Weekend Update and Not-So-Random Thoughts

Monday

Pendlay Rows: 220 x 123123123

Bench: 240 x 5

Tuesday

Squat: 305 x 123123123

Jumps

RDLs: 5x10

Thursday

Push Press: 170 x 123123123

Hang High Pulls: 3x5

Bench Press: 120 x 5 x10

Friday

Deadlift: 405 x 123123123

Power Clean: 200 x 5 x 3

Shrugs: 5 x 10

This was a very good week of training this.  Weights were on the low end of where they are going to be so nothing was too much of a struggle.  Every week my squat and deadlift are going to move up twenty pounds and my push press and Pendlay row will move up by ten.  By the time I’m done with this phase the weights will be very heavy for me for the amount of volume I'm doing with them.

I also increased my calories this week.  When people go on diets, especially low carbohydrate diets, there is usually an adjustment period where they feel crappy and sluggish.  This is because the body is used to using dietary carbohydrates as fuel and when you don’t give it that there is a period where the body waits to see if things will go back to normal and it’s somewhat inefficient at taking fat stores to use as energy.  Once the body adapts to the new diet then things usually sail smoothly from there.  I’m experiencing the opposite side of that coin.  I don’t normally eat a lot of carbohydrate so adding a bunch in is both delicious but also a little uncomfortable.  I’ve got a little bloating (which is a good thing) and more gas than normal.  Just need to ride out the thunder storm and all will be well.

I’m not sure what took me so long but Pandora is the shit.  It’s a free internet radio where you create your own stations based on artists or genres you like.  You can also listen to stand up comedy among other stuff.  Highly recommend it.

I’m still doing intermittent fasting.  With the increase in calories I’m usually not even hungry until the fast is supposed to be over.  On Friday I lifted around 1:30 pm and hadn’t eaten anything besides coffee and water prior to that.  No adverse effects on the lift to report.  After I was done I had a protein shake and an hour later I ate some chicken breast and broccoli.  About an hour and a half after that I basically had to force down my next meal because I wasn’t even hungry.  On very infrequent occasions I like to stuff myself but I really don’t like to be uncomfortably full.  I’m trying to put on some weight so that meal is essentially a training session.  That’s what I’m going to tell myself.

Here is what a normal day’s food list looks like:

10 grams BCAAs before/during training

50 grams whey post workout

~35 grams protein from meat and a steam-in-bag bag of veggies, usually broccoli

4 whole eggs, 5 egg whites, 1 can black beans, 1 orange

1 sweet potato, ~60 grams protein from meat, 6 ounces frozen blueberries, 1 orange

That’s quite a bit of food for me.  That may increase if I feel my recovery isn’t going well, otherwise that’s what it’s going to look like for the next few weeks.

One of the things that Amy and I have enjoyed doing is trying different micro-brews and import beers.  So far I’ve been a big fan of all of New Glarus’ beers- Spotted Cow has been a favorite of mine for a long time- and Avalanche, which is made in Colorado.  I can honestly drink most beers though.  It’s all about learning to appreciate the beer for what it’s supposed to taste like, not disliking it because it doesn’t taste like your favorite, which is probably something shitty like Miller Light.

I haven’t been writing a lot lately in case you hadn’t noticed.  It’s mostly from a bit of writer’s block.  If there are any topics any of you would like researched and written on leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do.  They can literally be anything you’d like to see on here; training, nutrition, recent research, motivation, whatevs.

I tried an experiment this week and it turned out really well.  I put organic butter in my morning coffee.  I used a half tablespoon of organic butter because butter from grass-fed cows is about 1.3 billion times better than vegetable spread or regular creamer which are literal well-springs of trans fat.  Margarine, by the way, was like Viagra in that it is one of those accidental discoveries.  It was originally developed to be an industrial lubricant.  I can only imagine some guy named Ricky Wayne Hillbilly getting it on his hands and then in his mouth and commenting on how it tasted like butter.  Think about that shit next time you slather it on your morning muffin.

Anyway, if you like coffee and you like popcorn chances are you’ll like this.  It gives it a different type of creaminess.  If you have an immersion blender it will probably work better than my method of just whisking it with a fork.  With my method the butter sits at the top, with the blender it will mix better.  Give it a shot but remember to use organic butter, and organic coffee for that matter.

I just ordered five books from Amazon.  I’ll comment on them as I finish them.  Some are training related, some are business related, and some are just books that I want to read.  I’m thinking from now on every other month or so I’m going to order three books, one from each of those categories.  I’m working to create more time to read.  I’m also always looking for suggestions on stuff to read.  So if you have any awesome books drop a comment. 

You could also drop a comment just to say hi or that you liked this article or didn’t like that one.  If you are a card carrying member of the grammar police you can just keep it to yourself, unless it’s something so egregious that it changes the message of what I’m trying to say.  If that’s the case by all means let me know.

Nerds.

It’s 6 am Saturday morning and Saxon is clamoring to go for a walk.  I hope everyone has a great weekend and a great week ahead.  I also hope it starts acting like spring.  Temps in the forties are bullshit.  Step up your game Wisconsin.