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Prison Cubicle Training again

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I know I’ve said this before, but it isn’t just the muscles that weaken from an extended (2 week) layoff. The motivation and drive fall off a cliff. Even though I have the desire to do something, the thought of digging down deep makes want to just “wait until I have more mental energy”. That is folly, it is never coming back. It will show up after I re-establish the habit of doing it. I don’t just mean doing the exercises and training either, I mean pushing farther than I think I am capable of. Uggggh. It’s early, it’s cold, it’s very cloudy which is depressing and completely uninspiring. In fact it’s not just uninspiring but it is anti-inspiring. I love me some Texas for many reasons, but the weather is not one of them. Winter here is depressing, it’s like living in London or Seattle. I am a child of light, I need the sun. Being overcast for weeks at a time with spots of momentary sunshine here and there is getting harder and harder for me to deal with.

2/19/2019 Tuesday

Yesterday I managed to force myself to do pushups to failure. I was able to grind out a set of 52, total failure on the concentric phase of #53. That was good, I wasn’t sure I could do more than 50 early on in the set. I took a video of myself doing them on my phone, and was surprised at how poor my form appears. I am conscious of using good form, but apparently my proprioception is off. That’s not a big deal though, it is an easy fix: raise my hips higher and they will be in line with my shoulders and ankles, and don’t look directly down at the floor, tilt my chin a bit more forward. Think kissing the floor rather than touching my nose to it.

8:40 – Windshield Wipers x 8; bent knees, my right side (problem area) is just frozen solid, so I just stayed in the bottom position to the left and focused on relaxing into the stretch. It feels a little better, but I could barely get back up off of the floor. The core muscles did not want to work with me.

– Split Squats x 10/side. My right glute feels significantly weaker, even though I think it is actually the stronger side. That is the side I leap off of when jumping over things. On this exercise (and all glute/leg exercises going forward) I focused on driving my foot into the floor and attempting to externally (laterally) rotate it. Like I was screwing something into the floor with my foot.

I wonder if hydration is part of my issue right now? I think I’ll make sure that isn’t the case, I’m going to chug back about 16 ounces of water right now.

9:45 – NOS + Protein powder + ACV

– Handstand Press x 7! New personal best! Total failure after 7.

– Yoga Pushups x 90; failure, good pump. This is my follow up from yesterday.

10:50 – Handstand x 7 seconds; this was an attempt to just do a handstand without using the wall. I did a few 1 and 2 second attempts in which I lost my balance, then I got longer one of about 7 seconds or so.

– Reverse Lunge, non-alternating x 25/side; focused on “screwing my feet into the floor” again, this really does move the focus to the glutes. I am sucking wind too, definitely out of shape after my recent downtime.

– Triceps Flex x 30 seconds; dug as deep as I could

3:30 – BCAA + NOS + ACV

– Handstand Press x 5

– Box Step ups x 5 per side; woohoo! Anything to keep moving dontcha know

Have a Great Day!

Lubimûr

Supplement Research

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I’ve been taking a pre-workout (NOS Blast) that I just randomly picked up at Walmart, so I decided to vet out the ingredients since I have seemed to have felt some benefit from taking it before I train. I am going to admit that it could be a placebo affect because as I’ve said before, when I take I feel motivated to push harder because I don’t want to be a poser. I don’t want to be that guy that takes a bunch of supplements but never gets in shape. Why bother and why waste the money?

Citrulline Malate

High levels of ammonia increases feelings of fatigue, and it is removed via the Urea cycle. Ammonia is converter to urea and is sent to the kidneys to be peed out. The more ornithine available the faster ammonia can be removed. Citrulline has the ability to double both arginine and ornithine (which the body reconverts into citrulline) levels in the body.

L-Arginine is not very bio-available, whereas citrulline is very bio-available as a supplement. Citrulline is converted into arginine in the body and is far more bio-available. Arginine helps remove ammonia AND is required to release NO.

Nitric Oxide Cycle – an increase in nitric oxide leads to a greater pump. This is the cycle in which arginine converts into citrulline, and this conversion process also produces some Nitric Oxide (NO). From there the citrulline gets converted back into arginine, and round and round she goes. NO increases blood flow by causing blood vessels to relax, giving you the good pump.

So increased citrulline improves the body’s ability for physical work output, improves endurance, and reduces fatigue. It also appears to increase the release of growth hormone after exercise and reduces delayed onset muscle soreness. Also improves ED. It looks like based on my research that citrulline malate is inferior to L-citrulline. Apparently it is a combination of L-Citrulline and L-malate, the second of which does pretty much nothing for you in terms of increasing NO. So only half of the amount per serving is actual citrulline.

Citrulline Malate- 8 grams, or 4 grams of L-Citrulline

Beta Alanine

3 sources of ATP; ATP-CP system (first 1-3 reps, first few seconds of sprint, 1 rep max – basically 3 seconds of max effort), then Anaerobic Glycolysis (which produces lactic acid and hinders glycolysis), then Aerobic. Beta alanine gets turned into Carnosine which acts as a lactic acid “buffer”. This allows you to use glycolysis longer. This will lead to one-2 more reps (8-15 reps), high intensity aerobic activity (rowing) when training between 60-240 seconds per. It clears lactic acid faster, and lactic acid slows the recharge of ATP-CP system.

OVER 200 POUNDS 5-6 grams over the day, taken with meals

Under 200 pounds 4 grams should be fine.

Creatine

Creatine phosphate which is stored in your cells adds it’s phosphate molecule to the ATP which you use during the ATP-CP (explosive) phase of working out (the first 3 seconds basically). So reps 2-4 are still around 90% of your 1 rep max. Black dudes genetically store more creatine phosphate than white dudes. Once the creatine phosphate supply runs out the body switches to the anaerobic system. This system can’t produce as much energy.

5 grams creatine supplement per day has been shown to be 80-100% bio-available, which leads to a 15-20 % increase in creatine phosphate stored in the muscles. Increase in creatine phosphate stores means the body needs to store more water in the muscles to accommodate them. Also helps increase glycogen stores. Supplementation has been shown to reduce headaches in children with brain injuries.

If you take 20-25 grams per day for a week you will reach full muscle saturation levels. After loading, then 5 grams per day for maintenance phase. If you only take the 5 gram per day dose it may take up to a month to reach full saturation.

Studies suggest that it can be taken any time of day, not necessary to take pre-workout. There appears to be no need to cycle off; a 2003 study showed that there were no ill effects after 21 months of continuous use.

Taurine

Taurine helps balance electrolytes in the cells, forms bio-salts, supports nervous system, can help decrease blood sugar levels and lower blood pressure. May increase the muscle’s ability to contract, reduces metabolic waste in muscles allowing them to work longer without the “burning”, increases fat burning in humans during exercise. Aids in osmoregulation. Acts as an anti-oxidant.

500-1000 mg / day

Summary:

Citrulline has the ability to double both arginine and ornithine. Important because ornithine converts into citrulline which converts into Arginine which removes ammonia and releases NO in the process

Beta alanine gets turned into Carnosine which acts as a lactic acid “buffer”. Lactic acid slows the recharge of ATP-CP system (explosive 1 rep max power), plus removing lactic acid allows you to use glycolysis longer.

Creatine phosphate adds it’s phosphate molecule to the ATP which you use during the ATP-CP (explosive) phase of working out.

So it looks like Beta Alanine works synergistically with Creatine.

The breakdown should be as follows:

Creatine: 20 grams/day for 1st week, 5 grams/day thereafter for maintenance – any time of day

Beta Alanine: 4 grams/day – taken with meals

L-Citrulline: 4 grams pre workout

NOS Blast Pre-workout

Citrulline Malate: 750mg/scoop – nowhere near enough

Beta Alanine: 1.6 g/scoop – close if taken 2x per day

Creatine: 2.55 g / scoop – good if taken 2x per day

L-Arginine: 1.5 g/scoop – Probably unnecessary

Taurine: 1g

Choline: 150 mg/scoop

Caffeine Anhydrous: 150 mg/scoop

Have a Great Day!

Lubimûr

Week of 01/22/2019

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Didn’t do any training yesterday, the warden was in an absolutely miserable, foul mood. Up my butt all day long, just pissed off about everything, looking for any and every problem or mistake she could find, even made up a couple of mistakes that were not legit. When I pointed out that they were correct, she said “well change the way it looks! I don’t like it!” Anyway, I could go on, but what’s the point? It just reminds me of the premise of this journal: to keep me focused on escaping prison, not making it pleasant or tolerable.

01/22/2019 Tuesday

10/15 – BCAA + NOX

10:25 – 100 Pushups App x 15, 13, 15, 17, 16, 16, 14, 14, 50; 2 min rest in between. 170 totals reps. Total failure on last rep, not sure how I completed it. I barely locked out on rep 49, but did lock out on 50. I think I would have injured myself if I’d tried to lower myself back down.

I may have to stop doing these at work because the rest period is turning this into a 20 minute workout. I’ll see after the next one because it is going to be fewer total reps, so I’m guessing it will be more reps per set with fewer sets, which translates into fewer rest periods and less overall time.

01/23/2019 Wednesday

9:40 – BCAA + NOX

– Neck Mobility Drills

10:00 – Handstand Press x 7, 3, 2; 2 min rest; total failure on each, did eccentric phase after each last rep, o final set got back off the ground part way before giving out.

– Sphynx Tricep Extension x 18; failure, intense burn, maybe had 2 more but couldn’t dig deep enough to find out.

– Yoga Pushups x 75; not quite failure, but close enough. I was roasting and my elbows and chest were on fire.

10:40 – Sphynx Tricep Extension x 25; failure; elbows very close to body and near bottom of rib cage

Have a Great Day!

Lubimûr

Prison Cubicle Workout Week of 1/14/2019

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I’m not going to be as consistent recording my activity level this week, it is truly the week from hell.

01/14/2019

10:30 – Neck Mobility Drills

10:47 – BCAAs + Protein Powder + NOS + ACV

10:55 – Handstand Press x 6, x 2; 90 second rest; total failure on both, couldn’t lock out on rep 6, made it up past ½ way though, and kept trying to push higher for about 4 seconds; touched head to floor on rep 2 of 2nd set and couldn’t budge an inch; had to stop for blood sugar, 61 mg/dl.

11:05 – Lunch: Brussel Sprouts, onions and sausage;

01/15/2019 Tuesday Payday!

Payday! Been here since 6:55, worked 7:25 – 5:45 yesterday, no lunch. F this, I’m taking some pump time!

8:25 – BCAAs + NOS Preworkout + ACV + protein powder

8:35 – 100 Pushups App x 14, 14, 15, 15, 14, 14, 10, 10, 50; failure, was only supposed to do 44, and wasn’t sure I’d be able to. Before I started it I thought to myself “I can do as many as I can and then pause to finish out the reps.” No need. I almost couldn’t lock out on #50, and did not go back down after that either.

01/16/2019 Wednesday

10:20 – BCAAs + Protein Powder + NOS + ACV

10:30 – Yoga Pushups x 150!; failure, really focused on keeping glutes and lower back relaxed so they didn’t assist, except the

– Sphynx Tricep Extension x 10; close to fail, maybe 12 or maybe maybe 15, not likely though. Elbows in line with mid-ribs; no rest after pushups

Warden keeps coming by my desk, something’s changed in her attitude, not good. Very uptight, she came by while I was typing the above; going to have to keep typing to a minimum.

12:30 – BCAAs + NOS;

12:40 – Sphynx Tricep Extensions x 25; had to stop several times but total reps was my goal, try not to flex lower back or glutes

– Stiff Leg Dead Lifts – 92; not full ROM, torso to parallel, arch in back, not returning to fully upright

Have a Great Day!

Lubimûr

Still Not Sure Why

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01/0/2019 Thursday

One thing I know for sure is, I want to exercise. I want to be healthy, I want to be in shape. I am sitting here completely overwhelmed with the amount of work that needs to be done this month, particularly the next 14 days, and I am struggling to justify doing any training. I am resentful. I have reached a point where there are some days that a little 3 minute blip isn’t going to be enough. I have made good progress, I feel stronger, and I can feel my muscles starting to grow. I can also feel that I need to do more warmup in order to do the push I need to keep progressing. That’s the thing, if I just wanted to stay fit and mobile, then I could do a little something throughout the day, which was the original intent. But I want more! I may not know why, but dang I want to push myself. I want to walk the stairs because I’ll be backpacking in Oklahoma the last weekend of this month, and I want to be better prepared than I have been on previous excursions. I want to get to the point that I can realistically do the Rim to Rim. I want to continue feeling strong like I do right now, or even stronger.

Maybe I just want to train so badly right now because I hate what I do? I mean, I am looking at a potentially insurmountable mountain of work. And there is no reward for putting all of the overtime it is going to take to get it accomplished. Hell, I still may not even have a job next month, forget about being recognized for the effort. Or compensated for sacrificing my home life for it.

No, I don’t think it’s that. I’ve had some good recovery downtime and I can feel it in my muscles that they will be growing soon. They are tight, and get the pumped effect with minimal effort. It feels so good to be there. So why not just do the prison cube maintenance during the day and then get in intense workouts when I’m at home? Because the workload takes everything out of me both mentally and physically. I don’t even have the mental resolve to do my dinner dishes after work. I just want to go to bed after dinner. Plus I’m required to spend so much of my day here, there isn’t enough actual time away from prison to do it. Also, now that I am 52, I don’t have the same energy I had at 30 (shocker right?). So trying to get in better shape while trying to have a life working all these hours just isn’t feasible, I have to sacrifice something. My 30 year old coworker has no problem working late every night and then making time for his hobbies in his off time. He requires less sleep, rest and recovery than I do. I don’t want to sacrifice something just so work can get even more of me than it currently gets. It already gets too much, and now it is demanding even more. No, just no.

OK, end rant. I am not a victim here, I need to start practicing my internal locus of control. What is the solution? Spread it out. Go ahead and continue with the just move stuff throughout the day, but at some point (maybe when the warden goes to get lunch) do something hardcore. Instead of the Pushup app just do pushups to failure, maybe do it twice with a 1 minute rest. Then the rest of the day just drop and do a quick 10. Triceps are easy, updog triceps extensions are very challenging so they don’t take long to reach failure. So really the real challenge are the Pushup and Squat apps, and stair training. I can fry my shoulders in 5 minutes doing handstand pushups, I can do squats to failure. I just need to have one muscle group that is the target, make sure I hit that one with max intensity once or twice, then supplement with cubicle movements, plus add variety for the other groups like hamstrings, glutes, calves, or whatever that aren’t the target focus over the course of the entire day. Not ideal, but workable. Not the best tasting lemonade, but it beats the hell out of straight lemons.

Have a Great Day!

Lubimûr