Of Barbells and Balrogs

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Be a better faster: I’ve been doing great here during the week. I’m down to 251 as of today, so almost back to that 250 goal. Getting under 20 lb to finish a solid motivator. Getting through the 240s will be hard due to my next major milestone being 238 lb, my weight before my wedding. There’s nothing between now and there.

 

Goal: all the days so far within an 8.5 hour window

 

Be a better quasi-vegan: I haven’t read anything, I really need to get on that, but I’ve been doing great as far as keeping meat and cheese out of my diet most of the time. The only time I didn’t do so was at two parties the past few weeks, and those were mindful choices to do so as is been very successful leading up to them.

I haven’t been tracking, I haven’t needed to because I haven’t been eating much once I get home. I’ll probably track once or twice this week. Whatever I’m doing is working weightless wise. I contribute this to running so much. Whenever running is a major part of my workout regimen, my hunger and craving levels drop and it’s easier to not eat as much.

My only big concern right is protein levels. Pretty sure I’m not hitting those macros, I’m around 58g with the whey and half can of black beans today. I’ll be fine if I just up it to a full can of black beans every day in my salad vs half a can. Really need to get around to reading that book.

 

Goal: read a vegan book on sports nutrition, no loge was

Goal: Eat below 1300 non-dinner calories in the 163-195 g carb/ 29g fat/ 65-97g protein range every day going great, need to add a little more protein.

 

Be a better sleeper: This has been going great. A few nights I’ve pushed 2200 a bit, but nothing terribly out of line. I am crashing hard Friday nights, which tells me I’m in a deficit sleep wise during the week. May have to early up the sleep time in a bit if I don’t adjust over the next few weeks.

 

Goal: most nights during the week getting 7 hours of sleep

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

That last post was supposed to be super long due to work it logging, but I decided to drop that in a second post. So, here’s the log since 2/14:

2/19

Mid bar squats
135x8 pauses
225x5
295x3
Belt up
365x1
415x1(9.5)
315x8(8.5),8(9),8,(8.5)

Erg, damper 6, 4 min tabata
Fried after 5 rounds, just surviving last 3
996 meters, 67kcal

2/21

Overhead Press
95x10
115x3
135x1
Belt up
155x1
175xF+3PP(9)
140x8(10)
130x8(10)
120x8(10)

Deadlift
135x8
205x3
275x3
345x3
Belt up
415x1
Shoes off
485x1
545x1(10)
415x7(9.5)

Treadmill, 0.5° incline
6.4 mph 0-12 min
6.5 mph 12-19 min
0-10(6),10-16(7),16-19(8)

Back tweaked that night or the ends day, so took it easy for a few workouts as far as low back goes.

2/25

Bench
20 pushups
185x3 smith machine
225x3
265x1
300x1(10),1(10)

Bench superset/neutral grip pull-ups
230x13(10)/5.5(10)
205x10(10)/5(10)
185x15(10)/exhausted

Bench just felt terrible. Sleep was poor quality the night before due to upset daughter, and warmup was weird because of Dude on the bench who made it very obvious he didn’t want anyone to work in between avoiding eye contact and blaring headphones. Terrible bench workout.

Treadmill, 0.5° incline
19 min 6.5 mph
0-6(7),6-17(8),17-19(9)

2/27

Midbar Squat
115x8x2
185x5
255x3
Belt up
325x1
375x1
425x1(10) accidental, meant to do 415
325x6(8),6(9),6(9)

2/28

Overhead Press
45x10
95x8
115x5
135x1
Belt up
155x1
165x1+F

Overhead Press/neutral grip pull-up
140x5(10, lost balance)/6(9.5)
140x6(10)/5(10)
115x8(10)/stop

Biceps were feeling nasty, stopped the pull-ups. They ended up feeling really strained during disc golf on 2/29 as well. Feel fine now on 3/3. I’ve dealt with bicep tendinitis before. It sucks, just needs rest and high rep curls.

E-z preacher curls/tricep push down
+30x20/70x14(10)
+40x15/70x15(10)

Treadmill, 0.5° incline
6.5 mph 0-17 min
6.6 mph 17-19 min
0-12(7),12-19(8)

3/1

Deadlift
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x2
345x1 (mixed from this set forward)
Belt up, shoes off
415x1
485x1
555x1 (9.5)
415x8(8)

These felt great

Treadmill, 0° incline
7.8 mph .63 miles (8)
3 min walk at 3 mph
7.8 mph .63 miles (9)
3 min walk at 3 mph
7.8 mph .63 miles (9)

3/2

Bench
135x20
185x5
225x3
265x1
300x3(9.5)

Bench/overhand pull-ups
240x15(10),5(9.5)
240x9(10),3.5(10)
215x13(10),4(9.5)

Yeah, last week was just weird on bench

Treadmill, 0.5° incline
19 min 6.6 mph
0-3.5(6),3.5-8(7),8-12(8),12-17(7),17-19(8)

I expected this to be harder. Quickly closing in on my 27 min 5k pace (6.93 mph) goal for the year.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Nailed all 3 goals yesterday aside from actually researching vegan diets for athletes. My 5 year old made pizza bagels for dinner as she learned the recipe in her school’s cooking class.

Yesterday was supposed to be a rest day, but I wanted to get in the gym and move, so I just took it easy(ish)

Dips/decline sit ups
10/13
14/10
12/7

Tricep rope push down/standing dumbbell curls
70x15/40x18Rx18L
70x14/35x14Rx14L
70x16/30x17Rx17L

Treadmill, 0.5° incline, 6.7 mph, 9 min (7.5)
Treadmill, 15° incline, 3mph, 11 min (6-)

Broke a 9 min mile pace on the treadmill, so that’s awesome. Let’s were feeling wobbly, definitely need a bit of a rest. Won’t be today, it’s squats and tabata rows.


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[Brovatar Korra]

On 3/3/2020 at 1:29 PM, Gainsdalf the Whey said:

Deadlift
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x2
345x1 (mixed from this set forward)
Belt up, shoes off
415x1
485x1
555x1 (9.5)
415x8(8)

 

Is there a reason you take your shoes off after finishing warm-ups as opposed to taking them off at the beginning?

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

 
Is there a reason you take your shoes off after finishing warm-ups as opposed to taking them off at the beginning?

Better stretch/engagement from the increased range of motion. I’m supposed to put them back on for the higher rep work, but haven’t been worrying about it. I’ll do that again once I’m doing multiple volume sets post cut.


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[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Got to sleep early last night and did great with IF, though I probably went a bit over calories. Still haven’t gotten around to reading about a athletic vegan diet, but with jumping to a full can of black beans for lunch, I’m hitting those protein macro goals.

Yesterday’s workout:
Mid bar Squat
135x8
185x5
235x3
275x3
Belt up
325x1
375x1
425x1 (10) this is too heavy, my form is slipping and I’m cutting depth. Can’t believe I squatted 500 at one point.
325x7(8.5),6(8.5),6(8)

Erg, tabata, damper 6
1022m, 69kcal
Started to lose vigor part way through round 5, but finished all 8 pretty strong. First time I broke 1000 meters during a tabata.


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[Tanktimus the Encourager]

56 minutes ago, Gainsdalf the Whey said:

a full can of black beans for lunch

Are we noticing any...side effects thereof?

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Are we noticing any...side effects thereof?

From the vegetarian diet in general, yes, but not from the black beans specifically. I have gas whether I have them or not. It’s starting to lessen, so something my body had to get used to via proper enzyme production and such maybe?


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[Tanktimus the Encourager]

3 hours ago, Gainsdalf the Whey said:

From the vegetarian diet in general, yes, but not from the black beans specifically. I have gas whether I have them or not. It’s starting to lessen, so something my body had to get used to via proper enzyme production and such maybe?
 

My mother has sworn for years that if you eat rice with beans it contains enough enzymes to prevent excess flatus.

[bigm141414]

On 3/3/2020 at 11:29 AM, Gainsdalf the Whey said:

I expected this to be harder. Quickly closing in on my 27 min 5k pace (6.93 mph) goal for the year.

 

So speedy! I am envious! One day I'll grow up to be as cool as you

 

On 3/3/2020 at 10:57 AM, Gainsdalf the Whey said:

 I haven’t read anything, I really need to get on that,

 

 

So you got me curious and I picked up Plant Based Sports Nutrition. It's definitely focused on runners and endurance athletes, but so far I've found it has a good mix of helpful stuff as well as templates for practical meal plans. The hardest thing I have wrapping my head around with vegan/vegetarian diets is how to consume the required protein and calories for strength sports. The volume of food seems to be much greater than what I would want to eat since it's relatively less calorically dense than meat and animal fats. 

 

Do you snack much during the day, or still have the 3-meals-a-day kind of thing? 

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

 
 
So you got me curious and I picked up Plant Based Sports Nutrition. It's definitely focused on runners and endurance athletes, but so far I've found it has a good mix of helpful stuff as well as templates for practical meal plans. The hardest thing I have wrapping my head around with vegan/vegetarian diets is how to consume the required protein and calories for strength sports. The volume of food seems to be much greater than what I would want to eat since it's relatively less calorically dense than meat and animal fats. 
 
Do you snack much during the day, or still have the 3-meals-a-day kind of thing? 

3 meals a day, but it’s because I’m on a cut. If I ever start a bulking again, snacking will definitely be involved to fit the volume in.

One hypothesis I read as far as protein goes is that even though plants don’t have a ton of protein, they have a bunch of free floating amino acids that your body uses similarly. That source proved to have a very poor basis in science as I read on, so I’m not sure how accurate that is. Logically it could make sense, all kinds of herbivores get big and strong off grasses.



Anyway, this weekend went pretty well for IF and calories. My sleep got off track a hit the past two days catching up on home stuff that I fell behind on this weekend. That happened because I kinda took a chainsaw to the finger on Sunday...

It’s still attached, may have some nerve damage as one side of the finger is numb, but won’t know if it’s permanent damage or just a bruise until a week or two of healing has taken place. Couldn’t get stitches because the gap was too wide, so I’m currently bandaged up and letting the wound fill in. I haven’t worked out because of it, but plan on doing some zombie squats and running tomorrow.


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[raptron]

1 hour ago, Gainsdalf the Whey said:

That happened because I kinda took a chainsaw to the finger on Sunday...

It’s still attached, may have some nerve damage as one side of the finger is numb, but won’t know if it’s permanent damage or just a bruise until a week or two of healing has taken place. Couldn’t get stitches because the gap was too wide, so I’m currently bandaged up and letting the wound fill in. I haven’t worked out because of it, but plan on doing some zombie squats and running tomorrow.

Oh shittt. Hope it heals quick!

 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Holy existential terror Batman!

You casually wrote about something really scary. I'm glad it wasn't worse and hope it heals fast. 

[JustCallMeAmber]

Owwwwww. Owie ow ow. Hope that heals up alright!

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Nasty pictures in the spoiler below for those interested.

 

Turns out the blood splatter and pumping from wounds that matches your heart beat that you see in horror movies are pretty accurate. One of my camp wizard shirts has a bit more character now.

 

Again, warning about nasty wound pictures in the spoiler. Don’t click if you’re not ready to see that stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Harriet]

Ah shirt. I hope your finger heals up rapidly. 

[Sloth the Enduring]

Holy crap. I’m glad you kept your and I hope it’s functional again soon.