NaterMania

Yes, sprouted buckwheat. I was 212 lbs this morning. Getting notably leaner. Again.

All right! Well, my compadres... I had the most hardcore workout in months this afternoon!

I made 1/2 gallon of magic milkshake (40g glucose, 70g whey) and sipped it for 2.5 hours while I worked out. There were a few breaks but I did something to the tune of:

10 sets of ring strength on the freemotion, 2 sets each of 5 movements.

2 sets 5 reps front squat @ 190

2 sets 7 reps deadlift @ 315 (super light, but my low back is tired from 4 sets of 12 on Friday)

2 sets of 3 reps yewki to reverse yewki (dead hang to yewkie to invert hang, to reverse yewki back to dead hang is 1 rep) in 90/90 flat tuck

2 sets 3 reps OAC per arm, pinkie assist

2 sets 3 reps OAPullup per arm, pinkie assist

2 sets 3 HSPU, about 3/4 of full ROM

2 sets one arm one leg push ups, 8 reps per arm. off hand assist

2 sets 9 weighted dips, 70 lbs

2 sets weighted chins, 6 reps 70 lbs

1 set weighted wide pull ups,5 70 lbs

1 set weighted pull ups, 6 reps 70 lbs

2 sets arch ups with 45 lbs on the back of my head, 10 reps

2 sets body levers arch to hollow, 10 reps

2 sets skull crushers @ 110 lbs, 10 reps.

This took quite a while, obviously, and was really fun! An excellent way to work through an otherwise massively boring Sunday!

WTF workout is that?! You was trying to suicide? There easier ways, not that I'm in favor of suicide...

HAHAHA, it does look like a lot.

I'll only have one day quite that crazy per week I think, but I feel really good right now!

Nice work-out there.

Hey,

slizzardman said:

Not too many supersets, I find that while they are better for endurance conditioning they are not as good for more strength-oriented work.

Interesting. What makes you think so? I personally love supersets for strength-oriented work

How's your shoulder doing? Are you still doing a lot of soft tissue/gua sha style work?

MH: Thanks!

Donar: Well, sometimes I do use them but not often. I like mixing my front squats with OAC and weighted pull ups with weighted dips, but that's about it. For me, I have found that completing all of my sets for most exercises before starting the next one keeps me more focused and seems to help me perform better overall.

I guess... I am still doing a good bit of soft tissue work. I am getting more regular again, but I am hitting it all at least once or twice a week. It definitely helps. I always have a lacrosse ball or my gua sha tools nearby Foam roller, too! I got one of those super dense ones, they are AWESOME.

This is the first time in my life that cookie dough has not tempted me. My buddies came back from a weekend at The Lake and they brought a pot full of cookie dough to me. It is my buddy's CIA Presidential Level Security Clearance peanut butter chunk dough, so I'm quite surprised. Into the freezer it went, for a birthday or a fundraiser or some other cookie-oriented future event!

slizzardman said:

2 sets skull crushers @ 110 lbs, 10 reps.

Hi Slizz,

Looks like your training is going well!

Skull crushers! :twisted: What are those?

It is, thanks!

Skullcrushers are supine triceps presses, keeping the upper arms perpendicular with the ground at all times. The weight is easy but my elbows feel stress so I will probably go down 10-20 lbs.

This hurt a lot in the elbows, I feel this when I do that too.

slizzardman said:

All right! Well, my compadres... I had the most hardcore workout in months this afternoon!

I made 1/2 gallon of magic milkshake (40g glucose, 70g whey) and sipped it for 2.5 hours while I worked out. There were a few breaks but I did something to the tune of:

10 sets of ring strength on the freemotion, 2 sets each of 5 movements.

2 sets 5 reps front squat @ 190

2 sets 7 reps deadlift @ 315 (super light, but my low back is tired from 4 sets of 12 on Friday)

2 sets of 3 reps yewki to reverse yewki (dead hang to yewkie to invert hang, to reverse yewki back to dead hang is 1 rep) in 90/90 flat tuck

2 sets 3 reps OAC per arm, pinkie assist

2 sets 3 reps OAPullup per arm, pinkie assist

2 sets 3 HSPU, about 3/4 of full ROM

2 sets one arm one leg push ups, 8 reps per arm. off hand assist

2 sets 9 weighted dips, 70 lbs

2 sets weighted chins, 6 reps 70 lbs

1 set weighted wide pull ups,5 70 lbs

1 set weighted pull ups, 6 reps 70 lbs

2 sets arch ups with 45 lbs on the back of my head, 10 reps

2 sets body levers arch to hollow, 10 reps

2 sets skull crushers @ 110 lbs, 10 reps.

This took quite a while, obviously, and was really fun! An excellent way to work through an otherwise massively boring Sunday!

I just noticed that although you're doing pretty low sets of each movement, you're doing a bunch of movements that are very similar in function, but subtly different (chins, pull ups, wide pull ups). I do something similar in my push up and pull up sets. Breaks up the monotony for sure.

Pat: I agree!

Today I did my ring strength first as usual.

Then I did 1 set of 4 OAC pinkie assist per arm and 1 set 3 OAP pinkie assist, with 9 weighted dips with 70 lbs after each of those two sets.

2 sets of single leg bulgarian squats with 100 lbs total for 6 surprisingly easy reps.

Arch ups with 45 lb plate on back of head. This is pretty fun, actually! 2 sets 10 reps. The neck is what gets tired.

2 sets body levers +, 10 reps.

2 sets 3 full lay Front Pulls... these were ridiculously easy today. I went fairly slow, maybe 1.5-2s up and same down, stopping just before perpendicular.

And... that was pretty much it. I'm going to do some rope climbs and rows later on, and 1 set of deadlifts.

I've probably done 10 minutes of jumping rope total today, 3 minutes at the train station and 4 sets of at least one minute each but some were more as rest between ring strength sets.

Some friends saw me and said I've gotten bigger since last week hahaha... I believe I am dropping below 10%. There is a noticeable lack of fat on me that continues to be more lacking...

I think I have gotten my fat loss diet perfect for my body. Again, many of the extra calories are coming from fats to facilitate fat burning when I have low calorie days. So far, so brilliant.

Here's why: 1-3 non-consecutive days per week I will ONLY consume the carbs that I need to replace and have no fats at all. Because I have so many fats in my diet my body is very good at burning fat for energy at a cellular level. I figure that if I keep fat metabolism highly up-regulated then on my occasional fast days where I'm only getting 30-40% calories I will be at a minimum of an 1800 calorie deficit. That's 1/2 lb of fat in one day, as I am giving my body 100% of the carbs and protein it needs and no more.

Could you explain how you calculated the 1/2 lb of fat from 1800 fat kcal? My chemistry math memory is kind of bad, and I get stuck somewhere in the middle...

Also, is there anything special about milk kefir that I should know about before I order a big pack of milk kefir grains?

One last question: How do I estimate how many kcal I have expended from a training session and subsequently roughly how many carbs, proteins, and fats I need daily? I still do the 30-40% of kcal once a week as you recommended a few months ago. Is the recommendation still about 7-8g protein and 2g carbs every waking hour?

Hope these questions aren't a bother... let me know if they are and I'll clamp up. :wink:

1 lb of fat = 3600 calories. About.

So, half a pound is 1800!

On the unproven but heavily supported theory that all energy not required to come from carbs will come from fat, those 1800 calories should come nearly entirely from body fat since I am providing the protein and carbs that my body needs. By staying at a more or less steady state the rest of the time (getting upwards of 85-90% of the calories I need) I am avoiding any significant metabolic slowdown.

Steady at 215-216.

I finally, finally got my lower traps to work correctly today. First time I've done proper dead hang shrugs in like 8 years! It's all about head positioning and using your neck properly... this is actually pretty much exactly what Coach says you should feel when straight arm pressing into a handstand.

Body lever work is getting retarded strong again, I can do 10 reps of arch to hollow body levers staying horizontal to the ground off of a bench once more. I can feel it right now in my abs, but absolutely nothing in my neck or back at all! Excellent progress.

OAC and OAPullup are getting stronger even though I'm heavier, and my right arm is slowly healing. It will probably be New Year's before I can really do heavy elbow flexion... brachialis definitely got partially torn or something but is healing well.

Strength continues to improve all over the place, legs are getting stronger and I am being good about including my shoulders now. 3x per week full body workouts is great, I am trying to keep a true EOD schedule but with studying and weekends it often won't be perfect. Sometimes that extra day of rest really comes in handy, too.

I have found that switching between MPPu, OAC&weighted pull ups, and higher rep L pull ups/chins + foot supported rows each workout day is working extremely well for back development both visually and for strength.

Ring strength is getting excellent, I have much better form on my simulated exercises now and can see the visible results.

I have also added weighted dips back into my program, since I am moving well enough to justify them at this point.

With the breakthrough in trap function I feel like maybe I can get my truly functional body back.

Having at least 2-3 servings of buckwheat in my diet helps a lot with bowel regularity. When all I have is vegetables it just isn't the same, and I am feeling great.

I know, kind of a personal update, but hey... that's what personal logs are for.

My average daily diet has been about 180g protein per day from a combination of kefir (32 oz a day, more or less) and protein powder, though there have been a few days in the past month (literally 2 or 3) when I had a significant amount of boiled chicken breasts. I have anywhere from 3-6 servings of buckwheat a day, giving me about 100-200g of carbs from buckwheat, with the higher intakes on days when I am more active. I just use this to replace burned carbs. 1-2 lbs of spinach per day, usually 2, and often another veggie such as broccoli. I sometimes have purple yams instead of buckwheat, but same amount of carbs.

All other calories come from dry roasted almonds since they are the cheapest nuts I can find, thanks to Costco! That's anywhere from 1000-2000 calories per day from the nuts, which is mostly fat.

slizzardman said:

Having at least 2-3 servings of buckwheat in my diet helps a lot with bowel regularity. When all I have is vegetables it just isn't the same, and I am feeling great.

I know, kind of a personal update, but hey... that's what personal logs are for.

My average daily diet has been about 180g protein per day from a combination of kefir (32 oz a day, more or less) and protein powder, though there have been a few days in the past month (literally 2 or 3) when I had a significant amount of boiled chicken breasts. I have anywhere from 3-6 servings of buckwheat a day, giving me about 100-200g of carbs from buckwheat, with the higher intakes on days when I am more active. I just use this to replace burned carbs. 1-2 lbs of spinach per day, usually 2, and often another veggie such as broccoli. I sometimes have purple yams instead of buckwheat, but same amount of carbs.

All other calories come from dry roasted almonds since they are the cheapest nuts I can find, thanks to Costco! That's anywhere from 1000-2000 calories per day from the nuts, which is mostly fat.

Drinking lots of water? It's usually recommended when eating lots of spinach - to avoid possible kidney stones from the oxcilic acid or something like that. You probably know and do, but just mentioning.

What is superior about buckwheat? I haven't had that for a while. I think last time in pancakes. Mmmmm

Oh yes, I drink tons of water. Probably close to 2 gallons per day, that's just how much I tend to drink when I remember.

The buckwheat has a slightly alkaline effect and appears to help keep the intestinal pH at optimum levels. Plus I really like it! I just soak it for 6-12 hours and then rinse it and drain it, then I eat however much I want.

Where do you buy your buckwheat, Sliz?

how do you manage to get 2lbs of spinach a day!?! Even at costco thats expensive!

With frozen spinach it's about 3 bucks a day. 1 dollar per 12 oz pack, 3 packs a day.

I got my buckwheat from http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/buy_buckwheat_purchase_organic_buckwheat_bulk.aspx

32 oz of kefir a day can get pretty expensive as well

Not when you make it yourself It's still not cheap, per se, but all I have to buy is the milk which I drink anyways! Of course, my milk is 7 bucks a gallon, but that's my choice

$3 for spinach, $1.75 for kefir, MAYBE $2 for buckwheat on a high carb day, and $1-2 for almonds on days I eat them. And probably $2 per day for protein powder. That's a max of $10.75 per day, not too bad for a big guy.

It seems that my lower trap progress is going to be permanent, which is very exciting!

So far today I have done a ton of capsular mobilization for my shoulders, which I will not explain for safety reasons (if you don't do this right you can hurt yourself, I just know what I'm doing), rolled my entire upper body, and stretched my chest and serratus and lats with various chest opener stretches while doing 45 lb plate pullovers with long holds in the most open position I could manage, retracting and protracting my scaps slightly to increase range of motion. This felt GREAT!

I did my ring strength, and found that when I concentrated on my trap activation everything got way easier. Elbow is slowly healing and right brachialis is still all messed up. I am running the rack up to 20 lbs right now with sets of 18 curls per arm, 6 supinated +6 hammer grip + 6 pronated. Feels good, and this is what I need to heal my brachialis. I have neglected very high rep work for quite a while, I am going to throw one set into most of my workouts for a number of lifts (probably as warm up).

I still have actual strength work to do, but I'll do that later in my basement.