DangerDave

Week 6 - Overview Unfamiliar Territory - Work through BBB 5/3/1 Round 2 of BBB is done. Overall, I really like the 5/3/1 program. The assistance exercises in the BBB helped cement proper form and it felt like they really helped the lifts. I feel like I'm not doing as much work as the SL style of 3 exercises 5x5, and I do miss not squatting every day, but the progressive feel and MUCH lower time requirements were very nice in the 5/3/1. It was taking me nearly/over an hour to get my 5x5 squats done, but I could finish up squat day in ~45 minutes and arm days in ~20-30 minutes. I'm not sure if moving to a 3x5 and going back to the SL routines would be good, but it's something I'll consider for the new year. I might try splitting the 5/3/1 into 2 days: OHP + DL, Bench + Squat and moving to 3 days a week. Score: A +2 STR +2 STA +1 DEX [table=width: 500, align: center] [/td] [th]Weight x Rep[/th] [th]Calculated 1RM[/th] [th]OHP Start[/th] [td]85 x 5 101 [th]OHP Midway[/th] 85 x 10111 [th]OHP Current[/th] 95 x 9122 [th]DL Start[/th] 235 x 3276 [th]DL Midway[/th] 235 x 4285 [th]DL Current[/th] 245 x 3287 [th]Bench Start[/th] 130 x 5154 [th]Bench Midway[/th] 135 x 10170 [th]Bench Current[/th] 145 x 5172 [th]Squat Start[/th] 165 x 5192 [th]Squat Midway[/th] 165 x 7204 [th]Squat Current[/th] 175 x 4197[/table] Temporal Flux - New workout schedule First change to the schedule happened to accommodate a work party, but everything was smooth before and after it. With the crud going around and how tired I felt some days, I'm glad I powered through and could get every workout in. Score: A +2 STR +2 STA Reduce My Load - Weigh less at the end than at the start Starting weight: 172.4 Week 5 weight: 174.0 Tuesday morning weight: 172.2 (Missed Monday again, but Christmas morning this was a nice gift to myself) Week-to-week loss/gain: -1.8 Net Loss/Gain: -0.2 I'm down a little, but more importantly I was able to maintain through the snackiest part of the year. I was able to correct for the gains I made last week, and even while not watching my diet very closely I was able to lose a bit while making some good strength gains. Score: Pass +1 CON +1 CHA Study The Map - Prep for the coming semester Chapters completed: 3/10 = 30% Christmas and work exploding together with my procrastination to form a perfect protective storm around this goal. On the plus side, I got everything done for Christmas fairly early this year. Score: F OMFG Adjustments STR 6+4 | DEX 4+1 | STA 4+4 | CON 5+1 | WIS 4 | CHA 4+1

Week 6 stuffs: Monday - OHP Standing Barbell Shoulder Press (OHP): 45 lb x 5 reps 50 lb x 5 reps 60 lb x 3 reps 75 lb x 5 reps 85 lb x 3 reps 95 lb x 9 reps + PR 50 lb x 10 reps 50 lb x 10 reps 50 lb x 10 reps 50 lb x 10 reps 50 lb x 10 reps Chin-Up: 9 reps 7 reps 5 reps 3 reps 3 reps Wednesday - DL (Rescheduled due to work party) Barbell Deadlift: 105 lb x 5 reps 130 lb x 5 reps 155 lb x 3 reps 190 lb x 5 reps 220 lb x 3 reps 245 lb x 3 reps + PR 135 lb x 10 reps 135 lb x 10 reps 135 lb x 10 reps 135 lb x 10 reps 135 lb x 10 reps Hanging Bent Leg Raise: 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps Thursday - Bench Barbell Bench Press: 60 lb x 5 reps 75 lb x 5 reps 90 lb x 3 reps 115 lb x 5 reps 130 lb x 3 reps 145 lb x 5 reps + PR 75 lb x 10 reps 75 lb x 10 reps 75 lb x 10 reps 75 lb x 10 reps 75 lb x 10 reps One-Arm Dumbbell Row: 45 lb x 10 reps 45 lb x 10 reps 45 lb x 10 reps 45 lb x 10 reps 45 lb x 10 reps Saturday - Squat Barbell Squat: 75 lb x 5 reps 90 lb x 5 reps 110 lb x 3 reps 140 lb x 5 reps 155 lb x 3 reps 175 lb x 4 reps + 90 lb x 10 reps 90 lb x 10 reps 90 lb x 10 reps 90 lb x 10 reps 90 lb x 10 reps Seated Leg Curl: 80 lb x 10 reps 80 lb x 10 reps 80 lb x 10 reps 80 lb x 10 reps 80 lb x 10 reps

Neal Stephenson hasn't let me down yet. For near(ish) future stuff you could go Snow Crash or Anathem (this one starts slow, but gets crazy). For some historical fiction go with Cryptonomicon, it's a WW2 story with links to the present, focusing on codebreaking and computer science.

Week 5 Review Unfamiliar Territory - Work through BBB 5/3/1 Week 2 of the second cycle went well, pushing out new PRs for upper body lifts with ease, and getting ready for PRs on every lift in Week 3(6). I like this program, but may have to change things up again after another cycle to get back into full body workouts 3x weekly instead of the 4 day split, but it's hard to not like the much smaller time requirement per session. Temporal Flux - New workout schedule Everything went well this week. GF was back at it and is really enjoying "picking things up and putting them down." I'll have my first change to the schedule in Week 6, but it should be a 1 time thing to work around a work party. Reduce My Load - Weigh less at the end than at the start Starting weight: 172.4 Week 4 weight: 171.6 Tuesday morning weight: 174.0 Week-to-week loss/gain: +2.4 Net Loss/Gain: +1.6 The first large setback of the challenge. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if I had remembered to weigh on Monday (coming off IF/rest day) instead of Tuesday (coming off a lifting/big eating day). I haven't been as good about avoiding all the treats around the office. More accurately, my percentage of resistance has remained the same, but the quantity of goodies has increased exponentially. I can usually limit myself to 1 small taste of most things, but there are sooo many things everywhere that I end up getting a lot of bonus calories that way. I'll just have to deal with it and work around it. Study The Map - Prep for the upcoming semester Chapters completed: 3/10 = 30% I finished up Chapter 3, and started looking at the next few chapters. I'll be pushing to get as much done this week, around lifting and a buhjillion holiday parties, but I highly doubt this will get finished in time.

Saturday 12/16 - Squat These wear me down more than the deadlifts, but I feel great after them. I feel like I'm really getting close to my ceiling for the leg exercises, but I know if I keep it up that ceiling will rise with me. Barbell Squat: 75 lb x 5 reps 90 lb x 5 reps 110 lb x 3 reps 130 lb x 3 reps 145 lb x 3 reps 165 lb x 6 reps + 90 lb x 10 reps 90 lb x 10 reps 90 lb x 10 reps 90 lb x 10 reps 90 lb x 10 reps Seated Leg Curl: 70 lb x 10 reps 70 lb x 10 reps 70 lb x 10 reps 70 lb x 10 reps 70 lb x 10 reps

Thursday 12/14 - Bench More upper body work, more PR weights. Playing with the big-boy plates make me feel like a little less of a scrawny weakling, but there's still a long way to go. Barbell Bench Press: 60 lb x 5 reps 75 lb x 5 reps 90 lb x 3 reps 105 lb x 3 reps 120 lb x 3 reps 135 lb x 8 reps + PR 75 lb x 10 reps 75 lb x 10 reps 75 lb x 10 reps 75 lb x 10 reps 75 lb x 10 reps One-Arm Dumbbell Row: 45 lb x 10 reps 45 lb x 10 reps 45 lb x 10 reps 45 lb x 10 reps 45 lb x 10 reps

Tuesday 12/12 - DL These are still heavy, they work me hard, and I feel a bit better about my form this week. The leg raises were more knee tucks, but my hands/arms could finally handle hanging for all the sets. Barbell Deadlift: 100 lb x 5 reps 130 lb x 5 reps 155 lb x 3 reps 180 lb x 3 reps 205 lb x 3 reps 230 lb x 6 reps + 130 lb x 10 reps 130 lb x 10 reps 130 lb x 10 reps 130 lb x 10 reps 130 lb x 10 reps Hanging Bent Leg Raise: 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps

Late updates are late. Let the post-spam commence! Monday 12/10- OHP This week's 531 took me into PRs for upper body lifts, with another week to go. I rocked these, hard. The chinups seem to be coming along, practice makes perfect, or at least a larger number of ok/sloppy/swinging/kipping reps. I'll count that as a win. Standing Barbell Shoulder Press (OHP): 45 lb x 5 reps 50 lb x 5 reps 60 lb x 3 reps 70 lb x 3 reps 80 lb x 3 reps 90 lb x 9 reps + PR 50 lb x 10 reps 50 lb x 10 reps 50 lb x 10 reps 50 lb x 10 reps 50 lb x 10 reps Chin-Up: 7 reps 6 reps 6 reps 5 reps 4 reps

Week 4 Review Unfamiliar Territory - Work through BBB 5/3/1 Against the program, I skipped the deload week and went straight into another cycle. The upper body lifts are going strong, but the lower body lifts are feeling fatigued. This is partly diet (low calorie day for squats), and they might need a little more recovery time. I'll power through the program and if there are any significant setbacks I'll reassess. Temporal Flux - New workout schedule GF had some stomach bug stuff going on so I was solo for most of the week, she was feeling better for Bench day, but wasn't up for any of the rest. I still hit every day without any problems. Reduce My Load - Weigh less at the end than at the start Starting weight: 172.4 Week 3 weight: 171.8 Monday morning weight: 171.6 Week-to-week loss/gain: -0.2 Net Loss/Gain: -0.8 This seems to be staying pretty steady, with a gradual trend down, but not a very steep one. Overall I'll say this is going well, and I'd do much better if I would clean up my diet a bit more. I feel almost like I'm eating for a bulking phase, but I'm maintaining my weight so it feels pretty good. Study The Map - Prep for the upcoming semester Chapters completed: 2/10 = 20% I finished up Chapter 2, and started looking at Chapter 3. I've got a long way to go to get this done inside the challenge. At least the flurry of grading the current semester is over, so I can pick up the pace for this one now.

Saturday - Squat These were hard, but I don't think I had enough calories for the day before hitting the gym. I was cutting back for the company party that night, and I think my squats were low because of it. I usually fast through breakfast and hit the gym an hour or 2 after dinner, so doing these after only 1 meal for the day left me a bit wiped out. At least the company party was fun; salad, prime rib, shrimp, and chicken, and I had to keep myself from going through again even though it was a lifting day. Barbell Squat: 75 lb x 5 reps 90 lb x 5 reps 110 lb x 3 reps 120 lb x 5 reps 140 lb x 5 reps 155 lb x 6 reps 90 lb x 10 reps 90 lb x 10 reps 90 lb x 10 reps 90 lb x 10 reps 90 lb x 10 reps Seated Leg Curl: 70 lb x 10 reps 70 lb x 10 reps 70 lb x 10 reps 70 lb x 10 reps 70 lb x 10 reps

Thursday - Bench These went a lot better than last week. I focused on keeping the bar on the heel of my hand and everything was great. Barbell Bench Press: 45 lb x 5 reps 60 lb x 5 reps 75 lb x 5 reps 90 lb x 3 reps 100 lb x 5 reps 115 lb x 5 reps 130 lb x 10 reps + 75 lb x 10 reps 75 lb x 10 reps 75 lb x 10 reps 75 lb x 10 reps 75 lb x 10 reps One-Arm Dumbbell Row: 40 lb x 10 reps 40 lb x 10 reps 40 lb x 10 reps 40 lb x 10 reps 40 lb x 10 reps

Tuesday - DL These feel heavy, but it's a great feeling to get them up. On the assist sets I'm really focusing on keeping my abs tight, something I need to do but don't focus enough on the actual lifts, so that maybe I can develop some sort of muscle memory for it. My arms were aching on the hanging lifts, so I switched over to the dip station for the rest of them. Barbell Deadlift: 100 lb x 5 reps 130 lb x 5 reps 155 lb x 3 reps 165 lb x 5 reps 190 lb x 5 reps 220 lb x 7 reps + 130 lb x 10 reps 130 lb x 10 reps 130 lb x 10 reps 130 lb x 10 reps 130 lb x 10 reps Hanging Knee Raise: 10 reps 10 reps Dip Station Straight Leg Raise: 15 reps 15 reps 15 reps

Week of updates inc! Monday - OHP I went straight into another round of 5/3/1, and things went nicely with little or no regression. I like where the new lifts are for upper body, they were double or more than the suggested increase because I based it off of my performance in the last week of the previous cycle. Upper body days I still feel like I should be doing more, but lower body days I'm completely wiped out. Standing Barbell Shoulder Press (OHP): 45 lb x 5 reps 50 lb x 5 reps 60 lb x 5 reps 65 lb x 5 reps 75 lb x 5 reps 85 lb x 10 reps + 55 lb x 10 reps 55 lb x 10 reps 55 lb x 10 reps 55 lb x 10 reps 55 lb x 10 reps Chin-Up: 6 reps 6 reps 5 reps 5 reps 5 reps 4 reps

You can do whatever your normal warmup routine is before the lifts, but the lift specific warmups are generally 40%x5 50%x5 60%x3 then go on into the 5/3/1. If you don't put any numbers into strstd it'll just show the % for each week and warmups in the 5/3/1 tab.

Thanks for this. My grip is very close to the example, but I might not be keeping my hand rotated / bar on the heel properly when I squeeze the bar after getting my position set. All of the pain is in my outer palm (below the pinky/ring fingers) from the bar pinching into a nerve or something, none in the wrist.

Week 3 Review Unfamiliar Territory - Work through BBB 5/3/1 Week 3 is done. The one thing I miss about my old routine was the squatting every day. Squatting once a week just doesn't feel like enough now. It's time to reset the 5/3/1 cycle and start fresh with my new calculated 1RMs. [table=width: 500] [th]Weight x Rep[/th] [th]Calculated 1RM[/th] [th]OHP Start[/th] 85 x 5 101 [th]OHP Current[/th] 85 x 10 111 +10 [th]DL Start[/th] 235 x 3 276 [th]DL Current[/th] 235 x 4 285 +9 [th]Bench Start[/th] 130 x 5 154 [th]Bench Current[/th] 135 x 10 170 +16 [th]Squat Start[/th] 165 x 5 192 [th]Squat Current[/th] 165 x 7 204 +12 [/table] Temporal Flux - New workout schedule Hit all the workouts on schedule. GF was sick for Saturday, so I might have done better if she had been there, and she's always so excited to do squats it's sad that she couldn't make it. At least she got her rest, 14 hours of it Saturday night. Reduce My Load - Weigh less at the end than at the start Starting weight: 172.4 Week 2 weight: 172.8 Monday morning weight: 171.8 Week-to-week loss/gain: -1.0 Net Loss/Gain: -0.6 I'm down a little, but not a lot. Overall not too bad, I'm able to maintain fairly well with this current diet (or lack thereof). Study The Map Chapters completed: 1/10 = 10% No progress this week, lots of stuff going on at work and lots of grading for the class this semester (ending in 2 weeks).

Saturday - Squats These got hard. I was able to get 7 at 165 somehow, but the last one required a battle cry. I think I went a little overboard on the leg curls at the end, too. My hamstrings are still sore today. The new max puts my calculated 1RM at 204 (+12 from 192). Barbell Squat: 70 lb x 5 reps 85 lb x 5 reps 105 lb x 3 reps 130 lb x 5 reps 145 lb x 3 reps 165 lb x 7 reps 85 lb x 10 reps 85 lb x 10 reps 85 lb x 10 reps 85 lb x 10 reps 85 lb x 10 reps Seated Leg Curl: 90 lb x 10 reps 90 lb x 10 reps 90 lb x 10 reps 70 lb x 10 reps 70 lb x 10 reps

Thursday - Bench These weren't particularly hard, but I'll really have to work on my grip positioning as the 130 set was really biting into my hands. The new top lift put my calculated 1RM up to 170 (+16 from 154) so that'll be a nice challenge for the next round. Barbell Bench Press: 55 lb x 5 reps 70 lb x 5 reps 85 lb x 3 reps 105 lb x 5 reps 120 lb x 3 reps 130 lb x 10 reps + 70 lb x 10 reps 70 lb x 10 reps 70 lb x 10 reps 70 lb x 10 reps 70 lb x 10 reps One-Arm Dumbbell Row: 40 lb x 10 reps 40 lb x 10 reps 40 lb x 10 reps 40 lb x 10 reps 40 lb x 10 reps

Don't lose hope. You've survived the first month, and it sounds like you've built the lifting and paleo into nice habits that you won't drop quickly. I see that you're tracking your macros fairly closely, but where are you for calories? 1g protein/1lb body weight is usually geared toward a bulking phase if the other macros follow a normal ratio (30-40%P,20-30%C,40-50%F). Also, the protein could be calculated off your lean mass rather than just weight, meaning that you drop off the weight from body fat %. It's always sad when the game you love isn't there for you anymore. I quit EQ1 in January after a decade of playing (the game is still going, but it lost the magic for me). I hope the community can hold together and that the IP owner won't waste money litigating any private servers that pop up now that it's gone.

My little Ford Contour, and as fast as I could get away with, generally Interstate speed +5-9. It's probably a good thing I could never get it into the triple digits, not that I didn't try. My memory of things seems to be a bit off, the longest single day I did was a bit over 1900mi in 33h. The fastest was ~800mi in 13h. MT -> Portland OR -> San Diego -> MT -> VA Beach -> Everett WA -> MT, repeat the last 2 a few times. There was a 2 year break between the SD and VA Beach, but still, long as hell trips every few months before and after that.

In my younger days, when I was driving up to 1600 miles in a day on road trips and such, I would mix grapefruit juice with whatever caffeinated beverage was available (usually Mt Dew and some Red Bull/Monster/etc) and sip on that all day to maintain a huge caffeine/sugar buzz for up to 18 hours at a time. It slowed the absorption of the caffeine and stretched out the effect so well that there wasn't really a crash until I was off the stuff for more than an hour, but it did result in the super jitters. TL;DR: Grapefruit will affect more than just prescription stuffs.

It's my understanding that if you're getting the right amount of protein (1g/# lean body mass) and dietary fiber (~30g?), the *calories* from carbs and fat are fairly interchangeable. Just remember that fats have a bit over double the calories of carbs, roughly a 9:4 ratio for 1g fat vs 1g carb. Fish oil can help keep the fat processing under control if you feel high in that area. Somebody correct me if I'm completely wrong and giving bad information.

Tuesday - DL It was the GF's birthday, and we ended up working out ~1.5h after eating way too much. Beef stroganoff on zucchini "pasta", asparagus, and a flour-less chocolate cake (100% ghirardelli bars in the cake, unsweetened chocolate ganache frosting, fresh raspberry filling). The DLs were heavy and I'm surprised I could get the 235 up once let alone 4 times. The new calculated 1RM is in line with recommendations (+9, 285) so I can roll with that, I'll just have to really nail the form as I work up to the 245. The assistance exercises are helping, I just need to keep at them and focus on my abs during the lifts. Barbell Deadlift: 100 lb x 5 reps 125 lb x 5 reps 150 lb x 3 reps 185 lb x 5 reps 210 lb x 3 reps 235 lb x 4 reps + 125 lb x 10 reps 125 lb x 10 reps 125 lb x 10 reps 125 lb x 10 reps 125 lb x 10 reps Dip Station Straight Leg Raise: 15 reps 15 reps 15 reps 15 reps 15 reps

Monday - OHP Week 3 of BBB and starting to really see the maxes. OHP started and finished strong, and if I readjust my new max (85x10) in strstd it has me at a calculated 111 1RM, +10 from the previous, and it looks like a good continuation of this progression. I know the program calls for a deload week in week 4, but I'm considering restarting next week with the new calculated maxes so I can fit 2 cycles into this challenge. We'll see how I'm feeling after Squat day. Standing Barbell Shoulder Press (OHP): 45 lb x 5 reps 45 lb x 5 reps 55 lb x 3 reps 70 lb x 5 reps 75 lb x 3 reps 85 lb x 10 reps + 45 lb x 10 reps 45 lb x 10 reps 45 lb x 10 reps 45 lb x 10 reps 45 lb x 10 reps Chin-Up: 6 reps 5 reps 4 reps 3 reps 3 reps 4 reps

Week 2 Review Unfamiliar Territory - Work through BBB 5/3/1 Week 2 is done. I'm really liking how fast the sessions are going, I'm in and out in under an hour, even with switching out weights every set to alternate with the GF. I think my total Squat time this week was ~15-20m if I had been solo, which is under half the time they were taking me in my SL 5x5 routine, and then I had 2 more lifts to go. Temporal Flux - New workout schedule GF wanted to go straight from work to the gym this week, and it seemed to work fairly well Monday and Tuesday, it just feels like I'm lugging too much stuff to/from work like this. I'd leave my gym clothes in the car, but it's so cold it makes for a very uncomfortable changing situation. Reduce My Load - Weigh less at the end than at the start Starting weight: 172.4 Week 1 weight: 172.0 Monday morning weight: 172.8 Week-to-week loss/gain: +0.8 Net Loss/Gain: +0.4 I'm up a little, but not a lot, which I'll call pretty good considering how many family dinners I participated in this week. My low point was 169.8 during a longish (~15h) IF period, but the after-fasting cravings hit me pretty hard. The timing was terrible, too, since the family was making some sambusic cookies (ground walnut+sugar filling, dipped in a hint-of-orange syrup bath after baking) and I ended up eating way too many. Study The Map Chapters completed: 1/10 = 10% Chapter 1 is complete. I took a look at the questions/projects for Chapter 2, but will have to read through it a bit more thoroughly before I make my selections. The class is about Operating Systems, and every question in chapter 2 got into brand specifics for Windows, Mac or Linux. I prefer to stick with more meta questions so the choices are getting annoying.