Next Week...

...I could be AWOL. 

I'm getting some help from a man that knows a good deal about DIY after a lifetime in the building trade (he just so happens to be my mother's husband's father) - in order to replace my bathroom with the new bits and pieces. We had a quote from a chap to simply do the job. But other than the new bathroom, what did I stand to gain?

This way I can learn some incredibly useful skills as well. The money also is less - and will be going into the pocket of somebody I know/like, rather than a complete stranger.

May 21st - Food

Most notably went the pub last night, after a brief gaming session at my mate's flat. I had only 1 Pint of Beer - the rest was fruit juice.

Breakfast (8:00 am):

3 Whole Eggs scrambled.

1 Pint Chocolate Milkshake (2% fat).

Meal 2 (11:00 am):

200g Mince Beef (11% fat), Onions and Gravy.

1 Apple.

1 Banana.

Lunch (2:00 pm):

200g Mince Beef (11% fat), Onions and Gravy.

1 Apple.

1 Pear.

Meal 4 (5:00 pm):

1 Pint Milk (2% fat).

1 Pear.

Dinner (7:30 pm):

250g Pork Shoulder Steak.

Meal 6 (10:30 pm):

1 Pint Milk (2% fat).

100g Mature Cheddar Cheese.

Meal 7 (1:00 am):

200g Chicken Breast Meat grilled, with mixed salad and sauce (chicken shish kebab basically).

-- bed --

Water: 8+ pints.

Leg Day

• 3 x 8 (per shoulder, total of 6 sets) Sandbag Shoulder Squats
  
• 3 x 5 Sandbag Bear-Hug Squats
  
• 3 x 60 seconds of up-hill running with Sandbag
  

May 20th - Food

Breakfast (7:30 am):

1 Pint Milk (2% fat) with 25g of Whey Protein.

Meal 2 (11:00 am):

3 Whole Eggs and 50g Mature Cheddar Cheese Omlette.

1 Apple.

Lunch (2:00 pm):

150g Pork in a homemade Chinese style sauce.

70g Walnuts in some honey.

1 Apple.

110g Yoghurt.

Pre Workout Meal (5:00 pm):

1 Pint Milk (2% fat).

1 Apple.

1 Banana.

-- workout, leg day --

Post Workout Meal (6:30 pm):

50g of Whey Protein.

Dinner (8:00 pm):

4 Large Pork Sausages (good quality ones) with some baked Onion.

Supper (11:00 pm):

1 Pint of Chocolate Milkshake (2% fat).

50g Mature Cheddar Cheese.

-- bed --

Water: 8+ pints

Paleolithic Health Benefits

The Paleolithic diet has several health benefits, as explained by Dr. Michael Eades.

Man of the Month: Jon Pall Sigmarsson

Arthur over at the Viking Hall of Manliness has just published his latest man of the month article - this time about a true legend in strength.

This article is definately worth a read - the odour from this guy's piss was stronger than 99% of men.

19th May - Food

Breakfast (7:30 am):

1 Pint Milk (2% fat) with 25g of Whey Protein.

Meal 2 (10:00 am):

150g of Mince Turkey with Mexican spice.

1 Apple.

Lunch (12:30 pm):

Roast Dinner (Ham, Turkey & Beef - full array of vegetables).

Meal 4 (3:30 pm):

150g of Mince Turkey with Mexican spice.

1 Apple.

55g Yoghurt.

Dinner (7:00 pm):

200g Pork in a homemade Chinese style sauce.

1 Apple.

Supper (11:00 pm):

100g Chicken in Mexican spices.

1 Pint of Milk (2% fat).

-- bed --

Water: 8+ pints

What a weekend...

Been a few days since I posted anything - not ideal. The weekend was somewhat of a write-off in regards to nutrition and exercise. A suprise party was thrown in our (my fiance and myself) honour on the Friday night. Needless to say, plenty of grains were consumed in liquid form!

Saturday was a good night of food and more ales. We did a little gaming as well (4 hours of Zombie themed table top wargaming followed by 5 hours of Guitar Hero).

Yesterday was pretty good though although I must confess that I consumed some rice (we went out for a meal to celebrate our anniversary as well!), I hope that I don't feel too many ill effects from that in the lavvy later:

Breakfast (7:30 am):

1 Pint Milk (2% fat) with 25g of Whey Protein.

Meal 2 (11:00 am):

150g of Mince Beef (11% fat), Onions and Gravey.

1 Apple.

1 Yoghurt.

Lunch (2:00 pm):

150g of Mince Beef (11% fat), Onions and Gravey.

1 Apple.

Meal 4 (5:30 pm):

150g of Mince Beef (11% fat), Onions and Gravey.

-- workout, push day (including heavy sandbag work) --

Dinner (8:30 pm - eating out):

Turkey Curry (korma), thankfully with plenty of Turkey breast on a bed of rice.

1 Pint of Orange Juice.

Supper (11:30 pm):

50g Mature Cheddar Cheese.

1 Pint of Milk (2% fat).

-- bed --

Water: 8+ Pints

I must say that I've enjoyed the Sandbag. It has been just two times that I have used it now and it adds another dimension to my training. My push day looked something a little like this:

• 4 x 12 Sandbag Push Press
  
• 5 x 1 (Heavy) Sandbag Clean & Press
  
• 3 x 12 Flat DB Bench Press
  
• 4 x 12 Press-Ups
  
• 3 x 8 Standing DB Military Press
  

I felt truely exhausted after that workout. Partially I think because of the weekend - but partially I think because of front loading the workout with some sandbag work, especially those heavy clean and press. Feeling good this morning as I write this, like I've had a good workout.

Eggs

Eggs truely are awesome. Literally, the building block of life.

14th May - Food

Breakfast (7:30 am):

1 Pint of Milk (2% fat) with 25g Whey Protein.

Meal 2 (09:30 am):

3 Whole Scrambled eggs.

Lunch (12:30 pm):

150g Mince Turkey with Taco seasoning.

1 Apple.

Meal 4 (3:30 pm):

150g Mince Turkey with Taco seasoning.

1 Apple.

1 Banana.

-- workout, sandbag --

Post Workout (7:00 pm):

50g of Whey Protein.

Dinner (9:00 pm):

150g Mince Beef with Fresh homemade Tomato/Bolognaise sauce.

2 Pears.

Supper (12:00 pm):

1 Pint of Chocolate Milkshake (2% fat).

50g Mature Cheddar Cheese.

-- bed --

Water: 8 pints+

Sandbag Training

I've recently been reading a lot more about strength training, and one of the things that keeps coming up now is the use of Sandbags. With my desire to get stronger, I thought that I'd kit myself out with one to add in as part of my weight training.

So I'd picked up a good Grade 1 Army Surplus Canvas Kit Bag and 4 Bags of Builders Sand. The total weight at the moment is 160 lb which is enough get started with the sandbag and learn how to get the most out of it.

One of the most tricky things about it is grabbing a hold of it. Unlike a bar there is no perfect grip to be had. You've just got to wrestle with the thing - grabbing hole of whatever you can in order to get it moving. This makes it a perfect implement for grip training at the same time. Additionally the sand moves about inside of the bag - weight redistributes itself as gravity tries to pull it back down to earth via any route that it can find. This is great for core and stabalizer muscle strength as you are constantly fighting for balance and keeping it in the right direction.

No doubt I can lift more on a bar in a gym - but just the way that the sandbag works against you makes it an awesome training tool.

I'm not sure how I will best fit it into my training split - I'm going to sit down soon and plan out my next 6 month training cycle which will be fully incorporating the sandbag. For today as a taster I used it for the following exercises:

• 3 x 12 Deadlifts
• 8 x 2 Bear-Hug Squats
• 5 x 2 Zercher Squats
• 8 x 1 Clean & Press
• 5 x 3 Power Cleans

This was really another odd day where it was almost a full body workout. I think that the sandbags will seriously help my overall physical strength and be a very welcome break to shifting bars and dumbells.

13th May - Food

Breakfast (7:30 am):

1 Pint of Milk (2% fat) with 25g Whey Protein.

Meal 2 (09:30 am):

150g Mince Turkey with Taco seasoning.

1 Apple.

Lunch (12:30 pm):

150g Mince Turkey with Taco seasoning.

55g Yoghurt.

1 Apple.

1 Double Decker Chocolate Bar (sin).

Meal 4 (3:30 pm):

150g Mince Turkey with Taco seasoning.

1 Banana.

-- workout, odd ball stuff --

Post Workout (6:30 pm):

50g of Whey Protein.

Dinner (8:00 pm):

4 Large Pork Sausages (good quality ones) with some Onions and Gravy.

Supper (11:00 pm):

220g Yoghurt.

1 Pint of Chocolate Milkshake (2% fat).

-- bed --

Water: 8 pints+

Some hard labour...

I probably chat with my old man about shifting weights about more than I do with most. It's probably his fault that I picked them up in the first place as he was always lifting when I was a kid. Despite not lifting these days, he shows quite a lot of interest in what I'm doing. Part of that is taking advantage of my ever increasing ego...

He's just divvied up a plot of land that he co-owned with his brother and needed a hand banging 6' long wooded stakes into the ground so that he could put up a fence. Knowing that I wouldn't be able to resist a physical challenge he said to me that he could use a hand knocking a couple in. I fell for that pretty quickly (actually I never mind helping out really).

So I spent 90 minutes doing some pretty hard labour using one of these pieces of kit. It doesn't look a lot - and it isn't really. The old iron one that we had probably weighs in around 100lb, possibly a little less - which is less than I could move by a fair amount now. But the motion of banging posts in was something that I'd not done before. In fairness it probably breaks the barrier of push/pull - it is probably just an exercise in upper body conditioning. 

Throw in some military presses and push presses with it for a while with the thing - and you've got yourself something of an ad-hoc workout. 

12th May - Food

Breakfast (7:30 am):

1 Pint of Milk (2% fat) with 25g Whey Protein.

Meal 2 (09:30 am):

3 Whole scrambled eggs.

Lunch (12:30 pm):

130g Skipjack Tuna with a little seasoning.

55g Yoghurt.

1 Apple.

Meal 4 (3:30 pm):

130g Skipjack Tuna with a little seasoning.

1 Banana.

1 Apple.

Dinner (7:00 pm):

200g Hot'n'Spicy Pork Steak with a side salad.

1/2 Pint of Chocolate Milkshake (2% fat).

Supper (11:00 pm):

130g Skipjack Tuna with a little seasoning.

1 Pint of Chocolate Milkshake (2% fat).

50g Mature Cheddar Cheese.

-- bed --

Water: 8 pints+

Leg Day

• 8 x 8 Squats
  
• 4 x 12 Straight Leg Deadlifts
  
• 2 x 12 Calf-Raises
  
• 1 x Failure, Calf-Raises
  

11th May - Food

Breakfast (7:30 am):

1 Pint of Milk (2% fat) with 25g Whey Protein.

Meal 2 (11:00 am):

65g Tuna with 50g of Mature Cheddar Cheese and a salad with a drop of Balsanic Vinegar.

1 Apple.

2 Pears.

Lunch (2:30 pm):

65g Tuna with 50g of Mature Cheddar Cheese and a salad with a drop of Balsanic Vinegar.

1 Pear.

55g Yoghurt.

Dinner (5:00 pm):

200g Pork Loin (lean) with home made chinese style sauce.

Small bowl of Pineapple.

-- workout, leg day --

Post Workout Meal (9:00 pm):

50g of Whey Protein.

Supper (11:45 pm):

1 Pint of Chocolate Milkshake (2% fat).

50g Mature Cheddar Cheese.

-- bed --

Water: 8 pints+

Forgive me Conan, for I have sinned: 10th May - Food

Forgive me Conan!

A generally rubbish day of food. Not enough of it. It also included some paleolithic sins.

Breakfast (10:30 am):

1 Pint of Chocolate Milkshake (2% fat) with 25g of Whey Protein.

Meal 2 (1:30 pm):

1 Pint of Chocolate Milkshake (2% fat) with 3 raw eggs.

1 Banana.

Dinner (4:30 pm):

150g Mince Beef (11% fat) made into Cottage Pie. Lovely gravy meal with Potatos (sin).

Large slice of cake (sin).

Meal 4 (8:00 pm):

150g Roast Turkey Breast with some salad.

Supper (11:30 pm):

1 Pint of Chocolate Milkshake (2% fat).

50g of Mature Cheddar Cheese.

-- bed --

Water: 6 pints+

9th May - Food

Breakfast (10:30 am):

1 Pint of Chocolate Milkshake (2% fat) with 3 raw eggs.
1 Apple.

Meal 2 (1:30 pm):

1 Pint of Chocolate Milkshake (2% fat) with 3 raw eggs.
1 Apple.
1 Banana.

Meal 3 (4:30 pm):

150g Mince Beef (11% fat) with Mexican Spice mix and Jalapeno Peppers.
50g Pecan Nuts with tea-spoon of honey.

Meal 4 (7:30 pm):

150g Mince Beef (11% fat) with Mexican Spice mix and Jalapeno Peppers.

-- workout, pull day --

Post Workout Meal (10:30 pm):

50g of Whey Protein.

Dinner (12:00 am):

150g Mince Beef (11% fat) with Mexican Spice mix and Jalapeno Peppers.
1 One-a-Day Vitamin.
50g Mature Cheddar Cheese.

-- bed --

Water: 8 pints+

Pull Day

• 5 x 12 DB Shrugs
• 4 x 12 Upright DB Rows
• 8 x 3 (heavy) Hammer Curls
  
• 4 x 12 DB Rows
• 3 x 8 Rear Flys
• 4 x 12 DB Curls
• 3 x 5 Ab-Rollouts
  

8th May - Food

Breakfast (7:30 am):

1 Pint of Chocolate Milkshake (2% fat) with 3 raw eggs.

Meal 2 (9:00 am):

4 Rashers of Bacon

Lunch (12:00 pm):

1 Apple.

1 Pear.

1 Banana.

65g Skipjack Tuna with 100g of Mature Cheddar Cheese and Balsanic Vinegar.

Meal 4 (3:00 pm):

1 Apple.

1 Pear.

65g Skipjack Tuna with 100g of Mature Cheddar Cheese and Balsanic Vinegar.

Meal 5 (6:00 pm):

1/2 Pint of Milk (2% Fat) with 25g of Whey Protein.

Dinner (9:00 pm):

Eating out this time - 240g Beef Sirloin Steak with a side salad.

Supper (00:30 am):

50g Mature Cheddar Cheese.

1 Pint of Milk (2% Fat).

-- bed --

Water: 8 pints+

Dairy & Paleo

Dairy foods are technically off of the menu for the paleolithic diet - but I think that a little clarrification is required. After all, do we not feed our infants with milk? 

The clarrification really is that dairy products are not really naturally occuring food sources for human adults. Certainly not animal milks. However - there is nothing within dairy products that is un-natural to the human body. We as a race didn't begin consuming animal dairy products in adulthood until we began herding animals (which occured before we started cultivating crops of crap for our own consumption).

A lot of the human race has an intolerance to lactose, the disaccharide that makes up roughly 4.5% of cow milk (and about 9% of human breast milk). Fortunately, due to genetics and evolution - those of us of Northern and Western Europe (excelent, that counts us Anglo-Saxons in) have developed a mutation that continues the production of Lactase (the chemical in the human body that is responsible for the digestion of lactose) well into adulthood. In fact, the occurance of Lactose intolerance in Britain is considered to be somewhere around 5%-15%, in my family - I think it is lower still.

So if I have no lactose intolerance - I see no reason why I cannot consume dairy as part of my paleolithic diet.

7th May - Food

Breakfast (7:30 am):

1/2 Pint of Milk (2% fat) with 25g Whey Protein & 3 raw eggs.

Meal 2 (9:30 am):

150g of Strawberries.

150g Mince Beef (11% fat) with Mexican Spice mix and Jalapeno Peppers.

55g Natural Yoghurt.

Lunch (12:30 pm):

1 Apple.

150g Mince Beef (11% fat) with Mexican Spice mix and Jalapeno Peppers.

25g Nuts (Pecan & Almond) with tea-spoon of honey.

Meal 4 (3:00 pm):

150g Mince Beef (11% fat) with Mexican Spice mix and Jalapeno Peppers.

25g Nuts (Pecan & Almond) with tea-spoon of honey.

Dinner (6:00 pm):

200g of Roasted Turkey (breast meat) with Salad.

1 One-a-Day Vitamin.

1 Apple.

1 Pear.

Meal 6 (9:00 pm):

1 Pint of Chocolate Milkshake (2% fat) with 3 raw eggs.

Supper (11:00 pm):

50g Mature Cheddar Cheese.

1 Pint of Milk (2% Fat).

-- bed --

Water: 8 pints+

6th May - Food

Breakfast (7:30 am):

1 Pint of Milk (2% Fat) with 25g Whey Protein

Meal 2 (10:30 am):

1 Apple

130g Skipjack Tuna with a drizzle of Olive Oil and Balsanic Vinegar

50g Nuts (Pecan & Almond)

Lunch (1:30 pm):

1 Apple

130g Skipjack Tuna with a drizzle of Olive Oil and Balsanic Vinegar

50g Nuts (Pecan & Almond)

55g Natural Yoghurt

Dinner (5:00 pm):

150g Mince Beef (11% fat) with Mexican Spice mix and Jalapeno Peppers

50g Mature Cheddar Cheese

1 Apple

-- workout, push day --

Post Workout Meal (8:00 pm):

50g Whey Protein

Supper (11:00 pm):

50g Mature Cheddar Cheese

1 Pint of Milk (2% Fat)

-- bed --

Water: 8 pints+

Push Day

• 4 x 12 Press-Ups
  
• 4 x 8 (heavy) -12 (lighter) Flat DB Bench Press
• 3 x 12 Standing DB Military Press
• 5 x 5 Standing DB Push Press
• 3 x 10 Standing DB Tricep Extensions
• 3 x 8 (heavy) - 12 (lighter) Flat DB Flys

This is my cave bitch!

Yeah - that's right! This is my cave bitch!

I'm a 6'2" 250 lb @ ~18% body fat Anglo-Saxon that hails from the South Coast of England on that tiny spec of dirt known as the Isle of Wight. For what is close to (just shy of one month away) 1 year ago I've been training weights and eating right. Something that I'd never done before. I've seen some results, damned good results - and I like it. I've also taken the opportunity to man the fuck up. By this I mean acting more like the men of yester-year in our country.

In the hope of helping to spread the gospel of man I've decided to start blogging my adventures in the modern world. Read and enjoy - or don't read. It's all the same to me.

Disclaimer: I'm seriously full of shit. Take everything I say with a pinch of salt. Nothing here is advice nor instruction - just a (hopefully) daily commentary on my life; almost entirely for my own use as a way of tracking food & exercise.