Catspaw's Simple But Not Easy Challenge

[catspaw]

Catspaw's Simple But Not Easy Challenge

 

Nice, clean, simple goals.  Things I've done before and know how to do.  But just because it's simple doesn't mean it's easy.

 

It does, however, mean I am totally going to RAWR SMASH my way through this challenge.  Be prepared for some epic awesomeness here.

 

Be Strong

 

I want a deadlift and bench PR.  A real PR.  Not a "best since I got sick" PR, but a "better than I've ever lifted before ever" PR.  My body is starting to feel like it's my own again: strong, fierce, capable.  I want to take it out for a spin.

•  Deadlift goal: 225x1 (4 total plates, fuck yes!)
  
•  Bench goal: 100x3 or 105x1
  

 

Is this goal too ambitious?  Fuck no; I'm doing it.

 

 

Be Prepared

 

Rucking season starts soon with a Light in March, and Challenges in May and July.  I've already been clocking 10+ miles / week with my rucksack on, but it's time to prepare for all the PT and metcon-style work where I'm currently lagging sorely behind.

•  3 GoRuck PT training sessions / week, on top of lifting work
  
•  10+ rucked miles / week
  

 

PT sessions will consist of bear crawls, air squats, thrusters, crab walks, low crawls, push-ups, flutter kicks, etc.  Basically going to follow the 6 week training plan but spread over 8 weeks.

 

 

Be Lean

 

I know the scale lies, but I want to get under the brick line (150 lbs).  I'm already kissing the line during low-water-weight days, so this shouldn't take a huge deficit.

•  Weigh in at under the brick line.
  

 

1750/1450 is my starting goal, though I'll adjust as I go.  Shouldn't need any refeeds after the break this holiday season.  I may also throw in a longer-fast day once/week on my full-out-rest day.

 

However, since I also have strength goals, PreWO and PWO nutrition are gonna have to be pretty spot-on, along with high-carb high-protein macros.

 

 

Be Awesome

 

My final life goal is about the balance I want to achieve btw the above goals above and my health.  Between work and fun.  Between kicking ass and resting.  Leaning out but eating right.  I'm currently feeling a little too-much-expected-of-me at the new job, and I want to transform that into kicking-ass.

 

No specific targets here, just putting the final goal as a reminder to myself to be awesome in all the ways.

[CourtnieMarie]

yuss! gotta keep doing those "simple" challenges until you can perfect it, right? i like it

[wildross]

I like simple. simple is good

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[PrincessHeather]

I'm with you on the simple. Nothing complicated, just awesomeness.

 

LOVE the deadlift goal!

 

maybe a dumb question, but what is the brick line?

[Loren Wade]

Let's ruck this place up.

[Brometheus]

Simple is awesome! 

 

Also, I know there's TTTT in our future. 2 plates it is!  [Yes yes, I know. I just only count one side of the bar and multiply. Easier that way. ]

[Red1263]

It's always inspiring to watch you work, Cats.

[EmCee]

Love the simple, yet challenging, goals <3 looking forward to you smashing them all!

[catspaw]

yuss! gotta keep doing those "simple" challenges until you can perfect it, right? i like it

 

I like simple. simple is good

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

 

Thanks guys.  No sense having a bunch of challenge fuckarounditis, right?

 

I know what I want, I know how to get it, now I'm just gonna bust it out and do it.

 

LOVE the deadlift goal!

 

maybe a dumb question, but what is the brick line?

 

Thanks -- I'm excited about it.

 

For GoRuck events, there's an arbitrary line of 150 lbs that determines how many bricks you have to carry in your ruck.  I'm so close (1*) to the line that it seems silly to be over it and probably worth my time to get under it.  Even though the scale lies.

 

(1*): 153 at the end of the last challenge, 159 this morning but I did not over-eat by 21,000 calories over the holidays so my guess is once water weight clears I'm probably post-holiday around 154-155.

 

That said, starting next week I'm gonna probably be taking a bunch of sublingual hormones.  Some of them (estrogen, cortisol) promote weight gain and some of them (progesterone, testosterone(2*) ) promote weight loss.  So what happens when you start taking them all at once?  I... don't... know.  I'm not sure anyone could guess.  But how my body chooses to use those hormones I can't control.  I can control food intake, so that's what I'm going to manage.

 

(2*): Yes, I know testosterone is a growth-promoter.  But low testosterone correlates with weight gain in women.

 

Let's ruck this place up.

 

 Ruck yeah!

 

2 plates it is!  [Yes yes, I know. I just only count one side of the bar and multiply. Easier that way. ]

 

That's actually how most people count it.  But in my head it's always been 4.

 

It's always inspiring to watch you work, Cats.

 

Thanks Red <3

 

Love the simple, yet challenging, goals <3 looking forward to you smashing them all!

RAAAAWR! SMASH!

[catspaw]

Fuck waiting until the challenge "officially begins".  I'm starting today.  I've never been very good at following rules.

 

Wed, Jan 1st - Workout Log

 

Squats

  45 x 5

  65 x 5

  85 x 5

  105 x 5

  125 x 5

  130 x 5

  135 x 5

  135 x 5

  135 x 5

 

Last two reps were a little sloppy but depth was still good so I'm counting em.

 

Pause squats

  65 x 5

  65 x 5

  65 x 5

 

Bench

  45 x 5

  65 x 5

  75 x 5

  85 x 5

  95 x 4

  95 x 3

  75 x 10

  65 x 10

 

Chins (green band)

  6 / 6 / 6 / 6 / 6 / 5 / 5 (40 total)

 

I've realized that when I do chins, my right shoulder (the busted one) comes way up to by my ears.  My uneducated guess is that this is a weak-lats tight-chest issue, and I wonder if it's the underlying reason why my shoulder is sore all the time.

 

Probably gonna do some rucking later this afternoon, so I'll log that later.

[catspaw]

Wed, Jan 1st - Daily Log

 

Short 2.2 mile ruck this afternoon in addition to the workout already posted.

 

Food log:

  - PWO: PWO shake + banana

  - Lunch: Potato/peppers/ham hash topped with an egg (pic below)

  - Snack: Leftover ham, steamed broccoli and bottle of kombucha

  - Dinner: Bison chocolate chili on spaghetti squash

 

 

Macros (C/F/P): 190c / 52f / 148p = 1759 cals

[Haikoo]

Simple sounds great to me! So glad you are heading back to yourself again!

[FortBacon]

I like simple. simple is good

 

 

Fuck waiting until the challenge "officially begins".  I'm starting today.  I've never been very good at following rules..

 

Must agree with Wildross - simple is very good. And yeah, waiting is for the birds (not cats).

 

The "kick ass at work" thing intrigues me - would love to see you post some of your strategies in managing the projects and demands.

 

Keep getting stronger and healthier!!!

[Red1263]

Wait, I have two questions:

1. what's Bison Chocolate?
2. Give it to me!

[raptron]

Never too ambitious, Catspaw. And of course you're starting now because you're awesome. 

 

P.S. - That hash looks delicious.

[CourtnieMarie]

Yes! more food pictures!

[catspaw]

So glad you are heading back to yourself again!

 

Me toooooooooooo.

 

The "kick ass at work" thing intrigues me - would love to see you post some of your strategies in managing the projects and demands.

 

Will discuss as it happens.

 

For now, the biggest thing for me is taking full advantage of the "newbie stage".

 

I think that most people are really, really bad at being newbies.  We want to make a good first impression so we pretend we know/understand more than we do.  But folks are pretty tolerant of newbies asking stupid questions and making stupid mistakes, so it's the period when you should revel in your incompetence and ask tons of questions so that when you're no longer a newbie, you're all the stronger because of it.

 

Compare and contrast someone new to lifting who starts with just the bar, asks a ton of questions on NF, takes embarrassingly bad videos of themselves to post on NF,  and spends a few months just correcting their form and getting really good.... with someone who starts with plates on the bar, pretends they have perfect form and never asks for help with it.

 

I should say that this doesn't come naturally to me.  I have a weeee bit of an arrogance problem (dramatic pause waiting for shocked sounds.... no?  no one?) and I don't like to be a novice.  Especially with this job, where I was hired at, well, a pretty damn senior position but I know nothing about the technology I'm gonna be dealing with.

 

So my effort over the next few weeks is to try to take full advantage of the newbie phase.

• I'm asking lots of questions to people.
• I'm picking up little tiny bugs in the code to voluntarily fix, so that I get my hands dirty immediately and can hit the stupid ("why won't it compile? how do I build the software? where is the bug repo?") questions as soon as possible.
• I'm having people draw diagrams on a whiteboard for me and not pretending like I understand it immediately.  And I'm having multiple people draw the same diagrams, over and over, so that it sinks in.
• I'm trying not to let the pressure of "must be immediately awesome" turn this into a stressful situtation.

I'll keep everyone apprised on how it goes.

 

Wait, I have two questions:

• what's Bison Chocolate?
• Give it to me!

 

(Bison (chocolate chili)) not ((Bison chocolate) chili)

 

Never too ambitious, Catspaw. And of course you're starting now because you're awesome. 

 

P.S. - That hash looks delicious.

And it was delicious!

 

Yes! more food pictures!

Hahaha. Well, I made 4 servings (2 lbs meat) of chocolate chili last night which'll be all the self-cooked food I'm eating til the weekend, but I'll try to remember to post stuff as I make it if:

• It looks appetizing, and
• I can delay shoveling it down my gullet long enough to take a photo.

[EmCee]

God, that looks amazing.

[catspaw]

Thu, Jan 2nd - Workout Log

 

I was a little worried about front squat day today, because my quads were still all DOMsy from backsquats yesterday.  But I went in being like "well, I'll just do the best I can..."  Somehow, though, in the middle of the workout I found my fire.  Made a bunch of ridiculous GRRR faces in the mirror in front of me but was feeling so fierce that I didn't care.

 

Front Squats

  45 x 10

  45 x 10

  45 x 10

  55 x 10

  65 x 10

  75 x 10

  80 x 7

  85 x 7 [PR]

  90 x 7 [PR]

 

I was considering trying out a 95, but wanted to save some front squat gas in the tank for bear complexes later.

 

BB rows

  65 x 10

  65 x 10

  65 x 10

 

Still having a lot of trouble recruiting lats on these, especially after rep 5-6.

 

Bear complex

  45 x 7 x 5

 

Okay, I know just-the-bar isn't a very impressive bear complex number in an absolute sense, BUT...

 

1) I can totally tell that I need these (and other metcon work) just based on how winded I get.  Which is a good thing.  Addressing weaknesses is always a good thing.

 

2) Halfway through set #4 I paused at the top of the front rack position and considered calling it.  My reps had slowed waaaay down with brief pauses between each movement, my quads were screeeeaming and throwing the bar overhead was getting sloppy.  "Just finish set #4," I told myself, "and then we can have a discussion about it."  So I sloppily managed to push myself through that set, feeling proud that I managed even that, and then put the bar down.

 

"You can do one more," I told myself, looking myself in the eyes in the mirror.  "What if this was your ruck?  Or remember what it was like on those last few miles of your marathon.  Or remember what it was like when you were screaming with headaches for days on end.  You can push yourself.  This isn't hard, it's challenging.  You're Catspaw.  You thrive on challenges."

 

So I picked up the bar and knocked out the last set with speed and ferocity that I hadn't even recruited for my first set.

 

Moments later, on top of a foam roller that hurt so good, I caught myself smiling with pride.  This is what pushing yourself is about: digging deep and finding that second wind; that little bit of strength still inside of you when you thought you'd already used it up.  Who cares what the weight says on the bar -- when you discover that bit of fire, it's worth smiling over.

[catspaw]

I love this chart via Information is Beautiful.
 


Click through for more information and details.

[Crooked]

I love this chart via Information is Beautiful.

 

OOOH I could spend the rest of the day combing through that

[raptron]

Huh, that has some surprising information. I'm surprised cranberry juice/UTI is so low, I feel like it's such common advice even from doctors. 

[catspaw]

OOOH I could spend the rest of the day combing through that

 

I know, right?

 

Huh, that has some surprising information. I'm surprised cranberry juice/UTI is so low, I feel like it's such common advice even from doctors. 

 

D-mannose is the new cranberry juice.

[catspaw]

I need callous-advice, folks!  (Insert "my callous advice is that you lose 5 lbs immediately" jokes here.)

 

 

These are non-raised callouses, so rubbing a pumice stone against them does nothing but irritate the skin around them, but they still hurt when I do pulls.  Thoughts?

[Brometheus]

I need callous-advice, folks! (Insert "my callous advice is that you lose 5 lbs immediately" jokes here.)

These are non-raised callouses, so rubbing a pumice stone against them does nothing but irritate the skin around them, but they still hurt when I do pulls. Thoughts?

I'd probably soak them in water, then use a butter knife to scrape off what you can.

You might also buy some straps and lift with those while they're getting better.

Most of my callus removing links and guides are at home. I'll see if there's a better solution there.