Repair and prepare - my journal on the road back to 5x5

[anotherbutters]

BTW, maybe I missed it but how are you doing hip belt squats sans hip belt? Using a dip belt or somesuch?

I'm not doing them. I only listed them yesterday to show that I'd have done them if I had the belt. I'm showing willing, I guess .

To be honest, I don't think the belt's going to be that practical when it arrives anyway. At least there's a CoC#1 in the order too. I want to start back squatting already. I don't know how long to carry on without them, but I guess 2-3 weeks minimum.

CS, thanks for spotting that . I already had a visit to the chiro planned for tomorrow (Wednesday, right?) for my back. I seem to be doing great on my own now, so I might make this one of the final visits. I'll miss the crunching sound when he twists my head to one side as though he's breaking my neck. For my hamstring, stretching it twice a day helps, but it's something I shouldn't have to do, so I'll ask him about it.

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

Try to remember the flexing during the other stuff. Also, you don't have to with curlups. They flex, but holding them flexed and curling up against it is usually different. Good call, cutting it down though. Daily core work for endurance as you're doing, just like you said, is definitely enough.

My back hasn't bothered me in some time luckily, and I've been able to do rows without a support. Fairly heavy, too. The rest of my "routine" (kind've just a mixture of upper body stuff, with the occasional deadlift/squat/clean thrown in, just to text my back) is going, I guess. I haven't had much of an appetite and I've been on the most screwed up sleep schedule. Fourteen hours of sleep straight, then up 40 hours, then sleeping 12, then up 10, then sleeping another 6. I have no idea why, but it's really annoying me, so I haven't been holding much together lately. Hopefully things will adjust themselves soon, and I can be on a solid eating plan. Problem always is, that when I don't eat right, I skip my training. I see little point if I'm not well-rested or nourished anyways.

Whoo, I must be a drama queen too! Look at that rant.

Oh, and you're welcome AB. Keep it up and you should be pain free in a short time. Just don't rush into the squats. I tried that two or three months ago - my back hurt again for a week. I can get away with them once a week now, though, and I feel good. Maybe I should train like a BBer.

 

[blut wump]

Back onto the subject of capping kits, my weighing machine arrived today. I bought it from rightonescales and it weighs upto 200g in 0.1g increments.

It took about 20 minutes of general fiddling about to make my first batch of 50 capsules. Kind of entertaining for a one-off but not somethng to relish. You have to keep reminding yourself of how much money you're saving. I guess it gives the flexibility, too, of being able to make mixtures. Freedom of choice!

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

Woah, wait, what? Blut, what exactly are you talking about? I think I missed something.

 

[blut wump]

AB was taking Creatine EE HCL which tastes like a cross between battery acid and bile. I decided to get a cap-m-quik kit to put the powder into gel-caps which I've finally tried out.

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

Ahh, okay. There's not really a difference between creatines, you know.

http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/HSreport/iss06/index.html#art_1
http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/HSreport/iss03/index.html#art_2
http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/HSreport/iss08/index.html#art_2
http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/HSreport/iss01/index.html#art_2
http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/HSreport/iss07/index.html#art_1

Bunch of good creatine data there. Some might not pertain to my comment above, but it's still good stuff.

 

[blut wump]

Interesting articles, especially the one indicating no reason to cycle creatine over their timescale of 4 months.

I've used creatine monohydrate on and off for around 18 months. Lately I've begun to notice the bloat commonly associated with it and decided to give CEE a whirl. I've felt my gym energy climb as expected and had no noticable bloat after two weeks. My strength doesn't seem to have climbed as much as with the monohydrate but that could be due to the lack of bloating.

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

Gym energy climbed, but no increase in strength? What exactly do you mean when you say gym energy?

Isn't CEE more expensive?

 

[blut wump]

By 'gym energy' I mean my readiness to get stuck into another set. Inter-set recuperation is improved when I'm on creatine. CEE is more expensive by a factor of about 1.7 but you can supposedly use less of it than monohydrate and the ratios balance out.

It's odd but I'd never really noticed the bloat until the last couple of cycles of creatine and I decided to give CEE a whirl this time around.

 

[anotherbutters]

I stand by my CEE and milk concoction. Give it a go - there really is no need to cap, so long as you don't mind guessing whether what you have on the end of a teaspoon is 1g or not.