Stuff I found:
1) Prime sirloin is still at Costco, is cheaper than the strip, and runs lower in fat. Score.
2) Halibut is expensive but thick. I'll find the taste in about an hour.
3) I'm going to try a brief experiment in trying nothing but protein and calorie goals. If I keep dropping weight, I'll stick with that...life's meant to be enjoyed.
4) Also, Costco's pork tenderloins are still pretty nutritionally nice and I should be able to do them thick enough to make everything work. I'm satisfied with that idea.
Showing posts with label Hunting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hunting. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Possible Dietary Changes
I'm considering switching off to more of a carb cycling-type approach, albeit handling things more on the context of the meals than any focus on high/med/low-type days. I'm also thinking of shifting some of the carbs over to breakfast via either cranberries/cherries (fresh or dried) or some form of starch (wheat berries?).
Carbs on waking just boils down to some nutrient timing stuff for preserving lean mass, and I don't know how much I really care about it. I'm interested in the carb cycling aspect for two reasons:
- Eating carbs today felt like something of a waste since I'm not exercising
- It gives me a couple of higher-fat days on which I can branch out without really interfering with existing meals (primarily thinking of eggs, salmon, and lamb here).
The big thing is mostly just that I miss eggs, to be honest. There's no way for me to integrate something that high in fat per unit protein without throwing out an entire salad, and I'm hesitant to discard one of the generically healthy parts of my day. Dramatically lowering carbs for an entire day opens up an entire meal to do that, with some bonus maneuvering on carbs, hormonal benefits, and extra protein.
I'll think about this more tomorrow. The overall IIFYM theme of my approach gives me some maneuvering on breakfast regardless (one run of eggs benedict is basically equivalent to the steak salad as-is), so working out recipes to fit with things and getting a little more flexible sooner rather than later has some merit.
Carbs on waking just boils down to some nutrient timing stuff for preserving lean mass, and I don't know how much I really care about it. I'm interested in the carb cycling aspect for two reasons:
- Eating carbs today felt like something of a waste since I'm not exercising
- It gives me a couple of higher-fat days on which I can branch out without really interfering with existing meals (primarily thinking of eggs, salmon, and lamb here).
The big thing is mostly just that I miss eggs, to be honest. There's no way for me to integrate something that high in fat per unit protein without throwing out an entire salad, and I'm hesitant to discard one of the generically healthy parts of my day. Dramatically lowering carbs for an entire day opens up an entire meal to do that, with some bonus maneuvering on carbs, hormonal benefits, and extra protein.
I'll think about this more tomorrow. The overall IIFYM theme of my approach gives me some maneuvering on breakfast regardless (one run of eggs benedict is basically equivalent to the steak salad as-is), so working out recipes to fit with things and getting a little more flexible sooner rather than later has some merit.
Friday, May 9, 2014
Diet Bits
I've switched off the beef; now it's 130g of Strip (Costco discontinued the sirloin), and it'll change to 130g of something cheaper once I've run out of that. Chicken's down to 130g as well. I've got the pork portioned out, and I'm set on fish for the time being but will probably switch to one that I can dole out in larger pieces.
Since I might still be losing weight at 2200kcal/day, I've upped the rice to 140g for dinner. That may have helped with deads yesterday (where I ran it as 130 for dinner and 50 for supper), and I'm interested to see what happens over the next few days. If I'm walking around at 160 when I start my cut I should be totally golden.
Since I might still be losing weight at 2200kcal/day, I've upped the rice to 140g for dinner. That may have helped with deads yesterday (where I ran it as 130 for dinner and 50 for supper), and I'm interested to see what happens over the next few days. If I'm walking around at 160 when I start my cut I should be totally golden.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Updates 4 weeks out
I woke up this morning at 164. Weight loss seems to be capping off, so I'll be reducing meal sizes again. I'll start by just reducing the dressing on breakfast to 20g of olive oil and the rice to 90g each (so roughly 170kcal dropped, for ~2175)
Next steps:
1) I've got about a week left before I restock beef and chicken, and 10 days each for pork and fish.
Beef: Replace the 185g short rib with 130g top sirloin
Chicken: Reduce portion to 130g -> but bump rice back up
Pork: Start buying segments that are 100% loin only and reduce portion to 140g
Fish: Increase portion to 150g (hilarious, I know)
(~2025kcal/day)
EDIT: As some slightly greater ass-coverage, I'm going to increase the meat portions somewhat further and compensate with a drop to 10g oil for the salads.
2) If rice stayed down, drop it to 80g/meal (~1875kcal/day);
3) Remove the apple from lunch and drop rice to 70g/each (~1725kcal/day)
I doubt I'll hit #3 before the meet, in which case I'll only do it after reintegrating conditioning. If I head off to China I'll drop training to 3-4x per week and condition all 3 days to compensate for increased calories and drinking; if I stay in town I'll stick with my 4-on-5 schedule but add back the old conditioning days.
I don't have an official diagnosis on the shoulder, but I've got a strong anti-inflammatory prescribed and instructions to avoid overhead work. Benching is still fine, so I guess we're just dropping into a heavy/medium mix there. Thursday will be bench 145x5x3 (so 75% of next week's working weight) with some extensions, crossovers, and raises depending on what aggravates the shoulder and what doesn't.
Next steps:
1) I've got about a week left before I restock beef and chicken, and 10 days each for pork and fish.
Beef: Replace the 185g short rib with 130g top sirloin
Chicken: Reduce portion to 130g -> but bump rice back up
Pork: Start buying segments that are 100% loin only and reduce portion to 140g
Fish: Increase portion to 150g (hilarious, I know)
(~2025kcal/day)
EDIT: As some slightly greater ass-coverage, I'm going to increase the meat portions somewhat further and compensate with a drop to 10g oil for the salads.
2) If rice stayed down, drop it to 80g/meal (~1875kcal/day);
3) Remove the apple from lunch and drop rice to 70g/each (~1725kcal/day)
I doubt I'll hit #3 before the meet, in which case I'll only do it after reintegrating conditioning. If I head off to China I'll drop training to 3-4x per week and condition all 3 days to compensate for increased calories and drinking; if I stay in town I'll stick with my 4-on-5 schedule but add back the old conditioning days.
I don't have an official diagnosis on the shoulder, but I've got a strong anti-inflammatory prescribed and instructions to avoid overhead work. Benching is still fine, so I guess we're just dropping into a heavy/medium mix there. Thursday will be bench 145x5x3 (so 75% of next week's working weight) with some extensions, crossovers, and raises depending on what aggravates the shoulder and what doesn't.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Supplements
The taurine, carinitine, alpha-gpc, and citrulline came in today.
So, my entire supplement regimen:
1) 2 Fish Oil, 2 Vitamin D, 2g Taurine, 1g LCLT
Preworkout: 5g Creatine, 6g Citrulline, 600mg Alpha-GPC
2) 2 Fish Oil, 3 Vitamin D, 2g Taurine, 2g Citrulline, 1g LCLT, probiotic
3) 2 Fish Oil, 1 Vitamin D, 2g Taurine, 2g Citrulline, 1g LCLT
4) 2 Fish Oil, 2g Citrulline, 1g LCLT
Looking things over, it actually appears that the pills aren't any more expensive than the powders. Preworkout L-citrulline and creatine both work best as powders, but around meals I'd rather be using pills.
2014-04-07 Squat
Warmup
Squat -
45x5
85x5
125x5
165x5
205x5
245x5
285x3
330x4, 3 (4F), 3, 2, 2, 1
I haven't been sleeping too well (same problems as the last few days). I also suspect that the extra volume just isn't any use with my lower body movements - they were moving just fine before.
Coming in 3 times a day is also enough of a pain in the ass, and sufficiently boring, that I think I'll revise it down regardless. Triceps is now arms, chest and shoulders merged, reduced split on the leg days.
Bench: CG Bench, JM Press, EZ Curl
Squat: Kroc Row, Rear Lateral, Neutral HLR/Pallof
Press: RE Bench, Incline, Side Raise
Deadlift: Barbell Row, Rear Lateral, Suitcase Dead/Fallout
Upper body prehab runs with face pulls and push-ups; lower body prehab goes with x-walks and single-leg rdls. I may run this back up to 4 movements, but for now I'm sticking it at 3. SLDLs and maybe TBLs could wind up back in eventually, but that's pending lower body feeling.
Oh, and I'm also thinking about splitting the salads up by vegetable (pork gets spinach, maybe separate after that) and returning to an apple vinaigrette for the pork one.
Squat -
45x5
85x5
125x5
165x5
205x5
245x5
285x3
330x4, 3 (4F), 3, 2, 2, 1
I haven't been sleeping too well (same problems as the last few days). I also suspect that the extra volume just isn't any use with my lower body movements - they were moving just fine before.
Coming in 3 times a day is also enough of a pain in the ass, and sufficiently boring, that I think I'll revise it down regardless. Triceps is now arms, chest and shoulders merged, reduced split on the leg days.
Bench: CG Bench, JM Press, EZ Curl
Squat: Kroc Row, Rear Lateral, Neutral HLR/Pallof
Press: RE Bench, Incline, Side Raise
Deadlift: Barbell Row, Rear Lateral, Suitcase Dead/Fallout
Upper body prehab runs with face pulls and push-ups; lower body prehab goes with x-walks and single-leg rdls. I may run this back up to 4 movements, but for now I'm sticking it at 3. SLDLs and maybe TBLs could wind up back in eventually, but that's pending lower body feeling.
Oh, and I'm also thinking about splitting the salads up by vegetable (pork gets spinach, maybe separate after that) and returning to an apple vinaigrette for the pork one.
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Diet Update
Calories down to 2700; accomplished the drop by reducing breakfast (250g -> 225g flat iron), salad dressing (40g -> 30g olive oil), and rice (150g - 100g). That gives a mix of about 30/30/40. To drop past this, I'll probably switch to a leaner cut of pork and reduce the beef at breakfast.
I'm definitely not going below 20% carbs; I know what lies down that road.
I'm definitely not going below 20% carbs; I know what lies down that road.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Diet/Cutting Updates
I've had some serious cheat periods over the last few days (partly from hanging out more, partly from just being lax), but with the meet set out at June 1st and me generally wanting to get leaner, I think it's time to strict things up a bit.
I'm declaring the salads mandatory for each day, and adding intervals after workouts on Sunday and Thursday. I've been going through some of Layne Norton's videos and gotten some (anecdotal) confirmation of old ideas about slowly gaining/losing weight (here: lose slowly, pause for a bit, then gain back slowly and pause; you'll ideally/probably wind up with less bodyfat even with your original starting calories). We're about 13 weeks out now, and if I can drop 1lb/week in that time the water drop to 148 will be pretty painless and I can gradually pull back up before starting the cut for November. It's sort of interesting to think about the contrast with what I wanted last summer - there I was thinking in terms of hitting weight in the short term to stay there for the long, whereas now I'm thinking about just pulling through the long regardless.
Time for bed (nearly).
Postscript: (Feb 19):
Having gone through more of Layne's videos, I suspect I'm going to manipulate my calorie intake primarily through carbs; I like where my fat is now and think that's working fairly well. This also means I can focus primarily on just editing how much rice I eat, which makes things very nice and simple.
Gradually pulling back up in this case will probably mean adding something like 10g of rice per day per week. As a performance athlete I've got some more wiggle room, but building up as high as possible would be very nice (especially since life later on in the jobs I want to work involves a lot of eating out, and I'd prefer to be back up at "roaring blast furnace" and able to lose weight on 4k/day once I'm no longer prepping most of my own food or able to get a nutrition sheet for each meal).
I'm declaring the salads mandatory for each day, and adding intervals after workouts on Sunday and Thursday. I've been going through some of Layne Norton's videos and gotten some (anecdotal) confirmation of old ideas about slowly gaining/losing weight (here: lose slowly, pause for a bit, then gain back slowly and pause; you'll ideally/probably wind up with less bodyfat even with your original starting calories). We're about 13 weeks out now, and if I can drop 1lb/week in that time the water drop to 148 will be pretty painless and I can gradually pull back up before starting the cut for November. It's sort of interesting to think about the contrast with what I wanted last summer - there I was thinking in terms of hitting weight in the short term to stay there for the long, whereas now I'm thinking about just pulling through the long regardless.
Time for bed (nearly).
Postscript: (Feb 19):
Having gone through more of Layne's videos, I suspect I'm going to manipulate my calorie intake primarily through carbs; I like where my fat is now and think that's working fairly well. This also means I can focus primarily on just editing how much rice I eat, which makes things very nice and simple.
Gradually pulling back up in this case will probably mean adding something like 10g of rice per day per week. As a performance athlete I've got some more wiggle room, but building up as high as possible would be very nice (especially since life later on in the jobs I want to work involves a lot of eating out, and I'd prefer to be back up at "roaring blast furnace" and able to lose weight on 4k/day once I'm no longer prepping most of my own food or able to get a nutrition sheet for each meal).
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
2014-02-05 Deadlift
Warmup, plus some voodoo floss for left elbow
Deadlift -
135x5
155x5
175x5
195x5
215x5
235x5
255x5
275x5
295x3
315x5x3
I got some thigh socks at CVS today; they slip around inside my kung fu slippers, but work really well with regular dress socks on the outside. I might add a second layer of one or both of those.
I've let my stance drift backwards a bit recently (resulting in really bad shin tears). I taped up my scabs and moved my feet closer, and deads are suddenly a lot less painful. Interesting.
I did the last set continuously; the others I stepped back a couple of times.
Right now I'm basing my rest periods off of songs. Since its always the same playlist, we've got:
3.5 minutes going into last warmup (~2:45 of Get Your Walk On, ~0:45 of California Love)
3.5-4 minutes going into first work set (~3:00 of California Love, ~0:45 of Until I Collapse)
3.5-4 minutes going into second work set (~3:00 of Until I Collapse, plus ~1:00 of Lose Yourself)
5-5.5 minutes going into third work set (~3:30 of Lose Yourself, ~2:00 of Fat Lip)
That's consistent for everything, which makes me think I should try to stagger things out a bit (or just do multiple playlists based on timing) so I've got some more options (other lifts might want to go faster, deads it looks like I should be looking for 5 minutes).
Pull-Up -
6, 6, 5, 6, 5, 6
Very long rests here (spent a good 5 minutes chatting with Wynnie headed into the last one), but I'm getting happier and happier with my progress on these.
Barbell Rows -
135x8x3
These seem to hit my mid-back harder if I add some momentum on the way up.
BPA - Mini*100, 50
Quad Voodoo Floss (7ft) - Some, semi-successful (kept slipping over hamstring knot)
Couch Stretch - 2m/position
Tennis Ball Upper Back - 10 "reps" of 4am-12pm, 5 different zones
Thigh Voodoo Floss (21ft) - 10 "reps," excellent feeling
I think I'm going to change up the diet (shuffle the pork and beef meals forward to replace breakfast, do something with chicken breast somewhere); I'm really not digging omelets in this kind of volume, and I can afford to explore more meats. I'm also going to start mixing up the vinaigrette before I add the salad (either in the bottom of the bowl or once every day or so) so I can get a better idea of how many calories I can drop without killing my desire to eat vegetables.
Deadlift -
135x5
155x5
175x5
195x5
215x5
235x5
255x5
275x5
295x3
315x5x3
I got some thigh socks at CVS today; they slip around inside my kung fu slippers, but work really well with regular dress socks on the outside. I might add a second layer of one or both of those.
I've let my stance drift backwards a bit recently (resulting in really bad shin tears). I taped up my scabs and moved my feet closer, and deads are suddenly a lot less painful. Interesting.
I did the last set continuously; the others I stepped back a couple of times.
Right now I'm basing my rest periods off of songs. Since its always the same playlist, we've got:
3.5 minutes going into last warmup (~2:45 of Get Your Walk On, ~0:45 of California Love)
3.5-4 minutes going into first work set (~3:00 of California Love, ~0:45 of Until I Collapse)
3.5-4 minutes going into second work set (~3:00 of Until I Collapse, plus ~1:00 of Lose Yourself)
5-5.5 minutes going into third work set (~3:30 of Lose Yourself, ~2:00 of Fat Lip)
That's consistent for everything, which makes me think I should try to stagger things out a bit (or just do multiple playlists based on timing) so I've got some more options (other lifts might want to go faster, deads it looks like I should be looking for 5 minutes).
Pull-Up -
6, 6, 5, 6, 5, 6
Very long rests here (spent a good 5 minutes chatting with Wynnie headed into the last one), but I'm getting happier and happier with my progress on these.
Barbell Rows -
135x8x3
These seem to hit my mid-back harder if I add some momentum on the way up.
BPA - Mini*100, 50
Quad Voodoo Floss (7ft) - Some, semi-successful (kept slipping over hamstring knot)
Couch Stretch - 2m/position
Tennis Ball Upper Back - 10 "reps" of 4am-12pm, 5 different zones
Thigh Voodoo Floss (21ft) - 10 "reps," excellent feeling
I think I'm going to change up the diet (shuffle the pork and beef meals forward to replace breakfast, do something with chicken breast somewhere); I'm really not digging omelets in this kind of volume, and I can afford to explore more meats. I'm also going to start mixing up the vinaigrette before I add the salad (either in the bottom of the bowl or once every day or so) so I can get a better idea of how many calories I can drop without killing my desire to eat vegetables.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Diet
Breakfast: Omelets and Salad
4 large eggs (~285kcal, 25g protein, 19g fat)
2oz diced hard salami (~200kcal, 11 protein, 16g fat)
A few brazil nuts
40g Savoy Cabbage
40g Broccoli Florets
40g Cauliflower Florets
50g Baby Spinach (collectively: 90kcal, 8g prot, 0g fat)
40g (3tbsp) Extra Virgin Olive Oil (360kcal, 40g fat)
15g (1tbsp) Balsamic Vinegar
2 Fish Oil (Kirkland 1 Per Day Enteric Coated)
5000iu Vitamin D3 (Nature's Bounty 5000iu)
1 Probiotic (Nature's Bounty Probiotic 10)
Lunch: Beef and Salad
1 Beef Short Rib (~200g; ~350kcal, 38g protein, 20g fat before cooking)
Vegetables as above
1 smallish apple (~90kcal)
40g EVOO
15g Balsamic
2 Fish Oil
10000iu Vitamin D3
1 Probiotic
Dinner: Pork and Rice
1 Pork Chop (~200g; ~235kcal, 40g protein, 6g fat before cooking)
150g White Rice (~500kcal, 10g protein)
1 smallish apple
1 Fish Oil
10000iu D3
1 Probiotic
5g Creatine
Sometimes caffeine
I usually leave for the gym about 20 minutes after this
Post-Training: Fish and Rice
1 (White) Fish Filet or segment (~110g; 100kcal, 20g prot, 1g fat)
150g White Rice
1 Fish Oil
Daily Total:
~3250kcal, 180g prot (23%), 250g carb (33%), 160g fat (44%)
Explanations on What's There:
Brazil Nuts: Selenium content's good for testosterone production
Beef, Eggs: Good protein and vits/mins. Saturated fat and cholesterol both important for both general health and testosterone levels.
Pork: Good for potassium and selenium. Fairly lean, good fat profile.
Salad: Vit/min. Zinc, Magnesium, Iron are all important for testosterone, and all 4 of these contain other stuff with similar effects
Salami: Tasty, protein.
White Fish: Tasty, protein, selenium.
Rice: Carbs. Also good vit/min and selenium.
EVOO: Healthy fats. Brand is actually important here; California Olive Ranch and Kirkland's Organic EVOO are two of the only cheap ones that are actually 100% EVOO.
Vinegars and Honey: Mix with EVOO for vinaigrette on salads.
Apple: Flavor pairs well with pork, apples can't hurt you.
Fish Oil: Omega-3s to balance the Omega-6. This one's got the best fatty acid profile out of the cheap stuff I've found, strongly recommend.
Probiotic: No fermented stuff in here so good for gut flora. This one's got more types of cultures but it's much more expensive and I take a lot of it. Any probiotic that lists stuff in CFU or Cells is good.
D3: Not necessary if you're out in the sun a lot. Otherwise very important for mood and testosterone production.
Creatine: Very cheap (buy pure unflavored monohydrate powder, it's like $20/kg), positive effect on athletic performance. Apparently works best taken shortly before training.
Other Explanations:
No Poultry: Thighs are cheap but high in omega-6 fats; pork chops cost the same as breast and have more flavor and better vit/mins.
General Layout: Some evidence that keeping fat mostly towards the start of the day and carbs mostly towards the end can improve fat loss when cutting weight. Carbs important for supporting training, too, so it makes sense to eat them around workouts.
White Rice as carb source: Bread gives me headaches, not a fan of potatoes. Brown rice isn't any healthier, costs more, and takes longer.
How I have a life eating like this: The salads are the only thing that requires any actual prep time, so I just split the veggies up and put them in ziplock bags on the weekends. Rice doesn't require any attention, and I just sear the meats.
I also do go out a lot, but I know roughly how much/what to eat for a given meal and I'm not much of a drinker (currently) so nbd.
Notes/Probable Changes:
Brazil nuts might be unnecessary for selenium given how much I get from everything else.
Wants more protein and less fat. I'll replace the morning salami with something leaner and possibly add another egg.
I get like no calcium, so it might be worth supplementing there. I'm definitely not adding dairy or more greens.
If I can drop weight at this intake I'll just leave it as is, otherwise I'll reduce the rice and the olive oil.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Programming and Diet
Program-wise, I'm going to swallow my pride on the Pressing issue and go for the LP option, but split up across 6-7 days per week (depending on recovery) to keep me in the gym every day. I'll still focus on Push Press over Strict, though - Pendlay likes it and it won't hurt to build explosiveness and overload at the top.
This basically gives me a 4-day split (Rep*Set):
A:
High Bar Squat 5x3
GHR 8x3
Pull-Up 30 reps
Face Pull 12x5
B:
Bench 5x3
Curl 8x3
Pull-Up 30 reps
Cuban 12x5
C:
Deadlift 5x3
Ab 8x3
Pull-Up 30 reps
Face Pull 12x5
D:
Push Press 5x3
Extensions 8x3
Pull-Up 30 reps
Cuban 12x5
There's some room for maneuvering on the shoulder protection work, but that's the basic pattern. I'll probably integrate some rowing as my shoulder recovers. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for ab work, and may add/substitute more. I haven't decided on a deload schedule, or when I'll start deloading - I'll need to go back over all of my old logs to figure that out, though doing it for the last 4 workouts of each cycle (i.e. 6 high 1 low) sounds pretty good right now.
Starting weights:
185 Squat
135 Bench
225 Dead
95 Push Press
I'll start with Press today.
Cardio-wise, 30-60 minutes fasted rowing in the morning, possibly adding intervals depending on fat loss. Alarm set for a 30-minute snooze, so I can wake up, take the pills, and then just nap for a bit while I wait for them to kick in. I haven't decided on diet, but I'm leaning towards the Nuckols-type approach mentioned before - cyclical keto has me ~wishing for carbs on some of my low-fat days and then getting sick of them on the refeeds. I can still cycle calories, fats, carbs, etc. on the alternative.
Having written that out I think I just made up my mind, actually.
Ultimately, the program will stall out, so I'll shift the movements:
Squat => Front Squat
Bench => Incline (or Floor, if I'm weak at lockout)
Dead => Clean (for 3x5 instead of 5x3) or Deficit Dead
Push Press => Strict Press
After, say, two cycles of each (assuming I even get that far - I'm very aware of my fuckarounditis), I may move off to my Volume-Driven Texas Method variant:
Volume:
Squat 5x5 @ 90%
Bench/Push Press 5x5 @ 90%
Deadlift ROM Progression
Pull-Ups
Recovery:
Squat 5x2@ 70%
Push Press/Bench @ 70%
Deficit Speed Pull 1x10
Pull-Ups
Intensity:
Squat 5x1 (11% over Volume)
Bench/Push Press 5x1 (11% over Volume)
Competition Dead 1x1 (Moderate competition single)
Pull-Ups
That's subject to modification, but looks reasonable on paper. Ideally, I'd still be training 6-7 days per week, using extra (and presumably lighter) recovery days to fill in the gaps. Ab and direct arm work should probably also join the party; GHRs probably won't be necessary.
This basically gives me a 4-day split (Rep*Set):
A:
High Bar Squat 5x3
GHR 8x3
Pull-Up 30 reps
Face Pull 12x5
B:
Bench 5x3
Curl 8x3
Pull-Up 30 reps
Cuban 12x5
C:
Deadlift 5x3
Ab 8x3
Pull-Up 30 reps
Face Pull 12x5
D:
Push Press 5x3
Extensions 8x3
Pull-Up 30 reps
Cuban 12x5
There's some room for maneuvering on the shoulder protection work, but that's the basic pattern. I'll probably integrate some rowing as my shoulder recovers. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for ab work, and may add/substitute more. I haven't decided on a deload schedule, or when I'll start deloading - I'll need to go back over all of my old logs to figure that out, though doing it for the last 4 workouts of each cycle (i.e. 6 high 1 low) sounds pretty good right now.
Starting weights:
185 Squat
135 Bench
225 Dead
95 Push Press
I'll start with Press today.
Cardio-wise, 30-60 minutes fasted rowing in the morning, possibly adding intervals depending on fat loss. Alarm set for a 30-minute snooze, so I can wake up, take the pills, and then just nap for a bit while I wait for them to kick in. I haven't decided on diet, but I'm leaning towards the Nuckols-type approach mentioned before - cyclical keto has me ~wishing for carbs on some of my low-fat days and then getting sick of them on the refeeds. I can still cycle calories, fats, carbs, etc. on the alternative.
Having written that out I think I just made up my mind, actually.
Ultimately, the program will stall out, so I'll shift the movements:
Squat => Front Squat
Bench => Incline (or Floor, if I'm weak at lockout)
Dead => Clean (for 3x5 instead of 5x3) or Deficit Dead
Push Press => Strict Press
After, say, two cycles of each (assuming I even get that far - I'm very aware of my fuckarounditis), I may move off to my Volume-Driven Texas Method variant:
Volume:
Squat 5x5 @ 90%
Bench/Push Press 5x5 @ 90%
Deadlift ROM Progression
Pull-Ups
Recovery:
Squat 5x2
Competition Dead 1x1 (Moderate competition single)
Pull-Ups
That's subject to modification, but looks reasonable on paper. Ideally, I'd still be training 6-7 days per week, using extra (and presumably lighter) recovery days to fill in the gaps. Ab and direct arm work should probably also join the party; GHRs probably won't be necessary.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
A Quick Long-Term Plan
This has been on the cards for a while; I'm just writing it down so I've got it formalized somewhere.
1) Carb Nite by the book through March; after that, cautiously break out (most likely add a second evening refeed elsewhere in the week and go from there).
2) Carb Nites at least every 7th day, but otherwise not allowed until I've dropped 0.5lbs morning scale weight since the last one.
3) If weight loss plateaus (less than 0.5lb loss across 14 days, measured from morning of refeed days), add:
3a) 15mg Yohimbine and 100-200mg Caffeine in the first few minutes of training; 45 minutes low-intensity cardio (preferably brisk walking or erging - should be able to carry on a broken conversation) immediately following training.
Start at 2 days per week, avoiding refeed days, and increase up to 7. Training should start least 3-4 hours after last meal.
If the plateau continues or returns, up to 60 minutes low-intensity.
As necessary, replace the refeed day's low-intensity with:
3b) 15mg Yohimbine and 100-200mg Caffeine on waking. Half an hour later, do a 5-10 minute easy warmup (brisk walking counts), then 10 minutes of low-impact interval training (most likely erging or murderously intense sprints on grass; erging only if that's not the low-intensity of choice). 5 minutes' complete rest, followed by 20 minutes of the cardio used for 3a.
If necessary, up the steady-state to 40 minutes, then replace a second day but reset the times and work them back up (extend refeed day, then the other one).
If I still need a boost to hit a very low but not grotesquely striated level of bodyfat, modify refeed day to:
3c) 5 minutes of shorter intervals at maximum intensity (15/45 seconds very low) in place of the 10 minutes above, and add 5 minutes of longer intervals (30/30) and a 5-minute easy cooldown. Then eat something immediately.
As necessary, up that to 40 minutes steady-state, then 10 minutes of longer intervals, then if for some reason that hasn't worked, replace the other 3b day (resetting the first day's times and working them back up one at a time [extend refeed steady, extend other steady, extend refeed intervals, etc.). As a last-ditch effort, up the short intervals to 10 minutes.
For properly resuming maintenance once I'm satisfied:
1) Reset all protocols back to the minimum times, stop taking the yohimbine, and increase calories to reach maintenance. Then gradually wean off of caffeine.
From there, it's still a bit up in the air, but I'd like to have a lot of leeway with food and drink while I maintain, so keeping the conditioning in makes sense. Ideally I'd work up to 3x/week of 3c and 4x/week of 3a (on waking rather than post-workout).
1) Carb Nite by the book through March; after that, cautiously break out (most likely add a second evening refeed elsewhere in the week and go from there).
2) Carb Nites at least every 7th day, but otherwise not allowed until I've dropped 0.5lbs morning scale weight since the last one.
3) If weight loss plateaus (less than 0.5lb loss across 14 days, measured from morning of refeed days), add:
3a) 15mg Yohimbine and 100-200mg Caffeine in the first few minutes of training; 45 minutes low-intensity cardio (preferably brisk walking or erging - should be able to carry on a broken conversation) immediately following training.
Start at 2 days per week, avoiding refeed days, and increase up to 7. Training should start least 3-4 hours after last meal.
If the plateau continues or returns, up to 60 minutes low-intensity.
As necessary, replace the refeed day's low-intensity with:
3b) 15mg Yohimbine and 100-200mg Caffeine on waking. Half an hour later, do a 5-10 minute easy warmup (brisk walking counts), then 10 minutes of low-impact interval training (most likely erging or murderously intense sprints on grass; erging only if that's not the low-intensity of choice). 5 minutes' complete rest, followed by 20 minutes of the cardio used for 3a.
If necessary, up the steady-state to 40 minutes, then replace a second day but reset the times and work them back up (extend refeed day, then the other one).
If I still need a boost to hit a very low but not grotesquely striated level of bodyfat, modify refeed day to:
3c) 5 minutes of shorter intervals at maximum intensity (15/45 seconds very low) in place of the 10 minutes above, and add 5 minutes of longer intervals (30/30) and a 5-minute easy cooldown. Then eat something immediately.
As necessary, up that to 40 minutes steady-state, then 10 minutes of longer intervals, then if for some reason that hasn't worked, replace the other 3b day (resetting the first day's times and working them back up one at a time [extend refeed steady, extend other steady, extend refeed intervals, etc.). As a last-ditch effort, up the short intervals to 10 minutes.
For properly resuming maintenance once I'm satisfied:
1) Reset all protocols back to the minimum times, stop taking the yohimbine, and increase calories to reach maintenance. Then gradually wean off of caffeine.
From there, it's still a bit up in the air, but I'd like to have a lot of leeway with food and drink while I maintain, so keeping the conditioning in makes sense. Ideally I'd work up to 3x/week of 3c and 4x/week of 3a (on waking rather than post-workout).
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Testosterone
I'm looking into dietary ways to increase testosterone levels. Thus far, I'm getting:
1) Zinc and Magnesium are important, ZMA's not necessary.
2) Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Cabbage reduce estradiol levels
3) Garlic is awesome
4) Sun exposure or vitamin D supplementation - >2000 IU per day is ideal. Sun exposure for 30-60 minutes gives around 5-10x this and tans you up too, which is good for me because of my hilarious farmer's tan
5) Interval Training
6) Weightlifting, especially when done with high volume and short rests
7) Horny Goat Weed. Icaarin levels equivalent to roughly 900mg/day produced dramatic testosterone increases in rats. This will have to wait until I have a job; getting it from Horny Goat Weed supplements (10%) would run $50/mo, isolate powders (usually 40%) would run more like $300/mo, and the tests to see if it's having a hormonal effect are about $150 each.
8) Talking to and sleeping with attractive women. Oh, right. Talking to guys actually helps as well.
9) Winning, presumably.
10) Olive Oil (helps with cholesterol absorption)
11) Apparently caffeine right before training can help
12) More and longer cold showers/baths. Wonderful.
Most of these line up with my plans either way. Right now my total testosterone around 11am (waking up at 10) comes in at 600ng/dL; normal for sub-25 is more like 700 (150 sigma). I'd like to get a more comprehensive set of labs in future (total, free, weakly bound, SHBG, and estradiol; total, free, and estradiol at minimum). Realistically I think I can hit 800ng/dL on waking; >900 would be excellent, but that'll take some word. If I can get it over 1,000 I'd be really, really stoked, but since the point is partly to fix risk aversion and improve my performance with girls, I suspect I'd already have all of the desired benefits by the time I hit this.
1) Zinc and Magnesium are important, ZMA's not necessary.
2) Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Cabbage reduce estradiol levels
3) Garlic is awesome
4) Sun exposure or vitamin D supplementation - >2000 IU per day is ideal. Sun exposure for 30-60 minutes gives around 5-10x this and tans you up too, which is good for me because of my hilarious farmer's tan
5) Interval Training
6) Weightlifting, especially when done with high volume and short rests
7) Horny Goat Weed. Icaarin levels equivalent to roughly 900mg/day produced dramatic testosterone increases in rats. This will have to wait until I have a job; getting it from Horny Goat Weed supplements (10%) would run $50/mo, isolate powders (usually 40%) would run more like $300/mo, and the tests to see if it's having a hormonal effect are about $150 each.
8) Talking to and sleeping with attractive women. Oh, right. Talking to guys actually helps as well.
9) Winning, presumably.
10) Olive Oil (helps with cholesterol absorption)
11) Apparently caffeine right before training can help
12) More and longer cold showers/baths. Wonderful.
Most of these line up with my plans either way. Right now my total testosterone around 11am (waking up at 10) comes in at 600ng/dL; normal for sub-25 is more like 700 (150 sigma). I'd like to get a more comprehensive set of labs in future (total, free, weakly bound, SHBG, and estradiol; total, free, and estradiol at minimum). Realistically I think I can hit 800ng/dL on waking; >900 would be excellent, but that'll take some word. If I can get it over 1,000 I'd be really, really stoked, but since the point is partly to fix risk aversion and improve my performance with girls, I suspect I'd already have all of the desired benefits by the time I hit this.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Diet Again
http://gregnuckols.com/2013/09/02/carbs-at-night-make-you-lean-so-do-big-breakfasts/
I decided I'd stick with the old plan, so this isn't relevant yet - I may migrate over to carb-nite, actually, given how similar they are - but longer-term, I have a feeling this lays out a fairly decent (and sustainable) approach:
Large, high-fat, high-protein breakfast
Meals between as necessary, big focus on not training on an empty stomach
Low-fat and 120-150g carbs in the evenings
It seems like this would be ideal for easy weight maintenance (large breakfast for basic fullness and carbs in the evening to supposedly adjust the leptin schedule); it's clinically-backed and looks both convenient and healthy.
I decided I'd stick with the old plan, so this isn't relevant yet - I may migrate over to carb-nite, actually, given how similar they are - but longer-term, I have a feeling this lays out a fairly decent (and sustainable) approach:
Large, high-fat, high-protein breakfast
Meals between as necessary, big focus on not training on an empty stomach
Low-fat and 120-150g carbs in the evenings
It seems like this would be ideal for easy weight maintenance (large breakfast for basic fullness and carbs in the evening to supposedly adjust the leptin schedule); it's clinically-backed and looks both convenient and healthy.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
More Diet and Training Thoughts
I just read these two articles:
I don't trust any single piece of work, but these are pretty interesting. It also meshes with part of this:
The "eat while it's light, not while it's dark" thing sounds nice, but I can't see it catching for me until my thirties.
Off of those I'm adjusting the refeeds somewhat - regular breakfast, then focus on low-fat for the rest of the day.
This also looks like a good point.
The second one here concerns me; I'm fine with cyclical keto right now, but this backs up my plan to add carbs to all of my training days.
Final note, from here:
I may start throwing in a "jesus fuck" workout every month or so after my meet. I can't decide if I should pick it based on how I'm feeling or just flip a coin.
I'm also not going to erg after my squat workouts for now - I don't want to tire myself out for the second upper day.
I'm also not going to erg after my squat workouts for now - I don't want to tire myself out for the second upper day.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Diet Update
These come along a bit more often than I'd like at this point.
I'm almost out of protein powder and ready to drop the PSMF layout in favor of something less stressful. I'm basically fully over to an IF approach (which, again, is mostly to facilitate the yohimbine). Things are back to a very Jamie Lewis-type CKD, with calorie cycling, fat loads, and a single carb refeed. For now I'm integrating a full fasting day (currently planned for Saturdays), though I'll be taking that out as I get leaner.
The weekly layout (disregarding this week and possibly next, as my training's gotten a bit thrown off and I'll be out of town from Sat to Sat):
Monday (Erg) - Low-Calorie
Tuesday (ME Bench) - Fat Load
Wednesday (Erg) - Low-Calorie
Thursday (Squat) - Medium
Friday (SE Bench) - Fat Load
Saturday (Low Intensity) - Fast
Sunday (Deadlift) - Carb Refeed
Outlines/Macros:
Low-Calorie:
160g Protein, max 25g Carb, 100g Fat for 1650kcal at roughly 40/5/55
Large (high protein, fat, fiber) breakfast; moderate meal pre-training, small (fruit and protein) post-training
Salad and leanish meats; fibrous fruit after training. Pork Chop with Apple stands as a good example.
Medium-Calorie:
160g protein, max 25g Carb, 150g Fat for 2100kcal at roughly 30/5/65
Large (high protein, fat, fiber) breakfast; large meal pre-training, small post-training
Salad and fattier meats, with a major emphasis on beef, pork, and fattier fish.
Fat Load:
160g protein, max 25g Carb, 200g Fat for 2600kcal at roughly 25/5/70
Large (high protein, fat, fiber) breakfast; large meal pre-training, small post-training
Salad and good fat sources (fattier meats, dairy, nuts). Slightly higher emphasis on saturates.
Refeed:
200g protein, 600g carb, 70g fat for 3800kcal at roughly 20/65/15
Small (protein, carb, fiber) breakfast, medium pre-training brunch. Medium (protein, carb, fiber) meals throughout the day following training.
I'm looking to up my intake of eggs and organ meats around this; I can get Calf Liver at Berkeley Bowl for about $4/lb. It's actually pretty low in fat, which could mean that Liver and Onions just hit the menu for refeed day. Macadamias and some form of coconut fat are also on the priorities list, though it'll be annoying to get these at a reasoanble price.
For some random weird stuff that I found reading Meadows' work, I'm going to try consuming cranberry and lemon juice; he suggests lemon in warm water early in the morning, and cranberry at 4oz in 28oz water at least once per day. Given the health benefits of green tea I'm inclined to just make some tea in the morning and squeeze in a lemon. The cranberry's a bit more frustrating, but I can always just eat the berries themselves.
Serrano and Mendelson suggest a 30:60:10 balance on Sat:Mono:Poly, but I'm not too stressed there.
The salad part is a big deal here; I need to make sure I'm getting in the fiber and the micronutrients, and some carb intake won't hurt. Fruit post-cardio should also be helpful. All days will have a reasonable intake of fish oil (ideally keeping the w6:w3 ratio roughly 1:1).
This will probably get thrown off again once I get my bike and start cycling everywhere, but that should be in a good way. I'll probably be riding at least an hour every day (excluding Saturday), which will make a strong contribution regardless of intensity (N.B.: Once I've got the erging up to an hour, that puts me at around 15-20 hours of exercise per week; pretty respectable). For the Yohimbine I'm currently at 10g on waking, 7.5g 1.5-2 hours before eating, and 5g every hour in between. This worked today.
Other general notes:
1) Hammer out a regular 8-hour sleep schedule. This should be easier now that lab's off-limits at night. I'm looking to hit 12-8.
2) Massage should be important for general maintenance and relieving stress. Fortunately I've got Jenny and Tammy to keep me going there.
3) Meditation should also help manage stress. I'll probably switch this to the evenings, and possibly add a second session after a while.
4) Somewhat further from the ordinary, but I'm going to make a concerted effort to limit my contact with Steph and Hannah. They're both negative influences on my mood, and are the only big emotional drains on my time in lab. Not screwing up is important; not letting them affect me is also very big.
I'm going to sleep early and long while in Washington to try to get things back under control.
I'm almost out of protein powder and ready to drop the PSMF layout in favor of something less stressful. I'm basically fully over to an IF approach (which, again, is mostly to facilitate the yohimbine). Things are back to a very Jamie Lewis-type CKD, with calorie cycling, fat loads, and a single carb refeed. For now I'm integrating a full fasting day (currently planned for Saturdays), though I'll be taking that out as I get leaner.
The weekly layout (disregarding this week and possibly next, as my training's gotten a bit thrown off and I'll be out of town from Sat to Sat):
Monday (Erg) - Low-Calorie
Tuesday (ME Bench) - Fat Load
Wednesday (Erg) - Low-Calorie
Thursday (Squat) - Medium
Friday (SE Bench) - Fat Load
Saturday (Low Intensity) - Fast
Sunday (Deadlift) - Carb Refeed
Outlines/Macros:
Low-Calorie:
160g Protein, max 25g Carb, 100g Fat for 1650kcal at roughly 40/5/55
Large (high protein, fat, fiber) breakfast; moderate meal pre-training, small (fruit and protein) post-training
Salad and leanish meats; fibrous fruit after training. Pork Chop with Apple stands as a good example.
Medium-Calorie:
160g protein, max 25g Carb, 150g Fat for 2100kcal at roughly 30/5/65
Large (high protein, fat, fiber) breakfast; large meal pre-training, small post-training
Salad and fattier meats, with a major emphasis on beef, pork, and fattier fish.
Fat Load:
160g protein, max 25g Carb, 200g Fat for 2600kcal at roughly 25/5/70
Large (high protein, fat, fiber) breakfast; large meal pre-training, small post-training
Salad and good fat sources (fattier meats, dairy, nuts). Slightly higher emphasis on saturates.
Refeed:
200g protein, 600g carb, 70g fat for 3800kcal at roughly 20/65/15
Small (protein, carb, fiber) breakfast, medium pre-training brunch. Medium (protein, carb, fiber) meals throughout the day following training.
I'm looking to up my intake of eggs and organ meats around this; I can get Calf Liver at Berkeley Bowl for about $4/lb. It's actually pretty low in fat, which could mean that Liver and Onions just hit the menu for refeed day. Macadamias and some form of coconut fat are also on the priorities list, though it'll be annoying to get these at a reasoanble price.
For some random weird stuff that I found reading Meadows' work, I'm going to try consuming cranberry and lemon juice; he suggests lemon in warm water early in the morning, and cranberry at 4oz in 28oz water at least once per day. Given the health benefits of green tea I'm inclined to just make some tea in the morning and squeeze in a lemon. The cranberry's a bit more frustrating, but I can always just eat the berries themselves.
Serrano and Mendelson suggest a 30:60:10 balance on Sat:Mono:Poly, but I'm not too stressed there.
The salad part is a big deal here; I need to make sure I'm getting in the fiber and the micronutrients, and some carb intake won't hurt. Fruit post-cardio should also be helpful. All days will have a reasonable intake of fish oil (ideally keeping the w6:w3 ratio roughly 1:1).
This will probably get thrown off again once I get my bike and start cycling everywhere, but that should be in a good way. I'll probably be riding at least an hour every day (excluding Saturday), which will make a strong contribution regardless of intensity (N.B.: Once I've got the erging up to an hour, that puts me at around 15-20 hours of exercise per week; pretty respectable). For the Yohimbine I'm currently at 10g on waking, 7.5g 1.5-2 hours before eating, and 5g every hour in between. This worked today.
Other general notes:
1) Hammer out a regular 8-hour sleep schedule. This should be easier now that lab's off-limits at night. I'm looking to hit 12-8.
2) Massage should be important for general maintenance and relieving stress. Fortunately I've got Jenny and Tammy to keep me going there.
3) Meditation should also help manage stress. I'll probably switch this to the evenings, and possibly add a second session after a while.
4) Somewhat further from the ordinary, but I'm going to make a concerted effort to limit my contact with Steph and Hannah. They're both negative influences on my mood, and are the only big emotional drains on my time in lab. Not screwing up is important; not letting them affect me is also very big.
I'm going to sleep early and long while in Washington to try to get things back under control.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Diet Update - Hammering Out Details
Since I'm almost out of protein powder, and (as far as we know) Yohimbine only works on an empty stomach, I'm switching back to straight IF for the remainder of this cut. I'll compress the protein shakes to the end of the day until I run out.
I'm skipping the ECA stack because of some recent Alan Aragon reading - looks like for someone with properly-set macros, it'll probably amount to maybe an extra quarter-pound per week. Yohimbine doesn't play nice with ephedrine and adds something I can't get from diet alone, so that stays in and ephedrine stays at the door.
I'll be training in the evenings, so I'm looking at a slightly lighter yohimbine dose on waking and then boosters throughout the day. I originally thought 10g on waking and then 7.5 every 3 hours after that, but now I'm looking at 10 on waking and 2.5 every hour. If I'm waking up at 8:30 and eating around 7 (training at 8), that's 35mg per day (just over twice the bolus dose for someone my size) - I figure I can safely start there and bring it up as I get used to it.
I'm also going to start adding in more cardio - once I'm fasting, I'll be cooking actual meals in the evenings and can start buying groceries in advance. I'll start out just walking to Andronicos/Safeway in the mornings, but once I have a bike I'll try hitting Berkeley Bowl (should be an easy ride - at regular pace it'll actually be faster than the walks). I want to keep this very low-intensity, since (as Aragon constantly points out) fasted cardio has negative effects on lean mass.
I'm going to refine the carb refeeds somewhat based on Lyle McDonald's work - some notes on that:
1) The liver stores about 100g glycogen; muscles store roughly 10g/kg or 4.5g/lb. For me that pegs things around 650g total (assuming slightly sub-10% bodyfat and 160lbs). Due to the liver limitations, (0.5*Sucrose + 1*Fructose) should (ideally) stay under 100g.
2) Synthesis goes fastest following training and tapers off from there. The first meal should come as soon as possible.
3) Outside of the training "window," timing/distribution doesn't seem to matter. The best layout will probably involve a higher-fat and higher-fiber meal shortly before bed to slow release.
4) High-GI carbs do seem to work better overall.
5) A pre-training meal with moderate carbs should improve synthesis by increasing circulating insulin levels.
6) Fat gain stays negligible as long as fat intake stays low (Lyle quotes 88g from a paper and recommends 60-70g for someone 140-160lbs).
Lyle's recommended macro breakdown falls at 70/15/15 C/P/F by lean body mass, which seems pretty reasonable. Right now that's 720/153/68 in the first 24 hours; dropping carbs to 500 doesn't offer much of a change, but it's nice to know I've got a fairly serious buffer.
Based on that, my refeed plan is to wake up, take a full 15g of yohimbine, and have a lowish-fat, moderate-carb, high-protein breakfast about two hours later. An hour or so after that, train and immediately follow with a high-carb, lowish-fat, high-protein meal (min. 100g carbs), followed by at least 3-4 similar meals throughout the rest of the day. I'll be avoiding fruit here - this should help to keep fructose content down, and fruit itself is very filling and gets in the way of other foods that I should be consuming in greater bulk. I can handle the fruit side on other days. The same applies to salad, and for similar reasons. I want this to be satisfying, not unpleasant (which is what the current one's shaping up to be, thanks almost entirely to overdoing fruit and leafy vege).
For starches I'm looking mostly at potatoes (and other roots) and rice, though I'll still allow wheat.
The fat refeed won't involve any shakes - there will be fiber, but for the most part it'll just be two unlimited meals of fatty meat on the bone with some leaves to aid with digestion. This one's very nice and very simple.
Regular days will be a bit more limited. For the upcoming week, I'll just concentrate the shakes into less water and consume more quickly. On lifting days that'll probably just be one scoop at a time; I don't need to worry about frequency so much as just making sure I take in at least six scoops (some of which can go with the meat meal). For nonlifting days, it's at least 9 scoops, which might take some more work to imbibe but shouldn't be a huge problem.
---
Once I run out of powder, this switches over 100% to cooked meals. The macros here don't change much - on erg days it's at least 150g protein worth of lean meat with some allowance for fat and very low carbs, plus a small amount of fruit post-workout for liver health (probably berries - again, small). For lifting days, it's the same, just frontloaded so I'm full when I head to the gym. They'll have a higher fat allowance, but the goal's still 150g+ protein spread across two meals totaling around 1500kcal; chicken thighs actually won't be good for this. These days will include greens to keep things going.
I'll hammer out more specifics later, but I'm still getting over crippling abdominal pain from eating too many plants so that'll probably have to wait until next time I'm at Costco.
EDIT: I'm also going to resume contrast showering and stop turning on the heating system - cold exposure activates non-shivering thermogenesis and thereby increases fat utilization. The morning walks should help with this, though that's not happening tomorrow because tonight I'm going to be up until six.
I'm skipping the ECA stack because of some recent Alan Aragon reading - looks like for someone with properly-set macros, it'll probably amount to maybe an extra quarter-pound per week. Yohimbine doesn't play nice with ephedrine and adds something I can't get from diet alone, so that stays in and ephedrine stays at the door.
I'll be training in the evenings, so I'm looking at a slightly lighter yohimbine dose on waking and then boosters throughout the day. I originally thought 10g on waking and then 7.5 every 3 hours after that, but now I'm looking at 10 on waking and 2.5 every hour. If I'm waking up at 8:30 and eating around 7 (training at 8), that's 35mg per day (just over twice the bolus dose for someone my size) - I figure I can safely start there and bring it up as I get used to it.
I'm also going to start adding in more cardio - once I'm fasting, I'll be cooking actual meals in the evenings and can start buying groceries in advance. I'll start out just walking to Andronicos/Safeway in the mornings, but once I have a bike I'll try hitting Berkeley Bowl (should be an easy ride - at regular pace it'll actually be faster than the walks). I want to keep this very low-intensity, since (as Aragon constantly points out) fasted cardio has negative effects on lean mass.
I'm going to refine the carb refeeds somewhat based on Lyle McDonald's work - some notes on that:
1) The liver stores about 100g glycogen; muscles store roughly 10g/kg or 4.5g/lb. For me that pegs things around 650g total (assuming slightly sub-10% bodyfat and 160lbs). Due to the liver limitations, (0.5*Sucrose + 1*Fructose) should (ideally) stay under 100g.
2) Synthesis goes fastest following training and tapers off from there. The first meal should come as soon as possible.
3) Outside of the training "window," timing/distribution doesn't seem to matter. The best layout will probably involve a higher-fat and higher-fiber meal shortly before bed to slow release.
4) High-GI carbs do seem to work better overall.
5) A pre-training meal with moderate carbs should improve synthesis by increasing circulating insulin levels.
6) Fat gain stays negligible as long as fat intake stays low (Lyle quotes 88g from a paper and recommends 60-70g for someone 140-160lbs).
Lyle's recommended macro breakdown falls at 70/15/15 C/P/F by lean body mass, which seems pretty reasonable. Right now that's 720/153/68 in the first 24 hours; dropping carbs to 500 doesn't offer much of a change, but it's nice to know I've got a fairly serious buffer.
Based on that, my refeed plan is to wake up, take a full 15g of yohimbine, and have a lowish-fat, moderate-carb, high-protein breakfast about two hours later. An hour or so after that, train and immediately follow with a high-carb, lowish-fat, high-protein meal (min. 100g carbs), followed by at least 3-4 similar meals throughout the rest of the day. I'll be avoiding fruit here - this should help to keep fructose content down, and fruit itself is very filling and gets in the way of other foods that I should be consuming in greater bulk. I can handle the fruit side on other days. The same applies to salad, and for similar reasons. I want this to be satisfying, not unpleasant (which is what the current one's shaping up to be, thanks almost entirely to overdoing fruit and leafy vege).
For starches I'm looking mostly at potatoes (and other roots) and rice, though I'll still allow wheat.
The fat refeed won't involve any shakes - there will be fiber, but for the most part it'll just be two unlimited meals of fatty meat on the bone with some leaves to aid with digestion. This one's very nice and very simple.
Regular days will be a bit more limited. For the upcoming week, I'll just concentrate the shakes into less water and consume more quickly. On lifting days that'll probably just be one scoop at a time; I don't need to worry about frequency so much as just making sure I take in at least six scoops (some of which can go with the meat meal). For nonlifting days, it's at least 9 scoops, which might take some more work to imbibe but shouldn't be a huge problem.
---
Once I run out of powder, this switches over 100% to cooked meals. The macros here don't change much - on erg days it's at least 150g protein worth of lean meat with some allowance for fat and very low carbs, plus a small amount of fruit post-workout for liver health (probably berries - again, small). For lifting days, it's the same, just frontloaded so I'm full when I head to the gym. They'll have a higher fat allowance, but the goal's still 150g+ protein spread across two meals totaling around 1500kcal; chicken thighs actually won't be good for this. These days will include greens to keep things going.
I'll hammer out more specifics later, but I'm still getting over crippling abdominal pain from eating too many plants so that'll probably have to wait until next time I'm at Costco.
EDIT: I'm also going to resume contrast showering and stop turning on the heating system - cold exposure activates non-shivering thermogenesis and thereby increases fat utilization. The morning walks should help with this, though that's not happening tomorrow because tonight I'm going to be up until six.
Burgers (Planning)
I'll be doing another burger night soon, so I'm working up the basic ideas for methods and ingredients. Here's what I've got so far:
1) Keep the meat in the fridge, and freeze the grinder before use.
2) Hand-mincing may actually work better than grinding.
3) The optimal mix probably involves some combination of sirloin, short rib, brisket, and oxtail. Possibly include some suet if I have any lying around.
3b) Sirloin wants to be at least 30% for texture. I'll probably start with 3:2:2:2 and go from there. Short rib's texture can help out the sirloin so I can probably up the brisket without much worry.
3c) Emphasize quality and pick out stuff that's nicely marbled. Apparently grass-fed actually might beat out grain here, but at the prices they charge that's not happening on a $5 cover.
3d) Brisket needs to be ground/chopped very fine. Short rib (and any other chuck bits) maybe not as much, unsure about oxtail and sirloin.
3e) Heston likes to salt some of the meat in advance of grinding it so it binds things better. I'll experiment with this (especially with some ground chuck eye). I'll try an hour in advance first and look into 6 depending on how it compares.
4) Handle the meat as little as possible. I plan to spread it onto plates and use a metal spatula to section off and weigh the portions, then put them on foil and shape them from the side instead of hand-forming full patties. I'll be doing a test run of this first, though.
5) Start with 6oz portions and go from there. This means I'll need to dimple the middle of each patty and make them all a bit wider than the buns
5b) OR try to reconcile the handling thing with balling them up and smashing them onto the griddle with a heavy spatula, since this maximizes the browning area.
5c) Also note that you can get away with coarser/less even work with thicker patties, since they're going to be heavier anyway.
6) Experiment with some bun recipes. I'll start with this one:
The Spotted Pig's Hamburger Buns | Serious Eats : Recipes
7) Experiment with herbs, caramelized onion extract, and tomato concentrate, but try to integrate these into the grinding process to minimize handling. Kenji likes anchovies, marmite, and dashi to boost the umami, so I might as well try with those. Mushrooms (perhaps oven-roasted) may also work here to boost the umami.
8) Flip frequently for faster cooking. This requires a good spatula.
9) Try using the same technique as the roasts - cook to the desired doneness in the oven at a low temperature, then annihilate at max in the pan to build the crust.
10) Eventually work out something on the cheese. Everyone seems to like making your own American-style cheese using sodium citrate, and Comte seems fairly popular for the flavor base. Kenji has his own trick here, which might be worth a look.
10b) Maybe use a mandolin to cut slices of conventional cheese for the time being.
11) Play around with condiments, but note that you can still get slices from the tomatoes used to make any concentrate. Play with onion slicing approaches, but Kenji likes pole-to-pole (versus orbital or chopped) for balance.
I'm looking forward to going pure IF partly because it'll let me play around with these - I can buy, section, and flash-freeze large batches of the cuts and then refine the recipes almost day by day if I want to.
Also, much as I hate straight up blogging, I've noticed that as I lose weight from my face, my cheekbones start looking more and more German.
1) Keep the meat in the fridge, and freeze the grinder before use.
2) Hand-mincing may actually work better than grinding.
3) The optimal mix probably involves some combination of sirloin, short rib, brisket, and oxtail. Possibly include some suet if I have any lying around.
3b) Sirloin wants to be at least 30% for texture. I'll probably start with 3:2:2:2 and go from there. Short rib's texture can help out the sirloin so I can probably up the brisket without much worry.
3c) Emphasize quality and pick out stuff that's nicely marbled. Apparently grass-fed actually might beat out grain here, but at the prices they charge that's not happening on a $5 cover.
3d) Brisket needs to be ground/chopped very fine. Short rib (and any other chuck bits) maybe not as much, unsure about oxtail and sirloin.
3e) Heston likes to salt some of the meat in advance of grinding it so it binds things better. I'll experiment with this (especially with some ground chuck eye). I'll try an hour in advance first and look into 6 depending on how it compares.
4) Handle the meat as little as possible. I plan to spread it onto plates and use a metal spatula to section off and weigh the portions, then put them on foil and shape them from the side instead of hand-forming full patties. I'll be doing a test run of this first, though.
5) Start with 6oz portions and go from there. This means I'll need to dimple the middle of each patty and make them all a bit wider than the buns
5b) OR try to reconcile the handling thing with balling them up and smashing them onto the griddle with a heavy spatula, since this maximizes the browning area.
5c) Also note that you can get away with coarser/less even work with thicker patties, since they're going to be heavier anyway.
6) Experiment with some bun recipes. I'll start with this one:
The Spotted Pig's Hamburger Buns | Serious Eats : Recipes
7) Experiment with herbs, caramelized onion extract, and tomato concentrate, but try to integrate these into the grinding process to minimize handling. Kenji likes anchovies, marmite, and dashi to boost the umami, so I might as well try with those. Mushrooms (perhaps oven-roasted) may also work here to boost the umami.
8) Flip frequently for faster cooking. This requires a good spatula.
9) Try using the same technique as the roasts - cook to the desired doneness in the oven at a low temperature, then annihilate at max in the pan to build the crust.
10) Eventually work out something on the cheese. Everyone seems to like making your own American-style cheese using sodium citrate, and Comte seems fairly popular for the flavor base. Kenji has his own trick here, which might be worth a look.
10b) Maybe use a mandolin to cut slices of conventional cheese for the time being.
11) Play around with condiments, but note that you can still get slices from the tomatoes used to make any concentrate. Play with onion slicing approaches, but Kenji likes pole-to-pole (versus orbital or chopped) for balance.
I'm looking forward to going pure IF partly because it'll let me play around with these - I can buy, section, and flash-freeze large batches of the cuts and then refine the recipes almost day by day if I want to.
Also, much as I hate straight up blogging, I've noticed that as I lose weight from my face, my cheekbones start looking more and more German.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Brief Interlude
Diet's fairly stable and I'm down to about 160. My goal's 159 on Saturday morning, though I'll cheat all-out (versus just a mild carb refeed, or possibly just a fat refeed) if I fall below 160.
I've picked up some Yohimbine HCl (throwback to last year); apparently it's only really effective fasted, so the plan's to take it first thing in the morning, push the whey shake back an hour, and cut back slightly on the protein (dropping calories in the process). If anyone's actually reading this, the justification's fairly concise:
1) Fat cells have two fat loss-related receptors, B-1 and A-2.
2) B-1 receptors increase fat loss, A-2 receptors reduce fat loss.
3) B-1 receptors are basically stable, A-2 increase as you lose weight.
4) Yohimbine blocks A-2 and thereby facilitates fat loss (study-backed).
5) "Stubborn" fat areas tend to display more A-2 than others.
As far as I know, nobody's identified why it only increases fat loss in fasted subjects - presumably the actual increase comes from norepinephrine having fewer places to leave the bloodstream, and the effect dies down once the body's gotten used to the higher norepi levels. Thing is, the fasted thing shouldn't make a difference there, which suggests that yohimbine can't bind the A-2 receptor when insulin's around. Off of that, I'm waiting an hour for my whey shake starting when the stuff arrives.
Other points recently came up:
1) For the yohimbine issue specifically, since it's active only when there's no insulin around, it probably works even better on full intermittent fasting - take it on waking and then again a few hours later (or 3 hours after the big meal and then a few hours after that). Might want to drop the dose, but the only reason I haven't considered switching to this is that I've already dropped tons of money on protein powder.
2) You only need around 0.8-0.9g protein per pound of bodyweight to preserve lean mass on a calorie deficit. This probably isn't as relevant to me (with my PSMF approach, the higher protein dose probably serves to prevent the rest of the protein from being used for fuel, since I'm not consuming any other source of calories), but it might be worth remembering for the next time I want to lose weight.
I suspect my plan for maintaining will actually ease back to an IF approach with various refeeds, probably running multiple 2-3 doses of yohimbine per day (7.5-10g each). I don't know how long it'll take to get back, I just know it's time to start taking yohimbine again.
I'll also look into horny goat weed, though this one will involve some more personal experimentation. Rat studies using doses equivalent to ~13mg/kg/day (basically 1g for me) showed a very significant testosterone increase; the mechanism isn't known, but could be replicable in humans. There's no human backing for this, but the NOW Foods caps would let me test that for around $50/mo, so if I go in and get some comprehensive blood panels done I can test that out. There's also a much more expensive option with pure Icariin, but I'd rather try the cheaper one first.
EDIT: New note: Starting after my ME Squat (Monday), I'm going to start doing the stomach vacuum at least 3 times per day (for multiple breaths each, obviously).
I've picked up some Yohimbine HCl (throwback to last year); apparently it's only really effective fasted, so the plan's to take it first thing in the morning, push the whey shake back an hour, and cut back slightly on the protein (dropping calories in the process). If anyone's actually reading this, the justification's fairly concise:
1) Fat cells have two fat loss-related receptors, B-1 and A-2.
2) B-1 receptors increase fat loss, A-2 receptors reduce fat loss.
3) B-1 receptors are basically stable, A-2 increase as you lose weight.
4) Yohimbine blocks A-2 and thereby facilitates fat loss (study-backed).
5) "Stubborn" fat areas tend to display more A-2 than others.
As far as I know, nobody's identified why it only increases fat loss in fasted subjects - presumably the actual increase comes from norepinephrine having fewer places to leave the bloodstream, and the effect dies down once the body's gotten used to the higher norepi levels. Thing is, the fasted thing shouldn't make a difference there, which suggests that yohimbine can't bind the A-2 receptor when insulin's around. Off of that, I'm waiting an hour for my whey shake starting when the stuff arrives.
Other points recently came up:
1) For the yohimbine issue specifically, since it's active only when there's no insulin around, it probably works even better on full intermittent fasting - take it on waking and then again a few hours later (or 3 hours after the big meal and then a few hours after that). Might want to drop the dose, but the only reason I haven't considered switching to this is that I've already dropped tons of money on protein powder.
2) You only need around 0.8-0.9g protein per pound of bodyweight to preserve lean mass on a calorie deficit. This probably isn't as relevant to me (with my PSMF approach, the higher protein dose probably serves to prevent the rest of the protein from being used for fuel, since I'm not consuming any other source of calories), but it might be worth remembering for the next time I want to lose weight.
I suspect my plan for maintaining will actually ease back to an IF approach with various refeeds, probably running multiple 2-3 doses of yohimbine per day (7.5-10g each). I don't know how long it'll take to get back, I just know it's time to start taking yohimbine again.
I'll also look into horny goat weed, though this one will involve some more personal experimentation. Rat studies using doses equivalent to ~13mg/kg/day (basically 1g for me) showed a very significant testosterone increase; the mechanism isn't known, but could be replicable in humans. There's no human backing for this, but the NOW Foods caps would let me test that for around $50/mo, so if I go in and get some comprehensive blood panels done I can test that out. There's also a much more expensive option with pure Icariin, but I'd rather try the cheaper one first.
EDIT: New note: Starting after my ME Squat (Monday), I'm going to start doing the stomach vacuum at least 3 times per day (for multiple breaths each, obviously).
Monday, July 1, 2013
Further Dietary Ideas
This is getting more and more refined. I like that.
MAJOR EDIT:
I went back and re-referenced Lewis's guidelines for APD (similar concept) and realized what I've probably been doing wrong: His initial (and even middle) approaches involve only one solid meal per day (with the exception of carb and fat refeed days). I think I'll actually adopt his approach straight up (albeit with some berries for liver health). This kinda shatters my weekly expenses, actually.
Looking at the calorie intake for my training days, I'm coming to the conclusion that beef ribs should probably be more part of a higher-calorie fat-heavier day than the regular post-workout meal. For now I've arrived at (with days to be shuffled around in 3 weeks when I deload):
Every day - Whey shake with creatine on waking, plus multivitamin and glucosamine. 150g protein from standard shakes throughout the day (right now that means 2 of them, though I may reduce the protein amount and up it to 3 to help deal with hunger issues).
Tuesday (Deadlift) - Chicken thighs before, thighs or ribs after
Wednesday (PSMF) - Add an additional 75-100g protein from shakes
Thursday (ME Bench) - Chicken thighs before
Friday (PSMF) - Add an additional 75-100g protein from shakes
Saturday (Squat) - Chicken thighs before
Sunday (morning SE Bench) - low-carb before, 3-hour high-carb window after, solid meals for rest
This week things are a bit weird because the days are offset and I'm getting pizza Wednesday evening (hopefully post-workout), but the overall point stands. I'm going to do some weighing to check, but right now my impression is that 2x chicken thighs is actually more calories than the beef ribs. The point (overall) is calorie cycling, but taken to a greater extreme because of my goals.
Deload week, I'll shuffle things around to reach:
Sunday (morning Deadlift) - light low-carb breakfast, high-carb low-fat meal pwo, med-carb for rest of day (50g/meal)
Monday (PSMF) - Add 75-100g of shakes
Tuesday (ME Bench) - Thighs before, Ribs after
Wednesday (PSMF) - Add 75-100g of shakes
Thursday (Squat) - Thighs before, 2x Thighs after
Friday (SE Bench) - Thighs before, Thighs after
Saturday (PSMF) - Add 75-100g of shakes
Interestingly, this actually averages to around 3000kcal/day. We'll have to see how weight loss goes over the next week - if I don't drop at least 4lbs (so wake up next Monday under 160) I'll probably have to drop things. This is subject to measurements today on the chicken thighs - I'm going to filet them, weigh them before putting them in the oven, and line the pan with foil so I can pour the grease out and measure how much fat they lose. The rest of the weight difference should be water, so I'll know the entire profile and be able to calculate the actual post-cooking content via the packaging. This also lets me integrate the marinade into the measurements (track how much mass gets added and calculate nutrition from there, since that should also only lose fat and water - I'll probably have to squeeze the remainder to get out any grease it soaks up, but if I'm going to do this I might as well be comprehensive). I'll do the same with the ribs.
Once I'm down where I want to be I'll start experimenting with different stuff. My thinking right now (same training schedule) is:
Sunday - Unchanged
Monday - Thighs instead of shakes
Tuesday - Unchanged (thighs before, ribs after)
Wednesday - Thighs instead of shakes
Thursday - lighter refeed post-workout
Friday - Unchanged
I'm also going to add morning activity (similar to what I had earlier in the semester) - 20-minute walk to warm up, then stretching, and then finally shower. That one's a little open to manipulation carb-wise given what I've read from Aragon, but either way the intake will be on the low side.
(Also meditating for at least ten minutes, because meditating)
MAJOR EDIT:
I went back and re-referenced Lewis's guidelines for APD (similar concept) and realized what I've probably been doing wrong: His initial (and even middle) approaches involve only one solid meal per day (with the exception of carb and fat refeed days). I think I'll actually adopt his approach straight up (albeit with some berries for liver health). This kinda shatters my weekly expenses, actually.
Looking at the calorie intake for my training days, I'm coming to the conclusion that beef ribs should probably be more part of a higher-calorie fat-heavier day than the regular post-workout meal. For now I've arrived at (with days to be shuffled around in 3 weeks when I deload):
Every day - Whey shake with creatine on waking, plus multivitamin and glucosamine. 150g protein from standard shakes throughout the day (right now that means 2 of them, though I may reduce the protein amount and up it to 3 to help deal with hunger issues).
Tuesday (Deadlift) - Chicken thighs before, thighs or ribs after
Wednesday (PSMF) - Add an additional 75-100g protein from shakes
Thursday (ME Bench) - Chicken thighs before
Friday (PSMF) - Add an additional 75-100g protein from shakes
Saturday (Squat) - Chicken thighs before
Sunday (morning SE Bench) - low-carb before, 3-hour high-carb window after, solid meals for rest
This week things are a bit weird because the days are offset and I'm getting pizza Wednesday evening (hopefully post-workout), but the overall point stands. I'm going to do some weighing to check, but right now my impression is that 2x chicken thighs is actually more calories than the beef ribs. The point (overall) is calorie cycling, but taken to a greater extreme because of my goals.
Deload week, I'll shuffle things around to reach:
Sunday (morning Deadlift) - light low-carb breakfast, high-carb low-fat meal pwo, med-carb for rest of day (50g/meal)
Monday (PSMF) - Add 75-100g of shakes
Tuesday (ME Bench) - Thighs before, Ribs after
Wednesday (PSMF) - Add 75-100g of shakes
Thursday (Squat) - Thighs before, 2x Thighs after
Friday (SE Bench) - Thighs before, Thighs after
Saturday (PSMF) - Add 75-100g of shakes
Interestingly, this actually averages to around 3000kcal/day. We'll have to see how weight loss goes over the next week - if I don't drop at least 4lbs (so wake up next Monday under 160) I'll probably have to drop things. This is subject to measurements today on the chicken thighs - I'm going to filet them, weigh them before putting them in the oven, and line the pan with foil so I can pour the grease out and measure how much fat they lose. The rest of the weight difference should be water, so I'll know the entire profile and be able to calculate the actual post-cooking content via the packaging. This also lets me integrate the marinade into the measurements (track how much mass gets added and calculate nutrition from there, since that should also only lose fat and water - I'll probably have to squeeze the remainder to get out any grease it soaks up, but if I'm going to do this I might as well be comprehensive). I'll do the same with the ribs.
Once I'm down where I want to be I'll start experimenting with different stuff. My thinking right now (same training schedule) is:
Sunday - Unchanged
Monday - Thighs instead of shakes
Tuesday - Unchanged (thighs before, ribs after)
Wednesday - Thighs instead of shakes
Thursday - lighter refeed post-workout
Friday - Unchanged
I'm also going to add morning activity (similar to what I had earlier in the semester) - 20-minute walk to warm up, then stretching, and then finally shower. That one's a little open to manipulation carb-wise given what I've read from Aragon, but either way the intake will be on the low side.
(Also meditating for at least ten minutes, because meditating)
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