Jock itch Fitness & Nutrition

[gamer.tv]

On 1/22/2024 at 7:41 PM, GoldenTongue said:

What do you mean by over the knees squats?

So as a body weight exercise, completing a squat so you are on the balls of your feet and your knees extend over your toes. It’s less a muscle building exercise s a way (supposedly) of building strength around the knee and preventing injury…but that was just a few YouTube links and an article of recommendation, so I’ll remain sceptical - outside that doing them feels quite good.

[TUFKAK]

Thinking I’m gonna need an MRI on this shoulder as it’s not getting any better and I’m going months now with this pain.

[Ominous]

37.5 miles run this week, 133 for the year. Starting to build a base up even though it's still below freezing out. 

[GoldenTongue]

Solidly back into my groove, although I'm probably not as far along at this point in the macrocycle as I would have been under better circumstances.  Integrating sets of KB swings before and after worksets of my lifts to help develop work capacity and to get some additional density from each workout.  Feeling like this cycle will definitely yield improvements in my bench, OHP, and deadlift numbers, but I'm thinking I need to increase my squat frequency in my next round of programming, as that feels as though it's lagging.

 

On 1/24/2024 at 11:48 AM, gamer.tv said:

So as a body weight exercise, completing a squat so you are on the balls of your feet and your knees extend over your toes. It’s less a muscle building exercise s a way (supposedly) of building strength around the knee and preventing injury…but that was just a few YouTube links and an article of recommendation, so I’ll remain sceptical - outside that doing them feels quite good.

Sounds like something which might have a lot of specious science surrounding it.  There are any number of effective squat variations, many of which can be beneficial for strength-building and injury prevention.  So far as bodyweight squats (of any variety) - once the body adapts to the stress of completing the full squat, then there is no further strength development, you are only maintaining the level of strength/mobility required to complete the movement.  In order to continue developing strength, the stimulus (resistance) would need to increase in some manner: an increase in load, increase in volume (to an extent), or some other training variable, in order to present the body to a stress to which it is not adapted (that being the mechanism through which the body recovers and adapts during the rest periods between training).

[Nokra]

I went on my first run in a long time (4 months?) and my first night run in the city tonight. I only did a little over a mile (trying not to overdo it) at around a 9 min/mile pace, but it felt great. Work has been stressing me out lately and I needed to move. My dog loved it too.

 

Going to try to run more regularly, rain or shine. 

[TUFKAK]

7 hours ago, Nokra said:

I went on my first run in a long time (4 months?) and my first night run in the city tonight. I only did a little over a mile (trying not to overdo it) at around a 9 min/mile pace, but it felt great. Work has been stressing me out lately and I needed to move. My dog loved it too.

 

Going to try to run more regularly, rain or shine. 

My bulk is over so time to start running again too

 

meh 

[DarkStar189]

Finally down to my weight goal of 179lbs. Been exercising every week for months and having no problem sticking to my diet. Taking the weight lifting nice and slow.  Getting my joints and tendons used to everything again after years of not lifting.  

Still trying to rehab my knee after the arthroscopic and Lyme disease that was attacking the joint. I can finally make it through the day almost completely pain free. Big change after suffering with knee pain for close to 2 years.  
One of my new favorite exercises is pulling a weight sled while walking backwards. Watched that kneesovertoes guy talk about it. It’s low impact enough I had no trouble trying it out.  Now I look forward to it. Makes my knee feel great. I don’t even have a weight sled yet. I just tie some olympic plates together and put sliders under them. Clip a double end strap to it and a belt around my waist. Then walk back and forth down my carpeted hallway. Love it.

[best3444]

11 hours ago, Nokra said:

I went on my first run in a long time (4 months?) and my first night run in the city tonight. I only did a little over a mile (trying not to overdo it) at around a 9 min/mile pace, but it felt great. Work has been stressing me out lately and I needed to move. My dog loved it too.

 

Going to try to run more regularly, rain or shine. 

 

A 9 minute pace is very good. Nice work and I'm glad you take your dog with you. 

[Ominous]

On 2/7/2024 at 11:24 PM, Nokra said:

I went on my first run in a long time (4 months?) and my first night run in the city tonight. I only did a little over a mile (trying not to overdo it) at around a 9 min/mile pace, but it felt great. Work has been stressing me out lately and I needed to move. My dog loved it too.

 

Going to try to run more regularly, rain or shine. 

I've been doing most of my runs in zone 2 for the last month or so and it looks like it might be doing something. 

 

I ended up cutting my run short tonight to ensure I made it home in time to use the bathroom, but my zone 2 pace was 9:53 per mile and my avg heart rate was 124 bpm.  I was about 10:45 per mile a month ago at the same heart rate. 

I also added intervals back once a week or so and I was a 7:47 pace before I had to make an emergency landing to avoid a rear door blowout lol. Heart rate was 157 bpm and I felt really strong and know I voile have pushed my last half mile at a faster rate if it wasn't for that burger I had the day prior. 

 

I'm going to keep this up, even though running in zone 2 means my long runs are taking a lot longer than they would otherwise. 

[Ominous]

Also had my first physical since before covid yesterday. Flu shot, covid booster, 4 or so things of blood drawn. 

 

BP was 108/67 and so a few tests came back this morning and look good to my untrained eye.  Waiting to see the rest come in and then follow up next week for my tdap. 

[best3444]

@Ominous you are my hero!

[Ominous]

2 minutes ago, best3444 said:

@Ominous you are my hero!

 

[TUFKAK]

So I’ve decided to extend my bulk through Spain, mainly just a reason to eat all the tapas and drink all the drinks, but so far I’ve gone from 227 to 243 in three months because dbol is magic. This should be my last true bull ever though which is sad as I do prefer the way I look at this size but I really like the idea of not having a stroke at 48 more.

[GoldenTongue]

New toys: Saxon Block Barbell Grips.  Like Fat Grips, but they simulate a 3"x3" saxon bar (I have Saxon Bar Block DL for reps for an upcoming competition).

 

I'm lovehating them: strange feeling being humbled on a 135# deadlift where pinch strength is the limiting factor, but by the same token, this is going to be a total game-changer for improving my grip strength.  No more heavy ass trap bar/farmer carries beating the shit out of CNS; now I can get an absolutely incredible grip strength workout with less than 150# of load.

 

Training going well; feeling good about hitting some new milestones later this year after next training cycle.  405 bench feels very attainable, 275 OHP should be doable, but 550 squat and 600 DL still seem like they might be a ways out.  Although tbh, I'm actually wondering if my days of 1RM Squat PR's are behind me: I'm starting to feel a familiar ache in my hips that's happened in the last two cycles around the time my worksets get to ~420 lbs or so, which is right about where I'm at now.  

[TUFKAK]

11 hours ago, GoldenTongue said:

New toys: Saxon Block Barbell Grips.  Like Fat Grips, but they simulate a 3"x3" saxon bar (I have Saxon Bar Block DL for reps for an upcoming competition).

 

I'm lovehating them: strange feeling being humbled on a 135# deadlift where pinch strength is the limiting factor, but by the same token, this is going to be a total game-changer for improving my grip strength.  No more heavy ass trap bar/farmer carries beating the shit out of CNS; now I can get an absolutely incredible grip strength workout with less than 150# of load.

 

Training going well; feeling good about hitting some new milestones later this year after next training cycle.  405 bench feels very attainable, 275 OHP should be doable, but 550 squat and 600 DL still seem like they might be a ways out.  Although tbh, I'm actually wondering if my days of 1RM Squat PR's are behind me: I'm starting to feel a familiar ache in my hips that's happened in the last two cycles around the time my worksets get to ~420 lbs or so, which is right about where I'm at now.  

Orthopedic limitations are the reason I stopped lifting near my 1rm, it’s not worth it to me anymore. I’m approaching 40 and am outperforming and look better than most guys in their 20s, I’ll take that as enough at this stage of my life.

[GoldenTongue]

I can completely understand.  But given the amount of time I've spent being less than active, I don't have nearly as much accumulated joint/tendon wear and tear as you've amassed, despite being north of 45.

 

1RM efforts for me are something I consider a once/year (maybe twice) type of thing, something I'll consider trying depending on how I'm feeling at the time I'm doing a peaking phase for a competition.  Squats are a big question mark for me, but I still feel comfortable enough with exposure to near maximal loads for bench, OHP, and Deadlift, as that's all included in my peaking work; all told, in a full 24 week meso (base phase plus peaking block), there are roughly 4-6 weeks where I'm touching loads at 90% or more of 1RM, and my programming uses submaximal volumizing as a form of progression for most movements, with progression in intensity limited to the big four compound movements along with four variations (done at a lower intensity threshold than the main lifts).  I do feel like my passion for strongman/strongman training has had a marked effect in conditioning me not only for heavy loads, but also higher capacity work effort, to say nothing of training to handle disadvantaged loading, which has led to me feeling like my back is damn near bulletproof.

 

Aesthetically?  I'd say I'm looking better than I have at almost any point in my life, certainly better than I did for most of my 20's and 30's, although I'm still carrying more fat around the midsection than I'd like.  Moving in the right direction there, but being at/near clinical obesity for most of my life means there is a lot of visceral fat to burn through, which is always the hardest to get rid of.

[SuperSpreader]

I got dry cupping done for the first time. I don't know if it helped but I felt those areas way more engaged at the gym a day later. 

[TUFKAK]

Broke up with my gf so now I have to cut a tiny bit to make 23 yos more accessible again.

[best3444]

1 minute ago, TUFKAK said:

Broke up with my gf so now I have to cut a tiny bit to make 23 yos more accessible again.

 

How old are you? I remember showing interest in 23 year olds in here years back and Andrea calling my a pedophile. 

[TUFKAK]

1 minute ago, best3444 said:

 

How old are you? I remember showing interest in 23 year olds in here years back and Andrea calling my a pedophile. 

I’ll be 39 in a few months. I train for very normal reasons now clearly 

[Biggie]

19 minutes ago, TUFKAK said:

Broke up with my gf so now I have to cut a tiny bit to make 23 yos more accessible again.

Sorry about the break up but atleast you get to work on your body!

18 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

How old are you? I remember showing interest in 23 year olds in here years back and Andrea calling my a pedophile. 

Andrea thought everyone was pedophile

[best3444]

3 minutes ago, Biggie said:

Sorry about the break up but atleast you get to work on your body!

Andrea thought everyone was pedophile

 

I remember thinking Kendall Jenner was hot and she gave me so much shit for that. She was a god damn super model at the time lol. Andrea was extremely cruel to me most of the time even though I treated her so well. I bought her a ton of shit out of pity. 

[Biggie]

5 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

I remember thinking Kendall Jenner was hot and she gave me so much shit for that. She was a god damn super model at the time lol. Andrea was extremely cruel to me most of the time even though I treated her so well. I bought her a ton of shit out of pity. 

she doxed me

[best3444]

4 minutes ago, Biggie said:

she doxed me

 

That was uncalled for. 

[TUFKAK]

15 hours ago, Biggie said:

Sorry about the break up but atleast you get to work on your body

Oh I’m over it, of course a 23 yo I used to mess with pre ex made that much easier to facilitate. Still gonna go back hard in the gym after I’m back from Spain.

[TUFKAK]

No gym until I get to Madrid, blsh. 

[SuperSpreader]

5 hours ago, TUFKAK said:

No gym until I get to Madrid, blsh. 

[TUFKAK]

I got so damn constipated in Madrid, all I want now is oatmeal and laxatives.

[SuperSpreader]

3 hours ago, TUFKAK said:

I got so damn constipated in Madrid, all I want now is oatmeal and laxatives.

[TUFKAK]

4 hours ago, SuperSpreader said:

If I get desperate enough I’ll digitally disimpact myself 

[Biggie]

On 3/28/2024 at 12:26 AM, TUFKAK said:

If I get desperate enough I’ll digitally disimpact myself 

Jesus

[TUFKAK]

12 hours ago, Biggie said:

Jesus

My steroid liver prep meds pushed everything out, alls good here.

[GoldenTongue]

TUDCA + NAC?  My doctor recommended those to me since my ALT & AST are chronically about 10% higher than testing reference intervals.  I'm a bit skeptical since the levels have been relatively steady at those numbers for a long, long time now, and there are no other indicators of liver damage.

[TUFKAK]

57 minutes ago, GoldenTongue said:

TUDCA + NAC?  My doctor recommended those to me since my ALT & AST are chronically about 10% higher than testing reference intervals.  I'm a bit skeptical since the levels have been relatively steady at those numbers for a long, long time now, and there are no other indicators of liver damage.

Actually no, choline and inositol, its an OTC supplement you can buy that my urologist back in Bmore suggested I take.

I went from elevated AST and ALT to normal within a few months of taking them, back when I was competing I did labs twice a year and between my initial and the repeat they normalized, I have never had an elevated liver enzyme since. But, when you take the full dose, 3grams, you dump everything out of your gut.

My update is, breakups will always make bodybuilders, my diet is basically competition level perfect right now, low carb, high protein (300 grams due to this next piece) I am back on bodybuilding doses (1gram test, 500 tren) and getting two a days four days a week with cardio daily. My non two a days is because I am working so I only train once then. Getting every muscle group atleast twice a week, it has been a long time since I have trained like this. 

[GoldenTongue]

Starting on choline and inositol, although I'm going to start with 2g/day and check my labs in three months.

 

Into a peaking block now; realizing the strength gains feels incredible, but I fucking hate seeing how quickly I started becoming deconditioned with the sharp dropoff in volume.  Not as bad as it's been at other times, since I'm back into doing KB swing intervals each day, but there's still a noticeable drop in work capacity that irritates tf out of me, especially knowing how much the start of the next training block is going to just suck when I'm going from high intensity low volume work, back to relatively high volume at medium intensity...but such is the nature of periodization.

 

Fun few weeks coming up though.  I have a charity strongman comp this coming weekend that should be fun, and without anything overly taxing in terms of max efforts, shouldn't leave me feeling too terribly beat up: I have a 125# circus dumbbell clean and press for reps (60 seconds), 135# Saxon Bar Block Deadlift for reps (60 seconds - RIP my thumbs, for which I've come closer than I'd like to ripping callous tissue more than once with the Saxon barbell grips), Sandbag load and carry medley 150/200/250, 675# Yolk Carry, and a Hercules Hold, which I'm hoping has a cool-looking setup as I'd love to get a good photo for that one.

 

Then another comp three weeks later, which will probably beat the shit out of me: Car deadlift for reps in 60 seconds (front handle which sucks so much more than side handle), Circus DB Clean & Press 130# for reps, Keg Carry/Load Medley 200/225/250, Head to Head Farmer Hold with 250# frames (RIP my thumbs again fucking hook grip), Sandbag Toss (easy enough weights), and a Conan's Wheel rated with a 600# load - I have no idea wtf that means, since I can't imagine a 600# barbell load in the crook of my arms; that's got to be a total weight somehow distributed along the length of the arm extending out from the center of the wheel.  Really hoping I don't end up passing out on that one, since I've seen it happen numerous times.

 

Will plan on a light/deload recovery week after that depending on how I feel, then I may test some new 1RM's: 405 for the bench feels questionable at the moment, as does a 550 squat, but 275 OHP and 600 deadlift are looking good.  And my biggest strength bucket list goal (315# Strict OHP) feels like it could be attainable, although it may take another year (maybe two), to get there.

 

All that said, I am really looking forward to starting a new training block.  As much as the first couple weeks is going to just suck until I regain some muscular conditioning, life just feels so much easier when I'm not training with loads north of 85-90% of 1RM.