Giving Up the Red Blood Cells

Giving Up the Red Blood Cells

September 12, 2019

I did Zip-ola for training, but I did give blood for the first time.   I know it is not a big deal, but I did want to sort of explain the reasoning.  I am not against it at all, but I was always resistant to it as an agent of doing it to reduce high hemoglobin, hematocrit or platelets. Constantly, I advocate getting your blood checked and knowing how to read your own blood work. All of these have been high on me for years because I am on TRT and have been for a while.  My Doctor has always told me to give some blood.  I ignored this advice because I thought it was not necessary and even when Stan Efferding came through for a seminar at our place, he talked about how to keep the blood thinner, knowing your liver and kidney markers etc. and that it was not a necessity as long as you keep things checked and in line.  Using Stan’s simple recommendations, I did get elevated kidney function under control (Chronic Kidney Disease from chemo in 2016) but the other numbers remained elusive much like my attitude towards phlebotomy.

It wasn’t until a friend of mine, also on TRT, had many of the same issues that I had along with general tiredness and constant feeling just blah.  My friend normally retains a lot of bloat in his upper body no matter how good his diet is or how hard he trains. Plus he works in the heat all the time so it wasn’t a lack of movement. He went and had a pint pulled unbeknowest to me. The next time I saw him he looked much better with less bloat and he had lost a decent bit of weight quickly. He just looked healthier. I asked him one day and he said I finally went and gave some blood. He went on to tell me he just felt better and like I said he looked better. His strength did not change even with the weight loss.

My first thought was still “NO”.  I just didn’t think it was for me. He continues to look and feel good and glad he went.  I was thinking about trying it out but then we went out of town to Boston. The trip was good but in general felt like poop and I have a headaches. I decided before I left Boston I would go and give blood when we got home.

I am not sure why I did not go before. Maybe thought I would lose my GO juice.  I told the Wifey and she wanted to go too. Her latest bloodwork came back with some of the same issues so off we went to the Red Cross. We got there to check in and the front door guys says they are going to take all our blood and leave you a husk after we announced our virgin blood-letting status. He was very skinny so for a second we thought it was plausible.

My Wife’s friend goes all the time. She is our Vet and trains with my wife all the time.  Her best time was 7 minutes. Me and the Wifey are competitive (well I am the jerk who stirs it up). We race at the airport for moving walkway supremacy where I run/walk the moving walkway and she runs besides me without assistance.  She usually wins here but it is still fun after almost 20 years of travel.  Getting back to it, I tell her am going to beat her or at least Davida and her 7 minutes. I really have no idea as my blood is like motor oil or possibly grease from grease gun. I imagine 10 minutes at least.   Off to the races that neither of us are paying attention to.

I actually got started a bit earlier than she did but when the real nice lady said I was done and my time was 5:25 I starting talking some shit.  The other real nice lady finished up with the Wifey and they announce her time at 5:17 beating me by 8 seconds! I am slightly annoyed but concede the win to her. In retrospect I need to check the time myself next time. There may have been some collaboration going on. It is done and we are not husks as predicted by the thin man.

We rewarded ourselves with a big meal and I personally reward myself with 3 beers.  Today I feel a lot better and less bloaty myself. I know this is placebo effect, but I will continue to give it up every couple months. Let you know later how it goes but I am really glad I did.

August 27, 2019

One 30 min walk, One 10 min stepmill blast

August 28, 2019

• One 10 min, One 20 min stepmill
• Reverse hypers 5 pre, 3 post
• Tempo pause squats 12 sets at 30 to 45 sec sets. I had a tough time capturing my breath today.
• Deadlifts 275 lbs for tempo and pauses 3 sets.
• Hung upside down and did some more activations to loosen up.

September 3, 2019

One 30 min walk

September 4, 2019

• One 10 min walk, One 20 min stepmill
• Activations with BT roller on guts and hips. 20 mins #staticstretching.
• One leg hammer leg press 6x 6 reps per leg under tempo with 3 to 5 pauses per stop. Tried for 3 breathes a pause. Close stance set up
• Same setup with 154lb KB for sumo deadlifts. Worked a lot of pauses right off floor and 3 breathes per pause. 6 sets.
• Reverse hypers 4 pre, 2 post

September 5, 2019

One 30 min walk

September 6, 2019

One 30 min walk

September 7, 2019

• One 10 min walk, One prowler push, One 10 min walk
• Spent a lot time pre and post stretching and activating
• Reverse Hypers 4 pre, 2 post training
• Light squats, no box, buffalo bar.   Many sets x3 ending with 365×3. No belt.
• Pulls off floor. Same with 495×2 end. Slight pause off floor to stay in position then finish.  Not fast but steady.  No belt.
• Yoke walk with 375lb for about 100 yards total
• Yoke holds while breathing for 3 sets of 15 to 30 seconds each. Tried for one more but mid back held a gun to my head and said, “Don’t move mister. ” Capped it there.

September 8, 2019

• One 30 min walk, One 20 min walk post training
• Bench with bandbell bar off softee pad. Worked up to 360×1. Still working on the breathing part throughout.  Happy with single. It was fast and pretty solid.
• Pec deck for time with multiple pauses  for 2 to 5 seconds.  2 sets

September 9, 2019

• One 20  min,  One 10 min walk
• Lot of stretching and activations with Tim Tam, boom stick  and BT gut tempering  for 15 mins
• Accessory work-all for time sets while breathing diaphragm. Not sure rep wise but several hundred reps.
• 6 sets neutral grip pulldowns
• 6 sets Fat ball triceps handle pushdowns
• 6 sets band pulls to chest
• 6 sets rolling overhead triceps extensions

September 10, 2019

• One 30 min walk
• Did some activations but me and the wife are working a reset today.  This involves a decent bit of testing which I sucked at terribly.  By the end, my psoas was working better and we discovered some new things I am going to try on my own daily work. My jaw ended up being my driver so after the basic -breathe, psoas, glute and ham activations I will hammer the jaw and just below the glute hole and jaw area.

September 11, 2019

• Good bit of activation work along with big ray hanging.
• One 10 min, One lap lunge with squat buddy, One 10 min walk post
• Reverse hypers 5 pre, 3 post training
• Rack pulls with squat buddy sumo only.  worked up to 500x3x3 sets. No belt.  Practiced with 315 for multiple pauses for 2 to 3 breathes., about 45 sec to 1 min a set.   Wasn’t swell today as I could not get the breathing down or under control.  Jacked up about nothing really but that is how much it affects training.
• Finished with 1 lap lunge with squat buddy as my second 10 min walk plus accessory

September 13, 2019

• Added in some extra stretching to go with the activations.  Did some BT on the guts with 3 rollers for 2 mins, then dropped one for 2 min, dropped the second for 2 more min.
• Stability ball kb press for time with multiple pause and breathe work.  Followed each set with one min hold in a pommel horse triceps position (or old school bench style triceps finisher)
• Set 1 min press with 1 min hold
• Set 2 2 min press with 1 min hold
• Set 3 press with 1 min hold
• Set 4 with 1 min hold
• Set 5 3 min press with 1 min hold
• 10 mins stepmill, 20 min walk to finish

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