Thinking of running 3 cycles of 5/3/1 after my rest week, using this variation on the Boring But Big assistance work.  Basically, assistance exercises are swapped (Bench is assisted with Press, Press with Bench, Squat with Deadlift, and Deadlift with Squat), and the assistance percentage is stepped up 10% in each of the three cycles.  Further, the peak set of each day is stopped at the minimum rep number, rather than failure or "just short of failure".  Since I often have trouble discerning the former from the latter, and the former tends to burn me out, the scheme has a lot of appeal on that basis alone.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 08:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Hunter-gatherers, Westerners use same amount of energy, contrary to theory

I guess hunter-gatherers aren't leaner because they're more active. I'm sure it has nothing whatsoever to do with eating real food rather than big gulps, soyflour, and veggie-bacon.

Update: Full write-up

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 02:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (7-23-2012)
squat 135x5, 225x3, 255x2; 295 3, 3, 3, 2
bench 95x5, 135x3, 185x2; 205 2x5, 135x10
dumbbell row 95 3x10

Tuesday
deadlift 135x5, 225x3, 275x2; 305 2x5
press 65x5, 95x3, 115x2; 130 3, 3, 2, 2
chinups +45 4x5, 6

Wednesday
powerclean 95x3, 135x3, 155x1; 145 2x3, 1, 1
box jumps 30" 5x5
kettlebell swing 60 3x15

Thursday
squat 135x5, 225x3, 245x2; 265 2x5
bench 95x5, 135x3, 185x2; 220 3, 2, 2, 2, 1
dumbbell row 95 3x10

Friday
deadlift 135x5, 225x3, 295x2; 345 4x2, 1, 1
press 65x5, 95x3, 105x2; 115 2x5
chinups +45 2x5
pullups 2x6

Weight (Friday): 177 lb

Notes:Good week, weight steady, strength steady and improving.  Light days appear to be helping.  One more week of this -- peaking with doubles or singles -- and then a rest week to follow.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 08:34 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (7-16-2012)
squat 135x5, 225x3, 255x2; 285 5, 3, 2
bench 95x5, 135x3, 185x2; 215 5, 3, 2
dumbbell row 100 4x6

Tuesday
deadlift 135x5, 225x3, 285x2; 335 3, 3, 2, 2
press 65x5, 95x3, 110x2; 130 3, 3, 2, 2
chinups +45 4x5

Thursday
squat 135x5, 225x3, 245x2; 285 5, 3, 2
bench 95x5, 135x3, 185x2; 220 3, 3, 2, 2
dumbbell row 100 4x6

Friday
deadlift 135x5, 225x3, 285x2; 335 3, 3, 2, 2
press 65x5, 95x3, 105x2; 130 2, 2, 1 (fail); 105 2x5
chinups +45 4x5

Weight (Friday): 177 lb

Notes: Weight is creeping up, appetite's been high.  Not sure if it's going to muscle or fat.  Might be pushing a little too much intensity, as evidenced by Friday's presses.  Bench and press would likely benefit from some modulation of intensity and volume, deadlift and squat seem to be doing fine with this setup.  I've got an unavoidable rest week coming up after two more weeks, so I don't want to lighten up too much, rather to keep momentum going until that last training week, so maybe just going light on Monday's bench and Friday's press will be enough.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 08:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Monday (7-9-2012)
squat 135x5, 225x3, 245x2, 275 2x5
bench 95x5, 135x3, 185x2; 215 5, 3, 2
dumbbell row 100 3x8

Tuesday
deadlift 135x5, 225x3, 275x2; 325 5, 3, 2
press 65x5, 95x3, 110x2; 125 4, 3, 3
chinups +45 3x5, unweighted 8

Thursday
squat 135x5, 225x3, 245x2, 275 2x5
bench 95x5, 135x3, 185x2; 215 5, 4, 3
dumbbell row 100 3x8

Friday
deadlift 135x5, 225x3, 275x2, 325 6x2
press 65x5, 95x3, 105x2; 125 5, 3, 2
chinups +50 2x5; +45 5, 4, 4, unweighted 8, 6
rope pressdowns 90x8, 110x8

Weight (Sunday): 176 lb

Notes:  Steady, slow progress on strength and work capacity.  Lousy on diet this week, and it showed on the scale.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 02:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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 Monday (7-2-2012)
squat 135x5, 185x3, 225x2, 265 2x5
bench 95x5, 135x3, 185x2; 210 2x5
dumbbell row 100 3x8

Tuesday
deadlift 135x5, 225x3, 275x2, 315 2x5
press 65x5, 95x3, 105x2, 120 2x5
chinups+45 3x5

Wednesday
power-clean 95x3, 135 10x3
two-hand kettlebell swing 60 5x15
box jumps 30" 10x5

Thursday
squat 135x5, 185x3, 225x2, 265 2x5
bench 95x5, 135x3, 210 2x5
dumbbell row 110 2x8, 90 3x8

Friday
deadlift 135x5, 225x3, 275x2, 325 6x2
presspress 65x5, 95x3, 105x2; 125 5, 3, 2
chinups+45 4x5

Weight (Friday): 175 lb

Notes: Thursday and Friday were both at Powerhouse Monroe.  Lighting is dim, dumbbells go to 125, and the knurling is so smooth as to almost be unnoticeable.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 08:08 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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830AM black coffee, 1 cup.

930AM black coffee, 1 cup.  I was back home at this point after learning the power was out at my office.

11AM 8g BCAA.

1230PM 1 quart low-fat goat's milk, 1 larabar (chocolate chip cookie dough).  Not my ideal post-workout meal, but I'd had to drive to Powerhouse Monroe and I wanted to get something convenient in me during the post-workout window.  Why low-fat milk?  I'd never seen it before and wanted to see how it was.  Not bad.

240PM  1.2 lb ground sirloin with black pepper, 1 oz sharp cheddar, spicy brown mustard, 2g vitamin C, 7000 IU D3, 4g fish oil (capsules).  This is closer to where I like my post-workout meal to be in terms of protein.  Ordinarily I'd have some carbs here to spike my insulin when I'm most sensitive to it, but I'd already had plenty in my convenience meal up above.  If I were strictly trying to lose weight and maintain muscle, that wouldn't be called for.  Insulin is an anabolic hormone, though, and it's best to take advantage of that if possible.  That's also why I generally don't add too much fat to my post-workout meals: if insulin is high and dietary fat is available, it can be shoved into cells; having little to no fat around circumvents that.  High insulin and lots of free amino acids is a nicely anabolic state to be in, assuming you're insulin-sensitive.  I fought my way to that over a couple of years, so this isn't for anyone who's metabolically "broken".

530PM Handful of baby carrots.

810PM 0.6 lb of ground round, spicy brown mustard  (wife wanted something grilled), iced tea with one whole lime's worth of juice.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 09:17 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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My friend Mare was curious about what I ate in a typical day, so I'm going to diary a few of them for posterity.

9AM:  Discovered leftover coffee from yesterday, reheated in microwave and drank it.

10AM: 8g of branched-chain amino acids.  I try to take a dose about this size prior to a fasted workout.  My daily fasting window is typically 16-18 hours followed by lifting prior to my first meal.  The BCAAs are insurance: my fast should be just the right length that I've had some positive autophagy without triggering any muscle catabolism; available BCAAs reduce the chances of catabolic breakdown even further.

1030AM to 1130AM: Workout time.  Today was metabolic conditioning and explosive work: power cleans, kettlebell swings, and box jumps.

12PM: 8g BCAAs.  I wasn't planning to eat for another couple of hours, so I took another dose for the same reasons outlined above.

1PM: 1 oz sharp cheddar, 1 large green pepper, 4000 IU D3.  The D3 is half my normal dose because I actually had some time to sunbathe today.

230PM: 2 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs baked with Stubbs spicy BBQ sauce, 5g of fish oil, iced tea with the juice of one whole lime.  I added fish oil to the meal because I find I get fewer fish burps that way, and chicken fat in particular has a pretty terrible w-3 to w-6 fatty acid ratio, so this is an attempt at recovering some balance.

7PM:  0.7lb flat iron steak, seasoned with Montreal Steak seasoning, and pan-fried in Kerrygold Irish butter (pastured cattle, so the fats are well-balanced), 1c or so of steamed broccoli.  I put a tsp or so pat of butter on the broccoli after it was on the plate.  And another pat on the steak, because it's delicious that way.

8PM:  Another glass of iced tea with another lime's worth of juice.

9PM:  500mg Mg.  Helps me sleep, and it's one of those things that's hard to get with diet.  I never go higher than this dose, and I don't always take it (can result in loose stool).

And that's it, that's everything I ate today.  It's actually a fairly typical non-work day for me.  On a work day, lunch would be something out of the crock pot or something at a restaurant (Indian or Chinese buffet, typically).  Black coffee is my normal breakfast.

EDIT  forgot D3 and Mg initially

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 10:24 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Monday (6-25-2012)
squat 135x5, 185x3, 225x2, 255 2x5
bench 95x5, 135x3, 185x2; 205 2x5
dumbbell row 95 2x8

Tuesday
deadlift 135x5, 225x3, 275x2, 305 2x5
press 65x5, 95x3, 105x2, 115 2x5
chinups+45 3x5

Wednesday
power-clean 95x3, 135x3; 155 3x3, 3x2
two-hand kettlebell swing 60 3x15
box jumps 30" 5x5

Thursday
squat 135x5, 185x3, 225x2, 255 2x5
bench 95x5, 135x3, 205 2x5
dumbbell row 100 3x6

Friday
deadlift 135x5, 225x3, 275x2, 315 2x5
presspress 65x5, 95x3, 105x2, 120 2x5
chinups+45 3x5

Weight (Friday): 176 lb

Notes:  Sticking with this for awhile, adding in some power work/metabolic conditioning.

Posted by: leoncaruthers at 12:07 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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