In the Long Run » ERIC

45lbs x 5
90 x 3
120 x 2
135 x 3 (top set, want to increase weight, ALSO want to look up proper form on this shit though, too)
120 x 4 (increase)
105 x 5 (stay)
90 x 9 (increase)

I’m going to alternate chinning and rowing on this third exercise for my benching days. Just getting tired of chinning.

I’m going to cease doing depletion workouts until I have an event to do them for, they’re just such a crappy waste of time.

I won’t cease post-workout cardio, however. I may come into the gym more often to do cardio as the days get colder. I hate doing cardio but since I’ve bought all this yohimbine anyway and I’ll be getting back into fasting soon… might as well.

Body Weight: 175.5lbs
Body Fat Percentage: 19.1%

Start Time: 10:10AM
End Time: 12:22PM

I’ve been eating a lot. If my BF% next week is above 20% I’m going to do deadlifts and immediately get back onto a strict fasting schedule.

But if it’s still around 19% I’m going to just shrug off the missed workout, hit the bench, and keep gaining strength like a madman until I hit 20%. If I can stay sub-20% as I gain strength, I’m going to keep gaining until I hit a 315lbs. deadlift before I start cutting.

CUT CONDITIONS:

20%+ bodyfat
315lbs. deadlift

If I wasn’t afraid of getting too fat, I’d bulk all the way to 155lbs. lean mass and try to conserve that while shedding fat.

Start of A Cycle

ERIC — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 05:21:42 +0000

Workout for Saturday, August 21, 2010

Body Weight: 170lbs

Body Fat Percentage: 18.8%

Start Time: 9:05AM

Not only did I forget my gym pass at home, but my notebook too. Luckily I don’t do a lot of different exercises and it wasn’t too bad trying to remember my load-outs, working backwards from what my top sets were supposed to be.

I actually did a lot better than I had set up for myself originally, which was suprising.

Deadlifts

(left-hand-under sets)

135lbs. X 5
155 x 3
185 x 2

(left-hand-over sets)

210 x 1
215 x 1

After loading 225 and looking at it, I decided I’d leave that try-out for another day.

Goal next workout: 225 x 1

Lateral Raise

45lbs. X 5
65 x 3
85 x 2
105 x 1
110 x half-way there, but no complete rep
95 x 1

Goal next workout: 105 x 3

Crunch Machine

45lbs x 6
65 x 4
85 x 3
105 x 1

Goal next workout: 110 x 1-3

Then I nearly shit myself, so after taking care of that I decided to hammer out what little cardio I could and call it a day.

@11:22AM, took 15mg yohimbine and 400mg caffeine. Then I hopped on the stationary cycle.

Stationary Cycle: 4.01 miles in 20:04”

I was just falling-asleep exhausted. So I finished my workout at 11:44AM, took a shower, and went out to check out the badass chalk artwerkz I had no idea were occurring on precisely this day. Win.

Workout for Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Weight: 172.5lbs

Body Fat Percentage: 18.4%

Start Time: 9:10AM

Started with chest/back strength work, moved onto mishmash depletion work.

Strength

Bench Press

45lbs x 5
45 x 5
55 x 5
80 x 3
100 x 2
115 x 3 (one still in the tank, I’m going to increase this)
105 x 5 (increase)
90 x 8 (increase

Incline Bench

45lbs x 5
50 x 5
90 x 2
105 x 2 (stay)
95 x 5 (stay, the reps were good but they just felt too difficult)
80 x 7 (stay)

ChinAss ~ 171.5lbs Body Weight

46.5lbs x 5
46.5 x 5
66.5 x 5
91.5 x 3
116.5 x 2
131.5 x 3 (increase)
121.5 x 4 (increase)
101.5 x 6 (increase)
91.5 x 6 (stay)

Depletion

I’m not going to bother delineating the exhausting method I chose to do the sets in to alleviate boredom. Suffice to say that in the future I will start with Leg Press, supersetting with two upper body motions, and then do the same for Leg Curl. I should probably start with Leg Curls from now on. We’ll let supercompensated deadlift results determine that.

Leg Press 12 x 15 @ 50lbs.
Leg Curl 6 x 15 @ 45lbs. (I may have to drop weight on this lift to get the correct volume it, it was literally painful at this point… in no small part due to pre-depletion yohimbine.)
Lateral Raise 8 x 15 @ 20lbs. (I’m going to increase this, it was a little too easy.)
Calf Raise 9 x 15 @ 45lbs. (General fatigue and unwillingness. This weight is fine.)
Bicep Curl 12 x 15 @ 5lbs. (May jump to 8lbs and drop to 3 sets if I continue to chin at the beginning of the workout.)
Pushdown 9 x 15, 1 x 10 @ 22.5lbs (Dropping this exercise if I continue to do benching at the beginning of the workout.)
Crunch Machine 12 x 15 @ 40lbs. (Considering cutting number of sets in half due to twists, weight needs to be increased.)
Twists 12 x 15 @ 30lbs. (Same note as Crunches)
Wrist Curl 4 x 15 @ 15lbs. (Going to do one less set and increase the weight.)
Reverse Wrist Curl 4 x 15 @ 10lbs. (Going to do one less set and increase the weight.)

Completion Time: 2:30PM

HO!

ERIC — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:25:35 +0000

Yes, that is chalk.

That is all.

Snickersnack

ERIC — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 01:20:18 +0000

Wow.

I’m having one of those rare moments where all the little nasty things I’ve done to totally unrelated people are, simultaneously, bestowing their requisite amount of guilt upon me.

A lot of this has to do with an unwillingness to communicate. Telling someone who by no means has done ANYTHING REMOTELY negative towards me to essentially fuck off is probably the cardinal sin of all of these, but there are others who deserve an apology just as much as she.

They won’t be getting one.

If there’s one thing I can maintain with a person more than anything else, it’s radio silence. My ability to just NOT FUCKING SAY A WORD is a bit contrary to the venting nature of this rant, but it isn’t really targeting anyone specifically. In some fashion it may reach some of them, this rambling, but given that I don’t expect or intend for it to really go anywhere and coupled with the sea of workout bullshit I post on a regular basis… kinda doubt it.

It is a bit unfortunate that I don’t just allow myself to be happy with someone.

I see something, it is good, and I am immediately mistrustful of it and begin deconstructing and despising both whatever relationship may have developed and then also the person him/herself. As though my insecurities are their fault. Which I rationalize into “truth” when I’m in the midst of obliterating our connection.

So many plans canceled.

I always wonder when these things fall away if those plans, when their date rolls around, if I spark some recollection in the other person’s mind. There are two girls I had fucking promised I’d propose to, and of course I have suspicion that that being entirely fucking creepy might have played a part in getting my ass dumped, but still? There are people now who I had made plans with whose dates are not yet come. What of them? Will they remember? And so what if they do? Are they going to hop a train and waste the time and try to see if maybe there’s still something there?

I would. But I’m entirely fucking creepy, also.

Or maybe it’s more I might. Those two, I knew they were involved with someone when their dates came. When I had meticulously plotted out their romantic little shitstain proposals, of course I would remember their dates. It also helped that their birthdays were right next to eachother… whatever. I’m not really emotionally involved with either of them at this point and it really wouldn’t make any sense for me to show up on the day to propose to either of them. Perhaps this was a bad example.

Fuck… I don’t know. Movie night? Someone I was once horribly enamored with friendzoned me. I can rock the friend-zone, that’s fine. Of course a part of being my friend means putting up patiently with my obnoxiously frequent bouts of silence, but hey. I’m sure that’s better than being a recurring nuisance. So anyway, I was given a drag name and I remembered that night as a sort of ‘birthday’ for this character we developed and the movie we watched when we did. So I came around the same day the following year, with that movie. That kind of thing.

I just wish I had a damn point to remembering anniversaries.

If you’re going to be romantic for nobody in particular, it’s just… cute.

Skullfuck cute, man. Ugh.

How do you tell someone you unceremoniously told to fuck off that it’s okay to come back?

Should I even?

What’s to stop me from repeating the whole “OH MY FUCKING GOD ARE YOU STILL TALKING ABOUT THE SAME BEATEN TOPIC? YES, I MISS YOU. YES, I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU. YES, THAT’S MONTHS AWAY. CAN WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING NOW?” shitstorm I initiated the first time.

Or she initiated.

Whatever.

Is it really worth going through/risk-throughing conditions that are likely to result in nothing again?

SHOULD I REALLY be so fucking crushed this long after the fact? Is that how I’m going to suffer? Weeks later, it’s like a concussion, hasn’t started healing yet but is very obviously fucking with my ability to think properly. And I want to sleep as much as I possibly can in the hopes that it goes away like so much of an appetite.

I can’t even keep facts straight anymore. I’ve quit making a game of it. It’s not chess, I’m done trying to win, I’m done being the opposing side and would much rather be the lateral companion.

That could amount to a pretty satisfying win.

ASIDE: I have won a chess game by making my opponent cry rather than actually besting him at the game. He actually probably would have won.

Post Bachelor Party

ERIC — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:29:20 +0000

Spent the weekend eating and shooting at stuff with pistols/shotgun and eating.

Spent Monday sleeping it off.

Tuesday I got a half-volume partial depletion in before going to the dentist and getting my mouth raped.

I think tomorrow I’m going to sleep that off.

So I have to get this in now before I pass out.

Workout for Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Starting Weight: 172lbs.
BF%: 18.4%

Preworkout Supplements: Ephedrine/Caffeine (25mg/400mg), washed down with 12g Purple Wraath in 1 cup of water (fucking awful going down, but the grape Jollyrancher burps are ACE!)

Start Time: 8:55AM

Strength Work

Bench Press

45lbs x 5
45 x 5
55 x 5
75 x 3
95 x 2
110 x 4 (increase)
100 x 5 (increase)
85 x 8 (increase)

My goals for the last set was lower, but I decided to just go for eight so I could increase all three sets next workout. Huzzah.

Incline Bench

50lbs x 5
90 x 2
100 x 5 (increase)
90 x 6 (increase)
75 x 9 (increase)

Same story.

ChinAss (Weight: 174)

44lbs x 5
44 x 5
99 x 3 (DAMN IT)
129 x 3 (didn’t lose a rep thankfully, and I probably could have made the fourth that I wanted, but I left it at that and will increase next workout)
114 x 5 (increase)
94 x 9 (increase)
85 x 12

One of these days, I’m going to load my chins properly, and it’s going to MATTER! Ugh.

Strength Finish: 11:05AM

Volume Work

Block One

Leg Press: 6 x 15 @ 60lbs
Leg Curl: 4 x 15 @ 45lbs
Lateral Raise: 1 x 15 @ 20lbs

Ten minute break.

Block Two

Lateral Raise: 3 x 15 @ 20lbs
Calf Raise: 3 x 15 @ 30, 30, 45lbs
Bicep Curl: 4 x 15 @ 5lbs
Pushdown: 4 x 15 @ 22.5lbs

8 minute break.

Block Three

Crunch Machine: 4 x 15 @ 35lbs
Calf Raise: 3 x 15 @ 45lbs

5 minute break.

Block Four

Cable Twist: 4 x 15 @ 30lbs

Volume Finish: 12:35PM

Body Weight: 174lbs

Cardio “Work”

Stationary Cycle: 35min, 6.62miles, level 2

30 minute break, then Yohimbine/Caffeine 15mg/400mg

Stationary Cycle: 35min, 7.08miles, level 2

Cardio Finish: 2:34PM

I was having trouble walking before I did the cardio, so I opted out of doing the treadmill in favor of something where I wouldn’t have to support my own weight.

Didn’t take any insulin until around 4:30PM.

Dentist Lifts

ERIC — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 00:59:25 +0000

Had a dentist appointment today.

That, coupled with my ride leaving in the afternoon rather than in the morning (not angry about this, I made great use of the extra sleep) cut down my lifts to two moves in less than an hour.

Workout B for Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Weight: 171lbs.
Body Fat: 18.1% (about 31lbs.)

Start: 1:25PM
Finish: 2:08PM

Deadlift

135lbs x 5 (Right hand over)
140 x 3 (right over)
160 x 2 (left over)
200 x 3 (right over) ~ increase
170 x 4 (left over) ~ increase

Next time I’ll do deadlifts with one grip straight through the warm-ups, then alternate it for the working sets.
I need to balance better. I think I put too much weight on my right leg.
Feeling it more in my lats now. Kinda nice.

Lateral Raise

35lbs x 5
55 x 3
75 x 2
100 x 3 (stay)
90 x 3 (stay)

Tomorrow I’m going to do a 24-hour fast. I’ve been ping-ponging in my head between doing Eat Stop Eat and LeanGains and I’ve decided to just do both. I have my designated feeding periods (3-11PM), but I’ll have that be at maintenance and derive my caloric deficit from twice-weekly daily fasts.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, this was the first workout that was preceded by a scoop of Purple Wraath in water. Dear god. If this is some of the better tasting BCAAs out there… and it smells pretty righteous too. Leaving it in my closet until I need it. Totally stank up my cereal cabinet for a few days there…

Workout for Friday, August 6, 2010

ERIC — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 21:52:43 +0000

I went out to my cabin after I went to the gym on Friday, so I didn’t get a chance to upload my workout.

I don’t really remember what I was going to rant about so this is going to be pretty bare-bones.

Workout for Friday, August 6, 2010

Weight: 167.5lbs
Body Fat %: 16.2%

Start: 10AM
Finish: 12:09PM

Bench Press

45lbs x 5
45 x 5
55 x 5
75 x 3
95 x 2
110 x 1 (the second rep was horribly dirty and the third didn’t reach lockout, obviously staying)
95 x 5 (increase)
80 x 7 (increase)

I’m not horribly concerned. My chest is probably still pretty fucked from the depletion workout that I over-volumed on. I felt pretty fucked yet from that coming into this workout. I don’t know how I’m going to sort out my B workout just yet, but at the time what I knew was that I wasn’t ready to be doing deadlifts and I didn’t have time to sort out an alternative program aside from the one I had readily available.

Incline Bench

50lbs x 5
90 x 2
100 x 4 (one less than what I was going for, stay)
85 x 7 (increase)
70 x 8 (increase)

ChinAss (bodyweight = 172)

42lbs x 5
42 x 5
72 x 5
87 x 3
107 x 5 (this pissed me off, I really have to keep the work set on the same line in my notebook as the exercise name)
127 x 3 (fortunately I didn’t lose a rep over it, stay weight)
107 x 5 (increase)
87 x 7 (increase)
77 x 9 (increase)

Overall this exercise went pretty well, though I was ready for a nap by the time I finished here.

Stationary Bike

3.17 miles, 22:11

Level 1 intensity. Just too tired to go the distance this day, really.

Notes

I’m pretty solidly 20lbs away from being 5% bodyfat. I mean, of course I should be taking these measurements as dry as possible. But I’ve started my proper LeanGains-inspired fasting protocol on Sunday (August 8) and I’ve gotten my yohimbine and BCAAs in the mail, along with complimentary fat caliper (“free gift” for spending an excessive amount of money on supplements.) On Tuesday I’m going to take measurements with both the bio-impedance meter at the gym, as well as taking a skinfold measurement of my gut.

There’s a three-site measurement method with the calipers as well, but having tried to measure my chest on my own made me realize I only measuredly care about the fat loss around my navel, so, that’s what I’ll be pinching.

Simply Depleted

ERIC — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 01:48:45 +0000

Eh.

I managed to knock my head during a seizure since last I updated. Kind of weird what things I lose from my mind when that happens. I’m looking back on everything and feeling it’s too complicated.

I’m going to stop with the notation crap.

Tomorrow I have a photo test for an agency in Chicago, so today I’ve done a massive workout and spent some time in the sauna to shed some water.

Depletion Workout for Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Block One

Leg Press: 12 sets of 15 @ 50lbs. (going to add weight to this one next time)
Chest Press: 6 x 15 @ 50lbs.
Row: 6 x 15 @ 45lbs.

Block Two

Leg Curl: 12 x 15 @ 45lbs. (…ow)
Incline Press: 6 x 15 @ 45lbs.
Pulldown: 6 x 15 @ 50lbs.

Block Three

Chest Press: 1 x 15 @ 50lbs.; 2 x 15 @ 40lbs.
Pec Fly: 2 x 15 @ 40lbs. (felt I was using my arms too much on the chest press, but then realized I did entirely too much volume on chest anyway and THAT was why my arms hurt…)
Calf Raise: 3 x 15 @ 45lbs.
Bicep Curl: 2 x 15 @ 8lbs.

Block Four

Lateral Raise: 3 x 15 @ 35lbs.; 1 x 15 @ 20lbs. (BARELY)
Crunch Machine: 3 x 15 @ 30lbs.
Calf Raise: 1 x 15 @ 45lbs.

Block Five

Bicep Curl: 4 x 15 @ 8lbs.; 2 x 15 @ 5lbs.
Cable Twist: 6 x 15 @ 30lbs.

Block Six

Pushdown: 8 x 15 @ 17.5lbs (going to add weight to this one next time, guess I was wrong about my arms…)
Calf Raise: 8 x 15 @ 45lbs.
Cable Twist: 3 x 15 @ 30lbs.
Crunch Machine: 5 x 15 @ 30lbs. (will add weight)
Lateral Raise: 1 x 15 @ 20lbs.

The exercises were not necessarily done in the order shown, and definitely not straight across. I’m just noting volume because it’d be a huge hassle to delineate the order… and largely unnecessary besides.

Cardio

Stationary Cycle: 7.44 miles in 35 minutes (majority intensity: 2)
[26 minute break]
Treadmill: 1.65 miles in 35:46 (majority intensity = 3 incline, 3.3 mph)

There were slower warm-up/cooldown periods I’m not noting. Next time I’m going to start the machines at the listed intensities to get things going quicker.

Workout Timeline

8AM – EC1, bs275
9:17 – Block 1
9:41-9:47 – Five minute break leading into Block 2
10:15-10:20 – Break to Block 3
10:39-10:47 – Break to Block 4
11:02-11:07 – Break to Block 5
11:36-11:40 – Break to Block 6
12:20PM – Finished weight portion of the day
12:36 – EC2, bs322
1:05 – bs315
1:48 – Finished 35 minutes of cycling
2:50 – Finished 35 minutes of walking
5 – EC3
6 – bs257

EC = Ephedrine/Caffeine (25mg/400mg)
bs = blood sugar. It’s always been a concern of mine that my sugars get too low during high-volume lifting… clearly not as much of an issue as I expected. I took my usual amount of slow-acting insulin but none of my ‘fix yer damn sugars’ insulin, just to get a gauge of exercise-related impact.

Bodyweight Timeline

8:55AM – Body Weight: 174.5lbs
9:10 – MASSIVE CRAP, BW – 172.5lbs., Body Fat: 17.9% (sad day)
12:30PM – 169lbs.
1:03 – Not quite so much crap. 168.5lbs.
2 – 166.5lbs
3 – 166lbs
3:50 – Finished shower. 165.75lbs.
4:11 – 10 minutes in whirlpool. 165lbs.
4:35 – 7 minutes in dry sauna. 164.5lbs.
4:55 – Spent another 5 minutes in the dry sauna and started to get lightheaded, so I decided to stop. 164.5lbs.
5 – Final weigh-in before I left, having air-dried a bit. 164lbs.

Not Pylo-Ready (P4C6B)

ERIC — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 06:15:52 +0000

Workout B for Saturday, July 24, 2010

Start: 9:05AM

Deadlift

135lbs x 5 ~ hg
140 x 3 ~ L/R
180 x 2 (mis-loaded, wanted to do 160 here) ~ R/L
200 x 3 ~ R/L

Today is the first day I really felt like I got the form nailed on deadlifts. I watched the Starting Strength instructional DVD and, wow. Highly recommended.

Lateral Raise Machine

50lbs x 5
70 x 3
90 x 2
100 x 1

Lost a rep. Shit.

Pulldown

65 x 5

I’m cutting pulldowns from B workouts. I don’t want to do two pulls anymore.

Crunch

45lbs x 5
65 x 3
85 x 2
95 x 3

Went rather well.

DB Curl

8lbs x 5
10 x 3
15 x 1
15 x 8

Going to try increasing this.

Wrist Curl

10lbs x 5
15 x 3
20 x 2
25 x 8

Hurt. Going to keep it here.

Weight: 169lbs.
Body Fat %: 18.8% (Had a rack of ribs for dinner that didn’t finish digesting, along with some cottage cheese, etc….)

Finish: 11:05AM

Aside from watching the DVD, I also read the Vertical Jump Training Bible by Kelly Baggett. I wanted to start incorporating beginner-level plyometric drills but after doing 2 x 50 ankle hops I was spend. I kept toppling over doing the 4-star drill.

I’m going to start the plyo work this week, since I don’t think I’ll be getting to the gym.