Urgan Shows Up, Does the Thing

[ixaera]

22 hours ago, Urgan said:

 

I'm past all that. Who cares, I hurt, and somebody bagel shamed me again this morning. The next thing between my teeth might just be a jugular vein.

 

Well, that would at least be high in iron! In theory. Assuming they eat meat and leafy greens.

 

Anyway.

 

I SAY TAKE THAT BAGEL, SIT ON THEIR DESK AND EAT IT IN THEIR BREAKFAST JUDGING FACE

[Kishi]

4 hours ago, ixaera said:

I SAY TAKE THAT BAGEL, SIT ON THEIR DESK AND EAT IT IN THEIR BREAKFAST JUDGING FACE

 

And then flip the table on them before you walk out to grab another bagel. 'cuz that ish is delish.

[Urgan]

2/21/2017 - 2/23/2017

My back, you gotted it

 

Lift

Don't be a squat wuss

Squat - 45 1x5

              105 1x3

              135 1x2

              145 1x1

              165 4x3

DB Rows 35 1x10

 

Recover

Anti-Curfew - 14/20 

Mag Supp - 4/14

 

Aikido

Ukemi - 2/4

Videos - 5/8 

 

I am so bad at updating, but I am still Doing the Thing, I promise.

 

Tuesday was a wash, aside from getting up and mag. I am not adjusting to the Suddenly Spring weather very well, snotty, sneezy, drainy, and yet stuffed up and can't breathe at the same time. This carried over into Thursday, where it started to get better. I mean I can't drink ice water because it will set me off and ruin my day.

 

So Wednesday's squat session was a study of Don't Wanna from the moment my feet hit the floor, due to the aforementioned snot spigot issues. I felt pretty lethargic and wondering whether or not I was full-blown sick, but I did it anyway. Points for not wussing out and hitting my programmed volume. It wasn't as glorious as the 150 felt, buuut this is the most volume I've done all year, so that has to count for something. Only 1 set of rows because Running Late. Work has been busy with fewer people around, but not insane like last Friday and Monday felt. Survived that then did shomenuchi kotegaeshi at the dojo. Much work still needed, I had to deconstruct my pinning technique, we spent as much time on that as the actual technique. Sigh.

 

Thursday's contribution was the usual + sho. kotegaeshi video review that I BARELY remembered to do.

 

Thanks to everyone who gave me bagel-related support. I needed the lolz badly, let me tell you.

[Jord]

9 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

 

I am so bad at updating, but I am still Doing the Thing, I promise.

 

 

 

Considering I can't normally keep up with the pace of your updates....  

 

9 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

So Wednesday's squat session was a study of Don't Wanna from the moment my feet hit the floor, due to the aforementioned snot spigot issues. I felt pretty lethargic and wondering whether or not I was full-blown sick, but I did it anyway. Points for not wussing out and hitting my programmed volume.

 

Word. Some squats are better than no squats at all. Unless you are injured, but you were snotty and so you did the thing. 10 points to Gryffindor for getting it done. 

 

 

[Kishi]

I hope you weren't legit sick. Seasonal sick is one thing, and I can kind of see a case for training through that, but with as much stress and such as you've been under it wouldn't surprise me if somebug or other got you.

 

But in the meantime, hey, way to hit that volume!

[RedStone]

I feel you. I've been don't wanna all week. But you go and do it anyway! And that's why you're awesome. the want tos will show up again!!

 

1 hour ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

QFTWord. Some squats are better than no squats at all. Unless you are injured, but you were snotty and so you did the thing. 10 points to Gryffindor for getting it done. 

 

 

 

QFT  

[Broba Fett]

Jumping in to follow along on the epic nearly-year-long BL. 

[Urgan]

2/24/2017

The truth comes out

 

Lift

Don't be a squat wuss

Bench - 45 1x5

             50 1x3

             60 1x2

             70 1x1--should have been 75, oops

             88.5 3x2

OHP - 45 1x5 

           55 3x5

 

Recover

Anti-Curfew - 15/20 

Mag Supp - 5/14

 

Aikido

Ukemi - 2/4

Videos - 5/8 

 

I think I've discovered that my average bench form is even more inefficient than I'd have figured, based on the fact that my numbers are so low compared to other lifts. I don't sit far enough up on the bench (my head isn't scooted back enough) and so things are tougher right out of the gate, and I do linger over each rep too much. Will need to start practicing on my next bench session (can't call it "volume day" anymore going into the interim program in a week, because...which one...) to try to work on it. Maybe I can eke a few lbs out of those changes. But despite that, it was a good enough session. Got me going to work a bit late, because forgot to take my medicine AND bring my preworkout and coffee along, so I had to turn around, and that cost me a critical 5 - 10 minutes when I was already a bit sluggish in the first place. Oi.

 

Work started slow, but went bats after lunch. Trying to get a project wrapped up before the programmer goes on extended vacation post-EOY and then apparently after which they'll be shown the door for good--or so they think, given the fact that they were packing their stuff up at the end of the day. There is a good bit of drama related to this apparent jump in logic, and it has a lot to do with the new processes as well as the person directing the implementation of them. I'm sure none of you have any experience with this sort of personality/workflow clash * coughs * ...anyway, that project totally couldn't be validated in time, because my hours were up earlier than usual due to staying late early in the week and also it was a cluster if hours were no issue. Smoke breaks to "calm down" were required by a team member, because I have discovered how poorly other people handle stress laid out there with no pretense of professionalism--it sounds like an idiotic thing, but I really thought I am particularly unable to deal with work stress, but DAMN was I wrong. I have found such specimens in our customer rep department. They all smoke. None but about one or two are of age to assemble grey hair, so...yeah. I don't get it, I just don't. I suggested programmer consider lifting weights as stress relief (diabetes killed their ability to lean on sodas for comfort), buuuut programmer is overweight so I did not want to have possibly our last day be a "you calling me fat?" defcon-2 level social faux pas.

 

Nope.

 

Got in the car 20 whole minutes early and got groceries and tried to junk the whole business until relating it to Mike and now you guys. I am trying not to judge anyone personally for how well they are dealing with any specific case, because my job insulates me from it in that as a QA person is I find fault in a constructive fashion to save the stressed people from having to simultaneously fall on their swords and clean up the mess afterwards. It's a company culture issue. One of several, lol. Nothing new under the sun, I'm sure. But the sour attitude inter-departmental bullshit is going to deep six this company faster than the decreasing reliance on paper products/snail mail will, and that is where a lot of the stress is originating, when you don't think anybody is going to give you a fair shake because they're too busy looking for the nearest scapegoat to blame a problem solely on. That was where we were during EOY, and you could see how well that went in the gym--LOLOLOLOLOL.

 

Thanks for reading this far, it's kind of therapeutic to examine the big picture of the situation and realize the job isn't worth sacrificing one's own health for. Something to keep in mind as best as one can. Step 1: realize when you're getting stressed enough for it to matter, lol. Help wanted. Seriously, I can only recognize it when I am in pain or cannot lift a soup can. I need to do more to pin it down on the day to day stuff.

 

On 2/24/2017 at 8:45 AM, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

Considering I can't normally keep up with the pace of your updates....  

 

 

Word. Some squats are better than no squats at all. Unless you are injured, but you were snotty and so you did the thing. 10 points to Gryffindor for getting it done. 

 

 

 

Lol, sometimes I update in batches...sometimes daily...it just depends...

 

I like to think I am good at showing up to the gym at this point. Some mornings are putting this notion to the test.

 

On 2/24/2017 at 9:44 AM, Kishi said:

I hope you weren't legit sick. Seasonal sick is one thing, and I can kind of see a case for training through that, but with as much stress and such as you've been under it wouldn't surprise me if somebug or other got you.

 

But in the meantime, hey, way to hit that volume!

 

I don't think I am, it comes and goes based on these wild 20 degree swings in temperature from day to day. My sinuses do not appreciate it.

 

ALL THE VOLUME.

 

On 2/24/2017 at 10:35 AM, RedStone said:

I feel you. I've been don't wanna all week. But you go and do it anyway! And that's why you're awesome. the want tos will show up again!!

 

It starts hitting around Wednesdays....until sometime around Saturday morning at 10AM-ish.

 

On 2/24/2017 at 3:15 PM, Broba Fett said:

Jumping in to follow along on the epic nearly-year-long BL. 

 

I hope I live up to @Taddea Zhaan's hype, lol.

[Sam Ashen]

38 minutes ago, Urgan said:

defcon-2

 

I love it when I see terms I used to describe situations copied over into other threads!

 

39 minutes ago, Urgan said:

It's a company culture issue.

 

Sometimes I think company culture issues are more universal than you might imagine.  I have the same opinion about leadership.

 

40 minutes ago, Urgan said:

decreasing reliance on paper products

 

Sometimes I wonder about this.  I would have thought computers and printers have increased our reliance on paper products.  Hmm.  I will look up International Paper.....

 

...Hmm..... Kind of expensive, just like most everything else on the market....

 

Hmm.....  There are bargains out there somewhere.....  Damn...  Everything is expensive....

 

46 minutes ago, Urgan said:

the job isn't worth sacrificing one's own health for

 

This is wisdom!  I'm legitimately impressed!

 

47 minutes ago, Urgan said:

I think I've discovered that my average bench form is even more inefficient than I'd have figured, based on the fact that my numbers are so low compared to other lifts.

 

Today I was having a locker room discussion with some guy I identified as a (former) powerlifter.  He liked my 505 pound deadlift video, said my form was good.  I said something about having long arms and it gives me an advantage in deadlift.  I start from a more leveraged position and I don't have as far to go.  Going to bench press, those long arms work against me.  I have a longer range of motion and the leverage now works against my shoulders.

 

I also thought one remedy to my poverty bench press would be to gain a lot of weight and go up a weight class or two.  The range of motion will be a little bit less because I would be bigger.  Also my shoulders would be heavier and could handle more stress.

 

I heard some things about girls and shoulder control and that it takes some time to develop a big bench press.  I believe it might be more so for girls who are built tiny.  From here, I will compare you to MB because you two seem to be built the same.  She does not bench press, so those numbers are  nope.  She power cleans way, way more than she bench presses.  I am going to guess by a close to 2:1 margin.

 

At the last meet, she had trouble stabilizing the weight (172 pounds) overhead while recovering from a jerk.  Hmm.  Maybe the problem is not enough bench in her life.  But.  I was not feeling  enough to tell her that.

 

59 minutes ago, Urgan said:

- 45 1x5

             50 1x3

             60 1x2

             70 1x1--should have been 75, oops

             88.5 3x2

 

Hmm.  How close to half your squat numbers is that?

 

On 2/24/2017 at 8:37 AM, Urgan said:

Squat - 45 1x5

              105 1x3

              135 1x2

              145 1x1

              165 4x3

 

[Cataleya]

1 hour ago, Urgan said:

I have discovered how poorly other people handle stress laid out there with no pretense of professionalism--it sounds like an idiotic thing, but I really thought I am particularly unable to deal with work stress, but DAMN was I wrong.

Isn't that a weird feeling? I often feel like, damn my life is a mess (I mean, you've seen my challenge thread), and then I look at the people I work with and am like, welp, nevermind.

 

59 minutes ago, Sam Ashen said:

Sometimes I think company culture issues are more universal than you might imagine.  I have the same opinion about leadership.

Agreed. 100%.

[Urgan]

1 hour ago, Sam Ashen said:

I love it when I see terms I used to describe situations copied over into other threads!

 

Sometimes I think company culture issues are more universal than you might imagine.  I have the same opinion about leadership.

 

I heard some things about girls and shoulder control and that it takes some time to develop a big bench press.  I believe it might be more so for girls who are built tiny.  From here, I will compare you to MB because you two seem to be built the same.  She does not bench press, so those numbers are  nope.  She power cleans way, way more than she bench presses.  I am going to guess by a close to 2:1 margin.

 

At the last meet, she had trouble stabilizing the weight (172 pounds) overhead while recovering from a jerk.  Hmm.  Maybe the problem is not enough bench in her life.  But.  I was not feeling  enough to tell her that.

 

Hmm.  How close to half your squat numbers is that?

 

I did think of you when choosing that phrase, yes. 

 

It's human nature on display--power, petty tyranny, dodging responsibility. Etc.

 

Well, my 1RM squat is 200, 3RM is 177.5. The latest single I felt remotely comfy with lately is 190. So 100, 88.5, and 95 respectively. My 2RM on bench is 92. Funny. 

 

44 minutes ago, Cataleya said:

Isn't that a weird feeling? I often feel like, damn my life is a mess (I mean, you've seen my challenge thread), and then I look at the people I work with and am like, welp, nevermind.

 

It is very weird. Perspective is a really strange thing and it makes me feel sad for the people I'm observing. 

[miss_marissa]

Your work situation i think is fairly universal.

 

Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk

 

 

[Urgan]

24 minutes ago, miss_marissa said:

Your work situation i think is fairly universal.

 

Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk

 

Yeah, I don't for a minute think I'm in an especially bad work environment in the universe of job environments, it's just the worst one I have experienced firsthand as far as coworkers go. Clients have been way worse to me than this at other places, dear God but debt collectors run the gamut. I do hope we eventually break through to the idea that we all in fact want the same thing, even if we see every step along the way very differently. 

[Urgan]

2/25/2017 + 2/26/2017

Family Events got me like 

 

Lift

Don't be a squat wuss

Squat - 45 1x5

             135 1x3

             155 1x2

             170 1x1

             180 1x2

Halting DL - 135 1x5 

                      160 2x8

 

Recover

Anti-Curfew - 15/20 

Mag Supp - 7/14

 

Aikido

Ukemi - 3/4

Videos - 6/8 

 

Saturday I did so precious little. We drove from the south east side of town to the north west to meet family for lunch. I was the last one to stop eating at a 1035 calorie meal (chicken and wild rice pilaf, green beans, fried okra, biscuit, half a portion of steak fries). Came home and camped the couch until it was time for dinner. Ate mac and cheese as shown in the Insta. And that was all. I never lift on days when I'm sleepy at 2:30PM.

 

Sunday is chore and make up for missing the gym and meal prep day. So hard to pack all the stuff into one day, but I managed. Squats just weren't my day, but haltings felt okay. Came home and legs felt SORE. Calves and hams particularly.

[Urgan]

WEEK 3 DEBRIEF

And now...we wait

 

Lift

Don't be a squat wuss

Bah. At least I tried.

 

Recover

Anti-Curfew - 15/20 

Mag Supp - 7/14

 

Okay kids, let's get right to it.

 

Week 3 Average:

           Cals   /   Carbs   /   Fats    /  Protein /  Sugar

AVG    2461        263         104          129             51

TGT    2500        281           97          125           100  

DLTA -39 -18 7 4 -49

 

No colors because mobile NF stands for No Fing colors and I just CBF, so there. Anyway this is the closest I've been in a long while and my weight reflects it. Behold the world's most boring theme park ride:

 

Pretty much exactly as one would expect. 

 

It's that time again. Brace yourselves, Shark Week is here. This is where we find out if last month was an anomaly or not. 

 

Aikido

Ukemi - 3/4

Videos - 6/8 

 

This was a shomenuichi kotegaeshi kind of week. I'm reviewing the videos of the techniques we worked on in class to make sure the instruction sinks in.

[CourtnieMarie]

oh hai! i like your data  

[Urgan]

4 minutes ago, CourtnieMarie said:

oh hai! i like your data  

 

Thanks! You're just in time to see if I've cracked the code on how to banish Shark Week migraines FOREVER. 

[CourtnieMarie]

2 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

Thanks! You're just in time to see if I've cracked the code on how to banish Shark Week migraines FOREVER. 

 

[Jord]

Is it just me or is your weight generally in a one pound range. That seems so magical to me. How do I make this voodoo? You are a mystical unicorn and I bow to your fantastical achievements. 

 

Maybe I will solve this mystery when I get to my maintenance weight. 

[Urgan]

46 minutes ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

Is it just me or is your weight generally in a one pound range. That seems so magical to me. How do I make this voodoo? You are a mystical unicorn and I bow to your fantastical achievements. 

 

Maybe I will solve this mystery when I get to my maintenance weight. 

Warning: in an attempt to address this topic, word vomit ensued. 

 

 

It's definitely not your imagination. I have always had the knack of hitting maintenance and keeping it there. It was the only thing I had going for me fitness wise (easy to accomplish if you don't like your body or food all that much, to be perfectly blunt). In fact, it wasn't until about 2012 that I saw the scale really move at all (2.5lbs! Le gasp!), because it was the first year out of college and there went what little walking I did. Add stress from first real job in software aaaand...91.5 lbs average the few times I weighed in. 92lbs honest to God scared me, because I was looking for that sign I was going to get fat (and lose the only physical "plus" I had), because my mom said in a few years I'd see a 5lb increase. AKA the beginning of my inevitable demise, because I sure didn't have intelligence going for me.

 

See, stick-thin people can be utterly miserable and caught in a really garbage self conception nightmare of their own devising, too (because no one made me this way but me)! It's no myth. 

 

Now of course, you weren't asking about my emotional state/self-image, but I'm sure it's a familiar line, feeding follows feelings. I never really did all that much physically and I never developed either an emotional connection with food nor did I develop an actual eating disorder. I was just kinda floating in between, mildly disgusted with myself for being a totally unimpressive assembly of carbon and yet soda and chocolate. I averaged 1450 calories based on logging an average set of "meals" in MFP for the lulz. Amusingly, it's what I default to now when too ill to have an appetite. I keep a Cambell's Chunky soup can on my desk as a reminder of old habits (I once ate MOST of one for lunch, along with a can of soda, 140~ calories. The soup is 260 calories). I wasn't starving myself, I was legit full.

 

I got a boyfriend (who is now my husband) and decided one of us had to steer the ship so I kind of got over myself. It is amazing what you can get done if you stop shitting in your own nest by repeating negativity on endless loop. Yup, that's right getting a guy did fix my problems, but not the way a girl would figure because I pulled my own self up for someone else. I am a rich source of irony.

 

So. As I said, I was not starving myself, I was just disinterested in this food stuff. So I topped off and when full I'd stop. Based on homeostasis and a rather active metabolism, this meant that a very routine-oriented (more like ritualistic, LBR....) person can achieve zen-like balance by being very, VERY consistent at hitting a 0 balance on energy in/energy out. What I have been describing is not exactly the pinnacle of health, but while my activities and conception of normal has changed a lot, the mechanics of what allowed me to tread water with zero real planning gave me a leg up on finding maintenance, which is the thing for weight management. From there you just add or subtract a couple hundred calories, lock it in, and start putting in the work. It's simple, not easy, of course. I default to 1400, remember? If I'm not training and keeping a close eye on my food, it's down the crapper my energy goes unless I work hard at fighting that inclination. Your situation is different (maybe I am the freakiest unicorn around), but we're both straining to not swerve off opposite sides of the metabolic road. 

[Sam Ashen]

9 minutes ago, Urgan said:

AKA the beginning of my inevitable demise, because I sure didn't have intelligence going for me.

 

Um.  Whut?  I assume this is a past issue and not a present issue.  I really enjoy chatting with you and that should be a good sign for you.

 

12 minutes ago, Urgan said:

I got a boyfriend (who is now my husband) and decided one of us had to steer the ship so I kind of got over myself. It is amazing what you can get done if you stop shitting in your own nest by repeating negativity on endless loop. Yup, that's right getting a guy did fix my problems, but not the way a girl would figure because I pulled my own self up for someone else. I am a rich source of irony.

 

I always joke about my social life, or lack thereof.  Sometimes I explain my net motivation is to complain or joke about it.  Or write country hit singles.

 

You do know what happens when you play country music backwards, right?

 

15 minutes ago, Urgan said:

Based on homeostasis and a rather active metabolism, this meant that a very routine-oriented (more like ritualistic, LBR....) person can achieve zen-like balance by being very, VERY consistent at hitting a 0 balance on energy in/energy out.

 

Sometimes I wonder if this is where I end up.  Well, except for the stuff myself silly on Saturdays and that puts a big spike in my weekly chart.

[Urgan]

2 minutes ago, Sam Ashen said:

Um.  Whut?  I assume this is a past issue and not a present issue.  I really enjoy chatting with you and that should be a good sign for you.

 

 

Just laying it out there as context, because verbalizing a set of irrational feelings from a time and place where I am not anymore is tricky to reconstruct, yeah? A lot simpler to sum it up as "dumb and useless," because that's what it boiled down to. I have decided it came from growing up pursuing many different interests, being particularly good at none of them. It kind of beats you down to be an also-ran your whole life, you know?

 

9 minutes ago, Sam Ashen said:

Sometimes I wonder if this is where I end up.  Well, except for the stuff myself silly on Saturdays and that puts a big spike in my weekly chart.

 

This is what I tend to do, when adjusted for Wilks, lol. I thought of you on Saturday when I got up, rode in the car, ate, came back home, slept, then got back out for dinner, lol.

[Urgan]

Thinking about it some more, I think perhaps the answer to the "how do I tread water" question, TZ, is while I have a sort of respect/love of the power of food to fuel me, I don't eat it because I want to. I eat like it's my job. I have 2 cups of peas and rice by me right now and it's going away. It's kind of a chore, BUT it is important because I need it in order to expect myself to get through the day, beat it across town to get beat in the dojo, drive home, and sleep off the repairs. Food and I mostly have a business relationship, but it's a job I have a bit of a stake in, lol. That's not to say I don't generally enjoy it more now. For one thing, I learned to like bacon.

[Jord]

16 hours ago, Urgan said:

Thinking about it some more, I think perhaps the answer to the "how do I tread water" question, TZ, is while I have a sort of respect/love of the power of food to fuel me, I don't eat it because I want to. I eat like it's my job. I have 2 cups of peas and rice by me right now and it's going away. It's kind of a chore, BUT it is important because I need it in order to expect myself to get through the day, beat it across town to get beat in the dojo, drive home, and sleep off the repairs. Food and I mostly have a business relationship, but it's a job I have a bit of a stake in, lol. That's not to say I don't generally enjoy it more now. For one thing, I learned to like bacon.

 

I get this. I have a long and salty relationship with food. And I'm not talking about sodium. I am weird in that I prefer to have a business relationship with food because I don't want to have an emotional relationship with food. I'd prefer to have my emotions play out in other healthier ways. It's a lot easier to maintain this 100+# weight loss if I eat the peas when I need to eat the peas. I say peas because I use peas a lot for hitting macros. I find myself in the situation a lot where I need protein and carbs but not fat and peas are perfect. 

 

It's a side subject but I think i'm beginning to see that there may in fact be a monthly weight fluctuation despite having an IUD and that will help me cope with this weight plan to get me back into the weight class I want. The weight now is no longer important to me as is the powerlifting, but I'm very close to a weight class, so I'd much rather prefer to be there. So now all of a sudden food is a magic tool to get me to that goal. Which I think is what you are saying about fueling your dojo workouts. 

[Urgan]

2/27/2017

Tranquility freaks me out

 

Lift

Don't be a squat wuss

OHP - 45 1x5

              57.5 5x5

R. Delts - 20 3x10

 

Recover

Anti-Curfew - 16/20 

Mag Supp - 8/14

 

Aikido

Ukemi - 3/4

Videos - 6/8 

 

Easy training. I am going to step up to 25lbs for at least 1 set next time I do rear delts, because on multiple sets I'm getting 5 reps per breath, my yardstick for conquering a weight. OHP was very manageable, all but the last two reps of the last set were easy.

 

I was tooling along Hell's Own Rd (better 10 minutes in Hell than 45 in purgatory), and after coming around a bend so sharp and so close to the jagged side of a hill that a passenger could lean out the window and get their face taken off or floss with the tree roots, all of a sudden there's a bright blue front bumper smiling up at me. Some car wreck artist managed to deposit his car in a tiny ravine facing oncoming traffic. He would have to have turned his car greater than 180° either way to make this happen, given where the rock face was relative to the winding 1 lane road. I was momentarily freaked out, then extremely impressed by this feat of supreme idiocy. G'MORNIN', EVERBODY. It was National Stranded Car Day, apparently, because there were two more inconveniently placed nonfunctioning vehicles between blue car and my destination.

 

A very dull day at work, peaceful. Almost too peaceful. It had me concerned. Even Shark Week is starting with a whimper.

 

We worked on kokyunage from rear twohanded grab, which was productive, as I hadn't done it in a while.