weirdquark

I pan fry chicken thighs in their own fat a la Catspaw's cast iron pan method. Heat pan on just below high until water dripped on it sizzles, cook ~6min per side. (Her chicken breast method is the same except you cook them for 8 minutes per side and also take them off the heat and cover the pan for an additional 8 minutes, but the thighs don't generally need that last step.) If you don't trim the fat before cooking they can get pretty crispy; if you do, they still get nicely brown and you don't need to grease the pan at all.

Since I'm still just under bodyweight squats for my 1RM, I don't feel that I'm all that close to ten times either, but I am close to BW for one rep, or at least I am on a good day. I need to do more mobility; I've been really slacking and have been sore lately. Could be related. I don't always feel like I need it but clearly sometimes I do.

Well, it is shark week, but it usually doesn't make this much of a difference. But that plus needing a break could do it. I guess I could NOT try to do the pause squats this evening...we'll see how I'm feeling. And okay, you are right that getting a rep I missed Sunday is good, but it's still lower than what I had been doing previously, so moderate success? Good for this week, anyway.

Sounds like a good plan! Cardio plus weights is good for weight loss; studies say so. I'm still sticking to my plan of not trying to lose weight until I can squat my bodyweight ten times though. It's arbitrary, but at least I don't need to worry about what I'm doing.

And the moral of the story is not to eat food. Hooray, that's super healthy!

Pause Squats: Ugh. This week has been a total wash as far as squats are concerned. I may take another crack at them this evening. 1-arm DB Incline Bench Press: On the other hand, since I gave up on squats this morning I had lots of time to rest and got in an extra warm-up set and all of my worksets were unbroken for eight reps. I don't remember if I was going to move up this week (I didn't) but I can definitely do it next week. Deadlifts: Instead of RDLs. Because of squat fail kept these super light and easy but did an extra set.

Front squats: up to heavy single. Got the one I missed Sunday but it still felt way heavier than I remember it being. Not sure if that means I need to do more volume or take a rest day. KB Swings: 100 rep minimum

Swearing makes you lift better. Like beards.

I also say that you're doing good if coach is pleased.

I'm a fan! Fuck the bricks, be more awesome! I am also competitive in the sort of way that if I were on that 150 line I'd actually want to take the extra bricks just to prove that I could, but I'm not going to say that that's healthy or a good idea.

"Grah fuuuuuuuuuug(ck)"

Woo.

Split squats: Still getting raised heart rate, breathing hard, and all that good stuff, but the actual pushing the weight up isn't that difficult so it's time to add weight. Glad I didn't try going up today though because I had to leave a little earlier than usual so didn't want to go over time due to needing extra rest. Bench: lowered the weight and still sucking. Not that I didn't get more reps than I did at the higher one because I did, but it was way harder than I felt it should have been; I've done more reps at this weight more easily before. Maybe I should switch to OHP for a few weeks? DB Rows: went fine, going to add weight here next week too.

Go you for bringing up the issues you noticed in chat; the first step in fixing these kinds of problems is often for someone to say that it's there.

Would more/differently timed sugar help? I've found brain fog means I'm low on carbs and can usually be cleared up by a piece of fruit or something.

Front Squats: Nemesis! Didn't get as high as usual, I guess I blame TOM, sometimes it makes a difference for lower body stuff. Mostly squats; deadlifts yesterday were fine. KB Swings: 200 reps. Stupid work fitness goal thing which I don't know if I have to do or not wants me to increase my activity level so I'm adding more "vigorous" exercising. No idea how much of my usual lifting should count as vigorous; they're defining it as elevating your heart rate and being unable to hold a conversation. Who the hell can talk while squatting whether it's fast and easy or widowmaker level high reps or heavy singles?

I mean more aggressive in being able to follow up defending with a hit or taking questionable openings. So more not good at being offensive vs defensive?

I take it back; I signed in today to update my compliance with my exercise goals and it wants me to do this weight management lesson even though I said I'm fine with how my weight is currently being managed. Anyway, whatever. Squats: felt stiff and things were heavy so didn't go as high on singles today 1-arm DB OHP: Added a rep to a set, did the rest broken. Deadlifts: got in all of my doubles, tried for an extra set and only pulled a single.

Well, I think technically you just don't get the incentive, but they phrase it as "if you don't do this thing by the LOOMING DEADLINE, your monthly payments go up by $X" as well as telling you elsewhere that your incentive is $X off your premium each month. On the other hand, when I went in and did some stuff, I looked at my incentive page and there were additional incentives listed. So it could be that I just avoid my payments going up by taking a stupid health assessment test, but it could also be that I get my payments lowered too, so the difference between doing it and not doing it is larger than just $X.

Yeah, it looks like a big waste of time for me anyway; it might be useful for people who don't exercise or already think they eat well. It thinks I should eat more whole grains. Which I can't, because my roommate can't digest them, and we tried the thing where we made whole wheat pasta for me and regular for her and it was a pain in the ass and not actually worth it as far as I can tell even if you don't subscribe to the grains=evil diet philosophy. Also, I read an insane foodie manga which said that while you can get good brown rice that tastes good and is good for you, most brown rice is prepared in a way that makes it actually worse than white rice. (I don't remember details but that was my take-away message.) It also said that one ounce of meat was a serving. Except fish, which is four ounces. Except the fish is for your good fats, not protein. WTF.

Heh. Right by Porter Square, and my management company keeps trying for $1500 (because 1) it's Porter Square and 2) their fee is a percentage of the rent) and then drops to a bit under that, so more than you're paying now, sadly. Between mortgage payments, fees, and repairs I've been just about breaking even, so I can't actually afford to go lower. But seriously, if you can find something reasonable in a condo, especially if you can do so in Cambridge, it's a really good investment; if you find you still want to buy a house in a few years after getting a condo, finding someone to rent the condo shouldn't be too difficult especially if you hire someone to do it for you.

Welp, now my workplace has instituted the one-size-fits-all wellness incentive/punishment plans. At least it doesn't seem to be giving me shit for not being interested in losing weight while nearly obese. I can sign up to improve my activity level! Except it wants me to set goals so that I'm doing more than whatever I currently do, so if I stretch every day already, I must enter a number larger than seven while entering a number equal or less to seven. ::facepalm:: On the plus side, it does seem to encourage doing strength activities. On the minus side, it's also a daily checklist.

No, stationary bike or elliptical - that way I can get more miles in less time. My neighborhood is okay for walking, but I usually don't have time to do much while it's still light out this time of year except on the weekend. So my walking is pretty much to and from the parking lot, which is about half a mile each way, so I do get at least a mile in, but I miss the mile walks to work that I used to have in Boston.

Buy a condo and don't worry about being able to sell it later; you can rent the sucker and have that cover the mortgage payments even if you hire a management company so you don't have to deal with being a landlord. I have a condo in the Boston area which I am renting and while rent just barely covers all of my expenses for it, I get money back on my taxes because it counts as a loss. I'm also pretty sure I could sell it for a profit pretty easily, but I'm also in a really good neighborhood on public transportation near a lot of stuff, so that might make a difference.

Glad you're enjoying getting hit in the head! I would sadly be one of those people you hate to spar with because I'm afraid of being hit and haven't figured out how to be aggressive. But my friends and I used to grapple in college; that was fun too. Man, your parents. "I got a promotion!" => "You lost your old job, what's wrong with you?" Who the hell does that? Cline's parents, apparently. WTF.