vodka and creatine

[thehobbes]

Hey Drea, glad you had a good Xmas filled with foodz, booze, and tv time. I'm right there with ya, justified it easily though since I've been working nonstop this month. Today I got my day started at like 3pm lolol.

Your tree looks so nice!! Why does everybody's tree look so freaking fancy? I have tree shame!

Lol delivery guy is 100% plotting revenge for heavy ass amazon purchase. What wts of kettlebells did you get?

Awww kitteh pic! Poor dude afraid of the jingle bell! My cat will full on dive into the middle of my Christmas tree, yet a cherry got too close to him in the kitchen todaya and he freaked out over that, cats gonna cat. Fruits and bells are scary.

[dreahere]

1.) Have not signed up for krav maga yet since I've only been to "my" gym once this week due to ice storms, weird holiday gym hours, and suckass holiday work hours but if it's not full up, think I'm do that tomorrow.

2.) Swoosh!!!!! Krav maga is a type of martial arts/self defense system (supposedly) developed by Israeli special ops. Basically, it teaches you to take people out ...I think.

3.) I got a 35lb and 20lb kb, Hammie. I use a 35 for swings and figure 8s at the gym and a 20 for 1 arm waiters so I thought those would be the most useful to have at home. Still thinking about maybe doing the 10,000 swing challenge https://www.t-nation.com/workouts/10...lebell-workout this winter at some point. I was reading a guy's experience with it on reddit today and it sounds absolutely brutal (like ripped up, bleeding palms brutal [besides the I wanna die I'm so wiped out brutal]) but someone in the thread said that Dan John has changed the recommended rep scheme from 10-15-25-50 to 15-35-15-35, which helps with not completely wrecking your hands. You guise will be shocked, but I've been working on my conditioning lately with metabolic workouts after my lifting...including running up and down the gym stairs which makes me feel like a muthafukin badass. So MAYBE I could complete the 10000 swing challenge, MAYBE.

4.) Speaking of terrified kittehs, i'm assuming you've all seen this already. But if not...



5.) Happy New Year!

[Euqinom]

Yup, one of my friends just got her Defender 1 level in December. It's pretty intense, and totally based on realistic situations. Main goal: survival.
However, she hides it from her coworkers etcetera to avoid people trying to be funny or trying to challenge her. That makes sense.

[gobbles23]

I would love to do martial arts! I love the concept but can never find the time or energy! Ha! I'd love to even do Tai Chi in the evenings but I never get around to it. It's depressing! lol!

Kettle bells sound fun! The challenge not so fun though Bet it'd whip you into shape though

Happy new year! Hope you had a fantastic holiday season

[jjeane]

Happy New Year! your seafood had me drooling. Oh my!!
Did you get signed up for the class???

[dreahere]

Hi guise!

I did sign up for krav maga. Hoping it's a go because when I signed up a week ago, the front desk girl was happy since I was only the second person to enroll and she was hoping there'd be enough people to run the class. It starts this Sunday and I haven't yet gotten an email/phone call/text that it's been cancelled, so fingers crossed other people were just tardy committing to it.

Let's see, what else happened this week?

I smashed the screen on my phone but I took it to the kiosk in the mall and the dude gave me a new one in 30 minutes and 120 smackeroos so all's well that ends well, I guess. Coulda been worse.

I have the plague, i.e. a cold, and I've felt pretty miserable the last couple days, so I didn't go to the gym yesterday. But I did go to 3 hours of restorative yoga/meditation since that involved mainly lying on the floor, lol, which I could handle. Am gonna try to get my vertical push/pull in today. If I'm weak, I'm weak, meh, it's better than skipping it altogether.

I haven't taken down the Xmas tree yet because reasons.

My BFF came to dinner last Sunday and brought Toby some catnip as a holiday present which was a BIG hit. And when he's really high on it, he's not terrified of the jingle ball.

We have this new wellness initiative at work where we can earn money for participating in various things. One of which awards me a dollar a day (max $50 a quarter, max $150 a year [as my friend said, that math doesn't add up, hahaha]) for linking my fitbit and reaching 300 "wellness points" per day. After doing this a couple days, we figured out that basically we get one point for every ten steps, so we only need 3000 steps a day to earn our $1. Way to set the bar low! But if they wish to award me money basically for breathing, I will take it

Happy Saturday!

[thehobbes]

Hey Drea! Awww man, not the plague again! Don't fall asleep on the bench press, I know it's tempting haha. Ahhhh my Xmas tree is still up too! Yay, I don't feel like the only crazy weirdo now, thank you! Lol at the catnip, I always love including the pets in the festivities (presents, intoxication, and holiday spirit!)

I've had the bodymedia armband for a long time but the service is being discontinued, company sold I think, was thinking of getting a fitbit. Is it pretty easy to follow as far as having an app you can use all day to track it? I'd like to get something like that again. The GOAL for the work thing is 3k steps a day?! Desperate times in America lulz. Very cool you can get a lil cash for doing that though. Maybe health insurance companies should do something like that to encourage people to get up and about.

EDIT: Researching Fitbit, you have to wear it on your wrist?! :/ I see some people are strapping them to their ankle, not sure if that would tear the fuk outta your ankle though. How do you wear yours? I don't want to have something that's an invitation for 50 people a day to ask me "ooo what is that?"

[dreahere]

It does go on your arm, Hammie, but the HR one, which I have, you actually have to wear an inch or two above your wrist bone for the HR part to pick up properly. So it's kinda further up on your forearm than you might think. Def higher than you would wear a watch. Anyway, I was worried it would be uncomfortable or get in the way of stuff but it really doesn't. I don't think you need to worry about people asking about it constantly. 1.) it looks relatively low profile and enough like a watch that it doesn't call attention to itself and 2.) like EVERYONE (around here anyways) has one, they're super common these days, much more so than when you and I stated wearing our Bodymedias back in 2011 or whatever.

Krav maga was on today! We ended up with 8 people in the class, even mix between dudes and chicks, nice mix of ages/sizes/fitness levels. It was pretty fun/interesting. We went a little slower than I thought was necessary, so then we went over in time. I lifted for an hour beforehand which was fine because the krav maga was def not a "workout" per se. We did a long warm up/stretching part, then it was all learning and practicing a couple moves. No cardio involved, lol.

P.S. The tree is down. The tree is now down.

[thehobbes]

It does go on your arm, Hammie, but the HR one, which I have, you actually have to wear an inch or two above your wrist bone for the HR part to pick up properly. So it's kinda further up on your forearm than you might think. Def higher than you would wear a watch. Anyway, I was worried it would be uncomfortable or get in the way of stuff but it really doesn't. I don't think you need to worry about people asking about it constantly. 1.) it looks relatively low profile and enough like a watch that it doesn't call attention to itself and 2.) like EVERYONE (around here anyways) has one, they're super common these days, much more so than when you and I stated wearing our Bodymedias back in 2011 or whatever.

Alright, may give it a shot. Googled images do look pretty low profile like you said. Worst case scenario if anybody asks me I'll just tell them it's my watch, I see it does actually have the time on the display and you can turn it towards yourself so it could just look like a rubber bracelet. Didn't want it to be a conversation starter at work. At least with bodymedia nobody ever knew I was wearing it.

P.S. The tree is down. The tree is now down.

Ohhhh I gotta get around to that!

[gobbles23]

Awwww, not the plague!!!!! I have one too, it's the time of year

Hahaha Toby high on catnip sounds cute

Wellness plans are so cool! We had a fitbit incentive at my last workplace. This one doesn't' have one but we are trying to convince them to implement one! A lot of people here have fitbits, I'm buying one soon for sure. Hey, you can add people on fitbits, can't you!? If I get one can I add you!?

[dreahere]

Absolutely you can add me Ms Lori!

Second krav maga class today and it was better than last week. Didn't go so slow/covered more stuff and it felt like a little bit more of a workout. Then I did legs afterwards + some conditioning and after that? I needed a long nap, lolol. I only lifted twice this week for a number of reasons, most of which boiled down to: sleep. Or, to be specific, lack thereof. Had a horrible bout of insomnia at the beginning of the week (went to work Monday night on 3 hours sleep) and spent the rest of the week trying to catch up. Did go to the gym Wednesday, failed a couple lifts, and was like, fukc it. So Thursday I stayed in bed the extra hour instead of getting up in time to lift before work and Saturday I napped in the afternoon when I was supposed to be going to the Y.

Yes, you read that correctly: I napped two days in a row. In my defense, I was much stronger today in between naps.

[jjeane]

I am glad your krav maga class made and you are enjoying it! I am totally jealous of your naps. :P

[gobbles23]

I am jealous of your naps! It's something I cannot do. And insomnia is the worst. Ever! You cannot function properly on no sleep, its so crucial! Jelly of the Krav Manga classes too

[dreahere]

I just wrote a really long post and then managed to delete it. So, um, hi kids. I'm alive.

[jjeane]

I just wrote a really long post and then managed to delete it. So, um, hi kids. I'm alive.

Totally sounds about right! LOL! Glad you are alive!

[ms_mac]

I just wrote a really long post and then managed to delete it. So, um, hi kids. I'm alive.

Happens to me all the friggin time!

[thehobbes]

I just wrote a really long post and then managed to delete it. So, um, hi kids. I'm alive.

Aww I hate when that happens. Good to see you though! Naps are awesome! I like to think every nap you take cancels out the damage of a previous day which was stressful and or sleep deprived. Napping a couple times a week = supreme health, srs.

[gobbles23]

Isn't that the worst! I've learned to always type my big posts in word and then I log in and copy it, and paste it Losing your big posts is so lame!!!!

HI!!!!

[dreahere]

Hi. I'm Andrea. I'm old. And short. I like to lift weights and wear tank tops. I like alcohol, coffee, cookies, and Quest bars. Oh, okay, I also like salad, quinoa, and yogurt. Shut up.

(I thought I'd introduce myself since no one around here knows who I am anymore, ahahahaha.)

Srsly, hi kids! Here's some fitness highlights/epiphanies I've had of late. In list form because, of course it is.

1.) So, remember way back in the day when I had my cushy job with flexible hours and a ten minute commute? And I would go to the gym at various times but mid-/late afternoon was always my favorite and I always attributed feeling strongest/best at that time to having been up for hours and having ingested a chitload of calories by then? Well, since I have had this job and commute that's sucking the life out of me (with various hours and schedules, none of which have not basically sucked) I've been forced into various gym schedules along the way. Last June-ish, my hours changed to 1930-0600, Mon thru Thurs nights. Which means that most work nights I get up around 1430, have coffee and get ready, and hit the gym around 1600-1630 (4-430 pm, in case you don't want to do the math in your head GOD) before I go to work. It's been working out great, I feel strong and energetic--I'm even doing cardio after lifting most days unless I'm really pressed for time. And it occurred to me recently that DUH I'm basically doing fasted workouts not long after waking up which when I worked days I woulda told you nuh uh no way not possible. So apparently I *am* strongest in mid-late afternoon regardless of all other factors. Isn't that weird?

2.) About the cardio...for the past several months, I've been (I may have mentioned) doing metabolic workouts after lifting, just little interval circuits around the gym of farmers and waiters walks, running up and down the stairs, step ups and side to sides and box jumps, interspersed with just plain walking laps to recover. It's just so much more tolerable than getting on the elliptical or bike or treadmill for a half hour and wanting to shoot myself in the head from the tedium. (I still do that very very occasionally. But I don't like it.) Since I've been doing the stair running, I think I'm actually getting in good cardio shape. My resting hr on the fitbit has been around 59-60 lately, which I think is pretty good for someone my size who like is on the verge of caffeine poisoning about every day. Also, I went hiking last weekend for the first time this spring and there were some serious uphill grades (see my pics on instagram, bitches) and when I looked at my fitbit data afterwards my heart rate on all the uphills never got out of the fat-burning zone into the cardio zone. Like, those hills weren't sh*t to me.

3.) However, despite all of the above, I'm still fat. I've been trying to lose 10-12 pounds for a year (the weight I've put on working nights) and yeah, not happening. I've seen a lot of stuff lately about how being chronically sleep-deprived messes up your leptin and ghrelin levels and makes you prone to being hungry all the time, binge-eating, and getting fat, and yeah. It's not an excuse. But it is an explanation. I vacillate between thinking I look chunky and thinking I look fine. Thick but fine. HOWEVER, since I've been back doing BGB for, I dunno, 10 months or so, I've been doing a lot of back work (duh) and while I was busting out 3 sets of 10 reps of overhand pull ups with a 20lb assist the other day, I was thinking, huh, if I just lost 15 pounds without losing any muscle, I would be Ham-level good at these mutha****ahs. As it is, my fat self can only do like 2, maybe 3, in a row with no assist. You'd think that would be an incentive to be serious and lose weight, but no.

So, yeah, that's the latest and greatest. I'm super happy because we were supposed to get a spring snowstorm tomorrow night and I wasn't going to be able to go to my yin yoga workshop that I was looking forward to, but now they are saying it's going out to sea, yay.

Enjoy your Saturday, peeps! xoxo

[thehobbes]

Good to see you Drea! Interesting about the mid-afternoon being your prime time for exercise. I think even if people are working night shifts or have weird schedules you're still going to run on your internal clock as far as when you'll be at peak performance. Gotta be some old caveman "stay awake and alert during the day so you don't get eaten by a tiger" type of thing.

I see a lot of people hating the actual cardio-ing saying it's boring. Are you guys just doing the cardio and not entertaining yourself with playing on your phone, playing games, browsing websites, listening to music or podcasts? I do the exact same things during cardio as I'm doing when I'm sitting here on my laptop watching vids of people doing stunts and laughing at fart jokes, srs. 59-60 is awesome, damn. Do you know how many mg of caffeine you have in a day? Curious.

I vacillate between thinking I look chunky and thinking I look fine. Thick but fine. HOWEVER, since I've been back doing BGB for, I dunno, 10 months or so, I've been doing a lot of back work (duh) and while I was busting out 3 sets of 10 reps of overhand pull ups with a 20lb assist the other day, I was thinking, huh, if I just lost 15 pounds without losing any muscle, I would be Ham-level good at these mutha****ahs. As it is, my fat self can only do like 2, maybe 3, in a row with no assist. You'd think that would be an incentive to be serious and lose weight, but no.

LMAO! You lighter people have it way harder with cuts though. I'm guessing the optimal body weight for pull ups has to be like 140-150 regardless of gender. Gives you enough room to build some serious muscle to be able to lift a dead weight human up over and over again but you're still way lighter than the average human.

[NutMeigh]

good to see you drea!! I found similar enjoyment in circuit style cardio last time I was serious in the gym (like, before last march :/ ). Am trying to get back there but the road to the point where I don't just feel like a fish flopping about on the floor will probably be a month or two, and THEN I will start enjoying them. If you really attack them they are excellent for building cv and endurance!

[dreahere]

Hammie, I feel a little better about my caffeine usage since I did some research in answering your question! I'd estimate I get 400-500mg of caffeine a day and most of what I read said up to 400mg caffeine a day has actual health benefits and while 500-600mg a day is considered "heavy usage" it's not problematic if it doesn't cause you adverse effects. Like, it doesn't increase my heart rate or make me jittery or irritable because I'm habituated to it, so that's fine. It does make my GERD worse Also, my joking about caffeine poisoning aside, apparently overdose is next to impossible to achieve without straight up caffeine pills or like energy drinks + other caffeine sources.

Cardio on a machine is torturous even with movie/book/internet distraction. There's something psychological about all that movement without actually getting anywhere. I am serious in saying that walking laps *around my basement* while listening to music is less boring to me than the treadmill or elliptical. I mean, I'm still not getting anywhere, I'm walking in a circle while looking at my water heater and Toby's litter boxes, but even so.

[thehobbes]

Hammie, I feel a little better about my caffeine usage since I did some research in answering your question! I'd estimate I get 400-500mg of caffeine a day and most of what I read said up to 400mg caffeine a day has actual health benefits and while 500-600mg a day is considered "heavy usage" it's not problematic if it doesn't cause you adverse effects. Like, it doesn't increase my heart rate or make me jittery or irritable because I'm habituated to it, so that's fine. It does make my GERD worse Also, my joking about caffeine poisoning aside, apparently overdose is next to impossible to achieve without straight up caffeine pills or like energy drinks + other caffeine sources.

Wow this made my day! Mine is generally up to 300mg a day when I take a pre-workout, not even every day, some days it'd be zero if I don't lift. I sometimes drink the black tea that is not decaf, I really limit that though, so that in itself is like 60mg in one day. Nice, it has been in the back of my mind for a while that it may be negative to drink PWOs consistently. I suppose the little bit of caffeine I'm getting is not that big of a deal. I wonder how much caffeine average people who are into coffee/pop get per day? Have never drank either, but it seems like most people live off of those.

400-500mg a day does not seem crazy. Just googled caffeine in 8oz coffee... 95mg holy chitballs mane, I think a lot of people are going over 500mg/day easily. The human body can apparently put up with a lot of abuse.

[gobbles23]

Yay Drea came back I was waiting and waiting, lol!!! Love your posts

That's a great idea with the conditioning stuff after workouts. I have a stair case in my house now, I should be running those after my lifting sessions Haha!

Being more tired increases my appetite for sure, and I find I tend to look toward food energy more since my actual energy is so low. Resorting to lots of coffee usually helps me though But lack of sleep creates lots of cortisol and that messes with everything.

[dreahere]

Hi guise.

Been on my @%$@$$!%@&$ cut for a week and yeah. Averaged approximately 1300 calories a day in and (by the fitbit) approximately 1850 calories out, so by the laws of physics I should have lost some goddamn fat. WE'LL SEE. Prepped myself 4 days worth of chicken salad made with greek yogurt instead of mayo for work dinners (hint: mayo is better) and side garden salads. Other than that, it's a lot of (more) greek or skyr yogurt, Quest bars, string cheese and protein powder. Usually I've been loosely trying to get around 80g of protein but since I cut calories so low, I'm aiming for more like 100g. So my muscles don't fall off, etc. That means a lot of dairy and supplemental protein. Because I can only face chicken once a day, 'k.

[gobbles23]

Skyr yogurt is the BEST! I think my days of dieting on such little calories are over, I seem to be able to lose at 1800 these days with my daily walks st lunch. It's like I'm not even trying, lol!!!!! It will pay of Drea, you can do it!!!

Walking laps and watching the kitteh sounds so much funner than a treadmill. I look at a treadmill and die of boredom. Ha!

My protein is lower these days too! It's so unnecessary to get a billion grams! what kind of training are you doing these days??

[thehobbes]

Hi guise.

Been on my @%$@$$!%@&$ cut for a week and yeah.

Lol, that must be SOME cut, jeez!

Can confirm, hitting 100g of protein indeed protects muscles from falling off! It's science yo.

***Also seriously thanks again for making me aware of the magic of arnica. I've been using it after these heavy ass bench press days and am not even sore the next day, it has helped tremendously with various body parts (lol that sounds worse than intended.)

[dreahere]

Hi kids! Apparently I haven't posted in two months, lulz.

Lost the weight I wanted into in like 6 or 7 weeks and been effing around "maintaining" since then and deliberating on leaning out a little more. My clothes fit again though, so there's not that much motivation.

Here's some recent pics:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHDx16QB...evolent_andrea

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFWMalbr...evolent_andrea

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFHlseur...evolent_andrea

Bonus montage of Toby lying on the sofa:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BGpeGA5L...evolent_andrea

Bonus cake porn:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BG0QZWeL...evolent_andrea


Been working, lifting, walking, hiking, and going to Sox games. Bought some lanterns for my yard and a new bar cart. Summertime and the living is easy, lol. Tomorrow's my first beach day of the year.

Debating on a new program.

Hope you all are well. xoxo

[dreahere]

Still have not decided on a new program and this week was kinda crazy in terms of schedule, so I ended up doing two abbreviated full body days, an upper day and a lower day. This meant I did pullups 3 days which is cool because they and farmers are really all I'm really in the mood to work on. We finally got a pair of 50lb kbs at the ghetto Y but they have super thick handles which are tough on my grip. So my new goal is to make a full lap of the whole gym with them without stopping. Oh, and I'm working on my weighted back extensions on the 45 degree extension bench. I'm up to doing 8x3 with a 40lb db pretty easily so this week we go for 45.

[thehobbes]

^^^Hey stranger! 50lb kbs are SWEET although I always get scared somebody is gonna do those crazy "lemme swing these back and forth between my legs for some reason" and lose grip and that thing will go flying. I give those people a wide berth.