I thought I had beaten my wrist alarm. I suppose I had. I sprung up, immediately checked on the beans I had set up in the crockpot the night before and began to gather my supplies to make my morning butter brew and bake bread. I felt the tang of tiredness, but at 3AM, is this unusual? Yes, it was as I suddenly realized. 1:04 AM. I went back to bed and lay there. Sleep was not forthcoming. I could just twiddle my thumbs for the next hour-and-a-half or get to work.

I made my dough for the day. As I set it aside to allow it to rise for the next 45 minutes, I continued to listen to my audio selection and got out in the garage with "air" that was so thickly soaked with water you could cut it with a handsaw.

As the sun set yesterday, I found myself longing for my strength regimen. Earlier, not once, but twice that day, I was in the pool, so it wasn't just a desire for movement in general; I loved what I was doing for my legs there. No, missing was just the...directness of a resistance program. I just feel good afterward. And I'm totally on board with increasing bone mass and upping testosterone production.

As that dough slowly expanded, I had some time on my hands. I could study; I could write; I could—well, I could do pretty much anything in that 45-minute span with another one following just like it. Well, you can reasonably guess what followed: I thought I'd run through the new session I planned on Saturday for Tuesday because it is the same for Friday. And yes, it is a Wednesday today.

Do you know what I do not find inspiring in my resistance workout? A DM discussion about class alignment and players who do not let it inform the choices for their character. My question? What should a Lawful Evil character pack for a summer vacation? Easy! "Leave the gun, take the cannoli."

I got almost halfway through those 40 and shut things down. OK, so I was 18 sets in, close to the 20 I used to do. My first superset was a flys / Arnold press combo for 5x15. The second superset was a bench press / rear seated lateral raise coupling which ultimately was a 4x15.

Quite honestly, I just felt green. Maybe I downed my iced butter coffee too fast? Maybe I didn't have enough sleep? I just know I was miserable and couldn't shake it until much later when I had my air-fried New York strip steak.

I never punted on my workout routine. I just want more. I do not want it to be this shallow thing that's just about looks, something that is narrow in scope, whether in the context of time or substance.

I want more. It is the message of The 33rd Expedition: New Coke. The following ad was featured in my teaser the other day. There is something in it that resonates with me.

There's never been a better change. There's never been a better Coke. Introducing the greatest taste discovery in a 100 years. Introducing the new taste of Coca-Cola. A taste that is Coke and everything that a Coke means. A taste that is very familar and yet totally new. A taste so good, so real, it couldn't be anything but a Coke. The great new taste of Coke. Watch for it! Try it and enjoy the best-tasting Coke ever!

-New Coke advertisemt

Beyond 4AM Strength Routines

Yesterday's post was a pivotal waymarker. Of chief import are the answers of the questions we ask of our foci. Or, in the case of my 3AMs, why am I picking up this darn thing just to put it down again?

"Does this bicep curl make me look cute?"

At the end of the day, aesthetics just does not brew my morning coffee. When training serves as a bridge—YES ABSOLUTELY SIGN ME UP. But, I have achieved passing my genes to the next generation; the time for me to be foster a mate for offspring was twenty years ago.

"Don't worry, folks: I have saved the human race."

If I am only lifting for aesthetics, I gotta come to the realization that I ain't 19-20 anymore. That skillset has long been lost. It is not unlike my ability to do lunges, something I used to crank out endlessly—even adding kicks! And these days? Nada. Along the way, I recognized that kicking out of a lunge was not a core value. Don't forget, we operate in scarcity; I did not pull resources from other projects to apply time to maintain that outcome.

Don't get me wrong: dropping the weight, eating carnivore and encouraging movement are among my secondary targets. I want those things to augment the vehicle to do the things I have earmarked.

3AM

As I have for some time now, I awoke at 3AM. It was not to get in the right frame of mine to make that Bruce-Banner-to-the-Hulk transformation. Perhaps a more apt analogy is the "time to make the donuts" guy. This week, I am testing out a new approach: using the morning to bake fresh bread daily. Naturally, I multithread the process. Sure, there's the mixing and kneading that takes place, but after that, there are two sessions of allowing the dough to rise and then the 35-45 minute bake. These windows open up some opportunities.

Yes, I am the carnivore who bakes bread.

By the Power of YouTube

For breakfast this morning, I skipped the bacon, eggs and ground beef for a New York strip steak. I considered spending, oh, I dunno, a couple of hours with a soie vie thing, before taking it on the Lodge cast iron skillet—wait, wait, I broke that in the days of the ice house.

No, unlike the bread, I wanted it NOW. And I recalled the beautiful Kelly Hogan's suggestion of an air fryer routine. 15 minutes later and I've got a beautiful steak!

It only slightly diverged from a morning routine that typically involves my plowing through an egg taco with bacon and watching a few minutes from the boys in the Duck Call Room.

I continue to develop my skills in the art of the dungeon master in Dungeons & Dragons. A new resource for me, Matthew Colville's 111 episodes on this storytelling for specific purposes will serve me well. In time, as my knowledge of the structure develops, I hope to scaffold it akin to Wonderium's Hannah Harvey.

Dirt

In Expeditions past, I would use the opening of this post to announce the weightloss results of the prior six weeks. It makes sense: those 42 days have led up to this point. Why not blast the ol' trumpet for a proper royal fanfare? I'll do that shortly, of course, but it retrospectively and constructively is of little value now that I am here.

As I considered the upcoming Expedition, I wanted it to be something different. I sought for it to be something new by being something old. I pored over decades-old bodybuilding material. I even spent hours designing a superset regimen that would work everything over twice a week on a 4-day, MTRF schedule; I had planned on rolling it out today.

And yet, there was something in me that was decidedly not at peace; there was a war within. It was not the challenge of going from a weekly target of 85 to 190 sets of 15 reps; I actually welcomed that! No, the question that was on me was "Why?" My departure date has already been booked. It was scheduled at the same time as my arrival date was marked down. I look in the mirror. The silver is a reminder that this physique is slipping through my fingers.

Do I want to bodybuild to look "pretty?" Is that what I'm going with? Really? That value system? Driven by external factors that are so very temporary? When I was young, I thought time would never change for me. And yet, it is coming.

Several days ago, I watched the Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary miniseries on Netflix. He became the best in the world in bodybuilding. Then he changed careers and reach the top of the movie industry. And finally, he became governor of California. Now, most folks applaud him. "Thumbs up for that guy!"

Any one of those three would make a fine career alone. But, right there on the surface, it seems he never feels he measures up; it's never enough. Today, he steeps in regret for the pain he causes his family. He'll freely admit that his body is not what he once had. All of those hours in the gym: what of it? And there's no desire for God even as he is on the threshold for eternity—like we all are, though some of us are closer than others to being shoved out the door.

Is that the best the world can do? Is that the exemplar I'm to follow? Here's a guy who reached the top not once, but THREE times. What does he have to show for it? Health ain't there. Money? Fame? Is that the stuff collectively agree has value?

This is all been done before. I am reminded of the Preacher.

In the same way as with Arnold's, I do not covet Donald Trump's life. All of that fame, power and wealth—all of that is what everybody seems to chomp at the bit about, and yet, there seems to be a life there that is absolutely miserable. This is not a new theme for me. I wrote about it twenty years ago in September. I can be 25 or 44, I still have the same take on the matter.

A thumbs up from the masses? Don't ever give me that. In that first job search after college, I regularly prayed this passage:

7 Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die:
8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me,
9 lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.

Proverbs 30:7-9, ESV

Who am I reflecting?

Do I return to the garage and hit the weights anew and start the ninth week of lifting? I am favoring myself in the mirror more. However, we have the ability to look beyond the mirror...do I like looking at that guy?

I gave up my daily worship, relationship and study of God and began sacrificing my time, talent and treasure for this god. Yes, my headspace affirms that as to Jesus being either a liar, lunatic or Lord, the correct answer is C. But, do I live my life as if I shoved all my chips to the middle of the table? That I'm all in? Or is it something I ever-so-conveniently dismiss when it is time to worship me?

I must look in the mirror, beyond the swoll biceps and ask, "Can the following be said of my heart?"

This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;

Matthew 15:8 ESV

There is value in resistance training and fitness overall—isn't this what I've been all about? But, it is such a short-sighted goal in terms of...well, FOREVER. Where am I?

How ought I kick off my 3-somethings in the morning?

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

Proverbs 3:5-8 ESV

On to Business: The 32E's Results

10 lbs.

Since November, it tallies up to a weightloss of 77 lbs after 30 weeks. Let's call it, folks: if you want to lose weight, go high-fat carnivore. It now makes a double-digit weightloss for FIVE consecutive Expeditions. With a target of 200+/75, I did it on daily averages of these macros:

• Fat: 222 grams
• Protein: 76.4 grams
• Carbs: < 1 g

My Competition

Coming at no surprise to me, I lost Game 5 of this series against 2020 me: 5.9% to 4.4%. 17E was a juggernaut! That said, I am already going to predict that I am going to pick up wins for the next four games.

Expeditions 28 - 32 Intake Summary

I thought I'd provide the following table. It is a total of everything I have eaten in the last 4 Expeditions, with the daily macro average of the past 5:

"Seasons Change With the Scenery Weaving Time in a Tapestry"

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