Did the chicken breast, bourbon, and overly comfortable shoes retire you from lifting?
That article and another that popped up when I searched alcohol on T-Nation seem to think you can drink in moderation without negative effects. I think they settled on .5g of alcohol per kg of body weight.
Another takeaway for me was that alcohol doesnāt necessarily cause you to store fat, but it prevents your body from using it as fuel because itās too busy dealing with the alcohol. Your plan to limit fat intake while drinking is great, but if youāre on point for your total calories for the day then it might not matter so much.
On a final note, fat seems to absorb toxins and helps us stay on our feet. Iāve been told to consume fat if youāve drank too much and youāre trying to recover before you succumb to the constant spinning room experience. Itās unconfirmed at this point.
Quick Update
Iāve obviously stepped away from my log a bit.
Combination of factors. Busy and focused at work, and I guess Iāve lost a little interest in the forums and articles.
Iāve got some challenging work days ahead, and hitting my intake numbers will not be easy. I am up for the task. Iāll be eating a lot of bars.
I will not miss any workouts, even if the hotel gyms suck.
As for workouts, they continue to slowly evolve.
I would say Iām doing less standard pulling and pressing, and more lower back work, pull up bar holds and tricks, handstand work, jump rope, and breakdancing. And of course a daily overdose of arms, shoulders, and traps.
I can see a bit less front-to-back thickness. Maybe. But traps, shoulders, arms, and upper back look great.
I am doing less biking and NEPA for sure. Weather has sucked lately. I need to keep calories at 2500 or less and make the most of the weekends to add activity.
Aiming for the magical and reliable 40/40/20 split.
Today, I ended up at 47/37/16.
If the calorie number is hit, itās pretty much a win, so I donāt worry about hitting macros on the head. I try to get less than 60g fat, and at least about 160g of protein. From there, protein and carbs can fall where they may, as long as I stay under 2500 calories.
If I do all that, Iāll be nice and lean all the time. If I want to get super dialed-in, I can always slash carb intake a bit and get immaculate with food choices. Holding those cards for another few weeks, though.
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Woah, this past week was a total bust from a dietary intake standpoint. I was eating like a normal person from Monday through Thursday.
Itās not something I tend to dwell on or get crazy about. Iām in the middle of some pretty intense work situations, and sometimes when conditions are difficult to control (sitting in meetings all day without easy access to my healthy food staples, no breaks or free time from early morning until late night) and stress is high, it just passes a threshold where I canāt seem to summon the powers to overcome all of these forces.
No big deal, Iām off to a warm location for a few days. Still work, but less stress, more free time, and way more control over my options. Iāll be able to get lots of activity, great workouts, and stick to my staples. By Tuesday morning, I should be able to undo whatever damage I did this week. Not that I went totally crazy on a bender or anything, I just ate too much.
I see that the Transformation contest is starting up in January. Not really my thing at the moment, but Iāll be keeping an eye on it and I hope it provides a reason to keep engaging here. I really have been struggling a bit to find reasons to spend my very rare spare time on the site. Iāve been a pretty loyal member since WAY back in the original days. My level of interest ebbs and flows, so thatās part of it. But something is missing around here, and I just canāt put my finger on it. Maybe itās a combination of things.
For starters, I really miss the buzz around new product releases. I donāt see the level of innovation I used to see. I see other companies bringing on new products, but it seems like itās been a while for Biotest.
The other thing I miss is the number of high-level veteran competitors and lifters. It seems like there used to be multiple prep threads at any given time, but these days things seem super quiet over in the bodybuilding section.
There are still good people here, so thatās probably what keeps me around. Itās fun to exchange ideas and thoughts and learnings with like-minded people.
Lastly, the organization of the articles absolutely drives me nuts. I really wish it was much easier to quickly identify what is actually new, vs. what is slightly altered but mostly recycled, vs. old articles being re-posted. I understand that there is value in old articles for those that never read them. But for someone like me who has read just about everything, I just donāt want to scroll through and try to pick out whatās new. Maybe Iām getting old and it just strains my eyes.
The format of the articles is something Iāve just stopped complaining about. I donāt think the āTop 5 Thingsā listicle format is a trend that is unique to T-Nation, itās pretty ubiquitous no matter where you go. Thatās why when TC writes an actual real article every once in a while, it reminds me of the good old days. There are still some of us out here who actually enjoy reading and donāt need you to tell me what youāre going to tell me, tell me in five bullets, and then tell me what you told me.
And finally, I donāt see an openness to feedback by T Nation staff. Every once in a while, someone ācomplainsā, and the pattern Iāve noticed is that those people are quickly put in their place. I feel like most great companies make it a point to ensure their customers have a voice or at the very least, they feel like they have a voice. I donāt see much of that here. Complain out loud, and youāre purchase and post history will get scrutinized very quickly. I honestly feel compelled to make a purchase right now just to earn the right to share these thoughts.
Despite all that, there still is no place like home. Literallyā¦Iām not aware of any other forums/companies that have what T Nation has. And maybe thatās part of why they donāt seem to be compelled to continuously improve? Not enough competitive pressure?
Iāve seen this multiple times in some of the āold timerā posts, Iām really curious as to what it is (being as Iāve only really been here since February) Iāve read some of the old threads, I did see a whole lot of shit talking, ha.
Hope you are on a āflowā and not an āebbā, I enjoy the log (for what thatās worth, ha!)
I donāt want to derail your log, so if that was just a venting session, no prob, but I feel like I can address some points.
I think the last new product was Plazma in 2013 or so. It was an upgraded formula that evolved from Anaconda. Before that, I think it was Indigo-3G a year or two prior (but they did revamp Indigo a while after it was first released, changed the formula, more concentrated dose, etc.).
Biotest has never been one to make products simply to get them out there, as evidenced by the multiple times theyāve been first to market with a product type which is quickly followed by wannabe competitors (Indigo-3G being a perfect example).
Theyāve always been about making the best stuff, not just coming up with stuff to sell. Itās usually to their detriment in the short-term, but long-term, it always works out. The fact that they donāt have a stimulant-loaded face-melting pre-workout is an example of this.
I donāt remember if/when there were ever a ton of competitorās logs, maybe a handful at a time, and there were 3-4 concurrent logs in the last year or two with Rob, Brick, Josh, and I think another dude whose name escapes me (sorry). But for competitor logs to happen, you need A) Guys who actually compete, not just say āI wanna do a show somedayā (which happens often) and B) Guys who will consistently post log updates (which doesnāt happen often, especially during contest prep). But this has never really been a forum thatās been full of competitors.
FWIW, weāve got a bunch of high-level competitors in strength sports posting updates. Nevermind the beast that is Alpha. Flip recently won Texas Strongest Man, Vincepac is on track for an 800-pound deadlift, and Reed just squatted a fucking grand.
I donāt have any input on the article situation. Every few years or so, they tweak how they do the articles. I do know that, overall, the tips and multiple article are getting read by people. If the views/reads werenāt going up, theyād change their approach.
And so you should, Whiney McWiner. 
But yeah, Iām not 100% sure what youāre referring to. On the forum here, criticism has been handled primarily by me lately, and I donāt think I usually throw peopleās spending habits back at them unless itās relevant. When the forum changed over to this new style, there was a bit ofā¦ letās call it āresistance to changeāā¦ that had to be sorted out the first month or two, but other than that, we do literally have a Forum Feedback section now to field constructive criticism about the site.
If anything, thereās more competition today than T Nationās ever had, thanks to social media. People donāt āneedā discussion forums like they did even 5 years ago. So itās definitely not a case of T Nation not being compelled to continuously improve. Itās actually more imperative than ever that we do, so we are.
Lol, stated, then proven.
Chris, I appreciate you taking the time to share your perspective. Valid points all around.
As are mine, still, I think. I would love to know if Tim is at least looking into anything new or cutting-edge.
Thanks.
New way to log. Post a snapshot of my Lose It! daily log, scrolled to the bottom. That way, all major inputs and outputs are visible, and it will also force me to reveal what I eat late in the evening.
Macro targets are 40/35/25 and calories are at 2040.
7 weeks to shredded is ON.
Iām gonna aim to get string bean lean and then do a double-mini-mass building cycle through July 1st and see if I can win the contest the hard way. That way I can crush Yogi AND still crush everyone else.
Killing it Serge. Who knows, by next July you might get a promotion to Sarge!
do your worst, Shamu_A_Storms. I havenāt cheated on my diet in likeā¦ 6 daysā¦
Nailing targets every day.
I miss summer. I am not creating many opportunities for extra activity because going outside sucks.
Day 4 of my 7 Weeks to Shredded Plan
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Iāve been working on some āair walkingā moves on the pull-up bar. Stuff like what this guy in the video does.
Yesterday, a guy walked up after I was done with a āsetā on the bar. āHey, sorry to interrupt, but that was amazing! How many of those do you do? How long did it take to get that strong? I could see every muscle in your back when you were doing those. Not trying to be weird, but that was amazing!ā
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Aw man I wish I could do those handstand movements! Itās pretty incredible how easy he makes all that look.
Pretty good weekend.
I got multiple sessions in on both days.
Lots of jump rope, gymnastics, and breakinā.
Not much traditional lifting, other than single-arm dumbbell work for arms, chest, shoulders, and upper back.
I have not been very interested in building muscle these days. Iām more into stupid human tricks and burning calories. I may end up looking even less like a lifter and even more like a 400m runner, and that is fine. Iām sure the itch will come back.