# Pylon's Journal v6 - Downhill Slope



## Pylon (Jan 21, 2014)

Funny, I looked back at v5 and realized not much changed since then.  So here's the recap...again...

"Maxed out a few years ago at 350. (The one pic in my gallery is from then.)

Got down to 240.

Got back up to 280 or so. 

Have been back and forth."

Now that we have history behind us...

It's always tough to come back after a while and admit a) you're not where you once were, b) you need to recommit and c) you're better off not doing it alone.  

Haven't put my whole plan together yet.  Likely to go back to HIT + cardio work.  Always worked well for me, and I enjoy it, which is a huge plus.  I travel a lot for work, so this will be a good way to keep myself in line.  That's the idea anyway.  

More to come...


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## Pylon (Jan 21, 2014)

It must be working.  Getting back in here inspired me to get back in they gym as well...

WU - elliptical, 10min

DB lat raises - 10x10, 112.5x10, 15x10 - Some stiffness in my right shoulder on these.  No surprise, as I've beaten them up pretty good over the years.  Will see how it feels tomorrow.  

BO DB rows - 20x10, 25x10, 32.5x10 

Standing BB curls - 30x10, 50x10, 55x6

Tri pressdowns - 60x10, 60x10, 60x10
SS bench dips - bwx5, bwx5, bwx2

took a couple of laps on the track to cool down after.

Nothing to write home about, other than my first lifting session in months.  It was really tempting to try to load up on the weight, but took it slow, focused on form and cadence.  Felt pretty good, though I'm sure tomorrow will be different story.

Food so far:

egg white omelet w/ spinach and chicken breast
sm bowl chili (bison, beef, tomatoes, spices)


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## Pylon (Jan 21, 2014)

I forgot what an impact gym time can have on grocery shopping.  

Hit the market after a shower.  Loaded up on the right stuff (kale, sprouts, tuna, spinach, eggs, etc.)  Got back, put down a couple of chicken breasts from the batch I grilled last night, then back to work.


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## yellowmoomba (Jan 22, 2014)

Welcome back Pylon


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## Pylon (Jan 22, 2014)

Thanks YM!  good to be back!


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## Pylon (Jan 22, 2014)

dinner last night was grilled tuna, kale and roasted cauliflower.  Also a really nice mango relish for the fish.  And plenty left for lunch.


Breakfast was an omelet with chicken and kale.  It didn't work all that well, and it was bigger than expect (emptied out the egg carton).  But about 3/4 of the way through, I had a revelation.  I don't have to eat the rest of it. 

I know that probably sounds odd, but I've been conditioned most of my life to eat what is put in front of you.  So I try to make sure portion-wise I'm setting up the right way, and sometimes that works.  Getting my head to kick in and push away even clean food is a good sign that I'm where I need to be mentally.

I also found a recipe for paleo jerky in the oven.  Beef, salt, spices. I'm not doing full paleo, but using some of it to guide food choices.  Anyway, I have several pounds of ground venison, and I'm really the only on in the house who likes it, so I'm making a batch of jerky today.  Could be a great way to use it up.


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## Pylon (Jan 22, 2014)

Cardio day.  I forgot how boring it can be.

1 mile on indoor track.  No time on this, just wanted to get back in the habit.  Felt pretty good, could have gone further but ramping up slowly.

30 min elliptical.


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## Pylon (Jan 22, 2014)

Lunch - the remaining roasted cauliflower from dinner (which I have to say was pretty awesome), chili (it's clean, don't worry)


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## Pylon (Jan 22, 2014)

Dinner- mixed veg, grilled tuna. And the start of a nasty headache.


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## Burner02 (Jan 22, 2014)

what the heck is a KALE? is that like seaweed? Headache? Drinking enough water? Ok.....I can' do a 'carriage return'....(hit the return, next line down) how annoying. Anybody else having this issue? Hiya Py!


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## Pylon (Jan 23, 2014)

Heya Burnsie!

The headache is all shoulder based.  It's weird.  My left shoulder has taken a pounding over the years from having a laptop hanging off it.  (I'm sure you can relate.)  A couple of years ago I started to get crippling headaches, like couldn't stand up headaches.  I was working at a hospital at the time, so they ran me through all kinds of test and found nothing.  Turns out, the culprit was my pillow.  I had a new one, and something about the thickness was wrong for me, and it kept getting worse.  I switched to a thinner pillow, and all was well.

A few months back I tried a standing desk, which also helped, so I think the issue is I tend to lean on my left elbow when I'm sitting.  I also learned that if I stand all day, I tend to lean on my left hip, which didn't help either.  So I think the answer is probably somewhere in between.  I'm about to move my office from the basement to upstairs, and I think I'll spend some time on design so I can go back and forth.

And yes, kale is like seaweed, I guess. But tasty when cooked right!


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## Pylon (Jan 23, 2014)

Breakfast - egg white omelet with bacon and mushrooms, heavy on the pepper.  Nice.

Soreness is in control, noted but not impairing anything.  That's just where I wanted it.


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## Burner02 (Jan 23, 2014)

dang...get that worked out....I'm actually, very office based now. Most of my bases have or are closing down so I do not travel as much. Of course, the place I am in now...people keep breaking my shit! So I have to go out, a lot. Today...right after I had my cup of pre-workout coffee...that was at 1500....it's now 2130 and just got back to the office 45 min ago. All caught up on emails, last check of this and headed to bed. Start fresh tomorrow...


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## Pylon (Jan 24, 2014)

Oh leg day, how I've missed you....


WU - 10 min elliptical

Leg ext - 60x10, 90x10, 105x10
SS Squats 45x10, 95x10, 135x10

Calf press - 180x10, 270x10, 360x10

Run 1 mile

Woof.  Took it slow on the weights for lifting to still ease into it, but it sure felt good to squat again.  

The run after lifting was rough.  Again, no timing, just wanted to get a full mile in and keep my form upright and smooth.


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## Pylon (Jan 27, 2014)

Welcome back from the weekend!

Took Sunday as a cheat day, since we were hosting a birthday party.  Still stayed mostly away from sweets.  They just don't appeal to me all that much, honestly.  But lots of carbs to be sure.

The really good part is that all the leftovers are of the fresh fruit and raw veg type, so they will be more than welcome come mealtime.

Back in the gym today for upper body work.  Soreness in my legs wasn't bad at all, so I think I pushed just hard enough last week.  After this week we will start to really ratchet up.  Of course, I'm on the road next week, which might make it tough, but worse case I'll keep the cardio load high and take a week away from lifting.  Not horrible, but not optimal.


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## Pylon (Jan 27, 2014)

Breakfast - egg white omelet w/ bacon, mushrooms and lots of pepper.

Lunch - steak and blue cheese salad.

Workout:

WU - elliptical, 10 min

DB flat flyes - 15x10, 15x10, 15x10 - could have handled more weight, but my right shoulder was cranky for some reason, so stayed light
SS smith incline bench - 50x10, 50x10, 50x10

DB pullover - 30x10, 40x10, 50x6 - cut short with shoulder issue
SS CG pulldowns - 75x10, 90x10, 105x10

DLs - 115x10, 135x10, 165x10

cooldown - elliptical, 10 min

Felt great other than shoulder issues.  DLs really winded me, loved them.  All around pretty good workout!


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## Pylon (Jan 28, 2014)

Wow, feeling that workout this morning.  Nice soreness in all the right places.

Here's something really interesting.  Last summer I tweaked something in my back and irritated my sciatic nerve.  I've been dealing with pain in my left leg ever since.  Not crippling, just nagging, though it was pretty bad at the start.  After those DLs yesterday, though, the pain has vanished.  Gone.  Not a trace.  Weird, right?


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## Pylon (Jan 28, 2014)

Cardio day - 2 miles on the track.  Not timed, but in the 20-25 min range.


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## yellowmoomba (Jan 29, 2014)

Pylon said:


> Wow, feeling that workout this morning.  Nice soreness in all the right places.
> 
> Here's something really interesting.  Last summer I tweaked something in my back and irritated my sciatic nerve.  I've been dealing with pain in my left leg ever since.  Not crippling, just nagging, though it was pretty bad at the start.  After those DLs yesterday, though, the pain has vanished.  Gone.  Not a trace.  Weird, right?



No pain = GOOD


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## Pylon (Jan 30, 2014)

Rest day yesterday.  Feel like shit this morning, no idea why.  Headache (shoulder related) mostly, but just dragging.  I'm guessing it's from the change in my diet and the dropping of carbs.  It'll pass, I'm sure.  

Pretty good soreness from lifting Monday in my chest and arms.  Not debilitating by any means, but enough that I'm taking it a little easy.  Today is leg day, looking forward to that.

Next week I'm on the road.  I doubt the hotel gym will have what I need for lifting days, but there may be an alternative close by I can use.  If not, my plan for next week (and any time I'm on the road) is to make sure I eat as clean as I can and get in cardio sessions each day.  If I miss a week of lifting, I'll just pick it up when I get back and not stress over it.


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## Pylon (Jan 30, 2014)

Leg day....

WU - 10 min elliptical

Leg Ext - 90x10,90x10, 120 x 10 (up 15 lb)
SS Leg Press - 150x10, 150x10, 255x10

Calf Press - 180x20, 180x20, 300x20

I've now made it through the whole HIT cycle, and can start working on ratcheting up the weights.  Leg extensions are the only lift that shows up twice in the cycle, so I've made the note on having the load go up.  My plan is to stick with this setup of 2 warm up sets and one heavy set.  

Run - 1 mile

Cardio the day after legs always sucks, and cardio right after legs is no better.  My hope is that doing some light plodding will increase blood flow and reduce soreness.  No idea if it will actually work, but seemed to with leg day last week.

I've also noticed that the limiting factor on running for me, now anyway, is not getting winded but is muscle endurance.  I want to try to get in runs often to build up stamina, preferably not on a treadmill.  I tend to land a lot harder on them for some reason, and would prefer to keep the knee stress down if I can.


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## Pylon (Jan 30, 2014)

Started in on thermogenics this week as well, forgot to mention that.  Also put in an order for creatine that I'll start on this weekend.


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## yellowmoomba (Jan 31, 2014)

Why creatine ?   That made me put on weight.  Just curious....


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## Pylon (Jan 31, 2014)

The thinking is I can use it to build up muscle mass and improve workout intensity overall.  Kind of a jump start into the long program.

Yes, there is some water retention, but it's not about weight, right?  It's about fat.  I don't care if I put on another 50 lbs if my BF drops significantly in the process, you know?

But we'll see.  If I go on it for a while and don't feel like it's making a difference, I can always drop it.


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## the_predator (Jan 31, 2014)

Damn, where have you vets been hiding? Good log Pylon


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## yellowmoomba (Feb 6, 2014)

Pylon said:


> The thinking is I can use it to build up muscle mass and improve workout intensity overall.  Kind of a jump start into the long program.
> 
> Yes, there is some water retention, but it's not about weight, right?  It's about fat.  I don't care if I put on another 50 lbs if my BF drops significantly in the process, you know?
> 
> But we'll see.  If I go on it for a while and don't feel like it's making a difference, I can always drop it.



You have to do what works for YOU    Everyone is different.  I know I added 15 lbs of "weight" when I first found out about creatine back in 1997.....(makes me feel old)  LOL   

Where ya been this week?   Get those workouts in!!!!!


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## Pylon (Feb 10, 2014)

Hey, not gone, just on the road.

I spent this week in another town (won't say where, but great BBQ and tacos).  Knew that I'd have a rough week for training, but not like this.

Essentially spent each night with teammates, both at meals and after.  Tried to keep intake reasonable, but it did get a little out of whack.  Work sucks kind of stuff.

Anyway, back on home turf, eating clean this morning, already looking forward to my lifting session.


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## Pylon (Feb 10, 2014)

OK, turns out tomorrow is a lifting day, not today.  I'll get in a cardio session later then.

Also realized that, after having been gone for a week, I was perilously low on anything I could eat in the house.  Oh, there's PLENTY of leftover pizza though.

Sigh.

Managed to find some leftovers that would work (but probably should have been tossed).  Food run this afternoon.


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## yellowmoomba (Feb 11, 2014)

Time to get back on the wagon


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## Pylon (Feb 11, 2014)

yellowmoomba said:


> Time to get back on the wagon



consider it gotten on.


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## Pylon (Feb 11, 2014)

Lifting day.  This is going to start being fun again, since I'm in the second rotation of the HIT cycle, which means I can start measuring improvement.  First two sets on each are WU.

WU - Elliptical, 10 min

DB lat raises - 10sx10, 10sx10, 15sx10 - Up 4 reps.  Still getting grief from my right shoulder on this.  Weird.

BO DB rows - 20sx10, 20sx10, 40sx10 - Up 7.5 lb each side.

Standing BB curls - 30x10, 30x10, 55x10 - Up 4 reps

Tri pressdowns - 40x10, 40x10, 70x10 - up 10 lbs
SS bench dips - bwx5, bwx5, bwx4 - up 2 reps


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## Pylon (Feb 13, 2014)

Did some running today.  Not a lot, but enough to count.  Clean food yesterday and today.  Tomorrow will be a different story for dinner tho, as I've been requested to make my nearly world famous eggplant lasagna.  Tough to do on low carb, but whaddaya gonna do?


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## yellowmoomba (Feb 14, 2014)

Pylon said:


> Did some running today.  Not a lot, but enough to count.  Clean food yesterday and today.  Tomorrow will be a different story for dinner tho, as I've been requested to make my nearly world famous eggplant lasagna.  Tough to do on low carb, but whaddaya gonna do?



"...whaddaya do?????"   More cardio to burn off those extra carbs     Gotta pay for that cheat meal   LOL


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## Pylon (Feb 14, 2014)

yellowmoomba said:


> "...whaddaya do?????"   More cardio to burn off those extra carbs     Gotta pay for that cheat meal   LOL



Well, I'm lucky that it is coming on leg day.  Heavy lifting today!


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## Pylon (Feb 14, 2014)

Dumb.  DumbDumbDumb.

In the gym for lifting day. First two sets are WU...

WU - 10 min elliptical

Leg ext - 60x10, 60x10, 120x10 (up 15 lb)
SS Squats 95x10, 95x10, 185x10 (up 50 lb)

So far, so good.  And then...

Calf press - 270x10

I know better than to go heavy on a setup that I'm not comfortable with.  I know better.  Really.  But there isn't a real calf setup, so I'm using the hack squat machine instead.  And I've never felt comfortable with it.  The brake is a little weird, and I'm never 100% sure if I pull up or down to engage it.  Today on the first set, I pulled down (which was correct, BTW) and lowered slowly, but it didn't catch where I thought it should, so I pulled it back up.  It was just at that moment I felt it start to catch.  The end result it I missed the stop, and had to take the load all the way to the bottom and get out.

Nothing major, but it tweaked it tweaked the inside of my left knee and my back a little.  The back was a cramp which released after a minute of stretching.  The knee, though, it still barking a bit. Decided not to try to finish the lift or any cardio after.  Will take it easy for the weekend and see how it responds to rest.

Dumb dumb dumb.


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## Pylon (Feb 16, 2014)

So the knee is still stiff, but is significantly better.  Looks like any real damage has been avoided.  *whew*


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## yellowmoomba (Feb 28, 2014)

Well..........how's the recovery?

Hope you can get back at it


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## Pylon (Mar 25, 2014)

Took time off to let the knee rest and make sure it wasn't injured beyond a tweak.  The good news is it feels pretty good again.  Not great, but enough to get back to work.

I'm going to focus on a couple of things, starting with intake.  Started the Whole30 plan yesterday.  Pairing it with low impact workouts, mostly cardio/body weight for now.  The plan is to do this to get things back on track, with the intent of ramping back up after 30 days.


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## Pylon (Mar 27, 2014)

Day 3 in the books.  Nice and clean.  Felt great this morning.  Breakfast is sweet potato hash (one of my very favorite new things),eggs, strawberries and coffee.  Good times.


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## yellowmoomba (Apr 1, 2014)

Pylon said:


> Day 3 in the books.  Nice and clean.  Felt great this morning.  Breakfast is sweet potato hash (one of my very favorite new things),eggs, strawberries and coffee.  Good times.



That sounds like a good breakfast......


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## gwcaton (Feb 18, 2015)

just passing thru


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