He peeled the bread crumbs off his fried chicken…he’s crossed the line! Next he’ll be scrapping the scrapping off the top of the pizza and leaving the base!
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@alex_uk You’ve touched on a bit of psychology I’m familiar with about myself: obsessive and manic tendencies. It runs through all the men in my family. It’s why I never got into drinking. Alcohol killed 4 of my uncles, and my dad and brother are recovering alcoholics. We can’t do moderation: if we do ANYTHING, we do it a million percent. I’ve channeled mine into training and diet, but, in turn, my doc told me “Hey, lay off saturated fats and red meats” and I went from eating red meat 2-3 times a day to once a month. And, of course, that was to counteract how I was eating before, which was equal parts obsession. I have a guitar in my basement that I never play, but BOY did I learn a LOT about guitars before I bought it. The past 3 months, I’ve learned SO much about nutrition reading everything I could while at work, and I’ve devoured my library of lifting stuff all over again.
Which is a long way to go about saying that I am definitely displaying eating disorder tendencies, but it tends to be a manifestation of another thing going on under the hood.
And as for pizza: I used to do the opposite: only eat the topping and leave the crust and base, haha. But man: stuffed crust pizza is fantastic. It’s what I do whenever I wanna go big.
@Voxel nailed it. How we react to these things is a big part of what they mean.
On the topic of reaction: my wife made breakfast this morning. She scrambled me a bunch of egg whites, and my kiddo got some legit scrambled eggs. We had leftovers of both, so I combined them together (I woulda asked for a real egg mixed in, but with that ribeye coming tonight, I’m going to get enough saturated fat and cholesterol for the day today). Then, it dawned on me: I’m making steak tonight, and my wife always leaves behind leftovers. This means, tomorrow, I can have my absolute favorite breakfast of all time: steak and eggs. I legit gave my wife a hug and told her how grateful I was for her for setting me up for that, haha.
This became my favorite breakfast back when I was in high school, and saw a special on Marine Corps bootcamp where, after the final event (I believe titled “The Crucible”), recruits were rewarded with a breakfast of steak and eggs, which the narrator dubbed “a breakfast for warriors”. @flappinit did you get that sorta treatment when you went through?
Also tried out the “Nuts N More” Pumpkin Pie peanut butter spread on my toast today. In truth, I prefer almond butter and normal peanut butter as far as taste and consistency, but this still answers the mail well, because it’s no stir. I plan to pack a few in my travel bag for my next trip, because living off of nuts was tearing up my guts.
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I’ll be honest: I cannot remember what I ate. I woke up the morning of the crucible with what must have been the flu - felt like I could barely stand, I was so feverish. Didn’t tell anyone. One of the first things you’ll learn at Boot Camp is the fastest way off the island is to graduate. Even the kids who threatened to kill themselves to get a medical discharge stayed for months on end, so there was no way I was going to tell anyone and go through the crucible with a bunch of kids I didn’t know. So I pushed through. What I do remember more than anything is that when our last hike back to the barracks was coming to a close, the statue of the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima atop Mt. Suribachi (where I got to actually visit and put my chevrons on a rock on top of that mountain) appeared on the horizon and I cried like a baby. Was still sniffling like a child when my Senior Drill Instructor pinned my chevrons on. The meal you DO eat after that, the Drill Instructors actually sit with you and talk to you like humans after having made your life a living hell, so that was just so much more important than what I was eating. Boot Camp food, when it wasn’t MRE’s, wasn’t actually that terrible, it was just having to hork it down in 2 minutes while looking straight and keeping one hand on your leg that sucked.
Cool story from the crucible though. Some backstory: our platoon had the ironman, which is the recruit who has the best PFT - most pullups, most situps, fastest run - and they would feed this kid protein bars and have him doing mountain climbers all day leading up to the final PFT. They wanted motivation for him, so they asked if anyone knew the Rocky theme song, and like an idiot, I raised my hand. So I had to sing the BA BA BUMMMMM, BA BA BUMMMMMMMM, Rocky song while doing mountain climbers myself next to this other kid while the Drill Instructors sat back and laughed. Anyway, one of them kind of took a liking to me (by which I mean he’d still fuck me up but would not do it with the intent of making me quit, but to make me tougher), and he’d have me do this all the time.
So in the crucible, on day 2, it starts pouring rain. Torrential downpour. We’re running through the woods in such deep water that when kids fall, they’re disappearing. Our Senior DI, who is a hardass who went on 6 combat deployments by the time he was 26 and got blown up, and was on the cover of the Marine Corps Times, decides it’s a good time for us to get down and low crawl through the mud and water. The Drill Instructor who “took a liking” to me, calls me over, and has me climb up on top of a high ass tree stump, which I can barely do because I’m so tired, and hands me a rifle, and tells me to do my thing. So I start bellowing the rocky theme song, louder than I ever have before, and my ENTIRE PLATOON low crawling through the mud all start singing it and low crawling twice as fast. It was pure motivation at that point.
Sorry for the novella - THAT’S the stuff I remember. Honestly, have been racking my brains about what I ate, and I remember us getting shipped some steaks on Christmas on a deployment, but besides that, couldn’t tell you.
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@flappinit Dude that was an AWESOME novella: no need to apologize at all. Growing up in San Diego, I have nothing but love and respect for Marines, and sometimes even a little bit of hero worship/transcendental envy, haha. Appreciate you sharing the story.
DAILY TRAINING (0350 wakeup)
Conditioning Monstrosity in 4:27
Idea was to do 10 pull ups, 1 KB swing, then 1 pull up, 10 swings, then 9 and 2, 2 and 9, and meet at the middle at 5s. Pretty sure that was way too much for my brain first thing in the morning, but I got SOMETHING done in 4:27 that got my heart rate up.
Band pull aparts
35
Band pushdowns
25
Standing ab wheel
20
GHRs
30
Breakfast
45-ish minute walk w/45lb weight vest
Notes: Sleeping more/more restfully now. Yesterday I had the least caffeine I’d had in a while: 300mg with my morning energy drink, and that was it. Typically I have a few diet cokes/mountain dews through the day, but trying to see if limiting intake matters. In truth, I think I actually sleep BETTER with late day caffeine, but it’s worth the experiment. Also had some peanut butter close to bed time to see if having some fats in the system would have any impact. Not like I need an excuse to eat more peanut butter. Having just one spoonful, it dawned on me how easily I could eat the whole jar.
Had my ribeye yesterday. It was honestly dissapointing. However, my Mrs informed me that her steak was underseasoned. She brought it up because she prefers it that way, so it was a compliment to me, but it leads me to believe that the issue may be I’m just out practice preparing steaks. It’d be a shame if I lost my taste for them, although I DID enjoy the one I had at Texas Roadhouse. Could just be that the grassfed stuff I got is way leaner that I’m used to.
I’m developing acne again, which I honestly think is a good sign. I’ve had acne my whole life, and recently my complexion cleared up out of nowhere. At first, I thought it was from reduced milk intake, but it honestly may have been a sign of hormone changes brought upon by stupid levels of leanness and statin use. Been a crazy rollercoaster of health this year.
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That’s one thing I noticed from the stuff I get from the farm. The meat itself tastes better (a bit more earthy?) but as a whole, the lack of fat makes it a little underwhelming compared to a cow that gets corn shoveled in its mouth all day.
Also, the color flips me out every time I open a grass fed steak. Super dark and bloody. Love it.
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[quote=“T3hPwnisher, post:6044, topic:212755”]
Power keg carry 200lbs x 144’
Is your driveway an incline?
@boilerman You are spot on in all regards. It LOOKS so much better thean the other stuff. My wife had a Tri Tip steak that was still good quality, but definitely not grass fed, and it was grey and limp. The stuff I had was vibrant and bleeding. However, I also had her leftover steak for steak and eggs today, and it was far yummier, haha. It’s a balancing act.
@biker Yeah. Helps with flooding for sure.
LATE AM WORKOUT (0800ish)
SUPERSETS (chin-press)
Chin ups (palms facing me)
5x55
2x5x95
2x5x75
6x75
Axle strict press
5xAxle
5x66
5x136
5x156
8+3+3x176 (rest pause w/12 deep breaths)
Trap bar strict press 135
1x14
GIANT SETS (weighted dips/DB press OR BtN press/BW dips-lateral raise-pull apart)
Weighted dips 105/DB press 50
1x12/failure
1x9/failure
1x8/failure
BtN press 120/BW dips
1x10/failure
1x8/failure
1x7/failure
DB lateral raises 15
1x14
5x13
Band pull aparts
1x14
5x13
Kroc rows 115
1x23+5+3
CONDITIONING
Tabata rounds on BAS
2 mile walk
Notes: 90 seconds rest between giant sets. No rest on the mainwork. The chins have identified an interesting strength deficiency: I’m MUCH stronger with neutral grip. Definitely excited to fix this, as chins make you jacked.
The press is still a touch heavier than I like for a 5s week: I may walk it back 2 cycles come next go round. More reps are going to be how I grow. The final +3 was a near life experience, so I was pleased with the grind.
Kept hitting the back of my head on the first set of BtN press: my set-up is different than where I was. Grip was too narrow too. After giving it a legit 2 weeks, I’m unsold on the Paul Carter program, and will just stick with what I have here.
Did the Kroc rows bracing off the pins in my power rack vs on a flat bench. Better set-up for torso angle and getting the legs out of the way of the bell.
Making conscious efforts to get in more food. Today’s been a decent high fat day. Pleased with the good sources I’m relying on. Tomorrow I’m going to make a chili to feed me all week. Going to be based off ground turkey, grass fed ground beef, left over tri tip steak, and some seafood medley. No beans, because Texas is awesome.
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I’d be interested to know how you evaluated the Carter shoulder blaster 9000.
Not necessarily what you thought of that exact workout, but the metrics you used to conclude your findings.
If it’s something too complex to put into words, or not worth it, then that is ok too! Just thought a peek inside the mind of a badass like yourself would be interesting. You may have already covered this as well, and if so I apologize. Your log is a hard one to keep up with aka very active.
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Always happy to discuss dude.
Didn’t use any real metrics to speak of. The program itself just doesn’t gel with me. On paper, it looks like a beast, but upon execution it’s a letdown. I think ENDING with the BtN press rather than starting with it woulda been the right call instead. You do your 100 reps of presses and you’re feeling pretty badass and pumped, and then you do the lateral raises and you’re still decently pumped, but it’s fading a bit, and then by the time you finish up the front raises, pull aparts and high pulls, you feel like you never actually trained your shoulders. I’m so used to giant sets that I basically spend 60 minutes with my entire upper body pumped out of my mind and crawl out of the gym: staggering and staging stuff in the way Paul had it laid out just didn’t give me that, and it didn’t have me feeling like I was growing or getting any stronger as a result.
Certain elements in isolation weren’t bad. The lateral raises are a solid approach to the movement. The BtN press seems good in theory, but I ended up using such light weights to get it done that it didn’t seem like value added.
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DAILY TRAINING (0350 Wakeup)
Chins w/rest pause
29 underhand
8 NG
8 Wide grip NG
6 close grip NG
35 band pull aparts
25 band pushdowns
20 standing ab wheel
Tabata KB swings
30 GHR
Breakfast
45ish minute walk with dogs w/45lb weight vest
Notes: I seem to be getting about an hour more sleep out of the melatonin. Dogs still are a factor: the youngest one has gotten used to my sleep hours, so now she starts getting excited around 0330. At that point, I’m already pretty much ready to go myself, but I allow myself to doze a little longer.
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AM TRAINING (0700-ish)
Buffalo Bar Squats
5xBar
5x140
3x230
1x320
REST PAUSE (12 deep breaths between sets)
7x390
3x390
2x2x390
1x390
4x5x320 (failed on 5th rep of 4th set)
Strip-rerack bar
7x300
20x230
90 second rest
SUPERSETS (squat-hyper), 90 seconds between sets
Belt squat (lockout only when necessary on reps)
20x160
18x160
16x160
STRIPSET (no rest between sets)
15x160
15x125
15x90
15x45
Reverse hyper 360
4x13
Notes: Skimped the conditioning at the end, because I wanted to work on a ridiculous chili that’s going to feed me all week at work. Let me brag about that first, since it’s currently cooking.
That’s it in the browning stage. That is 1lb of ground turkey, 1.25lbs of ground grassfed beef, an undetermined amount of seafood medley and some leftover tri tip steak. I actually had some leftover chicken thighs I meant to throw in: next time. Along with that is a mixed variety of different crushed canned tomatoes. No beans, because, again, Texas.
Here it is in the instant pot, with 1 cup of beef stock.
It smells amazing. Will report taste later.
The squat workout is evolving again. I really liked that 5x5 I did in the middle of the last one, and wanted to bring that back. The squat failure was unique: got 3/4 of the way up and just froze. Couldn’t complete the lockout. Fought for quite a few seconds before it went back down. That’s happened in a few powerlifting meets with me. Definitely a great chance to get stronger. Same with racking the weights and getting back under the bar.
That belt squat workout was BRUTAL. Staying away from lockout really goes far.
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I am at work right now, with my awesome chili packed in my super cool Punisher cooler, and every time I get up from my chair my hamstring cramp. I think I FINALLY trained hard enough this cycle to see some real growth. Gotta remember this workout. @Voxel I am going to try to sum it up and post it in the challenge thread.
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Woo! Looking forward to it. But pretty psyched about tomorrow’s workout so absolutely no rush.
DAILY TRAINING (0410 Wake Up, 20 minutes more sleep than usual)
Conditioning workout (untimed)
10 chins
1 swing
1 chin
10 swings
9 chins
2 swings
2 chins
9 swings
8 chins
3 swings
3 chins
8 swings
etc until meeting in the middle at 6s and 5s, various grips on the chins
35 band pull aparts
25 band pushdowns
20 standing ab wheels
Breakfast
50ish minute weighted vest walk w/45lb vest
30 GHRs
AM WORKOUT (0700ish)
(4) Incline DB bench 105s
1x8
1x7
1x6
(2) Close grip incline pause bench 165
3x10
Axle bench press 210+chains
1x10
1x8
REST PAUSE
1x7+3+4(no chains)
+4x135 on close grip incline bench
Chins (underhand) between sets of benching
1x11
12x10
Dips
57+rest pause to 200 total
Poundstone curls
128xAxle
CONDITIONING
Stone of Steel to Shoulder
15 reps in 4 minutes
Notes: 2:30 between sets of benching. Morning routine a little broken up with my pugs being a bit rascally. Decided to make the lifting workout a total bicep slaughterfest by sticking with underhand grip chins, then the curls, then stone to shoulder. My hips are feeling really beat up today: I think the failed squat is the culprit. Meeting all my previous reps on the DB press with shorter rest periods is great progress, especially since the very first set the bells went EVERYWHERE on reps 4 and 6 and needed some recovery love. I’ve found a better way to set my feet on the bench, which I used for the next 2 sets. Should make the next workouts real solid. Getting the bells in place is a bit of a struggle now.
I’m working middle shifts this week, so got to bed a bit later than usual yesterday but was still very much awake before bed and rose well rested in the morning.
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I do not understand your physiology
I am experiencing wild fluctuations in sleep and hormone issues as a result of constant fluctuations in medication and nutrition.
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Writing this to call myself out: I’m eating too much processed stuff. This is once again a byproduct of the conflict of eating for health vs performance. They don’t HAVE to conflict, but they very easily can, primarily when I find myself focusing too much on macronutrients and not enough on micronutrient and food sources. Case in point: my $100 spending on “Nuts n More” craft peanut butter. From a macro standpoint, it’s totally baller: more protein, less fat, equal or slightly lesser carbs than traditional peanut/almond butter. But it ALSO has things OTHER than peanuts and almonds in it. Do I need that extra stuff? I also bought some frozen egg white and spinach frittatas and carrot and zucchini based apple cinnamon muffins. Once again: solid macros, nutrition label is a science experiment. This is a notoriously slippery slope for me, and I distinctly remember eating “Fiber One Poptarts” thinking I was doing myself favors back in the day.
I’ve been reading about the Mountain Dog Diet some more, and I think it would fit my lifestyle very well. I’m eating more grassfed beef. Haven’t pulled the trigger on butter yet, but plan to start eating it on days when my fat intake is lower. I know I can easily live a life with fresh food and few ingredients. I just need to keep myself honest.
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I’ve had to monitor my blood pressure the last few days and can report wild, immediate swings based on the quality of what I’ve eaten over the prior 24 hours. I recognize someone can tell me that’s transient and not necessarily representative of trends or chronic changes, but it does speak to exactly what you’re saying about macro vs. source.
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A fascinating observation. It’s amazing how things change as we get older as well. I am so glad I took advantage of my 20s by eating as awful as I did, because now there is no going back, haha. Or my teen years for that matter. I remember running 16 miles a day in the summer trying to get a six pack in high school and failing, but ALSO remember eating gigantic Costco cookies, muffins, brownies, and tons of In n Out, Jack in the Box and Carl’s Jr.
On that note: I got a $7 gift card for Hardees coming in the mail. Already have THAT cheat meal planned, haha.
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