Week 8: 159.2

I’m back in the game, and heavier than I’ve ever been before.

No need for extra food — the extra sleep payed off.  Making the post-workout meal into an 8 block meal probably helped too.  I’ve still been doing a decent amount of metabolic conditioning, but I’m going to try to keep those sessions especially short in the future (10 min or below).  I’m also moving into a 3-week, Performance Menu-style hypertrophy cycle, which will be followed by a 3-week strength cycle.  If all goes well, I should have reached my target weight by the end of the strength cycle.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, which means it’s time to completely destroy my insulin sensitivity with stuffing, sweet potato pie, and the like.  My goal for tomorrow is simple: to eat until I pass out.  In a way, I feel like I’ve been “training” for Thanksgiving for the last two months.  I’m going to crush this holiday.

Week 7: 157.2

No marked gains this week, even though I’m faithfully pounding 22 blocks per day.  I’ll be doing a couple of short fasts this week, and trying to get plenty of sleep.  Late night carousing last weekend really messed up my sleep schedule.

I’m also going to try to reapportion an even larger number of calories into my post-training meals (up to 8 blocks protein, 10 carb, crapload of fat)

Ben managed to catch up with me very rapidly…I’m not sure what’s going on there.  I suspect that he’s started eating at McDonalds on a regular basis.  That’s cheating dude…

Fat 400m

I was convinced that I would take a hit on my performance in metabolic workouts as a result of weight gain.  I continue to be pleasantly surprised.

Today, I ran 4 400m sprints (with ample rest and active-recovery between).  I managed 68 seconds (a new PR), 69, 70, 70.  Improvements in running form/efficiency have made a big difference; what’s more, the added bodyweight really didn’t seem to make a difference.

Progress Quest

Woohoo!

Recent weigh-ins:  154.4 and today: 157.4!

I’m going to set 165 as my initial goal weight and I think I can easily get there within the month.  Still have a lot to improve on as far as eating goes…and a lot more milk to drink!

Crossfit Football is pretty fun, but after reading Practical Programming I might switch back to SS and milk some more linear gains while I’m actually putting on weight.  Thinking about adding some O-lifts in there as well.

An Ode to Fat

Oh Fat!

Poor pariah of the “four food groups,”
Some dumb dipshit at the FDA
Sold your deserved reputation away.
Spuriously associated with obesity and heart disease.

Most misunderstood of macronutrients
On the stomach, unsightly, hated.
In the stomach, you leave one sated.
And, in my mouth…delicious.

Quiet king of culinary ingredients,
Good cooks know your goodness well.
Rich in calories and flavor and smell,
And often solid at room temperature.

Oh fat!
You put the goo in goodness,
And the fact in satisfaction.
And, so I sing your true praises to the ignorant world.

Week 6: 157.0

Starting my second week at 22 blocks.  I’m going to do a nice, long fast today — about 20 hours.  When I break the fast, I’ll try to get in about 16-18 blocks before bed; there’s no way that I can eat 22 blocks in 5 hours…

I’m really not enjoying my food anymore.  Eating is a chore, and even the smoothies make me feel full.  On the bright side, I’m continuing to grow, and to make measurable improvements in strength and overall work-capacity.  Can’t wait to cross the 160 lb threshold.

Life in the 22-block zone

Today was a decent example of an average training day at 22 blocks.  Training today involved a morning track workout (running drills and 100m sprint intervals), and an evening strength workout (shoulder press 2-2-2 at 90%).  I did the morning workout fasted, eating my first meal at about 12pm, following the workout.  Dinner measurements are eye-ball estimates, and dinner today involved a little bit more “cheating” than usual as far as quality of calories; everything else was actually weighed and measured.  Block notation is (protein, carb, fat).

Meal 1, six-block smoothie, post training (6, 7, 25):
2 cups milk, 4 tbsp whey
1 cup blueberries, 2 cups strawberries, 1/2 cup grapes
2 oz cashews, 1 gram dark chocolate

Meal 2, six-block smoothie (6, 4, 30):
2 cups milk, 4 tbsp whey
1/2 cup blueberries, 1 cup strawberries
2.5 oz cashews

Meal 3, dinner, post training ~(6, 6, 30):
5 oz fish, 1 cup milk
1/3 banana, 1 vegetarian egg roll, 3 tbsp “Firnee” dessert (homemade — had to try it…)
2 tbsp peanut butter, 1 tbsp olive oil on fish

Meal 4 (4, 2, 30):
3 eggs, 1 oz cheese
1 cup spinach, 2 grapes
3 strips thick bacon, eggs cooked in bacon grease

For a total block count of 22 protein, 19 carb, 115 fat.  I felt somewhat full, but still reasonably energetic all day.  The high percentage of liquid calories definitely helps to keep my stomach from being uncomfortably distended during the day.  I think that increasing the amount of liquid fat will also help.  I’m going to buy a ton of coconut milk to get me through the next couple of weeks.

Does this make me look fat?

I really am getting fat…

No need to use calipers and do a body-fat assessment.  I can look in the mirror and see a spare-tire forming around my midsection.  I no longer have the abdomen of a male model, and I have to admit, that makes me a little bit sad.  But, there’s more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking.

Robb Wolf is emphatic on this point: you need to be willing to tolerate some fat gain in order to make substantial gains in strength and muscle mass.  I suspect that I’ve gained at least a full pound of bodyfat since starting this program 5 weeks ago.  Considering that I’ve gained a total of 5 lbs bodyweight, that’s not too shabby.

So far I haven’t seen any negative effects of fat-gain on my performance in CrossFit metabolic workouts.  It will be interesting to see how things go when I do workouts with lots of gymnastics work.  “Tabata Something Else” is coming up this week, so we’ll see how that goes.  At some point, I expect that my performance in bodyweight exercises is going to decline somewhat, because I’m essentially gaining weight as fast (and possibly faster) than my body can adapt.

Right now, my only concern is that my pants seem to get smaller and smaller every week.  The waistline isn’t even the problem…my thighs are getting huge.

Week 5: 156.6

Time flies when you’re getting fat…

It’s already the start of Week 5, which means that I’m increasing my block count to 22 blocks per day.  I’m going to hold that block count for the next four weeks.

I’m not doing a gallon of milk a day (GOMAD) yet, but something like that is going to be necessary pretty soon.  I’m going to try to eat at least two, 6 block liquid-meals each day.  The other two meals will be solid/real food, probably involving oatmeal or sweet-potatoes for carbs, but I’m also going to try to work in some steamed spinach every day, just to keep some “balance” in my increasingly fruity/starchy diet.

It’s Gain Time?

So yeah I don’t post a whole lot but I’m gonna try and get some updates down and hopefully post more regularly.

Past weigh-ins: 149.6, 151.4, 152     Making slow progress up just by eating and training heavy.  These are all morning weigh-ins in my boxers.

Training:  Switched over to Crossfit Football (amateur/offseason) and it’s quite enjoyable.  A fun mix of Starting Strength and some heavy/short metcons and sprinting.

I’m going to start easing into a gallon of milk a day approach.  I’ll update on how that’s going in a week or so.

Everybody should read Practical Programming if they haven’t, it’s wonderful.