wan2ride

Ok, so no caffeine sucks. It might be more than I feel like dealing with right now. For some reason my knees have been killing me this week. I've had this happen before after a weekend of traveling and I wonder if it's the cramped position of sitting on planes and in a car for long periods of time. I skipped running yesterday as I felt wiped and I wanted to give my knees a break. I did get up and hit the workout this morning though> Pullups are good at 5x5xbody weight I'm seriously considering going back to the 50pullupchallenge.com format for a bit with these as it's also a set of 5, but the reps are staggered. This gave me good results last time and I think I need to up my reps a bit before I go for more weight. Either way today was a good workout and I nailed all but the last rep of the last set. Couldn't quite get it so I got off the bar, got pissed, got back on the bar and banged it out. Deadlifts are coming along nicely! I warmed up with the same format as last time and bumped the working weight to 175lbs. It felt good and I could tell I had more in the tank. So now I'm up to body weight, and I'm on the way to double double body weight! Well I guess 1.5xbody weight should be the first goal. I have to say this is very invigorating for me. I'm really glad I've recorded everything so that I can see the forward progress on a weekly basis. Oh, I do need to watch my form with the deadlifts though as I could feel a slight bend in my arms. This means my biceps were engaged in trying to lift the bar and from what I've read this can result in torn biceps if it becomes a habit carried into really heavy lifting. Also I really wish I had worn sweatpants the first week. I keep the bar as close to my body as possible while moving the weight and I scraped my right shin something fierce the first couple times. I'm wearing long pants from hear out for deadlifts, but I'm glad the ones I wore this morning were black as they had a few spots where the were spotted through with blood from the scabs that tore off. Gross, but strangely motivating.

Pushin' through the pain, you rock! Working out while under the weather is a bitch, but you're a hard charger for doing it. I can't wait to hear that the pullup counter has clicked over form .95 to 1.0+!

I'll give myself an A for week one, but I gotta say weeks two's not shaping up the same.

Whoo, sounds like a rough few days there. Just keep plugging away and remember to make your goals a priority. You'll get there man!

Ok first I need to be publicly flailed on the forum because I didn't work out last night. I'll start by giving myself ten lashes ala the albino in the Davinci Code. My knees were killing me and crap came up as it always does when I intend to workout after work. I did however workout this morning. I felt much better this morning than I did when I went to sleep so I think skipping the workout may have been for the best. I got to the gym and found the squat racks blessedly empty. So NF warmup and straight into OH presses. I maintained the working weight from last week and though I definitely had to push the last rep it was nowhere near the struggle it was last week. Yay! Next time I go up 5lbs to 80lbs working weight. Now for my "favorite" exercise the squat. I think I could have warmed up a bit more and done some more mobility work to open up my hips, but overall I felt pretty good I just didn't feel like I was getting deep enough till the last set. I did the same warm up sets as last time with a 50lb jump to my working weight of 135lbs. I really like this method because I don't feel worn before I start my main sets, but I don't go in cold either. I felt really good with the weight and my stance for the first 3 sets so I went ahead and bumped it up to 145lbs for the last 2 sets. I could feel the extra weight, but it didn't compromise my form so I'll go ahead with that weight next time and hopefully move up from there. Banging out a bigger weight with plenty of power and really having it under control for the last rep of the last set was a very "oorah" moment. That and Disturbed's "Indestructible" playing for the last set really made me want to grunt and do some kind of celebratory dance. Luckily I remembered that exuberance is punished at my gym so I stowed it away till I got to my car and did a fist pump and growl for myself. Yes I'm a doofus but it works for me. Tomorrow morning is a run in nice chilly air. Oh, and I've decided to get free of caffeine. This is beneficial in two parts: A. It's one less thing that has a hold on me in life and I will be able to take or leave a coffee instead of being compelled to drink 1...er 2...ok, ok 3 a day. B. I'll be able to ditch dairy as heavy cream is the only dairy I take right now. The dairy concern is really just to see how I feel without it and to eliminate liquid calories. It's amazing how those tablespoons of fat can add up. I 'm cool with fat as I eat Primal rather than Paleo, but I'd rather get it from meat or something of that nature rather than empty calories.

Hello all, I hope you had a good weekend. So air travel beets 16 hours in a car, but layovers still suck when you get home at midnight. I skipped working out yesterday to catch a little more sleep since my normal gym time would have left me with 3.5-4 hours of shut eye. Today I got a late start, but went to the gym anyway. I got through the warm up and was headed for the squat racks when I realized there were actually other people in the gym who use them. There was about 4 or 5 guys from the local college all working out together on the only two racks and I didn't have the time to wait for them to finish or to cycle in with them. So rather than trying to half-ass the exercises with dumbbells I decided to come back this evening after the post work rush has cleared out. this is a little annoying and another reason to look for a better gym, but it does give me the chance to see how breakfast and lunch with no dinner works for me. I usually workout early then I'm not hungry till lunch so I eat two meals in the latter half of the day. Today is pretty much an exact reverse of my normal schedule. I know, from past experience, that I'll be able to lift a little more, but I wonder how the food scheduling will pan out. Eh, variety is the spice of life right? Back on track, or the track as the case may be, with a run around the lake. Luckily I'm not traveling this weekend so I can just shift my schedule by a day and still get a rest day before going back to M-W-F next week.

When discussing paleo/primal the first response should always be bacon! The question or issue doesn't matter, it will all look better after a few slices of bacon. Seriously though as scarletlevy said in her thread it reduces sweet craving/binges. Your average slice is only 50 calories so you can literally eat half a pack for only 300 calories or in other words the same caloric cost of a snickers, but none of the guilt. I've also heard of people sprinkling pure cocoa powder or cinnamon on bacon to make it seem a little more sinful. Or if you don't care for bacon, a nice grass fed steak will do the trick too.

I hear more cowbell is good for fevers. I hope you feel better soon. Very cool that you started learning Parkour. I've always thought that was an awesome skill.

How goes the battle? Are you ready to swim the channel yet?

Glad to hear the work project is in the bag and you're ready for more challenges. Keep up the good work!

Ooh pretty colors! You definitely get an extra point for coolest graphing so far.

Great job with the diet! And with yoga after a full days work. I did yoga...once. Actually I did the P90X bastardized (so I understand) version. That's the sweatiest I've ever been without running! I like how you came to an understanding with yourself that even if it's not perfect the fruit creation is better than a candy bar. When I first started eating Paleo/Primal I almost gave up the first weekend because I told myself I was on a diet and I couldn't have something, and of course that immediately made me crave it. No I just accept this as my way of life and how I like to eat, and if occasionally I feel like having a desert or a craft beer then that's part of how I like to eat and part of my life. No guilt, but it's not a regular occurrence because I feel so much better day to day without that stuff.

Yeah that blew my mind. I know their whole shtick is that it's a quiet, non-intimidating, judgement free place to workout, and I appreciated that when I first joined as I was terribly overweight and didn't want to feel self conscious; however, to have a posted rule against one of the major basic lifts is just plain silly. Though I guess it explains why they have 2 squat racks and half a dozen smith machines and leg press stations.

Having moved that distance from apartment building to apartment building I can say that would DEFINITELY be hardcore. Also very alienating for friends. Good luck with the move it's probably one of my least favorite things to do in life, but then again I've always been very tubby when moving.

If caffeine doesn't really affect you then maybe you're lucky enough to have brain chemistry that's not easily addicted. Might be why coming off sugar for you isn't like coming off an addictive substance the way it is for a lot of people. I know I went through a pretty long few weeks before I got to the point you're at now. Congrats!