Nordic Blood: Climbing And Lifting / Lifting And Climbing

[Voxel]

Tuesday, 11th of September 2018

Weight: 75.2kg (+0.1kg, again! Oh, come on. Did not expect this. Was very active yesterday. Bugger ^_^)
Sleep: <8hrs
Mirror: Looking skinny, not lean.

Workout

5 circuits of

• Snatch grip deadlift @ 110kg
• Dip @ 10kg
• Power clean from hang @ 50 kg
• Barbell row @ 50 kg

Finished it in 22 minutes! Felt absolutely great. Was so elated I stuck around and did some hip thrusts as I was stripping the weights from the deadlift. No shoulder pain on any movement (however, it is still borked - pain while: walking, pulling on socks, lifting the arm, et cetera.)

So, bonus work (mainly to get better glutes than @lava2007):

• Hip thrusts 3 sets of 8 reps with a one-second pause at the top. 110/90/90
• Straight legged deadlifts @ 90. 3 reps
• Sit-ups with a 20kg plate, 12 reps.

I even fit the time for an AM walk before the gym, and I wasn’t late for work. Had I not done the hip thrusts I could have hit the sauna. Unbelievable.

Mirror after workout: looked athletic!

[lava2007]

@Voxel

So, bonus work (mainly to get better glutes than @lava2007):

• Hip thrusts 3 sets of 8 reps with a one-second pause at the top. 110/90/90
• Straight legged deadlifts @ 90. 3 reps
• Sit-ups with a 20kg plate, 12 reps.

Haha! Thanks for reminding me. I need to keep hitting my glutes. The ladies at the beach won’t be able to resist our peach.

Sorry to hear that your shoulder is still bugging you during everyday things. However, the nagging injuries that I’ve had in the past also hurt during everyday actions, but not in the gym, and they’ve all ended up disappearing. So that’s a positive. Do you know what exactly the problem is with it?

[Voxel]

@lava2007

Sorry to hear that your shoulder is still bugging you during everyday things. However, the nagging injuries that I’ve had in the past also hurt during everyday actions, but not in the gym, and they’ve all ended up disappearing. So that’s a positive. Do you know what exactly the problem is with it?

I’ll know more tomorrow and report back then

[Voxel]

PM climbing session. 3 hours of messing about. Got two new routes, one that I’ve been struggling with for 3 weeks, fucking yay me. And one that I sucked at the start of the evening but blew out of the water at the end. Also, fucking yay me. Felt awesome. Finished the session with a chin-up battle against a mate. I won. Fantastic night.

[Voxel]

Wednesday, 12th of September 2018

Weight: 74.4kg (-0.8kg, finally)
Sleep: 8-9hrs
Mirror: skinny, not lean, ripped, athletic, or muscular.

No morning workout seeing as I had a schedule blood test this morning (fasted) and ideally, when doing such a test you want to have done as little as possible beforehand so I slept in. Might skip rope or something after dinner.

Shoulder is feeling better today. Had an appointment with my physio, the verdict is that my tear has healed up but that it gets aggrevated whenever I pull my scapula back or forward. Got a dynamic exercise to practice keeping the scapula more neutral,
and another exercise to practice balance across the joint more. With regards to my glute pain my left glute is significantly weaker than my right glute so I got some exercises for that as well.

Chest continues to weeze and crack a bit but I don’t feel sick per say, it’s more like I’m one day of being too underfed/too active away from it burgeoning into being sick. It’s weird.

[Frank_C]

@Voxel

the verdict is that my tear has healed up but that it gets aggrevated whenever I pull my scapula back or forward.

How do you avoid scapular retraction and protraction? That’s part of healthy shoulder movement.

[Voxel]

It is, I’m not meant to avoid it indefinitely, just for a while stay, and stay away from the extremes (also: for a while). The muscle is basically sensitized after the tear, so even though it has healed it’s just very easy to aggravate.

For instance, replacing barbell bench press with dumbbell bench press (or even a dumbbell floor press) for a while, where it’s not as necessary to protract the scapula as much.

Does that answer your question?

[Frank_C]

Yeah. I thought your Doc was saying “You’re healed, but you can’t use it through a full range of motion.” I was thinking that that doesn’t mean healed in my book. Good to hear it’s temporarily.

I’ve had good luck with cable fly’s. I’ve figured out that I can lock my scapulae in place and restrict the movement to the humerus. I can do the same thing on reverse fly’s.

Good thing you have options!

[Voxel]

@Frank_C

Yeah. I thought your Doc was saying “You’re healed, but you can’t use it through a full range of motion.” I was thinking that that doesn’t mean healed in my book. Good to hear it’s temporarily.

Haha, I can see how it would have come across that way but fortunately that is not the case. Just practice on keeping it neutral, for now, and then once the pain subsides further go back to doing whatever I want.

@Frank_C

I’ve had good luck with cable fly’s. I’ve figured out that I can lock my scapulae in place and restrict the movement to the humerus. I can do the same thing on reverse fly’s.

Noted! One of my rehab exercises is actually a fly performed in rings to improve my ability to stabilize the joint.

@Frank_C

Good thing you have options!

Aye, very happy about this. The shoulder participates in so many exercises and activities, it would’ve been really sour to be essentially based given how well my diet has been going.

[Voxel]

Thursday, 13th of September 2018

Weight: 73.8kg (-0.6kg, unexpected, I had some extra fruit yesterday so I thought I’d be up for sure)
Sleep: <8hrs
Mirror: Looking okay

Workout

A. Medicine Ball Chest Throw Against Wall 4x5
B1. Dumbbell Floor Press 3x10@22 [0]
B2. Dumbell Row 3x12@22

C. 3x30s each

1. Battle Rope: Alternating arms
2. Inverted Row
3. Battle Rope: Two arms
4. Push-Up

D. 4 sets of 60s overhead carries paired with 250m ergometer [1]

[0]: My plan was to go 5x5 but I couldn’t really get into position to perform the exercise with a weight that was heavy enough.
[1]: The gym was cramped so I did overhead carries with lighter kettlebells than usual (12kg instead of 16kg) and did lunges instead of walking back and forth to cover less floor space. That paired with the ergometer made for a brutal pairing that wasn’t intense enough on the shoulders I’m afraid. You live and you learn.

Did my warm-up and some rehab before the session.

Going to be biking more than usual today as I’ll be heading back into town after dinner to attend the local jazz club which has its season premiere tonight.

[Voxel]

Friday, 14th of September 2018

Weight: 75.3kg (+1.5kg) Not unexpected, came home late and had my pre-bed snack 2hrs later than I normally do but I got up at the same time as normal. Underslept. This is just water weight)
Sleep: 6hrs
Mirror: Looking good

Workout

Super strapped for time this morning because of an important work meeting so I needed to get in and get out ASAP as I spent far too long on the toilet this morning.

A. 4 sets of box jumps for 5 reps. 30s rest between
B. Trap-bar deadlift @ 120kg. 60s rest
C1. Back squat @ 90kg for 8 reps
C2. Box jump AMRAP 30s immediately after squats. Rest 60-90s
D. Farmers walk with trap-bar w 80kg. Didn’t have chalk or straps and I was a little bit sweaty so my grip really struggled on these ones.

Done in 35 minutes. Yesterday’s workout was 50 minutes btw.

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Notes: starting yesterday it seems like I’m building up a lot more lactic acid in my legs than I’m accustomed to. This continued today. Weird.

[Voxel]

Saturday, 11th of September 2018

Weight: 74.7kg (-0.6kg)
Sleep: <6hrs
Mirror: Looking okay.

Workout

5 4 circuits of

• Snatch grip deadlift @ 110kg [0]
• Dip @ 15kg
• Power clean from hang @ 55 kg
• Barbell row @ 55 kg [1]

[0]: did normal deadlifts for the last two circuits
[1]: bw Pull-ups on last two circuits

Had a bad day yesterday so I went climbing for two hours, probably haven’t recovered from that.

Today’s workout was a really bad workout. Bar wouldn’t budge on SG deads at the start of the third circuit. I blame the lack of sleep. Partying neighbours and a strong circadian rhythm had me up at the break of dawn. The odd thing is that I woke up feeling like a million bucks.

My gym opens later on weekends so I ended up weirdly out of sync meal timing wise. And then this workout happened and I had a huge crash two hours after my post workout meal so I had my pre-bed oats in the middle of the day.

Still crazy hungry. Haven’t been cold that much today but the last few days I’ve dressed with additional layers.

Still a hairs breadth away from succumbing to my cold.

[OTHSteve]

@Voxel

Mirror: skinny, not lean, ripped, athletic, or muscular.

One thing I’ll caution you on is trusting your own assessment of yourself in the mirror. Keep posting pictures and getting feedback. It’s easy to not see gradual changes in yourself, since you look at yourself in the mirror every day, so you just see ‘you’. I have the same problem, and it’s only when I see a picture of myself next to other people that I really notice that I’ve gotten any bigger.

[Voxel]

My weekly check-in will be posted another day. Have the pics and the measurements but I’ve been busy all day and I don’t feel like sitting down in front of the computer right now.

[Voxel]

Monday, 17th of September 2018

Weight: 75kg (+0.3kg) weighed in after visiting the bathroom, so this value isn’t really… meaningful.
Sleep: <8hrs
Mirror: Looking dope

My cold bloomed out yesterday, and it persists today so I wanted to get a workout in that wasn’t too dense and condition-y.

Workout

6x3

• Strict OHP @ 40kg
• Push press @ 45kg
• Dumbbell BP @ 28kg per hand

4x3

• Back Squat @ 80kg ATG

Notes: really enjoyable workout, perfect reps each and every single one. The astute observer will notice that this is a workout straight from “Look Like a Bodybuilder, Perform Like an Athlete” (LLaBPLaA, wow that acronym), with a dumbbell bench press instead of a regular bench press. Obviously, this amendment is a consequence of my shoulder issues. Done with the “actual” workout in 45 minutes, with the add-on I was there for another 10 minutes.

I would’ve been pretty happy with this workout alone, but I knew that at the office there would be a breakfast waiting for us all as a treat from our bosses so I added on some extra ab-work, box jumps, and some handstands to elongate the session a smidge as to arrive at the office pretty much when breakfast was served.

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Measurements from yesterday,

• Weight: 74.7kg (+/- 0.0kg since yesterday. -1kg since last week). 0.6kg over my target weight
• Shoulders: 113 cm (-3cm)
• (Lower) Waist: 76 cm (-1.5cm)
• Chest: 91.5 cm (-2cm)
• Arm: 31.5 cm (+1.5cm)
• Neck: 36 cm (no change)
• Calf: 36 cm (mo change)
• Thigh: 54 cm (-1cm)

Here are my pictures from yesterday,

I haven’t moved, I just stayed over at my folks and their bathroom is far nicer than mine!

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Plan going ahead

I don’t recall writing this down, but, I had made the decision a while back that if I fell sick again I’d cut this diet short. There are a lot of variables going into the decision. Let’s dive in.

Let’s recap a few factoids,

1. Been on a diet for the last 10 weeks
2. Been sick once already, lost a week of training there, almost
3. Have a pre-existing shoulder injury
   3.1 This started to get worse a few weeks ago
4. Some new glute-related issues have arisen during the diet

Now, being sick again, I obviously want to,

1. Get well as quickly as possible.
2. And, I want to heal my injuries before they become worse issues or trigger other problems.

It is my belief that 1. will pass given enough time, regardless of me being on a diet or not but the “down-time” will be shorter given adequate nutritional support.
Secondly, with regards to number 2, it necessitates that I do some added strength work to amend my glute issue. This adds some nutritional demands.
My shoulder needs stabilization work, and should not impose any notable nutritional needs.

And, I expect my activity levels to increase shortly:

1. I’ll be climbing with a greater frequency from here on out
2. I’ve “applied” to train with a gymnastics/tricking troupe and that starts in about two weeks from now. By then I’d like for my shoulder to be a lot better.
3. Work intensity is on the rise, this affects recovery in obvious ways.

Now, the trade-off is that I would obviously be leaner two weeks from now if I continue my diet, but my priority can’t be that shortsighted. I don’t want to worsen the problems I have now and get stuck with an iffy shoulder for the rest of my training life.

Looking at the big picture, regardless of me being on a diet these two remaining weeks, I still need to do a substantial cut this spring to achieve the look that I want to have for the summer. I’ve learned a lot from these 10 weeks on how to approach that 12-16 week cut.

Training-wise

Given the shoulder- and glute-issues I want some flexibility to change things that don’t fit well with my current situation. It’s also unclear to what extent the additional climbing, and soon enough gymnastics, will affect my ability to recover between weightlifting sessions so I’m not going to hop on and adhere to any specific plan to a tee.

I have a pretty good sense of how I want to train though. I haven’t found a plan or a template that aligns perfectly with what I feel like I need to do, and I don’t find it just to say that “I’m following plan X” and then doing a bunch of stuff on the side, or amendments, and still claim it to be the same plan. I’ll give credit where credit is due though. Obviously, I’ll be drawing inspiration from programs I’d run if everything was just peachy. But, SGSS and B4B will have to wait til’ later as I want to do them “as-is”.

I’ll write down what I learned from my diet later. Don’t have the time to get anything other than what I’ve already written down today. Going to a music show tonight and I got to get cooking and rehab in there somehow as well.

[lava2007]

You definitely look leaner than you did 2-3 weeks ago. I think the diet effect is truly taking hold now

[Voxel]

I appreciate that, thank you! I definitely have some leaning out left to do before I “clean bulk”. For now, I’m just going to try and eat a healthy amount while I do my rehab work religiously and try to kick this cold, and reassess in a few weeks what my needs and priorities are.

As I’ve come to understand it, being fat is just the worst for the body and gets in the way of performing well in many many ways (insulin sensitivity, estrogen, serotonin) so there is definitely an advantage to getting leaner still than where I am at.

Had 3k calories yesterday and still lost weight between today and yesterday X)

[Voxel]

To continue my above point I dug up this nugget of gold,

@EyeDentist

If you want an upper body that elicits positive responses from the lay (= non-weightlifting) public, get abs. (Yeah, I know–‘Abs on a skinny guy are like big breasts on an overweight woman–not impressive.’ Tell it to Ryan Gosling. So long as you aren’t cachetic, your abs will impress the lay public.)

[Voxel]

Would’ve been cool to know if I’m a four week blitz, or 6/8/12/16 weeks away from ab town but alas I don’t have that knowledge.

@danteism Care to venture a guess?

[Voxel]

Tuesday, 18th of September

Weight: 74.7kg (-0.3kg)
Sleep: restless 6hrs
Mirror: Looking decent

Workout

6x3
Snatch grip high pull from blocks @ 50
Muscle snatch @ 40 I think, might have been 45.
Snatch grip deadlift @ 95

Done in 35 minutes. Lovely session. Used a hook grip on the deadlifts, I think I won’t in the future. Too rough on the thumb.

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Climbing tonight woop!