INSAIYAN

Get it, Linds!

Rock on, rock star! We've lost over a combined 100lbs! I wouldn't sweat a single pound, cuz like you said, water weight.

I've been doing StrongLifts 5x5 for almost 5 months. I injured my knee a few weeks back doing push press. Everything that I've read seems to point to a mild overuse injury. The knee makes a noise similar to cracking one's knuckles and hurts like hell if I try squatting on it. I took a week off and tried doing 5x5 of 60% my max. I could barely do the 1x5 because it hurt so much. Lately I've been doing the following upper body 5x5 workout instead combined with HIIT on an elliptical trainer: Bench Press Pendlay Rows Overhead Press Shrugs EZ Bar Curls. I don't want to overwork my shoulders or something similar and I'd like to add in some exercises that can assist my squats/deadlifts without me having to use my knee, as well as allow me to perform different lifts on successive days. Any advice would be hot and appreciated. I have access to a full gym, but no swimming pool at the moment, as I would probably use that. My knee does not hurt during HIIT.

Monday, June 30, 2014 - Return of the Gym I got back into the gym after 6 days off. Goal 1: StrongLifts -> UpperBody 5x5 Squat: 1x8 @ 135lbs, 1x5 @ 225lbs This was my first attempt at squatting since my knee really started hurting. Was going to attempt to 5x5 @ 225lbs, but knee hurt way too much when it hit below parallel. 225lbs is only 60% of my max and even the 135lb reps weren't pleasant, so it looks like I'm off the knee for quite a while I'll research working around it more in-depth in preparation for the next challenge, but for now I'm going to let it rest, using HIIT on the elliptical to at least keep it active. Bench Press: 1x20 @ 135lbs, 1x10 @ 185lbs, 1x5 @ 235lbs, 1x4 @ 235lbs, 2x4 @ 230lbs, 1x3 @ 230lbs I got a little excited during warm ups. I'm overall just a little bit weaker than last time due to time out of the gym. Pendlay Rows: 5x5 @ 155lbs My form had improved, I was able to pull to all the way to my back on the early sets better and it was actually easier than last time. Weight remains the same as I really want to get the full range of motion down for the whole 5x5. Overhead Press: 1x7 @ 115lbs, 5x5 @ 125lbs After what happened at Bench Press, I decided to not increase the weight here. I completed the 5x5, but it was challenging and my form was wonky in the later sets. Barbell Shrug: 5x5 @ 235lbs This was hard to move, but doable. My grip feels stronger. Weight increases 10lbs EZ Bar Curl: 5x5 @ 75lbs These were EZ. I will give 80lbs or 85lbs a shot next time, depending on whether the adjustable weight bar is available or not. Goal 2: HIIT I'm not going to bother making up what I missed. I'm only looking forward now. Here's what I did last night: (30/30 hi/lo)x18 + 1min final burst = 19min Goal 3: Cutting Friday Up until the cheat meal: Calories - 1220kcal Protein - 151g My wife and I went to a cool Mexican/Seafood spot in Venice Beach. They had a margarita cart that came to your table. Here's what I ate, and yes that's two entrees: Fresh made flour tortillas and chips dipped in guacamole and salsa 2 bowls of meatball soup Breaded calamari and shrimp with fish sauce and rice Beef Taco Rice Re-fried Beans 1 Cadillac Margarita Saturday No record I remember eating my standard stuff, but treated myself to a few sodas. Sunday No record Ate light during the day, had a few sodas, ate a cheeseburger for dinner. Monday Up until my workout: Calories - 820kcal Protein - 73g I ate an entire small bag of beef jerky to myself as soon as I got home from the gym, I was ravenous. I glanced at the calories, thought "this is fine" and downed it quick. I didn't record anything. For dinner I had an upgraded version of my standard cheeseburger - the patty was grocer made and had bleu cheese crumbles and onions mushed into it. I topped it with pepperjack cheese, more bleu crumbles, and buffalo hot sauce. Ridiculously good. That was fun, but it's super deficit time again. Life Goal: Sleep I got at least 7hours/night over the weekend. Last night I got a shitty 6.5. My addiction to Clash of Clans and my wife's late night antics - TV, iPad, phone - are becoming a problem. I'll let her know what's up and set a firm phone plugged in, alarm set, and locked up time of 10:00PM. Conclusion I'm pissed that I can't use my knee. I put a lot of work into getting my squats and deadlifts stronger. Things had finally clicked on deadlift, my squat max was approaching 400lbs and then I go and do Push Press at the suggestion of a side challenge, and I fuck up my knee. It's frustrating, but I need to keep my eye on the current target however, and that's dropping below 220lbs. Knee or no knee, I can still work at toward that and getting my upper body more powerful.

accidentally posted my 6 week challenge post here. nothing to see here.

I'm a personal fan of just buying a whole rotisserie chicken from the grocer.

Way to kick ass, Paula!

Thanks, SD! Right back atcha! I'll have update likely coming tomorrow. I've been in a weird funk over the past few days where my energy level seemed non-existant. I've been cutting for well over a month, so maybe that has something to do with it. Loading up on good food and good sleep tonight to take on my first training sesh in a while tomorrow afternoon.

Looks like my last post didn't go through. Despite not accomplishing any of my fitness goals this weekend, I weighed-in at 226.6lbs this morning. I've lost 12.4lbs. Training resumes tomorrow.

Thanks for your input, guys!

Wednesday, 6/25/14 & Thursday, 6/26/14 - Resting Up My upper body was really starting to feel the UpperBody 5x5 routine that I made and I didn't want my shoulders or anything to go the way of my knee, so I scheduled my 2 day break in the middle of the week. Goal 1: UpperBody 5x5 Rested both days. My knee is feeling stronger and stopped popping. I'm still going to stay off of it until at least next week - coupled with a deload. I'm back in the gym today (Friday) after work. Goal 2: HIIT I was planning on using these days to play catch up - but I was beat from work. I have a new hire to train while managing my team, so bleh. I wanted to go home and dick around on Clash of Clans. This may have been a good thing tho, taking all stress off of my knee, as it feels MUCH better now. Goal 3: Cutting Wednesday Calories - 1765kcal Protein - 153g Thursday Calories - 1765kcal Protein - 188g I stress drank 2 Cokes on Wednesday, but then ate my dinner burger bun free. I was feeling a little extra hungry Thursday, so I drank a protein shake. Ended up with the same calories, but more protein. 1765kcal is good. Life Goal: Sleep I averaged about 7.5/night, if you factor the large amount of snoozing that I do. Even if I don't set my alarm until later, I'm a light sleeper and my wife getting up will wake me up. I still need to work on not playing Clash of Clans before bed. I want to form a 8/night habit.

Who designed the guild badges? The achievement badges don't have to be complicated.

I can be a pretty tightly wound and intense dude and often find myself self medicating in different ways to deal with it. I'm pleasant most of the time, but I've got a short fuse. During that short window where the fuse is burning I'd like to be able to use techniques to stop the explosion. Meditation has been suggested in passing and I would like to learn more. Does anyone have any books or other resources to recommend to a beginner? Thanks

An achievement system would be cool. Your title changing from one synonym for rebel to another is pretty meh.

One full rest day under my belt - will likely use the elliptical this evening. Feeling much better.

Good luck EE. I'm looking forward to eating again! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice work, you two!

Welcome! I'm a StrongLifter and a IIFYM dieter as well. Hit me up if you ever have any questions. Good luck!

Midweek check up: 228.0lbs! 11 down, 9 to go!

I'm dispensing with my usual formatting and commenting and just jotting things down. I'm flipping exhausted. My perfectionism will get the better of me and I'll edit it when I have a bored moment at work tomorrow. Only took me 2 hours to find a bored moment. Here we go: Goal 1: UpperBody 5x5 I hit the gym before work. My knee feels better, but I'm not taking any chances with squats or deadlifts: Bench Press: 1x15 @ 135lbs, 1x8 @ 175lbs, 4x5 @ 235lbs, 1x4 @ 235lbs Didn't have the gas to finish it. I was still digesting my breakfast and that didn't help. I wasn't firing on all cylinders because I'm still getting re-accustomed to waking up this early. Still, I'm pretty sure this is the furthest I've progressed in SL 5x5 for Bench. I should hit the 5x5 PR next time. Weight remains the same. Pendlay Row: 5x5 @ 155lbs It was another case of the missing 2.5lb weights, so I said fuck it and I went up 10lbs instead. I could do it for the most party, but I wasn't quite hitting the full range of motion. I could pull it up to my stomach, but I couldn't pull my back in and hold it for a moment at the end of each rep. Weight drops 5lbs. OHP: 1x8 @ 115lbs, 5x5 @ 125lbs I did it. Form was a little shaky, but much better than before in the later sets. Weight increases 5lbs to my former plateau of 130lbs. Shrug: 5x5 @ 225lbs I'm adapting nicely to these and my grip feels stronger. These are helping maintain back and grip strength and general pulling strength since I can't deadlift. Weight increases 10lbs. EZ Bar Curls: 2x5 @ 85lbs, 1x4 @ 85lbs My arms were beat. I definitely did not have the gas for any more 85lb sets. I did not finish with the 75lb bar because I needed to start getting ready for work, but on the way out, I noticed a preacher curl station that I had never noticed before with a variable weight EZ Bar. Perfect. I'm taking my two day break in the middle of the week. I'm pretty worn out from the low calories and heavy upper body training. I need time to rest up. I'll be back to lifting Friday morning. Goal 2: HIIT I didn't have time in the morning and was too tired after work. That puts me two in the hole. I'm going in today to repay one of those debts. Goal 3: Cutting Calories - 1806kcal Protein - 156g In the rush to get to the gym, I forgot my lunch at home. I had to settle for some overpriced turkey wrap that threw my calories above my upper limit by about 50. I got a significant amount of protein, though: 0.68g/lb-bodyweight. Life Goal: Sleep In bed with electronics off: 10:10PM Slept: About 10:30AM-5:30AM Woke up once for restroom Approximately 7 hours of sleep. Solid, especially considering how early I woke up.

Nope. Welcome!

Oh wow that is cool. I love the severed tentacle and the triumphant pose!

I had it done for me - a personal trainer used calipers. You can also calculate it by taking certain measurements with measuring tape. Let me see if I can find a good source. Perhaps Waldo's site has something... Edit: Thought so - http://strengthunbound.com/measure-body-fat-easily-accurately-home/

I'd love to have that shirt. I used the Sarlacc Pit as a metaphor for my struggle against obesity in my first challenge.

I'm going to address your goals in the way that I would attack them and hopefully answer your questions along the way. Keep in mind that I am currently doing this and it's working: I'm trying to loose about 30-40 pounds of fat, and replace what I can with muscle. To lose fat, you need to eat at a caloric deficit - less in than out. To build muscle you need to do heavy resistance training and eat at a caloric surplus - more in than out - accompanied by enough protein. Since losing fat appears to be the primary goal, the program that I suggest is eating at a caloric deficit, lifting weights, and eating enough protein to sustain your muscles. You aren't going to see massive growth in your muscles due to the deficit, but you'll get incrementally stronger. I follow the If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) philosophy of dieting. Essentially it is the concept that as long as you are hitting the calories and macro-nutrient (protein, fat, carbs) goals that you set for yourself, the source is irrelevant - kind of the antithesis of the Paleo/Primal diets. http://www.IIFYM.com offers a calculator for this. You enter your basic stats - age, height, weight, activity level etc. and it determines your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). This is the sum of the energy you burn from just being alive and the energy burnt from physical activity. From there you tell it at how large of a deficit you want to be at and it will spit out your macro goals. Personally, I think the protein requirement that it gives you is too high, and studies support that, but I'll keep it simple for now. Eating at a deficit will cause you to burn fat. The traditionally given example is that since 1lb of fat is equal to 3500 kcal, it follows that if you eat at a 500kcal deficit each day, you will burn 1lb of fat per week. If you were to follow this method, all of the concerns raised in your questions are irrelevant - from a weight loss perspective - as long as it fits your macros. As far as strength training goes, I can personally attest to the effectiveness of http://stronglifts.com/. Just download the free e-book, find the workout, and don't bother signing up for the newsletter - it's all marketing garbage. Others have found success using Starting Strength, but you have to buy that one. As far as your martial arts goes, I'd just continue what you're doing as it will help with your caloric deficit. Good luck!