holidays for everyone!
I’m back from holiday now. Fiji is pretty sweet, but my stupid weak immune system landed me with a really bad bout of gastro! I managed to vomit a rather heroic 35 times in one day haha. Was therefore unable to eat much for the last few days and have dropped some hard-earned weight.
Anyway I am resuming training tomorrow and have decided to try a new strategy to gain weight. I have had really poor results using a 700 calorie shake as my morning meal and actually suspect I’m absorbing very little of it. So I will switch to all solids and see if I have any luck. I’m sitting around just 78kg now and I’m truly desperate to get back into the 80s.
Good news though; my sleep appears to be under control! While we were away, I tried sleeping with ear plugs in and have now had 8 consecutive natural sleeps with a minimum of 7 hours per night :).
Hope everyone is doing well!
[quote]furo wrote:
An exercise you could try is dip belt squats. Ben Bruno has posted about them I think, as a way for people with back pain to train legs, but I imagine they’d work equally well for you. They also have the advantage of being new (if you haven’t done them before) and so you won’t have past standards hanging over you. [/quote]
This is clever and I wish I’d thought of it
Or just squat your dog
[quote]furo wrote:
I know it’s impossible not to compare with what you’ve done in the past, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with a 90kg bench and 100kg squat - you are outdoing the vast majority of people. Take a moment to think how well you are doing, and try not to compare it with previous standards. You’re doing really great :).
An exercise you could try is dip belt squats. Ben Bruno has posted about them I think, as a way for people with back pain to train legs, but I imagine they’d work equally well for you. They also have the advantage of being new (if you haven’t done them before) and so you won’t have past standards hanging over you. [/quote]
That’s a really good suggestion, thanks. I’d never heard of that exercise before but a quick Google looks promising. Cheers man
I was just wondering if you were back yet. Glad you had a hol, but the gastro doesn’t sound fun…I didn’t know it was possible to throw up that many times in a day?! Anyway hope the trip has somewhat refreshed you to start training again.
Yeh maybe solid food little & often is the way to go? I managed to gain a decent amount of weight by eating a mixture of peanut butter & whey mixed together as snacks between meals…I started enjoying it so much I had to ban it from the hse when I wanted to lean up as it was too tempting haha! But yeah some smaller but more regular calorie dense snacks might be worth a try?
Good to see you back anyway.
I didn’t think it was possible either! Haha. Even a sip of water would result in violent evacuations. Thankfully I still managed to enjoy the warm weather and swimming with my daughter for a couple of the days we were away.
Turns out I didn’t resume training today, as I had a wisdom tooth extraction which I’d cleverly pushed to the back of my memory. Hopefully tomorrow instead.
Peanut butter and whey sounds great haha. Peanut butter is addictive in general, I am sure.
I’ve pushed my calories up to 3500 plus by adding a simple mass shake in:
TBSP peanut butter
2 scoops protein powder
1 cup choc milk
1 cup oats
blam, 800 easy calories.
I’ve been fucking around trying out exercises to replace squats, but have been trying to get over this sickness so haven’t resumed logging yet. Hopefully in the next couple of days I will resume a template of some form.
Also, I just ordered a heavy duty dip belt! Why? To start hip belt squats. I tried them out with my shitty old dip belt and they felt great with almost no core stress. So I think they could be the salvation for my shrinking legs. Watch this space.
Sleep is still really good with no drugs required.
Surely the combination of all above will help me finally start gaining weight.
I had an oncology check-up yesterday and my bloods and physical exam are fine, will be having the big checkup with CT scan probably in March.
[quote]panzerfaust wrote:
Sleep is still really good with no drugs required.
I had an oncology check-up yesterday and my bloods and physical exam are fine, will be having the big checkup with CT scan probably in March.[/quote]
Awesome!
Actually I just checked my mfp and I’ve hit 3800 calories the last couple of days. Definitely need to start training hard again or I’m gonna get fat as fuck.
[quote]panzerfaust wrote:
I had an oncology check-up yesterday and my bloods and physical exam are fine, will be having the big checkup with CT scan probably in March.[/quote]
Awesome news. Keep up the great work!
Good news on the check up & hope the squats work out well. I’ve pulled my hamstring so no legs for me at the moment - ffs!
Time to check back in. I’ve officially conquered my new metabolism, in fact I’ve put nearly 2.5kg on in the last week… oops! Sadly I didn’t train any of that time, so it’s safe to assume it was water weight, glycogen and (mostly) fat haha. But tbh I don’t mind gaining a bit of fat, just want to fill up my size L tshirts properly again.
It’s funny when you look back; I remember when I first started lifting seriously I was around 75kg at 6 foot and lean, never bothered me. Then one day i was standing waiting to cross the road, and a massive gust of wind pretty much blew me off my feet haha. I felt so fucking emasculated, and at that precise moment I decided I was going to get big.
The heaviest I ever got was 97kg and at that weight was carrying some pretty serious fat, as you can see in my old photos on here. But I had nice big arms and traps and felt really good in my own skin.
Losing so much weight during my illness really fucked with me in an identity kinda way. Everywhere I go I feel like I’m a withered shadow of my former self. It’s getting easier mentally, but I definitely want to reclaim a lot of the size I lost. I think I’ll feel a lot better about myself when I weigh like 85kg . I think my plan is to lift and eat as hard as I can until I hit that size, then if I am looking a bit porky I’ll drop the calories slightly and take a slow and hopefully leanish route to say 90kg.
Still definitely limited by the exercises I can do; lack of heavy deadlifts and squats is obviously going to hinder my mass building aspirations. But I hope if I train sensibly I can still get some decent size on relatively quickly.
I’ll see!
I haven’t lifted in nearly 3 weeks so I’m pretty weak and crappy but today I started a basic Upper / Lower split, will be aiming for 4 sessions per week. Doing a basic Lyle McDonald bulking template for Upper Body. But on the Lower Body day I’ll need to make some changes.
Also it’s my birthday today 
13/10/14
Bench
8 x 65kg
8 x 70
6 x 75
3 x 80
DB Row
10 x 27.5kg
10 x 27.5
10 x 27.5
10 x 27.5
OHP
7 x 40kg
10 x 35
10 x 30
Rack Chin
15, 12, 12
Bicep Curl
12 x 20kg
Skull Crusher
15 x 12.5kg
Felt weak but good to get back into it.
BW 81.3kg
Good to read on the weight gain mate, birthday beers to you!
Cheers dude!
Hitting 4100 calories today, probably will need to dial it back soon but I’ll wait until 4 weeks is up so I can see what my weight gain rate is and adjust accordingly.
14/10/14
Squat
10 x 3 x 80kg (ten sets of three)
Stiff Legged Deadlift
8 x 50kg
8 x 55
8 x 60
8 x 65
Single Leg Calf Raise
18 x 20kg
18 x 20
Well, I tried hip belt squats a number of ways and none of them worked for me. Either balance was shitty or my knees were playing up or I just couldn’t get a good muscular engagement.
So fuck it, I’ll just squat and deadlift light for lots of sets of 3. I guess I’ll increase weekly until I break down or something. But in all seriousness, lower reps should be safe at least until a certain weight, because my form will be fine and I can actively avoid too holding too much air in my belly. I’ll figure it out as I go. Just sick of trying to find a way to train around this stupid hernia.
[quote]panzerfaust wrote:
lack of heavy deadlifts and squats is obviously going to hinder my mass building aspirations.
[/quote]
It would have been good if just a nanogram of that chemo could have wiped out the synapses in your brain where this little idea of yours has so firmly lodged itself.
It’s just not true.
I know that squats and deads are important and meaningful to you, but you can 100%, without a doubt, gain all the mass you are capable of gaining without them. They are not as magical as you believe.
I’m not one to come into someone’s house and tell them what they should be believing, but in your case I just don’t want to see you mess yourself up. The risk-benefit equation on this one is not adding up. I think you know the risks…it’s the reward side that might be a little warped.
On a more positive note, Happy Birthday! Glad to see the metabolism is coming back on-line. I love the story about almost getting blown away in the wind.
Keep up the great work!
A bit late here, but hope you had a great birthday.
[quote]Serge A. Storms wrote:
[quote]panzerfaust wrote:
lack of heavy deadlifts and squats is obviously going to hinder my mass building aspirations.
[/quote]
It would have been good if just a nanogram of that chemo could have wiped out the synapses in your brain where this little idea of yours has so firmly lodged itself.
It’s just not true.
I know that squats and deads are important and meaningful to you, but you can 100%, without a doubt, gain all the mass you are capable of gaining without them. They are not as magical as you believe.
I’m not one to come into someone’s house and tell them what they should be believing, but in your case I just don’t want to see you mess yourself up. The risk-benefit equation on this one is not adding up. I think you know the risks…it’s the reward side that might be a little warped.
On a more positive note, Happy Birthday! Glad to see the metabolism is coming back on-line. I love the story about almost getting blown away in the wind.
Keep up the great work![/quote]
Trust me, there’s a heap of stuff in my brain I wish the chemo had erased!
You’re absolutely right, and I respect you for calling it like you see it. Also judging by your Avi you know what you are talking about haha.
I’m very prone to frustration and I think I’ve just hit the wall in terms of finding a way to train my legs.
Leg Press and Machines was probably the best exercise option. But I really disliked the gym and found it was fucking with me mentally seeing all these people who are fit, strong and healthy. Honestly I hated being there, and felt really shitty about myself.
Belt squats just didn’t work out with the gear I purchased. Admittedly I could order the Iron Mind belt but it’s going to cost me a lot and it will take ages to ship here from USA… and in all likelihood I won’t be happy with it anyway.
Lunges / SL squats I suck at; always losing my balance and tweaking knees. I think my busted core makes my balance somewhat worse than it already was.
Probably the best option would be for me to purchase a leg press machine for my home gym, but I don’t have the finances right now unfortunately. They’re bloody expensive!
I had even considered dropping lower body and just training upper haha. But stuff that. Also I am running out of pants that I fit, so it’s imperative I get some beef back on my ass!
I did email my surgeon yesterday and ask him what the “worst case scenario” I’d be facing with lifting and ignoring the hernia. I understand pinching blood vessels / causing blockages is generally the big danger with hernias, but mine is 20-30mm wide so not gonna happen ha.
When I originally told him way back that I couldn’t just Stop lifting altogether, he did say I may develop a bulge over time. But he didn’t really go into it any further - simply said lift with higher reps and less weight if I really need to keep training.
I haven’t heard anything back yet.
So yeah, I figure low rep squats and deads will be fine at least for a while. I mean if I’m using a weight I could usually do for say 10 reps x 3 sets, but instead doing it for 3 reps x 10 sets, I should still get pretty good work in? I don’t know haha.
Cheers for the birthday wishes guys.
Just out of interest for anyone reading:
My hernia starts slightly below my sternum and continues to slightly above my belly button, so it’s 70mm x 30mm pretty much.
16/10/14
Bench
8 x 70kg
8 x 70
8 x 70
6 x 70
DB Row
8 x 32.5kg
8 x 32.5
8 x 32.5
8 x 32.5
OHP
12 x 35kg
10 x 35
10 x 30
Rack Chin
15, 12, 10
Bicep Curl
15 x 20kg
Skull Crusher
15 x 12.5kg
All good, had a bit of a vomit part way through haha. I had that the other day too; must be the joy of getting back into it after a couple of weeks being lazy / sick.
happy belated man!