Day 18: Eat A Sandwich and Other Thoughts

It's not Sunday evening, so it's technically not time for me to do a weekly evaluation, but I created this with the intention of getting some things off my mind as they came to me. I'll start with the immediate concern to which I made a titular reference: I am losing weight.

Of course, the standard reply to this complaint is "You suck," "You're so lucky," "What a nice problem to have." I weary of hearing those sorts of response, because at the end of the day, gaining healthy weight while maintaining steady exercise to build one's overall fitness is every bit as complex and difficult a venture as shedding pounds wisely. Just because one problem is more common does not detract from the fact that the other problem's health and aesthetic consequences are just as real. Furthermore, when I find myself losing weight while on a diet that is carefully monitored to minimize intake of detrimental substances . . . it means my food bill is going to increase, and likely significantly, as I cannot just pile on many of the standard sources of cheap calories to solve my problems.

To meet my current objectives, I would guess that I need to aim for between 3000 and 3200 calories/day, between 115 and 135 g of protein/day and 150 g to 200 g carbohydrates/day. Oversimplifying the whole process, we'll just say that proteins and carbs being worth 4 calories to the gram, that accounts for up to 1340 of my calories, leaving me with between 1660 and 1860 calories to get from, well, fats. I'm also going to make more of an effort to round out my micronutrient intake--in particular, I seem to be lacking on the zinc, selenium, folate, vitamin E and vitamin D fronts.

The second matter to occupy my mind this evening is one which I have mentioned before: the matter of how much time it takes me to get my exercise routine squared away. Now, there are some factors here that cannot be circumvented: I want to build strength with minimal size gains, so extended rests between sets are mandatory on my 'strength day.' I also want to build flexibility and reduce risk of injury, so that means a mobility and flexibility routine preceding and following each workout session is unavoidable.

There are, however, factors that can be altered. The time savings most readily within my reach are those to be had on the flexibility front. The flexibility I've started with is poor, though my bodyweight work up to this point has improved it from the truly abysmal state it was in prior. Right now, my dynamic stretching routine takes roughly 35 minutes to get through because A) I'm doing high reps for three sets to build my flexibility, and B) I'm still so unaccustomed to regular stretching that I have to rest longer than I'd like between sets of stretches. That second problem will fall away with two or three more weeks of regular stretching, I hope, while reaching levels of flexibility with which I'm satisfied will allow me to cut down on stretching volume somewhat, to maintenance levels. From what I have read, it looks like I can cut that stretch time down to 15 minutes or so when I reach that point.

Looking ahead to the further future, the concept I touched on many entries ago of building an exercise routine that rolled muscle groups together as much as possible to cut down on the need for separate sets is one I aspire to. Of course, it will require building up the requisite strength and skill for these much more advanced exercises, and 'movement' days are partially intended to facilitate the technical/balance aspects. My main concern is, of course, with my pure strength routine, which presently takes over 90 minutes (stretching not included) because of the waits between sets. My current concept of the 'ideal' format would be like so:

Handstand Press - 4 Sets   (Shoulders, Triceps, Forearms, Core, Back, Legs)
Front Lever Muscle Up - 4 Sets (Back, Biceps, Triceps, Chest, Core, Forearms, Legs)
Planche Pushup - 4 Sets (Chest, Triceps, Core, Back, Forearms, Legs)
Pistol Squats(*) - 4 Sets (Legs, Core)

*I already know at this point that Pistol Squats will not last as a raw strength-builder forever, even if the point when that happens is yet quite distant, but I do not know what the alternative will be. I have some ideas, but that may end up being something that I experiment with on movement days, quite some time in the future.

That would reduce the whole thing down to a roughly 55-minute affair, of which only 48 would be spent waiting. Narrowing it down this much gives me a fairly clear focus.

The third and final thing I've been thinking about is putting some actual concentrated effort into memory training . . . but I'll leave that at that for now, because I'm not sure how I'm going to go about it yet.

Whee.

Still learning,
~L