Additions to my Kit

As with all of my "stuff", my headband and wrist bands got stuffed away somewhere and I can't find them.  Such is life, I bought some lightweight, moisture wicking headbands on Amazon.

I also have decided that my Apple watch is great for heart rate monitoring at a basic level, but that if I want an accurate read I'm going to have to use my Wahoo Tickr chest strap and it needed a new battery.  There are times when I'm absolutely hammered during an HIIT workout and I just dont see it on the watch because of how quickly I'm spiking things, whereas a steady walk uphill will register with a higher heart rate simply because it's sustained over a longer period of time.

At my age, there isnt much room between a nice walking pump and my recommended max heart rate (220-50=170) and the last thing I want to do is be crushing 170+ with any regularity right now.

I also picked up a new pair of trainers during my "break".  Nike Free's.  I like them well enough, but I think next time I'm going to go with one of the Crossfit type multi purpose shoes.  I should have these worn out by Christmas.

Last but not least, and not yet on my radar is another set of 45lb plates.  I'm regularly working with weights over 225lbs and sometimes over 315 lbs and it's just a pain to be cobbling that together with 35's and 25's.

If I can get back in the swing of things like I want, I should be on track for a store bought squat rack by Christmas.  Titan T3 with Incline bench to be specific.  lol

https://www.titan.fitness/cages-and-racks/t-3-racks/t-3-rack-combos/titan-t-3-series-short-power-rack-combo-w-bench.html

First Things First

This is an interesting graphic that I stole/reproduced.  Far too many people are obsessed with the upper levels of this pyramid without having a lock on or even an understanding of the foundational layers.

Energy Balance: Are you eating the right amount of food?  Enough to fuel workouts? At or near maintenance to keep your fat in check? Below maintenance for limited periods to promote fat loss?  Do you even know what maintenance is FOR YOU or if you hit it on any given day?

Macronutrients: Assuming you are in Energy Balance, do you get enough protein? Do you eat enough carbs to fuel your activities?  Enough fats to stay healthy and sane hormonally?  Are you slavishly following trendy diets which eliminate entire macronutrients or which are based on 50 year old science that has been recently debunked/moderated?

Micronutrients: Assuming you are in Energy Balance and are getting the correct ratio of Macronutrients, do you eat a wide variety of whole foods including lots of colorful vegetables?  Do you get enough fiber to support a healthy microbiome? Are fermented foods part of your diet at least weekly?

Nutrient timing: Assuming your diet is in balance, composed of the correct ratio of macronutrients, and contains a wide and complete mix of micronutrients, are you ingesting the most beneficial and energy appropriate foods before, during, and after your workouts? 

Supplements: Given a thorough understanding of all of the above, are you intelligently filling in any gaps which may exist with proven nutritional supplements?

If you're fat, tired, and not making gains in the gym, do you really think a protein shake and creatine are going to help?

I would also argue there's a layer missing in between nutrient timing and supplements, which to me is where you shift from food to pharmaceutical intervention so to speak.  "Recovery".  Are you keeping an eye on mobility (especially as you age)? Are you sleeping enough? If you are otherwise active, are your recognizing that day to day activity and recreational pursuits can start to impact your performance in the gym and vice versa?

Gotta draw the line somewhere

And for me that line is at 100F.  Fuck this heat.  Plus I'm sore AF this morning from yesterday's squats so I'm just calling it for the day.

We'll resume our regularly scheduled exercise routines on Saturday morning.

Aaaaand We're Back

Six weeks off by my calculations (+/-)

I kept really busy these last few weeks with graduation and switching jobs.  All of my routines got smashed of course, and I had a child return home who dumped her life in my gym so that didnt help.

I earmarked this week for getting back in the saddle and got slightly derailed with a 4 hours of sleep episode on Sunday night.  I'm not saying it was easy to get up today either, but my wife was starting to ask if I was ok ("you look tired") so exercise is the Rx.

I did a set of 20 squats and my standard 2.5 mile walk this morning, with another 1.5 abridged lunchtime walk.  I'll round that out with an evening walk if I can will myself to do it later on.  It'll be WAY too hot out at 5 or 6pm.

Tomorrow I'll do complexes instead of squats and I'll alternate thusly for the rest of the summer just to keep the focus on metabolic and conditioning training.

I've been keeping diet relatively sharp, but not weighing in.  I'm still on the same belt hole I was on before, but I'm starting to notice some extra flab.  I'm probably around 250 again, not that I was really firmly down at 245 before anyway.

I am back on my standard high protein ~2500 calorie plan and am really having to force feed to get that much food down.  I'll weigh in starting on Monday and give myself this week to stabilize a bit before I get the bad news.  lol.

Basically it's eggs and chicken with spinach for breakfast, shake and bar for morning snack, chicken and veggies for lunch, yogurt w/ protein powder for afternoon snack, and a standard family dinner but what I'd call a pre-adolescent child's portion.

As always...the big challenge is alcohol.  My wife finally got her promotion officially and we pretty much blew the lid off for a solid week.  4th of July is this Wednesday, so that wont help either.

I'm not on a time table, and I think I'm about to turn a corner with regards to the level of intensity I can bring to all of this.  So much else about my life is pointed in the right direction now, that I think I can really focus on leveling up on this.

Holding Steady

No change from yesterday.  Same exact diet.  Perhaps the phase of the moon contributes somehow.  lol

I am unconcerned.  Got a bunch of caulk and paint done last night and basically concluded the handyman phase of Grad Prep.  I've got a social thing tonight with some old work buddies, and I'm going to try to do a Tools and Materials roundup BEFORE I go out.  I know I wont want to after I get back.

Mia is on the road headed this way from Montgomery AL and should be here late tonight.  16 hours on the road according to Gmaps.  Still though...I'd much rather have her wake up here tomorrow and get to spend some time with her.

With a little luck, and an uninterrupted hour, I should be able to get the gym back into shape either tonight or tomorrow.  I'd REALLY like to resume my normal routines on Monday.

My plan is to repeat the last full week I completed, so that will mean a step down in weight all the way around and then work back up to where I was.  It's only a week's work, but I think it will pay dividends.  Basically I'll be doing work set with my last warm up weights, so it should all be smooth and solid.

TWO THREE NINE

Wooo!!  That feels good.  239.2 Simple, clean, precise eating for a couple of days in a row is all it takes to move the needle.

1782 calories with 237 protein and under 100 carbs and fats.  That is lean AND mean.

Almost certainly zero activity for me today beyond the weekend warrior, home improvement type.  My hopes of cleaning up the gym were dashed by an impromptu toilet repair last night.  Such is life, it needed to be done.

Thirsty Thursday has been postponed this week to Friday to facilitate a celebration with my team from Payless and even then it will have to be somewhat abridged because I can't afford any hangover time right now.

So...looking forward to several more days of sustained weight loss even considering the graduation and visiting family etc this weekend.  Dare I speculate?  Maybe I could see a 236 by the end of the weekend.  I dont know how much fat loss was being obscured by my pasta driven water retention, but you never know.

I'm a little behind schedule but anything south of 238 will be a mark in the win column.  I may even moderate just a bit next week instead of going all the way back to Maintenance just to keep this ball rolling.  It's not like I've been in deficit for 14 straight days.

Anyway...as arbitrary as they are, milestones are great.

Getting Restless

Definitely got my ass in gear this morning and got a real walk in.  No progress on reclaiming my gym last night, but I should be able to tonight.  By the time I got the new batch of trim primed and painted I wasnt up for anything else.  Besides, this week's Westworld was calling me.

240.4 lbs this morning after a single controlled day that was capped with a Protein + Vegetables dinner.  Water weight is real.

Assuming I have a gym available to me, I might just get in a set of Complexes tomorrow and my normal walk and just reclaim my initiative.  Friday I would simply get in there and repeat my last workout and start clean next week.

Speaking of next week, I'll be traveling to Des Moines on business and will have to do some sort of bodyweight/walking stuff to get by.  It's all good though...4 hour drive to get there and it's "new country" for me so lots of new sights and people and that always energizes me.

Bottom  line is I wont be really able to get back on the tick tock cadence in the gym until the week of the 28th.  Until then, any workouts will be "status quo" and not moving the needle on weight/volume.

Still in Neutral

Got a short walk in this morning.  It's amazing how much I need to get outside and walk.  I really didnt have time this morning but I got one in regardless.

I've got more trim work to do tonight, so I'm hoping I can get my gym cleared up a bit while the paint is drying.  I'm hoping it can be better/more organized than it was before.  Any improvement would help.

My diet has been so-so ok.  The real sticking point has been this giant batch of pasta my wife made to simplify life this week.  I am totally on board with the idea, but it's not exactly hitting my numbers.  As such, I'm hovering around 242 which is probably carb related.

Again...such is life.  This week is going to be tough all the way around.

One Week Hiatus

I've started a new job today, and am in the full court press getting ready for Grad Weekend this week.  I doubt I'll have the time or energy for working out, plus my gym space has reverted to workshop space somewhat.

Look for fresh updates next week for sure, with the potential for the odd update along the way if things loosen up.

Stay tuned.

Food is Fuel...Who Knew?

I've had about 1400 calories today so far and what do you know...I'm feeling like a wrung out dish rag.  Guess that's to be expected.  Note to self, get a semi decent breakfast in me before hitting the gym tomorrow morning for sure.

I've been a little carb heavy with the food that I have eaten today so I'll need to keep whatever I choose to eat this evening crisp and on point from a macros perspective. 

Right now I'm at 1401Cal, 83P,158C,55F.  So my mission is to find about 120g of protein and 20 or so grams of fat somehow.  I could probably afford a little more carbs but not too much.

Basically I need to eat a 16 oz chicken breast.  lol. 

Normally I'm not as out of balance at the end of a day and can eat a little more balanced dinner, but this is generally the sort of thinking that goes into dinner every night.  Here are the broad strokes:

I get a slab of protein that nets me 40-60 g of protein...which is a palm sized, 4oz or so, 100g portion.  Then I dress it up with some added fat if I'm good so far for the day...and then I add carbs to top off the day and round out my calories.  Usually a 1/2 cup of rice or potato.  Veggies fill out the plate.

This habit gets me to my base-baseline for total calories.  I add whole milk after that in 1/2 cup increments to top things off.  It also hits me like a dessert and makes me happy.  lol.

Anyway...the standard baseline gets me to what used to be my caloric goals, and I've been adding 60 calories every two weeks (1/2c of milk) to gently grow my metabolism.  That's part of how I've gotten from 2300 to 2700 calories during my Maintenance Phase.

Lock the meals down, toggle carbs on and off during Deficits, add milk to grow slowly.

Successful Thursday

Weighed in at 240.4 this morning, down 0.2 or as we say in baseball, "SAFE at third!!"  No harm done.

My other body comp metrics are swinging wildly so I can't really say much other than it's likely that there is some real fat loss hiding behind some Thursday bloat.  I may find myself solidly in the 230's by Monday morning.  It would appear that there is 2-4lbs of water being retained.

I got in 15k steps yesterday, and came in right around 3000 calories.  Protein was well supported at 224g, and Carbs, while high, werent completely out of control at 210g.  Fats were a trivial 65g.

As usual, I'm ambivalent about food after a night like that so I packed light today and plan to survive mostly on coffee.  I walk down to a wonderful local place near me and get an Americano with cream and sugar every Friday as a "second cup" which is laughable given the size of the cups I use.

Activity today will be minimal as I treat Fridays like an "off" day.  I may or may not get some walking in, but frankly it's hot out there and I'm not in the mood to be in damp jeans all day.  We'll see.

I've got to figure out where/how to get my third strength training session in between now and Saturday night.  I dont want to do it Sunday and butt it up against another one the next morning on Monday.  Tonight? After I round trip to Wichita to pick up Madison tomorrow?  In between coats of paint?

I'll say this much, not upsetting a carefully laid out schedule is as powerful a motivator for me as the potential results.  It'd be a ton of work for me to tweak that spreadsheet because of a missed workout, then I'd have to re-print my warm up sheets and and and...lol.  Nerd Alert.

UPDATE: I'll be doing the Wichita run tonight and hitting the rest of my weekend fresh and uninterrupted in the morning, starting with my workout. 

Hunger and Appetite Control

I've got nothing.  I literally couldnt care less about this topic and yet it is EVERYWHERE in the fitness press.  I have 5 planned meals per day, with the fifth one being only an outline because dinner happens.

I can't imagine caring if I still felt a bit peckish after breakfast. I mean, I'm going to eat again in 2-3 hours at most, plus there's coffee. 

Lunch?  No it's not super satisfying during a Deficit week, but I still have to do a little huffnpuff to get that last bite down.  Guess what....there's more food coming in 2 hours anyway.

Two hours after that I'm home, I've usually had my walk (natural appetite suppressant and "get off my feet" motivator) and then I just get another 500 calories with about 40-50g of protein and go from there.

I dont know what I'm trying to say here, but the food's all weighed and packed and it is what it is.  My tummy telling me things isnt going to make me just go out for Mexican food for lunch regardless.  I dont do vending machines.  My desk isnt packed with snacks.

I mean...dont get me wrong...I got to 265lbs the same way everyone else does.  It's just, once you're focused on getting things right, I dont see cravings or whatnot being an issue worth getting all analytical about.

Check it out I guess...it all seems very reasonable...but if you can't pass up a donut if you dont want to eat it...I think there might be other issues.

https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/hunger-the-definitive-guide

Winning the Day

Posting pictures here is a chore.  lol.  Anyway...my Macros from yesterday are below.  That is an absolutely ideal day while in Deficit.

2082 Cal, 258 Protein, 77 Carb, 76 Fat.

Weighed in at an OH SO CLOSE 240.6 lbs this morning.  I'd REALLY like to have seen a 23# on that scale but so be it.  A drop of 0.4 lbs.

I got both my lunch and evening walks in (15,900 steps), along with the strength training I detailed yesterday.

Today was the dreaded Barbell Complex followed by my standard morning walk.  My back is torched, and I don't mean my low back.  The whole thing.  Pull ups, Romanian Deadlifts, Good Mornings, and especially Front Squats...ouch.

Still holding steady at 70 lbs for these until my Power Clean and my Press move far enough ahead to where they aren't limiting factors.

Today is Thursday, which means I'll be out at the bar enjoying some guy time.  That means beer, and probably some awesome food at The Burger Stand.  I'll try to stick to lighter beers, and I'll also work to alternate Diet Coke in between rounds.  If I can keep the damage to a pound or less I'll consider it a win.

Hump Day

Yesterday was a bit of a mess from a walking and diet perspective, but there was no harm done.

Per my normal Tuesday plan, I did barbell complexes in the morning, followed by walking throughout the day.  Life intruded however and I did not get in much beyond my morning walk and whatever natural accumulation I get from being downtown.  Still 14k steps though.

Food: 2708 cal (ouch), 229 Protein, 178g Carb (ouch!), 99 Fat.  Basically this turned out to be a "not on a diet" day.  The extra 700 calories are ENTIRELY attributable to some chocolate covered pretzels and red wine shared with my wife, so you know, my peace and happiness quotient was high at least.

Guess what though, I still dropped 1.5lbs and weighed in at 241.0 lbs.  That's three days in a row at over a pound lost.  There's a very real chance that I'll see 239 type number tomorrow or the next day.

I should have a much more regimented day today and get my two major walks in along with a sensible dinner.

Workout today was:

• Squat - (+5) 230 - 3x5 
• Bench - (+5) 180 - 3x5
• Chins - 3x15 (two bands)
• Power Clean - (+5) 55 - 5x3

(Format note: Exercise - (+ how much I added) Weight - Sets x Reps)

Performance Notes:

• Squat - Using belt on last warm up and all work sets. Getting heavy, feel strain in groin while maintaining "Knees Out".  As usual, getting my house in order and crisply addressing the weight helps immensely.  My third set is usually my best.
• Bench - Using wrist wraps on last warm up and all work sets. I've adjusted my position "up" or towards the bar to aid in lift off.  It's getting too heavy to mess around with 3-4" behind vertical anymore. 
• Chins - Super setting these in with the Bench sets.  Used wide strap and next smaller strap, which was too much.  I knew immediately that I'd be there all day if I did pyramids to failure as planned.  Opted for sets of 15 instead which was enough to burn me out by the last rep or two in each set.  I'll adjust down one strap width next time and try again.  My shoulder was a little iffy, so I'm happy to be cautious about withdrawing strap assistance.  I'm in no rush.
• Power Clean - very pleased with my progress on form.  I think any issues I'm having with inconsistency are related primarily to the weight being so low.  That should correct itself over time, and I have no inclination to accelerate by adding weight faster than 5 lbs per workout.

Busy Day - Abridged Post

Ok...Tuesday.  Complexes, Walking.  Check and Check

Diet yesterday: 2066 cal, 248 P, 101 C, 72 Fat.  Nearly perfect
Steps: 12k.  Senior Band Concert stuff last night prevented the evening walk
Weight 242.5lbs!!  That's a low water mark and down 1.5 from the prior day.  It's all new ground from here.

I wont get to walk for either of my large walks this afternoon because of a fire drill I have to run for a new job that will take up 100% of my time if I'm lucky.

That's ok though...it'll probably prevent me from getting much of a dinner either.

I'll be back tomorrow with another update...I cant believe I'm saying this, but I'm relieved it's Power Cleans and not Dead Lifts tomorrow.  lol.

I'm also starting my first session of Pull Ups which ought to blow, hard.  lol.  Gotta be done though.

Starting with A Bang!!

Wow...I'm fuckin' hungry.  lol.  I guess I settled in to that glorious 2700 calorie / 175-200g Carb diet over the last two weeks huh?

People who have never really worked their bodies while in deficit before (read: most people) have never been truly hungry.  I felt it almost constantly while doing Bike Across Kansas in 2012, and during the 6 months of long distance riding I did leading up to it.  It's completely different than that bitchy "dinner is late" feeling you get when you're off schedule.  I know it when I feel it.

Anyway...I'm actually encouraged that I'm hungry already.  I didnt expect to slough off the extra glycogen stores in my muscles for at least a couple of days.  I'll be tapping straight into what I call "Waist Butter" tomorrow I think.

Interesting article today in T-Nation (ignore the gym-bro branding, they're a decent source of information) about the order in which you eat your food.

In a nutshell, a recent study shows that eating your Protein and Fat first, starchy stuff second has all sorts of metabolic and body composition benefits for Type 2 Diabetics....and if they do better, you should too.  So eat your steak first...then your potato!

Interesting read:  https://www.t-nation.com/supplements/the-protein-preload

Weekend Update

I'm not going to run down every detail of the weekend.  Eating was ok..not enough food in general or protein specifically on Sunday.

I had a good workout on Saturday, and am encouraged by my progress on the Power Clean.  I'm still using "form practice" weight, but that's ok because I am muttering form ques on every rep.

Interestingly, I didnt set up properly or something (I'm not sure) on my last work set of Bench Press and if you'd have told me the bar was welded to the pins I'd have believed you.  Zero budge.  I actually lol'd.  I just sat back up and started over and cranked the set out thankfully, but I was like, "wow".

I didnt do any walking at all this weekend, but I was all over the damn place doing handyman stuff all weekend so I'm still pretty beat up.  Much of this work was tedious and detail oriented (trim, painting etc) and we had to juggle a 4 month old for a lot of the time also.  Silver lining there is grandpa's are allowed to nap with babies and I took full advantage.

Ok..Monday "Brass Tacks"

I'm starting this next two week Deficit Phase at 244.0 lbs, which is exactly one pound up from where I finished the last one.  Not. Too. Shabby.

I'd like to shed that pound, and 7 more along with it over the course of the next 14 days.  That seems fast, but keep in mind, I only lose for half the month, the other half I maintain.  7 lbs in a month is about .25 per day but I'm achieving this without being in caloric deficit 100% of the time.  Honestly I'd be thrilled to lose 10 or more pounds during a deficit.

Dietary Goals for the next 14 days are:

2000 calories, 235 Protein, 95 Carbs, 75 Fats.  This includes a step up to a full cup of whole milk as a supplement.

I'm going to dial back my Walking, simply because I wont be able to sustain the habit with my new job.  It's already hit or miss taking the 10am and 2pm walks every day with meetings etc.  I'll still do the morning walks on T, Th, and the Lunch and Evening walks every day.  Those make up the vast majority of my total mileage.

Anyway...better to see what impact that has and adjust to it now vs later.

Today's workout introduced the first sets of assistance work.  These are exercises designed to target weaker muscles that can tolerate the additional volume, in support of the main lifts.  Today was Dips, which will alternate on an ABA BAB schedule with Chins.

For both of these I'm following the Armstrong Pull Ups Template which is basically a fancy way of working yourself to failure with as much volume as possible, sometimes repeatedly.  Today was a pyramid pattern so I did 1 rep, rested, 2 reps, rested, 3 reps etc.

I was able to work up to 5 reps but failed when I attempted 6.  The program calls for one additional set to failure after the failed set too.  By then I was squeaking out 2 reps.  lol. Totals looked like this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 3, 2.

The assistance work will be super-setted in with the upper body exercise of the day, today being the Press.  A typical Press session will contain 8 sets so there is plenty of room to work in sets of Dips in between.  I'm not going to lie though, this is strenuous stuff.  I'm working 3x5@90 lbs on the  Press and then dipping with my fat ass at 244 lbs.

I'll continue to follow Armstrong on the Pull Ups for the long term, but will switch to weighted sets on Dips in July at the start of my Hypertrophy Specific Training (HST)

So yeah, that torched my upper body and then I turned around and did Dead Lift Day.  I got it done, but it was through sheer force of will.  260 lbs at this point but my schedule is thinned by ABA rotation with Power Clean, and only up 5lbs at that.  This means I go up 15 lbs in two weeks instead of  30 lbs in ONE week that I was doing for the first 4 weeks. This will slow me down but at this point I need to.

Why arent I talking about Squats?  They're just routine for me.  I'm grinding everything at this point because the weight is relatively heavy, but as long as I maintain perfect form I complete the reps without too much slow down.

Issues creep in if my chest and upper back arent tight, if my concentration wavers, or if I dont sit back far enough and fully engage my hamstrings.  Miss those and the rep sucks big time, get them all right and it's not too tough.  I call that incentive to get it right.

That pretty much sets things up for the next two weeks.

Forgive my formatting.  Here's my data going back to "the before time".  The last column is the difference between then and "now" or the latest measurements. Also note the last column should be May 3rd.  Friday data is always skewed because of the drinking.

Bottom line here, I couldn't ask for better results frankly.  I'm doing everything I know to work my body intelligently, while eating in a way that should support my muscles yet still be in a caloric deficit every two week and losing fat.  These data support my methods pretty convincingly.

• Body Fat is down 19 lbs.  That's a big Biden deal, and it's having a measurable impact on my cardiovascular health in both my blood pressure and my heart rate variability.  I'll detail these in a separate post.
• Muscle Mass is down 1.9 lbs which is great.  Acceptable ratios are around 2:1 Fat:Muscle.  I'm at 10:1.  I'd rather not be down at all, but realistically this variance is "no change"
• My body water has been remarkably steady throughout.  This tells me that none of this is cheap glycogen depletion from lower carb eating.  
• Lastly, Lean Body Mass is steady, which means no real need to recalculate my diet, certainly not my protein which I will hold at 3g/kg LBM or about 220g per day

Assuming I hold steady, I'll be at a comfortable 20% body fat at 205lbs by Labor Day.

TGIF

Friday is a planned day of rest for me.  The idea of lifting or even going for a walk after my usual Thursday bad behavior is laughable.  Having said that, yesterday was about as good of a Thursday as I've seen, and the scale shows no ill effects.  My head is another matter.

• Weight - 243.9 up 0.3 (trivial)
• Steps - 13,813 
• Gym - Complexes
• Calories - 2706
• Protein - 192 (off goal)
• Carbs - 139 (light beer FTW)
• Fats - 78
• Sleep - No.  lol

Standard diet on deck for today, including the afternoon snack I didnt eat yesterday (hence the dip in protein)

I have a busy evening planned and a fair amount of handyman work on my plate this weekend so it will be a challenge to eat and exercise like I should.  I'll do what I can.

It's good to be the king

..or at least to eat like one.  Recap time:

• Weight - 243.6 (no change)
• Steps - 14,251
• Gym - Strength Training
• Calories - 2,727
• Protein - 260g
• Carbs - 189g
• Fats - 101g
• Sleep - 7:14  "meh"

Today was a sluggish 16 mins on the Cosgrove Complexes, followed by the standard neighborhood walk.

As I've noticed, I am pretty damn hungry by the time I get to breakfast at my desk at 8 am.  I'm going to try to get my second meal in as soon as I digest this one, and see if I can't nip this in the bud.  I do NOT want to go to a birthday party hungry. (My buddy's birthday tonight will stand in for Thirsty Thursday.)

As is my normal practice, I have a planned "Off" day on Friday.  I'll walk if the muse strikes me, but generally I rest.  Saturday I'll return to the gym for my third Strength session of the week.

Bottom line: Three text book days and a strong start to a fourth.  

The nut I need to crack, as always, is the balance between my goals in the gym, and my "life balance" time with friends out in the world.  It's all good until I drink 4,000 calories of craft beer and need until Sunday to really feel like myself again.  I sure as HELL dont want to finish this Maintenance Phase having gained weight that I'll spend precious Deficit Phase time cutting.

The two weeks starting Sunday are a sprint to maximum weight loss.  I'll be suffering in the gym, I'll be slower on my walks etc.  236 lbs is my goal on May 21.  The better I hold the line now, the better that will go.

Can't overemphasize this

Developing a solid walking habit is key to my well being and comfort while strength training.

Sure it burns some calories and gets me away from my desk and out in the world, but the therapeutic value of using my sore muscles to do something as fundamental as walking simply cannot be overstated.

I'm squatting heavy sets of 5, three days a week, and until recently was ALSO dead lifting on each of those days as well (I'm alternating power cleans on an ABA BAB schedule now).  I have had ZERO DOMS.  I am absolutely stiff and slow to get moving almost every time I get up, but 50 yards later I'm ready to stretch out and see the world.

Secondarily, I think hitting these muscles MORE often is a big part of it too.  Everything I've read says that some hair of the dog is the best cure for sore muscles, i.e., squatting helps sore legs. I simply wont have enough time to be sore between now and Saturday when I lift heavy again, especially with a round of complexes on Thursday morning.

Anyway, I'm pushing it hard enough to see stars three days a week and I'm never sore.  I'm doing something right and those two things are my theory.

PS - everything we think we know about DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) is crap.  It's not lactic acid, it's not worse with eccentric contraction.

https://www.t-nation.com/supplements/tip-doms-isnt-caused-by-what-you-think

Your body isnt a spreadsheet

Well I really can't explain yesterday.  Sure, I walked a lot but I shed 3 lbs on the scale.  Let's run it down:

• Workout - Cosgrove "Evil Eight" barbell complexes
• Walking - 21,424 steps
• Calories - 2560 - 252 Protein, 158 Carbs, 100 Fat
• Weight - 243.6 (down 3.0 lbs)

I do want to call out a Non-Scale Victory though.  My lifting belt is a Velcro through a buckle and back onto itself sort of thing.  When I first started using it on my dead lifts (a week ago?) I could only wear it cinched, and barely at that.  If I loosened it, there wasn't any Velcro to attach it to.

Now, I can comfortably but snugly wear it fastened, then cinch it down tight when I go to lift.  That means more to me than a 3lb swing in water weight for sure.

Sleep was shit at 6:34 and very low quality.  Lots of people on very different schedules coming and going and I just couldn't settle back down.

Today was a deadlift day, and I can say this, they sure do make me look forward to power clean days.  ugh.

• Squat - 3x5 210
• Press - 3x5 90
• Dead lift - 1x5 255  ( I got horizontal after these.  I was wiped out)

I can say with certainty that I'll need every walk I take today just to keep my body from going full Tin Man.  Upper back, Hamstrings, Glutes are all smoked.  My shoulders are pretty worn out too.

Since we're doing a record of events, let's just say that I'm packed and ready for the standard day

• 8 am Breakfast - eggs, chicken, rice, spinach, coconut oil
• 10 am Snack - Bar and Shake
• 12 pm Lunch - chicken, stir fry veg, rice, olive oil
• 2 pm Snack - yogurt, whey & creatine, PBFit, oat bran

That's 1955 Cal, 210 Protein, 122 Carb, 68 Fat and pretty well baked in at this point.  I rarely vary, other than to pull out the rice and added fats on Deficit weeks.

Dinner is where things can swing around a little, but generally there's just a final 600 calories and the same sort of macro split to get me to the sorts of totals I listed above.

Finally, I'll walk on the snacks, lunch, and after work before dinner and come in around 15k steps.

If every day was like today and yesterday, I'd be golden.  I just need to adhere to the above as much as possible for the rest of the week, keep it real Thursday night, and I've got a GOOD shot at starting my Deficit phase at a low body weight and not needing to go back over the same territory again.  The 240-245 zone is getting a little old.  Time for the 230's.

Cardio and Appetite

I'm sticking to the plan today and so far have walked on all three opportunities.  Even with added carbs running about 150g per day, I am definitely looking for food about 75% of the way between meals.  I'm going to say that HIIT followed by a 40 minute walk, all fasted, put me "behind" the appetite curve today and I'm just going to be hungry all day.

It just goes to show that there's a very fine line when your activity levels are this high, and I"m not even doing any serious endurance work or really intense cardio. 

This is a typical Tuesday for me:

• in the gym by 5:40am - 15 minutes HIIT doing barbell complexes
• hit the streets for 40 minute walk ~2.4miles
• Cook, pack, shower work by 8am (half mile walk from parking to office)
• Eat breakfast - 8:01 and dont get in my way.
• Mid morning Walk - about 15-20 mins and just under a mile.  This includes stairs from the 9th floor.
• Protein shake and bar by 10am latest, after my walk usually
• Lunch hour - 40 min, 2.2mile walk.  Eat lunch.
• Mid afternoon walk - same as mid morning
• PM snack - yogurt, whey, PBFit, oat bran.  3pm
• half mile walk to the car, then after work walk as soon as I'm home, usually right around 5pm.  40 mins, 2.4 miles

I'll repeat most of this on Thursdays as well, although I have my night out with my friend and skip the after work walk.

MWF all start the day with a full hour in the gym and no morning walk..but run about the same with everything else.  Fridays I'm usually doing something social and skip the afternoon walk too.

Weekends I back off and just get a walk in once or twice...with Sundays often being a complete lay around and rest kind of day.

Testing...1..2..

Is this thing on?

It's not as good as an email chain with buddies, but this does serve to document and maintain a chronological record of this journey.

I do find that a daily accountability to "the record" helps to keep me on track, in the same way that my Apple Watch and it's goofy fitness widgets keeps me in the game throughout the day.  That is to say, I havent been good about updates, and so performance has suffered as well.

Bottom line...I'm right at or slightly above my upper bound for my Maintenance Phase at 246.6 lbs.  I'd prefer that to be 245.5 or lower but given the 18th birthday shenanigans this weekend and come celebratory drinking among the adults for 5 kids raised, I'll excuse it.

Today is Tuesday in Week 2 of Maintenance.  Starting Sunday night, I'll switch back to Deficit and begin the march down to 235lbs.  I'll be in a 900 calorie deficit, week 7 of the Novice Linear Progression (getting tough), and I'll be adding dips and chins as assistance work.  As long as protein stays high, I expect good things over the next two weeks.

Yesterday was a good day having returned to form on the diet front, if not as much on the exercise front.

• Calories - 2541, 243 Protein, 147 Carbs, 117 Fat
• Steps - 10,106 but I only really deliberately walked once yesterday vs my normal 5x.  Life happened.
• Workout - Squat, Bench, Power Clean.  Everything is starting to require a substantial effort on reps 4 and 5, even in the first set.  Still, I manage to perform best in the 3rd set.

I decided to revert to the empty bar with power cleans, and I think it's going to pay off.  It's a technical lift when done correctly, and the 135lbs I was attempting makes sense mathematically, ASSUMING form is solid.  Form is NOT solid.

I'll simply progress up 5lbs per session and be patient.  I'll top out soon enough anyway.  If at some point I've added enough practice and weight to the bar to where I simply decide to add a chunk of weight and get to work, so be it.  I'm not there yet.

Sleep wasnt what it should be, even with Nichol having an early wake up this morning.  I really need to seize the opportunity for a 9 hour rest on Monday/Tuesdays.  Eventually my body will demand it.

This morning was Barbell Complexes and my standard neighborhood walk.  I'm at 70lbs now and I think I'm going to hold steady here for a bit.  Not only is the aforementioned Power Clean one of the exercises on the circuit, but I'm adding volume to my Presses at non trivial weights, and doing Good Mornings while relatively exhausted which isnt super smart.

Note on Performance Metrics: I think I'm going to switch to my Wahoo chest band for Hear Rate measurements vs the Apple Watch.  I'm sorry but I'm KILLING it by the 3rd set and gulping air like a gold fish.  No way in hell is the 122 bpm measurement I got this morning accurate.

Additionally, I'm at the point where I need to think about wrist wraps on my heavy work sets on Press and Bench Press and the watch gets in the way.  I'll need to dig it out and probably get a new battery for it.  Hopefully there isnt too much technical overhead getting it to sync up with the Apple Health suite.