Ironwill2008 V3.0

[EjnarKolinkar]

Just so happens I'm on a deload this week too Bill

Nice looking pair of poached eggs. I've been on an eggs on toast kick myself lately. Been having them after my AM walk most days. Hope all is well with you and yours.

[ironwill2008]

Just so happens I'm on a deload this week too Bill

Nice looking pair of poached eggs. I've been on an eggs on toast kick myself lately. Been having them after my AM walk most days. Hope all is well with you and yours.

Hey, hello, Robert; thanks! All the egg meals I post are my wife's handiwork; that's her specialty (along with some killer banana bread). I think probably next to chicken, eggs are about the most versatile of foods. Sometimes, we'll make a meal out of big salad that contains a couple of chopped up hard-cooked eggs.



Good deal on having the discipline to deload; many trainees never see the light. I know I had a hard time wrapping my head around the concept, at least until I did it long enough to realize the huge benefit it provides to one's consistency and longevity in this sport.

[ironwill2008]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

http://columbuscockerrescue.com Please help if you're able.

Sherman displayed boundless enthusiasm for the idea of a 2-plate Deadlift. It's for a good cause though---allowing me some additional, much-needed recovery from my past 3 weeks of heavy (for me) training. I used relatively light weight, and avoided anything that might resemble 'failure.' Today's training was:

Deadlift
135x10 W/U
225x5
225x5
225x5

Cable Curl PWO
20x10 W/U
40x10
40x10
40x10

..........superset with:..........

Triceps Pressdown
20x10 W/U
40x10
40x10
40x10

Moved straight through here in twenty minutes. It felt good to pull some weight off the floor; Deadlifts will definitely be making their return here either this Fall or Winter.

The short time frame of this session was mostly due to the arm supersets, which were pretty much done back-to-back. I got a massive upper-arm pump from all the reps performed almost non-stop.

Nothing else to report for this quick session. I'll rest over the weekend, then head back into the gym on Monday for the return of regular training. That will include Front Squats, Leg Presses, Chins, and Seated Press.

Post-WorkOut meal was a chicken salad accompanied by a glass of milk.

[NoCarbsNoSugar]

Poached Eggs + Bacon = Heaven.
I want.

[ironwill2008]

Poached Eggs + Bacon = Heaven.
I want.

For sure. That's a meal that meets all the requirements, and it's relatively quick and easy to prep.

[ElrondHubbard]

I'm quite the egg fan myself, omelets, boiled, scrambled...

And Mayonnaise, of course! I hope Sherman would approve.

[ironwill2008]

I'm quite the egg fan myself, omelets, boiled, scrambled...

And Mayonnaise, of course! I hope Sherman would approve.

He'd definitely approve. Next to bacon, eggs are probably his most favorite food.



We eat a lot of eggs here too; usually one egg meal every day at some point.

[ironwill2008]

Wanted to get this new three-week segment of training , as well as this week's work, off to a good start, and overall, I feel I accomplished that goal. Today's training was:

Front Squat
bar x10 W/U
95x8 W/U
135x8
165x8
185x8
225x7

Leg Press PWO
580x12 W/U
670x12
760x12
850x9

Chinup
bw +55x5
bw +55x5
bw +55x5

Smith Machine Seated Press
95x10 W/U
165x6
165x6
165x4

Burned an hour and twenty minutes while working through here. I added a solid rep to my top set of Fronts, bringing me just one rep shy of qualifying to add a little more iron to the bar.

Leg Press didn't advance, but I was happy just to have not lost any ground here. Still working to get these to 12-across.

My wrists were really protesting Chinups today for some reason. Yesterday was a complete day of rest, so it wasn't anything I did then that would have triggered this. Guess I'll just do what I can do and move on, and today it was 3 sets of 5.

Got some payback from the truncated Chinup sets with an extra rep on Seated Press. These have been stalled for a while, so anything I can get here is a victory.

I'll rest tomorrow, probably with some yard work or some other task off the long list of projects I have that I want to complete before cold weather returns. Then on Wednesday, it'll be back in the gym to move forward with Lunges, Barbell Rows, and Incline Presses.

Post-WorkOut meal was a bowl of red beans and rice with some spicy andouille sausage and a glass of cold milk to douse the flames.

[ironwill2008]

Kept things moving forward with a good session. I inched forward by a couple of millimeters and enjoyed the process. Today's training was:

barbell Lunge
bar x10 W/U
95x5 W/U
135x3
185x3
225x3
275x2
225x3 backoff set

275x2



225x3 backoff set

Barbell Row
135x10 W/U
165x8
185x8
205x8

Smith Machine Incline Press
95x10
135x10
165x10
210x8

Burned off an hour on this session. Still @ 2 reps on the top set of Lunges, but I've added a backoff set of 3 @ 225 to bump up the volume and help me break through this 2-rep logjam. We'll see how it goes.

Reached reps-across again on BB Row, and was able to do so while maintaining good form, so I'll bump up a nickel next week. I don't really have a specific goal on this lift other than I'd like to get 2 plates on there for maybe 5 good reps.

Incline Presses remained at 8 reps, but for now, I'm OK with that. This lift is pretty much maxed-out, and anything more I can get out of it will be a bonus. I'll swap this out for another similar exercise soon enough.

That's it for today. After a rest day tomorrow, I'll close out the week's training with a shot at moving RDLs, Curls, and Dips up a notch.

Post-WorkOut meal was a big ol' meatball sammich with provolone and cheddar on a toasted roll, a very good salad, and a glass of milk.

[BergMuscle]

Great lifts, great food.

[ironwill2008]

Great lifts, great food.

Hey, thanks, Dan.

Lately, I've been on a meatball kick; I made enough of them this time that I had to use an auxiliary dish to bake them all:




I've posted the recipe before, but for anyone else interested:



Meat Balls

1 pound ground round
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (use real parm, not that stuff in the green can, and grate it yourself)
1 cup bread crumbs
1 small onion, grated (1/2 a large onion)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh oregano finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped


Instructions
Mix all ingredients with hands.
Form into golfball-size meatballs.
Bake in an uncovered baking dish at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Try to save a couple for another meal.

[ironwill2008]

Sent this week of training off into the weekend with a very good session. I was able to make progress on my main lift, hold my ground on the others, and managed to survive it. Today's training was:

Romanian Deadlift
bar x10 W/U
95x5 W/U
135x3
185x3
225x3
275x3
355x2 pretty daggone heh-vee

EZ Bar Curl
45x10 W/U
90x10
90x10
90x9

Dips
bw +50x8
bw +50x8
bw +50x8

Worked my way through this scheduled work in about an hour. I managed a solid double on Romanians, bringing me a little closer to my goal of 365x3. Still a long way to go yet, but no problemo; I like the challenge.

Curls didn't advance, but all reps were full-ROM and controlled, and afforded me a monster biceps pump.

Continued the pump aquisition on my triceps with the three sets of Dips. No issues with wrists or hands today; I just banged out dem repz and then called it a day.

Rest over the weekend, then back into it on Monday with Front squats, Leg Presses, Chins, and Machine Presses.


NFL Football on TV tonight!

Post-WorkOut meal was a plateful of very tasty herbed chicken stew. Such a simple recipe, bolstered with a boatload of fresh herbs. Accompanying was a glass of milk as usual for me.

[Payton1221]

Meat Balls

1 pound ground round
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (use real parm, not that stuff in the green can, and grate it yourself)
1 cup bread crumbs
1 small onion, grated (1/2 a large onion)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh oregano finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped

That looks delicious!!! I think I'd be tempted to patty a couple 5-6 oz "burgers" and try them like that too

[ironwill2008]

That looks delicious!!! I think I'd be tempted to patty a couple 5-6 oz "burgers" and try them like that too

I'm sure that would work well too, Mark. They'll come out tender and juicy, and the taste is hard to beat. The only thing I stress is to be sure to grate the onion (as the recipe calls for) rather than dice it. My first couple of attempts at meatball construction I used diced onion, and while the meatballs tasted good, the pieces of onion in there didn't enhance their texture.

[ironwill2008]

Had a good session today, and while I didn't really push anything further forward, I was able to keep some poreviously har-won progress, so it's a victory. Today's training was:

Front squat
bar x10 W/U
95x8 W/U
135x8
165x8
185x8
225x7

Leg Press PWO
580x12 W/U
670x12
760x12
850x9

Chinup
bw +55x6
bw +55x6
bw +55x5

Smith Machine Seated Press
95x10 W/U
165x6
165x6
165x4

Completed this session in an hour and a quarter. I was able to duplicate my previous 7-rep performance on the top set of Fronts, setting the tone for the rest of the session.

Leg Press also met previous numbers. I'm pretty much at limit on these; any additional progress here is going to be slow to show up.

Wrists were fine today for Chinups, allowing me to reach my previous best rep counts. Still working hard to get to 3x6 on these.

I was also able to keep the extra Press rep from last week on Machine Presses. These too are at the top of my ability to progress; I'll need to look for a suitable replacement in the near future.

That's all I can think of to include here. After resting tomorrow (looks like a yard day), I'll hit it on Wednesday with an effort to add some reps to Lunges, Rows, and Incline Presses.

Post-WorkOut meal was a pair of tasty egg/spinach/cheese/bacon sliders on Hawaiian rolls, a few grape tomatoes, and a glass of milk.

[skodins2231]

Post-WorkOut meal was a pair of tasty egg/spinach/cheese/bacon sliders on Hawaiian rolls, a few grape tomatoes, and a glass of milk.

Those look delicious! Sounds really good as a late breakfast on a Saturday some day. Might have to talk the wife into giving them a shot. Anything special you do to prepare them or just slap it all together?

Nice work as always with your session.

[ironwill2008]

Those look delicious! Sounds really good as a late breakfast on a Saturday some day. Might have to talk the wife into giving them a shot. Anything special you do to prepare them or just slap it all together?

Nice work as always with your session.

Thanks; I'm working hard to inch my way forward.

Nothing special to make the sliders; just prep the ingredients (Scramble the eggs and spinach together; pan-fry the bacon by itself), then assemble as many of them as you want. We'll make a dozen or so, and reheat the leftovers for another meal.

[ironwill2008]

Saw this guy (I believe it to be a male from the length of the abdomen, but I'm no expert) while I was out doing the week's yard work today. He was just kind of waiting around near an overhang that had a big spider web on it; I guess he was waiting for the spider to appear; it was apparently lunch time.

The Praying Mantis is pretty much the Alpha predator among insects around here. This one was no exception; he showed absolutely no fear of me, even though I was many times larger than he. And while he kept an eye on me, he made no effort to back away or leave his spot, even with my camera held close.

They usually show up in the yard every year at about this time; I very rarely ever see any of them at any other time of Spring or Summer. Fascinating critters; another wonder of nature.

[Payton1221]

The Praying Mantis is pretty much the Alpha predator among insects around here. This one was no exception; he showed absolutely no fear of me, even though I was many times larger than he. And while he kept an eye on me, he made no effort to back away or leave his spot, even with my camera held close.

Too coincidental, but there was one near the entrance to my office last week and he didn't move for over 24 hours! Another coincidence is that my son loves b-films from the 40's and 50's, and he and I watched "Mantis" last night.

I didn't post earlier, but the meatball sandwich looked like a new item for you . . . a nice addition ;-)

We talked earlier about salmon patties, and I stumbled across notes from watching my mom make the "white sauce" that goes with her salmon croquettes. It's literally just the liquid from the can of salmon (I squeezed even more from the pressed mass of fish that exited the can), a little more water (~2X the liquid from the can), stir in some KY Colonel flour & oregano, and bring to a boil . . . voila! And delicious too.

[ironwill2008]

Too coincidental, but there was one near the entrance to my office last week and he didn't move for over 24 hours! Another coincidence is that my son loves b-films from the 40's and 50's, and he and I watched "Mantis" last night.

If there is a light at that entrance that remains on all night, that might be the attraction of that mantis to that spot---his dinner flies right to him.




Lulz @ 'B' movies; when I was a kid, I'd stay up all night every Friday night for the local TV station's "Horror Theater" (or whatever it was called); they'd show those movies in a marathon format, one after the other. Some of the "special effects" were hilariously cheesy; you could always tell when the budget was tight; they'd use blow-ups of insects as the "monster."

My most favorite cheesy horror movie of all time is "Robot Monster." Made in the early '50s, the plot is awful, and the 'acting' is even worse than the plot. It was so cheaply made that the monster's costume was a gorilla suit and one of those old-time spherical diving helmets. IMO, this is the worst horror movie ever made; critics claim that "Plan 9 From Outer Space" has that distinction, but to my mind, "Robot Monster" makes "Plan 9" look like Gone With The Wind.

If you want some lulz, I think you can find it online for free.






As counterpoint, a couple of really good ones from back then that still stand up today:

*"This Island Earth" (1955)

* "Them" (1954)

I didn't post earlier, but the meatball sandwich looked like a new item for you . . . a nice addition ;-)

Thanks, Mark. I've made a few in the past, but none were ever a PWO meal. Plus, it was just recently that I finally honed my recipe to where the meatballs are just killer.

We talked earlier about salmon patties, and I stumbled across notes from watching my mom make the "white sauce" that goes with her salmon croquettes. It's literally just the liquid from the can of salmon (I squeezed even more from the pressed mass of fish that exited the can), a little more water (~2X the liquid from the can), stir in some KY Colonel flour & oregano, and bring to a boil . . . voila! And delicious too.

I need to make some of those. Ever since I got wise to the mercury contamination in canned tuna, we've just gotten away from canned fish. I know salmon is okay, but just never seem to pick some up at the grocery.

[Payton1221]

*"This Island Earth" (1955)

* "Them" (1954)

I've seen This Island Earth but not Them. One cheesy one that I like is The Land Unknown, complete with a dinosaur . . . I mean a guy in a dinosaur costume

I need to make some of those. Ever since I got wise to the mercury contamination in canned tuna, we've just gotten away from canned fish. I know salmon is okay, but just never seem to pick some up at the grocery.

Here's my super-simple recipe:

One can (14.5 oz IIRC) of salmon deskinned/deboned
~14g of breadcrumbs
4 egg whites
LOTS of onions
Lots of cajun spice (Tony Cachere IIRC)
* of course you can add/subt from this as desired

Patty up and fry on med heat for just 2-2.5 minutes per side. There's probably better binders than what I use so just be careful when flipping them. Usually, I'll just make 1/2 can into one giant patty today and save the other half for tomorrow with the calculated macros for each large patty as: 11c, 49p, 17f, 393 cals.

Delicious and lots of Omega3's!

Regarding tuna, I was eating two cans M-F Ignorance is NOT bliss!

[ironwill2008]

I've seen This Island Earth but not Them. One cheesy one that I like is The Land Unknown, complete with a dinosaur . . . I mean a guy in a dinosaur costume

I think "Them" is a classic; even though the special effects are dated by today's standards, the plot is good, as is the acting.

LOL @ a guy in a dinosaur suit; sounds like every low-budget Japanese horror film ever made! I didn't mention them in my previous post since they're all so universally considered to be awful, but one in particular that comes to mind just because it's so ridiculously silly is "Prince Of Space." These morons have the technology to be able to move through the galaxy in advanced space ships, but have to come to earth and chase the bad guys around on foot. The plot is so disjointed that it's impossible to figure out what's going on other than it's so stupid you have to laugh at it. Of course, the poorly-dubbed dialog doesn't help, but nothing could help the stiff "acting" and the expressionless faces of the "actors."

Here's my super-simple recipe:

One can (14.5 oz IIRC) of salmon deskinned/deboned
~14g of breadcrumbs
4 egg whites
LOTS of onions
Lots of cajun spice (Tony Cachere IIRC)
* of course you can add/subt from this as desired

Patty up and fry on med heat for just 2-2.5 minutes per side. There's probably better binders than what I use so just be careful when flipping them. Usually, I'll just make 1/2 can into one giant patty today and save the other half for tomorrow with the calculated macros for each large patty as: 11c, 49p, 17f, 393 cals.

Delicious and lots of Omega3's!

Thanks; I'll give this a try.

Regarding tuna, I was eating two cans M-F Ignorance is NOT bliss!

There are very few foods I'd recommend staying away from, but ^^^^ that one is at the top of the list.

[Jammer02xd]

Man those are some strong ass BB lunges and front squats! My shoulders seem to be my limiting factor on doing more on front squats but all in good time.

Out of curiosity, in your experience in the gym have you ever had trouble with bicep tendinitis or anything similar? Few months ago I noticed inside of my elbow would be uncomfortable/hurt if in the hammer curl position so much so that at first I couldn't bend over and pick up my 35lb 4 year old without discomfort. This has lessened and is most certainly healing as I've been able to reintroduce hammer curls (starting with the small 5lbers for high reps and working up) but one motion that still doesn't feel right is wide grip pull ups. Ever encountered this or knew someone who did?

[ironwill2008]

Man those are some strong ass BB lunges and front squats! My shoulders seem to be my limiting factor on doing more on front squats but all in good time.

Thanks. I've been doing BB Lunges pretty much forever, and the weights just naturally progressed over the years. Oddly enough, I never did Front Squats until 3-4 years ago; back in the day, it was always Back Squats, and the few times I tried Fronts then, I didn't like the idea of having to use so much less weight (go figure!). Once I started doing them regularly, I quickly realized how much more of the load goes to the quads rather than to the glutes and hams (which get worked thoroughly by other exercises).

The big 'trick' with Fronts is to force the elbows upwards during the entire set; once they start dropping even a little, losing the bar is a possibility.

Out of curiosity, in your experience in the gym have you ever had trouble with bicep tendinitis or anything similar? Few months ago I noticed inside of my elbow would be uncomfortable/hurt if in the hammer curl position so much so that at first I couldn't bend over and pick up my 35lb 4 year old without discomfort. This has lessened and is most certainly healing as I've been able to reintroduce hammer curls (starting with the small 5lbers for high reps and working up) but one motion that still doesn't feel right is wide grip pull ups. Ever encountered this or knew someone who did?

Pullups don't suit my shoulders at all, but I have shoulder issues (as well as hand and wrist issues) due to RA (something that got me into weight training to start with); I pretty much only do Chinups. Other than that, I've been fortunate to have never had any other problems from lifting weights.


The best advice I can offer is that if you start feeling pain from some exercise, and you know your form is good, lay off of it for a couple of weeks and see if the problem goes away. If it doesn't, stay away from that particular exercise. Not all of us are mechanically able to do every exercise; differences in individual body mechanics (bone lengths, joint construction, leverages, muscle fiber types, CNS 'wiring,' etc) can make some exercises impossible to perform without immediate pain. That's your body telling you to not use that exercise, and the feedback we get from our own bodies is the best training information we can obtain---providing we know how to read it properly.

[Jammer02xd]

Good advice as always. I'll likely give it a few more weeks then try wide grips again, if that doesn't work out I'll change up the handing. I wasn't having issues for the longest time and I enjoy doing them but if I can't then I can't I suppose.

[OT2000]

Haven't seen a praying mantis since childhood in StL. Hoping to see one here that we are now in NC. Lots of woods, maybe we will come across some.

Chin-ups>pull-ups for me as well. I have long arms so bicep work is of more importance than lats which I can blink and they grow.

[ironwill2008]

Good advice as always. I'll likely give it a few more weeks then try wide grips again, if that doesn't work out I'll change up the handing. I wasn't having issues for the longest time and I enjoy doing them but if I can't then I can't I suppose.

Try some variants; most often, there's a work-around or a substitute exercise for one that doesn't suit us.

Haven't seen a praying mantis since childhood in StL. Hoping to see one here that we are now in NC. Lots of woods, maybe we will come across some.

They seem to be pretty rare around here as well; as I mentioned, the only time I've ever seen any was at just this same time of year. IIRC, a year ago I posted a pic of a small mantis, obviously a juvenile, I found out in the hedge. It was very small, maybe only 2" long, but very feisty; when I'd get closer, it would put it's front legs up as if to square-off with me. Even small, they're fearless; very cool little critters.

Chin-ups>pull-ups for me as well. I have long arms so bicep work is of more importance than lats which I can blink and they grow.

It's always good to experiment, even with some things that are regarded as conventional wisdom. Our (sometimes slight) differences in body mechanics can make a big difference in the effectiveness of a particular exercise or protocol.

[Jammer02xd]

Try some variants; most often, there's a work-around or a substitute exercise for one that doesn't suit us.

I certainly will, but I used to love weighted wide grips!

[ironwill2008]

A solid session brought at least some measure of progress today, albeit not everywhere I'd have liked to see it. Today's training was:

Barbell Lunge
bar x10 W/U
95x5 W/U
135x3
185x3
225x3
275x2
225x3 backoff set

275x2





225x3

Barbell Row
135x10 W/U
165x8
185x8
210x6

Smith Machine Incline Press
95x10 W/U
135x10
165x10
210x9

Worked my way through in just a bit over an hour. The session still left me @ 2 reps on the top set of Lunges; I need more work here to break through to reps-across.

Bumped Rows up by a nickel and realized 6 good reps and an upper back pump along with them.

I managed to add a rep on the top set of Inclines after having been stuck at 8 reps for several weeks. It will be a good challenge to see if I can keep that rep next week.

No more info to post for today. I'll rest tomorrow (I'll peruse my list of projects to see what to start next), then close out the week on Friday with Romanians, Curls, and Dips.

Some of the makings of a pot of cowboy chili




On the table, accompanied by garlic toast and a glass of milk to extinguish the flames. Didn't need the Frank's.

[ironwill2008]

I certainly will, but I used to love weighted wide grips!

I did Wide-Grip Pullups too, when I was a beginner and only weighed 130 pounds. As I got heavier, the additional weight started to cause issues with my wonky shoulders.