Tuesday, October 9, 2012

New Workout Log on TNation


Ok well I had my fun over at the Bull City Barbell club, but to be honest I just couldn’t justify spending $160 a month on just showing up and lifting with other people, especially when I have a program that I can follow on my own.  I’m pretty disciplined with this stuff, I don’t need other people to motivate me anymore, results give me enough moto on my own, at least for now while I’m a noob.

Speaking of program, I’ve been doing Starting strength over the past month, and I wonder if I started out too light.  It also makes me realize how effen’ weak I am right now, as well as back when I was crossfitting.  Actually, I was aware almost four years ago that my numbers were pretty weak according to the starting strength guidelines, I guess I just never realized that I was spinning my wheels.

So it’s back to working out at the Duke gym.  I actually like working out there because I get to workout on my own time, meaning I can workout fasted again and follow it up with a huge recovery meal.  When I was working out at noon I think I was seeing greater results body comp-wise back then.  Here’s the numbers I put up today, still seeing linear strength gains, but I feel my press is starting to hit a ceiling.

Squat: 3 sets (190# x 5 reps)
Press: 3 sets (95# x 5 reps)
Pull ups: 3 sets (15# x 6 reps)

Surprisingly I’m not feeling any ceiling coming on with bench, but we’ll see how that goes.

I really have morphed into a bodybuilder mindset.  With the hip still not being 100% (more like 95%), the idea of squatting 600#s sounds wearisome rather than awesome. So right now my focus/goal is to look better naked.  Thankfully, since I’m such a noob there really isn’t much difference between training for strength and training for looks right now.  I also am starting to take in more carbs after workouts.  I used to think that 60g of carbs was a lot (that’s two sweet potatoes!), but am now thinking I could do with quite a bit more.  That has lead to an experiment with a bowl of cereal, and other high-carb sources.  Jury is still out on it, but here’s what I ate after lifting today:

¼ of gluten free apple pie
.75# steak
Bowl of cereal with milk
2 eggs

Afterwards I was still hungry, felt like I was good on the carb front, just needed more protein, maybe a pound of steak?  Eating all this food is starting to put a dent in my bank account, I need to figure out cheaper forms of protein.  Right now I’m eyeing eggs and maybe milk.  …I think dairy is something I can only handle in moderate amounts, so I’m a little weary of trying that right now.  I know milk is like THE source for a lot of people, but I just don’t know if my GI tract can stand it.

I’ve also discovered that Liver is a good source of protein, and it can be had for very cheap (like $5/lb for organic all natural grass-fed calf liver).  However, I’m going to limit myself to once a week just because it has the potential to have toxins and whatnot, even if from a “clean” source.

I’ve decided to start a training log over at T-nation.  I know, I know, a lot of xfitters think of that place as like xfit’s arch-nemisis, but I think we can all get along.  I’ve always wanted this blog to be more about my experience with exercise and injury rather than just a workout log.  I always thought of those as pretty boring, and I don’t want to fill up this blog with that stuff.  I’m still going to tend to this blog, I just want this to be more about info I come across like prolo and leangains and stuff like that.

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