Reflecting
My first conversation this morning was with a friend at CrossFit about how we’re not good at snatches yet (he actually is good at them, but that was what we were talking about). The key word wasn’t “snatches” but “yet”. This was an idea that I first read about in Mindset. Always – always – add a “yet” to anything you admit you haven’t nailed… yet. It is a placeholder. It is a reminder. It keeps you in a growth mindset wherein your failures and shortcomings are just part of an ongoing process, not a part of your identity. Mindset’s author Carol Dweck discusses this in her short talk The power of yet. Have I nailed my snatch form? Not yet.
Training
This morning’s white board:
Every 3:00 x6
15 Wall Ball 20 lbs.
10 Burpees
5 Snatches 135 lbs.
Then working out with my trainer this afternoon. I’m mostly a morning person, but excited for an upcoming night run:
Fueling
I have a new favorite beef hookup for both jerky and steaks. He mostly supplies New York steakhouses but more recently offers direct to home fresh meat delivery. It is sublime. Here’s my best effort at a filet mignon with charcoal seasoning and a side of onions and garlic. I’ve been doing more of my own meal prep for lunches and this is my best one so far.
What do you do if you can’t gain weight? My son runs high school cross country and another cross country dad just asked me about his son, who runs all the time and has gained a lot of height and wants to bulk up in weight. My reaction for someone who’s otherwise doing all of the healthy habits: drink your extra calories (quite the opposite when you want to cut). Steak and eggs and even whey fill you up and make you feel full but you can drink a lot of marginal calories. Fairlife Core Power Elite is my first choice followed by regular (whole) Fairlife milk. Barring access to that, I would just drink a gallon of whole milk each day in addition to the existing diet. Anyone can gain weight and that is probably one of the easiest ways to do so.
Measuring
Here’s the result of my first weekly Vivoo at home test:
Mostly good but interesting to not really be in ketosis. Also jeesh I drink a half gallon jug of water each morning so surprised to be dehydrated. I don’t like feeling water logged so resist switching to a full gallon. pH should be easy to fix with some apple cider vinegar.
Supplementing
I added 1,200 mgs of calcium due to the deficiency I discovered with the Vivoo test.
Closing
Have a great weekend!
Weight gain is one of our favorite topics from our college roomate being one of those "eat everything and walk around at 8% BF" types....unfortunately for us (fortunate for your friend) you nail it.
Liquid cals are king
- GOMAD (gallon of (whole) milk a day).
-Olive oil on everything including in shakes
-Eat till your full and then have a protein shake with olive oil
-PB
If he doesn't mind getting loose with the healthiness, ice cream. Pretty easy to sit down and eat 1k cals of ice cream after dinner
Usually for kids who can't gain weight its a combination of naturally low hunger & being inconsistent.
We bulked from 220 to 305 over a summer (not recommended) for powerlifting in our early 20s. 6'4" tall and were told by a powerlifter to get over 300lbs for our size.
Lived across from a pizza place and did the pizza trick every night for 3 months from #36 in this article from Dave Tate (language warning and hilarious...we'd summarize, but can't do the story justice)
https://www.t-nation.com/training/37-tips-and-tales-from-dave-tate/
Editors note - despite what the article says...you can get a lot fatter doing this
Chris, do you take your calcium in the morning/evening? It's a mixed bag/hodgepodge on the opinion front, but I started to focus on the Ca/Vit D/K at night and the results startled me. Ended up being a massive sleep benefit and Ca absorption ^.
Not familiar with "Nature's Bounty", but beware of "absorptive (or super)" monikers. Absorptive could just mean through the digestive tract....ultimately it should mean what is able to transfer/permeate into the cell wall.
Hence the general recommendations that Ca be "food" derived has profound implications for supplements. Veggies have already broken Ca down to it's smallest (best absorptive) form.
And I think I posted this before (what I take), and goes with a trace mineral theme as well:
https://www.newchapter.com/calcium-minerals/bone-strength-take-care-slim-tablets/