Yeah those chains were all I could find and they were all closed, it was Sunday too.

Hm yeah that would be pretty off putting. I noticed when living in Toronto it seemed everyone was very into their own world. People wouldn't even make contact getting on my building's elevator. Was strange but chalked it up to mostly being a big city.

I know very little about Mobile overall but just driving threw downtown it seemed neat looking* I should have said.

12/28
Worked hard today.

Hip work/walking

PT sesh

Curls
4x5x40
ss
100 pushups

Fat grip hammer curls
4x10x25

T. Pushdowns 2x8x63 felt cranky so did
T. Ext cable 3x8x50

Walking with 2x80lb db.


Climbed.


Well I didnt make any diet progress during xmas trip scale wise. But today I think I hit a new ATH aesthetics wise.
Driving so much aggravated the sciatic. I think there's probably some elongated ligament aspect to this too, or that's what my PT says and it makes sense. Gotta keep hitting my exercises and be patient.


Supposed to drive out to Sedona to ride bikes then head to commerce casino in LA for a couple weeks. Hope I can figure out some better seated support for that.

Link to nude in previous post is broken.

I will post them when I get a lil leaner.
Arms have filled out some, actually put on almost 1.5in this year. Strangely, training them in isolation movements seems to work a lot better than just counting on bench/ohp/rows/pullups etc to make them grow. Chest, in particular upper chest has filled out.
The divot under my nipples from the gyno surgery has flattened out and is basically gone so that's great. Took a year, whereas most doctors said it would be in final form after only 6mo.

12/30

Walking/Hips/Core

Handstand pushups against wall
3x3

100 Pushups
25,25,20,15,15


OK fine some nudes

Forgot,

1x8x135 sumo DL, 1x8x135 conv DL. Man this felt good/nostalgic. Lets see if I pay for it the next few days. Squatting actually may be more of an irritant atm because of larger ROM.

Beast!

Nothing like looking significantly worse than the guy with undiagnosed medical conditions that preclude him from actually lifting to really lift the ol' spirits.

Looking good TC!

Looking good!

Thanks guys!


Weight 178.0 this morning. Face dimples have arrived. Couple more weeks prob. I've been wondering if I'm underestimating my WF hotbar meals, but today was a good result so I'm prob pretty close.
It's nice to be able to cut pretty quickly @1800-2200. It would suck having to only eat like 1200-1500 on a diet. I guess it's a bit relative but I still imagine that would be harder/hungrier.

So far I don't have any significant hamstring sciatica today but do have some doms and the 2 normally coincide so that's a sign so far.

12/30

Walking

Cable Ys Ts & circles

Wide Grip PU 2 sec hold at top 4x5

Curls
40lb x 7,7,5,5,5

EZ bar curls
3x bar+50lb x 6

1/1

Walking. Hip stuff.

BN
2x5x225, 2x5x215. Pretty nice result considering the diet and not really benching in a month.

Zpress
4x5x115

R. T. EXT cables
4x8x43

Lateral shoulder raises side
3x6x25

1 arm T. EXT cables
4x8x20

1/2
Climbed. Had a really good sesh sent some hard ones
1/3
Walking. Climbed
1/4
Walking.

OHP
worked up to 165 and it was a bit too hard so didn't push it. 4x5x135

CGBP
4x5x195

T. Ext Cable
4x8x50
ss
Pushups
4x 20,15,15,15. Pretty spent.

Curls 21s
4xbar
Curls cable rope
4x30

1/7


BN
225x6, 245x2 (guess i blew my load on first set). 3x5x205

DB Inc, 60deg
2x5x65, 2x7x60

T. Ext
4x8x47
ss
Close GP pushups
4xfail (8-12ea)

R.T.Ext
5x8x37
ss
Curls
4x6x40, 35x8

I'm within about 1-2% of this, so I'm pretty happy with it. It's been ~27 days, prob about 5 pounds of fat lost, maybe a lil more. I may go another week or so, may not.


Headed to LA for some poker for a couple weeks. Prob will shred some mtn bikes in Utah/Arizona for a few days after. Hope I run hot and also hope driving doesn't **** my sciatic up too bad. I will try to pace myself driving and not degen it up. 2100 miles.

Hey man -

I've dealt with some sciatica stuff over the years as well as varying injuries and just wanted to throw in my $.02.

I would say it is almost a certainty that your issues are from aggravation in your lower back due mainly to your lifting form while lifting heavy. If there's NO way you are going to cut out heavy lifting (which I definitely understand as I love lifting heavy) I highly recommend that you start doing jefferson curls, as well as incorporate a serious stretching and flexibility routing. J curls are the single best exercise for stretching out our lower back and spine. You can do your own research or PM me for more info if you're interested, but once you incorporate jefferson curls into your routine there's no reason you can't squat, DL, etc.

I also recommend this interview to ANY person who plans on being physical for the rest of their lives. Tim Ferris kind of tilts me but Christopher Sommers is on a whole different level when it comes to body knowledge:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzyAPEWOlxw

Basically flexibility and posture are the nuts for long term physical health.

I made the extremely difficult decision to effectively retire from jiu jitsu after taking full inventory of what I want in my life, and looking at the problems caused from it in my friends and coaches. I also started to have this weird lower back thing, right on my sciatic nerve (and associated numbness and nerve "jolts"), that has completely disappeared after stopping bjj.


Now I am as built/ripped as I've ever been, and all I do is a lifting/flexibilty/yoga/gymnastic regiment, and I swim 3x a week. I find the feeling of having "real strength" and flexibility way more satisfying than I ever felt from the heavy lifting I did.

Anyways I know that's probably a bunch of stuff you don't want or care to hear, but hopefully something I said can help you at some point along your journey. GL!

Thanks for the post! I was talking to a dude yesterday at the gym who displaced a disc in lumbar and he shared similar sentiments wrt working out. If I’m being honest there’s probably not a lot of point in me lifting heavy in Bp, OHP, dL, Sq other than ego.

Lol Ferris, but my flexibility in my hamstring/lower back region is ****, and something I should probably do something about. I assume just slowly progressing the volume of J curls per day, frequency per week, and external load is the way to go?

Back from LA. It ****ed me up, played super long sessions and sleep all over the place. Then drove back 34hrs with two 2hr car naps. Also ate like trash for the most part of the trip. Lost $ and hit a concrete post with my truck door in a parking lot. Not the best trip but I learned a lot and will do it better next time.


I haven't been lifting just climbing 3/4x a week. Not sure when I'll get back to it, prob soon.

Booking a consult with BBM's pain/PT guys. Leg actually wasn't as bad on the trip as I was expecting.


On the bright side I've been climbing pretty well. The gyms in LA were dope. You can get a membership/pass that works for 4 gyms within 30-45min drive. Setting was cool but I thought the grades were a tad soft because I flashed several v7s and sent a few v8s.

Exac. When I started, I ofc piled on weight and was doing them with like 70lbs, and then i had a friend really explain them to me and I dropped down to 20 lbs.

It seems simplistic but honestly if you just do 3x10-15 slow & focused j curls with light weight 2-3 times a week you will be doing wonders for the most important part of long term physical health (lower back/spine and flexibility). Just make sure to take it really slow and to feel it down your vertebrae as you go

/hijack

TC - do you play at Commerce while there? I have ran abysmally in my 5 weekends traveling there. Such great games too. I will def check out a climbing gym while in town next time

Yeah I was playing at commerce. Haven't played much live so it was a learning experience. Got a good bit of 1/200 PLO in. A little 1/200 NL ring and then I got a decent bit of HU action at 1/200. I hadn't played HUNL in years but it came back to me. Putting in some work for ring NL so I can play when good games happen in the future.


----------------------
1/24
Climbed. Sent at least half of the red tags (6/7) on a fresh set. Definitely climbing like .5 grade harder or whatever, hard to quantify. Don't know why other than maybe it's the lack of lifting recovery/fatigue wise.

Pretty solid punt, it was basically done, forearms just had no more squeeze left.

Working with Michael Ray from BBM. Attempting to work back into SQ/DL.

A)Goblet Squat
1 x 15 @ RPE 5
1 x 15 @ RPE 6
1 x 15 @ RPE 7

1x15x15lbs @RPE 3/4
1x15x20lbs @RPE 5/6
1x15x20lbs @RPE 6/7

B)Strict Press

1 x 8 @ RPE 5
1 x 8 @ RPE 6
1 x 8 @ RPE 7

1x8x115 @RPE5
1x8x115 @RPE6
1x8x120 @RPE7/8

C)Pull-up

1 x 5 @ RPE 5
1 x 5 @ RPE 6
1 x 5 @ RPE 7

1x5xBW+10 @RPE 5
1x5xBW+20 @RPE 6
1x5xBW+30 @RPE 7

A)Sumo Kettlebell Deadlift
1x15x45 @ WU
1x15x65 @ RPE 4/5
1x15x80 @ RPE 6/7
1x15x80 @ RPE 6/7

B)Bench Press
1x8x185 @ RPE 5
1x8x190 @ RPE 6
1x8x195 @ RPE 8

C)Split Squat
1x15xBW @ RPE 4/5
1x15xBW+10 @ RPE 7
1x15xBW+10 @ RPE 8


T. EXT 4x8x47lb
ss
DB curls 4x8x40lb

R. T. Ext 4x8x40lb
ss
Hammer Curls 4x8x35lbs


Seem to have tolerated the other day's workout pretty well--the goblet squats. Other than lol amount of quad DOMS.
A major help has been frequently changing positions while sitting. I thought for a while I needed to find the best posture and hold that indefinitely while sitting.
The drive to LA was rough because I was trying to stick to one position. But I noticed while playing poker I wasn't having nearly as much pain as I anticipated and I realized it may because I was often moving back and forth.

A)Goblet Squat

1x12x20 RPE WU
1x12x30 @ RPE 5
1x12x40 @ RPE 6
1x12x45 @ RPE 7
1x12x50 @ RPE 8

B)Strict Press

1x8x115 @ RPE 5/6
1x8x120 @ RPE 6/7
1x7x125 @ RPE 9
Idk what happened there, guess a bit tired.
1x8x115 @ RPE 8

High rep OHP tend to be my worst performers in terms of RPE:e1rm ratio.

C)Pull-up

1x5xBW+10 @RPE 5
1x5xBW+20 @RPE 6
1x5xBW+30 @RPE 7
1x5xBW+40 @RPE 8

1arm cable T.EXT
4x8-10 @ 8/9
ss
Ez bar curls
4x8-10 @ 8/9

A) Conventional Deadlift DB

1x12x65 @rpe3/4
1x12x85 @rpe5/6
1x12x95 @rpe6/7
1x12x100 @rpe7/8

B)Bench Press

1x8x185 @rpe5
1x8x190 @rpe6
1x8x195 @rpe7/8
1x8x195 @rpe8

C)Split Squat

1x12x+10 @rpe5
1x12x+16 @rpe6
1x12x+16 @rpe7
1x12x+20 @rpe8

Cable T. Ext 4x8 @rpe8/9
ss
DB Curls 4x8 @rpe8/9