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Why I DON'T Count Macros & Workouts of the Week

As I mentioned, I've been tracking my food intake for the last few days, and well...now I remember why I DON'T track. It's already giving me anxiety!

Tracking is great for some people, and I do think that it's a good idea to do for a few days just to get an idea of what you're taking in and where you can adjust. But for ME, I've found that it just makes me think about food WAY too much, and that is what I'm trying to get away from. Food should not consume your thoughts, and that's what tracking does to me! I find myself thinking at totally random times, "Am I eating too much? Not enough? Should I add more? Should I take out some fats? Should I add more carbs here?" It's just not good for me.

I want to be able to grab bites of things here and there without worrying about if it's going to "mess up" my macros. I want to be able to make things like chili or soup and not measure out each individual ingredient to figure out the macros in it, that's just stupid to me. I don't want to weigh and measure every ounce of food that I eat. I don't want to become a slave to my food scale. I don't want to obsess about having the perfect percentages of macros each day.

I just want to be able to eat what I feel like eating, and that is going to be different from day to day! Which means that some days my calories will be higher, some days they'll be a little lower, some days my carbs will be high, and some days my fats may be high. Who cares? As long as my weight stays up, and I'm eating what I want without stressing about it 24/7, that's all I care about. Now that I know what I need to adjust, which is all I wanted to see, enough of that madness!!

In other news, my sleeping is back to normal. Thanks goodness that was just a phase! I am a baby when it comes to my sleep.

Aaand on to last week's workouts! Training has been going well. I'm not going less than 5 reps on anything for now, and I'm actually having fun keeping the reps a little higher. I figure I'll do this for another couple months and then go back to lower reps for the main lifts.

MONDAY  UPPER
I was contemplating not working out Monday just because I was up until 3 in the morning the night before, but after eating and having my coffee, I actually felt fine. So I went to the gym and didn't really feel like the lack of sleep had an effect. I added 10 lbs to bench from last week for 2 sets of 6, then one back off set for 8. I did seated overhead presses this week, just because I haven't done them in forever and I wanted to see how they felt. I am able to go heavier, which I expected, so I'll probably do them this way for a little while just for something different, since I'm doing my barbell presses standing anyway.

1a)Bench press: 95x6/105x6/105x6/100x8
1b)Wide grip pullups on fat bar: 3x5
2a)DB overhead press(seated) 35x8/35x7/30x8/ 25x10(standing)
2b)Neutral grip pullups w/weight: 12.5lbs x 3x7
3a)DB chest supported row: 40x10/35x12/35x12
3b)Lsit hold: 3x15 seconds
4a)Standing calf raise machine: 4x15-20
4b)Pullaparts: 4x20

Farmer's walks 60lbs x 4 x 30 seconds

WEDNESDAY LOWER
Got a rep PR for squats today, woohoo! 170 for 6! They felt really good-gotta be the tennis shoes! ;) Haha, I don't know, but really, I think it's a combination of NOT trying to squat ATG anymore and just overall better form. I feel like by stopping at parallel or slightly below, I'm able to actually feel the muscles working that I want to be working, and I can keep tension at the bottom much better without that bounce out of the hole. For my goal of building my quads, I feel no need to go as low as possible. I was able to go heavier on good mornings this week-they are feeling really good! I also added hip thrusts back in, and they felt great as well! Kept them pretty light, but I was able to really feel them in my glutes, and that's the goal! For a sort of "finisher", I decided to do a 2 minute amrap challenge on the leg press, and man, was that hard! My legs were on fire! I'm like...I don't know if I want to do that again next week!

http://instagram.com/p/yZxqQnlCr6/?modal=true

1)Squat jumps: 3x6
2)Squats: 155x6/170x6/155x8/155x8
3)Good mornings: 75x10/95x10/100x10/100x8
4)Hip thrusts: 135x12/155x10/175x10/175x10
5a)Back extensions: 25x3x12
5b)Band abductions: 3x20
6)Leg press: 2 minutes as man reps as possible: 40 (180lbs)
7)Dragon flies: 2x8/ hanging leg raises: 2x8

FRIDAY UPPER
This week I decided to go for a max on overhead presses just because I haven't tested them in FOREVER(like years), and I wanted to see where I'm at! I was able to get 100lbs, which I remember failing at the last time I went for a max when I was doing 5/3/1 a few years ago. So that made me happy! It was the ugliest, slowest grinder rep ever, but I got it! Nice to know that I'm stronger on those now, even with not doing them much lately.

1)Barbell hang power snatch: 75x4x3
2)Barbell overhead press: 45x8/65x5/75x3/85x1/100x1
3)Handstand pushups: 4x5
4a)DB chest press: 45x3x8/40x10
4b)Inverted rows(on bar): 2x12 overhand/ 2x12 underhand
4a)Face pulls: 3x15
4b)Lateral raises: 2x12/ 1x10+10(drop set)
5)Hammer curls: Rest pause set to 40 reps
6)L-sit holds: 3x15 seconds

SATURDAY LOWER
Front squats and deadlifts both felt really good this week. I was really able to feel my hamstrings and glutes working on sumos, and they didn't feel so horrible! I worked up to a couple sets of about 80% of my sumo max for 5 reps. I think I've realized that deadlifts feel way better doing them after squats!

1)Front squats: 115x6/125x3x6
2)Sumo deadlifts: 155x5/175x5/185x5/185x5/175x5
3a)GHR: 10lbs x 3x 12
3b)Walking lunge: 25x12/30x10/30x10
4)Single leg hip thrusts: 3x12
Sled drags: warmup sets, then 370lbs x 5 x 15 seconds
Ab wheel: 2x10 (from toes to a wall)/ 1x8 + 12 on knees


Comments

  1. I totally agree. I used to spend countless hours in MyFitnessPal counting everything trying to get perfect macros, it was so freeing when I gave it up and went a more intuitive route. Life is too short to spend every waking moment thinking about macros and cals!

    Have you ever done full body workouts? what are your thoughts on them, mostly for beginners? I read conflicting info on full body as to whether or not its good for more advanced lifters.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I agree! I like being more intuitive but also somewhat mindful of my macros just not obsessive. It's not for me!
      I used to do CrossFit, which pretty much was full body every workout, but besides that, no, I've never used full body routines. The main reason being that I don't enjoy them. Hoever, I do think they are great for beginners, but I also think they can definitely be used for advanced lifters as well.

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