Just an hour of cardio today; nothing exciting.
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Knocked out a minor chest workout and cardio yesterday. I can’t sleep more than 2 hours and I’m starting to have a really tough time in the gym, so I think the really hard dieting is going to come to an end for now; I’ll try to hold weight and fill out a little the next couple weeks and then transition to an actual dedicated muscle-gaining phase without becoming a 13yo girl worried about my weight every 5 or 6 weeks. I went from 215 to 197.4 in 3 weeks, so a huge loss, but I’m definitely looking more skinny than jacked right now.
Today was some more back. It’s a brutal grind right now, but I’ll get back in the groove. I’m actually pretty amped to eat my way up a little, which I haven’t been in awhile, so that’s good.
I’m seriously so tired I don’t remember my weight more so than I’m embarassed to write them down.
Back
-
Meadows Rows
3x8 with a drop set at the end
I have decided I really don’t like the Meadows Row handle on these -
Smith BO Rows
3 x 8 - I missed some reps here working up -
One-arm BB Rows
3x8 working up to a drop set -
Rope SA PD
3 x 10 -
Decline Leg Raises
4 sets -
Standing Calf
2 x 10 + 10p + 10s stretch
I’ll do a half hour on the bike later today. The doggo is at daycare today (we have some work going on at the house and it’s too cold for her to be out), so I won’t have her walk and probably will just skip that today.
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Thanks man. I definitely didn’t do it “right”. I’ve always been able to gain/ lose weight very rapidly. Unfortunately, that’s not synonymous with muscle or fat!
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Baller gym day. Well, I at least felt good, if not particularly strong.
- 15 minutes bike
-
Low Incline DB Bench
35/15
55/10
70/8
80/8
90/8 + 65/F -
Incline Bench
135/8
175/6
185/6
195/4 - just crapped out -
Wide HS Press
1pps/8
1.25pps/ 13 + 11 + 10 -
Machine Flye
3 x 10 + 10s stretch -
Machine Rear Delt
3 x 25
1m rests -
DB Side Raise
10/25 x 3
1m rests -
Machine Shoulder Press
3 x 25
1m rests
- 15 minutes bike
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come on mate, your chest is not that small. 
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@simo74 obviously I meant I spent an entire workout focusing on just my pectoralis minor… the broiest of the bro splittage.
Today was legs and I just felt off the whole time - really hard to get into it, etc. We (the Royal “We”) found some stuff that worked, though.
- 15 minutes bike
-
Lying Leg Curl
Did some warmups, then 3 x 10ish with 5s eccentrics. As I wore out on the slow eccentrics, I’d just pump out the last couple reps. Decent feel. -
SSB Squat
45/15
135/10
225/6
This is where I really couldn’t get in the groove. The warmups felt like a billion pounds, and I was just unstable and out of it on the reps. I decided to back off to 185 and just do sets off the box. This turned out to be a great move. I moved quick, everything felt right, I was able to focus on executing the reps, and I got a little pump in my quads (vs. a lot of slop everywhere). This is always my go-to when squatting is feeling off, and I do full range moves elsewhere anyway, so I might progress this for a little bit.
185/8 x 3 off box -
Leg Press
4pps/16 + 12 + 10 -
RDL
135/8
185/8
205/8 x 2
Not perfect, but in the books. My weight has stabilized right around 201 now that I’m eating more normally again, so I think there was some legitimate fat loss in the crash.
My daughter is headed hardcore into her teen years, and very emotional lately. Apparently her world was ending yesterday over all these perceived concerns “so and so is mad at me!” I overheard her complaining to my wife about all her rules (damn right you can’t have a cell phone up in your room, young lady) and I heard her cry “and I can’t complain to Dad about anything because he went to war or something!” That really made me laugh, because, if you ask my son (and he’d be right) he’d say she gets away with murder with me and I’ve always been much, much harder on him.
@T3hPwnisher I was thinking more about our back and forth in the diet thread, and didn’t want to clutter it, but you made some great points. When I look more at myself, I cannot be told what to do. I will do the opposite, even if what you told me to do was my original plan in the first place. I think that’s why I can work with a macros approach: I’m making all the decisions, and I’ll actually lean into the challenge side… “I get 250g of carbs? I don’t need those; I can do it on 150.” Someone else that’s just looking for permission, to your point, will take that totally differently. “250g of carbs - dude, I can eat a cake every day!” Still a third person would be the one to say, “well I can go to 275g and I’m still 90% compliant…” and continue that slide.
As we’ve all said a lot of times, there’s a lot of paths, but they really differ in the nuance (training and nutrition); at the end of the day, there are a finite set of principles the trainee will have to consistently execute. As Nick Saban so eloquently states about the illusion of choice, “it takes what it takes.”
I also liked the nerd stuff. I like The Witcher shows (well, the last season bored me), but I’m not even familiar with all the other stuff you mentioned/ comes up. I liked all the Batman movies, too. Singular paths!
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We have five girls. My two oldest I was much harder on. I regret that at times. My middle girl, and our twins, I was more lax. But if you ask my twins, dad was scary. Sure I was.
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I’ve heard that there is an interesting socio-evolutionary bit to this. That women have always been more in tune with “the community”, because they were reliant on them for their survival as the “weaker sex” in a tribal society, and therefore popularity and perceived social slights are of significantly more import than they are to men, who were able to exist in isolation without as much concern. When you pair this with those adult hormones bubbling up AND no pre-frontal cortex to sift through the sand with some logic, it’s a gnarly combo.
That diet thread has been a great convo! And I’m totally with you: it can’t be someone else’s idea. As soon as someone else suggests it, it’s off the table. The only instance where it’s not is when I explicitly ask a question: I’m receptive then. But “friendly advice?” Get stuffed, haha. And I’ll say I’m a 4th version of that macro calculator: I love puzzles! And in that regard, restrictions. So you set out the macro totals, and I’ll spend hours crafting the absolute most ridiculous “perfect” spread of them, trying to figure out how to alchemy peanut butter and whey into the perfect ratio of protein to fats. Which is why I don’t pursue that avenue at all: I KNOW I’ll obsess over it.
Illusion of choice sums it up pretty well. We have to pick the strategies that make us happy.
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I do, too, but we have to be fair with ourselves: we were in fatherhood training for the first time.
Dude, Chuck Norris fears you.
It is that! Total different kid it seems like overnight. On the other hand, my son has come out the other side and is just navigating life right now. It’s fascinating to watch it all. I sometimes wish I’d had a bunch more kids, but I’m also glad I didn’t have them any younger; it takes a little bit of maturity (that I didn’t have) to be able to just observe to a degree and let them figure it out.
Absolutely. I think the only “wrong” choice is when folks want the result without any of the sacrifice; you get to pick the row you want to hoe, but you still have to get out there and hoe it.
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This sums it up perfectly. I’ve heard “everyone restricts”, and it sums it up well. It’s simply a matter of finding the manner of restriction you find the most tolerable. I’m loving my current way of eating, because I get to FINALLY just eat until I’m satisfied EVERY day…but the restriction is I only get to do it once a day. When I was a fat kid, I was doing it multiple times a day. But I restricted when I was a fat kid in turn: I restricted myself OUTSIDE of eating, by being unable to perform physically and being unsatisfied with how I looked.
No one is out there without restriction: some of us are just on house arrest, while others are in maximum security.
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I feel compelled to highlight this—for my own sanity and some reassurance, if nothing else.
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Apparently forgot I have a lot again. All is well here! Been on the road since last week, but some solid hotel gyms so that’s been fine.
Sounds like my son is struggling to find his competitive spirit in wrestling. Based on what he’s saying, I think he is just going out and hoping the drill/ live is over as fast as possible. He’s still going every day and getting through it, though, and that was his major goal - all awesome there.
My daughter is still my princess, but hoo the first steps into the next age have been rough! She’s a good kid, so it’s not like real problems; just sassy and feelings.
I’ll head home tonight, we’ll pack and have breakfast with Santa tomorrow, and then we head on our vacation first thing Monday! I’m very excited.
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Back from Mexico! I’ll write more about it later, but we had fun. Got in early this morning (2-ish), feeling full of fatty foods and, perhaps, a bit of alcohol, so pulling off a workout today was just about getting in there - let’s not judge me too harshly.
My brother and his wife had their first baby this morning too; we’ll get down and see him in about a week.
I’ll do more life updates later and come back and get all the transformation pics that are rolling in.
Today was legs and maybe the start of a new “side quest”:
-
Lying Leg Curl
Tons of sets of 10 working up to one double drop set -
SSB Squats
Did these to a box again, because they felt awesome last time; they didn’t feel special today. I think I should have done more sets.
45/10
135/10
225/6
275/10 -
Leg Press
2pps/6
4pps/6
5pps/15
5pps/12
4pps/20 -
RDL
135/5
185/10
185/7
135/10 -
BFR Leg Extension
4 x 15 -
Hanging Leg Raise
4 sets
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I see what you did there!
Welcome back dude.
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@T3hPwnisher thanks man! I tried to slip that in, but you’re a careful reader. I liked that article, too; I’m a fan of analogies.
The vacation was super fun. We had a little bit of a conversation with our daughter about attitude and influence and those things early on, and she chose to take herself off a group text (before we chose for her), and it was night and day - I was really happy with it.
My son was a bit of a nervous person much of the trip, because he doesn’t know how to relax, but my daughter made him play with her and that always fixes everything. Heartwarming to watch.
Our flights were fine both ways, no problems at all, but it’s just tiring to travel. After the trip home, my wife told me she thinks I should just spend the money to fly private for work because I travel so much. I appreciated the sentiment and the vindication, but maybe when we have Taylor Swift success, dear.
As mentioned, my brother and his wife had their first baby. Apparently it was a breeze for her; doesn’t sound like she even missed breakfast. That will make it more fun to go down there a couple days.
Today was chest and shoulders.
-
DB Bench
25/15
45/8
65/8
75/8
85/8
95/8 -
Smith Incline
135/10 + 8
165/8 + 6
185/6 + 4 -
Bench
Pause on chest
155/8, 10, 10 -
DB Flye
30/10 x 3 -
DB Rear Delt
15/25 x 3
Last reps definitely were partials by the end -
Seated DB Lateral
20/12 x 3
Added a bunch of partials on the last set -
BB Over and Back
85/8
95/8 x 2 -
Machine Crunch
4 sets
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sounds like you had a win with your daughter, all had a good trip, great news for your brother and his wife, and it sounds like you wife thinks you are as wealthy as mine thinks she is. Hope you all have a great Christmas mate.
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That was a pretty funny line.
Thanks! It’s been good all around. And Merry Christmas to the Simo family!
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Back for back today. I thought it was going to be a grind when I woke up, but everything felt pretty good.
-
Meadows Row
-/10
25/8
50/4
75/4
100/8 x 3
100/15 -
Assisted Pull-ups
-100/10 x 2
-85/8 x 2 -
Rack Pull
Bottom pin
135/3
225/3
315/3
365/3
405/3 -
Wide Cable Row
3 x 10 -
Reverse Hyper
.25pps/20 x 2 -
BOSU Crunch
4 sets -
Bike x 20 minutes
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Christmas Eve arms!
-
Seated DB Curl
Warmups
30/10
35/6 x 2 -
EZ Reverse Curl
40/14
40//12 x 2 -
EZ Preacher Curl
50/8 x 3 -
BFR EZ Cur
4 sets -
Rope Pressdown
3 x 16-20 -
Close-Grip Bench
Kind of a JM kind of press, lowered over my nose, had a little pause and squeeze
95/12
115/8 x 2 -
DB Skullcrusher
30/10 x 3 -
BFR V-bar Pressdown
4 sets -
Cable Crunch
4 sets -
Seated Calf
4 x 12ish -
Bike x Family Guy Christmas episode
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