Back to Basics

Discussion in 'Training Logs' started by Totentanz, Aug 17, 2012.

  1. Totentanz

    Totentanz Super Moderator Staff Member

    To be honest, a lot of mental issues are considered invalid as an actual problem here in the USA. I know people with depression, OCD, BPD, etc, and the advice many people would give is "well, why don't you just be happy" or "snap out of it." Likewise, with my issue, people tell me constantly that I just need to slow down and start making to-do lists, not understanding that I can't slow down and that staying organized is very difficult for me unless I ritualize my entire life. In my case, the main reason that I've done as well as I have with my issues is apparently my high IQ mitigates some of the problems associated with ADHD, at least that's what they tell me. Doesn't seem to make it any easier in my view though.

    These days, they do take it seriously in kids now. I have two of my kids who are getting medication and treatment to help with their issues, and the doctors seem to take it seriously now. Luckily, I've only passed it on to two of my children, though for my 10 month old, it's still too early to tell. Unfortunately, I have to be vigilant because one of my other children inherited some kind of dyslexia or something from her mother and they wanted to diagnose her as ADD at first until I got her in to a neuropsych doctor who did a more in depth evaluation.

    Sometimes, I really wish I could emigrate out to a different first world country.
     
  2. Jester

    Jester Well-Known Member

    Australia isn't going anywhere ;)

    Hold on for two years and I'll give you a job.
     
  3. Renky

    Renky Member

    Having a home gym rocks! For years, all I had was a golds gym bench (no rack) and a set of dumbbells. That was all I had... As I got stronger, I bought more plates. In the end I think I got 100 - 110lbs on the dumbbells. I would do one-handed presses and rows. It worked for me and was convenient. I eventually bought a decent gym set up and consider it to be as good as a commercial gym set up. I just walk into the garage, hit it for 20 minutes, shower and done.
     
  4. Renky

    Renky Member

    I also wanted to add that the good old (not) American diet is probably not doing you any favors... In my opinion, I feel that sometimes Docs are way too quick to put us on all sorts of meds without looking at the whole picture (diet - lifestyle etc). I have 2 Doctors and 2 Nurses in my family, so I have come to form certain opinions based on talking to them and doing my own research on health and well being. There is a fine line with it all and Docs have their place, but I think if we all looked into our diets etc this may be a good start. Just my opinion...
     
  5. Jester

    Jester Well-Known Member

    ADD and ADHD are not diet-related in their etymology, unfortunately.

    I'm sure the wrong diet may exacerbate the symptoms or potentiate them in a negative fashion, but it certainly isn't the cause.


    Speaking of American culture and health ... WTF is going on with you guys not vaccinating kids?!?!? /tangent.
     
  6. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    A lot of the anti-vaccine bullshit stems from horribly designed studies that have been widely discredited and media sensationalism. For example, a lot of them believe that the mercury preservative used in many vaccines is harmful when in fact it's a different compound from the "poisonous" mercury found in certain ocean fish. Other people just believe that any sort of "chemical" consumption is bad...you know the types.

    Ironically, the anti-vaccination crowd tends to be a part of very affluent, well-educated communities. Marin, a city and county right across the bridge from me, is a very well-to-do area and has the highest population of parents that fall into that category. Why? Because a lot of those people think they can rely on herd immunity when in fact they're endangering all the people that can't receive vaccinations (immuno-compromised people, children under 2, allergic, etc).

    Can't wait to deal with these people when I'm an RN :rolleyes:.
     
  7. Jester

    Jester Well-Known Member

    I'm aware of the narrative, it just boggles me that people in your part of the world will actually believe it.
     
  8. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    People are generally feeling driven, especially here. What "sounds" right "is" right.
     
  9. Renky

    Renky Member

    Absolutely - Based on my experience....

    Doctors and main stream medical all have their place, but diet and natural supplements have their place too...
     
  10. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    I haven't heard of anything empirical supporting a diet-related cause of ADD/ADHD.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2015
  11. Totentanz

    Totentanz Super Moderator Staff Member

    Diet pretty obviously is not a factor in my case. Come on, we are on a bodybuilding site, do you really think I eat a typical "American diet?"

    Aside from that, I have several genetic factors that cause things like caffeine, etc to not have the same effect on me as they would someone with more typical genetics, so those have little to do with my ADHD symptoms. Since I never get sick and I don't get injured, I very rarely visit the doctor. I've researched this thoroughly and explored every avenue. The only non-medical substances I've found that help at all are the racetam family of nootropics, in the right stack. However, I am aware that sometimes natural remedies will be effective simply through placebo effect. Unfortunately, I am a skeptic by nature. On the other hand, when they increased my daughter's doage and we had a handful of her old medication left over, I tried it to see what would happen and the impact was dramatic. There's nothing I can take that can be obtained without a prescription that is going to give me the focus and control that these medications provide.
    Obviously, it's not a perfect solution. For example, I do all my tasks at my job very quickly and efficiently. I get moved to different locations a lot to "fix" places that aren't working the way they should. Every place I go, the people I work with are always astonished at how fast I can do things compared to everyone else. Not on this stuff. I find myself significantly slower at tasks. Still quick compared to the baseline of what other people do, but I just can't seem to move as quick when I'm on meds. I'm hoping this is just a dosage issue and have already discussed with it the primary doctor whom I'll be working with to find the right medication and the right dosage. I guess it's normal to be slowed down a bit, so I'll have to accept some degree of that, but damn... why can't I get the clearer, more orderly thoughts and keep the speed?
     
  12. Renky

    Renky Member

    It is up to you regarding diet... Yes, sure we are Bodybuilders and eat clean, but we have found GMO stuff is not good, what they feed the chickens to fatten them up is not good, even regular steak can have undesirables in it. My family and I are not vegetarians or anything, but we tend to opt for the non-hormone, non-steroid based meats and non GMO foods where possible. I take a lot of natural supplements also.

    In my case, I don't believe that the natural route is the be all and end all or the cure all for everything, but I have without a doubt seen improvements in my health and well being since making certain changes.

    You guys are welcome to your own opinions on all this and no problems if you disregard any of what I have shared.

    All the best with this...
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2015
  13. Totentanz

    Totentanz Super Moderator Staff Member

    Unless you eat nothing with corn in it ever (all corn available for consumption or farming is gmo) and grow all your own food, it is impossible not to eat gmo foods. Also, just because something is artificial doesn't mean it is bad. Maybe watch Neil Degrasse Tyson talking about gmo foods sometime if you get a chance. Almost everything on the shelves has been modified by humans in some way.
     
  14. Totentanz

    Totentanz Super Moderator Staff Member

    This is becoming less of a training log and more of a log of my mental issues and how I'm sorting it all out.

    Still been dealing with my mental issues of late. Still seeing the psychologist. I've been on Adderall for a while now, up to 20 mgs of extended release twice a day but I'm not sure if that's the right dosage yet or not. I've had sleeping problems my entire life. I have a hard time getting to sleep because I keep thinking of random shit. Often I'll think of something fact that I can't quite recall all of, or there will be a celebrity who's name I can't remember, and I have to keep thinking about it until I can remember. Only then can I go to sleep. Then once I'm asleep, I wake many times throughout the night. Anyway, since getting up to 20 mgs of Adderall, I now fall asleep promptly when I go to bed. I am taking my dose once upon waking and once in the afternoon. The doctor said it might help me sleep, because it will calm my thoughts. But some people have sleeplessness with it. I don't. I sleep better.
    Not only that, but I don't wake up at night. I used to sleep six or seven hours a night, waking constantly, then waking finally around 7 am and that's when I can't go back to sleep. Now, I'm waking up after only about five hours of sleep and I feel good. I guess I don't need that much sleep when I'm actually getting quality sleep.

    Turns out that you don't get over having ODD either. And medication doesn't work, you have to get therapy or something like that to get over it. I've been avoiding that for almost fifteen years. One time, in school, my best friend came walking up to me during recess and said "hi" and apparently I thought he said something disparaging because I blacked out and when I came to, we were in the principal's office, he was crying, bloody nose, all that, and I was in trouble. That was around the time I decided to stop doing that, and apparently my defense for that was to just close off my emotions as much as a I could. Turns out that's not a very good solution, and now we are working on getting me to let myself feel my feelings again and communicate them appropriately to the people around me. It's a fine line to tread though. Now that I'm working through all this, I'm starting to really feel stuff again and it's not always good. I remember why I decided to try to bury my anger and aggression as much as I could.

    I guess weightlifting helped me manage that too. Instead of randomly beating people up for no good reason like I used to when I was younger, I went in and "battled" the weights instead. Sounds cheezy but it seems like that's the function it was serving. So I really need to get back into regular lifting. I'm working 60-70 hours a week right now though so getting into the gym is extremely difficult. I did buy some grippers so I can at least train my grip at home in preparation for getting back into deadlifts once I can lift again. I got a set of three: 150 lbs, 200 lbs and 250 lbs. I can close the 250 once if I warm up with the 150 first but it's pretty difficult to do cold and I can only just barely get the one rep. I'm training negatives on the 250 then doing 15 rep sets afterward with the 150. I guess there might be an actual system for training grip strength, but I don't have time to research it. So I'm doing this. I can at least train grip while sitting at home watching the kids or working on my college coursework. It's better than nothing but definitely not as satisfying as working my whole body in the gym.

    If I could just fast forward to a few months from now, things should be better at work and I should have more time.
     
    leonardopm, Jester and TangoDown like this.
  15. Bulldog

    Bulldog Active Member

    It sounds like you are finally on a healing path. I wish you luck.
     
  16. Jester

    Jester Well-Known Member


    Kids are good for curls and shoulder presses too ... just sayin'


    Glad to see you're able to apply some method to the mental health matters.
     
  17. leonardopm

    leonardopm Member

    Yes! And their facial expressions are the funniest part of it.
     
  18. Totentanz

    Totentanz Super Moderator Staff Member

    So I started a different job about five months ago, finally got out of management. I now do tier one tech support for a handful of government agencies. The sort of job where I had to get a security clearance, which involved a whole big background investigation. Anyway, point is that I no longer work between 50 and several thousand hours a week and I now have a regular schedule. I've been back in the gym regularly since February and go pretty much Monday through Friday. I lift at 6 am each day which I thought might be hard since I was always an afternoon or night lifter but I think I actually prefer morning workouts. I was about 230 when I started lifting again and I cut for a while until I got down to 215, then starting bulking. I'm currently right around 255 lbs bodyweight.
    I've been doing a roughly linear routine simply to regain my strength. After a few years of sporadic workouts and then several months where I might have lifted maybe three times the whole time, I had a lot of ground to regain. Progress has been the best I've seen in years. I think this is a combination of consistency - I don't think I've ever managed to lift 4-5 times a week every week for months without something bad happening - as well as the fact that I no longer burn several thousand calories a day by being on my feet the entire time I'm at work. I still have been sucking at bench, but on the bright side, I've finally gone beyond 17 inches for my arms. Arms have always been my weakest area and I don't think I ever got passed 16.5 inches? Not really sure. Anyway, they are hovering around 17.25 right now and I'm hoping to hit 18 eventually. In order to do that, as well as keep my strength going up, I've decided it's time to return to a good old HST style routine. I haven't been working any heavier than an 8 RM for quite a while and I want to go heavy, so progressing up to that through an HST style routine seems the best bet.

    For my current calculated 5 RMs based on my most recent sessions:
    Flat Bench: 265
    Incline Bench: 230
    BB Row: 370
    BB Shrugs: 415
    Pulldown: 255
    Military Press: 295
    BB Curls: 150
    CGBP: 215
    Squat: 405
    Good Morning: 355

    Yes, I'm only doing two lifts for legs. My calves are 18 inches and my thighs measure 28 at the mid-point, so I'm not really interested in putting too much more size on down there. I may just drop legs completely. I do cardio 1-2 days a week (strangely, cardio seems to help my gains??) and that seems to be plenty enough to maintain my legs. I'm also aware that my rows and military press are way out of sync with my bench. I'm pretty sure I have a mental barrier holding me back on benching, but I do workout alone in the early morning when there are only cardio bunnies in the gym, so I'm not going to push too hard to get my bench in line with my press and row.
    For bodyweight, If I recall correctly, the heaviest I ever managed to hit was 260 lbs and I'm pretty close to that now. I want to put on another 15 lbs or so. I'm not totally sure, depends on how fat I get. My waist is still small enough to fit into all my size 36 pants but the ass and thighs are getting tight and I don't want to buy new pants, so we'll see. Anyway, after this cycle, I'll probably start cutting. Diet is going to be around 4000 calories give or take, around 200 grams of protein. I don't do the whole absurd levels of protein anymore, stomach doesn't seem to enjoy protein supplements so I have to get most of it through actual foods.

    I'm going to let volume auto-regulate rather than going with sets. I'll shoot for 30 reps to start and taper down as the load increases. I'll be arranging this all as a split and maybe I'll still add another lift for lats. They do have a pullover machine at the gym that I like for my lats but unfortunately, I can do the whole stack for 15+ reps already and they don't like it when I hang weights on the stack, so that's only valid for metabolic work later on. There isn't a good spot for dips or chins, so those are both out. I'm also hitting arms every workout. That seems to be the only way to get them to grow. I'm keeping arms a little lighter with volume a tad higher than for other stuff. Going to start with something like the beginning of the 10s for loads on all my compounds and around 15 RM for the arms, then just increment from there for maybe 12 weeks or so.

    Goals:
    18 inch upper arms
    Break 270 lbs bodyweight - that means I have to gain about a pound a week
    Hit 300 x 5 on flat bench

    Thinking a split like this:

    Mon/Thurs
    Flat Bench
    Row
    Pulldown
    Military Press
    Squats (Maybe)
    CGBP
    Curl

    Tues/Fri
    Incline Bench
    Shrugs
    Pulldown
    Good Morning
    Military Press
    CGBP
    Curl

    Weds/Sat
    Cardio - 45 mins s/s (around 4-5 miles distance)
    Facepulls

    Any thoughts, etc on lift selection?
     
  19. Bulldog

    Bulldog Active Member

    I bet it feels good to be lifting regularly again.

    Can't you bench inside a rack? At least then you'd have the pins to drop the bar on if you fail.
     
  20. mickc1965

    mickc1965 Well-Known Member

    Selection seems pretty good to me, welcome back to HSTing hopefully you posting again will generate a bit more interest from others, need @Jester back amongst others
     

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