Off to the races

Sorry for the late post, work's been pretty busy this week. I've started training again as of the first of the month. I haven't been lifting consistently for the last 2 months, so right now I'm slowly working my way back up in terms of volume and intensity so I can hopefully avoid being completely wrecked sore. Right now my basic training template is just compound lifts, mostly 3 sets of 5, increasing weights each session. For example, Tuesday was 3x5 back squat at 225, 3x5 shoulder press at 125, supersetted with 3x8 barbell row at 125 and 3x12 DB curls at 35, deadlift 1x5 at 265 (double-overhand grip to improve grip strength). Finished up with some atlas stone work (lapping and shouldering the 140 lb. stone) just to get in some practice with the strongman implements. Today's training will be similar (front squats, power cleans, bench press, hopefully some yoke or tire work). These are baby weights, but I have to re-train my nervous system and supporting tissues before I can push myself as hard as I would like, unless I want an injury.

Saturday will be my first real strongman training session, so I'm looking forward to that quite a bit. I'm trying to do enough work this week so I won't be weak like kitten, but not so much that I'm really sore for Saturday, since I understand that it's about 4 hours long. I'm sure I'll be smashed afterward, but I'm really excited regardless.

In terms of eating I'm not really too focused on that right now. I've done some research into human habits and willpower, and the evidence suggests that it's much more likely to create a new habit or break an old one if you focus on a single thing at a time. That's been my experience in the past as well. So right now I'm focused on not drinking, and the training just kind of helps with that. I love training, that's not something that is hard for me to do, as long as I feel good physically, but drinking makes me feel like crap physically, so it's gotta go. I've been having some digestive pain lately, and alcohol really seems to aggravate it, so that's the main impetus behind giving it up. My sleep has improved tremendously as well, which is necessary to recover from hard workouts.

My eating goals right now are simple: get enough protein and fiber each day, mainly from whole foods. Avoid inflammatory foods, and take fish oil every day. As I get further into my training and start setting some more concrete goals I will dial that in a bit more, but like I said above, one thing at a time. Right now my body can't handle a whole lot, so the idea is to get my work capacity back up to a level that can support vigorous training, and right now that means lots of quality food to help me recover. I'm not trying to gain weight, and in fact I won't be surprised if I lean out regardless, but I'm not trying to actively restrict my intake right now.