Back in the Day

“Always a little further…” - James Elroy Flecker

Sep 12, 2022

With the beginning of football season, all gym conversations are starting with either football or our gym’s fairly high stakes fantasy football league. It evokes a lot of nostalgia from the considerable number of weightlifters who were serious football players back in their day. Those my age have all decayed a bit since their glory years and even those putting up heavy weights are down from their pinnacle in their teens and twenties. Many share great memories and comradery. It is all foreign to me. I never played ball sports well enough for glory, had less interest in spectating, and even less in the fantasy version. On the one hand, it leaves me left out of much of the banter for the next few months. On the other, my starting strength training in my mid-40s leaves me free of most sports-related injuries and free of a standard that I’ll never again hit. Each new lift is a personal record. For me, there is no “back in the day”. Today is the day.

Training

This morning was six rounds, not for time:

8 dumbbell bench as heavy as possible
12 barbell rows as heavy as possible
50 ft Sled Push 405 lbs. 50ft

Then another hour with my strength trainer.

Fueling

Liver is about as good as it gets for all sorts of vitamins and nutrients and should be a part of any keto(ish) diet, but it isn’t my favorite flavor or texture. My solution is to grind it with ground beef or, even more conveniently, snack on these. They aren’t great, but they aren’t terrible either. If you like jerky and want the health benefits of liver, they’re worth trying.

Over the past half century, Americans have radically transformed our standard diet and the transformation created an obesity epidemic. Calorie intake has risen steadily to a level appropriate for competitive athletes (without having anything to do with competitive athletics other than watching it on TV). Average alcohol consumption has risen. We get a lot more of our calories from processed carbohydrates as well as sugar and other sweeteners. But the most radical change has been a 2.5x spike in vegetable oil, a staple ingredient in ultra-processed food. It has been a disaster because these foods have empty calories and don’t make you feel as full. Charts and sources here.

My solution is to just opt out of the entire standard American diet. I don’t read the back of a box to see what’s in it; instead I don’t eat processed food that comes in boxes. Just stick with whole foods with single ingredients and you will sidestep the primary cause of America’s obesity epidemic.

Recovering

I don’t need more than eight hours of sleep to feel rested the next day, but I’ve been giving myself nine hours outside of other obligations to make certain I am really getting a full eight. It varies by age but 90% sleep efficiency for middle aged men is a realistic expectation. So for me a nine hour sleep opportunity can consistently lock in a real eight hours of deep sleep. It is worth it for both work and workouts to dedicate this time for recovery but giving me the opportunity to be at 100% the next day.