Monday, January 30, 2012

Squat Monday + Pinwheelz (4tha Ladiez)

Squats
8 reps @ 30 kgs (cambered bar)
8 reps @ 70 kgs
5 reps @ 110 kgs
6 reps @ 150 kgs PR
3 reps @ 170 kgs PR

Good Mornings
8 reps @ 30 kgs (cambered bar)
5 reps @ 70 kgs
5 reps @ 90 kgs
5 reps @ 100 kgs
8 reps @ 110 kgs - equal to best effort
6 reps @ 120 kgs PR

Pinwheels (weight p/DB)
6 reps @ 40 kgs
6 reps @ 40 kgs
6 reps @ 40 kgs

I was working with time constraints tonight, which was a shame because I felt extremely pumped, focussed and strong... if a little stim'd up at the beginning.

I scored a free tub of Jack3d and this was my first session using it. I had 2 scoops, which may have been too much on an empty stomach. The first half hour I felt a little too wired, my pulse rate was higher than I'd like it but I was nonetheless driven to smash PRs. And I did, ugly though some of them were; I was wobbling on the 3rd rep of 170 and needed my spot to correct a serious lean to the left!

While recovering from the squats I looked back over my previous efforts on Good Mornings, and realised I'd been totally pussing out of late. I had previously repped 5 of 120 kgs but this was late December / early January and I'd taken it pretty easy last time due to my knees aching. I was also not using high enough rep ranges to be effective (6-8 is preferable to 3-5) and had forgotten this piece of advice along the way. So I corrected it with the last couple of sets and made sure I covered some new ground.

Today the aches were non-existant. I relished the opportunity, but all the same would have liked to do more volume.

Pinwheelz just felt like the thing to do, since I've been feeling like my arms are wilting a little. It's likely fat loss making them look smaller but eh.

I will be doing some log work tomorrow night.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

The Day of the Strongman WA Qualifiers

PREPARATION
Last night was a calorie free-for-all; I started with some leftover roast duck around 7:30PM, a bunless double quarter pounder around 9:30 and finished with half a tub of honeycomb butterscotch ice cream for dessert.


I woke well before 9AM and immediately began shoving white rice and lamb steak in my mouth. I only managed a few bites before my saliva dried up and I felt nauseated. I don't normally eat solids first thing in the morning, and I can't say that white rice and dry meat would be high on my list of preferred breakfast foods. But as to the sick feeling, that was likely due to nerves.

I settled for a coffee and half a litre of milk instead. Just prior to beginning the first event - yoke walk - I ate a small banana (and another an hour or so later). And then it was showtime.

The below qualifiers info taken from the Facebook page

Strength Quest - H.W. C Grade

Yoke 300 k.g @15 meters time or distance 60 second time limit. 

Log Clean Press – Start weight: 100 kgs

Deadlift Max (Raw) – Start weight: 210 kgs

Farmers walk 100 k.g.@25 meters time or distance 60 second time limit. 


My Efforts Today were as follows:

Yoke Walk
15 meters @ 205 kgs - warmup
15 meters @ 240 kgs - time was around 10 seconds, but I will confirm all times once they are posted.
15 meters @ 285 kgs - PR

Very happy with this effort, and now I'm looking forward to breaking 300 sometime soon

Log Clean-Press
72 kgs - warmup
90 kgs
100 kgs - this was heavier than I expected I'd lift in my weakened state, so I'm pretty happy with this!

Deadlift
180 kgs - warmup
200 kgs
210 kgs - just 10 kilos less than my best ever!

Farmers Walk
25 meters @ 110 kgs p/hand - PR

No warmups needed, at this stage of the comp. My time here was something like 14 seconds! Previous record is 15 meters with 120 p/hand, but at a much slower pace.

About here my legs became difficult to live with. I had my fish oil this morning (all 10 caps) but today saw some pretty heavy numbers and the impact was beginning to show...

All in all, I am pretty happy with my performance. I didn't place in the top 3, but there's always next year. 
I sometimes have to remind myself that I haven't been doing this very long.

More milk was chugged once I got home, and I've eaten a meal of 3 fried eggs, a rasher of bacon, about 100 grams of white rice and about the same of edam cheese.

Dinner will be a large piece of fresh fish and maybe some avocado, with frozen raspberries and whipped cream for dessert.

Life. Is. Good.





Thursday, January 19, 2012

Weekly Weigh-In & Research Update

This morning I weighed 
135.1 kgs

Back on track and then some! Again, hydration will almost always be a factor here but I'm pretty confidant I won't be going up by much, if I go up at all.

I've been researching sources of fuel - and asking questions about my diet in general - pretty exhaustively since I got home from training last night. The typical Paleo sites were consulted (and one or two more I hadn't seen before, like Paleohacks.

What I have learned is:

1. White rice is much better than brown rice
Brown rice still has it's husk, which is choc-full of anti-nutrients and also contains the trypsin-inhibitor found in SOY *queue ominous organ .mp3* and so prevents the uptake of proteins. FAIL.

White rice if properly washed and cooked is essentially pure starch. This is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your health, fitness level and (obviously) potential allergies.

2, Oats are not a good thing (for me)
Essentially oats have about the same amount of gluten as wheat. FAIL.

3. Milk causes Insulin spikes almost as much as white bread
It's not simply the lactose but it's combination with the fats and proteins in milk that create this insulin spike. But the jury is still out on whether milk is a good or bad thing and it's really dependent on your body type and the rest of your diet. For instance, milk supposedly prevents some people from weight loss... not the results I am having, that's for sure.

But if I were still eating processed grains, no doubt my body would not be able to work so well with the milk I consume each day.

4. I need to eat more
2 litres of whole milk equates to about 1200 calories, and accounts for perhaps 70% of my calories each day. But even if I were eating 2000 calories a day, I'd still be about a 1000 down from what I should be consuming if I really want to build strength.

I'm trying to find a happy medium here - so I can keep losing weight while at least maintaining if not progressing in strength. I think another large meal in my day is the ticket.

In other news:
Fish oil is the bomb. I think some of my lack of stamina can be attributed to me being in constant pain while training. Now that's over, I expect better efforts to follow.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Fish Oil 4Tha FKN WIN!!

Squats
10 reps @ 30 kgs (bar)
8 reps @ 70 kgs
5 reps @ 110 kgs
5 reps @ 150 kgs PR
5 reps @ 160 kgs PR


Awesome. Just awesome.


OHPress (w/Swiss bar)
8 reps @ 55 kgs
6 reps @ 65 kgs
4 reps @ 75 kgs
3 reps @ 75 kgs
4 reps @ 70 kgs

Bitterly disappointing efforts her, but at least it was all strict.

T-bar rows
5 reps @ 75 kgs PR
5 reps @ 75 kgs PR
5 reps @ 75 kgs PR
4.5 reps @ 75 kgs PR

Yes, the T-bar rows were all PRs because I didn't want to dick around with the heavy DBs tonight.

My legs were feeling fine tonight, because I've eaten at least 20 fkn fish oil tablets in the last 2 days! I was told of a chemist selling bottles of 400 x1000 mgs for $10 each, and bought 5 of them. Should see me right for a few months at least. Ha.

Time to rest, and further investigate the fuel crisis while the hours count down to qualifiers...

16/01/12 An Ache To My Bones

Squat Monday this week became Deadlift & Squat Monday.

Deadlifts
8 reps @ 60 kgs
5 reps @ 100 kgs
5 reps @ 140 kgs
4 reps @ 180 kgs
3 reps @ 190 kgs
2 FAILS @ 200 kgs*

Really, really fkn disappointed with this effort. I'm down on strength not just from last year - I'm not as strong as I was last week. More on this later...

Squats
10 reps @ 30 kgs
8 reps @ 70 kgs
3 reps @ 110 kgs

I quit right here because it hurt. It ached right in my bones... or more properly, my knees and hip joints. And now I know why.

The pain has been getting worse each session since I returned to training this year, and it is due to me not eating enough Omegas. Lately I've been slacking on my daily multi, glucosamine and - most importantly - fish oil.

And I'm down on strength because (wait for it)
I'M NOT EATING ENOUGH CARBS.

Grains are not good for me; they wreak havoc with my digestion (acid reflux, IBS) and I am never going to  start eating bread or drinking soda again. But I do need to accept the fact that naturally occurring carb sources are rich with slow burning fuel and are practically essential for people who want to progress in strength.

Or this is what I'm told.

I'm going to start accommodating brown rice and maybe even oats in my diet - maybe not every day, but leading up to my events this saturday I will be carb loading. I need every advantage I can give myself at this point.

And I'm not done researching the subject, either. I want to know what other strength trainers who also use pale are doing to combat the loss of carbs for fuel... I might even ask for input on my half gallon of milk per day, and see what people think of the long term benefits or implications of this diet.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Saturday Events Training, & Another Arse Kicking

Yoke Walk
15 meters @ 205 kgs
15 meters @ 245 kgs
5 meters @ 285 kgs
5 meters @ 285 kgs
15 meters @ 265 kgs PR

The jump from 245 to 285 is just too heavy for me at this point and I couldn't get the Yoke over the line.
Fortunately I was able to drop it to a lesser weight (practically double my BW) and this allowed me to cover the distance at a reasonable pace. Progress was definitely made today.

Log Clean-Press
5 reps @ 70 kgs
5 reps @ 70 kgs
3 reps @ 80 kgs
3 reps @ 80 kgs
3 reps @ 85 kgs

I again attempted the Big Boy log (92.5 kgs) but just didn't have the strength left to clean it, let alone press it.

Farmers Walk
15 meters @ 60 kgs p/hand
15 meters @ 60 kgs p/hand
15 meters @ 100 kgs p/hand
1 meters @ 120 kgs p/hand

Only a few seconds rest between sets 1 and 2, and I was moving at a fast pace! Jogging, if not running. I finished today's session with more failure. My core just couldn't take the 240 kgs walk (much like last weekend). I collapsed, and dropped the right one on my little toe.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

SMWA Bench Press Focus

Bench Press
12 reps @ 60 kgs
10 reps @ 70 kgs
5 reps @ 90 kgs
5 reps @ 100 kgs
3 reps @ 105 kgs
3 reps @ 110 kgs
5 reps @ 100 kgs

Did some lower weight stuff to try and correct my (still awful) form

10 reps @ 60 kgs
10 reps @ 60 kgs
8 reps @ 60 kgs

Kroc Rows
left 5 reps @ 70 kgs
right 2 reps @ 70 kgs
left 5 reps @ 70 kgs
right 2 reps @ 70 kgs

Still coming to grips with these new, thicker and longer DBs. My right side is somewhat weaker and considerably less coordinated than my left, and grip and balance was a major issue. I am resigned to either learning to deal with these DBs or refrain from doing Krocs at the Pit. But I'm not a quitter.

T-bar Rows
8 reps @ 70 kgs PR
7 reps @ 70 kgs PR
6 reps @ 70 kgs PR
8 reps @ 60 kgs PR


Yeah they're green. But pfft. Who gives a shit about T-bar row?

Looking forward to events training Saturday. I'd record my food but it is pretty much exaclty the same as list night except I had a 1/4 BBQ chicken instead of turkey and scrapped the orange juice. Oh, and I haven't had any chocolate this evening... but this situation my change.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Grow Day Diet Check

Daily Consumption

MEAL 1 - 1 coffee w/1 sugar and milk
MEAL 2 - milk
MEAL 3 - 3 dark chocolate buttons (6 grams total approx weight), 5 brazil nuts, and milk
MEAL 4 - milk
MEAL 5 - 1 tall glass of orange juice
MEAL 6 - boneless roast turkey (200 grams total cooked weight), with a dollop of gravy and milk
MEAL 7 - 6 dark chocolate buttons (12 grams total approx weight)

Looking forward to an intensive bench session tomorrow night, with my new wrist wraps. Finally arrived today.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Diet Check

Since it's a grow period and I have some time, I figured I'd log my food intake.

I may not end up doing this consistently as I have in the past, because (as I've mentioned before) my diet is already pretty regimented. But I can't afford any slip-ups if I want to do this right.

I need to at least try and keep losing weight while building strength... if not maintaining weight while building strength. It may require a calorie calculator site. I've used them before, but (as I've also said) my weight loss to date has been thanks chiefly to the kinds of foods I do and do not eat, and the kind of training I do. But now it's time to introduce some more math. Basic math - which is the only kind I do. With a calculator. A basic calculator.

Daily Consumption

MEAL 1 - 1 coffee w/1 sugar and milk*
MEAL 2 - milk*
MEAL 3 - 3 dark chocolate buttons, (6 grams total approx weight), 5 brazil nuts, and milk*
MEAL 4 - milk*
MEAL 5 - 2 boiled eggs, 1 tall glass of orange juice
MEAL 6 - boneless roast turkey (245 grams total cooked weight), with a dollop of gravy
MEAL 7 - small bowl of mixed berries, 6 dark chocolate buttons

*I know I've mentioned it before; I consume 2 litres of milk throughout every working day, and about as much most weekends besides.

I'm going to get back at a later date with an estimated number of calories for what I consume daily. Right now it's time to EAT.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Squat Mondays - and Finally Some Green

Squats
8 reps @ 30 kgs (bar)
? reps @ 70 kgs - either 6 or 8, I can't remember
6 reps @ 110 kgs
5 reps @ 120 kgs
6 reps @ 130 kgs PR
5 reps @ 140 kgs PR
3 reps @ 150 kgs PR

Good Mornings
8 reps @ 70 kgs
6 reps @ 90 kgs
5 reps @ 110 kgs
5 reps @ 110 kgs
5 reps @ 110 kgs

Tyre Flip
15 meters @ 230 kgs - just to blast me a little more while I waited for my ride

Baby steps turned into a pretty decent jump in squatting weight tonight. I was hoping for 1 PR but instead got 3, and my legs... my legs are destroyed. I mean they ache to their bones. My knees feel like they're made of egg shell and stuck together with craft glue.

The good mornings were feeling pretty heavy at 110, so I capped the weight and focussed on depth, as I felt like I was losing some connection with my hamstrings. Either that or they're getting used to the punishment...

I was lucky enough to be able to refuel on cold cuts, cheese singles and fruit before training, and the fuel did me good. Recent schedule changes have made it possible to do eat prior to training and still arrive at an earlier time, and so have the spotting and form advice from the team.

More mexichicken and rocky road ice cream for dinner last night... I'm wondering if this week I actually maintain weight, and if this will be the payoff for (hopefully) a strength increase across the board?

At this point, I need more strength more than I need less fat. It may boil down calorie fine tuning - which I hate and have never really done with any discipline or purpose. Till now perhaps.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Events Training Saturday

Yoke Walk
25 meters @ 205 kgs
10 meters @ 245 kgs - poor placement of the bar and arm position, and it slid off!
15 meters @ 245 kgs - to finish the run... just
25 meters @ 245 kgs

Deadlifts
8 reps @ 70 kgs
5 reps @ 110 kgs
5 reps @ 150 kgs
5 reps @ 170 kgs
3 reps @ 190 kgs
1 reps @ 200 kgs

I attempted 205 twice, with no success. The 2nd time I couldn't even get off the ground. I'm down 20 kilos on my personal record right now. So, really, not that much to recoup. But damn I'm sore.

Farmers Walk
25 meters @ 60 kgs p/hand
25 meters @ 100 kgs p/hand
5 meters @ 120 kgs p/hand - complete failure here

I was broken thanks to too little food intake prior to training. And all those deadlifts, of course.
I played around with the Big Boy log after I'd finished with deads, but couldn't quite lock it out bare (92.5 kgs is what it weighs on it's own)

On the subject of Log clean press, I'm seriously down on strength compared to last year, and I need to improve fast. And as for Yoke walk... the yoke to be used will be 350. That's on January 28th. So I'm pretty sure I'm fucked in that event right off the bat.

It may be that my numbers in the Strongman comp in 3 weeks time will be poor - especially since I plan to put more focus on bench press over the next 2 months, and maybe achieve 5 or 6 reps of my bodyweight at the Fitness Expo. That would be satisfying.

But I'm not going to be slacking off in other areas. I will be putting more weight on my squat and working on all aspects with vigour... just more bench than normal.

While I am aware I've lost strength just through not training for 2 weeks, I'm also down on stamina... I think the time I spent getting by on less food (because I was less active) has conditioned me to eating less generally, and I cannot train effectively on too steep a calorie deficit. I was eating frozen berries throughout the session today for more energy!

Last night, around midnight, I caved and had a double quarter pounder (no bun). But prior to training I only had 800 mls of milk and a pear. So I perhaps over-compensated by eating another double quarter pounder (no bun) PWO.

Dinner will be assorted grilled seafood to add some much needed omegas, not to mention variety. And I actually remembered to have my multi, glucosamine and fish oil this morning.

Not a terrible session today, all things considered. My reach exceeded my grasp in some areas. I already feel stronger for the experience.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Weekly Weigh-in

On the scales this morning:

136.5 kgs / 300.9 lbs

I'm wearing a belt that hasn't been any use to me for several years. I just tried on a shirt I bought nearly 2 years back, shipped over from the U.S. It's been hanging in my wardrobe, unable to be worn, until tonight.

It's a bowling shirt. With a Fedora and sunglasses I will have finally achieved the fat, pale Charlie Sheen look.

I'm moving faster and feeling lighter, if not stronger - but I've only just returned to training this week, so the strength will return soon enough.

This week's weight loss is not due to dehydration, as has sometimes been the case in the past. A lot of people who 'diet' are perhaps not aware of this, or not aware of how significant water weight can be, and it's easy to get discouraged when the number on the scale moves up and down from one day to the next. Which is why I weigh myself weekly... and even that can be too frequent.

I had only a coffee for breakfast (no frozen berries this week :-( ) and throughout the day I of course had my standard 2 litres of milk, with a mouthful of brazil nuts now and then.

Last night during training I consumed 1.5 litres of water. While I did drink a glass of cranberry juice with dinner (cranberry juice being a diuretic), I experienced no increase in frequency of urination. Because you all needed to read that.

And finally dinner. I had one of my favourites; juicy, greasy BBQ lamb ribs. I ate till I was no longer hungry, and I cannot give you an accurate calculation of how much meat I ate save to say that 3 ribs satisfied me.

I can repeat this short list of nuts, fatty meat and full cream milk as staples of my diet to a thousand random people, and I'm betting 900 or more would not believe me when I tell them I am also losing weight.

The scale isn't always your friend, but it never lies. Unless it's cheap or broken.

I am growing more confidant that I will get down to 120 kgs / 265 lbs before this year is out. In fact I am thinking it will happen in half that time!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Brazil Nuts & Fat Facts

DID you know that brazil nuts are 85% fat?

Did you also know that this is the 'good' fat? And (don't get me started on the whole good cholesterol bad cholesterol bullshit as it's not directly related here but) did you know this 'good' fat helps to lower your 'bad' cholesterol?

In addition to this, Brazil nuts contain only 3.5 grams of carbohydrate per CUP! 250 grams yields that little. The rest is protein and fibre (selenium). 

I eat a small handful of them at lunch with 500 mls of milk. I can't eat anymore, I'm full. And I have a meal like this both mid-morning and mid-afternoon.

The point I'm making is that good, old fashioned and simple foods like meat, nuts, milk and cheese fill you up better than breads and grains, and are better for you.

Many people know this... and yet many of these same people are also reluctant to eat certain foods based solely on their fat content. 

Many people also believe (because they are taught to believe) that the aforementioned 'simple' foods can be made better by removing the fat from them. And this belief, while not inherently stupid, is rendered moot by the fact that naturally fatty foods usually taste like bland shit when you remove the fat. 

So what invariably happens is the fat is replaced with something else. Usually something sweet, but don't assume that means it's plain old sugar. Sucralose, Nutri-sweet, and a myriad of other artificial toxins are used to give flavour to these low-fat, 'healthy' options that are flooding our supermarket shelves.

And when something needs more mass - like a health bar or a low-fat candy bar - the one filler used in horrendous quantities (and the most clear, present danger to testosterone levels ever faced by man) is soy lecithin. It's evil, and it's everywhere.

Messing with the macros of certain foods is setting the cart before the horse; instead, people should be moderating their consumption of certain foods. It seems so logical that anything else is counter-productive.

But it's awfully hard to fight the power, with all the processed white foods (sugar, bread, potato) being sold to us as healthy options; cereals and breads are supposed to be nutritionally important and calorically insignificant. When in fact they are making us hungrier, dissatisfied and in many cases causing a variety of illnesses. They are making us weaker, more depressed, fatter and lazier. They are increasing waistlines and blood pressures, and can be as addictive as alcohol and tobacco.



/rant.  

Weak Bench Press Night @ The Pit

Damn, I've lost some strength.

Bench Press
10 reps @ 60 kgs
8 reps @ 80 kgs
5 reps @ 90 kgs
3 reps @ 110 kgs
5 reps @ 100 kgs
3 reps @ 100 kgs

CGBP
10 reps @ 60 kgs
8 reps @ 80 kgs
5 reps @ 90 kgs
2 reps @ 100 kgs

DB 'Kroc' Rows
left 5 reps @ 80 kgs
right 4 reps @ 70 kgs - couldn't even manage more than 1 set @ 80!
left 5 reps @ 70 kgs
right 6 reps @ 60 kgs

T-bar Rows
8 reps @ 60 kgs
8 reps @ 60 kgs
6 reps @ 60 kgs
6 reps @ 60 kgs


Pathetic.

AFTER some scrutiny of my (apparently near-nonexistent) back arch, I was advised that no more or less than 5-6 reps should be the target for every set to help rebuild my woefully weak chest. On the last, I couldn't even manage that with 100. Weaksauce.

On to rows, and the situation didn't get any better there. I'm told they aren't actually fat enough to be fat grip, but the dumbbell bars at the Pit are definitely thicker than my pedestrian equipment at home, and this caused my grip to fail on every set before I really got the job done. I was also much weaker than my last effort with Kroc rows. Dejected, I got on the T-bar and did some mass building to properly fatigue the muscles.

Already looking forward to events training Saturday. I'm gonna throw that log around.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

2012: Return to the Iron

02/01/2012
I think it's pretty apt that my first session of the new year was a Squat Monday!

Squats w/Cambered bar
8 reps @ 30 kgs (bar)
8 reps @ 40 kgs
8 reps @ 70 kgs
7 reps @ 90 kgs
5 reps @ 110 kgs
5 reps @ 120 kgs
5 reps @ 130 kgs PR

Good Mornings w/Cambered bar
8 reps @ 70 kgs
8 reps @ 90 kgs
8 reps @ 110 kgs PR*
5 reps @ 120 kgs PR*

45 Degree Back Raises
2x 10 reps @ BW +20 kgs

It was Joel who pointed out that my last set of squats was a PR, meagre though it may be. After a full 2 weeks of not training, I've come back stronger.

More to the point, I am keen as mustard to get on with training.

Lots has happened in the time I've been away; SMWA training has been relocated to The Muscle Pit in Cannington, which means that 'the state's strongest gym' and the state's strongest man (and the rest of us) are now all in the one place.

And in other news, my weight loss is going well. At one point I dropped below 137 kgs but it was short lived. The weight is now steady at around 137.5 kgs. I'm sure it is due to me eating less fruit over this period and more meats. My diet is controlled enough now for me to spot weaknesses in it where they appear, and the addition of the wrong types of fruit to my daily consumption of milk must be slowing the weight loss.

I am dropping the apples and oranges from my selection and will be eating more frozen mixed berries in the mornings... that is something I've also started doing since I had the time in the morning for a sit-down meal.

I will most likely be training at the Pit again tomorrow night.

Full steam ahead mother *%#kers!!

*On review, I can confirm that those last 2 sets of GMs were also Personal Records. Very happy. :-)