Okay, yeah, whole fish idea FTW. Ran down to the Big C (like a Walmart kinda) and was able to grab whole, large mackerel for 30 baht a piece. They weigh about a pound each, and there is some waste of course but I’m gonna say they are 2/3 to 3/4 meat.
I will put one of these a day into the diet. So there we have a ONE POUND FISH every day, I think that’ll do me some good.
SGHP
So I ramped to a 1RM first in order to actually know WTF I should be working with. Went back to 3RM today. But damn, I would have guessed wrong…
Ramp to 3RM
Landed at 57.5 kg! That was more than my first 1RM. IMMEDIATE STRENGTH GAINZ FTW
Clusters at ~90 = 50 kg
10
7
4
aaaaaaand…lost a blister on my pinkie. After all the ramping and pounding the clusters, and considering I have another high pull day on Friday, I decided to cut it there so I’d even be able to work in a couple days.
BUT, I went for seated rows before GTFO
Some unmarked plates for 12 slamming, contraction-held reps
2 more plates
8
7
5
4
Drop 2 plates
10
8
Done. Live to fight another day sort of thing…gonna need some sports tape for the fingers methinks.
NOW, here’s how my diet is shaping up. 6 days a week look similar to this:
730am - Yogurt, coffee with coconut milk
9am - Oatmeal plus ovaltine plus chocolate milk plus coconut milk, maybe a PWO coffee as well
10am - LIFT - raw fruit (esp. pineapple) immediately after
1130 am - 4 eggs and some raw fruit
1245 pm - 6 chicken skewers and 2 things of sticky rice (~ 12oz chicken and a cup of rice is my estimate)that I get on the street on my way to class
OR a whole mackerel or half a chicken on days I don’t walk to class.
230-3pm - Some other source of meat and carbs, be it seafood or pork or noodles or rice, whatever street or school vendor meals I may pass that look good. Got a restaurant right downstairs from class.
530-6pm - Half a chicken or whole mackerel, whatever I didn’t have earlier, or I go out for another meal like beef salad or laab, either of which are just a pile of meat and raw veggies.
9pm - Maybe more yogurt, maybe more oatmeal, maybe more eggs, whatever I feel like really as long as I eat.
1030 - snack on some almonds and brazils, pound some pure fruit juice ( I do this with every meal as well) or eat raw fruit
11-12pm BED
The 7th day? PIG OUT. Pretty much go out, devour every piece of meaty/fruity street food that looks worth my 20-50 baht, maybe hit the grocery store for more mackerel or chicken.
The whole mackerel for 30 baht is going to be my single ticket to success.
Weekly pics.
DECLINE
Same logic as ramping to 1RM last week, since I had no clue on a realistic number.
Ramp to 3RM - landed at 80kg
Clusters at ~90% = 70kg
10
7
4
Instant tit pump.
HDL at ~70% - 50 kg
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
5, 3, 2, 1
Pump at ~50% = 40kg
7, 6, 5, 3, 1
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
5, 3, 2, 1
DONE. Felt great. Looked ripped in the gym mirror all pumped and covered in sweat to the degree of thinking “whoa this is working fast.”
Idea of one meal that set me back about $4 USD if I drink 1/3 of the liter of juice, which is about normal.
SGHP
Ramped to 3rm of 62.5 kg.
Clusters at ~90% = 55 kg
12
10
6
Too light? The ramp to max dictated this weight to be about right but that was some volume.
HDL at ~70% = 45 kg
5, 4, 3, 2, 3
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
5, 4, 3, 2, 2
Pump ~50% = 50 kg
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
First time I made all the reps. Must have been too light.
BENCH
Again, I wanted incline but dudes in the gym are all up in my biznass. Seems the average Thai gym rat is very, very much a beach body kind of lifter. I see the same guys every day doing either curls or benching.
Anyway…
Flat bench from blocks for a 3RM.
Ramped to 62.5 kg.
Clusters at ~90% = 55kg
5
3
3
Yeah…god I suck at pressing. That’s why I am doing it 2x a week. Makes me feel like a bitch.
HDL at ~70% = 42.5 kg
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
I did NOT want to finish those last 3, 2, 1 reps but god damn it, I made it through with eyes bugging out.
Pump at ~50% = 30kg
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
5, 2, 2, 1
Burned through those as fast as I could. Totally smoked by the last set even with 30 kg.
I’ve always had trouble getting my pecs to move the weight but that is certainly coming around. Had some moments in a few hard reps where I consciously made the pec get to work, and up came the weight while my chest felt like it was shredding apart.
Threw in some unilateral cable work just to hammer home that peak contraction with the humerus coming fully across the body. My shit needs help so I will give it help.
Aaaah, SQUATS. I missed you. Felt a lot better today than last week, figured out the rack i am stuck with and I was only working with a 3RM. Still, all this upper back murder from high pulls 2x a week made the bar uncomfortable on my traps, and the 2x a week pressing with nothing handy to do some SMR has my shoulders fairly tight right now. I was not the most comfortable dude under the bar today.
Ramped to 3RM - 92.5kg
Clusters at ~90% = 85kg
6
5
3
I have done a LOT better in the past but I am just getting back in the swing of squatting. Could have squeezed out more but I have no pins available so I took the safe way out today.
HDL at ~70% = 60kg
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Rammed those out as hard as I could while some dude sat across the room staring at me.
aaaaaand my shoulders were saying “fuck you” at that point so I went over to the leg press to finish myself off.
100kg x 24. ROUGH
100 kg x 24. Even ROUGHER. Took a few goes to get the reps on that one.
80 kg x 12
Legs quivering.
GTFO and destroy food.
[quote]mutantcolors wrote:
I had the epiphany that I can do scrambled eggs in the mircowave yesterday, so yeah, mark that as a WIN.
I’m thinking I should start buying whole fish and crush one a day. I can get all sort but unfortunately the cheap ones are all deep fried.[/quote]
They sell a plastic cup device for making poached eggs in the microwave… plus you can buy boiled eggs in sealed plastic bags from some 7-Elevens and Family Marts as well as pick some up at the local street food market. Street Food is great in Thailand and most times tastes better than restaurant food. Good luck in Siam.
Big C has 30 packs and I’d prefer to handle cooking them myself, I get them the way I want that way. Been burning through plenty of street food and whole fish I get at Big C also.
SHGP
Ramp to 2RM - 57.5 kg
Clusters at ~90% - 50kg (counted wrong and though I was working with a higher max load so I subtracted too much by accident, as I figured out later)
16
11
9
5
Guess how I knew I got the weight wrong.
Anyway, I only dropped a little off for the 2 HDLs since I realized my error.
HDL at 45kg
4,4,3,3,2,2,1,1
4,4,3,3,2,2,1,1
And off to the seated row station.
Unmarked plates x 12
+1 plate x 10
+1 plate x 8, 8
Back to original weight x 12
GTFO
Weekly pics.
DECLINE
Ramp to 2RM - 82.5 kg
Clusters @ ~90% = 75 kg
6
3
3
2
HDL @ ~ 70% = 60 kg
5,4,3,2,1
5,4,3,2,1
5,3,2,1
Only missed 2 reps there at the end. Gotta reference my last decline 1RM but I think I am getting somewhere with this.
BENCH FROM BLOCKS
I’ve just adopted this one since it’s so easy to set up and I don’t have to wrestle for equipment.
Ramp to 2RM = 82.5 kg
Clusters at ~90% = 75 kg
5
4
4
3
HDL at ~70% = 60kg
5,4,3,2,1
5,4,3,2,1
5,3,1
Did not do pump set as I had thoroughly smashed my scapulae into the floor enough for one day. While I was supposed to be done here, it was storming like a bastard and I didn’t do the pump sets so I went in for some dips.
18
16
12
10
Had a break in the rain so I made a dash for it, plus dips were getting pretty close to failure.
That was earlier today. Since then I have eaten:
5 eggs
Countless handfuls of almonds and peanuts
A whole chicken leg
8 pieces of sushi
8 pieces of salmon nigiri (radioactive meat candy)
…and counting
Maybe it’s time for some more carbs beyond the rice in the sushi.
Yeah, I’m jacking off on one of five workouts a week consistently, and it’s my one lower body day. Today’s excuse: tomorrow is my birthday and I plan to do some temple tours, and didn’t care to be doing all those steps after squatting.
DEADLIFT
Worked up through some long sets of 110 kg to a 140 kg single.
Back to 110 kg
5,4,3,2,1
4,3,2,1
4,3,2,1
unsupported T bar row SS with seated calf raise
45 kg x 8 + 45 kg x 6+4
45 kg x 8 + 45 kg x 5+4
45 kg x 8 + 35 kg x 4+4
35 kg x 8 + 25 kg x 6+4+4
Food.
I had that nice touch of DOMS radiating outward from my centerline and high up the hamstrings after deadlifting Sunday, while I went out and hit some temples Monday.
Went to the post office this morning to finally pick up my shipment of BCAAs and creatine. Thus I had to move my session to the evening.
SGHP
…just kidding. Got to the gym at 6pm to find every barbell in use by the weightlifting team. So I jammed out the best workout I could in the crowded weight room.
Seated row - I had to rep the shit out of it because, for a few stupid reasons, it’s basically impossible to load more than 75 kg on the cable.
Warm up sets of 15
12 x 50 kg
12 x 50 kg
10 x 70 kg
Big, slow contractions, forward posture (leaning over slightly)
12 x 50 kg
10 x 70 kg
switch to rope attacment (longer ROM)
6 x 50 kg
After stealing the rope I proceeded to superset in that attachment and some mechanical advantage by using my erectors in a controlled fashion, like really, really controlled.
I lost count honestly but it was something like
8 x 50 kg (rope)
6 x 70 kg (narrow neutral attachment)
10 x 50 kg
10 x 50 kg “controlled cheat”
times 4 sets I think
People were staring and waiting in line by this point hahaha. “Why is this white dude so strict with his form? He must have no idea what he’s doing.”
After I was burned on those I changed the supersets.
10 x 50kg rope
6 x 50 kg rope “controlled cheat” but the rope was so long the ROM on the stretch wasn’t much
then stood up for
8x20 kg low cable face pull
did 3 of those
Then I hit my new favorite superset: T bar bent over row and seated calves (the machines are neighbors)
Row 8 x 40 kg slow and hold → 6+4 x 35 kg calf raise
Row 8 x 40 kg slow and hold → 5+4 x 35 kg calf raise
Row 8 x 40 kg slow and hold → 3 x 35 + 6 x 25 kg calf raise
Row 8 x 40 kg slow and hold → 6 x 25 + 8 x 10 kg calf raise
Row 8 x 40 kg slow and hold → 10 x 10 + 6 x 10 kg calf raise
Row 8 x 40 kg slow and hold → 8 x 10 + 6 x 10 kg calf raise
Then I went upstairs, was super stoked for 30sec when I saw a freakin PULLOVER MACHINE, sat in it, realized it was the most unconfortable thing invented short of a torture device, accidentally sort of broke it and GTFO in shame.
Anyway, I know it aint Biotest, so sue me. I was chugging Aminocore the whole time. I hardly even thought about getting tired and the stuff is straight up delicious. I’m stoked to see how I feel after ravaging myself 5x per week and now having the recovery benefits to back up such nonsense. No more 3 day squat hangover?
DECLINE
Retested the 1RM today. Very happy with my progress in 3 weeks.
Ramp to 1RM = 115 kg. +5kg in 3 weeks on my worst movement.
Clusters:
100
100
100
90
90
100
100
90
90
90
100
90
90
90
90
HDL:
80
80
80
75
75
80
80
75
75
75
75
75
70
70
70
Pump - some dude came up and just snaked the bench from me, even put the 10kg plate I just reracked back on the bar. Pretty dick move, whatever, I just waited for him to do one set, put everything back as it was and finished up.
50 x 10
x4
x2
dips x BW
5, 4, 4, 4, 5
GTFO
Your beard and bed sheet clutter seem to be making some serious progress 
This is a cool log, best of luck man. Tailand is a really cool place, hope to head back one day soon.
I’ll just say I like where this is going.
Thailand has been great so far, always reminding myself that things aren’t better/worse here, they are just different. There are some frustrating elements I deal with every day but they aint no big deal in the long run.
Bizzack. What’s up with the trap dimples?
