will take me 45 minutes on the trampoline out of a 1 hr session before I actually go for it (and that’s because I’m running out of time)

When it comes to the big lift of the day, they need more practice sets than activation sets to feel secure in their technique.

I don’t, I’ll load up the bar fairly quickly and just go. I still haven’t learned the art of practicing with an empty bar. I need for there to be some weight.

They’re not negatively affected by off days because they have a normal/high dopamine level.

I struggle a little with off-days.

They’re really good at conditioning work because of their high dopamine to serotonin ratio, and because they don’t get bored or run out of fuel due to the high cortisol release. But doing too much will kill their muscle gains much more so than other types.

I suck at conditioning work, I can very easily cheat myself out of a few seconds here and there. Or reps. Or whatever. I don’t have the grit to just hunker down and get the work done.

A big motivation killer is feeling a movement in the joints, in the wrong place, or not feeling in perfect control

Definitiely.

This neuro type is overcautious when it comes to adding weight and can be unsettled by “not knowing.”

When I was younger. Now I’ve learned that I can go heavier, it will be fine, I can stomach a rep with bad form if I can get it with good form next week.

They do better when they have a precise task to do, like 5 sets of 4 at 80%. The more “unknown” the task (4-5 sets of 3-5 reps at 80-85%), the less secure they are and the harder it’ll be to train hard. They need more specifics.

If I have an unknown I’ll always find myself doing the most amount of work prescribed to stroke my ego.


I’ll summarize my observations regarding training jointly as opposed to acknowledging each training aspect for every type.

I like high frequency training, or rather consistency. I like my days to have pretty much more or the same schedule. If workdays were shorter than 8 hours, I could probably forgo weekends just to have the same routine everyday.

I like short and intense training sessions. I loathe warm-up volume (I don’t like to do a lot of warm-up sets) but I don’t mind work-volume, it’s just tough to have a short workout with a lot of it. I like short rest-intervals, I want a workout to feel dense, I want to leave sweaty, and I will have want to have exhibited strength. I dislike box jumps, plyometrics, et cetera. because I can’t do many reps in a short amount of time and be comfortable with the quality of the execution. I’m not what you’d consider a natural athlete. Broad jumps are fun though.

I enjoy Oly lifts, even though I suck at them. I enjoy the “skill” aspect.

In a sense yes, not intentionally though. I also train with bodybuilding in mind so it may not seem like that at the first glance

Yeah, I reflected on that part as I have a vague recollection of your rep ranges. I don’t recall your current training being filled with DC-stuff though (extreme stretching etc). Is that a fact or is my memory just poor? If it’s the former, is it by chance or design? I. e. have you shied away from that style of training?

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At the moment (on the diet) I’m not using rest-pauses but I do employ extreme stretching in my training. Could be that I’ve forgotten to log them but I do use them. As I transition into a gaining phase I’ll also progress in terms of intensity techniques (rest-pause and negatives mostly) on a cycle- to cycle basis

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Or I could have forgotten what I’ve read!

I struggle with getting a decent stretch in most exercises. I have a little bit of hyper-flexibility, so I can rarely get that intense stretching sensation. I can find it when doing a dumbbell flye, for sure, but not in say… a pull-over, or a reverse hyper.

That’s something you can learn

Also exercise selection helps a while lot; you can’t get a huge stretch on barbell curls but on incline dumbbell curl it’s a whole another story.

Now both of your examples are movements that should offer you a good stretch so I’m guessing it’s more of a execution kind of thing.

Edit. With extreme stretches the positions are carefully selected so that they are safe and actually put the muscle in an elongated position

You are probably right.

I haven’t given up on the idea of doing loaded stretches but I tend to rely on my joints and tendons a lot to find ROM. It’s not a conscious thing either, so it’s really hard to explain. My muscles can let go completely, even if I’m consciously trying to contract them my joints are still participating in the process of creating ROM.

So, if I really want to stretch the bicep on an incline dumbbell curl I’m playing a dangerous game where I get more ROM out of the elbow than it is supposed to provide.

Hopefully. It always frustrated me when I ran the Best Damn Workout plan where you are supposed to do stretches on the reverse hyper because I was completely unable to do it after weeks and weeks of trying.

Unrelated to all the neurotype related material from the day.

I’ve noticed, but I haven’t transcribed it in the log for some reason, that over the last 3-5 days I’ve been feeling cold a lot more often than usual to the point of wearing more clothes. That, coupled with the increased hunger I’ve been experiencing makes me think that maybe it’s about time to actually take that refeed that I’ve been on about for so long.

However, there’s a kick-off/after-work-y type thing next Wednesday. If the hunger and the cold are just indicators that metabolism is about to slow down, then I can hopefully hold off until Wednesday without it down-regulating and treat that dinner as a refeed meal. If, on the other hand, these are indicators that there is already some down-regulation going on with regards to the metabolism I reckon I shouldn’t hold off anymore and find a different strategy for that event.

@danteism, any advice here?

I’ll put my thoughts in at my next break (~2.5-3 hours)

Could you write down your average planned macros for the next six days? (Aka. The days before dinner that we can work with)