ixaera keeps on going~

[Jord]

Did you start a body building program when I wasn't looking?  

[ixaera]

2 hours ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

Did you start a body building program when I wasn't looking?  

 

And am shit at updating about it, too! It's sort of a fat loss bodybuilding thing, I don't have much to lose, but having lost 30 lbs a couple of years ago, I promised myself I wouldn't let it get beyond 5 lbs (though this has sort of graduated to a fat% instead, it's hard to grade that accurately, so I'm just estimating on the scale weight to get the fat%) because the process is so long and difficult and honestly I hated it, so I'm trying very hard to stop in its tracks anything that looks like more than a certain amount of fat gain.

 

Obviously, some is expected with strength gain because you can't tell your little food particles "ok all 100% of you go be new muscle ok" and some are wily buggers who go off to be fat instead, jerks

 

Anyway, I am not big and I don't have much fat to lose, so I'm secretly hoping I don't need to do the whole 12 weeks to get where I'm going? We shall see :3 Then! Back to strength focus with a minor in bodybuilding!

[ixaera]

On that note, I should provide an update huh

 

This program is 6 hour-long days a week (ugh) and there's a nutrition aspect, but I've modified it a bit. It uses carb cycling to a more extreme degree than I would prefer. I don't work well under 30g of fat, and most of the days are 20g, nope. My preferred fat range is pretty large, 30g-60g seems totally A-OK, so there IS plenty of carb-cycling room, if I want to sit down and figure that out.

 

I usually feel best on average with a 35/35 split on carbs & fat, % wise, so that's my baseline. Because my TDEE is comparatively low (desk job, no active hobbies besides weight lifting) without 10k steps or something to offset things (I'm going to add it back in because of the health factor of Staying Off My Butt, but the fatigue right now is high, hoping tiny adjustments will help. I did hit 10k steps yesterday though, incidentally, and I feel pretty peppy today), there's not a WHOLE bunch of room to work with. Maybe a banana's worth of room? Take 100 cals off of fat on a workout day, throw it at a banana? That's about 11g of fat to nix in exchange. Hmm. That means a "high" carb day is 125g if I make 30g fat the floor lol

OK. I already know that works for me feels-wise. Guess I should work on that level of planning then. LORT.

 

Anyway, the actual work outs involve the big 3 (and bodybuilding accessories to literal fatigue), and I've done the occasional weekly trade of DB shoulder presses for OHP instead, but the cut is affecting me for reals. Throwing in an extra 100 cals sometimes if stuff just feels so behind recovery that NOPES are happening. Stuff is moving at the expected rate, though, and that's motivating. Tired of feeling weaker than usual and definitely in a "let's just get this DONE" mode, which is less exciting re: updates than strength building.

 

Workouts are mostly hypertrophy, with supersets thrown in liberally. Not so many circuits, but they're sprinkled in in later weeks. Honestly, I've been skipping the HIIT because I HATE HIIT and also I'm real tired at the end of the workouts where it's supposed to happen.

[calanthrophy]

20 hours ago, ixaera said:

Obviously, some is expected with strength gain because you can't tell your little food particles "ok all 100% of you go be new muscle ok" and some are wily buggers who go off to be fat instead, jerks

 

I've tried having a good long talk with my food about how I want it to grow up to be muscle, not fat like all the bad kids. It just doesn't always listen.

[ixaera]

So, let's talk about this bodybuilding program. Yesterday was day 7. "Posterior" day which is code for mostly hamstring and lower back. My lower back has been handling RDLs and extensions pretty fine, but yesterday it didn't like the lower back extension machine. It's not injured today, just tweaky, but this plus the fact that these workouts are SO LONG and very inconvenient have me wondering if I shouldn't just rewrite it to suit me.

 

Is this a stupid idea?

 

There's sometimes a fine line between "fixing something that's broken" and "not sticking to anything for long enough" I guess

 

To expound on what I'd change for better clarity: Right now the workouts are so long and I have to split them b/c my gym doesn't open til 7. This was mostly fine back when it was 4x a week, but 6x a week means workouts before AND after work every day. Which is rotten for morale. It includes HIIT which I super hate so I've been skipping anyway.

 

What I would do is have 4x a week again, each workout beginning with a big BB exercise (probably still hypertrophy for now, though), then moving on to one of the supporting muscles for big hypertrophy circuits/fatigue. Then my steady state cardio 3x a week as usual and a goal of 10k steps a day. So, still bodybuilding, still cutting, but more on my own terms?

 

Note: If my back bounces back quickly, yes, this does include some version of the deadlift, even if just a rack pull.

 

23 minutes ago, calanthrophy said:

 

I've tried having a good long talk with my food about how I want it to grow up to be muscle, not fat like all the bad kids. It just doesn't always listen.

 

Food is basically like a stubborn teenager sometimes like this!

[Jord]

26 minutes ago, ixaera said:

So, let's talk about this bodybuilding program. Yesterday was day 7. "Posterior" day which is code for mostly hamstring and lower back. My lower back has been handling RDLs and extensions pretty fine, but yesterday it didn't like the lower back extension machine. It's not injured today, just tweaky, but this plus the fact that these workouts are SO LONG and very inconvenient have me wondering if I shouldn't just rewrite it to suit me.

 

Is this a stupid idea?

 

There's sometimes a fine line between "fixing something that's broken" and "not sticking to anything for long enough" I guess

 

To expound on what I'd change for better clarity: Right now the workouts are so long and I have to split them b/c my gym doesn't open til 7. This was mostly fine back when it was 4x a week, but 6x a week means workouts before AND after work every day. Which is rotten for morale. It includes HIIT which I super hate so I've been skipping anyway.

 

What I would do is have 4x a week again, each workout beginning with a big BB exercise (probably still hypertrophy for now, though), then moving on to one of the supporting muscles for big hypertrophy circuits/fatigue. Then my steady state cardio 3x a week as usual and a goal of 10k steps a day. So, still bodybuilding, still cutting, but more on my own terms?

 

 

At that point why not just write your own program? it's not really modifying a program so much as writing your own. I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing, you can make a lot of progress that way as long as you feel comfortable with your programming skills. And there are a lot of resources online for learning how to write programs. 

Also, do you have the financial ability to hire an online coach to write a program for you? 

[ixaera]

2 hours ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

At that point why not just write your own program? it's not really modifying a program so much as writing your own. I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing, you can make a lot of progress that way as long as you feel comfortable with your programming skills. And there are a lot of resources online for learning how to write programs. 

Also, do you have the financial ability to hire an online coach to write a program for you? 

 

Is true. Driving me at this moment is the knowledge that 6x a week spread out over the day like this isn't sustainable. I DO feel comfortable writing my own stuff, because in general I understand what a program is trying to do (I think). Probably better than your average box gym PT, but not as good as someone with Real Credentials.

 

If I had money, I would hire someone to write me something. The person who wrote this program has a fairly inexpensive service like that (but no current openings), and I slightly disagree with his programming methods. Not completely, but enough that if I did hire him with the requests for 4x strength and 3x cardio I may still not like the program enough to stick to it. In my dream world, I'd hire megsquats, but that lady is mega-expensive, even for her non-personalized programs.

 

What some of this boils down to is my work schedule change. It really is making my gym life a mess, because the barbell is 20 minutes in the opposite direction of work from my house, and any program I'm going to want to do has a barbell exercise in it at LEAST once a workout, and the gym doesn't open til 7, giving me about 30-45 min max. It's not enough. :/ I haven't heard back from both times I requested a 9-6 schedule, which would solve the issue entirely.

 

Not really sure what to do at this point. I can either be 30 min late to work, or just hope I get used to doing my preferred workout in two chunks. Or give up the second chunk. With a very sad look on my face. I dunno yall

 

Spoiler

The solution may be to apply for another job

It's downright appalling how my schedule has been effed with about 5 times since this acquisition. Don't they know people have lives?????????????????????????????

 

[CourtnieMarie]

so you're currently doing all high rep to fatigue stuff ~1 - 1.5hrs per day for 6 days per week? (who even needs HIIT after that?!)

how long have you been doing the program?

 

you want to do high rep to fatigue stuff ~30 - 45 mins per day for 4 days per week. and add steady state cardio 3x per week if I understand correctly.

 

If we round down, you're currently doing 6 hours/week of BB cardio (haha). Your changes would bring that down to 2 hrs per week plus however long your steady state cardio sessions run. even if each of those sessions were an hour long, you would appear to be doing "less work" with your option. absolutely not saying one is better than the other but it will be a significant difference I think.

[ixaera]

Yup, it's more work than I'm used to. 45 min is closer to the truth, 30 min just accounts for the times when getting out of bed was hard and I'm 10 min or so late to the gym (or the owner is...)

 

Plus, on the 4th day (or 1st, depending on how you look at it) I can workout as long as I want, unrestricted by time. I usually do at least an hour on Sundays. Plus, before the schedule change, I was doing about an hour on weekdays, so it was about 4-4.5 hours a week of strength, with about 1-1.5 hours steady state. The schedule change has PINCHED ME in the training, people.

 

I've been considering possibilities to compensate... like, if I go for steady state on off days, perhaps some of my non-BB work can be done before that in the gym. It prevents dressing out 2x in a day anyway. vOv

OR I could check in with my boss again about coming in at 9 ._. worst that can do is force him to say no?

[Jord]

17 hours ago, ixaera said:

 

OR I could check in with my boss again about coming in at 9 ._. worst that can do is force him to say no?

 

OR what if he says YES!

[ixaera]

On 9/8/2017 at 10:05 AM, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

OR what if he says YES!

 

I asked again and he said his request hadn't been answered yet and he's re-asking for me, so we'll see.

 

Meanwhile, I'm looking around at work at 8:45 and seeing no one most of the time besides me, so I'm trying to get past my somewhat lawful good nature* to just come in at 9 when I work out anyway. (Are they going to fire EVERYONE? probably not, so why am I the only one doing this)

 

*I am probably somewhere between lawful and neutral in this regard, since there's plenty of rules I have no qualms breaking, all of them super stupid rules with negligible consequences.

[Urgan]

4 minutes ago, ixaera said:

 

I asked again and he said his request hadn't been answered yet and he's re-asking for me, so we'll see.

 

Meanwhile, I'm looking around at work at 8:45 and seeing no one most of the time besides me, so I'm trying to get past my somewhat lawful good nature* to just come in at 9 when I work out anyway. (Are they going to fire EVERYONE? probably not, so why am I the only one doing this)

 

*I am probably somewhere between lawful and neutral in this regard, since there's plenty of rules I have no qualms breaking, all of them super stupid rules with negligible consequences.

 

A coworker and I had a conversation like this at work yesterday when most people had left early. If WE came in late and left early with no notice, our butts would be out of a job. I imagine this may be the subconscious conversation going on in your head, too, lol.

[ixaera]

2 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

A coworker and I had a conversation like this at work yesterday when most people had left early. If WE came in late and left early with no notice, our butts would be out of a job. I imagine this may be the subconscious conversation going on in your head, too, lol.

 

YEP. Only, at this point our whole team feels insecure enough that I'm questioning why this matters to me.

 

Meanwhile, I have re-written the program to my own needs, keeping CourtnieMarie's points in mind!

 

I will now be at Good Gym 4x per week, 2x upper, 2x lower. I may overstay on weekdays and be late to work, but we're trying to make that okay.

Tues/Thurs will be combo cardio/circuit days. One circuit focuses lower & shoulders, the other focuses arms and abs.

Saturdays will be active rest, 30 min steady state cardio.

 

I expect the circuits to take around 30 minutes to complete all sets, so we're looking at 5 hours of strength work and 1.5 hours of steady state cardio, with 1 hour of strength work being cardio-like.

 

My back is improving, but didn't bounce back as well as I'd hoped, so I'm leaving RDLs/deads out of this first set of 3 weeks and re-visiting later.

 

[ixaera]

Today's workout went okay, except for the rando douchenozzle who stole the cable machine between my sets what

(in his slight defense, I wasn't using an attachment and it's possible he hadn't noticed my LONG SUPERSET right before that, we'll never know--he wasn't working in, there's a whole other side he could have used, which I then switched to and I hope he feels bad :|)

 

Warmed up shoulders with shoulder detach stretches and bicep stretches

and this 3x8 of seated db press of 30 lbs

 

Then dug into OHP, which I set no new personal bests on, but did repeat one.

 

2x3 45 lbs

1x7 50 lbs

1x5 52.5 lbs

1x3 55.5 lbs

1x1 58.5 lbs

2x8 45 lbs

1x6 45 lbs

1x5 45 lbs

ok maybe 4x8 finisher was ambitious. Did what I could.

 

Superset 1

DB Incline Press

4x10 40 lbs

Hanging Knee Raise

x15

 

Superset 2

EZ Bar Skullcrushers

4x20 14 lbs (empty bar, can raise this next time)

Seated DB Curls

4x20 8 lbs each hand (harder than it sounds D:)

 

Superset 3

One Arm Cable Tri Extensions

4x20 20 lbs

One Arm Cable Bicep Curls

2x10 20 lbs 1x12 20 lbs 1x15 20 lbs

(Haven't done these, was trying to find the best stance, resulted in rep weirdness, but I think I got it for next time)

 

So tired

And tonight I have to navigate a family dinner, where refusing cake gets you the crazy eye

 

[Sloth the Enduring]

To be fair, cake is good. Good luck with the crazy eye.


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[Urgan]

Science has shown the crazy eye is completely incapable of causing harm. Use YOUR best judgment, not somebody else's. 

[Jord]

18 hours ago, ixaera said:

Today's workout went okay, except for the rando douchenozzle who stole the cable machine between my sets what

(in his slight defense, I wasn't using an attachment and it's possible he hadn't noticed my LONG SUPERSET right before that, we'll never know--he wasn't working in, there's a whole other side he could have used, which I then switched to and I hope he feels bad :|)

 

I am trying to picture you grabbing onto the bare cable with no attachment... 

 

 

18 hours ago, ixaera said:

 

Warmed up shoulders with shoulder detach stretches and bicep stretches

and this 3x8 of seated db press of 30 lbs

 

Then dug into OHP, which I set no new personal bests on, but did repeat one.

 

2x3 45 lbs

1x7 50 lbs

1x5 52.5 lbs

1x3 55.5 lbs

1x1 58.5 lbs

2x8 45 lbs

1x6 45 lbs

1x5 45 lbs

ok maybe 4x8 finisher was ambitious. Did what I could.

 

that's still a lot of OHP reps

 

18 hours ago, ixaera said:

 

Superset 3

One Arm Cable Tri Extensions

4x20 20 lbs

One Arm Cable Bicep Curls

2x10 20 lbs 1x12 20 lbs 1x15 20 lbs

(Haven't done these, was trying to find the best stance, resulted in rep weirdness, but I think I got it for next time)

 

starting a new exercise is weird. to even sort it out in one session is fabulous!

 

18 hours ago, ixaera said:

So tired

And tonight I have to navigate a family dinner, where refusing cake gets you the crazy eye

 

 

This is where I usually plead that if I eat one more bite I'll puke on them. That usually works for me.  How did it go?

[ixaera]

2 hours ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

I am trying to picture you grabbing onto the bare cable with no attachment... 

 

Bahaha. It had the carabinger thingo, I was just grabbing that. However, it was a little too tough on my hands so I swapped out for a handle toward the end.

 

2 hours ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

that's still a lot of OHP reps

 

I WILL GET YOU, SHOULDERS

 

2 hours ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

This is where I usually plead that if I eat one more bite I'll puke on them. That usually works for me.  How did it go?

 

The nutrition plan I'm following has 4 "refeed" days that are 50% more calories. They're supposed to occur every 4th week. I saw that they had made Snicker cake (think like a chocolate dulce de leche chocolate chip type thing and you're almost there) and I decided I'd subtract a refeed day and use one for that Snicker cake b/c that's one of my favorite things and so worth it.

 

Today was glutes & hams, and stoner guy (a regular whose name I don't know, so he's stoner guy because he looks, well, like a stoner, sorry stoner guy) kept making eye contact, so I'm pretending I look good today. (Or maybe he needed help with something, or maybe I had a spider on my face, who knows.) I get there and they start blasting loud country music. I do not like most country music, nearly all of it really, with certain exceptions that they'd never play in a loud music gym anyway, so the big headphones came out.

 

Barbell Squats

1x10 45 lbs

3x12 65 lbs

 

DB Bulgarian Split Squats

These sucked today

4x8 40 lbs (20 each hand)

wanted to do like 12 reps but my legs were having none of it

 

Superset 1

DB Glute Bridges

1x12 20 lbs

1x12 25 lbs

1x15 30 lbs

1x20 30 lbs

New exercise, feeling out the right weight. Last set was pretty close to right.

 

Hanging Knee Raises

4x15

 

Superset 2

Cable Kick Backs

3x20 20 lbs

1x20 30 lbs

 

Cable Face Pulls

2x20 20 lbs <--wrong weight oops, thought it felt easy

2x20 30 lbs

 

(Not a superset)

Seated Leg Curls

4x20 40 lbs

Really frackin hard

[ixaera]

Hey look I made a challenge!

 

[ixaera]

Welp, hams and glutes day hit the target. Definitely a bullseye. Sore glutes reporting in for duty

[Jord]

3 minutes ago, ixaera said:

Welp, hams and glutes day hit the target. Definitely a bullseye. Sore glutes reporting in for duty

 

I love sore glutes, mainly because it rarely happens. Are you celebrating or wincing? 

[ixaera]

1 minute ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

I love sore glutes, mainly because it rarely happens. Are you celebrating or wincing? 

 

[ixaera]

Did 30 min steady state while reading after work, then circuit 1, which was really light on the cardio actually (and I think fine by me?)

 

Banded Clamshells (light band) x12

Ab Wheel x9

Reverse Hypers (bodyweight) x20

Dead Hangs 20 seconds

all x5

No sweat, literally. I may add something sweatier to it? Not sure yet. Nothing too glutey, since not enough recovery from the day before yet, and nothing too chest/arm-y because bench the next morning... but maybe some jump squats or burpees just to get the heart rate up?

 

If it looks like a back rehab circuit, well it should.

Clamshells revealed a weird imbalance. My right side does NOT have as much strength as my left side. By a noticeable amount. Good to know. (Also odd, I am right-everything dominant.) It also revealed that I'm FREAKING weak at clamshells.

 

[Sloth the Enduring]

PT and chiro prescribed clamshells and fire hydrants for me, but they're sucky to do. I hope they help you out.


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[Jord]

I love love love clamshells. My glutes fire like crazy. I get a good glute burn with these. <3 

 

they ARE surprisingly difficult.