What you think is jogging a lot and what I think is jogging a lot must differ quite a bit. When I started I was always hungry and never stopped eating.

I'd be interested in hearing more about this. What exactly do you buy at the store? How do you prep it? Whats the concensus on it's nutrition?

lamb is a little fattier than other meats so I wouldn't eat it too much, but it's a good source of protein and all that good stuff you get in beef/chicken. It's just animal.

I buy boneless lamb chateaus (not sure why they're called that, but they're basically just little lamb steaks). I pan fry it with garlic and onions. Actually I take some of the garlic and jam it into the meat wherever I can, like between where the fat and flesh meet. Lamb loves garlic. I fry it maybe 5-6 mins a side on high so it gets a little char on the outside but it's medium on the inside.

If I were a good cook I'd roast whole legs, cuz that's the best. Lamb is my favorite meat.

nice power cleans

thanks.

6/9, Tues, A workout

I was a little worried about today's workout, as I didn't really have the healthiest weekend. Right after my Saturday workout, I headed to the bay area to see my sister. We drank some beers and ate some bad food. I didn't drink enough milk the whole weekend. We also did a fairly rigorous hike on Sunday, which left me with pretty sunburned arms and DOMS in those muscles on the outer side of your shins. They've been sore the past two days. And I didn't get enough sleep last night.

Plus right before the workout, I took a crap that was the color of cherry kool aid. I was a little freaked out, but it wasn't blood or anything. I'm going to blame it on the beets, blood oranges, and grapefruit I had today. But it was weird.

But it turns out I did pretty good. I could've done better, but at least I got all my lifts up. Strength training has made it really obvious to me the difference I feel between eating good and sleeping and eating bad and not sleeping. Sounds obvious, but when you have a squat workout looming later in the day, you're kicking yourself for not doing everything right.

Anyway, on to the #s.

Squat
45x5x2
80x5
120x3
160x2
205x5x3

These are getting pretty hard, but I'm still liking my form. But damn that was hard.

Bench
45x5x2
70x5
95x3
125x2
140x5x3

Felt OK. My form was a little tighter than last time, but the bar was pretty slow on the last rep of my final two sets.

Deadlift
95x5x2
140x3
200x2
240x5

This was hard. On one of the reps, either the 3rd or 4th, my form felt a little off, but other than that every pull felt correct. Still managing these without alternating grip. I'll probably add 10 more next workout, but I have a feeling it'll be +5 after that, or maybe in 3 workouts.

Also, DL'ing is aggravating my elbow. Maybe a sign I'm trying to pull the weight up with my arms?

I'm probably going to record my lifts soon. Not my next workout, though, as I'm taking a redeye flight to NYC Thurs night, so I want to get my workout done quickly. Then I'm going to miss my first workout on Saturday, and I'll be resuming on either Monday or Tuesday.

6/11, Thurs, B workout

Squat
45x5x2
85x5
125x3
165x2
210x5x3

this was tough. Overall it went OK, but 1st rep 2nd set I almost lost it. I dunno, just 1 second of not focusing. I dropped down too fast and could barely get it back up and my form was all out of whack. Everything else went OK.

I have a little stiffness on the top of my knee. Hopefully no big deal.

Press
45x5x2
60x5
75x3
90x2
110x5x3

This was hard. My warmups felt great. I brought my grip in a little closer and it helped. But the workset was hard as hell. The 1st one was so slow. 2nd went better. 3rd was a struggle. My left shoulder is always smoked when I finish these.

I also think I come short of lockout sometimes. I'll record it next time.

Power Clean
45x5x2
55x5
70x3
85x2
100x3x5

Overall pretty good, but it went weird. My first set was mediocre and I had trouble racking it fast enough. So I focused on shrugging hard and my 2nd set felt great. Then my 3rd set, 3rd rep was my worst lift since learning these. I nearly dumped it. 4th and 5th set went pretty well.

Still progressing, no stalls yet. Really happy with my progress so far. I'm missing my next workout for a bachelor's party in NYC. Workouts resume on Monday or Tuesday.

6/16, Thurs, A Workout

Squat
45x5x2
85x5
125x3
170x2
215x5x3

Very hard, but at least I could still add weight after missing my last workout, flying cross country and drinking an assload of beer and eating awful food most of the weekend.

I'll ask about the stiffness towards the top of the knee. You feel it most sitting down. I didn't have it today, but it was bothersome most of the weekend. I fear it's coming back after tonight's workout. Any experience with this? Any idea what causes this? Tonight I tried to actively focus on really forcing those knees out.

Bench
45x5x2
70x5
130x2
145x5x3

Went OK. I had a spotter for the final two work sets, as the 1st one I really struggled with the final rep. 2nd set went very good. 3rd rep went OK but the final rep was a struggle and the dude touched the bar a little bit even though I was still making progress. oh well. Having a hand off rules.

DL
100x5x2
150x3
210x2
250x5

Hard, but not as bad as I expected. I need to record these next time to make sure my form is still solid, but it felt solid.

another quick Q

if I wanted to start losing weight now, how badly would that affect my strength gains / future progress? I've kept a pretty steady weight since starting this 7 weeks ago, even though I ate quite a bit during all of this. I'd ultimately like to be in the 175-180 range. Maybe more, I'm not being exact. But I'm def fat now and I'd like to stop being that at some point.

Losing a little weight before a friend's wedding in 2 months would be nice so I could look a little better while I'm cutting a rug at the reception (I'll be dancing my ass off regardless, obv).

I would think that you could definitely lose weight and still get stronger from where you are at. You'll just get stuck a lot more quickly and risk overtraining.

I guess I'll just tinker with it. I've cut back on milk some, from over 1/2 gallon a day to a little over a quart. I'll continue eating what I've been eating and see where I'm at sometime next week, maybe cut out the cheats, as stuff like 4th of July and NBA Summer League are bound to provide some caloric excess.

just keep your diet the same and stop drinking milk altogether (except for maybe pwo shakes if you're like me and can't do protein+water). this should be easy if you started drinking more milk when you started lifting. anyway, recent quote from rip:

I drink a ton of whole milk because I'm too lazy to prepare and eat solid food.

yeah i like the taste and it's easy protein.

i never drank a gallon of milk because i knew it was for weight gain. i drank 1/2.

drinking a quart or even less would make paying for raw milk more feasible too. zomg hippy.

6/18, Thurs, B

Squat
45x5x2
85x5
135x3
175x2
220x5x3

Very hard. I wish I recorded them, but I was running late to the gym due to work and I forgot my camera. I still have that knee stiffness thing, but it went away by the work sets and it's been barely noticeable the past couple of days, whereas when it first started sitting down was a pain. Maybe I'm getting up on my toes a little bit? Will record next time. I'll be doing 4 45s, so that's exciting.

Press
45x5x2
60x5
80x3
95x2
115x3
110x5
110x3

all sorts of fail. It's a shame too because I thought I was going great during the warmups. Right after I finished the 3rd rep of 115 I let a thought creep into my head, "you're never gonna get this up", and of course I failed. So dropped to 110. First set of 5 was doable. Second set obv killed me. Reset time?

Power Cleans
45x5x2
55x5
70x3
85x2
105x3x5

Went pretty good. One rep somewhere I tweaked my knee a little on a landing, but nothing major. When I mentally focus on really shrugging hard during the 2nd pull it goes infinitely better. When I have a lapse I do some ****ty reverse curl abortion.

Any back pain still? Or did the deadlifts cure it?