gsop_3

So, I was traveling all weekend and spent about 24 hours on the road...not a good situation for DOMS in the lower back from Friday's deadlifting! I'm still in OUCH! mode. Plus, I developed a pain in my right knee just above the kneecap. I hope it clears up tomorrow! I think I ate maybe 3 meals the whole weekend, too. felt like I was wasting away! mostly just poor planning on my part. Either way, got a bit of catching up to do. I wonder how it's going to affect my lifting tomorrow.

Today's W/O: Friday 3/18/2011 5/3/1 cycle 1 week 1 session 3 Deadlifts: 1x5 - 85kg 1x5 - 105kg 1x5 - 127kg 1x5 - 135kg 1x5 - 144kg 5x10 - 85kg 20 minutes and DONE! Going out of town for the weekend - be back to it on Monday. I'll do chins tomorrow but may not be able to get in the OHP that's prescribed.

The purple rice is actually black before it's cooked. It's rather pricey so they usually just mix a little into the regular white rice...adds a nice nutty flavor. The lower right is potatoes and celery, top middle is the kimchi, left is cabbage, cucumber, chili peppers and garlic with sesame oil and salt...sort of "pickled" top right is seaweed with carrots and garlic...probably just stir fried with some salt and soy sauce. And last but not least, obviously, the bananas! mouth watering yet? know mine is!

Trillium, a general rule of thumb for protein is whatever your weight (in pounds) is, multiply by 1-1.5 to get the number of grams of protein for the day and divide that over the 6 meals - you might be a bit lite in this area. Also, the meal after the workout should be a much as 25% of the total calories for the day. A HUGE meal. I think the salad may be a bit light for the first meal after lifting. Especially doing SL5x5 - squatting 3x/week. Think LOTS of calories from carbs (post W/O only). For me, I find this to be pretty much the only time I'll eat a lot of rice or other grain, and/or potatoes. Ultimately, it depends on what your goals are though. Also, not sure how this would affect or is affected by your living in a collective...that obviously needs to be taken in to consideration. ...more "food" for thought. Hope it helps!

5/3/1 cycle 1 week 1 session 2 Today's W/O: Warmed up the shoulder girdle with arm circles, dislocates, etc. Bench: 1x5 - 78kg 1x5 - 83kg 1x8 - 88kg (barely squeaked out the last rep.) Followed by DC-style stretch 5x10 - 52kg (I exploded up and sent the bar in the air and caught it after each rep) Stopped only long enough to get the bar on the ground and set up for rows. BB Rows: 5x10 - 45kg (super strict, focused on form - arched back parallel to the ground-"big butt", squeezing the shoulder blades back and driving the elbows to the ceiling while eliminating momentum caused by hip drive) All lifting was finished in under 30min. Treadmill for 2.25km in 15min. average speed of about 9km/hr. may not look like much but for me it is. Maybe I'll work some sprint intervals in there somewhere with box jumps! left, right, prone planks for 40 seconds each. Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day! Don't forget to wear some green!

Hey guys! Right on!! I am SO thankful for the food here. @Chewy YEAH BUDDY! Plus, nobody else uses the free weight stuff I use anyways! HAHA they all use the machines. I NEVER have to wait! @TF glad to hear the stretching is helping! keep up the great work!

Glad to see you're back! ...and that you've still been hitting it hard! As for struggles with gains, check two things: food and form. Make sure you are lifting with proper form/technique and make sure you're hitting the FOOD real hard before and after lifting (In other words, pretty much all the time) to make sure you have the "go juice" in your muscles to crank out the effort and the nutrients to heal the muscles after. Can't over estimate the importance of the food. I find that if I don't get enough carbs, my muscles fatigue in the middle of sets and the W/O session gets really hard. Just some "food" for thought... If all that's taken care of then, just stay patient and consistent!

Here's the promised pics of the weight room I get to use... this bar is loaded to 121kg Notice the foam roll on the end of the bar! LOL! They don't have any collars! The bench is set up so I can't do a wider grip. It's actually quite narrow. The posts are right about where I want to grab the bar. It's not much but does the job for now! No need to mention the station in the center, since it doesn't ever get touched by me except for hanging leg raises (when I don't just use the chinning bar) Though, I have to say, the best part is it's free (not to mention the zero travel time)!

Maybe I should be starting a new thread for this, but here's a picture of what my typical Chinese cafeteria meal looks like. This was today's lunch tray. It may not look like it, but this tray has about 2kg of food on it. You can't really see how high it's mounded here.

The way I make PB, almond butter (really any nut or sunflower seed will also do)- 1 to 1.5 cups of nuts peanut or canola oil Place nuts in food processor and mix for about 1 min. It will start to clump up and then I add some oil, a little at a time to smooth it out. The more oil you add, the more easier it is to spread. Takes maybe 5 to 10 mins to make, clean up is the longest part of that. Yes, that's pretty much what I do. A good ratio is about 2 Tablespoons of oil (peanut is best) per cup of nuts. Spanish peanuts tend to have more oil and need less added. My process is a little more time consuming since I buy raw peanuts and roast or fry them myself. Then, I have to remove the skins before I can blend them. I find a Vitamix works great! I must say, the reward is FAR above any time spent working on it! So, I just sit down to watch a movie and get to work. Keeps my otherwise idle hands busy doing something useful. OR gives me something to keep my mind occupied while I prepare my food! ...whichever way you want to look at it. LOL For the protein bars, well more like a food ball/bolus, I mix about 2T peanut butter with 30-40g pea protein 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 2 teaspoons of brown sugar in just enough hot water to dissolve. Then, mix it all up and form it into a ball, place in a (reusable) plastic baggie for transport and all is good! Note: it's a bit dry in the mouth but rinses down well enough with some ... green tea in my case! mm! mm! good!!

Man, I can't help it. I love coffee!!!!! Can I just say that I'm a coffee lover too? (ESPECIALLY Brasil café!) Though, my recent love is green tea (living in China). chiao!

Sounds like you've had quite a bit of turmoil so far this year! It's so good to see you keep coming back and not giving up (completely) on your goals and sticking it out! Always get up one more time than you fall down and everything will be just fine! You can do it! Keep on keepin' on!

OK, Today was day one of 5/3/1...This morning I ate a head of cabbage, head of garlic accompanied by some steamed sweet-bean buns and water. snack was a peanut butter/pea protein bar with almonds and some flower tea, lunch was about EDIT: (250g) cooked sprouts, 500g stir-fry cabbage, 500g cooked rice, 200g homemade kimchi and a bowl of millet porridge - SO FULL! that in the afternoon I missed my snack. Protein drink following the w/o...having Plenty of CARBS for dinner and another protein drink before bed. That should do it for calories today. Have no idea how many that is but, that's a typical calorie level for me during the week on a W/O day lately - minus the missed snack. Yesterday we ate what I think was fresh bamboo shoots (for the first time) stir-fried with garlic and onion and salt. Many other new Chinese dishes I've made recently. I'll share more later...sorry to babble about my latest food escapades! Back to the task at hand... cycle 1 week 1 session 1 run and stretch, myofacial with bat and ball, then... Squats: 1x5 - 100kg 1x5 - 107kg 1x8 - 114kg (could have gotten 1-2 more but didn't want to overboard first time doing this routine.) 5x10 - 67kg (the weight felt light until the last set's final few reps) followed with DC-style stretch Leg curls: 5x10 - 40kg (WOW! FIRE!! ...that's all I'm gonna say) followed with DC-style stretch

Where you at Trillium? It's been about a week now! Hope everything is OK??

Good for you Chewy! I second that thought! LOL Looking forward to reading about it, Chewy!

Thanks for the affirmation Chewy! I really needed that reassurance since I've become somewhat obsessed with the plan I've been following...a bit too attached. Perhaps yet another sign it's time to do something different for awhile. I'm putting together a spreadsheet now for the 5/3/1 and I def. plan to keep the assistance simple. I'll start it tomorrow (Monday). Thanks for the pointers.

So, I was able to get in three working sets on bench last night before my spotter decided he needed to leave...feeling a little bummed and de-motivated right now and when I woke up this morning, I felt like I got hit by a semi-truck...totally exhausted. I am thinking maybe my body is telling me to deload - since I haven't really done that PROPERLY since Oct. when I started. Considering a 4 week 5/3/1 cycle...WAY lower volume! squatting only once a week looks really good right now! LOL ...and I'll add some more running in there. I ran on treadmill, I did a lot of myofacial work on my piriformis and ITB. I ran again on the treadmill, then... Bench: 1x5 - 65kg 1x5 - 75kg 1x5 - 85kg 5,5,4 - 95kg (I rushed into the last set b/c my spotter wanted to leave. )

I concur! keep up the consistent work!

Lookin' solid and consistent there oneoranother! Keep it up man! BTW, what's your weight these days? If you're doing SL5x5, I would encourage you to follow what's outlined in the SL 5x5 report and not deload until you fail to get 5x5 at the same weight 3 consecutive sessions. (3 W/O's at 100kg and NOT reaching 5X5 all three times) Just make sure you're eating BIG and foam rolling...squatting three days a week is TOUGH! But, stick with it and ride out the progress as long as you can. ...just my .02... You can do it!

Well put Chewy! I'll do just that! Thanks for pointing my wayward thinking back to the right path! Eat BIG, Lift BIG, Get BIG(GER)! haha

Today I was only able to get my squats in...a bit disappointing, but I'll get in the rest tomorrow sometime. Ran on the treadmill then rolled out my legs focusing on the ITB and piriformis. I've also noticed a lot of movement in my sacrum...self adjusting, etc. Squats: 1x5 - 90kg 1x5 - 110kg 5,5,4,5,5 - 121kg (I went into the third set too soon...knowing I had little time and wanted to get in more, so I failed to get five that set but came back and blasted the last two sets after about 4-5 minutes' rest in between each) Side Note: I find that low carbs the day before a workout leaves me running out in the middle of my sets. Not sure how to best organize my diet to make sure I have excess calories on W/O days and a deficit on off days without sacrificing gains and performance in the gym. Perhaps I should just forget the deficit on off days and shoot to keep gaining weight and strength for now... Still a beginner establishing my foundational strength.

I know it's not really fair to count me in the mix, but the school I work at provides free food for three meals a day with at least one Vegan option at each. So, my family of four eats almost free during the month. we do buy a lot of carrots and other veggies for juicing but that's it...maybe not more than $50 for the month - cheap in China. As far as supplements go, I've been given free pea protein and my family back in the states sends me vitamins, so I don't really spend anything there either. Every breakfast, Monday through Friday, has fresh hot soy milk and I take home about 2 liters of it and use that for my protein drinks. I make my own peanut butter and use it for protein bars at about $1 a pound. If I buy nuts, then that alone is about $50 per month. In conclusion, when school is in session, we MAYBE spend $100 per month on food for a family of 4. When school is not in session, we spend at least 4x...$400+

Here's a couple of links to add to the mix...the first one is for lower body foam rolling in general and the second one is specifically for the ITB (iliotibial band) - stretching & strengthening. http://www.physioadvisor.com.au/11044650/foam-roller-exercises-lower-body-physioadvisor.htm http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=6099

Yesterday, after teaching 4 PE classes and coaching baseball practice, I ran 2 miles and played soccer with the 5th and 6th grade boys for about 45 minutes before going to evening classes...Man, I was fried! Today, the side of my knee hurts mostly from the ITB and I rolled it out with the bat this morning - - it's SUPER tight with squatting three times a week and now the running...I need to keep an eye on those ITBs! Any suggestions for this? ...other than just rolling it out.

Welcome and thanks for the great intro! Hope to be reading your numbers posted in a training log Ben!