Payton's Lifting, Cardio, and Food Journal

[Payton1221]

I've been doing lots of broomstick dislocates and my shoulder felt well enough to incline bench. I got 170x8 (rpe ~9-9.5) and then 165x9. I estimate this puts my 1RM at ~215-220 or so.

I was sick with the flu a couple of weeks ago, so my biking mileage is off. I should finish the weekend with 250 miles for the year, but I'm questioning if I'll reach 1500 miles like I did last year.

[ElrondHubbard]

I've been doing lots of broomstick dislocates and my shoulder felt well enough to incline bench. I got 170x8 (rpe ~9-9.5) and then 165x9. I estimate this puts my 1RM at ~215-220 or so.

I was sick with the flu a couple of weeks ago, so my biking mileage is off. I should finish the weekend with 250 miles for the year, but I'm questioning if I'll reach 1500 miles like I did last year.

Those are great results, especially coming off of mobility and illness challenges. Take care of yourself, and don't try too many rash things!

[Payton1221]

Those are great results, especially coming off of mobility and illness challenges. Take care of yourself, and don't try too many rash things!

Thanks Dave.

I've been doing lots of broomstick dislocates and my shoulder felt well enough to incline bench. I got 170x8 (rpe ~9-9.5) and then 165x9. I estimate this puts my 1RM at ~215-220 or so.

Here's a small update just for record keeping purposes. I lifted earlier today and started with 165 and got it 11 reps (rpe 10!), so my 1-rep calculator puts my 1RM at 225.

[tblodg15]

Great numbers for incline bench especially for not doing it regularly. I think we talked about this before but I am surprised that your shoulder can tolerate incline barbell bench press better than flat bench.

I haven’t done any form of barbell bench since December 13th, doing incline and flat with DB only and my shoulder is thanking me for it. My strength is probably down a lot with only using light DB’s and higher reps but I could care less. One of these days I hope to get back to a barbell and I will at least try it sometime and maybe I should start with incline and see how that feels. But it will have to wait until I back off on archery because shooting my bow 4 days per week works my left tricep and my bad left shoulder pretty good. So I need to continue with moderate push workouts that are shoulder friendly.

Hopefully you are getting some biking in this weekend with the nicer weather!

[Payton1221]

I think we talked about this before but I am surprised that your shoulder can tolerate incline barbell bench press better than flat bench.

Hopefully you are getting some biking in this weekend with the nicer weather!

Thanks Troy. You might want to look into broomstick dislocates. I've been doing them again, and I think that it has improved my shoulder's health. I might even give flat benching a try again It would be nice to be repping 185 flat like I do 165 incline. But my real desire is to be able to do dips again. I haven't tried them in 6 months or so (I'm wanting to do shoulder dislocates for a full two months or so before testing the water), but I used to love dips and I could get ~8 or so weighted with a 45# plate and even managed a couple of reps with 90 lbs

Working from home + nice weather = lots of bike riding--I have an 11 mile loop with lots of hills that provide me with a good 50 minute workout. I have my work phone transferred to my cell phone, and I had a business call yesterday during a ride I didn't feel too badly for not answering it since it was 12:35 local time which is officially lunchtime for me and I called the gentlemen back later.

[ElrondHubbard]

Thanks Dave.



Here's a small update just for record keeping purposes. I lifted earlier today and started with 165 and got it 11 reps (rpe 10!), so my 1-rep calculator puts my 1RM at 225.

Your incline bench is really good. Do you know what angle incline you use? Mine is about 38 degrees, I think. But at that it's a huge drop in strength from a regular flat bench.

[Payton1221]

Your incline bench is really good. Do you know what angle incline you use? Mine is about 38 degrees, I think. But at that it's a huge drop in strength from a regular flat bench.

It's ~27 degrees. In light of what Troy posted, I'm tempted to try my hand with 225 done on a flat bench to see what I can do. My shoulder is feeling better than it has in ages. If I do, I promise there'll be video

[GrouchyUSMC]

I've been doing lots of broomstick dislocates and my shoulder felt well enough to incline bench. I got 170x8 (rpe ~9-9.5) and then 165x9. I estimate this puts my 1RM at ~215-220 or so.

I was sick with the flu a couple of weeks ago, so my biking mileage is off. I should finish the weekend with 250 miles for the year, but I'm questioning if I'll reach 1500 miles like I did last year.

Nice work! I got a band for my shoulder dislocates and it did wonders for me. I use these.

https://www.ruckwrap.com/

[TM79]

27 degrees? Old man winter just won't let us go this year... Give that bench a try and stay warm!

[Payton1221]

I've been going heavier than I have in quite a while, so I thought I'd see how I'd do with incline benching 185. I've been progressively getting one fewer rep with every 5# increase, so I thought that 7 reps were possible so . . .








My bench is set up relatively flat, but it appears flatter from this angle than (I think) it really is

[Payton1221]

My primary mode of non-weight training exercise these days is biking (up to 660 miles YTD per my bike's odometer), but in 2015 it was walking. I logged over 1200 miles walking nearly every day during lunch and on the weekends when weather permitted. So I was intrigued when I read about Teddy Roosevelt's 50 mile challenge. He claimed that a fit person should be able to walk 50 miles in 20 hours but done over three days. On each day, when you start walking the clock starts and it doesn't stop until you stop . . . so you can't break the day's walk over 4-5 mini walks spaced out over hours of rest.

I wasn't 100% invested in doing this, but I wanted to at least walk some today. I live 8 miles from McDonalds, so my intent was to at least walk to McDonalds and then I could decide whether to bail then or to return home for a total of 16 miles. My wife was returning from a "pedi" (Indiana just opened nail salons and she had an appointment at 9:30) and met me there for breakfast. I felt like continuing so she left and headed home and I started my return trip. I don't know if it was psychological or not, but I felt fine until about 1-2 miles from the house . . . perhaps it was just anticipation of getting home OR perhaps I was approaching my limit.

Including the 12 minute break at McDonalds, I did the 16 miles in 4:42. I was quite surprised that my return trip only took 5 minutes longer than the first half.

I'm glad that I did it, but I don't feel compelled to do the next two legs of the trip to make the 50 miles. Could I do it? Maybe. I think my feet could be the limiting factor. Fortunately, I had no blisters (thanks to Grouchy for giving me some solid tips on long walks several months ago), but the bottoms of my feet feel "hot." After a nap and some TV, my wife and I went shopping, not a great deal of walking, but I've added another 4,000 steps to my fitbit since returning home.

Here's my fitbit after returning from the walk:

Speaking of walking, I'm going to buy a backpack to carry my 13 month old granddaughter tomorrow night if it's still available (Craigslist purchase). For those of you with grandkids, they're awesome My wife loved her immediately, but I'm only now starting to really enjoy her. My wife and daughter are both RNs and they both work two 12 hour shifts per week. When my daughter works, my wife babysits, and with me working from home more due to the corona virus, I've got to spend a lot more time with her. Good times. The three of us (wife, granddaughter, and me) went on walks with the stroller earlier this week.

[Payton1221]

I've met a few octogenarians and one nonagenarian that swear by walking to stay healthy and energetic.

I read an article (AARP I think . . . seriously. I joined when I turned 50 and they occasionally have good articles) where it talked about how good walking was for you. They claimed it was a straight forward dose/response relationship with those who walked one hour per day lived longed than those who walked 30 minutes; and those who walked 90 minutes lived longer than those who walked 60; etc. That year that I walked 1200 miles my lipids were never better!!! My HDL was always in the 70's to 90's. Now I think it's been hovering in the high 50's IIRC . . . and that's with LOTS of bike riding. I'm tempted to conduct a 30 day period of just walking again just prior to a blood draw for cholesterol to see if it duplicates the super high HDL days from 2015.

What are some tips for walking a lot? I've been walking more lately and plan to step it up some more. I've been tempted to get a fitness watch to help with tracking but I get analysis paralysis when looking at all the different models and options.

This is a Tony Robbins quote "If you talk about it, it's a dream, if you envision it, it's possible, but if you schedule it, it's real." So schedule it. Like I wrote previously about 2015, I walked nearly every day at lunch (this was my schedule) when the weather cooperated . . . and by "cooperating," I mean not raining and above 20F! I had insulated jeans that I could wear over my slacks, ear muffs, jacket and mittens, and basically only my face would be cold.

For apps, how about just a fitbit and its app? You can always challenge yourself to hit some threshold number of steps per day or week.

[tblodg15]

I am just getting caught up a little on the forum, nice job with the incline bench press! For the last month I have been starting off my workouts with 20 minutes of shoulder rehab exercises and my shoulder is slowly feeling better but it will be a long time before I do another barbell bench press. I even cut out DB presses for now because my shoulder got so sore from shooting my bow that it hurt bad just to swing them up into place (and even worse while benching).

Were you working out in slacks when you were doing that bench press? :/

[Payton1221]

I am just getting caught up a little on the forum, nice job with the incline bench press! For the last month I have been starting off my workouts with 20 minutes of shoulder rehab exercises and my shoulder is slowly feeling better but it will be a long time before I do another barbell bench press. I even cut out DB presses for now because my shoulder got so sore from shooting my bow that it hurt bad just to swing them up into place (and even worse while benching).

Were you working out in slacks when you were doing that bench press? :/

Thanks for the comments . . . and the pants were some cotton duck work pants (Jesse James brand but they're like Carhartt) that I was wearing where I had worked in the yard moments earlier. I have substituted my bike riding for ALL of my leg exercises, so I pay zero attention to what pants I'm working since it's just chest, shoulders, and back.

Have you tried broomstick dislocates for your shoulder? Right or wrong, I'm attributing the reintroduction of those back into my daily routine as a primary reason as to why I've been able to do barbell benching again. You might also want to look into Crossover Symmetry exercises which is a bunch of different exercises that use bands to strengthen/rehab your shoulder (you can find their chart of exercises from a google search and there's probably several YouTube videos too). You can buy the bands on ebay instead of the higher priced ones that they sell. If you watch my 185x7 bench video again, you can see multiple color bands that I used for that purpose for a while (I no longer do but I wouldn't hesitate to reintroduce them if my shoulder got wonky again).

[tblodg15]

I have been using bands along with a few other exercises as part of that 20 minutes of shoulder rehab work. I have been doing shoulder dislocates using a band instead of a stick. Those are really uncomfortable while doing them but my shoulder is starting to feel better and the dislocates are likely helping. I will look up the crossover symmetry and see if there are any exercises I might want to add to my current circuit of 9 or 10 exercises, thanks!

[GrouchyUSMC]

Awesome! I am so stoked about this.

[Payton1221]

Awesome! I am so stoked about this.

You're not going to believe this, but I took off walking WITHOUT water. I was about 1.5 miles from the house when I realize that was a mistake, and fortunately, that was when my wife was about ready to leave the house for her nail appointment. I caught her before she left the house and she dropped off a bottle of water on her way to the nail place a few minutes later which lasted until I made it to McDonalds and then I refilled it there.

I didn't do the full three days, but I will before the year is out

[Payton1221]

I haven't set any concrete goals for biking except to say that I'd like to match last year's 1,500 miles. Tonight my odometer hit 800 for the year, so 1,500 should be easy to hit. I could probably exceed 1,750 or so but my wife and I continue to walk approximately every third day, and pushing too hard to get the mileage in would negatively affect our walking.

I've increased the RIR (reps in reserve) for my incline benching as a short experiment to see if I'm still as strong afterwards. I've been doing it for about 5-6 weeks now and one positive effect that I've already noticed is that the arm pain that I've had since September has almost disappeared completely.

[ElrondHubbard]

I haven't set any concrete goals for biking except to say that I'd like to match last year's 1,500 miles. Tonight my odometer hit 800 for the year, so 1,500 should be easy to hit. I could probably exceed 1,750 or so but my wife and I continue to walk approximately every third day, and pushing too hard to get the mileage in would negatively affect our walking.

I've increased the RIR (reps in reserve) for my incline benching as a short experiment to see if I'm still as strong afterwards. I've been doing it for about 5-6 weeks now and one positive effect that I've already noticed is that the arm pain that I've had since September has almost disappeared completely.

That's a truly positive result, Mark. I hope it encourages you to keep going!

[Payton1221]

I can't believe it, but they emailed me my lab results when my physical isn't until Friday. I have half a mind to cancel since I have the data now. Anyway, here are my lipids:

LDL: 160
HDL: 68
Trigs: 53
Total: 243

Total/HDL: 3.6 (avg)
Trigs/HDL: 0.8 (much lower than avg risk)

My LDL is higher than it's ever been. I wonder if the week in Florida (this was two weeks before the blood draw) eating crap that I normally wouldn't eat had any affect on it. Anyone have any suggestions for lowering LDL? I eat a fair amount of 90/10 ground beef, but I also eat a lot of salmon too.

Probably too early to celebrate since this was just a finger stick with more accurate numbers available in October when I see my GP for the annual checkup, but here's the results from this morning's biometric screening that I do each year for my Humana Go365 insurance:

LDL: 74 (cha-ching!)
HDL: 66
Trigs: 74
Total: 160

Total/HDL: 2.4
Trigs/HDL: 1.1

BP: 110/70

I never did cut back on the 90/10 meat, and I rarely eat eggs (they have never affected my lipids to my knowledge), but ironically, I had two eggs yesterday.

The single biggest change that I did was to eat oatmeal ~5-7 times per week. Every time I eat oatmeal, it's the equivalent of two serving sizes. I'll often add a small handful of walnuts too.

I've increased my legume consumption too. I'm not as consistent with this as I am the oatmeal, but I eat a can of beans or bean soup (the equivalent of three servings) at least once per week.

Perhaps the second biggest change isn't what I eat but what I don't eat. I've cut the sugary foods out. I never ate the sugary foods often, but once every 7-10 days, I'd eat LOTS of it.

[tblodg15]

Probably too early to celebrate since this was just a finger stick with more accurate numbers available in October when I see my GP for the annual checkup, but here's the results from this morning's biometric screening that I do each year for my Humana Go365 insurance:

LDL: 74 (cha-ching!)
HDL: 66
Trigs: 74
Total: 160

Total/HDL: 2.4
Trigs/HDL: 1.1

BP: 110/70

I never did cut back on the 90/10 meat, and I rarely eat eggs (they have never affected my lipids to my knowledge), but ironically, I had two eggs yesterday.

The single biggest change that I did was to eat oatmeal ~5-7 times per week. Every time I eat oatmeal, it's the equivalent of two serving sizes. I'll often add a small handful of walnuts too.

I've increased my legume consumption too. I'm not as consistent with this as I am the oatmeal, but I eat a can of beans or bean soup (the equivalent of three servings) at least once per week.

Perhaps the second biggest change isn't what I eat but what I don't eat. I've cut the sugary foods out. I never ate the sugary foods often, but once every 7-10 days, I'd eat LOTS of it.

That’s great, hopefully the full test gives similar results. I love oatmeal but it is so filling for me that I don’t eat it often, usually only 1 day on the weekend.

When you say equivalent to two servings does that mean a full cup of oats each day? If so wow, because a normal serving is 1/2 cup and I usually add some fruit and a scoop of protein powder with mine and it fills me up for half the day. And I don’t eat breakfast during the week because I am not hungry in the morning but I do sometimes have oatmeal for dinner 😳

[Payton1221]

When you say equivalent to two servings does that mean a full cup of oats each day?

I'll either eat two packets of Quaker's Raisins, Dates, and Walnuts variety (150 cal/packet but it includes some sugar too) or I'll eat one packet and then supplement (by "eyeing" it, not by weight) an equal amount of quick oats and then add some cinnamon, more nuts, and some Truvia sugar substitute.

[TM79]

Checking in here Payton. Not seeing a lot of workouts but am glad that your cholesterol is getting down to where you want it. I notice that I can starve myself half to death but cutting out sugar seems to really get the weight loss going and I feel a lot better. I would think there is a reason for that.