GIFt us your lifts! (or other achievements!)

thank you @nossmf. You go through life and hear certain things people say (time flies, I wish I knew then what I know now etc. etc). But I wish I knew 27 years ago (when I first started lifting with purpose) what I know now about MY body and how it responds to training and food. The meal planning and macro manipulation has taken me the longest to dial in like it with precision. I’m not one to live in the past, I’m very thankful to keep getting after it. Thank you for the compliment brother.

My CPK level when tested a couple of days after it happened (first dr visit) was over 7,500. Within a few days of ridiculous amounts of fluids and bathroom trips, they were down to 1,100.

@kinetixtrainer2 ain't that the truth about "if I knew then what I know now" kind of thing. If I had today's knowledge and willpower, with the natural testosterone of my 20-something self, the results would be spectacular! But I was really lazy back then, and it's taken decades to undo the physical toll my sloth did on myself.

knowing the correct amount to eat and macro ratios, volume/frequency and recovery balance. I did not fuel my body properly.

They didn’t want there to be evidence in case things went bad. 😅 and thank you brother. This reverse dieting has been very eye opening and somewhat mysterious to me. I’m back up to 192lbs now but 192lbs on the way back up is a much leaner 192 than it was on the way down.

So thoughts on what handle to use for tricep pushdown? Ropes, / \ bar, — bar? I don't like the — bar. / \ bar seems easier than the ropes. Eventually I am going to work in different triceps exercises but that is probably a month away still.

@nossmf agree 100% on the straight bar about wrist pain. I feel i get better isolation and harder work with overhead extension, laying down but I'm still easing back into things and making sure I keep things aligned to keep going (example - work ran late and didn't hit the gym until 8:30pm last night; did 24 sets in less than 45 minutes which meant dinner was about 10:30pm unfortunately).

@stljam that's the reason I get up at 4:30 to get my workout done BEFORE work each day.

I'm really trying to get 6-7 hours of sleep a night but it's a struggle to hit that consistently.

@KickassAmazon76 Thanks so much! It went fine overall. Here's a race breakdown:

This was my 5th triathlon, if we count the miniature indoor one on stationary bike and treadmill I did in early April as a warm-up.

SWIM I did all my training in an indoor pool with 88F water. Jumping into 77F water was a shock to the system, and when I put my face in to start, I breathed in some water and that was that, had to swim the first 100 (of 400 meters) with my face above water, so VERY slow. A guy on the side started coaching me, it was so bad. All the people I'd been standing in line with were passing me until about halfway, and then I got it together and made up some time. The guy in front of me was struggling too, so I passed him . . . but at the same time the guy behind me tried to pass me (wide lanes fortunately) so we were all kind of chaotically swimming on top /beside each other for a crazy minute but it didn't bother me much because I was no longer panicking, just mad at my bad start.

Jogged into T1 (transition from the swim to the bike), found my spot at the rack, caught my breath, and stood there for a minute thinking "what just happened?". Got my helmet, socks, and biking shoes on (NB, buy actual bike shoes without laces for next time and perhaps look for a used triathlon or TT bike on FB Marketplace), jogged with my bike to the mount / dismount line and started out of the park for the first of four 3 mile loops.

BIKE The city hosting this race is very pro-bike and even though I once again got passed quite often, people were incredibly nice: "On your left! You're doing awesome!" Of course I was not, at an average pace of 14 mph, but still. I'd been worried, since I always bike solo, about riding in a group during the race, but even on the only technical part, a U-turn, I managed not to run into anyone else when a group of four of us all took it together. The volunteers were so enthusiastic that it made parts of the 13 mile ride fun. Then on to the second transition and the final stage.

RUN It was the hottest part of the day by this time but it felt good to be running. My average pace was about 5.5 mph (33 min and some seconds for the 5K), not bad considering the weather and the all out effort in the first two legs of the race. Very few people passed me at this stage, and I even passed some runners to come in 5th place of 17 in the run for my age and gender bracket. Also - - -it will take more than 3 miles for me to drink Gatorade if water isn't available. Gag!

Conclusions My bike fitness improved a lot this summer (avg pace went up from 11 to 14 mph), and my run is as fast as it was back in my 30s when I did a few half-marathons—though I can't go that far yet. And the swim . . . the standard advice is always to practice in conditions as close as possible to the actual race, something I did not do. But I finished the sprint triathlon and learned some things, so yay.

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@nossmf Excellent. So you're joining me on the cardio side of the gym. . . ha ha ha [rubs hands with glee].

Just kidding, of course. Those 12%-13% incline treadmill climbs you've been doing all along are no joke. I got my treadmill up to 9% one time . . . very briefly.

Do you run at 14-15% incline? WTF!
I have done a 18% incline walk for 45 minuts once…torture! Legs were shaking more than when i did 100KG squats for 40 reps in a row

3 mph = about 4.5kmh
So yeah that makes a lot more sense
When i did the walk at 18% it was at a speed of 6.5kmh ( when i walk without incline i walk around 7.3-7.5)

"Only moved" 195 for 5x5…I remember when you were excited to get 195 for a single rep! Yet here you are doing it for 25 reps, after a prolonged break from lifting. Give yourself credit where due, sister.

no metal involved, just an “other” achievement.

I did my first handstand Saturday. It was assisted, but I got all the way up, and with straight arms.

I’ve been terrified. My grandma broke her hip at my age and never fully recovered. But, when we got paired up, I lucked into a woman I know is an extraordinary athlete and trusted her completely.

I also (on the first try) got a new pose called Fallen Angel. It looks easy but let me tell you, it is not. And I got it on both sides. 👍🏻

It’s nice to still be getting “wins” in yoga!

other achievements:

I did 2100 yards in 60 minutes in the pool last week, which is a PB. (Slow and steady, that’s me.)

On the “metal”(ish) side, I’ve upped my hand weights in cardio to 15 and 20’s for almost everything. I went looking for a 35s for deadlifts and 45 for goblet squat but someone had moved them to the weight room, so I settled for a pair of 25s. (Bearing in mind this cardio and fast paced.)

I guess the new arthritis med is helping 😅

Slept through my alarm clock this morning, awoke to sunshine in my eyes and realizing I was in danger of being late to work, let alone missed my workout. Guess my body needed sleep more than it needed to hit the gym, so no regrets, but I will be moving my Tuesday pull day to tomorrow and only have one cardio day this week.

Just goes to show, @KickassAmazon76 , that even us "got it together" peeps experience workout setbacks. All we can do us shrug our shoulders and move on.