Funny how the sodas from mexico are made with sugar, not high fructose corn syrup.
More similar to american craft sodas.
I can tell the difference.
I feel crummy having drank a typical soda.
The ones made with sugar don’t have that effect on me.
They’re just energy, I don’t have to be really spent to be able to stomach them.
Nutrition is an interesting subject.
You ever think it strange to eat garlic bread with pizza or pasta?
It tells you that wheat was abundant, and meat not so much.
Our access to both meat and calories is unprecedented.
Everyone can grow to large stature with proper childhood nutrition.
Laziness is what keeps the legions of the obese from being effectively offensive lineman.
The mass is there.
I saw a ten year old kid very likely over 200lbs the other day, needless to say we aren’t lacking calories.
The junkies don’t even buy food!
Still they stay fed. Yep, it’s from that food pantry.
A former coworker, a methhead living in his van – he didn’t buy food!
It was all for free!
It’s possible to go a lifetime in this country and never hunger!
You don’t even have to make money and buy food!
Somewhere you’ll get fed.
You choose whether you eat, eat well, don’t eat, don’t eat well – it’s completely under your control.
I have something of a rule for myself :
I eat on an hour’s pay or less each day.
Let me tell you, with this country’s prices and the abundance of food available – $7.25, federal minimum wage – that’ll feed you amazingly on staples, often made into stew.
A gallon of milk, pound of some meat, and as much potatoes and vegetables you desire.
That’s easily under $7, and is truly well fed.
Heck, you could pull it off buying a half gallon of milk and a mcchicken twice a day.
7/18/21
I realize for the longest time that I held onto a negative belief of “I can’t get lean”.
The realization dawned checking myself out in the locker room mirror yesterday, thinking I should be leaner than I am as I am presently dropping weight.
See I felt I could manipulate my weight anywhere, yet staying about the same bodyfat percentage.
At 17 by force feeding I showed myself I could get big.
Funny that I went from 212 to 174 from 14 to 16 years old, and was thinking at a point that I’d never be 200lbs even though I entered high school weighing more.
I am leaning out. Life is doing it for me.
The more results I see, the more I buy in, and desire to/do it right.
I had an interesting locker room conversation, it walked on to the gym floor, and the guy (in his 50s) was looking for permission to train how he felt he needs to :
To get back in shape like he’d been as a marine 30ish years prior.
Highlights :
Don’t feel silly training how you want to.
Don’t feel silly doing calisthenics when equipment is available.
I have no joke went to pf, done 100-150 pushups, showered up, and left.
(It gets me out of the house.)
Do the work, that’s perfect programming.
You’re doing a positive thing.
You’re taking (at least steps to) take care of yourself.
People pay personal trainers to have them do calisthenics, machines, barbells, everything – just use/do whatever you want.
How I joined pf – firstly to shower, second thinking “well I’ll be able to at least catch a pump on machines, and do dips and chins”.
↑ I’ve since changed to viewing pf as a challenge to make work.
The gym is fun for me, and how I unwind mentally.
He thanked me for making the point about doing your thing at the gym regardless of how it looks, told me I’d helped him feel confident doing what he needs to do.
I’m standing in line at the grocery store, gallon of milk in hand thinking to myself “what else do I need”.
Still a few people back I leave the line, back to dairy, string cheese is what I need.
I said I’d write about milk and bacon – I’m writing about it.
In the heat today work was slightly rough.
The implementation of a quart of milk alongside a gatorade was a good idea.
I’ll have to get a bigger lunch box, able to fit two of each.
Fueling during work can only do good things, and this is what I’ve experienced over the years for fueling during physical jobs :
Basically you want milk and salt meat.
I took a cpr class at 19, and everyone was discussing hydration – I remember the funny looks when I said my trick is milk.
A bunch of cold milk in the heat is the best thing.
You’re getting nutrition in addition to the fluids.
Gatorade is really just sugar water.
Now salt meat, bacon, et al :
Through trial and error I found salami sandwiches to be as good as it got for me on moving jobs.
When I started my current job I was making sandwiches with salt beef, what’s the word – summer sausage.
I found it at a really good price, similar to ground beef, now possibly less expensive.
I also was eating a cheese stick and maybe a cashew bar every so often throughout the day.
I’m implementing milk.
My lunch box will have cheese sticks from tomorrow forward.
Maybe I’ll bring strips of bacon, or make salami or salt beef sandwiches again.
Dairy and salt meat have plenty of historical record to show them fueling…the exploration of the world, men conquered the world with dairy and salt meat.
It may not be that you’re lactose intolerant, it may be that you’re not physical enough to process it.
7/14/21
Just treat weighted chins as if that’s your real bodyweight.
Despite work today, I still had a three hour volume fest at the gym.
I like working out!
I keep thinking about how I can do more, and I’ve noticed again/am experiencing again the natural inclination to be physical outside of work as much as possible when you have a physical job.
Was intensely asked about my pushup habit on the gym floor today, and spoke of my training philosophies to the two.
Damn that 19yo kid focuses intensely, even though his eye twitched constantly.
No headphones, I left them home on purpose.
You are more observant of your surroundings, and it ends up being more social both by you being outgoing, and others talking to you.
Did weighted pushups :
7x+45
7x+90
5x+135
3x+160
All plates, and exchanged numbers with the kid I did these with.
I recognized him as the late college age dude I teased about doing pushups in the locker room a few weeks back, saw he was training chest, and figured he’d be game.
He was.
Stuff like this is why you should forget the headphones.
Treating Weighted Chin Ups As If They’re At Bodyweight :
Multiple times throughout the session I did weighted chin ups.
Yesterday I thought it’d be cool to do 100 total reps at bw+30, I know I did 2×8 there today, but it must’ve been 20-25, maybe 30 sets at bw+60.
Mostly 3s and 4s, one or two sets of five, and it never dropped below three reps.
I can triple chin ups at 300lbs all day.
Fat boy!, what is your excuse?
I wore a beater, probably the first time I ever have at pf.
My shoulders look good!
Leaning out with lots of upper body and glute work, and regularly training my neck…it’s working aesthetically, this is bodybuilding my way.
As noted via edit in yesterday’s post – I drank a quart of milk at work, refilled an empty gatorade bottle with milk instead of bringing two gatorades, I drank that in three sittings, eating a cashew bar with one.
That fueling made work go so much smoother.
I’m convinced that the constant weighted chins are a game changer.
Another guy told me he’d have never thought to hook the kettlebells over your shoes.
A dude I let work in, probably a buck seventy, impressed me hitting 5 or 6 pullups with the two kbs/bw+60.
He copied me, kinda did it when my back was turned. That gave me a laugh. And another I’ve clued into the kb trick.
Thanked me for the work in – another reason not to wear headphones.
Saw a chick snap herself in the face with the band she was using for assistance on pullups.
Off the foot, into the face.
I didn’t tease her.
Could have. Didn’t.
She acted like it hadn’t happened.
I pretended I hadn’t seen.
Probably a month and a half back I plate bowled a 10lb plate to her when she asked to take one from my smith machine’s storage, and had her spot me on a heavy one rep smith bench turned failed double.
My buddy had walked off, then coming back saw that and was like “you had a girl spot you?”
lol
Yeah bro, you walked away, and she was closest.
Had a blast training.
I love the gym!
Progress comes guaranteed as long as you put the consistent work in.
“You don’t like that the job is making you lose weight do you?”
The guy asking me is someone that I’m friendly with at the gym, he’s my parents age, and has the same name as my father.
I often end up friendly with someone at the gym who fits that description – gives me a laugh, and it’s happened at multiple gyms.
I told him “while I still might not be liking the job, I’m entirely okay with the weight loss. I feel more comfortable at 240 or whatever I weigh than I did around 260. The last time I weighed this little was 2017, and I got freakishly athletic there, right now calisthenics are getting ridiculous. About a week and a half ago I hit 25 chin ups.”
2017 at under 240
I’m basically getting paid do do hours of cardio – I like that aspect, and I do feel myself adapting to the job’s physical requirements.
Staunch refusal to do less at the gym, so with today off of work it ended up a three hour volume fest after sleeping in wicked late.
Sick of unweighted chins, I’ve been doing so many weighted chin ups.
And I love it.
Here is where I’m dropping some knowledge – I’ve clued a few people on the gym floor onto this already :
You don’t need a dip belt when there are kettlebells present.
This pf has three 30lb kbs, and one or two at each smaller size going down to 5 or 2½lbs.
30lb kb hooked rope climbing style over your shoe is close enough to dip belt at bw+25 plate.
But most importantly it’s easier set up wise.
If you want a heavier set well then you hook two 30lb kbs, one on each foot, and make sure you don’t point your toes down.
I ain’t setting off the lunk alarm!
The kid who always does weighted pullups with me said verbatim ; “I consider myself pretty smart, and I never would’ve thought to use the kettlebells like this”.
Out of laziness I’d been doing this for the last four or five days.
I too am the king of improvising for training.
It’s pretty cool being 240, hooking two 30lb kbs, and hitting a set of 4.
300lb chin ups in the bag!
Now for 400lb chin ups.
I’ve done it with dips.
Pressing work is just pushups, I should be working handstand pushups again, and weighted pushups (person on).
I’ve been doing leg work, and have been going bonkers on pull.
A buddy was saying awhile back “J, will you please train for strongman”, I realized I’m inadvertently doing so with just hours of back volume – seated row, the hammer strength machines, weighted chins, and now actually using the smith machine for squat/deadlift similarities.
You can get very strong at planet fitness.
My two main lifts have become weighted chins, and smith machine hip thrusts.
That’s a solid program!
On a cutting diet (via physical job, and fasting at it) while performance says I’m putting on muscle while losing weight!
That lift focus – lean, strong, powerful, and athletic.
The longer you run a program the better you get.
I’ll be maxing out the smith machine for HIGH REPS, with perfect form, squeezes, and varied rep/negative speed.
You can’t be fat with enough chin ups, and the added weight just means a bigger stronger back.
After the gym I ran to walmart to price check protein powder.
Plague Of Strength’s recently published “two protein shake a day” thing resonates with me right now.
I’ve said similar about egg shakes, and am scrambling on a low level to eat well with present job circumstances.
(Edit 7/14/21 – a quart of milk in the lunchbox via refilled gatorade container made work go far more smoothly.
Milk is a great hydration tool, I’ve known and said so for years, like how bacon is the best preworkout.
The principle is that both have nutrition, and are easily stomached when your body needs it.
I’ll expand on this soon.
Two quarts a day out the refilled bottle would be simple, and helpful, and in the vein of two shakes a day.)
I look at the cheapest stuff “Body Fortress”, remembering keeping strawberry flavor premixed with whole milk in the fridge as a high school senior.
It comes out to just over 30g protein per dollar based on the 2lb jug, and while there’s a 5lb jug that’s less per pound it’s chocolate, and with 30g/$1 I can get the same with chunk light tuna, while milk gives you more, as does meat.
You get more from food at the same cost, protein powder would be solely for convenience.
7/12/21
People tend to put far too much thought towards recovery, and not enough effort towards needing it.
None of this is rocket science, it’s just the human body – fairly simple to figure out, straight forward – just follow your instincts.
Work had me on call, I’ve never liked that. It’s been pointed out to me that a doctor would be on call, and to that I say “it’s different, that’d be getting a surprise you need to come in and save a life, this is just a job”, so no call having come in to fill in for any call out, up at work day time, I decided that I’d eat and go back to bed.
See sumo wrestlers, the largest group of humans, they eat, then nap.
The body uses food best in sheer terms in this manner.
So the day off from work after all, it’s apple pie and milk at 8 o’clock in the morning, a couple chicken patties, and some extra sleep.
I’ll still lift today. I always do.
Here’s a recovery trick :
If you’re feeling kinda wiped out, wicked sore – eat an extra 1000-2000 calories, it can be sugar, I tend to use twix, dutch apple pie, or donuts, get some protein alongside it, and if possible sleep extra hours.
Life, between work, and my refusal to not lift has me “cutting”, feeling I need a boost, I ate a small 1500 calorie bag of twix alongside my dinner.
The next day?
Felt good, more energetic, hornier.
You can improve how you feel with something as simple as eating an additional 1000 calories of a dessert that you like.
Junk food may not be so bad for you.
Sugar is energy, carbs are what shuttle protein, and there’s probably some saturated fat in there – which basically comes from dairy or dead animal, which gives your body a boost.
Persistence & Tenacity
P.S. After going back to bed and sleeping all day I did go to the gym. One highlight was hip thrusting 5p25 for something like 4-6 reps, and for backoff sets 2×20 at 3p25.
The addition of smith squats has me feeling better physically – you’ve got to load up your body, and smith machine hip thrusts…I’m comically strong there already, AND it’s improving!
It’s really cool to constantly be decent with weighted chin ups.
My pullup ability has really improved these last few months.
I’d always bought into volume, and pf forces me to work with what I naturally thrive on.
I don’t log workouts because they’re always full body, and tend to move back and forth between movements so much that it’s far too tedious to put on paper.