Jason X

Pretty sure we found the problem. You're doing it wrong. But in seriousness, boca burgers on bagels isn't all bad. Load it up with a ton of spinach and veggies! Bagels are all sorts of calorie dense. But yeah, I'd say we found your big issue. It's 2:30 (at least where I am...) And you've eaten a 1/4 cup of oatmeal, a bagel, and a boca burger. And very minimal water consumption to boot. Your recipe for success involves more food.

Very rarely do I back PETA, but I'm with them on this one. You roll the dice, you live with the results.

That's definitely one issue. 1/4 cup of oats?!? Double it. At least. If you're aiming to bulk, servings sizes on the packages are your enemy. When I do oatmeal in the morning I use between 1/2 and 3/4 cup oats, and add a 1/2 of an apple, raisins, craisins, peanut butter and 2tbsp of flax seed. Try that for a bit and let us know how you feel. (For bulking, eating should be just as hard as lifting. You gotta eat big to get big.)

Have you thought about building a platform?

I totally understand. Pretty sure everyone here will. We ALL had to start somewhere!

ask away. you're blank and I'm open.

well, a little bit abstract, but it's a chimpanzee (representative of travis) holding a human face (representative of the neighbor lady). means "hands off the animals". just like the raid song and cd.

gym again today. same as last time. Squatting 185 hurts my right inside thigh, nearing groin. not sure about all that. at least it doesn't hurt in my hip flexor anymore. got that one worked out. Not bad enough to stop me, though. I need to go back to 60lbs on my curls. the 70lbs is all I can do with terrible form. but the 60's aren't enough. stupid 10lb increments. Maybe start using dumbells. Thoughts on this dilemma anyone? At any rate, first rugby practice in 2 hours...Color me excited. really excited. It's all running today though. I hope to be last man standing. we'll see. psyched.

it might help to keep track of weights. It'll help you see your progress. Logs rule.

duhhhh... HOLA? errrr..... HELLO! (that's what I get for choosing to learn american sign language...) musculation sounds like a lot of fun.

also. see this: http://www.naturalnews.com/012352.html excerpt: Everybody "knows" that caffeine makes you more alert and clearheaded. Think again. A cup of coffee gives you a wakeup jolt because it triggers a stress response. Your adrenal glands are prompted to kick out the same stress hormones that are released when you perceive an external threat or danger. Your muscles tense, your blood sugar elevates for extra energy, your pulse and respiration rates speed up, and your state of alertness increases so you're ready to wrestle with or run from environmental dangers. You may be only sitting at your table or desk drinking a cup of coffee, but your body doesn't know that. It's preparing for action. The Memory Solution by Dr Julian Whitaker, page 261

I know where you're coming from. I was just there. Thankfully, my gym owner is anti-caffeine. We were talking coffee in protein shake and he shook his head. He said the following, which I took as truth, because its what I needed to hear regardless of truth. He said that coffee will make you weak because it hinders protein synthesis in the body, it will make you stupid and useless without it, and it affects your adrenal gland after a while so (something or another, yada yada yada) you get stupid and weak. I dunno. It was enough to convince me to not use it. Athletes and drugs don't mix (save for hgh. That's a big win (sarcasm)). Caffeine is a drug. I'll stay away. Good luck in your search for info. I'll be watching this thread.

seconded. Thats what the former US Olympic bike team sougneir tells me. I trust that guy.

chewy, no chalk, but one of the bouldering caves I go to doesn't allow powder chalk either. They sell a liquid chalk, but it seems silly to use for 75 reps a week..

Great work! You're making me look and feel like a huge slacker over here!

Ryan, to clarify, neutral ground is the MMA gym/dojo section. The little weightroom in the back is called Second Nature Fitness. a link http://www.secondnaturefitness.org/index.php

I dunno. I'm just really good at that "grin and bear it" thing. I pride myself on my ability to not be stopped. Should come in handy. Rugby practices start wednesday. In progress pics and details. Who and where?

deadlifts @ 155lbs still. my grip is giving out on the double overhand. that sucks. it's still WAY too light for that to be happening. (correction. slipping. not failing. haven't dropped it, and haven't had to cut a rep short) squats at 185. damn that feels heavy. bench at 120 tri extensions at 50lbs curls at 70lbs (again, damn that feels heavy) clean and press. 70lbs (3 of the 5 times I added 5 standing military presses on the last rep of the clean/press. does that mean i'm not using enough weight?) in and out in an hour flat. total win.

Went to gym yesterday. Changing up my routine again. mostly because I'm nervous about rugby season being right around the corner, so I'm cutting almost all of the isolation stuff. gonna go back to 5x5's. every other day same routine. add 5lbs every week. squats, deads, clean/press, flat bench. Then curls and tri extensions (because my arms are tiny and I want to change that). Curls every time and tri's when I have time to fit them in. I try to be out in an hour fifteen max. Yesterday squats 185lbs focusing on getting low and keeping knees out. flat bench 115lbs for one set then 120lbs for the other 4 sets clean and press 70lbs deadlifts 155lbs curls 60lbs. will go up to 70 on monday This is way more fun that what I'd been doing, albeit significantly harder. I'm super into it though. We'll see how it goes. It'll be real hard. I want that. Captains practices start in a week and a half, then regular practices start on St Paddy's day. Then the running will start. About time. Just not motivated enough to go kill myself alone yet.

Yesterday I did more legs. Started with squats. 155lbs 5x8 focusing on keeping knees out and exploding up. started and finished with 10 reps at 135 lbs deadlifts 5x8 @ 155lbs. more curls (I have tiny arms...) 60 lbs 5x8 leg press 3x10 calves 3x30 @ 6 plates Bench 5x8 @ 115lbs clean and press. 5x8 focusing on quick movements 65lbs.

ryan, do it! those folks at that shop are great artist, great people, and the studio is absolutely amazing. Also, it looks like I'll be in town again before she moves, are you doing much lifting? and if so, where? last time I was in town I went to Neutral Ground for a session, but are there many options? but again, tyler (the proprieter of NG is vegan and straightedge, so that's another big win) Man. I love milwaukee. I want back in.

I went to the gym again! Incline press 105lbs 5x8 (coulda done more, but I hadn't worked arms in a week. better safe than sorry) Overhead press 70 lbs 5x8 (upgrade!) Tri extensions 45lbs 5x8 (upgrade!) bicep curls 60lbs 5x8 that might be it, the gym was strangely crowded, and I still don't have range of motion/want to touch things with my leg. Should go tomorrow, but not sure what to do (exercise-wise) thinking might only do arms until leg is healed (or at least done peeling. I REALLY don't want to fuck it up!)

useful information. artist: Ania Jalosinska studio: 3062 in Bayview, Milwaukee, WI. http://www.thirtysixtytwo.com she's moving back home to Poland at the end of march, which makes me sad, because I want more work from her. Just not that soon. I did this in 18 hours (of actual tattoo time. 22 hours of tattoo shop time) over two days. It was brutal and awesome. anyone looking for an amazing tattoo in the milwaukee (or even chicago/twin cities areas) look them up. Her and Lane are fantastic. only potential rival I've seen is MAYBE Uptown tattoo, in mpls, but Lane (co-owner of the shop) is vegan, and therefore wins. and he's got a style that you see and know is his.

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs197.snc3/20471_104163216278103_100000532756640_110306_7126846_n.jpg It's a travis the chimp memorial tattoo. It needs a bit more explaining, because it's more emotional than violent. basically, it goes like this: 1) when people try to control and enslave (or adopt) wild animals, bad things can happen. You need to be aware of this. I'm not saying that people shouldn't rescue animals, but they're not people. they never will be. Don't give them xanax. bad things will happen. Leave them alone 2) people to completely fucked up things to animals on a several times a day basis. kill them, eat them, enslave them, whathaveyou. doesn't matter. The people at fault are very rarely made to answer for their actions. damn near every time an animal attacks and/or kills a person, it's a matter of finding and killing that animal. Animals rarely make these decisions. they just do the animal thing. I personally can't fault them for it. Tatiana the tiger. tiger, in a san francisco zoo. 3 kids are throwing rocks at her. she breaks out, stalks them through the zoo and kills one of them and mauls other two. Good on her. that's what they get. Life lessons taught by animals. http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/27/tiger.attack/index.html

Just remember, while life isn't always consistent, it always rules!