ElbowRocker

So, got all my workouts in but missed a couple days worth of food tracking. Also, I'm about to leave for a week of vacation! Pretty busy. Anyway, I think overall I got an A this challenge, but I'll have to go tally things to be sure. I just wanted to let you know I'll post details when I can. #didprettygood #couldalwaysdobetter

GAAHH! Well, I finished strong but I forgot to log food on Saturday and Sunday. First misses of the challenge. I got my workouts in though. I'll go back in and post as I can. I was gone all weekend and I'm about to go visit the in-laws in New Orleans for a week, so I'll likely be pretty quiet. Plus tapatalk doesn't want to play with my phone anymore, WTF. Anyway, did good, be back with details. #rushed #sorushed #notime

Food - Wednesday, October 23rd. Eggs, sausage, chicken soup, cauliflower, chili. Rest day. Calories: 2,335 / 2,660 Carbs: 66 / 67 Sugar: 40 / 16 Protein: 168 / 166 Fat: 154 / 192 Food - Thursday, October 24th. Eggs, sausage, brat, paleo chicken bacon alfredo. Workout day. Calories: 3,012 / 2,660 Carbs: 90 / 67 Sugar: 25 / 16 Protein: 223 / 166 Fat: 197 / 192 Will have to go find my workout details after I get home.

Damn. Glad you're okay. I would probably have shat myself. I've had my car broken into quite a few times but fortunately never had the hood popped! I'll be sure to check it next time. #ifthereisanexttime #hopethereisn't

Seems like you'll hit that left split before the challenge ends. Nice job, keep up the great work! #alsokeepupthegreatcake #doyoumakepie? #Ipreferpie #mmm...pie...

Way to go on continuing to not smoke. Best wishes with the schooling situation and the pain. Is it sarcoidosis? #it'sneversarcoidosis #exceptthatonce #andthatonetimeitwasheavymetals #Ihaven'twatchedhouseinforever

Well done sir. #bravo

Good luck with the grading. Having seen you're progress and all the extra stuff you've done this challenge, I'd give you an A. Finish strong! #almostdone #focus #sofocused #chriskluwe

Why yes. Yes I do. #it'sinthefridge #thatmightposeaproblemforyouthoughasmyfridgeisveryfaraway #sorryboutthat

Thanks Ash! Workout #16 completed Tuesday, October 22nd! It was a pretty good workout, and efficient as we were able to make it through with limited interruptions from the kids. It was also a 3x5 day, which I like. I'm wondering if on 3x5 days I should back my warm-up sets off to 3 reps as well; I've been doing 5 reps per warm-up set the whole time. Ah well, I doubt it matters much. Anyway: BOR: 135 lbs Deadlift: 285 lbs I'm fairly happy with those numbers. I'm looking forward to eventually hitting 300 on deadlift. Although the next two workouts are 5x5 so I don't know if I'll get there this week. #cheers #weeksixisofftoanokaystart #Imayhaveabeerthisweekendwho'swithme?

Workout #16, done Tuesday 10/22. 3x5 day is good for the ego. BOR: 5 reps with bar (45lb) 5 reps @ 55 5 reps @ 65 5 reps @ 75 5 reps @ 85 5 reps @ 95 5 reps @ 105 5 reps @ 115 5 reps @ 125 3 reps x 5 @ 135 Deadlift: 5 reps @ 65 5 reps @ 80 5 reps @ 95 5 reps @ 115 5 reps @ 125 5 reps @ 135 5 reps @ 145 5 reps @ 185 5 reps @ 205 5 reps @ 225 5 reps @ 245 5 reps @ 255 5 reps @ 265 5 reps @ 275 3 reps x 5 @ 285 If I counted correctly, I did around 80 total reps. It didn't really feel like work until about 185 though. The lighter sets and small jumps indicate that I'm going along with the wife; I'm pretty proud of her for hitting 145 lbs! After that I started making the larger jumps. Hands felt good, grip felt good, although at the higher weights I did have to shake them out a bit. Still loving the chalk, still using double overhand the whole way. Felt good post workout but pretty well drained. I think I probably could've gotten 300 lbs for one rep, but I'm sure I'll make it there soon enough. No rush. #goodworkout #nobarkingdog #nosmog #ifIatebreakfastIwoulddefinitelyhaveitwithhog #todaywasagoodday

Way to +dmg the dragon! Go in for the kill! #aimfortheeyes

Good luck with the kiddos! When can everyone be not sick again? Does that season exist? #seriouslywtfnaturecomeon

I'll try. I've got a feeling that things are gonna taper off here for a bit. I may look into other programs in the off week(s) to see whats out there. Thanks! #toolegittoquit

Great workout! Glad Wednesday has been kind to you. I'd hate for you to have to slap a Wednesday. #powrightinthekisser

Thanks Ash! Food - Tuesday, October 21st. Eggs, sausage, chicken soup, cauliflower. Workout day. Calories: 2,779 / 2,660 Carbs: 66 / 67 Sugar: 38 / 16 Protein: 200 / 166 Fat: 183 / 192 Pretty good for a workout day. Sugar was high but it all came from good sources, nothing processed. The wife found some awesome sausage that only has pork, water, salt, and spices. It can be so hard to find sausage without sugar, so I'm stoked about this. Yay more meat options!

Week #5 summary (late). Well, I tracked every day, and was good about the curfew. I was low on calories on Thursday due to getting sick; then I had to get back into eating on Friday and Saturday. Things evened out by Sunday and week 6 has started well. BOR:5x5 @ 115 lbs. Down about 10 lbs, wasn't feeling well at the beginning of this workout.Deadlift:5x5 @ 255 lbs. Down 10 lbs, but the grip issue has been fixed, and I did 7 full reps (almost 8) on the fifth set, so I might have been able to struggle through the higher weight. Looking forward to 3x5 tonight.Push Press:3x5 @ 165 lbs. Did these after squats this time, which I think I like better. Also, I now know that I could definitely throw my wife up above my head should I ever need to.Squats:3x5 @ 235 lbs. This was a small increase over previous high of 225, but I'm feeling a lot better about my form. I still have some things I need to figure out, but I'm getting there. That's it really. No huge increases, and some setbacks this last week with sickness and sudden acts of children, but a decent finish. I'm pretty happy that I've found the range of weight I am currently comfortable with for these lifts. It took me five weeks but I feel like I finally have some kind of baseline. Between challenges I might try to find some 1RM's for these. #cheers

Food - Monday, October 21st. Brats, beef, sausage, eggs, some salad. Calories: 2,655 / 2,660 Carbs: 33 / 67 Sugar: 21 / 16 Protein: 178 / 166 Fat: 196 / 192 Great day for a rest day as far as food goes. Lots of protein and fat, low carbs. If only they could all be this good.

That sounds like a pretty sweet day, as well as a long one. Happy belated birthday also!

Good luck with the shitstorm. Keep your head down and find a good umbrella.

Good luck in the final week! #kicknancysass

Food looks awesome, and congrats on the hike, which also looks awesome!

Way to go on the lift test! That's awesome. Good luck breaking 100kg soon!

Okay, here goes: I love the BB stuff. I like DB's for some things, and they can definitely be safer if you're alone, but I really just prefer the bar. Ideally though? I'd love it if I could afford to have them both. And some KB's. And other stuff. Everything has it's place I guess. #notenoughmoney #neverenoughmoney I'm pretty sure I read it in "Starting Strength" by Rippetoe. Or maybe an article of his online? I read it, I remember that much. Basically, I was putting the bar in the main crease of my hand (grab and go), which was too far into the palm. Apparently you should be between that crease, and the crease where the palm meets the fingers. This tiny adjustment worked well for me, and really cut down on the pulling and slight slippage that was happening. I haven't had time to watch the video that Vixen posted yet (youtube blocked at work) but I imagine it's probably the same thing. Yeah, I think I've finally got my stats more or less evened out, in that I won't be making any more large jumps. I've had to take some weight off here and there this week. Now the real work begins I guess. The food tracking has been really easy actually. I always dork around on my phone, and I have the MFP app right there on the main screen, so I always remember. There are a few times I've had to go back and add one meal out of the day, but it's rare, and it allows you to go back and edit, so I usually catch it before posting summaries in my battle log (it gets obvious when you're missing a few hundred calories). Looking forward to seeing this video, thanks for posting! I must look into this Captains of Crush you speak of. When I was younger, I thoroughly enjoyed the Captain of Crunch, and nowadays I really like being able to squeeze things very hard, and then pick them up. Currently I only have one of those terribly uncomfortably plastic grip spring things, which I usually have in the car for when I'm driving. It's not great, but better than nothing. Ugh. Thanks for the commiseration. Now that it's out of our way, let's have a great week 6! And yes, daughter is fine. It wasn't nearly as bad as it looked. Giggling within 10 minutes. Stupid life. Child is damaged inherently due to my (allegedly) being her paternal gene donor. Shit happens I guess. She's fine now though. A turd, but a healthy one. My workout happened. I was very pleased with it. #verypleasedindeed. #thanksforasking #RAWR #rightbackatcha #slaythedragon

Workout #13, done Wednesday 10/16 (last date was wrong?) Push Press:5 reps with bar (45lb)5 reps @ 555 reps @ 655 reps @ 805 reps @ 955 reps @ 1155 reps @ 1255 reps @ 1355 reps @ 1455 reps @ 1554 reps @ 1655 reps x 4 @ 155I thought I could get it done at 165. I was wrong, and had to drop back to 155 and finish there.Squat:5 reps @ 455 reps @ 555 reps @ 955 reps @ 1155 reps @ 1355 reps @ 1555 reps @ 185At this point, we heard screaming from the youngest upstairs. She fell into a chair, or off of one, and busted her lip open a bit. Blood on the carpet. It turned out not to be bad at all, but neither of us was feeling terribly well, and it was late, so we called it done without finishing squats. Additionally, my arms were killing me when I was trying to grip the bar for squats. I could not get my form right, and my arms were just completely keeping me from even getting into a set. I'm still not entirely sure what it was. Outer upper arm, like between the bicep and tricep, loads of pain.Workout #14, done Friday 10/18. Still feeling marginally ill from Thursday and horrible lunch choices. BOR:5 reps with bar (45lb)5 reps @ 555 reps @ 655 reps @ 755 reps @ 955 reps @ 1055 reps x 5 @ 115Not as heavy as the last time. Rough week? Who knows.Deadlift:5 reps @ 655 reps @ 755 reps @ 855 reps @ 955 reps @ 1055 reps @ 1155 reps @ 1255 reps @ 1355 reps @ 1555 reps @ 1855 reps @ 2055 reps @ 2255 reps @ 2455 reps x 4 @ 2557 reps x 1 @ 255I finally fixed my grip issue with this. Also, I started to feel better as the workout progressed. I didn't get to my previous best, but I got to within 10 lbs and felt great throughout. That's why I tried to do as many as I could on the last set; I failed on the 8th rep. This workout ended much better than it began.Workout #15, done Sunday 10/20. No complaints. Push Press:5 reps with bar (45lb)5 reps @ 655 reps @ 955 reps @ 1155 reps @ 1355 reps @ 1553 reps x 5 @ 165I like 3x5 day. Squat:5 reps @ 455 reps @ 555 reps @ 655 reps @ 755 reps @ 955 reps @ 1155 reps @ 1355 reps @ 1655 reps @ 1855 reps @ 2055 reps @ 2253 reps x 5 @ 235Still having form issues but I tried to do a lot of light sets to help address some problems. We also started with squats as I was afraid that I was doing something to my arms during push press that caused tightness during squats. Anyway, I finally started getting it to where it didn't hurt. Really, I should just save up some money and get a session with a trainer to figure some of this shit out.So yeah, nothing groundbreaking here.