Go with the flow!

[Espi]

Brain fog alert!

Apple season is over. At least my favourite apple-omelette-apple is nowhere to be found. So watcha gonna do? Try other options. ON a whim I opened a big can of cherries on syrup. And then eating allllllll of them but for a few in 1 sitting, before checking out how many carb grams I was ingesting that way. Big mistake. A whopping 180 gram of carbs Devouring nearly my entire daily allotment of carbs in 1 sitting.

Over the course of a few hours I felt my brain going into zombie mode. Not really falling asleep, but just losing it.
Just went for a walk to let blood sugar lower for a bit and get my brain function back again. It helped.. a bit. But I was sure glad the people that helped me in the PO and the supermarket were more alert than I was. Though, it wasn't too bad as I still could do the head math and count how much the 4 Pink Ladies I bought were going to cost me in comparison to the tray I'm normally getting (hadn't seen them as self-service fruit yet).

A few days ago I read something about Alzheimer that really hit home! Alzheimer was called 'diabetes type 3' or 'brain diabetes'.
I'm going to check that one out... since if anything it certainly feels like this.

In the old days I might have panicked and decided that I'd have blown it, but the day is still young, today is my high carb & calorie day anyway , so all I need to do is take out a post-workout goodie I was going to have = mango sherbet and I'll still end up around the same amt of calories I'd planned. Just not in the order I'd wanted. No big deal.

One of the reasons I ate that assload of cherries was that I'm concerned by the foul smell of ammonia during the 2 times I've now worked out in the early evening! Both times I was doing Fat Loss 2 workout B from NROL , which is the most sadistic thing I've ever seen designed.
There can be 2 factors at play here:
1 the very low calorie intake of rest day plus a lower carb intake earlier in the day makes for a HYOOOOOOGE carb & calorie deficit which sets me up for gluconeogenesis = reeking after ammonia. For some reason this didn't happen on the morning WOs I did.
2 the 2 times it happened were both on the Fat Loss 2B workouts, while the Fat Loss 2A workouts were done on a morning.

Tonight I'm going to do another FL2A workout and will see what happens.

I'm hoping (and crossing fingers) that the buttload of carbs will prevent that stench from happening again.

Or am I worried about something which isn't too important?
Just saying that ammonia smell in sweat makes alarm bells go off in my head. Last time I had this happening was when I was overtraining in a major way and eating too few carbs. No use to do this.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

[UConnJulie]

I'm not sure I've ever smelled that ... have you asked Lyle? He would be someone who would know and understand I would think.

Yes, FLII-B is NASTY (in a good way!) ... I used to love finishing it (especially since you finish lying down) ... I would just lie there and think over and over, "I did it!" (That and Alwyn's a sick bastard!)

[Espi]

Errrr.. I'm having to do a cardio session on top of that , so there's no lying down for me.
But I couldn't bring myself to do interval cardio after FL 2B, though I even managed to burn a few more calories/hr with a more or less intense steady state cardio.

Im fairly positive it's gluconeogenesis, viz. the process that your body burns protein in order to get the carbs required for energy. I had not brought all that many carbs or eaten many carbs pre workout. Just a lot of protein (eggs) and probably too shortly before the workout too (1hr instead of 2).

When I work out in the morning, this somehow never affected me as much, unless I'd go very low carb for the entire week and/or do 1 full hour of cardio at a too high intensity level.

Well, the brain fog subsided for a bit and I'll be heading for the gym in 2 hours. Time to eat my protein.

Will report back on whether or not there was that same stench again.

[Espi]

Guess what someone sent me today?

A news article on a drug for Alzheimer patients containing mostly fatty acids for ketones. I'd not be surprised if it is mostly MCT oil!!!

Just a few days ago I read that Alzheimer is sometimes called type 3 diabetes. It fully explains why I felt so sharp-witted on a ketodiet and why I sometimes lose my mind upon eating too much sugar. But yet, OTOH I need the carbs for energy during sports. But the timing really is so incredibly crucial that it sometimes drives me crazy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070611/...heimer_s_drugs

[Espi]

Thursday June 14
TRAINING NROL Lifter Fat Loss 2 – week 2 Workout A
all weights in kilograms

DYNAMIC STRETCHING /BW exercises
1 walking lunges w rotary torso (5 each side)
2 Spiderman crawl (5 reps each side)
3 Frankenstein (10 reps each side)
4 sissy squat (10 reps)
5 mixed grip chinup (1 rep)

A1 front squat
30x7
40 x 10-10-9
Not bad, but form wasn’t as good as last time. Having trouble to place barbell on the right spot.

B1 wide grip bent over row
40x10
42,5x11
45x11
Wondering whether to make it a real bent over row or stick to what I was used to, viz a Yates row. Eventually used the UH grip I was used to.

A2 bb military press
23x10-9-8
Getting progressively more difficult. Like explained, no push press in order to protect the wrists. Perhaps I’m overestimating strength here but 23 kg seems easy on paper but is hard in reality.

B2 Swiss leg curl
BW x15-15-15
Now I was just going back & forth between the weight area and the ‘abdominal workout’ room. It was not busy.

A3 dynamic reverse lunge
(10x2) x 10-9-10

My legs were feeling like jelly. So it really surprised me that the lunges weren’t a complete failure.

B3 UB Russian twist
BW+ 5kg medicin ball x 10-10-10

Cardio :
Was contemplating whether or not to do cardio, considering the jelly legs. Decided to go downstairs and have cup of java and decide later. Then I noticed a spinning class had just started and I thought “what the heck” so joined them. Had to stand up most of the time as the seat is too darn uncomfortable and the cranks too long. But still managed to muddle through till the end. In a way I enjoyed it and in other ways I thought it used to be more enchanting as well as challenging. But then again, I was feeling too darn uncomfortable as well as exhausted to make it into a hard effort training.


General: again a decent workout. Next time I’ll not have as many carbs pre-WO. No stench, but now very poor performance because of overdosing on the carbs.

Training statistics
Volume: 11247 kg
# of sets: 22 (incl. WU)- # of reps: 217 - avg reps/set :9,9 - kg/rep 51,8 kg

[Espi]

Saturday June16
TRAINING NROL Lifter Fat Loss 2 – week 2 Workout B
all weights in kilograms

DYNAMIC STRETCHING /BW exercises
1 mixed grip chin (1r) 6 supine rows (10reps)
2 knee push ups (15reps)
3 Russian twist on Swiss ball (10 reps each side)
4 lateral lunge (12 reps each side)
5 wind mill (10 reps each side/direction)

A1 snatch grip DL
WU: 37,5 x 8
47,5x10
55x10-10
Same as before.. still upping the weights.

B1 T-pushup
BWx10 normal – 2normal+8knee – 5normal +5knee
Like before, 2nd set is worst and then 3rd set improving again.

A2 BSS (OH press)
BW+(5kgx2)
Left: just BSS : 10 reps in 3 minisets / 9+1 / 5+4
Right: BSS+ real db OH press : 10r in 3 mini sets / 5r+5r / 5r+2r+3r
Focusing on the women’s locker room door is hard when there’s constantly people coming out of either men’s or women’s room.

B2 UH chinup + lat pull down
BWx2 + 44 x 10
BWx1 + 44x10
BWx1 + 45,5x10
Upping nicely

A3 BOR + RDL
40: RDLx10 + BOR x10
37,5: RDLx10 + BOR x10
35: RDLx10 + BOR x10
Next time I’m going to get help from a spotter. I’m thinking I can manage the RDL plus BOR in 1 rep as long as there’s someone else who is counting. My brain is no longer as fried as before after BSS+OH press, but I’m still unable to count AND do 2 exercises simultaneously. Should be leaving the dumb counting to a spotter! Nexst week!

B3 LB Russian twist
BWx10-10-10 (each side)
Again as a superset, still way more rest time as the prescribed 60s but.. things are improving,

Cardio : Metabolic Overdrive wk6
Felt good enough to try the interval once again. Four 60s intervals at 9% and 8,6 km/hr with speedwalking at 5km/hr. WU : 4,6 to 5km/hr. Cooling down slowly by revving up speed from 5 to 7km/hr and decreasing incline from max of 15% to around 8%
248kcal – 595kcal/hr (-19 compared to June 12)
2,41km – 5,78 km/hr (+0,28 compared to June 12)

General: Woot woot I’m not dead at the end!!! Just a tad sleepy at the start but this went away by drinking enough from the home-made sportsdrink with Endure and grape syrup slush (blegh). Took some Creatyl before which may have helped as well. But I am thinking the 20 gram of coconut helped most of all (normally 10 grams). Yay for MCT fats!

Training statistics
Volume: 13216 kg
# of sets: 30 (incl. WU)- # of reps: 245 - avg reps/set :8,2 - kg/rep 53,9 kg

[UConnJulie]

So glad that you are liking the NROL workouts!!

[Espi]

Yep. I was almost going to take a week off, because I'd promised to give a workshop on weight lifting for female runners this upcoming Sunday. Since I hadn't yet prepared all that much. So I was going to practice, practice and practice even more until I was no longer trembling of fear.

So guess what. When I called the place where I'm supposed to give the workshop they didn't know where I was talking about. Turned out they forgot to contact me it was cancelled.
Hey, I just missed out on the thing that would have made me fulfill all of the 61 day challenge requirements, had I participated.
The upside is that I'm not needing to do this gut wrenching activity and can just keep following the program.

Phew!

[ljk]

As long as you're having fun!!

[UConnJulie]

Do they have "Fun Runs/Walks" or "Bike for X-charity" where you are? I would have preferred to do one of the "fun" events where it's not really a competition, just a bunch of people getting together to raise money for some cause, but my window was pretty small and so Victoria and I are doing a 5K on Wednesday ... but we've vowed to walk it since we'll have my daughters with us in the big stroller/bike trailer thing ...

[Espi]

Well, I had only seen that 61 day challenge too late so couldn't participate. This workshop was already a promised deal since January but it fell through because of insufficient interest for an entire day devoted to running and other things.

Lifted in the evening and this is how it went

______________________________ ______________________________ _____
Tuesday June 19
TRAINING NROL Lifter Fat Loss 2 – week3 Workout A
all weights in kilograms

DYNAMIC STRETCHING /BW exercises
1 walking lunges w rotary torso (5 each side)
2 Spiderman crawl (5 reps each side)
3 Frankenstein (10 reps each side)
4 sissy squat (10 reps)
5 neutral grip chin up (2 reps, and another one at the end: 3 reps)

A1 front squat
30x8
40 x 10
42,5x10
45x10
Hm I thought to have done a 42,5 kg front squat before. Apparently not, so this is a PR!

B1 wide grip bent over row
42,5x10
45x10
50x10
Not bad without proper warmup sets. With a good WU I’ve managed 17reps before.
*duh.. forgot about the wide grip.. well still used a grip wider than shoulder's width, but not super-wide*

A2 bb military press
24x10
23x10
22x10

Works better than staying at same weight.

B2 Swiss leg curl
BW x10-10-13
Nearly couldn’t finish first set because of severe calf cramps but it settled down after drinking more fluids.

A3 dynamic reverse lunge
(10x2) x 10-10-10

Doing better than last time. First set takes the most effort (balance-wise) but I’m getting more tired as time goes on.

B3 UB Russian twist
BW+ 5kg medicin ball x 10-10-10

Cardio
Too tired to do HIIT but did up & down SS-cardio
Starting at 15% and 5,0 km/hr, gradually going down to 10% (0.5% every minute) and up to 6km/hr and back up again to 15% and down again to 5km/hr.
206kcal – 618kcal/hr (+23 compared to June 16)
1,82km – 5,46 km/hr (-0,32 compared to June 16)



General: probably because I’m not paying sufficient attention to the rest periods, this workout almost seems manageable all of a sudden! Was especially happen to manage 3 chinups at the end of the workout!

Training statistics
Volume: 122390 kg
# of sets: 25 (incl. WU)- # of reps: 268 - avg reps/set :8,9 - kg/rep 55,6 kg

[ljk]

3 chinups! Woot woot.

[Espi]

Thursday June21
TRAINING NROL Lifter Fat Loss 2 – week 3 Workout B
all weights in kilograms

DYNAMIC STRETCHING /BW exercises
1 chinups 3-2-1-1 rep in 30s
2 knee push ups (13reps)
3 Russian twist on Swiss ball (10 reps each side)
4 lateral lunge (10 reps each side)
5 wind mill (10 reps each side/direction)
Smith machine where I normally do my supine rows as a WU was taken.. a rarity: by a girl doing squats. Alas
- using a neck roll
- only doing quarter squats with a small amt of weight
But at least it was a start

A1 snatch grip DL
WU: 40 x 8
57,5x12
60x11-12
Again, still upping the weights.. loving this

B1 T-pushup
BWx4 normal + 6 knee pushups – 10 knee – 10 knee push ups
Why do I progress like mad on DLs and go back on T-pushups.. probably because T-pushups are too much darn work on balance.

A2 BSS (OH press)
BW+(5kgx2)
Left: just BSS : 8+2 / 1+9 /1+9
Right: BSS+ real db OH press : 6+4x1 / 6+4x1 / 5+ 5x1
Still having a hard time concentrating.. yet, it doesn’t feel anymore as if this is a totally impossible exercise. Perhaps one day, even before I’m ending this FL 2 program I could try an OH press for the left leg as well

B2 UH chinup + lat pull down
BWx1 + 45,5 x 10 for 3 sets
45,5 kg is only 1,5 kg more than last time but it was really coming out of the toes. Next week we’ll see what happens at 49kg.

A3 BOR + RDL
42,5: RDL+BOR x10
40: SLDL+BOR x10
37,5: SLDL+BOR x10
Counting really loudly at the end of each BOR. Used a mixed grip and.. then at the end of a sloppy first set decided to do a stiff-legged DL as technically a RDL has always been difficult for me.. stiff-legged is easier for the brain.. not really easier to do, but easier for coordination.

B3 LB Russian twist
BWx10-10-10 (each side)
Paying slightly more attention to timing.

Cardio : Metabolic Overdrive wk6
Did 2 sprints and then got a nasty feeling in my feet, and decided to switch back to ‘high octane’ SS-cardio = have HR sit almost at anaerobic threshold the entire time = easier than sprints.
Slow sprints at 8,6 km/hr and 9% , steady walking at 5km/hr.
Afterwards: increase speed from 6 to 7km/hr and drop incline from 15% to 10%.

223kcal – 608kcal/hr (-10 compared to June 19)
2,14km – 5,84 km/hr (+0,38 compared to June 19)

General: Very satisfied again especially with the snatch deadlift improving so much, and the same with lat pull down as well as finally managing to do a stiff-legged DL and a BOR in 1 rep. T-push ups are going down because I’m unwilling to kill myself with regular pushups like before, probably because I want to do the DLs more badly and realizing that pushups are just plain hard.
Was almost surprised at to how much energy I had considering I’d forgotten my sports drink. Bought a small drink , and had an espresso at the end to help me survive the cardio session.
Reason of survival is probably that I’ve raised calories a bit more on my rest days and also took extra coconut fats in the meal preceding the lifting (a wonderful raspberry coconut omelette!)

Training statistics
Volume: 10735 kg
# of sets: 31 (incl. WU)- # of reps: 239 - avg reps/set :7,7 - kg/rep 44,9 kg

[ljk]

you put shredded coconut in the omelette?

[Espi]

All the time. I'm buying packets of 400 gram each at my local ethnic food shop.
I've tried creamed coconut last week and got nauseous, but saw expiration date was a long time ago.. been keeping it too long without using it. Shredded coconut just tastes better. Perhaps the creamy coconut is better in meals that have curry sauce and things.