Just hearing it from others is more than I could ask dude: much appreciated. All in all I have a charmed life, and these are the most first world problems I could ever complain about, but there’s always something, haha.
2 Likes
AFTERNOON WORKOUT (1500)
Axle bench press
5xAxle (superset w/20 chins)
5x196 (ss 15 chins)
5x226 (ss 15 chins)
9x251 (ss 25 band pull aparts)
17x196 (ss 25 band pull aparts)
SUPERSETS (bench/rows) 90 second rest between first 2 sets: 60 second rest for final 3
(3) High incline DB bench 75s
5x10-final set finished w/25 miniband pushdowns
Axle rows against light bands
5x10
Poundstone curls
145xAxle
20 min rest (pick up kid from school)
BW dips (rest pause)
31+14+5
30 GHRs
20 standing ab wheels
PM WORKOUT (2100)
Stone of steel to shoulder
30 reps in 8:10
40 BW reverse hypers
Notes: (Settle in: it’s a long one) Unplanned SVR II bench workout, which was a bonus. Full plan was to not lift today and spend time with the Mrs on her day off, but she wanted to grab a nap at one point so I booked it to the garage and busted this out in the span of 50 minutes. I am really appreciating these shorter training sessions: it’s nice to have “permission” to not make them such epics, while at the same time they’re intense by cramming in as much as I can under the constraints. I mixed in my daily work as part of the assistance work and otherwise picked high speed/low drag stuff that required minimal set up.
You can see that I rushed the warm-ups, but it’s one of the blessings of being a dude that rarely warms up in the first place. In truth, I pretty much just use warm-ups as volume builders, so when push comes to shove they can just be cut out. I’m satisfied with my bench performance only insomuch as it means I’ve got the right TM selected, but that’s a far cry from where I’ve been. Gives me some room to climb up.
These ironmaster dumbbells continue to be a great purchase. Having something between 50 and 105lbs has opened up a lot of avenues. Short rest periods helped make things suck more, but I also got some tips from Marty Gallagher’s “Purposeful Primitive” I’ll be looking to employ in the future. Primarily effective use of pausing on the DB bench. Axle rows against bands are still a favorite of mine.
I’m doing “internet approved dips” these days: super duper full ROM and strict lockout, similar to how I do them when I have a weighted load. If I’m only going to do 50 a day, I wanna make them suck.
The PM workout is something I’ve wanted to do for a while:it’s effectively “stone Grace”. Answered the mail.
Last night of night shift, so I’m gonna stay up for about 36 hours and get to sleep Tuesday night.
On the “woe is me” nutrition front, I made some better decisions today as far as they relate to my goals. Mrs wanted to get breakfast burritos. I did my typical “no potatoes/no cheese” modification to mine, BUT I went for steak instead of ham. I’ve been avoiding beef a bunch these past few months, and making a conscious decision to eat it instead of an alternative is a victory. Had something similar at dinner: went back for 3rds. I’m forcing myself to shift mental gears here. And I was wondering why the hell this is so hard for me compared to every other time I’ve done it and it dawned on me:
I don’t have a goal.
Yeah, I know I’ve said “I need to put on bodyfat and regain my health”, but the thing is, that’s a personal goal, and those haven’t really been great for me to make big sweeping changes. When I got my 265lb strict press, it’s because I had a competition coming up that needed me to be able to press a 250lb keg. When I got as lean as I ever did, it initially started off as just “let’s cut away some fluff”, but in the middle of it I had a doc that decided my health was bad and threatened me with drugs unless I fixed it, so suddenly I had numbers to chase and beat. I always do my best when I have something set in front of me with a deadline, and now that it’s gone, it’s been very hard to shift away from what I WAS doing to something different. Intellectually, I know it’s something I need to do, but my instincts are still stuck on “we need to beat the medical numbers” mode. It’s like I have old software installed. Recognizing this has been huge, and I’m glad I did it: now I need to address it. I’m going to continue to force myself to do things I don’t “want” to do, but my hope is that eventually the instincts shift and align like they typically do when I’m chasing a goal, because that’s when I see my best results and experience significantly less cognitive dissonance. I have an amazing capacity to convince myself to do things that are ridiculous, but employing it can be exhausting when it’s ALL the goddamn time.
9 Likes
Why “need”? From you’ve written, it seems that you were already eating more and feeling better despite staying lean. Are there still other symptoms that would be mitigated with more body fat specifically?
Also, from what I understood, “improving health” meant cutting back on foods that might be advantageous for gaining (ie red meat), so are they complimentary or competing goals?
This is not meant to be stand offish or questioning your approach, just wondering
I am experiencing negative effects from low bodyfat.
2 Likes
AM WORKOUT POST NIGHT SHIFT (0645)
Buffalo Bar Squats
5xBar
5x140
5x230
5x295
5x340
9x380
18x295
SUPERSETS (squat-hyper) 1 min rest between sets
Belt squat
27x150
20x150
18x150
STRIPSET
20x150
7x125
6x100
5x75
6x50
7x25
Reverse hyper 410
4x9
5 round circuit (no rest)
10 weighted dips w/55lbs
4 standing ab wheel
10 t-bar rows 150 (using 25lb plates)
50 band pull aparts
25 band pushdowns
30 GHRs
Notes: Felt solid and loosened up coming into this. Amazing what being awake all night will do. That said, AMRAP squats have always been a weakpoint of mine. You tell me a number I have to hit and I’m game: tell me to just go until I can’t and my brain breaks. It’s good to have these in the program for that reason: something I can work on. These sets didn’t set the world on fire, but were a solid enough effort. Belt squats were good. Got in most of my daily work: still wanna do some chins, even though I got those rows in. Was just a moment of opportunity there: landmine was already set up for the squat. I liked the effect of using 25s over 45s: better ROM. Weighted dips were perfectly dialed in, and on that note, the outcome on squats shows me I have the right TM, so score on that too.
I may go for a walk outside today to help get my brain and body re-calibrated.
3 Likes
Check out the nutriton facts on this steak I just made myself for lunch
Absolutely nuts. And actually the best sirloin I ever had. Not a fan of that cut, but this was really solid.
2 Likes
Just pure protein.
Yup. And you’d think it’d taste like leather as a result, haha. It’s certainly no ribeye, but still very tender and flavorful. Bought these to make “breakfast steaks” and wanted to test one before I committed. A good re-introduction of beef into the diet.
1 Like
All I ever grew up with was over-night marinaded sirloin steaks, so whenever I hear that sirloin sucks, I’m so confused.
Although, I’ve never had a well cooked ribeye, so I have nothing to compare it to.
I did my best to not cover the flavor on this: no oils, butter, marinade, etc. Now I know it can be dressed up REAL nice.
And never a well cooked ribeye? Man, I got a tomahawk in my freezer for a special occasion, haha. They were definitely one of my favorite vices.
Ribeyes are just SO outrageously expensive I can never justify it. Especially because my relationship with food is that it’s just fuel.
1 Like
Unpopular opinion: rib-eye is massively overrated- too fatty, not enough beef flavour. You might as well slow cook a pork shoulder or bake some ribs for 1/5 the price
So, so confused by this.
5 Likes
Sounds like a future birthday meal my dude.
1 Like
In fairness, I have been awake for many hours. Can’t explain these degenerates, haha.
On that note, went for what was supposed to be a leisurely 4 mile nature walk to help stay awake, but a cold front hit at the halfway point, dropped the temp 15 degrees and kicked up some fierce winds. I am super awake now.
It’s my opinion. I like the “beefy” taste and haven’t really had a ribeye that satisfies that.
It’s not that I haven’t had high quality ribeye either. We’ve been to Morton’s and Ruth Chris a couple of times (my dad really likes ribeye) and had A5 wagyu when we went to Japan.
Speaking of Wagyu, it was the most disappointing experience ever. The steak literally tasted like salted butter, but cost $300 for 4oz
I’ve heard other people say that ribeye is overrated too. They preferred beef tongue and felt that it was just as tender as ribeye with less fat and more flavor.
Tongue is OK but I still like ribeyes.
2 Likes
I agree, especially when part of a korean bbq
You people are making me hungry and my steak tonight was shit.
Brb, selling my car for a steak. Which wouldn’t get me that big a steak anyway…
1 Like
you could literally buy a stick of salted butter, eat it, and have a similar experience.