Movember Eve

Twas the night before Movember, and in unit 608
My clippers are stirring, full of spite and hate
With bad intentions for my five o'clock shadow
While in the background were echoes of Rachel Maddow

OK that was really bad; you try rhyming "shadow". The point is this: Halloween is also Movember Eve. For those of you that don't know about Movember, it's a month of growing a moustache with donations to benefit testicular and prostate cancer research. My rugby club has done this for many years and, although I don't play any longer, I still participate in raising some coin for a cause I believe in and having some fun with my ex-teammates and friends. It seems to go over well in finance, especially with out of towners who don't know me as being mustachioed.

My Mo Space is right here; I'll be updating as we go through the month with some pics of myself as well as great staches in history. I'm currently displaying former Cubs' closer The Shooter Rod Beck and Iron Mike Ditka. So give early and give often; prostates and testicles all over the world need your support.

Seriously for a sec: a couple of my good friends went through treatments for testicular cancer and were incredibly lucky. It's a cause I feel very strongly about and it resonates with me. You don't have to donate to me, but have a look, have a read and support someone.

Da Coach

The Training Week That Was - 10/21 - 10/27

“Reality's all you've got. But here's the real secret, the real miracle: it's enough.” 

― Brad Warner, Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies and the Truth About Reality


By popular request, I'll start slipping in some of my diet as I've been getting some hits on Twitter asking about Carb Backloading.

10/21
Back Squat 60x3x2 90x3 110x2 125x2 140x2 150x5 130x5 135x5
(150 felt shitty, didn't warm up enough; not enough reps)
Front Push Press 50x3x2 75x2x2 87x2 92x5 97x4+1
Iso DB Fat Gripz OH Press 3x8 60lbs
DB "Chinese" Row 100lbsx8 110x8 115x8x2
GH Raise/Lat Pulldowns
Cal Back Ext/Curls for the Girls/Four Way Neck

10/23
High Hang Snatch (Max Double) 50x2x2 60x2 70x1 80x1 82x1 90x1 95x1 100x0x2 (made one @ 100) 97x0x1 - Down Sets 80x3x3
High Hang CJ (Max Double - Clean, Jerk, Drop, Clean, Jerk) 60x1x2 80x1x2 95x1 105x1 110x0x2 95x1
Down Sets (Three Cleans + Jerk the last rep) 90x1 95x1 100x1
Safety Squat Bar Squat 3x5 @ 120
BB Rollouts + Cal Back Ext - 5 Sets each
Weighted Planks 2x10+10
DB Side Bend 2x10

10/24
Light High Hang Clean Work (my timing is off, going to the toes way too early)
Behind Neck Strict Press 50x5 55x5 52x5 52x5
Chins 4x5
Axle Pendlay Rows 4x10 + Four Way Neck x100

10/25 (low "box" is 25kg plates, bar at about mid-shin)
Lower Box Snatch 40xsome 60x2x2 70x2 82x1x2 90x1 95x0 95x1 100x1 105x0x2 102x0x2
Down Sets 85x2 87x2x2
Lower Box CJ 50xsome 70x2 90x2 100x1 110x1 117x1 122xFJ 122x1
Down Sets (2 Cleans + 1 Jerk) 100x1 105x1 110x1
Front Squat up to 115x3 120x3x2
Cal Back Ext 5x10
Hanging Leg Raises and Reverse Hypers

Nutrition:
Wake-Up @ 520am
Coconut Oil/Whey Isolate in a two shot Americano at 6:30
Another one at 9am
11am: Salad from Noodles and Co, Cioppino Stew, string cheese, 5g fish oil, 10g creatine
3pm: Coconut Oil/Whey/Coffee during training
6pm: PWO Shake: Two scoops of Muscle Feast Anabolic Recover w/ 5g creatine and leucine

Hourish Later:
Small bag of Surf Sweets Gummi Bears
One small spotted banana
30g Whey Isolate w/ Leucine and Creatine
Half a baked yam
Little bit of homemade chicken korma

Hourish After That
S'more/Chocolate Chip Cookie (gluten free, from my friend Claire at Simply Sweet Justice. Will post recipe when she posts it)
Small Bowl of Rice Krispies in Raw Milk (poor planning; ran out of cereal)
Shake w/ Leucine

10/26 - Off-Day Sample Nutrition
5:20 wakeup
One coconut oil/whey/coffee during the day, then mainline green tea the rest of the day
(I avoid coffee during off days after the first one to keep the caffeine down and diversify my sources. Plus green tea is wicked good for you and I'm fighting getting sick. If I'm blasting coffee and I miss a night or two of sleep, it fries it pretty quick. Plus our coffee at work is awful, so I prefer to make it at home in my Aeropress)
11:30am Cioppino + fish oil, string cheese and small salad
4:30pm Three eggs over easy in coconut oil and some leftover homemade barbacoa.
8:30pm More Cioppino and an epsom salt bath

10/27
Snatch 40x2x2 60x2x2 75x1x2 85x1x2 92x0x3 92x1 97x1 102x0x3
(bar kept getting too far out in front on 92. All wasted lifts.)
CJ 50x2x2 70x2x2 90x1x2 105x1 115x1 120x1 125x1 130x0x2
Clean Pulls 130x2x2 135x2 140x2 145x2 150x2

I'm being more mindful of my warmups. I'm guilty of coasting through them instead of really ripping them up, so I'm focusing on snapping them off. It definitely made me a little inconsistent as I got to limit weights, but I think it'll pay dividends in the future.

10/27 Nutrition
7am wake-up
Coffee, slug of coconut oil, creatine and whey
Coffee only pre/during training
Train 9-11:30am
Isolate/Creatine/Leucine PWO shake
90mins PWO(?): Chipotle Salad
330pm:  Garbanzo Greens Salad w/ all the veggies
7:00: Whey/Leucine shake, baked yam, another smore/choco chip cookie/adobo chicken w/ 5g fish oil
8:30: Whey/Leucine shake, bowl of Cocoa Krispies in raw milk, choco chip cookie
10:

My longest sets of squats are sets of five and everything else is in a very low rep range, so I'm not really blowing through glycogen. My biggest mistake on my first go round of CBL was definitely overdoing my carbs; my backloads are pretty tame compared to what you'll read some people putting down. I also keep things as gluten free as possible, which was biggest mistake #2. Wheat and I are not friendly, especially in concentrated doses. About the only pastries that I get after during a backload are turnovers, baklava or Udi's Gluten Free muffins. Tip on the Udi's: DO NOT buy the ones from the freezer. Get the ones sitting out in the bakery section.

I'm also staying off the scale. I'll start sweating making weight (94kg = 207lbs) when I'm closer to meet day. When I hit the scale consistently, I tend to get fixated on the number rather than paying attention to my lifts and the mirror. In lieu of the scale, I'm using a pair of jeans as my "Fatass Barometer". Yes, dudes evaluate the fit of their jeans. I have a pair of 34" waist jeans that fit perfectly when I'm on point. If those start getting tighter, I know I need to either scale down my backloads or do more work.

The Training Week That Was - 10/14-10/20

10/14
B Squat 135x2 145x5 150x5 155x5
Front Push Press 60x3 70x3 82x5 87x5 92x5
Iso DB Press w/ Fat Gripz 55x8 65x8 60x8
Chinese-style DB Row 95x8 100x8 110x8 115x8
Lat Pulldown/GH Raise superset
Back Raise/Neck/YWLT Raise/Curl (for the girls) superset

10/16
Snatch + Abv Knee Snatch 60x2x2 70x1x2 82x1 90x0 90x1 95x1 100x0x3 - 82x3x3
CL Pull + Abv Knee Clean 60x2x2 80x1x2 100x1 110x1 120x0x2
Pull+Abv Knee Pull+Abv Knee Clean 100x3
(This explains a lot about where my mind was: I actually cleaned for singles up to 115 before I realized I was supposed to be doing doubles, so I started over. Genius at Work)
Back Squat 110x5 120x5 125x5
Back Raise 5x10 - 40lbs
Ab Wheel 3x15
Rev Hyper 2x12

10/17
Behind Neck Strict Press 3x5x50
Chins - 25 reps
Lat Pulldown 4x10
KB Split Press 16x5 20x5 24x5
Fat Grip Batwings

10/18
Low Box Snatch 60x2x2 75x1x2 87x1 95x1 102x0x2 100x1 105x0x2 - 85x2 87x2 92x2
Low Box Clean 60x2x2 85x1x2 97x1 105x1 115x1 122x0x2 120x1 122x1 125x0x5 - 100x2 102x2 105x2
F Squat 112x3 117x3 120x3 125x3
Rev Hyper 2x20

10/19 (had to train four days straight because I have a charter exam for work all day Saturday)
Snatch up to 82x1 then 6x2 Snatch Pulls 90x2 100x2x2 110x2 115x2x2
Clean to 112x1 then 5x2 Clean Pulls 110x2 120x2 130x2x3
OH Squat (muscle snatch it up) 3x5@50 1x5@60


Trying to fix my clean pull as it has been going shitty for some time now. I still have fifteen weeks to go til Iceland, so plenty of time to fix it and get things in gear.

The Training Week That Was (and Beerfest) - 10/7-10/13

10/7

Back Squat - 125x2 135x5 145x5 152x5 (PR)

Front Push Press - 70x5 80x5 85x5

Iso OHP - 45x8 55x8 60x8 (w/ Fat Gripz)

DB Rows 3x8

Fat Grip Batwings 5x10

GH Raises/YWLT Raises

Cal Back/Neck/Curls/Planks

10/9

Snatch + Abv Knee Snatch to 92x1 97x0x3 (made snatch, missed the hang x3)

Snatch + (Abv Knee Snatch x2) 82x3x3

Clean Pull + Abv Knee Clean to 115x1 120x0x2

Clean Pull + Abv Knee Pull + Clean 100x3x3

Back Squat 120x5 125x5 130x5

Cal Back 4x8

Planks/Hanging Leg Raise/GH Raise

10/10

I had a broker dinner this night, so I snuck in a quick upper back day at the Glendale YMCA. They have kettlebells in pairs up to maybe 48kg(?), two platforms, two squat racks and bumper plates. The bars are godawful, but you can't always get what you want. Highly recommend if you're in the Glendale area and need a decent place to train; plus, the rugby pitches are there and always open, so you have someplace to sprint.   

10/11

Low Box Snatch - 80x2 87x1 95x1 102x1 107x0 105x1

Doubles - 85-90-92

Low Box Clean - 95x1 105x1 115x1 122x1 127x0x2 125x1 

Doubles - 100x2x3

Front Squat - 110x3 115x3 120x3

Cal Back - 4x8 50lbs

Chinese Arches/Ab Wheel

10/13

Snatch - 70x2x1 80x1 82x1 92x1 97x1 100x1 105x1 (PR) 110x0x2

Clean -  70x2x2 90x2 100x1 112x1 120x0x2 122x0 115x1 120x1 

Reverse Hypers 1x15


So 10/12 was Great American Beer Fest in Denver. I'm not a massive fan of enclosed spaces with large numbers of hammered people, and I'm not a huge fan of getting smashed up, so I've never been. One of my training partners is an engineer and did some work for a new brewery (Hogshead) that named a beer after him (Barge's Mild), so he came across some tickets. So Friday basically involved beer drinking and walking around from 5-11pm. I do think I found a good protocol for minimizing the effects of a night out: epsom salt bath right before bed with some food (I went with Cocoa Krispies and leucine/whey shake), contrast shower when you wake up (mine was at 6am; finish on cold) and then back to sleep for another hour or two.

Two thoughts on Saturday's max day:
1. It's an illustration of "sometimes your best lifts come when you feel like shit". This is solely based on personal experience that I can lift OK on not much sleep as long as I make fewer attempts. The body can absorb a TON of stress and fight/flight pretty damn well. It's a risk/reward to consider and, as Jim Laird is fond of saying, you have to pay to play. I might have changed plans if it weren't a max day, but the whole purpose of the max day is to put some pressure on yourself, achieve the highest possible training effect and seek new records.

2. Missed opportunity. I smoked the 100 and 105. A well rested and recovered Kyle would have taken 110 for a better ride. The first try was my only really credible attempted; I Clark'd the shit out of the second one. I'm seeing both sides and trying not to dwell too hard on this aspect, as it's really early in my meet prep.

Having said all that, I'm gonna say this: you gotta live your life. This doesn't mean this "Work Hard, Play Hard/YOLO" bullshit that people like to use as an excuse to make some terrible choices. Catch phrases from a top-40 rap song are not justification for your shitty vices. Do some stuff and have some new experiences.

Quick Beerfest writeup - Beerfest Favs were both from the same brewery: Heavy Seas had both a Bourbon and a Cabernet beer that were AWESOME. They were the kind of beers that you want to drink on your porch at sunset, possibly with a cigar if you're into that sort of thing. They were LEGIT. I'm no connoisseur of beers, but I know what I like and what tastes good. If I want something drinkable, I'll go for whatever they have as far as Colorado craft beer or a black and tan. On the beach, I want all the Longboards I can find.  

The Training Week That Was - 9/30-10/6

An entire week free of back pain is a win in my book. I did get a little tweak on Sunday from the push-pressing, but I've been pain free the rest of the week. You'll notice I haven't been doing jerks at all; the overhead work seems to have been what was causing the spasms. I'll give it another week to let things heal up a bit more and then add jerks back in when I change exercises after this upcoming week. My contingency plan is to rotate split jerks if they continue causing issues.

9/30

B Squat up to 140x5

Back Push Press up to 90x5 95x4 (back locked up)

Iso DB OH Press 3x8

Hip Thrust vs Bands

Pulldowns/Iso Neutral-Grip Pulldown/YWLT 

Core x100 

10/2 - Complex(ish) Day

(Snatch + Abv Knee Snatch): 82x1, 87x0, 85x0.5 (made snatch, missed abv knee)

-Down Sets (Snatch+Abv Knee Snatch+Abv Knee Snatch) 70x3

(Clean Pull + Abv Knee Clean): to 115x1 

-Down Sets (Cl Pull+Abv Knee Pull+Clean) 90x3

Clean Pull 3x2

B Squat 120x5x3 

Hypers 4x12/Planksx60/Rev Hyper 1x20

10/3 - Upper Body Assistance Work (no squats, no quick lifts)

Chest Supported Row 4x10

Iso DB Bench + DB Chest Sup Row 3x10+10

Fatty Pullups 5x8

Pulldowns 4x8

Sled Drag Row - 2 trips

Pull Apart/4 Way Neck/Axle Curl x50 of each

10/4 

Low Block* Snatch 70x2x1 80x1x2 85x1 90x1 92x0x2 92x1 95x1 97x1; Down Sets 80x2x3

Low Block* Clean  80x2x2 90x1x2 100x1 110x1 115x1 120x0x3; Down Sets 90x2 95x2x2

F Squat 110x3 115x3x2

Hypers 4x12

Rev Hyper 1x20

10/6

Snatch 80x1x2 87x1 92x0 92x1 97x0 97x1 99x0; Down Sets 80x2x2

Clean 80x2x2 95x1x2 107x1 115x1 120x1 125x0; Down Sets 100x2x2

Rev Hyper 1x20

(My low block here is a 10kg plate and a 25kg plate; bar started just below my patellar tuberosity. I think one more cycle with bar just a bit lower, then I'll move the box/hang work higher.) 

The Training Week That Was 9/23-9/29 and Carb Backloading v2.0

Training 9/23 - 9/29

-Nothing

-Absolutely nothing

-Zero

My back has been giving me fits since Estes Park. I've been trying to train though it with zero success. With that in mind, I've done something that I haven't done in probably a year: I did nothing. No training. No sled dragging or Prowler. No reverse hyper. No yoga. No bar work. No tempo work. Nothing. I saw the chiro twice this week and my back hasn't felt this good in ages. Proof will be in the pudding as I'm restarting training for my next meet tomorrow. 

On to vastly more interesting topics: Carb Backloading. I've tried a number of different diets with my training, from Carb Cycling to a modified version of the Warrior Diet to Intermittent Fasting. I have found my most success from Carb Backloading and its sister plan, Carb Nite. I used Carb Nite for ten weeks right after my last meet and moved from 214-202 and lopped an inch and a half off of my waist, which has stayed off. I must say that I would HIGHLY recommend people try a wide variety of nutrition programming (including ALL of the previous programs) and see what works for you.  

So the basics of carb backloading: skip breakfast, stay ultra low-carb and stick to protein/fats/veggies during the day, train hard and then pound high glycemic carbs til bedtime. That's the 50,000 ft view; the actual mechanics are much more detailed than I can (or should) go into in a blog post. I highly recommend you pick up the book and read it for yourself. There are literally about fifty pages of references for the protocols to scratch your nerd itch, and these protocols are backed by the science. 

I won't go into big picture details, as none of these ideas are mine and I want to protect Kiefer's intellectual property. I will, however, give you some details on what has been optimal for me specifically. This is my second go round and I learned quite a bit from my first run of CBL. 

1. Gluten free is the way to go: I've never had any noticeable issues with gluten in my life. Having said that, I experimented with going gluten free for a week of backloads and the results were fantastic. No bloating, no feelings of impending doom, no issues with sleep and no morning-after carb hangover. I stick to white rice for my first post-workout meal, typically a bowl from Tokyo Joe's, a stir-fry at home and/or a yam and sweet potato. I get a little dirtier for my second meal, which is usually a bowl (or three) of Cocoa Krispies (with raw milk), some Rice Krispie treats or a Fro-Yo. I'm also terribly partial to Udi's gluten free muffins. The cinnamon and chocolate are the shiznit. 

 

2. Paleo is the way to go: I'm no expert on the Paleo diet, but it's very tough to make an argument against the idea of eating whole foods from smart sources. Carb-Backloading, within the Paleo realm, is still incredibly easy. Sweet potatoes, white potatoes, bananas, mangoes and cherries all make excellent high-glycemic backloading foods. Personally, I've noticed that I don't get as good results when my backloads are high in fruit, so I stick to the potatoes with a mango or banana or the side rather than the other way around. Honey and agave aren't the best ideas either, as they're actually quite low on the glycemic response scale. 

3. Find your upper and lower ranges: The first week I pushed the backloads very hard to see my upper limits and the second week I pushed them low to see my body's response. For me personally, staying at the lower end and cleaner works best as far as refueling and feeling good. It's probably a function of my style of training (Olympic weightlifting) that I stay at the low end as it isn't terribly glycogen depleting. Carb backloading isn't a one-size fits all protocol; you need to dial up the particulars for your personal situation. 

4. Watch out for too much fat in the morning: My "breakfast" is typically coffee with a half scoop of whey isolate and some combination of coconut oil and heavy cream. When I go overboard on the fats in the morning...the phrase "gastrointestinal distress" some to mind. If/when you go too far, you'll know. 

I like to think of the whole backload process as an extended post-workout shake. Pretty much the entire fitness industry agrees that a post-workout shake is a good idea in most cases. The ideal shake is typically high-glycemic carbohydrate and a fast acting whey protein, rich in leucine. So imagine the backload process as multiple meals within the post-workout window rather than a single meal. 

So that's that. Visit Dangerously Hardcore. Read the book. Listen to the Biojacked Radio podcasts, either on Soundcloud or through the Dangerously Hardcore website. Be open minded. Ask questions. I've implemented both diets with success. Be moar healthy and moar awesome. 

So I Baked: Big Whoop, Wanna Fight About It?

This past weekend I did something I hadn't done in ages: I baked. After almost a year living in my current utilitarian hovel, I finally managed to use the oven. And since I had a ginormous zucchini from a friend's garden, I went looking for zucchini bread recipes. Preferably with chocolate.

What I found was a recipe for MOIST Chocolate Zucchini Bread from Denver, Colorado's own Juli Bauer of PaleOMG and Crossfit Broadway fame. I did make a couple minor tweaks to her recipe (sorry Jules):

-I went with almond butter instead of sunbutter (1:1 exchange), purely because I already had an unopened jar of Justin's Nut Butter. A well-prepared baker would've bought Justin's chocolate almond butter. Next time. 

-I also dropped two scoops of Muscle Feast Whey Isolate into the batter. Anything to squeeze in a little extra protein whenever possible. And yes, I realize the high temps from baking probably denatured the protein a bit.   

SIDE NOTE: (People always seem to mention protein denaturing when you cook with protein powders like it's the end of the world, but never when you cook with meat or eggs. The main point of cooking is to denature and break down foods (not just the Precious protein powders), which in turn makes them easier to digest and more bioavailable. Do some Googling on the Tron and you'll see that cooking our meats and plants has had a tremendous impact on our evolutionary path.)

And that's it. Follow Juli's excellent recipe and you should end up with a couple loaves of an awesome cake/bread-type thing that stays really MOIST. Mine didn't rise a whole lot (I probably shorted the baking powder), so keep that in mind. I took both loaves into the office on Monday morning and they were terminated with extreme prejudice by 10am by the entire trading desk. 

(I didn't frame my pics quite as awesome as she does, but you get the idea)

(Mini-Band from Elitefts.com; supersetting band pull-aparts and grating zucchini is great rotator cuff prehab)