It’s a New Day…………………

There is a time that has to come when you switch jobs and take off in a new career direction. You guessed it, I have started a new job; I have gone back to construction, working as a commissioning engineer. The days are long, lots of walking, lots of ‘on your feet’. But has it or will it impact my goal, that eternal unicorn, that Last 10 Pounds? NOT!!!! Nope not in the least, you just have to work through the scheduling issues and deal with it. It’s doable, you just have to want it.

 

Impact of No Cardio…………

Over the last few months, starting with the ‘niggly injury’ (glut, TFL pull or whatever) described over the last several months, I had pretty much stopped any morning cardio, specifically no morning runs. And yes that continues, no morning runs. Every other morning or so I may go through a 15 to 20 minute stretch session but that’s about it. And yes, I was sort of worried that I would balloon up, gain 200 pounds and piss away my overall goal, that Last 10 Pounds or at the least, not gain any benefit from the Endurance Macro. But you know what? Nothing happened, in fact I lost a few pounds, from 202 to 194. What Happened? I stuck with lifting and increased my squat frequency (like 4 days a week) and WOW; no niggly pain around the hip, no sore knees and……..no fat gain and…….maybe even a bit of fat loss around those love handles and the man pooch. Go figure. And is my endurance improving? I think the answer is a big fat YES. I have read in numerous articles that excessive cardio, specifically running, will cause you to hold fat in those areas (love handles and man pooch); fuel to keep you going. I had no ideal it was that pronounced.

As far as the weight loss, I must concede that during this last month I have been cycling off creatine and with that comes a loss of water weight. But 8 pounds? I think something else is going on here. I think this macro will be pretty successful without a daily run.

 

Food for thought………..

Another item I have noticed recently, if I don’t eat, I fatigue early. Example; on weekends where there are numerous ‘honey do’s’, if I eat a light breakfast (yogurt and berries), skip lunch plus work hard around the house, I pay for it in the afternoon. I to get edgy and feel very, very uncomfortable. I think it is a low blood sugar condition and maybe a bit of dehydration. I need to pay more attention to this condition, in fact I have carried this into my work day. I make sure I eat at regular intervals. I make sure I eat something at least 2 to 3 hours before I hit the gym. I have not had the opportunity to stick my finger during these circumstances but I would put money on a blood sugar issue of some sort.

I keep wondering if this is age related or work/workout related. If you carry a higher percentage of lean mass, e.g. a reduced fat mass, are your ‘immediate’ energy stores to carry you through a fasted period depleted sooner?  Does not engaging in a regular cardio session impact my ability to sustain short fasting periods by de-training your body to conserve nutrients. What is involved in this metabolic process?

 

Key Performance Indicators……………….

KPI’s for the month of August. Month Three Endurance Macro.

August Best
Exercise	Sets	Reps	Total Weight Moved
Front Squat (Sup)	4	8	3,840    (120*32)
Back Squat (Sup)	4	8	5,440    (170*32)   9,280 Total
Pull Up	4	8	----------
Bench	4	8	5,440   (170*32)
Dumbbell Bench	4	8	3,840    (120*32)  9,280 Total
One Arm Row	4	8		1,760    (55*32)   Each Arm
Masculine Feelings (Scale 1 to 10) = 9
Cardio; None, just the Tuesday and Thursday whole body***
Notes; Lower 3 exercises completed as a superset; Front Squat, Back Squat and Pull Up. There is 4 minute spread between the start of each set. In that 4 minutes you complete the 3 exercises plus just enough rest to allow heart rate to settle out. This set is like an extended Sprint; very, very whole body. All squats are Deep, Ass to Grass Squats. Any rest or lag is at the bottom. Calculated Squat 1RM – Front 150/Back 211.   Upper 3 exercises completed as a superset; Bench, Dumbbell Bench and Rows. There is 90 second rest between sets. The objective is not additional weight but minimal rest. All are neutral grip Bench Presses. Calculated Bench 1RM – 207.   ***Suspended all cardio this period.

My front squat is consistently improving. I have been adding weight every chance I get. Usually during the warm up session, getting ready for the main show. I will do a couple of sets of 4 or 5 reps with the bar loaded to 145 to 150. After these, the 95 to 120 pound sets feel pretty light. My ass to grass back squats are also improving, been over 180 pounds a few times, and include a bottom hold. 

I have also been rolling in hip thrusters, kneeling back squats and hamstring push-ups (feet locked under a loaded bar and pushing up just enough to get the ham’s engaged) to my routines. For the kneeling squats I can load the bar quite heavy; 180 to 225. These heavy kneeling squats will leave your ham’s very, very tight; very, very pumped. This is in line with what I had been trying to accomplish with improving hip mobility. In fact, when I had started down this path, starting with hip thrusters, I would get pretty severe cramps in the hamstring area. This has pretty much passed as the kneeling squat weight increases. I have to assume the ham’s are getting stronger, something seated leg curls, straight legged dead lifts or back extensions had apparently never managed to impact; e.g. the standard fare ham and glute exercises as advertised on the internet or proclaimed as necessary by most certified trainers.

 

Dumb and Dumber…………….

As you may or may not know (or even care), I cruise through any number of bodybuilding, nutrition, general health and exercise web sites reading (educating myself) about things that may improve my overall goal, looking normal, and chasing that unicorn, that Last 10 Pounds. I think in at least one of many previous posts I had mentioned a site called ‘Natty or Not’. The guy that puts this site together is generally pretty negative when it comes to commercial gyms, their trainers, supplements and the numerous U-Tubers that peddle their wares to the unsuspecting, ignorant general public trying to get in shape or lose a few pounds, e.g looking for their own version of normal. However belligerent as this site may be, the guy that publishes it has a point……….there is a tremendous amount of misinformation and some of it can really, really hurt you.

So over the last several months I have watched several examples of just what the guy is talking about. Mostly younger guys trying to imitate what they read on the internet, what they read in magazines and what they see as far as what U-Tube can provide. There are also several middle aged and older guys that just seem to be lost. One of the most recent articles published on the site ‘Natty or Not’, What it Takes to Reach Your Natural Potential as a Lifter, he quotes a three-year minimum of working your ass off before any mature gains can be made or seen, and I agree. In fact, for us old guys I would put the number closer to 5 to 10 years of a dedicated progressive program before you reach a point looking like you actually lift. And once you get there, any improvement after that is exponentially harder to achieve. If you’re just starting a journey or trying to recapture something you think you once had, you can’t just grab a 300 lb weight and toss it around. It takes discipline, time (read as consistency) and lots of hard work to get comfortable with heavy loads.

What I routinely see from these younger and older crowds is overloaded bars, poor lifting technique, out of control lifts and poor exercise choice for whatever limited goals an individual might have……if they have one (any) at all. I am not an expert but I have to wonder what goes through the mind of a 40-year-old, one with a gut that hangs over his waist band, one that has a concave chest, one with legs as skinny as twigs, and one that loads 225 lbs on a bar and tries to squat it. If he can actually get his ass past parallel, his knees are buckling, his spine is curving like a licorice stick and his hips are wobbling as he pushes the weight to a semi-erect position. Or the guy that loads 300 lbs on the bar, spends 15 minutes tying on his wrist wraps (week grip I assume) and attempts to do shrugs?.?.?.? The bar doesn’t move; he just grunts allot. The only benefit I see from his efforts; he is exercising his low frequency vocal cords. And then they only do 2 sets of 3 reps with 5 to 15-minute rest sessions. WOW!!! 

And if you say something like; “I think you might do better at a lower weight and work on technique and flexibility (mobility)”, you’re scoffed at. So the moral question is; do you say something or……….let them get hurt. Like I said in the leader……Dumb or Dumber.

The Last Note(s)………….

Just as we closed out this third month of the Endurance Macro, a colleague (Garrett) from my new job that haunts the same gym was watching one of my squat routines. He was particularly curious about the kneeling squats; he had never seen them before. And as the conversation progressed, he noted that I was in really good shape. When I told him my age, he was doubly surprised. Buy the way, this colleague is not from the group above, this guy actually works hard to stay in shape, like me. I of course accepted the compliment with a ‘thank you’. As I have said before, if other people notice, you are on the right track, you’re making progress toward that Last 10 Pounds.

MMJennings   

P.S. And on a lighter note, my evaluation of gym gloves, specifically my latest purchase of deer hide gloves has turned out better than expected. The gloves were accidentally washed with my other gym cloths and guess what; after allowing them to air dry for a 24-hour period, they remained very, very flexible, soft, clean and ready for use during my next workout. I’m impressed…..WOW!!! (LOL). So they passed my first evaluation……they can be washed. Number two, will they last beyond 6 months without wearing through.