30 days sober, Wedding anniversary presents, and Bench Presses

My amazing amazing husband gave me my 5 year wedding anniversary present a couple days early today I was supprised because I really wasn’t expecting anything (we’re not really big on gifts usually) But he did well this year — went and got my great grandmothers antique ring fixed for me and then bought me a really pretty necklace to match I am in love with both of them… almost as much as I am with him. Seriously though – 5 years married!!!! I must be getting old  

In other news, today marks 30 days sober and I am very very proud of myself! I would be lying if I said it as “easy” but it definitely hasn’t been as hard as I expected. I think making an official commitment really helped. The most challenging situations have actually come from my job, but I pushed past and am feeling good about myself. Really excited to continue with my new life and to not be a slave to the sauce. Plus, I think I am leaning out a little from not drinking… which is a nice bonus!

Breakfast/Pre-Lifting:

Green Smoothie

• 2 cups raw kale
• 1 banana
• 1 peach
• 2 strawberries
• 2 scoops whey
• 2 cups water

CUBE Method, Cycle 3, Week 2, Day 1. Bench – Reps

Bench: 2×1 @ 85# Cakeeee… I feel like I need to up my numbers on bench. Everything has been so easy as far as work sets go. Though, we’ll see… Everything is feeling good, so if I make any progress when I test I’m not gonna fuck around with the program.

Dumbbell Incline Bench: 2×20 @ 25# I finished these completely today! That’s progress baby!

Close Grip Bench: 3×12 @ 60# This was super easy. I will do 65# next time. I upped this from 55 last cycle and it still felt light. Anyway, I think this is also progress for high rep close grip.

Overhead Press: 3×5 @ 55# These sucked… I wanted to do sets of 8 but couldn’t make that many. I haven’t been using my belt for this and I think it makes it much harder. I’m not going to criticize too much since my overhead press has moved more on this program than it had in 9 months prior. So… not bad. Maybe there is something to doing your overhead press while you’re completely exhausted, without a belt.

Trap Band Pulls: 3×15 @ Red Band. 1 set high, one set medium, one set low.

Negative Chin Ups/Pull Ups: 10seconds down x 5, each grip — Added these into my programming because I have decided that if I can’t do a fucking chin-up I have no business being a competitive strength athlete or even attempting to deadlift 300#. Not being able to do a chinup is fucking PATHETIC and it needs to stop.

Weighted Decline Bench Sit Ups: 3×10 @ 45# Daaaayyyyymmmnnnn. These were hard today. Going to hold the progression for a couple sessions I think. Also, perhaps start working on holding the weight out closer to my head. Usually I do them at “boob level”

Excellent, excellent, excellent day in the gym. Super fun!

Post-Lifting:

• Sauna Protein – 2 scoops whey
• Banana
• coffee w/ cream

Lunch:

• 100g rice
• 200g chicken with spices
• 50g black beans
• 50g corn/tomato salsa

Dinner: 

• Sushi mania with my husband See image. 

Another very successful day of healthy eating. I’m gettin good!

Gleðilegt afmæli Jeff! 
Happy Anniversary Jeff!

Nailed it!

Feelin pretty good about today’s nutrition breakdown! I’d like to make days like this a more regular thing — lots of vitamins, lots of protein, good amount of calories, carbs, and fat. Now, time to get some sleep!!

heres to benchpressing tomorrow!!

Breakfast:

Green Smoothie

• 2 cups raw kale
• 1 banana
• 1 peach
• 2 strawberries
• 2 scoops whey
• 2 cups water

Lunch:

• 100g rice
• 200g chicken with spices
• 50g black beans
• 50g corn/tomato salsa
• coffee w/ cream

Dinner:

• 100g rice
• 250g pan seared salmon w/ dill & lime
• 1/2 tsp olive oil
• a couple cucumber slices

My poor husband is now having an allergic reaction to the salmon in the air… He’s always been allergic, but never to just being around it. I guess this is the last time I cook salmon in the house.  

Dessert:

• 100g Blueberries  

 

1900 Calories
40% protein
25% fat
35% carbs

 

Green Protein Smoothies… pret-tay… pret-TAY… pretty good!

Breakfast:

Green Protein Smoothie – I had literally no food in my fridge other than the random 4 ingredients listed below (and the pear in the background). Without my go-to breakfast staple ‘eggs’, I didn’t know what I was going to make for breakfast, so I tried something new out of desperation. Inspired by a post I saw yesterday, I threw all my leftover veggies & fruits in a blender with some protein powder and water and BAM! I’m going to be honest here, I was super surprised… but this fucking rocked! Really yummy and satisfying, plus incredibly healthy. I will probably make it again. You could probably half the recipe though… this was a lot of smoothie for one person. 

• 2 big handfulls of raw kale 
• 1/4 of an avocado
• 1 pink lady apple
• 1 banana
• 2 cups water
• 2 scoops protein powder

Lunch:

• Calexico Burrito in the park with my dog. YUM! 
  • Tortilla
  • rice
  • beans
  • cheese (which I asked for non of, but got anyway. Belly handled it like a champ)
  • Chicken Verde
  • salsa

Snack:

• 1 peach

OMG EPIC GROCERY SHOPING AND FOOD PREP FOR THE WEEK! YESSSSS!!!!!

Dinner:

• 150 grams rice (I am lowering my rice from 200 last week… that felt a bit excessive… this still felt hefty, might go to 100g) 
• 200 grams chicken (boiled and then chopped up and sautéed with spices and a tad bit of olive oil)
• 50g corn & tomato pico
• 50g black beans

Dessert:

• 1 mango

Dairy, I thought we were bro’s!

I’ve spent most of the day feeling super bloated, gassy and gross and I’ve decided that I blame dairy. I haven’t had much dairy in the past couple weeks because I was suspecting that it was the reason I was feeling yucky… and I discovered today… I was right! I at a bunch of dairy at lunch and, while it was delicious, it hasn’t been fun afterward.

Have I ever mentioned that before I went paleo I had absolutely no food intolerances – NONE – I could eat as much dairy and wheat as I wanted and never had any adverse affects. Now, I have a  bowl of ice-cream and my husband’s scoffing at me for stinking up the apartment with the nastiest farts ever. Or, I eat some sort of baked goods and I get fucking hemorrhoids for three days afterward! (Sorry for the WAY WAY TMI but seriously .. it sucks) I like Ice-cream once in a while, I like cottage cheese for a quick source of protein, I like cheese…. in general. And Pizza, bagels, pasta…. never again?! Really?!

I kinda thought that once I found a level of comfort with my body composition it would be awesome to go back to eating some junk here and there, but apparently that’s not how it’s going to go for me. Forever healthy. Oh well. Luckily, I like eating healthy, and now I know my limitations a little better. Moving forward, I guess I’ll just keep it minimal and take the belly ache when I feel it’s worth the reward.

Here’s to being trapped as a half-assed paleo chick the rest of my life. Whether I like it or not.

::sigh:: I suppose maybe thats not the worst thing ever.

Breakfast – Pre/Lifting: 

• 2 eggs
• 3 egg whites
• 200g white rice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• hot sauce

CUBE – Cycle 3, Week 1. Deadlift Reps (Slacker version)

I did my lifting at CrowHill CrossFit today and didn’t have my belt or straps. Deadlifts felt fine but accessory work sucked… I just didn’t push myself at all and was super lazy about everything. 

Deadlift: Worked up to 225×2 (tapering down on everything lately… kinda boring when this happens in your programming)
Snatch Grip Deadlift: 3×5 @ 135 These were fucking brutal without straps. My hands still hurt actually.
Sumo Deadlifts: 1×5 @ 135 I just felt like trying this. So much hip action!
Behind The Neck Press: 1×5 @ 45#, 1×3 @ 65# Then I stopped because my shoulder was hurting. I tweaked it on my squats on thursday so it’s been feeling like shit.

Lunch: cue horrendous gas and bloating

• 2 cups cottage cheese
• 250g mashed sweet potatoes

Snack: I’m an idiot

• 2 bowls of icecream  - I don’t know why I ate this. I knew it was a bad idea 

Dinner: This was probably the most disgusting dinner I’ve made in a LONG time… SO BAD! UGH! 

• 100g quinoa 
• 200g shrimp
• Curry & other spices

Not a satisfying day in the kitchen or the gym….  I want to vomit.

Self Assessment and Listening To Your Gut

Today was a rest day and I’m doing just that… sitting around on the internet, reading bullshit about lifting (my favorite pastime, and really, my only hobby). Perhaps once I feel I’ve gotten my fill I’ll spend some time stretching, mobilizing, and foam rolling, I have been feeling very stiff the past couple days and that sounds nice.

Due to reading this article, I decided that I’m going to start video taping my lifting sessions. Since I don’t have a coach anymore it might be a good idea to start finding more ways than just logging my lifting to track my progress (or alternatively, my lack-there-of… kidding). Plus, I’ll undoubtedly get more creepy internet stalkers if I post videos of myself squatting… kidding… but seriously… Anyway, I got this fancy new phone a few weeks ago, so maybe that will be a fun thing to do -OR- maybe it will just be the most annoying thing ever and I’ll stop doing it after a week. We’ll see!

Also, in other “I have no life outside of going to work and reading about lifting” news, I really enjoyed watching this video of Brandon Lilly (CUBE) and Paul Carter (Lift Run Bang) discussing programming and the importance of switching things up, following your gut, and finding what works for you at that time in your lifting career.

Since I’ve been off on my own, I’ve been following the Cube Method pretty strictly for my big lifts and more loosely with my accessory lifts. I feel like I’ve learned a lot in the process because I am actually listening to my body and seeing how I respond to different things. Sure, it sucks when I push too hard and then have to take a couple days off (or suck ass if I don’t), but it’s been great to learn this stuff and be able to blame nothing other than my own bad decision making. I feel there is this whole world of knowledge that I wasn’t able to dig into when I was working with my coach before because I wasn’t allowed to experiment. I thought the video was good and it’s nice to hear that some of the top guys had to go through similar shit — taking time away from following the rules, to listen to their gut. I’m sure one day I will go back to letting someone tell me what to do, but for right now, I feel like I’m learning a lot and I’m happy to be on my own going through this awkward period of powerlifting self-discovery

Food Log:

Enormous Breakfast with my Husband:

• Egg Tacos
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 egg white
  • 2 corn tortillas
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • tomatoes
  • cilantro
  • hot sauce
  • 1/4 of an avocado
  • 1 tbsp sour cream
• 2 slices of bacon
• black coffee

Lunch:

• Big Salad
  • 4 cups romain
  • 6oz chopped turkey
  • mandarin oranges
  • black olives
  • cucumbers
  • carrots
  • tomatoes
• 2 cups chopped watermelon
• espresso

Dinner:

This was really good and the macros were also damn fine. I might make it more often! (might skip the butter next time… but then again… maybe not)

• Curried Rice & Tuna
  • 200g rice
  • 1 can solid white albacore tuna
  • 2 cups roasted veggies, broccoli & brussel sprouts
  • 1 tbsp grass fed butter
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1/2 an onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • turmeric
  • curry
  • salt & pepper

Dessert:

• 2 scoops whey
• 1/2 cup ice cream

Approx Calories: 1950 40%F, 30%P, 30%C

Drop it like a squat

Today was a fun day lifting. Squats squats and more squats My fave!! I had a good time and am excited to be on my last CUBE cycle. I feel like I have really figured out the explosive squat day — I was literally getting air on my sets! Fun! My joints have been super achy all day though (before and after lifting)… possibly rain related?? Who knows.

~Rain rain go away, come again another day~

P.S. taking today off from weighing and measuring food — just normal logging. I went out to dinner with friends and decided to just be a normal human being tonight. It was nice! Back on the weirdo wagon tomorrow.

Breakfast/Pre-Lifting:

Plantain Protein Pancakes – by far, the most successful protein pancakes to date! 

• 1 large plantain
• 1 egg
• 3 egg whites
• 1 scoop whey
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 25 grams butter (for the pan)

CUBE Method, Cycle 2, Week 1, Explosive Squat Day

Squats: 5×2 @ 165# Super fast and fun! I loved these today
Pause Squats: 3×1 @ 185# ooof, heavy! This was a better weight from what I did last week. Much more appropriate.
Highbar Squats: 5×5 @ 155# Bleh…. achy knees and hips were getting annoying at this point.
RDLs: 3×8 @ 185# These felt fine, but my lower back is slightly sore now (15 hours later) Perhaps I lost my back on one…
Weighted Decline Bench Sit Ups: 3×15 @ 40# Almost ready to start doing these with a barbell! Kidding, that would be totally insane

Post-Lifting:

• Sauna Protein — 2 scoops whey
• 3 egg omelet
• 1 oz ham
• onions
• peppers
• 1 banana

Lunch:

• Assorted Sushi rolls
  • 4 pieces California roll
  • 2 small salmon roll pieces
  • 2 small tuna roll pieces
  • 3 pieces salmon/avocado roll
• 2 cups cubed watermelon

Dinner:

• 6 oysters w/ horseradish
• 1 piece cornbread
• 1 bowl jambalaya

Dessert:

•  2 bowls of icecream – this was a social alternative to drinking beer with friends. Not the healthiest thing ever… but you choose your battles. And today I chose to give into one urge to help subside another. It worked.  

Meetings, all day erry (wednes)day

Breakfast: (Running late, slept in!)

• 1 peach

Lunch: 

• 4 meatballs
• marinara sauce
• sweet potato fries

Dinner:

• 200 g white rice
• 175 g chicken with enchilada sauce
• 75 g avocado
• 100 g black beans
• 25 g sour cream

Dessert

• 4 squares of dark chocolate
• 2 scoops whey

Calories: 1850 (30%F, 30%C, 30%P)

I <3 my new food scale

I am falling in love (as well as hate) with my new food scale. It’s got to be the most annoying kitchen appliance I’ve ever owned  (because it gets in between me and my food) but I have to say it’s been an eye opening device!! Today, I weighed and measured out some rice for later in the week and realized that what I sometimes call “1 cup” of rice weighs exactly the same as what I sometimes call ”2 cups” of rice. FUCKING AIR IN BETWEEN RICE! WOAH MAN! It’s kinda nuts to see how wrong I could have been about calorie estimates for… literally… years. So yeah, exciting revelations.

On the other side of things. This is literally the most annoying anal shit I have ever done in my life. Please kill me.

Breakfast/Pre-Lifting:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 200 grams mashed sweet potatoes

CUBE Method. Cycle 3 Week 1, Heavy Bench

Today was fun, albiet, not very much work… I would have been happy to do like 8 more heavy singles or something. But I am being patient and following my damn programming.

Bench: 90×1, 95×1, 100×1 Easy, easy, easy. (which is good!)
Bench: 2×15 @ 70# This was easier than it’s been for the past two cycles.
Lat Pulldowns: 3×12 @ 75# (I did the first set at 90# but then got burnt out so I took it down)
Triceps Push Down: 2×25 @ 30#
Battle Rope Intervals: 15 seconds on 45 seconds off for 10 minutes. This was fun!

Post-Lifting:

• Sauna Protein – 2 scoops whey
• Sauna Banana
• Black Coffee

Lunch (Out with co-workers):

• 6oz burger patty
• 1 slice american cheese (I wasn’t expecting this… but I ate it anyway)
• Lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo
• Spring Mix with Vinaigrette

Dinner:

• 200 grams rice
• 200 grams chicken with enchilada sauce, green peppers & onions
• 50 grams black beans
• 50 grams avocado
• 25 grams salsa
• 25 grams sour cream
• 1 small peach

 

Following my own made-up rules… like a champ

Today, I ate what I was supposed to. It was nice. I think I’m going to go to bed early tonight and get some extra sleep MMmmmmmMmm  

Breakfast:

• Scrambled Eggs w/ Veggies
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1 cup broccoli
  • 2 tbsp chopped onions
  • 1 tsp olive oil
• Black coffee

Lunch:

• 250 grams chicken with green enchilada sauce
• 100 grams canned black beans
• 1/2 an avocado
• 1/4 large tomato

Dinner:

• 100 grams dry quinoa
• 250 grams chicken  with green enchilada sauce
• 1 tbsp butter
• 200 grams pear

 

1,823 cal

Carbohydrates – 127 g
Protein – 190 g
Fats – 65 g

Food Scale…. what?

Breakfast:

• 200 grams greek yogurt
• 2 scoops whey

Enjoyed chillin on the deck with my tiger-lillies today, absorbing lots and lots of vitamin D!

Conditioning at Crow Hill CrossFit

“Grace” – 30 clean and jerks for time. 

65# – 4:57

First time doing Grace in over a year! I was hoping to do this Rx but I realized I was WAY too sore from deadlifting yesterday to do that so I scaled it. That said, this was a pretty easy weight and I probably should have done 75# or 85#, but …. ehhhhh… I was sufficiently tired afterward though so, maybe not Anyway, it was fun.

Snack:

• 180 grams spaghetti squash
• 120 grams marinara sauce

Lunch: 

This was at a restaurant, so I did not weigh and measure it – these are estimates.

• 1.5 cups shredded mexican chicken
• 1 cup of white rice
• 1 cup of beans
• 1/4 cup guacamole
• 2 tbsp pico-de-gallo

Dinner:

• 200 grams cooked chicken
• 1 cup roasted broccoli
• 200 grams cooked sweet potatoes

Blómin eru falleg
(The flowers are beautiful)