I bought the TrueNutrition.com 38 Flavor sample pack.
Old-fashioned Lemonade
Um… no.
I had this in water and it… well… just no. Maybe if it tasted more like Countrytime, maybe. But… well, no. 🙂
Fitness
True Nutrition Whey Flavor #21 – Orange Creamsicle
I bought the TrueNutrition.com 38 Flavor sample pack.
Orange Creamsicle.
Wow. That brought back some childhood memories! I don’t think I’ve had a creamsicle since I was a kid, but my Mom bought them for us all the time. And boy if this didn’t nail that flavor…. yes, powerful enough to bring back memories of childhood. And good memories too. I sure did like creamsicles.
Still, that was childhood and today, not so much. 🙂 I don’t think I could drink this on a regular basis. But I could see this making a good basis for a fruit smoothie.
2012-07-24 workout – sled drags
The workout of no workout.
I’m not dragging the sled today. As mentioned in yesterday’s workout post, an old ankle injury is flaring up. I don’t need to inflict more damage on it. 😦
True Nutrition Whey Flavor #20 – Cookies and Cream
I bought the TrueNutrition.com 38 Flavor sample pack.
Cookies and Cream.
Mmm… Good. Well, if you like something that’s kinda like drinking an Oreo cookie. And yes, you better mix this one in milk. 🙂
And it wasn’t too sweet. Just a nice flavor, not too strong, but not too weak either. I liked.
Press
This morning as I got into the shower after my workout, I looked in the mirror and realized my ass has gotten bigger.
All hail the mighty squat. 🙂
And I thought about how much I actually hate to squat. It’s always been the movement I liked the least. And I reckon it still is, relatively speaking. But I did realize that I don’t hate it as much as I used to. How to get good at what you hate? Keep doing it until you don’t hate it any more. You probably hate it because you suck at it, so keep doing it because that’s the only way you’ll stop sucking at it. It’s like shooting weak-hand-only… I still suck at it, but I don’t hate it so much because I practice it more and have gotten a lot better at it. And same with squats.
But then I started to think what my favorite lift is. I still think it’s deadlift, because there’s just something so basic about picking up heavy things. It’s probably also because it’s the lift I can move the most absolute weight with, but I really think it’s the visceral primitiveness of it all that appeals to me somewhere deep down inside.
So on that note, I was surprised to find that what came in a very close second was the Press.
Yes, Bench Press is relegated to 3rd place.
While The Almighty Bench is such a hallmark of weightroom manliness, I like the Press even more, probably because no one does it. And probably because it’s also got this visceral primitiveness… because once you pick something up, what’s a logical thing to do with it? Lift it over your head! (or maybe throw it). It’s hard to do. It’s a little scary. It’s intimidating. And you just can’t move a big number… it takes a while to work up to being able to put 45’s on and press it up for reps. It’s even more work to get to pressing your bodyweight. And so, it’s not as ego gratifying, and people are going to stay away from it because it’s hard.
And maybe that’s why I like it so much.
So by wonderful coincidence, this morning Mark Rippetoe publishes an article all about the Press.
Yes, this video is awesome:
And Mark is awesome:
But if the real reason you don’t want to press is the fact that you don’t want to confront a hole – likely a gaping-ass hole – in your strength, then the bar is right: you’re a pussy.
Lifting is hard. Lifting heavy weights is harder. Swallowing your ego and making yourself better is hardest.
True Nutrition Whey Flavor #19 – Watermelon Wave
I bought the TrueNutrition.com 38 Flavor sample pack.
Watermelon Wave.
Another one that’s ok for what it is, but just too sweet for me. Just not my flavor preference. Heck, in a bag of Jolly Ranchers, watermelon is my least favorite.
But I still get a kick out of watching the color change when the powder mixes with the liquid.
2012-07-23 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 12, Squat/Bench 1 (again)
I’m glad I listened to my body.
“Week 1”
- 5 reps – Squat (working max: 280#)
- 2x5x45 (warmup)
- 1x5x115
- 1x5x140
- 1x3x170
- 1x5x185 (work)
- 1x5x215
- 1x7x240
- 5 reps – Bench Press (working max: 225#)
- 2x5x45 (warmup)
- 1x5x95
- 1x5x115
- 1x3x135
- 1x5x150 (work)
- 1x5x170
- 1x9x195
- Asst. #1 – Lat pulldowns (pronated grip, hands just wider than shoulder-width apart)
- 3 x 10 x 130
- Asst. #2 – Back Raises (hands behind head)
- 3 x 15 x BW
- Asst. #3 – DB Bench Press
- 3 x 10 x 120
- Asst. #4 – Face Pulls
- 3 x 12 x 80/70/70
My body was feeling beat up, so I took last week off. I’m glad I did. I figured since I had already completed 1 week of cycle 12, I’d just start over, still call it cycle 12, and do week 1 again. I figure as long as I can meet what I did, I’m happy.
I actually could have done more this week. My squats felt good. Yes I was falling forward a bit on the last set, but I was moving fast and using a lot of power. I really felt good, went deep, etc.. I made no conscious decision nor thought before the workout, but as soon as I started getting under the bar I found myself working to make my entire upper body tight: grip the hell out of the bar, flare my lats, tighten the torso, everything upstairs got tight as hell. I didn’t manage to keep it 100%, but I tried my best and boy it made a difference. I also thought about things like raising my butt first (not my knees), pressing with the arms, press my head back into the bar… all these things just happened, maybe not together, maybe not in the best of ways, but I didn’t think about lifting all last week (other than the sled drags) and I think the time away let some things sink into my head. Good stuff.
Bench… heck, that just flew. I could have done more, but opted to stay fresh. Again another case of really working on form, staying tight, squeeze the hell out of the bar with my hands — that really helps cue the whole body to be tight.
Assistance work was whatever it was. no fuss, no muss.
Felt good. Well, mostly good. Years ago I blew out my left ankle doing some martial arts stuff. This past weekend it started to flare up on me and it still kinda hurts. I opted to drive to the gym instead of walk today, just to avoid any extra wear and tear — save it for squats. Glad I did. Move Aleve for me today….
True Nutrition Whey Flavor #18 – Concord Grape Juice
I bought the TrueNutrition.com 38 Flavor sample pack.
Concord Grape Juice.
When you think of this flavor you think of Welch’s. And, it was true to that sort of flavor.
Of course, it turned purple in milk (purple cow, anyone?).
I do not really care for the Welch’s Concord Grape… jelly, juice, whatever. It’s too sweet to me, and tastes more like a candy than a grape. But this mix wasn’t as sweet as I was fearing. I actually kinda liked it. It’s not what I’d normally go for, but really, I could see drinking this again. I’m not sure about 10# worth of the stuff, but yeah, I could go for it again.
True Nutrition Whey Flavor #17 – Vanilla Birthday Cake
I bought the TrueNutrition.com 38 Flavor sample pack.
Vanilla Birthday Cake.
I’m not sure how to describe it, other than yeah…. it was like a vanilla cake. I am pretty impressed at how true the flavors generally are. In the past I’ve had things that said they tasted like X but didn’t actually taste like X, so this is welcome to see accurate descriptions… especially on as fine-grained a difference as “birthday cake” vs. say just a straight vanilla.
This was pretty good.
True Nutrition Whey Flavor #16 – Tropical Hawaiian Punch
I bought the TrueNutrition.com 38 Flavor sample pack.
Tropical Hawaiian Punch
Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse…. 🙂
Forbidden Fruit Punch was one thing… this was…. worse. It brought a pineapple and coconut type of flavor to the fruit punch. And while I adore fresh pineapple, candy pineapple flavors just make me wretch because it’s so far from the real thing. So sweet. So… fake.
But again, that’s just my palate. Oldest tried a taste and he really liked it.
He can have it. 🙂
Stuff From Hsoi 