Merkley's guide to pretend lifting

[Merkley]

30:13 of fat walking today (this is what I have starting doing at work during my lunch time). Legs tonight

 I'm scuuuurrd of how bad my max squat is going to be.

[Merkley]

Happy Monday to one and all!

 So last week turned out rather well I would like to think. I managed some big wins during week 11. For whatever reason I was bitten by the PL bug pretty bad so I decided to take this week to test my current 1 rep in the big 3's. I'm quite happy to say the least.

385/335/425.

 Bench was the biggest shock out of all the lifts. My previous best was a 325x1 from last year when I was training at Primal. Squat and dead I'm happy with since I did them both raw (I went on to use wraps on my second run for 385).

 This gives me the opportunity to now make adjustments to my current training.

 Today starts Week 12, I'm pretty excited. I've made some really good progression. There is still room for improvements, mainly for nutrition (as always).

 Anyways, have yourselves a wonderful day!

[Merkley]

So last week I took off.

 I've had a few aches and pains that have been nagging at me and I felt it was time to take a week off and rest up. Right now I feel well rested and ready to take on another 12 weeks or so of complete debauchery.

 I've been struggling with the idea of changing things up and trying 12 weeks of a PL peaking cycle or staying with what I have been doing. I'm giving myself the remainder of the day to figure out just what it is I'm going to do.

 I'm keeping this post kinda short, it's looking to be a hectic day.

 Happy Monday!

 

[Merkley]

Morning!

 Last week was fairly uneventful as far as training is concerned. I popped into the gym in the later part of the week and did some upper body (2 sessions). Yesterday was going to be a lower body day but instead Mrs.M and I had an unexpected nap that took us past the gym's open hours.

Nutrition=Shit.

 This week will be better.

 

[Merkley]

Quick and dirty workout last night.

 12 min bike (LISS)
 Incline Bench 3x6 185 (Weak sauce)
 Machine Rows 3x6 135 (Weak sauce x2)
 Single Leg Leg press 3x15 165 (Weak sauce x3)
 Single Leg Hyper extension 3x15 BW (Death)
 Bird Dog 3x10 (Back = Cooked)

 Those hypers were harder than I thought, seriously. Once I was done the hypers my legs and lower back were done. The bird dogs didn't help the matter! The lower back pump was real!

 

[Merkley]

Morning

 Last week was a fail. I trained the one and put off the other two training days until later on in the week. This then turned into not going at all.

 On a good note I finally got the results back for my sleep study I did a couple months ago.

 Things aren't good, not at all. I have severe sleep apnea. Actually I severe case is when a person stops breathing 30 times in an hour....I stop breathing 90 times in an hour. I'm having an emergency sleep study done this coming Wednesday night (normally it takes 4-5 weeks to get in and then another 4-5 weeks to get the results.

 I was really lucky getting in last time, my doctor knows a guy that knows a guy and got me in quicker than most. Though the results took the same times as the next person. Though this time everything has a rush put on it.

 The strain being put on my heart with the lack of oxygen is bad.

 Anyways I'm now having to make some life changes to try and help with this.

 I was shocked to know that if I go for surgery I have to let them know I have sleep apnea because it can create complications with the anesthetic.

 

 

[Merkley]

Wednesday nights sleep study went well. I didn't think I was going to sleep a wink, having 20 wires stuck all over as well as a CPAP machine stuck on my face. But oddly I slept really well! I cannot wait for the results and hopefully I'll have a CPAP machine asap. From the sleep study I went for blood work and an ECG.

 Anyways, training and nutrition has been the poop, all the poop.
 

 Happy Friday!

[Merkley]

Results are back from the blood work yesterday.

 All is well other than high cholesterol, LOL.

 I was told to lower carbs and exercise!


 BAW HAW HAW HAW HAW!!!!


 idiots.

[Merkley]

Monday 06/25/18

 So at 3:30 pm on Friday I received a call from the sleep study place. My prescription is available. Of course I didn't see this until 5 pm, missed the call. When I called of course no answer since they are open only until 5pm (closed on weekends). They will open at 9 this morning so I will be calling them. Hopefully they can fax or email me the prescription and I can go and get the machine tonight.

I'm currently looking at a new mattress/pillow, see if those upgrades will help.

 Tuesday 06/26/18

 I managed to get my prescription sent to a local CPAP place and get an apt for 2 pm yesterday. After an hour and a half of going over everything I walked out with a Resmed Airsense 10. The CPAP place and my doctor can monitor me remotely and make adjustments if/when needed. Last night went not as well as I had planned but I think there might be a learning curve and adjustment to everything, meaning I was up quite a few times getting used to things. I managed to keep the mask on until 3:30 am and finally had enough. I managed 5 hrs and 3 min of sleep with it on. I'm up by 5 am so I thought an hour and a half without it on wasn't a huge deal. I'm confident it'll get better as time goes on.

Wednesday 06/27/18

 Last night was much better with the machine. I managed 6 hrs and 30 min with it. I woke up only twice, shift, back to sleep. I woke up to my alarm feeling a little groggy at first but within a few min I felt good. Today I'm feeling much more calm, less anxious, and able to multi task a lot better than normal.

For the first time in a long time I look forward to sleeping not in desperation but with an excitement that soon I'll be sleeping 8+ hours.

Oh and before I forget I did take a couple Aleve to help with my shoulders while I sleep. I tend to wake up with them killing me and I'm forced to move due to the fact. I wanted to give myself a fighting chance at a better sleep.

I think it worked, though I don't want to become reliant using this method. I'm going to have to figure out a better way of going about it.

 

[Merkley]

Oh and I failed to mention I haven't trained at all nor has my nutrition been good (it hasn't been full retard or anything, just not eating for my actual needs).

 My sleep was so bad the last little bit I didn't see the damned point. In all honesty I would have been adding insult to injury

 However, with my sleep coming under control I'm going to start going back.

[Merkley]

Ok, I'm alive.

 Lot's has been going on!

I cannot believe it's basically been 3 months since I last trained. I seem to have this 3 months on and then 3 months off thing going on. That or 6 months on and then 6 months off.

 I really need to stop doing that.


 So to catch you guys up.

 I've been doing renovations to our new business location. We are moving this weekend...I'm finishing up baseboards today. There are a few odds and ends but I can do those later. These renos as a whole were nothing more than a sheer clusterfuck. But we are almost done, just in time to move in. I am not looking forward to the move. I just hope it's a fairly seamless process.

 My biological father passed away. That's really I have to say about that.

 Training hasn't happened, clearly. Nutrition is just as equal.

 Though this week I've been getting to the gym and hitting the elliptical. I'm doing this in place of my lunch time fat walks. I go in for 5:30 am and give it  everything I have for the 15 min I'm there (getting my heart rate to a 170-190 bpm) It's short, to the point, and it gets me moving. Since my promotion all I do is sit at my desk all day and I don't get any physical work in at all. So this helps a bit.

 I'm doing what I like to call the 100 day challenge, pretty self-explanatory. I would like to throw in weight training as time goes by.

 Finally, Mrs. M and I got a 2018 Cadillac XT5. It's a nice upgrade from the 2007 Malibu Maxx SS we had. The Malibu was a fantastic car and the engine was near bulletproof. But little things started to creep up in this last little bit that told me it was time to let go of the car before it was too late. Too bad too, I loved that car to death, looked weird but drove really well and I loved the comfort it gave.

 The XT5 on the other hand.....holy hell what a machine!

 Anyways, it's month end so back to work. Have a great one!

[Merkley]

Ok, so....

 Nutrition is being turned around. Last night I did some light upper body at home with some d-bells and my TRX (I've had this thing for years and never even so much as took it out of the package.). This morning I did a quick and intense 10 min on the elliptical, it's all I could fit in.

 Better than nothing, right?

 My 100 day challenge is still in effect and I have managed to keep things going. Let it be going for walks, hitting the cardio equipment, moving our business (which we did one what was one of the hottest weekends of the year, ufff), etc. I have managed to do at least something "fitness" related every day since August 27th. I'm slowly ramping things up, I'd rather do that than jump in both feet and then not be able to move for a few days.

 Speaking of the move....

 During the move I managed to cause a worse tear in the meniscus in my right knee AND I managed to severely bruise the patella and bursa sac on the same knee in two different events. All I have to say is don't kick mitre saws...those fuckers fight back. This all happened on Sept 1rst and today is the first day it feels somewhat normal. The days it was completely fuckered I simply did cold therapy, tensor bandaged my knee like I was wrapping for a heavy squat session, and popped some Aleve. That way it was manageable to do short walks.

 I hate to admit it but I'm actually sore from that rinky, dinky workout from last night. Ugh!

 oOOOOOOOOOOOOOohhhhhhHHHH! Starting again......

 So the XT5 has turned out to be such an amazing decision! I absolutely love it!. The infotainment center, speaker quality, and having SiriusXM have been some of my favored highlights! Of course getting the sound just how I wanted it took some time. Why the fuck is a vast majority of audio systems so fuckin' bass oriented?! Sheesh! Once I managed to get that all sorted it's been fantastic. The ride and gas mileage again, fantastic. Now all I have to do is tint match the D/S P/S front windows to match the rears. It looks weird to have the back half tinted and the front half not. I would love to black out all the brushed chrome (and rims) but that'll cost a few bucks, rather spend that money elsewhere.

 In any case, I hope you're all having a great day!.