When I see one of those articles where they try to tell me these foods (especially bacon) are fine, or LOL even “good” for you, I just laugh because my Common Sense alarm is going off SO, SO loudly.
Wrt hydration, does this mean that you will now start ingesting fluids during your workouts? Because I wasn’t going to preach, but that seemed like such a bad idea…
The highest my total cholesterol ever got was in my late 20s, when I had the bad habit of getting (multiple times a week) the deep fried half-chicken with pork fried rice from the local Chinese take out place.
So yes, I wholeheartedly agree that while there is a genetic component, diet most definitely can affect your blood lipid levels.
@T3hPwnisher - I’m not sure where at in your log you mentioned it, but was there some type of loadable stone or bag or something that you had been using? Scrolling through but I don’t see it.
I’ve made a few lighter sandbags but I’d like to get something heavier. Kinda interested in making a stone but that also would require a platform to drop it onto or lift it up to, and I’m not sure if I have room for that. Anyway, just curious if it’s your log I’m thinking of or if someone else mentioned it.
We’re talking about a guy who didn’t drink during a half marathon
My dad’s side of the family lives off of smoked pork belly stirfried in a pool of oil with twice the RDA of sodium. At least they know it’s unhealthy
@punnyguy No plans for drinking fluids during training at present. I have so many opportunities to improve hydration OUTSIDE of training that I’m attacking that avenue first.
And definitely found the room for improvement with my nutritional approach as well. It’s been a seamless transition too that it seems like the only thing that was stopping me before was just pure momentum. Funny how that happens, haha.
@jshaving I have a loadable atlas stone from Mike Bartos (The Stone of Steel) but I think he got out of the equipment game. Titan Fitness sells a loadable atlas stone, but they’re honestly pretty pricey for what you get out of them. A solid investment for a dedicated strongman, but if you just wanna get in some loading work, you’d be better off either just getting a big natural stone, having someone make you a concrete stone, or trying your hand at making your own. Kegs are still king too, as they’re cheap.
Actually got a chance to LOOK at my labs today (working with the medical community has been tough during COVID) and it wasn’t quite as dire as they made it seem over the phone. Still elevated on creatinine and BUN, yeah, but definitely not to a point I’m terribly concerned. I’m pretty sure much of it could be explained with strenuous training, creatine supplementation, a high protein diet and dehydration, but I’m still going to push forward with my focus on hydration until I get the second round of testing knocked out because, quite frankly, it’s not a bad thing to do.
Actually saw that last night. Thought it sounded familiar, guess it was from here. Yikes though - the article said they run for like $700 or something, at the time, and yeah, I didn’t see them being sold anywhere now.
Anyway, as usual, thanks for the input.
@jshaving No problem. Yeah, I think Mike got out of the equipment game. He made cool stuff, but wasn’t well equipped to sell it. I bought 2 products from him, and both came way later than they should have and each included a sob-story for no extra cost. Still cool toys though, haha. From all accounts, the Titan one is solid, and if I ever need a new one, I can lean that way, but there are SO many heavy things to lift out there.
I weighed in at 188.8 this morning, after my yogurt and energy drink. This is the first time since 2012 I’ve seen “1” and “8” as the first numbers on the scale. It’s weird for sure. I’m just now starting to get to the point where I feel I’m looking smaller in the mirror, but not small period. Arms in general seem a little deflated. My stomach has also completely flattened out, whereas normally, even with abs, I have a small pooch at the bottom. I’m just gonna keep riding it out.
I re-read the Deep Water e-book yesterday out of fun, and have been reading a lot of articles on weight gaining, most likely out of some sort of voyeuristic joy. I don’t think I’m going to try to gain bodyweight during these next few months, as that may confound the LDL readings, but if things go well, I think I’ve got a solid plan on how to cleanly gain weight. It’s one of the reasons I like doing these weight loss phases, is I learn what I really “need” to maintain my training (it’s not much), and from there it’s pretty easy to figure out what I can add to make a change. At the end of my weight gain phase, I was playing it fast and loose and getting calories any which way I could, and now I see a LOT of clean ways to get in some calories.
Assuming I get a little more “me” time in the future, I see avenues to run Deep Water again. I’d be able to more strictly comply with the diet, keeping the meats leaner and supplementing with healthful fats, but also would take to modifying it. I’d want to use the SSB for squats, as it’d allow me to use heavier weights and be able to really focus on effort vs technique. I’m wavering between axle or trap bar for deads, with the axle of course being a harder variant while the trap bar would allow for more weight moved and more effort exerted. Using the SSB and trap bar would mean my shoulders would be in good repair for all the pressing. I think I’d stick with snatches rather than cleans, unless my flexibility improves to the point that I can have a solid rack position.
I’m most likely just getting itchy. This happens when I lose weight. I want to start building again.
I guess discomfort = keep going???
No real discomfort to speak of. It’s more the psychological aspect of it. If I’m not gaining weight, I’m not “building”, and, in turn, I’m not training in a manner that results in building. Though fat loss is the goal, and losing fat is progress, it doesn’t settle with my psychology to achieve goals by LOSING things rather than gaining things. In much the same way that people tend to want to solve problems by doing good things rather than stop doing bad things. Action is always more satisfying than inaction.
Going to use this comment to springboard a few more things I keep meaning to write and then keep forgetting to log, but I’m experiencing no side effects from the statins, so that’s cool. I’ve also upped my pre-training carbs and the weight keeps dropping, so I’m going to keep up that practice. I also need to start vectoring my cheat meals (as infrequent as they are) to be higher carb rather than my normal inclination of higher fat. I’m not one for sweets, but I do enjoy bread and potatoes, so I can probably get in on something along that line. Pizza seems viable, as long as I’m smart in it’s construction.
LUNCHTIME WORKOUT
MAX EFFORT
(6) Mat Pulls
5x135
5x225
3x315
1x405
1x495
1x585
1x635
6x585
GIANT SETS (dead-row-chin-neck)
(1) 2 second pause deficit deadlift 315
3x8
T-bar rows 150
3x10
NG chins (various grips)
1x8
2x7
Neck harness 45
3x23
DB rows 105
1x15
Notes: 3:45 between heavy pulls, 2:00 between giant sets. Had to take my belt in a notch today, as it was providing pretty much zero support otherwise. I had to re-learn it with the new setting, so the topset of 635 was more of a struggle than it should have been. Saved my energy and went for the max set of 585 and felt good with it. Had the belt a bit better sorted by then, and this is my first set of deadlift type work since I hurt myself, so it was a good test of how I’ve healed. My leverages keep getting better, my warm-ups felt super fast, and that’s about the strongest I’ve ever felt pulling 585. I’m terrible at “grip and rip”, so being able to knock out that many reps that quickly is awesome.
Took off the belt for the last 2 sets of deficit deads, because it was digging in bad to get to that ROM. Didn’t make too much of a difference.
That feeling of “smallness” was over once the workout was done. Thinking it was just being depleted of carbs over the weekend. Tried out a Kodiak Cake waffle with part of my pre-workout meal today, and it scratches the itch as far as waffles go. I think it’ll work for the future, especially since I didn’t have an allergic reaction to it like I do with certain products.
Badass work as always.
Oh man, do I ever miss these. One of my biggest regrets about moving is that where I live now doesn’t have a Costco and no store carries that mix. I loved that stuff.
@kdjohn Thanks dude. No shipping option for you with like amazon? The oatmeal tore up my insides something fierce, but everything else has been awesome. I imagine it’s the pea protein that was not great to me.
TKD lesson (45ish minutes)
Great lesson today. All the balance work paid off, and we worked double roundkicks and then transitioned to front kick-rechamber-roundkick. Was great to see my kid doing something that was very traditional TKD work. Worked on Dan Gun from there, let me kid run it on their own, and they pretty much have the whole thing memorized. Still needs a good amount of polish, but having the pattern is big. From there, worked a VERY basic footowork drill with a roundhouse/kick check worked in. My footwork is terrible, but seeing my kid try to figure it out showed me how much I had learned in the process. Really emphasized keeping a solid stance, not crossing feet, and looking at the opponent. That final part is a big work. My kid’s attention span is nil, and getting them to look at ANYTHING for a prolonged period of time is an ask. Any time I caught my kid’s eyes off me, I’d send an attack from the angle they weren’t looking at. They had a blast: it was a bit of play and learn, which is what I’ve wanted.
We did exactly 2 roundhouse kicks in the basement before my kid swore they saw a spider in some corner and decided they’d rather not do roundhouses vs overcome their fear of spiders existing. It was a good enough less that I didn’t want to end it on a sour note, so we called it there and I gave them their stripe on their orange belt. They definitely have earned it, and the timing is better than it was with white belt, because I feel like we still have a good amount of ground to cover before the next stripe.
EARLY PM WORKOUT
DB bench press 105
1x18
1x11
1x10
Swiss bar incline bench 210
1x10
1x8
1x6
Axle bench press 225+chains
1x10
2x6
Pull ups between sets of benching
9x7
1x10
Dips
1x36
1x30
1x28
Poundstone curls
112xAxle
Notes: 3:00 between benching, 2:00 between dips. Alternated between incline and bench on the second half. Decided to switch up the stimulus. Been doing pretty much the same thing for 2 years now, minus a slight change in exercise order. Really been wanting to bring in dumbbells, and really regretting never pulling the trigger on those Ironmaster ones before the world ended, but I still have a plan. I’m going to run 3 week waves, and then up the incline on my bench by 1 notch and start it over again (I used the Ironmind flat bench for today, because it’s cooler, but will use the incline when the time comes). If things get tough, I’ll break out a slingshot or metal’s catapult to overcome it. With my weight being down, I just need to do things differently so I’m not just watching my strength drop. There’s also a fair chance I have room to STILL get stronger if I start working from new angles.
I really dug this, and I’m getting a lot from all the experience I’ve accumulated training the bench up to this point. I’m “playing the game the way I want to play it” right now, and it’s working well enough.
I had a pretty slick set up for the DBs using my power keg and a bumper plate
And here is how I set up the chains. I KNOW it’s not the right way to do it if it’s dynamic effort work, but for what I wanted, it did great
Took some more glamour shots of 188
The biggest difference I see here vs when I was at 196 is the bottom of my stomach. It’s much flatter
And for anyone that is at all interested, this interview with Derek Poundstone is fantastic
He captures a LOT of my own thoughts on training. “I do it because it sucks”, strongman as a means to express the internal pursuit of strength rather than training to be a strongman, finding yourself through training, performing your best when you stop caring, etc. It’s all awesome.
AM WORKOUT
Squat warm-up
SSB Squats/SSB Front squats (odd sets squats/even sets front squats)
5x12x255lbs SSB squats
5x8x185lbs SSB front squats
GIANT SETS (snatch-hyper)
Hang power snatches 115
4x2
Reverse hypers 270
1x30
2x20
1x25
Notes: 3:00 between squats, 2:00 between giant sets. Not quite Deep Water weights today, but enough to suck. I could squat with a belt again, but front squats still pulled ever so slightly on the abductor, and I felt it dance on the final rep of the final set of front squats. SSB squats are pretty much no issue at all. With the front squats, I need to take them slow and lean a bit on the right, which I prefer not to do. I think this approach answers the mail well for a way forward, but I might try something like waving the weights and reps on the SSB squats do that I do a 2:1 ratio between them and front squats. I think challenging the abductor is needed, but it’s that razor’s edge between challenge and regression.
I definitely recommend this approach to anyone that has the tools for it, although I’m sure you could also just do it with a barbell with squats/front squats. I just know high rep barbell front squats suck. There’s “recovery” between sets because the movements vary.
Snatches were actually decent today. Trying my hardest to focus on speed. I do think my weight loss is helping my leverages.
Getting an extra meal today with the Mrs, but I ALSO spilled most of my pre AND post workout meal due to clumsiness and poor mixing today, so it’ll probably even out.
Meant to log that I weighed in at 186.6 this morning, post energy drink and yogurt. That’s 2.2lbs over where I started this whole log.
At that bodyweight, my wife legit asked me “have you stopped eating?”, because I was sickly thin and it was a rightful assumption given the depressed state I had been in post injury. I was definitely the thinnest I had been in a long time.
My body is RADICALLY different at this bodyweight compared to where it was 5 years ago. It’s pretty nuts how things like that go.
Do you have any comparison pictures from then to compare with now? Would be cool to see.
Nah, nothing that would be useful in that regard at least. Wasn’t really at a good place with having my photo taken at that point.
Quick TKD lesson today: just did Dan Gun 3 times. First we walked through together, second I let the kid do it on their own but gave them help if they got stuck, third let them go on their own and make any mistakes along the way.
Kid keeps finding interesting ways to do things wrong that they didn’t do before. They’re clothes-lining all their techniques now whenever they turn into them from a stance. Trying to combat that but it’s not taking. Just going to keep drilling it. They’re also still not getting how to get their shoulders right in a backstance. They want to have their shoulders squared which, in that stance, just puts them in the worst of all worlds. They got confused at one point in the form because doing it basically prevented them from having a front and back hand, and things went off the rails from there. Hopefully that experience solidified it.
Short lesson because, right before that, I mowed front and back lawn, did edging, and then bailed out my kids kiddy pool using a bucket, because I wanted to use the water in it to water the lawn and we had it camped out on a pavement area. It was pretty solid conditioning, although it torqued my shoulder a bit.
You know you’re a serious lifter when basic household tasks can cause you pain.
Man, I had my blood work done last week. Everything was perfect except Cholesterol. It was only 19 points out side normal range but didn’t stop my PCP from telling me to cut back. Hard to do considering I don’t eat egg yokes, red meat (very often 1x every 2 weeks) or anything else that has much in it.
I’d recommend you looking up Greg duecettes anabolic French toast recipe. It’s life changing. It’s a good breakfast food low cholesterol and lots of protien. And the main thing is it’s filling and low calorie dense. I changed my diet 9 months ago and went for 230 lbs to 190 today and haven’t starved myself to do it.
I was looking through your training log, very interesting in progressions. I see you’re doing ME days . Do you have a template you are doing or is it just based on how you feel That determines intensity or volume? If you’ve talked about this above sorry I’ll skim again.
In any Case man, good luck. Your log is appreciated and a good go to for information.
@dagill2 No joke. Shoveling snow is like Russian roulette as far as potential bicep tears go for me, haha. But I can get a lot of crazy stuff done. I’ll be proving that concept later this week, as the Mrs volunteered me to help some of our friends move.
@marcb84 Great to have you stop by dude. You’re looking huge. Appreciate the nod toward the french toast. My diet is very “high speed/low drag”, so it’d be a pretty blue moon if I whip it up. Right now I’m a big fan of my greek yogurt mixed with PBfit, haha. I’m a simple creature. Had the same lunch for all 4 years of high school and looked forward to it everyday. That’s a great weight loss change you had there. I was definitely committing some nutritional sins, but those sort of built in inefficiencies make it easy to make changes. It’s how I approach weight loss and weight gain as well.
For the max effort work, no template or anything like that. I honestly don’t think much in terms of intensity or volume. However, there IS a method to my madness as far as actual ME selection goes. I’ve got 2 primary max effort movements: high handle trap bar lift and deadlift bar deadlift. I alternate between them every 2 weeks. HOWEVER, I pull from different heights each time as well. At Genesis, the deadlift bar starts elevated by 6 patio pavers, while the trap bar is off the floor. After the end of a 2 week cycle of each, I’ll take away 2 patio pavers from the deadlift bar and put 1 paver under the trap bar, so now the deadlift ROM is longer while the trap bar ROM is shorter. Continue until the deadlift bar is off the floor and the trap bar is elevated about 4 pavers high, then start the whole process over again.
Typically, the first week on a “new” movement isn’t a 1 rep max effort lift, just because I need to develop the skillset on it, so I end up pulling 3s, 5s, or maybe a 6 or 7. Or I’ll pull a single that’s not TRUE max effort and chase it with a backoff of a 3, 5 or 6. But after that I tend to have it dailed in and can go for a top single.
Hope that helps. Let me know if I can clarify anything.
LUNCHTIME WORKOUT
GIANT SETS (chin-press-abs)
Close grip NG chins
5x50
3x85
3x95
1x120
1x140
1x150
1x155
Trap bar strict press
5xBar
5x98
5x135
3x185
1x205
1x225
1x235
1x240
Standing ab wheel
8x10
GIANT SETS (row-dips/DB bench OR axle press/dips-lateral raises): odd sets weighted dips/even sets presses
Low pulley rows 11
6x12
Weighted dips 80lbs/DB press 50s
3x12/failure
Axle strict press 136/dips
3x10/failure
DB lateral raises 15s
6x10
Band pull aparts
1x50
Notes: 90 seconds between second round giant sets. Rested 90 seconds between the last 3 top sets of the main work. This was a big moral victory for today, as 240lbs has always been that looming number for me on press, so the fact I could hit it at this bodyweight, on a trap bar (which I tend to underperform on) with the fatigue generated from this program shows me how well my strength is holding up where it counts. I still had a little bit left in the tank, but they were grindy enough sets. The groin wasn’t a factor today, so the healing continues.
Still a big fan of having the weighted dips back in the program. I’d forgotten how much I cared for them as a movement. Just seems to make everything stronger.
Got my drinkable egg whites yesterday. Just tried them in my post workout shake. 1/2 cup egg whites, 1/2 cup fairlife skim milk and some protein powder. It’s like a milkshake. Very frothy and thick. I tasted the egg whites plain beforehand, and they only have the slightest hint of A flavor, and it’s not “eggy”. No slime factor. All in all, I’m a fan. I’ll have to make some fridge/freezer space and do a big order in the future.
