Master of Cows tries, tries again!

[MasterOfCows]

Oh Hi!  So I basically disappeared the week after the challenge ended.  Sorry about that, but it happens.  Work, life, stuff.  You know.  Last challenge helped me learn a lot about myself, and what goals I'll stick with and what I won't, and what I need to work on.  I injured my knee the very last week of the last challenge.  It's still a little swollen, but I have very little pain.  But I also haven't done anything at all since the end of the last challenge, so....

Onto the goals!

 

1.  Consistency:

Last time I learned that 4 nights a week was too much, and I got a little annoyed at having to fit gym time in.  I have basketball once a week. I will go to the gym 2 times a week (3 if there is no basketball game, or if I feel like it).  I also want to do more pushups, so one pushup workout/week.  Workouts might be a little funky because of knee for the first bit, while I figure out what they can handle.

12 gym visits + 6 pushup workouts = A

+3 Str, +2 Sta

 

2.  You can't manage what you don't measure:

Last time, I worked on basically not being a piggy.  Only eating when hungry, and not overeating on junk or anything really.  But I don't have a handle on what I'm actually eating in terms of how many calories.  I don't want to change my eating behaviour again if it doesn't actually need fixing, but I would like to continue to lose fat and maintain/slightly improve my strength.  The internet told me that my BMR (I used sedentary activity level) is 1866.  So a calorie range of 1250-1500 will see some slow and steady gains in that department.  I will track all food that goes into mouth for 3 of the 6 weeks - without changing anything.  Why only 3 weeks you ask?  Because doing it too often will make me obsess, which isn't healthy either.
3 weeks full food tracking = A

+2 Wis, +2 Con

 

3.  Liquid calories can derail a good plan:

This is a conitnuation of a goal from last challenge.  Booze probably hindered my progress in the past.  Even limiting it like I did seemed to show some results, and it's probably a wise thing to do anyways. 

10 drinks per week.  That will allow some flexibility, while still being able to get a bit of a buzz on the weekend, if I so choose.  These calories will be counted in the weeks mentioned above as well.  No carrying over drinks from week to week, so if I only have  2 drinks one week, I can't have 18 the next, just 10 again.

No more than 10/week/6 weeks = A

+2 Wis, +2 Con

4.  Help out:

Deal with the laundry that sits in a pile for weeks and weeks.
All laundry must be put away properly once per week

6 proper laundry dealing withs = A

+2 Cha

Starting Stats:

Height: 5'9"

Age: 30

Weight: 167.4 lbs

R/L Calf: 13.75/13.75"

R/L Thigh: 21.25/21.5"

Hips: 40.75"

Waist (@ belly button): 35.5"

Waist flexed: 35"

R/L Bicep: 11.25/11.25"

R/L Bicep flexed: 12/12.25"

[Rob__]

You got this!

 

Hope the knee starts to feel better soon.

[MasterOfCows]

I think the knee feels good enough to hit the gym today!  I haven't been in 2 weeks, tsk, tsk!

It's still a bit swollen, and gets achy if it's in the same position for too long, but we'll give it a shot.  I was all excited to start some more single leg work (split squats and more weighted single leg RDL's), but I think I'll back off back to lighter 2 leg work until I get a handle on what my knee is okay with.  I may even try to take a video of my goblet squats.  
 

Food tracking update (I'm not logging these until after the day after so that my behaviour remains the same):

Monday - 1541 cals (131 carb, 35 fat, 53 protein).  I expected this to be higher because of booze, but I wasn't very hungry all day, so I guess it balanced out.

Tuesday - 1215 cals (120 carb, 50 fat, 76 protein)

 

So far, my super in depth 2 day analysis says that I may be short on protein.  May have to look into easy, will taste tasty cold, breakfast alternatives.  I usually just eat a piece of fruit in the morning, because I'm never hungry and it's about all I can force down at about 9:30-10:00 a.m. at work.  I don't do cold eggs, unless they are devilled, and that will just be messy.  Maybe an devilled egg paste/salad of some type that I can eat with spoon? Suggestions??

 

Booze update: 4 drinks, 6 remaining.  These will probably be used up on Friday at my sister's boyfriend's birthday.

[PrincessHeather]

Definitely take it light and slow with good form if you're still a little swollen, and stop immediately if something doesn't feel right. It might feel good to get your knee moving a bit, but don't overdo it!

 

I used to never eat breakfast, but at some point I decided to force myself and now my stomach demands food if I've been awake for an hour. It's a habit you can develop

[Rob__]

Yay for knee feeling better enough to try working out!

 

Take it slow and even if it feels awesome after you work out, I'd still ice, wrap and elevate it also! My knee wasn't even all that terrible when I hurt it pretty much the day after you did, and I still feel twinges when I lift.

[MasterOfCows]

Feb. 27:

Goblet Squats:

4X5X30 lbs

-These felt okay.  No twinges while doing them, but definitely felt it in the knee afterwards.  I wouldn't want to do too much more than that at this point.  Tried some BW lunges and I'm not quite ready for single leg work on that leg yet.

 

Dumbbell Bench:

3x5X75 lbs

-Last rep was super grindy.  I didn't think I would get it but I did.  I'll leave this the same.

 

Dumbbell RDL:

3X10X80 lbs

-Too light, hence the extra reps.  I just wasn't sure how stable the knee would be.  

 

Lat Pulldown:

1X6, 1X4, 1X5 @ 84 lbs

-I don't know what it is about the 84 lb weight, but I can't seem to get these with any sort of consistency.  Might add some assistance work, if I can figure out what that would be.

 

10 minutes of LISS on the stationary bike, lvl 9, 3.7 km.

Did some mobility, but I'm not comfortable kneeling, so it wasn't as effective as it could be.

 

Wed Calories:

1471 (130 carb, 70 fat, 83 protein)

[Max Power]

Inverted row's are good for the lat pulldowns.  Pretty much anything that moves you towards a pullup would help.  The workout looks good, I hope the knee keeps getting better.  

[katscratch]

That workout looks pretty darn decent for just getting back to it on the knee!

 

I'm a huge cottage cheese fanatic, especially for meal times when I'm not as hungry.  I mix it with all sorts of foods: avocados, tomato, hard boiled eggs, applesauce, berries....I use it instead of salad dressing/sour cream.  My coworkers think I eat dog food.  But it makes my gut happy

[Rob__]

Yay for being able to at least complete the work out twinge free! Hopefully it won't be too long before you get back to MoC-Smashing things without any pain whatsoever!

[MasterOfCows]

I can't get behind cottage cheese.  I think it's the only kind of cheese I won't devour on sight.

Looks like I have to fix my squat form first, before smashing anything!  
 

[Rob__]

I can't get behind cottage cheese.  I think it's the only kind of cheese I won't devour on sight.

Looks like I have to fix my squat form first, before smashing anything!  

 

 

+123456. I can't stand the sight of it.

[katscratch]

I didn't eat it for years after a bout with pneumonia where I drank milk then immediately puked curdled/clotted milk (I was 10, and I can still very, very vividly feel that texture coming back up).  

 

You know, a happy story for making you hate curds and whey even more than you already did.

[MasterOfCows]

Gross

I haven't tried it in years.  It might be one of those things that I hated for a long time, but now would suddenly like?  Like sour cream.  GD is that stuff delicious. I promise to give it a shot sometime and report back!

Food stuffs:

1488 cal (126 carb, 66 fat, 91 protein).

In other news, I've got some DOMS!!  That's what 2 weeks (give or take) off gets you.  I'm disappointed, but also kind of weirdly looking forward to fixing my squat form issues, first try tonight!  In another life I was probably a hunch back.  I'm always hunchy, I've got seriously terrible posture.  But just cause my form was a bit crap doesn't mean I wasted the last 3 months (I basically started seriously in November).  Nips to the wall, bitches!  That was bigm's cue to me, and I LOVE it (his didn't have the bitches part!)

BTW Rob, seriously jealous of your front squat.

[Rob__]

Gross

I haven't tried it in years.  It might be one of those things that I hated for a long time, but now would suddenly like?  Like sour cream.  GD is that stuff delicious. I promise to give it a shot sometime and report back!

Food stuffs:

1488 cal (126 carb, 66 fat, 91 protein).

In other news, I've got some DOMS!!  That's what 2 weeks (give or take) off gets you.  I'm disappointed, but also kind of weirdly looking forward to fixing my squat form issues, first try tonight!  In another life I was probably a hunch back.  I'm always hunchy, I've got seriously terrible posture.  But just cause my form was a bit crap doesn't mean I wasted the last 3 months (I basically started seriously in November).  Nips to the wall, bitches!  That was bigm's cue to me, and I LOVE it (his didn't have the bitches part!)

BTW Rob, seriously jealous of your front squat.

 

Hah. Thanks! But I hate them and think they need a lot of work... I might sneak some in tomorrow just to get some additional practice in this week... >.>

 

On a related note, I cue myself "tits up" all the time. It's one of my cues to cure parenthesis posture.

[MasterOfCows]

So there's a bunch of updatey things, so let's just hit the high points:

 

Worked out twice.  Once was at home, because Friday got crazy at work and I ran out time before I had to go to a birthday party....  which leads to...

Booze consumption was an epic fail last week.  All due to the weekend and huge snow day Sunday.  Seriously huge fail.  I drank all the drinks.  Which leads to...

Calories being all out of whack:

Fri: 2598 (carbs: 192, fat: 37, protein: 56)

Sat: 2801 (carbs: 175, fat: 68, protein: 107)

Sun: 1879 (carbs: 64, fat: 73, protein: 71)

Weekly total: 14481

Avg: 2069/day

Again, not changing anything, just analyzing patterns to see what needs to be changed.  I'm really glad I'm only calorie counting 3 of the 6 weeks, because man is that shit tedious.  I'm guessing that last week, I'm about 500-800 over where I'd like to be, but when everything's over, we'll look at weight/measurements and then the food stuffs, and see what needs fiddled with.

I did all the laundry real good like.  I was actually pretty surprised at this, there were like 5 loads to deal with.

Sunday Workout:

Dumbbell OHP:

2X8, 1X6 @ 30 lbs

 

Dumbbell bent over row:

1X9, 1X8, 1X7 @40 lbs

 

Goblet Squat:

7X5 @ 30 lbs

I videoed every single set.  I'm still seeing problems that I don't know how to fix, but maybe they are a bit better?  Maybe?? Once I get them uploaded, I'll be directing folks here to help me.  Please help me!  You can also see our habenero plant in the background, if that's incentive.

 

Pushups - to failure, 5 mins b/w sets:

3 regular, 15 knee

1 regular, 11 knee

1 regular, 10 knee

[Strawberry Squatcake]

I struggle with hunching on my squats, too. I feel like I'm all standing up, but clearly I'm not. And I think that's what puts extra pressure on my spine/back, and makes me so sore during and especially after.

Excellent first week!

[Hermione Gainser]

How have I not been here??!?!!

 

Hunchy squats, you say?   I'm not sure front squats are a good call with your knee.. but if you can do goblet squats I feel like you can do front squats...  Work thoracic mobility and keep doing those goblet squats.  

[MasterOfCows]

Waaaaay back when I first when to physio, I was cleared for squats (of all descriptions) and lunges as soon as the pain went away, they were actually the main part of my rehab.  I'm just assuming that is still the case, because I don't have any pain while doing squats.  I'll be adding lunges back in with a vengeance as soon as I feel able, and once I (hopefully) fix the squat form issues, I'll be adding bulgarian split squats.  I feel like the one legged work is better for basketball.  The goblet squats are simply a matter of what equipment is available to me - there's no barbell at the work gym, just dumbbells.  I was doing front squats with the dumbbells on my shoulders, but I could never seem to hold them in a comfortable position.  I'm definitely working on mobility.

 

Vids are still uploading....   

[katscratch]

MoC Week One Win!

 

And holy moly yes tracking foods is tedious! Go you!

[MasterOfCows]

And we have video - dissect away, Nerds!

 

Goblet squat 30lbs

1st set:

The first rep looks better, but I don't think I'm getting deep enough.  The other reps seem hunchy.

 

One of the middle sets:

Kept my toes up, just for fun.  Hunchy

[MasterOfCows]

Don't know why those other vids didn't come right up...

 

 

Leg closeup - skip forward to about 20 seconds in where I'm actually doing something:

Pants got caught under my heel on the first rep, hence the awkward readjustment

 

Last set - nice and blurry:

[MasterOfCows]

Bleh.  So yesterday, our "spare" vehicle got swideswiped while it was parked on the street in front of our house.  Yes, it's old and crappy, but it didn't need giant scrapes/holes in the side panels and the front bumper almost completely torn off.  The guy took off too.  We didn't see it, but a neighbour did.  No collision on it, because it's so old, so we're pretty much stuck with farmer fixing it, or selling it for scrap.  I'm pretty sure just fixing the bumper would cost more than the whole vehicle is worth.

 

Any further squat tips?  I'm going today, so I'll have a chance to try them out.  More vertical back position?  Try not to bend at the waist?

 

ETA: Went to basketball on Monday.  Didn't play a whole lot and didn't go balls to the wall, but knee held up pretty well.  Rolled my ankle though on the OTHER side though.  It's always something.  It's just a little tweak, nothing serious, which is good.

[Rob__]

I'm glad the knee is feeling better! Mine is all wishy washy. It'll work sometimes for a bit, but then it decides that enough is enough and mine was just a tweak :/

[Hermione Gainser]

Hmm, honestly, I'm not sure.  I'm tempted to suggest holding the dumbbells to the sides and continuing to squat the way you are.  Typically, goblet squats will have a slightly more turned out foot and a deeper squat (kind of like a front squat) with a more upright chest.  However, if you're just squatting to squat the placement of the dumbbells might help if you change it up.

[Morrigainz]

What Laura said. 

 

When you squat, do you think about sitting your hips back? That might help a little bit. I also notice some butt wink (I have it too). You'll want some mobility and/or core work to fix that.