Tuesday Training & Food Log

Loving my giant legs today 🙂  #quadzilla

Breakfast:
2 eggs
onions
peppers
1/4 avocado
cilantro

Lunch/Pre-Lifting:
Chicken Breast
Potato Salad

March Week 1 Day 1 SSPT, Squats & Deadlifts:

Squats: 1×10@20K, 1×5@60K, 1×3@72K, 2×3@84K, 5×3@96K First day of the new volume block and all the numbers are up a bit. This was a bit heavier than I would have liked today, I blame the past week of traveling and eating crappy..no biggie. Anyway, very excited for the next few weeks! Finally at my goal of hitting 2 plates as a part of my regular training 🙂

http://instagram.com/p/lI46auOGDI/

Deadlifts: 1×5@60K, 1×3@80K, 10×1@93K Deadlifts are back on the agenda! Everything felt fine today but much heavier than 205# should ever feel. I guess an injury and 3 weeks off will do that. Happy to be working back up to heavy weights slowly though. I think this will be a good month for improving my form and speed.

http://instagram.com/p/lI7QRYOGFr/

Accessory: 2×15 RDLs (60K) and leg raises.

Post Lifting:
2 scoops whey
1 banana
5 strawberries
raisins

Snack:
5 strawberries
crem fraisce

Dinner:
The men in the house treated me to a night off from cooking. Enjoyed a massive spaghetti dinner. Omnomnom!

Massive Weekend Update

Well, I kinda just… didn’t post all weekend. Not really sure why. I didn’t really do much. I wasn’t really busy. I just, didn’t feel like typing, I guess.

I took the weekend off from lifting to give myself a bit of extra recovery before starting the 3rd and final week of Smolov Jr. I have to say, I am a little sad to be nearing the end of this program since I am really enjoying it and I’m not sure what I want to do next. I’ve decided that I will definitely test my lifts afterward… because… why not really? I am excited for that, but still not sure what comes after that.

Here’s the rundown on the weekend: ENJOY!

Saturday:

Breakfast of eggs, lunch of leftover pizza, and then home made ramen for dinner! (woah!) I was feeling ambitious in the kitchen, so I decided to make my own ramen from scratch. Turns out, I am not a natural born noodle master, BUT I can make a decent bowl of ramen for a white girl. It took literally all day and I poured my sweat blood and tears into this soup.

Home made beef broth, with onion, garlic, celery, and a giant beef bone

The noodles – which I followed this recipe for. SO HARD TO KNEED AND ROLL. I would recommend only following this recipe if you are really dedicated… also, if you have a pasta machine. 

Finished product – absolutely amazing!

Sunday:

After getting a bunch of snow on Saturday, Jeff and I spent sunday morning skiing!! Getting better and better every time I go! Did the small blue route without falling this time. And I only fell once the whole day. BOOYA.

Up up and away!

Pretty snowy view from the drive up

My hair was totally frozen into icicles 

Monday:

Ugh, so much work today. I have a deadline at work so this week is going to be chaos… remember when I thought I’d be done Smolov Jr just in time to rest this week? Well, I was wrong. I am finishing it just in time for the heavy week to line up with my deadlines. Awesome. Anyway lifting was great today. Took a 10k jump on squats this week since last weeks were pretty easy, we’ll see how that pans out later this week but it felt great today. No problems at all.

Breakfast:
French toast

• 1 slice sourdough
• 2 eggs
• milk
• cinnamon
• nutmeg
• butter
• maple syrup

Grilled 1/2 Banana
coffee… forever… so much coffee today

Snack:
string cheese

Lunch:
Stir fry thing

• 1 cup brown rice
• beef broth
• carrots
• pork
• pepper
• mushrooms
• Brocoli
• 1 tsp Bacon Fat

Pre-Lifting:
2 scoops whey
1/4 cup brown rice

Week 3 Day 1 Smolov Jr. Squat & Bench:

Squat: 6 sets of 6 @ 90Kilo(198#) Felt pretty easy. Last reps of last set were hard, but not bad.

Bench: 6 sets of 6 reps @ 40Kilo(88#) Again, pretty easy.

I anticipate the rest of this week being quite challenging. Every day will be PRs for volume (for a single set… let alone the 7,8,10 sets I will have to do). EXCITING! Pretty sure today’s squats were a PR actually, but I’m not really sure. Anyway, super happy with how things are going.

I took videos of todays lifts but my phone is a fuck-face and wont let me upload them to the computer… oh well. Squats looked really good, depth was really good, everything looked tight.

Dinner/Post-Lifting:
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 of a grilled cheese sandwich (I need to go grocery shopping really bad)

Rucking Around New York City

Today Jeff and I did a 10 mile ruck around the city with our dog. It was great, and it totally took my mind off the fact that I need to be away from heavy barbells for a while.

We left our apartment a little after noon, and hiked for about 2 hours and 45 minutes. We walked across Brooklyn, over the manhattan Bridge, through China Town, back into Brooklyn over the Williamsburg Bridge, through the Hasidic Jewish neighborhoods of Brooklyn, and back to our cozy apartment in Crown Heights. It was really fun and super exhausting. I thoroughly enjoyed walking through so many cultural neighborhoods. New York City is a really amazing place when you think about the huge variety of cultures and people you can find within a 10 mile hike. Absolutely astonishing.

Food’s been fine today. I am trying to get things back on track after a weekend of pre-menstrual “Wahhhhh, my back is broken” emotional eating. I had some of Jeff’s home made bread today… but no icecream or anything completely egregious like that 😉 So I’m OK with that. Currently I have a big pot of lamb stew on the stove and I’m definitely looking forward to that!!

Taking a break… because I’m broken

::sigh:: another 3 or 4 days without posting. What’s been going on? Well, I am going through some general existential bullshit in regard to my back injury. 

Existential teacup

The past couple weeks of training have felt wonderful mentally — I’m hitting some numbers that I’m proud of and I’m happy to be progressing with my strength on all 3 lifts main lifts, as well as my accessory work. That said however… my old back injury has been KILLING ME and my heart is just not into what I’m doing. Every day for the past month or so, my back has been seizing up, spasming, and just throbbing with pain. I wake up with it hurting every night and it seems to only be getting worse. I don’t think it can handle the high intensity work I’m doing. It sucks… because it also couldn’t handle the high volume work I was doing previously. I’m starting to lose interest in powerlifting because I just can’t convince myself that adding 10 pounds to my PR is worth the frustration and pain associated with getting there. 

I haven’t decided what I’m doing yet. Part of me is saying to take a back-off week, give it some rest, and get back on the wagon. But another part of me is ready to just move away from strength training for a while. It’s frustrating to keep taking time off for this injury, only to re-awaken it the day I start lifting again. 

Anyway, no heavy lifting this week. We’ll see what happens after that. I plan to stay very active, I’m just gonna have to be creative with how 😉 

In other news, I spent the day with my family and it was wonderful 🙂 It was my grandparents 61st wedding anniversary! SO AWESOME!

Grandparents, parents, and all my amazing siblings 🙂

Training Log for Friday-Sunday

Friday Oct 11

Deadlifts
135# x 5
185# x 3
225# x 2
255# x 2
255# x 2
255# x 2

Deficit Deadlifts: 1 set of 5 at 235# standing on 1 plate

Conditioning: 1500m Row (Split into intervals, 2 minutes on, 1 minute off) 
(my back felt like trash after this session…. as it did after my squats on Monday, and my bench on Wednesday)

Saturday Oct 12

Overhead Press
45# x 5
55# x 5
67.5# x 5
67.5# x 5
67.5# x 5

Front Squats: 
45# x 5
95# x 5
135# x 3
155# x 2
175# x 1
185# x 1 (pr)
195# x 1 (20# pr!) I was very happy to hit this 🙂 

Again… my back was totally destroyed.  

Sunday Oct 13

Conditioning: 

Today, I went for a jog with my dog . Then we went to the park and did some sprints.

40m x 10

It was a nice low impact way to get sweaty and feel like I was accomplishing something without hurting myself.

Tomorrow, my husband and I are planning to go on a 10 mile ruck. A little urban hiking should be a good way to get moving around without adding 200+ pounds to my spine 🙂 I’m not sure what the rest of the week holds, but I know I need a break from the weights for the time being. Perhaps I’ll go to some CrossFit classes and run around with my friends there. We shall see. 

Week 2 Squats – 3×3@210

Breakfast/Pre-lifting:

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 a plantain
• kale
• olive oil

Week 2 – Squats

Squats: 

Warm up:
45# x 5
95# x 5
135# x 5
155# x 3
185# x 1

Second Work Set – Lost my back on the 3rd but it was fine. Should get deeper. 

Work:
210# x 3
210# x 3
210# x 3

Pause Squats:
175# x 5 (3 second pause)

Leg Press:
3×10 @ 2 plates

Step Ups:
3×5 (each leg) @ 55# (these were hard on my skinny left leg… needs more muscles)

While I’m uploading… here’s last week’s deadlifts

Post-Lifting: 

• 6oz steak
• 1 banana
• tea
• 1 apple

Lunch: 

• Sausage, kale & sweet potato stew
  

Snack:

• handful of nuts
• 1 apple

Dinner: 

• 1 small trout with 1-2 tiny fingerling potatoes with aioli 
• too many of my husband’s french-fries off of his plate 😉
• 1 apple

Deadlifts Feeling Much Less Heavy

It is absolutely amazing what a little rest and personal time away from the office will do for your training. Last week, I felt like I was never going to be able to deadlift more than 225# ever again, and today… 250# for a few sets of doubles was total cake. So weird.

It’s been really nice to keep such a detailed log of my training over the past year. I feel like I am gaining an incredible amount of understanding for how my body(and brain) works, and how different life decisions and situations effect my training every day. I feel more in touch with my body and my mind than I ever have and it’s a really amazing feeling. I suppose this is what logs are for, but I wouldn’t have guessed it would be SO effective and informative. I am learning so much about myself every day, and I love it.

Somewhat related, one of my favorite bloggers, Jenius, from Girls Can Lift shared this article with me after reading about my recent struggles with my work/life balance. I thought it was a really great article. It rings completely and totally true for me. I can feel my strength fall off every time I have a tough deadline at work. Very often this strength drop-off feels somewhat superficial… It’s like my body COULD pick up the weight, but my brain is like “Eh, fuck it Lana. Let’s just not do that today” and it’s VERY hard to push past. Every day last week was one of those days. I had to dig REALLY REALLY deep to move weights that are typically very easy for me. After I did them a few times, it got a little easier, but it was very hard to “wake up”. Some days, I simply couldn’t get past it and I didn’t finish my training.

As annoying as all that is, however, it’s good to notice it happening so that I can plan around it. Stressful times at work/school might be a good time for a back-off week. Otherwise, it might be a good time to practice developing mental toughness and the ability to push past a slow start. Learning how to tap into a deeper part of your physical self is something I am always encouraging to my lifters to try, and something that I believe you actually need to master to be a good lifter. The fact is, sometimes, deadlifts are hard… and you have to get physically upset, angry, and pumped full of adrenaline to move the fucking bar. Just because your muscles CAN do the work, doesn’t mean your brain is ready to let them. I often call this “Monster Mode”… and sometimes (like last week) it takes a little screaming and ammonia huffing help get there.

….and then sometimes… you just need to take a day off and get some sleep. Only you can be the judge of what kind of day it is 😉

Anyway… log.

Breakfast/Pre-Lifting: (no carbs in the house because I need groceries)
3 eggs
olive oil

Week 1 Deadlift

Deadlifts: 

Warmup:
135# x 5 (double overhand – no belt)
185# x 3 (double overhand – no belt)
225# x 3 (switch grip – belt)

Work: (switch/belt)
Everything felt great. Typically, even though I do dead-stop deadlifts, the first rep is harder…. I don’t understand this. 
250# x 2
250# x 2
250# x 2

Deficit Deadlifts: (straps/belt/3″ deficit)
225# x 5

Pendlay Rows:
3 sets of 8 @ 95# – need to work on keeping my chest down, these were kinda heavy for me.

Running:
1/2 mile home from the gym. (I hated every second of this… but I did it anyway because I feel like my conditioning is still god awful)

Post-Lifting:
Tea
3 eggs scrambled
1 breakfast sausage patty
1 apple

Lunch:
My new favorite – 1/2 a rotisserie chicken
1/4# sweet potatoes

Snack:
Tea
Handfull of almonds

Dinner:
See image above. 
9 pieces sashimi
4 pieces Mackerel
8 pieces beef wrapped scallions
2/3 a can of beans… for carbs.

Sweet Potatoes & Squats

Today was the first day of my new programming cycle — all went well! I was very nervous about my lifts going in, but it couldn’t have gone better really. Super happy with how 210 felt for triples. Feeling amped for the next 10 weeks.

1/2 a chicken and design work Mmmmm. Lunch of champions!

I am feeling a little bloated from eating so much damn food for the past three days, but I didn’t miss any lifts, so I guess that’s a good thing 😉

Breakfast/Pre-Lifting: 3 eggs. 1/2 cup sweet potatoes. 1 cup sautee’d kale. Olive oil.

Week 1 – Squats

Squats: 

Warm up
45#x10
95#x5
135#x5
185#x1

Work
205#x3
210#x3
210#x3

I took the first set at 205 instead of 210 to get my head in the game… I was feeling chicken. Anyway, it was perfectly fine, so so I had no problem going up to the planned weight afterward.

Barbell Lunges:

45#x15 each leg
65#x8 each leg
65#x8 each leg

Pause Squats:
135#(5 second pause) x5

Post-Lifting: 100g chicken breast. 1/2 cup sweet potatoes. 1 apple. Coffee

Lunch: 1/2 a chicken. 1/2 cup sweet potatoes.

Snack: 1 apple

Dinner: Mofongo — Mashed green plantains (1 large) with garlic. Topped with stewed chicken (200g)  in spiced tomato sauce. REALLY GOOD. I will post a recipe for this sometime when I don’t eat it before taking a photo 😉

Powerlifting Meet Prep

Yesterday, I realized it was time to get more serious about my recovery habits and my training because I have a meet coming up in less than 10 weeks. So, today I sat down and wrote down some goals & programming for the next 10 weeks as I prepare for my next powerlifting meet.

I’ve decided that, while I have really enjoyed running the Cube Method, I feel like I need some sort of linear progression to stay focused. I feel like the 10 week cycle between seeing progress, and all the varied accessory movements is just more than I need right now. I’ve never felt like my body has been able to get into the groove of the Cube, and that I have a hard time focusing on goals because they feel so far away… I need weekly goals. I need inspiration to eat and sleep. Yes, the cube is super duper fun and I think it’s a fantastic program for general training. But my urge to fuck around is WAY too high on it. Just like my brain, it’s all over the place… and I kinda need a bit more structure to push into the realm of progress.

I have seen very good progress on Texas Method or other Linear progressions, but the large amount of volume has been too much for me in the past — Usually ending up in overtraining, or injury.

All that said, I’ve decided to dumb my programming down to the very basics – a simple split routine with a lot less volume than what I have done in the past and a weekly weight progression.

• Monday – Squats & Lower body accessory work. (5 pounds every week — starting at a 3×3 moving toward a 1×3)
• Wednesday – Bench and upper body accessory work. (2.5 pounds every week — starting at a 3×8 moving toward a 1×3)
• Friday – Deadlift & Back accessory work. (5 pounds every week– starting at a 2×3 moving toward a 2×1)
• Saturday – overhead press and power work. (2.5 pounds every week — starting at a 3×5 moving toward a 1×3)

Rep schemes are different for each lift based on what I know about myself, my body, and my recovery.  Generally, the weight goes up and the reps come down. But in the end of my meet prep cycle, I should be hitting my current 95% for multiple reps.

I really really loved the cube and thought it was super fun, but I feel like I need to challenge myself, focus on my recovery, and work on progressing toward goals every week.

Diet will continue with strict paleo, but now with a bit more attention to making sure I am eating enough calories, proteins, and carbs. Minimums of 2000 calories a day, 150grams of protein, 150 grams of carbs.

Sleep is an absolute minimum of 8 hours a night for the next 10 weeks.

I anticipate this cycle to be challenging, but I think if I focus on my recovery I can make it through and hit all these numbers. Time to get strong.

Goals for the meet:

Weight Class: I am not going to stress about my weight class. I am going to eat clean and train hard and I will be what I am. If I’m 148, great. If I’m 165 great. I have never cut weight before and I don’t plan to do it now. I’m just not at that level of competition yet… and honestly, I don’t really care to be. Perhaps if I weigh 150# 2 weeks before the meet I will cut some weight, but I doubt it.

Squat:
Currently meet record: 105 Kilos (231 #)
Current gym record: 250 pounds

Goal for December meet: 115 Kilos (253 #)

Bench:
Currently meet record: 45 Kilos (100 #)
Current gym record: 105 pounds

Goal for December meet: 50 Kilos (110#)

Deadlift:
Currently meet record: 132.5 Kilos (292#)
Current gym record: 295 pounds

Goal for December meet: 137.5 Kilos (303#)

Sleep, Food, & Powerlifting

The past couple weeks have really been kicking my ass. I’m trying to get my head back in the game but am having  a really hard time with my recovery habits. My job has been pretty nuts the past two weeks, with non stop deadlines and late late late nights. I have been barely eeking by with 7 hours of sleep a night and I am usually a 8-10/night type of girl. I can feel it effecting my lifts – everything feels heavy and it takes me 40 minutes of warm ups before I finally feel like I have some strength.

Mmmmmm architecture for breakfast 😉 

I can also feel the strict paleo diet effecting my lifts negatively. I know I’m not eating enough calories & carbs lately but I haven’t been able to make the time to prep the food I need to get through the day, so it’s been… salads, salads, and more salads lately.  They are tasty and healthy, but they are not helping me get my deadlifts off the ground. I love eating paleo because I love focusing of food quality so intensely, but when training hard, it requires a LOT of attention to make sure you are eating enough food. And I know I haven’t been.

Strawberries, Arugula & Fennel (…chicken & pecans too)

I am currently weighing around 152 in the mornings (this about 4 pounds less than my morning weight a month ago, and about 15 pounds less than my morning weight a year ago) . On one hand I’m really happy being a bit lighter because I am feeling more confident I will be able to compete in the 148 weight class in December. On the other hand, I am feeling sluggish in the gym. All of my lifts (except my bench press, weirdly) have been feeling really heavy and I am missing lifts I would normally consider well within my strength range.

Anyway, I know this is what happens, when you don’t focus enough on recovery. I see it happen to my lifters all the time and I don’t know why I think I should get to be an exception. I have been working really hard at the office and I haven’t been putting the energy I need into getting enough sleep and food. But seriously, missing these lifts is such a bummer. And it’s mentally exhausting.

I am going to focus a lot more of my energy this week on making sure I get at LEAST 8 hours of sleep a night, and at least 2000 calories a day (with a big portion of that being healthy carbs). I went grocery shopping today and stocked up on plantains, sweet potatoes, apple, parsnips and carrots — planning to put them to good use!

I have 9 weeks until my next meet and it’s time to get my game face on and start eating like a mother fucking powerlifter!!

Thursday 9/26

Active recovery & mobility work

Breakfast: 2 eggs & Sausage
Lunch: Chicken breast & brussel sprouts
Dinner: 18 pieces sashimi, ginger dressing salad, 1 cup of rice (I cheated because I thought I was deadlifting friday morning and knew I didn’t eat enough)
Worked super late, got home at like midnight, went to bed, slept through the gym.

Friday 9/27

Push-up program & mobility work

Breakfast: Chicken & Spinach omelette. 1 mango. 1 banana
Lunch: Salad pictured above
Dinner: Indian feast knowing I was going to deadlift Saturday morning.
Worked late again, got home did my push-up program and some stretching. Went to bed. Max push-ups 17.

Saturday 9/28

Breakfast: 3 eggs & sausage

Heavy Deadlift Day

Stretching & mobility: 10-15 minutes rumble roller, lacrosse ball, shoulder stretches
Deadlifts: I was feeling strong and ambitious when I first got to the gym so I wanted to pull some heavy singles before starting my work. I was expecting to work up to 275-300ish… I was wrong. After 2 weeks of no sleep or food, I was nowhere near strong.
135#x5
185#x3
225#x2
245#xF So, this is a weight I don’t think I have missed in YEARS so this sucked. I felt super dizzy and faint, and was seeing stars. (please see my… “not enough food/sleep” theory above)
245#x1 A little ammonia and a yell to clear my head helped get me ready to go. This was smooth and easy once I got it moving, but I was not happy that I missed it the first time
265#xF
… then I gave up on deadlifts because this was just… frustrating.

About half way through my powercleans I realized I had never put my belt on during my deadlifts and that was probably why everything was so shockingly heavy. (Duh.)  Turns out, 245# is a beltless PR. So, that made me feel a bit better, but not hugely so. I was still bummed out about everything feeling heavy. I moved on to cleans for a while because I was mad at deadlifting. (don’t worry, I forgave and forgot after moving around for a bit 😉 )

Cleans: 5 sets of 3 @ 35 kilos, 3 sets of 3 at 40 kilos

Powercleans: 2 sets of 1 @45kilos

Deadlifts off 6″ blocks: I wore my belt for these and everything felt much better. Worked up to 275# for 3 sets of 2.

Snatch Grip Deadlifts off blocks: 1 set of 8 @ 135… stupid easy.

Lunch: Chicken breasts. 1 fried plantain.
Dinner: 1/2# ground beef with tomato sauce. Giant pile of roasted sweet potatoes (so good). Grilled radicchio with lemon & balsalmic (also awesome).

 

 

Excited for GORUCK

Training this week is on hold as I want to be well recovered, refreshed, and ready to kick some ass for Friday night’s GORUCK challenge. I’m going to the gym tomorrow, but only doing some light work and move around.

Even though I was kind of on the fence about GORUCK at first, I am SUPER DUPER EXCITED for it now. My bricks are all wrapped up. I got my clothes picked out. I’ve got all sorts of fun protein snacks and carb candies ready for the ruck. I’M READY!

Sure, 12 hours of hiking around NYC with 45# of bricks on my back (while carrying other heavy shit over my head (in the middle of the night))… is going to be hard…. but I imagine it’s also going to be super fun 🙂 Can’t wait to meet my team and see what this thing is all about.

Test driving my pack

Food Log:

Breakfast: 

• 3 eggs
• butter
• Coffee with cream

Lunch: 

• Salad
  • 4oz gravlax
  • Greens
  • cucumbers
  • peppers
  • tomatoes
  • fennel
  • peas
  • green beans
  • tiny bit of olive oil, salt, pepper
• Black coffee

Dinner:

• 8oz grass-fed organic steak 
• Grilled bell peppers

Snack: 

• Protein Smoothie 
  • 2 scoops protein
  • strawberries
  • blueberries