Ramblings of a madman...

[wodgina]

X2 Bodyweight benchpress is quite a goal!

How about

x2.5 BW Deadlift
x2    BW Squat
x1.5 BW Benchpress

These are 'advanced' lifting numbers. The deadlift will work the hell out of your core.

[KD]

Those three things: bench, squats, deadlift, along with a few other things like overhead press, pullups etc.. seem to make up most of what one would need. Perhaps jumping directly in is not necessary.  If you want I might be able to come up with some other routines that wouldn't involve those heavier lifts..which do require alot of attention to form.

Presently I can do 1.5 x BW Bench, 2 x BW deadlift, and probably only 1.5 x BW squat (with good form). I've got up in the high 200's with a smith machine (racked weight bench) and big guys look at a guy like me (at my size) like its fairly alien. Just to get an idea.

My 'strengths' seem to be with some of the other stuff, like heavy dips, pullups, climbing, speed,  short-medium term level endurance, and flexibility.

Pretty happy with that. Doubt i'll ever get too much bigger/stronger without some shift in diet. Of course I have no idea though..and do seem to always make steady gains.

kudos for getting to bed so early. I still like the night life I guess.

[djr_81]

That sounds good for a solid basis. A minimum of exercises but they do work a fair amount of the body.
3 sets of 8-12?

I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do.
I know the bench press is going to start out weak as the last time I did them it was pretty low (low one hundred something).
Deadlift should be decent. I know I'll have to start low as my core isn't very well developed yet but it should increase quickly.
I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do on the squats. My legs are far and away the most developed part of my body. I don't think 2X bodyweight is going to be that unreasonable to shoot for.

Oh yeah, the other long term goals are more bodyweight oriented:
Handstand push-ups
One-Arm chin-ups
Dragon Flags

[KD]

yeah I don't think its unreasonable. Its just a matter of time, and effort.

deadlift requires alot of core, but is also the best for core. I'd do lower weights (concentrating on form..but higher reps) and pullups to build up. my favorite thing for core is box jumping (up and down on a box, wall etc...) search 'hollow rocks' for another good core thing as well as 'round the world planks' which is also great for core and comliments push-ups , burpees, and bench well for chest.

All my figures were 1RM. if I was working deadlifts..its might be 10 x 225 or something.

For squats I would recomend front squats or 'zercher' squats (holding bar in pits of elbows)

You get a killer workout on these using far less weight than heavy back squats..of course those will always deliver the most full on strength gains. Front squats around 100 lb or zerchers ~ 160lb kill my legs plenty though.  maybe ~ 15 reps X 3. Bodyweight squats mixed in with other stuff can work great too.

You need to be able to rack a barbell properly for the front squat, but its less weight so you won't run as much risk of injury.

the handstand pushups requires core as well, so hollow rocks etc..as well as something called 'wall running' can be used to get better at handstand push ups

shoulder press with barbell (or free weights) should help too.

other exercises like cleans, overhead squats are great too..but harder to get down maybe.


on your own with 'flag' dude. 

[djr_81]

The "Hollow Rocks" looks like it'll be intense on my core. Definitely going to work that into a routine.
The "Around the World Planks" don't look particularly formidable but I'll give them a shot and see if I underestimated them.
I assume by the wall running you mean literally running up/along a wall? A la free running or parkour? I'm definitely game I just need to find a suitable space to do it in.

[djr_81]

Exercise is going great and I'm definitely seeing steady gains in muscle and strength. Unfortunately I'm not putting on any mass but I'm not losing it either so I guess I'll just end up ripped at 175 pounds.

I tried to add a morning run, as well as morning/evening squats (4x25) and push-ups(4x10)  to my routine but I've found it takes more out of my body than I have to give if I'm looking to have steady gains at the gym. I think it may be a glycogen deficiency but if I push to do all of that each day I find that I'm plateaued or I lose progress. I'm going to slowly work it in instead so I can get used to it and it doesn't deplete my reserves as much. Ultimately I'd like to go run a couple miles, do 4x50 or 4x100 of squats (2 in morning, 2 at night), and 4x25 or 4x50 push-ups each day on top of things. I should probably throw some pull/chin-ups in there as well. It's just a matter of slowly increasing my strength in areas so it's less taxing on me.

KD or others: Once I start with weighted squats do you recommend deep squats? There's lots of mixed thinking out there but I value the input you guys have as you're doing this and not getting hurt.

[djr_81]

Oh yeah, on the topic of exercise I've been reminded of how much vigorous exercise helps with my digestion. I've found that the days that I run in the mornings I'm more focused, want to consume more calories, and break down suet much more efficiently. I can consume, and use, roughly twice as much fat (by volume) on a day with strenuous morning exercise than on days without. In fact if I try to eat more fat on a day without I usually end up with a stomachache.

[djr_81]

Another item I've noticed which I have to comment on:
I was performing my reps on something like a 4/2/4/2 count but I've slowed it down even further to more of an 8/4/8/4 count. It's a really slow controlled motion but it's really working well to build strength. The funny thing is I'm seeing these guys come in and fly through the circuit really jerky, quick, and definitely uncontrolled but when I get to their machines their weights are always less than mine and oftentimes by 25% or more. It's great fun to have a guy twice your size get worked up that your so slow on a machine, pass you, and then stare him down as you put the weight up on the machine he just struggled through (it's happened more times than I care to admit the past few weeks).

Eating carnivorously my muscles are markedly smaller at the same strength levels as others at the gym but I'm thinking this will be a really good thing in the long run. Less muscle to maintain means I'll need less caloric intake to keep things in maintenance. I also hope it means slower atrophy when I miss time at the gym.

[KD]

KD or others: Once I start with weighted squats do you recommend deep squats? There's lots of mixed thinking out there but I value the input you guys have as you're doing this and not getting hurt.

I basically do not do heavy back squatting often or deep back squatting. I do it when its part of a CF class but generally only go down as far as it feels comfortable. The teachers there are big on it regardless and yell at me, however I would recomend doing the same. If you want to do deep heavy squats get in touch with some people either at a gym or online that can coach you as sometimes it means mixing it up with other variables thats certainly over my head . Part of it also is getting a decent squatting rack which is rare in a conventional gym. If I had a home setup I would do deeper squatting at low weights. You can try an deep overhead squat with just a empty barbell and it will probably be hard as fuck. Is for me.

I concur about the weight thing. I'm certainly way more compact than the typical gym folk and in many cases burning up larger guys. Of course with the body-weight stuff, speed etc...its a huge advantage as well..so is not having to eat insane amounts of food as you say. I think the raw/health thing would factor into atrophy more than size though... Inactivity always killed me on a conventional (healthy) diet or raw veg...not to mention frequent colds and such which would always set back progress and I was certainly smaller than now. I really am not working out that much these days and only my strength gains seem to suffer at all with my strength and size remaining mostly the same.

My experience is the same for the hunger thing as well, which is why I deffinetly recommend heavy lifting and stuff for people transitioning. I agree to a certain extent with AV on how exercise could be potentially bad for healing..or outright unnecessary for some, but for me I found I couldn't even bring myself to eat much at all, overthink HCL or other issues if I wasn't exercising intensely..even when I felt like crap.


the wall running is in the HSPU position:

Handstand Wall Runs - an exercise demo from ZodBod.com

[djr_81]

the wall running is in the HSPU position:

Handstand Wall Runs - an exercise demo from ZodBod.com

That's going to kill me.

[djr_81]

We went and picked up our food order yesterday.
I bought 1 pound of beef heart, 1 pound of beef liver, and 3/4 pound beef kidney. Quickly pulsed it in a food processor, mixed thoroughly, and froze individual Tablespoon servings. I had my first dose with dinner and I definitely noticed I was more full when finished and feel overall even more sated as the night wears on. We'll see how well I do with multiple days.

I went to the weight room at the gym Friday night. Did some upright machine simulating bench pressing (had no spotter to bench), did a squat machine, leg presses (machine-regular and deep knee), dips, and pull/chin-ups. My legs and ass are still sore.
I've got one session with a personal trainer per what we get when we sign up at the gym so I'm trying to set it up for a Friday to get good one-on-one instruction with the different machines & free weights allowing me to start things off correctly.

I also had a good conversation with an employee at one of the hospitals I work with. We got talking about moccasins after he commented on my Soft Stars. Turns out he's been hunting for decades and working all the hides of what he kills to make his own clothing & shoes. He has a lot of great stories (his crowning achievement was he tracked a 408 pound bear barefoot then took it down with a bow he had made himself). He told me about Tom Brown Jr's training courses which he has attended multiple times and credits for much of what he knows in his tracking & outdoor abilities. After reading up about the classes I'm planning on eventually attending at least the standard class with my wife so we have a good base knowledge beyond what we've accumulated on our own.

[miles]

Couldn't you just chest-press with dumbbells rather than relying on a spotter to bench? Dumbbells use more stabilisiing muscles and offer greater ROM anyway.

[djr_81]

Couldn't you just chest-press with dumbbells rather than relying on a spotter to bench? Dumbbells use more stabilisiing muscles and offer greater ROM anyway.

I guess I could. I didn't really think about it but you're right. I'll give it a shot Friday. Thanks Miles.

[djr_81]

I bought some Calcium Bentonite clay tonight. I'm going to give it a go as a tooth abrasive and take some internally to see how I do with it.

The organ experiment didn't go well.
Too much liver in the mix made me have a noticeable flare-up of the Candida with general malaise and brain fog the next day. I also got bound up and had foul, mucus-filled stools for a couple days.
It's possible that it was a "detox" but I'm not convinced. I'm going to have just heart in a couple days and make sure that goes well. Then I'm going to do kidney on it's own and test that. It's just a bitch as liver is so nutrient dense.

We got our first snow tonight. Not much in the way of accumulation but it's definitely a harbinger of winter. I'm not looking forward to less exercise outdoors. I'm still going to try and get a run in each day I'm not doing weights at the gym but I expect to freeze my ass off.

[djr_81]

Brushed my teeth with the clay last night and this morning. They definitely feel cleaner.

I also drank some clay water last night. I added ~1/2 teaspoon clay into a half cup of water. Surprisingly my eyes were a little sore and I got a headache within a half hour of ingesting it. Woke up more tired than usual this morning with a little pain in the area of my liver. I've gone to the bathroom a couple times today but it's not really loose stools. I'm curious to see how long it takes for my stomach to equalize (not going to drink the clay tonight). The stools don't smell worse than normal, better actually, so I think it's doing me good. Interestingly I put on over a pound overnight which might be water weight or maybe somehow it's helping me put on lean mass?
I'm thinking that I will be performing a "cleanse" with the clay the week of Thanksgiving as I have it off and can keep in proximity to the toilet if necessary.

They're predicting anywhere from 6-15 inches of snow tomorrow into Sunday. Winter is here early.

[djr_81]

We got 7 inches of really heavy snow. Power went out Saturday around 10PM and is still out at the house. Never thought I'd be so happy to be at work.
My wife brought her Ball Python to work today as part of her Halloween costume. Beats worrying about it freezing to death.

[djr_81]

We've got power.
Finally got power back on around noon today.
Going for a couple days without any power or heat really makes you appreciate these luxuries. Looking forward to a solid night sleep followed by a run in the morning and a really hot shower.

[djr_81]

Nothing too earth-shattering to report over the last month.

My farmer was running very low on my normal "old bull" ground so he cut me a deal on some other roasts he had which weren't moving well. I got 29 pounds of the old bull and the rest as roasts for this month and it's working out nicely for my meals. I've been having a meal of 1-1 1/4 pounds ground beef and ~1/3 pound suet chunks for lunch which digests quickly, is quick to eat so I don't get slowed down at work, and is calorie dense (I have 2-3 times the suet with this meal than I have with dinner). Dinner is a half a roast, on average 1 1/2 pound serving, along with a bit of suet. This isn't as dense in calories but works well for rebuilding/healing while I sleep. It's also very nice to have chunks of meat after having almost only ground for so long.

I've been making a conscious effort to keep well hydrated. I'm averaging between a half and a full gallon of water a day. There's a clear stop on water consumption so it's easy to get enough.

I've also been working on getting enough sleep every night. I'm locked into getting up no later than 6:30am for work so I need to make up the difference on the front end. As a result I've been trying, fairly successfully, to get to bed by 9pm each night. It's hard some nights due to my daily schedule (by the time my wife and I finish up the gym after work and get home it's 7:30 or later) but overall it's working well. The weekends really don't work out as well though (last night I went in at 11pm).

I've been going out running each morning. As it gets colder I'm less thrilled about it but the benefits I've found on my fat processing are too large to let some cold stop me. It'll be interesting in blizzards.

The gym is going really nicely. I haven't been making it there for many of the "cardio" nights as they feel less important to me and I'm burned out after work. I don't feel bad about it though with running in the morning. I have been very consistent with weight nights. I'm still really just focusing on circuit training right now but do plan to eventually get to regular heavy lifting as well.

The wife and I are going to look at a used car today and hopefully start the process to buy it. We've been sharing the commute in a 1995 Toyota Tercel but it's got 283k miles on it and I have to keep putting money into it. We're going to look at 2007 Suzuki SX4 as it'll be really good in the snow, which we get tons of, but still fairly economical (we've got a Jeep for the really bad weather but it's far from what I'd call economical). Hopefully it's in as good shape as it looks and we can pick it up.

[eveheart]

Glad to hear about your progress. I always look forward to your updates.

My farmer was running very low on my normal "old bull" ground so he cut me a deal on some other roasts he had which weren't moving well.

My affordable-beef strategy is to buy the roasts that don't move well. My butcher sells them to me as sub-primal cuts at "grain-fed" prices, which is about $2/pound less than grass-fed ground, and a zillion dollars less than grass-fed steaks and roasts. I hang the whole section in the fridge so I don't have to freeze the meat. Uncut beef hangs and ages well, if you like it that way. I then buy throw-away trim fat from the "London broil" cut of round for 99-cents/pound.

[djr_81]

Glad to hear about your progress. I always look forward to your updates.

Thank you Eve. The feeling is mutual.

My affordable-beef strategy is to buy the roasts that don't move well. My butcher sells them to me as sub-primal cuts at "grain-fed" prices, which is about $2/pound less than grass-fed ground, and a zillion dollars less than grass-fed steaks and roasts. I hang the whole section in the fridge so I don't have to freeze the meat. Uncut beef hangs and ages well, if you like it that way. I then buy throw-away trim fat from the "London broil" cut of round for 99-cents/pound.

I could source cheaper meats locally but the quality from this farm is second to none and we're friends with the owners so want to support them as much as we can.
The "old bull" is $5 a pound and the suet is $4 a pound so my food averages ~$4.75 a pound. It's not as cheap as supermarket meat but it's worth what I have to spend. Still cheaper than a meal from a fast food joint or deli.
I'd love to hang a slab of meat in the fridge but my wife's not at that point yet. She's OK with my meat in a container or a small cut on a plate but nothing hanging yet.

The wife and I are going to look at a used car today and hopefully start the process to buy it. We've been sharing the commute in a 1995 Toyota Tercel but it's got 283k miles on it and I have to keep putting money into it. We're going to look at 2007 Suzuki SX4 as it'll be really good in the snow, which we get tons of, but still fairly economical (we've got a Jeep for the really bad weather but it's far from what I'd call economical). Hopefully it's in as good shape as it looks and we can pick it up.

We left a deposit on the car today. It's in really good shape and has been well maintained. The owner has a 140 mile round-trip commute each day so it's got ~100k miles on it but it's almost all highway. Runs, drives, and stops perfect. We're excited to finish up the paperwork (he needs to contact the financing company on the car and get a release of lien letter) and get it home. Should be here by Christmas.

[djr_81]

I'm indulging some food for Christmas that I wouldn't normally eat. Most of it's of the cooked paleo variety but I picked up a bottle of GT's Cherry Chia Kumbucha and I had to share how good this stuff is.
I went through a phase 3-4 years ago where I was drinking a bottle of GT's every day (both plain and the green) but I cut it out because I found it bothers my Candida. I saw this though and gave in (I love Cherry and was intrigued by the Chia).
This stuff is weird going down. It's kind of like tapioca tea where the chia has softened some and has a slimy coating around it. Actually it kind of seems like drinking frogs eggs; tasty, tasty frogs eggs.
The bite of the kombucha is slightly milder than the plain variety. The cherry juice further tempers this just a bit. It tastes like a lime-cherry spritzer.
I recommend you guys try it if you see it. It's raw if not 100% paleo. They've got grape and raspberry too.

I doubt I'll be on between now and Christmas. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone. Hope you all get to spend some quality time with those you love.

[djr_81]

I've been pretty lax the past month. I did spend a couple days eating more of a cooked paleo diet around Christmas and then got back to raw. It's amazing how much better you feel when you start eating raw again. I did notice I was tolerating cooked food a little better than before but I'm sticking with raw.

I missed a month of the gym. My wife and I were sick just before Christmas and then I was off for a week and a half of vacation so didn't make the half hour drive to my gym. After a couple weeks of getting back into work we made our way back to the gym a couple weeks ago. My numbers went down a little bit but not too much. Last week I started pushing things back over past limits. I've also fond that rather than the really slow reps each time I feel better doing real slow reps one night and quicker but heavier reps the next visit. Maxed out one of the machines on the circuit (thigh machine) and closing in on maxing out the leg press (went from 350 to 370 in one week, max is somewhere between 450 and 500 on this machine). No significant gains in mass but I'm happy with the strength increases.

I've also added one thing to my diet and I'm getting a big benefit from it. I ordered some of the fermented cod liver oil from Dr. Ron's. Everything(focus, energy, digestion, bounce back from eating things I shouldn't) just seems to work better with a little bit of the oil each morning (I'm taking one 2ml dose each day). I haven't noticed any gastrointestinal issues with it so it's definitely staying in my diet. I have noticed my blood is a bit thinner but not dangerously so.

[djr_81]

Wow, been a little while since I posted here. Not much to say really though. Still eating raw carnivorously. Been getting to the gym semi-regularly (probably 2-3 days a week). I've also been biking a lot more recently which, as usual, makes everything work better.
I feel bad that I don't stop in here much anymore but much like raising children you know you're doing it right when they fly the nest.
I hope everyone else is doing well.

[djr_81]

I forgot to mention my wife is doing really good as well.
She's had some issues staying on course with her diet on weekends, either by choice (the girl scouts were selling cookies a couple months ago) or through experimentation (strawberries are apparently not her friend). Consequently she's about the same weight she was back in January (~253 today). We're still experimenting with foods for her to add variety but she's doing a lot better not eating things she knows she has issues with.
We also went to the doctor's and had her blood work done. Everything was in acceptable range except for her folate level (1.5 ng/mL) and her cholesterol (44 HDL, 157 LDL, 223 Total). Triglycerides were fine though (110).

[djr_81]

I got my ass seriously kicked by some sort of bug last month. Like many others I'd found that I rarely came down sick with anything and when I did it was usually gone in a day or two.
Whatever I got sick with this time must have incubated for a enough time to get rooted because when I started to feel sick it took a lot to get rid of the infection.

I started to feel under the weather on a Sunday night. I woke up Monday and I could barely swallow. Throughout the day the worst sinus infection I've had in decades reared it's head. I spent the first 4 days home sick trying to fight it with bed rest, lots of water, and sticking to my normal diet.
By Thursday with no improvement on how I was doing I resorted to antibiotics (Cipro) and widened my diet (chicken stock and fresh fruit) in hopes that it might help me get better.
By the end of the weekend the mucus had gone from yellow to off-white. I was also feeling ~40% (up from the ~20% I had been down to).
I spent the next week working and eating my normal diet again but the mucus started getting yellow again. I went on another run of antibiotics (Zithromax) to try and beat it again which seems to have worked. I'm still dealing with a lingering cough and now I've got post nasal drip but I'm thinking this might be from the decimated gut flora.

I need to work on getting more organ meats into my diet. I'd also like to see if I can find something other than just meat/fat which sits well. I'm concerned at this point about hedging my bets. Straight raw carnivore worked well for ~3 years but I'm concerned about the fact that I needed something more than just diet to get over being as sick as I was.

-------------
On the good side I just got a new bike. 29" single speed mountain bike. I should get to go on a long ride this weekend to see how it rides but it's been great on short rides around the neighborhood.