aceluby

This hits close. I am basically doing a dirty bulk and am at my heaviest I've been in a few years. I don't have any events in October besides bowling once a week, so my plan is to do a serious cut in October through Thanksgiving. Really need to drop the beer, but shit... kids make it hard. I did a new leg workout today and it was hard as hell. 5 sets of dumbbell squats to warm up, 7 sets of split squats per leg - holding at the bottom between sets, 7 sets of sumo squats - holding at the bottom between sets, 3 sets of single leg deadlifts, 3 sets of single leg squats, then 3 sets of hip thrusters. My glutes are ridiculously tired.

Had a really good chest workout this morning. Nearly all of my heavy sets finished with 1-2 in the tank, which is exactly where I aim to be. Tomorrow is back, and Wed will be legs, but I have this nagging issue with my left hip. I'll roll it out a few days in a row, but then leg day hits and it feels tight again. It's not painful, per se, but it is uncomfortable. I'm trying a new workout this week, so maybe I have bad form for one of the moves. Guess we'll see on Wed.

https://www.roguefitness.com/powerblock-elite-exp-series These are the ones I got, 5-90

Week 5 of my 5 day program and things are going pretty good. Today was my heavy leg day, so front to back lunges, dumbbell squats, goblet squats, split squats, very light dumbbell deadlift, side squats, and calf raises. Tomorrow I'll do upper body w/ my wife and Friday I'll finish off with some lower body HIIT (plyo lunges, sprints, bear crawls, & jump squats). Feeling pretty sore on a week to week basis, but feel like I'm getting some good rest on the weekends. Will probably switch things up again next month.

@Tywin et al.Are we doing this again this year, or corking it?

Today was leg day, followed by walking the dogs, mowing the lawn, then 2 hours of walking around the zoo with the kids. Definitely enough legs for today. Two moves in particular are just destroying me for my lifting days. The first is this move where you step up on a bench, step down, then with the same leg do a reverse lunge. Three sets of those as part of a super set. The other move that's been getting me is the single leg squat that's right in the middle of a giant set. I need a nap.

On to my 3rd week of PPL/Upper/Lower split and think I've found a really good sweet spot. I'm getting up around 4:30, take my pre-workout & vitamins, start working out at 5, done by 6, shower, protein shake, then start working by 7. Weekends I get to sleep in to 7 and take those rest days very seriously. Nothing more strenuous than walking the dog (which with a new puppy in the house is at least twice a day). Every workout feels like I've had plenty of rest to go hard, which has not always been the case with some of the programs I've tried out. Like @Iskaral Pust, my diet for the last few months has gone to shit. Not much of a sweets guy, but I've been indulging far too often in a few beers/wine after the kids go to bed that is easily adding 500kcals per day, plus we're getting takeout at least once a week that leads to more cheat meals than I should be having. I've seen some good strength gains and I'm carrying significantly more muscle than I was a couple years ago, but I really need to get back on a better diet and cut out the drinking.

Had a really good push workout this morning. The two days of rest and using the theragun worked wonders to get through the first week of doms. So far I think I'm going to like this workout regimen. The PPL days are longer with progressive overload and heavy weights, with the upper/lower days focusing on bodyweight hypertrophy. Upper was all pushups and pullups (~200 pushups and 50 pullups - which I'm realizing I'm just awful at), and lower was a 30 minute leg focused HIIT/plyo workout

I stopped doing heavy deadlifts a few months ago and don't think I'll ever do them again. There is just too much possibility of injury when there are better alternatives. I'll do them with super light weights to get that nice stretch, but much prefer a kettlebell swing to build strength along my backside.

I thought I was going crazy when I couldn't find this thread last week... Today starts my 5 day PPL-Upper-Lower program since last week was my last week of softball (won the championship in one of my leagues!). Had a really good push workout today and was absolutely gassed despite not having any cardio. Been doing straight 3x10s for the last couple of months and switched to progressive loads with a drop set today and can really tell the difference doing the progressive loads. Started out pretty light for my first set of dumbbell presses, but I'm glad I did because the rest just crushed my chest. Fly's, incline press, incline fly's, narrow press, partial fly's, decline pushups, a bunch of triceps exercises, and then finished with dips and triceps pushups. Definitely gonna feel it tomorrow for back and bis.

We usually go morel hunting, but with two little ones we didn't get out this year. I like them stupidly simple, sliced in half and fried in salted butter & garlic.

The thing about True Blood that I think people forget is that it did have quite a bit of critical acclaim the first few seasons. It had 16 Emmy nominations and 4 Golden Globe nominations. It really had a problem of going on too long where people remember some of the awful choices in later seasons (blegh... Billith....) over the high quality that was presented in the first few seasons. Dexter is another show that aired at the same time that fell to this same fate. GoT to a lesser degree, but the last 2-3 seasons being mediocre to downright awful cast a pretty big shadow over the entire series as well.

Got to do some gardening over the weekend. New house had a vegetable garden that had a tarp over it for who knows how long. Took that off and found about 1/2 dozen garter snakes. I fucking hate snakes, so that was fun. Cleared out the snakes, added some nitrogen, some new soil, and then tilled it. Soil under is pretty crap and full of clay. Planted some seeds and got some plants from the hardware store, then added humic acid & seaweed. Didn't fence it in the first night and the bunnies already took out some of my tomatoes, spinach, peppers, and all of my beets - so need to watch over those to be sure they recover and replant when necessary. Also planted some annuals and got some more ground cover & perennials for my front yard.

I'm going to vent a bit here. The mental health resources we have in the US is completely fucked. About a month ago I got a call from one of my band-mates - our harmonica player/singer took his own life. His wife told us he had been severely depressed for a while with the pandemic, but couldn't/didn't get any help to deal with it. He left behind two grade school aged kids, a stay-at-home mom, and because he took his own life, no life insurance will get paid out. The whole thing just pisses me off. Then 3 weeks ago I got a call from my sister. My 25 year old brother was in a coma from a combination of COVID and an overdose that caused his heart to stop for 5 minutes. My brother had tried to kill himself 3 times in the last 2 years. About 6 months ago my mom called every mental health facility within about 10 states to get him committed. He was 100% behind this and they couldn't find one opening in. Any that had spots couldn't take him in because they were reserved for people that were either coming from a hospital or jail. None of the places would take someone who had diagnosed bi-polar disorder and multiple attempts on their own life - because it wasn't "urgent". I'm still fuming about this part. He needed help. He tried to get help. The help he needed was simply not available in our country. Last Saturday we had to take him off life support and he passed last Monday. This was a good kid that had some pretty tough mental health issues and self-medicated in very harmful ways to try and deal with it - and there was nothing for him. So yeah.... I'm just fucking pissed right now about how absolute shit our mental health resources are

Tonight it's roasted chicken shawarma in a pita w/ homemade red pepper hummus, lettuce & parsley from our indoor garden, topped with sliced tomatoes and onions - with a side of yellow rice & parsley. My wife makes it the same, but instead of chicken she roasts up some cauliflower shawarma steaks.

Yep, edge it in with something as cheap as that plastic edging, or you could do something more complex like a small retaining wall. To get rid of the rocks, pile them up and put them on facebook marketplace or craigslist for free and they'll be gone w/in a week. Another tip is to ditch any kind of weed fabric and instead lay down some flattened cardboard boxes. This will keep the weeds out for 2-3 years and then turn into compost, at which point you'll want to put new mulch down anyway.

App won’t let me pick points because of the stupid way it’s doing calculations for 6 teams instead of 4. 15.99999999998 is not a valid confidence value Despite it being what is in the app

Screwed myself this week. No idea what day it was since we were in the hospital and not getting the greatest sleep. Had a good run though

@Tywin et al.The only thing I'm good at in this game is putting my confidence points in a good spot. I take that back. I'm also very good at getting every single Vikings game wrong.

Add another for Minnesota

Wife has been making a super good vegetarian burrito bowl that is super easy to make. Cook up some beans & tomatoes in taco seasoning, add in some instant rice & cilantro, then use that as a base for anything else you want to throw in it (sweet potatoes w/ cumin, fresh tomatoes, avocado, corn salsa, regular salsa, lettuce, chips, etc...). Delicious, easy, and pretty dang healthy.

Realized about 1/2 way through the 2nd set of games that I forgot to hit save after making my picks this week. Shame.

Red curry with potatoes, cauliflower, peas, carrots, chickpeas, and lentils. Served over rice w/ sriracha and garlic naan for myself, served straight up for my 10 month old. Yum.

Not doing well so far... already have two candidates for drop weeks and it's only week 4. I'm actually doing better in my spread pick'em

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