You guys are so lucky to be able to consider doing proper carries. The room I get with the trap bar is literally the size of the trap bar + me. Sometimes I can barely even stand outside the bar! Many a time I have thought about being that dumb guy that gets on the treadmill with it. Sundays aren’t so bad but with the gym connected to a school, it’s a gamble to program them seriously right now.
I sometimes grab a few kettlebells and just go for a disjointed walk with them but they don’t go very heavy and the walk is very zig-zaggy.
I can only do it when I’m in town, so that’s less than half the time. If you cut that down further to when I’m actually going to do them, it’s an infinitesimal fraction!
Back home and back in the gym!
We had Thor 4 night last night: we turned on the movie and ate meat and cheese and grapes with our bare hands… because that’s what heroes do.
Chest & Shoulders
I did a bang-on job of maintaining a ton of tension in the target muscle each rep today. Excelsior!
Did an hour of cardio yesterday. My quads are staying fatigued, which is new for me. Maybe that’s good? I might actually be targeting them for a change.
I gave blood yesterday, mostly because I’m an amazing human being but a little because I’m hoping it helps control my blood pressure. My HCT was on the high side, too, so that’s something else fun to stress about.
Separately, I’ve been having rosacea flare-ups on my face for the last year or so. These obviously aren’t nearly as devastating for me as they would be for the rest of you, because I have handsome to spare, but they’re still less than ideal. When it happens I have to get an antibiotic or it won’t clear up. The doctor this time suggested, because it’s an autoimmune disease, that I go gluten- and dairy-free. So now I have a Sophie’s choice between pizza and beer or looking like Frankenstein’s monster; you wouldn’t think it would be such a difficult decision, but we’ll see where I land…
Anyway, today was some back. I was a little dizzy-ish from the blood donation, but not awful.
10 minutes elliptical
Meadows Row
-/8
25/7
50/6
75/8 x 3
75/17
Assisted Pull-ups
-85/6-8 x 4
Rack Pulls
45/3
135/3
225/3
315/3
365/3
405/3
455/1 —> farted, laughed, got dizzy, decided to stop there
Good news, giving blood lowers HCT - so problem solved!
If HCT gets to be problematic though, you may need to continue donating blood or do therapeutic bloodletting. This is usually only a concern for those on TRT or blasting Test, but still worth monitoring!
I read this in the wrong context… thought it was a good thing.
I believe there is some research that suggests the carnivore diet can correct this. FWIW I believe Mikhaila Peterson did a Tedx on this as it cured her verious autoimmune diseases (I skipped the commentary part in this link, you’re welcome to watch but it’s unrelated).
I’ll keep an eye on the HCT. I’ve joked before that I have all the issues of a steroid abuser with none of the muscle or strength. I’m sure there’s a huge genetic component to this. Maybe a confounder in seeing more TRT users with high HCT is that they’re being more diligent with their blood work? I’m aware there is a demonstrated causal link between testosterone and RBC, but just something I’m pondering now.
I’m certainly interested in the dietary thoughts. I always like reading @mertdawg’s thoughts, as you and I both did this morning. I’m sure diet and alcohol are part of my poor hematologic viscosity.
perhaps. I have HCT before TRT values and bloodwork for during TRT should be coming back soon - I could use this as a comparison (my HCT values are pretty low).
@anon6371718 you seem well-versed, and I’m not going to venture to the drug section: does your leading lead you to double red donations or whole blood to lower hematocrit. Logically, I feel like double red would offer the greatest improvement. On the other hand, you can’t donate as often.
Hematicrit (HCT) is basically what percent of your total blood volume is Red Blood Cells (RBC). So overly high HCT means too much of your blood is RBC.
Having more RBC isn’t inherently bad (and usually means you have better cardio capacity too) but too high of HCT means your blood is getting too thick… there’s probably a joke about being dense in here somewhere.
You don’t want too low HCT either, but this is rarely a problem as the body just makes more RBC when it needs more. Just as is with TRT, smaller more frequent doses (in this case, donations) seems to make more sense to me. TC recommended donating blood anytime HCT was over 50… I’d stick yo this advice unless a provider says otherwise (this is intended for TRT patients, but it makes sense for natties too IMO).
