Sleep — the magic elixir.

Been getting more sleep the past few days: going to bed earlier, staying in bed a little later, and forcing myself to take at least 1 short nap during the day. Still could use more sleep, but feeling MUCH better. I know all of this, I think my biggest issue is giving myself permission to take mid-day naps.

And so today went well. No complaints.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

BB Rows

• 140 x 8
• 140 x 8
• 140 x 8
• 140 x 8

Wide, Neutral-grip Lat Pulldowns

• 125 x 8
• 125 x 8
• 125 x 8
• 125 x 8

Barbell Shrugs

• 140 x 20
• 140 x 20
• 140 x 20
• 140 x 20
• 140 x 20

Hyperextensions

• 10 x 10
• 10 x 10
• 10 x 10
• 10 x 10

Just because I’m basing my program around Paul Carter’s methodologies doesn’t mean it’s the only thing involved. I reserve the right to incorporate useful things from other areas… like Jim Wendler’s notion of “Jack Shit”. 🙂

Today was one of those days.

I’ve been very stressed the past few days, and sleep’s been lacking too — bad combination. Yesterday was drag-ass out of bed earlier than usual and I did not want to, which is a strong sign of needing more sleep. Went to bed early last night, woke up later than usual this morning (another clue), and could have slept more if I hadn’t felt the obligation to keep my schedule somewhat intact for the day. But all signs pointing to: you’re overworked, get more rest.

And it was evident during the session. Squats didn’t feel heavy, just sluggish. Certainly felt like a step backwards from last week.

So I squatted, then called it. Deadlifts will take a lot out of me, and why do that if I’m already this beat-up and exhausted? I need the rest, and I don’t need to add to my stress/break-down; body needs to heal up.

Speaking of healing up, my Thera Cane arrived yesterday. Oh man… why did I wait so long to get one of these? I immediately went to work on my neck and upper trapezius and within minutes I found myself noticably looser with a better range of motion in my neck. Yes, things were that bad, but hitting all those trigger points and tight spots made an instant difference. I felt myself able to self-manipuate (i.e. “crack”) some of those upper thoracic vertebrae that I rarely can get and the relief was terrific. The ability to direct pressure exactly where you need it, angle you need it, and get the leverage needed to get in there… man, this is a great tool.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Squats (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 145 x 5
  • 170 x 4
  • 200 x 3
  • 220 x 2
  • 250 x 1
  • 175 x 5
  • 175 x 5
  • 175 x 5
  • 175 x 5
  • 175 x 5

What surprises me about this Renaissance Periodization diet is that I’m losing weight but not strength — at least, not yet. It’s not major increases in my strength, but I’m going up a rep or two, feeling generally stronger and better each gym session. That’s not always the case on fat-loss diets. It may be just a timing factor — in 3 months it may not be the case. But for now, I’ll take it. I don’t expect to get stronger or to build muscle mass while I de-fat myself; at best I hope to just not lose any. But well, so far, so good. I’m happy with how things are going. Official weigh-in yesterday was 255 lbs.

Speaking of the diet, one thing the diet requires of me is on my “off days” to walk 1 hour (or some sort of physical activity for a while… so say all day on my feet teaching at KR Training would suffice). While I hate cardio, I’m dedicated to the de-fatting, so I do it. Thing is, while I’m not enjoying it, I think I’m going to appreciate the side-effects. That is, Jim Wendler and Paul Carter go on about how you should do SOME sort of conditioning; Prowler pushes, sled drags, tire flips, hill sprints, whatever… or at least, just walk. I can already tell my conditioning is improving in the 2-weeks of 4x week cardio. I hate the work, but I like the results. Besides, I’m finding listening to podcasts, like ITS Tactical’s Ridiculous Dialogue or Eddie Trunk’s podcast while I elliptical to be nice escapes from the day.

Today felt pretty good. I am feeling more in the groove on things. Can’t complain. Adding more reps, and generally getting stronger. Who can complain?

Oh my shoulder? It’s MUCH better now. Like I said, I have experienced this before and it’s often that something tweaked in my spine and I just need some vertebrae to “pop” and all will be better, but it’s always somewhere I can’t self-manipulate so I just have to wait, massage the muscles in the area, strecth them, etc. to help loosen them up so that things will eventually pop. And sure enough, over the weekend there was a small pop in my upper thoracic or lower cervical area. It was a small pop and I almost didn’t notice it; certainly wasn’t as dramatic a sensation and relief as usually happens. But it was it, and I’m MUCH better now. Still not 100%, but I’m over the hump. I did finally get off my duff and ordered a Thera Cane to help with the massage of that area; have wanted one for years, finally getting one.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Bench Press (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 115 x 5
  • 130 x 4
  • 155 x 3
  • 170 x 2
  • 190 x 1
  • 170 x 8
  • 170 x 8
  • 170 x 8
  • 170 x 8
  • 170 x 5
• Machine flies
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
• Behind the Neck Press
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
• Hammer Curls
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10

Given last week’s shoulder injury at the hands of rowing, I opted to take today on the conservative side… just to see how things go.

My shoulder is feeling much better, but there’s still something there. It feels like there’s something in my lower cervical or upper thoracic spine that if it could just pop (knuckle crack), I’d be fine again. But given some of the tightness I still feel in my upper left trap and side of my neck, I reckon until that relaxes and elongates more, the pop won’t come. So I continue to stretch, roll, move, massage, and do other things to help in that area. It will get there.

But there is a part of me that thinks there is some injury to the area. Maybe it started years ago when I was thrown off my motorcycle and landed pretty much on that shoulder… or then all the years sleeping on mhy left side. I dunno. Something does feel properly different, but at this stage all any doctor would tell me is to take it easy and rest and let it heal — after spending thousands on an MRI and other crap. So, I’ll just continue to take it easy.

Aside from that tho, the session went alright. Opted to do regular barbell shrugs instead of Meadows shrugs, just to see how my shoulder played; didn’t like it at first, but as I went on things felt better. I am hoping that some direct work and increased blood flow to the area will be helpful for the healing.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

BB Rows

• 135 x 8
• 135 x 8
• 135 x 8
• 135 x 8

Wide, Neutral-grip Lat Pulldowns

• 120 x 8
• 120 x 8
• 120 x 8
• 120 x 8

Barbell Shrugs

• 135 x 20
• 135 x 20
• 135 x 20
• 135 x 20
• 135 x 20

Hyperextensions

• 10 x 10
• 10 x 10
• 10 x 10
• 10 x 10

I can’t quantify if I’m stronger, but I am more adapted to the workload (which of course leads to strength improvements, in this case).

Whereas last week kicked my ass, today was much better. Squats were completed with good form. After the last set of deadlifts I didn’t realize it was the last set and I was still readyt to do more. No pausing on the leg pressing. So I’d say I’ve improved in terms of adapting to the workload. So that’s good.

Squats went well. If I’m understanding Base Building correctly, the 3 models aren’t a means of progression but rather a means of finding a model that works for you that allows you to progress. So you don’t do model 1, then 2, then 3, rather you start with 1 and if it works for you and you progress on it then just stick with it; if you see no progress, try model 2 and see if that template provides the proper stimulus to allow you to progress, etc.. So while within the model, once it gets really easy, then you stick with the model and just up the weight. How easy? Well, once it starts to feel easy, stick with it a couple more weeks — make sure you didn’t just have a 10% day, make sure you really have milked it, make sure there isn’t perhaps some progression still left in there (maybe small, but still something). If it is really solid and easy and remains so after a couple weeks, up the weight and keep going.

So in that vein, squats I think may wind up with a bump in a month or so. The 175 5×5 is feeling really good, but I know I haven’t tapped it out yet. I probably started lighter than I was capable, if I can handle it this well so quickly. But that’s fine; better to start light and have progress.

On deadlifts, halfway through I realized I had just been doing the movement, not applying C.A.T.. So the last 2 sets were done that way, and I just have to not forget to apply that principle to my deadlifts.

All in all, felt alright today. Happy.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Squats (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 145 x 5
  • 170 x 4
  • 200 x 3
  • 220 x 2
  • 250 x 1
  • 175 x 5
  • 175 x 5
  • 175 x 5
  • 175 x 5
  • 175 x 5
• Deficit Deadlift (model 1)
  • 315 x 3
  • 315 x 3
  • 315 x 3
  • 315 x 3
  • 315 x 3
• Leg Press
  • 135 x 20
  • 135 x 20

First, diet report: down 5 lbs. in my first week.

But that’s the thing, first week. The lack of carbs is going to cause a more dramatic initial weight loss because of water and bloat loss. How much fat did I lose? Hard to say at this point, but hopefully 1-2 lbs. of that is fat and not just bloat. Still, this is normal and “on track” for the first week.

So far so good otherwise. I do appreciate the simplicity and flexibility of the program. Yes there are lines you have to color within, but those lines aren’t so crazy restrictive (and aren’t too far off from how I normally eat; someone that lives on Sonic, Whataburger, and prepackaged grocery store food will have a more drastic adjustment). Other programs I’ve tried had me going nuts after a week, but I’m not crazy… yet. I think this coming week will be telling, because I woke up this morning craving carbs like crazy. I did just spend the past week somewhat carb deprived, and just had 2 days in a row of no carbs, so I’m not surprised my body is saying to me “What the hell have you been doing? Feed me, damnit!”. My breakfast this morning had an apple, nectarine, 1/2 cup of oatmeal, 1 tomato (and 40g whey) and I just inhaled it. So, this week might be a little more nuts for me as my body learns to adjust, but I hope it’s like any sort of extinction burst — it gets worse before it gets better, and that I’m starting on the worse phase now and that it will in fact get better in the coming weeks.

BTW, while I hate eating chicken breasts, I found what might become a livable solution. I can buy these 5 lbs. bags of frozen, raw, deboned chicken breasts at the store. Heat up the Weber grill to about 375º, throw the frozen breasts on the grill, cook for 60 minutes, done. Advantage? Much easier than trying to cook that much in the kitchen, less time consuming. I can also throw on some wood chips to smoke and add a lot of flavor to the meat. Halfway through the cooking, you turn them; so at that time I brush the breasts lightly with some olive oil and lemon juice. Yes, this turned out chicken breast meat that didn’t suck.

Also, Tony Chachere’s creole easoning? Great seasoning, but do NOT use it as a rub. Gonna be choking down some salty-as-hell fatija meat this week too. I’m glad I opted to cook a bunch of brown rice as a primary carb source for this week — will help cut the saltiness.

Yes, I’m trying to cook a bunch of food on Sunday, to facilitate eating the rest of the week. Never done that before, so we’ll see how it goes. But at least looking at the past week, it was sure handy.

Enough about diet! On to the lifting.

First, my left shoulder is still not 100% from whatever I did this past Friday. It’s MUCH better, but it’s still going to be a few days. Nevertheless, lifting today seemed fine but I was willing to can it in the name of shoulder health if needed. Thankfully that wasn’t necessary.

The lifting itself felt good. This program is certainly an ass-kicker. I also think that doing bench work on Monday is going to be a good thing. I normally like to squat on Monday, but I think if the diet continues like it does (2 days in a row of no carbs), that squatting on Monday would be too much. I was feeling drained today, but I certainly perked up as the session progressed. I felt really good with the BHP.

Only got one more rep, in total, in the bench work sets compared to last week. So not much progress, but progress is progress. I also felt more comfortable today with the program. So we’ll see how progress goes. Liking things so far.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Bench Press (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 115 x 5
  • 130 x 4
  • 155 x 3
  • 170 x 2
  • 190 x 1
  • 170 x 8
  • 170 x 8
  • 170 x 8
  • 170 x 7
  • 170 x 4
• Machine Flies
  • 75 x 10
  • 75 x 10
  • 75 x 10
  • 75 x 10
• Behind the Neck Press
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 8
• Hammer Curls
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 8

Today hurt — in the bad way.

On the first rep of the 3rd set of rows, I felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder. In short, it hurt a great deal, and was quite painful to do much of anything. I tried to get through the rest of the rows, but couldn’t. I thought to try pulldowns since it was a different plane of motion and while I could basically do them, I couldn’t get a full contraction without pain. Shrugs were right out. Hypers were fine, just uncomfortable in my shoulder/neck region.

I don’t know for sure what it did, but right now I’m not considering it anything too serious. It feels like if I could just pop/crack my neck, I’d be fine. But I can’t pop it because things are tight or something is impinged. So it’s just going to take a little time to stretch everything, work through the range of motion, and eventually it will come back.

Contributing factors? Hard to say, but right now I say a primary is probably my long nagging shoulder issues — from sleeping primarily on my left side. Last night I started on my left, felt really odd in my shoulder, then rolled over. Can’t say how much I slept on it overnight, but there we go. I think also the massive amount of tightness and soreness I’m feeling from Wednesday’s squat/deadlift session may also be a factor — everything is sore, everything is tight, including my traps. Who knows for sure.

One good thing? my diet.

I’m down about 3# already, but that’s primarily water/glycogen loss from the low-carb days. I also realized I was overengineering things. While the diet is provided in a very easy to follow format, I’ve been so used to counting every macro that I kept doing it. So say I’m to have “3 servings of fat”. A serving of peanut butter has 15g fat and 7g protein. What I was doing was calculating out both the fat AND the protein, so if I had 3 servings, I was calculating 21g protein there. Then I’d subtract that from the protein source I was to take in, so instead of having say 6oz of turkey I’d have like 2-3oz. Turns out, this is not the way they have the diet laid out. Yes those other things matter and are taken into account in the overall calculations — but in terms of the plan they give me, just stop overthinking it and follow it as-written. Peanut butter gets classified as “fat” and just count it against that. Quinoa has fair protein in it, but just count it as carb. Salmon has some fat, but just count it as protein. And so on. Again, it all matters and it calculated for on their end, but on my end, this is what keeps the plan simple to execute. I like that. Less minutia.

Granted it’s not 100% cut and dry like that, but I’m starting to see where RP’s plan is going. So… onwards. This isn’t too bad so far.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

BB Rows

• 135 x 8
• 135 x 8
• 135 x 8
• 135 x 7

Wide, Neutral-grip Lat Pulldowns

• 120 x 8
• 120 x 8
• 120 x 8
• 120 x 8

Meadows Shrugs

• None. See above.

Hyperextensions

• BW x 10
• BW x 10
• BW x 10
• BW x 10

Ho-lee-wow.

Today was tough.

Was it because of the protocol? The diet? the lack of sleep? The minimal rest between sets? Squats and deadlifts on the same day? I mean, who knows… probably a little of all things. But wow, this is pretty killer.

I forgot my belt, but meh — nothing here really requires it. I do want the belt to help with technique reinforcement (as that’s part of the intend behind Base Building), but not a make or break thing. Besides, I had other issues.

The squat overwarmups were fine. Tried to ensure those were also done with CAT, tho of course as the bar got heavier you just went slower but still you tried. The 175 of course felt really light, but man… 5×5 in about 8 minutes (do a set, rest 60 seconds, repeat four more times), with a goal of trying to make the next rep more powerful and explosive and with greater bar speed than the prior rep? Oh yeah, that builds up on you. I got all the work in, but no question I started to slow down. I also found a few times that form would slip because I’d find myself “hitching” with say my butt going up but the back staying down, then I’d get through a sticking point and good morning things up. So yeah… lots of things to take note of as indication of progress over the coming weeks.

Deadlifts? Wow. That was intense. I don’t know how much deficit I used, but it’s one of the gym’s 45# plates so maybe 1.5″? I got all the work in, but wow… that was a lot of work. No question I’ll need time to get the bar speed up.

By then end of the deadlifts, then all the bending over to put 405# of plates away, I was knocked on my ass. Again, I strove to take no more than 60 seconds rest between all sets, so that keeps you moving and you do NOT fully recover between sets. I did NOT want to leg press, but I did. I only put a 45# plate on each side of the sled, but that was a struggle. I took numerous pauses during the sets to get a slight reprieve before pressing on.

I’ll adjust, I’ll adapt to the workload. It will come in time. But man… wow. 🙂

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Squats (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 145 x 5
  • 170 x 4
  • 200 x 3
  • 220 x 2
  • 250 x 1
  • 175 x 5
  • 175 x 5
  • 175 x 5
  • 175 x 5
  • 175 x 5
• Deficit (45# plate) Deadlift (model 1)
  • 315 x 3
  • 315 x 3
  • 315 x 3
  • 315 x 3
  • 315 x 3
• Leg Press
  • 135 x 20
  • 135 x 20

Today starts a radically different approach. First, I’ve officially begun my Renaissance Periodization-based weight-loss diet. I started yesteday, actually. So far so good. A few comments on the diet.

First, the diet truly is nothing new in terms of information. If you’ve been paying attention to all the emerging research and much of the established research on weight loss, carb cycling, macro levels, nutrient timing, etc. it’s nothing new, just logically organized and laid out in a manner that’s easier to consume. I think for me that’s the big help here — having someone that knows to help me sift through the mountains of conflicting information out there. Someone that can show me what I need, not just generalized explanations and I can’t quiet dial it in for what I need. I mean, you can book learn and self-teach yourself tons of stuff, but there’s distinct advantages to having a teacher/mentor/coach, and that’s really what I see this as being for me.

Perhaps it’s like why I liked 5/3/1 so much. There are principles, but it starts out with Jim saying “here, just shut up and do Boring-But-Big for 6 months; don’t ask questions, don’t think too much, just shut up and follow this template as-written”. You do that, you get results, and you start to understand the principles. Happened in my martial arts past: just shut up, do these techniques, we’ll talk about principles, and you’ll come to better understand the principles as you do them. So I’ve gotten a lot of “principles” in my nutrition education, but now I just need someone to say “shut up and do this, and you’ll see how the principles work”.

As well, I can eat fruit. 🙂 That’s huge. Sure, there are things you just can’t eat, and other things you have only only eat at certain times in certain portions. But one contributor to past failure is being so restrictive that eventually I just crack. Being able to eat fruit and have some satisfaction of “sweet” on my palette is important to me.

Speaking of sweet…

So I’m to have peri-workout nutrition. Of the list of suggested carb sources, I opted to try Kool-Aid. I think the last time I drank Kool-Aid was as a kid, and I figured hey, this is a way to have a little fun, right? Oh dear lord… it was horrible. 🙂 I mean, it’s all really sugar and fructose, but it’s the flavoring — it’s designed for that “kid sweet” palette, and I’m so far away from that it was just horrible to choke down. 🙂 I’ll finish the small jug I bought, but I’m going to look for other options, maybe just settling on powdered Gatorade or occasionally fruit juices (since they’re expensive).

So, about the lifting.

I’m starting Paul Carter’s Base Building. Why? Because I think it will be suitable for what I’m doing. I cannot go on a strength-building program because I’m working to lose fat. I need to focus on things to help build/preserve mass. BB I think will help me work at lower intensities, more reps, and mitigate the diet. Plus, Paul even says it’s good for a diet because you can better relgulate (e.g. just adjust the weights and keep going).

I kept the rest periods short, about 1 minute between every set. Keep things working, keep things pumping.

I am starting all things in the “phase 1” state of Base Building, and I’m sure I’ll be here a while, which is fine. I could tell by the 3rd work set that my bar speed was slowing and moving every rep explosively wasn’t quite happening. Then of course I started to lose reps. But that’s fine, Paul says it’s rare that someone will start out and be able to finish it; it comes in time.

On assistance movements, I’m trying to look at them more bodybuilding-style, trying to really think about the muscle, isolate and contract the muscle to move the weight, about a 2-1-2 type of tempo with a little squeeze at the peak and controlling and focus all the way up and down. Again, thinking about mass.

If BB doesn’t work out for me over time, I’ll switch to a more body-building-style approach. We’ll just take it as it comes.

One note on the curls. There was a Flex magazine at the gym a couple weeks ago and I forget who did this, some top Olympia bodybuilder (Kai Greene?), but he said he did DB curls in 5’s. So one arm for 5 reps, then the other arm for 5, then back to the first arm for 5, then the other for 5. That’s 1 set of 10. He said he did it this way because he got more focus on the one arm, but then a little longer rest (vs. alternating every rep). I thought I’d try it, and I dig it. So I’ll be doing my curls that way to see if it does anything useful… if nothing else, it cuts out the boredom.

All in all, I’m excited about where things are going.

Based upon Paul Carter’s Basebuilding

• Bench Press (model 1)
  • bar x 5
  • bar x 5
  • 115 x 5
  • 130 x 4
  • 155 x 3
  • 170 x 2
  • 190 x 1
  • 170 x 8
  • 170 x 8
  • 170 x 8
  • 170 x 6
  • 170 x 4
• Pec Deck
  • 70 x 10
  • 70 x 10
  • 70 x 10
  • 70 x 10
• Behind the Neck Press
  • 75 x 10
  • 75 x 10
  • 75 x 10
  • 75 x 10
• Hammer Curls
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 10
  • 25e x 8