Vocatus's Journal

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17 May 2021

well, I just got to the gym and already it has been a great day.

I had my alarm set for 3:40 in hopes of getting to the gym by 4, but ended up staying up later than I wanted, so I reset it for 4:15. I woke up at 3:15 or so, fully awake. so I got around and got ready for the gym. but it was storming so hard I couldn't get to the truck without being drenched. after a few minutes, I decided to just wait it out. and while I wait, I'll do that scripture reading I have been trying to do each morning. Matthew chapter 5, the Sermon on the Mount. I sat and read and a couple of times, the rain slacked off to the point I could make it. but I didn't want to leave my reading - and besides, I got the feeling it wouldn't be raining when I was done anyway. Let's just say this isn't my first time getting so caught up in life I've forgotten to take time to seek God, only for Him to remind me.

sure enough, as I completed my brief study, I couldn't hear the rain. I walked from house to truck with barely a fine mist. I went into my office to get the rest of my gym stuff (it's a separate small building closer to where I had the truck parked), and walked from office to truck with not a drop falling from the sky.

it was raining again before I left the driveway. it stopped long enough for me to go from truck to gym.

what could I do this morning but take a moment to praise God and say "I got the message. Thank you."

then I stepped on the scale and was down 6 pounds from Friday (of course, I fasted Sunday, so it may well rebound a bit tomorrow).

now it's time to break my workout fast (breaking the food fast comes after lol) and keep this day getting better 😁

Weight:	Lost so far:	Still to go:	Diet followed:
151.5 kg	10.0 kg	38.1 kg	Reasonably Well

(8 comments) Losing 6.4 kg a Week

14 May 2021

So, it's Friday night and the end of my workout week. Beginning this week, I'm in the gym Monday-Friday, with off days Saturday and Sunday (water fast). Here's how that went.
Saturday, May 8: 3,486 calories, 279g protein, no workout.

Sunday, May 9: zero calories, zero workout (well, I planted three fruit trees, but still ...)

Monday, May 10: 2,442 calories, 273g protein. 38,455 pounds moved in 1 hour 30 minutes between lying leg curl, squat, standing calf raise, and dumbbell farmer carry.

Tuesday, May 11: 2,049 calories with 139g protein (yikes!), and 10,050 pounds moved over 45 minutes between barbell overhead press/push press/shrug trisets, dumbbell Arnold presses, Lateral raises, and bent over rows.

Wednesday, May 12: 2,159 calories with 228g protein. 14,675 pounds moved over 1 hour 4 minutes between wide grip/close grip/regular grip barbell bench press trisets and incline bench press (regular grip width).

Thursday, May 13: 2,485 calories with 288g protein. 10,710 pounds moved over 58 minutes between cable bicep curls, cable triceps pushdown, dumbbell Zottman curls, dumbbell hammer curls, and triceps extensions on a machine.

Friday, May 14: 3,654 calories with 317g protein. 6,380 pounds moved over 26 minutes in barbell deadlifts.

Total calories for the week: 16,278
Total calorie deficit based on 2,841 BRM (not factoring in workouts): 3,609
Total weight moved over total time working out: 80,270 pounds over 283 minutes (4 hours 43 minutes).

I tried to go for a lower calorie day today, but my supper plan failed entirely, and we ended up feeding a lot of it to the dog and I went out for cheeseburgers lol. Still, my calorie count may have shot up to over 3,600 for the day, but my protein is up to over 300 grams, too.

I have just been hungry all day though too. But I reckon that makes sense. Deadlift is a beast of a lift and on top of that I’ve been in the gym working something for five days straight (while still working and living my normal life) and I’ve been at a deficit for at least six days straight, beginning with a water fast. I suspect I’m just going to be eating more on deadlift days lol.

Overall I’m quite pleased with my first Mon-Fri week in the gym. Definitely gonna sleep in a bit and take it easy tomorrow. Wife and kids will be out of town, and I think I’m going to go fishing 😊

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14 May 2021

First time training deadlift after almost two years of not doing it (and after being back in the gym about a month and a half after nearly a year and a half out):

I have hurt myself on deadlift before by trying to go too heavy before I'm ready, thus losing the proper position of my shoulders and spine and rounding my back enough to put dangerous strain on my lower back. As such, I take deadlifts a lot more seriously now than I used to. I did a little research yesterday about how to warm up for deadlifts (I was, understandably, I think, a bit nervous to get back to them). Here's the four movements I used to warmup and why:

1. Goblet Squats: I used a 45-pound kettlebell. I jumped up and down a couple of times to get my foot placement just right, then turned my toes and knees outward and squatted as deeply as I could. I then raised up just a couple of inches, gave my glutes a good squeeze, then went back down then all the way up, with another glute squeeze at the top. Then I widened my stance just a little and repeated this process. Finally, I widened my stance even more and did it again.

I repeated this 5 times total, then moved on to the next movement. The purpose of this movement is to improve hip mobility. I would say it works very well - also had my glutes fired up!

2. Hip Airplane: I stood on one leg, hinged forward as far as I could at the hip, then rotated at the hip left and right. Then change legs and repeat. I have no idea how many repetitions I did of this, as I had such a hard time maintaining my balance that I wasn't able to keep a count. I did this for a while then quit.

It's supposed to help with hip coordination and rotation stability, but all I got out of it that I can tell is a bit of stiffness in my left hip, which stayed with me through the entire workout, stretch session, and shower. This might be a great movement for some folks - and it might be a great movement for me when I don't weigh over 300 pounds - but I'm cutting it for now.

3. Glute Bridge: Lying on my back, hands out to the side with my feet flat on the floor and my knees up, I raise my hips straight up and squeeze the glutes. I did ten reps of this with a 5 second hold at the top. The website I found this routine from suggested a circle band around my knees, but my gym doesn't have one that fits me right - my options were small ones that I can't get both legs in or a really long one that wouldn't do anything with my legs together anyway.

This movement activates the glutes and is a great glute workout on its own. I have a long history of glute bridges. It was the first movement my trainer wanted me to do before I went to deadlifts or squats back when I first started working out and worked with a trainer. Whenever I'm active in the gym, I'm doing glute bridges at least occasionally! I really should (and plan to) incorporate these daily.

4. Bird Dog: The idea here is core warmup. on hands and knees, I raise my left arm and point straight ahead while raising my right leg, toes pointed straight back. Activate the core and hold this pose, with arm and leg as straight as possible, for ten seconds, then do it again with the right arm and left leg. I did this for six reps per side.

Of my workout exercises, I feel that Goblet Squats, Glute Bridges, and Bird Dogs actually helped me, while my failed attempt at Hip Airplane actually hindered me.

Then I moved on to the "warmup" deadlift of 155 pounds, where I tested my form just to be sure I remembered what to do right before going heavy.

5 x 155 pounds

Added weight to the bar and got to it:

5 x 245 pounds
3 x 295 pounds
2 x 295 pounds - On the second rep here, I wasn't super confident about my lat engagement and shoulder placement (thus, spine placement), so I stopped to take the load off entirely, allow blood flow to return more or less to normal, and assess lower back pain. No pain, so I reckon I was fine and worrying over nothing, so back to work! From here I'm shooting for five good reps at this weight, then I'll back it off to 245 and rep it out as many as I think I can with good form.

5 x 295 pounds
9 x 245 pounds - really wanted a tenth rep, but didn't think I could pull it without rounding my back, so I left it on the ground!

With deadlifts, I always let the weight sit back on the floor and take the load off of my muscles, so that when I reload tension on my muscles right before pulling it up, I'm actually lifting the dead weight. A little harder than letting inertia and/or a floor bounce help, but also safer - and more true to the deadlift idea. That said, there's nothing wrong with not resetting the weight, so long as you're okay with pulling from a hang rather than lifting dead weight from the floor - different goals for different folk.

After I'm done eating for the day - or, at least, once I've got my meals mapped out and know I won't be deviating - I'll post my week summary. I have it done other than my calories for the week and calorie deficit based on the 2,841 calorie BMR some internet calculator said I have when I don't workout (not factoring in the calories burned from working out - too much guesswork to be reliable).

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14 May 2021

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14 May 2021

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