[The Most Loathed] learns....slowly

[The Most Loathed]

The story so far....

 

Years and years ago I started training. I started like many people start, following a bodybuilding type routine, doing dumb things and just generally succeeding despite myself not because of myself. In the intervening years I have been as light as 140 lbs (20 years ago) and as heavy as 270+ (not quite 10 years ago). I've also had injuries including a separated shoulder (20 years ago), ruptured disc (not quite 10 years ago), torn oblique (2 years ago) and plenty of thrown out backs and other minor maladies.

 

In all that time I've spent thousands of hours in training as well as thousands of hours thinking about, preparing for and programming my training. That training has included (in roughly chronological order): body building, powerlifting, grip strengh, strongman, GPP(early Crossfit-like), kettlebell sport. I've also prepared thousands of meals to deliberately alter my weight a body composition.

 

In my current incarnation I'm 36 years old and I weight 215 lbs. For the last three years my training has focused largely on kettlebell sport with the goal of achieving Master of Sport by the time I'm 40. I have paid for and received coaching in person and online. I've competed twice with mixed results but overall, not bad.

 

This new battle log marks a turning of the page. First, I've ended my time with my online coach so I will be doing my own programming again, something I realized I really enjoy. without doing my own programming training loses its attractiveness to me. Second, I have realized that there are certain gains in kettlebell sport I am willing to sacrifice in favor of wellness goals.

 

In this new battle log I will be documenting that work. I will list what I do, but I'll also try to talk about why I  am doing it. I invite anyone to ask questions, poke holes in theories and just generally feed back. It is those things that, hopefully, will prevent this from becoming a dangerous echo chamber. So I'm counting on you. 

 

Other things I will likely talk about will include: programming, board games, science fiction and fantasy and my life. 

 

ADDENDUM

I have been using this log for nearly a year and half at this point in time. things are shifting slightly but I have learned I can edit the title an intro to reflect my changing life and priorities. 

 

As I sit here it is March the 2nd 2018, I'm 38 and I'm going back into training for kettlebell sport. This log was started when I last walked away from competition and any coaching. I've signed up for coaching again though and will hopefully train smarter than ever before. 

If you don't care about history up to this point, join me at your thread already in progress.

[The Most Loathed]

Easy inks to pages. If you're new to the thread, use this to skip to the end:

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Page 7 (January 2016)

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Page 18

Challenge Log - June 8 - July 10 2016

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Page 30

Temporary Challenge (December 2016)

Page 31 - 2017 statement of intent

Page 61 - Second half of January 2018

[The Most Loathed]

2018 . Projects

Body

• bodyweight < 90 kg

Kettlebell Sport

• Long Cycle 20 kg x 2, 100 in 10 minutes
• Long Cycle 24 kg x 2, 60 in 10 minutes
• Pentathlon 1500 points

Other Training

• Hammer Race in under 90 minutes
• 10 k in under 50 minutes

Mental

• Solve a Rubiks cube without a guide

Professional

• get paid for at least on freelance programming gig
• Shift jobs back to former employer

 

 

2017 list, now retired

Projects

The following list is of things I am working on. I'm in control of the process but not always in direct control of the outcomes so I am renaming it the projects list:

Physical

est and Recovery

• 1+ hour rolling per week
• find a schedule that allows for a consistent 8+ hours in bed (09/28/2016: 7+ hours consistently)

Weight/Composition

• sub 200 lbs (09/28/2016 216.6 lbs)

Eat

• track food in My Fitness Pal or Fibit (or similar) 5+ days per week
• buy 2- meals per week 
• Cooking - I'd like to find a project here but nothing at this time

Training

GPP

• 10 consecutive pull ups (hands don't leave the bar, feet don't touch the ground)
• 100 consecutive push ups (no down dog to rest, neither hand nor foot leaves the ground)
• 100 24 kg x 2 thrusters (bells don't touch the ground)

Cardio

• run 10 miles
• 10K in less than 50 minutes
• Summit 1+ fourteener
• Row 10,000 m in 42:00 with HR < 80%

Kettlebell

• Biathlon 20 kg - 155 points 
• Long Cycle 28 kg - 60 reps
• pentathlon?

Mental

Reading

• Complete Malazan Book of the Fallen

Games

• DM 1 session / 2 months
• host or attend boardgame event 1 / 2 months
• Play a boardgame 1+ / week

Writing

• Write 1+ pen pal letter / week
• Write a practice page for each letter of the alphabet

Programming

• 2+ hours of language work per week (Python)

Other

Nerd Fitness

Home

• Get back yard fenced in
• Paint the Living Room
• Turn the guest room into a library
• Get a second bathroom installed
• Get the window replaced

Spouse

• not sure what to put here but something belongs.

Dog Ownership

• Spend 1+ hour / week with Clementine on training
• Teach Clem "Come"
• Teach Clem "Stay"
• Teach Clem "Kennel"

 

 

2016 Goals list: Retired in favor of projects list

 

 

<written January 3 of 2016>

 

1. bodyweight < 200 lbs (90kg)
2. repeat 2014 performance of Long Cycle 24 kg 65 reps in 10:00
3. execute Long Cycle 20 kg 100 reps in 10:00 12 times in 2016
4. mediate 20 times per month or all 12 months
5. Complete a recognized persona trainer certification in 2016

<end goals from January 3 2016>

<goals added 01/08/2016>

1. Snatch 20kg x 160 / 10:00 with 1 hand switch
2. 1/2 snatch 24 kg x 180 with 1 hand switch
3. 1/2 snatch 32 kg x 150 multi-hand switch
4. Jerk 20 kg 10:00 (80 - 120 rep range)

<end goals for 01/08/2016>

<Goals brought forward from old thread on 01/26/2016>

 

• back squat body weight x 36 (20 reps 03/17/2015)
• back squat double body weight (130% 03/11/2015)
• long cycle 20 kg x 2, 100 reps/10 minutes (70 reps 03/11/2015)
• long cycle 28 kg x 2, 60 reps/10 minutes (30 reps, various days)
• clean and jerk body weight
• snatch 80% body weight
• 50 burpees in less than 10 minutes
• 10 pull ups
• body weight <=85 kg (home scale measured) modified to 90 kg and duplicate
• 30,000 steps in one day (fitbit measured) complete
• 100 floors climbed in one day (fitbit measured) complete

</end goals  brought forward from old thread>
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Most Loathed]

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[The Most Loathed]

reserved

[The Most Loathed]

Training plan for the week of 10/26/2015

 Monday: off

 Tuesday: Long cycle 20 kg 100 reps

 Wednesday: Reformer Pilates

 Thursday: off

 Friday: AM Swim, PM Clean 20 kg 6:00, 3:00

 Saturday: Jerk 20 kg 2:00, 2:00 x 4

 Sunday: Long Cycle 24 kg 3:00, 2:00 x 3

 

I documented the thought process in a post on my previous battle log. In future weeks I will attempt to place it in this thread in spoiler tags.

 

This week my wife and I are planning to join the local YWCA. The Y is on the way to work so I will plan to go there three mornings per week (starting next week) to swim. This will shift my food planning because I used to use this time to make myself a hot breakfast everyday of eggs and bacon. So I will have new cardio to deal with and a new food plan. 

 

My initial, experimental food plan is to adopt intermittent fasting as a solution. I will confess that I have been openly disparaging of IF as a nutrition plan so my first meal is humble pie. I have given IF a hard time because it's "nothing more than skipping breakfast" in my opinion, which is a shitty food plan. However, it may work well with the schedule so I will try it Monday through Friday but I will eat breakfast on the weekends. 

 

This introduces a wrinkle I don't yet have solved, but I think I have an idea for. I used to get a lot of my protein from my four eggs and two slices of bacon in the morning. I don't want to entirely give that up but I don't have access to a stove top during the day. It looks like I should be able to cook eggs in the microwave so I'm going to try that tomorrow (I didn't bring them today). So I'll be reporting in on that soon.

 

For today's nutrition:

I weighed in at 214 with no breakfast. I drank black coffee at home and another cup of black coffee at work.

I have the following foods at my desk and plan to get into them around 11 am: Blue Diamond Almonds, Elli Quark (a new product my wife found this weekend), Overnight Steel Cut Oats, Crockpot Shepards pie (3-4 cups worth). Supper will be freezer ravioli in butter and cheese.

[Bearlee]

Would hard boiled eggs be an option? Easy to transport and no additional cooking needed. And you could cook up batches of it to free up some time. Or microwave in a cup recipe here, just make sure to stir if you don't want an explosion. Or I also found a recipe for muffin frittatas that you could also batch cook.

[The Most Loathed]

First note on nutrition plan: it's 9 am on day 1 and my brain just went super fuzzy. I'll struggle through a bit more of this but if it happens each day this week, I will definitely need food earlier than traditional IF allows

 

Would hard boiled eggs be an option? Easy to transport and no additional cooking needed. And you could cook up batches of it to free up some time. Or microwave in a cup recipe here, just make sure to stir if you don't want an explosion. Or I also found a recipe for muffin frittatas that you could also batch cook.

Yeah, I meant to prep some hard boiled eggs yesterday and forgot. They're a distant second to scrambled eggs. The egg in a cup concept is exactly what I'm hoping to pull off. 

[KB Girl]

I will be here for poking holes, asking questions and some general encouragement

Look forward to hearing about your programming + thoughts. 

 

I'd agree that the fold/flip of the clean and snatch come down to learning the timing, however, that's a horrible way to teach it. I learned both by beating on my forearms until it just didn't hurt anymore. It was much later that I got to be any good at it and even today I could stand to refine my technique fair bit. I've yet to find a technique to short cut this and help the timing come. This part of learning drives a lot of people away from kettlebells because it just plain hurts.

 

Actually over the years i've found ways to teach the timing which are pretty much done in half an hour. Newbies these days have it easy. Wish I could share, but it's not easy to do in words or even video.

[The Most Loathed]

I will be here for poking holes, asking questions and some general encouragement

Look forward to hearing about your programming + thoughts. 

 

Actually over the years i've found ways to teach the timing which are pretty much done in half an hour. Newbies these days have it easy. Wish I could share, but it's not easy to do in words or even video.

I totally believe that you teach it well in 30 minutes. I'm not there quite yet. Laura's still thinking we have to travel to see you sometime in the next couple years so maybe I'll need you to put on a coaching clinic for me. 

[KB Girl]

Absolutely, anytime. I already like Laura.

[RisenPhoenix]

My initial, experimental food plan is to adopt intermittent fasting as a solution. I will confess that I have been openly disparaging of IF as a nutrition plan so my first meal is humble pie. I have given IF a hard time because it's "nothing more than skipping breakfast" in my opinion, which is a shitty food plan. However, it may work well with the schedule so I will try it Monday through Friday but I will eat breakfast on the weekends. 

 

This introduces a wrinkle I don't yet have solved, but I think I have an idea for. I used to get a lot of my protein from my four eggs and two slices of bacon in the morning. I don't want to entirely give that up but I don't have access to a stove top during the day. It looks like I should be able to cook eggs in the microwave so I'm going to try that tomorrow (I didn't bring them today). So I'll be reporting in on that soon.

 

Honestly, IF for me has worked pretty well, and I also kinda dismissed it as "just skipping breakfast," too.  I do find that having some chia seed pudding (~100 calories) and a large cup of coffee in the morning can hold me off a fair while, especially if I keep active and if I keep drinking water.  The last few weeks I've been doing breakfast at work as part of a kinda fast, and that's been sweet potato and hard boiled eggs.  The eggs I make ahead of time, but you can always make mug omelets if you just have the eggs.  And sweet potatoes I make all the time in the microwave.  And if you want to play with resistant starch, cooking the potato the night before and letting it cool is supposed to help.  Not sure how much it helps, but it seems to keep me a tad fuller, longer than a fresh potato.  Maybe it seems denser and that helps me.  Dunno, just a thought for you.

[The Most Loathed]

Honestly, IF for me has worked pretty well, and I also kinda dismissed it as "just skipping breakfast," too.  I do find that having some chia seed pudding (~100 calories) and a large cup of coffee in the morning can hold me off a fair while, especially if I keep active and if I keep drinking water.  The last few weeks I've been doing breakfast at work as part of a kinda fast, and that's been sweet potato and hard boiled eggs.  The eggs I make ahead of time, but you can always make mug omelets if you just have the eggs.  And sweet potatoes I make all the time in the microwave.  And if you want to play with resistant starch, cooking the potato the night before and letting it cool is supposed to help.  Not sure how much it helps, but it seems to keep me a tad fuller, longer than a fresh potato.  Maybe it seems denser and that helps me.  Dunno, just a thought for you.

all great thoughts and ones I'll likely come back to over time as I play with this.

Halfway through day one of IF experiment. At 9 am (hour 4) I crashed really hard for about 30 minutes. I got up to take a walk and my head cleared really nicely. I would say it was more clear than usual. at 10:30 I began eating with my Quark and almonds, a lot of almonds. That was when crash 2 came, not as bad as the first but more longevity. Around 12 I ate pretty much the rest of my food. This left me feeling like I have a full gut but absolutely no energy. It's now 1 and I'm coming out of crash 2 but still feel like I have no calories in my system so I'm munching on an apple and hoping things flatten out a bit. After this I'll have to stop eating for several hours so I can head home, walk the dogs and so on. I'm not planning a workout tonight but this is also where that would normally go.

[RisenPhoenix]

So another thing is I kind of "cheat" with my fasting.  I eat dinner (probably between 7 and 9PM), and then stop snacking.  I fill my night with tea and water, and my morning with that chia pudding and coffee.  And from whenever I ate last, I aim for 16 hours of a "fasted" state.  So if I ate at 9, I'll not eat until 1PM or so.  The sleeping has helped me with the length of the fast, and the morning movement has helped with the not-eating. 

 

Dunno, just my experience.

[The Most Loathed]

So another thing is I kind of "cheat" with my fasting.  I eat dinner (probably between 7 and 9PM), and then stop snacking.  I fill my night with tea and water, and my morning with that chia pudding and coffee.  And from whenever I ate last, I aim for 16 hours of a "fasted" state.  So if I ate at 9, I'll not eat until 1PM or so.  The sleeping has helped me with the length of the fast, and the morning movement has helped with the not-eating. 

 

Dunno, just my experience.

8 hours on, 16 hours off seems to be the standard for IF. I'm aiming for the same. I used to eat supper around five but for a while Laura and I have been trying to shift to supper at 7 (post workout). If I assume I have my last calories at 7 then I can have my first around 11. Because I am trying to workout at 5 now, that makes it a little weird but I'm pushing ahead with the experiment because I'll never know if I don't try it at least for a couple weeks and my schedule really couldn't be better for it right now.

 

Intermittent Fasting Day 1 Wrap Up

Walking home yesterday I still just felt bloated but unsatisfied. I walked the girls and came back. since it was a no workout night we had supper early. As 7 pm started to draw near I was already feeling peckish. I decided that I needed one more round of calories so I grabbed one of my cold beef patties that I had left over from Saturday and ate it. It's only a 1/4 lb patty but it's 20% fat so I was hoping that would hold me well for the morning

 

IF Day 2

I got up this morning and prepped and left a little earlier than i previously had. Looking at the timing of my trip, I'd like to tighten up that routine a bit before the end of the week. I got to work a little early so I took a short walk while listening to podcasts and drinking the black coffee that I brought from home. I'm already feeling a little hungry and I have 4 hours to go. I have Quark, Steel Cut Oats, Shepards Pie and 4 eggs I brought for today. I will supplement with almonds but I plan to limit that. I think the large volume of almonds I ate yesterday contributed to the feeling of bloating. 

 

Tonight is a lifting night so this will be my first test of whether I can get the amount of food in my system in order in time to lift well. 

[The Most Loathed]

Thumbs up on the microwaved eggs. That will be a new staple. I put 4 large eggs in a pyrex container, mixed them up and add a dab of sriracha and carried it off to work. At 11 I cooked the eggs for 30 seconds then took them out and stirred, a little bit had cooked but not evenly. I cooked 30 more seconds and a lot more had cooked so I stirred again and put it in for 30 more. At the end of that time it had grown out of the bowl but not quite enough to spill. The dish was warm but nothing a paper towel couldn't insulate against. 

[KB Girl]

Really? Microwaved eggs?  

Just... put them in and stir and put them in again? That's it? 

[RisenPhoenix]

Yea, my girlfriend makes mug omelets all the time when she's running late for work.  Add in some bacon bits and chives, maybe a bit of cheese, and you've got a good meal.  Kinda amazed you got four eggs to fit into your dish, though.  I've had difficulty with 2 or 3 eggs in a mug before.  Then again, I assume the pyrex dish was a bit more wide, which probably helps with cooking a bit more.

[The Most Loathed]

Really? Microwaved eggs?

Just... put them in and stir and put them in again? That's it? 

I know! Right?

 

Yea, my girlfriend makes mug omelets all the time when she's running late for work.  Add in some bacon bits and chives, maybe a bit of cheese, and you've got a good meal.  Kinda amazed you got four eggs to fit into your dish, though.  I've had difficulty with 2 or 3 eggs in a mug before.  Then again, I assume the pyrex dish was a bit more wide, which probably helps with cooking a bit more.

Yeah, the microwave omelette will be my next experiment. It'll be next week but I was definitely dreaming of that as soon as I made it.

The container is a 2 cup container and it just barely held them. Tomorrow I'm bringing the next bigger one container.

[The Most Loathed]

10/27/2015

Long Cycle 20 kg x 100 (I recorded but haven't uploaded yet)

Back squat 100 kg x 20

circuit

-snatch 24 kg 10/10

-sit out 10/10

-burpee x 10

x 5

 

This workout felt great to complete. It was tough but not stupid. The quitter part of my brain was largely quiet and when he did speak up, he was easy to override.

Food yesterday went a little late as my workout got pushed back a bit and I needed to eat something after. I still find wrangling enough calories vs fullness when I need to train challenging but I'm only a couple days in. Unfortunately, I woke up this morning STARVING. I've not caved already but that food looks so good from here. So far, this feels like the most restrictive diet I've ever engaged in.

[RisenPhoenix]

So far, this feels like the most restrictive diet I've ever engaged in.

 

Maybe it's just me, but maybe IF every day is a bit extreme, which is why it feels so restrictive?  I do IF maybe 2-3 times a week, and I never feel like I'm being restricted.  Yea, I want to eat, but I know that I can usually hold off until I should eat.  Maybe instead of a 16 hour fast you drop it down to 14 hours?  Or maybe only do 3 days a week fasting?  Dunno.  All the fast, all the time seems crazy to me.  But it also could be you just need to get over this hump of your body going "WTF, where's the food?!" because it's used to a particular feeding schedule.

[KB Girl]

20kg x 100 in one sitting? that's great! 

[The Most Loathed]

Maybe it's just me, but maybe IF every day is a bit extreme, which is why it feels so restrictive?  I do IF maybe 2-3 times a week, and I never feel like I'm being restricted.  Yea, I want to eat, but I know that I can usually hold off until I should eat.  Maybe instead of a 16 hour fast you drop it down to 14 hours?  Or maybe only do 3 days a week fasting?  Dunno.  All the fast, all the time seems crazy to me.  But it also could be you just need to get over this hump of your body going "WTF, where's the food?!" because it's used to a particular feeding schedule.

Today I started eating at about 9. I just wasn't going to get to 11, not with being productive. Once I got food in my belly I was able to focus and get work done.

I feel like I've always heard of IF as more of a lifestyle choice than an every once in a while thing but that could be misreading things. Next week am exercise will get added to the equation and we'll have to see how that shakes out. 

 

20kg x 100 in one sitting? that's great! 

The video is uploading now. I checked and it look like I took about 11 minutes to do it. I wasn't trying to push the pace and I was working plenty hard by the end. It was really interesting to see how much my overhead position degraded from the first minutes to the last. lots more work to do there.

[RisenPhoenix]

Today I started eating at about 9. I just wasn't going to get to 11, not with being productive. Once I got food in my belly I was able to focus and get work done.

I feel like I've always heard of IF as more of a lifestyle choice than an every once in a while thing but that could be misreading things. Next week am exercise will get added to the equation and we'll have to see how that shakes out.

 

See, whenever I've seen someone do IF for weight loss, it's been maybe 2-3 days a week.  That way you do get enough energy to do athletic endeavors, but you can still really crimp down on your over all intake.  Mark's Daily Apple has written a lot about fasting, and I could swear he has a schedule somewhere doing just a 2-3 day fast.  I could be wrong.

 

Also, a few places say that eating ~100 calories of something mid-fast doesn't really count as breaking your fast.  Maybe do something like that?  That was why I added in the chia drinks I was making - yea, a few calories, but mostly fat, and the extra liquid plus coffee meant I was hydrating/filling my stomach and getting full that way.  Maybe it's cheating.  I dunno.  But it seems to have been working okay with me (and lately I've been having a scoop of protein powder and some almond milk instead - a little higher calorie, but I'm finding I can skip eating for a bit longer than I expected).  Just my experience.

[The Most Loathed]

yesterday's long cycle set: