Fitness and prepardness.. but im tired today

[libertysnake]

So I've been lifting for a bit, but recently came across this app randomly. It's not specifically for lifting, but it is for weight management.

MacroFactor - Macro Tracker App - App Store

Download MacroFactor - Macro Tracker by Stronger By Science Technologies LLC on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and more apps…

apps.apple.com

I used an app called "MyFitnessPal" for nearly five years due to it being the best overall. However, this is the first time I've felt I've found something better. The logging is faster, the database for foods is accurate and good, and it does one thing, and important thing MyFitnessPal doesn't do: it adjusts your calorie intake based on your weight goal over time, week to week.

Right now I'm bulking. I'm targeting 0.36lbs per week as I lift to gain muscle. I will do this for another 10-11 weeks, and then begin a cutting cycle for a month or so to reduce body fat. Week to week this thing has been dialing in my exact calorie needs to hit those goals and my macros I need to hit to stay within a balanced diet of fats, carbs, and protein totals.

I love this thing. Highly recommend it. It unfortunately is paid only, and it takes a few weeks to dial in your needs, but it does have a trial of 2 weeks.

 

[Celt]

On Saturday the 11th of June I started feeling pretty tired, more than normal. On Sunday I was supposed to work out but I was way too fatigued. On Monday I tested positive for covid after a co-worker came to work sick the middle of the week before.

I have felt like dog crap all the way up to and including today. But it started much stronger and I would say I have improvement each day but I still only feel about 75% right now.

My symptoms were a serious brain fog, fatigue, and difficulty breathing. I didn't feel nauseous or have diarrhea.

I had asthma my when I was younger so I am familiar with difficulty breathing although I grew out of it a number of years ago. My breathing has been steadily hovering around 70 to 80% although my oxygen levels have remained around 98 so I'm still getting enough oxygen it just takes a lot more effort to breathe. That's been the most frustrating part, besides not being able to work out.

The wife and kids all tested positive within a couple days of me and they have all recovered more quickly. So in my non-medical opinion I would say my history of asthma made it a little worse for me.

I cant wait to get back to working out. It will probably be 2 weeks off total by the time i feel well enough to lift, and while I cant stand not working out its probably been a well needed rest.

 

[Dr. Evil]

On Saturday the 11th of June I started feeling pretty tired, more than normal. On Sunday I was supposed to work out but I was way too fatigued. On Monday I tested positive for covid after a co-worker came to work sick the middle of the week before.

I have felt like dog crap all the way up to and including today. But it started much stronger and I would say I have improvement each day but I still only feel about 75% right now.

My symptoms were a serious brain fog, fatigue, and difficulty breathing. I didn't feel nauseous or have diarrhea.

I had asthma my when I was younger so I am familiar with difficulty breathing although I grew out of it a number of years ago. My breathing has been steadily hovering around 70 to 80% although my oxygen levels have remained around 98 so I'm still getting enough oxygen it just takes a lot more effort to breathe. That's been the most frustrating part, besides not being able to work out.

The wife and kids all tested positive within a couple days of me and they have all recovered more quickly. So in my non-medical opinion I would say my history of asthma made it a little worse for me.

I cant wait to get back to working out. It will probably be 2 weeks off total by the time i feel well enough to lift, and while I cant stand not working out its probably been a well needed rest.

Listen to your body and heal up.

 

[masterswimmer]

On Saturday the 11th of June I started feeling pretty tired, more than normal. On Sunday I was supposed to work out but I was way too fatigued. On Monday I tested positive for covid after a co-worker came to work sick the middle of the week before.

I have felt like dog crap all the way up to and including today. But it started much stronger and I would say I have improvement each day but I still only feel about 75% right now.

My symptoms were a serious brain fog, fatigue, and difficulty breathing. I didn't feel nauseous or have diarrhea.

I had asthma my when I was younger so I am familiar with difficulty breathing although I grew out of it a number of years ago. My breathing has been steadily hovering around 70 to 80% although my oxygen levels have remained around 98 so I'm still getting enough oxygen it just takes a lot more effort to breathe. That's been the most frustrating part, besides not being able to work out.

The wife and kids all tested positive within a couple days of me and they have all recovered more quickly. So in my non-medical opinion I would say my history of asthma made it a little worse for me.

I cant wait to get back to working out. It will probably be 2 weeks off total by the time i feel well enough to lift, and while I cant stand not working out its probably been a well needed rest.

It sounds like you're accepting the diagnosis and being realistic with your recovery expectations. That's the first step towards getting back to being yourself. Good luck and get well soon bro.

 

[libertysnake]

Been in the gym most days during the week, but finally decided to start creatine after research. A lot of people tend to "load" creatine, but apparently it's not needed -- so I'm doing a perpetual, and variable, 3-5grams daily (not exceeding 5 grams). That should be enough to bring me to saturation in a few weeks.

 

[libertysnake]

Was reading into creatine a bit more as I started taking it at a maintenance dose (4-5g daily) over the last month or two.

Apparently it's potentially advantageous to avoid taking creatine with caffeine, per Not Another Boring Creatine Guide: Answers to FAQs and Lesser-Known Benefits

So I've been taking mine at night once my caffeine blood level is low / I won't be consuming caffeine till the AM.

Might be useful for others like @Celt who are also on creatine.

 

[Vapor]

I'm back to lifting four times a week with limited equipment. Doing some cardio in the gym but I generally hate it. Why the f would I run on a plastic thing or bang a hammer on a tire when I have trees to trim, wood to split, a garden to work on, and a dog to chase after lol. No offense to.you treadmill runners but man is it boring as hell to this hick.


I've found that trap bar dead lifts give me most of the benefits without as many risks to my back and knees. I started back super light and have worked my way up to about 245 lbs for sets of 6. I'll be happy if I just get back to repping 3 plates honestly. I'm heading towards 40 fast, repping 3 plates is way more than most at that age.


Bench press I mostly do dumbells and machines. I focus on the pump.more than the total number. I think I could still easily hit 3 plates, but it's not something at my age I wish to chase day in and day out. I want to have kids soon, and I don't want to be a broken old man like so many of my poweflifting buddies.

 

[libertysnake]

I'm back to lifting four times a week with limited equipment. Doing some cardio in the gym but I generally hate it. Why the f would I run on a plastic thing or bang a hammer on a tire when I have trees to trim, wood to split, a garden to work on, and a dog to chase after lol. No offense to.you treadmill runners but man is it boring as hell to this hick.


I've found that trap bar dead lifts give me most of the benefits without as many risks to my back and knees. I started back super light and have worked my way up to about 245 lbs for sets of 6. I'll be happy if I just get back to repping 3 plates honestly. I'm heading towards 40 fast, repping 3 plates is way more than most at that age.


Bench press I mostly do dumbells and machines. I focus on the pump.more than the total number. I think I could still easily hit 3 plates, but it's not something at my age I wish to chase day in and day out. I want to have kids soon, and I don't want to be a broken old man like so many of my poweflifting buddies.

I don't really kill myself. I push myself but my goal isn't to kill myself. I try to hit like 85% max, and land in the 8-12 rep range, but will go as low as 6 reps to increase weight if need be if I'm hitting up on 14 reps on the lower weight.

I agree better to go for slower, safer progress.

I also hate the treadmill but fuck it -- I get a good heart rate doing it and I can do it consistently over time for HIIT.

 

[libertysnake]

I think I'm going to de-load. My volume is a little too high. I'm targeting twice a week, but I'm easily hitting 15-20 sets per muscle per week. I may drop down to more like 12-16 and see if that gives me more recovery.

My weight has leveled off after gaining 4-5 lbs from creatine over the course of a month of 4-5g daily and eating about 2700 calories each day.

 

[libertysnake]

So I've been getting really in the weeds with things lately trying to micromanage my diet to optimize Muscle Protein Synthesis and I've been monitoring my Leucine intake far more. Just a heads up to y'all to be mindful of that. It's not just "eat protein" but "what am I getting with that protein?" So I've been planning my meals out more.

Some biggest sources of Leucine for me are:

Greek Yogurt (1g Leucine per 100g)
Whey protein (roughly 10% of whey protein is Leucine by protein content. So 20g protein from whey is 2g Leucine roughly)
Pea Protein (A little lower, afaik closer to 8% or 9% of the protein in it translate to Leucine. So a little under 2g Leucine per 20g protein from pea protein)

You want to land in 2-3g Leucine per meal to trigger MPS at least, otherwise you're eating protein and it's not being as effectively used for building muscle.

Anyway just what I've been digging into lately.

 

[Celt]

Good stuff man.

My lifting has been going well. Was getting 4x per week in and 1 day of rucking, but plantar faciitis kicked in so no rucking for now.

And i slept wrong one day last week and my neck has been messed up, but ive been able to largely keep lifting, but i have to exclude some exercises.

I havent checked my weight in a while but Im sure Im around 225 still. I wouldnt mind dropping to 215 though. Ive been eating good foods with balance, but i love my late night cookies and milk, and I know that it sticks with me longer now at 49ys old. In my late 30s I was 235lbs with 11%bf and I ate a big ass bowl of ice cream every night. 10 years makes a big difference.

 

[RedBreast21]

In my fifties now and I still do a lot of cardio cataleptics 5 days. 800 to 1000 reps for core and flexibility. Deticated lifting as well but not too heavy these days......1-1.5 times body weight max. Still at my discharge weight except not as lean. lol Got into rucking again since its suddenly popular. 20 years ago these ultra light back packers didn't understand me since I was using an old ALICE pack from my younger days carrying 50lbs up 1900+' of elevation. lol I'm all about functional fitness today, like to the old days in the Corps. The original cross-fit. LMAO

 

[libertysnake]

Good stuff man.

My lifting has been going well. Was getting 4x per week in and 1 day of rucking, but plantar faciitis kicked in so no rucking for now.

And i slept wrong one day last week and my neck has been messed up, but ive been able to largely keep lifting, but i have to exclude some exercises.

I havent checked my weight in a while but Im sure Im around 225 still. I wouldnt mind dropping to 215 though. Ive been eating good foods with balance, but i love my late night cookies and milk, and I know that it sticks with me longer now at 49ys old. In my late 30s I was 235lbs with 11%bf and I ate a big ass bowl of ice cream every night. 10 years makes a big difference.

If you're going for body recomp (increase muscle and lose a little fat) it's possible, but hard. My understanding is the only scenario it's possible is a "slight" deficit to calories. So you eat close to, but not exactly, your needs. Otherwise you'll cut into your muscle gains. Basically you won't make massive progress either direction, but you won't be on either a bulk to gain muscle or a cut to trim. Sort of a middle ground where you make sacrifices.

 

[Celt]

If you're going for body recomp (increase muscle and lose a little fat) it's possible, but hard. My understanding is the only scenario it's possible is a "slight" deficit to calories. So you eat close to, but not exactly, your needs. Otherwise you'll cut into your muscle gains. Basically you won't make massive progress either direction, but you won't be on either a bulk to gain muscle or a cut to trim. Sort of a middle ground where you make sacrifices.

Im not looking to bulk up, just looking to stay strong (get stronger), and be fit. Im not currently counting calories (been there, done that), but I have shrunk my portions down and dialed back on my bread intake.

We will see how things progress at my current pace, if I continue to lose bf % while getting stronger Ill be happy. Im not in a rush to push either aspect too fast.

 

[libertysnake]

Im not looking to bulk up, just looking to stay strong (get stronger), and be fit. Im not currently counting calories (been there, done that), but I have shrunk my portions down and dialed back on my bread intake.

We will see how things progress at my current pace, if I continue to lose bf % while getting stronger Ill be happy. Im not in a rush to push either aspect too fast.

At least track your protein intake. I listen to a lot of podcasts on bodybuilding while I jog. One thing they spoke about was the need for good high quality (leucine rich) protein sources to preserve lean body mass (muscle).

honestly the cheapest source is Greek yogurt. Make some smoothies and throw a scoop of whey in it with your meal and you’re golden with low calorie impact.

 

[Celt]

At least track your protein intake. I listen to a lot of podcasts on bodybuilding while I jog. One thing they spoke about was the need for good high quality (leucine rich) protein sources to preserve lean body mass (muscle).

honestly the cheapest source is Greek yogurt. Make some smoothies and throw a scoop of whey in it with your meal and you’re golden with low calorie impact.

I'm somewhere around 200 g of protein per day. Although honestly I haven't paid too much attention to leucine. I used to be quite focused on my calories as well as how many grams of protein, carbs and fats I would eat. I spent my whole life packing on muscle while maintaing bf% levels from as low as 8% up to about 12%. I havent check in a while, but if I had to guess Im probably somewhere from 15-18% right now. I call that extra my shtf insurance policy , but I am working on slowly reducing my bf%.

 

[libertysnake]

I'm somewhere around 200 g of protein per day. Although honestly I haven't paid too much attention to leucine. I used to be quite focused on my calories as well as how many grams of protein, carbs and fats I would eat. I spent my whole life packing on muscle while maintaing bf% levels from as low as 8% up to about 12%. I havent check in a while, but if I had to guess Im probably somewhere from 15-18% right now. I call that extra my shtf insurance policy , but I am working on slowly reducing my bf%.

So I know off the top of my head leucine in whey is really high. Around 10-11% of the protein in it is leucine. So if you get 20g protein from the whey, it’s 2g leucine.

for yogurt and cottage cheese it’s about 1g leucine for 100g food. Which is not bad. So if you dump a scoop of whey into yogurt you’re on target for 3-4 grams leucine to trigger muscle protein synthesis at rest.

peanut butter and nuts are about 0.5g leucine per serving roughly. And they’re calorie dense.

best bet is get unflavored whey and add it to a bunch of stuff since per calorie is unbeatable leucine content wise.

 

[Celt]

I eat peanut butter and whey daily so thats good. Also eat chicken, red meat or fish daily on top of things like eggs and other items.

 

[libertysnake]

I eat peanut butter and whey daily so thats good. Also eat chicken, red meat or fish daily on top of things like eggs and other items.

Eggs have a decent amount of Leucine. Actually egg whites specifically are on-par with greek yogurt afaik, close to 100g = 1g leucine.

 

[Celt]

Just stepped on the scale, 231.2.

Im wearing shorts and a tshirt, and i ate dinner. Im sure id be 5lbs lighter in the am. Im ok with this as I know ive lost fat over the course of the summer so im still building muscle and losing fat.

 

[libertysnake]

Just stepped on the scale, 231.2.

Im wearing shorts and a tshirt, and i ate dinner. Im sure id be 5lbs lighter in the am. Im ok with this as I know ive lost fat over the course of the summer so im still building muscle and losing fat.

Just keep a log. Day to do your body weight fluctuates. It's not a perfect science. Just care about the trend over time and that your body feels nourished and you feel healthy. Collect the metrics, but don't be a slave to them either. Listen to your body.

 

[holdover]

Some good news some bad news , Bad news is I have type 2 diabetes, Good news is I lost around 17 pounds , And my rotator cuffs finally have healed enough to lift weights. Im not kidding, it took a year and a half to heal. I tore them bench pressing. I read up on what I can do and the options were operation or heal over time. My, cousin who was serious weight lifter tore both rotator cuffs and got the surgery , He said if had to do it over he would never have done it. His was more serious than I mine , But I dont think he ever recovered from it .

It seemed like it took forever to heal , I was frustrated and started to work out with just the bar and no weights because it hurt , but it began to help , Now Im at around 60% and feeling better , No pain, But im kind of afraid to lift heavy .My motivation is for shit too. I dont have the motivation or energy like I used to.

As far as dropping weight, I cut out carbs and sugar . and what really brought my sugar levels down was riding my bike . My sugar would drop 80-100 points in matter of hours after riding my bike. Apple cider vinegar would also drop my levels down 10-20 points I ate a lot of Tuna souvakis, fish, eggs a little plain hamburger, I ll take the medicine once in a while , But I dont like to. It doesn't do a whole lot for me . exersise and dieting does wonders .

 

[Celt]

Keep after it holdover, be patient. Injuries as we get older do take forever to heal. Ive been keeping most of my weight lifting to lighter weights and higher reps for quite a while now and its helped. And when returning fr injury i just take it real slow. Dont bother pushing to fast or it will set you back further.

 

[Vapor]

I've narrowed my grip and reduced rom on bench press. It's done wonders for my shoulders. I don't think it matters if I stop 2 inches from my chest in the long run.


I've also switched to trap bar dead lifts. Done wonders for my back.


Just small tweaks that made huge differences

 

[Celt]

I need a trap bar, and i dont go deep with my db presses anymore either and i still get a good workout.

I have been thinking about a chest press machine too.

 

[Celt]

Just keep a log. Day to do your body weight fluctuates. It's not a perfect science. Just care about the trend over time and that your body feels nourished and you feel healthy. Collect the metrics, but don't be a slave to them either. Listen to your body.

Im really not concerned about my weight (the numbers). I used to seriously track everything for many, many years. As far as my weight goes Ill check it every couple of months just to see. I do keep a log though, i track every workout with exercises, weights and reps. I also keep my measurements neck, chest, arms, legs. I track muscle growth by size, and Im monitoring my fat by how much i can either grab or pinch. Ill check my measurements twice a year so as long as those numbers maintain/improve and i cannpinch less fat Im feeling good. This is the phase Im in now and have been for a while, who knows, I may get OCD about it all in the future and change up my goals, but for now Im just where Im at.

 

[camper4lyfe]

 

[libertysnake]

 

[Vapor]

Sometimes the best workout is bullshit we call life.

And I did arms.

 

[libertysnake]

Started a new mesocycle. Doing mostly hypertrophy but also added some additional vanity shit and some barbel bench for added strength into the additional slots I have. Doing 5x days per week: Monday / Wed upper body. Tues / Thurs legs and core. Friday vanity + last remaining barbel bench to round out the week. Cardio on M/W/F. Weekends off.

Lot of compound stuff overall like Romanian Deadlifts in there. Liking it so far.