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Building Back Up

GreenMachineX said:
Same. Never. I can’t even sit on the beach.

Edit: I read that wrong. I don’t do those things on vacation either is what I meant.
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GreenMachineX said:
But I did get over 8 hours sleep last night and scored a 90!
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dude you know what I do? I read a couple pages on the airplane. then a couple more... then a couple more. then we get to the beach or whatever and I finally sit and read a whole chapter. by the end of the vacation I once again have healed my add to the point that I can sit there and read a book front to back lol. it takes 10 days of solid effort. then I come home and any part of that book that is not finished, takes 1 year to finish (the next vacation, probably).

of course, thats travelling without kids. if kids are there, all bets are off.
 
GreenMachineX said:
Update: up before everyone this morning, so did a “workout” of pushups, rows, curls, lateral raises, and overhead extensions with my backpack just to get a burn/pump. Only got near failure on pushups probably but still felt good.

Great trip so far otherwise.
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A little pump up before hitting the beach sounds perfect
 
Dustin07 said:
dude you know what I do? I read a couple pages on the airplane. then a couple more... then a couple more. then we get to the beach or whatever and I finally sit and read a whole chapter. by the end of the vacation I once again have healed my add to the point that I can sit there and read a book front to back lol. it takes 10 days of solid effort. then I come home and any part of that book that is not finished, takes 1 year to finish (the next vacation, probably).

of course, thats travelling without kids. if kids are there, all bets are off.
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What kind of books?
 
Back in the US. Great trip, snorkeling, rain forest, bioluminescent bay kayaking, old San Juan and castle exploring, great food. Southeast US is boring.
 
Today is officially day 1. Birthday celebrations and vacation over. 4 weeks until the next weekend out of my control (but not a disaster type thing). The previous 5 weeks of this vacation taught me that there is no way for me to lose body fat without feeling like trash, even doing it slowly with a mild deficit. So, time to man up and power through the “PEM” (we know that’s not what it is anymore though).

Weight: 216.4 with lots of bloat.

Goal still 190-195.

Upper workout later.
 
GreenMachineX said:
bioluminescent bay kayaking
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so cool, when our girls are on it we get the heads up to go down to the docks and check it out. One year we were up in the san juans here in puget sound and I actually stayed awake long enough to take the SUP out to paddle through it.

GreenMachineX said:
Weight: 215.0 😂
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GreenMachineX said:
Birthday celebrations
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when I read these two posts side by side I thought it said "birthing" celebrations and there was a connection.
 
Dustin07 said:
so cool, when our girls are on it we get the heads up to go down to the docks and check it out. One year we were up in the san juans here in puget sound and I actually stayed awake long enough to take the SUP out to paddle through it.




when I read these two posts side by side I thought it said "birthing" celebrations and there was a connection.
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I’m lost…is there a bioluminescence bay in Seattle? Or do you mean down in Puerto Rico?
 
GreenMachineX said:
I’m lost…is there a bioluminescence bay in Seattle? Or do you mean down in Puerto Rico?
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Dude, you got that wrong it is Bio-Goomin-Pheasants...

 
I’m a little surprised you didn’t understand this, but glad you are understanding the truth of a deficit: there is no way to operate on less than your body needs & truly feel ideal. You have to reframe your expectations and focus on the positives.

If you think I’ve dropped over 20lbs the last few months while feeling good most of the time, you would be mistaken. You can be uncomfortable while losing weight, or uncomfortable in your own skin & health, but you can’t get leaner without some kind of toll. Choose your hard!
 
It sounds like you had an amazing vacation, and are set up perfectly to get back in the saddle now to accomplish your goals 💪
 
GreenMachineX said:
I’m lost…is there a bioluminescence bay in Seattle? Or do you mean down in Puerto Rico?
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we get bioluminescence throughout all of Puget Sound. we are 90 miles south of Friday Harbor, and we get them down by our place but where I marked this X on Lopez Island there is a marina where we stayed one year. we had paddle boards on the boat and could paddle through it at night, it was wild.

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Today’s WO:

Flat bench 4 x 6/6/6/7 x 225
T-Bar Row 4 x 6/6/6/7 x 115
Isolateral OHP 3 x 8 x 210
NG Pull-ups 3x3
High Cable Row 3 sets
DB Lateral Raise 3 sets
 
Hyde said:
I’m a little surprised you didn’t understand this, but glad you are understanding the truth of a deficit: there is no way to operate on less than your body needs & truly feel ideal. You have to reframe your expectations and focus on the positives.

If you think I’ve dropped over 20lbs the last few months while feeling good most of the time, you would be mistaken. You can be uncomfortable while losing weight, or uncomfortable in your own skin & health, but you can’t get leaner without some kind of toll. Choose your hard!
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Well, it’s just hard to believe, because literally every success story you hear is “I lost 20 pounds and feel great!” Even better versions of AI such as Grok say we shouldn’t feel like absolutely garbage and can’t sleep more than 6 hours in a mild deficit. You have to scour the bowels of Reddit to find similar accounts. My wife has lost 20 pounds, down to 142 or so, and feels great as another anecdote. Granted, her lifts suffer, but that’s not what I mean. I get that. On the flip side, most accounts probably aren’t starting where we are or training like we are. Then again, my training isn’t excessive…

Nevertheless, down to 212.0 today. I should be back to 209 in no time. Then it’s all fat loss after that.
 
GreenMachineX said:
Well, it’s just hard to believe, because literally every success story you hear is “I lost 20 pounds and feel great!” Even better versions of AI such as Grok say we shouldn’t feel like absolutely garbage and can’t sleep more than 6 hours in a mild deficit. You have to scour the bowels of Reddit to find similar accounts. My wife has lost 20 pounds, down to 142 or so, and feels great as another anecdote. Granted, her lifts suffer, but that’s not what I mean. I get that. On the flip side, most accounts probably aren’t starting where we are or training like we are. Then again, my training isn’t excessive…

Nevertheless, down to 212.0 today. I should be back to 209 in no time. Then it’s all fat loss after that.
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I agree, you are a complete weirdo!!! I kid, I kid, but you do seem to have challenges outside of the normal being hungry, and not having a lot of energy to recover. That being said, I believe the sentiment is correct regardless. You have to sacrifice for that progress, and often it is an uncomfortable process. It just seems you have to deal with a bit more discomfort than the average individual. That being said...

1782822154644.webp
 
GreenMachineX said:
Well, it’s just hard to believe, because literally every success story you hear is “I lost 20 pounds and feel great!” Even better versions of AI such as Grok say we shouldn’t feel like absolutely garbage and can’t sleep more than 6 hours in a mild deficit. You have to scour the bowels of Reddit to find similar accounts. My wife has lost 20 pounds, down to 142 or so, and feels great as another anecdote. Granted, her lifts suffer, but that’s not what I mean. I get that. On the flip side, most accounts probably aren’t starting where we are or training like we are. Then again, my training isn’t excessive…

Nevertheless, down to 212.0 today. I should be back to 209 in no time. Then it’s all fat loss after that.
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Bro people don’t tell the whole truth online. What you see is what they want you to see!

Especially the personal trainers writing the weightloss articles that AI regurgitates who have a dollar to gain - who need to convince Susie Gen-pop to put the damn wine coolers down, consider a salad for just one time in her sad life, and commit to a personal training/diet program.

People DO feel great down 20lbs. I feel awesome on the weekends when I am eating as much as I need but no longer carrying a weight vest every moment of my life. Plus it feels good not to be eating as much trash too - it’s easy for a fatass 240lb American male with minimal muscle posting on Reddit to drop to a still very sloppy 220lb, yet feel great the entire time. Because he stopped eating fast food for all of his nutrition & cut out the sugar soda! He never had to sacrifice a real thing, only took a ton of processed inflammatory garbage out for something more sensible.

The leaner you are trying to get, the tougher it generally will be at times. But once you get to a weight you want to hold, you will feel better at maintenance.
 
its much easier for a 24 yr old fitness trainer/influencer to feel great in a deficit when half of their deficit comes from a busy NEAT inducing lifestyle rather than desk work. My wife has that hummingbird energy coupled with a.d.d. so now that she's at home, she's never sitting down. If I were a stay at home husband with access to the fridge, I'd probably gain 20lbs lol. she will lose 10lbs this month I'm sure, simply be removing a desk from her 9-5 and replacing it with being outside, gardening, running around like a racoon chasing shiny objects all day.

getting up tired, going to fake lighting, to sit a desk where your brain is taxed but your body atrophies, while trying to be in a deficit is hard. the easiest way to lean up is to somehow have legit physical activities as a lifestyle/hobby/habit rather than it being that 1 hour that you have to force yourself to do because you're so damn tired from all the fake work you spent the last 10hrs taxing your brain with.

it was admittedly very easy for me to stay very lean during my xfit years because for 2hrs a day every single day I simply "played crossfit". there were a million events, something new every day, you're always surrounded by yoga shorts, sports bras, and scoreboards with the guys, so you walk in the door and spend 2,000 calories playing, over the next 2 hours. its all different when your mentality is PLAY vs WORK.

when you were 7yrs old you could play all day long on zero calories until you were a sweaty mess that fell asleep with your face on a pile of legos. gotta play more even if it means looking at work as play!
 
Weight: 211.4

Paused Squat 4 x 3 x 275
RDLs 5x135, 5x185, 2x5x225
BB Shrugs 4 x 5 x 185
Standing Calf Raises 3 sets
Incline DB Curls 3 sets
Overhead Extension 3 sets

Given how I was feeling walking in, maybe should’ve went lighter on squats and increased reps. Definitely feeling the deficit, but still sleeping pretty well…7 hours and score of 84. Goal is 200-300kcal deficit today.
 
That is still some good work for paused squats, I am sure it did the trick!
 
yeah dude those are some heavy pauses.

GreenMachineX said:
Given how I was feeling walking in, maybe should’ve went lighter on squats and increased reps.
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IMO this is a trap! lol. I did this so many years running my CNS into the ground. Can't hit 315 for a set today? I"ll just do 225 until I destroy myself ensuring I can't do 315 next time either! 😂 😂

just personal opinion but unless hypertrophy is the goal finding a different way of crushing myself just hurts recovery and progress even more than if I turned say a 300 x 3 into a 300 x 1 and called it good. I personally recover a lot better from a heavier low rep set than trashing myself on lower weight volume when I feel shitty.
 
Dustin07 said:
yeah dude those are some heavy pauses.



IMO this is a trap! lol. I did this so many years running my CNS into the ground. Can't hit 315 for a set today? I"ll just do 225 until I destroy myself ensuring I can't do 315 next time either! 😂 😂

just personal opinion but unless hypertrophy is the goal finding a different way of crushing myself just hurts recovery and progress even more than if I turned say a 300 x 3 into a 300 x 1 and called it good. I personally recover a lot better from a heavier low rep set than trashing myself on lower weight volume when I feel shitty.
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Good call. Hypertrophy is not my goal with squats or or deads, so maybe I’ll just focus on what I can low. I think I recover better from low rep higher intensity better also.
 
GreenMachineX said:
Good call. Hypertrophy is not my goal with squats or or deads, so maybe I’ll just focus on what I can low. I think I recover better from low rep higher intensity better also.
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there is some legit merit to that portion of Wendlers book that Hyde reminded us of with his "I'm not doing jack **** today" program. go in, touch heavy, go home. great stimulus, fantastic recovery. I love a good long session when time and energy allow but just touching heavy weight and going home (heavy within my training protocol, not 1rm every day of the week) has really treated me well the past couple years.
 
Agree with Dustin, unless hypertrophy is the primary goal of a movement you generally want to do as much as you can reasonably tolerate for the day on strength work. Better to keep the weight up and chop volume if needed since strength is more about practice expressing strength in a skill and conditioning the body to manage load.

If you just aren’t up to the task of even getting close on strength for the day (like taking 20-30lbs off isn’t a good option even with dropping a set or two), doing something IS ideal. But that’s usually some lighter practice work, not lighter but cranked up volume.

Example:

Say 5x3 @315 is on menu. But recovery when you are warming up is dictating more like 295 for 3-4x3. That’s how I’d pivot. If I feel like trash but it’s not practical to push training off another day, then deloading to 225 for 3x5 would be my answer (not 225 2-3x10). If things are so bad I need to cut 20+%, I don’t want to be upping volume on the big strength move.
 
Hyde said:
then deloading to 225 for 3x5 would be my answer (not 225 2-3x10). If things are so bad I need to cut 20+%, I don’t want to be upping volume on the big strength move.
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thats the mistake I made for years during the xfit days (where I would rep out at 225, rather than a sensible deload) until one day I finally accidentally stumbled over some variations of conjugate that left me downregulating naturally without having to force deloads. My biggest culprit was deads, for a while I'd let myself pull 10 less lbs each week as recovery kept getting hammered until one day I woke up and shifted gears. Back then I basically only had one super heavy day a month, once I wised up. Which coincidentally is very similar to how I'm running 531 now (only overloading on final week before deload)
 
Hyde said:
Agree with Dustin, unless hypertrophy is the primary goal of a movement you generally want to do as much as you can reasonably tolerate for the day on strength work. Better to keep the weight up and chop volume if needed since strength is more about practice expressing strength in a skill and conditioning the body to manage load.

If you just aren’t up to the task of even getting close on strength for the day (like taking 20-30lbs off isn’t a good option even with dropping a set or two), doing something IS ideal. But that’s usually some lighter practice work, not lighter but cranked up volume.

Example:

Say 5x3 @315 is on menu. But recovery when you are warming up is dictating more like 295 for 3-4x3. That’s how I’d pivot. If I feel like trash but it’s not practical to push training off another day, then deloading to 225 for 3x5 would be my answer (not 225 2-3x10). If things are so bad I need to cut 20+%, I don’t want to be upping volume on the big strength move.
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Roger that. Thanks.
 
Weight today: 209.3

Yesterdays WO:
Standing OHP 4x5x145
NG Pull-ups 6/5/5/4
Incline HS Press 4x6x180
Dual Cable Row 2 sets
Crossbody Cable Lat Raise 3x8x12.5

I went from 216.4 to 209.3 in 5 days staying around 2800-2900 kcal, which should’ve only been 400kcal deficit most days according to what I burned on Fitbit. Only one day did I have massive PEM.

Smoked brisket at a bbq later today…not even going to eat is the plan. We’ll see.
 
GreenMachineX said:
Weight today: 209.3

Yesterdays WO:
Standing OHP 4x5x145
NG Pull-ups 6/5/5/4
Incline HS Press 4x6x180
Dual Cable Row 2 sets
Crossbody Cable Lat Raise 3x8x12.5

I went from 216.4 to 209.3 in 5 days staying around 2800-2900 kcal, which should’ve only been 400kcal deficit most days according to what I burned on Fitbit. Only one day did I have massive PEM.

Smoked brisket at a bbq later today…not even going to eat is the plan. We’ll see.
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FWIW, on any given work week when I’m not eating carbs there’s usually a day that will stick out as particularly rough for fatigue, while most of the others will be relatively fine. So I would say you’re at a good caloric value and doing well right now!

Sometimes abstinence is easier for sure
 
Weight: 211.0

I did end up eating at the bbq, but only had 1 plate and estimate that I went over maintenance by a few hundred calories. Eating my own meal before showing up helped circumvent any other self sabotage. Onward.
 
Bane, that ain't a bad look at all!
 
Hyde said:
Hard to say no completely to a nice brisket… arguably unwise, even 😂
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I'm pretty sure I knew 2 weeks, maybe 2 months in advance (probably 6 months actually for 250) that I was going to have a lot of meat, salt, and whatever else came my way Saturday, and enjoy a heavy bench day on Sunday, lol.
 
Dustin07 said:
I'm pretty sure I knew 2 weeks, maybe 2 months in advance (probably 6 months actually for 250) that I was going to have a lot of meat, salt, and whatever else came my way Saturday, and enjoy a heavy bench day on Sunday, lol.
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Well, I had planned to skip when it was supposed to be a big bbq event, but some people cancelled and it turned into a sit down semi-formal dinner, so my daughter’s bf family is all staring at me. Skipping that is different then skipping a bbq where no one is paying attention.
 
Flat Bench 4 x 7/7/6/7 x 225
T-Bar Rows 4 x 5 x 125
Hammer OHP 4 x 7 x 190
NG Pull-ups 8/5/5
High Cable Rows 3 sets
DB Lateral Raise 3 sets

Progress again. But going to drop the weight on the OHP because my form isn’t the way I like it…almost the way one would do a poor form squat or DL if the hips go up first, so more stress ends up on the triceps instead of delts.
 
GreenMachineX said:
Skipping that is different then skipping a bbq where no one is paying attention.
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totally get it, the hardest part of fasting is the social protocol. it "can" be done. But I'm also at a point where small things like having dinner with my wife is often more important so I program a 20:4 once or twice a week to allow that. Its interesting as I get older I'm finally understanding how food really is a 'bonding' time like Andrew and Anthony always said on their travel shows.
 
Dustin07 said:
totally get it, the hardest part of fasting is the social protocol. it "can" be done. But I'm also at a point where small things like having dinner with my wife is often more important so I program a 20:4 once or twice a week to allow that. Its interesting as I get older I'm finally understanding how food really is a 'bonding' time like Andrew and Anthony always said on their travel shows.
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Yeah, even Jesus loved to eat! But he also fasted. I’m just not there yet, and I get far too irritable for any IF.
 
GreenMachineX said:
I get far too irritable for any IF.
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There was a time early on when my wife and I both noticed irritability in me when I toyed with low carb. after a few practice runs at full 36hr fasts it faded away completely.

however, I would say my morning energy level at work on fasting days is subpar. I have a more aggressive/energetic approach to day to day office activities when I'm fed in the morning, unfortunately.
 
Dustin07 said:
There was a time early on when my wife and I both noticed irritability in me when I toyed with low carb. after a few practice runs at full 36hr fasts it faded away completely.

however, I would say my morning energy level at work on fasting days is subpar. I have a more aggressive/energetic approach to day to day office activities when I'm fed in the morning, unfortunately.
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Yeah that’s very appropriate; when people try to act like intermittent fasting has them more energetic I just grin. I mean I’ve fasted for 7 days before; I intermittent fast OFTEN and there’s never a point where taking all of your fuel out of the equation makes you have more overall energy.

I train entirely fasted Tuesday and Friday mornings right now, to take advantage of the lipolysis from my morning GH, the carnitine, etc. I do NOT have more endurance with zero fuel. Even in ketosis, and obviously liberating fats, it’s not as good as a modest meal of quality nutrients. It’s a compromise.
 
Hyde said:
Yeah that’s very appropriate; when people try to act like intermittent fasting has them more energetic I just grin. I mean I’ve fasted for 7 days before; I intermittent fast OFTEN and there’s never a point where taking all of your fuel out of the equation makes you have more overall energy.

I train entirely fasted Tuesday and Friday mornings right now, to take advantage of the lipolysis from my morning GH, the carnitine, etc. I do NOT have more endurance with zero fuel. Even in ketosis, and obviously liberating fats, it’s not as good as a modest meal of quality nutrients. It’s a compromise.
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For sure. I have been suprised that general training output when fasted can be OK (I mean, not competitive level 1rm stuff) but there is definitely a mental energy hit that the brain takes when I skip breakfast and roll straight into office think mode, reports, math and all that. I think its the social energy level that drops and being anti social is not optimal in a workplace environment, lol.
 
Dustin07 said:
For sure. I have been suprised that general training output when fasted can be OK (I mean, not competitive level 1rm stuff) but there is definitely a mental energy hit that the brain takes when I skip breakfast and roll straight into office think mode, reports, math and all that. I think its the social energy level that drops and being anti social is not optimal in a workplace environment, lol.
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I’ve definitely noticed an inhibited social aspect in a deficit…I just dislike everyone lol
 
Dustin07 said:
totally get it, the hardest part of fasting is the social protocol. it "can" be done. But I'm also at a point where small things like having dinner with my wife is often more important so I program a 20:4 once or twice a week to allow that. Its interesting as I get older I'm finally understanding how food really is a 'bonding' time like Andrew and Anthony always said on their travel shows.
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I'd say anytime someone skips a meal, even I mentally react like "wait, what?" and that's someone who understands why you might want to fast or do intermittent fasting. We've just been programmed into 3 square meals per day.

But I also agree that meal time is social time, or at least family time. My kids are still young, but it's full family dinner every evening unless I'm traveling for work. I hope to keep that up as long as I can even when the kids get older if I can help it.
 
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