ElbowRocker's Battle Log

ElbowRocker · September 13, 2013

I'll stop posting my workout info and food stuff in my first challenge thread, and start posting them here from now on.

You know, like I probably should have been doing from the start?

Cheers

AshPS · September 13, 2013

Seems we're all late to the party, lol!

ElbowRocker · September 14, 2013

Friday - 2013/09/14

Food - We ate breakfast at Denny's and then dinner at Red Robin. Everything was pretty high but I got the burger without a bun.

Workout - I'll go into more / better detail on Monday when the challenge actually starts (and I start my challenge thread) but we bought a starter barbell set and are going to be lifting in the garage. We will follow the Rebel Strength starter barbell workout. The warmup for it is still pretty intense by our standards but has a lot of great flexibility stuff in it. Anyway, on Friday, we did the warmup and then concentrated on doing the four lifts - squats, push press, deadlifts, and bent over rows - with just the bar, looking at form. We had to sub in the bent over rows instead of pull ups as neither of us can actually do a pull up, and we don't have any area around that we can do an assisted one either.

The only real issue we are going to run into, at quickly, is safely doing squats without a stand or rack. For the wife, I can lift the bar and probably a bit more up and to her shoulders, and spot her. For me, I will have to stick to very light amounts until we can get some more equipment. I have room in the garage, but I just have to work out the budget issues first.

Still, we are both really excited to begin lifting. Now I just gotta work on those goals and my challenge layout.

AshPS · September 14, 2013

Friday - 2013/09/14

Food - We ate breakfast at Denny's and then dinner at Red Robin. Everything was pretty high but I got the burger without a bun.

Workout - I'll go into more / better detail on Monday when the challenge actually starts (and I start my challenge thread) but we bought a starter barbell set and are going to be lifting in the garage. We will follow the Rebel Strength starter barbell workout. The warmup for it is still pretty intense by our standards but has a lot of great flexibility stuff in it. Anyway, on Friday, we did the warmup and then concentrated on doing the four lifts - squats, push press, deadlifts, and bent over rows - with just the bar, looking at form. We had to sub in the bent over rows instead of pull ups as neither of us can actually do a pull up, and we don't have any area around that we can do an assisted one either.

The only real issue we are going to run into, at quickly, is safely doing squats without a stand or rack. For the wife, I can lift the bar and probably a bit more up and to her shoulders, and spot her. For me, I will have to stick to very light amounts until we can get some more equipment. I have room in the garage, but I just have to work out the budget issues first.

Still, we are both really excited to begin lifting. Now I just gotta work on those goals and my challenge layout.

Whoo Hooo!! Will be looking for your thread to post sos I can follow!

We be Warriors now! :triumphant: :triumphant:

ElbowRocker · September 15, 2013

Food - Saturday

I wish I could just cut and paste the myfitnesspal page without losing all the formatting so that I didn't have to type all this junk out. Ah well. I reserve the right to abbreviate days and just slam macros in.

Breakfast!
- Coffee. Black. One pot (8 cups).
Lunch?
- A big ass salad of:
- Baby spinach.
- A chicken breast.
- 3 slices of bacon.
Mustard.
- Balsamic.
- Pickled garlic.
- Some pork rinds.
Dinner.
- 3 brats.
- Baked kale.
- Baked cauliflower.
- Sauteed onions.
- Coconut ice cream.

Calories Carbs Sugar Protein Fat Fiber

Totals: 1,965 55 18 129 121 14

Goal: 2,000 50 16 150 133 33

Gonna paste the block from the webpage in and see if the formatting holds, so forgive any gibberish that may follow:

Totals 1,965 55 18 129 121 14 Your Daily Goal 2,000 50 16 150 133 33 Remaining 35 -5 -2 21 12 19 Calories Carbs Sugar Protein Fat Fiber

AshPS · September 15, 2013

You drank 8 cups of coffee??!!

Ahhhh..............no gibberish, YEAH!! :playful: lol

ElbowRocker · September 15, 2013

You drank 8 cups of coffee??!!

Ahhhh..............no gibberish, YEAH!! lol

Well, the pot has a little "8" next to the line where I stop filling it with water, so I assume that the pot contains eight cups. I really only get maybe five mugs out of it, so I'm not sure how many ounces it is total. I should measure that some day.

The gibberish - was it formatted for you? It comes out all in one line for me sadly.

AshPS · September 15, 2013

Well, the pot has a little "8" next to the line where I stop filling it with water, so I assume that the pot contains eight cups. I really only get maybe five mugs out of it, so I'm not sure how many ounces it is total. I should measure that some day.

The gibberish - was it formatted for you? It comes out all in one line for me sadly.

Well, it came out in one line, but was readable to me.

Do you do that over a day or all at once??!! (the coffee) I thought I was addicted! lol

ElbowRocker · September 15, 2013

Probably over the course of two to three hours. This amount is usually only on weekends. I use a few different brew methods but the eight cups is just percolator so it's not super strong or anything. Weekdays I usually only have a few cups of aero press.

ElbowRocker · September 16, 2013

Food - Sunday

Breakfast!
- Coffee. Black. One pot (8 cups).
Lunch?
- 3 scrambled eggs
- 2 slices of bacon.
- 1/4 of a potato, diced, roasted, w/ onions.
Dinner!?
- 1 brat.
- Mustard.
- 4 scrambled eggs.
- 1/8c cheddar.
- 8 oz. organic grass fed ground beef, seasoned.
- 4c steamed broccoli.

Calories Carbs Sugar Protein Fat Fiber

Totals: 1,712 62 17 132 103 22

Goal: 2,000 50 16 150 133 33

Man. 4c of broccoli has more carbs than I imagined. Ah well. Worse ways to get them I suppose.

ElbowRocker · September 17, 2013

Food - Monday

Breakfast!
- Coffee. Black. two cups, aeropress.
Lunch?
- Caught up on the forums, had some water. Attempting a 24 hour fast on a workout day.
Snack;
- Post work, and pre-workout, I had a banana and a protein shake made with coconut water.
- Then I worked out (details after food).
Dinner!?
- 120g sweet potato, baked, with a small amount of real butter.
- 140g baked chicken breast in olive oil and seasoning.
- 134g baked asparagus (olive oil, seasoning).
- At this point I entered in my stuff to MFP and found out that I only had about 1,000 calories and 90g or so of protein. These numbers are probably too low, so I dumped the following down my trough hole:
  - 2 brats with mustard.
  - Dessert! Some coconut ice cream mixed with protein powder. I haven't eaten this yet but will as soon as I'm done posting.

Calories Carbs Sugar Protein Fat Fiber

Totals: 1,976 116 58 152 85 13

Goal: 2,000 50 16 150 133 33

I'm comfortable with those numbers for the day, and felt good during my workout. I don't know if I'll continue doing 24 hour fasts pre workout, I'm going to play that one by ear and see how I feel.

Workout #1!

As I may have mentioned, I'm doing the Rebel Strength Barbell Battalion Rank One workout for this challenge. I'd like to think I could handle more, but it's been years since I've lifted and I'm doing this alongside my wife, who has never lifted. It's a good place for us to start.

Push day - squats and push presses.

Warm up -

2 minutes jump rope (or mostly jump rope with wheezing and whacking myself in the back of the head with my wife's too short for me rope).
50 jumping jacks.
20 BW squats.
5 BW lunges each leg.
10 hip extensions.
6 side leg step overs (5 each leg in each direction).
10 straight leg swings each leg.
10 side leg swings each leg.
15 pushups.
10 spiderman steps, each leg.

For the duration, I'm just going to refer to this as "warm up", and not type this all out. It won't change, but it should get easier. I haven't jumped rope since... fourth or fifth grade?

Workout - we were supposed to do 5 rep x 5 sets of push press and squats. I should have looked into warm up sets more, as I'm not sure we did it all correctly. Here is what I did, and why, as I didn't fully follow instructions I think:

Push Press:
- 5 reps with bar (45lb)
- 5 reps @ 65
- 5x5 reps @ 95
- I guess I could have thrown more sets in between. We have no rack or stand so all lifts start at least from the ground. More on that later.
Squats:
- 5 reps @45
- 2x5 reps @ 95
- 1x10 reps @ 95
- 1x5 reps @ 115
- 1x5 reps @ 135

Squats - I could have done more, and I think I probably could have done 5 full sets at 135 after working up to it. The issue is that, as mentioned, I don't have a rack or a stand or anything, so I have to lift the bar off the floor each set, to my chest, then up and over to set it on my back. My wife is only capable of spotting so much and helping me get it back over my head. It's pretty much a safety issue. A friend ended up dropping by or I wouldn't have attempted the sets at 115 and 135 as he was able to assist.

My squat numbers will be low until I get that issue resolved. It's a budget matter. I'm scouring CL, and I'll figure something out eventually. Until then I'll stick with manageable weights and do higher reps.

Anyway, those are the nitty gritty details. Gonna drop the overview in my challenge thread and then eat some ice cream.

Cheers!

forkboy · September 17, 2013

Nice work today. The lifting looks like a fun new addition.

ElbowRocker · September 17, 2013

It is fun, we are both really enjoying it.

Also, forgot to list but I had a beer with the friend who dropped by. I put it in MFP so it's in my macros, just forgot to list it.

AshPS · September 17, 2013

Awesome work Elbow!!

ElbowRocker · September 20, 2013

I may split this into a few posts for each day, as I haven't had a chance to log in a while.

Food - Tuesday

Breakfast!
- Coffee. Black. Twelve cups or so of the swill they had in the conference room.
Lunch?
- I checked email and watched people eat sandwiches.
Snack;
- Post work, and pre-workout, I had a protein shake made with coconut water.
- Then I worked out (details after food).
Dinner!?
- 8 oz organic grass fed ground beef with seasoning.
- 37g of baked kale.
- 244g sweet potato.
- 11g salted butter.
- 3.5 slices Coleman Natural uncured hickory smoked bacon.
- Dessert - Coconut ice cream and protein powder (with water).

Calories Carbs Sugar Protein Fat Fiber

Totals: 1,765 117 52 150 84 17

Goal: 2,000 50 16 150 133 33

Workout #2!

Pull day - bent over rows and deadlifts

Warm up, then:

Bent Over Rows:
- 5 reps with bar (45lb)
- 5x1 @ 65
- 5x1 @ 75
- 5x1 @ 95
- 5x5 @ 105
Deadlifts:
- 5x1 @ 55
- 5x1 @ 75
- 5x1 @ 95
- 5x5 @ 115

I knew I had work dinner on Wednesday, so I did the workout early. I also fasted again for around 24 hours, which just the shake pre-workout. It sucked. I started getting dizzy during deadlifts. Too much coffee, not enough water, and I probably should have had something more pre-workout, maybe a piece of fruit. I'll have to see if there is a pattern or if this was a one off thing.

All in all I was happy with both the food and workout for the day.

ElbowRocker · September 20, 2013

Prepare to be disgusted by my Wednesday:

Food - Wednesday

Breakfast!
- Coffee. Black. One moka pot made at home, about 10 oz total.
- 3 deviled eggs (half a hard boiled egg with who knows what stuffed back in).\
  - Not sure when the last time I've eaten a deviled egg was, but why do they taste like pickles? I guess I remember why I haven't eaten once since I was a kid.
Lunch?
- I had a salad and a few scalped slices of pizza, where I just ate the cheese and sausage and left the crust.
Dinner was at a very nice local restaurant, and not on my dime, nor was I driving. As such, here is what I estimate I ate:
- Bacon wrapped scallops - 4
- 10 oz filet mignon, actually cooked the extreme rare I like. I have to call the restaurant and give them a compliment as most places won't do rare.
- Baked potato with butter.
- Some green beans.
- A couple slices of sausage with cheese.
- Probably around 80 oz or so of beer. The steins were not 32 oz but they were at least 20.

I put this into MFP as best I could the next day. It was a blast and the house amber ale was quite good.

Calories Carbs Sugar Protein Fat Fiber

Totals: 2,829 165 23 140 82 7

Goal: 2,000 50 16 150 133 33

ElbowRocker · September 20, 2013

Food - Thursday

Breakfast!
- Coffee. Black. One grande dark roast black eye from Starbucks and 16 oz of swill from training.
Lunch?
- 14 BBQ chicken wings. They were nice enough to order me wings instead of a Sub, but didn't ask about sauce so I got blindsided by sugarQ. I then threw in the towel and ate my lunch. Shit happens.
- Potato chips
- Baby carrots.
Dinner!?
- 3 brats.
- 1 oz pepper jack.
- 50g baked kale.
- 250g baked sweet potato.
- 10g salted butter.
- 171g seasoned grass fed ground beef.
- Coconut water / protein powder before workout.
- Dessert - Coconut ice cream.

Calories Carbs Sugar Protein Fat Fiber

Totals: 3,415 249 129 243 248 25

Goal: 2,000 50 16 150 133 33

They can't all be winners I guess. At least I worked out?

Workout #3!

Push day

Warm up, then:

Squats:
- 5 reps with bar (45lb)
- 5x1 @ 75
- 5x1 @ 95
- 5x5 @ 115
- I was supposed to do sets of 3, but couldn't safely get more weight up and over and back off to the floor again so I stuck with lower weight and a few more reps.
Push Press:
- 5x1 @ 45
- 5x1 @ 65
- 5x1 @ 75
- 5x1 @ 95
- 5x1 @ 105
- 3x5 @ 115

The workout felt good today, and I think I'm finally caught up on logging things in here. Training is done so I won't have to sit by three massive trays of cookies, brownies, and donuts all day every day. My goals got shot to hell making the best worst choice today. Ah well. Rough start, it gets better after tomorrow.

AshPS · September 20, 2013

Warmest wishes on things getting better!

Awesome on the workouts Elbow!! :triumphant:

ElbowRocker · September 23, 2013

Food - Friday

Breakfast!
- Coffee. Black. Moka pot.
Lunch?
- 4 peanut butter cookies (wife is baking for a birthday thing).
- Blueberry muffin Lara Bar
Dinner!?
- Nachos at Sprecher's
- Imperial Russian Stout
- Double IPA
- Dessert - cupcakes, probably two.
- This whole day is probably underestimated with various snacks left off.

Calories Carbs Sugar Protein Fat Fiber

Totals: 2,763 271 109 67 118 27

Goal: 2,000 50 16 150 133 33

Food - Saturday

Breakfast!
- Coffee. Black.
Lunch?
- Papa Murhpy's pizza - two slices of chicken artichoke and 3 slices of Chicago stuffed.
- 3 cupcakes.
- 16 oz O-Gii Imperial Wit by MKE brewing.
Dinner!?
- One more slice of pizza.

Calories Carbs Sugar Protein Fat Fiber

Totals: 2,508 276 122 95 114 6

Goal: 2,000 50 16 150 133 33

ElbowRocker · September 23, 2013

Food - Sunday

Breakfast!
- Coffee. Black.
Lunch?
- Around 3 cups of scrambled eggs with ham, peppers, onions, etc.
- 8 or so slices of bacon.
- 40 oz ish of diet pepsi.
- 6 links breakfast sausage.
Dinner!?
- Coconut water
- 60g protein powder
- Dinner was just a post-workout snack.

Calories Carbs Sugar Protein Fat Fiber

Totals: 2,163 26 19 170 144 0

Goal: 2,000 50 16 150 133 33

Workout #4!

Pull day

Warm up, then:

Bent over rows:
- 5 reps with bar (45lb)
- 5x1 @ 65
- 5x1 @ 75
- 5x1 @ 95
- 5x1 @ 105
- 3x5 @ 115
- 10 lb increase over previous.
Deadlift:
- 5x1 @ 65
- 5x1 @ 75
- 5x1 @ 95
- 5x1 @ 115
- 5x1 @ 135
- 5x1 @ 155
- 3x5 @ 185
- Increase of 70 lb over previous, didn't feel dizzy this time.
Bear Complex Finisher:
- 7x1 @ 45
- 7x1 @ 55
- 7x1 @ 65
- 7x1 @ 75
- 7x1 @ 85
- These just about put me down for the count. The last few presses were a struggle not to brain myself. Also, why is there so little air available to breath during these?

AshPS · September 24, 2013

Truly awesome on those workouts Elbow!

No, be careful and DO NOT brain yourself, or pass out from lack of air! lol

Papa Murphy's!!!! That was like our GO TO pizza place! And I had to laugh as the artichoke and stuffed were two of our regulars! :playful:

But sadly, sigh, they left this hick town and there is not another within an hours distance. Now all we have is Pizza Hut.......too expensive! :nightmare:

ElbowRocker · September 24, 2013

Expensive and kind of crappy. Ugh. Sorry to hear that! I wish my papa Murphy's was further away, I'd get pizza less often!

AshPS · September 24, 2013

Expensive and kind of crappy. Ugh. Sorry to hear that! I wish my papa Murphy's was further away, I'd get pizza less often!

Yeah, lol, Guess it is a good thing. I'm a sucker for a good pizza. Wow, and I haven't had any in.......at least 3 weeks! :hopelessness:

ElbowRocker · September 25, 2013

Food - Monday

Breakfast!
- Coffee. Black. Probably around 5 cups.
- Denny's meat lovers omelette and side of hash browns.
Dinner.
- 16 Spicy garlic wings.
- 3 tall Summit Extra Pale Ale's.

Calories Carbs Sugar Protein Fat Fiber

Totals: 3,019 79 8 153 177 4

Goal: 2,000 50 16 150 133 33

ElbowRocker · September 25, 2013

Food - Tuesday

Breakfast!
- Coffee. 16 oz black eye.
Dinner.
- 12 Spicy Garlic Wings.
- 12 Blazin Wings.
- No beers <sadface>
- 60g protein powder (30g pre workout, 30g post workout).

Calories Carbs Sugar Protein Fat Fiber

Totals: 2,173 22 2 191 123 0

Goal: 2,000 50 16 150 133 33

Workout #5!

Stuck in a hotel for the week. Fortunately, the workout room is more than just a treadmill. They have dumbbells up to 40 lbs. I did a five minute warm up walking a steep incline on the treadmill, enough to get the heart rate up. Then I tried a dumbbell circuit. It was good and bad.

6 RDL's
6 squat cleans
6 thrusters
3 Scottie Bobs
40 lbs / 50 lbs / 60 lbs / 70 lbs.

There were supposed to be situps as well, but I scrapped those as I'm not dedicated enough to lay on a hotel gym floor. Also there wasn't a ton of room. Anyway, I did this starting with 20 lb dumbbells, and by the time I got to 35's I was just done. I didn't finish the last Scottie Bob, and ended up laying on the floor like I didn't want to in the first place. I did another 5 minutes on the treadmill at a slow pace just to get my breath back.

I like the Bear Complex better. I'm just not good with dumbbells, and my hands are killing me. I'd also never done a Scottish Robert or whatever, and underestimated this complex in general. I should have started lighter since I was limited to 10lb increases. Ah well, better than sitting on my ass in the room.

Cheers!

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