Wolverine

1 hour ago, wildross said:

There is no therapy like iron therapy.

True story. I forget how crappy I feel when I skip it... and my natural inclination when I feel crappy is to skip it... which leads to more crappy. A vicious cycle that will be broken!

1 hour ago, Emerald_Dragonfly said:

Agreeing with Wildross. 

 

Sorry about the hurt that you are going through.   We are here for you.  

 

Great goals - what lifting program are you following?   

Thanks for the support.  I really appreciate it!

My goal for Zero Week is to decide on a program, as I've been bouncing around quite a bit.  Leaning toward GST which, if you haven't heard of it, is most similar to 5/3/1 with accessory work.  Goal is primarily hypertrophy, but I'm having trouble giving up the strength stuff... A generic push/pull/legs is also in contention.

WOLVERINE'S MAIN QUEST

CHALLENGE INTRODUCTION

My step-mom was tired three weeks ago, diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer two weeks ago, and has progressed to stage 4 as of last week. We are a very close with her and our family has been struggling a bit to keep up with the ever worsening news. I’ve completely stopped training and have been eating/drinking instead of feeling, but I’m not going to do anybody any good by self-sabotaging. This challenge is all about getting my shit together so that I’m better able to support my family.

GOAL 1: MIND

I need a community to be successful, and in many areas of my "real life” I have that community.  Leveling up (particularly physically) is not one of those areas.  My friends and family aren't particularly interested in fitness or nutrition, and without the support, encouragement, and accountability of likeminded individuals I have really floundered. During this challenge, I will re-establish myself in this community; I will reconnect with old friends and take time to make some new ones.

1. I will post in my personal challenge thread at least 5 times per week.
2. I will follow and stay active in at least 5 other challenge threads.

GOAL 2: MOUTH

Beer and donuts have become my crutch the last few weeks; that needs to stop. I’m setting some pretty easy goals for this one as I’d like to build up some good momentum before really diving in. During this challenge, I will regain control of my eating and drinking.

1. I will track ALL the food I eat EVERY day.
2. I will eat at least 135 grams of protein every day

GOAL 3: MUSCLES

Long term goal is to lean out and maintain what mass gains I’ve made over the last few years and then attempt bulking again (hopefully a lot more intelligently next time around!). During this challenge, I will focus on maintaining as much muscle mass as possible as I reduce my calorie intake.

1. I will train at least five times per week
2. I will stick with the same program for the duration of the challenge

STARTING STATS

• Male
• 34 years old
• 5 ft. 7 in.
• Weight TBD
• Chest TBD
• Waist TBD

+1 for using my calories at the end of the day on hitting my protein goal and not on the beer that I had in the fridge. #characterbuilder

OHP Focus

• Overhead Press: 45 x 5, 65 x 5, 85 x 5, 95 x 5, 110 x 6
• Shoulder Dislocate + Pull-Apart + Face Pull: Band x 10/10/10 x 5
• Bench Press: 80 x 10 x 5
• Chin-Up: BW x 5 x 5
• Barbell Curl: 70 x 9, 70 x 9, 70 x 8
• Rope Pressdown: 70 x 10, 70 x 10, 70 x 9

Notes

• Back was feeling wonky. Skipped leg day. *GASP*
   
• Right elbow is still jacked. I think it's the tendon. Going to switch to DB shoulder press for the time being to see if a neutral grip will be kinder to it.

Wow, thats a lot of unique beers,  I do not know what "Pliny'd" is, so no.

You said "North Bay" and "beer" (and mentioned Heroine) so I figured you'd be familiar.  Pliny the Younger from Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa.

At the risk of beating a dead horse, I'm one of those people that the flu can kill. I'm not as cute as a sweet old lady though, yet. But I'd like to get to sweet old lady age. You should see me at the gym, basically bathing myself in hand sanitizer every other lift. 

Side benefit of hand sanitizer... serves as a good base for chalk.  Improves my grip noticeably.

In 2014 I had 367 unique beers, no repeats.

Me too, every 3 weeks a new brewery is opening.  All the beers I got are North Bay Area beers, so mostly local to me.  Its just beer doesn't fit my macros...

Have you Pliny'd?

Yeah, I'm in the same boat.  I don't really have pain, but muscles that won't fire.  I'm going back to PT to get better(er) again.  This time I want then to not treat me like a broken 75yo and like a 30 something athlete and I need progression and intensity.  

 

Its why I'm a bench only bro.

Good luck with PT!  Lemme know if you find some magic exercise that cures all.

Just got back from a family vacation in Disneyland.  Averaged about 13 miles per day for 4 days... I'm calling that my conditioning for the week.  Pseudo-cheating, but I have no shame.  Looking forward to catching up with everyone.

Bench Press Focus

• Bench Press: 45 x 5, 75 x 5, 105 x 5, 120 x 5, 140 x 3, 155 x 5
• Lat Pulldown: 50 x 10, 60 x 10, 70 x 10, 80 x 10 x 3
• DB Shoulder Press: 37.5 per DB x 10 x 3
• DB One-arm Row: 57.5 per DB x 10 x 3
• Barbell Curl: 67.5 x 10 x 3
• Rope Pressdown: 67.5 x 10 x 3

Is this still a problem for you?  How do you heal from it?  I ask, as I have bulging disks in s1/l5 and l5/l4.  I can tell its pushing on my spine when I lose strength in my leg and big toe.  Its why I only bench.

Yes, it's still a problem.  The INSANE nerve pain is gone, but my leg is still jacked.  My mobility is worse in that leg, it gets very tight and painful if I don't do PT/mobility work every night, and I have about 50% strength in my calf now (not from strength loss, the muscle just doesn't fire correctly anymore).  Looking like permanent nerve damage but only time will tell.  Thankfully, the rest of my body seems to be working around it.  My coach says that if I hadn't told him he wouldn't have known I was injured (i.e. my squat/deadlift form looks fine and I'm not compensating in a noticeable way).

Following!

Wahoo!

To be completely honest I'm pretty happy with where I am at looks-wise and strength-wise. I don't have a huge motivation to push myself any harder than I am. Also did I mention I'm lazy?

I'm in.  Won't be posting anything close to even novice levels, but I'm in!

^ What he said.

Squat/Deadlift Focus

• Squat: 45 x 5, 75 x 5, 105 x 5, 140 x 5 x 3
• Deadlift: 65 x 5, 95 x 5, 125 x 5, 145 x 5
• Good Morning: 47.5 x 10 x 3
• Leg Curl: 32.5 x 12 x 3

Notes

• I'm a very quad dominant lifter and I'm trying to learn to engage my posterior chain more (thus all my accessory work being focused on hamstrings/glutes). Going to test the waters with some low bar squats and see how that affects things.
   
• Deadlifts are feeling GREAT. Weight is flying (not that surprising since it's still so low) and my form feels dead (ha!) on.

You know you've made it in the gym and with the diet when dudes start hitting on you. Women are the easy ones.

Time to capitalize on your new powers.  There is much free beer to be had...

Bro's,  Abs is 1 of the 5 bodyparts that every bro works out.

 

 

get your act together.

Abs, biceps, triceps, chest... that's four.

On the 'ol diet and tracking front:

Tracking is going perfect MFP/workouts and with the scale and waist.

Scale was 210.8 yesterday. Had a daily deficit of around 1K cals, intake of 2483 cal with 749 cal exercise, 1734 net.

Waist measured 35 1/8" this AM. My cutting goal is 31 1/2, which means I'm 3 5/8" away from my goal. I keep losing 1/8" every other day, I haven't missed it once yet, which means I'm probably moving slightly faster than the 750 cal/day deficit I have MFP set for.

3 5/8" = 14.5 lbs = 50,750 cals deficit = 68 days away @ an average daily deficit of 750 cal. Estimated cut completion of April 10th if I maintain this pace. But I probably won't maintain this pace and will likely need a diet break once under 33". The neighborhood pool opens mid-May, so that is my target cut completion time.

I forgot how much I missed all the detail in your tracking.

What's your thought on not tracking calories burned during exercise?  Think breaking it out that much is necessary? As opposed to making adjustments based on averages and weekly trends from intake alone...

Join us Dillpedo.. Wolverine... D.Rex

Wolf

"Let the Broomstick do the talking."

I think you're the only one who can give me a run for my money for the "Most Name Changes" prize.

I may or may not be here solely for the swing music.

SL definitely classes up the joint, that's for sure.  Come for the music, stay for the challenge crushing.

...

Still waiting for you to mash-up swing dancing and handbalancing...

You doing accessories at all?  Or just the one compound lift and calling it a day?

I really enjoyed LUYL.  I was afraid it would just be all of Steve's "greatest hits" blog posts in book form, but it wasn't.  There were definitely lots of familiar themes.  The thing that's different about the book is that it's much more "Game of Life" focused than just "Nerd Fitness" focused. I hadn't really ever put much thought into the whole Epic Quest thing, so it was enlightening from that viewpoint.  My main goals since joining NF have been to gain size/strength and the book prompted me to expand my horizons and think about the bigger picture - and also put some concrete goals together.

 

I'd recommend it.  It's only $10 on Kindle and $12 in hardback from Amazon.  Worth the money.

Awesome! Thanks!

• Overhead Press: 45 x 5, 70 x 5, 95 x 5, 110 x 3, 120 x 5
• Chin-up: BW x 4 x 5
• DB Bench Press: 45 per DB x 10 x 3
• Bent-over Row: 65 x 10 x 3
• DB Lateral Raise: 15 per DB x 15 x 3
• DB Rear Lateral Raise: 15 per DB x 15 x 3

Notes

• Took a slightly wider grip on the bar during the OHP and it seemed to help my elbow quite a bit. It was painful but much less so.

Ze weighted pull-ups!!!!

 

I love doing pull-ups with so much weight chained to me, I have to waddle around like a duck.

That's the current plan. Once I hit sets of 5 (next OHP day), I'll start adding weight.  I CAN'T WAIT.

Out of curiosity why are you cutting? I'm not imagining you needing it with those stats. Although it might benefit you given your low numbers from the injury.

Yup - lower body volume isn't great enough to really affect anything at all at this point.

Coach wants me to eat and focus on lifting. I want to be less jiggly.  We'll see who wins out.  A SLLLLOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW recomp. is tempting.  Maintain weight, focus on strength, adjust as necessary.

 

PS.  MOAR Benching

As I recall, bro's washboard isn't quite rough enough until <30".

True story.  I've got a couple of inches to go. Though I'm hoping that my 10% is significantly heavier than it was last time.

And another Assassin bites the dust.

Looking forward to following along!

Ah, didn't see any mention of an upper body pulling exercise in what you had written.  If I recall correctly, you used to be able to do a heck of a lot of pulls.

 

I'm stuck doing chins at the moment.  Whatever the shoulder ailment I have is, underhand vs. overhand makes a huge difference.  With an underhand (chin) grip and my hands touching, my shoulder feels fine.  OTOH the thought of a muscle-up or wide grip high pull is horrifying to my shoulder.

Meh. A decent amount. Was doing sets of 15-20 bodyweight at the height of my pull-up training.  More interested in ze weight at this point!