Damzie's First Battle Log!

[Damzie]

Had to adjust my workout schedule this week. Still trying to kick this stupid cold, so I went home early from work yesterday and rested. Still congested, but had more energy today so I went to the gym over lunch to get back on schedule. I thought it might make me feel better to move a little bit.

Warm up - I posted about this in another thread, and I'm pretty happy with my warmup now. I'm jumping rope for a minute to get the heart rate up and my blood pumping, doing some dynamic stretching, doing some bodyweight lunges and squats, some downward dog to plank to downward dog etc., and then some warm up sets of squats using 30 pounds and then the barbell.

Squats - 5x5x80 - Increased. Think I might stay here next week. Thing my form was ok, but this was the first weight where I felt like I need to do it again before moving up.

Inverse bodyweight rows - 4x8, 1x7 - Not improving on these much, though I think I'm improving form somewhat. Also, I've been sick so I'm giving myself a little bit of a pass. Forgot I was going to try these with straight legs. Will do that next time.

Dumbbell good mornings - 2x5x50, 3x5x60 - Increased. Feel like hanging on to dumbbells with this weight is good for my grip too.

Tonight after work I'll do pushups and planks. Ran out of time at the gym today.

Monday's Food

Breakfast - 3 egg scramble with leftover roasted zucchini and onion

Snack - Apple with almonds

Lunch - Spinach and lettuce salad with bacon, tomato, and an avocado, with olive oil for dressing

Dinner - Chili, 5 grilled chick wings, dark chocolate, glass of port

Tuesday's Food

Breakfast - Protein shake (coconut milk, 1 scoop whey, frozen berries, 1 egg yolk, some coconut water)

Pre-workout snack - Apple with almonds

Lunch - Spinach and lettuce salad with leftover steak, bleu cheese, and red onion, with olive oil for dressing

Dinner - TBD

[sashi]

Nice job! (Especially since you're not fully recovered from that cold.)

[Damzie]

Nice job! (Especially since you're not fully recovered from that cold.)

Thanks for the encouragement!!!

After work I did my push-ups and core exercises.

Push-ups - 1x6 and 2x5 regular, 1x20 on knees - SUPER EXCITED!

Planks - 1x30 regular, 2x15 side plank raises, started doing prep work for L sit

Dinner was grilled shrimp, broccoli and cauliflower with garlic butter, 1 Bourbon barrel beer, little dark chocolate

[aj_rock]

I think you'll find, as you get in better and better shape, little things like the cold or sore throats just don't bother you as much anymore

+1 for fitness!!

[Damzie]

I think you'll find, as you get in better and better shape, little things like the cold or sore throats just don't bother you as much anymore

+1 for fitness!!

Yeah, I'm sure that is true. I don't get sick that much now, but I did notice with this one that I just didn't feel as bad as I usually do when I come down with something. I kind of rested because I felt like that's what I should do, not so much because I really felt all that wiped out. I don't know if that's because of increased fitness, or if it just wasn't that severe of a cold. Anyhoo...

No workout yesterday. Here's what I ate:

Breakfast - 2 fried eggs, little salami, little Greek yogurt with blueberries, coffee with cream

Lunch - 3 carnitas tacos on corn tortilla, homemade pork rinds. We went to our favorite taqueria so I went for it and had the corn tortillas. Paid attention to how I felt after. Energy was ok, but I felt really full. Not just satisfied like I feel when I am eating in a primal way, but FULL.

Dinner - Spinach and arugala salad with bell peppers and homemade balsamic vinaigrette, protein shake. Wasn't hungry after my big lunch. Wanted to try my whey protein with just water to see if it was edible. Or drinkable, I should say. It was.

Today I went to the gym before work for the first time. I have a Christmas party over lunch and will be busy the rest of the day, so that was my only shot. And I wasn't leaving for the holiday break without deadlifting again. Just wasn't going to do it.

Squats - 2x5x85, 3x5x75 - Just didn't feel good at the 85, and didn't feel so strong at 80 either when I did that Tuesday, so I backed it off. I think I might do 75 one more time, then go back to 80.

OHP - 5x5x15. After last week's neck strain, I wanted to ease my way back in.

DL - 1x5x110. This didn't feel great either. And I couldn't do all 5 in a row. Maybe 105 next time?

Hanging leg raises - Did a variety, for a total of 50.

Negatives - 2x10 seconds. This sucked. I was struggling with grip. The bar was smooth, hands were sweaty, no chalk to be found, and this was my last exercise. Boo.

This took about 45 minutes and my hear rate was up the whole time. I'm going to do a couple bodyweight workouts while I'm away for the holidays and then get back to the weights next week.

[weirdquark]

The StrongLifts program recommends doing as many reps at whatever weight you're at as you can for the number of sets that you do (five on everything but deadlifts, where you just do one set) and only go down in weight if you can't do five reps three workouts in a row. Struggling to lift something that's closer to your max still does something for you, and I think the idea is that this causes you to get stronger faster than if you stay at the lower weights until they don't feel as hard.

On the other hand if "didn't feel good" means you think your form is bad at the higher weight, it's probably better to stay at the lower one longer to work on form because you don't want to hurt yourself.

[Damzie]

The StrongLifts program recommends doing as many reps at whatever weight you're at as you can for the number of sets that you do (five on everything but deadlifts, where you just do one set) and only go down in weight if you can't do five reps three workouts in a row. Struggling to lift something that's closer to your max still does something for you, and I think the idea is that this causes you to get stronger faster than if you stay at the lower weights until they don't feel as hard.

On the other hand if "didn't feel good" means you think your form is bad at the higher weight, it's probably better to stay at the lower one longer to work on form because you don't want to hurt yourself.

Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it.

Yeah, I do mean that I felt my form was slipping a little. After my little neck strain scare last week I think I am a little more cautious now...But I think if I do one more at 75 and feel strong, then I'll go back to 80, and it will be no time before I am back at 85. It's always hard for me to know the line between pushing hard enough and pushing too hard, but it appears from my history that I err on the latter side. So, I'm going to assume that's what I'm doing now. Also, I accidentally skipped to 70 when I was supposed to be at 60 (math fail, as pointed out above, lol) and I never went back, so I've been moving up pretty quickly.

[Damzie]

I feel a little bad about saying it, but I'm pretty glad the Christmas weekend is over. I'm always kind of glad to get back to my normal routine. And there was definitely a lot of awkward in-law extended family interaction.

I didn't log everything I ate. I allowed some cheating, but it didn't get out of hand. (I had a couple cake balls and some homemade chicken dressing. Oh and some of my mil's squash pie.) My mil pronounced my breakfasts as "weird." (I had fried eggs with spinach, arugula salad with orange slices and olive oil.)

Friday I didn't have much time to exercise, but I felt like doing something in the morning so I did the P90X Ab Ribber workout.

I did a bodyweight workout on Saturday, since I didn't have access to a gym. Here's what I did:

- 30 squats

- 7 push ups

- 40 lunges

- 20 incline push ups

- 10 inverse rows (kitchen table)

- 35 sec. plank

- 20 incline push ups

- 10 inverse rows

- 30 sec. side planks

- 30 squats

- Sun salutation with 2 chaturangas and 30 sec. downward dog

- 30 sec hip raise yoga pose (forget the name)

- 20 second back bend (which, it turns out, hurts my back)

I rested Sunday and today because I like having two days off and my back is hurting, which is really annoying. The Ab Ripper X dumb video made it hurt I think, and then I was dumb and did that back bend pose and didn't help things.

Got back on plan for food today, and it was wonderful.

Breakfast - Protein shake (whey powder, coconut milk, coconut water, frozen berries. Had planned to do some IF after eating some garbage over the holiday, but I was hungry.

Lunch - Spinach, arugula salad with tuna, avocado, oil and vinegar

Dinner - DELICIOUS chicken thigh curry with red peppers over cauliflower rice. Had a little dark chocolate with almond butter for dessert.

So this week I plan to do my weight training Tuesday and Thursday. I'd like to add in some HIIT this week, and I'll do some lower intensity stuff on my off days.

Tuesday: Squats (75lbs), inverse rows, bench press (55 pounds), Romanian dead lifts (I was incorrectly calling these good nights before, going for 65 pounds), plank crawlers (not sure what these are really called, I do a plank and alternate bringing my knees up to my elbows).

Thursday: Squats (80 lbs), negatives, OHP (17.5 lbs), dead lifts (105 lbs), mountain climbers.

Saturday: Sprints

Did some food prep for the week tonight. Fried a pound of bacon for starters. Cut up some vegetables. We have leftover ham and turkey from our holiday meal. I'm definitely thinking of some Western Omelets and Chef Salads this week. Have I mentioned how much I love this way of eating?

[ETFnerd]

...so I did the P90X Ab Ribber workout.

The secrets start spilling out slowly...

The holidays are sometimes a setback in terms of diet, but they are also an opportunity to reconnect with family and reinforce bonds with loved ones. As such, even if my diet slips a little (as it did last week when I ate over 3K kcal ovcer my expenditure last week), I work hard for most of the year, so I relax and try to spend time thanking people who really love me. As you get more comfortable in your newfound lifestyle, hopefully you'll be able to spend less time regretting a couple of cake balls.

[Sloth the Enduring]

ETF, you are wiser than your nerdee doing, Spandex wearing, Zorro persona would suggest. I've had a tough fitness month, but I'm not feeling bad about it because it was due to my taking care of the family and I'm not going to let it kill my momentum.

Damzie, my in-laws think I'm weird too. There's lots of hard work on your log. Good job. That plank crawler thing is tough, I think it's called spiders.

[Damzie]

The secrets start spilling out slowly...

The holidays are sometimes a setback in terms of diet, but they are also an opportunity to reconnect with family and reinforce bonds with loved ones. As such, even if my diet slips a little (as it did last week when I ate over 3K kcal ovcer my expenditure last week), I work hard for most of the year, so I relax and try to spend time thanking people who really love me. As you get more comfortable in your newfound lifestyle, hopefully you'll be able to spend less time regretting a couple of cake balls.

I don't regret the cake balls one bit! It was a planned splurge. I only make those things once a year, so I figure it's safe to have them that often! I think the holidays can be a danger if you splurge from November through the New Year, but I don't worry too much about splurging on Thanksgiving Day and on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Three days is not going to get me off track.

Sloth - Thanks for the encouragement! I am working hard and loving it! And we definitely all have times when we can't give our fitness the attention we would like to. All that matters is whether you let it discourage you or whether you get back on the horse. And it sounds like you're making the right decision!

[positivelyrob]

I am impressed with anyone that can do the P90X Ab Ripper workout. I used to do it 3 times a week but it always puts too much strain on my lower back. Some people don't like Cardio X but for a quick workout if you really go for it, I think it's a nice boost for a day.

In terms of muscle gain, I've read that it takes about 6 weeks of non-activity to really start losing those gains, so don't sweat getting sick.

We're about to have a baby, so I'm planning on missing some workouts. Sleep deprivations is a type of workout, I think.

As a fellow lawyer, I'm happy you find a legal job that works for you. I'm satisfied with mine.

[Damzie]

I am impressed with anyone that can do the P90X Ab Ripper workout. I used to do it 3 times a week but it always puts too much strain on my lower back. Some people don't like Cardio X but for a quick workout if you really go for it, I think it's a nice boost for a day.

In terms of muscle gain, I've read that it takes about 6 weeks of non-activity to really start losing those gains, so don't sweat getting sick.

We're about to have a baby, so I'm planning on missing some workouts. Sleep deprivations is a type of workout, I think.

As a fellow lawyer, I'm happy you find a legal job that works for you. I'm satisfied with mine.

Congratulations on the baby! That's very exciting! Hopefully we'll have kids someday soon, and the sleep deprivation is something I do not look forward to.

Yeah, I think I'm giving up on the Ab Ribber X. I don't need it, I just did it for shits and giggles. I might try out the Cardio X again when I have a burst of energy I need to do something with. I kind of forgot about it.

Two satisfied lawyers? It can't be! I had to give up a lot of money, but it was worth it. My stress level is manageable and we're making ends meet.

[Damzie]

I was so excited to get back to my barbell today after a few days off! In general, felt pretty strong today. Here's what I did...

Squats - 5x5x80 - I felt like my form wasn't great at 85, so I wanted to see if I could kill it at 75 or 80 and then go back up. I killed it at 80. Heading back for 85 next time.

BP - 5x5x55 - It was almost impossible to eek out the 5th rep the 3rd through 5th sets. But I got it up there. Not that I've ever had tremendous strength anywhere, but upper body has always been super weak.

DL - 1x5x110 - Wanted to stay here and try to do the 1x5 without breaking in between like I had to before. I got to 1x4 without breaking. Had to take a few seconds before the 5th rep. Wasn't initially planning to DL at all today, but I just really wanted to!

Inverse bodyweight rows - 3x10. I was running low on time, so thought I'd go for higher reps, fewer sets to mix it up.

Ran out of time before I could do my core work. I'll do that at home tonight.

Food today has been yummy. I love food. So much.

Breakfast - 3 egg scramble with green peppers and bacon, chamomile tea with honey

Pre-workout - Protein shake

Lunch - Spinach, arugula salad with bacon, tomato, avocado, and olive oil

Snack - Plan on having blueberries and almonds

Dinner - Plan on having coconut milk curry chicken thighs over cauliflower rice (leftover from last night). Maybe some fresh pineapple for dessert.

[ETFnerd]

Looks like I keep inferring stuff from your posts and end up generally with egg(whites) on my face. Glad things are going well.

Pre-workout - Protein shake

One question: I have a lot of trouble keeping my protein shake in my stomach when I have it pre-workout. Have you found a way to keep it down?

[positivelyrob]

I was so excited to get back to my barbell today after a few days off! In general, felt pretty strong today. Here's what I did...

Squats - 5x5x80 - I felt like my form wasn't great at 85, so I wanted to see if I could kill it at 75 or 80 and then go back up. I killed it at 80. Heading back for 85 next time.

BP - 5x5x55 - It was almost impossible to eek out the 5th rep the 3rd through 5th sets. But I got it up there. Not that I've ever had tremendous strength anywhere, but upper body has always been super weak.

DL - 1x5x110 - Wanted to stay here and try to do the 1x5 without breaking in between like I had to before. I got to 1x4 without breaking. Had to take a few seconds before the 5th rep. Wasn't initially planning to DL at all today, but I just really wanted to!

Inverse bodyweight rows - 3x10. I was running low on time, so thought I'd go for higher reps, fewer sets to mix it up.

Ran out of time before I could do my core work. I'll do that at home tonight.

Food today has been yummy. I love food. So much.

Breakfast - 3 egg scramble with green peppers and bacon, chamomile tea with honey

Pre-workout - Protein shake

Lunch - Spinach, arugula salad with bacon, tomato, avocado, and olive oil

Snack - Plan on having blueberries and almonds

Dinner - Plan on having coconut milk curry chicken thighs over cauliflower rice (leftover from last night). Maybe some fresh pineapple for dessert.

I love coconut chicken curry. I'm impressed you can keep the chamomile tea down. I've never been able to enjoy the stuff. I like peppermint tea for relaxation purposes. Early Gray for get up and go purposes. Plus, my replicator is already programmed for it.

[Damzie]

One question: I have a lot of trouble keeping my protein shake in my stomach when I have it pre-workout. Have you found a way to keep it down?

I had it about an hour before my workout and that seems to work out ok. Do you put much stuff in your protein shake or is it just powder and water? My preworkout shake is just powder and water, because I know I would have problems if I put anything else in there. I tried an apple with almond butter before my workout one day and that didn't work out so well. I was burping almond butter the whole time. Lovely.

I love coconut chicken curry. I'm impressed you can keep the chamomile tea down. I've never been able to enjoy the stuff. I like peppermint tea for relaxation purposes. Early Gray for get up and go purposes. Plus, my replicator is already programmed for it.

Ha! I love chamomile tea! My mom used to give it to me when I had nightmares (she called it "Sweet Dream Tea," which actually exists now - stolen from my mommy, me thinks) so I think I just grew up on it and formed some positive associations to go along with it. I don't do much caffeine, makes my heart go pitter patter in a not good way. So I like the herbal teas and can tend to tolerate green tea as well. When I drink coffee it's decaf with full fat cream.

[ETFnerd]

Thx. I usually have 1/3 cups of skim milk/water or lately I've bumped it up to 2/2 cups of skim milk/water. To that I add 2 scoops of whey protein.

[aj_rock]

Don't mean to hijack, but definitely make sure you eat your last meal at LEAST an hour before hitting the gym

Your body responds very quickly to work stimulus, and shunts resources from some areas of your body, like your digestive system, to the ones that need it most, like your liver, lungs, and heart.

Take too much energy away from the digestive system and, well... unprocessed food is rejected from the system. I lost a few meals this way before I wised up/learned why that happens

But yeah long story short, nothing that takes a while to digest before working out. Maybe up to 15g whey with a bit of a sugary drink before hand before hand. Just things that digest quick n easy.

Carry on. That's my two cents

[Damzie]

Hijack away, no worries. Makes sense to focus on taking in things that digest quickly. My whey protein and water seems to fit the bill.

As for the battle...

Yesterday's food shaped up as I predicted except I didn't eat the pineapple for dessert. I had cheese on my homemade sesame seed/sunflower seed "crackers" as an appetizer instead. The husband and I like to have some really excellent cheeses on hand, and that's an indulgence I enjoy muchly. (The only dairy I have is full fat cream, full fat Greek yogurt, and really good cheese.) Oh, and I had my cucumbers and onions in vinegar too. I did do my core exercises at home also, since I ran out of time at the gym. 2 sets of 20 spider crawl thingies.

Today I went to the gym and did 30 minutes on the stationary bike, keeping my HR at 75%. I did 7 push-ups afterwards (my current max in one set) because I felt like it, and did some much needed leg stretches. I used those "Perfect Push-Up" things for the first time. I usually use small dumbbells because my wrists can't do push-ups with hands flat on the ground. (Need to see a doctor, think I have a cyst.) Turns out, I like the dumbbells better. Sometimes I do push-ups on my fingertips too. But whatevs, I'm just super psyched I can do push-ups now! Maybe I should do that 100 push-ups challenge thing. Ooh, that could be a six-week challenge...

Eating a little lighter today, felt like I ate a lot yesterday. A lot of bacon, a whole avocado, cheese, coconut curry. Yummy, but a lot.

Breakfast - 2 fried eggs with fresh salsa, pineapple with blueberries (I love these two fruits together so much)

Snack an hour and a half before workout - 3 stalks celery with almond butter

Lunch - Mixed green salad with tomatoes, cucumber, bell peppers, and leftover smoked turkey from Christmas dinner, with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner - TBD, but here's a hint: meat and vegetables, probably some dark chocolate for dessert.

[Damzie]

Pretty relieved it's almost Friday. That is all. On to the battle log.

Squats

5x5x85

Hell to the yeah! I went back to 80 last workout after feeling like my form was off at 85 pounds before. Today it felt strong.

Inverse bodyweight rows

Played with the height of the bar today, did 3 sets with the bar at my waist height (12, 9, 9) and then two with it low like I've been doing, where I'm almost laying on the ground at the startig position (7, 6).

Romanian Dead Lift

5x5x65

Dumbbell OHP

1x5x40- Yeah! I know this doesn't seem like much to be excited about, but OHP is the WORST.

1x8x30

2x6x30

1x5x30

If anyone is actually reading this, I may get in trouble for this. But in between my OHP sets I threw in some front and side shoulder raises using 10lb dumbbells. Three sets of fronts, two sets of sides. I just felt like hammering away at my weak-a$$ shoulders, so thought I'd go for the trifecta.

I'll be doing planks at home tonight. Think I might even through in some burpees if it's feeling like that kind of night.

Food

Breakfast - Protein shake (1 scoop whey, 1 banana, 3 frozen strawberries, coconut water)

Pre-workout snack - Hard-boiled egg and some blackberries

Lunch (post-workout) - Mixed green salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, smoked turkey, sunflower seeds, and olive oil and red wine vinegar. Sweet potato with butter and cinnamon.

Dinner - TBD.

Last night's dinner was a steak with a lot of steamed broccoli. Dessert was dark chocolate dipped in almond butter. Also had a small glass of port.

[Damzie]

Oh my gosh, this work day cannot go fast enough. I am so ready for the weekend.

So, last night I did my planks when I got home. I did 3 sets, each 45 seconds. I threw in 20 burpees and 20 mountain climbers for giggles. Then dinner was ready, so no side planks. Dinner last night was a hamburger patty with this great smoked cheese we get from a monastery, sauteed onions, and bacon, along with some yellow squash sauteed in bacon grease. Dessert was homemade whipped cream (just cream and a little vanilla) over blackberries.

Today's workout was 20 minutes on the elliptical (HR at 75% of max) and 10 minutes on the stair stepper (higher intensity). Then I snuck back in the weight room and did some bicep curls (3x8x15), french presses (3x8x20), calf raises (30 reps with 25lb dumbbells in each hand), and did a little farmer walking with 35lb dumbbells. I know, I know, isolation exercises are a waste. But I miss them a little, and didn't think they'd hurt anything. I won't be doing full body weights again until Monday.

Food today:

Breakfast: Sweet Potato Salad (sweet potato, 2 hard boiled eggs, bacon, little mayo, dill), one spear of pineapple

Pre-workout: Protein shake

Lunch: Greek yogurt with blueberries, 3 stalks celery with almond butter

If I need a snack later I'll have an avocado. Dinner will hopefuly be fish and a vegetable.

This weekend I'm going to try to go for a run, and otherwise rest. And I'm going to try not to get wasted on New Year's Eve.

Happy New Year's, Rebels!

[aj_rock]

The raises that you are oh so worried about strengthen your shoulders in an almost completely different way than OHP. So don't sweat it

[Damzie]

The raises that you are oh so worried about strengthen your shoulders in an almost completely different way than OHP. So don't sweat it

Ha! Yeah, I just figured someone might bust my chops for sneaking in some isolation exercises. But I do miss doing some of them, so I figured I'd sneak them in anyway.