Urgan Shows Up, Does the Thing

[miss_marissa]

2 minutes ago, Urgan said:

Lol, I would be destroyed. I am still in sub-300 land. 

Seriously. I wouldn't worry about it. I put up a pathetic showing at all of my competitions, but it's still an awesome great time

Regardless of how you do compared to others. Like Sam Ashen said, the only competition is between you and gravity.

[Urgan]

6 minutes ago, miss_marissa said:

Seriously. I wouldn't worry about it. I put up a pathetic showing at all of my competitions, but it's still an awesome great time

Regardless of how you do compared to others. Like Sam Ashen said, the only competition is between you and gravity.

 

I know I don't feel comfortable enough with myself to do one, may never, and that's okay because for the time being self-competition is motivation enough. Even if I had numbers twice what I do presently in the gym, I know it doesn't guarantee anything about performance in a meet when one has an unfamiliar environment and the cuing to contend with, as Sam mentioned. I understand that gets a lot of lifters the first several times they go. Submitting your lifts to someone else's judgment is not something that tends to come naturally...

 

All that said, at the point where merely contemplating going to a meet does anything other than terrify me, I'll let you guys know, lol. 

[miss_marissa]

10 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

I know I don't feel comfortable enough with myself to do one, may never, and that's okay because for the time being self-competition is motivation enough. Even if I had numbers twice what I do presently in the gym, I know it doesn't guarantee anything about performance in a meet when one has an unfamiliar environment and the cuing to contend with, as Sam mentioned. I understand that gets a lot of lifters the first several times they go. Submitting your lifts to someone else's judgment is not something that tends to come naturally...

 

All that said, at the point where merely contemplating going to a meet does anything other than terrify me, I'll let you guys know, lol. 

Haha no shame! If you do or if you don't whatever works for you

 

If it was your numbers being too low that terrify you however, don't let that stop you. A lot of people will say "when I hit X numbers" I will sign up because then I will be ready/strong enough/ whatever. When in reality, you're never "ready" If you keep telling yourself that, you'll never do it.

 

But since it doesn't seem like it's necessarily a goal of yours that is fine

[Urgan]

8-28-2016

Sleeping hard, sleeping fast

 

Recovery

Food!

Calories - 2,355

Protein - 135

Sugar - 23 (Sesame Chicken Thighs, Dark Chocolate Truffle x 2)

I was good today. I cleaned out the fridge of the last leftover thing (the chicken) for lunch and made salmon + baby lima beans for dinner. It were good.

 

Mobility!

Hips: 11/12

Upper Back Yoga: 7/8

I had every intention of hitting these in the evening, but sinus trouble forced me to take meds for it, which knocked me out, lol. #fail

 

Sleep!

8:30, Out of bed: 21/24

 

Lifting

-

 

Aikido

Standing F./B. Rolls: 12/12

Bokken Suburi: 8/8

Ukemi Undo: 4/4

Shikko: 4/4

Side Breakfalls: 4/4

Dojo Days: N

Final suburi practice of the month~ My forearms are burning. I did 4 rounds of the 4 suburi run from 1st to 4th instead of drilling the 1st one four times, yeah? Completed them in half the time of my last practice, so I went a couple more rounds for the lulz. I’m able to do it with speed and less losing of balance when pivoting 180 degrees. Spent all my Hero points on hitting the gym on a Sunday to get in my rolling. Feeling strong. Need to work on not letting my butt roll to the side like a flat tire, which means pushing just a bit harder with the back leg than I have been. Other than that, it's a pretty good showing.

Final day of this month's quests~

 

1 minute ago, miss_marissa said:

Haha no shame! If you do or if you don't whatever works for you

 

If it was your numbers being too low that terrify you however, don't let that stop you. A lot of people will say "when I hit X numbers" I will sign up because then I will be ready/strong enough/ whatever. When in reality, you're never "ready" If you keep telling yourself that, you'll never do it.

 

But since it doesn't seem like it's necessarily a goal of yours that is fine

 

I'm not just sitting on the sidelines because of my potential totals, it's mainly the fear factor, lol. I has an anxiety. Been having a lot of lately, come to that...

[ixaera]

2 hours ago, Sam Ashen said:

There was one girl in the 52 kg (115 pound) class who put up a 112.5 kg squat, 67.5 kg bench press, and a 145 kg deadlift.  (248 / 149 / 320 pounds)

 

[Urgan]

WEEK 4 DEBRIEF

Words to live by

 

Recovery

Food!

AVG Calories - 2,333

AVG Protein - 133

AVG Sugar -  34

Can't complain about these numbers at all. A really solid showing for Week 4. Here come the measurements:

 

7/31/16                                   8/28/16

Weight: 115.8 lbs                   Weight: 114.2 lbs (-1.6lbs)

Waist: 23.0"                           Waist: 24.0" (+1.0")

Hips: 31.8"                             Hips: 32.0"  (+.2")

Biceps(L/R): 10.3"/10.3"        Biceps(L/R): 10.3"/10.4" (NA, +.1")

Forearm(L/R): 9.3"/9.3"         Forearm(L/R): 9.3"/9.4" (NA, +.1")

Thighs(L/R): 20.3"/20.7"        Thighs(L/R): 20.5"/20.7" (+.2", NA)

Calves(L/R): 12.0"/11.9"        Calves(L/R): 12.3"/12.1" (+.3", +.2”)

 

I find it funny how it's almost the reverse of last month's comparison. I kinda don't mind it. I've been looking for some size increase, but not via water, of course, lol. In this case, I feel pretty confident this isn't that.

 

Mobility!

Hips: 11/12

Upper Back Yoga: 7/8

Whoomp Whoomp. So close.

 

Sleep!

8:30, Out of bed: 21/24

Two of the three misses were by 10 minutes, so this was a strict total.

 

Lifting

Scored squat PRs this month, from 175 to 185. Got a chin-up PR wherein I can deadhang 5 of them now. Not forgetting how close I am to PRing on bench, hopefully I have built enough strength up to do so soon.

 

Aikido

Standing F./B. Rolls: 12/12

Bokken Suburi: 8/8

Ukemi Undo: 4/4

Shikko: 4/4

Side Breakfalls: 4/4

My suburi practice has improved by leaps and bounds. This is the single biggest and most useful improvement for this quest. The rest have either maintained or improved a bit.

 

The results are mixed, but I don't feel bad about anything. I did my best to get out of bed on time and without an outside impetus to shift my butt, pure discipline got me there 88% of the time. The days I missed on Aikido were because of interviewing. I can always get more consistent in the future, but it couldn't have been helped this month with all the stress and madness. Fingers crossed this particular madness is coming to an end.

[Sam Ashen]

1 hour ago, miss_marissa said:

Seriously. I wouldn't worry about it. I put up a pathetic showing at all of my competitions, but it's still an awesome great time

Regardless of how you do compared to others. Like Sam Ashen said, the only competition is between you and gravity.

 

We lift at about the same level and I try not to use the word "pathetic."  I still use the word "poverty" to describe my bench press.  The word I should be using is "gimpy."

 

Also.  14 out of 23 lifters under 300 Wilks means you fit right in.

 

27 minutes ago, miss_marissa said:

If it was your numbers being too low that terrify you however, don't let that stop you. A lot of people will say "when I hit X numbers" I will sign up because then I will be ready/strong enough/ whatever. When in reality, you're never "ready" If you keep telling yourself that, you'll never do it.

 

This is excellent advice.

 

Otherwise you will say you will compete when you hit 300.  Then 350.  Then 400.

 

16 minutes ago, Urgan said:

I'm not just sitting on the sidelines because of my potential totals, it's mainly the fear factor, lol. I has an anxiety. Been having a lot of lately, come to that...

 

How do you feel about just showing up to a local meet?  Then you get to see the rules of the game in action.

 

3 minutes ago, ixaera said:

 

Just showing what is possible at your weight!

[Urgan]

1 minute ago, Sam Ashen said:

How do you feel about just showing up to a local meet?  Then you get to see the rules of the game in action.

 

There's a local meet here? Lol. 

[Urgan]

INTRA-MONTH MADNESS

This is the place where I regroup a bit while waiting on my future to call. Or email. I'm not picky.

Recovery

Food!

• Talk about what goes in my mouth--no numbers, just the food. I think I can adult for a week, lol. Let's find out...

Mobility!

• I have a chiro appointment scheduled Wednesday morning! Not for any new issue, just a checkup from the neck up. LOL. Wondering if something is wrong with the hardware around the shoulder region that makes it trend toward tension more than any other place.

• I dunno, maybe roll something?

Sleep!

• Try to roll out of bed by 9AM

 

Lifting

• Do the thing, see if I feel better this time around

 

Aikido

• Go to Aikido, do the pre-session stretching

[Jord]

51 minutes ago, Urgan said:

WEEK 4 DEBRIEF

Words to live by

 

Recovery

Food!

AVG Calories - 2,333

AVG Protein - 133

AVG Sugar -  34

Can't complain about these numbers at all. A really solid showing for Week 4. Here come the measurements:

 

 

Coffee = Life

 

Also, is it weird that what I am most impressed by is your average sugar? They sneak that shit into everything. Maybe if i stopped eating my daily piece of fruit I'd come in closer to target, but that keeps my junk food cravings at bay. It's either a pear or 400 brownies, ya know what I mean? 

 

Is the sugar a conscious thing you are working on, I presume? 

 

I go through phases where I try to eliminate it all together and then end up back at "well, I'll just try to be reasonable."

[Urgan]

45 minutes ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

Also, is it weird that what I am most impressed by is your average sugar? They sneak that shit into everything. Maybe if i stopped eating my daily piece of fruit I'd come in closer to target, but that keeps my junk food cravings at bay. It's either a pear or 400 brownies, ya know what I mean? 

 

Is the sugar a conscious thing you are working on, I presume? 

 

I go through phases where I try to eliminate it all together and then end up back at "well, I'll just try to be reasonable."

 

Honestly? It may have been a bigger accomplishment than my squat PRs. I just swapped my primary snack (chocolate-covered blueberry-pomegranate bits) for 2 Lindt Dark Chocolate Truffles. Variable sized snack (30+g) > consistent sized snack that is always 9g sugar. Just paying more attention to sugar in general when making food choices or whether to spring for that sugary drink.  

 

Because the truth is I can't not eat chocolate and I really don't want to not eat it, so long as my body will tolerate it. Elimination is a torture test of willpower, whereas deciding you can spare 150 calories and 10g daily on chocolate, for example, isn't much of a test when that 10g is AWESOME and awesomely small footprint at the same time for someone who must make calories or Lose the Gains.

 

Also, I have developed a love of pickles (the kind with precious little added ingredients in it--no HFCS, for example). High on flavor, low on macro imprint. 1 spear is 5 calories, 1 carb, and nothing else. 270g of sodium means you are compromising somewhere with this choice, but I'm not that fussed. 

[Urgan]

8-29-2016

It comes around every Monday...

Recovery

Food!

Lunch - leftover salmon + baby lima beans

Pre-Aikido snack - a cup of chicken gumbo at my parents’ house + rice

Dinner -  Pot Roast!,  pasta, and a bag of mixed steamed veggies

 

Talk about some diverse eating in a single day, lol. Food is always a bit harder on Mondays, when you have to plan to start dinner around noon and somehow eat lunch and do all the other stuff like dishes, laundry, packing, and catching up on NF as one does on Mondays. The pot roast turned out particularly good, due in large part to the inclusion of red wine and my own recipe deviation--i.e., doubling up on garlic with minced and powder, and an exuberant use of oregano (far more fell in than I intended, LOL). Yes, I’m claiming credit for that, lol.

 

Mobility!

I hit some atypical spots tonight: first I applied pressure on the quads, particularly close to my knees, which really did help. I worked mostly on my right calf, because it was pretty sensitive, especially close to my heel. I think it made a big difference. Did some light stretching, nothing crazy.

 

Sleep!

9AM, Out of Bed - 1/6

 

Lifting

No lifting today. I went to the gym with dad alright, but the one bar I am willing to use in the H Y was taken when I needed it. Sigh. Oh well. It sounds dumb, but I'm still working on my form and yoyoing between two very different types of bars while doing so is just not right.

 

Aikido

Dojo Days - 1/2

Crawled into the dojo and did my pre-session stretching. We worked on ukemi a bit, where I was an Example on how to do the forward roll into side fall (I DID IT RIGHT TWICE IN A ROW, DID NOT EMBARRASS MYSELF). Managed to tweak my knee during the ukemi circuit of forward rolls, backward rolls, sidefalls, and forward rolls directly into backward rolls. Luckily I had a knee sleeve with me. Tossed back some painkiller and went about doing kokyunage + iriminage. Somehow I did iriminage correctly, more or less, once for the first time.

[Urgan]

8-30-2016

Post-lifting session got me like

Recovery

Food!

Lunch - Pot Roast!,  pasta, and a bag of mixed steamed veggies, part TWO

Dinner -  BACON BACON BACON Carbonara~

 

Mobility!

I should probably do something about my hips after this lifting session…so I spent some quality time with the lacrosse ball. Lest I lose my mobility gains.

Chiro appointment soon...soon we will find out how messed up I am.

 

Sleep!

9AM, Out of Bed - 2/6

 

Lifting

Squat - 45 1x5

            110 1x3

            140 1x1

            167 6x3

BP -    NA

OHP - 45 1x5

          51 6x5

DL -    135 1x5

          160 1x3

          195 3x3

PC -   NA

Did I say deload? I meant repeating the same weight again. This, my friends, was a Training Session. Every single muscle fiber got blitzed by this one. Good news: my squats were more difficult to survive than the deadlifts were~ I think this frequency is working for me. So are the knee sleeves. They definitely make the job more doable, and when it’s time for deadlifts you just push them down and instant shin guards! There might be hope for me, yet.

 

Bad news: Shark Week. My body did wait until after the session to start cramping. #considerate

 

Aikido

Dojo Days - 1/2

 

 

So...the company called. To tell me they haven’t forgotten about me and will definitely get back with me by the end of the week.

 

Pardon me, I just had a heartattack, be right with you.

Holy shit, guys, they are now actively trying to kill me. I THINK maybe it was just pinging me to make sure I hadn’t gone and gotten hired by some other company, but good sweet baby Jesus the adrenaline that surged through my body between when HR identified herself and when she told me it was just a courtesy call is unfathomable by the English language.

[Jord]

My content feed is actively dropping battle logs log hotcakes. WTF is up with that? I'm here again though. 

 

8 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

So...the company called. To tell me they haven’t forgotten about me and will definitely get back with me by the end of the week.

 

Pardon me, I just had a heartattack, be right with you.

Holy shit, guys, they are now actively trying to kill me. I THINK maybe it was just pinging me to make sure I hadn’t gone and gotten hired by some other company, but good sweet baby Jesus the adrenaline that surged through my body between when HR identified herself and when she told me it was just a courtesy call is unfathomable by the English language.

 

Double WTF. You need some netflix and chill where chill is a soft blanket and chocolate ice cream to sooth your heart. I can't believe it is taking them this long! If they offer you a job you better ask for more in salary than you had planned, to compensate for the repeat heart attacks they are giving you. 

[shaar]

24 minutes ago, Urgan said:

So...the company called. To tell me they haven’t forgotten about me and will definitely get back with me by the end of the week.

 

Pardon me, I just had a heartattack, be right with you.

Holy shit, guys, they are now actively trying to kill me. I THINK maybe it was just pinging me to make sure I hadn’t gone and gotten hired by some other company, but good sweet baby Jesus the adrenaline that surged through my body between when HR identified herself and when she told me it was just a courtesy call is unfathomable by the English language.

 

JESUS TAPDANCING CHRIST

 

They are seriously stress-testing you.  Holy cats.

 

HERE IS A COURTESY CALL THAT WILL MAKE YOU SHIT YOUR PANTS, HI, PS YOU'RE STILL NOT QUITE HIRED YET

 

[ixaera]

Dear god

 

 

59 minutes ago, Urgan said:

Bad news: Shark Week. My body did wait until after the session to start cramping. #considerate

 

Me Monday.

[Urgan]

Thanks guys. Somehow I am not yet dead. I will of course keep you posted on the latest twists and turns, because they have three more days to work with....

[Sam Ashen]

Sounds like my social life!

[Urgan]

1 hour ago, Sam Ashen said:

Sounds like my social life!

 

Feel bad for ya, son. 

[Urgan]

 

Went to the chiro, was not destroyed in the process. The focus was my upper back and neck. I came away with a list of things to do:

• Morning: Heat on upper back 15 minutes

• Evening: Ice on upper back 20 on/20 off x 2 while lying down

• 3x15 of: high rows, low rows, shrugs, and rear delt assistance

 

Oh, and this guy is my chiro:

 

So I got programming advice as well as chiro advice, which wasn’t entirely wanted (you know if you tell me I’m doing too much, I’m doing just enough….), without me having much room to disagree lest I back sass an Arnold Classic competitor (do females need different types of programming than males? Not addressed. He only does x, so I should do x, too). Not a huge fan of Appeal to Authority, but we can’t be choosy about these things, I suppose, and I still do like the man in spite of this. Also not thrilled about the mandate of isolation work, but it could be worse--it could be straight-up cardio, which I will not do. I am also aware that I am a stubborn butthead when it comes to assistance work, so I am going to give it a try and if it doesn't help, I'll drop it.

[Sam Ashen]

57 minutes ago, Urgan said:

So I got programming advice as well as chiro advice, which wasn’t entirely wanted (you know if you tell me I’m doing too much, I’m doing just enough….), without me having much room to disagree lest I back sass an Arnold Classic competitor (do females need different types of programming than males? Not addressed. He only does x, so I should do x, too). Not a huge fan of Appeal to Authority, but we can’t be choosy about these things, I suppose, and I still do like the man in spite of this. Also not thrilled about the mandate of isolation work, but it could be worse--it could be straight-up cardio, which I will not do. I am also aware that I am a stubborn butthead when it comes to assistance work, so I am going to give it a try and if it doesn't help, I'll drop it.

 

Checking in with:

1. Desk job.

2. Shoulder issues.

3. Tendency to develop shoulder issues.

 

So the desk job naturally puts my shoulder in a vulnerable position.  Forward.  He probably tells you to have your shoulders back and packed.  For me it is a very conscious effort to not have the shoulders forward.

 

What kind of isolation work are you given?

(I'm given band pull-apart, face pulls, and shoulder rotations.  Earlier I was given a whole bunch of stuff, like KB rotations.)

 

The shoulder is an ongoing project.

[Urgan]

It was mostly on the order of the belief that my volume is too high and he didn't like my having squats and pulls on same day. Some comment about keeping my head up at the beginning of the pull (nope). I wanna tell him, "I'm a a female early intermediate still fresh off novice, dude, and you're a male advanced lifter. We need a very different program." Lots of really strong dudes forget how they got there, or they got there in SPITE of overly complex programming too early on in their career, not because of it. AKA, I'm not a dumbass, I have chosen the program I have because I have strong compelling evidence it works (for my level of training). Sigh.  But you can't hardly tell a guy at his level this, because of the level he's at and the nature of our doctor/patient relationship. 

 

In my case, I am experiencing a strong desire to flex my thoracic spine all. the. time. He didn't say this was a strength issue, but giving me isolation work sure suggests this. "Increasing blood flow" to the particular tissues was the touchstone phrase, I think he may be working my strength-lifting ego. Well I'll be damned if I'm going to do stick to 5lbs or whatever. If I'm going to do assistance, I'm going to (eventually) do it (relatively) heavy. My understanding is my chest is my weakest link, which makes sense given the tug-of-war going on between anterior and posterior upper trunk. If I were to pick assistance work, it'd be bench-related. Note for later.

 

So let's take a look at the exercises prescribed:

- high rows

- low rows

- shrugs

- rear delt

 

All of these target delts and traps, with a bit of biceps thrown in with the rows. All the weights chosen were low and the exercises were cable or DB-based. I thiiiink I can replace the dumbbells on shrugs with a barbell. 1 - technically following the protocol, 2 - beginning to train an assistance lift I actually want to do, OMG. With that tidbit in place, I can make these things fit okay into the current program and fit really well into a 4-day TM structure without causing me to foam at the mouth. 

[ixaera]

2 minutes ago, Urgan said:

Well I'll be damned if I'm going to do stick to 5lbs or whatever.

 

wait whaaaat lol

Even I'm not doing 5 lbs of anything :S
Maybe for tricep kickbacks if I ever do those again.

[Urgan]

Just now, ixaera said:

 

wait whaaaat lol

Even I'm not doing 5 lbs of anything :S
Maybe for tricep kickbacks if I ever do those again.

 

Two notes: 1 - this is a therapeutic application, not a strength-building application, which I think is a waste of time (hence my determination to get beyond that quickly and/or instantly, 2 - he did not pin down precise weights for me, leaving the door wide open for me to do this very thing. 

[ixaera]

6 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

Two notes: 1 - this is a therapeutic application, not a strength-building application, which I think is a waste of time (hence my determination to get beyond that quickly and/or instantly, 2 - he did not pin down precise weights for me, leaving the door wide open for me to do this very thing. 

 

Indeed.

I am wondering -- when you say you want to flex your spine, do you mean you end up with the natural inclination to shove your shoulders back, chest out? This sounds like what you're getting at, and I would agree with you that I would think that's the opposite of the more common shoulders hunched issue when the balance is the other way (as in, bros with stronger chests than backs). I would think you're more on target looking at bench-related assistance, not more back work.

 

BUT 

I am just a newbie and not remotely quotable on that topic.