You’re a “soft target”. They’re picking you because they’re pretty confident they WON’T find something, so that they won’t have to do more work, haha.
You could be right maybe I am just very approachable 
It was for you. I noticed I got screened more often after tattoos.
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EARLY AM WORKOUT
TREADMILL RUN
Incline: 1.0
Speed: 7.1 MPH
Distance: 6.55 miles (1/4 marathon)
Time: 55:22
Notes: Yet again, this is the day that requires the most motivation. I get it done first thing so that it’s over. I’m still handling it well though: no mouth breathing throughout. Hit a solid stride early and held on for a while. Legs are dead from squats, so that was a fun extra challenge.
Going to cap it off with about 2 hours of yard work.
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I remember I was admitted to the hospital several years ago (for what I cannot recall) and I had labs/bloodwork done. Creatinine levels were definitely elevated and I was supplementing creatine at the time. The attending told me to drop the creatine with the “it’s strenuous on your kidneys” line. I hear that line kicked around from both sides, for and against creatine. Ultimately I decided to drop it, not because it was supposedly hard on my kidneys, but it just kept sending me to the bathroom with explosive shits after every workout which became quite the inconvenience.
That’s a really good reason to drop a supplement.
Doctors “here” are attentitive, they’ll ask “do you routinely hit the gym/supplement with creatine” when someone presents with elevated creatinine. So, it’s getting beyond the “everyone with high creatinine has a kidney problem” which is good. Of course, there may still be a problem but I prefer there to be a nuanced look as opposed to a very one-dimensional train of thought.
I’ve been thinking about high protein consumption, how it interplays with glutamate/gaba recently, and what it must mean for a body to have a substantial amount of calories coming in from a macronutrient that’s not easily converted into energy (which fat and carbs are) but I haven’t found any good material on it yet. @mertdawg, do you know anything worth reading on this topic?
I understand that an overwhelming majority of supplements are not regulated by the FDA, but that should not immediately qualify them as “dangerous.” Now, yes, I’m sure that if someone has a pre-existing kidney issue, they should definitely avoid creatine supplementation - that seems like a no-brainer. But if creatine supplementation, along with high protein consumption is somehow “dangerous,” wouldn’t we see a lot more people on dialysis?
I think a lot of PCP’s and GP’s have good intentions, but their lack of nutritional understanding for people who exercise vigorously causes unnecessary issues.
Regarding creatine an intestinal issues: the only way I’ve ever taken creatine is by spooning into my mouth and washing it down with water. Never caused any issues. Wonder if that’d be helpful for folks. Mixing it in water seems weird to me, whereas I’m sure my method seems weird to everyone else, haha.
Spitballing a few things these days.
-I’ve re-discovered my GHR in the basement and tried a rep on it. I can feel it light up my hamstrings pretty decent. I wish I could find a place to set it in my garage, but space is maximized. I may try to make a policy of heading down to the basement and doing a set a day just to get in some more hamstring volume, as I feel like I could use that.
-Trying to plan my next weight gaining phase. I looked into bodybuilding training for something different, and realized that nothing is really different and it’s all just lifting weights. DoggCrapp still kinda appeals to me, but I don’t have enough equipment for all the exercises. I then re-read the 5/3/1 Rest Pause challenge and it gave me a few ideas too. I’m thinking I’d start off with things by keeping my current laidout but adding in intensity modifiers where appropriate. Rest pausing on topsets of benching and pressing, dropsets on back work, and I’m toying with the idea of belt squats or hatfield squats as finishers on squat day. Belt squats with the landmine in particular would be great for dropsets, although I could also make it work with a loading pin.
-I also really liked something I did the other day of getting in 50 reps of chins in as few sets as possible using rest pausing, and I think I could do a Jamie Lewis style workout of alternating between dips and chins to get blood flowing through the body. I think that’d be a great upper body finisher.
When creating was first popular back in the 90’s it tasted so bad the only way I could take it was adding To an expresso. Pretty sure back then I thought the caffeine would super charge the creatine… lol bro science!!
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Kudos for the run. I’m just too mentally weak to do such a thing.
It’s only a little different than your method. It doesn’t dissolve or mix; it floats (itscalled colloidal dispersion and creatine is the only reason I remember that). I stir the water so it’s spread out and then chug.
I always have high creatinine levels. My doctor gets it. I had some high liver readings this year, though, and that freaked me out because my dad has an auto immune disease where his body tries to kill his liver like it’s a foreign object. The doctor said not to worry, get off creatine, and redo labs. She also asked me to not do a strenuous workout the day before the blood draw. I should probably do that soon…
I just caught up in the flame free confession thread this afternoon. I saw your post about doing a bodybuilding workout. Someone shared the article that I thought of - The tried and true template for body building. It seemed like it would fit you since it suggested movements instead of machines or specific lifts.
As I saw you writing about it again today, I thought of 5/3/1 rest/pause. It seems very similar to your squat workouts.
And on that note, I am considering trying your squat workout albeit with much less weight. I might try it in place of the 5x5 day on my new 5/3/1 template.
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Having a race looming at the start of Nov is about the only thing that gives me incentive to run, haha, but thanks. And I get on an intellectual level that mixing creatine in the water isn’t any different, but to me it just seems weird, similarly to how drinking something during training seems weird to me.
Enjoy the squat workout! One set will have never felt so long, haha.
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Hit a new PR on NG chins this morning of 37 reps in one set, totaled 54 reps with 2 rest pauses and a final cluster at the end. Shook out to
37 reps NG
7 reps Wide grip NG
7 reps close grip NG+3 reps NG
Did 54 because I can’t do early morning math and thought I was 3 short after the final rest pause for some reason.
Did 10 GHRs before all of that. I have room for more, but since it’s been so long since I’ve done the movement, I’m keeping it stupid low on reps for now and seeing how I react.
Date night tonight with the Mrs: steaks and ax throwing. I have an amazing wife.
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I’ve done this! Not all the time, sometimes though.
I think the initial studies dissolved it in tea?
I agree to an extent. Things get packaged differently but are more or less the same. I tend to choose the intensity technique based on the exercise. For instance, barbell rows and drop sets take too long, but T-bar rows and drop sets are a great fit.
Mechanical drop sets might hold some appeal to you.
And twenty rep squats followed by an isometric hold in 90 degrees (no weight, back against the wall/rack) is leg bodybuilding galore with a barbell.
But one thing from Doggcrapp that you don’t see in a lot of other programs are the stretches.
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Been a big fan of them for a while now. Wrote about them recently regarding training with limited equipment. Especially nice when on vacation and using the hotel fitness center.
The extreme stretching from DC reminded me a bit of the rib cage expansion work in Super Squats. Was kinda fun to do “something else” on top of the lifitng.
Have you ever tried nordic hamstring curls? I’ve found it a very home-gym-friendly way to get in more hamstring work since all you need besides a barbell or axle and plates is something soft to cushion your knees and maybe some mats to get the barbell to a height where you can properly jam your feet between it and the ground…
Never tried them. Since I got a GHR, I never needed to do them. And then I wrote out the GHR for a long time since I couldn’t figure out where to put it in my programming. I really just need an extra 30 mins a day. But now that I can’t sleep past 0400, I got that, haha.
I try to do this type of stretching after my workouts. I don’t that it’s given me any magical gains, but an unintended side effect I’ve noticed is that my joints feel great when I do it regularly.
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You mean loaded stretching? With an active contraction in the target muscle?
Yeah. My “bro theory” is that, whenever I finish the stretch, I feel a huge surge of blood rushing to the area, and my guess is that this aids in recovery somehow.
LUNCHTIME WORKOUT
Chins (rest pause: 12 deep breaths between sets)
1x34 NG
1x9 wide grip NG
1x7 close grip NG
T-bar rows (1 minute rest between sets)
1x12 1 plate
1x12 2 plates
1x12 3 plates
1x10 4 plates
DROPSET
1x6 5 plates
1x6 4 plates
1x6 3 plates
1x6 2 plates
1x7 1 plate
DB shrug 105s/band pull apart superset (1 minute rest between sets)
1x20/20
2x16/20
Mike Bartos Power Keg carries (150lbs) (1 minute rest between sets)
1x288’
1x144’
Neck harness 45
1x41
Notes: I’ve trained 5 days in a row already, my back was feeling a bit beat up and I was short on time, so I nixed the max effort stuff and deficit pulls and just did an old fashioned backday with a little strongman influence. I wish I had set myself up for some kelso shrugs at one point to really put the finishing touch on it, but those keg carries did a solid too. Fried my grip out pretty solid. Was on the fence about some kroc or meadows rows too, but figured I’d already hit the krocs earlier in the week.
I may still do the ME work tomorrow, depending on my schedule. Otherwise, I’ll call this a deload.
EDIT: Oh yeah, on the “fun with nutrition” stuff, I mixed up an egg white and amazing grass shake and threw in a teaspoon of monkfruit/stevia sweetner, and it was like taking off to the moon sweetness. That stuff is nuts. I might try smaller doses sometime to just enhance the flavor on some things. Been contemplating mixing it in with my yogurt and some pumpkin spice to go with the season.
Also, the Mrs and I will be starting Apple Cider vinegar tablets at night as part of our supplement protocol. I do have plans to start some ZMA or Melatonin after my labs are done as well, as my sleep has been pretty crazy these past few months.
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