ArgSki77 Settles In

[ArgSki77]

Hello Rangers!

 

 

This will be my first challenge not as a Warrior. Last challenge, I completed my first Powerlifting competition with a 1045lb total and then decided I wanted to pull a complete 180 and changed my training to focus on building endurance capabilities and functional strength. End goal is to cut weight, improve endurance ability, and prepare to run my first Spartan Race and/or GoRuck event within the next year.

 

About me for those I don't know, I recently moved to the city(Boston) from the suburbs and loving it(besides having a longer commute to work). This past year and a half or so, I ran many different powerlifting templates(SL 5x5, 5/3/1) and focused on competing in that sport, which I did successfully, and managed to drop my weight from 362lbs down to 315lbs as of this morning. I am now close to the gym my powerlifting coach owned and that my friend from high school teaches classes at. They support any and all goals that involve moving heavy things or lasting through the longest of endurance events. The gym is sponsored by GoRuck and Spartan Race so a great deal of their classes focus on prepping for events like that and it feels assuring to me that the coaches have run through some of the longer endurance events out there(GoRuck HCLs, Winter Death Race, Spartan Summer and Winter Agoge, etc).

 

Last challenge I started working out before work on Wednesday and Friday mornings and then once or twice on the weekends. The Warriors noted that the workouts sounded an awful lot like Crossfit and I resisted the fact that they were similar. But, now I suppose I am drinking the Kool-aid even though it isn't officially a Crossfit gym. I am really liking the change from strict powerlifting to a variation of lifting and conditioning work. With all that being said, this brings me over here to the Rangers!!

 

Challenge Goals - All centered around focusing and settling into a better rhythm

 

Goal 1 - Gym time - Workout 3 days a week minimum

I really like the Wednesday and Friday schedule in the mornings and Saturday for a weekend workout. Would like to add in a class on Monday mornings as well but the coach is different and honestly scares me a bit more. My coach teaches classes on Wed and Fri and they are more strength based conditioning while Monday classes Ive been told have much more running style conditioning. Likely going to stick with the WF schedule for now and look at adding in Mondays once the next cycle of classes rolls around somewhere in the middle of the challenge. Saturday classes are called Spartan RX and they are specific to training for spartan races. Lots of varied work and we have all sorts of mock spartan obstacles at the gym that can be used.

 

Goal 2 - Reign in the diet - No more than 3 cheat meals a week

Purchased the Renaissance Periodization diet templates last challenge. Now two weeks into a cut where I have dropped from 320 to 316. Been having some issue keeping to the template so need to refocus so I get the maximum benefit from them. I purchased these and currently feel like I am wasting my money...I know its in my best health interest...its only a few months for a much longer period of better health...templates end just before holidays aka holiday cookie bulk!

 

Goal 3 - Bring back the swole and flexy - ROMWOD 4 days a week

I was doing ROMWOD for the longest time pretty regularly to help improve flexibility and range of motion. Its only 20min a day and I keep making crappy excuses for not doing it. I started seeing improvement with it but then started falling off to only once or twice per week and I can tell those improved spots are starting to return to previous issues.

 

Zero Week Goal - Remain blissfully ignorant to the fact that a lot of people are going to Camp this week and I am not. I'm certainly not jealous or anything like that....nope not even a little bit. 

[RedStone]

I admit I haven't quite gotten the hang of following outside the warrior threads cause stupid way I surf the boards, but I will be following along as best as possible and checking in when I'm not a dope about it!

 

Solid goals and I'll attend the virtual - totally not jealous of camp - camp with you!  

[ArgSki77]

Cross posting with my form check and previous challenge wrap up threads to hopefully find some folks who are insightful on front squat form. Its been a while and looking for some opinions.

 

[Shello]

I think we should start a Not Jealous of Camp Week Support Group.  

 

Welcome to the Rangers.

 

Also, you're gym seems pretty amazing. 

[miss_marissa]

On behalf of all the warriors

[ArgSki77]

Zero Week Update Day 1 and 2:

 

Starting this challenge off with two back to back rest days. Food yesterday was pretty decent in comparison to the templates. Only a few grams over on fat and carbs, mostly because my boss surprised me and brought back a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks for me and I'm as basic as can be when it comes to anything Fall related so wasn't going to turn that down. Plus I just got an amazon shipment in with my first box of Kodiak Protein Pancake mix so I had to try to make waffles as bed time snack obviously. Made casein protein "frosting" for the waffle and melted down some blueberries in a pan and it was messy but delicious. Oh and very macro friendly - 53g Carb/ 3g Fat / 45g Protein

 

 

Did a mini food prep last night for lunches - two big pots of Stifado( Greek beef stew with lots of onions). Need to get around to cooking breakfasts and second lunches so I stop needing to buy stuff that doesnt perfectly match templates. I need to be back in more control over my food. Cant wait to get back into the gym tomorrow for bench focused WOD.

[ArgSki77]

19 hours ago, miss_marissa said:

On behalf of all the warriors

It feels like this when I am following Warrior threads now...but must continue strong on the Ranger regiment. 

 

[ArgSki77]

Triple post - Keep forgetting things. Bodyweight down to 315.3 this morning. 5lbs total now in a 2 week span on the RP cut. But also noticed this morning that for the first time ever, muscles are starting to actually show definition. Legs are starting to not be a single mass but can actually make out a separation between quads and hamstrings. And triceps just appeared out of nowhere!

[Charlie_Quinn]

Following! Love your goals. 

[ArgSki77]

Week 0 Day 3:

 

Going to try something new and actually break down my challenge updates by goals in the hopes it keeps me up to standard with them. Noticed during my last challenges I haven't done this and I couldn't even remember my goals by the end. I would just wander along with some stuff in mind until the end and look back. Not this time, hence the numeric counts this challenge.

 

Goal 1 - Gym time - Workout 3 days a week minimum - 1/3

Went to the gym before work this morning. Apparently we are hitting a slight deload week. Didnt realize that last week was a hard week. Didnt feel like it but I am basing that on previous powerlifting work where heavy week was testing singles at 100% 1RM+. Anyways, as my coach called it this morning, we did a gym bro bench session.

 

Warmup

Foam rolling - Upper/Lower back, AT band

PVC shoulder work - pass throughs and figure 8s

Wrist mobilization

 

3 Rounds no alternating

A: Rowing :20/:20 Hard row/Coast

B: RKC Plank :20 on/:20 off

 

6 Rounds no alternating :15/:15

A: Hammer slams - 12 lbs - Swap upper hand each round

B: Medicine ball toss - 14lbs - Front, left side, right side

 

Bro Bench

4 Rounds 

8 Swiss Bar Bench Press - ~50% 1RM - 125lbs

6 Paused Landmine Rows - 75lbs+rig

 

Man-eater

3 Rounds as fast as possible(not timed but hurried)

6 Man Makers - 20lb dumbells

10 Plate Raises - 25lbs

50' Sled Thrust - 240lbs

50' Sled Rows - 240lbs

 

Checkout

3 Rounds - :30/:15 on/off

A: Heavy Jump Rope

B: Sandbag Full Clean and Jerk - 50lbs

C: Heavy KB Swing - 24kg

 

Goal 2 - Reign in the diet - No more than 3 cheat meals a week - 0/3 meals used

Food yesterday was good. Work was crazy busy. Switched offices a week ago and now we have a constant battle against all these boxes in our engineering lab. We decided to do something about it yesterday and I lost track of time. Missed my snack except for some popcorn. I made up for it with a big dinner of white chili with chicken, beans, and corn. All in all, my macro calories were pretty close to what they should have been. The templates allow for this combining of food although it shouldn't become a habit as they stress timing of food as a small but important component of diet. I'm not counting this as any cheats since I stayed within totals but this is something to watch out for moving forward. It will be really hard to do that if/once I move to level 2 of the cut templates so that is also something to consider. Im really more concerned about those crazy 2000 calorie goal busting meals.

 

As for the cut, down again this morning. Back into the lower half of the 3teens range with 314.8lbs. I would hope that over the course of the entire cut, I would drop around 25 pounds total and that would put me down below 300 for the first time in a long time. This is the 3rd week of a 12 week cut period so progressing fine currently.

 

Goal 3 - Bring back the swole and flexy - ROMWOD 4 days a week - 1/4 swole and flexy days

ROMWOD'ed last night. Can feel that I haven't done any mobility work in while because I could barely get my arms towards the floor on lizard pose(which was like 12 minutes of a 20 min session). Planning to do it again tonight after I get home from work.

 

Zero Week Goal - Remain blissfully ignorant to the fact that a lot of people are going to Camp this week and I am not. I'm certainly not jealous or anything like that....nope not even a little bit. 

This isnt going the best - Living vicariously through multiple instagram feeds while I wait for software tests to run here in the lab.

[Broba Fett]

On 9/19/2016 at 9:26 AM, ArgSki77 said:

Zero Week Goal - Remain blissfully ignorant to the fact that a lot of people are going to Camp this week and I am not.

 

I'm feeling bummed about this as well.  AND I know I won't be able to go next year, what with the wedding and honeymoon going on next summer.  

 

On 9/20/2016 at 8:34 AM, ArgSki77 said:

Kodiak Protein Pancake mix

 

What is this sorcery?  Not a jury-rigged recipe with protein powder but an actual mix?  

[ArgSki77]

4 minutes ago, Broba Fett said:

What is this sorcery?  Not a jury-rigged recipe with protein powder but an actual mix?

Its whole wheat pancake mix but has a relatively large amount of protein in it. 14g protein per serving. I just bought a big box on amazon. I tried making protein waffles with just casein protein powder and egg whites and they are pretty bland. Now when I get to have carbs at night for my bedtime meal, I will make a protein waffle with kodiak mix and top it with casein protein pudding and fruit a la the picture above.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Kodiak-Cakes-Power-Flapjack-Buttermilk/dp/B00LH6ZAN8/ref=pd_lpo_325_bs_tr_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=86W9222Y2XEM0BQQ1CHG&th=1

[ArgSki77]

Week 0 Day 4:

 

Goal 1 - Gym time - Workout 3 days a week minimum - 1/3

Rest day today. Arms are surprisingly a bit sore from yesterday considering it was a "deload" week. I think the man-makers were just a bit of a shock to my arms as they were new and involved a lot of elements of exercises(read: push-ups, burpees) which I don't like. Deadlift day tomorrow although deload deadlifts are just not as fun as pulling all the weight(Warrior in me coming back out).

 

Goal 2 - Reign in the diet - No more than 3 cheat meals a week - 0/3 meals used

Decent food day yesterday. Swapped carbs around a little bit because work had free ice cream so lunch was lower carb than supposed to on a workout and then slightly more carbs for second lunch. Every other meal was strict to the macros assigned and lined up with templates perfectly.

250g Carbs / 72g Fat / 269g Protein

 

A little minor victory this morning as well although its devastating me inside. I just turned down Free Bagel Thursday at work and ate my meal prepped ground turkey and broccoli instead. Rest days are supposed to be no added carbs until second lunch(~3pm) but I typically make exception for bagels on Thursdays. Holding strong today though. Fitness goals are more important than those bagels. Plus I know tomorrow I am likely going to have a cheat meal for dinner going out with friends so dont want to waste one this morning on something silly.

 

Weight today was back up a bit. 315.8 so up a pound. That's a pretty normal fluctuation for me especially since yesterday was a workout day. As noted in previous challenges, I do not think that the scale ever goes down the day after a workout for me. All the drops typically happen on my rest days.

One exciting thing to note is that the BF% reading is trending back down again. Last few weeks it was hovering around 44% and now its pretty consistently around 42.5%. Lots of people on the templates note that they don't see a whole lot of noticeable weight drop until second and third levels of cuts but do see noticeable physical changes which is also what I am seeing. Feeling really good about that. Plus lifting ability has not dropped even a little yet despite the cut in calories!

 

Goal 3 - Bring back the swole and flexy - ROMWOD 4 days a week - 2/4 swole and flexy days

At it again last night. Oh how everything is so not lose right now. Mobility especially in the back of my legs is less than before. Really felt it during forward bends.

 

Zero Week Goal - Remain blissfully ignorant to the fact that a lot of people are going to Camp this week and I am not. I'm certainly not jealous or anything like that....nope not even a little bit. 

Still just watching Instagram and following along.

[Broba Fett]

RE: soreness - I too find that some of my most sore days are after low weight workouts in which I focus on good form since I don't need to worry about whether or not I can lift the prescribed weight. Not sure what that says about my form the rest of the time. 

RE: BF% - What formula are you using? I've been using covert bailey but I never know if I am measuring correctly due to the weird shape of my abdomen after losing 100+lbs.

Good job resisting free bagels. Keep it going.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[ArgSki77]

10 minutes ago, Broba Fett said:

RE: BF% - What formula are you using? I've been using covert bailey but I never know if I am measuring correctly due to the weird shape of my abdomen after losing 100+lbs.

I am all about technology so when my scale died last time, I ended up buying the Withings Body Analyzer so it takes weight, BF%, and heartrate each time. Although the one issue I have with it is that it uses the electro readings from your feet to do the readings other than weight and I know that isnt the most accurate way to do such a thing. But I dont really take it for accuracy. Rather I now focus on trends like it going down x% in a few weeks. Its not important to me that I know I am precisely 42% bf and my scale is telling me 44% but rather that is see the 2% drop over time. As long as I stay consistent with those readings I get a good idea of the trends.

[Broba Fett]

4 hours ago, ArgSki77 said:

I am all about technology so when my scale died last time, I ended up buying the Withings Body Analyzer so it takes weight, BF%, and heartrate each time. Although the one issue I have with it is that it uses the electro readings from your feet to do the readings other than weight and I know that isnt the most accurate way to do such a thing. But I dont really take it for accuracy. Rather I now focus on trends like it going down x% in a few weeks. Its not important to me that I know I am precisely 42% bf and my scale is telling me 44% but rather that is see the 2% drop over time. As long as I stay consistent with those readings I get a good idea of the trends.

Interesting.  Yeah that makes sense.  I mostly look to make sure mine goes down weekly as well.  I assume you use that percentage to figure out your macros and that's been working well also?

[ArgSki77]

Im actually running with the Renaissance Periodization Auto Templates. They define everything for you and give you a nice Excel document. Its been an interesting adventure. Slightly different than I've eaten in the past. There is an aspect of carb cycling around workouts and nutrient timing on top of that.

 

Below is one example of what I use, that's for a day when I work out at a light level first thing in the morning...i.e. days I go to bootcamp at 6 am.

[ArgSki77]

Zero Week Recap:

I got distracted this weekend and didn't update at all so here is a recap which basically closes out zero week. Yay, actual challenge time!

 

Goal 1 - Gym time - Workout 3 days a week minimum - 3/3

So I got my workouts in on Friday and Saturday to finish off the 3 for the week.

 

Friday was a bit disappointment, we had a plumbing issue and the only time we could get a plumber was at 7am and that would interfere with my 6am workout so I opted to skip it and go to open gym in the afternoon since it was off work. I had to program my own deload week though as my coach didn't have a copy readily available when I asked and class I missed was a lot of team stuff so didn't really apply to me working on my own.

 

Warmup

Foam rolling - Upper/Lower back, AT band

PVC shoulder work - pass throughs and figure 8s

Rowing :20/:20 Hard row/Coast x 3

 

100' Each - High Kick, Lat Shuffle, Grapevine, Bear Crawl

 

Deload Deadlifts

2 x 10 x 135lbs <- warmups

5 x 10 x 215lbs(~50% was goal) <- Working sets, yay volume! "Deload" haha

 

Shoulderssss

3 Rounds Alternating

5 Steel Mace 360s Each Direction - 15lb Mace

7 KB Jerk Each Arm - 20Kg

 

Sleds and Sand

3 Rounds Alternating

50' Sled push/ 50' Sled Pull - 240lbs

6 Sandbag shoulder loads - 80lbs

 

Saturday workout was Spartan RX class. Little bit of everything. My friend from hometown stayed over who also knows my coach so since he drank all my beer, I took him to the gym. But we had some fun with this workout despite some misery.

 

Warmup

PVC shoulder work - pass throughs and figure 8s

 

3 Rounds

A: KB Swings - 20kg

B: 100' KB OH Walk - Switch hand overhead at 50' turn - 20kg 

 

Rowing - 5 minutes - constant 30spm rate

 

Over Under Lifting

OHP - 2 x 8 x 95lbs <- Warmups

3 Rounds

8 OHP - 125lbs

6 KB Bent Over Row - 30kg(~70lbs)

 

Strongman Conditioning

4 Rounds - Coach was mean and didnt tell us how many rounds we were doing until 2 rounds in

6 Tire Flips - 435lb tire - Hate this tire...like so much hatred.

50' Sled Push - 240lbs

50' Sled Rope Pull - 240lbs

12 Medball "stone" to shoulder - 60lbs

 

Friend and coach had some fun on the last sled push!

 

Goal 2 - Reign in the diet - No more than 3 cheat meals a week - 3/3 meals used

Definitely pushed the 3 meal limit but did not go over. I was actually OK with going out to dinner on Friday night because we went for sushi and I stuck primarily to sashimi and and only a few pieces of rolls to keep the carbs in check. The rest of the night however, not so ideal. We ordered pizza late night and I had some beers, -2 meals since it was enough food for multiple meals and past eating time on templates. The next morning, house guests wanted bagels from this awesome place near my apartment so I had bagel and cream cheese, and some eggs which was far too much and I couldn't recover within macros, -1 meal again. Sunday I was home alone all day so I was spot on all day to round off the week.

 

Going to try something new. I have been getting decently stressed out trying to track calories on MFP along with watching the templates. The numbers mess with me for some reason. I was really doing it to keep my 225 day streak alive but I failed that a few weeks back so now the motivation really isnt there. Going to stop with the MFP for now and see if I can just focus my efforts on the templates and let them do their work.

 

Weight this morning in at an even 316. Staying pretty constant at that weight it seems like. Going to likely give it this week with the level 1 cut and trying to minimize cheats. If weight stays the same then I am going to move on to cut 2. 

 

Goal 3 - Bring back the swole and flexy - ROMWOD 4 days a week - 4/4 swole and flexy days

Got ROMWOD done on Friday and Saturday. Starting to get back into it.

[ArgSki77]

This is going to be a little side goal for the challenge. I want to see how my body feels with running again. Last time I did anything more than a warm-up run, I was doing 4x per week heavy powerlifting training. Now I am not doing that and have been working on endurance a bit. Plus Spartans have at least a few miles of running involved and I want to see where I am.

 

I mapped out a 1.75mi route from my apartment. Hoping to jog/run this once or twice a week on rest days as weather permits. Mondays seem like a logical day as its typically in a stretch of 2-3 rest days. So tonight I am going to try and get home from work at a normal time and sneak a 30 minute block to get a baseline time. Id like to be able to hold an 10min pace comfortably but I typically end up closer to 12-13min as running and I do not get along as well as I think I do. But number one goal is to not push past the point where my knees hurt.

 

[ShadowLion]

Hi ArgSki77, and welcome to the Rangers!

 

Great goals and you're off to a great start on the challenge. Quite a change from powerlifting to prepping for a Spartan or GoRuck! Glad to see you found the Ranger Mini already, too.

 

It looks like you are going to have an awesome challenge!

[ArgSki77]

9 hours ago, ShadowLion said:

Hi ArgSki77, and welcome to the Rangers!

 

Great goals and you're off to a great start on the challenge. Quite a change from powerlifting to prepping for a Spartan or GoRuck! Glad to see you found the Ranger Mini already, too.

 

It looks like you are going to have an awesome challenge!

[ArgSki77]

Week 1 Day 1

 

Goal 1 - Gym time - Workout 3 days a week minimum - 1/3

Yesterday was a rest day...oh wait no it wasn't! I fully embraced ranger life and decided like I said in my last post to go for a run!

 

Run was pretty rough but I made it through a bit better than I expected. I was excited going out and started out fast and realized that on the loop I planned, the first 1/3 mile was a decently big hill. Not the best way to start first run in months. I had a not so fun re-occurrence of the left side pain which I frequently get while running and battling that was really a limiting factor in my time. But on a positive note, I wasn't totally winded nor did my knees bother me. If I can learn how to better control my pace and somehow get rid of that side pain, I think I can work on distance. Speed could improve as well. I was at a 12:30 pace which was mainly because I had to stop and walk every minute or two to try and workout the side issue. Complete run was 1.5 miles in 20min.

 

Goal 2 - Reign in the diet - No more than 3 cheat meals a week - 0/3 meals used

Spot on with templates yesterday. Already like not having the dual tracking methods causing stress. I have my meals prepped for the week so sticking to the template is pretty easy. Also, coffee really helping my power through stuff today...I promise I didn't over do the Deathwish coffee this morning and I am still alive @~RedStone~.(see below)

 

Down to 314.4lbs this morning. Finally trending back down a bit from some time at a constant 316lbs. Got a nice compliment from the GF last night saying my stomach was looking smaller. Now I need to break out the tape measure to see if that is actually the case. I have only lost about 5 pounds or so on this cut which I expected a bit more but if the tape measure is moving compared to starting measurements, that's just as good to me.

 

Goal 3 - Bring back the swole and flexy - ROMWOD 4 days a week - 0/4 swole and flexy days

Didn't get a chance to do ROMWOD last night although I feel like it would have been a better use of my time than watching the presidential debate for the 30 minutes I managed to withstand before turning it off.

[RedStone]

22 minutes ago, ArgSki77 said:

I promise I didn't over do the Deathwish coffee this morning and I am still alive

 

hehehe, you have to be alive in order to be killing it  

[raptron]

In to creep and commiserate about conditioning! 

[ArgSki77]

16 minutes ago, raptron said:

In to creep and commiserate about conditioning! 

Yay conditioning buddies.