A Tale Told by an Idiot

[MailmanMuscle]

You’re thinking about doing the option 2 workouts on consecutive days? That’s tough man. I’d put at least a day in between those.

My 2 cents: since you want to train 4 days per week, I would go with option A the way you laid it out. You’ll probably recover better from session to session.

As far as fat loss, I’m obviously a huge proponent of using daily steps as a contributing factor. You mentioned something about walking more at work - good idea. And if you have a sedentary job, don’t just walk but stand as much as possible. Get one of those elevated desks if you can. Stay on your feet and off your ass as much as possible all day, at work and at home. It’s not a magic pill, but over time it adds up, especially if you tighten up your diet a bit. FWIW Stan Efferding has been pushing an idea of doing 10 minute walks at least 3 times a day, typically after meals. His theory: attaching some walking to an activity you’re already doing (eating) might help you make it a habit.

[alek]

Hat tip to alek and JohnHelton sharing that DDS video. This is a set up I thought might work with the ideas in that video. I don't have a lot of options for hypertrophy movements since I just have a home gym, especially for legs. But who cares about legs, right? I don't think I could maintain something like this while losing weight but it seems like it could be fun. I'll try to write out some kind of plan for my training for the foreseeable future. I don't have a bodyweight goal yet, but, given my height, to get under 25 bmi I need to weight less than 160. That seems like a lot, so I'll just try to take it a week or month at a time and see when and where I think I want to stop.

Thanks really go to John; I just hopped on the bandwagon.

Can you do split squats or lunges with the equipment you have?

I remember some videos of you a couple years ago when you were doing the tonnage thing, and you were looking jacked. What did you weigh then?

[EricK]

You’re thinking about doing the option 2 workouts on consecutive days? That’s tough man. I’d put at least a day in between those.

My 2 cents: since you want to train 4 days per week, I would go with option A the way you laid it out. You’ll probably recover better from session to session.

As far as fat loss, I’m obviously a huge proponent of using daily steps as a contributing factor. You mentioned something about walking more at work - good idea. And if you have a sedentary job, don’t just walk but stand as much as possible. Get one of those elevated desks if you can. Stay on your feet and off your ass as much as possible all day, at work and at home. It’s not a magic pill, but over time it adds up, especially if you tighten up your diet a bit. FWIW Stan Efferding has been pushing an idea of doing 10 minute walks at least 3 times a day, typically after meals. His theory: attaching some walking to an activity you’re already doing (eating) might help you make it a habit.

You're probably right about the template... Unless I went really light on the lower body movements Tue and Thu...?

I definitely think walking is a big help. I had a lot of success in the past with that, I just didn't keep the weight off...

Hat tip to alek and JohnHelton sharing that DDS video. This is a set up I thought might work with the ideas in that video. I don't have a lot of options for hypertrophy movements since I just have a home gym, especially for legs. But who cares about legs, right? I don't think I could maintain something like this while losing weight but it seems like it could be fun. I'll try to write out some kind of plan for my training for the foreseeable future. I don't have a bodyweight goal yet, but, given my height, to get under 25 bmi I need to weight less than 160. That seems like a lot, so I'll just try to take it a week or month at a time and see when and where I think I want to stop.

Thanks really go to John; I just hopped on the bandwagon.

Can you do split squats or lunges with the equipment you have?

I remember some videos of you a couple years ago when you were doing the tonnage thing, and you were looking jacked. What did you weigh then?

I was thinking about lunges, but...*puke.gif*... Could be an option. Not super worried about leg hypertrophy, especially if I'm going to run a lot, which I hope to do. I just have to be very attentive and not be afraid to pull back a lot to avoid involuntary quitting...

Back in the 5M craziness, I weighed 207-208. I also noticed I could do like 6 sets of 10 with 225 on the bench and sets of 12 with 275 on squat. I was also a lot more philosophical and less cynical...

Random Thoughts:

Time doesn't grow; it only fades away. If you're waiting until you have more time to do something you want to do, keep in mind that you will never again have as much time as you do right now. Making those you love feel loved, learning to play an instrument, reading more, are all excellent ways to spend your most finite resource.

[DCR]

Back in the 5M craziness, I weighed 207-208. I also noticed I could do like 6 sets of 10 with 225 on the bench and sets of 12 with 275 on squat.

Jesus Christ. That’s about what I weigh. I can bench 225 for one set if ten, and it’s @11. I might be able to squat 275 for one set of twelve, with a gun to my head. Probably not. You must have been fucking swole.

[EricK]

Back in the 5M craziness, I weighed 207-208. I also noticed I could do like 6 sets of 10 with 225 on the bench and sets of 12 with 275 on squat.

Jesus Christ. That’s about what I weigh. I can bench 225 for one set if ten, and it’s @11. I might be able to squat 275 for one set of twelve, with a gun to my head. Probably not. You must have been fucking swole.

Haha, I would say I was thicc with a nice insulating layer for cuddling. I'd love to be that strong again, but it would probably be hard if I lose weight effectively...

Here's a video of the culmination of that year. I take off the sweatshirt for the bench and deadlifts so you can get an idea what I looked like.

Been thinking about what @MailmanMuscle said re: consecutive days. I think I could probably swing a M-W-F-S thing; making Wednesday my heavy(-er) deadlift day and make the Saturday session more about hypertrophy...?

[EricK]

Mon, 2/12/24

202.8 (not bad for a weekend...)

Guitar:
1:30
-Someone to Lava; felt good this time. I was able to sing it consistently. I went through it several times, even played along to various videos for a bit of variety challenge.

Squat / chin:
W/u - 135 x 8 / BW x 10, 225 x 8 / BW x 10
S - 275 x 5 / BW x 10, 315 x 2 (belt) / BW x 10, 295 x 3 / BW x 10

Bench / curl:
W/u - 135 x 12 / 82 x 10, 185 x 8 / 82 x 10

Kinda dragging ass this morning so I didn't finish. I'm going to try and finish tomorrow.

Had my patented orange juice and chocolate whey for the first time in a loooong time. Still delicious. My wife shuddered.

[DCR]

Had my patented orange juice and chocolate whey for the first time in a loooong time. Still delicious. My wife shuddered.

Wuuuuuut

[EricK]

Had my patented orange juice and chocolate whey for the first time in a loooong time. Still delicious. My wife shuddered.

Wuuuuuut

I seem to get this response from you a lot. Haha

Seriously though I do like it. It started back when I used to make smoothies for gainzZz. I would freeze a couple Greek yogurt cups (strawberry and blueberry fruit on the bottom kind) a frozen banana a scoop of chocolate whey (I've never liked vanilla whey) a bunch of ice and 8-12 oz of orange juice. It was big smoothie but I loved it. Eventually I got too lazy to keep making it (and realized it was probably too much anyway), but still wanted a PWO shake. I knew you need creatine, protein and carbs, so I just dropped everything but the chocolate whey and orange juice (and creatine, obvs). Quick, easy, complete, delicious. #Comeatmebro

[DCR]

Had my patented orange juice and chocolate whey for the first time in a loooong time. Still delicious. My wife shuddered.

Wuuuuuut

I seem to get this response from you a lot. Haha

Seriously though I do like it. It started back when I used to make smoothies for gainzZz. I would freeze a couple Greek yogurt cups (strawberry and blueberry fruit on the bottom kind) a frozen banana a scoop of chocolate whey (I've never liked vanilla whey) a bunch of ice and 8-12 oz of orange juice. It was big smoothie but I loved it. Eventually I got too lazy to keep making it (and realized it was probably too much anyway), but still wanted a PWO shake. I knew you need creatine, protein and carbs, so I just dropped everything but the chocolate whey and orange juice (and creatine, obvs). Quick, easy, complete, delicious. #Comeatmebro

Haha I don't recall too many of my reactions but know that that's a positive one. I read all of the logs but those I look most forward to are the ones in which a dude has fun - or useful, or both - idiosyncrasies. Don't be surprised if I try this shake soon.

Vanilla whey is an abomination.

[EricK]

Don't be surprised if I try this shake soon.

[broseph]

Vanilla whey definitely has an odd flavor. I think I used to use plain unflavored whey plus some Splenda with blended fruit smoothies.

I've done chocolate whey with frozen strawberries though, and that's pretty good.

[EricK]

Tue, 2/13/24

201.7

Guitar:
1:00
-more good playthroughs of Someone to Lava with the lyrics. Some of the pauses at the beginning or end of a measure still mess me up a little, but I was able to play the song without the tutorial video.
-learning Bon Jovi's Dead or Alive because it's a fun song with some iconic riffs.

Front squat:
H - 185 x 8 x 3

Bench:
W/u - 135 x 8, 225 x 5
S - bench / curl: [ 245 x 3 / 82 x 10 ] x 2, [ 235 x 3 / 82 x 10 ] x 2
H - 185 x 12 x 2, 185 x 10, curl - 82 x 17

Decided the drop to 235 because the second set of 245 was about as close to an RPE 10 as I wanted to go. First set with 185 seemed to easy for hypertrophy, but second and 3rd set really per my concerns to rest.

Wanted to see what my AMRAP for curl was. 17 tells me I should increase the weight a little ?

Treadmill:
30:00, 382 cal, 2.88 mi

Might use the set up on purpose...

[MailmanMuscle]

What vanilla whey are you all getting? That’s my default from almost any brand, but I’ve found 2 in particular - Optimum’s Gold Standard Whey, and Nutricost - to be especially versatile for mixing flavors from other ingredients. There was an excellent isolate that Walmart used to sell, but I haven’t seen it lately.

@EricK If I remember your MTTF split correctly, I would go
Monday - heavy
Tuesday - light(er)
Thursday - light(er)
Friday - heavy

I think that would give you one heavy squat and one heavy deadlift per week. If you go MWFS, I’d do the same thing with that split.

[EricK]

Thanks again, @MailmanMuscle!! I'm still a little fluid about the template but I feel better about this week so far.

Wed, 2/14/24

201

Happy Valentine's day! I need @mgil to leave an upside down heart emoji followed by an eggplant and the water drops...

Guitar:
1:00
-not super focused, but played through Someone to Lava a few times and worked on Sitting On the Dock of the Bay because my G to B7 transition is weak again

Press / BB row:
135 x 8 / 12 x 4

Deadlift / dip:
W/u - 225 x 8 / BW x 12
S - 315 x 5 / BW x 12, [ 345 x 3 / BW x 12 ] x 3 (all DL o/u grip)
H - RDL / LTE: [ 275 x 6 / 82 x 6 ] x 2; a little heavier than I wanted, probably drop to 255 to make sure I can get 8+ reps, but keep LTE where it is

Should have added:
My 3 year old came down again this morning, which is progress from just screaming at the top of the stairs...and watched me lift a little. He kept asking if I was done after every set and when I said no, he asked why..I said, "Because I want to get strong."

He emphatically replied, "You are!" Bless his heart.

I said, "I want to get stronger."

"You are!"

"I want to get stronger than I am."

Pause. "You am!"

Haha

[MailmanMuscle]

Should have added:
My 3 year old came down again this morning, which is progress from just screaming at the top of the stairs...and watched me lift a little. He kept asking if I was done after every set and when I said no, he asked why..I said, "Because I want to get strong."

He emphatically replied, "You are!" Bless his heart.

I said, "I want to get stronger."

"You are!"

"I want to get stronger than I am."

Pause. "You am!"

Haha

That’s awesome, and way too cute.

[mgil]

[EricK]

Mmmm

Thu, 2/15/24

200.5

Guitar:
1:00
-Lacked focus again, but the good news is that I play Someone to Lava for the family for Valentine's Day last night. I was really happy to share that with my family. My wife looked up the words and sang along. We weren't always in synch, the song has some awkward pauses and tempo changes on various lyrics throughout the song which would require rehearsals to do it justice, but we made it work and had fun. My 3 year old couldn't decide if he was fascinated by the song, wanted to take the ukulele from me and play it himself, or if he was too embarrassed to participate. My 8 year tried to sing along but mostly only knew the chorus well enough. Still, super glad I did it and embracing the fact that this makes me a total dork dad.


I actually wanted to work out again this morning. I've had a nice post-workout high the past few days that have made my work day more bearable. But I thought it might be wiser to take a rest today and get a good session in tomorrow and maybe Saturday. My tricepticons are a little tender, which is very normal from whenever I start LTEs, but I like that exercise and intend to continue them. Tomorrow will be more bench strength and hypertrophy, with chins and curls and some squat hypertrophy focused lifting. Since I've switched pretty much completely to high bar for the past couple years and I get good knee flexion, I might just do those instead of front squat but with a lighter load, say 245 for sets of 8+.

Good times.

[DCR]

some squat hypertrophy focused lifting. Since I've switched pretty much completely to high bar for the past couple years and I get good knee flexion, I might just do those instead of front squat but with a lighter load, say 245 for sets of 8+.

Good times.

Sounds like it.

Also your dork dad story was great. That's happy stuff.

[augeleven]

the good news is that I play Someone to Lava for the family for Valentine's Day last night.

This is excellent. Having the fam join in is a dream.

[EricK]

Thanks guys! It was fun. Little stressful at first (stage fright?) but glad I did it.

I did not finish the week training as planned and even skipped this morning. My parents came into town for my big 4-0 and we had a fun little weekend that left me more tired (and well fed/bloated) than usual.

Looking forward to a few "normal" weeks to get my act together.